【推荐3】Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.

But is it possible that Catherine’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.

Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not words with friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.

Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platform.

In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger. “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.

Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual world, we will have little time for our real-world friendships,” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need anyone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To tell about true friends.	B．To start a discussion.
C．To encourage online friendships.	D．To summarize(总结) the text.

2. What does the underlined part “in the flesh” mean in paragraph 3?

A．In any case.

B．In public.

C．In person.

D．In advance.

3. What is Katie’s attitude toward online communication?

A．Unconcerned.

B．Positive.

C．Worried.

D．Confused.

4. Which of the following is the Rosen’s view?

A．Teenagers need to focus on real-world friendships.	B．It’s easier to develop friendships in real life.
C．It’s wise to turn to friends online.	D．Social media help people stay closely connected.

【推荐1】If you are a psychology enthusiast, you have probably heard of the famous marshmallow (棉花糖) test. In this task, kids are given a single treat, such as a marsbmallow, and are told that they can eat that marshmallow now, or they can wait a little while, and have two marshmallows instead. Some kids eat the marshmallow immediately, but most try their best to wait for the experimenter to come back with two marshmallows.

Wait times in the marshmallow test came to be seen as indicators of self-control. But what if the behavior in the marshmallow test has more to do with cultural criteria than self-control? A 2022 study by Yanaoka tested the idea that children may decide how long to wait for rewards based on what they are accustomed to waiting for in their culture. In the United States (with some exceptions), there is no widespread custom of waiting until everyone is served to eat your food. However, in Japan, there is a mealtime custom of waiting until everyone has been served before anyone digs in.

Because of this difference in norms, the researchers assumed that Japanese children would wait longer in the marshmallow test than the American children. This is exactly what they found. The researchers did a clever follow-up experiment. They found one field where children in the U.S. are accustomed to waiting longer than Japanese children are: Opening presents. In the U.S., gifts are usually given on special occasions, such as birthdays and Christmas. On these occasions, children usually have to wait before they can open their presents. In Japan, however, gift-giving happens more often, and children usually open presents immediately.

Given these cultural differences, Yanaoka expected that if they ran the marshmallow test with Japanese and American kids, but they replaced marshmallows with packaged gifts, then American kids would wait longer to open them. Once again, their assumption was correct. When the potential rewards were packaged gifts instead of food, American children waited 15 minutes on average, and Japanese children waited about four minutes on average.

This is a powerful result because it demonstrates the importance of culture and habit in shaping behavior. If a child waits only four minutes before giving up on two marshmallows but then waits almost four times longer to open a gift, can we really say that that child lacks self-control? I don’t think so.

1. What is the main factor that influences children’s behavior in the experiments?

A．Self-control.	B．Parental influence.
C．Cultural criteria.	D．Reward preferences.

2. What did the study find about American children?

A．They often receive gifts.	B．They display higher self-control.
C．They prefer gifts to food rewards.	D．Thy tend to wait longer to open gifts.

3. How did Yanaoka conduct the follow-up experiment?

A．By referring to data.	B．By making a comparison.
C．By introducing a concept.	D．By presenting an argument.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards Yanaoka’s study?

A．Critical.

B．Unclear.

C．Doubtful.

D．Approving.

【推荐2】Why can people speaking the same language have such different accents? The short answer： new accents begin to develop when isolated(隔绝的) groups of speakers start making nearly unnoticeable changes to the way they pronounce words.

“Accent development is the first step in language change. Fifteen hundred years ago, languages like English, Dutch and Swedish were actually all dialects of the same language, but of course then they changed overtime.” Jonathan Harrington, a linguist(语言学家) in University of Munich, is interested in how accents first get started. But because of global communication, most communities are no longer linguistically isolated, and recording equipment didn't exist back when more of them were.

So how to capture the early stages of accent formation today? Harrington and his team turned to members of the British Antarctic Survey, who speak with a variety of English accents. “When you are in Antarctica during the winter period, there is no way in and no way out. So they were isolated together and they had to communicate and cooperate with each other.” Harrington's team recorded the winterers reciting a list of words before they left for Antarctica. Then, while there, the winterers recorded themselves saying the same words four more times. The linguists then analyzed the recordings.

Even during their short time in Antarctica, the way the winterers produced certain vowels (元音) began to converge. For example, at the beginning of the study, some people produced the /u/ in “food” at the front of the mouth while others used the back of the mouth. But they began to sound more similar overtime.

Harrington says the research isn't just relevant for understanding Earth's colonial past. He thinks there's every reason to expect long isolation will cause astronauts on Mars missions to end up with an out﹣of﹣this world accent.

1. What makes it hard to know how accents first started?

A．The lack of recordings in the past.

B．The isolation of most communities.

C．The fast development of new accents.

D．The big number of dialects of the same language.

2. What does the underlined word “converge” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Become simpler.

B．Become similar.

C．Get worse.

D．Get improved.

3. What may happen to astronauts returning from the Mars after a long stay there?

A．They feel much lonelier than ever before.

B．They can't understand their mother tongue.

C．They speak with accents quite different from the locals'.

D．They don't have any difficulty adjusting to the life on Earth.

4. Where is text probably from?

A．A guide book.

B．A news report.

C．A magazine.

D．A history book.

【推荐3】Are you stressed out, scared or worried all the time? Do you avoid going to certain places, seeing friends or doing certain things because of your worries? Do your worries keep you awake at night? If you’ve answered yes, you may be suffering from anxiety.
Anxiety is a normal and necessary part of life. Anxiety is your brain’s way of telling you about danger. It is anxiety which helps you jump out of the way if a car is speeding towards you. But if it gets out of hand, anxiety can get in the way of your getting on with life and can become a real problem. If this is the case for you, treatment may be a helpful way for you to get your anxiety under control.
Anxiety is a normal part of life. Some people may feel uneasy if moving to a new place and some may get overly anxious in certain situations. There are lots of reasons for this. One main reason is after a stressful thing which has happened in your life. So, if you are involved in a car crash, it’s quite likely that you will be more worried than other people around cars and driving.
Being anxious also probably runs in families. If your parents suffer from anxiety then you are more likely to be anxious too. This is probably partly due to genetics, and partly because of how things are when you’re growing up.
Even though people don’t talk about it much, anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems. About 1 in 4 people will have an anxiety problem at some time in their life.If you have an anxiety problem it’s hard for other people to understand why something that doesn’t worry them, like being in a crowd of people, can be so scary for you. This can make you feel separated and lonely, and may become worse and worse.
The good news is there are lots of excellent treatments available for anxiety. These include taking therapies (疗法) and drugs.
1. Which of the following statements is true about anxiety?

A．Almost everybody has a certain degree of anxiety in certain situations.

B．It’s abnormal for people to get too anxious after a stressful thing.

C．With anxiety you are far away from traffic accidents.

D．When you feel stressed out, scared or worried, you are surely suffering from anxiety.

2. Which of the following reasons for anxiety is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Genetics.	B．Experience.
C．Illness.	D．Environment.

3. The author will most probably talk about ________ following this passage.

A．what is about anxiety	B．how to handle anxiety
C．what causes anxiety	D．when anxiety becomes serious

【推荐1】As an archaeologist at Florida State University, Jessi Halligan and her team made a discovery, reported this past spring, in the Florida section of the Aucilla River.

Deep in a sinkhole, buried in a pile of sand and mastodon dung was a small, ancient knife used for hunting and cutting meat from the bone. The dung dates back roughly 14,500 years—some 1,500 years before the Clovis people, who were long thought to have been America’s first human residents.

Discover caught up with Halligan to learn more about the find and the world of underwater archaeology.

Q: First off，what’s the impact of the Aucilla River knife discovery?

A: A lot of us thought the Americas were populated by folks who came from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge into Alaska and Canada. However，Canada wasn’t walkable 14,500 years ago—it was covered by ice. So if people were in Florida 14,500 years ago and there was no land route through Canada, then the first people who came to the Americas probably came by boat. Therefore, we really need to start re-examining when and where people came from and what we thought we knew. We don't have all the answers we thought we did.

Q: Why did you decide to get into archaeology?

A: To me, if s that combination of things: using your body as a tool to help you understand things, as well as using your brain to think about what those things meant and applying that to the big picture about people.

Q: How many underwater archaeologists are there?

A: For every 100 archaeologists, maybe one to five of them are underwater archaeologists, and most of them are shipwreck archaeologists. I’m one of only a few dozen maybe in the whole world who focus on landscapes that got covered by sea level rise or prehistoric settlements that were land but ended up underwater.

Q: _______________

A: The water’s really dark，so you can’t see very far, and you can’t have as many people working at the same time. Also, you can’t talk underwater, so you have to communicate through hand signals, which can slow things down.

1. According to Halligan, in what way is the Aucilla River knife discovery important?

A．It is among the discoveries that have been made by archaeologists like Halligan.

B．It can solve the mystery why Canada remained unwalkable 14,500 years ago.

C．It provides a new perspective to think about America’s first human residents.

D．It helps to answer where early Americans came from and when they arrived.

2. What is special about Halligan as an archaeologist?

A．She excels in water sports like diving.

B．She studies the water area that used to be land.

C．She focuses mainly on the research on shipwreck. '

D．She is interested in early human residents in America.

3. Which of the following is most likely to be the last question?

A．What are some of the challenges you face underwater?

B．What has been misunderstood about archaeology?

C．What appeals to you most in your job?

D．What good does this job give to you?

【推荐2】Mr. Baker lived in an old and low house. His wife was blind in both eyes and the two children were very young. All his family often went hungry(挨饿). He had nothing but a small piece of field. One autumn he grew some wheat in his field. He hoped it would do well because all family would depend on it. The whole winter it often snowed. And the next spring the wheat was doing well. Mr. Baker was happy. One day Mr. Baker went to watch his wheat. To his surprise, a lot of crops were eaten up by a horse. He became angry but could not find out whose horse had eaten them. He thought the horse would go there again. So he decided to stay in his field and tried to catch the horse.
A few days later a yellow horse came in his field again and began to eat the wheat. Mr. Baker ran after it quickly, with a stick in his hand. But the beast ran much faster than he. He tried his best, but could not catch up with it. The next morning, when Mr. Baker was working in his field, he saw the yellow horse pulling carriage on the road. He picked up a stick at once, ran closer to the horse and began to beat it up.
The driver was surprised and stopped him. He asked, “Why are you beating my horse?”
“It has nothing to do with you,” Mr. Baker said angrily. “The beast knows why I’m beating him!”
1. What was Mr. Baker?

A．A farmer	B．A doctor
C．A keeper	D．A driver

2. Why was Mr. Baker happy at first?

A．Because he found out the beast that ate up his wheat.

B．Because he would soon get a good harvest.

C．Because wheat was doing well.

D．Because his family would not grow any more wheat.

3. Mr. Baker tried his best to catch the horse to ____________.

A．sell it for some money

B．find out the owner of the horse

C．make it work for him

D．beat it up (痛打)

4. Which of the following is true？

A．The horse knew that it had done wrong.

B．The horse had nothing to do with the driver.

C．The horse knew whose wheat it had eaten up.

D．The horse belonged to the driver.

【推荐3】Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and could not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his mental (大脑的) ability.

Beethoven’s music teacher said about him, “As a composer (作曲家) he is hopeless.” What if this young boy had believed it?

When Thomas Edison was a young boy, his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything. He once said, “I remember I used to never be able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of my class ... My father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided that I was a stupid person.” What if young Thomas had believed what they said about him?

When the sculptor (雕刻家) Auguste Rodin was young, he had difficulty learning to read and write. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, “I have an idiot (白痴) for a son.” His uncle agreed. “He’s uneducable,” he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability?

Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no “good ideas”. Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, “You can’t sing. You have no voice at all.” And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular attraction.

What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, “It’s not what you are but what you don’t become that hurts.”

You have great potential (潜力). When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth.

1. How many successful people are mentioned as examples in the passage?

A．Six.

B．Seven.

C．Eight.

D．Nine.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．When he was young, Thomas Edison always got good grades at school.

B．Levant thought Louisa May Alcott couldn’t write any popular works.

C．Only Auguste Rodin’s uncle regarded him a boy of learning ability.

D．Both Enrico Caruso and Beethoven achieved their dreams in music.

3. What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence “He’s uneducable”?

A．He is too stupid to be taught.	B．He is very clever.
C．He is different.	D．He is a late success.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Working Hard for Success	B．Having Dreams
C．Believing in Yourself	D．Self-challenging

【推荐1】Blue Planet II's latest episode (情节) focuses on how plastic is having a destructive effect on the ocean and slowly poisoning our sea creatures. Researchers recently also found that sea creatures living in the deepest place on Earth, the Mariana Trench, have plastic in their stomachs. Indeed, oceans are drowning in plastic.

Though it seems that the world couldn't possibly function without plastics, plastics are a remarkably recent invention. The first plastic bags were introduced in the 1950s, the same decade that plastic packaging began gaining popularity in the United States. This growth has happened so fast that science is still catching up with the change. Plastics pollution research, for instance, is still a very early science.

We put all these plastics into the environment, but we still don't really know what the outcomes are going to be. What we do know, though, is disturbing. Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. One in three leatherback turtles, which often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating plastics on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

And it's not just wildlife that is threatened by the plastics in our seas. Humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat. I could understand why some people see ocean plastic as a disaster, worth mentioning in the same breath as climate change. But ocean plastic is not as complicated as climate change. There are no ocean trash deniers (否认者), at least so far. To do something about it, we don't have to remake our planet energy system.

This is not a problem where we don' t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to deal with it. We know how to recycle. We can all start by thinking twice before we use single-use plastic products. Things that may seem ordinary, like using a reusable bottle or a reusable bag-when taken collectively, these choices really do make a difference.

1. Why is plastics pollution research still a very early science?

A．The plastics pollution research is too difficult.

B．Plastics have produced less pollution than coal.

C．Plastics have gained popularity too fast for science to catch up.

D．The world couldn't possibly function without plastics.

2. How did the author support his opinion in Paragraph 3?

A．By citing quotes from leading experts.	B．By making a comparison and contrast.
C．By listing examples from his own experience.	D．By presenting solid statistics.

3. What does the author intend to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．We reap what we sow.	B．The shortest answer is doing.
C．All things are difficult before they are easy.	D．Actions speak louder than words.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．The oceans become choked with plastic.	B．Ocean plastic is a global issue.
C．Blue Planet II has left viewers heartbroken.	D．Plastics gain in popularity all over the world.

【推荐2】The latest data form Nature’s Calendar shows that the butterflies, newts and neat-building blackbirds have been spotted months before they would normally appear. An analysis of the conditions in 2019 found that all but one of the 50 spring events the scheme（计划）tracks were early last year, as a result of warmer winter temperatures. The Woodland Trust, which runs the Nature’s Calendar scheme, warns that many species are losing their seasonal cues（提示）as winters warm and seasons shift.

Increasingly unstable weather could tempt some animals out of hibernation（冬眠）too soon, only to be hit by sharply dropping temperatures. And some birds appeared to be breeding too late as they make the most of vital food sources that appear earlier than normal, the Trust said.

Lorienne Whittle, at the Woodland Trust, said, “ It seems that last year we almost lost winter as a season--it was much milder and our data shows wildlife is responding, potentially putting many at risk.”

And she said, “It appears that some species are able to adapt to the advancing spring better than others. Oak trees respond by producing their first leaves earlier and caterpillars seem to be keeping pace. But blue tits, great tits and pied flycatchers are struggling to react in time for their chicks to take advantage of the peak amount of caterpillars--the food source on which they depend.”

Active newts were recorded in late December in Cheshire and a blackbird was spotted building a nest at the beginning of January. Accordingly, a report for The Wildlife Trusts suggested that hedgerows（树篱）be protected from being cut during the nesting season.

1. What does the underlined word“temp" in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Help.	B．Attract.
C．Guide.	D．Cheat.

2. Why are oak trees mentioned in the text?

A．To explain why plants respond to the climate change.

B．To prove some species fit in with the climate change better.

C．To show how caterpillars react to the changing environment.

D．To suggest plants adapt to warmer winters better than animals.

3. How is the text mainly developed?

A．By listing environmental damages.	B．By offering practical suggestions.
C．By making striking comparisons.	D．By presenting tracking results.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Some birds are in danger of dying out.

B．Warmer winters increase the threat to wildlife.

C．A scheme will be carried out to protect wildlife.

D．Plants are struggling to survive warmer winters.

【推荐3】“Old wives’ tales” are beliefs passed down from one generation to another. For example,most of us remember our parents’ telling us to eat more of certain foods or not to do certain things. Is there any truth in these teachings? Some of them agree with present medical thinking,but others have not passed the test of time.

Did your mother ever tell you to eat your carrots because they are good for your eyes? Scientists now report that eating carrots can help prevent a serious eye disease called macular degeneration. Eating just one carrot a day can reduce the possibility of getting this disease by 40%. Garlic is good for you,too. It can kill the type of virus that causes colds.

Unfortunately, not all of Mom’s advice passed the test of medical studies. For example, generations of children have been told not to go swimming within an hour after eating. But research suggests that there is no danger in doing so. Do sweets cause tooth problems?Well, yes and no. Sticky sweets made with grains(谷物) tend to cause more problems than sweets made with simple sugars.

Even though science can tell us that some of our traditional beliefs don’t hold_water,_there is still a lot of truth in the old wives’ tales. After all, much of this knowledge has been accumulated (积累) from thousands of years of experience in family health care. We should respect this body of knowledge even as we search for clear scientific support to prove it true or false.

1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．Sticky sweets are damaging to our teeth.

B．Eating garlic is good for our eyes.

C．Swimming after a meal is dangerous.

D．Carrots prevent people from catching colds.

2. The author develops the third paragraph mainly________.

A．by cause and effect

B．by order in space

C．by examples

D．by order in time

3. The phrase“ hold water” in the last paragraph most probably means“________”.

A．to be valuable

B．to be believable

C．to be admirable

D．to be suitable

4. What is the author’s attitude towards“old wives’ tales”in the text?

A．Subjective(主观的).

B．Objective(客观的).

C．Dissatisfied.

D．Curious.