1 . Most of us cannot imagine modern life without social media. We use it almost every day in order to keep up with what is happening in our friends’ lives or find out the latest information. Although it has a bad influence if we don’t use it properly, social media has done more good than harm.
The greatest advantage is that we can connect with people much more easily. We are still able to keep in touch with our friends if they are far away. With social media, friendship goes beyond geography. We’re able to find friends old and new. Also, it makes it easier for us to make friends, especially for those who are afraid of making friends face to face. Are you shy? If yes, social media has probably helped.
Social media is also ideal (理想的) for making yourself heard. Anyone with a voice can express it. Anyone with a talent is free to show it. Everyone is the new content (内容) creator. Moreover, anyone with a smartphone and the Internet can be a reporter. As a result, it has become much faster to cover the news than ever before.
Social media, on the other hand, can make us less confident sometimes. A study published by the Public Library of Science, found that the more a person uses social media, the sadder he feels about his own life. One reason for this is that people around us put colourful information and perfect pictures online in order to show off their best moment. So we often get a distorted sense of how wonderful their lives are compared to our own.
Social media does not cause sadness; it simply provides another tool for us to use. Is it good or bad? Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says, “What is interesting is the power and influence of social media ... We must try to use social media in a good way.” After all, you decide how you use this powerful tool.
1. What can we learn about social media from the passage?| A．We use social media to only record our best side. |
| B．We can use social media to find out the shiest friends. |
| C．Social media can help people connect with others more easily. |
| D．Everyone can be a reporter in the Public Library of Science. |
| A．clear | B．different | C．simple | D．incorrect |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Social Media: To Create Or Not To Create? |
| B．Social Media: Our Friend Or Enemy? |
| C．Social Media: Connecting the World |
| D．Social Media: Making Yourself Heard |
2 . The keys to keeping a healthy weight (体重) are regular (规律的) exercise and good eating habits. It may sound difficult to try to work them into our lives, but in fact, the best way is by making small changes. Here’s the information you need to make healthy habits easy.
Teens (青少年) should get 60 minutes or more of physical activity a day. Notice the word “activity”: as long as you’re getting your body moving, any kind of exercise will do. What’s important is that each week you get the right balance (平衡) of activity, including aerobic, strength building, and stretching exercises. Make exercise a habit by doing some of them every day.
On days when you don’t have football practice or a PE lesson, 60 minutes a day of activity seems like a lot of time for busy students. The good news is that it’s OK to take shorter “exercise breaks” during the day. So get up 15 minutes early and do some stretching. Fast walk for 15 minutes at lunch. Walk or bike home after school.
Eating well doesn’t mean dieting (节食) over and over again. In fact, studies have shown that dieting often doesn’t work—and diets may have the reverse effect, with dieters putting on more weight than before they started.
One reason diets don’t work is because they can make people think of foods as “good” or “bad”, but the truth is, everything is OK in moderation (适量地). Dieters are also more likely to “give up” some foods; we may end up longing for these foods while our bodies don’t get enough (足够的) important nutrients (营养). Teens should eat all kinds of food, and there’s nothing wrong with a treat occasionally. A candy bar somehow tastes more special if we treat ourselves from time to time, not every day.
Try to come up with ways to fit exercise and healthy eating into your life in a way that works for you. We’re all different. Your best friend might like gym time better, while you enjoy walks with your dog in the park. Knowing what’s right for you will make staying at a healthy weight a lot easier!
1. We can work healthy exercise and eating habits into our lives by ________.| A．not giving up easily | B．making small changes | C．learning from our friends |
| A．Teens should go on a diet to get to a healthy weight. |
| B．The key to healthy eating is to give up foods with sugar. |
| C．Teens can get enough physical activity by taking “exercise breaks”. |
| A．sometimes | B．never | C．always |
| A．To tell why teens should play more sports. |
| B．To ask teens to go on diets from time to time. |
| C．To introduce how to make healthy habits easy. |
3 . As your phone’s alarm blares (发出刺耳鸣响), you slowly open one eye. How can it be morning already? It seems like it was only a few hours ago that you finished your homework. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many teens struggle to get enough sleep.
According to the Sleep Foundation, nearly 60 percent of middle school students and more than 70 percent of high school students in the U.S. aren’t getting the recommended (被推荐的) 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep a night. In Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a group of students have formed an organization called Cherry Hill Students for Later School Start Times. It wants local middle and high schools to push back the start of the school day to 8:30 a.m.
In fact, schools in several states have changed to later start times in recent years. Research shows that inadequate (不足的) sleep can negatively affect students’ health and grades. Starting the school day too early can deprive teens of much-needed sleep. Studies show that well-rested teens are more likely to get good grades and less likely to suffer from (患有) depression.
As Aiden Rood, the co-founder of Cherry Hill Students for Later School Start Times, explains, “Kids are healthier in general when they start later, and they do better in school.”
However, not everyone thinks schools should push back the start of the school day.
Many school teachers say delaying (延迟) the start of the school day would create a number of challenges. First, school buses would have to be rescheduled, more money would be needed. There’s also concern (担心) that later school start times could leave some kids walking home in the dark. Changing school hours could also create child care problems for some parents.
In addition, opponents (反对者) say, later school start times would leave teens with fewer hours for after-school activities and homework. That’s what Erin Isherwood, a parent in Chico, California is worried about. The start time at her kids’ high school was pushed back 45 minutes this year. “My son has an exercise class that he absolutely (绝对地) loves at a gym, now he can’t go.” She explains.
1. The words “deprive teens of much-needed sleep” in Paragraph 3 are closest in meaning to ________.| A．provide teens with much-needed sleep | B．increase teens’ much-needed sleep |
| C．take much-needed sleep away from teens | D．talk about teens’ much-needed sleep |
| A．Students can get up early to do more exercise. |
| B．Students can get more knowledge about their health. |
| C．Students can finish their homework more easily. |
| D．Students can get better grades. |
| A．students will have more time for after-school activities |
| B．some students will walk home in the dark |
| C．students will have to take school bus to school |
| D．students will get enough sleep |
| A．Should Your School Day Start Later? | B．When Is the Right Time to Sleep? |
| C．What Can Students Do After School? | D．Is Enough Sleep Good or Bad for Students? |
4 . The experience itself is the best way to learn, because otherwise (否则) it wouldn’t be us who learned, but those who lived the experience. Only through experiences and accenting mistakes and failures (失败) can we move forward.
We could say that life is a journey of learning, and the only way to get the better of it is by living. We never learn through the experiences of others. It is true that at birth we depend on adults to survive (生存) but it is also true that we try our best to have our own experiences to learn, and then grow.
To learn, we need to discover, fail and be right. That is learning by trying and making mistakes until we find our way to success. Since we were very little, we learned more from our own experiences than from the advice of adults. By living the experience itself, we internalize (内化) it meaningfully and deeply. So, most of these teachings will stay in our memory.
If we want to learn, grow and improve ourselves, we are going to fail. However, getting up and moving on makes us stronger, braver and smarter. It gives us a collection of reasons to feel proud. Blaming (指责) ourselves for failing is not accepting our human condition and losing the opportunity to continue learning and moving forward. We could say that the more mistakes we make, the more we are living.
We are becoming stronger after our failures, getting up after falling and getting back on feet even when being wrong hurts. So, the best way is living different experiences, without fear of the result. In order to grow, we must move forward and move on.
Falling is inevitable. We do it from the time we are very small, when we learn to walk, ride a bike. Failing is inevitable when we want to move forward, reach our goals or change something that does not make us happy. However, it is wonderful to learn and discover our power.
1. Which of the following is an example of learning through our own experiences?| A．Depending on adults to grow. |
| B．Following the advice of others. |
| C．Keeping on walking after falling. |
| D．Blaming ourselves for failing. |
| A．We accept ourselves by blaming. |
| B．Failing is the first step of learning. |
| C．Mistakes show the facts we living. |
| D．We make fewer mistakes when growing. |
| A．it’s harmful that we will probably fall |
| B．it’s terrible that we will probably fail |
| C．it’s difficult that we will probably fall |
| D．it’s certain that we will probably fail |
| A．To advise us to learn from our own experiences. |
| B．To show failing is sure to happen while learning. |
| C．To offer us some ideas on how to learn better. |
| D．To suggest we face mistakes more bravely. |
Today, many children spend a lot of their free time playing games on the Internet. In the UK, 99% of kids aged 8 to 15 play video games. They spend almost 14 hours gaming a week. This information tells us that the benefits and dangers of video games must be carefully considered.
For many people, video games are fun. They have bright lights, funny cartoons and exciting stories. Everywhere you look, you can see children playing these games. They play on buses and trains, in restaurants and even at school.
Video games are educational too. They make kids think in a creative way and they have to move their hands and eyes quickly. This can improve the way that a child’s brain works. What’s more, video games make children use their imagination. The player has to do many creative things, like drawing, telling stories and building things. Video games are also good for children to learn about technology because they can learn how computers and other devices work while they play.
However, a recent study suggests that video games can also be bad for children. First, children can download many games for free. This means that parents often don’t know if their children are playing violent (暴力的) or scary (恐怖的) games. Second, many children spend too much time playing games on computers and this can lead to health problems. Third, if children spend too much time playing games instead of doing homework, they can have problems at school and get bad grades. Finally, video games can affect children’s social skills. If children spend too much time playing video games by themselves, they might not learn how to play with their friends.
In conclusion, it seems clear that video games have some advantages and some disadvantages. Parents should know what games their children are playing and how much time they spend on them. Parents should also make sure their children get enough exercise and spend time with other children.
1. How long do kids aged 8 to 15 in the UK spend on video games a week?2. Why are video games fun for many people?
3. What should parents know when their children are playing video games?
4. What do you think of video game playing? Why do you think so? (Please give two reasons.)
6 . Do you want to make dinner by yourself? Cooking isn’t something only a few people can do. Everyone—even children—can learn to enjoy. A study shows that people are healthier when they eat home-made food.
________
Some people think that the kitchen is not a good place for children. They want to keep children safe, and they worry that children will get hurt. There are a lot of sharp (锋利的) and hot things in the kitchen!
But learning to cook may make you safer. When you cook, you learn about what can be dangerous. You find out what to touch (触摸) and how to touch it. As you learn to cook, you can also learn how to keep yourself safe in the kitchen.
So Much to Learn
People may say that they are too busy and don’t have time to teach children to cook. They worry that it will take longer to cook dinner with children in the kitchen. At first, it may take a little more time to help children learn to cook. But they will get better when they practice (练习) more. After some time, they may even help cooking go faster!
You can start by doing easy jobs, such as washing fruits and vegetables. Then you can try making cold foods, such as salads. Later, with the help of an adult (成人), you can start making hot meals.
Cooking also helps with schoolwork. You need to use maths to work out how much money you save when you cook at home. When you read a recipe (菜谱), you can learn new words. You may not see them in schoolwork.
Be Creative (有创造力的)
Part of cooking is learning to make food look good to eat. When food looks good, people think it tastes (尝起来) better. Making food look good is a way of being creative. You can arrange (排列) fruits or vegetables by color. Or you can make a pancake with a funny face of berries for eyes and a mouth!
Not everyone will become a cook. But everyone can learn to cook. What other thing teaches so much and tastes so good?
1. Which of the following would be the best heading for Paragraph 2?| A．Be Busy in the Kitchen. | B．Be Happy in the Kitchen. |
| C．Be Careful in the Kitchen. | D．Be Helpful in the Kitchen. |
| A．People don’t enjoy cooking because it takes a long time. |
| B．Children are creative at making food look good. |
| C．Healthy and delicious food is more popular. |
| D．Cooking is good for children’s studies. |
| A．children should eat healthy food | B．children should learn how to cook |
| C．people can cook faster without children helping | D．people should make the kitchen safe for children |
7 . At the end of many sports events and competitions, all the contestants are honored for their effort. But in a world where not everyone can be a winner, does getting a consolation prize（安慰奖）actually improve a child’s self-esteem?
Participation awards have been around for at least 100 years, but lately they have come under fire for killing children’s sense of competition. Yet that is exactly the opposite of what these medals do for little ones, says psychologist and parenting coach Emily Pagone.
When preschoolers and kindergartners compete, they don’t know the expectations adults have for them, Pagone says. Offering them a trophy（奖杯）or medal can highlight the skills that the losers showed and encourage the sportsmanship of all the players.
But what really makes a participation award worthwhile is the conversation that comes with it. “When the caregivers around the children recognize their abilities, talents and strengths, children are placed in a position to learn about the expectations of the situation. And pointing out what kids do well can also build their self-confidence.” Pagone says.
Still, there is one problem with this system: students may rely too much on rewards from outside sources to motivate themselves. It’s valuable for them to play soccer not only because they want to earn something to decorate their rooms, but also because they enjoy the sport. They won’t always get prizes for doing their best, so it’s important to build an inner desire to push through challenging times.
For this reason, Pagone recommends discontinuing the use of participation awards around first grade. But not all experts agree that is best. Positive feedback can also benefit older kids and adults, keeping them coming back to their hobby even after a tough practice or season, says Kelly LaPorte, clinical director at a counseling center. That lesson of celebrating the effort and not just the result remains important throughout a person’s life.
Trophies and medals for preteens and teens should also be paired with conversations, particularly to prepare them to deal with loss. Sometimes this means letting them take a five-minute walk to calm down after a match. Other times it just requires allowing them to express their feelings. A “perfect world” would include participation awards for kids and postgame reflections with caregivers and coaches.
1. What do participation awards do to little children according to Pagone?| A．They kill their sense of competition. | B．They encourage sportsmanship of all players. |
| C．They meet kids’ expectations for the game. | D．They make players ignore the sports skills. |
| A．They get in the way of helping children build self-confidence. |
| B．They might prevent kids from building an inner desire for the sport. |
| C．They benefit both little children, older kids and adults in learning. |
| D．Their value lies in that they celebrate the effort rather than the result. |
| A．They are more beneficial than harmful. | B．They are more harmful than beneficial. |
| C．They can be effective but have limitations. | D．They should be replaced with conversations. |
| A．Are Participation Awards Still Necessary? | B．How Do Participation Awards Impact Children? |
| C．What is the Myth about Participation Awards? | D．Why Should Participation Awards be Abandoned? |
To Have a Not-to-do List
Like most people, you probably have a to-do list to help you finish a task. However, I would also suggest you make a not-to-do list. This list works well with the to-do list and it might be even more important. Let me explain.
This is Mike. He loves video games and plays them every day. But he also has an important exam coming up. So Mike puts studying on his to-do list. That day, Mike picked up the books and studied for half an hour. Then he took a short break and played some games. However, he got so into the game that he played for three hours.
The next day, Mike took on the challenge of studying in a different way. He decided to make a not-to-do list as well. And what he wrote down was, “No video games until 7:00 pm.” Mike went to study, did it for half an hour, and then took a break. However, he didn’t get on his computer like the day before because he didn’t allow himself to play at that time. Instead, he drank a glass of water. Then he returned to studying for three hours more on that day.
Mike realized that having no restrictions (限制) was the problem. He was always choosing between work and free time. Because enjoying himself was an easier choice, hardly any work got done as a result. So Mike made a not-to-do list.
Sometimes what you choose not to do matters more than what you decide to do. We shouldn’t just limit our “bad” behaviors but our “good” behaviors as well. For example, practicing the piano could be considered a good habit. But when you have other more important things in the moment, the piano becomes nothing more than a distraction (注意力分散). However, there’s one thing that should never end up on your not-to-do list. That is to learn something new every day.
1. What did Mike write on his not-to-do list?2. How long did Mike study the next day?
3. According to Paragraph 4, what problem did Mike realize?
4. Would you like to make a “not-to-do list”? Why or why not? (At least two reasons.)
9 . Being Authoritative(权威的) Parents
Phrases like “tiger mom” and “helicopter parent” have made their way into everyday language.
Many of us find ourselves drawn to the idea that with just a bit more parental hard work and effort, we might turn out children with bright futures. But is there anything wrong with a kind of “overparenting style”?
Parental involvement has a long history of being studied. Many of the studies, carried out by Diana Baumrind, a famous psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a good parent is the one who is involved and reacts to her child in a positive way, who sets high expectations but gives her child independence. These “authoritative parents” appear to hit the sweet spot of parental involvement and generally raise children who do better academically, psychologically and socially than children whose parents are not strict and less involved, or controlling and more involved.Why is this parenting style so successful?
Authoritative parents actually help improve motivation in their children Carol Daeck, a social phychologist at Stanford University, has done research that shows why authoritative parents raise mote motivated children. In a typical experiment, Dr. Dweck takes young children into a room and asks them to solve a simple puzzle. Most do so with little difficulty. But then Dr Dweck tells some, but not all, of the kids how clever they are. As it turns out, the children who are got told they’re smart are more motivated to solve increasingly difficulty puzzles. They also show higher levels of confidence and show greater progress in puzzle-solving.
As the experiment suggests, praising children’s talents and abilities seems to shake their confidence. Dealing with more difficult puzzles carries the risk of losing one’s status as “smart”. Dr. Dweck’s work strongly supports that of Dr. Baumrind, who also found that reasonably supporting a child’s independence and limiting interference(干涉) causes better academic(学术的) and emotional results.
The central task of growing up is to develop a sense of self that is independent and confident. If you treat your young child who is just learning to walk as if she can’t walk, you reduce her confidence. Allowing children to make mistakes is one of the greatest challenges of parenting. It is easier when they are young. The potential mistakes carry greater risks, and part of being a parent is reducing risk for our children.
1. According to the passage, a “tiger mom” ________.| A．helps her children realize their dreams | B．pays close attention to her children’s experiences |
| C．places reasonable expectations on her children | D．speaks her children’s everyday language |
| A．cause more problems in children | B．develop independence in children |
| C．face more challenges of children | D．lead to children’s academic success |
| A．a good game plays a big role in training young minds |
| B．bright children usually show less confidence in difficult games |
| C．puzzle-solving can give children the motivation they need |
| D．overpraising makes children less motivated and confident |
| A．children should not be given much freedom |
| B．parents should not increase the risk of challenging |
| C．children should correct mistakes with the help of their parents |
| D．parents should allow their children to learn from mistakes |
10 . Many people have talked about whether or not computing machines can think. Can they or can’t they?
Almost certainly, a machine can do any work in thinking that a person can do—if the correct way for doing the thinking work can be told exactly. Besides, many programs have been made to direct machines so that they work in very clever ways. Machines have been taught to play chess and to learn from what happens in the games so as to make their play better and better. Machines can beat many persons who play chess. Machines can translate from one language to another. They can prove statements. In geometry(几何) as taught in school. Machines can notice printed marks on paper, so that a person is no longer needed to look at the marks.
Computers can be used in many ways, such as business, science, industry, and government. Computers study oil-field examinations made by airplanes; they keep record of oil sales; they study the working condition of the machines; they help in planning and producing oil; and much more.
If people cannot tell exactly the correct way to do certain work in thinking, it is still a question how much of this work a machine can do. Suppose a person is “teaching” the machine and telling the machine “yes” when the machine is right, and “no” when the machine is wrong. Then the machine can keep on searching among possible ways for solving a problem-until the machine can do as well as the person, and perhaps much better.
But, what is thinking? People can agree about much that is thinking, and much that is not thinking; but they can’t reach agreement because the word “think” is not a scientific word with an exact meaning. A lot of the discussion is wasted breath because the persons are using different meanings of the word “think”.
People, however, have only had experience with machines that appear to think since 1944. It would be too early to say that after the next 200 years, machines will not be thinking. And to consider that machines can think gives people a big push to give to machines more and more work in thinking.
1. The underlined part in paragraph three is about computers used in ________.| A．education | B．industry | C．sports | D．government |
| A．There is much to say about thinking. | B．People discuss a lot about thinking. |
| C．People already know what thinking is. | D．There is no answer to what thinking is. |
| A．What Is Thinking? | B．Can Machines Be Taught to Think? |
| C．Can Machines Think? | D．Can Machines Beat All Checkers Players? |
