These days, short videos and live streaming （网络直播）have gotten millions of views online. More and more people create and share short videos on popular apps like Douyin and Kuaishou to show parts of their lives.
Using live streaming is popular among the people aged 18 to 35. Even the teachers give lessons by live streaming. Besides leaving reviews on the screen, viewers can also communicate directly with the hosts by buying virtual（虚拟的）gifts such as flowers, toys and cars for them online. The most recent famous example was the Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui. She did one-hour live streaming which reached more than 11 million viewers.
What’s more, live streaming allows users to communicate with strangers and express themselves. A 19-year-old college student called Nic Li says she spends three to four hours each week chatting and singing with viewers through one app called Ingkee. “Sometimes I feel lonely and want to talk to people,” she says, “I feel nice when viewers are paying attention to me.”
However, as there are more than 80 apps and 300 websites for live streaming in China, the Internet regulator（监管机构）almost can’t monitor the content（内容）all the time.
“We support the use of live streaming. But people should be aware of the two sides of it,” one of the officials said.
1. What do more and more people show by sharing videos on apps?2. How do viewers communicate with hosts?
3. Why is Nic Li’s example mentioned?
4. It isn’t difficult for the Internet regulator to monitor the content all the time, is it?
5. What should people be aware of when using live streaming?
Screen-Free Days
I remember the first time I suggested screen-free days in our school to some of our student leaders. Jokingly, I said to the group, “What do you think if we go a week without using our laptops or smartphones?”
They laughed, and one of them said, “No way, Mr. White. They would be too much.” I could feel their worry, and told them that I was only considering single screen-free days. Even that idea left them feeling upset.
According to a survey we did, most students in our school spend about six hours a day on screens. Many of my students start their day by checking their smartphones. I often see them looking at their phones when getting off the bus or at parents’ drop-off, they can’t use their own “screens” at school. They usually work on computers at school for at least two hours during the day.
It’s clear that our students spend a lot of time on screens. We do see the benefits of technology. However, we teachers also want to make sure that students have balanced learning and social experiences away from their screens. That’s why we have come up with the idea of screen-free days.
During the course of the year, we have built in several screen-free days that require us to make different plans for our students about how they will communicate with one another and the world around them without “screens”. For some teachers, this means bringing back a valuable lesson plan that has been put off for some time because it is “out of date”. Others have designed something completely new.
Fun activities, for example, card games and room escape(密室逃脱) games, are organized at school. In these activities, students socialize without smartphones and have face-to-face communication without checking on “likes” they’ve got online. These fun activities also make it possible for the whole grade to enjoy the company of their friends with no smartphones.
After our first screen-free day, students mentioned that they were surprised they enjoyed it. Finding ways to help our students connect with one another is important.
While technology is already part of our world, it shouldn’t play such an important role in a learner’s life.
1. How many hours do most students in the school spend on screens every day?___________________________________________________________________
2. Why have the teachers come up with the idea of screen-free days?
___________________________________________________________________
3. What fun activities can the students have at school?
___________________________________________________________________
4. How did the students feel after the first screen-free day?
___________________________________________________________________
5. What do you think of the idea of screen-free days? Why do you think so?
___________________________________________________________________
Cooking should be considered as art just like any other activity which requires skills and knowledge. It is often said that students are supposed to learn scientific facts as well as how to prepare meals. The following will explain why cooking should be taught in schools.
Cooking is an important skill in life.
Schools are supposed to teach knowledge to the students so that they can lead successful independent lives when they are out of school. Also, they can step into the world knowing how to make a living.
Cooking helps discover future career.
When schools offer cooking lessons, students will show an interest in it and might take cooking as a career. This will give them the chance to perfect their basic skills and be creative in the kitchen.
Cooking avoids wasting money.
One of the main reasons why cooking should be taught in schools is that the students always use a lot of money to buy ready-made food, while in the real sense they could prepare a nice meal with less cost by buying the required ingredients.
Cooking betters math learning.
Schools do not just teach how to prepare delicious meals. Students are also taught to follow the instructions in a standard when mixing ingredients. If it is, ‘add 1/4 spoon of salt,’ students should only add that amount. So there is no more or less.
Cooking Should Be Taught in Schools. | ||
| Opinion | Students should learn scientific knowledge and cooking skills. | |
| An important skill in life | ·Students can lead independent lives ·Students can depend on themselves for basic living after graduation. | |
| Discovering future career. | ·Students might be ·Students can perfect their basic skills and be creative in the kitchen. | |
| Students can prepare nice dishes with less cost. | ||
| Bettering math Learning | Students are taught to follow the instructions | |
Music is a big part of our lives. But some US schools have cut music classes in recent years. For example, Chicago public schools hurt arts education when it fired（解雇）over 1, 000 teachers. Among them, 10 percent of the teachers taught art or music, according to The Washington Times.
In fact, this is not just a problem in the US. In other countries, such as China and the UK, music classes are not thought to be as important as other subjects like science, math and history. That’s because music is not seen as a very important life skill, and it isn’t tested. Many students are busy with schoolwork, so parents and students choose to focus on（专注于）subjects that are tested more often.
However, music education is very important for all students. Music helps with math and science. Students learn to count and how to divide. Students also use science to help them discover what sounds good together and what doesn’t. Students can learn a lot about languages through music. Many songs are written in other languages. Students must learn to translate these works to understand what they are singing about. Students can also learn about art. Some famous pieces are written about important pieces of art, and students learn about the artists as they’re playing the music.
Music education brings higher thinking to our children. It allows them to think about complex（复杂的）patterns. Students have to sense what every other musician does at every time.
Students also learn plenty of cooperation（协作）of body parts through music. It is not as simple as it looks. For example, when playing the piano, people see music notes and decode（解码）them in their brains. They also use their fingers to make sounds.
| Music Education | |
| Fact | Music is thought to be |
| Music is not seen as a very important life skill. It isn’t tested so parents and students | |
| The writer’s opinion | Music education is important for all students. |
| Importance | Music can help students improve their Music brings higher thinking to our children. Music helps students’ body parts |
Sun Jiarui, a 10-year-old girl from Jiangsu Province, recently went popular for her cooking skills. What makes people surprised is that she can cook more than 50 dishes now.
Jiarui’s father, Sun Yadong is a cook, he runs a farm restaurant in Wuxi. “My daughter just grew up in the kitchen.” says he,“She started helping out with housework when she was around 4 or 5. When she was 8, she asked me to teach her to cook after school. It’s not bad for her to master some life skills, and she can take good care of herself when she grows up.” Sun Yadong adds.
Jiarui is famous for her cooking in her school. “We have set up a cooking studio (工作室) at school and Sun Jiarui is one of the ‘teachers’,” says Li Hua, the headmaster of the school, Jiarui teaches the students who are interested in cooking to make simple dishes.“It’s a great thing for students to experience the joy of cooking and the fruits of their labor.” says Li, “This will finally help develop their love for life.”
1. Where is Sun Jiarui from?2. How many dishes can Sun Jiarui cook now?
3. When did Sun Jiarui start helping out with housework?
4. What is Sun Jiarui famous for in her school?
5. Is Sun Jiarui’s father a cook or a teacher?
6 . The topic of China’s “slash youth”(斜杠青年) has become hot on social media recently, drawing attention to the different pursuits(追求) of the younger generation.
The slash youth means those who refuse to be accepted by just one personal identity(身份). They like to present themselves as different identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and excellent singer, and an engineer and band player. Rather than comfortable life, they pursue meaningful achievement.
A different career can make them develop new experiences and talents. What’s more, they can get other people’s recognition(承认) and they can have a sense of satisfaction themselves.
A study on “slash youth” published in the China Youth Research magazine talks about the background of this phenomenon(现象): with part of modern society’s usual organization and stability norms(稳定的规范) are broken, flexible labor(灵活的劳动力) markets has appeared. Young people also face the difficult time of self-development, including the sense of powerlessness, lost sense of value in the job, which forces them to re-find the meaning of work.
“The slash life shows that our society is changing better and better in some ways, and it welcomes everyone’s self-development,” said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. “Young people no longer have to depend on work and money for their sense of self-development. They would like to create their own identities.” The researcher added that against the background that people have different interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the slash life of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy(经济) and its development.
| Slash Youth | |
| Definition （定义） | The slash youth have more than one personal identity and hope to make meaningful achievement instead of living |
| Different careers can make them develop new experiences and talents. Different careers can make other people recognize them. Different careers can make them feel | |
| Background | Part of modern society’s usual organization and stability norms are broken, flexible labor markets has appeared. Young people have no |
| Influence | As our society changes better and better, it welcomes everyone’s self-development. Young people would like to create their own identities because they no longer have to depend on work and money for their sense of self-development. The slash life of the youth would get a new economy to |
We all know that reading books builds a bridge between our life and the unknown world. In our country, people read books at any time. They enjoy reading books even when they’re on a break at the beach, or relaxing from a hike. Good reading habits lead you to a lifelong love of books. Here are some tips on how to develop good reading habits.
Choose the books which suit you. In most middle schools, teachers give students a reading list every few weeks. Most books are easy to read, like youth novels. The students themselves can also buy books which they’re interested in or the best-selling books.
Reading in short periods. 15 minutes after getting to school, 15 minutes while waiting for friends, 15 minutes before going to sleep. Then you can read books for about five hours every week in total.
Talk about your reading with your family or friends. This helps you have a better understanding.
How to | |
| What to read | 1. Read the books which 2. Read the books that you’re interested in. 3. Read the books which can be the best-selling. |
| 1. Read after getting to school. 2. Read while waiting for friends. 3. Read before going to sleep. The | |
| Who to talk with | Talk about your reading with your family or friends. This helps you |
Did you know that years have their own colors? Pantone Color Institute is an organization that gives companies advice about color. And every year, it picks one that represents trends(趋势) in international culture.
This year, Pantone’s color is a bright shade of green that it calls “greenery”. Greenery makes people think of nature and growth. The color represents hope of changing one’s life for the better or care for the environment.
Red, orange and yellow are considered “warm” colors while blue, green and purple are “cool”. But greenery has elements(元素) of both; it’s green, but it also includes a lot of yellow. This makes it able to go well with many other colors.
Pantone’s researchers start choosing the color of the year about nine months before the year begins. They look for a color that is already being used more and more often. To decide the color of the year, they look beyond fashion and home decorating. They study art, movies and lots of other things. They pick one color they expect to stay popular and announce their choice in December for the following year.
You’re likely to see greenery a lot. When you do, let it encourage you to enjoy nature and start something new.
| Title: Greenery, the Color of the | |
| Who picked the color? | An organization |
| What is the color like? | It includes both green and yellow, so it goes It represents hope of changing for a better life or care for the environment. |
| Pantone’s researchers start choosing it early each year. They look for a color that is already getting more and more popular. They do a lot of research in different areas before they make the | |
9 . DNA is the whole “map” of the human body. It is something that all humans have, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our parents, because we get some of their DNA to make our own.
People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time. In 1860, Mr. Mendel discovered why we look similar to other people in our family. It is because of small things called “genes” in our body. In 1953, two scientists, Watson and Crick, found out that those small parts are real messages. They are written in the DNA with a special language.
In 1961, another two scientists found the first “word” that they could understand in that language. It shows how DNA tells the cell （细胞） to build its parts. So far, scientists have found all the words in the DNA map, but we do not understand what they all do. By understanding what just one “word” means, we can help to save people from several illnesses. So the more we understand, the more doctors will be able to do.
Most people hope that this will help to make better medicine to help sick people. Other people worry that when we learn more “words” and find out more information, we will use it in the wrong way, just to make people more attractive, or stop sick people getting jobs.
根据短文内容，请用完整句子回答下列问题。
1. Why do we look like our parents?
2. What did the two scientists find in 1961?
3. How can we help sick people if we understand more “words” in the DNA map?
4. What does the underlined word “They” refer to?
5. What can we know from the last paragraph?
10 . These days, the word “taikonaut” is hot in the world. It is a special name for Chinese astronauts. Today, let’s meet one of them—Deng Qingming.
In1998, Deng Qingming became a member of the first group of Chinese astronauts. For the next 25 years, he was always ready to fly. He waited and waited. At the age of 56, Deng’s dream finally came true. Not long ago, he joined Shenzhou-15’s team and went into space.
Shenzhou-15’s team spent six months in space. After they met with Shenzhon-14’s team, they took over their job. They helped complete the Tiangong Space Station, do some science experiments and go on spacewalks.
The journey to his dream took a very long time. Deng once felt sad and hurt, but he never gave up. He worked hard all the time and finally his dream came true. The trip to space was not only exciting for Deng, but also for his family and friends. His daughter, who also works for China’s Space Program, said with pride, “My father is a hero!”
根据短文内容，请用完整句子回答下列问题。1. When did Deng Qingming become an astronaut?
2. How old was Deng Oingming when he flew to space?
3. How long did Deng Qingming stay in space?
4. What does Deng’s daughter think of him?
5. What do you think made Deng’s dream come true?
