1 . Goldfish have pretty boring lives, so maybe it’s a good thing they can only concentrate for nine seconds! But according to new research, humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span (时长) is getting shorter...and it’s all because of technology.
“We move quickly from one site to another on the web, ”says Doctor Ted Selker, a computer scientist from Massachusetts, “and we are losing the ability to concentrate.” With millions of websites to choose from, the attention span of the average internet user is just seconds. There are other digital distractions (分心) too: email, instant messaging and quickie movies on websites. Some people are worried about the effect on young people. “You need time to understand and think about what you read,” says Julia Wood, from London. “Young people search the net all the time and their brains become full of useless information but there is no time to make sense of it. I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer.”
Other teachers are trying more unusual methods to improve students’ concentration. Anne Savan, from Wales, was so worried about her students that she started playing Mozart during her science lessons. She says that it had an amazing effect: “The music made them calmer, and their concentration was much better.”
But not everyone believes that there is a problem. Ray Cole, an educational psychologist says: “On the web, young people learn to make quick decisions about what is and isn’t worth reading.
They might look at five unhelpful websites very quickly, before stopping and reading a sixth useful website more carefully. In a world with so much information available, this is an important skill.”
1. Why does the writer mention “goldfish”?| A．To analyze data. | B．To introduce a topic. |
| C．To settle problems. | D．To suggest a way out. |
| A．Skipping around the internet. | B．Time to digest information. |
| C．Traditional methods of reading. | D．Making decisions. |
| A．Receiving emails. | B．Texting messages. |
| C．Reading more books. | D．Watching quickie movies. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Supportive. |
2 . I have been dancing since I was 14 years old, when my best friend dragged me to an after-school dance class. I enjoyed that dance class so much that I have been dancing ever since. After every dance class, however, I always have to stretch out my legs and back to make myself relaxed! It feels like as much exercise as going to the gym---but dancing is not widely considered to be a sport. Does that dancing is expressive and artistic mean that it is not a sport?
Some dancers would argue that dancing is a sport, as it requires great physical stamina, strong muscles and impressive flexibility. No matter what style of dance you are participating in, you will always be using all of your muscles while dancing and this can often be for several hours a day. Additionally, in the more traditional dance style (like ballet), men often lift their female dance partners high in the air. That means the dancers are often just as athletic as footballers, runners or swimmers.
On the other hand, many people argue that dance is an art form. Dance often exhibit emotion, represent characters and tell stories. Dancing to music is creative and visually appealing to the eyes and ears, just like watching a play or a professional show. The shiny costumes, the stage make-up and the big hairstyles are artistic and imaginative. It is easy to see why many people consider dance to be an art form.
I personally believe that dance is both a sport and an art. I believe that a great dancer will be a mixture of an athlete and an artist. You could have the strongest muscles in the world but not necessarily be a great dancer. Likewise, you could be a great actress who can express emotions easily but you still might not be able to dance. However, whether you consider dance to be an art or a sport, the important thing is to enjoy it! Dancing is a great way to make new friends and it’s a really fun way to exercise!
1. Why does the author think having a dance class is like taking exercise?| A．Because she finds it also needs physical effort. |
| B．Because she takes interest in dancing as well as in sport. |
| C．Because she should do much exercise before dancing. |
| D．Because she finds dancing has hurt her legs and backs. |
| A．activity | B．shape |
| C．strength | D．condition |
| A．Topic—Comparison—Opinion. |
| B．Opinion—Discussion—Effect. |
| C．Main idea—Argument—Discussion. |
| D．Introduction—Supporting Examples—Conclusion. |
| A．Having a large amount of exercise. |
| B．Being creative and imaginative. |
| C．Requiring great physical strength. |
| D．Creating emotions accurately. |
3 . Cruz Genet, 11, and Anthony Skopick, 10, couldn’t agree. Were the birds out on the ice ducks or geese? So on a cold January evening last year, the two friends ventured (冒险) onto the frozen pond near their homes in Frankfort, Illinois, to get a better look. First, they threw a rock onto the ice to test it, Cruz told NBC 5 Chicago. “Then we stepped on it.” Convinced the ice would hold their weight, Anthony took a few steps, but then he fell through the seemingly frozen surface.
Cruz rushed to help his panicked friend. However, the pond swallowed him, too. Cruz managed to lift himself out of the extremely cold water and onto a more solid section. He then gingerly worked his way toward Anthony. But the ice didn’t hold, and he fell in again. This ime, he couldn’t get out.
The boys were up to their necks in icy water and quickly losing feeling. Any chance of their freeing themselves was slipping away. Cruz was sure that he was going to die.
Anthony’s older sister had seen the boys fall through the ice and started screaming, wishing someone to save them.
John Lavin, a neighbor driving nearby on his way to the grocery store, heard her. He quickly pulled over. Seeing the boys, he grabbed (抓住) a nearby buoy (救生圈), kicked off his shoes, and ran into the cold water, struggling his way through the ice. Lavin made his way to Cruz and Anthony and pulled them back to land.
The boys were taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered that their five- minute stay in the water had lowered their body temperature nearly ten degrees. Fortunately, they have fully recovered, though they are still a little amazed by their fearless neighbor. “Just to think,” says Cruz, “if he hadn’t been there, I could have died.”
1. Why did the boys venture onto the frozen pond?| A．To have a better look at the frozen pond. |
| B．To catch the birds in the pond with rocks. |
| C．To find out what the birds on the ice were. |
| D．To test the thickness of the ice in the pond. |
| A．Casually. | B．Proudly. |
| C．Firmly. | D．Cautiously. |
| A．Anthony’s older sister’s cry for help. | B．Cruz’s loud and frightening scream. |
| C．Their shoes along the nearby pond. | D．Their neighbors’ pulling them back. |
| A．Hard-working and helpful. | B．Warm-hearted and courageous. |
| C．Curious and selfless. | D．Active and generous. |
4 . Parts of Africa are covered by a dark cloud. But this is no rain cloud. It is a living cloud made of billions of locusts (蝗虫) that are traveling across the continent eating everything in their path.
And now in the battle to stop this disaster, a radio station in Senegal, West Africa, is offering listeners 50 kilograms of rice if they can catch and kill 50 kilograms of locusts. “We think this idea will get more people to take part in the war on the locusts,” said Abdoulaye Ba, from Sud-Fm, a radio station in one of Senegal’s worst affected area.
This is West Africa’s biggest locust disaster in 15 years, and it is moving east, causing huge damage to crops. As they move they produce young and increase their number and will soon threaten (威胁) Sudan in the northeast of Africa. Some say it could reach Asia.
Experts say the harmful effect on crops in areas already suffering from food shortage and war could cause many people to go hungry. Governments in the areas are not well equipped to fight the pest.
Although leaders of 12 countries have agreed on a plan, it is not expected to be enough. “We are now treating 6,000 hectares (公顷) per day with pesticide (杀虫剂), but we need to treat 20,000 hectares per day in order to have any hope of controlling this disaster,” said Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah, director of locust control in Mauritania.
Requests are being made for international aid, which is the only way to limit the disaster, the UN’s Food and Agricul-ture Organization warned.
1. By using “dark cloud” to describe locusts in the first paragraph, the author of the article ________.| A．showed the size and speed of the mass of locusts |
| B．suggested the great damage that locusts can cause |
| C．warned that locusts would sweep the continent like rain clouds |
| D．both A and B |
| A．West Africa’s united effort in fighting a disaster |
| B．the difficulty in controlling locusts |
| C．how locusts caused great damage to West Africa |
| D．a struggle to fight against a disaster brought by locusts in West Africa |
| A．Sud-Fm offered a reward for fighting locusts so that more people would join in the effort. |
| B．Senegal is to the southwest of Sudan. |
| C．The locusts can cause such damage mainly because it has no natural enemy in West Africa. |
| D．12 countries affected by locusts have united but still lack pesticide. |
5 . Smart cities are coming. And you can be sure that hackers(黑客) won’t be very far behind.
We’ve already gotten a glimpse of that future, as cities across the globe start to use technology to connect their services and residents in ways that was science fiction just a few years ago. They are using sensors to collect data — such as traffic, garbage collecting, and road conditions —and then using that data to deliver services to more people and more efficiently.
But this rush to become a smart city has a major drawback: The more connected a city is, the easier it is to cyber-attacks. Hackers have, in recent years, effectively held cities hostage through ransom ware(赎金器), sometimes damaging critical systems for months at a time. The damage can cost millions to repair, as Baltimore and Atlanta have discovered.
And this is just the beginning. As cities add connectivity to their streetlights, power grids, dams, transit lines and other services, they are adding more targets that have the potential to be hacked. What’s more, as additional information on residents is collected, officials worry the result —lots of data could attract nation-states or terrorists who could incorporate the data into physical and cyber war.
What cyber security lesson can’t be taught in this hack? For example: Don’t open email attachments from unfamiliar sources; don’t click on unrecognized links; don’t leave sensitive information visible on the walls or surfaces of your office. But let’s just stick to the most important lesson: The information you share on social media can be used to profile and target you, whether that’s by engineering click bait(点击诱饵) aimed at your particular interests, guessing your password based on your birthday or figuring out your schedule and travels so that an intruder can access your home or office.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
1. What did people use to think of smart cities?| A．It was the product of science. | B．It was bound to be popular. |
| C．It existed in imagination. | D．It improved people’s life. |
| A．Introduce the harm of hackers. | B．Show the danger of a smart city. |
| C．Add some background information. | D．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| A．It is convenient to provide service. |
| B．It is certain to bring about revolution. |
| C．There are actually potential dangers. |
| D．There’s competition in high technology. |
| A．Describe. | B．Protect. | C．Pursue. | D．Fund. |
6 . There have been many great inventions that changed the way we live. The first great invention was one that is still very important today—the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel long distances. For hundreds of years after that there were few inventions that had as much effect as the wheel. Then in the early 1800’s the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People did not have to explore much anymore. They began to work instead to make life better. In the second half of the 19th century many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the electric light and the radio. These all became a big part of our life today.
The first part of the 20th century saw more great inventions. The helicopter in 1909. Movies with sound in 1926. The computer in 1928. And jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wear. The middle part of the 20th century brought new ways to help people get over disease. They worked very well. They made people healthier and let them live longer lives. By the 1960’s most people could expect to live to be at least 60. By this time most people had a very good life.
Of course new inventions continued to be made. But man now had a desire to explore again. The world was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then the United States took a step. Since then other countries, including China and Japan, have made their steps into space. In 1969 man took his biggest step away from the earth. Americans first walked on the moon. This is certainly just a beginning, though.
New inventions will someday allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.
1. Why did the world start to change in the early 1800’s?| A．Because there were few inventions that had as much effect as the wheel for hundreds of years. |
| B．Because people began to work to make life better instead of exploring unknown world. |
| C．Because there was little unknown land left in the world. |
| D．Because people did not have to explore much anymore. |
| A．helicopters, computers, jet planes, nylon | B．new materials |
| C．new ways to help people get over disease | D．people |
| A．Going into space is a dream for man to realize. |
| B．Man wanted to move to other stars. |
| C．Other countries wanted to follow Russia. |
| D．Other countries wanted to catch up with America. |
7 . Technology offers conveniences such as opening the garage door from your car or changing the television station without touching the TV.
Now one American company is offering its employees a new convenience: a microchip implanted (植入) in their hands. Employees who have these chips can do all kinds of things just by waving their hands. Three Square Market is offering to implant microchips in all of their employees for free. Each chip costs $300 and Three Square Market will pay for the chip. Employees can volunteer to have the chips implanted in their hands. About 50 out of 80 employees have chosen to do so. The president of the company, his wife and their children are also getting chips implanted in their hands.
The chip is about the size of a grain of rice. Implanting the chip only takes about a second and is said to hurt only very briefly. The chips go under the skin between the thumb and forefinger. With a chip in the hand, a person can enter the office building, buy food, sign into computers and more, simply by waving that hand near a scanner. The chips will be also used to identify employees. Employees who want convenience, but do not want to have a microchip implanted under their skin, can wear a wristband (腕带) or a ring with a chip instead. They can perform the same tasks with a wave of their hands as if they had an implanted chip.
Three Square Market is the first company in the United States to offer to implant chips in its employees. Epicenter, a company in Sweden, has been implanting chips in its employees for a while.
Three Square Market says the chip cannot track the employees. The company says scanners can read the chips only when they are within a few inches of them. “The chips protect against identity theft, similar, to credit cards.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the chips back in 2004, so they should be safe for humans, according to the company.
In the future, people with the chips may be able to do more with them, even outside the office. Todd Westby is Chief Executive Officer of Three Square Market. He says, “Eventually, this technology will become standardized allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities, etc.”
1. What is the third paragraph mainly about?| A．The substitutes of the chips. |
| B．The advantages of the chips. |
| C．The places to implant the chips. |
| D．The potential risks of implanting the chips. |
| A．the hands | B．the employees | C．the credit cards | D．the scanners |
| A．the chips are very popular among the employees |
| B．the chips have magic powers |
| C．the price of the chips is reasonable |
| D．most people suspect the application of the chips |
| A．Defensive. | B．Disappointing. | C．Optimistic. | D．Casual. |
8 . Learning English as a second language for non-native English speakers is not an easy task. One needs to spend a considerable(相当多的) time before you could speak or write it. There are only two ways to learn the English language or any other language.
The first way is very expensive. If you notice, a person moves to another country and stays there for a couple of years and then goes back to his home non-native speaking country, the person becomes accustomed to speaking English. This is the most effective way of learning to speak and write a language unfamiliar to you.
The learner learns the language because he / she is forced to do so and there is no other language being used. Not to mention that the learner should adapt to the environment. It is all started from listening. This is the process how language is acquired if you will stay long in a foreign country.
The second way is the traditional way of learning English as a second language at school. Obviously, this is cheaper than the first, but it needs a considerable time before you learn the language. Today, there are different language centres offering their services for people to learn the language in your own country. They have all the materials needed because, compared to the first, they’re affordable and reasonable.
Nowadays, learning English as a second language is a global trend. Since the English language is used in most of business transactions (交易) you may need it, too. Otherwise you will not go along with the future trends that will arise.
1. The most effective way of learning a second language is to ______.| A．learn it from native speakers |
| B．spend a lot of time |
| C．practice more |
| D．stay in a speaking country for several days |
| A．needs much time |
| B．is economical and practical |
| C．is simple and practical |
| D．is effective and reasonable |
| A．go to a middle school |
| B．study at a language centre |
| C．communicate with more people |
| D．have a foreign teacher |
| A．learning foreign languages is easy |
| B．there are more than five ways to learn foreign languages |
| C．family environment is very helpful for learning foreign languages |
| D．learning a foreign language is good for your future career |
9 . What I wish I had known at 18
As this year’s new intake of students begin university life, we asked speakers at the FT’s Weekend Festival — authors, comedians, academics and FT columnists — to tell us what they wish they had known when they were 18, and for their tips on getting the most out of university.
Martin Wolf, FT chief economics commentator
The answer to that question ‘what do you wish you had known at 18?’ is nothing. I already knew that university was going to be very exciting, intellectually rewarding as it turned out to be for me — I was at Oxford for six years. It changed me very profoundly intellectually. I’m sure I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and if I look back on my life now — this is more than 50 years ago — all pleasure and excitement comes out of the things you never expected.
Jamie Susskind, barrister and author of ‘Future Politics’
The first people you meet are not necessarily going to be your best friends - don’t worry about it. Don’t get caught up in trying to go to the parties everyone’s expected to go to, rather, try to find people with whom you can forge close connections and who will be with you decades afterwards. You may identify them by doing more listening than speaking. When a lot of people get to university, understandably, they want to tell their new friends who they are and where they are from — but it’s as important to listen, and drink in all these incredibly different people from backgrounds that are completely unlike your own.
Phil Wang, comedian
Break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, don’t stay together. Leave everyone behind. Your love is not special, there’s a wider world out there and you should take advantage of it. Also, join some societies. I didn’t do that, and I wish I had. It’s possible to feel that you don’t deserve to be there. You should be aware that everybody feels that way. Either have a balanced experience or excel at something, but don’t be mediocre at one thing. If you’re going to be average, at least be average at a bunch of things so you have a full experience.
1. We can learn from the second paragraph that Martin thinks his university life was _____.| A．Nothing special. | B．Totally unexpected. |
| C．Interesting and rewarding. | D．Confusing. |
| A．Develop close relationship with the first people we meet. |
| B．Go to parties as more as possible. |
| C．Tell others our personal stories. |
| D．Listen to others and be friends with people different from us. |
| A．common | B．normal | C．content | D．bored |
10 . The United States has more tornadoes (龙卷风) than any other country in the world. In a normal year there are 800 to 1,000 tornadoes. Most happen in the middle part of the country. Tornadoes form when warm and cool air meet. In the Midwest, the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico often meets the cold air from Canada.
The usual tornado season is March through May. Tornadoes form most often in the afternoon and early evening. There is often no warning of a tornado. People who live in the Midwest know the signs (征兆) of tornado activity. The sky becomes dark, often a greenish color. Dark clouds appear in the sky and there is often large hail (冰雹). Suddenly, there is a loud sound, like a train or a jet plane. Sometimes, two, three, five, ten or more tornadoes can form over a large area.
This type of tornado activity hit Oklahoma and Kansas in May 1999. The day was stormy, with heavy thunderstorms in the afternoon. As the storms continued, tornadoes began to form. Dozens of tornadoes hit towns and neighborhoods in Oklahoma, then in Kansas. Some stayed on the ground for several hours, destroying everything they touched. The tornadoes killed 43 people and injured 600 others. They destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. In some areas, not one home stood. In other areas, the tornadoes destroyed every home on the left side of the street, but didn't touch any homes on the right side. The tornadoes lifted people and cars into the air and then threw them back down to earth. So it is important to know where to hide and how to protect yourself in the face of a tornado.
1. What can we learn about tornadoes in America?| A．There are more tornadoes in the Eastern States. |
| B．They usually happen in the summer. |
| C．They may appear in groups. |
| D．There are more than 1,000 tornadoes every year. |
| A．took place at the same time |
| B．brought death and serious damage |
| C．came and went quickly |
| D．were the biggest in history |
| A．Tornado dangers and warning signs. |
| B．How a tornado forms. |
| C．Different kinds of tornadoes. |
| D．How to stay safe during a tornado. |
