1 . Instagram（图片分享社交应用程序）is about to take its biggest step toward removing likes from its platform. After months of testing an option to hide likes in select international markets, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook（FB）, has already been testing hiding likes in seven other countries, including Canada, Ireland and Australia. For years, likes have been central to how celebrities, brands, politicians and everyday users experience Instagram and Facebook. It's a way of measuring popularity and success. But in recent months, Instagram has been rethinking how likes contribute to making its platform more toxic. Now it's considering a change.
The total number of likes on posts — which appear as hearts on the app ——will disappear from Instagram's main feed, profile pages and permalink（永久链接）pages. The owner of the account can still see their own likes, but their followers won't know the count.
CNN Business previously spoke with users in countries with the test. The majority felt this move would improve well-being on the app. Instagram is the most detrimental（不利的，有害的）social networking app for young people's mental health, such as negatively impacting body image, according to one study.
But other users and psychologists said hiding likes won't fix everything. The test doesn't address some of the key ways that activity on Instagram can impact the well-being of users, including bullying, feeling left out and thinking other people's lives are better than their own.
Renee Engeln, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, voiced his opinion that the biggest impact of Instagram is the content and the exposure to this constant stream of perfected images is what seems to hurt psychologically. Plus, users can still see their own likes ——and feel badly if their posts don't perform well.
1. How do users experience Instagram in this passage?| A．By giving likes. | B．By hiding likes. |
| C．By selecting platforms. | D．By showing off talents. |
| A．profitable | B．poisonous |
| C．popular | D．positive |
| A．Instagram has affected youngsters' mental health. |
| B．The account owners won't know the count o£ likes. |
| C．Instagram tested hiding likes in seven countries first. |
| D．The majority think Instagram has been a well-being app. |
| A．Instagram Misuses Likes |
| B．More People Are Against Likes |
| C．Likes Cause Mental Problems |
| D．Likes will Be Hidden on Instagram |
2 . With the rapid development of intelligent systems and new-age transit networks,life in the big cities will likely be more efficient and comfortable.
After all,more than 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050 , according to a UN report. The answer to making these cities more livable for so many people lies in creating “smart” cities. These cities will use 5G networks and the “Internet of things”(IoT) to make everyday life safer and more convenient. Some cities are already using smart technology to improve the lives of residents.
But what exactly does a smart city do? In the United States cities of Boston and Baltimore, smart trash cans can sense how full they are and inform cleaning workers when they need to be emptied. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, traffic flow and energy usage are monitored and adjusted according to real-time data gathered from sensors(传感器)around the city. And in Copenhagen, Denmark,a smart bike system allows riders to check on air quality and traffic condition as they ride.
Smart cities will be interactive ，allowing their residents to feel like they’ re truly shaping their environment,instead of merely existing in it.“One of the most important reasons to have a smart city is that we can actually communicate with our environment in a way that we never have in the past,”said Mrinalini Ingram,head of a telecom company.
Smart cities will also allow us to save resources. By using sensors and 5G networks to monitor the use of water，gas and electricity,city managers can figure out how to distribute and save these resources more efficiently. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants can be more closely monitored in smart cities as well.
Of course,it will take time and money to turn our current cities into the smart cities of the future. But as we’ve already seen, more cities around the world are already adopting smart technology in smart ways. China, for instance,is making investments in big cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou to make them “smarter”. It won’t be long before even more cities start to develop their own smart infrastructure( 基础设施).
1. What calls for the development of smart cities?| A．The rapid progress in 5G networks. |
| B．The marked increase in world population. |
| C．The growing number of residents living in cities. |
| D．The major concern over the safety of living in cities. |
| A．By making a contrast. | B．By telling a story. |
| C．By listing figures. . | D．By giving examples. |
| A．By interacting directly with our environment. |
| B．By keeping track of the way we usually live. |
| C．By ensuring no emission of air pollutants. |
| D．By educating residents to save resources. |
| A．Smart City Closer to Reality. | B．The Rise and Fall of Cities. |
| C．How to Save Natural Resources. | D．Ways to Feed the World Population. |
3 . Many people believe that there is one form of their language that is more correct than others.They may believe for example that British English is more correct than other varieties;or that written English is more correct than spoken English; or that standard spoken forms are more correct than dialect forms. Often this belief is supported by reference books to grammars ,usage guides or dictionaries:if something goes against a rule in a grammar,or if the word isn't in the dictionary ,it“must be wrong”. Since the reference books are most often based on observation of the standard written language, the argument is really circular: these books will naturally describe standard usage, because that is what they are for ;but this does not mean that there is anything wrong with other kinds of usage that are less often described.
A better way of looking at things is to say that usage is“correct in its place”. Standard American English is correct in America , British English is correct in Britain , spoken grammar is accepted in casual speech, and formal written grammar is employed in formal writing. So this means there is no answer to the question: “What kind of English should learners study?” It depends on their purposes. For many learners, the best model is one or other of the two main standard varieties :British or American English. Neither of these is “better”than the other ,and they are both used and understood worldwide.
People are also worried by language change. If younger people“break”the rules that older people have learnt, or use language in new ways, older people often feel disturbed: they are concerned that younger people no longer know their grammar, and that the language is going downhill. This is a needless worry :change is natural and inevitable,it cannot be stopped ,and it does not generally affect a language 's efficiency as a communicative tool. A great deal of modern English grammar would have been wrong three hundred years ago, and will perhaps be wrong again three hundred years from now.
1. What can you learn from the 1st paragraph ?| A．Learners are always confused by the reference books. |
| B．Usages not mentioned in the reference books are not necessarily wrong. |
| C．Nobody can challenge the authority of the reference books. |
| D．Some wrong usages can be found in the reference books. |
| A．Big differences exist between British English and American English. |
| B．American English is better for learners than British English. |
| C．A learner should master all the distinctions of different English. |
| D．Standard English varies according to different situations. |
| A．avoidable. | B．certain. |
| C．formal. | D．temporary. |
| A．Disturbed. | B．Concerned. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Acceptable. |
4 . When Stephen Mills spotted a dusty old safe (保险箱) in a museum in Canada, he thought he'd try to crack the code (破解密码),"just like in the movies". But when he began turning the dial, he wasn't expecting a Hollywood ending.
For years, anyone who visited the Vermillion Heritage Museum in Alberta would have passed by a large, black metal box. Staff knew it had come from the long—gone Brunswick hotel and was donated to the museum in the 1990s,but its code and contents remained a mystery for decades- until Mills unexpectedly cracked the code.
Mills,who lived in Fort McMurray, Alberta, was visiting the museum with his family last month over a holiday weekend. As they wandered around the exhibits with the museum guide, Tom Kibblewhite,they spotted the safe.
Kibblewhite told the family what he told all other guests: the 900kg black box with a silver dial had remained closed for generations. For years, the safe has confused volunteers at the museum. The manufacturer was unable to provide advice on how to open its thick door.
A locksmith (锁匠) once suggested that years of inactivity might have slowed down the gears, making it inoperable. But Mills, who is a“mechanically-minded person”, asked whether he could give it a try.“Kibblewhite kept saying no one had opened it and that it was a mystery what was inside,”Mills said.“I thought this would be a great thing to do for a laugh for the kids. Maybe they can find some interesting historical things in it—like a time capsule.”
After pressing his ear against the cool metal, he began spinning the dial. With numbers ranging from zero to 60,he turned clockwise (顺时针方向地) three times to 20，counter-clockwise two times to 40 ,and then clockwise one time to 60. He was astonished to hear a click.“I jumped up and told everyone I' m buying a lottery ticket (彩票),”he said.
1. What does the underlined sentence in the first paragraph mean?| A．He didn't think he would open the safe. |
| B．The museum trip was like a Hollywood film. |
| C．He didn't want to turn the dial in the beginning. |
| D．It was unbelievable for him to win a lottery ticket in the end. |
| A．The dial on the safe was broken. |
| B．It was a donation from a rich businessman. |
| C．It has been long closed since it was brought to the museum. |
| D．It was one of the most valuable exhibits ever in the museum. |
| A．To tell people an interesting story. |
| B．To inform people how to open a safe. |
| C．To promote the tourism to a museum. |
| D．To encourage people to learn mechanism. |
| A．A safe is not always that “safe”. | B．Life is just full of surprise. |
| C．Success is for the prepared ones. | D．Everyone can do something great. |
5 . Unsolved Mysteries About the Planet Earth
◆Mystery 1: Where did all the water come from?
Water covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface and earns it the nickname “the blue planet”. And where did it come from? The most popular scientific theory states that the water came from several violent asteroids (小行星) filled with ice. Another suggests that the water actually has been around since Earth’s formation. However it happened, though, it’s certainly worked out well for Earth’s life forms.
◆Mystery 2 :What about all the oxygen?
Another thing is the planet’s oxygen. Tiny creatures released oxygen as a waste product, filling the atmosphere with it. After that, the level of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere went wildly up and down until it finally calmed down around 540 million years ago. Since then, it’s remained at about the breathable level we experience today. But what caused it to be suddenly steady?
◆Mystery 3: What caused the Cambrian (寒武纪) Explosion?
The Cambrian Explosion refers to the explosion of complex life forms that occurred on Earth about 540 million years ago. Before then, life had consisted mostly of bacteria. But at the beginning of the Cambrian period, complex creatures began developing at a rate never seen before. Suddenly, life forms had brains, eyes, and bones. Most living creatures today can trace their blood back to the Cambrian period.
◆Mystery 4: Will we ever be able to predict earthquakes?
We still haven’t been able to come up with a way to accurately predict earthquakes. We can certainly try, but our current technology cannot predict them exactly. We know that earthquakes start when rocks crack underground and send earthquake waves toward the surface, but we haven’t figured out why that happens, or how to predict it.
1. Which of the following is true according to the text?| A．Earth is called the blue star because of water coverage. |
| B．The level of oxygen has been steady all the time. |
| C．Complex creatures had rapid development after the Cambrian period. |
| D．We know nothing about predicting earthquakes. |
| A．It is the oldest mystery of the four. |
| B．It will be solved in the near future. |
| C．It is the most difficult mystery to solve. |
| D．It is a matter that is of practical significance. |
| A．A diary. | B．A geography book. |
| C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
6 . A new report from the U. K. says more than 1 in 5 teens there spend five hours or more per day on social media. And the heavier users of social media get to bed later and get poorer quality sleep. The new study was based on self-reported survey data from nearly 12,000 teenage participants in the U. K. Millennium Cohort Study.
Megan Moreno, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin Madison, says social media is too often described as either entirely good or bad, when the reality is more complicated(复杂的) for teens. Social media may have its problems, but it is the way that they stay in touch with each other,” she says.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study found a link between high social media usage and poor sleep patterns. Especially, teens who are heavier users of social media go to sleep later. And the researchers note late bedtime is linked with poorer academic and mental health consequences.
Holly Scott, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, isn’t sounding the alarm. She says, “It’s easy to look at the results of this and think, ‘We should just get teenagers to spend less time on social media. ‘ I think that’s an understandable response, but what I really encourage people to do is look beyond that. “ She says people should pay attention to the important emotional ,cognitive (认知的)and social factors when teenagers are using social media.
Scott stresses that the study is pointing to a connection between social media and poor sleep, but not necessarily explaining cause and effect.
“Certainly some teens do say they struggle to get away from social media at night - they might be worried about missing out on things, or affecting their friends by not answering messages -and they stay up late for that,” she says. “As for some of those young people, they have a naturally later body clock and they are passing their free time at night on social media until they’e ready to fall asleep.”
1. What’s the purpose of the new study in the U. K. ?| A．To find the benefits of using social media. |
| B．To know the effects of using social media. |
| C．To promote the development of social media. |
| D．To prove the growing popularity of social media. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Objective. | D．Confused. |
| A．Make better use of social media. |
| B．Spend less time on social media. |
| C．Study how social media influences teens. |
| D．Understand why teens like using social media. |
| A．Health. | B．Education. | C．Science. | D．Entertainment. |
7 . For me, concerts have always been one of the best ways to spend a few dollars. Concerts have been promoted through flyers or posters, which over the years have become more and more elaborate (精心制作的).
Since the time of Bill Graham,who supported public access to live music in San Francisco in the 1960s, concert posters have become an incredible way for young art enthusiasts to connect with the visual artists that create the imagery for the bands they love.
That’s exactly what happened to me. I started reading OMGPosters. command I discovered artists who were making gig posters and art prints from A to Z. They’d draw it, pull the screens, and sell the prints on their own websites, because the Internet continues to encourage artists to create and art lovers to collect their works.
I started collecting works by artists like Jermaine Rogers? Mexican Chocolate Design, Dan Grzeca, Emek, J ay Ryan and Justin Santora. When you can purchase a limited edition piece of art for as low as $ 20,the world of art collecting opens up even to art enthusiasts who don’t have much money.
I have always taken a grass-roots approach to life and work, so it makes sense that I would be motivated by artists whose work wasn’t being shown in museums or appearing on advertising for major brands. Although some of those lines have blurred (变得模糊不清)over the last 10 years, bringing more and more related and accessible work into respected galleries in New York and Los Angeles and being able to buy art prints directly from the artists who made them are major developments in the world of art.
1. What does the author like doing?| A．Sending out flyers. | B．Listening to live music. |
| C．Giving concerts regularly. | D．Creating posters carefully. |
| A．It’s just for poor art lovers. | B．It’s not really worth doing it. |
| C．It’s likely to bring good fortune. | D．It’s an economical approach to collection. |
| A．It’s meaningful. | B．It’s surprising. |
| C．It’s interesting. | D．It’s powerful. |
| A．People’s attitudes towards art. | B．Different types of art exhibitions. |
| C．The author’s life as an art collector. | D．The development of grass-roots art. |
