1 . In the summer of 2016, I gave a talk at a small conference in northern Virginia. I began by admitting that I’d never had a social-media account; I then outlined arguments for why other people should consider removing social media from their lives. The event organizers uploaded the video of my talk to YouTube. Then it was shared repeatedly on Facebook and Instagram and, eventually, viewed more than five million times. I was both pleased and annoyed by the fact that my anti-social-media talk had found such a large audience on social media.
I think of this event as typical of the conflicted relationships many of us have with Facebook, Instagram, and other social-media platforms. On the one hand, we’ve grown wary of the so-called attention economy, which, in the name of corporate profits, destroys social life gradually and offends privacy. But we also benefit from social media and hesitate to break away from it completely. Not long ago, I met a partner at a large law firm in Washington, D.C., who told me that she keeps Instagram on her phone because she misses her kids when she travels; looking through pictures of them makes her feel better.
In recent months, some of the biggest social-media companies, Facebook and Twitter, in particular, have promised various reforms. In March, Mark Zuckerberg announced a plan to move his platform toward private communication protected by end-to-end encryption (端对端加密); later that month, he put forward the establishment of a third-party group to set standards for acceptable content.
All of these approaches assume that the reformation of social media will be a complex, lengthy, and gradual process. But not everyone sees it that way. Alongside these official responses, a loose collective of developers that calls itself the IndieWeb has been creating another alternative. They are developing their own social-media platforms, which they say will preserve what’s good about social media while getting rid of what’s bad. They hope to rebuild social media according to principles that are less corporate and more humane.
1. Why did the author feel annoyed when his video was spread online?| A．His video caused many arguments. |
| B．His video was shared without his permission. |
| C．His talk was opposed by a large amount of people. |
| D．His video’s popularity on social media is against his talk. |
| A．To prove that social media has some benefits. |
| B．To advise people to break away from social media. |
| C．To tell the negative effects social media may produce. |
| D．To describe people’s conflicted relationships with social media. |
| A．To attract more users. |
| B．To make more profits. |
| C．To improve network environment. |
| D．To provide more convenient service. |
| A．Develop new social-media platforms. |
| B．Set up principles of the use of social media. |
| C．Improve the existing social-media platforms. |
| D．Help social-media companies to make reformation. |
2 . It was summer when I was asked whether I wanted to go to Malibu(an island in Canada)with my church to serve the military families. At first，I heard this and thought, “You are asking an eleven-year-old in his last weeks of summer if he wants to go on a trip with his mom to Canada to serve other people?” Of course, I responded with a kind refusal，but my mom found a way to convince me to go.
When we were on the ferry to the island，a thousand thoughts were running through my head, such as “What am I going to do here?” “Am I even going to be useful?” and “Why am I even here?" When we got to the island，I was asked to the child care. I was actually somewhat excited because my friend, said he would help me. The first time I met the kids, I got to know them pretty well. They were all between the ages of four and six. Some of them stayed behaved and a few of them started acting crazy and would even hit and push the other kids.
With those kids，1 was very strict，but 1 still tried to be positive and keep a smile. After all，they were just innocent kids. In most of 'he time，I needed to help them with things like washing clothe, and setting tables. Even though it sounded dull, I enjoyed every second of it. One of the things I did in my free time was to play pool(打台球). I made friends with a few kids there. They were really easy to talk to. Some of the things we talked about were sports, food, video games, and most of all pool.
Even though I was only at Malibu, Canada for one week, I feel like I made spiritual changes in some people's life. You don't have to go above and beyond to have an influence on someone's life. In the end, it all comes down to what way you changed them. It could have been in a spiritual way or a mental way as long as you had a positive effect. So go out and try to make a difference in this world.
1. How did the author react when asked if he liked to serve the military families?| A．He hardly believed it. | B．He was very confused about the decision. |
| C．He refused to accept it. | D．He was worried about the trip. |
| A．to take care of kids there. | B．to educate kids there. |
| C．to make friends with kids there. | D．to share his experiences with kids there. |
| A．He found thee kids very hard to deal with. |
| B．He didn't quite like the badly-behaved kids. |
| C．He managed to get along well with most kids. |
| D．He shared common hobbies with some kids. |
| A．He regretted having taken the trip. |
| B．His spiritual changes in Malibu. |
| C．What he has learnt from the experience. |
| D．What to do to make a greater difference. |
3 . Have you ever been sad because of failure? Please remember, for quite often achieving what you set out to do is not the most important thing.
A boy decided to dig a deep hole behind his house. As he was working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch. “What are you doing?” asked one of the visitors. “I want to dig a hole all the way through the earth!” the boy answered excitedly. The older boys began to laugh, telling him that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a while, the boy picked up a jar. He showed it to the visitors. It was full of all kinds of stones and insects. Then he said calmly and confidently, “Maybe I can’t finish digging all the way through the earth, but look at what I’ve found during this period!”
The boy’s goal was far too difficult, but it did cause him to go on. And that is what a goal is for－to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen, in other words, to cause us to keep working!
Not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end up with a success. Not every dream will come true. But when you fall short of your aim, maybe you can say, “Yes, but look at what I’ve found along the way! There are so many wonderful things having come into my life because I tried to do something!” It is in the digging that life is lived. It is the unexpected joy on the journey that really makes sense.
1. The older boys laughed at the boy because he was thought to be______.| A．brave |
| B．impolite |
| C．foolish |
| D．warm-hearted |
| A．To drive them away. |
| B．To show what he had found in digging. |
| C．To show how beautiful the jar was. |
| D．To attract them to join him in the work. |
| A．No dream can come true. |
| B．All work will end successfully. |
| C．Goals shouldn’t be set too high. |
| D．Goals will make us work harder. |
| A．A Boy Dug a Hole |
| B．Joy in the Journey |
| C．No Pain, No Gains |
| D．Failure Is the Mother of Success |
