1 . Covid-19 has brought a great deal of trouble for all of us since March 2020. During this time, mobile phones have been the solution for the boredom and restlessness caused from staying indoors. The most downloaded apps on play store 2020 are;
TikTok
TikTok was the most downloaded app. With over 111.9 million downloads, TikTok has seen a huge growth in 2020, twice more than what it got in 2019. 20% of its total downloads were from India and around 9. 3% of the total downloads were in the US.
Zoom
Zoom was the second most installed app in the overall downloads category. With nearly 94. 6 million installs, Zoom is the most used app for online meetings and virtual classrooms. 17% of its downloads were in the US and India. Offices and educational institutes were shut down and to continue working and studying from home, people relied heavily on Zoom for video conferencing and calling.
WhatsApp ranked third in overall downloads with more than 100 million downloads. It is one of the most popular and widely used chat applications; WhatsApp also supports communication between international phone networks.
It ranked fourth in the overall downloaded list. Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking application. Facebook builds technologies that give people the power to connect with friends and family, find communities and grow businesses.
1. What do we know about TikTok?| A．It is an India-based app. | B．It has most users in America. |
| C．It is used for growing business. | D．It has doubled its download than in 2019. |
| A．TikTok. | B．Zoom. | C．WhatsApp. | D．Facebook. |
| A．Communication. | B．Training. | C．Teaching. | D．Payment |
2 . Nowadays, we can read almost all "truths" on social media sites. But are they really reliable? Sites such as the micro-messaging service, the social networking site and the photo-sharing app Instagram might "misrepresent the real world", according to a study by computer scientists from McGill University and Carnegie Mellon University.
The scientists warn that gathering information about public views and trends from these sites is unwise. There are still large parts of the population who do not take part in social media activities. Also, there's a risk that many social media users are under-represented. Instagram, for example, appeals to younger adults in urban areas while Pinterest is used mainly by females aged 25 to 34. And only 5 percent of the micro-messaging service users are over 65 years old, according to the study. However, this is not the only issue, according to the scientific team. The design of a website can influence how people behave online, creating what the researchers call "Internet bias". For example, micro-blogging sites such as Weibo promote "popular" stories. It saves time for some but it also limits readers' choice of what they see. In the end, many people open those stories and make them more "popular". But it's not because they choose those stories. Rather, it is because the content is right in front of them.
Besides, it's possible that not everyone on your social networks is real. There might actually be a few fake accounts among them. Fake "bots" pretend to be humans and are often included when measuring or predicting human behaviors online.
The findings might be more important than you would think, since many social media studies are used to inform and justify decisions and investments among the public and in industry and government, according to Derek Ruths, an assistant professor of Computer Science at Mc Gill University.
If the team is right, you might have to think carefully next time you say, "It's true, you know; I read it on Weibo."
1. Why does the author mention the micro-messaging and Instagram?| A．Because they are the best social media sites today. |
| B．Because they are not in favor of the current study. |
| C．Because the public are sharing truths on these sites. |
| D．Because information on these sites may not be reliable. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By dividing into groups. | D．By analyzing causes. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Favorable. | C．Disagreeable. | D．Cautious. |
| A．To analyze why information gathered from social media sites may not be trustworthy. |
| B．To remind readers of things they should watch out for when using social media. |
| C．To point out the advantages and disadvantages of social media. |
| D．To recommend popular social networking sites for readers. |
3 . Please take a few seconds and think of your personal biggest goal. Imagine telling someone you meet today what you’re going to do. Imagine their congratulations and their high image of you. Doesn't it feel good to say it out loud? Don’t you feel one step closer already? Well, bad news: you should have kept your mouth shut, because that good feeling will make you less likely to do it.
Any time you have a goal, there is some work that needs to be done to achieve it. Ideally, you would not be satisfied until you’d actually done the work. But when you tell someone your goal and he acknowledges it, psychologists have found it's called a "social reality". The mind is kind of tricked into a feeling that it's already done. And then. because you’ve felt that satisfaction. you’re less motivated to do the actual and necessary hard work. This goes against the traditional wisdom that we should tell our friends our goals, right?
In 1982, Peter Gollwitzer, a professor of psychology, wrote a whole book about this. And in 2009, he did some new tests, which were published. It goes like this: 163 people across four separate tests—everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Finally, those who kept their mouths shut worked the entire 45 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said they felt they had a long way to go to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes on average, and when asked afterwards, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.
1. What do the words "social reality" in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Necessary hard work. | B．Completion of a goal |
| C．A sense of satisfaction. | D．People’s judgement. |
| A．Writing down the goal is very helpful. |
| B．Achieving the personal goal needs more time. |
| C．Keeping the goal secret makes people work harder. |
| D．Making the goal public makes people less satisfied. |
| A．By giving figures. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making a survey. | D．By making comparison tests |
| A．You'll be more confident |
| B．You will not gain satisfaction. |
| C．You'll be less likely to realize it. |
| D．You'll be much more motivated. |
4 . Seventy-three-year-old Gary selected his food in Value Mart more carefully than NASA chose its candidates for the space shuttle. Skim milk was $2.99, on sale from $3.49; white bread, 89 cents with a discount; table salt, 99 cents, 20 cents off the regular price. Leaving the cashier(收银员), he estimated that he had saved 80 cents today. He was pleased that he had got good value for his money again.
At the exit, the cold wind reminded him of his gloves. “Now where are they?” Not in the coat pockets. Not in the grocery bag either. The worried man made a thorough search of all his pockets, again including the grocery bag. Now he was sure they must have been dropped somewhere inside the store.
Old Gary had bought the black gloves at a 25% discount ten years ago. His quick decision to buy the expensive gloves turned out to be a good one, which even promoted his social status on the bus, as poorer passengers stared at him enviously. Losing this favorite possession was almost like losing a child to him.
Gary re-entered the store with long steps. He followed the same route he had walked before. There were all open passages and it did not take long to be convinced that the gloves were not in sight.
“Society has changed, people have changed”, he murmured to himself. “Years ago, if somebody picked up something lost, they would give it back. Not any more!”
On his way out, he went over to the cashier to ask if she had received any lost gloves. She asked him what colour they were, and when he said “black”, there came a disappointing answer. He took his time now, finally walking out of the store.
Back home, Gary was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do without a pair of gloves. He was very upset that people no longer returned things they found on the road.
After a month, Gary decided to buy another leather pair. Before boarding the subway, he stepped into Value Mart again to see if by any chance his gloves had been returned to the lost and found office. “What colour are they?” the woman in the office asked again. “Black,” he gave the same answer. She looked into her drawer and drew out a pair of men’s leather gloves. “Are they?”
“Yes! Those are mine!” Gary exclaimed, his eyes glowing with joy.
1. According to the passage, Gary thought his buying the gloves to be ______.| A．unnecessary. | B．wise. | C．hot-headed. | D．adventurous. |
| A．He is not wealthy. |
| B．He is particular about food. |
| C．He holds a pessimistic attitude towards life. |
| D．He doesn’t get along well with his neighborhood |
| A．He was not careful enough. | B．The cashier forgot to return his gloves. |
| C．A customer took his gloves by mistake. | D．Someone picked up his gloves and kept them on purpose. |
| A．Searching for gloves. | B．The stolen gloves returned. |
| C．Declining moral standards | D．A forgetful but stubborn old man. |
5 . When I was reading a post about taking someone to the movies, something happened a couple of years ago suddenly hit me.
I used to drink Cokes and they had a competition where there was a code inside the bottle cap. You might win something so long as you went to a website and entered the code. I won some free Cokes. But what astonished and delighted me was the Grand Prize I won then.
The Grand Prize was free movies for a year. They pointed out that one movie a week was what free movies for a year meant. All of the tickets were valid(有效的)for one year from the day I received them. So I must use them in the following year. 1 used quite a few taking friends to movies we all wanted to see.
Then I donated 20 tickets(all I had left by that time)to the local Women's Transition House. Women and children could go there when they want to avoid a bad situation in general and get help to make a new start. It was the best thing I did with the tickets.
My workplace team had decided to help people in need, so we collected donations for that particular New Year's Day. I knew that the Women's Transition House provided some childcare for the women so they could go for job interviews and things like that.
I put those tickets in a box and wrote a note on the outside. And I asked the Women's Transition House staff to give movie tickets to women there over the holidays to have some fun to do, with or without their children, which made me really happy.
1. How did the author get the tickets?| A．By visiting a website by chance. | B．By reading a post. |
| C．By getting a code from a website. | D．By winning the prize for drinking Cokes. |
| A．10. | B．20. | C．30. | D．40. |
| A．Lucky and caring. | B．Strict and careful. |
| C．Responsible and patient. | D．Brave and kind. |
| A．Actions speak louder than words. | B．Good luck favors those who are always ready. |
| C．The roses in their hands, the flavor in mine. | D．God helps those who help themselves. |
6 . Picture this: It’s 2003 and your family has just finished arguing over which Netflix movie video tapes to rent that week. Movies come in the mail and the family watch them throughout the week. Then, fast forward to 2008, and you have started to watch TV shows on Netflix’s new platform.
Now, let’s come to the present. You sit down and open up Netflix on your TV and scroll （滚屏） for a while. Then check HBO GO. Finally, check Disney+. Then realize that you’re paying for three different streaming services, maybe more.
Let’s return to Netflix. More generally, streaming. There are over 100 video streaming services available, as well as quite a few music streaming, including YouTube Music, Google Play, and etc. The streaming world, at least to some, is on its way to getting out of control, with each service requiring its own monthly entertainment subscription. We haven’t even taken into account subscriptions like Microsoft Office and email newsletters. Subscriptions started out as a service of convenience, but now, the oversaturation may have become burdensome. The services believe customers will pay more to get the content they want. However, statistics show a growing frustration among consumers. With so many options, they find it harder than ever to make a decision on what to pick.
Not only does the oversaturation of streaming result in confusing navigation, it also creates a financial burden for the consumers. Let’s say if you want to watch The Handmaid’s Tale and Game of Thrones, which belong to two different services, you would have to pay nearly $50 a month to access both services, meaning it’s potentially more expensive, than cable.
People cut their cords （细绳） and went the streaming route because it was simpler and cheaper. Now, it’s just as inconvenient and difficult as cable was, if not more so, and unless you’re limiting yourself to one service, it’s not cheaper. Streaming will survive because we’re in a Golden Age of Media and because each service is able to create high-quality originals. But Golden Ages don’t last, and bubbles tend to burst. Until the unavoidable day when some product or service proves streaming out of date, we must suffer the choices in front of us. The next time you are scrolling through Netflix, Hulu, or whatever, and the over-choice is killing you, maybe you should just go pick up a book instead.
1. What is mainly talked about in the first two paragraphs?| A．Social progress has promoted the quality of life in the past decade. |
| B．Technology innovation results in different ways of relaxation. |
| C．Changes in home entertainment have brought us more options. |
| D．Netflix has been developing its service patterns. |
| A．The large number of subscriptions. |
| B．The frustration caused by poor service. |
| C．The rapidly developing entertainment market. |
| D．The confusing navigation resulting from streaming. |
| A．improve user satisfaction | B．raise entertainment costs |
| C．diversify entertainment forms | D．realize the resource sharing |
| A．the streaming service will have a bright future |
| B．reading has an advantage over streaming service |
| C．there will be some better service to replace streaming |
| D．nothing can end streaming services as long as media exists |
7 . You go to the coffee shop and take your coffee to go. You enjoy your drink, and then throw the paper cup in the garbage. Or do you put it in the recycling? I's confusing. A lot of us—people everywhere—are using to-go cups these days. A recent report said that there are 600 billion cups-billion with a ‘b’- that are produced and sold globally on an annual basis So that`s a lot, " say Christy Slay with The Sustainability Consortium. Starbucks alone says it contributes 1 percent of those disposable cups: That's an estimated 6 billion cups a year.
To help reduce those numbers. Starbucks and McDonald's are launching a three-year project to build a better cup: one that's both fully recyclable and compostable. Here's the big problem with the paper one you get there and in other coffee shops. “They look like paper, but they actually have a thin layer of plastic on the inside,” Slay says. That plastic coating keeps the cups from leaking. The problem is that it also makes the cups really hard to recycle, and only a few facilities in the world can do it.
A few companies have already rolled out compostable coffee cups. But Dylan de Thomas with The Recycling Partnership says there is a problem with those cups, too. "Typically they're compostable in industrial settings, so not your backyard compost that you and I might have, but at fairly technically advanced composting facilities." There aren't a lot of those facilities around, either.
So why exactly, in the 21st century, is it so hard to produce a better paper cup? "It's not necessarily very technically hard, though there are technical problems to overcome to make something recyclable and compostable, says Bridget Croke with Closed Loop Partners, a firm working to build what they call a circular economy. It's a fancy way of talking about turning waste into value. Almost anything is technically recyclable, Croke says. "But recycling is a business, and if materials can't move through the recycling system and be turned into a product that has value, they're not functionally recyclable.”
1. What are people puzzled at about the paper cup?| A．How to deal with the used one. | B．Why people reject it carelessly. |
| C．What makes it hard to compost. | D．Why Starbucks uses so many cups. |
| A．It helps make the cup more portable | B．It makes the cup easily recyclable. |
| C．It prevents the water from escaping | D．It promotes the extended use of the cup. |
| A．Its future is promising | B．It is not a profitable business. |
| C．technical problems are unsolvable | D．A more recyclable cup will be put into the market. |
| A．How can we design a better paper cup? |
| B．Why is it so hard to recycle paper cups? |
| C．What can we do to lessen the need of paper cups? |
| D．What damage do paper cups cause to our environment! |
8 . For several months, Cara has been working up the courage to approach her mom about what she saw on Instagram. Not long ago, the 11-year-old girl, like all the other kids in this story, discovered that her mom had been posting her photos for much of her life.“I’ve wanted to bring it up.It’s strange to see myself up there, and sometimes there are pictures of myself I don't like,”she said.
Like most other modern kids, Cara grew up in social media. While many kids may not yet have accounts themselves, their parents, schools, sports teams, and other organizations have been organizing online presence for them since birth.The shock of realizing that details about your life have been shared online without your permission or knowledge has become an important experience in the lives of many teenagers. Recently a parenting blogger (博主) wrote in an essay of The Washington Post that despite (尽管)her 14-year-old daughter’s horror of discovering that her mother had shared years of highly personal stories and information about her online, she simply could not stop posting them on her blog and social media. The writer said that promising her daughter that she would stop posting things about her publicly on the Internet “would mean shutting down an important part of myself, which isn't necessarily good for me or her”.
But it’s not just crazy mommy bloggers who construct their children’s online identity; plenty of average parents do the same. There’s even a special word for it: sharenting (晒娃成癖). Almost a quarter of children begin their digital lives when parents upload their photos to the Internet, according to a study conducted by the Internet-security (安全)firm AVG. The study also found that 92 percent of kids under the age of 2 already have their own unique digital identity.
1. How does Cara probably feel about her mom’s behavior?| A．It’s aggressive. | B．It’s appropriate. |
| C．It’s annoying. | D．It’s favorable. |
| A．It filled up her blog. | B．It showed off her success. |
| C．It recorded her stories. | D．It meant a lot to her. |
| A．A quarter of students. | B．Many ordinary parents. |
| C．Kids under the age of 2. | D．Some crazy bloggers. |
| A．Children’s New Trouble |
| B．Social Media |
| C．Kids’ Online Performance |
| D．Mommy Bloggers |
9 . Earlier this month，6-year-old lsaac went on vacation to Fort Walton，Florida，with his family. While there，his mother Garrett learned about Lulu，a restaurant that offers food to customers with food allergies(过敏症).
At LuLu，Isaac could eat a salad and roast chicken with rice.“lsaac looked at me as if he was asking me，Is this ok？”Garrett said. Once his mom gave the OK，Isaac enjoyed for the first time the experience of ordering and eating at a restaurant.” “That look on his face seemed to show that this was the coolest thing he had ever done.” Garrett said.
Garrett and her family rarely eat out because of Isaac’s food allergies. When they do, she cooks something for Isaac at home before they leave and brings it with her to the restaurant. “It’s not fun and it feels unfair,” she said.
Their night at Lulu marked a celebration for lsaac. Isaac felt terribly fulfilled because of eating at the restaurant. Garrett shared the moment on the restaurant's Facebook page to thank them for helping her son. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving hi m this experience.” she wrote in her post.
Barnett，the restaurant's manager said，“When customers tell the staff that someone in their group has a food allergy，I help with the order by passing it to the kitchen，ensuring it's cooked in a separate station and offering the finished food to the guests. We have been improving this process over the last 10 years since our allergy program was started.”
On Garrett's Facebook post，Lulu thanked Garrett for sharing her story. “Thank you for sharing your experience with us.” the restaurant wrote in a comment. “We are excited to see your son so happy！””
Garrett is hoping her post's popularity will make other restaurants，especially the places near her family's home about 30 minutes away from Mashville， provide such a service.” Lulu offers quality services to the guests with food allergies. Nothing would make us happier than that.” She said.
1. Why do Garrett and her family hardly eat out at restaurants?| A．Because they are on a low income. |
| B．Because Garrett likes cooking herself. |
| C．Because Isaac easily suffers from food allergies. |
| D．Because they consider the food in restaurants unhealthy. |
| A．She leaves her son alone at home. |
| B．She orders some special food for her son. |
| C．She lets her son choose his favorite dishes. |
| D．She prepares some food for her son ahead of time. |
| A．He will help them order food. |
| B．He will offer services to them first. |
| C．He will provide private room for them. |
| D．He will introduce their allergy program. |
| A．LuLu's response to her post. |
| B．Her son's experience at LuLu. |
| C．LuLu's concern for the guests with allergies. |
| D．More restaurants' following in LuLu's steps. |
10 . Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee. In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.
Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy(书法) to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It’s possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.
But there’s still hope for the paint brush. China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.
In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher’s examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin. “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don’t forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.
1. What can we learn about the Character Hero?| A．It’s open to people of all ages and all walks. |
| B．It’s the most-viewed TV programs in China. |
| C．It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world. |
| D．It draws great public attention across the country. |
| A．Chinese people don’t refer to dictionaries very often. |
| B．Chinese people no longer use brush pens or practice calligraphy. |
| C．Chinese people are using the Latin alphabet instead of the characters. |
| D．Chinese people needn’t write by hand as often with the help of technology. |
| A．necessary for adults to survive in China |
| B．a requirement made by the Education Ministry |
| C．helpful to keep Chinese tradition and culture alive |
| D．an ability to be developed only when you are students |
| A．A news report. | B．A science report. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．Children’s literature. |
