1 . Have you ever heard about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Surely, they are all about finding the best deals on holiday gifts for yourself and family members. And have you heard about GivingTuesday? Here is something about it!
GivingTuesday is observed annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which encourages people to help those in need by making financial donations or doing good in their local community. The “Global Day of Giving” was started in 2012 by New York City nonprofit 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation.
Unlike Black Friday, GivingTuesday serves a more altruistic purpose. In its first year, the movement brought in almost $10 million for charities, and things have only improved since. In 2019, many GivingTuesday social media campaigns worldwide helped raise an amazing $ 1.9 billion from 27 million donors! Over the past five years, many higher education institutions have also been using the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to ask alumni for donations. In 2019, the University of Michigan, which calls it Blueday, received 5887 gifts totaling over $4 million, while Pennsylvania State University raised $710 000 to benefit over 85 University programs.
Though donating money certainly helps, there are many other ways to support the great cause, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can video tutor kids struggling with online learning, or team up with an adult to get groceries or medications for an elderly neighbor. Alternatively, call on your peers to help you with a service project that addresses an issue close to your heart, or pick one from the several ideas suggested on the GivingTuesday website. You can also donate your gently-used clothes and toys to local shelters, or mail a handwritten note to a grandparent or a friend you miss seeing.
What are you going to do to make a positive difference in your community on GivingTuesday? Let us know by adding your comments below!
1. Why does the author mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday in Paragraph 1?| A．To make a comparison. | B．To lead to the topic. |
| C．To arouse readers’ interest. | D．To express his doubt. |
| A．To promote the development of economy. | B．To attract people to buy more holiday gifts. |
| C．To call on more universities to donate money. | D．To encourage people to help those in need. |
| A．Selfless. | B．General. | C．Specific. | D．Complex. |
| A．Where people can offer their kind help. | B．What people can do on GivingTuesday. |
| C．How people can stay safe during COVID-19. | D．Why people need to support the great cause. |
2 . The joy of giving is real, according to a study. Research presented in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science shows that those who give gifts are happier — and happier for longer — than those who receive gifts.
Researchers conducted two studies last year. In one，participants were given $5 every day for five days and were required to spend the money on the same thing each day. Some participants were required to spend the money on themselves, while others were required to give to make a donation to charity. In a second experiment that was done online, participants played 10 rounds of a word puzzle game and each won 5 cents per round, which they could keep or donate.
In both experiments, participants reported their overall happiness. Those who donated their money showed that their happiness declined at a much slower rate than those who kept the money or spent it on themselves.
The researchers note that when people focus on an outcome, they can easily compare outcomes, which may diminish their sensitivity to each experience. When people focus on an action, they may focus less on comparison and instead experience each act of giving as a unique happiness-inducing event. Further analyses ruled out some potential alternative explanations, such as the possibility that participants who gave to others had to think longer and harder about what to give, which could promote higher happiness.
The results are especially interesting because according to one of the researchers, Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, they conflict with past research. “If you want to sustain happiness over time, past research tells us that we need to take a break from what were currently consuming and experience something new. Our research reveals that the kind of thing may matter more than assumed: Repeated giving, even in identical ways to identical other，may continue to feel relatively fresh and relatively pleasurable the more we do it,” O’Brien said.
So for all the holiday gifts you give this season, expect to feel happy and know that feeling is going to stick around for a while.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To lead to the topic. |
| B．To highlight the importance of the study. |
| C．To recommend a journal. |
| D．To persuade people to give gifts regularly. |
| A．To challenge the past research. |
| B．To rule out different experimental data. |
| C．To show the benefits of donation. |
| D．To make the conclusion more convincing. |
| A．Develop. | B．Show. | C．Reduce. | D．Lack. |
| A．Gift giving will result in longer happiness than receiving. |
| B．Thinking longer and harder on giving will promote higher happiness. |
| C．The feeling of happiness will disappear soon if people just give holiday gifts. |
| D．Taking a break from what were currently consuming will sustain happiness. |
3 . I have always been creative since I was a little girl. My childhood was filled with arts, crafts and music, and every day was an exciting adventure of creation.
Somewhere along the way, however, I lost touch with my creative self. At 21, I landed a job at a big insurance firm out of my business degree. I would go to the office, sit at my desk and repeat the same work five days a week, 9 to 5. The days were long and tedious. Working this way for one year was painful enough, let alone a lifetime. Before long I decided to make a change.
One thing I had developed an interest in was sewing, so I took a sewing course at a community college. It was only a five-week course but it awakened my interest and got my confidence up.
As I dreamed bigger, I began looking into college courses for Fashion Design and three months later I signed up for a part-time design course. I attended classes two nights a week. Although exhausting, it gave me energy, enthusiasm and happiness.
As it became more evident that fashion was what I wanted to do full time, the reality of my day-to-day work at the insurance firm became harder. I felt bored. No energy, no motivation and zero fulfillment.
I knew I needed to make a big change. After struggling for quite a while, I made a tough decision— leaving my job and studying my design course full time. Two years later I got my diploma.
The last few years have been exciting because I have been following my heart to do what I love. Today I'm living a creative life as the designer of my own fashion brand.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Flexible. | B．Boring. | C．Pleasant. | D．Endless. |
| A．She quit her job and took the fashion design course full time. |
| B．She got a job and attended a part-time sewing course. |
| C．She successfully built up her own fashion brand. |
| D．She took sewing and fashion design courses full time. |
| A．To share her great achievement with us. |
| B．To appeal to us to live a creative life and make changes. |
| C．To inspire us to follow our heart and do what we really like. |
| D．To convince us of the vital importance of creativity and enthusiasm. |
4 . Cybercrime refers to any criminal offence related to the Internet. Internet crimes have been classified into four categories. First, they can be related to a lack of proper Internet security, such as downloading or deleting other people’s files without permission, and spreading computer viruses. The second are crimes usually committed without a computer, but can occur over the Internet. For some criminals use the Internet to cheat others of their money. Third, websites which offense information or encourage hatred and violence are named. Last, there are related to intellectual property (intellectual property is a design, patent, book, etc. law prevents other people from copying).
All Internet users are affected by cybercrime in one way or another. However, crime against a private organization in the USA, showed that 45.6 percent of the 351 biggest company government agencies had had their security systems broken into in the previous year. Security consultants tell us that cybercrime is costing firms worldwide hundreds of billions of dollars every.
Considering how bad the situation with cybercrime against companies has become, many people wonder why so little is known about this. The main reason is that most cybercrime is not reported. Until now, most companies have been unwilling to report cases of cybercrime. They fear that by doing so, they will lose customers, who may think that the company cannot protect their confidential information or their money.
All of this is made more difficult by the legal situation regarding cybercrime. Cybercrime is so new that many governments have not yet passed laws against it, and there are many holes in the legal systems. In addition, most countries do not have arrangements for dealing with suspects from other countries who may have committed cybercrime. Thus, it is difficult to catch criminals of cybercrime.
The only answer to this problem is international cooperation. Governments must join forces to keep up with the advances in technology used by the criminals. It is also important to draft new laws and negotiate international standards for fighting cybercrime.
1. Which of the following can be considered as cybercrime?| A．Copying others’ public files. | B．Creating computer virus. |
| C．Sending hatred words to a friend. | D．Stealing from online banks. |
| A．By comparing the changing numbers. | B．By listing the survey data. |
| C．By analyzing the heavy loss. | D．By adding background information. |
| A．Legal. | B．Valuable. | C．Private. | D．Correct. |
| A．Countries work together following the same law. |
| B．Abroad cybercriminals should be sent back. |
| C．The lawyers should learn more about laws. |
| D．The government should flow the law. |
5 . When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your grudge. But forgiveness is possible－and it can be surprisingly helpful to your physical and mental health. Indeed, research has shown that people who forgive have more energy, better appetite (胃口) and better sleep pattern. “People who forgive show less anger and more hopefulness,”says Dr. Frederic Luskin, who wrote the book Forgive for Good. “So it can help save on the wear and tear on our body and make people feel more energetic.”
So when someone has hurt you, calm down first. Take plenty of breaths deeply and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don’t wait for an apology. “Many times the person who hurt you may never think of apologizing,” says Dr. Luskin. “They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way. So if you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting a very long time.” Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean accepting the action of the person who upset you. Mentally going over your hurt gives power to the person who brought you pain. Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Finally, try to see things from the other person’s perspective. You may realize that he or she was acting out of ignorance(无知), fear, even love. To achieve the perspective, you may want to write a letter to yourself from that person’s point of view.
1. The underlined word “grudge” in the first paragraph most probably means ________.| A．anger | B．forgiveness |
| C．understanding | D．pity |
| A．Forgiveness keeps yourself from being hurt. |
| B．Forgiveness helps stay mentally healthy. |
| C．Forgiving others does good to your health. |
| D．Forgiving yourself is the biggest challenge. |
| A．Try to figure out why you get hurt. |
| B．Writer a letter to the person who hurt you. |
| C．Persuade yourself to accept what others have done to you. |
| D．Think about pleasant things and forget about the hurt. |
| A．people seldom want to apologize |
| B．we’d feel worse accepting others’ apology |
| C．we are not patient enough |
| D．people don’t mean it when they apologize |
6 . Scientists are urging that deep sea metal mining should be stopped temporarily. They warn in a report that it can cause severe damaging effects on Pacific Ocean areas.
The recently-released report examined more than 250 published studies on deep-sea mining. The research was examined by the Deep Sea Mining Campaign — a collection of not-for profit organizations. The report centers on mining activities related to small metallic particles(金属颗粒)，called nodules, found on the seabed. The material can contain different metals. Increasing demand for these metals has led to a rise in deep-sea mining operations. The metals are commonly used in battery manufacturing and other technology products.
However, the scientists warn that mining for these nodules will cause irreversible(不可逆的) damage to an ocean already under pressure. The operations will affect areas across the South Pacific, including the nations of Kiribati, the Cook Islands, Nauru, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
The report notes that a moratorium is the only responsible way to move forward until certain conditions surrounding deep-sea mining can be met. The scientists are calling for additional study to fully understand the environmental, social and economic risks.
Andrew Chin is the report's lead researcher. He says in a statement that nodule mining will likely result in the loss of sea life and cause damage to deep seabeds for thousands of years. He adds that the operations can put people at risk who depend on the ocean and its continued health.
A company planning to be one of the first to carry out mining operations in the area is Canada's DeepGreen, which aims to begin by 2024. It seeks to mine metallic nodules to be used in power systems for electric vehicles. DeepGreen Chief Executive Officer Gerard Barron defended the company's plans in reaction to the report. He said deep-sea mining offered the best alternative to surface mining, which has long history of pollution and destroying forests and wildlife.
1. Why are deep-sea mining operations on the rise?| A．More metals are needed. | B．Surface mining is banned. |
| C．Battery industry is falling. | D．The seabed is easy to find. |
| A．Loose measure. | B．Thorough study. |
| C．Permanent deal. | D．Temporary stop. |
| A．Conditions surrounding deep-sea mining are great. |
| B．The damage caused by nodule mining is reversible. |
| C．Nodule mining can cause harm in various aspects. |
| D．People sure less likely to be affected by nodule mining, |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．introduce a new mining technology |
| B．inspire deep-sea mining |
| C．draw attention to environmental protecting |
| D．call on the stop of mining in the sea |
7 . We’ve known that sitting for long periods of time every day has countless health consequences, like a higher risk of heart disease. But now a new study has found that sitting is also bad for your brain.
A study published last week, conducted by Dr. Prabha Siddarth at the University of California, showed that sedentary(久坐的) behavior is associated with reduced thickness of the medial temporal lobe(中颞叶), a brain area that is critical to learning and memory.
The researchers asked a group of 35 healthy people, ages 45 to 70, about their activity levels and the average number of hours each day spent sitting and then scanned their brains. They found that the subjects who reported sitting for longer periods had the thinnest medial temporal lobes. It means that the more time you spend in a chair the worse it is for your brain health, resulting in possible damage to learning and memory.
What is also interesting is that this study did not find a significant association between the level of physical activity and thickness of this brain area, suggesting that exercise, even severe exercise, may not be enough to protect you from the harmful effects of sitting.
It then surprisingly turned out that you don’t even have to move much to enhance cognition(认知); just standing will do the trick. For example, two groups of subjects were asked to complete a test while either sitting or standing. Participants are presented with conflicting stimuli(刺激) , like the word “green” in blue ink, and asked to name the color. Subjects thinking on their feet beat those who sat by a 32-milicond(毫秒) margin.
The cognitive effects of severe physical exercise are well known. But the possibility that standing more and sitting less improves brain health could lower the bar for everyone.
I know, this all runs counter to received ideas about deep thought, from our grade school teachers, who told us to sit down and focus, to Rodin’s famous “Thinker,” seated with chin on hand.
They were wrong. You can now all stand up.
1. What can we infer from Paragraphs 3 and 4?| A．Severe exercise can lessen the damage of sitting. |
| B．Severe exercise can greatly improve our brain health. |
| C．Sedentary behavior will possibly damage our brain. |
| D．Brain health has nothing to do with sedentary behavior. |
| A．Blank. | B．Edge. |
| C．Decrease. | D．Difference. |
| A．Sitting more is good for our mental health. | B．Sitting is better when we think. |
| C．Exercise more can improve our cognition. | D．We should stand while thinking. |
8 . Scientists are urging that deep sea metal mining should be stopped temporarily. They warn in a report that it can cause severe and damaging effects on Pacific Ocean areas.
The recently-released report examined more than 250 published studies on deep Sea mining. The research was examined by the Deep Sea Mining Campaign——a collection of not-for profit organizations. The report centers on mining activities related to small metallic particles(颗粒; 微粒), called nodules, found on the seabed. The material can contain different metals. Increasing demand for these metals has led to a rise in deep-sea mining operations. The metals are commonly used in battery manufacturing(制造) and other technology products.
However, the scientists warn that mining for these nodules will cause irreversible（无法复原的）damage to an ocean already under pressure. The operations will affect areas across the South Pacific, including the nations of Kiribati, the Cook Islands, Nauru, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
The report notes that a moratorium is the only responsible way to move forward until certain conditions surrounding deep-sea mining can be met. The scientists are calling for additional study to fully understand the environmental, social and economic risks.
Andrew Chin is the report’s lead researcher. He says in a statement that nodule mining will likely result in the loss of sea life and cause damage to deep seabeds for thousands of years. He adds that the operations can put people at risk who depend on the ocean and its continued health.
A company planning to be one of the first to carry out mining operations in the area is Canada’s Deep Green, which aims to begin by 2024. It seeks to mine metallic nodules to be used in power systems for electric vehicles. Deep Green Chief Executive Officer Gerard Barron defended the company’s plans in reaction to the report. He said deep-sea mining offered the best replacement for surface mining, which has a long history of pollution and destroying forests and wildlife.
1. Why are deep-sea mining operations on the rise?| A．More metals are needed. | B．Surface mining is banned, |
| C．Battery industry is falling. | D．The seabed is easy to find, |
| A．Loose measure. | B．Thorough study. |
| C．Temporary stop. | D．Permanent deal. |
| A．Conditions surrounding deep-sea mining are great. |
| B．The damage caused by nodule mining is reversible. |
| C．Nodule mining can cause harm in various aspects. |
| D．People are less likely to be affected by nodule mining. |
| A．scientists | B．Deep Sea Mining Campaign |
| C．Andrew Chin | D．Gerard Barron |
9 . Chinese Dragon Head-raising Festival is a traditional Chinese festival held on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. It marks the start of spring and farming. Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall increases because the rain-bringing Dragon King has woken up from his winter sleep. In ancient times, farming highly depended on the weather. Proper rainfall and plenty of sunlight were necessary for a good harvest at the end of the year. The Chinese dragon, besides a symbol of good luck and great power, is also the god managing weather and water. So Dragon Head-raising Day is about honoring the Chinese dragon and praying for good weather in spring.
The festival celebrates ancient agrarian(农耕的) Chinese culture, and while some of traditional ways to celebrate it are no longer practiced, others persist.
The most famous tradition is getting a haircut. A saying warns that cutting your hair in the first month will cause your uncle to die. Although today few pay attention to it, it was once a tradition for people to line up outside barber shops this day after they avoided haircuts for the preceding(前面的)month.
Today Chinese Dragon Head-raising Day is celebrated in many different ways, most of which are still similar to those practiced in the ancient times, including eating spring pancakes and noodles. People eat tofu balls in East China’s Fujian Province during the festival while fried beans are the traditional festival food for people in parts of Shandong Province. Food eaten on this day also gets a lucky name. For example, noodles are “dragon’s beard” and dumplings are “dragon’s ears”.
1. In fact ancient Chinese held Dragon Head-raising Day .| A．to get as much rain as possible. |
| B．to celebrate the Dragon King's birthday. |
| C．to wake up the sleeping Dragon King. |
| D．to wish for good weather for better farming. |
| A．消亡 | B．持续 | C．改变 | D．完善 |
| A．Foreigners interested in Chinese traditional culture. |
| B．Foreigners learning about agrarian culture. |
| C．Chinese farmers in need of good weather conditions. |
| D．Chinese students proud of the long history of our country. |
| A．The history of Dragon Head-raising Day. |
| B．The development of Dragon Head-raising Day. |
| C．The celebration of Dragon Head-raising Day. |
| D．The introduction of Dragon Head-raising Day. |
10 . Everyone has a phone in their pocket nowadays, but how often do we really use them for their original purpose—to make a call? Telephone culture is disappearing. What brought us to this moment, and what are its effects?
“No one picks up the phone anymore,” wrote Alex C. Madrigal on The Atlantic. “Telephone culture is gone.”
The change is of course due to more communication choices: Texting with photos, videos, emojis, reaction gifs, links and even voice messages can be a more attractive choice.
Texting is light and fun, not nearly as demanding of your attention as a phone call. It can also be done with some people at the same time. Social media, email and video calls have also eaten away at traditional phone calls.
In recent years, another reason has caused people to ignore phone calls completely: robocalls. Robocalls are automate messages from organizations verifying your phone number or telemarketers trying to sell something. Americans received 22.8 billion robocalls halfway through 2020, equaling an annual rate of 45.6 billion, slightly below 2018 numbers, according to YouMail, a robocall protection service and blocking app.
As telephone culture disappears, what is the loss of a traditional family phone doing to the family unit? Early landline phones join family members together, whereas mobile phones separate them.
“The shared family phone served as an anchor (支柱) for home,” said Luke Fernandez, a Weber State University computer-science professor and co-author of Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Feelings About Technology, From the Telegraph to Twitter. “With smartphones we have gained mobility and privacy. But the value of the home has been diminished, which has its ability to guide and monitor family behavior and perhaps connect families more closely,” Fernandez said.
Of course, as technology progresses, lives always change for better or for worse. With the loss of telephone culture, families will need to find other ways to unite.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．To point out the disadvantages of the traditional phone call. |
| B．To call for the traditional phone to advance with the times. |
| C．To encourage people to make more phone calls and be closer to family. |
| D．To introduce the causes and effects of the disappearing telephone culture. |
| A．changed | B．continued | C．strengthened | D．decreased |
| A．The telephone culture disappeared just because of too many robocalls. |
| B．Some communication choices are more attractive than the traditional phone calls. |
| C．Early landline phones are inconvenient and they separate family members. |
| D．Texting with some people at the same time takes up our attention too much. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Objective. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Skeptical. |
