1 . Hello, Stranger
Attitudes to strangers tend to follow a familiar pattern. Children are taught never to speak to unknown grown-ups, especially those regarded by their parents as untrustworthy. The onset of adolescence and young adulthood brings a bursting desire to interact with all sorts of people, which. of course, might not gain family approval.
Social circles generally narrow again as people find life-partners, form households and produce offspring of their own. Time becomes scarce; new friendships are often based on sharing the burden of child care.
But that is not the whole story.
In the age of covid-19 and Zoom, the chronological pattern has been changed. Instead of their vague possibilities and risks, strangers have assumed the all-too-literal role as a looming source of infection. During lock-downs they are officially to be avoided. Yet youngsters still long dangerously, for the pleasure of interaction, not just with individuals but anonymous crowds.
| A．This aspect of the story and fear of strangers has bring about frustration among people. |
| B．Some people never recover the youthful enthusiasm for unforeseen encounters. |
| C．Middle-aged people gradually realize that the exchange will be a one-off which can permit freedom and frankness. |
| D．People of all ages have come to miss the human stimulation of busy high streets or trains. |
| E．In mid-life and beyond people can still experience the joy of a random meeting. |
| F．Despite this, the resulting interactions can generate an appealing feeling of escaping familiarity. |
2 . In American culture, I am noticing a lack of respect, especially among children. This should be treated
In 1995, I spent a couple of months in Kenya where I lived with a pastor’s family. This pastor was a part of the Maasai tribes that have some unique customs. One of them is the
In my early 20’s, I worked at a children’s home in South Carolina where the children from 4 to 19 years old were taught to respect their elders. They
Immanuel Kant expressed two
| A．passionately | B．steadily | C．publicly | D．alarmingly |
| A．challenging | B．faking | C．piloting | D．abandoning |
| A．assistance | B．greeting | C．blessing | D．guarantee |
| A．come forward | B．drop by | C．show off | D．fall down |
| A．pretend | B．suspect | C．determine | D．acknowledge |
| A．located | B．ranked | C．addressed | D．defied |
| A．delight | B．delay | C．decline | D．distress |
| A．gesture | B．secret | C．behavior | D．authority |
| A．peers | B．enemies | C．guards | D．owners |
| A．controversial | B．accepted | C．foreign | D．equivalent |
| A．twisting | B．imposing | C．banning | D．sparing |
| A．reason | B．solution | C．harmony | D．consciousness |
| A．similarity | B．response | C．obedience | D．approach |
| A．environmental | B．external | C．voluntary | D．flexible |
| A．luxuries | B．glories | C．instruments | D．models |
3 . In the beginning, there was the prank (玩笑).
When motion pictures first appeared, movie cameras were used simply to record normal events. They showed things such as workers leaving a factory, or a train entering a station. It wasn’t long before simple stories were created for film. Since the films were extremely short, the story also had to be very short. So, in 1985. Louie Lumiere staged a simple prank. His film, originally titled Le Jardinere, is now commonly referred as L’ Arroseur Arrose, or in English, The Sprinkler Sprinkled. It shows a mail using a hose (软管) to water a garden. A boy enters the frame and steps on the hose, stopping the water flow. When the gardener looks into the hose nose, the boy releases the pressure and the gardener gets a face full of water. The boy laughs, but is immediately caught and spanked.
This creased the first film comedy type. Prank films became the common way to get laughs from an audience during the earliest days of cinema. It is an extremely simple but infinitely flexible method of creating a moment of tension and release. The audience gets to be “in on the joke” watching the situation being set up. The trap is sprung, forming the highest of the event. Usually, the prankster is caught, and spanked, giving closure to the narrative.
Similar stories involved people simply misbehaving and getting their comeuppance. Mr. Flip (The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, 1909), directed by Gilbert M. Anderson, featured Ben Turpin as a lifeless flirt (打情骂俏). He goes to various shops and offices, trying to touch the cheeks of female workers. In each of the events, he gets punished. The women pokes him in the bottom with scissors, the customers in the bar spray soda water in his face, and the switchboard operator can somehow send electric shocks to the telephone he is using.
A comic strip called Foxy Grandpa by Carl E. Schultze featured an old man with a pair of rascally grandsons. They would try to play tricks on him, but he would always turn the tables on them by using his wits. The strip was developed into a vaudeville (杂耍表演) character played by Joseph Hart, who went on to play the same part in silent films.
It would be a mistakes to think of this as an outdated style of comedy. Prank films are certainly still a hit on YouTube. It is also a useful way to design an animated narrative. The best example would be the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. Each of the Coyote’s theme is comparable to a prank. He sets up a trap, tries to spring it on the Road Runner, it fails, and he gets the worst of it.
1. The author believes that The Sprinkler Sprinkled ________.| A．was a record of normal life events |
| B．created the first sound comedy movie |
| C．was made in a time of technical limitation |
| D．was about a gardener making fun of a boy |
| A．share | B．punishment |
| C．dismissal | D．responsibility |
| A．The audience take delight in seeing the prankster suffering pain. |
| B．Prank films gradually lose their appeal, giving way to animations. |
| C．In Mr. Flip, Ben deserves the treatment as he takes advantage of women. |
| D．The grandfather in the Foxy Grand pa always falls into his grandson’s tricks. |
| A．By analyzing statistics. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By giving instructions. | D．By presenting examples. |
Walmart has a plan to tackle the climate crisis. Can it pull it off?
Every day a seemingly never-ending stream of toothbrushes, toilet paper, tape, thumbtacks, toys and
The retailer, which was for many years
Walmart has declared its mission
Over the past years, Walmart
"It's extraordinary," said Michael Vandenbergh, co-director of the Climate Change Research Network at Vanderbilt Law School,
Yet it's an uphill task for a retail giant with a business model based on providing tens of millions of low-priced products to a growing number of customers. The big question will be
5 . The internet has transformed the way people work and communicate. It has upended(颠倒) industries, from entertainment to retailing. But its most profound effect may well be on the biggest decision that most people make -- choosing a mate.
In the early 1990s the notion of meeting a partner online seemed freakish, and not a little pathetic. Today, in many places, it is normal. Smartphones have put virtual bars in people's pockets, where singletons can mingle free from the constraints of social or physical geography.
Digital dating is a massive social experiment, conducted on one of humanity's most intimate and vital processes. Its effects are only just starting to become visible.
The greater choice of meeting one Mr/Mrs. Right makes the digital dating market far more efficient than the offline kind. For some, that is bad news. Because of the gulf in pickiness between the sexes, a few straight men are doomed never to get any matches at all. On Tantan, a Chinese app, men express interest in 60% of women they see, but women are interested in just 6% of men; this dynamic means that 5% of men never receive a match.
For most people, however, digital dating-offers better outcomes. Research has found that marriages in America between people who meet online are likely to last longer, such couples profess to be happier than those who met offline. Online dating is a particular boon(好处、益处) for those with very particular requirements. I date allows daters to filter out matches who would not consider converting to Judaism, for instance.
The fact that online daters have so much more choice can break down barriers; evidence suggests that the internet is boosting interracial marriages by bypassing homogenous social groups. But daters are also more able to choose partners like themselves. Assortative mating already shoulders some of the blame for income inequality. Online dating may make the effect more pronounced: education levels are displayed prominently on dating profiles in a way they would never be offline.
But even if the market does not become ever more concentrated, the process of coupling (or not) has unquestionably become more centralised. Romance used to be a distributed activity which took place in a profusion of bars, clubs, churches and offices; now enormous numbers of people rely on a few companies to meet their mate. That hands a small number of coders(编程员) tremendous power to engineer mating outcomes. Competition offers some protection against such a possibility; so too might greater transparency over the principles used by dating apps to match people up.
Yet such concerns should not obscure(使模糊) the good that comes from the modern way of romance. The right partners can elevate(提升) and nourish(滋养) each other. The wrong ones can ruin both their lives. Digital dating offers millions of people a more efficient way to find a good mate. That is something to love.
1. Which is NOT the benefits brought by digital dating?| A．A straight man sees a higher chance of finding a mate. |
| B．Certain requirements can be met through filtering out the unqualified potential 'candidates'. |
| C．Efficiency of finding a mate has been raised thanks to the wider choices. |
| D．People who find like-minded matches online are happier in their marriages. |
| A．marked | B．subtle | C．difficult | D．inviting |
| A．The desire of people to find a mate quickly. |
| B．The heavy reliance of people on a dating website or professional company. |
| C．The higher chance of meeting a mate online. |
| D．The narrower distribution of people seeking mates. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Neutral | C．Supportive | D．Critical. |
Loving Legacy
Magic wands, flying broomsticks, terrifying monsters... these are the features of the fantasy genre. And over the last few decades, Harry Potter has remained at the top of the list for
Harry Potter might have started off as
I grew up reading Harry Potter. Like millions of other children, I waited on my eleventh birthday for an owl carrying a letter to inform me that I
Some may think that fantasy or science fiction has no place in literature, as they corrupt the mind and provide no useful lessons. These people are wrong. Characters in popular fantasy or science fiction novels are not much different from those in classic literature novels. Each embodies the emotion, character and thought
1.
| A．It comes from the heart. | B．It’s something you have to think about. |
| C．It never gets boring. | D．It’s not a feeling or an emotion. |
| A．She had long black hair. | B．She wore leather clothes. |
| C．She never wore pants. | D．She wore blue jeans. |
| A．Up Your Alley. | B．The Blackhearts. |
| C．Gary Glitter | D．Sly and the Family Stone. |
| A．She didn’t actually have much influence. | B．People still don’ understand her. |
| C．She still wants to perform. | D．She is a star on the stage. |
8 . Immersive Art Draws People In
With bold, swirling brushstrokes and vivid colors, Vincent van Gogh's stirring Starry Night brings to life a turbulent sky. It's one of the most recognizable paintings in the world. And gazing at the scenic canvas can make museum visitors feel starstruck.
Immersive art doesn't sit in a glass case or fit in a frame.
Van Gogh gained fame only after his death. In fact, the 19th-century painter sold just one painting during his lifetime. But now he is immersive art's biggest superstar. His work has been showcased in various exhibitions featuring immense images.
The popularity of immersive art has been powered partly by social media. As visitors post selfies featuring van Gogh's art or videos of friends stepping into a fantastical fridge, these experiences draw bigger and bigger crowds.
| A．Meanwhile, traditional museums are following the trend and applying immersive technologies. |
| B．Not all immersive art is based on paintings. |
| C．But seeing this masterpiece on a gallery wall isn't the only way art fans can experience its impact. |
| D．The interactive indoor downpour looked like magic, but it all came down to science. |
| E．It is generally an interactive event that lets viewers feel they are in the artwork. |
| F．The artwork is animated and accompanied by music, voices, and background sound. |
9 . The statue of King Leopold II of Belgium that stands in sight of the royal palace in Brussels has been defaced dozens of times in recent years. Activists have painted its hands and eyes red as a reminder of the brutality that Leopold unleashed in the Congo Free State, a territory in central Africa, at the end of the 19th century. As many as 10 million Congolese-or half of the population-might have perished as Europeans forced entire villages to collect rubber and ivory for export.
Leopold’s exploitation of Congo was a scandal. In 1908, after years of campaigning by journalists, the Belgian state stripped the king of his private possession. The Belgian Congo joined other European colonies in Africa where wanton（恶意的）extraction was to be replaced by a supposedly civilising mission. Yet though less transparently murderous, the “benign” colonialism of elsewhere was often not that different from what happened under Leopold. A new book, “In the Forest of No Joy”, by J. P. Daughton, an American historian, exposes how forced labour in the French Congo（now the Republic of Congo）, on the other side of the river from Leopold’s possession（now the Democratic Republic）, led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Africans.
The book is a masterful, if relentlessly bleak, account of the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway, a route designed to connect the central African interior to the Atlantic. What makes it so compelling is the divide it exposes between the often admirable intentions of colonial bureaucrats, who did genuinely think they were lifting Africans out of poverty, and the grim reality that they enabled. The application of “modern” government to conquered people could be almost as savage as plunder（掠夺）, Mr Daughton shows.
The railway was the idea of Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazza, an Italian-born French explorer who conquered much of central Africa for France “by exclusively peaceful means”. The French state imagined itself as a bringer of civilisation to Africa, and the railway was to provide a way for the Congolese to take part in world trade. Yet Mr Daughton shows how the colonial administration in Congo had little capacity to build a railway without violence: it claimed to be recruiting paid volunteers while its agents forced Africans to work at gunpoint. Many were marched hundreds of kilometres to the tracks chained at the neck, as slaves had been a century before. Whatever work had to be done, reported Albert Londres, a French journalist, “it’s captives who do it.”
Surprisingly, the French state documented these abuses diligently（the archives provide the source of much of Mr Daughton’s information）. In 1926 one inspector, Jean-Noel-Paul Pegourier, compared the treatment of workers on the railway to the German genocide of the Herero in Namibia before the first world war. Yet unlike the reports of Leopold’s abuses, these observations had little effect, not least because orders issued from Paris or even Brazzaville were simply ignored. Raphael Antonetti, the colonial governor, fought back with an avalanche of legalese.
The railway was a masterpiece of engineering, as Mr Daughton readily admits. For decades it provided the only means of transporting goods within Congo. The wealth of Brazzaville, still so named, was built on it. In Britain and France, the infrastructure bequeathed to former colonies is often cited as an argument for its benefits. But to build it, a weak and stingy state had to rely on brutality. As Mr Daughton reports, “the Congo-Ocean provides an all too-useful case in point for how the language of humanity could be invoked to explain the deaths of thousands.”
1. According to the passage, King Leopold was infamous for ________.| A．taking possession of the private belongings of 10 million Congolese by killing them |
| B．reviving slavery by illegally transporting the native Congo villagers to Europe |
| C．being physically handicapped by people in the Congo Free State for his cruel governance |
| D．his tyrannical and exploitative behaviors imposing forced labor on the Congolese |
| A．European bureaucrats’ intention to bring prosperity to the Africans led to unintended consequences. |
| B．The African workers involved in the railway construction were enslaved and ill-treated. |
| C．Despite being crowned as a masterpiece of engineering, the railway is of little benefit to local people. |
| D．Some colonists led no better lives when governed by civilized leaders than by tyrants. |
| A．Because the local governor turned a blind eye to the instructions given by higher officials. |
| B．Because some of the descriptions were groundless and denied by the inspector on the site. |
| C．Because the local agents fought back by filing a lawsuit against the alleged documents. |
| D．Because the workers on the railway were contracted volunteers though being treated cruelly. |
| A．A Brief History of Forced Labor | B．Blood on the Tracks |
| C．Treasure of Colonialism | D．The Vanishing Humanity |
10 . Across all four walls of a vast hall, Vincent van Gogh’s blue irises begin to sway. They bloom gently at first, then more violently, as the music builds to a crashing crescendo. Visitors to “Immersive Van Gogh”, showing at a former music venue in San Francisco, sit or stand in socially distant circles on the floor, their bodies bathed in the glow of these animated laser projections.
“Immersive art” experiences are on the rise, not just in America but across the world. Tens of thousands of people have walked completely dry through a “Rain Room” of streaming water in Shanghai, Melbourne and Sharjah. Others have entered a gallery filled with disorientating yellow fog in Berlin or visited a mirrored “infinity room” in New York. More and more, the experience of contemporary art is just that: an experience.
These installations share a common trait: an urge by artists to create and audiences to enjoy a space in which visitors participate and play. “It’s a bit like going into the museum and being in the picture,” says Florian Ortkrass, co-founder of Random International, an art collective which has followed its blockbuster “Rain Room” with other hands-on exhibits that probe the tension between human bodies and technology. “If this kind of work is done well, it engages people emotionally, it lifts them out of their everyday rut,” adds HannesKoch, Random Intemational’s other co-founder. “It heightens your awareness and perception of people and the space around you and people like that.”
Immersion in a sensory experience-a Gesamtkunstwerk or total work of art-has a long pedigree in human history, with the cave paintings at Lascaux and the overwhelming aesthetic experience of the Gothic cathedral. Yet through the 19th and 20th centuries art-making became more individual and focused on the autonomous painted or sculpted object. Only in the 1960s did artists return to “reinventing art as the environment”. Artists have been experimenting with ambitious installations ever since, enabled by ever more sophisticated technological tools.
Admittedly, whizzy new technology is part of the reason for immersive art’s appeal. In a screen-saturated world, there is also an undeniable “relief that comes with being in a physical environment that sparks the imagination,” says Ali Rubinstein, co-chief executive of Meow Wolf. “People want to connect to art-making.” agrees Mr Glimcher of Super-blue. More profoundly, as humans become more urban and isolated, “we need our artists to help us connect to a sense of awe-to the transcendent(超常的)and to each other,” he adds.
Art is always a reflection of the spirit of its time, notes Dorothea von Hantelmann, professor of art and society at Bard College Berlin. What she calls “the shift from object to experience” is a phenomenon of the rich world that reflects many things: an excess of stuff, a young, more interactive generation with a sophisticated aesthetic, and, perhaps, “a new kind of thinking which one might call ecological thinking, which is to think in connections, in relations.”
1. Which of the following words is NOT proper to describe “immersive art” experiences?| A．engaging | B．awe-inspiring | C．chilling | D．dazzling |
| A．call on people to be alert and stay away from overwhelming technologies. |
| B．liberate people from daily routines and enhance their understanding of the world around. |
| C．urge more visitors to work with artists and participate in the creation of exhibits. |
| D．invite people to experience contemporary art by focusing on framed objects. |
| A．immersion has always been a popular form of artistic appreciation ever since the ancient times. |
| B．the focus on individual experience of art in the 19th century laid a foundation for contemporary immersive art. |
| C．the magnificent works in the Gothic cathedral drew its inspiration from prehistoric cave paintings. |
| D．cutting-edge technologies have accelerated the burgeoning development of immersive art since the 1960s. |
| A．people are immersed in a more self-isolated environment to stimulate imagination. |
| B．people feel relieved and more related, strengthening their connection with what goes beyond ordinary limits. |
| C．artists are to reflect on the difference between autonomous objects and immersive experiences. |
| D．younger generations are inspired to pursue a world of aesthetics teeming with excessive material objects. |
