1 . Thirteen-year-old Kaylee has a lot of friends — 532, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.
But is it possible that Kaylee’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.
Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not Words With Friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.
Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platforms (平台).
In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger, “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.
Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual words, we will have little time for our real-world friendships.” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need someone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To summarize the text. | B．To tell about true friends. |
| C．To bring up a discussion. | D．To encourage online friendship. |
| A．In person. | B．In advance. | C．In any case. | D．In full measure. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Confused. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．It’s wise to turn to friends online. |
| B．It’s easier to develop friendships in reality. |
| C．Social media help people stay closely connected. |
| D．Teenagers need focus on real-world friendships. |
2 . Running is often tiring and a lot of hard work, but nothing beats the feeling you get after finishing a long workout around the track.
But while it’s long been believed that endorphins (内啡肽) —chemicals in the body that cause happiness—are behind the so-called “runner’s high”, a study suggested that there may be more to this phenomenon than we previously knew.
According to a recent study published by a group of scientists from several German universities, a group of chemicals called endocannabinoids (内源性大麻素) may actually be responsible for this familiar great feeling.
To test this theory, the scientists turned to mice. Both mice and humans release high levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids after exercise. After exercising on running wheels, the mice seemed happy and relaxed and displayed no signs of anxiety. But after being given a drug to block their endorphins, the mice’s behavior didn’t seem to change. However, when their endocannabinoids were blocked with a different drug, their runners’ high symptoms seemed to fade.
“The long-held notion of endorphins being responsible for the runner’s high is false. Endorphins are effective pain relievers, but only when it comes to the pain in your body and muscles you feel after working out,” Patrick Lucas Austin wrote on science blog Lifchacker.
Similar studies are yet to be carried out on humans, but it’s already known that exercise is a highly effective way to get rid of stress or anxiety. The UK’s National Health Service even prescribes (开药 方) exercise to patients who are suffering from depression. “Being depressed can leave you feeling low in energy, which might put you off being more active. Regular exercise can improve your mood if you have depression, and its especially useful for people with mild to moderate (中等的) depression,” it wrote on its website.
It seems like nothing can beat that feeling we get after a good workout, even if we don’t fully understand where it comes from. At least if we’re feeling down, we know that all we have to do is to put on our running shoes.
1. What did scientists from German universities recently discover?| A．Working out is a highly effective way to treat depression. |
| B．The runner’s high could be caused by endocannabinoids. |
| C．Endorphins may contribute to one’s high spirits after running. |
| D．The level of endorphins and endocannabinoids could affect one’s mood. |
| A．To find what reduces the runner’s high symptoms. |
| B．To see the specific symptoms of the runner’s high. |
| C．To identify what is responsible for the runner’s high. |
| D．To test what influences the level of endocannabinoids released. |
| A．Effect. | B．Goal. | C．Opinion. | D．Question |
| A．They can help ease depression symptoms. |
| B．They are the best way to treat depression. |
| C．They only work for those with serious depression. |
| D．They can help people completely recover from depression. |
3 . Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer (征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm－hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
1. What does the author tell us in Paragraph 1?| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
| A．food shortages and a lack of work in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
| A．the Irish character | B．the Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A Very Difficult History |
| C．Ireland, Past and Present | D．The Independence of Ireland |
4 . In the past decade, the use of social media has grown in a way that no one could have guessed. It has turned some teenagers into celebrities and turned the famous into the infamous, overnight.
A key feature of social media, however, is its volatility. Trends come and go, disappearing almost as quickly as they appeared.
Short video apps such as TikTok and its Chinese equivalent (等同物) Douyin, took the world by storm. The Telegraph reported that TikTok was ranked 8th on Apple’s App Store in April. And Douyin had more than 300 million domestic monthly active users in June, CNBC said.
Why are these short videos — which are rarely longer than a few minutes — so popular? Jiang Yige, Singapore-based analyst at FengHe Fund Management, has a theory. “Short videos are just right to fill in the little gaps in our busy schedules,” he told CNBC.
These videos — apart from being very convenient — are important to teenagers because they allow them to express themselves, according to Teen Vogue.
Liza Koshy, a user of the US app Musical, who has over 2 million followers, said, “The sense of community that users of short video apps get is another appealing feature.”
Live streaming (直播) is a feature of our social media life that now seems as natural as sunrise. It’s a pretty neat idea: You can watch anyone, anywhere, live. However, China has taken live streaming to a whole new level. In China, more than 100 million viewers monthly watch a live streaming video. Forbes thought that a number of factors had led to the popularity of the live streaming. Among them is viewers’ ability to interact with unknown names.
However, the quick development of social media may be having side effects too. Fake news is one serious problem it causes. Materials shared on these platforms are often not checked for accuracy. The most basic content can be false and can mislead users one way or another. We use social media all the time, which doesn’t mean that we understand the influence it is having on us. We should be mindful of both the time we spend on it and its impact on our minds.
1. What does the underlined word “volatility” in Paragraph 2 possibly mean?| A．Being changeable. | B．Being steady. |
| C．Being promising. | D．Being violent. |
| A．They are very convenient. | B．They help people kill time. |
| C．They provide a sense of community. | D．They allow people to express themselves. |
| A．The information from social media is totally reliable. |
| B．When it comes to social media, people only know short videos. |
| C．People can’t communicate with each other without social media. |
| D．There is still much room for social media to make improvement. |
| A．Objective. | B．Subjective. |
| C．Favourable. | D．Disapproving. |
5 . A five-year-old dog named Kelsey has been praised as a hero for helping to save the life of her owner who slipped in the snow and broke his neck.
The man, Bob, was alone when he left his Michigan farm house on New Year’s Eve to collect firewood. Expecting a journey of only several meters, Bob was wearing just long johns (衬裤), a shirt and slippers when he went outside, although the temperature was around -4℃.
After the accident, he was unable to move in the snow. Fortunately, Kelsey came to his assistance. “I was shouting for help, but my nearest neighbor is about 400 meters away, and it was 10:30 pm,” Bob explained. “But my Kelsey came. By the next morning, my voice was gone and I couldn’t yell for help, but Kelsey didn’t stop barking.” Kelsey’s companion kept him warm by lying on top of him. She licked his face and hands to keep him awake. “Kelsey kept barking but never left my side,” Bob recalled. “She kept me warm. I knew I couldn’t give up and that it was my choice to stay alive.”
Bob spent 20 hours in the freezing cold. When he finally lost consciousness, his dog kept barking. Finally, hearing the barking, Bob’s neighbor discovered him at 6:30 pm on New Year’s Day and called the emergency services at once. When Bob arrived in hospital, his body temperature was below 21 ℃. However, doctors were surprised to find that he didn’t have any frostbite (冻疮). They believed it was because of Kelsey’s determination to keep him warm. Dr. Chaim Colen, the doctor who treated Bob, said, “Animals can help and his dog really saved him...He was very fortunate.”
Bob said, “I was very grateful to both Dr. Colen and my Kelsey. They saved my life. They are truly heroes!”
1. What happened to Bob on New Year’s Eve?| A．He left his dog alone in his farmhouse. | B．He was praised for saving a dog owner. |
| C．He broke his neck and couldn’t move. | D．He heard his neighbor’s shouting for help. |
| A．To keep warm. | B．To stay alive. |
| C．To keep Bob awake. | D．To seek help from others. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Fortunate. | C．Terrible. | D．Friendly. |
| A．A Neck-breaking Accident | B．The Magic Night |
| C．Warmth on a Winter’s Night | D．Determination to Keep Alive |
6 . Mobile phones and iPads are now wonderful tools for learning and teaching English. With the help of the thousands of education and language apps available online, students can make effective use of them to learn in an interactive environment. Given below is a list of some of the best apps for learning and teaching English.
Grammar Up
Grammar is the heart of any language and, thus, the Grammar Up app is one of the most highly recommended apps for English learners. This app is specifically designed for people who want to improve their grammar, vocabulary and word selection. It consists of more than 1,800 multiple－choice questions grouped under twenty different grammar categories.
iFPoems
iFPoems is a fantastic app for poetry lovers. This app consists of a great collection of poems from famous poets around the world. It also allows users to save their favorites along with recording their own readings of the poems.
iBooks
iBooks is a complete book library for the iPad users. It includes the iBookstore and allows users to download and read books. The app features a beautiful bookshelf, on which you can browse various books or even add notes to your favorite paragraphs in the book. You can also create your own texts and upload them into the app.
SpeakingPal
Recommended as one of the best apps for English educators and learners, SpeakingPal allows you to record your speech and compare it with a native English speaker. This amazing app combines video with automatic speech recognition software that tests your English speaking skills. You just have to speak with a video character and get immediate response on how well you speak English.
1. What do these apps have in common?| A．They can be found online. |
| B．They are free of charge. |
| C．They improve users’ grammar. |
| D．They’re designed by teachers. |
| A．Download books for free. |
| B．Write notes on it with pens. |
| C．Save notes and texts. |
| D．Create a bookstore. |
| A．It offers video call service. |
| B．It evaluates users’ speech. |
| C．It offers talks with a native speaker. |
| D．It includes English speaking contests. |
7 . Have you ever wondered what the real meaning of the saying “A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed” is?
The trust between best friends is such that if one friend falls in trouble. the other will not think twice to help. If the bond between two friends is strong, true friends can tolerate even long distance.
They accept each other with their positive and negative qualities.
True friendship is marked by selflessness. Best friends support each other, even if the whole world opposes them.
| A．True friendship never fades away |
| B．Nothing is hidden between true friends |
| C．It is not easy getting true friends for the lifetime |
| D．For them, geographical separation is just a part of life |
| E．True friends don’t desert each other when one is facing trouble |
| F．Remember, all the best friends are friends, but not all friends can be the best friends |
| G．People talk about the true value of friendship actually without knowing what it stands for |
8 . For those of us who attempt to keep up with the fashion world to ensure our cupboard stays fresh, the real skeletons in our cupboards are those pieces we bought and only wore once or twice - mostly from following each season’s new trends.
With “fast fashion” brands like Forever 21, H&M and Zara’ constant output of new trendy clothing at low prices, it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying clothes regardless of whether you really need them. But unnecessary purchasing, and the mass production of clothing, isn’t just hard on our wallets - it’s hard on the environment.
One of the first steps in getting unwanted clothes out of your cupboard is to sell or consign (寄售) them. But because popular resale shops like Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads don’t accept fast fashion brands because they don’t profit enough from them, people often turn to throwing their old clothing in the dustbins.
Many consumers don’t realize that clothing and textiles (织物) are recyclable or how to recycle them. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States generated 16.22 million tons of waste textiles in 2017 and recycled only 2. 62 million tons. Ten and a half million tons of textiles were finally buried under the ground that year.
Vetements, a Parisian fashion brand worn by celebrities like Kanye West and Rihanna aimed to bring awareness to the problem of fast fashion brands and clothing waste with a recent Window display Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. The window contained a giant pile of clothes. The pile, which grew daily, was made up of old clothes donated by Saks employees and out-of-season items from the store.
On Aug.10, the clothing from the display was donated to RewearABLE, a Long Island recycling program that collects old clothes and textiles, and prepares them for resale or repurposes the textiles.
1. What keeps customers coming back to fast fashion chains like Forever 21, H&M and Zara?| A．Good shopping environment. |
| B．Discounts and promotional activities. |
| C．Warm and thoughtful service of the salesmen. |
| D．Low prices and a continuous supply of new looks. |
| A．In Paragraph 2. | B．In Paragraph 3. |
| C．In Paragraph 4. | D．In paragraph 5. |
| A．It can help the environment. | B．It does good to people’s health. |
| C．It can help change people’s lives. | D．It will take the lead in the latest fashion. |
| A．How to Stop Buying Unnecessary Clothes |
| B．Fast Fashion Brands Spread Around the World |
| C．The Advantages and Disadvantages of Fast Fashion |
| D．Fast Fashion Can Kill Your Wallet and the Environment |
9 . A new chapter opened in mankind’s exploration of the moon on Thursday morning as the first probe (探测仪) to land on the moon’s far side reached its destination after a 26-day journey. The Chang’e 4 lunar probe, representing China ’s latest step in lunar investigation, landed at 10: 26 am at the Von Karman crater (环形山) and then sent back three photos of the landing site shot by cameras on the probe’s lander (着陆器), marking the world’s first images taken on the surface of the far side.
One of the photos, published by the China National Space Administration, shows the place where Chang’e 4’s rover (巡视器), which was named Yutu 2 on Thursday night, will be heading to explore and survey. Thus began the first long journey to the side of the moon that faces away from the Earth. It is meant to fulfill scientist’s long-held desire to closely observe the lesser known region.
Tidal (潮汐的) forces on Earth slow the moon’s rotation (自转) to the point that the same ways faces Earth. The other side most of which is never visible from Earth, is the far side of the moon. While it has been photographed by spacecraft, starting with a Soviet probe in 1959, no probe had ever made a soft landing there, so scientists had not been able to conduct surface-level observations and surveys of the region.
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar program, said in Beijing on Thursday that the landing “was perfect”. He called the event “ an important milestone for China’s space exploration”, adding that it has made a good start for future lunar exploration efforts.
With its investigation of the far side, particularly the Von Karman crater, the Chang’e 4 mission will enable scientists to find out what they haven’t known about the moon and deepen their knowledge of its early history and of the solar system.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about ?| A．The basic data of the Chang’e 4 lunar probe. |
| B．The Chang’e 4’s world-first landing on moon’s far side. |
| C．The Chang’e 4’s 26-day visit to the far side of the moon. |
| D．The description of the photos taken on the surface of moon’s far side. |
| A．The lander. | B．The rover. |
| C．The far side of the moon. | D．The Chang’e 4 lunar probe. |
| A．It is only on the moon that people can explore the deep space. |
| B．The scientific information obtained by Chang’e 4 will be new to the world. |
| C．It is the first time for people to see the pictures of the far side of the moon. |
| D．Chinese space technology is more advanced than that of any other country’s. |
| A．Tourism. | B．Health Care. |
| C．Science and Technology . | D．Arts and Entertainment. |
10 . Movies not to miss
In 2018, to which was just said goodbye, we’ve seen some good films such as Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians and A Star Is Born. And there are more exciting movies in the works for 2019.
Spider-man: Far From Home, July 5, US
Tom Holland, the lead actor of 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, returns to play Peter Parker, a high school student who gains superpowers after being bitten by a spider. When we see him again in theaters, Spider-Man will have a new red-and-black suit. The movie will take the famous wall-crawler on a global adventure outside of the US. According to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Spider-Man will try a return to his“normal”self; he will try to find his old powers on his new journey.
Directed By: Jon Watts
Runtime: 100 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures
The Lion King, July 19, US
This is a brand-new version of the classic children’s film. The story of wide-eyed young lion Simba still remains in hearts of world audiences even after 25 years. In this re-telling, Simba again begins the difficult journey to become the King of the Pride Lands, a vast Africa grassland. The favorite part of the story for many has always been the friendship between Simba Timon and Pumbaa, The last two sacrifice all they have to help Simba to his throne (王座). How will the new movie re-imagine their famous relationship?
Directed By: Jon Favreau
Runtime: 98 minutes
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Hobbs and Shaw, August 2, US
To most people the Fast and Furious series is all about crazy drivers racing in sports cars. But in its spin-off (外传), called Hobbs and Shaw, humor is added to the action-packed thrills. The new film will hit US theaters on August 2. Famous English action movie actor Jason Statham will star alongside Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock”, as Deckard Shaw and Luke Hobbs respectively, as in their previous appearances in Fast and Furious films.
Directed By: David Leitch
Runtime: 120 minutes
Studio: Universal Pictures
Arctic, September 1, US
In the movie Arctic, a man trapped in the Arctic is finally about to receive his long awaited rescue. However, after a tragic accident, his opportunity is lost. He must then decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or to try his best to save himself.
Directed By: Joe Penna
Runtime: 95 minutes
Studio: Bleecker Street
1. Which movie was directed by Jon Watts?| A．Arctic. | B．The Lion King. |
| C．Hobbs and Shaw. | D．Spider-man, Far From Home. |
| A．It lasts 120 minutes. | B．It was shot in the Arctic. |
| C．suitable for children. | D．It has two famous action movie stars. |
| A．On July 5. | B．On August 2. | C．On July 19. | D．On September 1. |
