2 . Li Ting, 15, from Shanghai, was preparing a talk on some western festivals. She searched online for certain information and made PowerPoint presentations. Wu Qiong, her classmate, was doing his chemistry homework carefully. But he couldn’t work out the last problem even he tried his best. So he took out his mobile phone, opened a special app, and searched the problem. Solutions soon appeared on the screen in several seconds.

Nowadays, many students do homework online with the help of the Internet. They search online, use apps or discuss through QQ and WeChat.

“It’s convenient. You don’t have to wait for your teacher to explain it to you face to face,” according to Wu. “You can also learn by seeing how others work them out. What’s more, it improves students’ abilities. And it’s especially true for new kinds of homework. I am quite skilled at finding information online and using Microsoft Office.”

However, this trend (趋势) also causes problems. Some lazy students just copy the answers online without thinking. Even some ask their classmates to do homework for them. And their teacher may not know the fact.

Anyhow, knowing how to use the Internet is important. The key is to have good self-control. When you come across a difficult problem, think about it by yourself first. Be sure to understand the reasons behind the answers after you have turned to the Internet, or you won’t make progress. It he are not sure about your self-control, ask your parents for help.

The Use of Avatars

In our class, every student has more than two avatars, which are images used as     1     online. There are a wide     2     of forms and uses of avatars among our classmate. Most students choose avatars from a     3     of ready-made images, but some students design avatars in their own    4    . More than half of the students want to show different aspects of their     5     through the avatars. Our classmates mainly use avatars for web     6    ,     7     and in     8     games. But some classmate expressed     9     about online     10     when using avatars. This issue is something that we need to pay attention to in the future.

Does the Internet help or harm friendships? Different people have different opinions. Robert thinks talking online is no     1    (replace) for face­to­face contact. Communicating through a screen makes     2     more difficult for children to concentrate or be kind to others. Social skills enable children to develop lifelong friendships. What's more, the Internet     3     (make) people self­centred. They are only concerned with their online popularity. He also thinks friendships are built on the basis of trust. Going online can be particularly dangerous for people who are easily     4    (influence) by others.

But Cathy holds the opposite opinion. She thinks the Internet makes communication more     5    (convenience) and more fun. People can keep in touch     6     friends wherever they are or whatever they are doing. There are also so many online tools people can use to be creative. In     7    (add), online communication can     8    (actual) bring people closer to each other. Whoever needs help can immediately get some useful     9    (suggestion) or information from all over the world,     10     makes friends feel loved and cared for.

Don’t brag(炫耀), but be proud of what you have done. These two pieces of advice     1     (be) tough to balance before Facebook existed. Even today’s share-it-all social media haven’t made     2     any easier. We are     3     (able) to draw a line between a humble bragging and a straight-up bragging. But we certainly know that oversharing doesn’t do your friendship any favors.

Social media like Facebook bring us     4     (convenient). Meanwhile, they can put us     5     danger of oversharing. Once upon a time, only your family and close friends would be there     6     (see) you eagerly open presents on Christmas morning. Now the photo     7     you take on your iPhone will likely become a touch-up Instagram in about 15 seconds. Maybe you just post it subconsciously. But your sharing behavior could     8     (easy) be considered annoying or even narcissistic(自恋的).

To post or not to post? Maybe we should all be asking     9     (we) the question before hitting the share button. As our personal fame grows alongside our social media presences, so     10     (do) the number of people we could potentially(潜在地) impress or bother.

8 . Last month, I began my own two-week-long digital detox. I got the inspiration from the tech writer Paul Miller, who got away from the Internet for a whole year. It was not worth mentioning as against the time Miller spent offline, but it was the longest I had gone through without almost any Internet in 13 years.

Why did I do it? For a while I felt the urge to try fully disconnecting to free myself from the endless work. I wanted to take a break from it all for a couple of weeks at least to see what would happen. After all, throughout the last decade, I’ve been online 24 – 7, overreacting to my email inbox and social feed (传送) – living in a world where the line between the digital world and the real world gets a bit unclear at times.

I haven’t of course forgotten that I’m CEO of a social media company. My work is built around the premise (前提) that being connected makes our lives richer, more rewarding and more efficient. Still, I’d forgotten one key lesson along the way: moderation. As more and more of my life was spent scanning social feed and checking out my inbox, I realized that I needed to step back and get a whole new perspective.

So on my winter vacation to Mexico, I took a break from being active on the Internet for the entire trip. For the whole 14 days, I ate a lot of delicious fish tacos, surfed and fixed up my cottage on the beach. I didn’t write or send any emails. I didn’t scan any Top 10 lists of feed. The one I did give myself was checking my email inbox occasionally—just to make sure an emergency wasn’t unfolding while I was away.

What I learned from my short experiment was actually not too unlike what Miller learned. I didn’t end up discovering that technology is evil. In fact, I found myself reflecting on how technology over the last few years had let me experience some of the most rewarding and eventful moments of my life.