1 . Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.
But is it possible that Catherine’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 platform.
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 world, 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 anyone 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 tell about true friends. | B.To start a discussion. |
C.To encourage online friendships. | D.To summarize(总结) the text. |
A.In any case. | B.In public. | C.In person. | D.In advance. |
A.Unconcerned. | B.Positive. | C.Worried. | D.Confused. |
A.Teenagers need to focus on real-world friendships. | B.It’s easier to develop friendships in real life. |
C.It’s wise to turn to friends online. | D.Social media help people stay closely connected. |
2 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in a row. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favorite shows stream (流播) directly to their television at their convenience.
This behavior is nothing new. In fact, binge-watching has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.
However, recent research suggests that out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back (一集接一集地), almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and 25% have neglected their household chores (家务活). Next we’ll be missing work!
Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of them are often associated with a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist (抗拒) watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?
The countless number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. However, when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning, then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, “A little of what you fancy does you good.”
1. How did the writer develop the first paragraph?A.By giving a definition. | B.By telling a story. |
C.By listing some examples. | D.By analyzing the cause and effect. |
A.For convenience. | B.At the same time. |
C.In detail. | D.Free of charge. |
A.people can’t control their feelings | B.people can’t resist the temptation of Bingeing |
C.people have no patience to do work | D.people are addicted to waiting for a new episode |
A.To keep online media from stopping functioning. |
B.To enjoy entertainment as much as possible. |
C.To learn life lessons from the episodes. |
D.To watch episodes in a moderate way. |
3 . The world’s coral reefs do more for the planet than provide underwater beauty. They protect shorelines from the effects of hurricanes. An estimated 500 million people earn their livelihood from the fishing stocks and tourism opportunities reefs provide. The tiny animals that give rise to reefs are even offering hope for new drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.
Despite their importance, warming waters, pollution, ocean acidification, overfishing, and physical destruction are killing coral reefs around the world. So now scientists around the world are looking for all kinds of ways to protect and maybe even revive(复苏) corals. In the Bahamas, Ross Cunning, a research biologist at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, is focusing on corals with genes that could make them natural candidates for restoration projects. He recently published a study of two Bahamian reefs, one that seemed to survive an intense 2015 heat wave, and one that didn’t.“It sets the stage to find out which genes are responsible for thermal tolerance,” says Cunning, adding that he hopes discovering those genes will help scientists one day breed more heat-tolerant coral.
In Massachusetts, Cohen’s research has found two key elements that seem to protect corals. The first: internal(内部的) waves beneath the ocean’s surface that bring cooler currents to heat-struck corals, essentially air-conditioning them as temperatures rise. The second: adaptation, a quality that corals found in Palau’s warm lagoons(环礁湖) seem to display.On average, these lagoons submerge(淹没) coral in water that is two degrees Celsius warmer than the water outside the lagoons. “We think the fact that they can deal with these higher temperatures is built into their genetics and allows them to deal with the heat waves.”
She’s also found evidence of corals evolving more quickly in the past two decades to withstand rapidly warming temperatures. The big question scientists are now enquiring into, says Cohen, is whether there’s a cap on how much more heat corals can adapt to. Cohen calls these regions with heat-adapted corals as “super reefs,” and like Friendlander, advocates for using marine reserves to protect them.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.The protection for coral reefs |
B.The great value of coral reefs. |
C.The benefits for tourism from coral reefs. |
D.The relationship between animals and coral reefs. |
A.Cooling down the waters is the key to their success. |
B.Some corals have been genetically improved successfully. |
C.He expects to identify the genes of the heat-tolerant corals. |
D.Some corals that survived 2015 heat wave surprised people. |
A.How corals survive in the warm lagoons. |
B.What are the key elements to protect corals. |
C.How they can use natural reserves to protect corals. |
D.What is the high temperature limit of the surviving corals. |
A.Science. | B.Environment. | C.Animal. | D.Climate. |
4 . You are welcome to our channel. An interest in the way ocean currents move led Dr. Erik van Sebille to track garbage. This Dutch scientist hopes that by making us aware of how much we litter our oceans, we’ll be motivated to better stash (存放) our garbage.
Question: Where does the garbage in our oceans come from ?Answer: It can come from litter people leave behind on beaches. Or from things falling off ships. Almost every river’s garbage will end up in the ocean too. Plastic garbage is the biggest problem, though. That’s because it doesn’t easily break down. It can stay in the ocean for thousands of years. Eventually, it arrives at the garbage patches (垃圾带).
Question: Does this mean that ocean garbage is worse than garbage on land ?
Answer: Litter in the ocean is probably just as bad as litter in a forest or a park. The main problem in either place is that, if animals eat plastic pieces, they can become very ill. But we know how to solve the problem: Just stop polluting!
Question: Many persons love tossing a message in a bottle into the ocean. Is that a bad idea ?
Answer: Finding a bottle with a message in it is awesome, very special! But most bottles will never end up on a beach. They’ll turn up in the garbage patches, where it’s unlikely that someone will find them. If you want to play with ocean currents, go to the website and release virtual bottles. That way, you’re not littering our oceans.
1. Animals can become very ill if they _______________.
A.turn up in the garbage patches. | B.arrive at the garbage patches. |
C.eat plastic pieces. | D.play with bottles. |
A.educative. | B.useful. | C.interesting. | D.meaningless. |
A.story. | B.poem. | C.scientific article. | D.television interview. |
It was in the afternoon before the end of the Second World War that Antonio Black, who was twelve, caught sight of a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window. The brooch is so beautiful that he was unwilling to leave the store until he had purchased it. But it was too expensive — $5. His family was very poor and his parents struggled to make ends meet. Five dollars would buy almost a week’s food for his family.
Antonio couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Susan. Slim and beautiful, his mother was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”
“I’ll try,” the shopkeeper smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while.”
Antonio respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would be surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (锤打) from a side street, Antonio suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Antonio knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Every day after school, Antonio started his plan.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The day finally came!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus (马戏团) . Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter (柜台).
This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn’t have a lot of money.
Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns. elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.
One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking up at him as if to say, “You are my knight (骑士) in shining armor (盔甲).”
He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, “You got that right” . The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, “Please let me buy eight child tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady gave the price. The man’s wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned (倾斜) a little closer and asked. “How much do you say?”
The ticket lady again quoted (报价) the price. The man didn’t have enough money.
How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight children that he didn’t have enough money to take them to the circus?
Actually we were not wealthy in any sense. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.
注意:续写词数应为80左右。Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.
8 . New Year’s resolutions(决心) usually are like some of those promises that are meant to be broken. The word “New” in the new year, puts a lot of pressure on starting over and turning a new leaf. But you must remember you cannot just become a different person overnight when the clock strikes 12.
To start fresh this New Year’s Day, here are a few tips setting realistic new years’ resolutions in order to avoid the burden of disappointment next year.
Choose a very specific goal
Unclear plans like “lose weight” “exercise more” or “write more” are goals with no teeth.
They are unclear plans and desires, and are very easy to explain away due to how unclear they are.
Once you have chosen your goals, make a very detailed plan of how you will reach that goal. Having a plan and a pathway can help you imagine your progress and won’t make you impatient for immediate results. That way you will have already imagined what progress would look like for you in say, 3 months, 5 months, 7 months or every day depending on your goals.
Get yourself a social group
In today’s social media world, it is easy to find a group of like-minded individuals interested in sharing your goal. Get yourself a social group like this. However, just as there is this bright side to having a social group, the problem is the pressure. Don’t get consumed by social media and what others are doing.
Accept failure and forgive yourself.
A.Make a plan to reach that goal |
B.Be patient with your progress |
C.Instead, set goals like “exercise 20 minutes every day“ or “lose 15 pounds” |
D.Despite all your efforts, it is possible that you might fail or make a mistake. |
E.Therefore, new year’s resolutions usually end up in failure |
F.Change is a difficult process-the key words being “difficult“ and “process” |
G.Remember you have this group only for support, not for comparison |
9 . One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap (包装).
On September 11th, 1958, Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital, she put him in my lap, saying, “I promised you a gift, and here it is.” What an honour! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night. I sang to it. I told it stories. I told it over and over how much I loved it!
One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it.Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”, “pitiful”, and “dying”, which sounded ominous.
Christmas was coming. “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room.“If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke, his eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen him cry before.
The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” He hung up and shouted upstairs. “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!”
“Thank God!” I heard Mum cry.
From the upstairs window, I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My socks still hung there flat. But I knew they were not empty; they were filled with love!
1. What happened to the author on September 11th, 1958?A.He got a baby brother. |
B.He got a Christmas gift. |
C.He became four years old. |
D.He received a doll. |
A.Impossible. | B.Boring. |
C.Difficult. | D.Fearful. |
A.Excitement. | B.Happiness. |
C.Sadness. | D.Disappointment. |
A.A sad Christmas day. |
B.Life with a lovely baby. |
C.A special Christmas gift. |
D.Memories of a happy family. |
10 . Endangered polar bears are breeding (繁殖) with grizzly bears (灰熊), creating “pizzly” bears, which is being driven by climate change, scientists say.
As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being forced ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two come increasing hybrids (杂交种).
With characteristics that could give the hybrids an advantage in warming northern habitats, some scientists guess that they could be here to stay. “Usually, hybrids aren’t better suited to their environments than their parents, but these hybrids are able to search for a broader range of food sources,” Larisa DeSantis, an associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Live Science.
The rise of “pizzly” bears appears with polar bears’ decline: their numbers are estimated to decrease by more than 30% in the next 30 years. This sudden fall is linked partly to “pizzly” bears taking up polar bears’ ranges, where they outcompete them, but also to polar bears’ highly specialized diets.
“Polar bears mainly consumed soft foods even during the Medieval Warm Period, a previous period of rapid warming,” DeSantis said, referring to fat meals such as seals. “Although all of these starving polar bears are trying to find alternative food sources, like seabird eggs, it could be a tipping point for their survival.” Actually, the calories they gain from these sources do not balance out those they burn from searching for them. This could result in a habitat ready for the hybrids to move in and take over, leading to a loss in biodiversity if polar bears are replaced.
“We’re having massive impacts with climate change on species,” DeSantis said. “The polar bear is telling us how bad things are. In some sense, “pizzly” bears could be a sad but necessary compromise given current warming trends.”
1. Why do polar bears move further south?A.To create hybrids. | B.To expand territory. |
C.To relieve hunger. | D.To contact grizzlies. |
A.Broader habitats. | B.More food options. |
C.Climate preference. | D.Improved breeding ability. |
A.A rare chance. | B.A critical stage. |
C.A positive factor. | D.A constant change. |
A.Polar bears are changing diets for climate change. |
B.Polar bears have already adjusted to climate change. |
C.“Pizzly” bears are on the rise because of global warming. |
D.“Pizzly”bears have replaced polar bears for global warming. |