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. |
1. What is the aim of the campaign?
A.To remind people of Earth Day. |
B.To encourage people to reduce garbage. |
C.To warn people of the bad effects of pollution. |
A.Planting trees. | B.Designing posters. | C.Collecting garbage. |
A.Paint paper. | B.Stop driving cars. | C.Decorate classrooms. |
A.Absurd. | B.Hollow. | C.Practical. |
3 . Good news for all Wes Anderson fans — the US director is back with the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar which hit Netflix, an online film provider, on Sept 27. It is a film adaptation of UK novelist Roald Dahl’s novel under the same name.
The film stars UK actor Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy man named Henry Sugar, who develops the ability to see through objects. At the very beginning he uses this power to cheat at cards and win big while gambling (赌博), and later turns his fortune into a global network of orphanages (孤儿院).
Dialogue style
Running for just 40 minutes, the film features Anderson’s quick-paced dialogue style. He also asked the actors to recite lines directly to the audience by looking at the camera, creating “the effect of listening to a podcast (播客) while turning the pages of a lovely picture book quickly”, commented CNN.
Visual style
Anderson’s work is immediately recognizable for his visual style as well. The “Anderson aesthetic (美学)” often uses bright color palettes (调色板) to both add visual appeal and make various ideas known to the audience, reported Yahoo News. In The Grand Budapest Hotel for example, Anderson uses a color palette of deep blues, rich greens and warm pinks to recreate an old-world European feel. In The Royal Tenenhaums the red tracksuits worn by Chaz, one of the main characters, show deep-seated anger resulting from parental trauma (创伤).
Symmetrical style
Another style is his use of symmetry (对称). Many of the shots involve (涉及) a person facing the camera, with the elements around the character set up in a sense of order and balance. Anderson explained to the media that it is out of his nature to “arrange things in a frame”, which he compares to how people can’t change the individuality of their handwriting. “You might try to write very well, but really, you have something your brain tends to do”, he said.
However, his obsessive repetition of these stylistic choices in his films has led some to question his ability to innovate (创新). In response to this, Anderson stated, “It’s not something I make any effort to do. I just want to make films that are personal but interesting to an audience.”
1. What do we know about the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar?A.Watching this film is actually listening to a podcast. |
B.It reflects the unique style of the director Wes Anderson. |
C.It is based on a real story of a wealthy man named Henry Sugar. |
D.Its main character gains nothing in gambling in the end. |
A.They both use colors to get various ideas across to the audience. |
B.They both reflect deep-seated anger. |
C.They both present an old-world European feel. |
D.They both have colorful costumes to add to their appeal. |
A.Out of curiosity. | B.Out of innovation. |
C.Out of habit. | D.Out of kindness. |
A.A film script. | B.A film lecture. |
C.A film survey. | D.A film review. |
4 . Are you happy with your appearance?
“Almost all the girls with single-fold eyelids (单眼皮) in our class have had double eyelid operations,” Zeng, a Senior 2 student from Chengdu, told Xinhua. Zeng had the same surgery done this summer.
From popular photo-editing apps to plastic surgery (整形手术), it seems that large eyes, pale skin and a skinny body are the only standard for beauty these days. But can following this standard really make us feel good about ourselves?
“Many teenagers are upset about their appearance because they believe in unrealistic standards of beauty,” experts say.
However, trying to live up to strict standards can make us feel anxious. What troubles us is not just our “imperfect” looks, but the fact that we criticize ourselves too much.
A.Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. |
B.Body image anxiety is common among teenagers. |
C.Guys care just as much as girls do about their body image. |
D.Some teenagers might feel negative about their appearance. |
E.It’s common for teenagers to feel confident about their appearance. |
F.She and many of her classmates believe bigger eyes look more beautiful. |
G.Perfect faces and bodies are everywhere in advertising, TV shows and social media. |
Few discoveries are as amazing as discovering the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an. But behind the lifelike masterpieces, there is a group of experts working hard
Lan Desheng, 52, is among the
Lan said that most of the Terracotta Warriors showed signs of decay (腐化) after being buried for thousands of years, which was made
7 . Cultural heritage sites are a nonrenewable resource. Today architectural heritage sites are being destroyed at an alarming rate. They’re threatened by rising seas, pollution, overtourism, conflicts and so on. Recently, Notre Dame Cathedral has attracted international attention.
Since its main construction from 1163 to 1350, Notre Dame Cathedral repeatedly has been damaged and repaired. On April 15, 2019, the landmark’s roof caught fire, causing the collapse of its spire (尖顶) and upper walls severely damaged. Work on the site began quickly. Through the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando Baptista, people will see restoring scenes where ruins are cleared and statues saved. Even the COVID-19 pandemic caused only a two-month delay. Architects have said the expensive project is on track to be completed in 2024.
And thorny questions arise. What duty do we owe the creations of our ancestors? What lesson can we draw from their presence?
Humankind has answered that differently. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche, an 18th-century baroque church, was famous for its bell-shaped dome (穹顶). In February 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II reduced the city to ruins. After German reunion, the church was reconstructed using many of its original stones, as a symbol of peace and harmony. Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also fell to bombing but had a different story. Its spire has been left a ruin on purpose to be a “warning monument” against war and destruction.
Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original, toxic metal — lead (铅) — for the roof, causing the debate about how to restore and maintain historic buildings. Actually, no one claims to have the “right” answers on preservation; there may not even be right answers. What people could do is to continuously monitor the global care of cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present, and future.
1. What do we know about Notre Dame Cathedral?A.It was once threatened by conflicts. |
B.It collapsed totally during a fire decade ago. |
C.It has undergone repeated repairs since 1163. |
D.It was not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
A.Simple. | B.Tough. | C.Accurate. | D.Attractive. |
A.To remind people the value of peace and harmony. |
B.To warn people the influence of war and destruction. |
C.To demonstrate different solutions to heritage site preservation. |
D.To introduce reconstruction methods such as using original materials. |
A.Cultural heritage sites are nonrenewable so that they are worth protecting. |
B.Notre Dame Cathedral has been the most attractive heritage site globally. |
C.The reconstruction of cultural heritage sites seldom causes disagreements. |
D.The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral after fire has been completed. |
As the most
Beijing Opera combines wonderful performance with fine costumes and makeup. The unique
Color patterns are painted on the performers’ faces, especially on their eyebrows, eye sockets and the corners of their mouths. The face colors are connected with the characters’
Up to now, the art of Beijing Opera “Lianpu”
9 . An American company has developed a new technique (技术) to make bread stay fresh for 60 days.
Scientists found that a kind of mould (霉菌) caused bread to go bad. The new technique kills the mould and keeps the food for longer time. This means there will be less waste of food in the world in future.
Food waste is a big problem in most developed countries. In the US, an average (普通的) family throws away 40% of the food they buy, which adds up to $165bn every year, about 330 million tons in weight. Bread takes a larger part. In the UK, 32% of the bread they buy is thrown away as waste when they can still be eaten.
The bread usually goes mouldy (发的) in around 10 days, but the American company says the new technique will keep the bread free from mould for two months.
”We treated a piece of bread in a special machine. At 60 days it had the same amount of mould as it was first made,“ says Mr. Stull, the leader of the company.
Although there are a lot of bread makers interested in the new technique, few customers like the idea. They say they don’t think a piece of bread which lasts for 60 days tastes good.
”We’ll have to make our customers accept the idea. But it will take some time,“ says Mr. Stull.
1. What is the key point of the new technique?A.It can prevent the world from wasting food. |
B.It kills the mould and keeps bread fresh for longer time. |
C.It keeps the same amount of mould. |
D.It makes bread taste good. |
A.Nearly half. | B.A quarter. | C.More than half. | D.About one-third. |
A.Food waste can be reduced immediately (立刻) with the new technique. |
B.We will buy bread that can last longer. |
C.Few customers are sure about the technique. |
D.Poor countries are in great need of food. |
A.A new technique has been invented to keep bread fresh longer. |
B.There is great waste of food in developed countries. |
C.There is a kind of mould that causes food to go bad. |
D.Customers don’t like food that lasts for two months. |
10 . While teenagers who are at risk of depression with risky behaviors — drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and cutting classes often alert parents and teachers that serious problems are brewing, a new study finds that there’s another group of adolescents who are in nearly as much danger of experiencing the same mental symptoms.
These teens use tons of media, get insufficient sleep and have a sedentary (不爱活动的) lifestyle. Of course, that may sound like a description of every teenager on the planet. But the study warns that it is teenagers who engage in all three of these practices in the extreme that are truly in a dangerous position. Because their behaviors are not usually seen as a red flag, these young people have been called the “invisible risk”group by the study’s authors.
The study’s authors surveyed 15,395 students and analyzed nine risk behaviors, including excessive alcohol use, illegal drug use, heavy smoking and high media use. Their aim was to determine the relationship between these risk behaviors and mental health issues in teenagers. The group that scored high on all nine of the risk behaviors was most likely to show symptoms of depression; in all, nearly 15% of this group reported being depressed, compared with just 4% of the low-risk group. But the invisible group wasn’t far behind the high-risk set, with more than 13% of them exhibiting depression.
The findings caught Carli off guard. “We didn’t expect that,” he says. “The high-risk group and low-risk group are obvious, but this third group was not only unexpected. It was so distinct and so large — nearly one third of our sample — that it became a key finding of the study.”
Carli says that one of the most significant things about his study is that it provides new early warning signs for parents, teachers and mental health-care providers. And early identification, support and treatment for mental health issues, he says, are the best ways to keep them from turning into full-blown disorders.
1. Which teenager probably belongs to the “invisible risk” group?A.A teenager who skips school. |
B.A teenager who drinks frequently. |
C.A teenager who exercises regularly. |
D.A teenager who suffers from lack of sleep. |
A.It was intended to dig into the reasons for depression. |
B.Its findings were under expectation of the research team. |
C.It was conducted by analyzing and comparing the previous data. |
D.It revealed an alarming rate of the invisible group suffering depression. |
A.Unclear. | B.Concerned. | C.Doubtful. | D.Indifferent. |
A.To caution teens against developing unhealthy habit. |
B.To share a novel psychological experiment with teens. |
C.To introduce a new treatment for teens’ mental disorder. |
D.To warn about the unobserved signs for teens’ mental problems. |