1 . Going to the Basque Country of Spain, linguistically (就语言角度来看), a Briton may feel he is entering not just another country but perhaps another continent. Familiar world languages — Spanish and French — suddenly give way to Basque, with its strange-looking words of tongue-twisting (绕口的) length. Basque is unrelated to the Indo-European family that includes almost all European languages.
Its survival has not been assured. The rule of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975 centralised the state and he insisted that citizens speak Spanish. Public use of Basque was forbidden. When Franco died, the Basque-speaking population was mostly old and rural. For a language, this usually means extinction.
Since the 1980s the number of speakers has grown by almost 350,000, out of a regional population of 2. 1 million. In 2017 two-thirds of pupils were studying in schools where Basque was the language of instruction, up from around 14% in 1984; 87% of 10 to 14-year-olds are estimated to know the language. This is why, in the most recent big survey, the Basque-speaking population (41%) almost matched the non-Basque-speakers (44%). The other 15% are said to understand Basque but struggle to speak it.
But there is another side to the story. In the Basque Country, just 376,000 people have the language as their first, passed down to them in the home. Basque is weakest in the three provincial capitals, where the population is dominated by people from Spanish-speaking homes. Even as the knowledge and influence of the language are growing, actual usage outside schools still seems to be reducing. A similar story could be told of Irish, Welsh, and Maori.
What would it take to get people to live with these languages, as opposed to merely acquiring them? Some Basques say sadly that in a mixed group in which just one person is uncomfortable in Basque, the rest quickly switch to Spanish. They say that in Catalonia, a similar group is more likely to insist on continuing in Catalan, which, for this and unrelated historical reasons, is far more widely spoken in its territory than Basque.
1. What confused a Briton when entering the Basque Country of Spain?| A．Basques tend to have a large vocabulary. |
| B．Spanish is much more widely used than French. |
| C．Basques speak much faster than other Europeans. |
| D．Basque differs significantly from other European languages. |
| A．The factor behind Basque’s decline. |
| B．The achievements of Francisco Franco. |
| C．The links between Basque and Spanish. |
| D．The history and development of Basque. |
| A．Population growth. | B．School education |
| C．Economic development. | D．Cultural awareness. |
| A．It leads to discomfort in Basque. | B．It will soon be replaced by Catalan. |
| C．It is decreasingly used in daily life. | D．It confuses many Spanish speakers. |
2 . The most obvious dog fetish (迷恋) today is the longing for cuteness. Almost every day you can see adorable pictures of dogs and other animals that will make you smile and say, “How cute!”
It is a cultural phenomenon that the media scholar James Meese calls the “cute economy” which exists primarily on social media, is user-generated, and is heavily dominated by pictures of animals, especially pets. The goal is to generate a positive response, probably followed by a tap on the screen to “like” and “share”. We can click through image after image of cute animals doing cute things, feeling a little boost of good cheer.
The marketing researchers have identified some of the most common categories of cuteness in online pet content: animals doing silly things; animals of extreme size; animals with unusual looks; and animals behaving in ways that seem human-like. Dogs and other animals in the “cute economy” are often further humanized by being dressed in clothing and accessorized (装饰) with hats, jewellery, nail polish and fur dyed a rainbow of colors. Users who post successfully and with some strategies can make money by doing so. Thus, certain dogs have become cuteness celebrities, with millions of devoted followers and paid content from advertisers.
Unfortunately, the price of the “cute economy” comes at a serious cost. The cutest and most popular breeds tend to be those with the most significant risk of health and behavioral problems. Cuteness is often coupled with their discomfort. People are drawn to the cuteness of dogs with extremely foreshortened skulls and extremely short legs and awkwardly long bodies, such as the French bulldog and the corgi.
Actually, there are well-established health issues. We should treat the “cute economy” with caution, like resisting the commodification (商品化) of appearance by opting out of social media channels promoting the “cute economy”. We can also choose not to “like” or “share” images of dogs whose cuteness is linked with discomfort. Although we are biologically attracted to dogs that are super cute, we should be mindful in our “impulses”.
1. What is the key to the “cute economy” according to the text?| A．Taking photos of different animals. |
| B．Cute animals’ attractive appearance. |
| C．Pets’ owners’ liking adorable pictures. |
| D．Posting cute animals’ pictures on social media. |
| A．A normal-sized dog is eating bones. |
| B．A white cat is quietly lying next to its owner. |
| C．A monkey is attentively taking care of its baby. |
| D．A parrot dressed in a suit is singing and dancing. |
| A．It will change the animals’ nature. |
| B．It may make the animals not so cute. |
| C．It may cause health problems to the animals. |
| D．It will result in a decline in animal population. |
| A．The Cute Economy and Its Price | B．Share Pictures or Not |
| C．Happiness from Pets | D．Marketing Strategy — Cuteness |
3 . A new study shows that we spend more time using the mobile Internet to read newspapers and magazines or do some other things. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the average European spends 4.8 hours reading newspapers and magazines but 1.6 hours more using the mobile Internet per week.
The IAB questioned 15000 people in 15 European countries, looking at how people were using the Internet and its influence on their everyday lives. It found that the mobile Internet is increasingly finding its way into the public awareness. Over 71 million Europeans now have the Internet access on their mobile phones. In the UK,10 million people now access the Internet through their mobile phones and spend 6.3 hours doing so per week on average.
Unsurprisingly, young generations in the UK are leading the way, with nearly half the country’s16-to 24-year-old young people and a quarter of 25- to 34-year-old people using the Internet, spending 6.5 and 6.2 hours online each week respectively.
Entertainment plays a main role in our mobile Internet lives, with one in five British people using their phones for online games, a third listening to the online video and 39% watching movies, TV or other videos at least once a week. One third of those using an Internet phone said they received videos, images or other multimedia information on their mobile phones and 61% said they passed on the contents they had received.
From a communicative point of view, 80% of these questioned agreed that the Internet had made it easier for them to stay in touch with friends and family.
Alison Fennah, Executive Business Adviser at IAB Europe, said the use of the mobile Internet had come to the point that marketers should be looking to strategies (策略) that connect them with consumers more effectively. “Better devices, as well as improved consumer motivation that started coming together in 2011, can make a great difference to extending the online experience.” Fennah said.
1. How long does a European spend on the mobile Internet per week according to the IAB?| A．4.8 hours. | B．6.2 hours. | C．1.6 hours. | D．6.4 hours. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Communication. | C．Advertising. | D．Study. |
| A．More than half of people in the UK use the mobile Internet. |
| B．The Internet is the most effective way to stay in touch with friends and family. |
| C．Better tools and improved consumer motivation help extend the online experience. |
| D．The UK has the largest number of people that use mobile Internet in Europe. |
| A．How to use mobile phones to surf the Internet. |
| B．Newspapers and magazines will disappear soon. |
| C．How the Internet influences our daily lives. |
| D．More and more people use the Internet in Europe. |
Adolescence (青春期) brain changes always start earlier in girls than in boys. And around this time, males (男性) and females also begin to react
That was one finding of an analysis (分析) of research on teens
“Males’ blood pressure was
Luna says that suggests there are some sex differences in certain brain circuits (回路).
A lot of
5 . Leah Brown aged 36 fell several hundred feet from Oregon’s highest mountain right before the eyes of a group of volunteer rescue workers who rushed to her aid and helped save her life.
The woman was coming down a popular path (小路) on Mt. Hood, about 70 miles east of Portland, on Saturday morning, according to the local police. Mt. Hood is the highest in Oregon, standing at around11.240 feet.
The fall was seen by members of Portland Mountain Rescue (PMR), a volunteer organization focused on helping people in mountainous areas. The group called 911 and rushed to the woman, providing medical care. They helped keep the woman warm for seven hours as the police worked to get her off the mountain safely. Finally, the woman was evacuated (转移) to a parking lot at 9:30 pm and taken to a hospital.
The climber, Leah Brown, said she didn’t know what caused her fall. “I can only guess it was either an ice tool or a crampon (冰爪) that didn’t land and stick like it should have, so I became detached from the mountain,” Brown said. “The thing I’d like to most stress is my appreciation for the members of PMR who evacuated me and took good care of me the whole time,” Brown added. “They saved my life. ”
In a statement after the rescue, PMR warned of the dangerous winter conditions at the mountain. “The short days and lower temperatures mean that the snow tends to be very hard and icy, and the conditions tend to be much steeper. Climbing the mountain in icy conditions is much more difficult,” the group said.
1. What happened to Brown on Saturday morning?| A．She lost her way in a forest. | B．She hurt her eye unexpectedly. |
| C．She failed to call her family. | D．She fell down on a downhill path. |
| A．Different. | B．Hidden. | C．Separated. | D．Tired. |
| A．Thankful. | B．Regretful. | C．Surprised. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Climbing requires teamwork. | B．Climbing in winter is too risky. |
| C．We must remain positive in hard times. | D．We can admire the view on sunny days. |
6 . Today, there are more humans on Earth than ever and nature is in freefall. In just 50 years, wildlife populations have dropped on average by 69 percent. In the same period, our population has doubled, and demand for non-living and living material from Earth has grown six times. The biggest contributors to biodiversity (生物多样性) loss are habitat destruction and over-development of species, both driven by completely unsustainable consumption (不可持续的消耗) and caused by increasing human numbers. It is important that we address this over-consumption, and that means thinking seriously the influence our species’ population growth is having on the breakdown of the natural world.
December’s biodiversity summit (峰会) in Canada didn’t meet the challenges we face. Only two of the 23 topics are intended to address consumption and speak of “greatly reducing overconsumption”. But the message is unclearly defined and unquantified (未被量化的), short of necessary facts for any real application. Given all the goals of the former biodiversity protection plan were missed, it is truly impossible to imagine that governments will gather the bravery to catch the chance.
In November last year, our population reached 8 billion and there are predictions that it will reach 10.4 billion in the 2080s. The goal of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is for us to live “in harmony (和谐) with nature” by 2050. Let me make it clear: there is no doubt that the 1.7 billion more people predicted will make this greatly harder to achieve. However much we try to reduce our consumption and our influence, every plan and rule that moves us forward will have a gradually lower influence.
And let me say it again: it isn’t about any particular humans among those billions, this is about us as a species of resource-consuming organism.
We must now ensure governments deal with their tasks with great efforts instead of any short-sighted, short-term solutions. Tolerating (忍受) the cruel idea that economic growth is the answer to our problems, and totally ignoring unsustainable population growth, must end. Or we all die.
1. What’s the function for the first paragraph?| A．To conduct a survey. | B．To explore the reason. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To discuss a problem. |
| A．It is far from contenting the author. | B．It has pointed the way to our future. |
| C．It clears up many people’s confusion. | D．It helps deal with the consumption issues. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By showing data. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By defining a concept. |
| A．Tolerate existing issues and wait. |
| B．Put population growth in second place. |
| C．Expect economic growth to solve the problem. |
| D．Let governments adopt effective solutions wisely. |
Being nearsighted is far more common than it once was. The case rate of myopia (近视) in Americans
Myopia results when eyeballs are
Some experts connect the myopia to the many hours young people spend in staring at
This new study shows that a lack of direct sunlight may damage vision. Strong correlations (关联) were found between current eyesight and
8 . Recently, research on how a new virtual (虚拟的) reality (VR) experience educated primary children about the fire disasters was done. It was developed by the University of South Australia, aiming to educate children to learn how to be safer in a fire.
Focusing on children aged 10-12 years old, the new VR experience presents a situation where children are tasked to look after a friend’s dog just before a fire event begins to spread. They participate in a series of problem-solving activities to help save and protect themselves and the dog.
The findings showed that more than 80 percent of children reported that they felt more confident to calmly assess the situation and make wise decisions to protect themselves from a fire. This isl especially important considering that 91 percent of participants originally lacked any knowledge of fires, and that 67 percent had said that they were too young to make safety decisions in a fire.
The researchers believed such immersive (沉浸式的) VR experiences had real potential (潜力) to attract and educate the young. “As children born in digital times, they are interested in such technology and they can experience events realistically yet within the safe environment.” said Delene Weber, one of the researchers. “Well-designed VR can provide a chance for children to apply newly-acquired knowledge, strengthen their learnt concepts, and enable immediate reaction—all incredibly valuable learning tools.”
Meanwhile, because children have fewer life experiences, aren’t as physically strong, and are less likely to have learned much about fire safety, they’re often most at risk. Yet the ability for children to contribute to fire safety at their household should not be underestimated (低估).
“Children do not need to be passively attacked by disasters and with purpose-built virtual reality experiences such as these, we can help children understand the risks and realize they can help,” said Weber.
1. How does the new VR experience try to educate children?| A．By introducing a virtual friend to them. | B．By finding the causes of a fire event. |
| C．By letting them solve virtual problems. | D．By guiding them to ask a dog for help. |
| A．Many children found it hard to adapt to them. |
| B．They helped children deal with fire postively. |
| C．They benefited children with knowledge of animals. |
| D．Most children had a misunderstanding about them. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Disapproving. | D．Supportive. |
| A．VR experiences educate kids to survive a fire | B．VR experiences make learning easier for kids |
| C．VR education appeals to the young generation | D．VR technology makes no sense in fighting a fire. |
9 . We see hundreds of logos on signs, vehicles, websites, and even on the clothes we are dressed in. All these logos are intended to attract our attention.
Researchers gave 85 students a simple assignment to draw the logo of a famous company from memory. Surprisingly, only one student could make it.
Logos are typically designed to be simple and easy to recognize with a quick glance. Yet the frequent exposure to these logos can actually make our brains overlook them. This process is known as attention saturation (注意力饱和)
Nowadays, logos are everywhere. A fancy design or a thoughtful (体贴的) colour combination may be a good start for a logo concept , but there are some other things to consider.
| A．When we see some logos over and over again, |
| B．People will know the product behind the logo. |
| C．This may be inspiring to logo designers. |
| D．So why is it so difficult for people to recall the details? |
| E．They also help us remember a product or service connected with them. |
| F．Our brains actually signal us to ignore information we don’t think we will need to remember. |
| G．Logo designers need to know that people will only remember what they believe is worthwhile. |
10 . The cultural products we create reflect the times we live in. “Works of popular culture, we reasoned, should reflect the extent to which nature occupies our collective consciousness (集体意识), ” says psychologist Dr Selin Kesebir. “If novelists, songwriters or filmmakers have fewer encounters with nature these days than before, or if they don’t expect their audiences to respond to it, nature would feature less frequently in their works.”
The researchers drew up a list of 186 nature-related words belonging to four categories: general words relating to nature such as cloud, or sunrise; names of flowers; names of trees; and birds’ names. Then they analyzed how often these occurred in the output of popular culture. They looked at English-language fiction, pop songs and film plots, each of which featured thousands of examples.
The results were consistent across books, songs and movies. “The space taken by nature has been decreasing in the collective imagination and cultural conversation since the 1950s. Nature features significantly less in English popular culture today than it did in the first half of the 20th century” says Dr Kesebir.
Why? Some people suggest it’s the growth of cities that has fuelled the change. “Urbanization swallows up natural areas and cuts people off from their natural surroundings,” says Dr Kesebir. But, she goes on, the growth rate of cities over the 20th century is gradual, but the data shows a marked change from the 1950s onwards. So it’s not just the fact that fewer of us are living in rural areas that explains the decline (减少).
More likely, she believes, we’re seeing the impact of technological change leading to more indoor recreational activities. Yes, TV, video games and the Internet are to blame. “These technologies may well have been substituted for nature as a source of joy, recreation and entertainment.”
Books, songs and films shape our culture as well as reflecting it, says Dr Kesebir. “The declining cultural attention to nature means a muting of the message that nature: is worth paying attention to and talking about. It also means a loss of opportunities to awaken curiosity, appreciation and awe for nature.”
1. How did the researchers conduct their study of popular culture?| A．By having interviews. | B．By doing field research. |
| C．By analyzing collected data. | D．By referring to previous studies. |
| A．It highlighted fictional stories. | B．It caught the public’s imagination. |
| C．Its nature elements were greatly reduced. | D．Its focus shifted from fiction to conversations. |
| A．Technology. | B．The population. |
| C．City development. | D．The environment. |
| A．Explanation. | B．Silence. | C．Exchange. | D．Emphasis. |
