1 . The social media platform Instagram once made headlines for limiting likes in an effort to reduce the comparisons and hurt feelings resulting from attaching popularity to sharing content. It’s a small step in the right direction, says Jacqueline Sperling, a psychologist who works with youth who experience anxiety disorders.
Social media has a reinforcing nature. The platforms are designed to be addictive. According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of adults and 81% of teens in the U.S. use social media. This puts a large amount of the population at an increased risk of feeling anxious, depressed, or ill over their social media use. But what makes users come back for more even when it can literally make them feel sick?
To boost self-esteem (自尊心) and feel a sense of belonging in their social circles, people post content with the hope of receiving positive feedback. When reviewing others’ social activity, people tend to make comparisons such as, “Did I get as many likes as someone else?” or “Why didn’t this person like my post, but this other person did?” They’re searching for validation (认可）on the internet. FOMO—fear of missing out——also plays a role. If everyone else is using social media sites, and if you don’t join in, there’s concern that you’ll miss chats, jokes, connections, or invitations, which can create anxiety and depression.
Sperling acknowledges that we can benefit from social platforms to some extent, as they allow people to stay in touch with family and friends around the world. Still, she says, the platforms have opened a “Pandora’s box” as they continue to evolve more quickly than we can research their impact.
In addition to limiting likes, as Instagram has done, Sperling suggests social platforms consider decreasing mass sharing. They might function more as messaging services by highlighting one-on-one communications. As to individuals, we can monitor our behavior to see how our use impacts us, and how to act as a result.
1. Why did Instagram limit likes?| A．To make headlines. | B．To control online time. |
| C．To promote other functions. | D．To relieve anxiety. |
| A．Social media users don’t care whether they get recognized. |
| B．Social media users tend worry to hope for negative feedback. |
| C．The concern that you’ll miss a lot won’t contribute to anxiety. |
| D．Social media users are likely to be influenced by others’ activities. |
| A．Objective | B．Ambiguous | C．Indifferent | D．Supportive |
| A．Sharing feelings online frequently. |
| B．Spending more time on social media. |
| C．Limiting receiving positive feedback. |
| D．Focusing on face-to-face communication. |
2 . Do you speak a dialect (方言) in daily life? While many Chinese people speak Mandarin, some local dialects are in danger of disappearing. To save them, the Chinese government started the Chinese Language Resources Protection Project a few years ago.
This project looks at how people talk in 1,712 places. Their languages include 103 dialects that are almost gone. It has helped China to build the largest language resource library in the world. There’s an online library where people can learn dialects from over 5.6 million audio clips (音频) and over 5 million videos.
Why is it important to protect the dialect culture? According to British linguist Harold Palmer, dialects are a key to store local cultures. Language faithfully shows the history, the beliefs and the biases (偏见) of an area, he said.
Scholar Zhang Hongming talked about his concerns of the disappearing of dialeets, “For about over 10 years, in the Wu dialect areas such as Shanghai and Suzhou, children aged 6 to 15 can understand but hardly speak the dialect. Meanwhile, young people above 15 years old sometimes speak it, but not very well. If this keeps happening, the dialect might disappear,” he said.
So how did China make this big library? “A big national effort has been put into the project to make it happen,” said Cao Zhiyun, chief expert on the project. Over five years, more than 350 universities and research groups joined in, along with over 4,500 experts and more than 6,000 dialect speakers.
The project is now entering into its second part. This includes creating digital tools like apps and mobile dictionaries to help people lean dialects.
1. How does the author start the text?| A．By quoting sayings. | B．By sharing a story. |
| C．By stating his own experiences. | D．By asking a question. |
| A．The development of Mandarin. | B．Why to protect dialects. |
| C．How to develop speaking skills. | D．The disappearing of dialects. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Indifferent. | D．Unelear. |
| A．It has entered into the third part. |
| B．Over 5.6 millions videos are collected in the project. |
| C．It looks at how people talk in 1,712 places. |
| D．Harold Palme is the chief expert on the project. |
3 . ByteDance’s Douyin has been trialing a food delivery service since December as it looks to expand its business beyond advertising. It potentially competes itself against major e-commerce companies like Alibaba and Meituan. And the company is now considering extending the service beyond the trial.
A Douyin spokesperson says that the company has been “testing a feature in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu that enables merchants (商人) to promote and sell ‘group-buying’ packages to Douyin users in these select cities and have them delivered”. Restaurant owners often livestream on Douyin to market their business. While doing this, they can offer discounts and coupons (优惠券) for their food to users watching the videos. Multiple users can then purchase that offer mainly and choose a time within two days for the food to arrive. The model is very different from Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me which are both on-demand food delivery services.
The digital giant has approached restaurant owners and food enterprises in the three cities to promote their dishes on the app. Douyin states that the success of the trial run will determine whether the in-app meal delivery service will be expanded to other cities. “We would consider expanding the feature to more cities in the future depending on the testing results. There is no detailed timeline yet,” a Douyin spokesperson says.
China’s food delivery industry is dominated by Meituan and Ele.me. Douyin has fewer food buying options than Meituan and Ele.me. But ByteDance’s tentative (暂定的) steps into the market suggest it wants a slice of the market. Major e-commerce platforms are getting into the food delivery business.
One Weibo post reads, “More platforms could be advantageous for both food business owners and regular consumers.” Users think the competition will help registered vendors (销售商) and users because customers will have more options and food business owners can use the platform that charges the lowest service fee.
1. What does Douyin want to do?| A．Expand its market in tested cities. | B．Get into the food delivery industry. |
| C．Gain control over Meituan and Ele.me. | D．Livestream to sell group-buying packages. |
| A．Fast and on-demand delivery time. | B．Excellent after-sales service |
| C．Wonderful and effective live stream. | D．Shop owners’ discounts and coupons. |
| A．Ele.me has less food choices than Douyin. |
| B．Douyin is expecting to occupy its share in the market. |
| C．Detailed timeline has been made by the digital company. |
| D．Ordered food can be delivered by Meituan within a week. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Demanding. | C．Intolerant. | D．Concerned. |
4 . A new study from the Netherlands has found that an important factor in a child’s ultimate level of education, even more important than their own family’s economic situation, is whether they grow up with rich neighbors nearby.
Researcher Agata Troost and her colleagues at Delft University of Technology used a national database to track the address of every Dutch baby born in 1995, a total of 140,338 people, from birth to age 23. Using geolocating software, they drew up a socioeconomic profile (概况) for each child's immediate neighborhood, figuring the percentage of neighbors who were rich, middle class or disadvantaged.
After controlling a number of other factors, including parents’ earnings and levels of education, the researchers found that a child's own experience of wealth or poverty mattered less to their ultimate level of schooling than exposure to well-off neighbors. The data suggest that growing up in a rich area, with well-maintained parks, libraries and soccer fields, as well as interactions with educated neighbors, could boost a poor child's ability to see beyond their immediate horizons (眼界).
“Rich families create neighborhoods and activities that create opportunities,” said Ms. Troost, and these advantages are shared with other children who happen to live nearby. The finding echoes an earlier study by Mr. Chetty and his colleagues, which showed that having even one inspiring teacher in middle school can improve a student’s career prospects. Whether in the classroom or on the street, it seems that social interactions outside the family can start a young person's motivation and ambition.
At the same time, the study also stressed the importance of the home environment. When parents are well educated, children are likely to be, too. And that's the moral of the story: Neighborhoods can have different effects on different children, depending on how educated their parents are, whether they are male or female, and how much casual contact they have with people who are different from their own families. “Location, location, location” may be a old saying for buying a house, but we're learning that it also holds true for children's development.
1. What aspect of the research is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Its purpose. | B．Its principle. | C．Its method. | D．Its result. |
| A．Goes against. | B．Agrees with. | C．Works for. | D．Relates to. |
| A．An advertisement. | B．A novel. | C．A magazine. | D．A guidebook. |
| A．The Benefits of Educated Parents | B．The Power of a Good Neighborhood |
| C．The Decisive Factor in a Child's Growth | D．The Location Your New House Should Have |
5 . The big French pet care company AgroBiothers Laboratoire will no longer sell very small containers for raising fish.
The company has a 27 percent share of the French market for products used by people who raise animals at home. But it said it would no longer sell any fishbowls that hold less than 15 liters of water. They will only offer four-sided ones.
The company said it was animal abuse (虐待) to put fish in small bowls without added oxygen and filtration. Filtration is the process of removing small waste from the water with a device.
AgroBiothers chief Matthieu Lambeaux recently used the term “impulse”—meaning a sudden strong desire to do something—to describe why many adults buy goldfish. “People buy a goldfish for their kids on impulse, but if they knew what torture it is, they would not do it. Turning round and round in a small bowl drives fish crazy and kills them quickly,” Lambeaux added.
Goldfish can live up to 30 years and grow to about 25 cm in large aquariums (养鱼缸) or outdoor ponds. But in very small bowls they often die within weeks or months. Lambeaux said goldfish are social animals that need other fish, lots of space and clean water. He added that having an aquarium requires some special equipment and knowledge.
Germany and several other European countries have long banned (禁止) fishbowls, but France has no laws on the problem.
Lambeaux explained the company’s decision further by saying, “We cannot educate all our customers by explaining that keeping fish in a bowl is terrible. We consider that it is our responsibility to no longer give customers that choice.”
“There is demand for fishbowls,” he said, “but the reality is that what we offer children is the possibility of seeing goldfish die slowly.”
1. What makes the French company stop selling certain fishbowls?| A．Their size. | B．Their price. |
| C．Their weight. | D．Their popularity. |
| A．Progress. | B．Pleasure. |
| C．Difficulty. | D．Suffering. |
| A．The age goldfish can reach. | B．Costs of keeping goldfish. |
| C．Proper living conditions for goldfish. | D．The advice on how to choose fishbowls. |
| A．Raise the price of the fishbowls. | B．Remove the chances of harming goldfish. |
| C．Keep goldfish outside in the wild. | D．Educate parents to care for goldfish. |
6 . Going against the trend of going to well-known yet crowded tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China are spending their holidays at less-known places to look for unique and relaxed holiday experiences. “Reverse tourism” (反向旅游) has appeared as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.
During the weeklong public holiday, which ended on Oct 7, large numbers of vacationers, especially youth who long to escape their busy city lives, avoid popular holiday destinations in order to get off the beaten track and enjoy some peace and quietness.
According to data from online travel agency Qunar, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Bookings for four and five-star hotels in less-traveled places, including Linxia in Gansu province and Shizuishan in Ningxia, all increased at least 10 times from the same period of 2021. Even 12.5 percent of youth who normally have little time for themselves simply had a time in a hotel to make the much-awaited holiday more relaxing.
Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations, which often involve expensive tickets, meals and hotel stays. What’s more, less-known attractions are able to offer more natural experiences, according to social media posts. And unlike popular destinations, some undeveloped places with little online attention can offer more surprises.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based public policy think tank Pangoal (盘古智库), said that reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market and is an opportunity for growth which can match the camping economy.
1. If you support “reverse tourism”, you will probably choose ________.| A．a famous tourist destination on holidays |
| B．a cheap and popular vacation |
| C．a developed destination to enjoy yourself |
| D．a less-known place for relaxed experiences |
| A．By giving numbers. | B．By listing reasons. |
| C．By comparing opinions. | D．By giving definitions. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Positive. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Vacationers can save money while travelling. |
| B．More and more people accept less-travelled destinations. |
| C．People prefer to spend their holidays by travelling. |
| D．Young people often have little time to travel around. |
7 . Twenty years ago, the idea of sharing our lives so openly with the world was unheard of. However, for young people today it is considered completely normal to share pictures of their lives and interact online every day. Fans of social media (媒体) point out that the world has never been so connected as it has allowed people to make friends, learn about the world and celebrate life.
However, many people have concerns about the effects of this new way of living, particularly around the amount and type of information that is shared so openly. Recently researchers have found that too much time on social media may have some negative(消极的) effects. They measured people’s attitudes and feelings before and after watching social media sites. They found that the more time people spent on social media, the more unhappy they became.
There are a number of reasons for this. When watching social media, people often see photographs and stories showing beautiful holidays, fun parties and modern clothes. People seldom post negative stories or bad pictures, so it can be misleading. For those looking at these pictures and comparing them to their own lives, they can end up feeling upset. They might think their lives are worse in comparison. Even for those people who post positive stories and pictures, they too can feel stressed and worried. The number of “likes” and comments on their posts can make them anxious about their popularity. Of course, there is also the problem of cyberbullying where people are bullied online when others make negative or cruel comments about them.
The reality is that social media is part of modern life and it is not going to go away. This research shows us that it is important to find a balance between our online and offline lives. We don’t have to stay away from the Internet to live a happy life, but we should realize that the pictures we see and the stories we read are only part of a bigger picture. If we can do that, we can protect ourselves and enjoy our lives.
1. What effect does social media have according to the recent research?| A．It makes people share their lives openly. |
| B．It enables people to make more friends on the Internet.’ |
| C．It helps people to have a better knowledge of the world. |
| D．It increases unhappiness for people who use it too much. |
| A．They fear others mislead their posts. |
| B．They fear others have happier lives. |
| C．They fear others may cyberbully them. |
| D．They fear others have more interesting stories. |
| A．By giving causes. | B．By listing numbers. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By describing process. |
| A．To persuade people to keep off the Internet. |
| B．To describe the threats caused by social media. |
| C．To advise us to balance online and offline lives. |
| D．To introduce the convenience created by social media. |
1. What is the probable relationship between the speakers?
| A．Teacher and parent. | B．Teacher and student. | C．Colleagues. |
| A．The woman’s niece. | B．The man’s student. | C．The man’s niece. |
| A．It does harm to children’s health. |
| B．It is the result of bad study habits. |
| C．It mainly comes from school. |
| A．Help children develop good study habits. |
| B．Put more pressure on children. |
| C．Improve children’s interest in learning. |
I’ve always known that I’m very quick with my hands. If someone throws something, I catch it almost before I’m aware it has been thrown. When I was young, I had no idea how useful this skill would become.
Last week, I was going to visit a friend with her newborn and was on my way to a toy store to buy a gift. I’d once lived in the neighbourhood and I decided to head back to my old cupcake shop for a coffee. Sitting alone at a table outside with my drink, I was approached by an older man, who in a calm and very matter-of-fact way told me to call 911, because there was a baby on a fire escape.
I jumped up to see where the baby was. I was so surprised to see it, wearing a little onesie (连体衣) and lying on the fire escape railings (栏杆) between the second and third storeys. I was nervous, so the baby boy became my only priority.
As I was on the phone to the emergency services, I made eye contact with the child, keeping him calm, telling him to stay there. Some people were going up the stairs to find the parents, who were apparently sleeping through the whole drama.
I just wanted the child to feel safe. I hoped he’d stay there until somebody could rescue him. Apparently he had slipped through pieces of cardboard placed next to an air-conditioning unit in the window, and without bars to protect him he’d crawled (爬) out and up the fire escape towards the next storey. He was only 16 months old. For him to even climb up and balance in that position was incredible.
Then he slipped. Instinctively (本能), he grabbed on the railing as he fell, hanging by his arms. I knew he couldn’t hold on, 25 feet above the street, for long. I sensed people had gathered behind, but my attention was purely focused on my intention to catch the baby.
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。
I made sure I was positioned to catch him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The moments after he was saved were exciting.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . Janet, now 37, was playing with her new pet dog, Stitch, who jumped up, grabbed her sleeve, and tore several holes in her sweater with its sharp teeth. Instead of throwing the sweater away, Janet decided to repair it.
She turned to “visible repairing,” an idea of repairing clothes that leaves an obvious fix. She added bright flowers and other small designs to damaged clothes. “Every time you do a repair, it’s like having bought a new piece of clothes,” says Janet.
Actually, repairing is a great opportunity to realize the urgent (迫切的) need to reduce waste. Sadly, we have become used to replacing things instead of repairing them — and the rubbish is piling up. Worldwide, we throw away 92 million tons of cloth every year. Electronic waste is another growing problem: About 50 million tons of it is created each year around the world.
The good news is that fixing things can help deal with the waste problem. There are some solutions. Due to information online, the popular how-to site iFixit.com , a database (数据库) with nearly 100,000 repair brochures for everything from electronics to clothing, has promoted more than 100 million repairs. In addition, since the first Repair Café opened in2009 in Amsterdam, more than 2,700 cafés have been set up to offer in-person fix-it help in various countries. Organizers set up events, and volunteers with repair knowledge bring their tools. They will try to fix whatever people bring in, for free, and teach visitors how to do repairs themselves.
Fixing things is part of a larger change toward a circular economy —the idea that instead of throwing away things once they are broken or out of date, we reuse or repair them, keeping them out of the landfill (垃圾填埋场) for as long as possible. According to a 2023 report from Circle Economy, a Netherlands-based NGO, if the world changed to a circular economy, we could lower the amount of waste by a third.
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Janet?| A．To praise her way of protecting pets. |
| B．To introduce special clothing designs. |
| C．To call for attention to repairing things. |
| D．To market the products of fixed clothes. |
| A．The action of replacing things is wise. |
| B．The behaviour of repairing things is popular. |
| C．The need for reducing clothes is urgent. |
| D．The problem of producing waste is serious. |
| A．By teaching volunteers repair knowledge. |
| B．By sharing tips on opening repair cafés. |
| C．By providing information to the repair database. |
| D．By offering online and off line help to encourage repairs. |
| A．Jim threw away a used bike. | B．Jackson mended a torn sofa. |
| C．Sue replaced a worn carpet. | D．Windy removed a broken vase. |
