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 . Teenage life: better now, or in the past?
Does this situation sound familiar(熟悉的)?
You’re complaining(抱怨) to your parents about something. Maybe your computer isn’t powerful enough to play the latest games.
“When I was your age, there weren’t any computers or video games. And I didn’t get a bike until I was 16. And it was second-hand.
So is it really true that life is better for teenagers now? It is certainly true that many teenagers have got more things nowadays.
However, technology often means we spend more time at home. And often it’s just us, with our computer or television. Teenagers don’t do enough exercise.
What do you think? How is teenage life better these days?
| A．And it was too big for me. |
| B．A typical family is smaller now. |
| C．You get very unhappy with this. |
| D．Or your friends’ bikes are better than yours. |
| E．So they aren’t as healthy as the teenagers in the past. |
| F．Life was not easy in the past. |
| G．Technology is probably the greatest change in our life. |
3 . Shakespeare once wrote: “Neither a borrower nor A lender be;For loan (借款) often loses both itself and friend”. It’s often explained and used as a warning about the dangers of lending, and how you could risk a friendship through it. But why can lending money be so detrimental to our friendships?
If our friend or family member comes to us for hard cash, it can be very difficult to turn them away. You feel under pressure to help. And if that money doesn’t come back, it can lead to fights or even legal battles. So how can we, as the lender, avoid these problems? According to Bradley T. Klontz, an expert in financial psychology (心理学), there are some steps you can take.
Understanding why there is an unavoidable risk to lending anything to a friend is the first thing. And it’s not just the risk of losing the money, but the friendship could also be in danger. This is because, psychologically speaking, the action of lending has changed the balance of power. The lender becomes superior (高一级的), while the borrower may feel awkward with the new arrangement. Likewise, if you try to advise them on what to do with the money, it might make things difficult between you two. In other words, let go - and see it as their money.
And if you can’t afford to lend something, don’t. Saying “no” is hard when a friend comes asking, but if you need that money, refusing them is probably the safest course of action. If you still feel the need to lend, making a legally binding (有法律约束的) agreement and putting things down in writing could guarantee instalments (分期付款) or deadlines. But, some friends may not take too kindly to being asked to make it official - seeing it as a lack of trust.
Finally, for some, it’s best to just see the money as a gift and be pleasantly surprised if something comes back. And if you do want to keep your friendship, when you need to borrow some money, perhaps a bank is a better option.
1. What does the underlined word “detrimental” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．beneficial |
| B．important |
| C．necessary |
| D．harmful |
| A．You’d rather be a lender than a borrower. |
| B．Whether you lend it or not, your friendship will be unbalanced. |
| C．Sometimes refusing is not a bad option. |
| D．If you are true friends, you will lend your money to your friends. |
| A．By listing examples. |
| B．By making comparison. |
| C．By analyzing data. |
| D．By explaining cause and effect. |
| A．Borrow from your family members rather than your friend. |
| B．Borrow the money from the bank. |
| C．Borrow the money from your friend and see him (her) as superior. |
| D．Borrow the money and see it as yours. |
4 . Today’s grandparents are joining their grandchildren on social media, but the different generations’ online habits couldn’t be more different. In the UK the over-55 s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.
Sheila, aged 59, says, “I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. That’s how we did it when I was a child, but I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.”
Interestingly, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 in the UK are leaving the site - only 2.2 million users are under 17 -but they’re not going far from their smartphones. Chloe, aged 15, even sleeps with her phone. “It’s my alarm clock so I have to,’ she says. “I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.”
Unlike her grandmother’s generation, Chloe’s age group is spending so much time on their phones at home that they are missing out on spending time with their friends in real life. Sheila, on the other hand, has made contact with old friends from school she hasn’t heard from in forty years. ”We use Facebook to arrange to meet all over the country,” she says. “It’s changed my social life completely.”
Parents have an important role to play if they want their kids to spend more time in real life. Peter, 38, who spends most of his time in front of a screen, is recently determined to set a better example to his kids. In the evening or at weekends, he would leave his smartphone home and take his kids out to nature.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Older people have difficulty using social media. |
| B．Children spend more time with their grandparents. |
| C．More and more elderlies begin to use social media. |
| D．Social media have become more friendly to the elderly. |
| A．Worried. | B．Satisfied. | C．Excited. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．People tend to have less social life as they get older. |
| B．Young people are getting away from their smartphone. |
| C．More young people choose to meet their friends in person. |
| D．Social media actually help old people to meet their friends. |
| A．Different Online Habits Across Generations | B．The Good Old Days Without Smartphones |
| C．The Next Generation of Social Media | D．The Use of Smartphones at School |
5 . Brendon Birt accidentally took a wrong turn down a street in Red Oak, Iowa. But it turned out it was exactly where he was
The homeowner, Tender Lehman, was
| A．needed | B．discovered | C．received | D．chosen |
| A．street | B．restaurant | C．fire | D．bus |
| A．rubbish | B．people | C．bikes | D．smoke |
| A．sleeping | B．working | C．eating | D．cooking |
| A．quietly | B．quickly | C．finally | D．repeatedly |
| A．moved | B．rushed | C．listened | D．referred |
| A．surprise | B．excitement | C．anxiety | D．pleasure |
| A．up | B．out | C．ill | D．busy |
| A．oldest | B．smartest | C．tallest | D．kindest |
| A．came out | B．broke down | C．gave up | D．went off |
| A．stayed | B．helped | C．awoken | D．believed |
| A．shop | B．office | C．garden | D．building |
| A．met | B．saved | C．honored | D．taught |
| A．thankful | B．careful | C．serious | D．proud |
| A．troubled | B．started | C．remembered | D．made |
6 . The word mukbang is from the Korean words “muk-ja” (let’s eat) and “bang- song” (广播). Hosts eat amounts of food in front of a camera while interacting with their audience. The show appeared first in South Korea, where the videos became popular via live stream(直播)channels.
The show comes from South Korea but other countries follow in significantly different ways. Take America as an example, Koreans plan their streams around dinnertime hours so viewers can feel like they are sharing a meal with a friend. And yet Americans tend (倾向于) to be more conversational in their videos which are pre-recorded. Korean mukbangers tend to eat traditional Korean dishes while American mukbangers eat a wider variety of foods.
Why are millions of people so drawn to watching perfect strangers eat in the first place? It’s a combination of sensory, psychological, social, emotional, environmental even neurological factors, says Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist at Brown University Alpert Medical School. She specially explains how food attracts our senses and develops our behavior when it comes to what we like to eat. A big part of that neurological factor is the ASMR (autonomous sensory-motor response), described as a brain feeling which can help people relaxed from the familiar sounds of eating in the mukbang videos.
Earning the popularity and money, more and more mukbangers appear. However, the show has not come without its unfavorable comments. As our habits change, we spend more and more social engagement on social media. It’s only a matter of time before mukbang affects our behavior around food. Viewers could probably develop unhealthy eating habits from watching. Despite the negative comments, mukbang continues to do well on the Internet and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.
1. What do we know about Mukbang?| A．It is an eating live show. | B．It is a TV channel |
| C．It is an eating competition. | D．It is a video website. |
| A．Play them without a stop. | B．Show various dishes in them. |
| C．Record them after dinnertime. | D．Chat more with friends in them. |
| A．Strangers like to eat what is on show. |
| B．The viewers’ bad behaviors can get adjusted. |
| C．Weak-minded people are most likely to overeat. |
| D．The eating sounds can easily cause viewers’ interest. |
| A．The changes of our habits. | B．The comments of viewers. |
| C．The management of the show. | D．The development of the Internet. |
7 . As more schools open for in-person learning and some organized sports start again, many children are returning to the world after having packed on extra body weight. While data is few on whether there’s been a rise in children’s weight over the pandemic(大流行病), some health professionals have seen worrisome signs. Suzannah Stivison, a nurse in Kensington, Md. , said that some of her patients put on what she calls “the other COVID- 19”— as in, 19 pounds
A loss of daily arrangements, in school and extracurriculars, left kids looking for a sense of control that many have found in eating. One of the ways that people regained a routine and a schedule within their families was most likely around meals. Since last March, adults joined the bread-baking craze and ate junk food as they liked.
Stivison herself admits the bad effect of the pandemic. “I never have Cheetos in my house. But all of a sudden, they appeared, ”she said. “And this has been a phenomenon that I have seen in lots of houses. Eating became something we could control. And it’s also something we use for comfort.”
Children tend to gain weight during periods like summer vacation, when fewer are getting regular exercise through organized sports and physical education. But there are supportive ways parents can help get their kids back to a healthier lifestyle. It’s less about talking and more about setting an example. Talking about risk factors such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease doesn’t really work, especially with younger kids. Kids know they’re heavier than their peers. They know they get out of breath.
However, parents can model good habits like exercising an hour a day or keeping the house stored with healthier foods. “It really comes down to the modeling and the opportunity we can control what food comes into the house, ” Stivison said. “And so guess what? I’ve stopped buying Cheetos. ”
1. What does the phrase “the other COVID- 19”in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Patients’ dress size. | B．A serious disease. |
| C．Children’s weight gain. | D．An effective treatment. |
| A．They ate unhealthy food. | B．They helped prepare meals. |
| C．They arranged schoolwork. | D．They learned bread-baking. |
| A．To prove the benefit of eating. | B．To recommend a popular food. |
| C．To share a way to find comfort. | D．To show a change in eating habit. |
| A．Set an example of positive living. | B．Ask the kids to exercise regularly. |
| C．Talk about the risks of extra weight. | D．Control the amount of food at home. |
8 . In the U.S., speaking more than one language fluently is not very common — except in Los Angeles, California. The city has one of the largest populations in the U.S. of young people between the ages of 18 and 34. More than half of them in Los Angeles are bilingual (会双语的).
Maria Elena Burgos, a mother of two American-born daughters, is cooking a Mexican breakfast. She says making Mexican food is just one of the many traditions in her home. Another is speaking Spanish to her children. “We want to keep Spanish somewhere in their learning too, not only at home.” Ms. Burgos thinks being bilingual will give them more opportunities in the future. Knowing Spanish also means the children can talk with their relatives in Mexico.
Ms. Burgos’ daughters both want to know their family’s culture. “We are doing this in order to go back to our roots because that’s part of who we are,” they say.
The U.S. Census Bureau says more than half the adults in the Los Angeles area between 18 and 34 years old speak a language other than English at home. For the whole country, the number of bilingual adults is only 25 percent. The number of bilingual speakers has gone up since the 1990s.
University of California Los Angeles professor Raul Hinojosa says that in the past, the children and grandchildren of immigrants (移民) did not continue to speak the parents’ native language. But now the opposite is true.
In the last ten years, more immigrant parents say they want their children to keep speaking their native language. Mr. Hinojosa calls their choice the “path of pride”. The decision to keep a native language is clear in Los Angeles now. And, as the number of minorities (少数民族) in the U.S. continues to grow, he thinks bilingualism will spread to the rest of the country.
1. Ms. Burgos hopes her two daughters can ________.| A．have a healthy diet | B．become true Americans |
| C．develop many good habits | D．have a competitive advantage |
| A．Bored. | B．Worried. | C．Interested. | D．Surprised. |
| A．are proud of their new country |
| B．speak English very fluently |
| C．are learning a second language |
| D．are forgetting their parents’ native language |
| A．more people will immigrate to the U.S. |
| B．the U.S. is on the path to bilingualism |
| C．the population of Los Angeles will drop |
| D．more minorities will be accepted by the U.S. |
9 . 17-year-old Norwood was driving three friends home in St. Petersburg, Florida, on February 20. As they reached a crossroads, a black car
As smoke rose from the car, a bystander
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Simmons, wasn’t with them. Norwood ran
She started pumping Simmons’s chest and breathing into her friend’s mouth in hopes of filling her lungs with the kiss of life. No
Soon, paramedics (急救人员) arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital,
| A．stopped | B．hit | C．guided | D．passed |
| A．said | B．commented | C．whispered | D．shouted |
| A．Relaxed | B．Shaken | C．Amazed | D．Embarrassed |
| A．over | B．to | C．through | D．across |
| A．free | B．defeat | C．meet | D．protect |
| A．back | B．around | C．forward | D．outside |
| A．astonished | B．worried | C．unconscious | D．puzzled |
| A．pushed | B．rolled | C．drove | D．dragged |
| A．life | B．success | C．breath | D．pulse |
| A．lost | B．tested | C．earned | D．provided |
| A．trouble | B．response | C．preparation | D．exception |
| A．laughs | B．teams | C．breaths | D．measures |
| A．begun | B．finished | C．failed | D．worked |
| A．where | B．which | C．when | D．what |
| A．calm | B．surprised | C．upset | D．nervous |
It’s certainly enjoyable to catch up with friends’ activities or watch your favorite content creator while you’re eating.
If you have kids, dinner time can be your chance to be a role model for them. When you’re not on your phone, unaware that you’re sitting at a table with other people, it will engrave (铭记) polite table
When in reality, the story is
It’s not that hard to keep your phone away from the dinner table
