1 . Each food product in the United States must show a “best before” date on its container. The goal is to tell the buyer when the food will be at its freshest. Most people believe it is unsafe to use the food product after that date. But some observers say “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety. They worry that the information will lead consumers to throw away food good to eat.
Some food sellers in Britain recently removed “best before” labels from prepackaged fruit and vegetables. The European Union may soon announce changes to its labeling laws. It may even end the requirement to include a date.In the US, there is no similar effort. Some big food store owners and food companies are pushing for the US Congress to pass new laws on the subject.
Studies have found as much as 35% of available food goes uneaten in the United States.That adds up to a lot of wasted energy. It also means more greenhouse gases coming from landfills. 7% of US food waste comes from people’s misunderstanding of “best before” labels. That percentage is equal to about 3. 6 million tons each year.
Richard Lipsit owns a store called Grocery Outlet in Pleasanton, California. He said we can safely eat canned goods and many other packaged foods for years after their “best before”date. People should look for changes in color, thickness, or feel to learn if foods are all right to eat. “Our bodies are very well equipped to recognize the signs of decay,” Lipsit said. “We’ve lost trust in those senses and we’ve replaced it with trust in these dates.”
If new laws are approved in Congress, food could be donated to food rescue organizations even after its quality date has passed. Food rescue is making efforts to find uses for outdated food. Currently, at least 20 states ban the sale or donation of food after its quality date has passed.
1. What do most people think of the food out of “best before” date?A.It is a threat to their health. | B.It is still fresh enough. |
C.It should be donated to food rescue organizations. | D.It should be sold at a lower price. |
A.To point out the mistake they have made. | B.To show the necessity for US to take similar measures. |
C.To stop US Congress from passing new laws. | D.To praise their efforts on the subject. |
A.There is an energy crisis in US nowadays. |
B.Food industry is polluting the country. |
C.The misunderstanding of “best before” labels is one cause of waste. |
D.People know nothing about “best before” labels. |
A.Food that has gone bad. | B.Food that is out of date. |
C.Food that is not expensive. | D.Food that has a rare color. |
2 . Nowadays, the world is slowly becoming a high-tech society and we are now surrounded by technology. Facebook and Twitter are innovative tools; text messaging is still a somewhat existing phenomenon and even e-mail is only a flashing spot on the screen when compared with our long history of snail mail. Now we adopt these tools to the point of essentialness, and only rarely consider how we are more fundamentally affected by them.
Social media, texting and e-mail all make it much easier to communicate, gather and pass information, but they also present some dangers. By removing any real human engagement, they enable us to develop our abnormal self-love without the risk of disapproval or criticism. To use a theatrical metaphor (隐喻), these new forms of communication provide a stage on which we can each create our own characters, hidden behind a fourth wall of tweets, status updates and texts. This unreal state of unconcern can become addictive as we separate ourselves a safe distance from the cruelty of our fleshly lives, where we are imperfect, powerless and insignificant. In essence, we have been provided not only the means to be more free, but also to become new, to create and project a more perfect self to the world. As we become more reliant on these tools, they become more a part of our daily routine, and so we become more restricted in this fantasy.
So it is that we live in a cold era, where names and faces represent two different levels of closeness, where working relationships occur only through the magic of email and where love can start or end by text message. An environment such as this reduces interpersonal relationships to mere digital exchanges.
Would a celebrity have been so daring to do something dishonorable if he had had to do it in person? Doubtful. It seems he might have been lost in a fantasy world that ultimately convinced himself into believing the digital self could obey different rules and regulations, as if he could continually push the limits of what’s acceptable without facing the consequences of “real life.”
1. What can we know about new communication tools?A.Destroying our life totally. | B.Posing more dangers than good. |
C.Helping us to hide our faults. | D.Replacing traditional letters. |
A.Sheltering us from virtual life. | B.Removing face-to-face interaction. |
C.Leading to false mental perception. | D.Making us rely more on hi-tech media. |
A.Technologies have changed our relationships. |
B.The digital world is a recipe for pushing limits. |
C.Love can be better conveyed by text message. |
D.The digital self need not take responsibility. |
A.Addiction to the Virtual World | B.Cost of Falling into Digital Life |
C.Interpersonal Skills on the Net | D.The Future of Social Media |
3 . It has become easy for students to find and copy published material. But copying another person’s writing without giving them credit can get students and other scholars into big trouble.
American copyright law protects original works of authorship including books, movies, music, images and artworks.
The idea is that copyright helps society. If people can gain from their own creations, which are called their intellectual property (知识产权), then more people will want to create original works. The law, however, permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted works under what is called fair use. Fair use can include criticism, comment, news reporting, education and research.
Just as it is easy to copy, it is also easy for professors to know if a student has plagiarized. First, there are computer programs and artificial intelligence, tools that compare students’ papers to large databases of published writing.
A.This behavior is called plagiarism. |
B.However, there are some limitations. |
C.Plagiarism is punished in different ways. |
D.Students must follow university policies on academic behavior. |
E.They can identify whether students have copied published writing. |
F.For example, it can automatically create citation s and combine them into a list. |
G.The protection extends to computer software and the design of buildings and structures. |
4 . Life is full of uncertainties, and every activity we do carries some level of
In March, Ian and a group of friends went on a snowboarding trip in Washington State. During their
Ian explained the
Francis saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye. He
Without hesitation (犹豫), Francis began to dig hard to save Ian from the snowy trap. In the end, he
A.interest | B.risk | C.boredom | D.success |
A.discovered | B.described | C.mentioned | D.guessed |
A.glorious | B.nervous | C.creative | D.lucky |
A.visit | B.adventure | C.training | D.discussion |
A.beaten | B.hidden | C.trapped | D.tested |
A.situation | B.method | C.application | D.invitation |
A.close | B.equal | C.unique | D.various |
A.advised | B.cleared | C.chose | D.saw |
A.quiet | B.final | C.effective | D.historic |
A.heard | B.imagined | C.prevented | D.noticed |
A.related | B.legal | C.unusual | D.impossible |
A.report | B.warning | C.promise | D.answer |
A.made | B.got | C.put | D.promoted |
A.injured | B.thankful | C.curious | D.satisfied |
A.regarded | B.touched | C.spared | D.saved |
5 . As the U. K. and nations across the world mourn (哀悼) the death of Queen Elizabeth II, several aspects of the queen’s 70-year reign have been resurfacing over the past few days. From her personal life to her colonial legacy to her beloved dog — many are attracted by the life of the monarch (君主) . According to some experts, part of people’s attention towards the Royal Family not only comes from their respect for the queen but also from the trend of celebrity worshipping (名人崇拜) .
The idea of the British Royal Family taps into a collective desire for something that seems extraordinary, as opposed to the banality (平庸) of one’s own life, Cheryl Thompson, an assistant professor at the School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, told Global News.
Thompson said the fairytaleish aspect of the British Royal Family is what attracts people, adding that many are attracted by their luxury weddings, seemingly perfect lives and the media attention that follows. “People have grown up hearing about fairy tales with princes and kings and queens,” she said. “So, you would imagine the castle has to be amazing compared to the two-bedroom apartment that you live in with your family … that whole idea of having servants upstairs, the luxuriousness of the dinner table — just brings all of that back into people’s imagination.”
Cele Otnes, head of the Department of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, said the Royal Family is “a complex brand” that is different from what one would normally associate with celebrities.
“They are a global brand that people love all over the world”, explained Otnes.
“They’re luxury”, she said. People far and wide are “very interested in the drama and the tension that happens in the Royal Family.”
“I think another one of the reasons the queen was so popular is that although everyone knew she was extremely wealthy, she didn’t show off her wealth.”
1. According to Thompson the fairytaleish aspect of the Royal Family lies in ________.A.their life style | B.their political performance |
C.their charity image | D.their social status |
A.Because they are very likely to call our attention. |
B.Because they live a luxurious and admirable life. |
C.Because they are keen on charity. |
D.Because they are very modest with their fame and wealth. |
A.Mourning the death of the queen. | B.Analyzing the popularity of the queen. |
C.Showing our admiration to the queen. | D.Stating the global importance of the queen. |
A.By making comparisons. | B.By giving examples. |
C.By listing facts. | D.By quoting experts’ ideas. |
A.In a hospital. | B.In the police office. | C.On the street. |
7 . The first wave of concerns over artificial intelligence(AI)in 2023 appeared soon after New Year’s Day when classrooms reopened and schools from Seattle to Paris started blocking ChatGPT, a powerful software based on AI large language models, because teenagers were using it to do their homework.
The AI large language models behind such products as ChatGPT work by repeatedly guessing the next word in a sentence after having “learned” the rules from a huge amount of/human-written works. Although they often get facts wrong, their answers appear so natural that Keven, their inventors begin to worry about their possible use for spreading false information.
People became more worried when various AI products started to create not just texts but novel images, music and human voices, which threatened the livelihoods of anyone who writes, draws or sings for a living. It led to strikes by Hollywood writers and actors and legal challenges from artists and bestselling authors. Some of the most respected scientists even warned that the technology’s unchecked progress was possibly threatening human existence. “In the longer term, they might manage our attention,” pioneering AI scientist Fei Fei Lisaid. “They would tell us which video to watch, which book to read or whose communication to respond as AI technology’s abilities improve rapidly. They could be a very good assistant, but also with really big risks.”
Li hoped that 2023 is going to be a year for people to think about what Al is, how to use it and what the effects are — all the good, the bad and the ugly.
“It’s easy to forget that they are not the first wave of AI products. Computer vision techniques developed by Li and other scientists have helped sort through a huge database of photos to recognize objects and individual faces and guide self-driving cars. Speech recognition advances have made voice assistants like Siri and Alexa a normal thing in many people’s lives,” said Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri Inc.
1. Why did schools try to stop their students from using ChatGPT?A.ChatGPT often got facts wrong in the class. |
B.Students spent too much time on the software. |
C.ChatGPT helped students spread false information. |
D.Students used the software to cheat at their homework. |
A.AI’s training costs. | B.ATs amazing abilities. |
C.AI’s possible threats. | D.AI’s fast developments. |
A.Think carefully about AI’s impact. | B.Welcome AI technology |
C.Do use ChatGPT more carefully. | D.Upgrade ChatGPT in time. |
A.A news report. | B.A guide book to a software. |
C.A product review. | D.An introduction to a person. |
Many young people wants
Therefore, some of them are considering
For the above reasons, I suggest that young people be
9 . Editor’s note: An increasing number of Chinese people, especially the young, are more willing to celebrate Western festivals. Should we celebrate foreign festivals? Forum (论坛) readers share their opinions. You’re welcome to add yours.
Dinah (China)
I enjoy the happy atmosphere of both Chinese and Western festivals. As long as it is meaningful for me, I will celebrate it with my boyfriend, and my parents! I like Western festivals and often celebrate them without even knowing the origins of them. Why? Because what I really appreciate is just the happy atmosphere.
SharkMinnow (Canada)
Western Festivals are more like parties or games for some Chinese. Also, spending money = good for economy. Most Chinese don’t take Western festivals as seriously as their own. It’s like a game or party in my eyes. A way to blow off steam and have fun (and spend money).
Travis (UK)
As an Englishman teaching here in China for two years, my friends have got used to, and enjoy when I celebrate my festivals. My school also likes it as well, although this year they asked me not to scare the teachers so much on Halloween. My Chinese friends enjoy taking part in my festivals, as they also learn more about my culture, and the history that goes with it…
Leesinchina (US)
Cherish your own festivals. It would be a pity if the Chinese accepted these Western days — first, because they have absolutely nothing to do with traditional Chinese culture. Second, they are a big trick by the big stores to get more money out of you. Stick to your own festivals — they actually mean something to you — rather than following western customs for no good reason.
1. What matters most according to Dinah?A.The atmosphere when celebrating festivals. |
B.The people with whom to celebrate festivals. |
C.Celebrating Chinese festivals with her family. |
D.Celebrating Western festivals in a good atmosphere. |
A.Optimistic. | B.Indifferent. | C.Neutral. | D.Negative. |
A.How should we celebrate festivals? |
B.Should we celebrate foreign festivals? |
C.Why are more young people celebrating foreign festivals? |
D.Are more Chinese people willing to celebrate foreign festivals? |
A.A newspaper. | B.A debate. | C.A website. | D.A text book. |
Gather together a couple of good friends and take a leisurely walk through the streets—this is what many youngsters in China enjoy doing when they pay a visit
The origins of Citywalk can be traced (追溯) back to London, England. Strictly speaking, this form of urban tourism
Up to now, the Citywalk trend
In short, Citywalk not only offers