1 . Digital reading (数字阅读) appears to be destroying habits of “deep reading”. Astonishing numbers of people with years of schooling are in fact illiterate (文盲). This month’s Ljubljana Manifesto (宣言) explains: “The digital field may promote more reading than ever in history, but it also offers many attractions to read in a casual and scattered (零散的) manner— or even not to read at all. This increasingly endangers higher-level reading.”
That’s frightening, because “higher-level reading” has been necessary to civilization. It made the understanding and an international increase in empathy (共鸣). Without it, we would suffer a lot. As the Ljubljana Manifesto notes, “as much as one-third of Europeans struggle even with lower-level reading skills.” More than one-fifth of adults in the US “fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category”. Separately, post-pandemic (后疫情时期) reading scores for American13-year-olds are the lowest in decades. And the Washington-based Center for Global Development recently estimated that literacy (读写能力) in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa among those with five years of schooling has decreased by 10% this past half century.
Experts in the Ljubljana Manifesto record the demerits of digital reading: “Recent studies of various kinds indicate a decline of thoughtful reading, slow reading and long-form reading.” When you read a book on paper, you can be entirely inside the experience, absorb hundreds of pages of details thoroughly and begin to catch the world’s complexity. Online, says Maryanne Wolf of UCLA, we are “skimming, scanning and scrolling”. The medium is the message: doing deep reading on your phone is as hard as playing tennis with your phone. Recently, a bright 11-year-old boy told me I was wasting time on books: he absorbed more information faster from websites. He had a point. But digital readers also absorb more misinformation and seldom absorb fine opinions.
In short, as professors from Northwestern University predicted in 2005, we are returning to the days when only an elite (精英) “reading class” reads long texts, which is worrying.
1. What can we learn about digital reading from paragraph 1?A.Digital reading has weakened the practice of deep reading. |
B.Digital reading has solved the problem of illiteracy. |
C.Digital reading has made deep reading accessible to wider readers. |
D.Digital reading has caused a greater appreciation for deep reading. |
A.Digital reading’s great popularity. | B.The importance of deep reading. |
C.American students’ reading skills. | D.The lowering of the level of literacy. |
A.Functions. | B.Depths. | C.Shortcomings. | D.Features. |
A.Advantages of digital reading. | B.Measures to practice deep reading. |
C.Ways to encourage digital reading. | D.Benefits of lower-level reading. |
2 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?A.By listing some numbers. | B.By analyzing hidden causes. |
C.By making an interesting comparison. | D.By explaining its working principle. |
A.Lead enters poor countries in one way. |
B.Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries. |
C.Lead will definitely not harm anymore. |
D.Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
A.Fixing these used batteries. | B.Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
C.Ignoring the illegal use of lead. | D.Putting certain effort and money. |
A.The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man. |
B.The Global Lead Poisoning Problem. |
C.The Ways to Solve Lead Problem. |
D.The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles. |
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 . In the days before the Internet, critical thinking was the most important skill of informed citizens. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development, and her colleagues, an even more important skill is critical ignoring.
As the researchers point out, we live in an attention economy where content producers on the Internet compete for our attention. They attract us with a lot of emotional and eye-catching stories while providing little useful information, so they can expose us to profit-generating advertisements. Therefore,we are no longer customers but products, and each link we click is a sale of our time and attention. Toprotect ourselves from this, Kozyreva advocates for learning the skill of critical ignoring, in which readers intentionally control their information environment to reduce exposure to false and low-quality information.
According to Kozyreva, critical ignoring comprises three strategies. The first is to design ourenvironments, which involves the removal of low-quality yet hard-to-resist information from around. Successful dieters need to keep unhealthy food out of their homes. Likewise, we need to set up a digital environment where attention-grabbing items are kept out of sight. As with dieting, if one tries to bank onwillpower not to click eye-catching “news”, he’ll surely fail. So, it’s better to just keep them out of sightto begin with.
The next is to evaluate the reliability of information, whose purpose is to protect you from false and misleading information. It can be realized by checking the source in the mainstream news agencies which have their reputations for being trustworthy.
The last goes by the phrase “do not feed the trolls.” Trolls are actors who internationally spread false and hurtful information online to cause harm. It may be appealing to respond to them to set the facts straight, but trolls just care about annoying others rather than facts. So, it’s best not to reward their bad behaviour with our attention.
By sharpening our critical ignoring skills in these ways, we can make the most of the Internet while avoiding falling victim to those who try to control our attention, time, and minds.
1. What can we learn about the attention economy from paragraph 2?A.It offers little information. | B.It features depressing stories. |
C.It saves time for Internet users. | D.It seeks profits from each click. |
A.To discuss the quality of information |
B.To prove the benefits of healthy food. |
C.To show the importance of environments. |
D.To explain the effectiveness of willpower. |
A.Reveal their intention. | B.Turn a deaf ear to them. |
C.Correct their behaviour. | D.Send hard facts to them. |
A.Reasons for critical thinking in the attention economy. |
B.Practising the skill of critical ignoring in the digital age. |
C.Maximizing the benefits of critical ignoring on the Internet. |
D.Strategies of abandoning critical thinking for Internet users |
5 . Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly knit(联系) groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.
Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialisation, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalisation and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.
At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages, often spoken by many people, while hot, wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 languages; the Americas about 1,000; Africa 2,400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number(中位数) of speakers is a mere 6,000, which means that half the world’s languages are spoken by fewer people than that. Already well over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages are close to extinction(消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left.
1. What can we infer about languages in hunter-gatherer times?A.They developed very fast. | B.They were large in number. |
C.They had similar patterns | D.They were closely connected. |
A.Difficult. | B.Confusing. | C.Powerful. | D.Modern. |
A.About 6,800 | B.About 3,400 | C.About 2,400 | D.About 1,200 |
A.New languages will be created. |
B.People’s lifestyles are reflected in languages. |
C.Human development leads to fewer languages. |
D.Geography determines language evolution. |
6 . China is a great country with the largest population in the world. In order to solve the population problem, our government carried out one﹣child policy (政策)before. When it is carried out for some time, many people not only see its advantages but also disadvantages.
From 2016, two﹣child policy is put into effect. In my opinion, two﹣child policy is good. First of all, two﹣ child policy is the gift for some only child. For some families, maybe the parents are only child and they also can have only child. Besides the loneliness of their child, when their child grows up and they grow older, their child marry an only child girl, the burden(负担)on their child and his wife is too heavy. Their child and his wife have to take care of two couples. Usually, a young couple looking after an old couple is a little difficult. But if their parents have two children, they can share the burden of taking care of their parents. It would be much better. Secondly, two﹣child policy can guarantee (保证) the number of Chinese population.
All in all, one﹣child policy has been out of date. And two﹣child policy is needed and necessary. It can solve the problems of nowadays (现在)and the future.
1. Which country has the largest population in the world?A.America | B.Britain | C.China | D.Japan. |
A.携带 | B.取消 | C.禁止 | D.实行 |
A.solve the population problem |
B.take care of two old couples |
C.share the burden of taking care of their pa rents |
D.argue that two﹣child policy should be put into effect |
A.One﹣child policy has its advantages and disadvantages. |
B.It’s easy for a young couple to look after an old couple. |
C.China is a great country with the largest population in the world. |
D.For some families,maybe the parents are only child and they also can have |
A.Two﹣child policy is needed and necessary. |
B.Our government carried out one﹣child policy. |
C.Two﹣child policy is the gift for some only child. |
D.Two﹣child policy can guarantee the number of Chinese population. |
7 . This morning, while tidying up my office, I found an open box of packaged chocolate cookies that I’d bought sometime last year. The use-by date had come and gone more than eight months ago. Curious, I took a small bite. They still tasted pretty good.
Welcome to the world of ultra-processed (超加工) foods. And we’re eating a lot of them. Ultra-processed foods currently make up nearly 60% of what the typical adult eats, and nearly 70% of what kids eat. They include everything from cookies and sodas to packaged breads and frozen meals, even ice creams. You might not realize you’re eating one, but look close and you’ll see many ingredients you wouldn’t find in your kitchen.
And a large and growing amount of evidence has consistently linked overconsumption of ultra-processed foods to poor health outcomes. “Too much of it leads to obesity and type two diabetes (糖尿病) and heart disease and cancer.” says Christopher Gardner, a professor at Stanford University, who has spent decades studying the links between diet and chronic disease (慢性病).
One reason ultra-processed foods likely lead to health issues seems obvious: They tend to be low in fiber and high in calories, salt, added sugar and fat, which are all linked with poor health outcomes when eaten too much.
Eventually, Gardner says the burden of making healthier food choices shouldn’t fall completely on consumers-especially when it comes to setting kids up for better health long term. “It does need the whole society to pay attention to this, to work together, including the food industry and the government, to be able to reduce the amount of ultra-processed food our kids are consuming in their day,” he says.
1. What does the author want to say in the second paragraphs?A.Ultra-processed foods preserve the flavor long. |
B.Ultra-processed foods have become a big part of our diet. |
C.Convenience explains the popularity of ultra-processed foods. |
D.A lot of health problems result from consumption of ultra-processed foods. |
A.Overproduction. | B.Overselling. | C.Overstore. | D.Overeating. |
A.Fewer diseases. | B.Health problems. |
C.Dietary changes. | D.Market competition. |
A.Punish the food industry. | B.Reduce kids’ consumption. |
C.Unite efforts from all sides. | D.Make smarter food choices. |
8 . 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 |
9 . They say procrastination (拖延) is the thief of time — actually deadlines are. New research has found that if you want someone to help you out with something, it is best not to set a deadline at all. But if you do set a deadline, make it short.
Professor Stephen Knowles tested the effect of deadline length on task completion for their research. Participants were invited to complete an online survey concerning a charity donation. They were given either one week, one month, or no deadline to respond. Professor Knowles says although the topic of the survey was about charity, the results are true of any situation where someone asks another person for help.
The study found responses to the survey were lowest for the one-month deadline and highest when no deadline was specified (明确规定). No deadline and the one-week deadline led to many early responses, while a long deadline appeared to give people permission to procrastinate, and then forget. Professor Knowles wasn’t surprised to find that specifying a shorter deadline increased the chances of receiving a response compared to a longer deadline. However, he did find it interesting that they received the most responses when no deadline was specified.
“We interpret this as evidence that specifying a longer deadline, as opposed to a short deadline or no deadline at all, removes the urgency to act,” he says. “People therefore put off undertaking the task, and since they are inattentive or forget, postponing it results in lower response rates.”
He says of the research that it is possible that not specifying a deadline might still have led participants to assume that there is an unspoken deadline. Professor Knowles hopes his research can help reduce the amount of procrastinating people do. “Many people procrastinate. They have the best intentions of helping someone out, but just do not get around to doing it.”
1. Why did Professor Knowles do the research?A.To study the role a deadline plays in procrastination. |
B.To find out whether people are interested in charity. |
C.To attract public attention to the effects of procrastination. |
D.To test the effect of procrastination on task completion. |
A.No deadlines. | B.Short deadlines. |
C.Specific deadlines. | D.Long deadlines. |
A.They oppose the deadline. | B.They are unwilling to act. |
C.They lack a sense of urgency. | D.They are too busy to remember. |
A.Procrastination — the Thief of Time |
B.Procrastination — an Urgent Problem to Solve |
C.Deadline — a Result of Procrastination |
D.Deadline — the Key to Reducing Procrastination |
The European Union is
The idea of the European Union
In 2004, the European Union increased to 25 members. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, plus the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta all became members. The