1 . Tackling lonely emotions
Do you feel lonely? The World Health Organization (WHO) recently addressed loneliness as a pressing health threat.
Loneliness is a state of mind marked by feelings of isolation despite wanting social connections. So people who are lonely usually experience the emotional pain of not being connected with others.
Social isolation impacts the health and well-being of all age groups across the world.
Social disconnection in adolescence can lead to poorer education outcomes, since young people who have experienced loneliness in high school are more likely to drop out of university. Lack of social connection carries a risk of early death equivalent to other better-known risk factors such as smoking, obesity and air pollution, or potentially even greater.
To tackle this crisis, the WHO launched the Commission on Social Connection, which held its first leadership meeting to outline solutions to build social connections at scale.
A.The following aspects are something concerning how to tackle loneliness. |
B.It called for countries and organizations to make social connections a priority. |
C.Solitude (独处) on the other hand, is voluntary. |
D.It can be a result of feeling stressed due to loneliness. |
E.According to the WHO, one in four old people experience social isolation. |
F.Loneliness cannot be identified as a fatal emotional factor, |
G.Loneliness not only has a far-reaching impact comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day according to a 2017 study. |
2 . As we know, queues (队列) have always been related to the theme park experience. Disliked by many, attractions do their best to stop them from having a bad influence on the guest experience. However, queues remain a necessity for gated attractions with popular rides.
The most obvious problem with queues is that they waste time, and for guests, wasting their limited time during their visit leads to a poor experience. For attraction operators, queues can be a letdown too. Even though long queues might be a sign that business is good, the more time guests spend tied up in long lines, the less opportunity they have to spend money on on-site retail and food offerings.
Thankfully, technology is developing to meet changing guest expectations. Many theme parks are taking guests out of physical queues and putting them into virtual queues through an app or wearable device.
Free from queues, guests are likely to spend their time and money far more freely around the attraction. Even though no one has to wait in line, attractions can still offer queue upgrades within a virtual queue system. According to a recent survey done by Attractions.io, over 84% of theme park visitors said they would rather use virtual queuing.
But queuing isn’t all bad, either. Making a queue part of the experience can also create an opportunity for better guest management. For example, Disney observes queues on many of their rides to give worried kids a space to relax. For smaller attractions, physical queues can be useful for judging how busy different rides are likely to be.
So to queue or not to queue? We say, why not both. In an ideal world, every attraction will have both virtual and physical queues. While virtual queuing can ensure that no one has to stand in line for hours, not every ride will need one. Short physical queues may still work for smaller or less popular rides, which guests can even enjoy while they wait in line virtually for another ride.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 1 refer to?A.Guests. | B.Queues. |
C.Attractions. | D.Experiences. |
A.The disadvantages of physical queuing. |
B.The changing ways of queuing in theme parks. |
C.The influence of physical queuing on attractions. |
D.Guest expectations for theme park queue systems. |
A.Virtual queuing actually saves people’s money. |
B.Most attractions find virtual queue systems helpful. |
C.A majority of theme park visitors prefer to wait online. |
D.Virtual queuing allows people to make the most of their time. |
A.It will replace physical queuing. |
B.It isn’t good for guest management. |
C.It isn’t useful for less popular rides. |
D.It should coexist with physical queuing. |
3 . In the late afternoon, Brandon finished his farm work and went home. As they often did, his two sons, Louie, 6, and Everett, 3,
As they headed for the house, the two boys ran ahead of him, who stopped to close the gate. Louie
He ran to the well and heard Louie
Brandon hit the
About 15 minutes later, Christi and Mark, nearby farmer, noticed Everett stood
With the neighbors’ help, Brandon and Louie were rescued
A.followed | B.remembered | C.copied | D.left |
A.pretended | B.danced | C.stopped | D.spoke |
A.brick | B.board | C.pipe | D.sign |
A.accurate | B.sensitive | C.unnecessary | D.broken |
A.heard | B.realized | C.imagined | D.dreamed |
A.drinking | B.adding | C.beating | D.exploring |
A.hesitation | B.money | C.time | D.supply |
A.gave up | B.turned to | C.met with | D.fell down |
A.speech | B.sight | C.progress | D.speed |
A.dirty | B.cold | C.deep | D.poisonous |
A.panic | B.excited | C.embarrassed | D.proud |
A.live | B.move | C.stay | D.believe |
A.cleaned | B.fixed | C.found | D.treated |
A.help | B.power | C.appreciation | D.support |
A.alone | B.happily | C.free | D.casually |
A.important | B.terrible | C.apparent | D.common |
A.warned | B.brought | C.cheated | D.pointed |
A.neighbor | B.victim | C.policeman | D.farmer |
A.short | B.colorful | C.thick | D.new |
A.temporarily | B.gradually | C.successfully | D.similarly |
“Military-style” travel has become the
Different people have different views, with some netizens
According to some experts, the “military-style” travel is a form of budget travel appealing to specific groups of people who are less
5 . A new study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology found that performing acts of kindness can heal depression and anxiety. 123 young participants from all works of life were divided into three groups. Two of the groups were equipped with techniques often used in dealing with depression: planning social activities or cognitive (认知的) reassessment. Members of the third group were instructed to perform three acts of kindness a day for two days out of the week.
Participants followed their instructions for ten weeks. The findings showed that participants in all three groups showed an increase in life satisfaction and a reduction of depression and anxiety symptoms (症状). “These results are encouraging because they suggest that all three study methods are efficacious at reducing anxiety and improving satisfaction,” the study’s co-author David Cregg said.
However, the group performing acts of kindness led to improvements not seen in the two other groups. “The acts of kindness still showed an advantage over both social activities and cognitive reassessment by making people feel more connected to other people, which is an important part of well-being.” The acts of kindness technique was the only means tested that helped people feel more connected to others.
“Social connection is strongly associated with well-being. Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections,” Cregg said. The authors noted that just participating in social activities did not improve feelings of social connection in this study. “There’s something specific about performing acts of kindness that makes people feel connected to others. It’s not enough to just be around other people, participating in social activities,” said co-author Jennifer Cheavens.
Some of the acts of kindness that participants later said they did include baking cookies for friends, offering to give a friend a ride, and leaving notes for roommates with words of encouragement. “Something as simple as helping other people can go above and beyond other treatments in helping heal people with depression and anxiety,” Cregg added.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?A.Kind acts can solve all kinds of psychological problems. |
B.All participants selected were not university students. |
C.Planning social activities is the technique used in 3 groups. |
D.Members in group three need to show kindness every day. |
A.Productive. | B.Equal. | C.Useless. | D.Misty. |
A.It is the best way to lift spirit. | B.It brings participants satisfaction. |
C.It connects people to create happiness. | D.It is the easiest means to make friends. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Cautious. | C.Indifferent. | D.Favorable. |
6 . Whether you’re a citizen, consumer or investor, it is fast becoming a key life skill to make out greenwashing, a word meaning a company claims that its products are environmentally friendly but actually not green at all. Misleading, or not proved claims about benefits to climate can make it harder for people to make informed decisions. They can also weaken real efforts by companies to clean up their act and deal with the climate crisis.
The basic problem is a lack of clarity. Indeed, when it comes to spottıng greenwashing, it can actually be more helpful to focus on the color grey—because it is the many grey areas that have helped make greenwashing appear in particular places. These grey areas might be around measurements, definitions, best practice, standards or regulations. Even the language we use is very imprecıse, leaving lots of room for vagueness, confusion or complete cheating. For instance, what do words such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco” even mean? You have no standards, measurements or definitions to judge by.
These problems are increasingly important when it comes to the greenwashing of investment products, such as pensions and investment funds. In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in consumer demand for funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance (管理) criteria, often referred to as ESG funds. According to the financial data provider Morningstar, the value of assets (资产) held in UK funds grew from £29bn at the beginning of 2017 to £71bn by the end of 2020.
With that much money at risk for high profits, misleading claims can effectively hamper the flow of money and resources into really green new plans and businesses, preventing global efforts from dealing with the climate emergency. “I describe it as the ‘teenage years’ of responsible investing, with a lot of experimentation, and a lot of people trying out new things.” says Ashley Hamilton Claxton.
1. Which of the following can be called greenwashing?A.A product that is claimed to benefit the climate. |
B.A product that is claimed to be green while not the case. |
C.A product that can be washed in a green way. |
D.A product that is absolutely environmentally friendly. |
A.There are no such words as “sustainable”. | B.The language isn’t grammatically right. |
C.The product’s description is not clear. | D.The company doesn’t say it’s “green” and “eco”. |
A.Stop. | B.Clarify. | C.Put. | D.Divide. |
A.Much money enables high profits. |
B.Responsible investing is still at its early stage. |
C.More money is invested in real green businesses. |
D.A lot of people are unwilling to try out new things. |
7 . A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and travelers. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio”, birds of passage.
Today, we place more restrictions on immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We acknowledge them as Americans in the making, or identify them as aliens to be kicked out. That framework has contributed a great deal to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.
Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.
With or without permission, they straddle (跨越) laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.
Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.
1. What does the underlined phrase “birds of passage” in Paragraph One indicate?A.People immigrating across the Atlantic. | B.People staying in a foreign country temporarily. |
C.People leaving their motherland for good. | D.People finding permanent jobs overseas. |
A.It needs new immigrant categories. | B.It has loosened control over immigrants. |
C.It should be reformed to meet challenges. | D.It has been fixed through political means. |
A.They should be treated with legal tolerance. | B.They should be treated with economic favors. |
C.They should be treated as faithful partners. | D.They should be treated as powerful competitors. |
A.Come and Go: Big Mistake | B.Living and Thriving: Great Risk |
C.With or Without: Great Risk | D.Legal or Illegal: Big Mistake |
8 . The chatbot ChatGPT, developed by American company OpenAI, has taken the world by storm in the past few months. This new research, however, has not been welcomed in education as expected. Faced with the threat of ChatGPT, the education community in many countries began to take measures.
New York City’s Department of Education announced a ban on the wildly popular chatbot ChatGPT, which some have warned could inspire more students to cheat, from its schools’ devices and networks.
The education department blocked access to the program, citing “negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content,” a spokesperson said. The move from the nation’s largest school system could have ripple effects as districts and schools across the country grapple with how to respond to the arrival of the dynamic new technology.
In addition, Sciences Po in Europe, a number of Canadian universities, and several Australian states are developing policies on student use of ChatCPT.
Vice president at UBC Vancouver, Simon Bates, said that all AI tools come with both potential benefits and real challenges, adding that the university is in the process of developing a newsletter (简报) and FAQ (frequently asked questions) as part of its educative approach to academic integrity (诚信).
In order to find out what the public thinks about using ChatGPT in schools, online course provider Study. com surveyed more than 100 educators and more than 1,000 students over the age of 18. The results showed that 72% of college professors who are aware of ChatGPT, are concerned about its impact on cheating. Over a third (34%) of all educators believe that ChatGPT should be banned in schools and universities. 66% support students having access to it.
Surprisingly, 72% of college students believe that ChatGPT should be banned from their college’s network.
1. What is the attitude of the education departments towards ChatGPT?A.Neutral. | B.Approval. | C.Disapproval. | D.Ambiguous. |
A.It may facilitate students’ cheating. | B.It may harm academic integrity. |
C.It may present inaccurate content. | D.It may threaten students’ safety. |
A.By making relevant policies. | B.By surveying the professors and students. |
C.By employing the potential benefits. | D.By banning students from using networks. |
A.A biography. | B.A newspaper. | C.An AI textbook. | D.An educational review. |
1. 栏目介绍;2. 稿件内容;3. 稿件要求:词数400左右;4. 截稿日期:6月1日。
注意:
1. 词数100左右;
2. 可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯;
3. 开头和结尾已给出,不计入总词数。
4. 邮件的开头以为你写好。
Dear Tom,
How is everything going?
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Yours,
Li Hua
1.分析使用电子产品的利与弊;
2.提出使用建议。
注意:
1.词数100字左右;
2.可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
How to use electronic devices wisely
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