1 . We live in the age of the short attention span. And yet: Finding a recipe in a post requires first scrolling past a “novel” detailing the chef’s personal experience with the dish. Even platforms once known for short-form media are stretching the limits: YouTube videos once were within 10 minutes; now they can and do reach 12 hours. Even TikTok is going long, reportedly testing a new limit of up to 15 minutes for some creators.
Surely some of this is born of genuine audience interest. Length, after all, is sometimes associated with quality. Sometimes, storytelling deserves a surprising length. Other times, it does not. Online media are frequently lengthened not because the subject demands it but because creators are attempting to game algorithms (算法) to make more money. Algorithms, on the most basic level, are supposed to recommend whatever else people post online. Yet in the process, they end up encouraging people to generate a lot of junk.
Some of these apps seem to realize what they’ve done. TikTok and YouTube give users the ability to speed things up. But the solution only underscores the problem. Because it gives rise to all those ads that run before videos or between paragraphs. Any extra real estate for these ads, be it space on a page or time on a podcast, is a chance for platforms to make more money.
Some algorithms may in fact prioritize length as an indicator of quality. But it’s hard to say for sure, because tech companies tend not to give many details about their inner workings. In some ways, whether an algorithm prefers longer videos matters less than whether creators think an algorithm does. If people start believing that longer videos do “better”, they’ll make more of them.
People are afraid that generative AI will pollute the Internet. But social-media and search algorithms have been doing that for years. It’s even cheaper and easier for generative AI to produce long content. All of this is just a taste of what’s to come.
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By telling stories. | B．By referring to studies. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By offering personal experience. |
| A．To enhance their storytelling abilities. | B．To take advantage of algorithms for profit. |
| C．To gather data concerning popular subjects. | D．To provide the audience with interesting ideas. |
| A．Highlights. | B．Upgrades. | C．Overlooks. | D．Forecasts. |
| A．Algorithms are sure to pick out longer videos. |
| B．The development of AI will facilitate longer content. |
| C．The best content is lengthened by video producers. |
| D．Search algorithms are easily polluted and destroyed. |
2 . Have you ever taken a personality test and found the results to be scarily accurate, checked your horoscope (星象学) and had everything come true or taken an online quiz that told you precisely what your favorite Disney princess means about you? Well, we certainly have done so too many times.
We discovered that we’ve all been falling victim to the Barnum effect.
The key to success of astrology and personality test keep the statements as vague as possible, with a mix of mostly positive and some negative content.
| A．Indeed, Barnum proved to be right. |
| B．You believe in such mysterious tests firmly. |
| C．Not every statement are worth considering. |
| D．So, keep in mind that we are not immune to the Barnum effect. |
| E．For example, using the phrase “at times” makes for a powerful Barnum Effect. |
| F．Therefore, We decided to do a little investigation into how Internet quizzes, magazines and horoscope books seem to know us so well. |
| G．The Barnum Effect is the phenomenon that occurs when individuals believe that personality descriptions apply specifically to them. |
3 . Nearly one-third of American adolescents and adults are affected by anxiety, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. In fact, over the last decade, anxiety has surpassed depression as the most common reason college students seek counseling (咨询) services, the New York Times reported. Sixty-two percent of undergraduates in survey reported “unbearable anxiety,” a significant increase from 50 percent in 2011.
Anxiety, along with depression, cuts across all demographics (人口统计数据), including both privileged and disadvantaged teenagers. But privileged teens are among the most emotionally upset youth in America, Arizona State University psychology professor Suniya Luthar told the New York Times.
“These kids are incredibly anxious and perfectionistic,” Suniya Luthar said, “there’s always one more activity, one more A. P. class, one more thing to do in order to get into a top college. Kids have a sense that they’re not measuring up. The pressure is never-ending and getting worse.” But helicopter parents aren’t always to blame. Many students internalize the anxiety and put the pressure on themselves, Madeline Levine, co-founder of Challenge Success, a nonprofit aimed at improving student well-being, told the Times.
Another expert, psychiatrist Stephanie Eken, said despite the cultural differences, there’s a lot of overlap among teens regarding what makes them anxious. Eken mentions factors range from school, family conflicts, what food to eat, diseases, how they’re perceived by friends and notably in the last few years, Eken told the Times, to a rising fear about terrorism. “They wonder about whether it’s safe to go to a movie theater,” she said.
A lack of close, meaningful relationships is also a major factor. Experts have long said mental and physical changes associated with puberty (青春期) may leave teens at higher risk for anxiety. And social media doesn’t help, Eken said, adding that teens are always comparing themselves with their friends, which leaves them miserable.
When Times reporter Benoit Denizet-Lewis visited Mountain Valley, a nonprofit that offers teens need-based assistance for $910 a day, a college student at the facility said, “I don’t think we realize how much it’s affecting our moods and personalities. Social media is a tool, but it’s become this thing that we can’t live without but that’s making us crazy.”
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．A big rise in anxiety among teens. |
| B．A report on mental health of adolescents. |
| C．Common mental health disorders in adults. |
| D．The reason for adults seeking counseling services. |
| A．Their parents pressure them too much. |
| B．They are less anxious than disadvantaged teenagers. |
| C．Their pressure often comes from themselves, not from others. |
| D．They suffer extreme anxiety under pressure of perfection. |
| A．To give general causes of stress and anxiety. |
| B．To show typical examples of cultural differences. |
| C．To illustrate the importance of close relationships. |
| D．To state the impact of everyday things on mental health. |
| A．Is anxiety increasing in the United States? |
| B．Why are more US teens suffering from anxiety? |
| C．How is social media affecting teens with anxiety? |
| D．How do we help teenagers deal with mental illness? |
4 . With the
The biggest problem is that the children are all
Because of being too
There are also many other
| A．development | B．awareness | C．potential | D．change |
| A．thrown | B．become | C．caught | D．exchanged |
| A．thought | B．realized | C．managed | D．asked |
| A．lonely | B．excited | C．sleepy | D．eager |
| A．remember | B．reflect | C．observe | D．forget |
| A．things | B．troubles | C．love | D．feelings |
| A．far | B．close | C．deep | D．right |
| A．oldest | B．smallest | C．strangest | D．biggest |
| A．grades | B．methods | C．gifts | D．medals |
| A．stresses | B．problems | C．requests | D．opinions |
| A．many | B．much | C．no | D．some |
| A．taking | B．receiving | C．spending | D．needing |
| A．At | B．Through | C．By | D．In |
| A．look | B．solve | C．make | D．check |
| A．their | B．your | C．its | D．his |
5 . The sun is setting, brightening your kids’ faces as they play in the waves. You reach for your phone for this perfect moment. But before you do, here’s a bit of surprising science: Taking photos is not the perfect way to keep memory as you think.
Taking too many pictures could actually harm the brain’s ability to keep memories, says Elizabeth Loftus, a psychology professor at the University of California. So we get the photo but kind of lose the memory.
Photography “outsources” memories. It works in two ways: We either shake off the responsibility of remembering moments when taking pictures, or we’re so distracted by the process that we miss the moment altogether.
The first explanation is the loss of memory. People know that their camera is recording that moment, so they don’t try to remember. The other is distraction. We’re distracted by the process of taking a photo-how we hold our phone, composing the photo, such as smiling faces, the background to our liking and clear image, all of which uses up our attention that could otherwise help us memorize.
However, taking photos can help memory when done mindfully. While taking a photo may be distracting, the act of preparation by focusing on visual details around has the opposite. When people take the time to take clear pictures, memories become strengthened.
Another advantage is that we recall moments more exactly with the photos. Memory has been reshaped with the help of new information and new experiences. Thus, photos or videos help us recall moments as if they really happened.
Memories die away without a visual record backing them up. Therefore, a photo is an excellent tool to help remember when done purposefully, which is worth exploring further.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To ask readers not to take photos. | B．To let us think of similar experience. |
| C．To arouse the interest in taking photos. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．People are more dependant on photos to remember than on their brains. |
| B．Taking photos is helpful for us to memorize. |
| C．Photos are more detailed than memories. |
| D．Many sources influence people’s memories during photo-taking |
| A．When taking photos is better. | B．How to use photo-taking to memorize better. |
| C．When distraction is likely to happen. | D．How to stay focused while taking photos. |
| A．Photography Does Help to Memories |
| B．Too Many Photos Taken Result in Poor Memories |
| C．Remember the Moment and Take Photos Properly |
| D．The Fewer Photos We Take, the Better We Will Remember |
6 . All young people dream of travelling the world. They are excited and very eager to see new sights. However, they have little idea how they would really do it if given the chances. Because their knowledge of geography is quite limited, they seldom know much about the places they wish to visit or how they would get there.
Already hundreds of thousands of Chinese student tourists are visiting these places — Wuyi, Lhasa, Lijiang, Dali, Vientiane and Phnom Penh. Indeed, these students will soon be the most travelled generation in China’s long history. The World Tourist Organization predicts that a quarter of a century from now the number of Chinese tourists going abroad will be twenty times what it is today. The largest percentage of these tourists will visit Southeast Asia. Not all Chinese who travel abroad will be tourists, however. More and more youths are deciding to volunteer their skills in this region, much like their peers in the Peace Corps and VSO.
Critical thinking skills required include planning for a trip and solving problems after the trip has begun. The focus is on how to read an atlas (地图集) to make travel plans and how to find ways of travelling. An atlas offers a wealth of information about geography and is one way to increase students’ awareness of their global environment. The use of an atlas especially addresses the needs of students with different visual and spatial (空间的) learning styles.
1. The main idea of the first paragraph is __________.| A．all young people wish to travel around the world |
| B．all young people love travelling, however, their geographical knowledge is limited |
| C．all young people like to learn the knowledge of geography |
| D．all young people are aware of the places they are going to |
| A．The number of Chinese tourists going abroad will be twenty times what it is today in about ten years. |
| B．The number of Chinese tourists going abroad will be twenty times what it is today in about twenty five years. |
| C．Students will soon be the most travelled generation in China’s long history. |
| D．Chinese people travel abroad to relax themselves. |
| A．watch TV | B．listen to radio news |
| C．plan a trip | D．read the maps |
| A．Students know nothing about how to plan a trip. |
| B．Southeast Asia will be the most popular place in the world. |
| C．Young people will be crazy about Internet travelling. |
| D．When we are travelling, critical thinking skills are necessary. |
Social media is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today. A study carried out by the PewResearch Center showed that 92% of teenagers go online daily. The wide use of social media has changed nearly all parts of teenagers’ lives.
High school student Elly Cooper from Illinois said social media often reduces face-to-face communication. “It makes in-person relationships harder because people give attention to their phones instead of persons,” Cooper said. Yet, some people believe social media has made it easier to start relationships with anyone from anywhere.
The rise of social media has changed the way teenagers see themselves. The 19-year-old Essena O’Neill announced on the social networking service Instagram that she had stopped using social media. She thought she had gotten lost in appearing perfect online. Negative comments can also do damage to a teenager’s self-esteem (自尊). Teenagers who get negative comments can’t help but feel hurt. In particular, some social media apps such as Yik Yak may provide opportunities for cyber bullying (网络欺凌).
However, Armin Korsos, a student from Illinois, takes advantage of the comments he receives over social media to improve his videos on the social networking site YouTube. “Social media can help people show themselves and their talents to the world in a way that was never possible before,” Korsos said.
But Korsos realizes that social media has become a distraction (让人分心的事). “Social media is not all necessary, though it helps people connect with their friends and know each other well anytime.”
A. Wanting to be “liked”B. Developing good habits
C. Changing relationships
D. Opening new doors
8 . Globally, about 192.1 million animals are used annually for experimental purposes. Iran has conducted animal-based research dating back to the time of Ibn Sina. Although, like many countries, Iran regulates the use and treatment of laboratory animals, it lacks sufficient enforcement. To ensure ethical treatment of research animals, Iran needs better data about their use, and institutions and individuals need to take responsibility for their care.
Iran’s Ministry of Health, which oversees animal testing, requires all animals are treated according to international ethical standards. However, some institutions that produce or use animals provide substandard treatment, disregarding the ministry’s guidelines. To facilitate better enforcement of established regulations, Iran needs clear, accurate and reliable information about the quantity of animals used in research. All Iranian research institutions that use animals should be required to collect and report annual data on the number of animals they use, the conditions in which the animals are kept, and the animals’ research purpose. Such data would allow Iran to track each institution’s adherence (遵守) to the “3Rs”of animal research: Replacing animal-based experiments with alternative strategies, reducing the number of animals used, and refining techniques to minimize the pain and discomfort research animals experience.
In addition to government enforcement, individual institutions should prioritize the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use. Iran’s medical schools and research institutions should establish an accessible database with comprehensive experimental details to prevent excessive animal studies. Ethics committees shouldn’t approve experiments that use more animals than necessary or methods that require animals when alternative methods are available. In some cases, technical sampling (using a small sample size) can replace experimental sampling (using a relatively large sample size).
Individuals should also take an active role. All researchers must be trained to adhere to ethical principles and understand unnecessary pain or discomfort in animals could affect the interpretation of data.
Maintaining international ethical standards for animal treatment is vital for Iran to establish its global standing in the field of medical sciences. Iran’s government, institutions, individual scientists, and public can work together to ensure ethical animal research.
1. What is the main idea of paragraph 1?| A．The origin of Iran’s animal-based research. |
| B．The regulations of Iran’s research into animals. |
| C．The development of Iran’s animal-based research. |
| D．Moral concerns for Iran’s research animals’ welfare. |
| A．To follow the ministry’s guidelines. |
| B．To be in control of animal-based research. |
| C．To ensure the adherence to the “3Rs” in animal-based research. |
| D．To replace animal-based experiments with alternative strategies. |
| A．To follow government regulations. |
| B．To reduce unnecessary animal-based studies. |
| C．To make research more visible to the public. |
| D．To ensure the accuracy of experimental results. |
| A．To encourage cooperation for ethical animal-based research in Iran. |
| B．To promote the use of an accessible experimental database in Iran. |
| C．To highlight ethics committees’ role in animal-based research in Iran. |
| D．To stress international ethical standards in animal-based research in Iran. |
9 . Experts worry that teen texting is out of control. Instead of
Garcia, a high school senior from Grand Kennedy, has also felt the need to stay constantly
Dr. Dowdell, at Villanova University, says that many people expect to be able to
So we decided to have Kenny and Garcia do an experiment. These were the
“Wow, it was completely
| A．sleeping | B．exercising | C．reading | D．working |
| A．studies | B．discusses | C．argues | D．texts |
| A．power | B．urge | C．approval | D．commitment |
| A．submit to | B．feed on | C．respond to | D．struggle against |
| A．surrounded | B．accepted | C．connected | D．acknowledged |
| A．avoid | B．count | C．anticipate | D．accumulate |
| A．access | B．challenge | C．consult | D．influence |
| A．appealing | B．annoying | C．frustrating | D．encouraging |
| A．benefit | B．expectation | C．assumption | D．concern |
| A．resist | B．advance | C．concentrate | D．pause |
| A．components | B．applications | C．rules | D．options |
| A．painful | B．enjoyable | C．serious | D．helpful |
| A．instructed | B．hesitated | C．rejected | D．admitted |
| A．In spite of | B．Instead of | C．But for | D．Along with |
| A．direct | B．depressing | C．joyful | D．practical |
1. What did the woman do with the thief?
| A．She pretended not to see him. | B． She fought with him. | C．She did as he asked. |
| A．A necklace. | B．Some money. | C．Nothing. |
| A．Fit a home alarm system. | B．Call the police. | C．Keep a dog. |
| A．She is puzzled. | B．She is brave. | C．She is frightened. |
