1 . With the move towards a cashless society, pocket money is moving digital. To reflect this trend, many mobile budgeting apps for children has sprung up worldwide: GoHenry, Osper and Gimi, to name but a few. These apps offer a simple money management service for children, often for a monthly subscription (订购) fee paid by the parents. Parents can add money to children’s accounts, set limits and monitor transactions, while children can choose to save their money or spend it using a prepaid card that works like a debit card (借记卡). The apps suggest minimum ages ranging from six to nine for the prepaid card.
Two thirds of adults globally are financially illiterate (无知的), and one in four teenagers are unable to make even simple decisions on everyday spending. These apps claim to teach children financial concepts, such as budgeting, interest rates and income. For instance, the Swedish app Gimi has virtual savings jars where children can deposit money; parents can pay children interest as they save; and there is a chores’ feature, where parents can pay children for completing household tasks.
“Cash was the best way to teach financial literacy because it’s so tangible (有形的) and so easy to grasp,” Philip Haglund, CEO of Gimi, says. “Now money is being transferred through some kind of cyberspace, which is really abstract and hard for anyone to understand.”
Haglund believes the app can teach responsible spending habits, whereas schools tend to focus more on economic theory. “You don’t become better at money management just because you have a degree in economics. It’s more about the attitude and the relationship you have with parents’ money when you’re 6 to 12 years old,” he says.
One concern is that introducing digital money apps to young children could help to encourage irresponsible spending habits.
“If children don’t have a good foundation in financial capability, there’s a risk that money apps could be seen as just another game,” says Winter. “There’s a risk that they won’t learn about the real value of money and might develop bad money habits.”
However, Haglund says children are protected from this as parents can monitor their spending habits and none of the services offer an overdraft (透支) so children cannot go into debt.
Plus, it is important for kids to learn and make mistakes, says Guichard. “We want to help kids and teenagers gain financial skills for life, and the earlier you do that the better, because if you’re going to make a mistake of £ 10 at eight, it’s better than making a mistake of £ 1,000 when you’re 28,” he says.
1. The appearance of mobile budgeting apps is mainly due to ________.| A．digital money | B．the convenience |
| C．the popularity for children | D．the amount of children’s savings |
| A．Digital savings money-box. | B．Savings interest. |
| C．Developing spending habits. | D．Simple money management. |
| A．children will become better at money management only if they have a degree in economics. |
| B．money apps will be seen as a game helping children lay a good foundation in financial capability. |
| C．money is now so intangible that money apps are needed for kids to acquire financial knowledge. |
| D．children will gain financial skills with money apps, thus avoiding financial mistakes. |
| A．To advocate living a money-wise life. |
| B．To introduce the Swedish app Gimi. |
| C．To warn people of apps’ potential risks. |
| D．To show that pocket money is moving digital. |
2 . Across the gardens of Britain, people are building sheds (工棚). People have gone crazy about sheds. The Timber Trade Federation reports that in October, the last month for which statistics were available, imports of softwood were 34% higher than a year earlier. With stocks (库存) running low, what wood is available is quickly sold out.
A garden shed used to be mostly a place to store tools, or a place to discuss how to grow flowers and enjoy tea and snacks while the rain falls outside, according to Michael Rand, an expert gardener. But the creative brain-worker has long put it to more productive use. Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas wrote in sheds. George Bernard Shaw had one in his Hertfordshire garden that faced the sun.
Besides growing flowers, the sheds now being built are also often intended for work. However, they are grander than the ones those pioneer shed-writers used. Green Retreats, which mostly builds garden offices, says that overall sales on building sheds grew by 113% between 2019 and 2020. Larger and fancier structures are especially popular.
This has an important impact on cities. Urban scholars like Richard Florida and Edward Glaeser are busy trying to work out whether the rise in home-working that has occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic will continue when the virus declines. If it does, many service jobs in cities, from waiters to taxi drivers, will disappear. Public transport systems will struggle. The value of city-centre housing will drop. The shed boom makes that outcome more likely.
A white-collar worker who has tried to work from the kitchen table for the past nine months might be keen to return to the office. A worker who has a beautiful garden shed with Wi-Fi will not hope so. Joel Bird, who builds personalized sheds, is certain that his customers expect a long-term change in their working habits. “They don’t consider home-working to be temporary,” he says. “They’re spending too much money on sheds.”
1. Why did Britain buy more softwood from other countries?| A．Softwood was cheaper this year. |
| B．Demands for sheds were on the rise. |
| C．Softwood suppliers were fewer than before. |
| D．Britons stored softwood like crazy due to COVID-19. |
| A．Previous shed-writers. | B．Various functions of sheds. |
| C．Improvements on shed-building. | D．The development of shed-offices. |
| A．The shed boom might threaten economy in cities. |
| B．Workers are eager to return to work in their offices. |
| C．More people prefer gardening in their beautiful sheds. |
| D．People’s working habits remain the same after COVID-19. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Optimistic. | C．Indifferent. | D．Pessimistic. |
After weeks of growing anxiety and with her midterm exams coming near, Liang Zhao hui decided on an
Over five hours, Liang and her roommates
Making cardboard dogs has become
“
4 . When we visit museums, we see cultural artifacts—from everyday household items to precious carvings and statues, which give us a glimpse into the diverse cultures and communities from around the world.
However, controversy surrounds these artifacts and whether or not countries should return these pieces of culture if they were stolen or forcefully taken during colonization (殖民).
On Wednesday, October 7, 2020, the Dutch advisory committee officially released a national report agreeing to the return of cultural artifacts that were stolen from its previous colonies such as Indonesia, Suriname, and islands on the Caribbean. Through these actions, the Dutch government acknowledged the unfair treatment the colonies had previously experienced and demonstrated respect for the culture of these countries.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, European countries such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands had colonized many African and Asian countries. During their rule, they either seized artifacts or took them as spoils of wars, and brought them to their own countries where they are now on display in museums.
Over the years, European museums have received requests for the return of artifacts. The debate regarding this issue took a turn in 2018 when a French report was released that directed that all heritage objects brought to French museums be restored. With the official release of this report, museums all across Europe began reconsidering their previous policies on colonial treasures.
Those who propose returning these objects to their original homes argue that with technology enabling virtual museum tours, returning these artifacts to their homeland does not take away the opportunity to learn about them. Furthermore, the country of origin will receive a significant part of their heritage back, and these artifacts will be given a chance to be truly appreciated in proper historical context.
Those against the restoration claim that culture is shared treasure and the artifacts are in fact “cultural ambassadors” that promote tolerance and understanding. They believe that while stealing them was wrong, history is full of “good” and “bad” actors. Moreover, they feel that keeping the cultural objects in the current museums has kept millions of artifacts safe from disfiguration and damage.
1. What did the Dutch government admit?| A．The colonies were treated unfairly. | B．The colonies had stolen cultural artifacts. |
| C．The colonies had experienced cultural boom. | D．The colonies had been respected for their culture. |
| A．Egypt. | B．France. | C．Britain. | D．The Netherlands. |
| A．These artifacts reflect a culture of shared treasure. |
| B．These artifacts prove that the history is difficult to explain. |
| C．These artifacts will be enjoyed in their historical background. |
| D．These artifacts help people distinguish good history from bad history. |
| A．Are Virtual Museum Tours Meaningful? | B．Do People Appreciate Stolen Treasures? |
| C．Will Stolen Treasures Belong to Colonies? | D．Should Museums Return Stolen Treasures? |
5 . How to protect children Web fans from unsuitable material on-line while encouraging them to use the Internet has long been discussed in the U.S.
For some parents, the Internet can seem like a jungle, filled with danger for their children. But jungles contain wonders as well as dangers and with good guides, some education, and a few precautions(预防措施), the wilds of the Internet can be safely navigated(航行). “Kids have to be on-line. If we tell our kids they can’t have access to the Internet, we’re cutting them off from their future,” said an expert.
Most kids have started to use search engines. Many of them are great for finding tons of interesting Internet sites, and they can also locate places where you might not want your kids to go. There are search engines designed just for kids. A certain software contains only sites that have been selected as safe. The most popular way to limit access would be to use what is known as a “content screener(过滤器)”. But this can’t be wholly reliable(可靠), and the best thing parents can do is to talk to their kids and let them know what is OK or not OK to see or do on the Internet. Another way is that mum or dad is nearby when the child is surfing(浏览)the Internet.
A few other tips
•Don’t put the PC in a child’s room but keep it in an area where mum or dad can keep an eye on things. That also makes the Internet more of a family activity.
•Ask your child what he or she has been doing and about any friends they make on-line.
•Tell your child not to give on-line strangers personal information, especially like address and phone number.
•And tell your children never to talk to anyone they meet on-line over the phone, send them anything, accept anything from them or agree to meet with them unless you go along.
1. The passage is mainly about the subject of___________.
| A．American children going on-line | B．Internet in America |
| C．appreciating Internet | D．opposing children’s on-line |
| A．to install(安装)a content screener on the computer |
| B．to buy some search engines for the children |
| C．to be nearby when they are surfing the Internet |
| D．to talk to the children and persuade them to tell right from wrong |
| A．Surfing the Internet is the best method of educating children. |
| B．Children’s not having access to Internet may have effect on their progress |
| C．Using a content screener is most reliable for keeping children having access to Internet. |
| D．Searching engines can help children to select materials fit for them. |
| A．soft wares fit for children want programming | B．a child who is on-line is in danger |
| C．Internet is a jungle full of danger | D．Internet contains a lot of harmful sites |
Every year, universities
The Chinese mainland has the
The COVID-19 pandemic(大流行)has had an infuence
“There is a clear change happening across higher education around the world, and perhaps most
7 . Lawns (草坪). They’re part of American life. Over a century, from around the 1870s to the 1970s, Americans slowly fell in love with lawns. Lawns were a sign of taste,calm,power and order,especially after World War II. Over the past 50 years, we’ve slowly fallen out of love with lawns. They began to signal waste,disregard and disagreement.
“Wasn’t there something a bit wasteful about millions of Americans applying millions of pounds of fertilizer and pouring millions of gallons of water on the ground to grow something you couldn’t eat unless you were a Jersey cow?” wrote Ellen Goodman in the Boston Globe way back in 1977.
However,we are still,largely,lawn people. The biggest irrigated (灌溉的) crop, by area, in the United States? Not corn or soybeans or potatoes, but lawns. Unproductive, decorative lawn: around 40 million acres of it, or 2%of the land area of the whole country，according to estimates cited by Garik Gutman,program manager for NASA’s Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program.
Forty million acres: The entire state of Georgia couldn’t contain America’s total lawn area. And we pour 9 billion gallons of water on landscaping every day,according to the Environmental Protection Organization. Meanwhile,the southwestern United States is suffering a serious drought; the past two decades have been its driest period since the year 800. In a world thirsty for water,lawns actually take up too much water.
Now we have TikTok hashtags (话题标签) such as anti-lawn, which might direct you to a performance of an anti-lawn song by a 27-year-old Nashville musician named Mel Bryant. “At the time,all of my neighbors were crazy about their lawns,”says Bryant，who wrote the song on Earth Day 2020.“Everyone was cutting grass,every day. At any point in time you’d hear lawn grass cutting machines going. And it drove me crazy. I still have this one neighbor who,I promise,on the Fourth of July was cutting grass at 7:30 pm. What are you doing,man? This can wait.”
1. What can best describe Americans’ attitude towards lawns?| A．Cautious. | B．Changeable. |
| C．Uninterested. | D．Conventional. |
| A．Corn. | B．Soybeans. | C．Potatoes. | D．Lawns. |
| A．Reasons for poor lawn growth. |
| B．The consequences of droughts. |
| C．Measures for drought prevention. |
| D．Too much water consumption on lawns. |
| A．Opposition to lawns. |
| B．Enthusiasm for gardening. |
| C．Desire for freedom. |
| D．Doubts about holiday traditions. |
8 . 阅读下面短文, 根据所给情节进行续写, 使之构成一个完整的故事。
A Christmas Visit
As 17-year-old Torriell Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February with her friends to pay a visit to the great park, she shared her dream of becoming a doctor. She had recently taken some first aid courses. The other girls shared stories of their experiences and adventures. But the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls in the car quickly gave way to screams, As they passed a road junction(交叉路口), a car crashed into the side of their vehicle, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby home. It only stopped when it crashed into a tree. All of the girls were in panic.
As smoke rose from the car, a bystander(旁观者)shouted, “It’s about to blow up . Get out. ”The impact had bent the driver’s door, meaning it wouldn’t open. The bystander seized the door handle of the car, using all his strength to pull it open, but failed. Shaken, but otherwise OK. Norwood crawled out through the window. She had a cut on the right side of her face. Her lovely face became very pale. Along with two of her friends, who’d also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Azarria Simmons, was not with them. Norwood ran back to the car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She isn’t moving,” Norwood shouted, with her heart beating hard. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. She checked per pulse. Nothing. She put her head against Simmons’s chest. No sign of life. That’s when she started CPR(心肺复苏术)
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After a while, the CPR worked and Simmons regained her consciousness.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
Can shopping relieve stress?
According to a study
More than half of the 1,000
In fact, shopping to reduce stress can actually help you live a
Shopping to relieve stress
However, the side effect of “retail therapy”, for many, can start out as a relatively harmless mood booster but could
10 . The rise of the robots has raised the possibility of a future where there is simply less wok for humans to do. To tired office workers, a world where we all have a bit more leisure time sounds rather nice. Yet what really matters is how work will be distributed across the workforce.
The recent past shows there is no reason to believe it will be evenly (均衡地) spread. The length of the average working week in the UK has declined steadily from about 59 hours in the mid-19th century to 32 hours in 2009. But averages hide a lot.
While trends among women have been stable, there have been big shifts among men. Males in well-paid full-time employment are now working slightly longer hours on average than two decades ago. Meanwhile, men in full-time employment at the bottom of the wage ladder are working much less.
On top of that, the number of low-paid men who work part-time has increased sharply. Twenty years ago, one in 20 men with low hourly wages worked part-time; today it is one in five. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows this phenomenon is only happening among the low-paid. In better-paying jobs, part-time men are still fairly rare. Gender roles within families might tend to be similar too. Low-paid men may be choosing to shoulder more childcare responsibilities so their partners can return to work.
Yet it is clear that the distribution of work will matter to people. Britain has both overemployment and underemployment problems: official data show 3.4m people in Britain want to work more hours while 3.2m want to work few hours for less pay. The underemployed are likely to be waiters or cleaners. The overemployed are most likely to be doctors or chief executives. This indicates an economy where demand and supply of skills are out of sync.
Nobody knows for sure how the next wave of automation will shake up demand for different skills. Perhaps doctors will gain the free time they desire. Others might find themselves in greater demand. But short of us developing a much better system for training people quickly for the jobs economy needs, it seems likely that in the future—as now—there will be too much work for some, and too little for others.
1. What can be inferred from the first two paragraphs?| A．The development of robots will get rid of humans’ work. |
| B．Future leisure time will be allocated evenly across the workforce. |
| C．UK has taken some measures to stop the decline of working hours. |
| D．The averages may not be the accurate indicators of the steady decline of working hours. |
| A．Low-paid men are to blame for the low employment. |
| B．More well-paid men are choosing to work part-time. |
| C．Part-time men have increased only among the low-paid. |
| D．Part-time men rarely shoulder childcare responsibilities. |
| A．Important. | B．Imbalanced. | C．Undoubted. | D．Harmful. |
| A．The total amount of human labor will be decreased. |
| B．Better training systems will be built across the world. |
| C．Robots contribute to uneven distribution across the workforce. |
| D．The number of low-paid men who work part-time has increased. |
