1 . I believe that we can use social media for a lot of great things and it’s important especially for business owners like me. Ever since I started my calligraphy business two years ago, I’ve never spent a day without going on social media, especially a kind of social app on my phone, on which I promoted my products and services and got in contact with possible customers.
Later I found it got in the way of more important things. I hate to say I was hooked by it, but I was. Every time I turned on my phone, I would dive into it. For a long time, I had been I ignoring other parts of my life, like my family, my friends and my happiness. One day, I was thinking that a break should have happened long before to me.
Then I decided to remove the app off my phone for a month and only use that on my computer to keep track of my business. I wanted a clean break to reflect and plan for the future.
I had believed that if I spent less time on the platform, I would miss out much. Actually, I was so wrong. During this month off, I realized there was much to enjoy in life. I found more time to enjoy my hobbies and contacted my good friends that I had lost touch with, I was refilled with energy in all aspects of my life.
This one month off the app on the phone was healthy for me. If it were not for my business, I would like not to have it on my phone. I downloaded the app again on my phone, but only used it to post my own content. I didn’t intend to paint social media in a negative light, but now I just don’t think the way I was using it was healthy. It’s difficult to find balance, but I’m going to try to do it anyway. I’m going back, but it’s going to be different.
1. What did the author mainly do on social media?A.He connected with his friends. | B.He worked on business activities. |
C.He learned calligraphy on his own. | D.He shared advice about keeping fit. |
A.Opposed to. | B.Injured by. | C.Addicted to. | D.Frightened by. |
A.It was meaningless to share on social media. |
B.There was lots of fun away from social media. |
C.The social app contributed little to his business. |
D.The social app in the computer was more practical. |
A.One month away from social media upsets him. |
B.He wants to seek more hobbies on social media. |
C.He has confidence in balancing social media and life. |
D.His friends ask him to communicate on social media. |
2 . Three high school seniors from Callisburg, Texas, learned that an old gatekeeper in their school didn’t have enough money to retire, so they decided to help him out.
The three students, Greyson Thurman, Marti Yousko and Banner Tidwell, from Callisburg High School created a GoFundMe page on Feb. 15, which attracted many people after Thurman posted a video of the old man’s cleaning a hallway on the Internet. The video was accompanied by music and text that included a link to the GoFundMe page they created.
“This is our 80-year-old gatekeeper who had his rent raised and had to come back to work. Let’s help Mr James out,” the post read. “No one at his age should have to be cleaning our messes up to continue to live.”
Through the page, they got more than 8,000 donations totaling about $260,000. Most of the donations came from Callisburg’s students and staff. “It’s amazing,” said Jason Hooper, Callisburg High Principal. In his opinion, the need was met because of the three kind kids. All the students who joined in the activity met that need.
The three students said they had to help the old man after he was forced out of retirement due to the rising cost of living in the north Texas area. “It’s just so sad to see an 80-year-oldman having to do things that no 80-year-old person should have to do,” said Tidwell.
Mr James is hardly alone. About 1.5 million retirees have had to rejoin the workforce due to the high inflation(通货膨胀), according to an analysis of the data by the US Department of Labor. About 1 in 6 retirees is considering returning to work in search of greater financial security, according to a survey published this month from Paychex.
Money got from the activity was enough to send Mr James back into retirement. He could get ready to go back to retirement and would live a comfortable life.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?A.How to create a page. |
B.What to do for people in need. |
C.A brief introduction to Callisburg High School. |
D.The way the three students helped the gatekeeper. |
A.So many people loving the video. |
B.The three kids making a difference. |
C.An 80-year-old gatekeeper still working. |
D.The total number of the money lent to the gatekeeper. |
A.The high inflation of the US. | B.The way most retirees are living. |
C.The living situation of the retirees. | D.What 1 in 6 retirees is considering. |
A.Society. | B.Economy. | C.Literature. | D.Travel. |
1.导致该现象的原因(如:忙于学业,父母的溺爱parents’ indulgence 等);
2.谈谈你对这个问题的看法。
参考词汇:增强体魄 strengthen physical qualities; 生活技能 living skills
注意:1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
A recent survey shows that
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增加:在缺词处加一个漏词符号( ^ ),并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1. 每处错误及修改均仅限一词;
2. 只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Phones, computers and TV sets are great resources for getting information and lots of funs for entertainment. However, we can be harmful and some people needed help to break away from them. Even if people are chatting on their phones, but they can still feel lonely. Reducing screen time mean people can connect with their family and friends in the really world. Beside, it’s also a great chance for people to go outside and be active, that is good for their health. Too much screen time can result other problems. It is necessary for people to set limits and learn to live without play with their devices.
5 . When I was young, a friend and I came up with a “big” plan to make reading easy. The idea was to boil down great books to a sentence each. “Moby-Dick” by American writer Herman Melville, for instance, was reduced to: “A whale of a tale about the one that got away.” As it turned out, the joke was on us. How could a single sentence convey the essence (精髓) of a masterpiece with over five hundred pages?
Blinkist, a website and an app, now summarizes nonfiction titles in the form of quick takes labeled “bliks.” The end result is more than one sentence, but not by much. Sarah Bakewell’s “At the Existentialist Cafe” is broken into 11 screens of information; Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” fills 13.
Blinkist has been around since 2012.It calls its summaries “15-minute discoveries” to indicate how long it takes to read a Blinkist summary. “Almost none of us,” the editors assure us, “have the time to read everything we’d like to read.” Well, yes, of course. “So many books, so little time.” declares a poster I once bought at a book market. But I judge the quality of someone’s library by the books he or she has yet to read.
That’s because a book is something we ought to live with, rather than speed through and categorize. It offers an experience as real as any other. The point of reading a book is not accumulating information, or at least not that alone. The most essential aspect is the communication between writer and reader: The idea behind Blinkist, however, is the opposite:
Reading can be, should be, measured by the efficient uptake (吸收) of key ideas. No, no, no. What’s best about reading books is its inefficiency.
When reading a book, we need to dive in, let it take over us, demand something of us, teach us what it can. Blinkist is instead a service that changes books for people who don’t, in fact, want to read. A 15-minute summary misses the point of reading; speed-reading with the app isn’t reading at all.
1. What does the underlined part “the joke was on us” in Paragraph 1 mean?A.We were actually joking. | B.We were laughed at by others. |
C.We were underestimating ourselves. | D.We were just embarrassing ourselves. |
A.What Blinkist is. | B.Why Binkist is popular. |
C.How to use Blinkist. | D.Where you can use Blinkist. |
A.There are few new books of quality. | B.Many books are hard to understand. |
C.People do not have enough time to read. | D.People do not like reading as much as before. |
A.Obtaining key ideas efficiently. | B.Further confirming our beliefs. |
C.Accumulating information quickly. | D.Deeply involving ourselves in books. |
6 . A promotion (促销活动) offering 98 yuan domestic plane tickets is being advertised by Chinese online travel platform LY.COM. While such a low price sounds amazing, there is just one catch: the purchaser is not told where the flight is heading, nor when it will take off.
The promotion has become a trending topic on Chinese social media as some people have been attempting to book them ahead of the upcoming May Day holiday. Labeled as a “destination blind box” on the site, tickets are purchased through a rather simple booking procedure, in which passengers provide their travel information, select a departure airport and then pay their 98 yuan. If the randomly chosen date and destination are unsuitable, users may ask for a refund, but once they “lock in” their tickets,there is no going back.
“Destination blind box” is now a hot topic on China’s online platforms. “I believe young people are a big target demographic (特定年龄段人口) for this promotion, because they not only enjoy the thrill of the unknown, but also like to show off their lives through these types of commercial activities. Like this one for instance, it doesn’t matter if they finally go or not. Booking a ticket and posting about it on social media can still suggest that one has adventurous and life-loving qualities,” said Fan, a marketing expert who has worked with civil aviation clients.
Many people not only shared the screenshots of tickets they drew, some even came up with a tutorial to teach the booking procedure under the free cancelling policy. However, some others claimed it is too rare to draw a ticket that is ideal. “If it wants to be a profitable activity, the release of the tickets must have been planned ahead and is not as random as it seems. It will not have popular airlines. The marketing campaign may also be aimed at the fast sale of some tickets from less popular airlines that were originally not that expensive. If they sell a large quantity of tickets, the company may still earn a profit even though the price is 98 yuan,” an expert in tourism suggested.
1. Which of the following best explains “catch” underlined in paragraph 1?A.Benefit. | B.Mistake. |
C.Disadvantage. | D.Charm. |
A.The origin of “destination blind box”. |
B.The purchase introduction to “destination blind box”. |
C.The original purpose of “destination blind box”. |
D.The popularity of “destination blind box”. |
A.It allows them to experience various adventures. |
B.It satisfies their desire to travel around China. |
C.It helps them save money on the cost of travel. |
D.It accords with their lifestyle and attitudes. |
A.Economy. | B.Science. |
C.Culture. | D.Advertisement. |
7 . As the carbon countdown clock ticks on, cities must be more imaginative and cooperative, a lively round table hosted in Newham by a non-profit organization Friends of the Earth said.
“Net zero is around the corner,” said Mike Wake, Director of Friends of the Earth. “The UK has cut greenhouse gas emission (排放) by 40% to date mostly through the growth of large renewable generation on the grid (输电网), but further cuts will be needed as London tries to find new ways of using energy.
“While Newham has lower greenhouse gas emission per head than the UK, it has high levels of fuel poverty, poor air quality and leaky homes. Vastly improved energy efficiency, especially on older and leakier homes, along with more efficient forms of heating and an expansion of low carbon heat networks, will help,” said Wake.
“But the future requires a shift to a more communal solution,” the representatives said. District heating, which pipes hot water from a central source to connected homes or businesses, is often a cheaper and lower-carbon method of heating highly populated areas. “It’s the lowest cost and low carbon solution for the future,” Wake added.
“There are new technologies to use wasted heat,” Wake said. “We worked with businesses to decarbonise (使环保) energy supply. Rather than wasting, spare heat generated by manufacturing and other activities can be captured and used to heat nearby properties. Friends of the Earth has already helped save Newham thousands of tonnes of emissions through district heating plans, solar PV and more energy efficient measures in the homes.”
But the challenges are substantial. Newham has London’s second-highest rate of fuel poverty. “Anyway, I’m confident and hopeful about the collective challenge,” said Wake. “But for Newham to be at the forefront of a green economy, to solve fuel poverty and deal with structural equalities, we must spare no effort.”
1. What does Wake think of cutting greenhouse gas emission in the UK?A.It doesn’t work at all. | B.It ended a short time ago. |
C.It is very difficult to continue. | D.It still needs to be improved. |
A.Expensive. | B.Peaceful. | C.Public. | D.Complex. |
A.By releasing wasted heat. |
B.By starting up many businesses. |
C.By making national heating plans. |
D.By solving the issues about energy. |
A.Worried. | B.Positive. | C.Uncaring. | D.Critical. |
8 . A Jacksonville family was grateful to be alive this weekend, and the dad, Steven Poust said it’s all because of his 7-year-old son, Chase. The young boy beat a current that separated him from his father and 4-year-old sister, Abigail, in the St. Johns River near Mandarin Point on Friday.
Steven Poust anchored (抛锚) his boat in the water while he fished and his kids played around it. While Chase and Abigail were in the water, Abigail let go of the boat because of a current and they were both stuck.
Chase felt really scared, because he didn’t have a life jacket on. Luckily Abigail had one but she floated along with the current. Poust jumped in the water trying to grab Abigail while Chase tried to swim to the shore. Poust tried to grasp both of them, but he wore himself out. Abigail floated away from him.
Chase kept swimming to the shore. He first doggie paddled, then floated on his back to make sure he wouldn’t tire himself out. The current went the opposite way of going to the boat and the shore, so it was very hard to swim that way. He made it to the shore while his dad and sister were stuck in the water before being rescued by the firefighters.
Once Chase reached the shore, he ran to the nearest home to knock for help and the hostess called the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
“I screamed for help at the top of my lungs and waved my arms and sure enough someone heard me,” Poust said. “Abigail also made it to the shore and got help and our lives were saved.”
1. Why did Poust stop his boat in the water?A.He went fishing. | B.He wanted to learn swimming. |
C.His boat broke down. | D.There was a strong current. |
A.She was loved more by her father. |
B.She failed to resist the current. |
C.She didn’t feel scared at all. |
D.She was saved by her father. |
A.Swam like a dog. | B.Rowed the boat. |
C.Sank in the water. | D.Screamed for help. |
A.Gifted. | B.Generous. | C.Ambitious. | D.Brave. |
9 . How important has Internet become in our lives? The Pew Research Center conducted a survey to celebrate the Web’s 25th birthday. The researchers were greatly heartened by what they found.
“In 2006, only 14 percent of American adults used Internet. Today, it’s 87 percent,” said Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. “It is what has impressed us the most.”
The survey also showed that 70 percent of the Internet users have been treated kindly or generously online, while 25 percent of respondents said they have been treated unkindly. More than half—56 percent—of users said they’ve seen an online community come together to help someone solve a problem. 25 percent said they’ve left an online group because members were too unpleasant.
When Pew asked questions about whether being online has enriched people’s relationships—or not—the results were very positive: 67 percent of Internet users said their online communication with family and friends has generally strengthened those relationships. Only 18 percent said it has generally weakened those relationships.
According to the survey, 53 percent of Internet users said Internet has become the hardest tech tool to give up. It is 15 percent higher than the result of a similar survey conducted in 2006. In fact, more people said they would have a harder time stopping using Internet than giving up TV. (These days, so much great television streams across the Internet that it makes sense.)
“In our survey, we have found that the Web makes a few people very unhappy. There’s strong evidence pointing to the fact that Internet users tend to compare their daily lives with the ‘highlight moments’ of their friends’ lives,” said Lee Rainie. “It’s really silly.”
1. Which is the most impressive result of the latest survey?A.Users’ dependence on Internet. | B.The fast growth of Internet users. |
C.The kindness of online communities. | D.The strengthened family relationships. |
A.15%. | B.38%. | C.53%. | D.68%. |
A.Online depression cannot be avoided. | B.Don’t show off in online communities. |
C.Don’t make unnecessary comparison. | D.Copy your friends’ wonderful lifestyles. |
A.Optimistic. | B.Worried. | C.Unconcerned. | D.Doubtful. |
The first-ever online marketplace for allotments (菜地), AllotMe, has unveiled plans for rapid
Known as the “Airbnb for Gardens”, AllotMe has grown in popularity, with more than 100 hosts
“AllotMe
Conor adds that AllotMents 2.0 will focus