1. What is the urgent update about?
| A．Changes on train tracks. |
| B．Late arrival of trains. |
| C．Train maintenance. |
| A．Railway engineers. | B．Station managers. | C．Safety officers |
| A．That tickets are sold out quickly. |
| B．That trains break down on the way. |
| C．That many passengers miss their trains. |
| A．Be aware of bad phone signals. |
| B．Buy food before boarding the train. |
| C．Set online payment methods in advance. |
2 . 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 |
3 . More than half a trillion dollars. That's the estimated value of all the stuff that U. S. shoppers bought last year only to return it—more than the economy of Israel or Austria. We tried new brands with unfamiliar sizes after seeing them on TikTok. We overbought for the holidays, and we shopped overly online, where returns are between two and five times more likely than that from stores.
Where does it all go? Take the blanket I bought on holiday sale for example. I opened the package, only to discover it was just too small for my new sofa. So I returned it. Sorry, blanket! What will happen to it?
“Your blanket is very likely to be in a landfill,” says Hitendra Chaturvedi, a supply chain management professor at Arizona State University. “That is what consumers don't realize—the life of a return is a very, very sad path.” Value is the big threshold (门槛): Is the product worth the cost of shipping back and paying someone to inspect, clean, repair or test? Experts estimate that retailers (零售商) throw away about 25％ of their returns. Every year, U. S. returns create almost 6 billion pounds of landfill waste.
Many others get resold in discount and outlet stores. Some go to sellers on websites. Some get donated to charity or recycled. “These options have increased over the past decade, allowing more and more returns to find a new home”, says Marcus Shen, chief operating officer of B-Stock, a platform where retailers can resell their returns, often to smaller stores.
As companies compete on flexible return policies, technology is also slowly playing a part: helping shoppers buy the right-size sweater or picture a new blanket inside their room. Most importantly, She says, shoppers themselves are getting more and more comfortable with buying stuff that's not exactly brand-new.
“The idea of that is no longer scary for us, right?” he says. On his holiday-returns agenda is an electric, self-heating coffee mug that he has never opened, and he feels confident it will find a happy new buyer.
1. What is paragraph 1 mainly about?| A．The challenge facing the American economy. | B．The urgency to cut down on online shopping. |
| C．The returning problem caused by overbuying online. | D．The cost of finding new homes for returned goods. |
| A．It's required by the return policies. | B．It saves retailers 6 billion pounds a year. |
| C．It's impossible to put returns to other uses. | D．It's more economically efficient for retailers. |
| A．By helping shoppers make better decisions. | B．By restoring the newness in returned goods. |
| C．By improving the return policy-making process. | D．By drawing pictures of the goods for the shoppers. |
| A．TikTok items. | B．The coffee mug. | C．The blanket. | D．A right-size sweater. |
4 . A shortage of semiconductors (半导体) has helped firms such as Nvidia, whose chips (芯片) power everything from video gaming to machine learning and data centres. But boom time for sellers means misery for buyers. Carmakers, whose products have become computers on wheels, are among the victims. Analysts say the industry might build around 5 million fewer cars this year, all for want of the chips. Apple and Microsoft have also warned that they will be affected.
The shortage is the result of a sudden rise in demand. Chipmaking has been enjoying strong growth for decades as computers have stepped into every corner of society. But there was a strong upward trend during the pandemic. Locked-down consumers shopped online, had meetings remotely, and killed time with video-streaming and videogaming.
The crisis has had three consequences, two encouraging and one less so.
The first is an investment boom. Big producers such as Intel, Samsung and TSMC are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on extra capacity (产能) over the next few years. As in many markets, high prices are the best cure for high prices.
The second is that the chip industry’s customers are adapting. too. When demand fell early in the pandemic, carmakers cut their orders with chipmakers. Following Tesla, Volkswagen has announced plans to develop driver-assistance chips in-house.
Unwelcome effect has been a sudden rise of techno-nationalism. America is planning to hand out billions of dollars to attract chipmakers back from East Asia. Europe wants to double its share of global production, to 20%，by 2030. Even Britain has declared the fate of a small chip factory in Wales to be a matter of national security.
Chips have come to occupy what used to be called the “commanding heights” of an economy, in the way that car factories did in the 20th century. But as last century’s governments discovered, subsidies (补贴) lend 10 oversupply. Personally, the chip shortage is mostly a self-solving problem. Governments should resist the temptation to scc themselves as saviours (救星).
1. What is the main cause of the sudden shortage of chips according to the passage?| A．Economic crisis | B．The outbreak of the pandemic. |
| C．Governments’ control. | D．Great demand in online products. |
| A．Hot investment in chips. | B．Carmakers’ adaptation to the market. |
| C．Arise of techno-nationalism. | D．Realization of technological globalization. |
| A．Markets are the cure for the chip shortage. |
| B．Government subsidies will lead to waste. |
| C．The government should rescue the market. |
| D．Car factories in the 20th century were on the rise. |
| A．Chip Shortage—A Self-solving Problem |
| B．Techno-nationalism—A War without Smoke |
| C．Challenges—Promises of New Opportunities |
| D．High Prices—the Best Cure for High Prices |
5 . Working from home has been a long-held dream for many employees craving more flexible work arrangements and comfort. With the fantasy coming true because of the outbreak of COVID-19, however, quite a few people find it less romantic than expected. Amid the ongoing epidemic, a large number of Chinese companies have ordered employees to work from home, looking to control the spread of the virus as staff members return from the Spring Festival travel rush.
Allowing employees to work from home-even if they are not symptomatic-and enabling virtual meetings could help limit the spread of the virus and assuage employees’ fears about exposure.
But there’s another side to the coin. As millions of people started to work at home, people found video communication difficult. Many telecommuting platforms, including DingTalk, an all-in-one mobile workplace from Alibaba, went through temporary outages due to surging demand.
Fu Yangang, a product manager at a house trading company in Beijing, found he couldn’t receive any messages from colleagues during an online meeting at home on Tuesday, and neither could they. Similar problems arose when they switched to Zoom, a California-based video communication app which provides remote conferencing services.
Residences filled with distractions such as spouses, parents, kids or pets set up another obstacle for many employees working from home. Xia Baigi, who works for an Internet company in Beijing, was required to stay at home in Jilin Province until Feb.10, but has found what was an oft-wished for working style a hindrance to productivity. Her parents, who don’t have much to do, suddenly became concerned about her job and asked many questions. “I love my mom and dad, but their current behavior just adds stress and strain,” she said. “Sometimes I have to lock myself in my own room to avoid their enthusiasm.”
For people who are able to stay as productive as they would in an office environment, they came across a different problem： “surprisingly” longer working time at home. Working for an investment company in Shanghai, Zhang Fei felt he could never escape from his job working at home in Shandong Province, which makes time management a whole lot messier. “There is no longer a’ work’ and’ no work’ time. My work comes calling at all hours, which can keep me at a frenetic pace,” he said. With the return date drawing closer, he said, he never felt so excited about being back at the office.
1. Why many people can work from home in China?| A．Because many employees think it is a fantasy idea. |
| B．Because the employers think more highly of working from home than traditional working. |
| C．Because the COVID-19 occurred. |
| D．Because large number of Chinese companies want to avoid the Spring Festival travel rush. |
| A．Increase. | B．Ease. | C．Give up. | D．Find. |
| A．After Fu Yangang and his partners switched to Zoom, their problem was solved. |
| B．Xia Baiqi’s parents could give her more constructive advice. |
| C．Xia Baiqi locked herself in her own room to avoid distractions. |
| D．By saying “There is no longer a ‘work’ and ‘no work’ time.”, Zhang Fei meant he can work less time when at home. |
| A．Working from home has unexpected challenges |
| B．Working from home can save you a lot of trouble |
| C．How to avoid distractions when working from home |
| D．More flexible, less work time |
6 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?| A．Beautifying the city he lives in. | B．Introducing eco-friendly products. |
| C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D．Reducing garbage on the beach. |
| A．To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
| B．To explain why they are useful. |
| C．To voice his views on modern art. |
| D．To find a substitute for them. |
| A．Calming. | B．Disturbing. |
| C．Refreshing. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
| B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
| C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
| D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
7 . Most online fraud(诈骗) involves identity theft Passwords help. But many can be guessed. Newer phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers often have strengthened security with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be imitated. That is why a new approach, behavioural biometrics(行为生物识别) is gaining ground.
It relies on the wealth of measurements made by today’s devices. These include data from sensors that reveal how people hold their phones when using them, how they carry them and even the way they walk. Touchscreens, keyboards and mice can be monitored(监测) to show the distinctive ways in which someone’s fingers and hands move. These features can then be used to determine whether someone attempting to make a deal is likely to be the device’s habitual user.
“Behavioural biometrics make it possible to identify an individual’s unique motion fingerprint”, says John Whaley, head of Unifyid, a firm in Silicon Valley that is involved in the field. When coupled with information about a user’s finger pressure and speed on the touchscreen, as well as a device’s regular places of use—as revealed by its GPS unit—that user’s identity can be pretty well determined.
Used wisely, behavioural biometrics could be a great benefit. In fact, Unifyid and an unnamed car company are even developing a system that unlocks the doors of a vehicle once the pace of the driver, as measured by his phone, is recognized. Used unwisely, however, the system would become yet another electronic spy on people’s privacy, permitting complete strangers to monitor your every action, from the moment you reach for your phone in the morning, to when you throw it on the floor at night.
1. What is behavioural biometrics for?| A．To identify network crime | B．To ensure network security. |
| C．To track online fraud. | D．To gather online data. |
| A．By limiting and discovering users’ passwords. |
| B．By spotting and revealing where a device is regularly used. |
| C．By offering and analyzing users’ facial features. |
| D．By monitoring and comparing how users interact with devices. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Concerned | C．Favorable. | D．Objective. |
| A．Science and technology. | B．Health and wealth. |
| C．Finance and economics | D．Books and arts |
8 . TV. The Internet. The mall. Everywhere we look, we see
What are the
Psychologists suggest there are several reasons for a shopping addiction. For some people, it is a way of
When shopping habits get out of control, people need
| A．advertisements | B．commerce | C．stores | D．signs |
| A．consumer | B．explorer | C．leader | D．producer |
| A．employ | B．hold | C．afford | D．use |
| A．dream | B．desire | C．plan | D．wish |
| A．unbelievable | B．protective | C．ridiculous | D．addictive |
| A．cooperation | B．question | C．conflict | D．separation |
| A．hobbies | B．symptoms | C．interests | D．functions |
| A．cloths | B．dresses | C．shoes | D．clothing |
| A．packed with | B．equipped with | C．furnished with | D．covered with |
| A．aware of | B．full of | C．fond of | D．afraid of |
| A．assist | B．resist | C．remember | D．oppose |
| A．strengthen | B．correct | C．remove | D．hide |
| A．giving away | B．stopping | C．relieving | D．possessing |
| A．defend | B．manage | C．fight | D．analyze |
| A．self-confidence | B．self-control | C．self-awareness | D．self-worth |
| A．concern | B．reason | C．complement | D．replacement |
| A．finally | B．temporarily | C．hardly | D．fortunately |
| A．additional | B．professional | C．central | D．fundamental |
| A．Groups | B．Schools | C．Hospitals | D．Companies |
| A．participate in | B．result from | C．lead to | D．get over |
9 . For some parents, hitting a child who misbehaves is a common punishment. In fact, they may think that a physical type of punishment is good for children and will teach them to behave in the future.
However, a leading group of child health specialists suggest that the opposite is true. These experts say that hitting is not only ineffective, but may even cause long-term harm to the child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently changed its policy on physical punishment for a child. Released in October, the academy warns that hitting a child may have long-term effects. These effects include “aggression, brain changes, substance abuse and suicidal behavior in adulthood”. The report admits that not every child who is spanked will have these problems later in life. It makes this observation: “Although many children who were spanked become happy, healthy adults, current evidence suggests that hitting is not necessary and may result in long-term harm.”
In recent years, many American experts have been advising parents against the use of physical punishment. Many other countries have already banned corporeal punishment. Sweden was the first nation to do so in 1966. Earlier studies have shown that corporal punishment can also affect a child’s ability to think and learn. In 2012, a Canadian study found that hitting children can cause long-term developmental damage and may even lower a child’s intelligence test scores. The American Academy of Pediatrics also warns against using strong verbal abuse or shame to discipline a child. These types of punishment can also cause long-term problems for a child. Instead, they suggest other types of punishment that are appropriate for the age of the child.
For younger children, punishment could be taking away a favorite toy. For older children, a parent can limit the time the child spends watching television or playing with computers or electronic games.
1. What can we know according to the experts?| A．Spanking a child is not effective but harmful. |
| B．Sweden was the first country to spank a child in 1996. |
| C．The study from Canada found that spanking children can lower children’s grades. |
| D．Many American experts found spanking a child can cause anti-social behavior. |
| A．Protect. | B．Control. | C．Persuade. | D．Punish. |
| A．We should take away younger children’s favorite toys as punishment. |
| B．As for older children, we need allow them to watch TV or play games. |
| C．Different children should be given different ways to punish. |
| D．It may be ineffective for younger or older children to have punishment. |
| A．A physical type of punishment. |
| B．The effects of punishment. |
| C．Different countries have different types of punishment. |
| D．How to punish the mischievous children. |
