Technology has started to take over the world. It may seem like a huge advancement to society, but large setbacks come equally.
We now live in an age of social media. We have never been as
While some may see social media’s positive effects
To understand technology, one must know
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 . Grandparents Answer a Call
As a third－generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away.Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused.Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms.Garza finally say yes.That was four years ago.Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.
No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence suggesting that the trend is growing.Even President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs.Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family.Two－thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama’s family.
“In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,”says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you’re raising children.”
Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices, but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead.Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.
1. Why was Garza’s move a success?| A．It strengthened her family ties. |
| B．It improved her living conditions. |
| C．It enabled her to make more friends. |
| D．It helped her know more new places. |
| A．17% expressed their support for it. |
| B．Few people responded sympathetically. |
| C．83% believed it had a bad influence. |
| D．The majority thought it was a trend. |
| A．They were unsure of themselves. |
| B．They were eager to raise more children. |
| C．They wanted to live away from their parents. |
| D．They had little respect for their grandparents. |
| A．Make decisions in the best interests of their own. |
| B．Ask their children to pay more visits to them. |
| C．Sacrifice for their struggling children. |
| D．Get to know themselves better. |
It was a very cold morning as it had been raining very heavily the previous night. As my mother was feeling a little uncomfortable, my sister volunteered to drive me to school. I overslept and as a result, was a bit late for school. We got into the car hurriedly. The roads were already jammed with traffic. It appeared that everyone was late as well.
My sister was a careful driver and despite the fact that I was late, she refused to drive fast on the slippery road. I was lucky she was such a determined and careful person because a few hundred meters away from the school, we witnessed an accident.
It all happened in an instant, as most accidents do. A car took a left turning without signaling and a school bus crashed into it heavily. A few cars behind the school bus hit the bus as they could not stop in time and soon it became a pile-up. The car was damaged badly while the school bus also had some damage. And the already crowded road became more jammed with vehicles, which came to a mess. We wanted to help the victims. My sister drove to a stop at the roadside not too far from the accident spot.
The scene that greeted us was terrible. I first rushed to the car. The driver, a lady, lay trapped behind the wheel, unable to move. Three schoolchildren were in the back seat, their faces white with fear. Two of them were seriously hurt and bleeding from the head and hands. They were conscious although too weak and frightened to realize what had happened. We called an ambulance and while waiting, we tried as much as possible to help the victims. As a result of our joint efforts, the driver and the children were moved to safety and taken care of.
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。
Then, I rushed to the bus filled with children’s cries.
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After the ambulance had left, two policemen asked me about the accident.
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5 . A Great Way to Teach Children to Take Responsibility
As parents, one of the most important things to teach children to take responsibility is to include chores as a part of their daily routine. In order to make a family function smoothly, every member must contribute. Teaching your children to take responsibility at an early age makes it easier for them to shoulder greater responsibilities as they grow older.
Make rewards and punishments a part of the lesson. Together decide whether they will be rewarded or not.
Children need to be taught that there are punishments for their actions in case of not doing their assigned chores. Decide and agree from the start what the punishment will be.
Teaching your children the importance of contributing to the family is of great importance.
| A．A chore is a specific task a child has been assigned which helps improve the life of the entire family. |
| B．And what punishment they will receive if a chore isn’t done. |
| C．Actually you are taking a critical step in empowering them for their future. |
| D．Start by teaching children the difference between a chore and cleaning up after themselves. |
| E．Teach children the importance of each assignment, and why it matters. |
| F．Children will not be rewarded at all for merely cleaning up. |
| G．And if so, what the reward will be for a job well done. |
6 . In the digital age, we rely on technology such as social media in trying to build interesting and varied lives. Social networking sites like Facebook are designed and promoted to make us believe enthusiastically that they are able to open up new experiences for us. There are constant notifications (通知) and updates, urging us to check-in to find out what is new.
But if we do not use the technology wisely, we can end up becoming overly attached and trapped in a cycle of social media FOMO, a sign of deeper unhappiness. FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a fear that exciting or interesting events are happening somewhere else and that we are not able to join.
People who experience high levels of FOMO have been found to be more likely to give in to urges to write and check text messages while driving, as well as to use Facebook more often directly after waking, while going to sleep and during meals.
When it comes to lasting happiness, it is best not to give in to FOMO, but rather to deal with the cycle of desires that fuel it. Hard as it is, we are better off working toward facing the fearful reality that we cannot experience everything we might like than to get caught in a cycle of checking behaviors that only cause anxiety.
If we have become used to using social media as part of our attempts at living interesting lives, we must admit that it is not easy to change our approach. But change is almost always worthwhile in the long run.
The fact that FOMO is so common in our digital age is a sign that there is something wrong with the way we are pursuing happiness and that we are not as happy as we might think we are. It should warn us that, in our eagerness to use digital technology to try to make ourselves happier, we may unintentionally (无意之中) be bringing on exactly the opposite result.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The digital age has arrived. |
| B．Sites give netizens useful experiences. |
| C．People have fallen into modern technology. |
| D．Social media are designed to attract public attention. |
| A．Failing to use Facebook. | B．Answering a call during shopping, |
| C．Reading text messages on reaching offices. | D．Checking Facebook while driving. |
| A．To gain long-time happiness. | B．To speed the cycle of desires. |
| C．To work much better. | D．To reduce fearful reality. |
| A．Everybody has experienced FOMO. |
| B．Digital technology may make us unhappier. |
| C．Pursuing happiness is a sign of the digital age. |
| D．People may unintentionally get lost in technology. |
7 . Is Managing Kids' Screen Time a Good Idea?
Screen time is a big topic of conversation in today's households, particularly during the pandemic when online education hours have multiplied for many students.
If parents believe they can manage a child's screen time through adolescence, they are not only fooling themselves but also inviting relationship trouble with their teens. It is a myth to think that parents can or should manage their kids' screen time through authoritarian restrictions, even during elementary school.
To be clear, this article is not suggesting that families never use apps or trackers, or that there should be no restrictions on screen time.
| A．Of course, there are websites that are unhealthy for kids to access. |
| B．The alternative is to involve children in decisions that govern screen time. |
| C．However, every family needs a family media plan between family members. |
| D．The goal is to see, hear, feel, and understand how children view screen time. |
| E．To manage children's screen time, parents have invested in apps and trackers. |
| F．To get children involved, parents should trust and develop kids' self-awareness. |
| G．What it is suggesting is that parents look at managing screen time in a different way. |
8 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in a row. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favorite shows stream (流播) directly to their television at their convenience.
This behavior is nothing new. In fact, binge-watching has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.
However, recent research suggests that out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back (一集接一集地), almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and 25% have neglected their household chores (家务活). Next we’ll be missing work!
Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of them are often associated with a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist (抗拒) watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?
The countless number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. However, when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning, then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, “A little of what you fancy does you good.”
1. How did the writer develop the first paragraph?| A．By giving a definition. | B．By telling a story. |
| C．By listing some examples. | D．By analyzing the cause and effect. |
| A．For convenience. | B．At the same time. |
| C．In detail. | D．Free of charge. |
| A．people can’t control their feelings | B．people can’t resist the temptation of Bingeing |
| C．people have no patience to do work | D．people are addicted to waiting for a new episode |
| A．To keep online media from stopping functioning. |
| B．To enjoy entertainment as much as possible. |
| C．To learn life lessons from the episodes. |
| D．To watch episodes in a moderate way. |
9 . Plant-based products have been breaking into the foodie mainstream in the United States, after years in which vegan (素食的) burgers and milk alternatives knocked on the market’s door. That is partly because more companies are targeting people who seek to reduce the amount of meat they eat, rather than forswear it altogether.
Now, as fish alternatives begin to attract investment and land at restaurants in the United States and beyond, people who track the fishless fish sector say that it could achieve significant growth.
One reason, they say, is that consumers in rich countries are becoming more aware of the seafood industry’s environmental problems, including overfishing and the health risks of some seafood. Another is that today’s plant-based companies do a better job of approaching fish flavor than earlier ones did—an important consideration for non-vegetarians (非素食者).
“There are a number of people already looking at alternative hamburgers,” said Joshua Katz, an analyst at the consulting firm McKinsey who has studied the alt-protein (替代蛋白) industry. “You might actually say, ‘I should work on something else.’ And seafood is still a massive market with convincing reasons to work on.” People who reduce their consumption of animal proteins for environmental reasons often stop eating red meat, which requires enormous amounts of land and water to farm.
But alt-fish advocates say that seafood also comes with environmental problems. Unsustainable fishing practices have destroyed fisheries (鱼汤) in recent decades, a problem both for biodiversity and the millions of people who depend on the sea for income and food.
“It’s simply a smarter way to make seafood,” says Mirte Gosker, the acting managing director of the Good Food Institute Asia-Pacific, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes alternative proteins. “Full stop.”
So far plant-based seafood products in the United States account for only 0.1 percent of the country’s seafood sales, less than 1.4 percent of the U.S. meat market occupied by plant-based meat alternatives. But alt-seafood enterprises worldwide received at least $83 million from investors in 2020, compared with $1 million three years earlier. As of this June, 83 companies were producing alt-seafood products around the world, a nearly threefold rise since 2017. All but 18 of those 83 companies focus on plant-based products. A dozen others are developing lab-grown seafood, which is not yet commercially available in any country.
1. What does the underlined word “forswear” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Sample. | B．Consume. | C．Produce. | D．Abandon. |
| A．The health risks. | B．The protein intake. |
| C．The taste and mouthfeel. | D．The overfishing problem. |
| A．Determined. | B．Concerned. | C．Humorous. | D．Enthusiastic. |
| A．Seafood companies are struggling. |
| B．Plant-based meat products will be a trend. |
| C．Alt-seafood products have a promising future. |
| D．Seafood will be commercially available soon. |
10 . Life can be challenging for teens. They must deal with schoolwork, family life and friends at the same time to fit. Feelings of sadness, frustration and irritability are common.
It's easy to think that depressed people simply feel sad or hopeless. For many teens that may be true.
Even depressed teens may not realize they have this problem.
Dee says, peers should also seek for signs of depression. Keep an eye on your friends, she recommends. Watch for symptoms of isolation (孤立) or hopelessness.
Overall, knowing who—and how—to help is essential for successfully treating depression in teens.
| A．And the share of those affected is high. |
| B．Some may start abusing alcohol or drugs. |
| C．Teens should be honest with their answers. |
| D．The problem is that depression in teens can be hard to spot. |
| E．There is a link between mental illness and suicide in teens. |
| F．But for some teens, those emotions take a more extreme turn. |
| G．Even skipping classes can be a sign that something serious is going on. |
