1 . Virtual reality is quickly becoming the new technological frontier. Tech companies everywhere seem to be racing to get their foot in the VR door. However, virtual reality has a set of challenges and hurdles that it must overcome in order to work well. It should be noted that VR is heavily dependent on being very fast, very accurate and very good-looking. If it isn’t, the viewer will feel motion sick or disconnected from the world that VR is trying to create.
Now that we can actually build VR headsets that begin to meet these requirements, we are seeing a rising interest in VR. As it rises, so does the interest in creating new media to be experienced in using virtual reality. Journalism is a medium built on relevance. Journalists should always be finding new ways to tell stories and deliver content. It is a goldmine for storytelling. What better ways to tell a story to someone than to put them right in the center of it?
Virtual reality is a powerful tool for journalists. The consumer isn’t just reading or watching something play out; they’re experiencing it. The immersive nature of VR allows for people to connect with the subject matter on a much deeper level than just reading about it. The experience is emotional, speaking more to our instinct than our intellect. The possibilities for storytelling here are legion, and any storyteller wanting to do something more interesting than their peers should surely be considering the sheer power of VR.
The question of virtual reality, though, is not how powerful it is. That is immediately apparent. The question of VR is one of viability and availability. Telling stories must be easy to do, and access to those stories must be readily available. This is the biggest challenge that VR faces. If the tools to tell a story with VR aren’t easy to pick up and learn, VR will fail. If VR technology isn’t both top-of-the-line and affordable, VR will fail.
Accessibility was one concern for Thomas Hallaq, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, who said that current VR technology, is pretty exclusive right now. Despite that, he said he doesn’t think the exclusivity of this technology will be a problem in the long run.
“I think it’s very promising,” Hallaq said. “We’re seeing more technology become accessible, and more people having access to that technology. Just look at smartphones.” Like radio, TV and the Internet before it, virtual reality will change the way we tell stories.
1. Why is VR considered a powerful tool for journalism?| A．Because it is an exclusively new tool. |
| B．Because it is very powerful and popular. |
| C．Because people can experience the story in person. |
| D．Because it is very fast, accurate and good-looking. |
| A．How powerful and interesting it can be. |
| B．Whether people will have easy access to it. |
| C．Whether qualified VR headsets can be built. |
| D．What new ways people will find to deliver content. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Neutral. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Concerned. |
| A．The Wide Popularity of Virtual Reality |
| B．The Future Development of Virtual Reality |
| C．Challenges and Hurdles of Virtual Reality |
| D．Virtual Reality is the Future of Storytelling |
2 . Being a teenager can be hard, for you have to face a lot of difficult problems, but a new program called Nfusion is working hard to help teens with mental(精神的)health needs. Nfusion gives teenagers classes where they study or discuss some troubling subjects. Drugs and bullying(欺凌)are just a few of the topics discussed during the class on Saturday.
"I had a bad attitude, " said 17-year-old Titeana Davis. Davis went through the Nfusion Program last year. The teen, who once had trouble with her attitude towards others, says the program has changed her life. "They taught me a bad attitude is not going to get you anywhere, "said Davis.
Nfusion is a new program that meets teens mental health needs and provides help for their families. The program is designed to help teens aged 14—21 live through a difficult period.
"They're still growing, still developing and still there are a lot of things they don't know how to address. So this is a good program for them to be a part of, " said Lakicha Jemigan, who worked for the Nfusion Program.
Teens like Davis are just a few who have come through the program successfully. Now thanks to Nfusion, Davis says she's looking forward to a bright future. "After I graduate from college, I want to work at a primary school and I want to be a second grade teacher, " added Davis.
1. Why is it necessary to help teens?| A．Teens are in need of money. |
| B．They have to face a lot of problems. |
| C．Teens may face lots of problems in their study. |
| D．Teens are too weak to deal with lots of difficulties. |
| A．To provide teens with some programs. |
| B．To help teens fight for a better future. |
| C．To help teens receive a good education. |
| D．To meet the mental health needs of teens. |
| A．look for | B．deal with | C．talk about | D．learn from |
| A．She became a teacher. | B．She worked for Nfusion. |
| C．She went back to school. | D．She got along well with others. |
3 . Although problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn't mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or another, you'll have to stand up and say—problems, I don't want you in my life.
But good news is that all problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.
Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help.
Write your problems.
Don't lose faith and hope. No matter what you lose in life, don't lose faith and hope. Even if you lose all your money, family…you should still have faith.
Your problems aren't the worst. No matter what problem you get in life, there are another one million people whose problems are huger than yours.
Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a way out.
| A．Of course, we've been fighting troubles ever since we were born. |
| B．When we have a problem, a pressing, critical, urgent, life-threatening problem, how do we try and solve it？ |
| C．Having a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don't want a real person to talk with. |
| D．But the truth is that when you talk about it, you're setting free the negative energies that have been gathering within you. |
| E．We can often overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack. |
| F．Tell yourself：when they can deal with them, why can't I？ |
| G．With faith and hope, you can rebuild everything that you lose. |
4 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?| A．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| B．Both can continue for generations. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
| A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| A．give orders to the other |
| B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other |
| D．get the other to behave properly |
| A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems. |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war. |
| C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts. |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship. |
5 . You cannot judge a book by looking at its cover! That's what a group of parents and students in Hangzhou has found out this term.
When they came to school in September, the students were shocked to learn that their class teacher was to be a P.E. teacher. How could someone who teaches table tennis and basketball know anything about academics? Their parents were equally worried and pressured the school to replace ''Miss Muscle'' with a ''Miss Brain. '' However, the principal(校长) did not give in to the pressure and now the parents and students are happy that the school firmly insisted.
After three months, the P.E. teacher, whose name is actually Miss Su, has turned out to be a wonderful class teacher. She is intelligent, kind and helpful. She is a good leader who keeps her students active in their studies and participate in school activities. And she has won the parents over with her real caring for their children. In other words, Miss Su, the P. E. teacher, is ''pretty extraordinary. ''
The early negative reaction against Miss Su is an example of bias(偏见). A ''bias'' is wrong in thinking that has an influence on a person's opinions and decisions. For example, in business, tall men are more likely to be bosses. In the United States, anyone who is above 190 centimeters tall can expect to have a higher salary and to get more promotions than his shorter co-workers. Similarly, women have a difficult time climbing the career ladder because their bosses(mostly men!) think that women lack leadership skills and the necessary toughness to make difficult decisions. Neither of these opinions is based on facts or the talents of the individual. They're just bias.
1. What seemed to be the parents' early reaction to Miss Su?| A．They were excited. | B．They were amazed. |
| C．They were worried. | D．They were interested. |
| A．She is an excellent P. E. teacher. |
| B．She was finally removed. |
| C．She really cared about her students. |
| D．The headmaster was proved to be wrong. |
| A．tall men are usually excellent | B．people are often judged with bias |
| C．opinions should be based on facts | D．women lack leadership skills |
| A．Disagreeable. | B．Acceptable. |
| C．Careless. | D．Curious. |
6 . 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. |
