This is the fear of Cui Zhiqiang, a senior calligraphy master with the China Calligraphers Association. “The style of writing among Chinese people today has been changed or ruined,” he laments. He explains this as the unavoidable effect
It isn’t just the written form of Chinese that is being impacted by this phenomenon, though. The English language has been impacted, too. Computer skills are now considered so basic that the time once spent
Language and culture are inextricably linked. The written form of the Chinese language
Not all see the changing forms of our written languages as a negative thing. If you look at language solely as a tool for communication, then perhaps you might agree. Modern ways of writing are efficient and effective. But if you also see language as an art form, then we are truly losing something
2 . Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time fighting against the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological (病态的) relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.
1. From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.| A．attract people to buy their products | B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life | D．deal with cultural diseases |
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
| A．Neutral. | B．Skeptical. | C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
| A．the impact high-tech devices have on people |
| B．the relationship between modern people and high-tech devices |
| C．the reason why people are obsessed with high-tech devices |
| D．how fantastic the life could be without high-tech devices |
3 . A young man named John met a senior citizen who had taught him many years before. But the teacher couldn’t recognize him by appearance. John told his teacher a story about how he inspired him to become a teacher.
“One day, a friend of mine entered the classroom with a new nice watch which I admired so much. So, I decided to steal it. Shortly after, my friend found that his watch was gone and immediately complained to his teacher, who was you. Then you went to the classroom and told the class about the lost watch. I wouldn’t give it back to him. Then you closed the door, told all the students to get up and began to search students’ pockets for it one by one. But you asked us to close our eyes. When you went through my pockets, you found the watch and took it. You went on searching everyone’s pockets till you finished finally. You never said anything about the incident, nor even took me aside to give me a moral lesson. But I received your message clearly. It was the most shameful day of my life, but it was also the day my dignity (尊严) was saved and I decided never to become a thief. And thanks to you, I understood what a real educator needs to do.”
John asked the professor if he still remembered the incident. He replied to him honestly, “I do remember the situation, the stolen watch and that I was looking for it in everyone’s pockets, but I didn’t remember you, because I also closed my eyes while searching.”
If to correct, you must make students feel ashamed or stupid and lose the respect of other people, you don’t know how to teach yet.
1. How did John meet his old teacher?| A．John visited him specially. | B．The passage didn’t tell us. |
| C．A friend told John about him. | D．His teacher asked to see him. |
| A．Nervous. | B．Curious. |
| C．Patient. | D．Unfortunate |
| A．devote himself to his teaching | B．learn some educational science |
| C．respect the students’ dignity | D．help the students keep their secrets |
| A．Because John was only one of all his students. |
| B．Because the teacher hated to mention the past. |
| C．Because he closed his eyes while searching them. |
| D．Because he pretended not to have recognized him. |
4 . Have you felt annoyed when a cellphone rings during the class? Something must be done to stop this. Now in New York City, USA, a rule is carried out in schools. Students can't even bring cellphones to school. Is it a good thing or not?
Anxious parents say that cellphones are an important tool in holding New York City's families together.
“I worry about it，” said Elizabeth Lorris Ritter, a mother of a middle school kid. “It's necessary in our everyday life. We have a washing machine. We have running water, and we have cellphones.”
Many American parents think they can contact their children on buses, getting out from subways, or walking through unknown places.
“I have her call me when she gets out of school，” said Lindsay Walt, a schoolgirl's mother. “ No one in New York is going to let their child go to school without a cellphone.”
What about the cellphone owners, the students? Most of the students say cellphones are essential and that they are like extra (额外的) hands or feet for them.
“I feel so empty，” said May Chom，14. “There is also no way to listen to music on the way to school without my phone. It will be a really, really boring trip.”
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Many American parents don't think cellphones are necessary for the students. |
| B．Cellphones only bring troubles to the school life. |
| C．Cellphones connect children with their families when they are outside. |
| D．Cellphones can help students learn better. |
| A．Popular. | B．Necessary. |
| C．Smart. | D．Expensive. |
| A．To enjoy listening to music. | B．To make phone calls to their teachers. |
| C．To listen to some uptodate news. | D．To guide themselves to school. |
| A．The problems caused by using cellphones. |
| B．Parents' concern over students' study. |
| C．The debate about forbidding students to use phones in school. |
| D．The importance of using phones in school for children. |
5 . Maths anxiety may be causing a national crisis, Cambridge University researchers have said, as they find that one in ten children suffer from anxiety at the subject.
Researchers surveyed 1, 700 British pupils aged 8 to 13 about their feelings towards the subject. They found 10% of children suffered from maths anxiety. Other feelings caused by maths included fear and anger, while physical symptoms included a racing heart or struggling to catch breath.
“The project studied students’ attitudes towards maths because of what could be called a maths crisis in the UK, ” researchers said. “Many children and adults experience feelings of anxiety, fear or discomfort when they face maths. This may be leading to a low level of maths in the country. ” The number of adults with functional maths skills equal to a GCSE (英国普通中等教育证书) grade C has dropped from 26% in 2003 to only 22% in 2011, according to the survey. At the same time, only 57% of the children achieved the same level in functional maths skills.
Dr. Denes Szucs, a professor at Cambridge’s Centre for Neuroscience (神经科学) in Education said that there is a misunderstanding that only low performing children suffer from math anxiety. “This is a common misunderstanding that we have seen in decision makers, ” he said. “They assume people are anxious about maths because they are poor achievers.” In fact, more than 77% of children with high levels of maths anxiety are normal to high achievers. Dr. Szucs went on, “Probably their maths anxiety will go unnoticed because their performance is good. But they are very worried and in the long term their performance is limited. This is a real danger here: these are children who are completely able to do maths at a normal level, but may keep away from it because they feel anxious.” The research also found that girls have higher levels of maths anxiety than boys.
John’s Hillman, director of education at the Nuffield Foundation said, “Mathematical achievement is valuable, as a foundation for many other subjects and as an important predictor of future academic learning, job hunting and even health. Maths anxiety can seriously influence students’ performance in both primary and secondary schools.”
1. What can we learn from the survey conducted by the Cambridge University researchers?| A．Girls suffer lower levels of maths anxiety than boys. |
| B．Only low performing children suffer from maths anxiety. |
| C．Children with maths anxiety will suffer both physically and mentally. |
| D．Most children with high levels of maths anxiety usually perform badly at the subject. |
| A．Many children are suffering from maths anxiety. |
| B．They want to help improve students’ academic performance. |
| C．Maths anxiety may cause great damage to children’s development. |
| D．Both children and adults experience maths anxiety, causing a national maths crisis. |
| A．Providing data. | B．Giving examples. |
| C．Giving definition. | D．Analyzing and reasoning. |
| A．How can students learn maths well? |
| B．How can maths anxiety be reduced? |
| C．How does anxiety influence students’ mental health? |
| D．How can children realize the importance of learning maths? |
6 . One of the newest taboos (禁忌) in American society is the topic of fat. Unlike many other taboos, fat is a topic that America talk about often. It is not taboo to talk about fat; it’s taboo to be fat.
The “in” look is thin. In the work world, most companies prefer youthful-looking, slim executives to sell their image and their products to the public. The thin look is associated with youth, vigor and success. The fat person, on the other hand, is thought of as lazy and lacking in energy, self-discipline and self-respect. After all, people think, how can people who care about themselves, and therefore the way they look, allow themselves to become fat? In an image conscious society like the U.S. , fat is “out”.
It is not surprising, then, that millions of Americans have become obsessed (着迷) with staying slim and “in shape”. The pursuit of youthful physical appearance is not, however, the only reason for America’s obsession with diet and exercise.
Recent research has shown the great importance of diet and exercise for personal health. As in most technologically developed nations, the life-style of North Americans has changed very quickly during the course of last century. Modern machines do all the physical labor that people were once forced to do by hand. Cars and buses transport us quickly from point to point. As the result of inactivity and disuse, people’s bodies can easily become weak and vulnerable ( 脆弱的 ) to disease. In an effort to avoid such a fate, millions of Americans are spending more of their time exercising.
The effects of this new appreciation of the importance of exercise is clear: parks are filled with joggers and bicyclists, physical education programs are enjoying a newly-founded fame and many companies are providing exercise equipment for their employees to use during the work day.
1. In the United States, fat is something ________.| A．people usually pay no attention to |
| B．belonging to the same treatment as other taboos |
| C．people always talk about |
| D．not regarded as a taboo topic |
| A．They are energetic and successful. |
| B．They are lacking in self-discipline. |
| C．Their work helps them to look youthful. |
| D．Their appearances affects their behavior. |
| A．Celia takes part in a marathon. |
| B．Margaret plays badminton every Saturday. |
| C．Mary does her housework by hand. |
| D．Cecilia goes to her office by car. |
| A．Because these parks are fit for sports. |
| B．Because people now recognize they should do more exercise. |
| C．Because people are taking part in physical education programs. |
| D．Because people are enjoying prestigious(受尊敬的) status in parks. |
7 . Social networking isn’t only for the under 40s. More than 25 percent of Americans 50 years and older stay connected using sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, according to new research.
“The latest data tells us that more and more social networking is becoming a part of everyday life for Americans 50 plus,” said Kevin Donnellan, the chief communications officer at AARP, which released the report.
Nearly a quarter of older Americans are on Facebook and 73 percent said they use it to stay in touch with relatives, but not just their children and grandchildren. “They are using the Internet to keep up with the world and the people who are important to them,” said Jean Koppen, the author of the report. She added that older adults are also on Facebook to stay connected, not only with their family, but with their friends and those in the same age group. Almost 50 percent of older adults were introduced to the social networking sites by a family member, mainly a child or grandchild. “Just under one-fifth of adults aged 50 and older say they do not use the Internet,” according to the report.
The findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,863 adults. In addition to keeping up on Facebook and Twitter older adults are aware of the latest technology. Eighty-three percent had heard about the Apple iPad and 11 percent intended to buy one.
Despite the popularity of the Internet among the over 50s, they still mostly go to print newspapers and magazines for news. Only one percent said they followed blogs.
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Social networking isn’t for the under 40s in the U.S.A. |
| B．American old people’s way of life is quite fashionable. |
| C．Social networking is becoming popular among older Americans. |
| D．Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are the most popular websites in the US. |
| A．85% of Americans 50 plus choose the Internet over print media. |
| B．About 460 people in the telephone survey often use Facebook. |
| C．About 20% of adults aged 50 plus have access to the Internet. |
| D．Three quarters of the people surveyed got to know the Internet through their family. |
| A．many older Americans are open-minded about new developments |
| B．Kevin Donnellan supports this change among older Americans |
| C．Young people should introduce their elders to new technology |
| D．In a high tech age it is difficult to avoid social networking |
| A．A novel. | B．A newspaper. |
| C．A technology guide. | D．A student’s research paper |
8 . Parties and social gatherings no longer excite us the same way they once did. This is not due to a lack of desire to socialize, but the smartphone.
At parties, people focus more on their smartphones than on their drinks. According to a recent study from International Data Corporation, over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach it the moment they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people are using smartphones while driving and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teens admit to text while driving, and they confirm that texting messages are the major interruption while driving. People’s attachment（依恋）to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.
Just as drivers dismiss the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the significance of human interaction. When with their friends, some people pointlessly check or send messages in the presence of their friends, which means that their friends are less important. In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantages as making new friends in the real world. Face-to-face conversations will give us the chance to improve our communication skills in the long run.
As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a text or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The technology shows the achievement weaken the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to interact face to face, but it is also lowering people’s ability to communicate.
1. What’s the purpose of this text is?| A．To request us to pay attention to communication skills. |
| B．To express a concern about the overuse of the smartphone. |
| C．To advise us to be cautious（谨慎的）about the smartphone. |
| D．To call for an end to the use of the smartphone while driving. |
| A．giving examples | B．listing figures |
| C．analyzing the effects | D．comparing facts |
| A．by using smartphones | B．in different ways |
| C．under a free circumstance | D．in a face-to-face way |
| A．face-to-face communication becomes less important |
| B．parties and gatherings limit people’s social circle |
| C．people’s communication skills are weakened |
| D．people are more and more narrow-minded |
9 . In his 1975 novel Changing Places, British novelist David Lodge described the lifestyle of two literature professors who cross the planet repeatedly, trading a rainy English campus for a sunny California university, and vice versa. Along the way, many other things are exchanged as well, including affairs of the heart.
While scholars working today don't enjoy the same benefits—luxury hotels and business-class flights in particular—they might recognize that they still live in Lodge's small world. Since the mid-l970s, transportation and communication advances have made the planet steadily smaller and the number of international students has risen sharply in turn. In Lodge's novels, universities seemed changeless, white four decades later they are fully engaged in internationalization.
In the post Cold War era, academic relationships are becoming richer and more complex. Students in the Global South, eager to participate in the knowledge economy and receive some of its benefits, are driving much of the increased demand for education at all levels.That future profits and solutions to pressing global problems are to be found in advanced research makes international cooperation essential.
As a recent report shows, internationalization is a strategic priority for many universities and they're working to put themselves on the world map.When competing for new lands, however, familiar rules no longer apply and new guidelines must be established to increase the chance of profits, or at least minimize potential losses.
The internationalization of universities raises an old problem: the ability to connect to global development without losing diversity. Some aspects of global science, such as Nobel prizes, tend to promote a “winner-takes-all' system. Higher education institutions should take a critical distance from this tendency and embrace their diversity— there is more than one Treasure Island for science. Internationalization is not about going to places similar to our own country or institution. Instead, students and scholars can find stimulating environments and academic conditions that can challenge what they take for granted.
We generally assume that higher education and innovation go hand in hand, but we do not know how innovation comes about. The only reasonable assumption is that it happens in difficult conditions, when we have to overcome a problem. That's why it's important to put students and scholars in challenging diverse situations and help them learn different ways of thinking. From my point of view, enhancing access and promoting diversity should be the compass of all internationalization strategies. So, the ship has started, and let's sail.
1. The purpose of mentioning the novel by David Lodge is to ________ .| A．show how things are changed internationally |
| B．criticize the lifestyle of two literature professors |
| C．convince the readers that universities are changeless |
| D．introduce the topic of internationalization of universities |
| A．Universities have to set up new rules to cope with the competition. |
| B．All the universities are working hard to attract more international students. |
| C．International students make academic relationship of universities more complex. |
| D．The reasons for international cooperation of universities are profits and competition. |
| A．Globalized Higher education should develop more treasures with science. |
| B．Internationalized Higher education is expected of winning more Nobel Prizes. |
| C．Globalized Higher education should be diverse. |
| D．Internationalization of universities should challenge scholars more. |
| A．Innovation—the best solution to globalization |
| B．Innovation and cooperation come to us hand in hand |
| C．International cooperation of universities becomes more essential |
| D．Globalized higher education—there's more than one way to excellence |
10 . Thinking small, being engaging, and having a sense of humor don’t hurt. Those are a few of the traits of successful science crowdfunding efforts that emerge from a recent study that examined nearly 400 campaigns. But having a large network and some promotional skills may be more crucial.
Crowdfunding, raising money for a project through online appeals, has taken off in recent years for everything from making movies to producing water-saving gadgets. Scientists have tried to tap Internet donors, too, with mixed success. Some raised more than twice their goals, but others have fallen short of reaching even modest targets.
To determine what separates science crowdfunding triumphs from failures, a team led by science communications scholar Mike Schafer of the University of Zurich examined the content of the webpages for 371 recent campaigns.
Four traits stood out for those that achieved their goals, the researchers report in Public Understanding of Science. For one, they use a crowdfunding platform that specializes in raising money for science, and not just any kind of project. Although sites like Kickstarter take all comers, platforms such as Experiment. com and Petridish org only present scientific projects. For another, they present the project with a funny video because good visuals and a sense of humor improved success. Most of them engage with potential donors, since projects that answered questions from interested donors fared better. And they target a small amount of money. The projects included in the study raised $4000 on average, with 30% receiving less than $1000. The more money a project sought, the lower the chance it reached its goal, the researchers found.
Other factors may also significantly influence a project’s success, most notably, the size of a scientist's personal and professional networks, and how much a researcher promotes a project on their own. Those two factors are by far more critical than the content on the page. Crowdfunding can be part of researchers’ efforts to reach the public, and people give because “they feel a connection to the person” who is doing the fundraising—not necessarily to the science.
1. What do we learn about the scientists trying to raise money online for their projects?| A．They did not raise much due to modest targets. |
| B．Not all of them achieved their anticipated goals. |
| C．They made use of mixed fundraising strategies. |
| D．Most of them put movies online for the purpose. |
| A．To create attractive content for science websites. |
| B．To help scientists to launch innovative projects. |
| C．To identify reasons for their different outcomes. |
| D．To separate science projects from general ones. |
| A．The potential benefit to future generations. |
| B．Its originality in addressing financial issues. |
| C．The value of the proposed project. |
| D．Its interaction with prospective donors. |
| A．They should be small to be successful. |
| B．They should be assessed with great care. |
| C．They should be based on actual needs. |
| D．They should be ambitious to gain notice. |
