1 . In our information-driven society, shaping our worldview through the media is similar to forming an opinion about someone solely based on a picture of their foot. While the media might not deliberately deceive us, it often fails to provide a comprehensive view of reality.
Consequently, the question arises: Where, then, shall we get our information from if not from the media? Who can we trust? How about experts- people who devote their working lives to understanding their chosen slice of the world? However, even experts can fall prey to the allure of oversimplification, leading to the “single perspective instinct” that hampers (阻碍) our ability to grasp the intricacies (错综复杂) of the world.
Simple ideas can be appealing because they offer a sense of understanding and certainty. And it is easy to take off down a slippery slope, from one attention-grabbing simple idea to a feeling that this idea beautifully explains, or is the beautiful solution for, lots of other things. The world becomes simple that way.
Yet, when we embrace a singular cause or solution for all problems, we risk oversimplifying complex issues. For instance, championing the concept of equality may lead us to view all problems through the lens of inequality and see resource distribution as the sole panacea. However, such rigidity prevents us from seeing the multidimensional nature of challenges and hinders true comprehension of reality. This “single perspective instinct” ultimately clouds our judgment and restricts our capacity to tackle complex issues effectively. Being always in favor of or always against any particular idea makes you blind to information that doesn’t fit your perspective. This is usually a bad approach if you would like to understand reality.
Instead, constantly test your favorite ideas for weaknesses. Be humble about the extent of your expertise. Be curious about new information that doesn’t fit, and information from other fields. And rather than talking only to people who agree with you, or collecting examples that fit your ideas, consult people who contradict you, disagree with you, and put forward different ideas as a great resource for understanding the world. If this means you don’t have time to form so may opinions, so what?
Wouldn’t you rather have few opinions that are right than many that are wrong?
1. What does the underlined word “allure” in Para.2 probably mean?| A．Temptation. | B．Tradition. | C．Convenience. | D．Consequence. |
| A．They meet people’s demand for high efficiency. |
| B．They generate a sense of complete understanding. |
| C．They are raised and supported by multiple experts. |
| D．They reflect the opinions of like-minded individuals. |
| A．Simplifying matters releases energy for human brains. |
| B．Constant tests on our ideas help make up for our weakness. |
| C．A well-founded opinion counts more than many shallow ones. |
| D．People who disagree with us often have comprehensive views. |
| A．Embracing Disagreement: Refusing Overcomplexity |
| B．Simplifying Information: Enhancing Comprehension |
| C．Understanding Differences: Establishing Relationships |
| D．Navigating Complexity: Challenging Oversimplification |
2 . Technology seems to discourage slow, immersive reading. Reading on a screen, particularly a phone screen, tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. So online writing tends to be more skimmable and list-like than print. The cognitive neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this “new norm” of skim reading is producing “an invisible, game-changing transformation” in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit that sustains the brain’s capacity to read now favors the rapid absorption of information, rather than skills developed by deeper reading, like critical analysis.
We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. Skimming is the skill we acquire as children as we learn to read more skillfully. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to bounce around the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gaps by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans. So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention span lately and see very short stories as signs of cultural decline,” the American author Selvin Brown wrote. “No one ever said that poems were evidence of short attention spans.”
And yet the Internet has certainly changed the way we read. For a start, it means that there is more to read, because more people than ever are writing. If you time travelled just a few decades into the past, you would wonder at how little writing was happening outside a classroom. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. An online article starts forming a comment string underneath as soon as it is published. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly harvested as fodder to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, desperate to be heard.
Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a social good and source of personal achievement. But this advocacy often emphasizes “enthusiastic”, “passionate” or “eager” reading, none of which adjectives suggest slow, quiet absorption.
To a slow reader, a piece of writing can only be fully understood by immersing oneself in the words and their slow comprehension of a line of thought. The slow reader is like a swimmer who stops counting the number of pool laps he has done and just enjoys how his body feels and moves in water.
The human need for this kind of deep reading is too tenacious for any new technology to destroy. We often assume that technological change can’t be stopped and happens in one direction, so that older media like “dead-tree” books are kicked out by newer, more virtual forms. In practice, older technologies can coexist with new ones. The Kindle has not killed off the printed book any more than the car killed off the bicycle. We still want to enjoy slowly-formed ideas and carefully-chosen words. Even in a fast-moving age, there is time for slow reading.
1. What is the author’s attitude towards Selvin Brown’s opinion?| A．Favorable. | B．Critical. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
| A．advocacy of passionate reading helps promote slow reading |
| B．digital writing leads to too much speaking and not enough reflection |
| C．the public should be aware of the impact skimming has on neuronal circuits |
| D．the number of Internet readers is declining due to the advances of technology |
| A．Comprehensive. | B．Complicated. | C．Determined. | D．Apparent. |
| A．Slow Reading Is Here to Stay |
| B．Digital Technology Prevents Slow Reading |
| C．Screen vs. Print: Which Requires Deep Reading? |
| D．Reading Is Not a Race: The Wonder of Deep Reading |
3 . Activities such as art classes could be recommended as an alternative to medication for patients in England as part of a major initiative to reduce the number of people becoming dependent on prescription drugs.
The Times newspaper quotes figures showing that in the past 12 months,8.4 million adults in England were taking antidepressants(抗抑郁药)，which is 8 percent higher than 2019,which has resulted in the new advice.Around 23 percent of women are on antidepressants, and 12 percent of men.
“Medicines offer a fantastic range of tools for NHS staff to provide care that can be positively life-changing,” said Tony Avery, the national clinical director for prescribing at NHS England. “However, we need to be alert to the risks of some medicines, and the framework we are publishing today empowers local services to work with people to ensure they are being effectively supported when a medicine is no longer providing overall benefit.”
The NHS report drew particular attention to projects carried out in the county of Glouc-ester shire. One service, called Art on Prescription, was described as “a form of social prescription and is a non-clinical intervention delivered by art practitioners for therapeutic benefit”. Another, a course called Artlift, begins with “a personalized ‘What Matters To You’ conversation prior to the start of the program and (we) agree a personalized support plan and goals with each participant”. They all reported improvement in participants’ mental well-being.
Actually, as long ago as September 2018, then health secretary Matt Hancock said, “The evidence increasingly shows that activities like social clubs, art, ballroom dancing, and gardening can be more effective than medicines for some people and I want to see an increase in that sort of social prescribing.”
1. Why does activities such as art classes are recommended for patients in England?| A．Because they are more effective than medicines. |
| B．Because people in England prefer to attend art classes. |
| C．Because they can replace medication for patients in England. |
| D．Because they may help reduce the people’s dependence on certain drugs. |
| A．Medicines can provide life-changing effects all the time. |
| B．We need to be cautious about the dangers of some medicines. |
| C．The framework published is greatly supported by the local people. |
| D．Local services can work with patients to provide them with overall benefit. |
| A．The two projects were carried out in the rural areas of Gloucester-shire. |
| B．Art on Prescription was a clinical intervention delivered by art practitioners. |
| C．The patients’ mental health in the two projects were both reported to be improved. |
| D．A personalized “What Matters To You” conversation started after the start of the program Artlift. |
| A．To persuade people to stop taking medicine. |
| B．To introduce a new kind of life-changing medicine. |
| C．To appeal to the government to organize more social activities. |
| D．To recommend a way to reduce patients’ dependence on prescribed drugs. |
4 . Family vlogging — the frequent recording and uploading of personal videos of the family, usually on video sharing website — has become big business nowadays, especially among parents of young children. The more viewers such videos can get, the more money the family can make. At first thought, it does seem like an easy way to make money. However, are we doing right by putting their lives up for public attention?
For one thing, as the children grow up, they increasingly become aware that what they do needs to be admirable enough for the public to enjoy — Being young children, they also would want to do whatever it takes to please others. They then feel the pressure to be perfect, and as that is something not always possible, they become anxious and stressed. Comments from viewers and the expectations of sponsors (赞助者) can also affect the parents’ reactions towards their children.
Another problem is the lack of privacy in the children’s lives. As the children reach adolescence, there is a greaser need for personal space. At 12 or 13, very few children would appreciate being filmed while eating or having a conversation with their friends. Teenhood is a time of significant change in an individual, both physically and emotionally, and is a time when parents need to protect their children and guide them, instead of exposing them to the eyes of the public.
Family vlogging can be irresistible, given how it allows parents to bring greater fun to their family lives. There is also the easy money and the fame to look forward to. Indeed, all would probably go well, but only as long as parents keep in mind that, if not managed well, making their children live their lives in the unforgiving eyes of the public could prove to be a big mistake.
1. How does vlogging about children’s lives influence the family?| A．Children will get used to public attention. |
| B．Children may suffer from too much pressure. |
| C．Parents may show no concern for their children. |
| D．Parents become addicted to exposing their children to the public. |
| A．By providing examples | B．By listing numbers |
| C．By making comparisons | D．By analyzing causes |
| A．To introduce a new big business |
| B．To show how vlogging influence people’s lives. |
| C．To persuade parents to watch out for comments from viewers. |
| D．To convince parents of the danger of vlogging about children’s lives. |
| A．negative | B．positive | C．neutral | D．uninterested |
5 . We know it can be hard to put your phone to bed before you sleep. However, if you’re trying to improve your sleep, you really should ditch your phone at least an hour before bedtime. Luckily, our experts can help.
Scientific evidence suggests that the blue light emitted from your phone, tablet, computer, and TV suppresses (抑制) your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone (荷尔蒙) that plays an important role in your sleep cycle. Melatonin release in the evening helps you relax before bedtime. A 2013 study that analyzed technology use and sleep patterns with data from a National Sleep Foundation poll found that using devices like phones was tied to more sleep disruption than electronics that aren’t interactive.
Many of us use the excuse that our mobile devices serve as our wake-up calls, or keep them nearby to use meditation apps. If you want to use your phone as an alarm, consider setting it a couple of hours before you turn in for the night, and then setting the phone itself to bedtime mode for the rest of the evening.
Here’s another groundbreaking idea: You could get a real alarm clock. After reviewing them at Reviewed, we recommend the Sharp Dream Caster. Not only is it easy to set a wake-up time, the clock includes white noises and rain noises to help you sleep, plus a number of volume settings to pick what works best for you.
But an alarm clock won’t help you avoid doom-scrolling through social media. Take things a step further by avoiding using electronic devices. You can try reading a book (one made of paper), taking a bath or drinking a cup of chamomile tea.
Finally, if you want to keep up your meditation practice screen-free, consider the Morphée. It looks like a little music box and comes with a variety of breathing exercises and soundscapes to help you get to sleep.
1. What does the underlined word “ditch” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Set aside. | B．Pick up. | C．Show off. | D．Turn to. |
| A．Relaxing yourself before bedtime. |
| B．Sleeping less than you normally would. |
| C．Adapting to your sleep cycle more easily. |
| D．Reducing the pressure from screen use. |
| A．It is sold at a lower price. | B．It can predict a heavy rain. |
| C．It is controlled by cellphone. | D．It helps put your eyes together. |
| A．Making the best of the eco-friendly products. |
| B．Making a change according to circumstances. |
| C．Establishing a bedtime routine without electronics. |
| D．Keeping a consistent bedtime and wake-up time. |
6 . Whom should you marry? Where should you live? How should you spend your time? For centuries, people have relied on their gut instincts (直觉) to figure out the answers to these life-changing questions. Now, though, there is a better way. We are living through a data explosion, as vast amounts of information about all aspects of human behavior have become more and more accessible. We can use this big data to help determine the best course to chart.
There has long been overwhelming—and often surprising—evidence that algorithms (算法) can be much better than people at making difficult decisions. Researchers have collected data on various kinds of choices people make, the information they base those choices on, and how things turn out. They have found, for example, that a simple data-driven algorithm would have been better than judges at deciding whether a defendant should stay in prison or be released; better than doctors at deciding whether a patient should undergo surgery; and better than school principals at deciding which teachers should be promoted.
The power of data analysis has been proved in the sports and business worlds, too. As made famous by the book and movie Moneyball, baseball teams found that algorithms were better than scouts (星探) at picking players, and better than managers at picking strategies. In finance, the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies dramatically defeated competitors by seeking out patterns in stock market data and using them to inform its investment strategy. Tech firms in Silicon Valley have found that data from experiments provides better insights into how to design their websites than designers could.
These are the early days of the data revolution in decision-making. I am not claiming that we can completely count on algorithms to make our lifestyle choices, though we might get to that point in the future. I am claiming instead that we can all dramatically improve our decision-making by consulting evidence mined from thousands or millions of people who faced dilemmas similar to ours. And we can do that now.
1. What’s the main idea of the passage?| A．Big data is a double-edged sword. |
| B．Data revolution will change people’s life. |
| C．Big data is helpful in making important decisions. |
| D．Algorithms behaves better than people in many fields. |
| A．court rulings | B．job promotions |
| C．operative estimation | D．teaching practices |
| A．To provide further evidence. | B．To show potential applications. |
| C．To encourage the use of big data. | D．To explain how to use algorithms. |
| A．Algorithms offer perfect advice now. |
| B．Big data will certainly cause a revolution. |
| C．Big data can make up for our lack of experience. |
| D．Algorithms are bound to be fully trusted in the future. |
There was a pretty strict system of segregation (种族隔离)in Atlanta. For a long, long time I could not go swimming. until there was a Negro YMCA(黑人基督教青年会). A Negro child in Atlanta could not go to any public park. I could not go to the so-called white schools. In many of the stores downtown, I couldn’t go to a lunch counter to buy a hamburger or a cup of coffee. I could not attend any of the theaters. There were one or two Negro theaters, but they didn’t get any of the main pictures. If they did get them, they got them two or three years later.
I had grown up hating not only segregation but also the cruel acts that grew out of it. I had seen police violence with my own eyes, and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice in the courts. I can remember the organization known as the Ku Kux Klan. It stands out white supremacy(至高无上), and it was an organization that in those days even used violent methods to preserve segregation and to keep the Negro in his place. I remember seeing the Klan actually beat Negro. I had passed spots where Negroes had been savagely lynched (用私刑). All of these things did something to my growing personality.
In my late childhood and early adolescence, two incidents happened that had a tremendous effect on my development. The first was the first empty seats at the front of the store. A young white clerk came up and murmured politely:
”I’ll be happy to wait on you if you’ll just move to those seats in the back. “
Dad immediately replied, ”There’s nothing wrong with these seats. We’re quite comfortable here. “
”Sorry, “said the clerk, ”but you’ll have to move. “
”We’ll either buy shoes sitting here, “my father said quickly, ”or we won’t buy shoes at all. "
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。
Therefore he took me by the hand and walked out of the store.
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I remember riding with him another day when he accidentally drove past a stop sign.
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8 . Brendon Birt accidentally took a wrong turn down a street in Red Oak, Iowa. But it turned out it was exactly where he was
The homeowner, Tender Lehman, was
| A．needed | B．discovered | C．received | D．chosen |
| A．street | B．restaurant | C．fire | D．bus |
| A．rubbish | B．people | C．bikes | D．smoke |
| A．sleeping | B．working | C．eating | D．cooking |
| A．quietly | B．quickly | C．finally | D．repeatedly |
| A．moved | B．rushed | C．listened | D．referred |
| A．surprise | B．excitement | C．anxiety | D．pleasure |
| A．up | B．out | C．ill | D．busy |
| A．oldest | B．smartest | C．tallest | D．kindest |
| A．came out | B．broke down | C．gave up | D．went off |
| A．stayed | B．helped | C．awoken | D．believed |
| A．shop | B．office | C．garden | D．building |
| A．met | B．saved | C．honored | D．taught |
| A．thankful | B．careful | C．serious | D．proud |
| A．troubled | B．started | C．remembered | D．made |
9 . 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 |
10 . Proper questioning has become a lost art. The curious four-year-old asks a lot of questions-incessant streams of “Why?” and “Why not?“ might sound familiar-but as we grow older, our questioning decreases. In a recent survey of more than 200 of our clients, we found that those with children estimated that 70-80% of their kids’ dialogues with others were comprised of questions. But those same clients said that only 15-25% of their own interactions consisted of questions. Why the drop of?
Think back to your time growing up and in school. Chances are you received the most recognition or reward when you got the correct answers. Later in life, that motivator continues. At work, we often reward those who answer questions, not those who ask them. Questioning conventional wisdom can even lead to being distanced, or considered a threat.
Because expectations for decision-making have gone from ”get it done soon“ to ”get it done now“ to ”it should have been done yesterday, “ we tend to jump to conclusions instead of asking more questions. And the unfortunate side effect of not asking enough questions is poor decision-making. That’s why it’s vital that we slow down and take the time to ask more and better questions. At best, we’ll arrive at better conclusions. At worst we’ll avoid a lot of rework later on.
Aside from not speaking up enough, many professionals don’t think about how different types of questions can lead to different outcomes. We should lead a conversation by asking the right kinds of questions, based on the problem we’re trying to solve. In some cases, we’ll want to expand our view of the problem rather than keeping it narrowly focused. In others, we may want to challenge basic assumptions or confirm our understanding in order to feel more confident in our conclusions. Therefore, asking the right kinds of questions is what counts in achieving a goal.
1. What does the underlined word ”incessant“ in paragraph 1 most probably mean?| A．Constant. | B．Random. | C．Noisy. | D．Innocent. |
| A．One poses a threat to the company if they ask questions. |
| B．Those who ask questions don’t necessarily get positive feedback. |
| C．One doesn’t have as many opportunities as they did in childhood. |
| D．Those who question popular beliefs don’t have interpersonal skills. |
| A．Redoing is unavoidable despite thoughtful questions. |
| B．Better questions can surely result in desirable outcomes. |
| C．Some people think it can’t be too fast to make a decision. |
| D．We’ll make reasonable decisions as long as we ask questions. |
| A．Proper questions that should be raised. |
| B．Important goals that we are to achieve. |
| C．Right kinds of answers to the questions. |
| D．The reasons for the loss of questioning art. |
