1 . New emojis (表情符号) appear every year. The updates come from a California-based nonprofit called Unicode Consortium. Each year, the emoji committee releases new emojis that will update the existing keyboard.
Jennifer Duniel, chair of the committee, says that it’s not the organization coming up with these new characters. It’s the public.
The first emoji keyboard was created in Japan in the 1990s by mobile phone company designer Shigetaka Kurita. Kurita created emojis because the company offered email communications that were limited to 250 characters and an emoji is only one character each but can be used to say more. Emoji have become popular around the world— 92 percent of the online population uses them.
“They aren’t tied to any language. They aren’t tied to any region of the world.” she says.
Anyone is allowed to submit (提交) new emojis, and if they make a strong enough case, Unicode will accept them. “We do get suggestions in lots of different languages from around the world,” says Daniel.
An emoji idea has to meet certain criteria (标准). These criteria include its clear differences, whether it can be used with existing emojis and whether it can have multiple meanings. The popular face with “tears of joy” emoji, for example, is easy to identify, which makes it distinct. You can pair it with many other emojis to convey how you are feeling. Additionally, this emoji has adopted many meanings.
Kids today are very familiar with emojis and how to use them. And the keyboard has got more than 3,600 emoji characters. “They became more and more comfortable and confident using emojis, which means they’re more willing to take risks,” Daniel says of younger generations who grow up with the keyboard.
1. Which best describes emojis?| A．They vary from place to place. |
| B．They are more expressive than words. |
| C．They make daily talk more difficult. |
| D．They are limited in computers. |
| A．It gives emojis new meanings. |
| B．It invents new enojis every year. |
| C．It created the first emoji keyboard. |
| D．It judges the submission of new emojis. |
| A．To show its popularity among young people. |
| B．To make the emoji accepted by more people. |
| C．To make the criteria understood more easily. |
| D．To prove its difference from others. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Cautious | D．Critical |
2 . BEIJING -- Chinese central authorities have released a set of guidelines on promoting the high-quality development of modern vocational education.
A modern vocational-education system should be established in China by 2025, and China's vocational education should be ranked among the best globally by 2035, according to the guidelines jointly released by the general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council.
Primary and middle school students should receive formative courses on vocational education to cultivate their awareness of career planning, according to the guidelines. Priority should be given to training talent for emerging industries, including advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, modern agriculture and artificial intelligence, the document says, encouraging vocational schools to set up majors that meet market demand.
Vocational institutions should step up cooperation with enterprises to serve technological upgrading and product research in medium, small and micro businesses, the guidelines add. It also calls on vocational schools to improve the quality of teachers, innovate teaching models and promote overseas cooperation.
1. What guidelines have Chinese central authorities released on ?| A．Promote development of modern vocational education. |
| B．Set up completed system of modern education. |
| C．Reform Chinese education. |
| D．Achieve the next educational plan. |
| A．In 2022. | B．In 2025. |
| C．In 2035. | D．2040. |
| A．Improve their study ability. |
| B．Build up their confidence. |
| C．Cultivate their awareness of career plan. |
| D．Encourage them. |
| A．the quality of teachers. |
| B．innovate teaching models. |
| C．promote overseas cooperation. |
| D．increase the number of students. |
3 . Haley Curfman, 25, of Blackwell, Oklahoma, is a teacher at Blackwell Public School and last year she bought a plain(朴素的) white dress, which she set up a station in her classroom for her students to decorate, encouraging them to go and draw on the dress whenever they had free time. Haley set up a station at a table with the dress and some colored markers so that her students could draw on it, having first seen the idea on Pinterest.
After the kids had finished the design, she then surprised them all by wearing the dress to class, sharing pictures of herself in it on Facebook in a post that has since been shared over 200, 000 times.
For teachers looking to do something similar for their own students, Haley said that she bought the dress off Amazon for less than $ 20 about six months ago and pre-washed the dress before she started the project. She used markers from Walmart. But she said these things can be bought in other places. She said, “To do the project, I set up a station at a table with the dress and markers. It takes anywhere from two weeks to a month to complete as we just work on it here and there when time allows. You'd better give the students enough time so they don't have to hurry.”
“Teachers have been sharing their dresses, T-shirts, etc. with me that they've been creating since the 1950s with the same idea. It is amazing, and I love the fact that you are sharing them with me! Thank you all so much for your kindness and support,” she wrote on Facebook.
Asked why she came up with the idea, Haley told Scary Mommy. “We don't have art in our school, so, I always try to do little creative projects when possible.”
1. What did Haley use the plain white dress to do?| A．To teach her students painting. |
| B．To prepare for her presentation. |
| C．To ask her students to draw on it. |
| D．To help her students with their homework. |
| A．It took Haley by surprise. | B．It is kept by Haley at home. |
| C．It is the product of a new idea. | D．It has enjoyed popularity online. |
| A．Buy the same dress online. | B．Give the kids enough time. |
| C．Buy the same markers in Walmart. | D．Leave the finished work untouched. |
| A．To teach art to her students. | B．To show her idea on Pinterest. |
| C．To share it with other teachers. | D．To excite her students' creativity. |
4 . We live in a town with three beaches. There are two parts less than 10 minutes’ walk from home where neighborhood children gather to play. However, what my children want to do after school is pick up a screen — any screen — and stare at it for hours. They are not alone. Today’s children spend an average of four and a half hours a day looking at screens, split between watching television and using the Internet.
In the past few years, an increasing number of people and organisations have begun coming up with plans to counter this trend. A couple of years ago film-maker David Bond realised that his children, then aged five and three, were attached to screens to the point where he was able to say “chocolate” into his three-year-old son’s ear without getting a response. He realised that something needed to change, and, being a London media type, appointed himself “marketing director from Nature”. He documented his journey as he set about treating nature as a brand to be marketed to young people. The result was Project Wild Thing, a film which charts the birth of the World Network, a group of organisations with the common goal of getting children out into nature.
“Just five more minutes outdoors can make a difference,” David Bond says. “There is a lot of really interesting evidence which seems to be suggesting that if children are inspired up to the age of seven, then being outdoors will be on habit for life.” His own children have got into the habit of playing outside now: “We just send them out into the garden and tell them not to come back in for a while.”
Summer is upon us. There is an amazing world out there, and it needs our children as much as they need it. Let us get them out and let them play.
1. What is the problem with the author’s children?| A．They often annoy their neighbours. | B．They are tired of doing their homework. |
| C．They have no friends to play with | D．They stay in front of screens for too long. |
| A．By making a documentary film. | B．By organizing outdoor activities. |
| C．By advertising in London media. | D．By creating a network of friends. |
| A．records | B．predicts | C．delays | D．confirms |
| A．Let Children Have Fun | B．Young Children Need More Free Time |
| C．Market Nature to Children | D．David Bond: A Role Model for Children |
