1 . Most children now chat daily either online or through their mobile phones.
Sometimes the online world, just like the real world, can cause problems, such as bullying (恃强凌弱) or arguments.
| A．Going online is great fun. |
| B．Computer studies are part of schoolwork now. |
| C．The language of chat is strange to many parents, too. |
| D．There are some websites that are not suitable for the children. |
| E．To keep children safe, your management must cover the family computer. |
| F．They are connecting to a huge number of other children all over the world. |
| G．Surfing the Internet takes up too much of the time that should be spent on lessons. |
| A．One of the drivers drove after drinking. |
| B．The traffic signal stopped working. |
| C．The drivers didn’t keep to the speed limit. |
3 . “Few articles change owners more frequently than clothes. They travel downwards from grade to grade in the social scale with remarkable regularity,” wrote the journalist Adolphe Smith in 1877 as he traced a coat’s journey in the last century: cleaned, repaired and resold repeatedly; cut down into a smaller item; eventually recycled into new fabric. But with the improvement in people’s living standards, that model is mind-boggling in the era of fast fashion. The average British customer buys four items a month. And it is reported that 350,000 tonnes of used but still wearable clothes go to landfills in the UK each year.
Yet the gradual revival of the second-hand trade has gathered pace in the past few years. At fashion website Asos, sales of vintage clothes (古董衫) have risen by 92%. Clothing was once worn out of necessity, and now it is simply a way of life. Busy families sell used items on eBay, teenagers trade on Depop and some fashion people offer designer labels on Vestiaire Collective. Strikingly, it has become big enough business that mainstream retailers (零售商) want a slice of the action.
For some buyers and sellers, the switch to the second-hand is born of financial difficulties. Only a few have become worried about the impact of their shopping habit on the planet. But the shift is only a partial solution. Some people worry that some mainstream brands may “greenwash” — using second-hand goods to improve their image, rather than engaging more seriously with sustainability.
However, the biggest concern may be that people keep buying because they know they can resell goods, still chasing the pleasure of the next purchase but with an eased conscience (愧疚). Boohoo, a powerful fast fashion company, has seen sales and profits rise, despite concerns about environmental problems in its supply chain that led to an investigation last year.
A new Netflix series, Worn Stories, documents the emotional meanings that clothes can have: Each old item is full of memories. Actually, a handbag from a grandmother and a scarf passed on by a father are both valuable for us. A love of style is not a bad or an unimportant thing. But a committed relationship is better than a quick flash. Can we learn to appreciate our own old clothes as well as others’?
1. What does the word “mind-boggling” underlined in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Unbelievable. | B．Popular. | C．Reasonable. | D．Influential. |
| A．old clothes are more popular than new pieces |
| B．the online second-hand markets are booming |
| C．the fashion world begins to favor vintage clothes |
| D．many clothing brands are innovative in their new products |
| A．It makes people feel free to pursue fast fashion. |
| B．It makes people more cautious about their budgets. |
| C．It encourages people to choose eco-friendly clothes. |
| D．It pushes people to be more engaged with sustainability. |
| A．Old items have lost favor with the public. |
| B．Old items are worthy of being long cherished. |
| C．Older generations attach great importance to old items. |
| D．Older generations care about the quality of their clothes. |
4 . In a potato field in Netherlands, farmer Jacob van den Borne is monitoring two drones (无人机) that provide detailed readings on soil chemistry, water content, nutrients, and growth of every plant in real time. Van den Borne’s production numbers prove the power of this “precision farming”, achieving a potato yield that’s more than double the global average.
That abundant output is made all the more remarkable by the other side of the balance sheet: inputs. Almost two decades ago, the Dutch committed to producing “Twice as much food using half the resources.” Since 2000, water dependency for key crops has been reduced by 90%, and greenhouse chemical pesticides nearly vanished.
More surprisingly, the Netherlands, despite lacking typical resources for vast agriculture, is the world’s second-largest food exporter by value, second only to the U.S, which is 270 times its size in land area. How on earth have the Dutch done it?
A bird’s-eye view of the Netherlands shows a unique combination of urban and rural landscapes, with over 50 percent of its land devoted to agriculture. What stands out are the enormous mirror-like greenhouse complexes (建筑群) dotting the Dutch landscape. These climate-controlled farms enable a country located less than a thousand miles from the Arctic Circle to be a global leader in exports of a fair-weather fruit: the tomato. The Dutch are also the world’s top exporter of potatoes and onions and the second largest exporter of vegetables overall in terms of value. More than a third of all global trade in vegetable seeds originates in the Netherlands.
The BRAIN TRUST behind these astonishing numbers is centered at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) —the Dutch agritechnique version of Silicon Valley, for its agricultural innovation. Ernst van den Ende, a WUR leader, emphasizes that only combining scientific and market approaches can meet upcoming challenges. He says the planet must produce “more food in the next four decades than in the past 8,000 years.” By 2050, with a predicted global population of 10 billion, novel farming methods are vital. WUR, with its 1000+ projects worldwide and global partnerships, believes solutions exist to prevent future famine.
1. What does “precision farming” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Modern farming with traditional tools. | B．A method focusing on maximum land use. |
| C．Farming practices employing advanced technology. | D．Agriculture with an emphasis on exports. |
| A．It uses more resources than other countries. |
| B．It significantly reduces the use of water and chemicals. |
| C．It focuses merely on potato farming. |
| D．It relies on traditional farming methods. |
| A．Traditional farming will make a comeback. |
| B．Novel farming methods are essential for future food production. |
| C．Agricultural innovations will only benefit developed countries. |
| D．The role of universities in agriculture will disappear. |
| A．The Historical Development of Europe Agriculture |
| B．The Promising Future of Global Food Security |
| C．The Great Challenges Faced by Global Agriculture |
| D．A Tiny Country with Big Agricultural Achievements |
5 . According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 80 million American adults are constantly sleep deprived (睡眠不足), meaning they sleep less than the recommended minimum of seven hours a night. If you’re one of those people who are proud of being able to fall asleep quickly just about anywhere, it’s too early to gloat — it’s a distinct sign, especially if you’re less than 40 years old, that you’re severely sleep deprived.
During our lifetimes, about a third of us will suffer from at least one diagnosable sleep disorder, ranging from constant insomnia (失眠) to restless leg syndrome to much rarer and stranger conditions.
Insomnia is by far the most common problem, the main reason 4 percent of U.S. adults take sleeping pills in any given month. Insomniacs generally take longer to fall asleep, wake up for long periods during the night, or both. They have a high risk of depression, psychosis, and stroke. Lack of sleep is also directly tied to obesity: Without enough sleep, the stomach and other organs overproduce the hunger hormone (荷尔蒙), causing us to eat more. If sleep is such a natural phenomenon, why do so many of us have such trouble with it?
The problem is that in the modern world our ancient, inborn wake-up call is constantly set off by non-life-threatening situations like anxiety before an exam, worries about finances, or every car alarm in the neighborhood. Before the industrial revolution, which brought us alarm clocks and fixed work schedules, we could often handle insomnia simply by sleeping in. No longer, now.
Power naps don’t solve the problem; nor does sleeping medicine. “Sleep is not a single issue.” says Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a sleep scientist at Johns Hopkins University who directs the Sound Sleep Project, “It’s a thousand different things. It’s fascinating to regulate sleep with drugs or devices, but we don’t yet understand sleep enough to artificially intervene in it.”
1. What does the underlined word “gloat” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．be worried. | B．be delighted. | C．be concerned. | D．be surprised. |
| A．They take sleeping pills on a daily basis. | B．They fall asleep faster than others. |
| C．They will become underweight. | D．They probably come down with mental diseases. |
| A．Because of the long-standing pressure of survival. |
| B．Due to the continuously existing threats to life. |
| C．Because of the loss of the natural wake-up call. |
| D．Due to the disturbance to the natural sleeping patterns. |
| A．Taking some sleeping pills works perfectly. |
| B．Artificial intervention can’t tackle insomnia thoroughly. |
| C．Devices help people get enough sleep undoubtedly. |
| D．Sleeping during the day should be conducted carefully. |
6 . Many kids help out around the house with chores such as emptying the dishwasher, putting laundry away, and taking out the trash. In exchange, some kids get allowances or other rewards such as extra computer time.
But some people do not think that kids should get rewards for doing chores. Susie Walton, a parenting educator and family coach, believes that by rewarding kids, parents are sending a message that work isn’t worth doing unless you get something in return. “Running any kind of household is a team effort,” Susie said. “A home is a living space for everyone in the family. It’s important for kids to see that we all have responsibilities in the house, and that families decide together how they want their home to look, and how they are going to keep it looking like everyone wants it to look.”
Other people believe that getting a cash allowance or other rewards motivates kids to do chores, and it also teaches them real world lessons about how we need to work to earn money. There are also new applications that give kids points and digital gifts that can be redeemed (兑取) either online or in the real world. With the Chore Monster app, kids earn digital points by completing chores that they can turn in for real-life rewards such as extra Xbox time or a trip to the mall. “Our goal is to encourage kids to earn rewards.” says Chris Bergman, founder of Chore Monster. “Kids need positive reinforcement to help motivate them.”
What do you think? Should kids be rewarded for doing chores? Or should kids help out around their homes without getting anything in return?
Write a 200-word response. Send it to tfkasks4you@timeforkids. com. Your response may be published in a future issue of Time For Kids. Please include your grade and contact information of your parent or teacher if you want your response to be published. The deadline for responding is 18 February.
1. How does the author start the passage?| A．By stating his own experiences. | B．By presenting some facts. |
| C．By comparing different views. | D．By listing some evidence. |
| A．Kids should be rewarded for doing chores. |
| B．Parents decide what kids can do for the family. |
| C．Kids have the responsibility to share housework. |
| D．Kids can get extra computer time for doing chores. |
| A．Chris Bergman’s opinion on raising kids. |
| B．Main reasons why kids need encouragement |
| C．How to motivate kids to try new applications. |
| D．The advantage of rewarding kids for doing chores. |
| A．To invite readers to express their opinions. | B．To present the author’s viewpoint about parenting. |
| C．To call on readers to reflect on their behavior. | D．To inform readers of two different opinions. |
7 . Phebe Cox grew up in what might seem an unlikely mental health danger zone for a kid: tony Palo Alto, California. But behind its surface of family success and wealth, she said, is an environment of heavy pressure on students to perform. By 2016, when Cox was in middle school, Palo Alto had a teen suicide (自杀) rate four times the national average.
Cox’s family lived by the railroad tracks where many of the suicides occurred. She got counseling (咨询). But that choice is not always easily available to teens in crisis — and she and her peers regarded school mental health services as their last choice because of concerns about privacy.
A new program provides an alternative. Called Allcove, it offers unattached health and wellness sites to those ages 12 to 25. Although Allcove is built to support a wide range of physical, emotional and social needs, its main goal is to deal with mental health challenges before they develop into deeper problems. Cox said, “I felt pretty helpless as a young teenager, but Allcove is all about the students and the students’ needs.”
About half of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14 and 75% before age 25, according to researchers. Yet access to mental health care in the U.S. is lacking. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, some 30 million adults and children with mental health conditions go without treatment, and 129 million people live in areas with shortages of mental health professionals.
Allcove provides fully staffed safe spaces for teens and young adults to discuss and deal with their health, both mental and physical. Dr. Steven Adelsheim, a psychiatrist, who created the Allcove in 2014, said, “There is a crying need in the U.S. to reach kids with early intervention and help.” Sometimes a kid may come in with a physical complaint, and only after a few visits is the mental suffering brought out into the open. When that happens, Alcove can make a “warm handoff” to a mental health specialist onsite. Success, say Adelsheim and Cox, would mean the establishment of hundreds of Allcove centers up and down the state and, eventually, around the country.
1. Why did Cox and her peers regard school mental health services as their last choice?| A．They were indifferent to the program. |
| B．They were concerned about their health. |
| C．They were upset about the occurrence of the suicides. |
| D．They were worried about their personal information leak. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By listing data. |
| C．By showing comparison. | D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．The sense of mental suffering. | B．Involvement of health experts. |
| C．Complaints about physical suffering. | D．The pressing call for assistance. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Short-lived. | C．Unidentifiable. | D．Significant. |
1. 快餐食品的危害;
2. 你的建议。
注意：1. 写作词数应为 80个左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear friends,
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9 . To a chef, the sounds of lip smacking, slurping and swallowing are the highest form of flattery (恭维). But to someone with a certain type of misophonia, these same sounds can be suffering. Brain scans are now helping scientists start to understand why.
People with misophonia experience strong discomfort, annoyance or disgust when they hear particulatriggers (诱因) . Researchers previously thought this reaction might be caused by the brain overactively processing certain sounds. Now, however, a new study published in Journal of Neuroscience has linked some forms of misophonia to heightened “mirroring” behavior in the brain: those affected feel negative and bitte while their brains act as if they were mimicking (模仿) the triggering mouth movements.
The research team, led by Neweastle University neuroscientist Sukhbinder Kumar, analyzed brain activity in people with and without misophonia when they were at rest and while they listened to sounds. These included misophonia triggers (such as chewing) , generally unpleasant sounds (like a crying baby) , and neutral sounds. The brain’s auditory cortex (听觉皮层), which. processes sound, reacted similarly in subjects with and without misophonia. But in both the resting state and listening trials, people with misophonia showed stronger connections between the auditory cortex and brain regions that control movements of the face, mouth and throat, while the controlled group didn’t. Kumar found this connection became most active in participants with misophonia when they heard triggers specific to the condition.
Some mirroring is typical in most humans when witnessing others’ actions; the researchers do not yet know why an excessive mirroring response might cause such a negative reaction, and hope to address that in future research. “Possibilities include a sense of loss of contrel, invasion of personal space, or interference with current goals and actions.” the study authors write.
Fatima Husain, an Illinois University professor of speech and hearing science, says potential misophonia cures could build on the new findings by counseling patients about handling unconscious motor responses to triggering sounds — not just coping with the sounds themselves. If this works, she adds, one should expect to see reduced connected activity between the auditory and motor cortices.
1. How might misophonia sufferers respond to sounds of eating loud?| A．They sink into awful feelings. | B．They feel a strong sense of hunger. |
| C．They can’t help making the sounds. | D．They are more likely to flatter the chefs. |
| A．They suffered less at the resting state. | B．They had noticeable brain damage. |
| C．They became active in mirroring response. | D．They lost control of their entire bodies. |
| A．How lonely I am to stay by myself! | B．Can’t they share their goals with me? |
| C．How come I can’t control my mind! | D．Following her way is the best thing I can do! |
| A．Improving speech and hearing science. | B．Developing a treatment for misophonia. |
| C．Drawing people’s attention to misophonia. | D．Promoting human auditory function researcb. |
1. 简述刷短视频的利与弊；
2. 你的观点。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 开头与结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：刷短视频 watch short videos
Good morning, everyone.
I’d like to
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________That’s all. Thank you.
