1 . Digital reading (数字阅读) appears to be destroying habits of “deep reading”. Astonishing numbers of people with years of schooling are in fact illiterate (文盲). This month’s Ljubljana Manifesto (宣言) explains: “The digital field may promote more reading than ever in history, but it also offers many attractions to read in a casual and scattered (零散的) manner— or even not to read at all. This increasingly endangers higher-level reading.”
That’s frightening, because “higher-level reading” has been necessary to civilization. It made the understanding and an international increase in empathy (共鸣). Without it, we would suffer a lot. As the Ljubljana Manifesto notes, “as much as one-third of Europeans struggle even with lower-level reading skills.” More than one-fifth of adults in the US “fall into the illiterate/functionally illiterate category”. Separately, post-pandemic (后疫情时期) reading scores for American13-year-olds are the lowest in decades. And the Washington-based Center for Global Development recently estimated that literacy (读写能力) in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa among those with five years of schooling has decreased by 10% this past half century.
Experts in the Ljubljana Manifesto record the demerits of digital reading: “Recent studies of various kinds indicate a decline of thoughtful reading, slow reading and long-form reading.” When you read a book on paper, you can be entirely inside the experience, absorb hundreds of pages of details thoroughly and begin to catch the world’s complexity. Online, says Maryanne Wolf of UCLA, we are “skimming, scanning and scrolling”. The medium is the message: doing deep reading on your phone is as hard as playing tennis with your phone. Recently, a bright 11-year-old boy told me I was wasting time on books: he absorbed more information faster from websites. He had a point. But digital readers also absorb more misinformation and seldom absorb fine opinions.
In short, as professors from Northwestern University predicted in 2005, we are returning to the days when only an elite (精英) “reading class” reads long texts, which is worrying.
1. What can we learn about digital reading from paragraph 1?| A．Digital reading has weakened the practice of deep reading. |
| B．Digital reading has solved the problem of illiteracy. |
| C．Digital reading has made deep reading accessible to wider readers. |
| D．Digital reading has caused a greater appreciation for deep reading. |
| A．Digital reading’s great popularity. | B．The importance of deep reading. |
| C．American students’ reading skills. | D．The lowering of the level of literacy. |
| A．Functions. | B．Depths. | C．Shortcomings. | D．Features. |
| A．Advantages of digital reading. | B．Measures to practice deep reading. |
| C．Ways to encourage digital reading. | D．Benefits of lower-level reading. |
2 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By listing some numbers. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By making an interesting comparison. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters poor countries in one way. |
| B．Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries. |
| C．Lead will definitely not harm anymore. |
| D．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| C．Ignoring the illegal use of lead. | D．Putting certain effort and money. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man. |
| B．The Global Lead Poisoning Problem. |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem. |
| D．The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles. |
3 . Technology seems to discourage slow, careful reading. Reading on a screen tires your eyes and makes it harder for you to keep your place. Online writing tends to be more skimmable (易略读的) and list-like than print. The neuroscientist Mary Walt argued recently that this new standard of skim reading is producing“an invisible, game-changing transformation”in how readers process words. The neuronal circuit (神经回路) that maintains and supports the brain’s ability to read now prefers the rapid absorption of information.
We shouldn’t overplay this danger. All readers skim. From about the age of nine, our eyes start to skim quickly across the page, reading only about a quarter of the words properly, and filling in the gap s by inference. Nor is there anything new in these fears about declining attention spans (持续时间). So far, the anxieties have proved to be false alarms. “Quite a few critics have been worried about attention spans 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. And digital writing is meant for rapid release and response. This mode of writing and reading can be interactive and fun. But often it treats other people’s words as something to be quickly taken as materials to say something else. Everyone talks over the top of everyone else, eager to be heard.
Perhaps we should slow down. Reading is constantly promoted as a source of personal achievement. But this argument often emphasizes “enthusiastic” “passionate” or “eager” reading, non e of which words 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 understanding of a line of thought.
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. Which statement would Selvin Brown probably agree?| A．Online writing harms careful reading. | B．Fears of attention spans are unnecessary. |
| C．The situation of cultural decline is serious. | D．Poetry reading helps lengthen attention spans. |
| A．It demands writers to abandon traditional writing modes. |
| B．It depends heavily on frequent interaction with the readers. |
| C．It leads to too much talking and not enough deep reflection. |
| D．It prepares readers for enthusiastic, passionate or eager reading. |
| A．Deep-rooted. | B．Widely-acknowledged. | C．Slowly-changed. | D．Rarely-noticed. |
| A．Slow Reading is Here to Stay | B．The Wonder of Deep Reading |
| C．The Internet is Changing the Way We Read | D．Digital vs Print: A Life-and-Death Struggle |
4 . According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, we might all be braggarts (大话王) in this competitive society addicted to social networking.
Take a close look at your social-networking sites. Do you like to post photos of yourself in restaurants to show others what an exciting life you have? Or do you like to write about how happily in love you are? Or perhaps you are of the subtle type who constantly complain about jobs but really just want to impress others with your important position.
According to the results of a series of experiments conducted by Harvard University neuroscientists (神经科学家), the reward areas of our brain — the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food — are activated when we talk about ourselves. We devote between 30 to 40 percent of our conversation time to doing just that. Unfortunately, Bernstein says, some people can’t tell the difference between sharing positive information that others might actually want to know and direct bragging. She suggests that bragging involves comparison, whether stated or implied.
“We are expected to be perfect all the time. The result is that more and more people are carefully managing their online images,” says Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal.
But the issue is not limited to the Internet. In a fiercely competitive job market we must sell ourselves on multiple platforms and show that we are better than others. In fact, we have become so accustomed to bragging that we don’t even realize we are doing it, says Bernstein. This is harmful to our relationships and puts people off.
Bernstein talked to some experts who said that people brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention; to prove to ourselves we are doing fine and that people who said we would fail are wrong; or simply because we’re excited when good things happen to us.
“Feel sorry for them, because they’re doing this unconscious, destructive thing that won’t help them in the long run,” said Professor Simian Valier, a research psychologist at Washington University.
1. The underlined word “subtle” in Para.2 is closest in meaning to “________”.| A．hidden | B．apparent | C．outstanding | D．simple |
| A．They control conversation and only talk about themselves. |
| B．They know well how to share positive information. |
| C．They self-promote to stand out in their career. |
| D．They don’t pay much attention to their online image. |
| A．Braggarts make a good first impression but the effect decreases over time. |
| B．People who like bragging know what they are doing. |
| C．Braggarts always adopt comparison directly to show they are excellent. |
| D．They care much about the feelings of others when talking. |
| A．Are you a braggart? | B．Society addicted to networking |
| C．Why do we keep on bragging? | D．How to deal with a braggart? |
5 . Each food product in the United States must show a “best before” date on its container. The goal is to tell the buyer when the food will be at its freshest. Most people believe it is unsafe to use the food product after that date. But some observers say “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety. They worry that the information will lead consumers to throw away food good to eat.
Some food sellers in Britain recently removed “best before” labels from prepackaged fruit and vegetables. The European Union may soon announce changes to its labeling laws. It may even end the requirement to include a date.In the US, there is no similar effort. Some big food store owners and food companies are pushing for the US Congress to pass new laws on the subject.
Studies have found as much as 35% of available food goes uneaten in the United States.That adds up to a lot of wasted energy. It also means more greenhouse gases coming from landfills. 7% of US food waste comes from people’s misunderstanding of “best before” labels. That percentage is equal to about 3. 6 million tons each year.
Richard Lipsit owns a store called Grocery Outlet in Pleasanton, California. He said we can safely eat canned goods and many other packaged foods for years after their “best before”date. People should look for changes in color, thickness, or feel to learn if foods are all right to eat. “Our bodies are very well equipped to recognize the signs of decay,” Lipsit said. “We’ve lost trust in those senses and we’ve replaced it with trust in these dates.”
If new laws are approved in Congress, food could be donated to food rescue organizations even after its quality date has passed. Food rescue is making efforts to find uses for outdated food. Currently, at least 20 states ban the sale or donation of food after its quality date has passed.
1. What do most people think of the food out of “best before” date?| A．It is a threat to their health. | B．It is still fresh enough. |
| C．It should be donated to food rescue organizations. | D．It should be sold at a lower price. |
| A．To point out the mistake they have made. | B．To show the necessity for US to take similar measures. |
| C．To stop US Congress from passing new laws. | D．To praise their efforts on the subject. |
| A．There is an energy crisis in US nowadays. |
| B．Food industry is polluting the country. |
| C．The misunderstanding of “best before” labels is one cause of waste. |
| D．People know nothing about “best before” labels. |
| A．Food that has gone bad. | B．Food that is out of date. |
| C．Food that is not expensive. | D．Food that has a rare color. |
6 . Nowadays, the world is slowly becoming a high-tech society and we are now surrounded by technology. Facebook and Twitter are innovative tools; text messaging is still a somewhat existing phenomenon and even e-mail is only a flashing spot on the screen when compared with our long history of snail mail. Now we adopt these tools to the point of essentialness, and only rarely consider how we are more fundamentally affected by them.
Social media, texting and e-mail all make it much easier to communicate, gather and pass information, but they also present some dangers. By removing any real human engagement, they enable us to develop our abnormal self-love without the risk of disapproval or criticism. To use a theatrical metaphor (隐喻), these new forms of communication provide a stage on which we can each create our own characters, hidden behind a fourth wall of tweets, status updates and texts. This unreal state of unconcern can become addictive as we separate ourselves a safe distance from the cruelty of our fleshly lives, where we are imperfect, powerless and insignificant. In essence, we have been provided not only the means to be more free, but also to become new, to create and project a more perfect self to the world. As we become more reliant on these tools, they become more a part of our daily routine, and so we become more restricted in this fantasy.
So it is that we live in a cold era, where names and faces represent two different levels of closeness, where working relationships occur only through the magic of email and where love can start or end by text message. An environment such as this reduces interpersonal relationships to mere digital exchanges.
Would a celebrity have been so daring to do something dishonorable if he had had to do it in person? Doubtful. It seems he might have been lost in a fantasy world that ultimately convinced himself into believing the digital self could obey different rules and regulations, as if he could continually push the limits of what’s acceptable without facing the consequences of “real life.”
1. What can we know about new communication tools?| A．Destroying our life totally. | B．Posing more dangers than good. |
| C．Helping us to hide our faults. | D．Replacing traditional letters. |
| A．Sheltering us from virtual life. | B．Removing face-to-face interaction. |
| C．Leading to false mental perception. | D．Making us rely more on hi-tech media. |
| A．Technologies have changed our relationships. |
| B．The digital world is a recipe for pushing limits. |
| C．Love can be better conveyed by text message. |
| D．The digital self need not take responsibility. |
| A．Addiction to the Virtual World | B．Cost of Falling into Digital Life |
| C．Interpersonal Skills on the Net | D．The Future of Social Media |
7 . It has become easy for students to find and copy published material. But copying another person’s writing without giving them credit can get students and other scholars into big trouble.
American copyright law protects original works of authorship including books, movies, music, images and artworks.
The idea is that copyright helps society. If people can gain from their own creations, which are called their intellectual property (知识产权), then more people will want to create original works. The law, however, permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted works under what is called fair use. Fair use can include criticism, comment, news reporting, education and research.
Just as it is easy to copy, it is also easy for professors to know if a student has plagiarized. First, there are computer programs and artificial intelligence, tools that compare students’ papers to large databases of published writing.
| A．This behavior is called plagiarism. |
| B．However, there are some limitations. |
| C．Plagiarism is punished in different ways. |
| D．Students must follow university policies on academic behavior. |
| E．They can identify whether students have copied published writing. |
| F．For example, it can automatically create citation s and combine them into a list. |
| G．The protection extends to computer software and the design of buildings and structures. |
8 . As the U. K. and nations across the world mourn (哀悼) the death of Queen Elizabeth II, several aspects of the queen’s 70-year reign have been resurfacing over the past few days. From her personal life to her colonial legacy to her beloved dog — many are attracted by the life of the monarch (君主) . According to some experts, part of people’s attention towards the Royal Family not only comes from their respect for the queen but also from the trend of celebrity worshipping (名人崇拜) .
The idea of the British Royal Family taps into a collective desire for something that seems extraordinary, as opposed to the banality (平庸) of one’s own life, Cheryl Thompson, an assistant professor at the School of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan University, told Global News.
Thompson said the fairytaleish aspect of the British Royal Family is what attracts people, adding that many are attracted by their luxury weddings, seemingly perfect lives and the media attention that follows. “People have grown up hearing about fairy tales with princes and kings and queens,” she said. “So, you would imagine the castle has to be amazing compared to the two-bedroom apartment that you live in with your family … that whole idea of having servants upstairs, the luxuriousness of the dinner table — just brings all of that back into people’s imagination.”
Cele Otnes, head of the Department of Business Administration at the University of Illinois, said the Royal Family is “a complex brand” that is different from what one would normally associate with celebrities.
“They are a global brand that people love all over the world”, explained Otnes.
“They’re luxury”, she said. People far and wide are “very interested in the drama and the tension that happens in the Royal Family.”
“I think another one of the reasons the queen was so popular is that although everyone knew she was extremely wealthy, she didn’t show off her wealth.”
1. According to Thompson the fairytaleish aspect of the Royal Family lies in ________.| A．their life style | B．their political performance |
| C．their charity image | D．their social status |
| A．Because they are very likely to call our attention. |
| B．Because they live a luxurious and admirable life. |
| C．Because they are keen on charity. |
| D．Because they are very modest with their fame and wealth. |
| A．Mourning the death of the queen. | B．Analyzing the popularity of the queen. |
| C．Showing our admiration to the queen. | D．Stating the global importance of the queen. |
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By listing facts. | D．By quoting experts’ ideas. |
9 . In 2012, fewer than 7% of Americans had read poetry, which was down from 17% in 1992. In 2015, poetry was one of the least popular art activities for American grown-ups, with under 10% picking up a book and reading for pleasure. Just when it seemed to be on its deathbed, Instapoetry — easy-to-understand poems that are short enough to fit in your Instagram description — came to save the day.
Instapoetry appeared thanks to social media and Instapoems are usually no longer than a few lines and very direct. The influence Instapoetry has made in the poetry world is great. In 2017, poetry sales were twice what they were in 2016. In 2018, 28 million Americans were reading poems, which was the highest percentage (百分比) of poetry readership in nearly twenty years.
Many people have raved about the new type of poetry. The fact that it’s direct while also being touching is what interests many readers. Before the appearance of Instapoetry, many people thought of poetry as being long and difficult to understand. With Instapoetry, it is easy to understand what the author is trying to say. Readers don’t feel stupid or think the poetry needs to be studied carefully. It’s just simple beauty.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Instapoetry has been criticized (批评) for having no meaning and for seeming like passing thoughts thrown on paper, packed up (包装) all pretty and given to the general public. Instapoetry has also been seen as a disgrace (耻辱) to writers who have worked tirelessly to improve their skills and achieve recognition.
In a world filled with a huge amount of entertainment (娱乐活动), people often choose things that are more showy, eye-catching and don’t take up too much time. Instapoetry fits the bill perfectly. While poets who choose to stick to traditional poetry should certainly keep writing, Instapoetry could be just what the poetry world needs to get it back on its feet.
1. What do the numbers in paragraph 1 show?| A．The difficult situation of poetry. |
| B．The most popular art activities of Americans. |
| C．The falling popularity of physical poetry books. |
| D．The reasons why Americans have lost interest in poetry. |
| A．Refused. | B．Praised. | C．Translated. | D．Changed. |
| A．A social media user who has no interest in poetry. | B．A professor who studies the history of poetry. |
| C．A salesman who sells poetry collections. | D．A poet who writes traditional poetry. |
| A．When is a poet an Instapoet? |
| B．Why are we so worried about Instapoetry? |
| C．How is Instapoetry changing the way we see the world? |
| D．Are Instapoets harming the art of poetry or bringing it to life? |
10 . Editor’s note: An increasing number of Chinese people, especially the young, are more willing to celebrate Western festivals. Should we celebrate foreign festivals? Forum (论坛) readers share their opinions. You’re welcome to add yours.
Dinah (China)
I enjoy the happy atmosphere of both Chinese and Western festivals. As long as it is meaningful for me, I will celebrate it with my boyfriend, and my parents! I like Western festivals and often celebrate them without even knowing the origins of them. Why? Because what I really appreciate is just the happy atmosphere.
SharkMinnow (Canada)
Western Festivals are more like parties or games for some Chinese. Also, spending money = good for economy. Most Chinese don’t take Western festivals as seriously as their own. It’s like a game or party in my eyes. A way to blow off steam and have fun (and spend money).
Travis (UK)
As an Englishman teaching here in China for two years, my friends have got used to, and enjoy when I celebrate my festivals. My school also likes it as well, although this year they asked me not to scare the teachers so much on Halloween. My Chinese friends enjoy taking part in my festivals, as they also learn more about my culture, and the history that goes with it…
Leesinchina (US)
Cherish your own festivals. It would be a pity if the Chinese accepted these Western days — first, because they have absolutely nothing to do with traditional Chinese culture. Second, they are a big trick by the big stores to get more money out of you. Stick to your own festivals — they actually mean something to you — rather than following western customs for no good reason.
1. What matters most according to Dinah?| A．The atmosphere when celebrating festivals. |
| B．The people with whom to celebrate festivals. |
| C．Celebrating Chinese festivals with her family. |
| D．Celebrating Western festivals in a good atmosphere. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Indifferent. | C．Neutral. | D．Negative. |
| A．How should we celebrate festivals? |
| B．Should we celebrate foreign festivals? |
| C．Why are more young people celebrating foreign festivals? |
| D．Are more Chinese people willing to celebrate foreign festivals? |
| A．A newspaper. | B．A debate. | C．A website. | D．A text book. |
