1 . Today’s amazing newspaper headline!
First family of four to walk to the South Pole wearing Mickey Mouse ears and clown’s shoes.
No, not really. It isn’t true. I invented it. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it one day soon. It seems that every week someone becomes ”the first” or “the youngest” or “the oldest” or even “the first married couple” to do something that doesn’t seem to be very useful to the rest of humanity.
This year I’ve seen headlines saying “The youngest person to sail the Atlantic alone”, “The youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest”, and “The first people to fly around the world in a hot air balloon”. Why do they do it? Don’t they have better things to do with their time and money? And why should I be interested anyway?
Human beings have already climbed the highest mountains, sailed across the oceans and flown around the world. People have already reached the most remote parts of our planet. Many of these things were done a long, long time ago. There just isn’t anything left to explore nowadays. I suppose there’s still a lot of the universe left, and the bottom of the oceans is still a bit of a mystery, but you need a lot of technology to explore areas like that. So, those people who feel the need for adventure can only do things that have been done before. So they have to try and do it in a new way, or be “the fastest” or “the youngest” or “the oldest” to do something that isn’t really new at all.
What is so great about climbing Mount Everest these days anyway? It’s become a popular tourist trip. People pay thousands of dollars to be taken up the mountain by the local Sherpas, who lead the way and carry the bags. At any one time there are about a thousand people either climbing up or on their way back down. As a result, Everest is covered with rubbish and the Sherpas have to make special trips up the mountain to pick it up. The climbers are often inexperienced and when they get into trouble other people have to risk their lives to bring them down to safety. Helicopter crews have been killed trying to reach people who were stuck on the mountain.
In January 2003 a helicopter carrying two British men crashed into the sea near Antarctica. I’m not quite sure what they were trying to be “the first” or “the youngest” to do. The Chilean navy picked them up after a nine-hour rescue mission that cost tens of thousands of pounds, all paid for by the Chilean and British taxpayers.
Talking of taxpayers, many Australians are getting a bit fed up with record breakers. A lot of people trying to break sailing or rowing records get into trouble in the seas around Australia, so the Australian navy has to send ships to save them. There have been a lot of difficult, time-consuming rescue missions in recent years costing the Australian government millions of dollars. I suppose we can’t just leave them to drown, but personally, I think we should give the bill to the people who are rescued. Perhaps they would think twice about doing it if they had to pay for expensive insurance premiums (保费). Then I wouldn’t have to read about them in the newspapers either.
1. The writer invents the newspaper headline in paragraphs 1 & 2 to ________.| A．persuade readers of a new trend | B．entertain readers with his humor |
| C．get readers interested in the topic | D．remind readers of an important event |
| A．Mount Everest is now covered with a lot of rubbish |
| B．climbing Mount Everest has already lost its true meaning |
| C．it’s impossible to climb up Mountain Everest without help |
| D．people without experience may get in trouble or even danger |
| A．They have to pay for the costs of rescuing the record breakers. |
| B．The Australian navy was not something intended for rescue work. |
| C．The record breakers should pay for their insurance premiums themselves. |
| D．A great number of people try to break records in the seas around Australia. |
| A．It’s All Been Done Before | B．Never Do Something New |
| C．You Are the Next Record Breaker | D．Be Responsible for Your Adventures |
2 . Twins may be more common today than at anytime in history. Researchers analyzed records from 165 countries and found a significant rise in twin birth rates since the 1980s, with one in 42 people now born a twin. According to the survey, the global twin birth rate has risen by one-third, on average, over the past 40 years.
“The trends are really quite striking,” said Christiaan Monden, a professor at Oxford University. “Over the past 40 years we’ve seen a strong increase in twinning rates in rich and developed countries. Globally, twinning rates have risen from nine to twelve per 1,000 births since the 1980s, but the picture varies from country to country. The greatest rises are seen in North America (71%), Europe (60%) and Asia (32%). In the UK, twinning rates rose about 62%. In the Oxford study, a decrease of more than 10% was found in only seven countries over the dates surveyed. “The absolute number of twin deliveries (分娩) has increased everywhere except South America,” Monden said. “In North America and Africa, the numbers have increased by more than 80%, and in Africa this increase is caused almost entirely by population growth.”
Raj Mathur, a doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, said, “It doesn’t surprise us that twinning rates have increased because the availability of assisted reproduction (生殖) has increased and also because women are slightly older when they have their first children, and both those things will increase the twinning rate.”
“The majority of twin babies are completely fine, but there is no doubt that a twin pregnancy (怀孕) carries greater risks for the mother and the baby. So when we can avoid it, we should avoid it. The principle we follow is simply summed up by the phrase ‘one at a time’,” Mathur said.
1. What do we know about the survey?| A．It saw a world population growth. | B．It lasted nearly fifty years. |
| C．It was the first research about twins. | D．It was based on plenty of data. |
| A．South America. | B．Asia. | C．Europe. | D．Africa. |
| A．It’s dangerous to be with child. | B．It’s wise to bring up a single baby. |
| C．It’s best to have one baby at a birth. | D．It’s unavoidable to give birth to a twin. |
| A．The Principle of Delivering Babies |
| B．More Twin Babies Than Ever Before |
| C．No Doubt About the Present Twinning Rates |
| D．A Great Breakthrough in Human Reproduction |
3 . South Korea has the biggest rate of Internet addiction in the world and it is increasingly the country’s children who are spending every waking moment immersing themselves in fantasy role plays or gaming In the remote mountains of South Korea, teenage Internet addicts are turning up for a 12-day boot camp.
Kyle Won’s addiction is out of control. He spends 10 hours a day on the Internet. Now Kyle’s smartphone is taken away. The teachers here do what they can to get them socializing again; for many, the only friends they have had are online. “I have relationships on the Internet and a real distance has gown with my real-life friends and I know it’s not good,” Kyle said. The teachers show them other possibilities and bring back dreams and hopes that have been buried by their addictions. “We teach them methods of managing their desire to use the Internet so that they can continue to use it when they go back home,” Shim Yong-school, a teacher here, said. After just two days Kyle said It was helpful. He’s set a good example to others though he hasn’t reached the goal completely.
Sout Korean psychiatrists (精神病专家) are urging more/action as they are finding evidence that too much screen time is a barrier to the developing minds. Professor Kang Seak Young from Dankook, University said the addiction was damaging critical thinking. “It affects the frontal lobes (额叶) which are important to critical analysis” Professor Kang said. “Reading a book and guessing what happens in the story next show activity in frontal lobes but playing popular computer games for a long time shows no activity.”
South Korea is one of the most wired nations on Earth, but it does have a cost. One in every ten kids is an addict so the country is now learning how to manage its high-tech future to avoid more serious consequences.
1. What do the teachers in the camp teach teenagers to do?| A．Self-manage their smartphones. | B．Attain something beyond the Internet. |
| C．Make online friends more wisely. | D．Keep away from electronic products. |
| A．He faced the most serious addiction. | B．He has succeeded in kicking the addiction. |
| C．He’s the representative of the addicts. | D．He participated in the camp actively. |
| A．The importance of offline reading. | B．The effects of frontal lobes on thinking. |
| C．The popularity of kids’ Internet games. | D．The harm of Internet addiction to brains. |
| A．There are two sides to every coin. | B．No pain, no gain. |
| C．It’s good to learn at another man’s cost. | D．Prevention is better than cure. |
4 . Are you familiar with the greeting, "Can I add you on WeChat?" It seems like every time we meet new friends or colleagues nowadays, the first thing that springs to mind is adding each other on the app. Nevertheless, more than 80 percent of WeChat users report feeling stressed or anxious when they receive a large number of messages, according to a study done recently by the app’s developer Tencent (腾讯). In other words, WeChat can overwhelm (使应接不暇) us, while also breaking down the boundaries between our work and private lives.
Just think how easy it is now for bosses to hand out assignments during the holiday, so long as they have your WeChat contact. When you’re at the cinema enjoying a romantic movie or having a barbecue in the backyard, you can never cut yourself off from the outside world unless you switch off your phone. Not to post something in WeChat Moments before replying to your boss first!
Apart from interrupting your leisure time, WeChat can also reduce your productivity at work. For many office workers, logging in to WeChat on their computers at the start of the day has become routine. But what if browsing the Moments distracts us from doing the work? The app steals our time without us even noticing it, making us have the false belief that we are busy all the time.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, there’re the "one-off" friends who take up space on our WeChat friend list. A handy way to check how many one-off friends you have is to take a look at your chat history with them. Sometimes, you only sent the initial friend requests so you could invite them to a WeChat group or inform them of something for your boss. Yet still, as your friend count (好友数量) ever goes up, it can make you feel the need to post selfies (自拍) and share details of your life in your Moments, just so you can stay up to date.
With WeChat, all our spare time is swallowed up by the constant torrent of messages and our attention keeps getting diverted by Moments and pop-up ads. So it’s time that we should do something to nip this problem in the bud.
1. What is most of WeChat users’ reaction when receiving a mass of messages?| A．They are quite upset. | B．They think it’s unavoidable. |
| C．They break down. | D．They complain about Tencent. |
| A．Enjoying a movie at the weekend. |
| B．Posting something in WeChat Moments. |
| C．Having a barbecue on vacation. |
| D．Ignoring the assignment he handed out when seeing it. |
| A．By checking if you sent the initial friend request. |
| B．By seeing if your boss asked you to inform him of something. |
| C．By having a look at your chat record. |
| D．By counting the number of your friends on the list. |
| A．Is WeChat becoming a necessity in our life? |
| B．Are WeChat friend requests ruining your life? |
| C．Does your boss want to be your WeChat friend? |
| D．Is it better to have more WeChat friends? |
5 . Growing up as kids we are told to share our toys and not to be selfish. We also live in an age when discussing our feelings is encouraged. But when does it all become too much? With new trends growing all the time, such as dance challenges and wearing a carpet as a dress, the question is: when can sharing become oversharing on social media?
“Oversharing” has become associated with social media, but it isn’t exclusive to this platform. Imagine you head to a party and meet someone. Within five minutes they have revealed private details about their life. While some of us may try to escape these people, according to marriage advisor Carolyn Cole, this form of oversharing could come from a strong desire to connect with someone. But how does this translate to social media?
Dr. Christopher Hand, a lecturer in cyberpsychology (网络心理学), says the more details people uncover, the less sympathy we express when things go wrong. It seems that searching for sympathy by oversharing is generally considered as negative rather than the cry for help it could really be.
However, Dr. Hand’s research also seems to suggest that the more we post on a platform, the more socially attractive we become-only if the posts that we share are positive. Even back in 2015, Gwendolyn Seidman PhD said that we should avoid complaining and being negative online. We should also avoid showing off, especially about our love lives. It makes sense-if your date is going “that well”, would you really have time to share a photo with text?
So, how can you know if you are oversharing? Well, why not ask your friends in real life. They would probably be happy to tell you if your posts about your breakfast or your complaints about your lack of money really are too much.
1. What does the underlined word “exclusive” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Unique. | B．Similar. | C．Relevant | D．Distinct. |
| A．To draw others’ attention. | B．To satisfy others’ curiosity. |
| C．To remove negative feelings. | D．To develop good relationships. |
| A．Sharing more details online can attract more sympathy. |
| B．Oversharing negative experiences is equal to crying for help. |
| C．Oversharing isn’t likely to happen online when things go wrong. |
| D．Sharing negative posts can’t help one become socially attractive. |
| A．Reflecting on past bad manners. | B．Showing a great many expensive goods. |
| C．Writing a recipe for a balanced breakfast. | D．Recording unforgettable moments with friends. |
6 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.
Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial strains, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution(内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.
“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis (宣泄) and adjustment,” said a scholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”
Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty about their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.
“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”
1. What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Warned. | B．Punished. | C．Amused. | D．Touched. |
| A．Improvements in living conditions. |
| B．Growing pressure from family and social life. |
| C．Increasing material possessions from families. |
| D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Intolerant. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They never really drop their responsibilities. |
| B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle. |
| C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach. |
| D．They would rather escape than take challenges. |
7 . Recently, I had lunch with a young Chinese student who studies at a college in New York. He is very bright and ambitious and I enjoyed our conversation. Still, I felt upset and useless afterwards because I was not able to provide him with any good news. Graduating at the end of this year, he asked me how he could find a job in this country and fulfill his career dreams.
In recent years, students who found a job here after graduation have had to go through a cruel lottery system to obtain their H-1B working visa. And the success rates have been declining year after year because of the ever growing number of applicants. Last year, there were 233,000 applicants and only 30 percent of them were lucky, about half of the rate in 2013.
And it can only become worse. US former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in this country have been tightening up and this trend will continue for at least the next few years. In this case, foreign students studying social sciences, a field in which starting salaries are rarely above the required amount, can kiss their visa hopes goodbye.
Compared to the older generation of Chinese students, today’s young people no longer consider the US as the only option. Many start to think China offers better opportunities in the longer term.
This is not to say that Chinese students in the US are not interested in job opportunities here any more. A few years of work experience in the US can give them advantages when they finally land back in their home country. But if the job opportunities are largely reduced by the tightening of immigration policy, I expect there will be a decline. And if that happens, it is the American economy that will suffer from the loss of those educated, hard-working and talented immigrants.
1. The author felt useless because ___.| A．he couldn’t find a job in the fierce job market. |
| B．he was less bright and ambitious than the Chinese young student. |
| C．he couldn’t win the cruel lottery. |
| D．he had to make the Chinese student realize it was difficult to find work there. |
| A．It is increasingly hard for them to get their H-1B working visa. |
| B．The number of applicants in the job market is ever growing. |
| C．Donald Trump’s immigration policies have been tightening up. |
| D．The starting salaries they require are higher than expected. |
| A．125, 000. |
| B．75, 000. |
| C．150. 000. |
| D．200, 000. |
| A．Indifferent. |
| B．Concerned. |
| C．Favorable. |
| D．Objective. |
8 . Since wars begin in the minds of men and women, it is in the minds of men and women that the protection of peace must be built. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It seeks to build peace through international co-work in education, sciences and culture.
As early as 1942, in wartime, the governments of the European countries, which were facing Nazi Germany and its partners, met in the United Kingdom for the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education (CAME). World War Ⅱ was far from over, yet those countries were looking for ways and means to rebuild their education systems once peace was restored. The project quickly gained support and soon reached a common agreement. New governments, including that of the United States, decided to join in. Upon the suggestion of CAME, a United Nations Meeting for the creation of an educational and cultural organization (ECO) was started in London from 1 to 16 November 1945. Hardly had the war ended when the meeting opened. It gathered together representatives of forty-four countries who decided to create an organization that would accept a sincere culture of peace. In their eyes, the new organization was to create the “agreement of mankind” and thereby prevent the possibility of another world war.
Political and economic agreements of governments are not enough to secure the lasting and sincere support of the peoples. Peace must be founded upon communication and understanding.
Peace must be built upon the agreement of humanity. In this spirit, UNESCO develops educational tools to help people live as global citizens free of hate and impatience. UNESCO works to ensure that every child and every citizen can get quality education. By protecting cultural richness and the equality of all cultures, UNESCO strengthens the connections between nations. UNESCO develops scientific programs and measures as chances for development and improvement. UNESCO stands up for freedom of expression. As a workshop of ideas, UNESCO helps countries to take international rules and manages programs that encourage the free flow of ideas and the exchange of knowledge.
1. What is the main purpose of UNESCO?| A．To develop education. | B．To share the world’s culture. |
| C．To create a scientific environment. | D．To serve the building of a peaceful world. |
| A．In the fall of 1945. | B．Shortly after World War Ⅱ. |
| C．Long before the CAME suggestion. | D．After the second United Nations meeting. |
| A．thus | B．soon |
| C．safely | D．secretly |
| A．How UNESCO tries to achieve its spirit. |
| B．How global affairs can get well managed. |
| C．What role UNESCO plays in a workshop. |
| D．What international exchanges are made up of. |
9 . The word mukbang is from the Korean words “muk-ja” (let’s eat) and “bang- song” (广播). Hosts eat amounts of food in front of a camera while interacting with their audience. The show appeared first in South Korea, where the videos became popular via live stream(直播)channels.
The show comes from South Korea but other countries follow in significantly different ways. Take America as an example, Koreans plan their streams around dinnertime hours so viewers can feel like they are sharing a meal with a friend. And yet Americans tend (倾向于) to be more conversational in their videos which are pre-recorded. Korean mukbangers tend to eat traditional Korean dishes while American mukbangers eat a wider variety of foods.
Why are millions of people so drawn to watching perfect strangers eat in the first place? It’s a combination of sensory, psychological, social, emotional, environmental even neurological factors, says Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist at Brown University Alpert Medical School. She specially explains how food attracts our senses and develops our behavior when it comes to what we like to eat. A big part of that neurological factor is the ASMR (autonomous sensory-motor response), described as a brain feeling which can help people relaxed from the familiar sounds of eating in the mukbang videos.
Earning the popularity and money, more and more mukbangers appear. However, the show has not come without its unfavorable comments. As our habits change, we spend more and more social engagement on social media. It’s only a matter of time before mukbang affects our behavior around food. Viewers could probably develop unhealthy eating habits from watching. Despite the negative comments, mukbang continues to do well on the Internet and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.
1. What do we know about Mukbang?| A．It is an eating live show. | B．It is a TV channel |
| C．It is an eating competition. | D．It is a video website. |
| A．Play them without a stop. | B．Show various dishes in them. |
| C．Record them after dinnertime. | D．Chat more with friends in them. |
| A．Strangers like to eat what is on show. |
| B．The viewers’ bad behaviors can get adjusted. |
| C．Weak-minded people are most likely to overeat. |
| D．The eating sounds can easily cause viewers’ interest. |
| A．The changes of our habits. | B．The comments of viewers. |
| C．The management of the show. | D．The development of the Internet. |
10 . Good Morning Britain (GMB) launches special “listening benches” in order to solve loneliness. EastEnders star Maisie Smith joined Susanna and Martin in the studio to talk about her involvement in a special part of the 1 Million Minutes campaign — GMB’s special “listening benches” across the country.
Six special “listening benches” have been designed by six celebrities, and can be found in six cities across the UK — and they’re in place to encourage people to strike up a conversation. Maisie joined the show to share why the campaign is important to her.
“I’m always very open about mental health,” Maisie explained. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you have — everyone is going through something and I just think the world would be a kinder place if everyone understood that.”
“I think especially growing up in the limelight (引人注目) as a teenager, you’re very judgemental of yourself when you do see comments of other people judging you. It can add to the stress of the things you re already going through. I think people do think I’m confident because I cover my nerves with a big smile and that’s what I’ve been doing in my whole life.”
Susanna asked Maisie if she had a technique for dealing with her nerves. “It depends on what it is,” said Maisie. “A lot of the time — and it’s going to sound really stupid — but I write a script. I write down all of the questions that I could be asked and try to come up with something so that my brain won’t go blank when I’m under pressure.
1. What is the theme of “listening benches”?| A．Caring for oneself. | B．Changing the world. |
| C．Dealing with loneliness. | D．Protecting the environment. |
| A．To let people know about her life. | B．To share her feelings of the campaign. |
| C．To set up a model for other celebrities. | D．To ask more people to express their mind. |
| A．Protective. | B．Private. |
| C．Serious. | D．Outspoken. |
| A．A programme on mental health. | B．GMB interviewing celebrities. |
| C．Techniques for responding to nerves. | D．Preparations before being interviewed. |
