1 . A good place
I know it sounds strange, but I want you to take a look at your life as you read this article in the next minute. In your world, you're looking for a place where you feel cared about and where you'll see people coming together to help someone in need, whether it's for a meal, a laugh, or to lend a hand when disaster strikes.
You know such a place because you’ve been there. It’s on a front porch (门廊) in your town after something difficult has happened and help is on the way. It's on the phone, people working together to solve problems at work or in the city. Do you know the phrase “up to no good”? This is a place where you feel the opposite:
Scan your schools, your stores, your online experiences, and your churches—any place you have felt the power of people being together no matter what their backgrounds are.
Hold that thought, because now I will ask you to do one more thing. Take a moment to write me about those people and why you smile when you think about them.
| A．These people are up to good. |
| B．These people are up to no good. |
| C．This is important, especially for American today. |
| D．These things should be everywhere in America today. |
| E．This is the place where you have said to yourself “I got the help”. |
| F．At a time when we have lost faith, your stories can help us regain it. |
| G．In a place with a big heart you will immediately feel like you belong. |
2 . Two-way communication is a process by which two people or groups are able to communicate with each other in a reciprocal（相互的）way. This means that one person or group expresses an idea, which is received by the other person or group.
The basic idea behind two-way communication is that there are two parties involved and each one is able to express itself and receive information from the other.
In marketing or public relations, there are two basic processes that are often referred to as two-way communication. Asymmetric（不对称的）communication occurs between two parties.
Symmetric two-way communication, on the other hand, occurs between two parties that are equals within the process. A company uses it to allow customers to provide feedback（反馈）.
| A．This kind of communication has two forms. |
| B．This often allows the customer to feel more powerful. |
| C．One of them has more “control” over the process. |
| D．There are different ways people join in two-way communication. |
| E．The receiver returns with a message that is then received by the speaker. |
| F．A teacher uses it to encourage students to put forward their different opinions. |
| G．This is in contrast to communication in which only one party is able to express itself. |
3 . Many of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold it at a high angle, making your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more defined. You turn to your best side and click. There it is-your selfie.
Over the past several years , the “selfie” has become a well-known term across the globe. The Oxford English Dictionary added the word to their online dictionary and defined it as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”
Today it’s not difficult to find social web pages full of photos that people have taken of themselves and their friends. And selfie culture has become especially relevant to young people. As many as 91 percent of teenagers have posted photos of themselves online, according to a recent survey by the US Pew Research Center.
So what are the reasons for the rise of selfie culture?
“Ordinary people shows the cult（狂热）of the selfie,” Pamela Rutledge, a professor from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, told Vogue magazine. “There are more photographs available now of ordinary people than models.”
Posting selfies also allows you to control your image online. “I like having the power to choose how I look, even if I’m making a funny face,” Samantha Barks, 19, a high school student in the US, told Vogue.
In addition to self-expression and documentation, selfies “allow of a close friendship for long-distance friends, because you can see each other’s faces every day”, wrote Casey Miller at The Huffington Post.
But Jill Weber, a US psychologist, is concerned that selfies might lead to social problems. “There’s a danger that your self-esteem may start to be tied to the comments and ‘likes’ you get when you post a selfie, and those comments and likes aren’t based on who you are-but based on what you look like,” Weber told Vogue. “When you get nothing or a negative response, your confidence can plummet.”
1. In the first paragraph, the author intends to ________.| A．tell us the fun of taking a selfie | B．describe what a selfie is |
| C．introduce where the selfie comes from | D．inform readers that the selfie is popular among teenagers |
a. It enables people to choose how they look.
b. It helps people improve their self-esteem.
c. It’s a chance for ordinary people to show off themselves.
d. It is believed to be a helpful way to develop a new friendship.
e. It is considered a good way to keep in touch with friends that are far away.
| A．a, c, e | B．b, c, d | C．a, b, c | D．b, d, e |
| A．She thinks they are a good form of self-expression and documentation. |
| B．She believes the disadvantages of selfies outweigh the advantages. |
| C．She worries that people’s self-esteem might be affected by how others react to their selfies. |
| D．She thinks that selfies can help people learn about their friends based on who they really are. |
| A．rapidly develop | B．greatly exaggerate | C．become dangerous | D．quickly fall |
4 . For the past 3000 years, when people thought of money, they thought of cash. From buying food to paying bills, day-to-day dealings involved paper or metal money. Over the past decade, however, digital payments have taken off—tapping your credit card on a machine or having the QR Code (二维码) on your smart phone scanned has become normal. Now this revolution is about to turn cash into an endangered species in some rich countries. That will make the economy more efficient, but it also brings new problems.
Countries are getting rid of cash at different speeds. In Sweden the number of retail cash transactions (交易) per person has fallen by 80% in the past ten years. Cash accounts for just 6% of purchases by value in Norway. Britain is probably four or six years behind it. America is perhaps a decade behind. Outside the rich world, cash is still king. However, in China, digital payments rose from 4% of all payments in 2012 to 34% in 2017.
Cash is dying out because of two forces. One is demand—younger consumers want to enjoy their digital lives with payment systems. But equally important, suppliers such as banks and tech firms are developing fast, easy-to-use payment technologies from which they can pull data and pocket fees.
In general, the future of a cashless economy is excellent news. When cash payments disappear, people and shops are less likely to be stolen. Besides, digitalisation greatly expands the playground of small businesses by enabling them to sell beyond their borders. It also creates a credit history, helping consumers borrow. Yet it is not without problems. Electronic payment systems may suffer technical failures, power blackouts and cyber-attacks. What’s more, in a cashless economy, the poor, the elderly and country folk may be left behind.
1. What do we know about digital payments in paragraph 1?| A．They've been used in daily dealings for 3000 years. |
| B．They have become popular in the past ten years. |
| C．They can only be made on the smart phones. |
| D．They are leading to cash's dying out worldwide. |
| A．America. | B．Britain. | C．Sweden | D．Norway. |
| A．Cash payments are less likely to disappear. |
| B．Digitalisation enables small businesses to sell nationally. |
| C．Customers can have their credit history built through digital payments. |
| D．Digital payments may benefit the poor, the elderly and country folks. |
| A．have fallen off | B．have become a trend |
| C．have been out of fashion | D．have been substituted |
5 . There is a paradox improving education in America: The system is failing to prepare many kids for success, but we have spent so much on the system that isn’t practical. We have a big influence on teaching and learning within our existing schools: on the playground during recess.
Most elementary school headmasters will tell you that recess is the toughest time of the school day. It’s when most problems happen, and too often problems from the playground come over into the classroom, creating distractions for students.
Americans are usually pretty nostalgic about recess, but a lot has changed since we were kids. When I was growing up in Washington, D.C., I had the chance to play outside, every day after school, during weekends and all summer long. The older kids taught the younger kids a lot of rules — from how to pick teams to how to quickly end quarrels — and as the younger kids became the older kids, we passed on this culture of play to the generation behind us.
But kids don’t get to play outside and be unsupervised the way we used to. And so when kids come to school, they don’t bring those skills with them. The fights and quarrels that have replaced the recess we remember can be discouraging for kids and educators.
Schools generally put up with the problems on the playground because they don’t know how to deal with them, but it turns out that rescuing recess is pretty easy. All it takes is one grown-up who has a love for play and the skills in creating an environment where students can play happily.
1. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?| A．How can kids enjoy their recess |
| B．Why do kids need recess |
| C．A misunderstanding about improving education |
| D．Ways to get rid of the problems caused by students in the classroom |
| A．It will make students too excited in the classroom. |
| B．It will make students do damage to the playground. |
| C．It will make teachers discover their students’ problems. |
| D．It will make students pay less attention to their lessons. |
| A．had no time to play outside |
| B．often got involved in quarrels with the younger kids |
| C．could manage the younger kids successfully |
| D．passed on this culture of play to their parents |
6 . In “Social Robots for Education”, a study published last August in Science Robotics, the summary is: “Social robots can be used in education as private teachers or peer learners. They have been shown to be effective in increasing cognitive（认知的） and emotional results and have achieved results similar to those of human teaching on some tasks. This is largely because of their physical presence, which traditional learning technologies lack.”
The study showed a few reasons why educational robots are becoming a teaching fashion. Firstly, they can help cut school budgets. Secondly, teachers seem at a loss as there are growing numbers of students per classroom. Besides, educational robots can meet the demand for greater personalization of students. Instead of just seating students in front of a computer screen with software to teach them，many teachers can choose a more interactive（互动的） educational experience through robots.“Robots are an ideal choice when the material to be taught requires direct physical presentation. For example, teaching physical skills, such as handwriting or basketball free throws, the study expressed. But, don’t expect Siri or Alexa to replace real teachers right away.
“Although robots can operate independently in certain contexts, fully autonomous social teaching behavior in all environments remains difficult to achieve,” the study said. “Although automatic speech recognition and social signal processing have improved in recent years, speech recognition for younger users, for example, is still not strong enough for most interactions.”
Robots are already used for science, technology, engineering and math, which is called STEM education. “More and more educational robots are being developed because they’ve been largely effective in teaching users topics like computer programming, AI and engineering, in a handson, engaging way,” said Maria Jung, product public relations manager at DJI, developer of the RoboMaster S1.
She said the Rob Master educational robot was created with the purpose of benefiting middle to high school students learning, both inside and outside of the classroom. It helps students become familiar with the basics of robotics through simple controls.
“The main functions of an educational robot are to provide an opportunity to see lessons come to life, educate users in an interesting way and provide an on going stream of learning with new content,” she added.
1. According to the passage, what can we know about educational robots?| A．They keep students learning in front of a computer screen. |
| B．They can be fully independent in recognizing speech. |
| C．They can carry out autonomous social teaching wherever possible. |
| D．They provide a more interactive educational experience for students and teachers. |
| A．Teachers won’t be needed anymore. |
| B．More subjects can be taught in an effective way. |
| C．Students will be disturbed by the educational robots. |
| D．Students can have free communication with the robots. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Disapproving |
| C．Objective | D．Supportive |
7 . Doing business nowadays without a cellphone? Living a very private life? I can't imagine it anymore.
Journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explained it very well: For the average working person, there's no greater feeling than powering down your computer and kissing goodbye to your work emails for the day. If we're lucky enough to disconnect from the job on evenings and weekends, we're overjoyed to leave work emails and the stress that comes with it in the office.
But experts say we're increasingly failing to do so, instead bringing the burden home with us and dealing with emails during our free time. Unsurprisingly, this routine has some serious consequences.
Working abnormal or long hours has long been linked with depression（抑郁）, anxiety and even heart disease. In addition, the importance of weekend recovery has also been linked with weekly job performance and personal initiative（主动性）. And further research showed psychological detachment（脱离）during off-work time reduced emotional exhaustion caused by high job demands and helped people stay engaged（投入的）.
So, if we know all this, it begs the question: Why are we still letting work invade（入侵）our precious weekends?
According to Cary Cooper, Professor of Organizational Psychology at Alliance Manchester Business School, the recent trend even spills into the way we access our work communications and projects.
Today, says Cooper, work emails are just a tap of a smartphone away. "You don't carry your laptop around when you' re out to dinner, but you do carry your mobile phone," he says. "The smartphone changed everything. In many cases, what is gained does not make up for what is lost." So delete your work email account from your inbox, and leave the worries until Monday.
1. What did Chris Stokel-Walker try to stress?| A．The development of office work. | B．The importance of working hard. |
| C．The pleasure of completing work. | D．The power of modern technology. |
| A．Using a cellphone. | B．Working in personal time. |
| C．Failing to work long hours. | D．Leaving work emails behind. |
| A．It's necessary. | B．It's rewarding. |
| C．It isn't common. | D．It isn't worthwhile. |
| A．Can We Live without a Cellphone? |
| B．What Should We Do on Weekends? |
| C．Should We Ban Weekend Work Emails? |
| D．Who Should be Blamed for Work Overload? |
8 . It's likely that you don't think you've invited a spy into your home when setting up a new TV. But new Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs can record and share everything that's viewed, whether it's a broadcast or something streaming from the Internet. And some smart TVs can even track what DVD you're watching.
Your viewing habits are valuable information for marketers who might want to use the information to advertise new shows and products, offer extra content on shows you want to watch. The advertisements are like the ones you see on your computer.
You might not realize that you allowed TVs to collect your viewing habits when you agreed to the long privacy policy during setup. With Samsung, there are 47 screens of text. LG and Vizio also ask you to agree to the privacy policy in thousands of words in fine print.
When Consumer Reports emailed the makers to ask how they are using the technology, representatives for Samsung and Vizio didn't say anything. An LG representative said that the company isn't using any data to send personalized ads and has no plans to do so. But Consumer Reports says that could change at any time.
You might think, “How can I turn those advertisements off?" It's not always so easy. To stop tracking, you have to fight your way through menu settings. On an LG set, go to settings , then options, then Live plus, click off, then close. With Vizio, it's like a long tour through three menus to turn off the advertisements. With Samsung, it's a similar trip to find the box "SyncPlus and Marketing” to disable it.
Consumer Reports says that countermanding the marketing feature may cause you to lose some extra services from makers, but it's more important to protect your privacy.
1. What will the marketers use customers' viewing habits to do?| A．Build a good relationship with customers. | B．Collect some suggestions about shows. |
| C．Advertise new shows and products. | D．Improve the quality of smart TVs. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Reasonable. | D．Believable. |
| A．How we learn to use TVs’ settings. |
| B．How we can get more shows from TV. |
| C．How we send personal information to others. |
| D．How we stop advertisements from appearing on the screen. |
| A．cancelling | B．reading | C．researching | D．learning |
9 . Will Traditional TV Ever Be Replaced by Streaming?
For a long time, people had to listen to the radio to get news, drama, and music at home. This all changed with the development of the television in the early 20th century.
A Slow Decline
While the uptake of TV ownership exploded, the decline of television's dominance has been slow and has been going on for the past decade.
Changing Viewing Habits
In the UK, adults are spending more time watching content on YouTube and streaming services than ever before. In 2018, these figures were 30 minutes and 26 minutes per day respectively.
Still the King
Average viewing time for all traditional TV channels continues to decline though, despite much larger quantities of original content being produced by these organisations.
While the traditional TV networks have seen a decline, the television set itself doesn't look like it's going anywhere any time soon.
| A．This has been the trend for the last couple of decades. |
| B．The original content has included massively popular shows. |
| C．Suddenly, we were able to see what was going on, not just listen along. |
| D．The traditional TV channels are taking away audiences from streaming services. |
| E．Most major TV channels have their own catch up streaming service. |
| F．While demand for streaming services is up, TV continues to be the most watched overall. |
| G．Today, we have the power to watch whatever, whenever, wherever we want. |
10 . For the first time in its history, the International Olympic Committee has allowed a team of refugees to compete at the Games. All of the team’s members were forced to leave their home countries. Now they’ve come together to compete under the Olympic flag instead.
Making it to the Olympics is something eighteen-year-old swimmer Yusra has always dreamed of. But just last year, she was swimming for her life. She and her sister were forced to leave their home in Syria because of the war there. They were trying to get to Greece in a rubber dinghy (橡皮艇) with eighteen other refugees, when their boat broke down and began filling with water. Most of the people on board couldn’t swim, so she and her sister jumped in to help push it to shore.
Three hours later, they made it to safety, and eventually to Germany as refugees. Refugees are people who have left their home country because their lives are threatened by war, bad treatment or violence---often because of their race, gender or beliefs. Around the world, more than 60 million people are in this situation. And some of them, like Yusra, are elite athletes who have trained all their lives to compete at the highest level, only to have that chance taken away.
Now, a team of ten, including swimmers, runners, and judokas from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo have been given the chance to compete at the Games under the Olympic flag. They’ve also been given their own coaches, officials, uniforms and a chef, all paid for by the IOC. And in the past few months they’ve been training hard. The IOC says it wants the team to inspire and give hope to other refugees, and draw attention to the issues millions of other around the world are facing. And these guys say they are up to the task whether they win gold or not.
“These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit,” the statement continues.
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?| A．She trained all her life. |
| B．She swam for the glory of life. |
| C．She swam to escape being drowned. |
| D．She swam to escape from other refugees. |
| A．Syria | B．Germany | C．Congo | D．Ethiopia |
| A．Race | B．Violence | C．Religion | D．Nationality |
| A．help the refugees to fulfill their dreams of winning the Olympic gold medal. |
| B．offer the refugees a chance to earn bread by themselves. |
| C．light a candle of hope for all the refugees in the world. |
| D．curse the darkness of the society by forcing them to pay attention to the life of refugees. |
