Many parents are watchful about their kids’ use of electronic devices and set strict limits for them to protect their children from the potentially harmful effects of too much screen time. But parents may be overlooking another device-related danger — secondhand screen time. It’s meant to mirror the danger in regard to secondhand smoking. When parents are distracted by an electronic device and only give partial attention to their children, the kids are actually suffering from its influence.
Secondhand screen time can bring negative consequences. Kids, whose parents spend too much time with their devices, are more likely to develop addictive behaviours with devices as they grow. Excessive (过度的) device use also sends the message that the device and activities on it are more important than the children. This can lead to a breakdown in the parent-child relationship. When parents are absorbed in their devices, they may not realize their children are exposed to violent or mature content or fast-moving images that are overly stimulating for young brains.
Secondhand screen time is an issue parents need to be aware of regardless of their children’s age. Parents can take the following tips to reduce its impact.
➢Focus on quality time
A child’s cognitive, communication, social and emotional development happens via their relationships with their care providers. The more time parents spend looking at electronics, the less time they can devote to giving the kids their full attention. This doesn’t mean parents should never use devices when they are together with their children. Parents need to be aware of how often they are fully engaged with their children without devices and make sure they offer quality interaction and attention.
➢Set an example
Parents often tell kids it’s important to control device use, but if their experience with parents from early age is watching parents use devices frequently, children are much more likely to follow that model. By setting a good example, parents are sending to their kids the message “do as I do”, which is more effective than “do as I say”.
1. What is secondhand screen time according to the passage?2. What problems does secondhand screen time bring to children?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
➢Excessive device use gets in the way of maintaining a good parent-child relationship, so parents should never use devices in the presence of their children.
4. Apart from the tips mentioned in the passage, what other ways can you think of to reduce secondhand screen time? (In about 40 words)
2 . Both misinformation, which includes honest mistakes, and disinformation, which involves an intention to mislead, have had a growing impact on teenage students over the past 20 years. One tool that schools can use to deal with this problem is called media literacy education. The idea is to teach teenage students how to evaluate and think critically about the messages they receive. Yet there is profound disagreement about what to teach.
Some approaches teach students to distinguish the quality of the information in part by learning how responsible journalism works. Yet some scholars argue that these methods overstate journalism and do little to cultivate critical thinking skills. Other approaches teach students methods for evaluating the credibility of news and information sources, in part by determining the incentive of those sources. They teach students to ask: What encouraged them to create it and why? But even if these approaches teach students specific skills well, some experts argue that determining credibility of the news is just the first step. Once students figure out if it’s true or false, what is the other assessment and the other analysis they need to do?
Worse still, some approaches to media literacy education not only don’t work but might actually backfire by increasing students’ skepticism about the way the media work. Students may begin to read all kinds of immoral motives into everything. It is good to educate students to challenge their assumptions, but it’s very easy for students to go from healthy critical thinking to unhealthy skepticism and the idea that everyone is lying all the time.
To avoid these potential problems, broad approaches that help students develop mindsets in which they become comfortable with uncertainty are in need. According to educational psychologist William Perry of Harvard University, students go through various stages of learning. First, children are black-and-white thinkers—they think there are right answers and wrong answers. Then they develop into relativists, realizing that knowledge can be contextual. This stage is the one where people can come to believe there is no truth. With media literacy education, the aim is to get students to the next level—that place where they can start to see and appreciate the fact that the world is messy, and that’s okay. They have these fundamental approaches to gathering knowledge that they can accept, but they still value uncertainty.
Schools still have a long way to go before they get there, though. Many more studies will be needed for researchers to reach a comprehensive understanding of what works and what doesn’t over the long term. “Education scholars need to take an ambitious step forward,” says Howard Schneider, director of the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University.
1. As for media literacy education, what is the author’s major concern?| A．How to achieve its goal. | B．How to measure its progress. |
| C．How to avoid its side effects. | D．How to promote its importance. |
| A．Importance. | B．Variety. | C．Motivation. | D．Benefit. |
| A．compare different types of thinking |
| B．evaluate students’ mind development |
| C．explain a theory of educational psychology |
| D．stress the need to raise students’ thinking levels |
| A．Media Literacy Education: Much Still Remains |
| B．Media Literacy Education: Schools Are to Blame |
| C．Media Literacy Education: A Way to Identify False Information |
| D．Media Literacy Education: A Tool for Testing Critical Thinking |
3 . There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the influence of media is growing stronger and stronger as time passes. If you have noticed, the speed at which news travels around the world has become faster with the development and advancement in technology Media are actually influencing people in different ways.
Whether you admit it or not, watching movies and programs on the television or our laptop, ipad and other mobile devices as we relax takes us away into this different kingdom — that is, there are parts in our being that feels we are the ones in the movie and sometimes we even feel what they are feeling as we get caught in the emotional excitement. The effect of media does not stop when the movie or program ends. And this effect might just be the cause of behavioral changes in people.
With action films, children tend to follow the movie hero, engaging them to violent acts thinking that it is acceptable because his hero became successful in the end. There are cartoon programs that show acts of violence and dishonest acts against others. In return, children tend to copy the characters and think that cheating other people is a way to deal with their problems. They learn to transfer these ill behaviors to friends.
There are some television shows and movies that attempt to create an atmosphere to change the view of people towards social issues such as racial discrimination. In the minds of other people, the effect can be for the better, but some unfortunately for the worse.
There had been instances in the past that young people drunk driving imitating their favorite actress. There was also a case where somebody set a subway ticket booth on fire because he saw it in his favorite film. These are just a few examples of the disturbing influence of media on people’s behavior.
An explanation to these bad acts is that these people could not distinguish fantasy from reality. They get caught up in the kingdom of what they had been watching and the images and scenes become deeply rooted in their minds.
So the media is largely responsible for giving people false ideas and unhealthy pictures, which lead to misbehavior against other people, and can create a dangerous cycle among individuals as they attempt to do the same or even worse things to others. The sad reality is, no one is tuning off their televisions or disconnecting from these influences. The only way programming of this sort will change is when people no longer buy into it, demand it, and watch it.
1. What does the author want to tell us in Paragraph 2?| A．What it is that changes our emotion. |
| B．How media affect people's behavior. |
| C．Why we are attracted by movies and programs. |
| D．Whether people feel being taken away from the reality. |
| A．they are just the violent people |
| B．they hope to solve social problems |
| C．they actually can’t tell fantasy from reality |
| D．they want to change people’s attitudes towards media |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Critical. | C．Supportive. | D．Cautious. |
| A．making contrasts and giving examples |
| B．listing facts and giving research results |
| C．raising problems and providing solutions |
| D．showing facts and presenting explanations |
4 . A Valuable Lesson for Life
Born in Nanchang city, Jiangxi, in 1961, Wu Aijia wanted to become a teacher since childhood. She applied to work as a teacher at the primary school in Niyang village after graduation.
When Wu, then 19, went to the village in Yichun city, Jiangxi province, to work as a village teacher in 1980, villagers were doubtful if she was going to stay long. After all, a number of voluntary teachers had arrived before, but all had left soon after.
Located in the mountains, the village was very poor and far from any town. Villagers had to hike in the mountains since there was no road. Wu was shocked by the poor conditions there. She had known the conditions were poor, but the reality was worse. The blackboard, door and windows were in a state of disrepair, some chairs had legs missing, and desks were pieced together at different heights.
Moreover, local people needed to go downhill to buy daily goods, and transport them back in their hands or balanced them across their shoulders. Wu Aijia had never walked uphill on a mountain road before, so she walked much more slowly than others, sometimes the wild boars and rabbits made her frightened.
But she gradually got used to her life there. At the beginning, she found many local people valued their sons far more than their daughters, and would not like to let them attend school. Wu went to their homes repeatedly and gradually persuaded them to send all their children to school. For those who could not afford the tuition, she spent her own money to help. She knows that education is an essential part of her efforts to help students escape poverty.
In 2012, Wu was assigned to work in another school in the town, but she refused and applied to go to the Baiyang village school, which is situated even more remotely in the mountains where she remains.
Over the years, more than 1,000 students of hers have left there and created a better life.
“Seeing them achieve progress, I’m so happy that I feel richer than any millionaire,” said Wu.
1. Villagers doubted that Wu Aijia would ________.| A．be frightened by the wild animals |
| B．hate climbing the mountains there |
| C．leave because of the poor conditions |
| D．lack experiences of living in the village |
| A．offer free daily goods for the villagers |
| B．show her kindness and generosity to them |
| C．help the poor family to afford all the tuition |
| D．offer all children the chance to create a better life |
| A．Regretful. | B．Surprised. | C．Satisfied. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．helped many children receive better education |
| B．determined to change the lifestyle of the villagers |
| C．devoted herself to helping villagers to escape poverty |
| D．improved villagers’ awareness of equality between men and women |
Revenge Sleep Procrastination
According to the sleep expert Dorothy Chambers, “revenge sleep procrastination” refers to a phenomenon in which we delay going to sleep to do other unimportant things that we haven’t had time to do in the day, and reflects a very poor work and life balance.
The researchers surveyed 2,012 adults and found that over three quarters admit doing a form of revenge sleep procrastination, using their phones right up until falling asleep. Then the researchers selected some social media apps to test how seriously they affect sleep quality. Each participant was asked to wear a smartwatch to record how long it took to fall asleep, and provide feedback on how tired they felt the next morning. The result revealed that the average time taken to fall asleep was over 45 minutes and an increasing tiredness was reported by over half of the participants. It showed that revenge sleep procrastination impacted sleep quality a lot, which can lead to adverse implications on physical and mental health.
So why does it happen? According to the researchers, it’s largely down to the blue light emitted from phone screens. It stimulates the brain and reduces natural melatonin(褪黑素) production, increasing tiredness, and in turn increasing the amount of time spent falling asleep.
The researchers pointed that social media apps encourage the release of “pleasure chemicals”, giving us energy and a “happy” feeling. This could be why many of us choose them as our means of revenge sleep procrastination, even though we know they do have negative effects on our health.
To solve this problem, Dorothy recommended that we shouldn’t use any electronics for at least two hours before sleeping to avoid sleep deprivation. Instead, we should try reading a book or taking deep breaths.
1. What is revenge sleep procrastination?2. What is the effect of revenge sleep procrastination?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
For some procrastinators, their sleep trouble results from the blue light, pleasure chemicals and their unawareness of the bad effects of using social media apps before bed.
4. If you preferred using social media apps before bed, what would you do to fight such a type of sleep revenge procrastination besides the practice mentioned in the passage?(In about 40 words)
6 . Earlier this week the online UK supermarket Ocado told its customers that it had “limited ability” to deliver ice ream. Why? Because the price of natural gas has increased greatly, which has hit the supply of CO2 in the UK. And that has led to a cut in the supply of dry ice that supermarkets use to keep food cool in their delivery vans (小型货车). So no ice cream.
This mini crisis has been fairly quickly resolve, for now at least. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry. This incident serves as a timely reminder of just how reliant we are on fossil fuels. Despite our optimistic enthusiasm for wind and solar power, one way or another oil and gas use is shot through every part of our economic and social lives. That will be the case for many decades to come.
In his recently updated book There is No Planet B, Mike Berners-Lee lays out the challenge. When we talk about shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy of one kind or another, we aren’t discussing taking the amount of energy we use now and producing that amount in a different way. Instead, our target is always on the move. The more energy we can get our hands on, the more we use—even if our use of it becomes more efficient.
Energy usage is going to keep rising, while energy transitions (转变) tend to both take a very long time and never actually end. We just pile new sources on top of old. The world still uses much the same amount of traditional biomass (wood etc) as it did 100 years ago. We are running to stand still. This will change. But not as fast as you might like to think. In 2019, 33 percent of our new power generation needs were met by renewable energy. That’s a start. But 40 percent were met by natural gas.
There’s urgency here of course—which might speed things up. But there is something else that might slow us down. It didn’t take much to move people to fossil fuels—they are relatively easy to extract, relatively easy to transport, hugely energy dense and efficient and, of course, cheap. Until their externalities were understood, who could possibly have objected? Our current transition is different: people and companies will switch not because the new sources are easier to access, cheaper or more energy dense but because regulation mandates that they must.
Either way, the truth is that whether we like it or not our energy transition involves long term reliance on fossil fuels. That means we should stop demolishing them. Instead, we should focus on making their extraction cleaner and more efficient while we wait for the engineering challenges around a renewables-led future to be solved.
If we don’t do this—if we allow ourselves to be beguiled by the idea that solar is so advanced that we no longer need filthy fuels to have ice cream, we, will find the future held back by needlessly expensive energy—and almost certainly ice-cream free.
1. What do the first two paragraphs mainly show?| A．The necessity for traditional fuels. |
| B．Our enthusiasm for clean energy. |
| C．The seriousness of energy crisis. |
| D．UK’s dependence on dry ice. |
| A．we have more types of energy on hand |
| B．the use of energy becomes more efficient |
| C．energy transition is far from being realized |
| D．we are closer to the aim of replacing fossil fuels |
| A．wasting | B．devaluing |
| C．distributing | D．justifying |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Defensive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Cautious. |
7 . One form of social prejudice (偏见) against older people is the belief that they cannot understand or use modern technology. Activities like playing computer games, going on the Net and downloading MP3s are only for the youngsters. Isn’t it unfair that older people enjoying a computer game should be frowned upon (反对) by their children and grandchildren?
Nowadays older people have more control over their lives and they play a full part in society. Moreover, better health care has let more people in their sixties and seventies feeling fit and active after retirement. Mental activity, as well as physical exercise, can contribute to better health. Playing computer games is a very effective way of exercising the brain. So that’s why grey gamers are often seen now.
When personal computers were first introduced, most older people didn’t believe they would ever get familiar with them. Now computers have been around for a few generations and retired people have gradually become more relaxed about using them for fun. Gamers over 65 prefer playing puzzle games and card games. Kate Stevens, aged 72, says, “I find it very relaxing. It’s not very demanding, but you still need to concentrate.”
Another development that has favored “grey games” is a change in the type of video games available on the market. There’s a greater variety of games to choose from, including more intellectual and complex strategy and simulation (模拟) games. For example, Internet Chess and Train Simulator are among the most popular of these. Train Simulator is based on real — world rail activities. Players can choose from a variety of challengers, such as keeping to a strict timetable and using helper engines during a winter storm.
Some people argue that “grey gamers” simply don’t have the skills required for computer games, and that teenagers are better. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Most computer games require the kind of analytical thinking that improves with practice, which means that the “grey gamers” may well be far better than the young. In games where speed is the main consideration, older people would be at a disadvantage because they may have slower reaction. time. On the other hand, “grey gamers” have a preference for slower — paced, mind challenging games.
1. The second paragraph is intended to___________.| A．show the best way to exercise the brain | B．stress the importance of good health |
| C．explain why grey gamers exist | D．teach how to play video games |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Concerned. | C．Enthusiastic. | D．Supportive. |
| A．offering numbers | B．giving examples | C．making comparisons | D．providing details |
| A．mind challenging games are not suitable for older people |
| B．teenagers should improve their skills with practice |
| C．playing computer games requires analytical thinking |
| D．older people may perform well in computer games |
8 . The idea of unplugged running is gaining steam in the fitness community, as recent studies show that being addicted to tracking fitness metrics can lead to negative mindsets and outcomes.
Eoin Whelan, a senior lecturer in business information systems at the National University of Ireland Galway, explores the psychology behind engagement with social media and fitness tracking apps. “People are getting more enjoyment out of gathering the data and analyzing that and sharing it with other people”, Whelan told CNN, adding that there is a big element of social comparison for those who use fitness tracking apps. “People will compare themselves to people who are better than them, who are running faster or running longer. And ultimately we know that makes them feel bad.”
Whelan also noted that people who are very reliant on smartwatches. fitness trackers or fitness apps are more likely to skip their workout if the batteries on their tracking devices are dead. It’s like we can’t interpret our own body signals. We are becoming very dependent on the technology to actually do that for us. When you ask some of the athletes a simple question like “how did you sleep last night?” they can’t answer unless they look at the data.
Other researches show that too much screen time, including looking at our smartwatch or fitness apps, has negative impacts on mental health. The information people gather from smartwatches and workout tracking apps can contribute to “information overload” problems. Having a constant flow of information due to technology can lead to stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, depression, and more. The more we allow notifications and alerts to beckon (吸引) us, the more stress and anxiety chemicals are released, making us on edge and our mental and emotional systems are flooded with a message that says, “check me now”. Some experts advocate us to create screen-free zones as well as taking “tech breaks”, where we set a 15-or 30-timer during which we don’t check our phone. The time limit tells our brain that we can check the phone soon and reduces the anxiety of feeling we have to check in all the time.
Running watch-free is beneficial for more than just the casual jogger or weekend warrior. Some professionals also have had success with leaving their watches at home. Welsh runner Steve Jones famously set a world record at the 1984 Chicago Marathon without wearing a watch. He later told journalists he didn't even know he was on world record-pace until he crossed the finish line.
It’s not all negative, though. Other studies show there are many upsides to using fitness trackers. When using these technologies, some people tend to exercise for longer and at a higher intensity as well, which is all good for their physical well- being. So ditching the data might not be best for everyone.
1. According to Whelan, why do people involve themselves in fitness tracking apps?| A．Because they fail to interpret their own body signals. |
| B．Because they want to learn from those who exercise better. |
| C．Because they skip workout when their batteries run out. |
| D．Because they gain satisfaction when they see the data. |
| A．They enable our mind to relax for a while. | B．They allow us to check our phone at any time. |
| C．They expose our mind to crowded information. | D．They release anxiety chemicals affecting us. |
| A．Tracking. | B．Abandoning. | C．Analyzing. | D．Collecting. |
| A．Running watch-free gives people more motivation. |
| B．Professional runners do not wear a watch while training. |
| C．Information overload has bad effects on our mental health. |
| D．The setbacks of running watch-free outweigh the benefits. |
9 . Every boy and every girl expects their parents to give them more pocket money. Why do their parents just give them a certain amount?
The amount of money that parents give to their children to spend as they wish differs from family to family.
First of all, children are expected to make a choice between spending and saving. Then parents should make the children understand what is expected to pay for with the money. At first, some young children may spend all of the money soon after they receive it. Parents are usually advised not to offer more money until it is the right time.
In order to encourage their children to do some housework, some parents give pocket money if the children help around the home. Some experts think it not wise to pay the children for doing that.
Pocket money can give children a chance to experience the three things they can do with the money. They can spend it by giving it to a good cause. They can spend it by buying things they want.
| A．Some children are good at managing their pocket money. |
| B．One main purpose is to let kids learn how to manage their own money. |
| C．By doing so, these children will learn that spending must be done with a budget（预算）. |
| D．Because helping at home is a normal part of family life. |
| E．Learning how to make money is very important for every child. |
| F．They can save it for future use. |
| G．Timing is another consideration. |
10 . A 2020 study by Balbix found that 99% of the people surveyed reused their passwords between work accounts or between work and personal accounts.
For example, a 2019 study by Google found that 59% of the people they surveyed used a name or a birthday in their password. And 24% admitted using a password like one of these below: 1234, 12345, 123456, etc.
It's more secure to require your employees to use more than one authentication (身份验证) factor to access mobile company applications.
Finally, you can also perform passwordless authentication.
| A．Passwords are commonly shared in the workplace. |
| B．It will help you to root out password risks altogether. |
| C．Many employees still create weak and simple passwords. |
| D．These bad password habits present a threat to organizations. |
| E．That helps reduce the risk that a bad actor gains access to your systems. |
| F．Unfortunately, the passwords that employees are reusing are often weak. |
| G．However, that's not to say there is no way to reduce or uproot password threats. |
