1 . Germany’s top court (法院) has ruled that parts of the country’s 2019 climate action law must be changed because they don’t do a good job of protecting young people. Nine young people aged 15 to 24 took the government to court over the law. They said that the government’s failure to plan carefully was putting their future lives in danger.

The judges (法官) of Germany’s highest court said climate change will influence young people far more than adults. That’s because climate change will become more serious over time. As young people become adults, they’ll be left to deal with any problems that today’s adults don’t deal with.

In 2019, Germany passed a new law, promising that the country would be producing no more CO2 than the forest can take in by 2050. The law made a plan of action until 2030. But the law didn’t have any plans for climate actions that would be taken between 2031 and 2050.

The court has asked the German government to fix the law by the end of 2022. The climate law will now need to have a plan for the actions that will be taken after 2030.

The German government has said that it will quickly begin working to make the needed changes. One important part of high court decisions like this is that they act as guides or examples for future decisions. This means that in the future, Germany’s lawmakers will be more likely to think about the climate future of young people as they create their laws.

1. Why did the judges make such a decision?

A．They decided the new law made no sense.

B．They wanted to give the young more rights.

C．They focused more on the future of the young.

D．They thought it’s hard to solve climate change.

2. What did the nine young people feel displeased with about the government?

A．It failed to take action before 2030.

B．It was producing more and more CO2.

C．It refused to consider the young’s rights.

D．It didn’t plan the climate actions after 2030.

3. How will the German government do in the future?

A．It will make more decisions on climate change.

B．It will ask the young to help make climate laws.

C．It will consider the young when making climate laws.

D．It will encourage the young to protect the environment.

4. What did the nine young people’s action show?

A．They were brave and forward-looking enough.

B．They couldn’t bear the present climate change.

C．They wanted to take part in law-making.

D．They planned to work in the government.

2 . Ask most people which day of the week they fear the most and the answer is likely to be Monday. The first day of the working week can make us experience a sense of tiredness or fatigue.     1              

    2     It’s the time of year when we’re supposedly feeling at our lowest and most “blue”. We’re thought to be more likely to feel down because the weather’s cold and we’re back at work. We’ve got to make up all the money we spent at Christmas and we’re feeling guilty for already breaking our New Year’s resolutions.

Some consider the term, pseudo-science, saying that there is no such thing as a 24-hour depression.     3     The decreasing motivation to work, the lack of interest in everything and the regret for what is not finished can be clearly felt on the first day of the week.     4     Someone who misses the deadline and cannot meet the standard at work affects the overall efficiency and teamwork within a project.

Fortunately, we don’t have to suffer that on Monday, not if we remember: we all have our good days and our bad days, and those aren’t for the calendar (日历) to decide.     5     Rather than automatically thinking we feel blue on Blue Monday, reflect on the well being of our mind, practice self-care and seek support when needed. In this way, we can weather the Monday blues and any other challenges that come our way.

A．The most depressing day of the year is the third Monday in January.

B．Actually it’s common to feel a bit depressed for several times in a year.

C．But most people know that the Monday blues can be very real.

D．That’s why the feeling is described as the Monday blues.

E．The term is not even scientifically true, with basically no evidence.

F．These can have a negative impact on our performance, productivity and the people around.

G．In fact, it’s actually a good opportunity to check in on our mental health.

3 . Researchers from University of Southern California (USC) may have found the biggest influencer in the spread of fake news: social platforms’ structure of rewarding users for habitually sharing information. The study involved 2,476 active Facebook users ranging in age from 18 to 89. They were asked to complete a decision-making survey about seven minutes long.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that users’ social media habits are closely related to the amount of fake news they shared. Frequent and habitual users spread six times more fake news than occasional or new users. Just 15% of the most habitual news sharers in the research were responsible for spreading about 30% to 40% of the fake news. Users’ habits were more influential in sharing fake news than other factors, including lack of critical reasoning.

The research team wondered: What motivates these users? As it turns out, much like any video game, social media has a reward system that encourages users to stay on their accounts and keep posting and sharing.

Users who post and share frequently, especially eye-catching information, are likely to attract attention. Due to the reward system of social media, users form habits of sharing information that gets recognition from others automatically, without considering consequences such as spreading misinformation.

Then, the team tested whether social media reward structures could be designed to promote sharing of true over false information. They found that incentives (鼓励) for accuracy rather than popularity doubled the amount of accurate news that users share on social platforms.

“We know from previous research that some people don’t process information critically, which influences their ability to recognize false stories online,” said Gizem Ceylan, who led the team. “However, our new study shows that the reward structure of social media platforms plays a bigger role when it comes to misinformation spread.”

1. What does the USC research mainly focus on concerning social media?

A．Its reward system.	B．The users’ age group.
C．Its attraction to users.	D．The reason fake news spreads on it.

2. Who is more likely to share false information on Facebook?

A．A new user.	B．A heavy user.
C．An occasional user.	D．An uneducated user.

3. What contributes to the habits of social media users?

A．The popularity of their posts.

B．The easy access to information.

C．The encouragement from other users.

D．The immediate money reward from the platform.

4. Which statement will Gizem Ceylan probably agree with?

A．Sharing of misinformation is unavoidable.

B．People shouldn’t use social media frequently.

C．Lack of critical reasoning is a common problem.

D．Social media reward structures should be improved.

4 . This question has fascinated behavioural scientists for decades: why do we give money to charity?

The explanations for charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely altruisic (利他的)— I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The “impurely” altruistic— I donate because I extract value from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic— I donate because I want to show off to potential mates how rich I am.

But are these motives strong enough to enable people to donate as much as they would want to? Most people support charities in one way or another, but often we struggle to make donations as often as we think we should. Although many people would like to leave a gift to charity in their will, they forget about it when the time comes.

Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact, but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary(受益者), than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced. When it comes to charitable giving, we are often ruled by our hearts and not our heads.

The good news is that charitable giving is contagious—seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give and gentle encouragement from an important person in your life can also make a big difference to your donation decisions— more than quadrupling them in our recent study. Habit also plays a part— in three recent experiments those who volunteered before were more likely to do donate their time than those who had not volunteered before.

In summary, behavioural science identifies a range of factors that influence our donations, and can help us to keep giving in the longer term. This is great news not just for charities, but also for donors.

1. What can we learn about people who do charitable giving?

A．Most people support charity as often as they think they should.

B．Some people don’t want to leave a gift to charity until the time comes.

C．Those who donate because they can gain an advantage are purely altruistic.

D．Some people send money to charity simply to tell others they are wealthy.

2. In which way will people donate more willingly?

A．Not revealing the names of the donors.

B．Showing figures about the seriousness of the problem.

C．Telling stories that feature a single, recognizable beneficiary.

D．Reminding people to write down what to donate in the will in advance.

3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 5 mean?

A．People will learn from others and follow the suit.

B．Many people are familiar with charitable giving.

C．Charitable giving helps the beneficiary in all aspects.

D．Charitable giving can bring a lot of benefits to donors.

4. What is the writing purpose of the passage?

A．To persuade more people to donate.

B．To explain the science behind why people donate.

C．To criticize some false charitable giving behaviours.

D．To explore approaches to making people donate more.

5 . Pullman is a superb writer and Seagull is a brilliant communicator. They had a debate after Seagull posted a question on his social media platform: “When you were trying to create an environment for learning, what were your best pieces of classical music to listen to?” He received hundreds of suggestions — and one negative reply, from Pullman: “That’s not what classical music is for. Treat it with respect.”

That did it! Everyone — professional musicians, students, teachers — weighed into the argument, and the majority supported Seagull and were criticizing Pullman.

It’s easy to see why people are annoyed. We all want classical music to be as accessible as possible, especially to the young. If some of them are using Bach or Schubert as a tool to help them study, what’s the problem? They may also develop an attachment to classical music.

So is Pullman ridiculous and supercilious by objecting to classical music being used as background music? At first sight, his idea seems stuffy and extreme. By suggesting that classical music should be “treated with respect” and not used as background music, Pullman seems to be closing classical music of to millions of people.

It’s worth pointing out, however, that he isn’t the first to express concerns about classical music being devalued by becoming too commonplace in today’s technologically shaped world. In Benjamin Britten’s 1964 speech, the composer expressed exactly the same worries as Pullman. Britten suggested, “The true musical experience demands some preparation, some effort, a journey to a special place, saving up for a ticket, some homework perhaps”. In short, it demands as much effort from listeners as from composers and performers.

I don’t agree with such an extreme viewpoint, but I do think it touches on a reality. You will never fully grasp the beauty of classical music if you half-hear it only in the background. That doesn’t necessarily matter. Music can be enjoyed on many levels. What Pullman and Britten are really saying is that, in a drive for “accessibility”, we shouldn’t deny the emotional and intellectual complexity underpinning (构成) much classical music.

1. What did Seagull’s posting result in?

A．Great admiration for Seagull.

B．Public criticism of classical music.

C．A discussion about learning environments.

D．An argument over the role of classical music.

2. What does the underlined word “supercilious” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Self-important.

B．Open-minded.

C．Impatient.

D．Considerate.

3. Why is the Benjamin Britten’s 1964 speech mentioned?

A．To show his affection for classical music.

B．To introduce young people to classical music.

C．To demonstrate classical music is demanding.

D．To support Pullman’s idea over classical music.

4. Which word best describes the author’s attitude to Pullman’s idea?

A．Favorable.

B．Doubtful.

C．Objective.

D．Uninterested.

6 . The pandemic has affected nearly all aspects of modern life, from the clothes we wear to the food we eat. There is one thing, however, that has remained almost unchanged: the emojis we send.

According to data from the Unicode Consortium (统一码联盟), nine of the 10 most-used emojis from 2019 also ranked among the top 10 this year. The tears of joy emoji ranked No.1, despite members of Gen Z deeming it uncool.

“It speaks to how many people use emojis. If emojis were a purely Gen Z thing, then you wouldn’t see it so highly ranked,” said Alexander Robertson, an emoji researcher at Google. “Because of the large number of people using emojis, even if one group thinks something is lame, they have to be a really big group to affect these statistics.”

And it makes sense that Gen Z would think that certain emojis aren’t fashionable. It’s part of the “teenager experience of creating a sense of subculture where there’s a right way and a wrong way of behaving.” Plus, there is a range of laughter that can be expressed: There’s light chuckling. There’s acknowledgement laughter, which is just a marker of empathy. Using emojis, such as the skull face (“I’m dead”) or crying face ( uncontrollable tears of laughter), can help to illustrate that range.

“It basically indicates that we have what we need to communicate a broad range of expression, or even very specific concepts,” Mr Robertson said. “You don’t necessarily need a Covid emoji.”

“We did see a rise in the use of the virus emoji. But it wasn’t made remotely into the most-commonly used ones because we still had plenty to laugh about and plenty to cry about, whether it was because of the pandemic or not,” said Lauren Gawne, a senior lecturer in linguistic at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.

“Even in the midst of this massive global pandemic that preoccupied so much of our time,” She added. “We still spent a lot of time wishing each other happy birthday or checking or laughing about some new and unexpected elements of this slow-burning weirdness.”

1. Why does the tears of joy emoji ranked No.1 despite the dislike from the Z generation?

A．The emoji is a purely Z generation thing.

B．The Z generation are too young to influence the rank.

C．Though they dislike it, the Z generation vote for it ultimately.

D．The Z generation take up a very small portion in emoji users.

2. What does the underlined “it” in paragraph 6 refer to?

A．the virus emoji	B．a Covid emoji
C．the use of the virus emoji	D．the rise in the use of the virus emoji

3. Why wasn’t the virus emoji popular according to Lauren Gawne?

A．The massive global pandemic has come to an end.

B．The pandemic has little influence on people’s daily life.

C．We have a broad range of expression for communication.

D．Some new and useful emojis are created to replace the virus emoji.

4. What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．The Pandemic and the Emoji.

B．Gen Z, the Emoji Generation.

C．The Emoji of the Year.

D．The Rise of Virus Emoji

7 . The clock rules our lives. The more we try to save time, the less time we seem to have. In every area of our lives we are doing things faster. And many of us live in towns and cities which are getting noisier and more stressful as each day passes. But now a worldwide movement, whose aim is to slow life down, has started. Its supporters are people who believe that a happier and healthier way of life is possible.

The Slow Food movement was founded the day that an Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, saw that McDonald’s had opened a restaurant in a beautiful square in Rome. He thought it was sad that many people today live too quickly to sit down for a proper meal and only eat much fast food. He decided that he had to try to do something about it and so he started the Slow Food movement. Slow Food has become a global organization ever since and now has more than 80,000 members in 100 countries.

Slow Food also encourages people to eat local and regional food, to use local shops and markets, to eat out in small family restaurants, and to cook with traditional recipes.

The idea of Slow Cities was inspired by the Slow Food movement. The aim of Slow Cities is to improve people’s quality of life. Towns which want to become a Slow City have to reduce traffic and noise, increase the number of green areas, plant trees, build pedestrian zones, and promote local businesses and traditions. Now it has spread to other countries all over the world, from the UK to Japan and Australia. There are now 135 Slow Cities in 24 countries across the world that have been named since founding of the organization in 1999. Gao Chun County, in east China’s Jiangsu Province, is expected to be named the first “Slow City” in China next year.

“Slow Cities are about having a community life in the town,” said a local resident. “It is not ‘slow’ as in ‘stupid’. It is ‘slow’ as in the opposite of ‘worried’ and ‘stressful’.”

But not everybody is happy. For teenagers, who have to go 25km to Norwich, the nearest city, to buy CDs, living in a Slow City is not very attractive. “It’s all right here for adults,” says Lewis Cook, 16. “But if you want excitement, you have to go to Norwich. We need more things here for young people.”

1. What’s the aim of the Slow Food movement?

A．To call on people to eat out.	B．To make people enjoy cooking.
C．To drive McDonald’s out of Rome	D．To encourage people to slow down.

2. All the following are necessary to be a Slow City EXCEPT ____________.

A．reducing traffic and noise	B．increasing the number of green areas
C．building more department stores	D．promoting local businesses and traditions

3. From the fourth paragraph, we know that ____________.

A．Slow Food was founded in 1999	B．there is no Slow City in China now
C．Slow Cities are mainly in the UK	D．there are about 24 Slow Cities in the world

4. How does Lewis Cook feel about living in a Slow City?

A．Satisfied.

B．Excited.

C．Happy.

D．Dissatisfied.

5. Which of the following would the founders of Slow Food agree with?

A．Slow down and you’ll move fast.	B．Time flies never to be recalled.
C．Eat slowly and you’ll be healthy.	D．Pay attention to the quality of life.

8 . When Lenore Skenazy let her 9-year-old son take the New York subway home by himself 10 years ago, you would have thought that she’d carried out a crime. Now Skenazy started the movement Free Range (放养的) Kids to bring up safe and independent children. Just this month, Utah became a free range state, changing its law to protect parents from being charged with neglect (疏忽)for letting their kids walk alone, or wait in a car for an adult.

Skenazy argues that the risks of giving children some freedom are exaggerated (夸大). Skenazy’s mother used to send her outside at 5 to walk to school. That was just normal back then. And suddenly we hear stories about parents getting punished for letting their 10-year-old son play outside.

We get so used to not knowing our neighbors, not letting our kids walk to school, or play outside, that nowadays, the kids are either in a car or in the backyard, and they don’t get to know the neighborhood. In fact, the world has become safer. We have the technologies to keep track of almost everything our kids do. And so you think you must control them, and you think your child is something that has to be tracked like a package.

The famous case for many parents was the Etan Patz case in New York in 1979. Patz’s parents gave him permission for the first time to walk to the bus stop nearby. He was killed. The story is so terrible that we remember it two generations later. And we don’t allow our kids to walk alone because of one terrible thing that happened 39 years ago. But we don’t say, “I want to drive you to the dentist, but what if we get in a car accident? Think of those people who died in a car accident 39 years ago. I don’t want to be like them. No, we’re not going.” And we recognize that it would be funny to think that way.

1. What do we know about Lenore Skenazy?

A．She used to have full control of her son.

B．She was in favor of Utah’s previous law.

C．She suggests kids be allowed more freedom.

D．She was once punished for neglecting her son.

2. Which of the following is a reason why kids are kept at home nowadays?

A．People remain distant.

B．Kids dislike outdoor activities.

C．Parents know little about accidents.

D．The crime rate is slightly increasing.

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards parents’ act of keeping track of their kids?

A．Unclear

B．Supportive.

C．Indifferent.

D．Unfavorable.

4. What is the main purpose of the last paragraph?

A．To prove accidents are like crimes.

B．To warn parents of a terrible crime.

C．To argue against some parents’ worry.

D．To point out the real danger to children.

9 . What goes on in our brains when we decide to hit the share button, and what makes something go viral? Since the dawn of the Internet, businesses, media outlets and influencers alike have been trying to answer these questions. Now, researchers have come one step closer to cracking this mysterious model by shining a light on the neuroscience (神经科学) of viral content.

“Our study finds a way to obtain brain signals that would predict how much information gets shared.” said Emily Falk, professor of communication, psychology and marketing and Hang-Yee Chan, a lecturer of communication.

Their new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on October 23, investigated both the U. S. and the Netherlands using a broader range of news categories—including health and climate change.

“When we see greater activation of regions that track self-relevance (Is it important to me) and social-relevance (Is it important to people I know), the news articles are more likely to be shared widely,” Falk and Chan said. By studying these brain responses, the team managed to build a value-based model to accurately predict how widely the articles would be shared online. This link between brain activity and sharing was seen in both the American and Dutch participants, suggesting that this model is accurate across cultures.

“Seeing how people’s brains react inside the scanner gives us insight into why people ultimately share information nowadays,” Chan said. “If we understand these signals, we might be able to use that knowledge to help important news get shared and stop misinformation from going viral.” It is also helpful for content creators to maximize their reach. “Our current study demonstrates how tapping into the brain would help content creators optimize their messages’ influence,” Falk and Chan said. “We are interested in building on these results to develop ways to counter harmful information and false news, in addition to spreading high-quality content.” “A lot of our most pressing problems in society are influenced by the decisions people make, and the decisions we make are influenced by the news. What you share matters, and so understanding why you share it matters, too.”

1. What do researchers intend to do in their study?

A．To find a way to get brain signals.

B．To work out a mysterious model.

C．To use a broad range of news categories.

D．To predict how much information get shared.

2. What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?

A．The basis and process of the study.

B．The way to predict brain activation.

C．The pattern of a value-based model.

D．The reason why certain news is shared.

3. What’s the potential application of the finding of the study?

A．To solve most urgent problems.

B．To understand why viral news matter.

C．To influence the decisions people will make.

D．To better the efficiency of positive publicity.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．How to Share a Viral News

B．How to Obtain Brain Signals

C．How Certain Studies Get Shared

D．How Brain Identifies Viral Content

10 . In a fast developing world, many old-fashioned skills seem to be disappearing. It’s hard to find people who know such skills as sewing, but a few decades ago, it was common for every person to learn them.

Now many would think sewing isn’t as useful today. The garment (服装) industry is producing clothing that is cheaper, faster and more fashionable than ever, making it possible to buy a suit for less than $10 at home.

However, that doesn’t mean clothing isn’t indestructible (破坏不了的). Garments with simple tears that could be fixed in seconds with a needle are just thrown away. This causes more than 26 billion pounds of garbage and millions of dollars wasted because of a tear. Even dirty or worn clothing that still has plenty of usable cloth is being thrown away.

The ability to create hand-made clothes doesn’t only reduce waste. It is also tailor-made just for you. Most buy clothes made for a general body type, and to get it tailored by a professional is expensive. So why not do it yourself?

Perhaps the greatest problem of sewing is simply the time involved. Buying a skirt online takes a few seconds. Making a skirt can take weeks. But learning to sew doesn’t always involve complicated projects. Instead they might just be simple adjustments to help the garments fit or match your style.

Schools could easily teach sewing. Yet, they focus more on college preparations, ignoring traditional skills. Actually sewing is a valuable skill to be used in daily life. It wouldn’t take much time to teach children how to sew.

So, instead of letting old things die in this new age of the Internet, how about learning some of the lost skills that helped us for so long?

1. Why do some people think the sewing skill is less useful?

A．Because cloth is too expensive.

B．Because sewing is a bit boring to learn.

C．Because hand-made things are easily broken.

D．Because clothes are cheaper and convenient to buy.

2. Which benefit of sewing is talked about in Paragraph 3?

A．It contributes to creativity.	B．It’s environmentally-friendly.
C．It pushes the garment industry.	D．It gives costumers a typical look.

3. How do schools treat traditional skills?

A．They make the skills easy to learn.	B．They set the skills as basic subjects.
C．They make every effort to teach the skills.	D．They fail to give the skills enough attention.

4. What’s the author’s attitude to the old-fashioned skills?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uncaring.

D．Opposing.