1 . Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve their quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers (消费者) willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological (病态的) relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what we need to ask ourselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.
1. What does the underlined word “allure” (Para 2) most probably mean?| A．Advantage. | B．Attraction. | C．Addiction. | D．Attention. |
| A．To attract people to buy their products. | B．To provide the latest information. |
| C．To improve people’s quality of life. | D．To serve their consumers better. |
| A．Stepping away from technology completely. |
| B．Spending much time on electronic devices. |
| C．Following the latest high-tech trends. |
| D．Making use of technology wisely. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Doubtful. |
2 . After two years of working from home, we have adapted to communicating digitally, in short bursts of time. Remember in Before Times you could head to the gym after work and then get dressed for dinner and a night out? The pandemic(疫情) has changed this. Our social batteries have run out of charge. It’s been a long time since we had to perform our social role for an extended period.
For 23-year-old Jennie, the excitement of her friends and family to restart their social lives has left her astonished. “At the minute my parents are planning a trip abroad and I keep postponing getting back to them with a date,” she explains. “They don’t know it’s because of all of this. Just the thought of being in a room full of people is scary, it’s like going back to school.”
Heather Garbutt, psychotherapist of The Counselling & Psychotherapy Centre says communication is key to recharging your unused social battery. “Take it slowly and don’t immediately organise a large get-together,” she advises. “Go for a walk with somebody for no more than half an hour and gently get used to being with people again. It may actually be a shock to our system which has been shut down to some degree to cope with absence. We may have that longing to be with others, but that doesn’t mean we are free from anxiety. It would be good to start off with a conversation about what it’s going to be like when you are all together again.”
She says finding some casual topics to discuss also works. Understand that many of you may feel a bit awkward after being physically apart for so long. It’s a bit like learning to walk again after you’ve broken a leg. It may all be off-balance to begin with but you will find a new steadiness with practice. Whatever happens post-pandemic, your loved ones can’t judge if you want to take it easy and not engage in the festivities immediately. We are recovering from a post-pandemic stress disorder, after all.
1. What has become of us after two years of working from home?| A．We are addicted to chatting with people online. |
| B．We may feel it impossible to go back to normal. |
| C．We are quite looking forward to being with people. |
| D．We may find it hard to communicate with others like before. |
| A．She is excited to see her friends again. |
| B．She is not on good terms with her family. |
| C．She is not good at communicating with people. |
| D．She is anxious about meeting people face to face. |
| A．Pay a visit to a close friend and stay over. |
| B．Hang out with your friends for several hours. |
| C．Have a brief chat about your future get-together. |
| D．Ignore those who are anxious about connecting with others. |
| A．How Can We Restore Our Social Batteries? |
| B．When Can We Speed Up Our Reunion Plan? |
| C．What Can Help Repair Our Social Networks? |
| D．Why Did the Pandemic Mess Up Our Social Life? |
3 . A new study of 8, 000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily. It is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love （早恋）may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression （忧郁症）. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is "loss of self"According to the study, even though boys would say "lose themselves in a romantic relationship", this "loss of self" is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won't tell that to their parents.
Dr Marian Kaufnian, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression - eating or mood changes - and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity （成熟）gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.
1. What's the main idea of the passage?| A．Puppy love may bring young people depression. |
| B．Parents should forbid their children's love. |
| C．Romance is a two edged sword for adults. |
| D．Romance is good for young people. |
| A．Young people who have a strong sense of selfishness. |
| B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior. |
| C．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions. |
| D．Careless parents whose children are deep in love. |
| A．Confused. | B．Disapproving. | C．Interested. | D．Afraid |
4 . Kids and science seem to be made for each other!
The basic science is a combination of thought and experiment called the scientific method. It’s where you start with an idea, create a way to prove or disprove your idea, and show what you learned based on facts. Learning to follow this process helps you think logically and carefully. These important thinking skills can be used in many areas of study. To give a child practice with these thinking skills is like giving vitamins to a developing mind.
One of the greatest things we can teach our children is to love learning. Learning science is a great way to do so. Children are easy to be interested in science. Because much of science is hands-on, it attracts most children. Nothing makes a child sit up and take notice like the “WOW!” of a great science showing.
Science opens doors to many subjects at school. Building love for science can be helpful in other areas of study. For example, one cannot love science for very long without becoming good at its language-math! So science encourages children to study math. An interest in science is an interest in how things were once understood compared to how they are understood now. Thus studying science lends itself easily to studying history. And after you do an experiment, you need to write a lab report. Therefore, writing becomes an important part of science.
Science is the basic thing for much of our life. The science of farming shows how our food is produced; biomedical science keeps us healthy; even our beds these days are designed according to scientific facts. We almost eat, sleep and breathe with the help of science! When we prepare the next generation of voters, creators and policy makers, it is important to make sure they are not only comfortable but also good at science.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what does learning the scientific method mean to kids?| A．Learning to do experiments. | B．Learning many areas of study. |
| C．Helping them develop thinking skills. | D．Refusing any ideas that are not logical. |
| A．Science is too difficult for children. | B．Children usually consider science boring. |
| C．Science can arouse children's interest in learning. | D．Children who are careless shouldn't learn science. |
| A．He usually has no time for other subjects. | B．He usually loses interest in other activities. |
| C．He is usually bad at such subjects like history. | D．He is likely to learn many other subjects well. |
| A．Why Kids Should Learn Science | B．Why Science Is Important |
| C．How Kids Can Make Use of Science | D．What Kids Should Learn at School |
5 . Teens who have good, supportive relationships with their teachers enjoy better health as adults, according to research published by an American research center.
“This research suggests that improving students’ relationships with teachers could have positive and long-lasting effects beyond just academic success,” said Jinho Kim, a professor at Korea University and author of the study. “It could also bring about health implications in the long run.” Previous research has suggested that teens’ social relationships might be linked to health outcomes in adulthood. However, it is not clear whether the link between teen relationships and lifetime health is causal (因果的) — it could be that other factors, such as different family backgrounds, might contribute to both relationship problems in adolescence and to poor health in adulthood. Also, most research has focused on teens’ relationships with their peers (同龄人), rather than on their relationships with teachers.
To explore those questions further, Kim analyzed data on nearly 20, 000 participants from the Add Health study, a national study in the U. S. that followed participants from seventh grade into early adulthood. The participant pool included more than 3, 400 pairs of siblings (兄弟姐妹). As teens, participants answered questions, like “How often have you had trouble getting along with other students and your teachers?” As adults, participants were asked about their physical and mental health.
Kim found that participants who had reported better relationships with both their peers and teachers in middle and high school also reported better physical and mental health in their mid-20s. However, when he controlled for family background by looking at pairs of siblings together, only the link between good teacher relationships and adult health remained significant.
The results suggest teacher relationships are more important than previously realized and that schools should invest in training teachers on how to build warm and supportive relationships with their students. “This is not something that most teachers receive much training in,” Kim said, “but it should be.”
1. What does the underlined word “implications” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Recipes. | B．Habits. | C．Risks. | D．Benefits. |
| A．Poor health in adolescence. | B．Teens’ relationships with their peers. |
| C．Limitations of the previous research. | D．Factors affecting health in adulthood. |
| A．Positive student-teacher relationship helps students’ adult health. |
| B．Good family background promises long-term adult health. |
| C．Healthy peer relationships leads to students’ academic success. |
| D．Good adult health depends on teens’ good teachers. |
| A．A medical report. | B．A health magazine. | C．A term paper. | D．A family survey. |
6 . Almost all of us do it. We get up early to go to the gym. We stay up too late responding to work emails. Or we end up bingeing(狂欢) on Netflix (网络剧集,电影）in bed. Whatever it is, we often cut corners when it comes to sleep.
If you can squeeze(挤出)in even an extra hour, it will almost certainly make you look better, feel better, and be better at your job. But an extra hour should be just the beginning, experts' caution. The real benefits of sleep come from setting a personal, optimal(最佳的)sleeping schedule—and sticking to it no matter what.
It turns out that the benefits of more sleep—and consistent sleep—are diverse and plentiful. “You are going to feel better, you will have more energy, you will have better ideas, you will contribute to your team or organization in a better way," says Rachel Salas, a professor of neurology who specializes in sleep medicine and sleep disorders at Johns Hopkins University in the US.
"Your mood is going to be better, you will have better reason to engage and share ideas," she says. It will also show on the outside—skimp on sleep and you may find yourself “gaining weight and looking tired with bags under your eyes".
In 2013, the BBC partnered with the University of Surrey's Sleep Research Centre for an experiment that found an extra hour of sleep improved participants' mental agility in computer texts.
An American study last month showed that students who slept for eight hours a night performed better in final exams. One from the University of Michigan in October found that a lack of sleep affected memory and job performance in fields as varied as baking and surgery.
Another study found that two nights in a row of less than six hours' sleep could make you sluggish(萎靡不振）for the next six days. And a Swedish study published this year which looked at over 40,000 participants for 13 years found that those who slept for short periods had higher mortality rates(死亡率）than those who don't,especially among over 65s.
Problems that appear over the long haul(拖)could be weight gain,migraines(偏头疼),or constant fatigue(疲乏). It could be sleep apnoea or even what she calls "microsleeps"—when your brain briefly shuts down during the day for just a few seconds, sometimes with your eyes open (an obvious danger to drivers, for example).
1. What is the meaning of the underlined word in the first paragraph ?| A．Avoid sleeping | B．Spend long time |
| C．Save time | D．Choose the easy way |
| A．more energy | B．more grades |
| C．more productivity | D．more inspirations |
| A．more possibility to die | B．seven days' less energy |
| C．quick response | D．fine memory |
| A．Mr. Smith had a short rest between classses. |
| B．Mrs. Smith took a nap at noon. |
| C．After a long time work, the old man fell asleep. |
| D．Li Lei was sleepy, eyes open but brain resting. |
7 . 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 document 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 (隐私) 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, managers of Samsung and Vizio didn’t say anything An LG manager 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 cancelling the marketing (营销) feature may cause you to lose some extra services from makers, but it’s more important to protect your privacy.
1. What does the underlined word “document” mean in paragraph1?| A．Exploring. | B．Defending. | C．Recording. | D．Learning. |
| A．Advertise new shows and products. |
| B．Improve the quality of smart TVs. |
| C．Collect some suggestions about shows. |
| D．Build a good relationship with customers. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Confident. | 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. |
8 . Douglas Webber is known as a “numbers guy” at Temple University in Pennsylvania. His latest research offers guidance on how to keep students on target to earn a degree from a college or university.
Among his findings: It is important, whenever possible, for college students to complete their degree program in four years.
“For any number of reasons, it is in your best interest to try to get out as soon as possible.” It is not only that students staying in school more than four years are more likely to drop out before earning a degree, but also that it’s another year or two out of the labor market, which means lost earnings, Webber said.
Besides, it is also important that students have enough time to complete their college classes, Webber added. His research suggests part-time work of 15 hours or less will not cause harm to the student’s scholastic performance.
His belief is that students active in college athletic programs would face the same problem. It is common, he said, for student athletes to spend 20 hours or more for training, travel and to compete against athletes or teams from other schools.
| A．What about struggling students? |
| B．Why is finishing college in four years so important? |
| C．Also, getting a part-time job is probably a good thing to help finance a college education. |
| D．Students who work 20 hours or more a week are about 15 percent less likely to graduate on time, or to graduate at all. |
| E．That means the longer you stay in college, the more likely that some unexpected event will affect your studies. |
| F．Latest information shows a majority of college students are not earning a degree in four years. |
9 . Money Survey
A recent survey has investigated the way American teenagers aged 16-18 relate to money — what they do with it, how they are affected by the recent financial problems in the world and what they expect in the future. The results make interesting reading.
Of those surveyed, almost all have a mobile phone and more than three-quarters have iPod or MP3 player. 66% own a computer, 46% own a TV and 27% own a car.
Over two-thirds of these young people do some form of work in order to earn money. The average earnings are $1,630 per year, with boys earning more than girls.
Many teenagers are worried about rising university costs and the difficulty of finding jobs.
| A．However, 59% still believe they will be in a better financial position than their parents in the future. |
| B．Most teens also save money - they are usually saving up for clothes, a piece of technology, future university expenses or a car. |
| C．Nevertheless, many of them still reported asking parents for money to buy clothes. |
| D．The world has been hit hard by financial problems lately and 93% of the teens said that this had affected them and their family. |
| E．However, most of their own money is spent on clothes. |
| F．They also talk about what matters most in terms of their choice of career. |
10 . A cycling training at Queen Mary homeless women's hostel (收容所）in London starts. Eleven women discuss what they're hoping to achieve in today's training. Then they push their bikes to a basketball court to practice in an off-road environment. Supported by instructor (指导员)，they practice riding by themselves. Sometimes these women feel a little tired because they take medicine,but they have all made up their mind for cycling training.
Last year Queen Mary approached Sustrans (a charity) to set up a cycling club for women.Many of them have low levels of fitness. All have survived challenging situations ranging from social isolation (孤立) to abusive(虐待的) relationships. The hostel staff,who are experienced mental health experts, try to develop cycling to build the women's confidence and give them access（进入权 ) to other fields of society. The hostel is moving away from traditional treatment of mental health with the belief that cycling could be a really useful tool in helping the women live on their own. After the success of a 10-week pilot project, the cycling club received financial support of £10, 000 to continue the club.
In modern society, homelessness and mental health problems often go hand in hand. Studies have shown that physical activities,including walking and cycling, can be used to overcome and even prevent stress,depression and anxiety. They can be more effective than medical treatments.
Women,however,are less likely than men to take part in physical activities. Women in the UK make nearly three times fewer cycling journeys than men. Two main causes of this are traditional barriers-mostly because women still undertake most household tasks- and fear of judgment. The network of bike paths has been expanded (扩展) yet the “build it and they will come" approach ignores the fact that not all people start from the same point. Social interventions (干预) are a useful way to achieve equality of access to cycling.
1. What can we learn about the women at Queen Mary?| A．They are quite determined. |
| B．They used to be good athletes. |
| C．They committed serious crimes. |
| D．They teach themselves cycling. |
| A．To raise money for the poor. |
| B．To promote the benefits of cycling. |
| C．To help homeless women get a good job. |
| D．To make homeless women better fit into society. |
| A．The harm of mental problems. |
| B．The causes of different mental states |
| C．The various treatments for mental illness. |
| D．The positive effect of sports on mental health. |
| A．Building more bike paths. |
| B．Starting purposeful activities. |
| C．Providing support in housework. |
| D．Strengthening education on equality. |
