1 . Technology bosses who fail to protect children online face up to two years in prison after 40 Tory MPs (保守党议员) backed plans for a new law.
With great support for an amendment (修正案) to the Online Safety Bill from a few figures of authority, which would enable senior managers to be put to prison if they willfully or neglectfully fail to carry out their duties to children, the MPs are forcing Downing Street to take the amendment seriously. Similar laws were passed in Ireland last month.
At present, the bill has criminal sanctions (制裁) for managers — but only if they fail to cooperate with Ofcom, the regulator — and fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s global income for failures to protect children online. MPs and campaigners believe these are not a serious enough deterrent to protect children online or to prevent a repeat of the Molly Russell tragedy. Under the bill,a company should ensure children do not encounter unhealthy content promoting self-harm, eating disorders and suicide. The companies must use technology to identify the age of people using the platform. The measure is due to be voted on at report stage on Jan.17th 2023, after which the process of making and passing laws will move on to the Lords.
However, Monica Horten, the policy manager at Open Rights Group, which defends human rights online, warned:“Does this turn Britain into an powerful state? One that would put people in prison, not for what they’ve written but for what other people are writing and other people’s misuse of the system. I think that for parliament (议会) to be just nodding this through with no debate would be morally wrong and deserving criticism.”
The government said,“Our aim is to hold to account social media platforms for harmful content, while also ensuring the UK remains a great place to invest and grow a tech business. We are confident we can achieve both of these things.
1. What can we know about the new law?| A．Up to 10 percent of a company’s global income will be fined for failures soon. |
| B．Senior managers could face a serious sanction once the law comes into effect. |
| C．The amendment to the Online Safety Bill has gained support from all people. |
| D．Similar laws were passed in Ireland last month and will be passed in Britain. |
| A．Money. | B．Blow. | C．Fine. | D．Failure. |
| A．Parliament will face severe criticism for nodding the new law. |
| B．This new law would turn Britain into a powerful state eventually. |
| C．Molly Russell was a sufferer exposed to unsafe online environment. |
| D．The government approves of the amendment unconditionally. |
| A．Opinions on a New Law Protecting Children Online |
| B．The UK Aiming to Punish Some Technology Bosses |
| C．An Amendment Support to the Online Safety Bill |
| D．Prison Threat for Online Harm to Children Since |
2 . Ariel Procaccia has thought a lot about how to cut a cake over the last 15 years. As the father of three children, he knows how hard it is to divide a birthday cake to everyone’s satisfaction. But it’s also because Procaccia’s work focuses on exploring the mathematical rules for dividing stuff up fairly. One way to do that is to think abstractly about dessert.
For decades, researchers have been asking the seemingly simple question of how to cut a cake fairly. The answer reaches far beyond birthday parties. A mathematical problem at its heart, cake cutting connects strict reasoning to real-world issues of fairness, and so attracts not only mathematicians, but also social scientists, economists and more. “It’s a very elegant model in which you can distill what fairness really is, and reason about it,” Procaccia says.
The simplest approach is called the “divider-chooser” method, where one person cuts the cake into two equal pieces in his view, and the other person picks first. Each receives a piece that they feel is as valuable as the other’s. But when personal preferences are taken into account, even the easiest rule becomes complicated. Suppose Alice and Bob are to divide a cake, and Alice knows Bob prefers chocolate, she may knowingly divide the cake unequally so the smaller piece contains more chocolate. Then Bob will choose according to his preference, and Alice will get the larger piece. Both of them are satisfied with what they get, but the meaning of fairness changes in this situation.
The cake is a symbol for any divisible good. When cake-cutting principles are employed to settle disagreements, they are potentially helping the world find solutions. Procaccia has used fair division algorithms (算法) to model food distribution. Social scientist Haris Aziz is exploring situations ranging from how to divide up daily tasks to how to best schedule doctors’ shifts in hospitals.
Even after decades of investigation, cake cutting isn’t like a simple jigsaw puzzle (拼图) with a well-defined solution. Instead, over time, it has evolved into a kind of mathematical sandbox, a constructive playground that brings together abstract proofs and easy applications. The more researchers explore it, the more there is to explore.
1. What does the underlined word “distill” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Get the essence of. | B．Find the opposite of. |
| C．Keep the focus on. | D．Reduce the impact on. |
| A．Its standard is stable. | B．It prevents unequal division. |
| C．Its concept is complex. | D．It dominates personal preferences. |
| A．The application of its rules. | B．The details of its process. |
| C．The problems it produces. | D．The harmony it symbolizes. |
| A．Who benefits most from fairness? |
| B．How has fairness changed over time? |
| C．What method works best in cake-cutting? |
| D．Why are researchers so interested in cake-cutting? |
3 . In a remote mountainous region in Pakistan, a cable car carrying six children and two adults became stuck in mid-air. However, this terrifying incident resulted in a remarkable display of bravery and intelligence as ordinary bystanders stepped up to save lives.
The incident began like any other day when the small group started their typical daily journey to school and the local shops aboard the shaky three cables broke, causing it to be suspended in the air.
Immediately, multiple rescue efforts were set into motion. The rescue mission lasted for over 10 hours. Military helicopters and local experts attempted to rescue the stuck car. However, the complex terrain (地形) and the cable car’s unsafe position made progress slow. By nightfall, the helicopter team had only rescued one child from the car.
The local administration called upon two local brothers, Sahib and Nasir, for their expert skill in operating temporary cable cars in the region. With limited resources available, the Khan brothers thought up a clever idea to reach the stuck cable car. They constructed a small temporary car using a zip line, allowing them to move over the risky terrain and approach the hanging cable car.
Nasir remained on the ground, assisting with the pulley (滑轮) system. Sahib bravely boarded the temporary car and started a dangerous journey to ward the stuck children. Once he reached the hanging car, Sahib carefully tied a rope around the children in the car. Making several trips, he secured the children and carried them across one at a time. He successfully transported two children to safety in this fashion.
With Sahib’s courageous efforts paving the way, local rescuers took over, using the same method to bring the remaining three children and the two adults back to safety. This heroic rescue mission is a powerful reminder that when people work together with a common goal in mind, they can brainstorm, even in the face of challenges that seemingly can’t be tackled successfully.
1. What happened when a cable car was on its daily routine journey?| A．It stopped halfway due to a power failure. |
| B．A group of visitors were trapped in it. |
| C．Broken cables left it hanging in the sky. |
| D．It crashed into the deep valley below. |
| A．Injured individuals. | B．Difficult land features. |
| C．Poor communication. | D．Severe weather conditions. |
| A．The dangerous situation in the stuck car. |
| B．The risk of saving the trapped children. |
| C．The working principle of the rescue car. |
| D．The rescue efforts by the two brothers. |
| A．Bravery never goes out of fashion. |
| B．A wise man makes his own decisions. |
| C．Many hands make light work. |
| D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
4 . As a mother who had three kids in public schools, it always bothered me that the elementary school had a voluntary “reading club” in which students received prizes based on how much reading for pleasure they did each week. The message seems all wrong: We have to bribe (贿赂) you to read for fun.
A survey by the National Assessment for Educational Progress found that the numbers of 9- and 13-year-olds who say they read for enjoyment almost every day dropped from slightly more than half in 1984, to 42% during the 2019-20 school year. The trend among middle schoolers is worse. The percentage who frequently read for fun dropped by more than half, to 17%, while the percentage who seldom or never do more than tripled (增至三倍).
Meanwhile, a British study found that reading for pleasure had much wider benefits, resulting in better vocabulary, spelling and mathematical abilities. According to the nonprofit reading-advocacy group Kids Read Now, readers also learn better empathy (同理心), decision-making and social skills.
One contributor to this disappointing trend seems obvious: Social media and other digital activities are heavy draws and can consume hours of time. But some librarians and students point to other reasons as well: As students advance in school, required reading of textbooks and classroom-assigned literature increases. They may be reading more, but often enjoying it less.
Reading for pleasure isn’t the same as assigned reading because kids need to be able to relax with the reading material of their choice. As a child, my son used to finish his reading for school and then sigh (叹息) with pleasure, saying, “Now I can read.”
Parents play a key role in changing this situation, but many may not realize how important it is to expose their kids to books, magazines and the like. Giving older students more choices in what they read for class would help encourage pleasure reading too. The class could make group choices or students could pick from a menu of options instead of being assigned a single book. When there are just a few choices and we spoon-feed them to kids, we just deprive them of the experience of realizing there’s a bigger world of books out there for them to explore.
1. What made the author annoyed according to paragraph 1?| A．The messages sent by the reading club each week. |
| B．The lack of reading clubs in the elementary school. |
| C．The unrealistic reading goals set by the elementary school. |
| D．The way to encourage elementary school students to read for fun. |
| A．By listing some persuasive figures. | B．By providing some research results. |
| C．By referring to some experts’ views. | D．By sharing her own parenting experience. |
| A．It takes time to finish reading for school. |
| B．Parents should read together with their kids. |
| C．The reading for school is hardly fun for children. |
| D．Children have difficulty choosing reading materials. |
| A．Keep them from. | B．Prepare them for. |
| C．Lead them to. | D．Fill them with. |
5 . In Denmark, bicycling is one of the primary forms of transportation. In sunshine, rain and snow, you will see cyclists on their way to work, to the grocery store, or to social events. The bike is a Dane’s best friend. Danish cycling culture is as old as the bicycle itself. Bikes were first introduced to the country in the 1880s, and during the 1920s and 1930s, the bicycle became a widespread symbol of equality and freedom. People of all social classes began biking side by side —in the cities on their way to work and in the countryside on their days off.
The increased prosperity of the late 1950s saw some. Danes replacing bikes with motorcycles and automobiles. Just like their colleagues around the world, Danish urban planners believed the future belonged to cars, trucks, and ever-wider highways. In the early 1970s, however, the Mideast oil crisis terminated that development. “Car Free Sundays” were introduced in Copenhagen, and protests demanding Copenhagen to become car-tree took place. Over time, concerns about air pollution, climate change, and the need for people to get enough exercise have helped bicycles make a big comeback. Denmark’s heavy taxes on petrol and automobiles are a factor, too.
Today, cycling is an inseparable part of Danish culture. Newcomers who do not know how to cycle are encouraged to learn as soon as they arrive. Danish children usually learn to bike before they begin school at the age of six — and often much earlier. In school, children learn about traffic rules, road safety, and the importance of wearing a helmet as well as good cycling habits. Another alternative for families with children is the cargo bike-a sort of oversized tricycle with a large wooden box on the front. It’s estimated that a quarter of all Copenhagen families with two or more children own one of these cargo bikes for transporting kids, groceries, and other necessities. Danish cargo bikes have also won design awards and become a Danish export success.
Commuting by bike is the fastest, easiest and most environmentally friendly way to get around the cities of Denmark. And the numbers speak for themselves: Residents who cycle in Copenhagen request 1.1 million fewer sick days. Cyclists reduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes a year on average.
1. What can we learn about bicycles in Denmark from paragraph 1?| A．Bicycling was the only form of transportation. |
| B．Danish cycling culture dates back to the 18th century. |
| C．Bicycles had symbolic significance in the early 20th century. |
| D．Bicycles revolutionized transportation |
| A．Facilitated. | B．Permitted. |
| C．Ended. | D．Postponed. |
| A．To demonstrate the commitment to cycling. | B．To compare cycling with driving. |
| C．To highlight the popularity of cycling. | D．To show the benefits of cycling. |
| A．Denmark: A Nation of Cyclists |
| B．Denmark: A Model of Sustainable Living |
| C．The Evolution of Transportation in Denmark |
| D．The Impact of Cargo Bikes on Danish Mobility |
6 . Social media scam is a form of phishing in which cybercriminals connect with their victims through social media platforms.
No social media platform will ask its users to click an outside link to update their personal information. Check with the official customer support if you are unsure. Internet users should apply the principle better safe than sorry.
Do not use the same password across all your online accounts. If one account gets hacked, all of them will. It is always better to have distinct login details for each platform as well.
Make sure not to reveal personal information.Do not publish your address, phone number, or place of work on your social media account for your safety.
When you get a strange message, or an offer to buy or sell something on social media, first check if the account is verified.
Social media scams can be financially damaging and emotionally distressing. We hope that these tips will come in handy for you. Remember, safety first in the online world just as it is in the real world.
| A．Do not send money to anyone before that. |
| B．It usually starts by sending a friend request. |
| C．Always use a strong password to improve security. |
| D．Create a unique login and password for each platform. |
| E．Also, do not give away this information to strangers in conversations. |
| F．Be careful of friend requests from unknown individuals, as they may have ill intent. |
| G．Before making friends with someone that you do not know, carefully examine the account. |
7 . Nowadays, the world is slowly becoming a high-tech society and we are now surrounded by technology. Facebook and Twitter are innovative tools; text messaging is still a somewhat existing phenomenon and even e-mail is only a flashing spot on the screen when compared with our long history of snail mail. Now we adopt these tools to the point of essentialness, and only rarely consider how we are more fundamentally affected by them.
Social media, texting and e-mail all make it much easier to communicate, gather and pass information. But they also present some dangers. By removing any real human engagement, they enable us to develop our abnormal self-love without the risk of disapproval or criticism theatrical metaphor (隐喻), these new forms of communication provide a stage on which we create our own characters, hidden behind a fourth wall of tweets, status updates and texts. This unreal state of unconcern can become addictive as we separate ourselves a safe distance from the cruelty of our fleshly lives, where we are imperfect, powerless and insignificant. In essence, we have been provided not only the means to be more free, but also to become new, to create and protect a more perfect self to the world. As we become more reliant on these tools, they become more a part of our daily routine and so we become more restricted in this fantasy.
So it is that we live in a cold era, where names and faces represent two different levels of closeness, where working relationships occur only through the magic of email and where love can start or end by text message. An environment such as this reduces interpersonal relationships to mere digital exchanges.
Would a celebrity have been so daring to do something dishonorable if he had had to do it in person? Doubtful. It seems he might have been lost in a fantasy world that ultimately convinced himself into believing the digital self could obey different rules and regulations, as if he could continually push the limits of what’s acceptable without facing the consequences of “real life.”
1. The author compares e-mail with snail mail to show ________.| A．the influence of high-tech on our life | B．the history of different types of mails |
| C．the value of traditional communications | D．the rapid development of social media |
| A．Destroying our life totally. | B．Posing more dangers than good. |
| C．Helping us to hide our faults. | D．Replacing traditional letters. |
| A．Sheltering us from virtual life. | B．Removing face-to-face interaction. |
| C．Leading to false mental perception. | D．Making us rely more on hi-tech media. |
| A．Technologies have changed our relationships. |
| B．The digital world is a recipe for pushing limits. |
| C．Love can be better conveyed by text message. |
| D．The digital self need not take responsibility. |
8 . South Korean government has tried everything to persuade women to have babies. Among their initiatives: sponsored housing for new couples, discounted after-childbirth care for new mothers, even a “baby payment” for each new born. Corporate South Korea is also getting in action, trying to delay a population crisis that could see the country’s workforce halve within 50 years.
“We will continue to do what we can as a company to solve the low-birth issue,” Lee Joong-keun, the chairman of Booyoung Group, a Seoul-based construction company, said this month after awarding a total $5.25 million to his employees for babies born since 2021. Other companies are offering payments, too. This development has come about as South Korea’s fertility rate (生育率) — the average number of children a woman has over her lifetime — has decreased to 0.78 in 2022. That means the population is aging rapidly. “The main reasons behind the falling birthrate are the financial burdens of child care and challenges of balancing work and family,” Lee said.
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol praised companies that came up with “tax benefits and other various support measures to boost child birth,” according to his spokes-woman. Despite aggressive efforts, South Korea’s fertility rate is on course to sink further to 0.65 by 2025. This is largely because of the stress put on women, who face fierce workplace discrimination if they want to pursue a career while having children, experts say. South Kore a ranked 105th out of 146 countries in gender equality last year, according to the Global Gender Gap Report.
Whether financial bonus can have a positive impact on fertility remains an unanswered question. “Cash payouts are not affordable nor sustainable options for many companies,” said Yoon In-jin, a sociology professor at Korea University. “More importantly, South Korea’s male-dominated corporate culture has to fundamentally change in favor of working women,” he said. “Korean women will start having more babies if they don’t have to sacrifice their career for it.” Nearly 50% South Korean companies punished workers using parental leave, especially on promotions, according to Labor Ministry statistics.
1. What population problem is South Korea very likely to face in the future?| A．Its fertility rate will continuously decline. | B．Its population will halve within 50 years. |
| C．There will only be the aged very soon. | D．New-born babies will make up 65% by 2025. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical. | C．Far-sighted. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．Provide equal career security to women as men are enjoying. |
| B．Improve South Korea’s global rank in gender equality. |
| C．Remove women’s financial burdens and home-work balancing challenges. |
| D．Offer couples with new born babies more tax benefits and other supports. |
| A．The reasons why South Korean women are not having babies. |
| B．The policies South Kare a government applies to persuade women to have babies. |
| C．The measures corporate South Korea takes to promote birthrate. |
| D．The severe discrimination South Korean women are facing. |
9 . The original Chick-fil-A location holds a special place in the company’s history. symbolizing innovation and the birth of a brand that would eventually expand to serve customers across 47 states and Washington, D.C.
Chick-fil-A, a company that has grown from a small outlet in Arlanta’s Greenbriar Mall to a fast-food giant, yet now faces the closure (关闭) of its original store. The reason behind the closure of Chick-fil-A’s original location is symbolic of the changes sweeping through retail (零售) and consumer habits. Reports indicate that the decline in foot traffic at Greenbriar Mall, attributed to the loss of customers, has made it challenging to sustain the restaurant.
This trend is reflective of a broader shift in consumer behavior, with traditional shopping malls facing declining footfalls as online shopping gains popularity.
The closure of Chick-il-A’s first location is not just about the end of a physical space. It represents the development of a brand and the bittersweet reality of growth and change.
Each business, in its journey towards success, often outgrows its origins. This transition, while a sign of progress, can also be a moment of reflection on the roots and values that laid the foundation for future achievements.
Interestingly, Chick-fil-A is not alone in this journey. Other big brands like Starbucks, Dunkin (formerly Dunkin Donuts), McDonald’s, and KFC have also followed similar paths. While some of their original locations have become museums or maintained as historic sites, others have adapted or closed in response to changing times and consumer needs.
The original Starbucks in Seattle, Dunkin’s first store in Massachusetts, and one of the earliest McDonald’s in California are examples of how these brands have preserved their heritage (遗产). In contrast, Chick-fil-A’s decision highlights the reality that not all beginnings can be physically preserved.
This narrative around Chick-fil-A’s original store closure serves as a good lesson for companies and business leaders. It’s a reminder of the importance of remembering and honoring one’s origins while supporting growth and change.
1. What does the closure of Chick-fil-A’s first location mean?| A．The end of the food industry. | B．The change of the food industry. |
| C．The beginning of a new brand. | D．The innovation of store management. |
| A．To prove a common occurrence. | B．To reduce people’s anxiety. |
| C．To arouse the readers’ sympathy. | D．To raise a new problem. |
| A．Heart-broken. | B．Overjoyed. | C．Indifferent. | D．Bittersweet. |
| A．Try to keep it physically forever. | B．Redecorate it for further use. |
| C．Never forget its historical significance. | D．Never care about its future. |
10 . In the summer of 2019, Tomas Quinones was undertaking a “bikepacking” trip, covering some remote desert in Southern Oregon. His trip had been marked with usual minor setbacks. He’d lost shoes. His water supply was sometimes uncertain. But there had also been moments of unexpected kindness: A couple parking beside offered to share their lunch; or the guy in the truck asked if he needed help. On the last day of Quinones’ trip, he was riding down a dusty track when he came upon a man lying unconscious on the ground, who was clearly dehydrated (脱水的). Quinones tried to give some water and waited until the ambulance arrived.
Quinones, who’d received help over the course of his trip, paid it forward. The odds are, if you’ve spent any time in the wild, you’ll have experienced these gestures of kindness from strangers or given them yourself too as Quinones did.
So what is it about being outside in nature that makes people want to help others?
The first explanation is that in the wild, there may not be any other help. According to the “bystander effect” (旁观者效应), the more people who are in the presence of someone needing help, the less likely any of those are to actually provide it. But another idea is that there is something about nature itself that seems to promote “prosocial (亲社会)” attitudes. As a recent study suggests, exposure to nature can stimulate feelings of transcendence — a sense of connection to other people, to the world around us and to the universe.
When we get into the wild, we become weaker. And being in an easily-hurt position makes us look at the world differently. So, in the wild, where we are removed of normal possessions, surroundings and identities, we seem more willing to go the extra mile for someone. It’s in nature, ironically, that we can learn new things about humanity.
1. What can we know about Quinones’ trip?| A．Pretty constant water supply was available. |
| B．Food was frequently provided from other strangers. |
| C．He’d usually encountered dramatic troubles. |
| D．He’d travelled to some remote desert on bicycle. |
| A．To give further details of Quinones’ trip. |
| B．To show the difficulty of Quinones’ trip. |
| C．To provide an example for the topic. |
| D．To stress the importance of strangers’ help. |
| A．It explains people’s getting help easily in nature. |
| B．It demonstrates people’s prosocial attitudes. |
| C．It reveals people’s indifference in crowds. |
| D．It stimulates people’s connecting to people and the world. |
| A．We can only learn about people’s personality in the wild. |
| B．It is a pity that people don’t often help others in daily life. |
| C．It is ironic to help strangers in need when in nature. |
| D．We can obtain new knowledge when in nature. |
