1 . Too much screen time for kids can lead to poor health the American Heart Association (AHA) says. A scientific statement published by the AHA in the medical journal Circulation said screen time from smartphones, tablet computers and other devices can lead kids to a sedentary(惯于久坐不动的) lifestyle ,increasing the possibility that they grow up as overweight or obese(肥胖的).
The AHA is the latest organization urging parents to limit how much time their kids spend in front of screens. It recommends children get one to two hours of screen time each day. Although television viewing among children and teens has dropped, the use of smartphones and tablet computers has surged.
“Although the mechanisms(机制) linking screen time to obesity are not entirely clear, there are real concerns that screens influence eating behaviors, mainly because children don’t notice when they are full when eating in front of a screen,” said Tracie Barnett, a researcher at the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Research Centre,in a statement.
Barnett, one of the authors of the statement, also urges parents to keep screens out of kids’bedrooms, raising the fear that too much screen time can affect sleep.
Many studies have warned about the potential (潜在的) negative effects of too much screen time. Last year, a study from researchers at San Diego State University(SDSU) found nearly half of teens who spent five or more hours in front of screens every day experienced long periods of hopelessness or sadness.
Apple, who makes the iOS mobile platform, plans to introduce new tools to devices to help users cut back on screen time. As for iOS 12,iPhones will include a screen time feature where users can control and review how they spend time on their mobile devices. Another company that makes the Android platform will introduce “digital well-being” tools such as screen time limits and a “wind down” option to encourage users to put down their phones before bed.
1. Which can replace the underlined word “surged” in paragraph 2?| A．Increased suddenly. | B．Decreased slowly. |
| C．Stayed the same. | D．Lost the balance. |
| A．By changing the time they eat. | B．By changing their taste for food. |
| C．By influencing how fast they eat. | D．By influencing their feeling of fullness. |
| A．It affected children’s sleep. | B．It led to children’s obesity. |
| C．It resulted in diet problems. | D．It negatively influenced moods. |
| A．Reduce its products’ battery life. |
| B．Provide a screen time feature. |
| C．Introduce “digital well-being” tools. |
| D．Add a “wind down” option to its products. |
2 . Why do Americans struggle with watching their weight, while the French, who consume rich food, continue to stay thin? Now a research by Cornell University suggests how life style and decisions about eating may affect weight. Researchers concluded that the French tend to stop eating when they feel full. However, Americans tend to stop when their plate is empty or their favorite TV show is over.
According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, a health expert, the French see eating as an important part of their life style. They enjoy food and therefore spend a fairly long time at the table, while Americans see eating as something to be squeezed between the other daily activities. Mercola believes Americans lose the ability to sense when they are actually full. So they keep eating long after the French would have stopped. In addition, he points out that Americans drive to huge supermarkets to buy canned and frozen foods for the week. The French, instead, tend to shop daily, walking to small shops and farmers’ markets where they have a choice of fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs as well as high-quality meats for each meal.
After a visit to the United States, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat, decided to write about the importance of knowing when to stop rather than suggesting how to avoid food. Today she continues to stay slim and rarely goes to the gym.
In spite of all these differences, evidence(证据) shows that recent life style changes may be affecting French eating habits. Today the rate of obesity(肥胖) — or extreme overweight — among adults is only 6%. However, as American fast food gains acceptance and the young reject(排斥) older traditions, the obesity rate among French children has reached 17% — and is growing.
1. In what way are the French different from Americans according to Dr. Joseph Mercola?| A．They go shopping at supermarkets more frequently. |
| B．They squeeze eating between the other daily activities. |
| C．They usually eat too much canned and frozen food. |
| D．They regard eating as a key part of their life style. |
| A．Americans and the French. | B．children and adults. |
| C．life style and obesity. | D．fast food and overweight. |
| A．making comparisons | B．following space order |
| C．analyzing cause and effect | D．following time order |
| A．A TV interview. | B．A food advertisement. |
| C．A health report. | D．A book review. |
3 . Those who are already exhausted by 2021 — and well, all of 2020 — can get some relief by calling a hotline and screaming.
“Just Scream!” a hotline created by elementary school teacher Chris Gollmar, aims to reduce tension for those needing to release their feelings. All you have to do is call the hotline and scream as loud as you want, and for as long as you want—and then hang up.
“I wanted to find a way that people would respond to and screaming seemed to be a good fit!” Gollmar spoke of his creative project, which he came up with in September 2020.
He said he thought it would be funny and unique to create a phone line just for screaming. After people dial in, their calls are recorded and put on the website Gollmar created. “Why should I call you?” the website asks. “To scream! You might be unhappy, terrified, or frustrated. All of these are perfectly good reasons to call and record yourself screaming.”
Personal phone numbers are not stored, and all calls go to an answering machine — so communicating with a real person isn’t required.
According to the website, there is currently a backlog of over 40,000 screams waiting to upload. Gollmar said he’s gotten 70,000 recordings since starting the work.
“Never in my life would I have expected so many people to actually pick up the phone, dial a number and record themselves for the world to hear,” he said. “But we’re all screaming on the inside right now, so I guess I should have figured.”
1. What is the purpose of the hotline according to Chris Gollmar?| A．To release stress. | B．To offer advice. | C．To train teachers. | D．To record sound. |
| A．It’s rather difficult to use. | B．It’s getting more and more popular. |
| C．It has access to personal information. | D．It’s available to a limited number of people. |
| A．Facing pressure. | B．Sharing feelings. | C．Expressing anger. | D．Keeping secrets. |
| A．A novel. | B．A newspaper. | C．A guidebook. | D．A diary. |
4 . While visiting Lake Louise last summer, one of the most famous sights in the Canadian Rockies, I saw a plastic spoon float by in the green water. Whether someone had thrown the spoon into the water, or if it was blown in by the wind, the sight surprised me. It was a sad reminder (提醒物) of the reach that plastic pollution has. Try as I might, I could not reach that spoon, and had to watch it float away.
Grist wrote about the problem of plastic cutlery (餐具) in an article called “It’s time to take America’s plastic fork problem seriously”: “It’s hard to say how many forks, spoons, and knives Americans throw away, but in 2015 we placed nearly 2 billion delivery (递送) orders. If at least half those meals included single-use cutlery, that would mean we’re throwing away billions of cutlery each year. They don’t just disappear. A recent study of the San Francisco Bay Area found that food and drink packaging made up 67 percent of all litter on the streets.”
Fiona Nicholls, ocean plastics campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “We can’t carry on using up land or cutting down forests to make cutlery, cups or packaging that get used for a matter of moments, and could pollute our planet for hundreds of years to come. It’s grotesque.”
As members of the community, we should do our part to stop single-use cutlery. One way is to throw a travel set of reusable cutlery into your bag. Even if you don’t have your own set or forget to bring it with you, there are other ways. When eating out, choose places that offer reusable cutlery. Finger foods like pizza, tacos or sandwiches are also nice choices. If you’re ordering food for delivery, you can also say “no thanks” to plastic forks, knives and spoons.
1. How did the author feel upon his discovery at Lake Louise?| A．He felt relaxed. |
| B．He was nervous. |
| C．He was worried. |
| D．He felt encouraged. |
| A．The problem of using plastic is serious. |
| B．The streets in American cities are not tidy. |
| C．At least half of meals are wasted every year. |
| D．Many people spend money on takeaway food. |
| A．useful. |
| B．boring. |
| C．satisfying. |
| D．unreasonable. |
| A．Single-use cutlery harms the environment. |
| B．Single-use cutlery is in great need every year. |
| C．People’s opinions on single-use cutlery are divided. |
| D．People can use different ways to stop using. |
5 . Aron Lee Ralston was born in a middle class American household. His family moved to Colorado when Aron was 12 years old and this move laid the foundation for his love for hiking around the canyons (峡谷).
Aron’s life changed on April 26th, 2003, upon facing the event that threatened to take his life, and almost took it. He was hiking through the Blue John Canyon and he accidentally displaced a huge rock he was climbing down from. The rock caught his right hand in between itself and the canyon wall.
Aron had decided to go on the adventure alone and hadn’t informed anybody about it. So, when he was unable to free his right hand, he felt he would be stuck forever in there. He tried hard to get his hand out but failed, and screaming for help was of no use either. Moreover, he didn’t want to wear himself out as shouting for help would take a lot of energy, which was essential (重要) for surviving the unfortunate event for a long period of time.
After a couple of days, he knew it was impossible for him to set himself free from an 800-pound rock. He decided to cut off his right hand. He had a blunt (钝的) pocket knife with him, which wasn’t sharp enough to cut through the bone. Some time passed and his water and food supply ended. He carved his name, date of birth and a possible date of death on the stone.
But luckily he got a strange idea that he could use the torque (扭转力) and his bones to separate his arm from his body. With the help of his very limited tool, he finally succeeded and walked out of the canyon, bleeding in large amounts. Fortunately, a holidaying family saw him and gave him food and water, and then took him to a hospital.
After the accident, Aron got a prosthetic limb (假肢) and continued mountain climbing, considering the accident as a “turning point in his life”.
1. What happened to Aron while he was hiking?| A．He was too tired and unable to climb |
| B．He suffered a knife wound in his right leg |
| C．He accidentally fell down the mountain. |
| D．He got a hand stuck between a rock and the canyon wall |
| A．He found a way to save himself. | B．He needed to save energy. |
| C．He gave up hope for survival | D．He met a family on vacation. |
| A．He removed the huge stone. |
| B．He cut off his arm with a knife. |
| C．He was pulled out of there by his family. |
| D．He was rescued by people from a hospital. |
| A．Enthusiastic and kind. | B．Independent and generous. |
| C．Adventurous and determined | D．Responsible and professional. |
6 . Fu Cong, a Chinese-born pianist, died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for many years.
A lover of classical music from a young age, Mr. Fu began taking piano lessons when he was 7. He made his first stage appearance in 1952. The concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who selected him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Mr. Fu soon moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory (音乐学校) on a scholarship. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955, he practiced so hard that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of the competition.
Mr. Fu was one of the first Chinese pianists to achieve global fame when he took third place in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955. He also won a special prize for his performance of Chopin's mazurkas. Almost overnight, he became a national hero. To China, Mr. Fu's recognition in a well-known international competition was evidence that the country could stand on its own artistically in the West. Chinese reporters came to interview Mr. Fu, while many others went to his father, Fu Lei, for advice on child-raising.
In 1981, a volume of letters written by his father, was published in China. Full of advice, encouragement, life teachings and strict paternal love, the book Fu Lei's Family Letters became a best-seller in China. Besides influencing a generation of Chinese, Mr. Fu's words resonated (引起共鸣) long after his death with the person for whom they were intended.
“My father had a saying that 'First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist,'" Mr. Fu Cong once recalled in an interview. "Even now, I believe in this order-that it should be this way and that I am this way.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Fu Cong's achievements in music. | B．Fu Cong's stage performances. |
| C．Fu Cong's experiences of learning music. | D．Fu Cong’s efforts for competitions. |
| A．It earns Chinese arts a place in the West. |
| B．It promotes the spread of Chinese culture. |
| C．It proves Chinese people's love for music. |
| D．It enables Chinese art education to be recognized. |
| A．Fu Lei's Family Letters. | B．Young people of China. |
| C．Fu Cong and his family. | D．Readers of Fu Lei's Family Letters. |
| A．It's easy to be an artist. |
| B．It requires various qualities to be a pianist. |
| C．Everyone should develop an interest in art. |
| D．Talent is of greatest importance for a pianist. |
Recently, in an attempt to handle a “masculinity crisis (男性气质危机),” the Education Ministry
Some social media users expressed support for the proposal, with one writing, “It’s hard
CCTV, the state broadcaster, wrote on its Weibo account Saturday: “Education is not simply about cultivating ‘men’ and ‘women.’ It’s more important to develop a
While the Education Ministry’s new plan did not
8 . We all know it is important for students to get a good night’s sleep every night. They aren’t able to do their best unless they sleep well. Most experts agree that the proper number of hours is eight, and this has been accepted as common sense for as long as I can remember. However, I was young once and I know that most of you get much less sleep than that-and sometimes this affects your schoolwork.
I read an article in a teachers’ magazine recently. They did a study of 848 students in a senior school. Worryingly, the results suggested that teenagers are facing a new problem. They may go to bed and get up at proper times but a growing number wake up in the middle of the night, not to use the bathroom or have a snack but because of FOMO-the fear of missing out!
According to the article, schoolchildren suffer because of an increasing trend to wake up during the night to check social media. Afraid of missing a message or chance to take part in a discussion, teens wake up at all times of the night to go online and join up with social groups. All this happens when they should be sound asleep.
The report gives some worrying numbers. 23% of 12-to 15-year-olds wake up nearly every night to use social media. Another 15% wake up at night once a week for the same reason. As a result, one in three students are constantly exhausted and unable to do well at school.
So, I’d like to ask you to be responsible when it comes to social media. Be brave and turn off your phones and computers at night. The world won’t end and your social media will be waiting to greet you in the morning. I give you my word that you won’t have missed anything important.
1. What is the new trend among teenagers?| A．They get up too early in the morning. |
| B．They wake up at midnight to go online. |
| C．They wake up at night to get something to eat. |
| D．They have difficulty in falling asleep again at night. |
| A．A fear of going online. |
| B．A need to go out all the time. |
| C．A fear of losing touch on social media. |
| D．A need to use the latest technology. |
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．confused | D．tired |
| A．Uninterested | B．Supportive | C．Concerned | D．Doubtful |
1. What is the woman reporting?
| A．A medical emergency. | B．A break-in. | C．A car accident. |
| A．In 5 minutes. | B．In 10 minutes. | C．In 15 minutes. |
10 . When I teach yoga (瑜伽), I usually announce “Phones off and at the back of the room” at the beginning of class. Recently, I forgot and had to whisper to a student texting during class to turn off her phone. She looked displeased but did so. But two days later, in another class, I was met with resistance from a young woman who completely refused.
“But I’m on call. I might have to jump up and run out of class.”
“Then maybe this isn’t the best place for you to be tonight.”
That response got me an angry and unfriendly look. But when she came back the next week, there was no phone and she was much more present.
Present is what I’m asking my students to be. Present to themselves and their yoga experience. You cannot be present to yoga if you are texting or emailing or anxiously awaiting a call. And neither can anyone around you. Definitely, if one phone is out, many pairs of eyes are drawn to it. And then other phones start to appear. Forget the fact that you’re missing the class you paid for; you’re at risk of losing your balance and hurting yourself or someone else due to inattention, or disturbing someone else’s moment of peace and stillness with the clicking of your keys.
So please, do yourself and everyone around you, this teacher included, a favor and turn your phone off and put it away before you unroll your yoga mat. If you truly are on call, think hard before you come to class.
Be present for yourself, wherever you need to be.
1. How does the author introduce her topic?| A．By giving examples. |
| B．By making comparison. |
| C．By presenting the process. |
| D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．Because she thought she was reasonable. |
| B．Because she was brave enough to say no. |
| C．Because she didn’t like the yoga class at all. |
| D．Because the author was rude to her. |
| A．Hurting yourself. | B．Missing the class. |
| C．Disturbing others. | D．Getting others’ admiration. |
| A．To describe the situation of her yoga class. |
| B．To explain her relationship with students. |
| C．To show her opinion about using mobile phones. |
| D．To stress the importance of being attentive in yoga class. |
