1 . In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s 2lst birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on some steps and cut his lip. He took a picture of his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum. “And sorry about the focus,” he wrote, “it was a selfie.” That was the first recorded use of the world “selfie”. Word of the Year for 2013, in honour of the term that had taken over the world thanks to millions of smart phone self-portraits and the resulting shares on social media.
So what does the choice of the word say about our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism (自恋). Megan Jackson from a local newspaper points out a selfie may only focus on appearance.
Selfies invite judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryun on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the way we teach girls to see themselves as decorative,” said Ryun.
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves and taking control of their own self-presentation. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse of girl pride—a shout-out to the self”.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the first use of “selfie”?| A．An Australian man created it to celebrate his friend’s 21st birthday. |
| B．It was created by chance when a drunken man shared his photo online. |
| C．The Oxford Dictionary gave it credit for the creation of smart phone. |
| D．The social media were so advanced that they made the word transmitted. |
| A．Mary Elizabeth. | B．Megan Jackson. |
| C．Erin Gloria Ryun. | D．Rachel Simmons. |
| A．the introduction of the word “selfie” | B．the choice of the word “selfie” |
| C．the history of the word “selfie” | D．the characteristics of the word “selfie” |
2 . Yu Pengnian is an 88-year-old real estate Chinese businessman. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career but instead of keeping the money and living like an emperor, he decided to give it all away. All of his fortune will be spent on helping poor Chinese students get a better education.
And Yu isn’t the only super-rich person in China who has this spirit of giving. Chen Guangbiao, a Jiangsu recycling tycoon, has given millions of dollars to charity and promises to give all of his money to charity when he dies.
Yu and Chen are among the many businessmen who have become prosperous during China’s economic rise. An American business magazine, Forbes, estimates that there are 117 billionaires in China and hundreds of thousands of millionaires. What sets Yu and Chen apart from the rest, though, is their tremendous generosity when it comes to donating money to charity.
Last week Bill Gates and Warren Buffett came to Beijing. Gates and Buffett, two of the world’s richest men, are also the world’s biggest philanthropists. They invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them and talk about the spirit of giving. At first, only a few people accepted their invitation. It seemed some of the invited guests were afraid that Buffett and Gates were going to pressure them into giving their wealth to charity.
A lot of people are angry at the billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes. They criticize them for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. But I think this criticism is wrong. A gift, any gift, should come from the heart. Instead of criticism, these reluctant billionaires should be encouraged to follow the examples of Yu Pengnian and Chen Guangbiao. Encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism. As we say in English, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
1. He amassed a fortune of $1.3 billion dollars during his career… The word “amassed” means________.| A．stimulated | B．contemplated | C．immigrated | D．accumulated |
| A．helping poor Chinese students get a better education |
| B．helping the students in earthquake-stricken area |
| C．helping his off-springs lead a rich life in the future |
| D．achieve his aim of living like an emperor |
| A．Yu Pengnian is the only super-rich person in China who has the spirit of giving. |
| B．Chen Guangbiao is a real estate Chinese businessman. |
| C．Yu and Chen become wealthy during the rise of China’s economy. |
| D．When Bill Gates and Warren Buffett invited fifty of China’s richest people to have dinner with them, they all felt honored and accepted their invitation at once. |
| A．When it comes to charity work, they are very generous. |
| B．They had dinner with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, talking about the spirit of giving. |
| C．They are pressured into giving their fortune to charity. |
| D．They are both businessmen. |
| A．The author wants to tell us that flies prefer honey to vinegar. |
| B．The author wants to prove that encouragement is always a better strategy than criticism when it comes to charity. |
| C．The English saying expresses the main theme of the passage. |
| D．The author wants to criticize those billionaires who are not willing to give away their fortunes for being miserly and not caring about the poor and the less fortunate. |
3 . Some children are natural-born bosses. They have a strong need to make
“
Whether it’s inborn nature or developed
When a “bossy child” doesn’t learn limits at home, he is to face lots of troubles
“I see more and more parents giving up their
| A．attempt | B．chances | C．decisions | D．money |
| A．change. | B．guide | C．instruct | D．follow |
| A．old | B．used | C．small | D．new |
| A．Examine | B．View | C．Look | D．Notice |
| A．aspect | B．generation | C．place | D．level |
| A．while | B．even | C．though | D．when |
| A．character | B．method | C．means | D．hobby |
| A．happy | B．healthy | C．harmful | D．useful |
| A．weakness | B．secret | C．protection | D．pressure |
| A．outside | B．from | C．upon | D．inside |
| A．helping | B．obeying | C．objecting | D．finding |
| A．excellent | B．confident | C．lonely | D．proud |
| A．study | B．decision | C．interest | D．power |
| A．helpful | B．strict | C．polite | D．changeable |
| A．eager | B．proud | C．helpless | D．confident |
| A. spread B. formal C. chance D. found E. objective F. experience G. divisions H. economical I. respect J. replaced K. classroom |
The idea of the youth hostel(旅社)started with one man: Richard Schirrmann(1874—1961), a German school teacher, who felt that there was a need for overnight accommodation for his students in order that they could see new things and have new experiences outside the
He felt that one learns by observing, and tried to make his dream come true in the year 1909, when he started providing accommodation for his students in inns, farmhouses and the like.
The first youth hostel was opened in Schirrmann’s own school in Altena, after which it was
And then, in the year 1932, a(n)
The idea of the youth hostel is for young people who are on nature trips to get
Youth hostels are also places to meet and make new friends. They have no class
5 . Age has its privileges (特权) in America, and one of the most important of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age — in some cases as low as 55 — is automatically entitled to a dazzling array of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility (资格) is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practically unheard of a generation ago, the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses — as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.
People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent (有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” are synonymous. Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor. But most of them aren’t.
It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant (刺激物) in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.
Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involve a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point. Supported by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job — thereby reducing employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.
Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become an economic privilege to a group with millions of members who don’t need them. It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against — discrimination by age.
1. We learn from the first paragraph that ______.| A．offering senior citizens discounts has become routine commercial practice |
| B．senior citizen discounts have enabled many old people to live a comfortable life |
| C．giving senior citizens discounts has boosted the market for the elderly |
| D．senior citizens have to show their birth certificates to get a discount |
| A．tax | B．expense | C．profits | D．expansion |
| A．Businesses, having made a lot of profits, should do something for society in return. |
| B．Old people are entitled to special treatment for the contribution they made to society. |
| C．The elderly, being financially underprivileged, need humane help from society. |
| D．Senior citizen discounts can make up for the inadequacy of the Social Security system. |
| A．Senior citizens should fight hard against age discrimination. |
| B．The elderly are selfish and taking senior discounts for granted. |
| C．Priority should be given to the economic needs of senior citizens. |
| D．Senior citizen discounts may well be it type of age discrimination. |
近来，国家发布防止青少年沉迷网络游戏的禁令，规定所有网络游戏企业不得在周一至周四向青少年提供游戏服务。作为一名高中生，你是支持还是反对这一禁令？请表明观点，并阐述理由。
（沉迷于 be addicted to......）
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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 . There's a loud bang, and then it starts: A battery of an electric car is on fire in the test tunnel. A video of the test impressively shows the energy stored in such batteries: meter-long flames flee in disorder and produce enormous amounts of thick, black smoke. The visibility in the previously brightly lit tunnel section quickly approaches zero. After a few minutes, ashes have spread throughout the room.
"In our experiment we were considering in particular private and public operators of small and large underground or multi-storey car parks," says project leader Lars Derek Mellert,"all these existing underground structures are being used to an increasing extent by electric cars. And the operators ask themselves: “
“
| A．The pollutants emitted by a burning vehicle have always been dangerous |
| B．What on earth causes Lithium batteries to catch fire |
| C．Even the fire brigades do not have to learn anything new on the basis of the tests |
| D．The acid can possibly result in death, while its effects may delay after exposure |
| E．But in the three tests in the tunnel the concentrations remained far below critical levels |
| F．What will happen if such a car catches fire |
