1 . For the first time in its history, the International Olympic Committee has allowed a team of refugees to compete at the Games. All of the team’s members were forced to leave their home countries. Now they’ve come together to compete under the Olympic flag instead.
Making it to the Olympics is something eighteen-year-old swimmer Yusra has always dreamed of. But just last year, she was swimming for her life. She and her sister were forced to leave their home in Syria because of the war there. They were trying to get to Greece in a rubber dinghy (橡皮艇) with eighteen other refugees, when their boat broke down and began filling with water. Most of the people on board couldn’t swim, so she and her sister jumped in to help push it to shore.
Three hours later, they made it to safety, and eventually to Germany as refugees. Refugees are people who have left their home country because their lives are threatened by war, bad treatment or violence---often because of their race, gender or beliefs. Around the world, more than 60 million people are in this situation. And some of them, like Yusra, are elite athletes who have trained all their lives to compete at the highest level, only to have that chance taken away.
Now, a team of ten, including swimmers, runners, and judokas from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo have been given the chance to compete at the Games under the Olympic flag. They’ve also been given their own coaches, officials, uniforms and a chef, all paid for by the IOC. And in the past few months they’ve been training hard. The IOC says it wants the team to inspire and give hope to other refugees, and draw attention to the issues millions of other around the world are facing. And these guys say they are up to the task whether they win gold or not.
“These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit,” the statement continues.
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?| A．She trained all her life. |
| B．She swam for the glory of life. |
| C．She swam to escape being drowned. |
| D．She swam to escape from other refugees. |
| A．Syria | B．Germany | C．Congo | D．Ethiopia |
| A．Race | B．Violence | C．Religion | D．Nationality |
| A．help the refugees to fulfill their dreams of winning the Olympic gold medal. |
| B．offer the refugees a chance to earn bread by themselves. |
| C．light a candle of hope for all the refugees in the world. |
| D．curse the darkness of the society by forcing them to pay attention to the life of refugees. |
2 . US author Henry Rollins once wrote: “Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.” Indeed, in the eyes of artists, loneliness never seems to go out of style. There are paintings that portray loneliness, songs that are inspired by loneliness, and many works of literature that center around this theme.
In the eyes of UK economist Rachel Reeves, however, loneliness is far from romantic (浪漫的). Instead, it’s a “giant evil” that’s become a serious problem in the country.
So just how serious is it? On Jan 17, UK Prime Minister Theresa May appointed politician Tracey Crouch as the country’s very first “Minister for Loneliness”. Her job is to tackle (处理) the loneliness that the country’s been feeling – a problem which, according to UK government research, is affecting more than 9 million people in the country, and is more harmful to one’s physical and mental health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
And the problem hasn’t just appeared recently. Back in 2014, the UK was given the title of the “loneliness capital of Europe” by The Telegraph. A survey carried out by the newspaper found that British people were less likely to get to know their neighbors or build strong relationships with people than those from other European countries.
“There is something British about wanting to deal with problems yourself,” Christian Guy, director of the Centre for Social Justice think-tank (智囊团), told The Telegraph.
But this doesn’t mean that the problem only affects Britons. In fact, we’re all suffering from loneliness now more than ever, in spite of most of the world now having access to the internet, which has enabled us to be more connected than ever.
What we need, according to Kim Leadbetter, sister of the late UK politician Jo Cox, is to have “proper human connections”. “Our lives nowadays are so busy. We spend the vast majority of our time on our phones, on our laptops. We need to press pause on that and actually sit down and speak to human beings,” Leadbetter said at an event last year.
But the first steps toward fighting this problem are to accept its existence and not be ashamed or intimidated (吓倒) by it. After all, without loneliness, many beautiful paintings, songs, and literary works wouldn’t even exist. And “evil” or not, being lonely is simply part of the experience of being human.
1. What can we learn about the UK’s loneliness problem?| A．The UK became the loneliest country in the world in 2014. |
| B．More than half of British people suffer from loneliness. |
| C．The government is working to solve the problem. |
| D．British people communicate less with their neighbors than ever. |
| A．has become a problem worldwide |
| B．didn’t attract the public’s attention until recently |
| C．is mainly caused by the wide use of the internet |
| D．does more harm mentally than physically |
| A．Making more phone calls to our friends. |
| B．Stopping the use of electronic products. |
| C．Interacting with the people around us face to face more often. |
| D．Accepting its existence calmly. |
| A．Loneliness is a giant evil of society. |
| B．Only artists can appreciate the beauty of loneliness. |
| C．It is hard to find a solution to social loneliness. |
| D．Loneliness is just a normal part of our life. |
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is “UNICEF”?
UNICEF is the United Nations Children’s Fund
When created in 1946 to help children in war-torn Europe, China and the Middle East, UNICEF stood for “United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund”. In 1947, UNICEF USA was founded, one year after UNICEF, to support UNICEF’s lifesaving work for children.
By 1953, UNICEF's task was extended to address the needs of children in the developing world. At that time, the words “international” and “emergency” were dropped from the organization’s name, making it simply the United Nations Children’s Fund. UNICEF has helped save more children’s lives than any other humanitarian organization.
What is UNICEF USA’s mission?
We work for the survival, protection and development of children worldwide through fund raising, advocacy and education.
How can I volunteer for UNICEF in the field?
UNICEF secures volunteers, who must have at least a Bachelor’s Degree and two-to-five years’ experience in their field of expert knowledge and skills, through the United Nations Volunteers program.
If you are a citizen of the United States and meet the above standards, send your resume to the United Nations Volunteers program at the following address for more information: United Nations Volunteers, c/o Peace Corps, 1111 20th St.N.W, Washington, DC 20526.
If you are interested in volunteering within the United States, click here to learn how.
May I donate non-cash goods for emergency relief?
Some have asked us about donating goods here in the U.S. for emergency relief efforts abroad. While we are grateful for the desire to help, UNICEF does not accept non-cash goods. Why?
Financial donations are the fastest and most efficient way to provide assistance. Donated goods must be screened, sorted, stored and transported. UNICEF pre-positions supplies to speed up delivery and sources them locally whenever possible. A blanket donated today can take weeks, or even months, to arrive abroad. A dollar donated today, however, will be arranged tomorrow to buy lifesaving supplies.
We also purchase supplies in large quantities to save money. That means your financial donation will get more supplies to more kids in need than your donation of non-cash goods.
1. Which of the following statements is true of UNICEF USA?| A．It no longer provides emergency fund. |
| B．It is localized to focus on national affairs. |
| C．It was originally created for kids’ education. |
| D．It supports children growth at home and abroad. |
| A．required education background | B．related working experience |
| C．American nationality | D．educational program participation |
| A．the good will | B．operational efficiency |
| C．local assistance | D．the reliable supply |
4 . Each year, backed up by a growing anti-consumerist movement, people are using the holiday season to call on us all to shop less.
Driven by concerns about resource exhaustion, over recent years environmentalists have increasingly turned their sights on our “consumer culture”. Groups such as The Story of Stuff and Buy Nothing New Day are growing as a movement that increasingly blames all our ills on our desire to shop.
We clearly have a growing resource problem. The produces we make, buy, and use are often linked to the destruction of our waterways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live. But to blame these issues on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and puts us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem.
While we complain about environmental destruction over Christmas, environmentalists often forget what the holiday season actually means for many people. For most, Christmas isn’t an add-on to an already heavy shopping year. In fact, it is likely the only time of year many have the opportunity to spend on friends and family, or even just to buy the necessities needed for modern life.
This is particularly, true for Boxing Day, often the target of the strongest derision(嘲弄) by anti-consumerists. While we may laugh at the queues in front of the shops, for many, those sales provide the one chance to buy items they’ve needed all year. As Leigh Phillips argues, “this is one of the few times of the year that people can even hope to afford such ‘luxuries’, the Christmas presents their kids are asking for, or just an appliance that works.”
Indeed, the richest 7% of people are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes particularly harmful when you take into account that those shopping on Boxing Day are only a small part of our consumption “problem” anyway. Why are environmentalists attacking these individuals, while ignoring such people as Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has his own￡1.5bn yacht with a missile defence system?
Anyway, anti-consumerism has become a movement of wealthy people talking down to the working class about their life choices, while ignoring the real cause of our environmental problems. It is no wonder one is changing their behaviours—or that environmental destruction continues without any reduction in intensity.
1. It is indicated in the 1st paragraph that during the holiday season, many consumers .| A．ignore resource problems |
| B．are fascinated with presents |
| C．are encouraged to spend less |
| D．show great interest in the movement. |
| A．has targeted the wrong persons |
| B．has achieved its intended purposes |
| C．has taken environment-friendly measures |
| D．has benefited both consumers and producers |
| A．madness about life choices |
| B．discontent with rich lifestyle |
| C．ignorance about the real cause |
| D．disrespect for holiday shoppers |
| A．anything less than a responsibility | B．nothing more than a bias |
| C．indicative of environmental awareness | D．unacceptable to ordinary people |
5 . The red phone box in Britain is a perfect example of the British traditional culture. However, with the fast development of mobile phones, it has lost its place in people’s everyday life. In order to save their loved red phone boxes, people have come up with many ideas, for example, to turn them into toilets or art houses.
In a village in Somerset, a place in South West England, villagers have found a new way to save their red phone box.
People can put the books that they have read inside the phone box, and take away the books that they’d like to read.
| A．It was used as an inventory to store books. |
| B．The books are of different kinds, ranging from cooking books to the classics. |
| C．They turned it into a mini library to cope with the shortage of libraries in their area. |
| D．However, not everyone can get access to the library. |
| E．The books in the library are always changing. |
| F．Anyone is free to come to read books there. |
6 . Talking to human-like devices can be great fun - just ask Siri to tell you a joke. But it may also lead to problems.
A recent study by scientists from the University of Kansas (KU) in the US found that human-like devices keep people from seeking out normal human interaction when they feel lonely.
During a series of experiments, participants were asked to write about a time when they felt lonely. They also took part in an online game of “catch” against a computer program that was designed to “throw” the ball other player more often, but participants believed they were playing with real people online.
Participants were then introduced to human-like products, including a vacuum cleaner (真空吸尘器) designed to appear as if it were smiling. They were also asked to think about their phone in human-like terms, considering questions like “how much does it help you?”
The results showed that the participants were happy with the comfort they got from the machines and didn’t need to seek out normal human interaction.
Generally, when people feel socially excluded, they seek out other ways to reduce the feeling of loneliness. Normal ways include increasing their number of social media friends or engaging in behaviors to seek out interaction with other people, according to Jenny Olson, assistant professor of marketing at KU.
But it wasn’t all bad news, as the team found that there were limits to how far this effect would extend.
“As soon as we tell people we know that it looks like the [vacuum cleaner] is smiling, they seemed to realize it was a machine and not a person,” Olson told Daily Mail. “The effect goes away. This seems to happening on a very subconscious level.”
Researchers believe the results are important for consumers to realize how these types of products could affect their social interaction with real people, especially because so many new products feature interactivity.
“If someone notices they are talking more to Siri lately, maybe that has something to do with felling lonely,” Olson said. “From that standpoint, it’s important to be aware of it.”
The study could also help companies design products that can increase the well-being of people who feel lonely, without sacrificing normal social interaction.
“Maybe it is more about improving our current relationships,” Olson said, “such as taking a break from screen time and focusing on developing your real personal connections.”
1. Researcher from the University of Kansas found that _______.| A．human-like devices may help people interact with others. |
| B．interaction with human-like devices may make people feel lonely. |
| C．lonely people may easily become addicted to human-like devices. |
| D．human-like devices may reduce people’s social interaction in real life. |
| A．were allowed to talk with human-like devices. |
| B．were shown devices with human features. |
| C．played online games with both machines and real people. |
| D．were encouraged to engage in normal human interaction. |
| A．lonely people are more likely to seek out interaction with other people. |
| B．lonely people are content to only interact with human-like machines. |
| C．the feeling of loneliness deepens as people interact more with human-like devices. |
| D．People who are socially excluded would get uninterested in socializing. |
| A．It shows people why human-like products make them feel lonely. |
| B．It warns people to stop using human-like devices completely and focus on real social interaction. |
| C．It may help the well-being of people who fell lonely and improve their current relationships. |
| D．It points out the effects of human-like devices and could help companies improve their products. |
7 . More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that what distinguished young adults from children was not the ability to retain facts or apply prior knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called “preparation for future learning.” The researchers asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (although the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.
The researchers decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eagles and their habitats. Fifth graders tended to focus on features of individual eagles (“How big are they?” and “What do they eat?”). The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the cornerstone (最重 要部分)of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.
Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary and secondary schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?” and “How can?” questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration，they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit-asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted to try，they tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Asking juicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborative inquiry into the science content found in exhibits.
This type of learning is not confined to museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environments tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere, Our society depends on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have an informal learning system that gives no grades, takes all comers，and is available even on holidays and weekends.
1. What is traditional educators interpretation of the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems. |
| B．College students are no better than fifth grader in memorizing facts. |
| C．Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues. |
| D．Education has failed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas. |
| A．they have learned to think critically. |
| B．they are concerned about social issues. |
| C．they are curious about specific features. |
| D．they have learned to work independently. |
| A．It arouses students’ interest in things around them. |
| B．It cultivates students’ ability to make scientific inquiries. |
| C．It trains students’ ability to design scientific experiments. |
| D．It helps students realize not every question has an answer. |
| A．train students to think about global issues |
| B．design more interactive classroom activities |
| C．make full use of informal learning resources |
| D．include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum |
