1 . China has set new rules limiting the amount of time children can play online games. The rules limit children to just three hours of online game playing a week. That is one hour between 8 p. m. and 9 p. m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday most weeks.
Li Zhanguo has two children aged 4 and 8. Even though they do not have smartphones, they enjoy playing online games. Like many other parents. Li is happy with new government rules. But experts say it is unclear if such policies can help prevent addiction to online games. Children might just get addicted to social media instead. In the end, experts say, parents should be the ones to set limits and support good practice.
There has been a growing concern in China about gaming addiction among children. Government reports in 2018 found that about one in ten Chinese children were addicted to the Internet. The new rules are part of an effort to prevent young people from spending too much time on unhealthy entertainment. That includes what officials call the “irrational fan culture”
Under the new rules, the responsibility for making sure children play only three hours a day as largely on Chinese gaming companies like Net Ease and Ten cent. Companies have set up real-name registration systems to prevent young users from going past game time limits. They have used facial recognition technology to check their identities. And they have also set up a program that permits people to report what is against the law. It is unclear what punishments gaming companies may face if they do not carry out the policies. And even if such policies are performed, it is also unclear whether they can prevent online addiction.
A specialist treating Internet addiction expects about 20 percent of children will find ways to break the rules by borrowing accounts of their older relatives and find a way around facial recognition. In his opinion, short-video alps such as Douyin and Kuaishou are also very popular in China. They are not under the same restrictions as games.
1. When can children play games according to the new rules?| A．Between 8 p. m. and 9 p. m. On Friday. | B．Between 8 p. m. and 9 p. m. On Tuesday. |
| C．Between 10 p. m. and 11 p. m. On Saturday. | D．Between 10 p. m. and all p. m. On Thursday. |
| A．the new rules can stop children’s addiction to social media |
| B．companies are more responsible for kids ‘ obeying the rules |
| C．the new rules will help prevent children playing online games |
| D．parents play a greater part in limiting the time of online games |
| A．Design an advanced program. | B．Use facial recognition systems. |
| C．Set up real-name registration systems. | D．Borrow accounts of their older relatives. |
| A．Rules Limiting Short-video alps | B．Rules Limiting Video Game Time |
| C．Rules Banning Irrational Fan Culture | D．Rules Breaking Addition to Social Media |
Teenage life is full of adventures and challenges. Doing voluntary work is popular among some teenagers. And extra-curricular activities
It is said that about half of the people in China smoke. Many young boys and girls have the habit of
More and more people have come to realize
Smoking causes many
As we all know, smoking
Robots on the farm
What can drones (无人机) do? Their many uses include taking pictures from the sky, observing wild animals and delivering packages. Now these small flying robots are leading a new farming revolution (革命).
When equipped with cameras and other data-gathering devices, drones provide us with an eye in the sky. Here are a few of the farming-related jobs drones can do.
Drones can scan crops using different kinds of light. Then they produce multispectral images (多谱图像) that can help us find sickly yellow plants within fields of green. Drones can also detect bacteria (检测细菌) that are harmful to crops in the air from a few kilometers away. Farmers can check the drones’ air samples and try to find ways to protect their crops before the bacteria get to them.
When flying over cattle, drones can track the livestock (牲畜) and find out where fences need fixing. People can also equip drones with thermal imagers (热像仪) and night-vision cameras. This can help farmers know if they have their cattle lost and what animals are a threat to their cattle.
Most fields aren’t perfectly flat. After watering, some places may dry out faster than others. Other spots might not get water at all. Drones can scan the field and make a 3-D map. Using the map, farmers can figure out which parts of a field are dry or need improvement.
A. Counting cattle
B. Warning farmers
C. Watching water
D. Looking for sick crops
5 . The biggest television drama has been the story of how people watch it. Ten years ago nearly nine out of ten American households subscribed to cable (有线电视) or satellite TV. Today little more than half do. The collapse of pay-TV, with the advance in online streaming, has shifted the television industry, forcing studios to rethink their business model. The pace of tearing up the contracts is only increasing. But not everywhere. Europeans are signing up for cable and satellite TV in greater numbers than ever.
Why has American media’s trend missed Europe? One reason is the price. America’s cable industry looks more competitive: the largest telecommunications company has only a quarter of the market. But it is highly regionalised, so most homes have few options. The result is an average monthly cable bill of nearly 100. British homes pay less than half the price.
Also, American cable is running out of shows as studios move their best ones to their own streaming platforms. In Europe, where some streaming platforms have yet to be launched, pay-TV firms keep the rights to many of the most popular titles. Britons seeking the third season of Succession, for instance, must go to the satellite TV, since there’s no other choice.
The last reason is that American streaming platforms have partnered with pay-TV firms in Europe rather than competing with them. In the race for subscribers, the quickest way for streaming platforms to expand in Europe is to join forces with satellite and cable companies. They are the ones with access to consumers and the ability to handle local marketing and ad sales.
Will the trend eventually cross the Atlantic? As long as studios continue to license local companies to broadcast their programs, consumers will have every reason to stick with pay-TV. In the long run, though, studios would rather bring viewers onto their own platforms. And the condition could be different.
1. What does the underlined phrase in the first paragraph mean?| A．Refusing online streaming. | B．Changing the TV industry. |
| C．Breaking promises to users. | D．Stopping using pay-TV. |
| A．Low price. | B．Its convenience. |
| C．Its content. | D．Related technology. |
| A．Cutting down on their charges. | B．Cooperating with local pay-TV firms. |
| C．Setting up satellite and cable companies. | D．Investigating European consumers’ preference. |
| A．The future of pay-TV in Europe. | B．New trends in watching dramas. |
| C．Reasons for the usage of pay-TV. | D．The development of American studios. |
East Buy, a subsidiary of Chinese private tutoring giant New Oriental, announced the
New Oriental Chairman Yu Minhong will concurrently assume
It originated from East Buy staff
The reply has sparked discontent among the fans of the platform’s top-performing host Dong.
The former CEO’s subsequent response and apology not only failed to calm the storm
The term “fan culture”
On Saturday evening, Dong appeared in live-streaming together with Yu and confirmed his commitment
7 . Research shows that isolation (隔绝) is bad for us and associated with certain diseases including depression, high blood pressure and heart disease. Yet teenagers seek isolation by using the device of our times-a screen, screens of all kinds. However, in whatever form, screens are addictive, and addictive from an early age. Research has shown that given the chance, six-month-old babies prefer screens to real human faces.
Hand in hand with this addiction to screens, we are seeing an explosion of teenage mental health problems. Social media claims to be inclusive (包容), keeping you connected. But it’s not. It isolates you from real people. Screens have even been described as being poisonous for teenagers.
Psychologist Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, believes today’s teenagers are “on the edge” of a major mental health crisis and requests, “do anything that doesn’t involve a screen”. The problem is, she claims, children born between 1995 and 2012 have grown up with a smart phone in their hands, and it has changed so many aspects of their lives. The number of teenagers who actually see their friends frequently has dropped by more than 40% since 2000. In 2015, only 56% of 17-year-old went on a date, down from 85%. Modern teenagers are slower to learn to drive, or earn money and spend more time at home. They’re “on their phone, in their room, alone and often depressed”, she says.
Some critics (评论家), however, say we should encourage our children to spend more time online. Robert Hannigan, former director of GCHQ, said in August that Britain is badly short of engineers and computer scientists, and urged children to develop cyber skill to compete in the digital economy.
I’m not the first to say that social media is inferior to real human contact, and harms mental health. Studies show teens who spend three hours a day online are 35% more likely to suicide (自杀). The suicide rate among girls aged 12 to 14 has more than doubled in a decade.
1. Why does Jean Twenge call on teens to surf online less?| A．Social media is inclusive and keeps them connected. |
| B．Social media has changed every aspect of their lives. |
| C．Social media does great harm to their eyesight. |
| D．Social media is addictive and leads to mental problems. |
| A．allow teens to isolate themselves from real social contact |
| B．call on teens to do anything that doesn’t involve a screen |
| C．urge children to contact people face to face instead of online |
| D．encourage children to spend more time on the Internet |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. | C．Unclear. | D．Objective. |
| A．Teenagers seeking isolation using screens | B．Social media causing teenagers mental problems |
| C．Teenagers’ heavy addiction to social media | D．Different opinions on surfing online |
8 . Gen Z, Americans born during the late 1990s and early 2000s, is experiencing higher rates of reported mental health problems than any other generation before them, which is likely to create a higher demand in the mental health industry for years to come.
According to a new report from data management firm Harmony Healthcare IT, a massive 61 percent of Gen Z have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The generation that is now being labeled America’s most anxious is more likely to seek therapy than any other generation before them. Gen Z is 37 percent more likely to go to therapy or receive mental health treatment compared to a slightly lower amount of 35 percent of Millennials, 26percent of Gen X, 22 percent of Baby Boomers and 15 percent of the Silent Generation, according to the American Psychiatric Association. The rise in therapy seeking is giving an overall boost to the mental health industry as a whole. After all, the number of Americans seeking mental health treatment increased almost twofold over the past decade.
Part of the increase in treatment seeking is owing to the coronavirus pandemic, as young adults reported roughly a 5 percent increase in mental health treatment from 2019 to 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Depression and anxiety were at all time highs during this time, but it might not fully explain why Gen Z has been more likely to seek out help. As the pandemic changed the mode that therapy could be available to patients, it’s possible teletherapy made mental health treatment more accessible to those struggling whereas they wouldn’t have sought out help in the past.
Gen Z might also be at the edge of the shift in mental health services because they are less likely to shy away from seeking help. Sharing experiences about therapy via social media has been relatively normalized, which is something previous generations didn’t grow up with.
Gen Z also experienced increasing rates of gun violence and anxiety over climate change while they were young. Key events during this time of their lives could also push a larger amount to seek help related to anxiety or depression, experts say.
1. According to paragraph 2, which of the following statements is correct?| A．61 percent of Americans suffer from an anxiety disorder. |
| B．Compared with previous generations, Gen Z is most likely to seek therapy. |
| C．Baby Boomers is the least likely to receive health treatment. |
| D．The development of the mental health industry boosts therapy seeking. |
| A．The young adults seeking mental health treatment increased by 5 percent. |
| B．Therapy was not available to patients before the pandemic. |
| C．Patients found it easier to receive mental health treatment. |
| D．Pandemic changed patients’ mode of communication. |
| A．They feel ashamed to seek help. | B．They tend to share their therapy experience online. |
| C．They are more violent with greater anxiety. | D．They show little concern for the key events. |
| A．Gen Z boosts mental health industry. | B．Gen Z suffers from more mental health problems. |
| C．More Americans receive therapy nowadays. | D．The mental health industry has been booming. |
9 . Why do people read negative Internet comments and do other things that will obviously be painful? Because humans have an intense need to resolve uncertainty according to a recent study in Psychological Science. The new research reveals that the need to know is so strong that people will seek to satisfy their curiosity even when it is clear the answer will hurt.
In a series of experiments, behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago and the Wisconsin school of Business tested students willingness to expose themselves to unpleasant stimuli in an effort to satisfy curiosity. For one trial, each participant was shown a pile of pens that the researcher claimed were from a previous experiment. The twist? Half of the pens would deliver an electric shock when clicked. Twenty-seven students were told which pens were electrified, another half were told only that some were electrified. When left alone in the room, the students who did not know which ones would shock them clicked more pens and suffered more shocks than the students who knew that would occur.
Subsequent experiments reproduced this effect with other irritants, such as the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard and photographs of disgusting insects.
“The drive to discover is deeply rooted in humans, much the same as the basic drives for food or shelter, “says Christopher Hsee of the University of Chicago. “Curiosity is often considered a good instinct — it can lead to new scientific advances, for instance — but sometimes such inquiry can backfire. ”The insight that unhealthy curiosity can drive you to do self- destructive things is a profound one.
In a final experiment, participants who were encouraged to predict how they would feel after viewing an unpleasant picture were less likely to choose to see such an image. These results suggest that imagining the outcome of following through on one’s curiosity ahead of time can help determine whether it is worth the endeavor. “Thinking about long-term consequences is key to reducing the possible negative effects of curiosity,” Hsee says. In other words, don’t read online comments.
1. What can we learn about the experiment by behavioral scientists in paragraph 2?| A．The total of the subjects is 27. |
| B．All the pens were not electrified. |
| C．Equally many shocks happened to all the subjects. |
| D．No subjects were exposed to the pens previously. |
| A．Stimulants. | B．Solutions. | C．Criteria. | D．Purposes. |
| A．Approving. | B．Dismissive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
| A．The cause of unhealthy curiosity. |
| B．The negative impact of unhealthy curiosity. |
| C．The underlying feature of unhealthy curiosity. |
| D．The practical measure to resist unhealthy curiosity. |
1. What happened to the woman at the beginning?
| A．She lost her phone. |
| B．She couldn’t find the way. |
| C．She was trapped in heavy snow. |
| A．The car was running out of gas. |
| B．She stopped to answer a call. |
| C．The engine couldn’t work properly. |
| A．By drinking hot tea. |
| B．By using the car heater. |
| C．By having more clothes on. |
| A．They called an ambulance. |
| B．They led the woman to her home. |
| C．They helped the woman go to the main road. |
