1 . As a means of dealing with loneliness and social isolation (孤立) in English towns, local police forces have begun providing specific public benches that can be used for making friends and having conversations.
The “Chat Benches”, which are now located in two different parks and outdoor areas in Somerset, are recognized by a little sign reading: “Sit here if you don’t mind someone stopping to say hello!”
The Avon and Somerset Police Department Facebook page recently published photos of their two new “Chat Benches” in Burnham and Taunton with an encouraging note for readers to stop by and use them for socialization (社交). “The sign simply helps to break the silence between strangers who find themselves sharing a common place,” says the police department. “We can all play a part. Simply stopping to say ‘hello’ to someone at the ‘Chat Bench’ could make life a little better for many people.”
According to a survey of the department, 17% of old people are only in contact with family, friends and neighbors less than once a week. This rises to about 9 million British people who suffer from loneliness and isolation each year.
The police force started the Chat Bench earlier this month to go with World Elder Abuse (虐待) Awareness Day. Though the officers say that there are many different forms of elder abuse which need our concern (关心), they hope that the Chat Bench will help to deal with senior loneliness in their communities. “The Chat Bench is a fantastic new thing and I hope people of all ages start many more conversations in the future,” says Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens.
1. What can we know about the Chat Bench according to the text?| A．It is intended for prisoners. |
| B．It can be seen in every English town. |
| C．It has helped many people get rid of loneliness. |
| D．It has signs encouraging strangers to start conversations. |
| A．Most old people in Britain live alone. |
| B．The British pay less attention to mental health. |
| C．The British have little interest in social activities. |
| D．Increasing British old people feel lonely and isolated. |
| A．He has high expectations for the Chat Bench. |
| B．Elder abuse hasn’t drawn public attention. |
| C．He doesn’t think people can enjoy using the Chat Bench. |
| D．Senior loneliness has been a serious social problem in Britain. |
| A．The history of “Chat Benches” |
| B．New tourist attractions in British towns |
| C．British police find communication areas in the towns |
| D．British police create “Chat Benches” to fight social isolation |
2 . According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to look after them in old age should hope they have daughters because daughters are twice as loving as sons generally.
The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, from Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.
Her analysis of the family networks of 26, 000 old Americans concluded that gender （性别）is one of the most important things that decide whether or not people will actively care for their elderly parents.
In a paper presented at the annual conference of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, she concludes that simply having a sister makes men likely provide less care. Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been recording those people over 50s for the last decade, she analyzed that women provide an average of 12. 3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5. 6 hours.
“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”
“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”
In the UK, the 2011 Census showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities, a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.
But many are doing so at the risk of their health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a fulltime job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts who are not carers.
1. According to the passage, what’s the key factor to decide if people will actively care for the old?| A．Education. | B．Gender. | C．Career. | D．Income. |
| A．having a sister makes men less likely to look after their parents |
| B．sons are twice as likely as daughters to care for parents in old age |
| C．sons are unwilling to leave caregiving responsibilities to their sisters |
| D．sons and daughters seem to give equal care to their parents |
| A．People should give up their jobs to care for the elderly. |
| B．Many care providers work longer hours than others. |
| C．Many care providers have potential health problems. |
| D．People shouldn’t pass on caring responsibilities to others. |
| A．explaining social networks of careers |
| B．describing people’s experiences |
| C．analyzing various researches and data |
| D．comparing different gender |
3 . Our teenagers are lonely. A new study by Harvard’s Making Caring Common (MCC) shows just how that feeling has been common and become serious during the past year when we had to keep the social distance. One year’s online learning and life in the bedrooms rather than the classrooms or dorm rooms can make teenagers feel lonelier than before. Teenagers have been more likely to be influenced by loneliness than older adults.
Experiencing loneliness is certainly sad, but it is also perilous. Researchers found that 63％ of the young were suffering from bad sleep, anxiety, and poor health during the lockdown(活动限 制 ) and that nearly a quarter had started or increased some bad habits, including smoking, drinking and staying up late to deal with their feelings.
About half of the young people in the study, who said they had felt lonely, explained that over the past weeks not one person had taken more than just a few minutes to ask how they had been lately. It made them feel they had no one who really cared about them. Their parents thought they had much free time after lessons and it seemed that they only worried whether their children could perform their schoolwork at the level they once did. They didn’t know the problem.
Sian Leah Beilock, the president of Barnard College, explains that young people depend on social media, which makes them especially weak to social media’s harms. She also suggests that fewer close friends may explain some of the feelings of loneliness. She reports that in 1985 the average American had three close friends with whom they could share important things about their lives. In 2004, that number had dropped to just two friends. And in 2019. one in five millennials(千禧一代) had no friends at all.
These levels of loneliness are heartbreaking. MCC suggests, as a nation, we first should focus on teaching the young to make meaningful connections between people and support them.
1. What is the finding of MCC’S study?| A．Every teenager has lonely moments. |
| B．Parent-child communication becomes less. |
| C．Teenagers care too much about others’ opinions. |
| D．Lockdown lifestyles increase teenagers’ loneliness. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Funny. | C．Helpful. | D．Uncommon. |
| A．Their parents misunderstood them. |
| B．They found their schoolwork heavy. |
| C．They needed more care and attention. |
| D．Their online courses made them bored. |
| A．Teenagers are short of outdoor exercise. |
| B．Teenagers should make more close friends in real life. |
| C．Teenagers enjoy developing close relationships online. |
| D．Teenagers should avoid sharing important things online. |
4 . Mount Hood is the highest mountain in Oregon, a state in the western United States. At 3, 400 meters it is attractive to many people, some of whom, of course, run into trouble. Each year 25 to 50 people have accidents or get lost on Mount Hood and need rescue（营救）. Although most of these are understandable accidents, a few result from careless risk-taking.
In one recent case, three experienced climbers went hiking in the middle of a snowstorm in December. Most hikers climb Mount Hood in May or June when the weather conditions are good. But in December, the mountain is covered in snow and ice. Winds up to 135 kilometers per hour blow the snow around, making it difficult to see. Temperatures can drop below freezing. As one rescue worker put it, "What were they thinking? They were just asking for it. "
During a rescue a few years ago, a helicopter full of rescue workers crashed and the rescue workers were almost killed. Linda Carle, who lives in the Mount Hood area, asks, If someone made a muddled decision, why should rescue teams have to risk their lives to save them? Why do people take unnecessary risks and do things that aren't right if they know that they can get into trouble? "
Most of the Mount Hood rescue workers are either volunteers or part of the local police department There is no charge for these rescues. It is the taxpayers who pay the bill. Linda Carle suggests that people who take careless risks and need rescue should ay for the rescue. She fees it is only fir that costs for things like damaged helicopters and medical care for rescuers should be paid for by the people who take the risks. What would you do if you were the local police officer at Mount Hood?
1. What can we learn about Mount Hood?| A．It lies in the west of the United States. |
| B．It is the highest mountain in the United States. |
| C．The best time to climb the mountain is from May to July. |
| D．Hundreds of people get lot in the mountain every year. |
| A．poor | B．important | C．wise | D．clear |
| A．Taxpayers | B．Risk takers | C．Government | D．Police |
| A．Advice on stopping people from climbing Mount Hood. |
| B．Other serious accidents in Mount Hood. |
| C．The requirements of becoming a volunteer. |
| D．Some possible ways to solve the problem of rescue costs. |
5 . Family time is one of the most important times in a children's life. My family and I spend a lot of time together, including having dinner together every night.
There have been many recent studies showing kids are "wilder" than they used to be.
I have noticed in old TV shows and my parents' stories that not long ago sitting at the family dinner table was not a choice, but a must.
| A．Nowadays, it seems harder for people to find time to be together. |
| B．I did a little research on the "family table" idea. |
| C．Children just watch TV and play computer games. |
| D．There are certainly many reasons for this. |
| E．We don't watch television. Instead we sit down at the table to eat and discuss our days. |
| F．What's more, they learn better behaviours during the time with their parents. |
| G．It is important for parents to teach children how to behave. |
6 . Empathy (同理心) is one of those strange qualities — something almost everyone wants, but few know how to truly give or receive it. In a world where self-satisfaction is emphasized, it is in short supply but high demand. This is all the more reason to teach the next generation what it means to have empathy for those around them.
What Is Empathy? — Many people confuse sympathy and empathy, but they are two distinct values. Empathy is not just the ability to understand someone's feelings; criminals often take advantage of people by appearing to understand their feelings and subsequently gaining their trust. Empathy is more than that. Not only is it the ability to recognize how someone feels, but it also values and respects the feelings of another person. It means treating others with kindness, dignity, and understanding.
Kids Need To See Adults Show Empathy — While some children are gifted with naturally kind hearts, in most cases kids need to see empathy modeled by the adults around them. It begins with the way parents relate to their children. Parents who show an interest in the things that matter to their kids and respond to emotions in a positive and caring way are teaching the skill of empathy.
Meet Emotional Needs — When children have their emotional needs met, two things happen. They learn how to meet the emotional needs of others and they are anchored in what they are receiving, meaning that they are secure enough to give to others when the need arises but first they need to receive. An empty jug cannot fill a cup.
It's a good idea to talk to kids about emotions and how other people experience them. Give their emotions names (for example, jealousy, anger, and love) and teach them that these are normal. Talk to them about how to handle emotions in a positive way and point out situations where other people are experiencing emotions. Teach them about respecting the emotions of others and show them how to act in a situation where a response is required.
1. Why is it that the next generation are taught to have empathy?| A．Because people tend to center themselves. | B．Because everyone lacks empathy. |
| C．Because empathy is a strange quality. | D．Because it's better to give than to receive. |
| A．When a mathematician is calculating the area of a farmland. |
| B．When a teacher is comforting a student about his failure in exams. |
| C．When a criminal is cheating a victim. |
| D．When a dancer is dancing to music. |
| A．An empty jug is too small to hold a cup. |
| B．It's a must to talk to kids about emotions. |
| C．Adults should set an example to kids. |
| D．Kids give empathy with their emotional needs met first. |
| A．How to train kids to have empathy. |
| B．How to distinguish sympathy and empathy. |
| C．How to help kids finish empathy-related tasks. |
| D．Whether kids can be trained to be more empathetic. |
7 . The Internet plays a big part in human life. We use it for work and pleasure. We use it to learn a new language. We find advice on it. We use it to connect with family and friends. We use it to stay in touch with events we care about.The list goes on and on.
As far as the Internet being a part of our lives, well, that train has left the station. There is no going back to an Internet-free life. But can using the Internet too much be bad for our health? It might be, say researchers. A new study finds that heavy Internet use may be connected to high blood pressure in a young group: teenagers.
The study results show that teens who spend at least 14 hours a week only online may cause high blood pressure, which makes their hearts and blood vessels(血管) work too hard. Over time, this extra pressure increases the risk of a heart attack. High blood pressure can also cause heart and other diseases.
The Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan did the study. 335 young people, from 14 to 17 years old, took part in it. 134 of the teens were described as “heavy Internet users”. And researchers found that out of these 134 teens, 26 had high blood pressure. The researchers said the study was the first to connect heavy Web use with high blood pressure.
The lead researcher is Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow. She says, “Using the Internet is part of our daily life, but it shouldn’t ruin(毁坏) us.” Ms. Cassidy-Bushrow adds that it is important for teens to stop to have a rest regular from their computers or smartphones and do some kind of physical activity. She also suggests that parents shouldn’t let their children use the Internet for more than two hours a day, five days a week.
1. What does the underlined part “that train has left the station”mean in Paragraph 2?| A．The train has changed its course. |
| B．Life without the Internet is nowhere to be found. |
| C．The Internet brings great changes to people’s life. |
| D．The Internet has improved people’s life. |
| A．There was no similar study like it before. |
| B．Most of the young people had high blood pressure. |
| C．Adult people aged above 17 took part in the study. |
| D．Over half of the teens in the study were heavy Internet users. |
| A．That teenagers shouldn’t use the Internet. |
| B．That the Internet will ruin human life in the future. |
| C．That smartphones are more harmful than computers. |
| D．That regular breaks are necessary when using the Internet. |
| A．Heavy Internet users are mostly teenagers. |
| B．Every coin has two sides—so does the Internet. |
| C．Too much Internet use may be bad for teenagers. |
| D．How to prevent teenagers from using the Internet. |
8 . As parents, we walk a fine line between caring for our children and teaching them how to care for themselves. When they're little, they need our help with everything. Over time, kids usually take the lead on things like feeding and dressing themselves, but it can be difficult to know when it's time for them to start doing some basic things, such as packing their own lunches for school or solving problems with teachers without a parent's help.
Blogger Amy Carney recently shared a post about the things parents should stop doing for their teens. In it, Carney shared the basic skills that she expects her kids to master by the time they hit 13, such as waking themselves up in the morning, making their own breakfast and lunch, and finishing their own homework.
Barb Harvey, a childhood behavior expert, gave me her answer: The age at which children learn to master certain skills will be different depending upon the maturity (成熟) and interest level of the child.
I asked the same question among my friends. They gave all kinds of answers, which can explain Harvey's opinion.
Therefore, there's only one expert who can determine when your kids have the ability to deal with certain skills, and that's you. If your kids aren't ready to pack their own lunches — don't sweat it. Help them learn the skills they're ready to deal with and keep working towards the end goal of raising responsible and able adults. Because if there's one thing that we can all agree on as parents, it's that time moves quickly when you're raising kids. One day you will wish they could just do things without you and the next day, you will feel upset that they do.
1. What is Amy Carney's expectation when her children are 13?| A．To be a skillful cook. | B．To follow Harvey's opinion. |
| C．To be an expert. | D．To have basic skills. |
| A．Amy Carney. | B．Barb Harvey. |
| C．The children. | D．The parents. |
| A．Their kids can do nothing. |
| B．They feel less important. |
| C．Their children become able adults. |
| D．Their kids disagree on anything. |
| A．Walking a fine line. |
| B．Blogger Amy Carney. |
| C．Parents and their children's growth. |
| D．A childhood behavior expert. |
9 . 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. |
10 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).
How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?| A．Their target users. | B．Their wide popularity. |
| C．Their major functions. | D．Their complex design. |
| A．Admit. | B．Argue. |
| C．Remember. | D．Remark. |
| A．They like smartphone games. | B．They enjoy guessing callers’ identity. |
| C．They keep using landline phones. | D．They are attached to their family. |
| A．It remains a family necessity. |
| B．It will fall out of use some day. |
| C．It may increase daily expenses. |
| D．It is as important as the gas light. |
