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 |
2 . When Lenore Skenazy let her 9-year-old son take the New York subway home by himself 10 years ago, you would have thought that she’d carried out a crime. Now Skenazy started the movement Free Range (放养的) Kids to bring up safe and independent children. Just this month, Utah became a free range state, changing its law to protect parents from being charged with neglect (疏忽)for letting their kids walk alone, or wait in a car for an adult.
Skenazy argues that the risks of giving children some freedom are exaggerated (夸大). Skenazy’s mother used to send her outside at 5 to walk to school. That was just normal back then. And suddenly we hear stories about parents getting punished for letting their 10-year-old son play outside.
We get so used to not knowing our neighbors, not letting our kids walk to school, or play outside, that nowadays, the kids are either in a car or in the backyard, and they don’t get to know the neighborhood. In fact, the world has become safer. We have the technologies to keep track of almost everything our kids do. And so you think you must control them, and you think your child is something that has to be tracked like a package.
The famous case for many parents was the Etan Patz case in New York in 1979. Patz’s parents gave him permission for the first time to walk to the bus stop nearby. He was killed. The story is so terrible that we remember it two generations later. And we don’t allow our kids to walk alone because of one terrible thing that happened 39 years ago. But we don’t say, “I want to drive you to the dentist, but what if we get in a car accident? Think of those people who died in a car accident 39 years ago. I don’t want to be like them. No, we’re not going.” And we recognize that it would be funny to think that way.
1. What do we know about Lenore Skenazy?A.She used to have full control of her son. |
B.She was in favor of Utah’s previous law. |
C.She suggests kids be allowed more freedom. |
D.She was once punished for neglecting her son. |
A.People remain distant. |
B.Kids dislike outdoor activities. |
C.Parents know little about accidents. |
D.The crime rate is slightly increasing. |
A.Unclear | B.Supportive. | C.Indifferent. | D.Unfavorable. |
A.To prove accidents are like crimes. |
B.To warn parents of a terrible crime. |
C.To argue against some parents’ worry. |
D.To point out the real danger to children. |
1. What did the truck crash into?
A.Another vehicle. | B.A friend’s house. | C.A store. |
A.The driver. | B.The woman. | C.No one. |
A.He’s a policeman. | B.He’s a journalist. | C.He’s a gardener. |
1. What are the speakers mainly talking about?
A.The popularity of English. |
B.The study pressure on students. |
C.Attitudes towards learning foreign languages. |
A.About 21%. | B.About 27%. | C.About 35%. |
1. What did the man use last weekend?
A.A shared bike. | B.A shared charger. | C.A shared umbrella. |
A.The proper ways to use the sharing product. |
B.Her attitude towards the sharing economy. |
C.The advantages of the sharing economy. |
I recommend that you talk to your friend about his behavior. It is not unusual for teenagers of your generation to
7 . Children who spent more than two hours per day in front of a television or computer screen were more likely to report behavioral and social problems than kids who watched less, according to a University of Bristol study that will be published in Pediatrics.
Researchers recorded the playing, screen viewing and activity habits of 1,000 children aged 10 to 11. They also had the kids fill out questionnaires designed to estimate the kids’ emotional well-being and behavior.
The questionnaires contained 20 questions covering five sections—emotional difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity (活动过度), inattention, friendship and peer groups and problems relating to friends and peer groups.
The study found that those children who spent more than two hours per day watching TV or using a computer were at an increased risk of psychological difficulties. This risk increased if they also failed to meet the guidelines on physical activity.
While the risks for kids who spent a lot of time in front of a screen appeared to be increased by lack of physical activity, the opposite was not true: Increase in physical activity did not seem to decrease kids’ high scores in psychological difficulties if they spent a lot of time sedentary (久坐 的) in front of a screen. By contrast, sedentary time spent reading a book or working on a project corresponded to the highest scores of psychological well-being.
“While low levels of screen viewing may not be problematic, we cannot rely on physical activity to compensate for long hours of screen viewing,” lead author Dr. Angie Page said in a statement. “Watching TV or playing computer games for more than two hours a day is related to greater psychological difficulties regardless of how active children are.”
Although Page’s study doesn’t clarify the links between inactivity, screen time and psychological well-being, it’s true that kids in the United States are getting less exercise and more screen time than they should. In 2009, Page’s team found a connection between a child’s physical activity and independent mobility, the amount of space in which a child can play without the supervision of an adult. They concluded that, as play spaces have decreased in recent decades, childhood inactivity-and perhaps screen time—has increased.
1. What information can we get about the University of Bristol study?A.It was done by an elementary school. |
B.The results of it have been published. |
C.All the kids studied had to fill out questionnaires. |
D.The questionnaires of it contained five questions. |
A.make a judgment about the kids’ behavior and how healthy they were emotionally |
B.estimate the average time kids spent in front of a screen |
C.infer whether the kids have psychological problems or not |
D.get information about the psychological activity kids like |
A.More electronic products have poured into their world. |
B.They have too much homework to do. |
C.They have fewer spaces to play in. |
D.They lack the supervision of their parents. |
A.A study shows more screen time and inactivity increase kids’ risks of psychological difficulties. |
B.A study clarifies the links between inactivity, screen time and psychological well-being. |
C.A study illustrates why childhood inactivity and screen time have increased. |
D.A study demonstrates how to limit children’s TV and screen time at home. |
8 . Social media has completely taken over everyday life, affecting how society runs and changing individuals in ways that even they can feel. While social media can act as a platform for people to express themselves, it can also be overwhelming, especially for high school teens.
To teenager Bryson Lan, quitting social media helped eliminate (消除) a significant distraction in his routine and keep up with teachers. “I was scrolling through social networking sites so much,” Lan said. “I was also starting to struggle since I entered my high school year. When school started, I was super overwhelmed (不知所措的), and I was just not ready for it.”
Most teenagers fear that by eliminating these apps, they will miss out on connections with their peers and feel a significant loss to their social life. However, Lan found he didn’t miss anything during his time without social media.
Another problem with social media is the amount of “junk content” posted. People are regularly posting and updating on social media, and much of the content has no meaning to other viewers and is ultimately a time suck.
However, social media isn’t all negative. Social media can be a place to develop passions and boost creativity. For example, Lan found his interest in photography blossom after seeing works from other photographers on social media. “Social media is a good place where you can have a portfolio (作品集) or upload your works,” Lan said. “A lot of people have photography accounts or art accounts. In some ways, I think it actually furthers your hobby.” “Thanks to this revolutionary development of social media, we can enjoy a world where everyone is closer than before,” Lan said. “But we also need to have the skills to make good use of social media, and that depends on each person’s efforts.”
1. What did getting rid of social media bring Lan?A.More distractions. | B.Confusion about life. |
C.A smaller social circle. | D.More attention on his studies. |
A.A waste of time. | B.A timetable. | C.A lack of time. | D.A time switch. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Unclear. | C.Objective. | D.Supportive. |
A.Most teenagers’ opinions on social media. | B.The effects social media has on teenagers. |
C.Innovative development of social media. | D.The problems social media brings people. |
China’s top online sales host Li Jiaqi
Li,
“The product is expensive? Sometimes people need to find the reasons why they haven’t received a pay rise after working so many years. Have they worked hard enough?” he said.
Many people then said Li’s comments were inappropriate and had made them
“The consumers have the right
Around 1 am on Monday, Li published a statement on social media apologizing for his comments and making people disappointed.
He added that he started his career as
10 . Virtual reality is quickly becoming the new technological frontier. Tech companies everywhere seem to be racing to get their foot in the VR door. However, virtual reality has a set of challenges and hurdles that it must overcome in order to work well. It should be noted that VR is heavily dependent on being very fast, very accurate and very good-looking. If it isn’t, the viewer will feel motion sick or disconnected from the world that VR is trying to create.
Now that we can actually build VR headsets that begin to meet these requirements, we are seeing a rising interest in VR. As it rises, so does the interest in creating new media to be experienced in using virtual reality. Journalism is a medium built on relevance. Journalists should always be finding new ways to tell stories and deliver content. It is a goldmine for storytelling. What better ways to tell a story to someone than to put them right in the center of it?
Virtual reality is a powerful tool for journalists. The consumer isn’t just reading or watching something play out; they’re experiencing it. The immersive nature of VR allows for people to connect with the subject matter on a much deeper level than just reading about it. The experience is emotional, speaking more to our instinct than our intellect. The possibilities for storytelling here are legion, and any storyteller wanting to do something more interesting than their peers should surely be considering the sheer power of VR.
The question of virtual reality, though, is not how powerful it is. That is immediately apparent. The question of VR is one of viability and availability. Telling stories must be easy to do, and access to those stories must be readily available. This is the biggest challenge that VR faces. If the tools to tell a story with VR aren’t easy to pick up and learn, VR will fail. If VR technology isn’t both top-of-the-line and affordable, VR will fail.
Accessibility was one concern for Thomas Hallaq, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, who said that current VR technology, is pretty exclusive right now. Despite that, he said he doesn’t think the exclusivity of this technology will be a problem in the long run.
“I think it’s very promising,” Hallaq said. “We’re seeing more technology become accessible, and more people having access to that technology. Just look at smartphones.” Like radio, TV and the Internet before it, virtual reality will change the way we tell stories.
1. Why is VR considered a powerful tool for journalism?A.Because it is an exclusively new tool. |
B.Because it is very powerful and popular. |
C.Because people can experience the story in person. |
D.Because it is very fast, accurate and good-looking. |
A.How powerful and interesting it can be. |
B.Whether people will have easy access to it. |
C.Whether qualified VR headsets can be built. |
D.What new ways people will find to deliver content. |
A.Optimistic. | B.Neutral. | C.Pessimistic. | D.Concerned. |
A.The Wide Popularity of Virtual Reality |
B.The Future Development of Virtual Reality |
C.Challenges and Hurdles of Virtual Reality |
D.Virtual Reality is the Future of Storytelling |