1. What do the speakers agree on heroes?
| A．They are like Superman in films. |
| B．They achieve great success in their work. |
| C．They are common people making important contributions. |
| A．His grandfather. | B．Great writers. | C．Superman. |
| A．Unusual. | B．Realistic. | C．Dull. |
| A．It’s hard to find great books. |
| B．It’s great to do some reading. |
| C．It’s good to help some people. |
2 . The printed book is back.
Recent studies have shown students keep more information in memory when they read a hard-copy book compared to reading on a digital device. One school in Australia responded to these findings by abandoning its e-readers. The students noted that “the ease of navigation” was superior when using a traditional book.
I love the way we now judge printed books using the language of the digital world. E-books may come with “a set of navigational tools,” but it turns out that the best navigational devices are your forefinger and thumb. To think, all this time, those devices have just been sitting there, hanging at the ends of your arms.
Can a traditional book offer all the features of an e-book? Alas, no. It lacks a “progress bar” indicating what percentage of the book has been read. Luckily, a “hack (劈具)” is available: Turn your book so that it can be viewed from the side or top. It will naturally form two halves joined in the middle (“the spine”) (书脊). If the left-hand chunk is thicker than the right-hand one, you are more than halfway through.
Fans of the e-book point out that digital text is easy to annotate (作注解). Some devices even feature a little image of a pencil to guide the reader through the process. Traditional-book users have a similar system called a “pencil”. With it, favored passages can be underlined and, if it’s a history book, pretentious comments can be written in the margin. Thus annotated, such books can be left around for others to pursue, convincing family members, or prospective lovers, of your intellectual judgment and insight.
Educational fads come and go, so maybe the shift back to traditional books won’t last. But for the moment, I find myself standing at attention, tightening my textbook-built shoulders and saluting their glorious return.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 2?| A．To support a point. |
| B．To clarify a concept. |
| C．To describe a phenomenon. |
| D．To present the central point. |
| A．Dividing the book into halves |
| B．Turning the book upside down |
| C．Calculating the percentage of the reading |
| D．Comparing the finished part to half the volume |
| A．Sensitive. | B．Showy. | C．Frequent. | D．Imaginative. |
| A．An overall ban should be placed on e-books to improve learning. |
| B．Digital devices do not present an advantage over fingers in reading. |
| C．The language of the digital world is popular with printed book lovers. |
| D．Traditional books have made a comeback and are here to stay for good. |
3 . The first thing I learned about shopping after moving to Texas from the Caribbean was this: Go to Goodwill.
When I needed my first jacket, I went to Goodwill. When the carpet in my studio got dirty, I bought a vacuum cleaner at Goodwill. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was participating in the billion-dollar industry of used goods. After reading journalist Adam Minter’s Secondhand: Travels In The New Global Garage Sale, I now understand how it works not only in the US but across the world. I also understand that most people are hoarders — humans always put emotional value on worthless items, and we now collect things and fill the space around us faster than at any other time in human history.
In Secondhand, Minter starts with a strange question: What happens to people’s stuff when they die? He answers the question in the first chapter—but this only opens a door into the hidden, billion-dollar industry of reuse. With a keen eye for detail and the curious mind of a journalist, Minter takes readers from thrift stores (旧货商店) all across the US to small apartments and vintage shops in Tokyo, and from a truck in Mexico to an office in Mumbai, to show the inner workings of one of the world’s largest markets. Along the way, he interviews many fascinating people who make a living by buying and selling what others discard or leave behind after their deaths, all while wondering what the future holds for this business in an era when consumers want new things.
To say Secondhand is a book about reusing and reselling would be unfair to Minter. Sure, reuse is at the core of the book, but it also deals with culture and consumption patterns on a global scale. It also offers a look into the relationships people establish with things and how those crumble (破碎) with time and death.
While the used-goods business doesn’t stand a chance against the low-cost goods that have spread globally over the last forty years, the truth is that it will be decades before it disappears entirely. Secondhand is a good book to understand it, a book written with a lot of heart and with people — not things — as its focus.
1. What do we know about Goodwill from the text?| A．It sells different secondhand items. |
| B．It provides support for newcomers to Texas. |
| C．It is a fashion brand known for its cheap clothes. |
| D．It is where the author bought Adam Minter’s book. |
| A．The global market size of used goods. | B．Adam Minter’s journeys for his book. |
| C．Some questions about the industry of reuse. | D．Fate of people’s belongings after their deaths. |
| A．Handle. | B．Check on. | C．Separate. | D．Throw away. |
| A．It will decline due to online shopping. | B．It will disappear entirely in a few years. |
| C．It will continue to exist despite challenges. | D．It will be bigger than the new goods business. |
4 . Reading is an exercise for the mind. It is good for our vocabulary and literacy skills, teaching us math or science concepts and helping us learn history. Apart from those, reading has another benefit. Have you read a story and felt tears well up because of a character’s suffering? If so, that is because you have empathy (共情) for the character.
Research shows that human brains react differently to stories and facts.
This theory of EI has been put into practice in schools. After reading The Boy at the Back of the Class, a story about a boy who is a refugee escaping from the war, students in St Michael’s High School were inspired to do a 10-mile walk for the non-profit organization — Refugee Action.
| A．In a way, all this increases our ability to read well. |
| B．This permits people to limit their emotions that others are feeling. |
| C．Many more areas of your brain light up when you’re enjoying a story. |
| D．It also stimulated them to raise £1,000 for the homeless caused by war. |
| E．Reading encourages us to empathize with others, which could be beneficial. |
| F．Empathy helps you to read people’s emotions and work out the best way to respond. |
| G．It helps you see into other people’s hearts and can be learned through various stories. |
5 . The best science books inspire a sense of wonder and make you amazed at the incredible world we live in. Here are four of them to feed your imagination.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
How did it all begin? And how did we get here? Combining history and science, the book offers a comprehensive yet entertaining answer to these questions. Bill Bryson takes the reader on an impressive journey through the greatest scientific discoveries in history. It explains scientific topics in a vivid way, but it’s quite a long read.
Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe
How do helicopters work? Or cells? Randall Munroe explains how things work using illustrations and only the most common 1,000 words in English. It will shift your approach to explanation. So, next time explain how something works rather than merely call it by its name. However, additionally providing more technical terms might have enhanced the understanding and learning experience.
Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake
What does it feel like to fly into space? How do you prepare for it? Astronaut Tim Peake answers all the questions you never knew about going into space. The book gives insights into the cutting-edge science, as well as the day-to-day life on board of the International Space Station. Its question and answer format makes it easy to quickly find answers, but it can become less appealing due to the lack of descriptive language.
Deep Time by Riley Black
Want to know the story of our planet? Riley Black takes us on a journey, in the order of time, through the geological (地质的) events that have shaped our planet. The fascinating high-quality images are supported by easily digestible explanations of key historical moments. It also expands on key concepts in geology, astronomy and biology. Yet, measuring the size of some objects on the photos is difficult due to the lack of a scale bar (比例尺).
1. Which book is organized in the format of question and answer?| A．A Short History of Nearly Everything. | B．Thing Explainer. |
| C．Ask an Astronaut. | D．Deep Time. |
| A．It is rather too long. | B．It is written in plain language. |
| C．It lacks technical terms. | D．It fails to include clear images. |
| A．They combine science and history. | B．They feature vivid illustrations. |
| C．They introduce astronauts’ daily life. | D．They entertain readers of all ages. |
1. What is the probable relationship between the speakers?
| A．Teacher and student. | B．Brother and sister. | C．Classmates. |
| A．Once a month. | B．Twice a week. | C．Once a week. |
| A．In a library. | B．In a bookstore. | C．In a dormitory. |
8 . Growing up, Mychal Threets fell in love with reading at Fairfield Civic Center Library (FCCL) in California. Now, at age 33, he is the supervising librarian of FCCL and has gained a
Threets was mostly home schooled by his mother. They spent hours at FCCL each day, so it became a
About two years ago, he began
Although the attention he receives for his posts can feel
The
| A．review | B．copy | C．following | D．checking |
| A．consider | B．allow | C．practise | D．enjoy |
| A．home | B．burden | C．wonder | D．community |
| A．hiring | B．becoming | C．training | D．remaining |
| A．groceries | B．tapes | C．supplies | D．books |
| A．project | B．journey | C．adventure | D．hobby |
| A．weight | B．position | C．record | D．energy |
| A．sharing | B．producing | C．selling | D．pursuing |
| A．reports | B．lectures | C．tips | D．debates |
| A．hiding | B．laboring | C．meeting | D．reading |
| A．incredible | B．stressful | C．delightful | D．impossible |
| A．favor | B．warn | C．remind | D．justify |
| A．care about | B．benefit from | C．depend on | D．defend for |
| A．news | B．rule | C．deadline | D．message |
| A．success | B．comfort | C．guilt | D．shock |
1. 活动目的；
2. 活动过程；
3. 活动反响。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Reading and Sharing
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________10 . Nearly two decades ago when the Google Books Project digitized and freely distributed more than 25 million works, book publishers argued that free digital distribution weakens the market for physical books. However, new research from Imke Reimers and Abhishek Nagaraj reveals that the opposite — increased demand for physical books, through online discovery — could be true.
The two researchers focused on a particular part of Google Books’ digitized works: those from Harvard University’s Widener Library, which helped seed the project in its early days. The condition that enabled their experiment: Harvard’s digitization effort only included out-of-copyright works, published before 1923 , which were made available to consumers in their entirety. The works from 1923 and later were still copyrighted and not digitized.
The researchers analyzed a total of 37,743 books scanned (扫描) between 2005 and2009. They looked at sales for the two years before this digitization period and the two years after , and found clear differences in the increased sales between digitized and non-digitized books. Approximately 40% of digitized titles saw a sales increase from 2003-2004 to 2010-2011, compared to less than 20% of titles that were not digitized. The increase in sales was also found to be stronger for less popular books.
“If a book is readily available online, people may decide that it’s a useful book and want to buy it,” Reimers said. “The ‘discovery effect’, which even increased the sales of a digitized author’s non-digitized works, is a strong driver of increased sales. It’s not a huge jump in sales , but it’s still good news for publishers.”
“And book lovers,” Reimers said, “are known for their preference for physical books, as opposed to digital versions, which could also play a role.” She added ,“Whenever I talk to people about my research on books, at some point they all say,’ I just love the feel of a digitized author’s non-digitized works, is a strong driver of increased sales. It’s not a huge jump in sales , but it’s still good news for publishers.”
“And book lovers,” Reimers said, “are known for their preference for physical books , as opposed to digital versions, which could also play a role.” She added, “Whenever I talk to people about my research on books, at some point they all say, ‘I just love the feel of a book in my hand.’”
1. Why did the researchers choose the publications before 1923 for their research?| A．They were all masterpieces. | B．They were mostly searchable. |
| C．They were not protected by copyright. | D．They were only partly downloaded for free. |
| A．By interviewing book users. | B．By comparing the sales data. |
| C．By classifying the book titles. | D．By referring to historical records. |
| A．To point out the limitations of the study. | B．To stress people’s different reading tastes. |
| C．To tell another contributor to the sales rise. | D．To show a growing trend in reading books. |
| A．Consumers Are Enthusiastic About E-books. |
| B．Book Publishers Object to Digitizing Books. |
| C．Physical Bookstores Are Declining in Importance. |
| D．Digitizing Books Promotes Demand for Physical Copies. |
