1 . Concerns about the harm caused by “too much” screen time—particularly when it is spent on social media—are widespread. But working out what a “healthy” ___ might be is far from easy.

Some negative experiences on social media—like ____ how your appearance compares to others—do affect some children. However, this does not mean that technology use in ____ is harmful and it is difficult to make claims about how it will affect different people.

Consider the picture painted by a UNICEF review of existing research into the effects of digital technology on children’s ____ comfort, including happiness, mental health and social life. Rather than stating that social media was harmful, it suggested a more ____ effect.

The UNICEF report highlighted a 2017 study that examined 120,000 UK 15-year-olds. Among those teenagers who were the lightest users, it was found that increasing the time spent using technology was linked to ____ comfort—possibly because it was important for keeping up friendships. ____, among the heaviest users of technology, any increase in time was linked to lower levels of comfort. Overall, the UNICEF study suggested that some screen time could be good for children’s mental health.

A broader look at evidence provided by some other high quality studies again suggests the story is not ____. An early study in 2013 looked at how the television and video game habits of 11,000 UK five-year-olds affected them two years later. It is one of few studies actually ____ the effects of technology over time. It suggested that, compared with children who watched one hour of television or less on a weekday, a small increase in conduct problems was seen among those who watched more than three hours each day. Playing electronic games, however, was not seen as leading to a greater ____ of friendship or emotional problems.

So how much time should our children spend looking at screens? It is difficult to be ____ as different people spend time online in such different ways. A useful comparison might be with sugar. Broadly speaking, people ____ that too much sugar can be bad for your health. But the effect it might have can depend on many factors, from the type of sugar to the person and the amount. We would not ____ trust anyone who claims to predict how someone is affected by consuming one gram of sugar. The same could be said for ____ usage: the outcomes depend on so many factors that only very ___ predictions are possible.

1.

A．amount

B．comparison

C．experience

D．medium

2.

A．accounting for

B．boasting of

C．commenting on

D．worrying about

3.

A．general

B．particular

C．private

D．public

4.

A．domestic

B．material

C．physical

D．psychological

5.

A．complex

B．dramatic

C．harmless

D．predictable

6.

A．improved

B．maximum

C．relative

D．small

7.

A．As a rule

B．In contrast

C．On the whole

D．Worse still

8.

A．convincing

B．definite

C．probable

D．true

9.

A．estimating

B．experiencing

C．reducing

D．tracing

10.

A．connection

B．power

C．promotion

D．risk

11.

A．balanced

B．independent

C．precise

D．subjective

12.

A．agree

B．forget

C．object

D．remember

13.

A．equally

B．readily

C．reluctantly

D．weakly

14.

A．emotion therapy

B．social media

C．TV broadcasting

D．video game

15.

A．confident

B．optimistic

C．rough

D．wild

2 . Communication technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails. The fact that emails are automatically recorded — and can come back to haunt (困扰) you — appears to be the key to the finding.

Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 80 students to keep a communication diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent: of phone calls.

His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication.

But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone.

People are also more likely to lie in real time—in an instant message or phone call, say— than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous (脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”

Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email.

1. What does the phrase “to stretch the truth” in the last paragraph mean?

A．to tell the truth	B．to understate something
C．to overestimate something	D．to deceive people

2. Why are people more honest when using email?

A．Because it takes more time to think than to speak.

B．Because lies in emails may do harm to their credit.

C．Because of the detachment of emailing.

D．Because they are practiced to be more honest in emailing.

3. Which of the following is contrary to people’s common beliefs?

A．Emails contain more lies than other communication media.

B．Face-to-face communication contains more lies.

C．Face-to-face communication contains more lies because it is not recorded.

D．Deception makes people uncomfortable, which reduces mistakes in phone calls.

4. What is Hancocks’ tips for communication?

A．Honesty is always the best policy.

B．Employees should choose suitable media for different communication purposes.

C．If honesty is important, employees should choose face-to-face talk.

D．Employees should be honest with their clients, their bosses and their rivals.

3 . Before the age of the smartphone, photographers had to learn how to use high-tech cameras and photographic techniques. Today, with the huge range of camera apps on our smartphones, we’re all good amateur photographers, since the quality of smartphone images now nearly equals that of digital cameras.

The new ease of photography has given us a tremendous appetite for capturing the magical and the ordinary. We are obsessed with documenting everyday moments, whether it’s a shot of our breakfast, our cat or the cat’s breakfast. Even photo journalists are experimenting with mobile phones because their near invisibility makes it easier to capture unguarded moments.

In the past, magazines published unforgettable photos of important people and global events that captured our imaginations. These photos had the power to change public opinion and even the course of history. But if there are fewer memorable images today, it’s not because there are fewer good images. It’s because there are so many, and no one image gets to be special for long.

As people everywhere embrace photography and the media make use of citizen journalists, professional standards appear to be shifting. Before digital images, most people trusted photographs to accurately reflect reality. Today, images can be altered in ways the naked eye might never notice. Photojournalists are trained to accurately represent what they witness. Yet any image can be altered to create an “improved” picture of reality. The average viewer is left with no way to assess the accuracy of an image except through trust in a news organization or photographer.

The question of the accuracy of images gets even trickier when photojournalists start experimenting with camera apps-- like Hipstamatic or Instagram --- which encourage the use of filters （滤镜）. Images can be colored, brightened, faded, and scratched to make photographs more artistic, or to give them an antique look. Photographers using camera apps to cover wars and conflicts have created powerful images--- but also controversy. Critics worry that antique-looking photographs romanticize war, while distancing us from those who fight in them.

Yet photography has always been more subjective than we assume. Each picture is a result of a series of decisions-- where to stand, what lens to use, what to leave in and what to leave out of the frame. Does altering photographs with camera app filters make them less true? There’s something powerful and exciting about the experiment the digital age has forced upon us. These new tools make it easier to tell our own stories--- and they give others the power to do the same. Many members of the media get stuck on the same stories, focusing on elections, governments, wars, and disasters, and in the process, miss out on the less dramatic images of daily life that can be as revealing.

Who knows? Our obsession with documentation and constantly being connected could lead to a dramatic change in our way of being. Perhaps we are witnessing the development of a universal visual language, one that could change the way we relate to each other and the world. Of course, as with any language, there will be those who produce poetry and those who make shopping lists.

1. According to the author, there are fewer memorable photographs today because_________.

A．the quality of many images is still poor

B．there are so many good images these days

C．traditional media refuse to allow amateur photos

D．most images are not appealing to a global audience

2. The author put the word “ improved” in quotation marks in order to _________.

A．indicate it’s a word cited from another source

B．stress that the picture of reality is greatly improved

C．draw audience attention to a word worth considering

D．show it’s arguable whether the picture is truly improved

3. Which of the statements does the author most likely agree with?

A．The daily life pictures are very expressive themselves.

B．Photographs of the digital age are more subjective than before.

C．Photos altered by filters of camera apps are too subjective to be true.

D．Many members of the media value daily life images over major social events.

4. What may be the best title for the passage?

A．Camera Apps Bury Authenticity

B．Photography Redefined: A Visual Language

C．Smartphone: Killer of Professional Photography

D．The Shifting Standards of Professional Photography

4 . Clearly if we are to participate in the society in which we live, we must communicate with other people. A great deal of_________is performed on a person-to-person basis by the simple___________of speech. If we travel in buses, buy things in shops, or eat in restaurants, we are likely to have___________where we give information or opinions, receive news or comment, and very___________to have our views challenged by other members of society.

Face to face___________is by no means the only form of communication and during the last two hundred years the art of mass communication has become one of the___________factors of contemporary society. Two things, above others, have caused the enormous___________growth of the communication industry. Firstly, inventiveness has_________advanced imprinting, telecommunications photography, radio and television. Secondly, speed has revolutionized the transmission (传输) and reception of communications so that local news often takes a back seat to national news, which itself is often almost eclipsed(侵蚀) by international news.

No longer is the possession of information___________toa privileged minority. In the last century the wealthy man with his own library was indeed______________, but today there are public libraries. For years ago people used to flock to the cinema, but now far more people sit at home and turn on the TV to watch a programme that is being______________into millions of homes.

Communication is no longer merely concerned with the transmission of information. The modern communication industry______________the way people live in society and broadens their horizons by allowing____________to information, education and entertainment. The printing, broadcasting and advertising industries are all involved with informing, educating and entertaining.

Although a great deal of the material communicated by the mass media is very______________to the individual and to the society of which he is part, the vast modern network of communications is open to abuse(滥用).______________, the mass media are with us for better, for worse, and there is no turning back.

1.

A．communicating

B．delivering

C．addressing

D．exchanging

2.

A．ideas

B．explanation

C．solutions

D．means

3.

A．conversation

B．concentrate

C．attempts

D．interruptions

4.

A．reluctantly

B．likely

C．absolutely

D．suddenly

5.

A．contact

B．occasion

C．feedback

D．reactions

6.

A．challenging

B．dominating

C．attracting

D．improving

7.

A．grown

B．increase

C．approval

D．invention

8.

A．come through

B．resulted from

C．led to

D．brought in

9.

A．given

B．restricted

C．opposed

D．guaranteed

10.

A．fortunate

B．visible

C．hopeful

D．respectable

11.

A．channeled

B．bought

C．applied

D．transformed

12.

A．influences

B．provides

C．corrects

D．protects

13.

A．guidance

B．access

C．movement

D．reception

14.

A．considerable

B．impressive

C．valuable

D．available

15.

A．In addition

B．For example

C．Therefore

D．However

5 . We love letters. Just as John Donne, a poet, _________ it, “Letters, to me and my friends mean _________ greetings; they get souls together. Thanks to letters, friends who are _________ speak.” He wrote these words nearly 400 years ago. Today, in the age of instant text message, social media, and email, they _________ ring truer than ever, because writing or receiving a letter has become such a _________ event.

A UK-wide survey undertaken by Sunday Times suggests that one in four of us has not _________ a letter for at least 10 years. That’s ten years without the bitter-sweet _________ of pacing the floor waiting for the _________; ten years without recognizing the handwriting on the envelope and eagerly _________ the letter to read its content.

We ____________ not get them any more, but we still love handwritten letters. In the same survey, one third of ____________ people interviewed say that they ____________ the content of sentimental (充满情感的) letters. Shouldn’t we make ____________ to give our friends and families what they will treasure forever? Ann Bickley went online in 2013 and offered to handwrite a letter to anyone who ____________ her. Her website received 50,000 ____________ in its first three months. Five years later, she is still the main ____________ behind one-million-lovely-letter.com and has personally written 4,000 letters offering hope and ____________ to strangers.

The thought behind a letter ____________ as much as its contents. “I never tell anyone that ____________ is going to be OK,” Ann Bickley says, “I am letting someone know that there is someone in the world who ____________ them.”

Who wouldn’t love to receive a letter like that? Let’s get writing!

1.

A．made

B．put

C．helped

D．managed

2.

A．rather than

B．less than

C．more than

D．other than

3.

A．absent

B．active

C．amused

D．admirable

4.

A．also

B．yet

C．already

D．still

5.

A．popular

B．common

C．rare

D．simple

6.

A．received

B．sent

C．written

D．rejected

7.

A．success

B．pleasure

C．concern

D．calmness

8.

A．engineer

B．doctor

C．police

D．postman

9.

A．seizing

B．tearing

C．hiding

D．carrying

10.

A．can

B．must

C．may

D．shall

11.

A．American

B．Chinese

C．Australian

D．British

12.

A．forget

B．change

C．remember

D．notice

13.

A．money

B．room

C．history

D．time

14.

A．contacted

B．interviewed

C．consulted

D．admired

15.

A．guests

B．visitors

C．friends

D．partners

16.

A．force

B．strength

C．source

D．energy

17.

A．effort

B．comfort

C．surprise

D．experience

18.

A．educates

B．guides

C．matters

D．rewards

19.

A．nothing

B．anything

C．something

D．everything

20.

A．looks after

B．cares about

C．struggles for

D．agrees with