1 . With the development of our society, cellphones have become a common part in our lives. Have you ever run into a careless cellphone user in the street? Maybe they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new "species" of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name—phubbers (低头族).
Recently a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cellphone while letting his patient die. A pretty woman takes a selfie (自拍) in front of a car accident site. And a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events will finally lead to the destruction(毁灭) of the world.
Although the ending of the film sounds unrealistic, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and the result of it. "Always bending your head to check your cellphone could damage your neck," Guangming Daily quoted doctors' words. "The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching." Also, staring at cellphones for a long time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.
But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. When getting together with family or friends, many people prefer to play their cellphones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.
It can also cost your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cellphones in broad daylight.
1. Why does the author give the example of a cartoon in Paragraph 2?| A．To suggest phubbers will destroy the world. |
| B．To call for people to go walking without phones. |
| C．To tell people the bad effects of phubbing. |
| D．To advise students to create more cartoons like this. |
① Destructing the world.
② Affecting his social skills.
③ Damaging his neck and eyesight.
④ Getting separated from his friends and family.
| A．①②④ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②③④ |
| A．Supportive. | B．Confident. | C．Disapproving. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Ways to avoid the risks of phubbing. | B．Bad effects of phubbing. |
| C．Daily life of phubbers. | D．Behaviours of phubbers. |
If you go to another country, what kinds of things would you buy? Would you buy a camera in Japan, some
Toys are not the only things made in China. "Once I wanted to buy a pair of basketball
3 . “You’re not listening!” “Let me finish!” “That’s not what I said!” After “I love you,” these are among the most common words in close relationships. During my two years researching a book on listening, I learned something unbelievable about interpersonal communication: The closer we feel toward someone, the less likely we are to listen carefully to them. It’s called the closeness-communication bias (偏见) and, over time, it can hurt, and even end relationships.
The more you know someone, the more likely you are to ignore him or her because you think you already know what he or she is going to say. It’s kind of like when you’ve traveled a certain route several times and no longer notice signposts and scenery.
Social science researchers have repeatedly proved the closeness-communication bias in the experiments where they paired subjects first with friends or spouses (配偶) and then with strangers. The researchers asked subjects to interpret what their partners were saying. While the subjects predicted they would more exactly understand those who they had close relationships with, they often understood them no better than strangers, and often worse.
The closeness-communication bias not only keeps us from listening to those we love, it can also keep us from allowing our loved ones to listen to us. It may explain why people in close relationships sometimes keep secrets from one another.
Another study shows that people often share their concerns with strangers rather than their spouses, family members or dear friends because they fear judgment.
So what can we do to avoid the closeness-communication bias? The British psychologist Robin Dunbar says the key is to talk with those closest to us every day. That means asking, “How are you?” and actually listening to the answer.
1. Which of the following is an example of closeness-communication bias?| A．Can I talk to you about this? |
| B．How interesting! Tell me more. |
| C．I know exactly what you want to say. |
| D．I feel bad about what you’re suffering. |
| A．They hope to learn more about others. |
| B．They need to build close relationships. |
| C．They fear losing their loved family members. |
| D．They worry about family and friends’ opinions. |
| A．A blog written by a physicist. |
| B．A website recommending books. |
| C．An article about human behavior. |
| D．A report on international relations. |
4 . Playing video games is an enjoyable pastime for many of us. But have you ever thought of becoming a video game developer and designing your own games?
If so, Electronic Arts’ (EA) “Get in the Game” program might be for you. The program targets high school girls, giving them a chance to work alongside professional female game developers, with a view to encourage more girls to pursue a career in the tech industry.
EA is the largest video game development studio in Central Florida, US. This year, 15lucky students were selected for the program and given the chance to put the finishing touches onto future EA titles.
Edgewater High School student Lyla Lovett,17,raised her hands in celebration after she fixed an in-game glitch(故障) and successfully found a potential solution. Current EA software engineer Alanna Berklund said: “That trial-and-error is something that happens every day in game development.”
She added: “Building games is not simple ... you have to try a lot of things, and most of the time it's a matter of changing something and seeing what happens.”
Years ago, when Berklund was a new graduate, she would ask technology companies whether their business tried to hire women. “They would say, ‘we just hire the best people’.” Berklund concluded. “Technology has always been a boys’ club, and it's about not keeping the present situation.”
The gender(性别)gap in technology goes far beyond the video game industry. According to the National Center for Women in Information Technology, the percentage of female science-based degree students, in the US, dropped from 37 percent to 19 percent between1985 and 2016. This decline in female science students is one of the reasons why non-profit groups such as “Girls Who Code” have appeared in recent years.
As more industries look to fill technology jobs, it’s important that women are equally represented.
Lyla said spending a week with female engineers convinced her to pursue a career in the industry.
“It’s fearful when you see lots of men in the field. But seeing female developers working successfully in the industry makes me think change is possible,” Lyla explained.
She added that, working with other women in the technology industry was “a big thing in my life. It helped me learn to communicate better, to manage problems, and to express my feelings.”
1. What can we learn about Electronic Arts’ (EA) “Get in the Game” program from the text?| A．Girls can play their favorite video games. |
| B．Girls can design video games with professionals. |
| C．Girls can team up with players around the world. |
| D．Girls can compete with boys while playing video games. |
| A．She was refused by many technology companies. |
| B．She wanted to compete with the men in the technology industry. |
| C．She had to work harder than her male colleagues. |
| D．She was given the chance to work in technology companies. |
| A．Traditional women's work in the tech industry is highly valued in the USA. |
| B．Non-profit groups such as “Girls Who Code” have disappeared in recent years. |
| C．The percentage of female science-based degree students has declined recently. |
| D．Becoming a video game developer and designing your own games are an easy thing. |
| A．The difficulties girls have in the technology industry. |
| B．Ways of attracting more girls to the technology industry. |
| C．The advantages girls have in the technology industry. |
| D．The gender gap girls face in the technology industry. |
For many people in the world, food waste has become a habit: buying more food than we need at markets,
These habits put extra pressure
It's
Reducing food loss and waste is essential in a world
6 . There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health, wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into n habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize it had effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position, or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start, step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrong doings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.
1. People who are unhappy .| A．always consider things differently from others |
| B．usually are affected by the results of certain things |
| C．usually misunderstand what others think or say |
| D．always discover the unpleasant side of certain things |
| A．have a good taste with social life |
| B．make others unhappy |
| C．tend to scold others openly |
| D．enjoy the pleasure of life |
| A．we should pity all such unhappy people |
| B．such unhappy people are dangerous to social life |
| C．people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness |
| D．unhappy people cannot understand happy persons |
| A．prevent any communication with them |
| B．show no respect and politeness to them |
| C．persuade them to recognize the bad effects |
| D．quarrel with them until they realize the mistakes |
| A．describes two types of people in our 1ife who have negative effect on others |
| B．give some examples to laugh at the unhappy people in our society |
| C．suggests the unhappy people should get rid of the habits of unhappiness |
| D．tells people get away from unhappy people and how to be happy in life |
7 . For many of us, summertime means road trips to the beach or mountains, or at the very least some additional dust on the outside of our vehicle. The extra dirt leads us to do one of two things: wash our car in the driveway or head to the car wash. But which choice is better for the environment?
The main concerns with either choice are the amount of fresh water used and the types of chemicals used to get rid of the dirt. Both of these concerns can be closely monitored when washing the car at home, says Katy Gresh, spokeswoman for the Southwest Region of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She advises car owners to keep a set amount of water in a container for the entire wash. “You don’t want to leave the water running or use more than you need for the job,” she says. But even following this piece of advice comes with an environmental risk: Washing your car in the driveway gets the dirty water into drains (下水道).
“Drains are not made for treating waste.” says John Schombert, executive director of 3 Rivers Wet Weather. Even when car owners use natural soaps to wash their car, Schombert says they are probably ineffective in breaking down grease(油脂)anyway.
The commercial car wash knows full well the rules regarding wastewater in drains. According to the International Carwash Association (ICA), professional car washes must use special water treatment systems. These processes not only keep the dirty water out of drains and regular water treatment systems, but also work to reduce water usage at commercial facilities.
As experts point out, cleaning our car at home can use 100 gallons of water. Compare that to self-service car washes, which allow you to use only about 17 or 18 gallons of water. And most full-service car washes average about 30 to 45 gallons of water per vehicle.
1. What does Katy suggest people do about washing cars?| A．Use soft toothbrushes. | B．Save treated water. |
| C．Put aside some water. | D．Avoid using chemicals. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Favorable. | C．Indifferent. | D．Objective. |
| A．Rules of handling wastewater. | B．Advantages of professional car washes. |
| C．Processes of getting rid of dirty water. | D．Drawbacks of water treatment systems. |
| A．The full-service car washes. | B．Car washing in the driveway. |
| C．The self-service car washes. | D．Car washing using natural soaps. |
8 . Growing Pains
The term "adulting started as a sort of joke 一一 whenever a millennial（千禧一代）would do something age-appropriate, this was an act of "adulting." Now, though, millennials obviously require training in being an adult.
Rachel Flehinger has co-founded an Adulting School, which includes online courses on simple sewing, conflict resolution and cooking. The cause for such classes is that many millennials "haven’t left childhood homes" 一一 in America 34 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 still lived with their parents as of 2015, up from 26 percent a decade before.
There's a good deal of truth to this. If you're living at home, with Mom and Dad doing their best to spoil（(溺爱）you, you're less likely to know how to do laundry, cook or balance a checkbook. Dependency breeds enervation.
But here's the catch: Living at home doesn't necessarily lead to dependency. As of 1940, more than 30 percent of 25- to 29-year-olds lived at home with parents or grandparents. They were adulting, even while living at home. Parents expected their kids to do chores, to prepare for life. Instead of blaming living at home, then, we have to blame our style of parenting. The truth is that we've simply become lazier as parents.
So what's the real problem?
We're more likely to let our kids crash on our couches（长沙发）than tell them to get a job and pay rent. We don't push our kids to build families of their own, as life expectancy has increased, so has adolescence. Americans aren't expected to start building a life, particularly middle- and upper-class Americans, until they're nearing their 30s. Then the question is how we can encourage young people to "'adult" in non-circumstance-driven fashion.
1. What does the last sentence in the third paragraph "Dependency breeds enervation." mean?| A．Parents would like to do housework by themselves |
| B．Present kids are too lazy to do housework. |
| C．Dependency makes kids unable. |
| D．Kids depend on their parents. |
| A．Millennials would like to be trained in being an adult. |
| B．Parents are too lazy to do chores. |
| C．Millennials don't adult because they still live in their childhood homes. |
| D．In the 1940s kids were adulting even when they were living at home. |
| A．"Adulting" is hard, but only because parents are too lazy to teach their kids. |
| B．Millennials should leave home early to adult. |
| C．Americans aren't expected to start building a life until they're nearing their 30s. |
| D．Adulting schools with online courses are popular. |
| A．The government should push off the age of adulthood. |
| B．Parents should leave kids in charge of society. |
| C．Parents should put responsibility on young people. |
| D．Pushing kids to adult is painful for parents. |
9 . An ageless question: When is someone “old”?
What does “old” really mean these days? This isn’t a meaningless question — not only does the definition of “old” have an outsized impact on how we feel about ourselves (not to mention how others view us), it also matters to policymakers determining how to plan for aging populations.
The United Nations historically has defined older persons as people 60 years or over (sometimes 65). It didn’t matter whether you lived in the United States, China or Senegal, even though life expectancy is quite different in each of those countries. Everyone became old at 60.
Researchers Sergei Scherbov and Warren Sanderson, who study aging, are suggesting overturning the one-size-fits-all-across-the-globe definition of old. Instead, they talk about “prospective age”, which looks to the future. Everyone with the same prospective age has the same expected remaining years of life.
Scherbov explained that young and old are relative concepts, and their common reference point is life expectancy. It makes sense that “old” would vary between nations, especially between more-and less-developed countries, with differences in education, death rates, access to health care and life expectancy.
But who is “old” also varies-widely-between individuals. The point, says Scherbov, is that personal age is dependent on our “characteristics” — understanding abilities, disability, health history and even education levels. Those with more education tend not to smoke, exercise more frequently, have better diets and have regular checkups — and, therefore, live longer, meaning the beginning of their old age comes later, says Scherbov.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．How do we feel about ourselves? |
| B．How do others view us? |
| C．The importance of the definition of “old”. |
| D．The plan for aging populations. |
| A．The expected remaining years of one’s life. |
| B．The beginning of one’s old age. |
| C．The differences of our “characteristics”. |
| D．The age when one becomes old. |
| A．Understanding abilities. | B．Nations. |
| C．Education. | D．The reference point. |
| A．As much exercise as possible. | B．Losing weight. |
| C．Studying history. | D．Improving the education level. |
10 . Could bike share programs lead to greater cycling safety?
In April 2015, Philadelphia introduced a bike share program. By 2019, there were more than 1,300 bikes and 400 pedal-assisted electric bicycles available. People used them for about 50,000 trips a month.
Before the introduction of the bike share program, the rate of bicycle-car accidents had been gradually increasing. By May 2015, the month after the introduction of the program, the rate was twice that of January 2010.
But the researchers, writing in the American Journal of Public Health, found that from that time through the end of 2018, the rate decreased by an average of 13 percent a year, despite the increases over those years in the number of bicycles on city streets, and even though Philadelphia made no major basic construction changes, like adding many protected bike lanes (自行车道).
The lead author, Ghassan B. Hamra, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said it appeared that there is safety in numbers: the more bikes on the road, the more car drivers adapt to their presence, and the safer cyclists may be.
“We all know that bike riding is a healthy activity, physically and mentally,” he said, “but there might be concerns that if you introduce a bike share program there will be negative consequences. We saw no evidence of that in Philadelphia.”
1. What has happened to the number of bicycle-car accidents with the introduction of the bike share program?| A．It has increased. | B．It has reduced. |
| C．It remains the same. | D．It is unknown. |
| A．Many protected bike lanes have been added. |
| B．Car drivers are more used to their presence. |
| C．More people take up bike riding as a healthy activity. |
| D．Negative consequences have appeared. |
| A．He is in favor of it. | B．He disapproves of it. |
| C．He brought it in. | D．He is concerned about it. |
| A．Sharing bikes, cutting accidents | B．Problems with sharing bikes |
| C．Basic construction changes | D．Share program in Philadelphia |
