1 . For centuries, artists usually give people an impression: they are the “Starving Artists”, struggling to make ends meet. Henri Murger proved that. He was born the son of a doorman in France. Living in Paris, he was surrounded by creative geniuses and dreamed of joining them, but he grew upset with his failure to earn money.
In 1847, Murger published a book. It’s a collection of stories about poverty, which launched the concept of the “Starving Artists” into the public’s understanding as the model for a creative life. To this day, it endures as the model for what we imagine when we think of the word “artist”.
Today, what we forget is that the story of the “Starving Artist” is a myth. In fact, it is really just an imaginary story. Due to the power of this myth in Murger’s book, many of us just want to become lawyers instead of writers, bankers instead of poets, and doctors instead of painters. Nobody wants to struggle ultimately. Thus, we just keep our passion a hobby instead of a career.
In the early Renaissance, artists did not have reputations for being diligent workers. They were considered manual laborers, receiving small amounts of money for their work. Michelangelo Buonarroti, however, changed all that. He was not only a master sculptor but also the most affluent artist of his time. After him, every artist began to see a “new pattern of doing things”, in the words of Bill Wallace, professor of art history at Washington University. Michelangelo established the idea that an artist could become a new figure in society and have a higher social status, and also that he could become financially successful.
Michelangelo did not need to starve for his creations, and neither do you. When we hear the tales and warnings about what it means to be an artist, we must understand an important truth—you don’t have to starve and you might as well make a living from your creative talents.
1. What concept is presented in Henri Murger’s story collection?| A．Artists are not easy to become well known. |
| B．Being creative is not a really good thing sometimes. |
| C．Artists usually experience financial difficulties. |
| D．One has to be a very creative genius to be an artist. |
| A．People’s imagination of artists. | B．People’s various comments on being artists. |
| C．Murger’s understanding of artists. | D．The influence of Murger’s books. |
| A．Wealthy. | B．Controversial. | C．Starving. | D．Humorous. |
| A．To ask people to read more tales. | B．To advise people to make use of their talents. |
| C．To encourage people to lead a rich life. | D．To tell successful artists an important truth. |
2 . Babies appear to know how to help those in need, according to researchers who studied signs of altruism in almost 100 children.
Researchers who wanted to see whether children would give up their food to a stranger without encouragement found the kids did just that — even when they were hungry.
The scientists recruited 96 19-month-old children. During the experiments, a child and a researcher sat across from each other. In the control group of the first set of experiments, researchers threw a piece of fruit onto a plate where they couldn’t reach, but the child could. They then waited. In contrast, researchers in the test group pretended to drop the fruit on the plate, then tried and failed to reach it. This signaled to the child that the adult wanted the food.
Among the control group, only 4 percent of the children gave the piece of fruit to the researchers, compared with 58 percent, or over half, in the test group.
Next, the team explored if children would still be generous when it was at a cost to themselves. The first set of experiments was repeated with a separate group of kids before their lunchtime, when they were likely to be hungry. Similarly, 37 percent of the test group handed over their fruit, compared with none in the control group.
The experiments were repeated four times. Researchers got similar results each time. Babies with siblings (兄弟姐妹) and babies from Latino or Asian families shared more of the fruit, the team also found.
Carter Morgan, lead professor of the study, said, “We often think of babies as selfish. But here we find that they are willing to help others even when it comes at some ‘cost’ to the self.”
Addressing why children with siblings or from certain cultural backgrounds were more likely to share their fruit, Morgan said, “We believe this partly reflects what social psychologists call ‘ interdependence’, which stresses on the importance of interpersonal connections and adjusting to others. These social experiences that shape attitudes towards sharing appear to have an effect very early in life.”
1. The underlined word “altruism” most probably means ________.| A．generosity | B．creativity |
| C．friendliness | D．confidence |
| A．They know when to have lunch. |
| B．They understand signals for help. |
| C．They can classify different fruits. |
| D．They can express their needs freely. |
A． |
B． |
C． |
D． |
| A．Attitudes towards sharing change greatly as people get older. |
| B．Babies from families with an only child are not willing to share. |
| C．It’s easier to control babies’ selfish desires when they are hungry. |
| D．Social experiences play a role in affecting babies’ behavior of sharing. |
3 . Millennials (千禧一代) may have been the first generation to come of age online, but their Gen Z successors (接替者) have truly grown up with it — and hardly ever log off.
A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that 95 percent of teenagers have access to a smart phone; 45 percent say they use the Internet almost constantly. For many of them, social media has been a space for self-expression, entertainment and connection.
But as social media use has risen among teenagers, so have rates of depression, and anxiety. Though it is not a direct relationship, there is evidence that some platforms have worsened young people’s meatal health issues; for instance, research documents from social media showed that Instagram worsened body-image issues for one in three teenage girls.
A March 2022 study published in the scientific journal Nature found that the relationship between social media use and mental health varied by age, but that there were two windows where social media use was more likely to have a negative effect on the well-being of adolescents: at the start of puberty (青春期) and again around age 19.
Emma Lembke, a 19-year-old student at Washington University in St. Louis, experienced those negative efts firsthand. That’s why she started the Log Off Movement in June 2020. The project aims to encourage dialogue among young people who are feeling the negative effects of social media and want to adjust their relationship to it. In a phone interview, Ms. Lembke spoke about the movement she started, the upsides and downsides of social media, and how she has worked to loosen its hold on her well-being.
1. What can be inferred about the survey?| A．Social media lessen body-image anxiety. |
| B．Social media have become a trend to teenagers. |
| C．95 percent of adults have their own smart phones. |
| D．One third of teenagers use the Internet frequently. |
| A．A 5-year-old child. | B．A 13-year-old student. |
| C．A 26-year-old journalist. | D．A 40-year-old manager. |
| A．To draw attention of the public. | B．To share her sorrowful experience. |
| C．To inspire interactions among the youth. | D．To recall the ups and downs of social media. |
| A．Millennials Are in Need of Further Concern. |
| B．Young People Benefit from Modern Science. |
| C．Social Media Look like a Double-edged Sword. |
| D．A New Student Movement Wants You to Log Off. |
4 . What would you think if someone suggested pulling down Big Ben to make way for a car park? It would be ridiculous, right? But when it comes to devastation (毁灭) of the natural world, we aren’t so easily shocked. But we should be...or we’ll be in a lot of trouble.
Nature is shrinking by the day. Ancient forests are destroyed. Wetlands are becoming dry. Woodland is disappearing. And all in the name of progress. This is bad in itself, but it’s devastating for biodiversity.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of plants, animals and other living things which are all inter-connected. The ecological services provided by biodiversity are vital to everyday life. The air we breathe is a product of photosynthesis (光合作用) by green plants. In fact, all life on earth exists thanks to the benefit of biodiversity. More than 90 percent of the calories consumed by people worldwide are produced from 80 plant species. And 30 percent of medicines are developed from plants and animals. Maintaining a wide diversity of species in each ecosystem is necessary to preserve all living things.
The loss of biodiversity could be devastating. “It is wrong to think that biodiversity can be reduced indefinitely without threatening humans,” said Harvard University biologist Edward O. Wilson, known as “the father of biodiversity”. He warned, “we are about to reach a critical point beyond which biodiversity loss will be unavoidable.”
But what can we do? The problem is that the concept of biodiversity is so vague. People might care about giant pandas, but it is much harder to excite them about the fate of tiny sea creatures which are being boiled to death in the cooling systems of power stations along coastlines. The Guardian newspaper is trying to help. It has started the Biodiversity 100 campaign to try to convince governments around the world to take action to deal with the widespread concerns about biodiversity. This includes persuading the UK government to create a series of marine reserves to reverse the decline in sea-life caused by industrial fishing, banning the fishing sharks by the Japanese fishermen and stopping the killing of dingoes in Australia, among many other things.
There is a lot to do. And we’d better get a move on if we don’t want to end up with a planet that can’t support life!
1. What does the author want to tell us by the comparison in paragraph 1?| A．It is unreasonable to pull down Big Ben. | B．People take devastation of nature for granted. |
| C．The differences between Big Ben and nature. | D．The great trouble we have been faced with. |
| A．It doesn’t matter to reduce biodiversity. | B．People have done enough to preserve biodiversity. |
| C．The situation of biodiversity is very serious. | D．Biodiversity loss has become unavoidable. |
| A．The UK government. | B．The concept of biodiversity. |
| C．The action to deal with problem. | D．The Guardian newspaper. |
| A．Biodiversity Battle | B．Biodiversity Loss | C．Planet Conservation | D．Planet Changing |
5 . Recently, Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta. The company said it would better include what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the existing brand could not possibly represent everything that they’re doing today, let alone in the future. He also revealed the company’s plans to build a “metaverse (元宇宙)” — an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment.
The term “metaverse” was invented by author Neal Stephenson in Snow Crash, a science fiction published in 1992. In the work, the metaverse is a sort of 3D virtual world. It’s not simply a virtual reality game but is a persistent and shared virtual world. Or rather, the metaverse is a whole universe of shared virtual spaces seemingly linked together — you could, essentially, teleport (瞬移) between them.
Metaverse combined at the very least five technologies — they are social media, online game, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and cryptocurrency (加密货币). Those technologies will bring users to an interactive world. AR and VR are vital for Metaverse. VR serves to present the virtual world visually and then AR will provide the audio and sensors for people to be able to interact. With Metaverse, Facebook will offer not only a texting service but also a multi-perspective virtual touch that feels like a real thing.
Facebook said that it plans to create 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next five years to work on metaverse-related endeavours (活动). The company also has introduced Oculus-branded virtual-reality headsets, and it joined with Ray-Ban to develop smart sunglasses that went on sale for $299. “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” Mark Zuckerberg said. “I view this work as critical to our mission because delivering a sense of presence — like you’re right there with another person — that’s the highest goal of online social experiences,” he said.
1. Why has Facebook changed its corporate name?| A．To lead the gaming industry. |
| B．To cover its extended business. |
| C．To improve its corporate image. |
| D．To attract investment for its new plans. |
| A．The introduction to the VR game. |
| B．The future with 3D virtual world. |
| C．The origin of the word “metaverse”. |
| D．The importance of the novel Snow Crash. |
| A．It has a wide range of applications. |
| B．It offers people deeply interactive experiences. |
| C．It enables people to enjoy a free texting service. |
| D．It uses the five technologies to explore the universe. |
| A．There will be fierce competition in the metaverse market. |
| B．Facebook will focus on designing virtual devices. |
| C．Metaverse will be the center of online experience studies. |
| D．Facebook will be devoted to developing the metaverse. |
6 . We often hear about schools cutting back on bus routes to save money, yet plenty of communities (社区) have their buses stopping almost as often as the mail truck. While the presence of sidewalks, and the safety of area roads, play a role in who gets house-to-house pickup or end-of-the-street pickup, Peter Mannella, director at the New York Association for Pupil Transportation says community culture can play an even larger role in the transportation situation.
For example: Several years ago, Bethlehem tried spacing out its stops, says Mannella. The parents were unhappy, expressed as much and, within three days, the routes were back to their original frequency. “You can say ‘We are going to save $100,000 by not stopping at every house,’ but parents don’t want their kids walking,” Mannella says. As you’d expect, this is especially true in bad weather or during winter.
As a student in the 1980s, we walked to our stops. The neighborhood wait-spot was a good quarter mile away. Parents didn’t make a fuss (大惊小怪), and no child was injured. In fact, the walking was good—it woke us up each morning. Not to mention, the sense of community that came with hanging out together each morning waiting for bus No. 23 to roll up and take us all to school.
Thing is a lot has changed since the 1980s. Too many people are texting and driving, making them as dangerous on the roads as drunken drivers. And, with reduced work forces at many companies, parents often work longer hours, meaning they aren’t around to guard their kids to and from stops like many parents did when we were growing up.
So I’ll give them an understanding pass on not wanting their children to walk a mile each way to get to and from school. I can’t agree with the complaints of having kids walk to a community neighborhood stop, though. If you worry they’re going to be cold, get them a hat. If you fear they may miss the bus, send them out the door ? Five minutes earlier.
1. What do we know about Bethlehem’s plan?| A．It ended up in failure. | B．It lasted for a long time. |
| C．It wasn’t put into practice. | D．It saved a lot of money. |
| A．They woke up early in the morning. |
| B．They were driven to school by parents. |
| C．They usually hung out with their neighbors. |
| D．They benefited by walking to a neighborhood stop. |
| A．Drivers do not concentrate on driving. |
| B．The weather conditions are awful in winter. |
| C．Children might be late for school. |
| D．The house-to-house pickup is available. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Supportive. | D．Critical. |
7 . Destination Unknown
Cheap "blind box" plane tickets become a popular choice for travel.
A promotion offering $15 plane tickets is being advertised by an online travel platform. While such a low price sounds amazing, there is just one rule.
"Plane ticket blind box" is now a hot topic on the online platforms. Henry Fan, a marketing expert said, "I believe young people are a big target group for this promotion, because they not only enjoy the thrill of the unknown, but also like to show off their lives through these types of commercial activities.
Many netizens share the screenshots (截图) of tickets they have drawn.
"If it wants to be a profitable activity, the release of the tickets must have been planned ahead and is not as random as it seems.
| A．It will not have popular airlines. |
| B．It doesn't matter if they finally go or not. |
| C．The promotion has become a hot topic on social media. |
| D．The upcoming holiday is expected to be a major travel period. |
| E．If the date and destination are unsuitable, users may ask for a refund. |
| F．Some even teach the booking procedure under the free canceling policy. |
| G．The purchaser is not told where the flight is heading or when it will take off. |
8 . As we know, mental health is in a worse situation among young people globally.
The average daily screen time for 8-to-18-year-olds was 7.5 hours in the U. S. ten years ago. As the study states, “This greatly goes above guidelines of 2 hours per day.” Now the condition is worse by the fact that so many schools are using technology to teach classes. Indeed some screen time can promote connections and enable tasks to be done more efficiently.
The study authors suggest that green time could act as a cure for screen time, essentially balancing its negative effects.
| A．Teenagers urgently need more green time. |
| B．Screen-based technology makes kids less attentive. |
| C．The frequency of depression and anxiety is increasing. |
| D．There are many more ways, nevertheless , in which it is harmful. |
| E．It suggests more outdoor projects like building parks could be fundamental. |
| F．Paying constant directed attention to screens can raise directed attention tiredness. |
| G．This study highlights that nature may currently be a potential public health resource. |
9 . I live in an area where most parents would rather cut back on personal hobbies for themselves than stop paying for their children’s activities.
Music lessons,horseback riding,summer camps,sports teams﹣the list goes on and on. Often,so do the costs. And even if the money is not there,some parents find a way. I know people who have borrowed from family and run up their credit cards to pay for all the stuff they believe their children just cannot miss.
“The experiences we thought kids had to have before high school has moved down to junior high and now elementary,” said William Doherty,a professor of family studies and director of the marriage and family therapy program at the University of Minnesota. Soon,we’ll be talking about leadership opportunities for babies.”
Somehow,not offering our children every possible opportunity”feels like bad parenting,”said Wendy Mogel,a clinical psychologist.
But in an effort to give their children everything. some parents end up not just using up financial resources,but also their own emotional energy.“A lot of parents are exhausted by their own overparenting,”said Bryan Caplan,an economics professor at George Mason University.”They make so many sacrifices and are so stressed out by driving around so much that they explode at kids for changing the radio station.”
“It’s easy to take a look at the more successful kids and assume that all the activities are why they are more successful,”Professor Caplan said. But research doesn’t bear that out. On a recent National Public Radio program,Steven D. Levitt,a professor of economics at the University of Chicago,said he and another economist could find no evidence that that sort of parental choices could be correlated at all with academic success.
1. What can we infer from William Doherty’s argument？| A．Kids need to experience so many activities at a young age. |
| B．Kids should seize leadership opportunities when they were babies. |
| C．Kids are taking part in extracurricular activities at a much younger age. |
| D．Kids should take part in extracurricular activities before elementary school. |
| A．They want to show off their love to their children. |
| B．They think that is the kind of life their children want to live. |
| C．They want to be good parents and be responsible for their children. |
| D．They believe the lessons can help their children achieve academic success. |
| A．Prove. |
| B．Deny. |
| C．Examine. |
| D．Understand. |
| A．The children may make no sacrifice. |
| B．The parents may get extremely tired. |
| C．The parents may ask too much of their children. |
| D．The children may not be successful in the future. |
10 . Almost every community has some form of rules and some way of enforcing them. So why do we have rules, and what makes people follow them?
Studies have suggested that the reason we don't like rule-breaking is because fairness is programmed into our brains. Scientists have found that the brain reacts in a particular way when we feel we are being treated unfairly.A fair situation makes us feel comfortable and even happy, but unfairness causes our brains to respond with negative feelings.The study found that this a so happened when subjects saw others being treated unfairly. They concluded that fairness is one of basic human needs.
Arriving at a feeling of fairness means considering different, often conflicting, points of view. Regardless of the disagreement, people almost always need to compromise. But it can be difficult to arrive at a compromise when there are conflicting interests. This is why communities have rules that everyone must follow.
Social controls are an important factor in setting and following rules.They influence the way we be have, and can be internal (内在的) or external. Internal controls come from within and are based on our values and fears. Most of us don't steal, for example, because we believe that theft is unfair and wrong. We also don't want to disappoint our family and friends. In other words, our internal controls keep us from behaving in ways that cause conflict.
External controls include rewards and punishments. Rewards, such as job promotions and praise, are designed to encourage people to be have and actin the interest of the whole community.
Punishments, such as public embarrassment, fines, and even imprisonment can prevent people from acting against the community's best interests.
People need their communities to function smoothly.If there were no rules, most people would probably still behave positively. However, there would always be a minority who would not. This is why a society without rules is unlikely to exist.
1. What does the underlined word ''this'' in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A program in human brains. |
| B．A comfortable situation. |
| C．The response with bad feelings. |
| D．The requirement off fairness. |
| A．To punish illegal activities. | B．To prevent disagreement. |
| C．To promote fairness. | D．To meet various demands. |
| A．Take exams honestly because cheating is shameful |
| B．Park in the right place so as not to get a parking ticket. |
| C．Pay the electricity bill on time in order not to get a late fee. |
| D．Cooperate with your classmates to win a prize for your class. |
| A．Living by the rules | B．Why communities need rules |
| C．Reaching a compromise | D．How fairness functions |
