1 . Are you happy with your appearance?
“Almost all the girls with single-fold eyelids (单眼皮) in our class have had double eyelid operations,” Zeng, a Senior 2 student from Chengdu, told Xinhua. Zeng had the same surgery done this summer.
From popular photo-editing apps to plastic surgery (整形手术), it seems that large eyes, pale skin and a skinny body are the only standard for beauty these days. But can following this standard really make us feel good about ourselves?
“Many teenagers are upset about their appearance because they believe in unrealistic standards of beauty,” experts say.
However, trying to live up to strict standards can make us feel anxious. What troubles us is not just our “imperfect” looks, but the fact that we criticize ourselves too much.
| A．Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. |
| B．Body image anxiety is common among teenagers. |
| C．Guys care just as much as girls do about their body image. |
| D．Some teenagers might feel negative about their appearance. |
| E．It’s common for teenagers to feel confident about their appearance. |
| F．She and many of her classmates believe bigger eyes look more beautiful. |
| G．Perfect faces and bodies are everywhere in advertising, TV shows and social media. |
The buzzwords (时髦术语) “brittle college students” have gone viral on the Internet recently among mounting concerns over
Such comments have caused heated discussions over the declining physical
“These young people were mainly diagnosed (诊断) with trauma, abdominal pain, chest tightness, hyperventilation, acute alcoholism, and cholecystitis. Most cases were caused by
A report pointed out that unhealthy lifestyle is common
3 . Launched in 2004 by then-Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook became the biggest social media platform in the world just five years later. It was young people who helped Facebook initially shoot to success, but today’s youth think that “Facebook is for old people”, reported the Daily Star.
In 2015, a survey found that 71 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 used Facebook. But in 2022, that number dropped to 32 percent, reported NBC News. Alex Tani, a 25-year-old from the UK, said that when he started university in 2016, his tutors always set up student groups on Facebook to help everyone stay in touch and interact. But by the time his younger brother went to university three years later, this wasn’t the case.
Today’s younger generation prefers to use other social platforms, such as Instagram, a photo and video-sharing social networking service also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, and TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, said NBC News. These two platforms are different from Facebook in that they are mainly image-based and video-based, not text-based. Visual culture is a rising trend and young people have grown tired of reading people’s remarks on Facebook, said Forbes.
Another reason for Facebook’s decline in popularity is AI. According to The Guardian, TikTok’s “most powerful tool” is its algorithm (算法) which predicts what content you want to see. It shares related content with you from people you may not follow based on what you’ve watched before. This saves people the effort of searching for what they like, and so becomes an “escape for them”, said North Carolina State University.
Going forward, Facebook plans to use AI in a similar way as TikTok to show short videos and give users a better platform to discuss video content, said Fortune Media. Only time will tell whether it can stay “young” or remain as a platform used only by “old people”.
1. Why does the author mention Alex’s experience?| A．To compare differences between the brothers． | B．To show Facebook is losing its advantage. |
| C．To illustrate how Facebook works. | D．To emphasize the importance of Facebook. |
| A．Protecting privacy. | B．Being text-based. |
| C．Providing visual enjoyment. | D．Being abundant in remarks. |
| A．Misty. | B．Predictable. | C．Promising. | D．Depressing. |
| A．Facebook Struggles for the Favor of the Youth | B．Facebook: The Biggest Social Media Platform |
| C．TikTok Becomes a Favorite Online Destination | D．AI: A Powerful Tool in Social Media Platforms |
4 . Smartphones and other digital devices control and consume our attention. This is true for young people. On public transport, they are checking social media or playing an addictive game rather than sleeping. Very few people are reading a book or having a conversation with fellow travelers.
Children today are digital natives. This means they have never known life without internet access. They have been raised on clicks. They jump from content to content without a second thought. In the words of the philosopher Han in his 2021 book Non-things, this kind of nonstop excitement means that we quickly come to need a new exciter. We get used to seeing reality as a source of exciters and surprises. We struggle to focus our attention on any one thing. This will disturb our cognitive (认知) system.
Books can train the brain to deeply focus its attention on one task while mobile devices encourage us to hang over the surface of things, but we do not fully grasp them. When we receive information in large amounts, it stops being meaningful. When faced with a large amount of it, our brains react by blocking the information. But the discarded content does not simply disappear from our minds. Instead, it remains. This prevents us from figuring out what we are interested in. It limits our attention length.
Mobile phone addiction and the way young people learn are both directly connected to the concept of mind wandering. Too much information input makes us switch off and lose attention. And this can be damaging in the long term.
In order to recover attention, the brain needs to take a break. It needs to find time and space where it can be free from constant noise. Adults can make the effort to find these much-needed spaces to focus attention. Children, on the other hand, have not yet gained this. They run the risk of never recovering their attention spans. If we give children and teenagers access to digital devices before they have developed these skills, their attention will be free to wander. It will then become harder and harder for them to focus on a task for the necessary amount of time.
1. What is a common scene among the young on public transport?| A．They are talking with each other. | B．They are usually sleeping. |
| C．Most of them are absorbed in reading. | D．They are lost in their phones. |
| A．It reduces our ability to focus. |
| B．It weakens our need for fun immediately. |
| C．It increases our interest in traditional media. |
| D．It enables us to see reality as a source of surprises. |
| A．Mobile devices help us to fully understand books. |
| B．Smartphone addiction stops us forming a lasting attention. |
| C．Being exposed to smartphone information blocks our brain. |
| D．The information we get will disappear soon from our minds. |
| A．A science magazine. | B．A book review. |
| C．A biology textbook. | D．A smartphone ad. |
5 . It’s rare that you see the words “shyness” and “leader” in the same sentence. After all, the common opinion is that those outgoing and sociable guys make great public speakers and excellent net-workers and that those shy people are not.
A survey conducted by USA Today referred to 65 percent of managers who believed shyness to be a barrier to leadership. Interestingly, the same article stresses that roughly 40 percent of leaders actually are quite shy — they’re just better at adapting themselves to situational demands. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Charles Schwab are just a few “innies”.
Shy people take a cautious approach to chance. They listen attentively to what others say and absorb it before they speak. They’re listening so they can learn what to say. Along the same lines, shy people share a common love of learning. They are intrinsically (内在地) motivated and therefore seek content regardless of achieving an outside standard.
Being shy can also bring other benefits. Remember being in school and hearing the same kids contribute, until shy little Johnny, who almost never said a word, cut in? Then what happened? Everyone turned around to look with great respect at little Johnny actually talking. This is how shy people made good use of their power of presence: they “own” the moment by speaking calmly and purposefully, which translate to a positive image.
Shyness is often related to modesty. Not to say that limelight-seekers (引人注目的人) aren’t modest, but shy people tend to have an accurate sense of their abilities and achievements. As a result, they are able to recognize mistakes, imperfections, knowledge gaps and limitations.
Since shy people have a lower desire for outside rewards than outgoing ones, they’re more comfortable working with little information and sticking to their inner desires. Shy people are also more likely to insist on finding solutions that aren’t primarily apparent. Albert Einstein once said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s that I stay with problems longer.” Obviously, finding certainty where uncertainty is typically popular is a huge plus for any successful person.
1. What is the traditional belief to the shy people?| A．They are good at making friends. |
| B．They are not popular with people. |
| C．They like making speeches in public. |
| D．They are unlikely to become leaders. |
| A．Shy people. | B．Public speakers. |
| C．Net-workers. | D．Survey conductor. |
| A．They focus on achieving themselves outside rewards. |
| B．They make the best of the power of presence actively. |
| C．They realize their abilities and imperfections clearly. |
| D．They perform more confidently than outgoing people. |
| A．By making contrasts and giving examples. |
| B．By quoting authorities and making evaluations. |
| C．By explaining problems and providing solutions. |
| D．By giving definitions and presenting research results. |
6 . You’ve probably been told that the world is at your fingertips. You have more choices, which can be a blessing for some and a curse for others.
You find meaning in everything. You walk past someone and they don’t make eye contact with you. You walk past them again. And this time they do, but for only a couple of seconds.
You find it difficult to let things go. Because you’ve put in a lot of effort to figure something out, you find it challenging to let go of it. You don’t want to fall. The more time and energy you put into something the harder to let it go when it isn’t working.
You are patient.
Take comfort knowing you’re not the only one who over thinks. But don’t think about it too much.
| A．What problem do they have? |
| B．They looked away a little too fast. |
| C．People tend to be upset when waiting too long. |
| D．You get excited when you finally figured something out. |
| E．You highly value the time it takes, even if it takes you longer. |
| F．The more you think about something the more it can eat away at you. |
| G．Here are some signs that you are an over thinker, even if you don’t feel you are. |
7 . Visit the grocery store on an empty stomach, and you will probably come home with a few things you did not plan to buy.
The checkout area is a particular hotspot for junk food. Studies have found that the products most commonly found there are sugary and salty snacks. And a few studies have suggested that simply swapping in healthier options can change customer behavior. A 2012 study in the Netherlands found that hospital workers were more likely to give up junk food for healthy snacks.
Adjoian and her colleagues wondered if such findings would apply to their city’s crowded urban checkout areas, so they selected three Bronx supermarkets for their own study.
Of the more than 2,100 shoppers they observed, just 4 percent bought anything from the checkout area. Among those who did, however, customers in the healthy lines purchased nutritious foods more than twice as often as those in the standard lines.
The potential influence may seem small, but Adjoian believes that changing more checkout lines would open customers’ eyes to nutritious, lower-calorie foods. Health department officials are now exploring ways to expand healthy options at checkout counters throughout New York City.
| A．These foods give people more energy. |
| B．They bought unhealthy foods 40 percent less often. |
| C．But hunger is not the only cause of additional purchases. |
| D．The supermarkets began to offer nutritious, lower-calorie foods. |
| E．It happened when the latter were more readily available on canteen shelves. |
| F．These findings caught the attention of New York City Department of Health. |
| G．They replaced candies and cookies with fruits and nuts near the checkout counter. |
8 . The house had been cleaned and decorated elegantly. The air smelt fresh. Little labels on all we saw around the house displayed important details: date of purchase and the current selling price. We were at a garage sale. There was no talking or bargaining. Buyers could pick up at the listed price.
All efforts that release cash that is locked into stuff touch me deeply. If they break conventional ideas, I will like them even more. It is my view that people love to follow suit and end up with emotions they ought to feel, rather than being true to themselves. To say that one does not care for one’s grandmother’s necklace is considered rude, so one would simply keep it in the locker and pass it on to the next generation.
No longer so, I am guessing.
It’s not always about money, but perhaps about considering one’s choices. My argument always is to use stuff, if you like it so much. Wear those pieces of jewellery; use those pieces of furnitures; take home those piles of old-time bedsheets. But if none of them fit into your current home, allow someone else to take them home. Turn those properties over instead of leaving them unused.
Hoarding (囤积) is not a virtue. It is a waste of the money that is locked into the property you are hoarding. I may use it sometime in the future, say some. Give that a time frame. If you are holding something you haven’t used even once in five years, ask yourself if someone else may need it. Don’t sell if you don’t care for money; but do give it away.
All else needs to earn their place for their value and usefulness for you. Celebrate the liberation from hoarding and let there be light!
1. What do people often do at the garage sale?| A．Purchase a garage. | B．Label their belongings. |
| C．Talk about decoration. | D．Trade their unused stuff. |
| A．To call for respect towards the elderly. |
| B．To advocate holding onto the family tradition. |
| C．To show the financial condition of an average family. |
| D．To prove people tend to follow suit against their wills. |
| A．It is a good idea to save money. |
| B．A good taste counts in purchase. |
| C．Unused items deserve a new owner. |
| D．The outdated should be thrown away. |
| A．To call on people to get rid of hoarding. |
| B．To show his worry about wasting resources. |
| C．To draw attention to conserving the traditions. |
| D．To inspire people to spend more on meaningful things. |
9 . Many often find themselves considering jobs below their skill level in worsening employment markets. But it turns out that working in a job below your skill level harms your later chances of getting hired for a better-paying job more appropriate to your qualifications.
Sociologist David Pedulla at the University of Texas conducted a study to examine how jobs below a person’s skill level affect future employability. He tailored 2,420 applications and submitted them to 1,210 job listings posted in five major cities across the U.S. He varied the applications by gender, and also by employment status for the previous year. Then he used computer models to analyze and compare the results. The results show that applicants who were positioned as working below their skill level, regardless of gender had the lowest chances of getting called for a job interview.
These results should serve as a warning to anyone considering taking a job below their skill level. While it might pay the bills in the short term, it can significantly hammer one’s ability to return to the relevant skill level and pay grade at a later date.
Why might this be the case? Pedulla conducted a follow-up study with 903 employers. He asked them about their ideas of applicants with each kind of employment history, and how likely they would be to recommend each kind of candidate to an interview. The results show that employers believe that men who are employed in positions below their skill level are less committed and less competent than men in other employment situations. Those surveyed also believed that women working below their skill level were less competent than others, but did not believe them to be less committed.
The results of studies suggest that work below skill level signals to employers men’s incompetence and a lack of commitment. This is a disturbing reminder that the sword of gender bias (偏见) does in fact cut both ways.
1. Why do many people choose jobs below their skill level?| A．They fear bearing duties. | B．They lack-self-confidence. |
| C．They face a tough economy. | D．They pursue better-paying jobs. |
| A．By conducting interviews. | B．By researching examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing surveys. |
| A．Ensure. | B．Weaken. | C．Test. | D．Exercise. |
| A．Men are more likely to get promoted. |
| B．Women are more devoted and capable. |
| C．Women behave better in jobs below skill level. |
| D．Men show talents in work of the relevant level. |
10 . How to deal with decision paralysis (瘫痪)
If you’ve ever gone online to order something during a work break-let’s say a new electric toothbrush-expecting it to be fairly easy, but instead you found yourself overwhelmed by the huge number of choices available, you’ve experienced decision paralysis.
You’re shocked that there are so many factors to consider; not only the basics, such as price and delivery time, but there are many other factors like battery duration, warning lights for too much pressure and even fancy apps.
This is just one example of decision paralysis-when the huge number of choices and the difficulty of weighing the supermarket up-leads you to freeze. It used to be thought that increased choice could only be a good thing for consumers and they would welcome it, but actually it can bring the opposite effect and cause people to walk away.
If you’re willing to put in the effort, a practical approach is to reduce the mental complexity involved in a decision by doing a little research.
| A．You could always make a random choice. |
| B．Make some brief notes about the prior factors to you. |
| C．There are various ways to overcome decision paralysis. |
| D．You’ll end up with a score showing you the most favourable decision. |
| E．The clock is ticking on your break and it’s impossible to make a decision. |
| F．This is all that you’ll miss out on once you choose to go down a particular path. |
| G．In other life situations, it might be the weight of the decision that bears down on you. |
