1 . You may have visited antique stores and found cutting-edge goods in second-hand furniture stores, but have you ever stooping? On the streets of big cities at night, some young people are “looking for something”. Obsessed with the spiritual core of the old thing recycling, they fell in love with it. But what exactly is stooping?
In fact, this English word originally meant “bending over”, and now refers to a way of life of picking up discarded items and renovating and recycling old things, which originally emerged in New York and other foreign big cities.
Since the beginning of last year, the trend of “stooping” has spread to many big cities in China and many young people look for second-hand items such as discarded furniture on the streets, take home and repurpose them with a new look. In order to make the flow of information better, some “stoopers” have also built communities where group members can share “treasures” on the street with each other.
Mikiko, 27, is reportedly one of the first people in China to get involved in practicing stooping. At first, she posted online things that people no longer use, want to throw away, or exchange at home, and slowly hundreds of messages flooded in and since then, stooping has become more and more popular among young people. Mikiko admitted that she was surprised that the concept has become a hit on social media, as older generations often stigmatize picking up things from the street or using second-hand goods. “People like my mom consider stooping as’rubbish-picking’, and people will be looked down upon by doing this.” She even created an app called “Grecycle” where people can give away or take unwanted items for free, hoping people may realize that stooping can also be about doing good and helping others.
This generation of young people has given “new life” to old things, practiced social responsibility in their own environmentally friendly ways in life, and also contributed to the circular economy and sustainable society.
1. What do we know about “stooping” in this text?| A．It was developed in England. | B．It equals to rubbish-picking. |
| C．It is an expression to show respect. | D．It is a way to turn trash to treasure. |
| A．To show off their good use of items. |
| B．To argue about the misuse of good treasure. |
| C．To share the information of the discarded items. |
| D．To make some comments on the abandoned items. |
| A．Be skilled at. | B．Be ashamed of. |
| C．Be fed up with. | D．Be accustomed to. |
| A．Second-hand stores are worth visiting. |
| B．Big cities offer more job opportunities. |
| C．Young people spend less than older people. |
| D．The young have a stronger eco-awareness. |
Following the tradition of wearing new clothes for the Chinese New Year, young people in China pushed the purchase of hanfu to a new level and made it
An initiative (倡议) launched in late January by Xiaohongshu, a social media platform, invited users
Hanfu, as well as other traditional forms of Chinese costume, has become
Analysts say the rise of “China chic” shows young Chinese people’s
3 . Social media provides materialists with ideal opportunities to compare themselves with others, which makes them subject to passive and addictive user behavior. This stresses them out and, ultimately, leads to low life satisfaction, according to a new study.
The researchers headed by Dr. Phillip Ozimek from Germany employed 1, 230 people for their online survey. In order to participate, respondents had to visit at least one social media channel at least once a week. On average, the participants stated they spent just over two hours a day on social media.
The team used six different questionnaires to determine the extent to which the participants had a materialistic attitude and tended to compare themselves with others, whether they used social media more actively or passively, whether they were addicted to social media, how stressed and how satisfied they were with their lives.
“The data showed a stronger materialistic approach goes hand in hand with a tendency to compare oneself with others,” points out Ozimek. This comparison is easy to make on social media, primarily through passive use—by looking at the content posted by other users. Materialism and passive use were also linked to addictive use of social media.
“Users are constantly thinking about the respective channels and fear they’re missing out on something if they aren’t online,” explains Ozimek. “This in turn leads to poorer mental health like stress. The final link in the chain is reduced life satisfaction.”
“Overall, the study provides further evidence that the use of social media is associated with risks, especially for people with a highly materialistic mindset,” says the psychologist. “This is particularly worrying, because social media can stimulate and increase materialistic values through influence r marketing. Meanwhile, the platforms attract materialists anyway, as they’re a perfect way to satisfy materialistic needs.”
“It’s definitely a good idea to be aware of the amount of time you spend on social media and to reduce it,” recommends Ozimek, who advises against giving up social media completely. “If you did, you’re likely to over-correct.” He also suggests recording materialism and social media use in patients undergoing treatment for mental health disorders. “While these factors are often irrelevant, they can be a starting point for additional interventions patients can try out at home.”
1. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?| A．The Virtual World, the Real Danger |
| B．Showing Superiority Causes Heavy Media Use |
| C．More Social Media Materialism, Less Happiness |
| D．Materialistic Values: A Stepping Stone to Discontent |
| A．be a big spender | B．specialize in data analysis |
| C．be a regular social media user | D．upload web surfing history |
| A．Pessimism. | B．Sympathy. | C．Shock. | D．Concern. |
| A．Restricting the duration. | B．Logging onto well-rated websites. |
| C．Abandoning it for good. | D．Prohibiting patients from using it. |
4 . French parenting isn’t perfect, but there’s a lot we can learn from this kind but no-nonsense style of parenting.
French children are allowed to handle difficult things themselves.
Fearful of hurting feelings, American parents tend to praise every child for everything.
Painful experiences are the best learning opportunities and sheltering children from this fact of life will merely delay their emotional development. French doctors never say “sorry” when giving kids shots. The French believe undergoing hurts, is part of life and that there’s no reason to apologize for that.
Plus, the expectation of eye contact and a polite hello starts from the minute French children can say hello. They know saying “hello” and good manners are non-negotiable. Teaching them about that will benefit them for a lifetime.
All the above feels easier said than done, especially as a tired parent facing an intolerable child.
| A．They mean what they say. |
| B．This isn’t to say it’ll come easily. |
| C．It might save tears in the short term. |
| D．They wish children to suffer sometimes. |
| E．Bearing a few blow-ups is worthwhile, though. |
| F．Parents have to spare them such psychological discomfort. |
| G．“Me do it!” is little kids’ favorite phrase and for good reason. |
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 . 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. |
7 . 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. |
8 . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees over 50 make up more than one-third of the workforce in the United States. And the labor force aged 75 and older is expected to increase by 96.5% by 2030. As the workforce ages and increasing numbers of grandparents care for their grandchildren, what once was intended for new parents is now applied to grandparents. Some workplaces are offering a new paid leave policy (政策) for older workers—grandternity leave.
As the name suggests, one of the most popular use cases for grandternity leave is employees taking time off when they become grandparents to help care for their grandchildren. It also enables employees to take paid leave to deal with medical treatment, spend time with their families, and take time away from work as needed.
In a competitive labor market with more than 10 million open jobs, employers still struggle to retain senior employees. They fall under the Baby Boomer generation and are characterized by their deep love for work and company responsibility. They are prized for their historical knowledge and old-fashioned work ethic (职业道德). Therefore, employers are seeking new, nontraditional benefits for these employees to prevent them from taking another job. Grandternity leave is just one example of personalized benefits suitable for older workers.
A handful of companies are already starting to offer their own form of grandternity leave. For example, Saga has rolled out a five-day paid grandternity leave to its 2,500 employees. Scott Merry, a 57-year-old IT specialist with Saga took grandternity leave to care for his new-born grandson. “It was just wonderful. It’s nice to work in this type of culture which values family time.” he said. Another company that became an early adopter (使用者) is HireVue. “Attracting and employing a various workforce should be top of mind for any organization,” said one of HireVue’s managers. “Offering a variety of benefits like grandternity leave is key to that.”
1. What does paragraph 1 focus on about the policy?| A．Its application. | B．Its influences. | C．Its limitations. | D．Its background. |
| A．Cut down. | B．Kick out. | C．Hold onto. | D．Pay for. |
| A．It is a win-win practice. | B．It has been adopted widely. |
| C．It has a two-sided nature. | D．It is key to business success. |
| A．To introduce a new paid leave. | B．To call for better working conditions. |
| C．To recommend several leading companies. | D．To warn of the effect of population ageing. |
9 . If you’re stuck in what seems like an endless cycle of procrastination (拖延), guilt and chaos, you might be wondering “Why am I so lazy?”. Despite that common belief, laziness usually isn’t the reason behind procrastination, said Jenny Yip, a clinical psychologist. “Laziness is like, ‘I have absolutely no desire to even think about this.’ Procrastination is, ‘It troubles me to think about this. And therefore, it’s hard for me to get the job done.’ That’s a big difference.”
Knowing why you procrastinate and learning how to fight against it are the only ways to change your behavior. Psychologist Sapadin sought to help this self-improvement effort with her book How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age. You could be the perfectionist, the dreamer, the worrier or the defier (对抗者) — these are all procrastination styles that Sapadin lists in her book. Both perfectionists and worriers might put off starting tasks due to a fear of failure or criticism. And like a perfectionist, a dreamer might always want something better. As for the defier, they tend to view life in terms of what others expect or require them to do, not what they want. This pessimism weakens their motivation to complete tasks.
Procrastination can have practical consequences, such as falling behind at work or failing to achieve personal goals. But there are also emotional or mental impacts. It has been associated with depression, anxiety and stress, poor sleep, inadequate physical activity, loneliness and economic difficulties, according to a January study of more than 3,500 college students.
Knowing why you procrastinate can make you self-aware, but you still need strategies to break the habit. In such cases, “consider contacting a professional, like a psychologist, who might be able to help you,” said Shatz, a creator of the website Solving Procrastination. “Visualization (可视化) works,” Shatz added. “If you can imagine Yourself completing a task, then it becomes more achievable simply because you have an idea that it can be done.” At the end of the day, how you approach life is “all about your belief system”. If you believe you can, you can. Whatever you believe, you’re right.
1. What does Jenny Yip mean according to paragraph 1?| A．Procrastination keeps people in chaos. |
| B．Procrastination is not a result of laziness. |
| C．Lazy people can’t help thinking about the job. |
| D．Lazy people are often stuck in procrastination. |
| A．They long for something better. |
| B．They have a fear of failure or criticism. |
| C．They prioritize others’ expectations. |
| D．They have a pessimistic outlook on life. |
| A．Procrastination has an impact on economics. |
| B．Procrastinstion is connected with mental problems. |
| C．College students have difficulties in achieving goals. |
| D．College students are generally affected by procrastination. |
| A．Procrastination can be resolved. |
| B．Procrastination is due to self-unawareness. |
| C．Knowing your procrastination relieves it. |
| D．Visualization is ineffective against procrastination. |
10 . A new trend called “praise groups” or “in-need-of-praise” chat groups has become popular on Chinese social media. In Chinese culture, where modesty (谦逊) is valued, openly seeking and giving praise is uncommon. These chat groups provide a platform for people to receive compliments (赞扬) and encouragement, which are often lacking in their daily lives.
To join a praise group, users can pay a fee on e-commerce sites, starting at 50 yuan for five minutes of compliments. The group members will then show the person with praises and kind words. The compliments can be designed for a friend or loved one as well. Participants have found that being praised by strangers can help lift their spirits and improve their self-confidence.
For example, Meng Zha, a student at Shanghai’s Tongji University, tried the service and found it amusing and uplifting. She received compliments on her appearance and even quotes (引用) from popular songs. Ms Meng couldn’t help but laugh at the compliments and expressed her desire to post such high-quality praises in the future.
Praise groups have appeared as a way for people in China to seek and receive compliments and encouragement that may be lacking in their daily lives. It provides a positive and uplifting experience for participants, improving a sense of happiness and self-worth.
Those who support the groups, see them as an antidote to extremely bad moods (情绪) which are often associated with things happening on the Internet. “At first, the purpose of this group is to make us learn to praise others and accept others’ praises confidently. Here we can drop everything, and use our heart to praise and support others,” one member said. But the life journey is long and there are some unexpected situations that we can only count on ourselves to face when there is no one out there to offer help.
1. What is the purpose of praise groups?| A．To make praise popular. | B．To have everyone supported. |
| C．To share common interests. | D．To give people hope and happiness. |
| A．She was not strong enough. | B．She was under working stress. |
| C．She was satisfied with the service. | D．She was a gifted singer in her area. |
| A．A way of making new friends. | B．A kind of medicine. |
| C．A method of being confident. | D．The wisdom of solving problems. |
| A．Objective. | B．Critical. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
