1 . Janet, now 37, was playing with her new pet dog, Stitch, who jumped up, grabbed her sleeve, and tore several holes in her sweater with its sharp teeth. Instead of throwing the sweater away, Janet decided to repair it.
She turned to “visible repairing,” an idea of repairing clothes that leaves an obvious fix. She added bright flowers and other small designs to damaged clothes. “Every time you do a repair, it’s like having bought a new piece of clothes,” says Janet.
Actually, repairing is a great opportunity to realize the urgent (迫切的) need to reduce waste. Sadly, we have become used to replacing things instead of repairing them — and the rubbish is piling up. Worldwide, we throw away 92 million tons of cloth every year. Electronic waste is another growing problem: About 50 million tons of it is created each year around the world.
The good news is that fixing things can help deal with the waste problem. There are some solutions. Due to information online, the popular how-to site iFixit.com , a database (数据库) with nearly 100,000 repair brochures for everything from electronics to clothing, has promoted more than 100 million repairs. In addition, since the first Repair Café opened in2009 in Amsterdam, more than 2,700 cafés have been set up to offer in-person fix-it help in various countries. Organizers set up events, and volunteers with repair knowledge bring their tools. They will try to fix whatever people bring in, for free, and teach visitors how to do repairs themselves.
Fixing things is part of a larger change toward a circular economy —the idea that instead of throwing away things once they are broken or out of date, we reuse or repair them, keeping them out of the landfill (垃圾填埋场) for as long as possible. According to a 2023 report from Circle Economy, a Netherlands-based NGO, if the world changed to a circular economy, we could lower the amount of waste by a third.
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Janet?| A．To praise her way of protecting pets. |
| B．To introduce special clothing designs. |
| C．To call for attention to repairing things. |
| D．To market the products of fixed clothes. |
| A．The action of replacing things is wise. |
| B．The behaviour of repairing things is popular. |
| C．The need for reducing clothes is urgent. |
| D．The problem of producing waste is serious. |
| A．By teaching volunteers repair knowledge. |
| B．By sharing tips on opening repair cafés. |
| C．By providing information to the repair database. |
| D．By offering online and off line help to encourage repairs. |
| A．Jim threw away a used bike. | B．Jackson mended a torn sofa. |
| C．Sue replaced a worn carpet. | D．Windy removed a broken vase. |
2 . The need of plus-size consumers has long been the elephant in the room of the fashion industry until body positivity and fat acceptance movements promoted that large-bodied people are not those who are left behind. This trend has become so popular that it is influencing mainstream culture. As a result, fashion brands have finally decided to expand their size ranges. In 2022, the plus-size market grew twice as fast as the standard size market in both North America and the UK.
Yet, many consumers say fashion brands broadening their ranges are not truly inclusive (包容的). “Inclusive sizing means that all bodies are included in fashion, not just the ones who fit in standard sizes,” says Marie North, a UK-based journalist who covers body-image issues. “However, what many designers do right now is pick a number that they think is big enough to include plus sizes and stop. This is even more disrespectful.”
Researchers also criticize (批评) that some brands are just taking advantage of the trend. “Brands that used to promote so-called perfect bodies in their advertisements are now trying to get in on the trend by adding a few sizes. It doesn’t feel like they really care about plus-size people,” says Michael Burgess, analyst in fashion industry. “If brands cared about large-bodied consumers, then it wouldn’t have taken until now to acknowledge that they exist,” he says. “It gives the impression that companies are just trying to gain a share of the market without a real devotion to the community.”
The fashion industry must go beyond merely producing clothing in a range of sizes if they hope to succeed with a body-diverse world. The whole industry has to connect on a personal level with consumers. That involves showing shoppers that they are seen, understood and important to brands. “Consumers care about values, and so they want to buy from brands that reflect the values they believe in. Everyone should enjoy the same range of fashion choices,” says Ludovica Ospina, professor of marketing at the College of Business.
1. What do the underlined words “the elephant in the room” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Hardly satisfied. | B．Socially accepted. |
| C．Widely promoted. | D．Obvious but ignored. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Negative. | C．Puzzled. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Their motivation. | B．Their promotion. |
| C．Their devotion. | D．Their advertisement. |
| A．Provide more fashion choices. |
| B．Show respect to the consumers. |
| C．Produce clothes in various sizes. |
| D．Build private relationships with customers. |
3 . Each year, more than 27 million U.S. and Canadian kids get to school by bus. Most of those buses run on diesel (柴油) fuel, which give out pollution that riders can take in. Pollution levels can be several times higher inside a diesel school bus than outside it. Why? Pollution can leak in from the floor or blow in through windows.
A U.S. government program started in 2012 offered schools’ money spent on cleaner school buses but not all schools could get it. Five years later, emissions from buses in the winning districts fell. And a year after getting new buses, student attendance had improved in those districts. For an average district of 10, 000 students, about six more students attended ‘school each day’ in the winning districts, compared to the losing districts. Winning schools with higher rates of bus-riding kids had an average of 14 more students in class each day. And winning districts that replaced the oldest school buses? They had an average of 45 more students in school each day.
Those numbers may sound small, but they add up. And school attendance matters for student achievement. Almost 3 million U. S. kids ride school buses more than 20 years old. If U. S. school districts had replaced all of those older buses, there would have been 1. 3 million fewer student absences each year.
There might be other reasons for better attendance. For example, maybe kids preferred new buses. However, the most-likely reason for fewer student absences was better health. A study done on adults showed that a brief exposure to diesel emissions reduced “network connectivity” in the brain. In other studies, such network-connectivity changes have been linked to worsened memory and mental tasks. A Washington State program upgraded pollution controls in old diesel buses. Afterward, fewer kids were hospitalized in those districts than in schools without bus upgrades.
Almost all U. S. school districts can apply for the program. But schools in low-income areas, in tribal areas and, in rural areas will get priority. Kids in these areas tend to face the most health risks from older buses.
1. What can we infer about diesel school buses from the first paragraph?| A．They have a short service life. |
| B．They operate cost-effectively. |
| C．They accommodate few passengers. |
| D．They do much harm to school children. |
| A．It is a long accumulation. | B．It is a winning condition. |
| C．It is a measuring standard. | D．It is a student achievement. |
| A．By reducing the network connectivity. |
| B．By bettering the health state of students. |
| C．By improving student satisfaction with schools. |
| D．By meeting students’ demand for school bus drivers. |
| A．The “network connectivity” in the brain. |
| B．The great work on cleaner school buses. |
| C．A U. S. government program for education. |
| D．Better attendance due to new school buses. |
4 . Australian teenagers are missing important, basic kitchen skills and it’s having a negative influence on their health. It’s also leading our next generation towards increased rates of obesity (肥胖), according to the findings of a new survey.
A national survey of 1,006 parents found that close to half of all 12 to 18 years old teenagers can’t boil an egg; 1 in 5 only have kitchen skills that allow them to pour milk on cereal; 42%can’t boil noodles; 83.9%don’t know how to roast a chicken; 60.1 percent can’t bake a potato.
Research company Pureprofile asked parents to judge how well their kids could perform in the kitchen across some tasks. More than half (67.3%) of parents believe their children could do better when it comes to healthy food and lifestyle knowledge. Close to half of parents (42.5%) believe poor food choices are caused by lack of education at middle school, with 9 in 10 parents in support of schools doing more to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Miriam Raleigh, an expert on the relationship between food and health, said she was already seeing a generation of young parents who had “no idea how to cook”. “They depend on convenience meals and easy snacks, and those foods often have a higher fat and salt content which can lead to obesity and a lot of health problems,” Ms Raleigh said.
The school’s Kitchen Garden program founder, Stephanie Alexander, said that if more was not done to improve the situation we would be heading towards a generation of fatter and more unhealthy kids. Ms Alexander also said she would introduce her Kitchen Garden program into middle schools so teenagers can learn the art of cooking food.
“I’m so proud of what we have achieved in the primary school and I really believe we can have the same success in middle schools,” she said.
1. What did the national survey find about Australian teenagers?| A．They eat unhealthy food. | B．They are poor at cooking. |
| C．They like convenience meals. | D．They are interested in cooking. |
| A．Explaining the reasons. | B．Providing the data. |
| C．Making comparisons. | D．Giving examples. |
| A．Her worry about the unhealthy lifestyle. |
| B．Her concern in young parents’ education. |
| C．The way to reduce obesity in young people. |
| D．The need to improve everyone’s cooking skills. |
| A．To teach teenagers cooking. | B．To care about teenagers’ health. |
| C．To improve school education. | D．To promote a cooking program. |
5 . Most of us spend our lives surrounded by screens, which offer us convenience as well as connection and an ocean of information. But since it’s easy to feel pressured to keep up with every notification, technology may feel more like a burden than a blessing. Thus, the idea of “digital detox” is becoming increasingly inviting.
The phrase “digital detox” describes getting rid of TV, phones, computers and other forms of technology that control our lives for a period of time. Some experts advocate completely avoiding unnecessary screen time for 30 years. Others suggest using an app that will limit the amount of time one can spend on certain websites. A third option is logging out in evenings or on weekends. Others simply turn their phones off at scheduled times. Some even pay high prices to take vacations in places where they can unplug from their digital routine.
Why might you want to take a digital detox? Perhaps you find that you are spending longer than you intend on certain apps or that they distract you from more important things. Perhaps social media is depressing because you compare yourself to others or you fear missing out on things that other people are enjoying. Constant negative news can also give rise to a lot of stress.
Technology can also have physical effects. Many people experience back or neck pain as a result of bending over screens. The blue light coming from most screens can also affect people’s sleep by preventing production of melatonin (褪黑素).
Giving up all screens may not be realistic, but strategic breaks from technology may be good for your body, mind, emotions and relationships. It is high time that you picked a time to turn off your devices and focus on really important things.
1. Why does the author say “technology may feel more like a burden than a blessing” in paragraph 1?| A．To confirm a concept. |
| B．To explain a rule. |
| C．To present a problem. |
| D．To make a prediction. |
| A．Forms of getting rid of “digital detox”. |
| B．Suggestions of practicing “digital detox”. |
| C．Ways of avoiding screen time completely. |
| D．Options of unplugging all digital routine. |
| A．Pressure from social comparison. |
| B．Fear of missing important things. |
| C．Exposure to false news. |
| D．Apps selection difficulty. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Technology . | C．Health. | D．Education. |
6 . As you read this, pause to reflect on your recent interactions. As a politician, husband, and father, I encounter various spoken language styles: analytical or chatty, formal or informal, pointed or gentle, cooperative or decisive. Talk is the currency of politics. It is our way of negotiating, debating, and persuading. Talk is also the currency of learning-how we develop our ideas, deepen our thinking and share our feelings.
That’s why I want speaking skills, sometimes called “oracy”, to play an important part in Labor’s plans for a reformed school curriculum (课程).
Employers value speaking skills equally with reading and writing. The ability to speak well and express yourself should be something every child should master. But the curriculum doesn’t allow us to provide this. This is short-sighted. An inability to express your thoughts fluently is a key barrier to getting on and doing well in life.
Oracy is in part about good public speaking and debating skills, but in reality, it’s about teaching young people to make strong arguments, choose wise words, understand their audience, form meaningful social connections, and use facial expressions and body language to convey their message. Above all else it’s about finding your voice. To work out who you are and what you believe. If reading opens up a world of imagination and possibility, then speaking and listening opens up a lifetime of empowerment-a chance for those who feel invisible in their own country to be heard. It is about the confidence to speak out, to call out injustice or harm.
And the other side of speaking is listening, which can also be taught. Listening, truly listening, develops tolerance and understanding. And as parents we can play our part. We’ve all been there, at mealtimes, silent as we all stare at our devices. Our job, all of ours, is to get off our screens and give young people, and adults, the gift of listening.
So, oracy―speaking and listening―needs to be placed firmly at the heart of school life.
1. How does talk help a politician?| A．It deepens his wishful thinking. |
| B．It enhances his analytical skills. |
| C．It strengthens persuasive power. |
| D．It provides emotional support. |
| A．Employers underestimate the value of speaking. |
| B．Academic pressure makes students poor-sighted. |
| C．Spoken language is regarded as least important. |
| D．Oracy should deserve more attention at school. |
| A．By sharing different opinions. |
| B．By clarifying the definition. |
| C．By describing personal experiences. |
| D．By employing the concept. |
| A．Set a good example for their children. |
| B．Balance screen time and mealtime. |
| C．Have oral face-to-face communication. |
| D．Disconnect from the virtual world. |
7 . The mushrooming video screens in buses, taxis and apartment halls in cities like Shanghai are taking away our already rare resource: a place for a moment of peace. Taking a nap or reading a book on buses is less pleasant now, as the LCD screens broadcast news, entertainment and advertisements at unbearable volumes.
You pay the bus fare simply to get a ride—undisturbed—but now you are exposed to this “added value”, whether you like it or not. If it’s a crowded bus, the noise is even more exasperating. More and more Chinese cities have joined Shanghai, regarded as the first to put video screens on buses, disturbing millions of passengers.
Some may like to watch programme aired on buses or in apartment halls. But those who don’t should be equally respected. Because of the bus screens, students cannot focus on reviewing their lessons or preparing for a test. People who like to read or reflect feel unsettled by the noise. Youngsters who like to listen to music on their iPods must increase the volume to fight against the competing audio. If you already feel stressed after a busy day, the bus video advertising certainly increase the tension of both your muscles and nervous system. Bus drivers are surely the worst victims because they have to bear it at least eight hours a day, non-stop.
A high public tolerance for noise pollution has helped bus video advertisers to expand their businesses. But opposition has already started to make its voice heard. Some people have already accused bus companies of breaking their contracts, since their obligation is only to deliver passengers to their destinations.
Shanghai, as a world-class city, should set an example for the country. It should first adopt world-class behavior in its massive public transportation system to return the public a peaceful place.
1. What does the underlined word “exasperating” in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Entertaining. |
| B．Encouraging. |
| C．Disappointing. |
| D．Annoying. |
| A．Students. |
| B．Bus drivers. |
| C．Youngsters. |
| D．Office employees. |
| A．More use of public transport. |
| B．An increase in bus video advertising. |
| C．More complaints about bus companies. |
| D．Lower public awareness of consumer rights. |
| A．Opposed. |
| B．Unclear. |
| C．Supportive. |
| D．Indifferent. |
8 . We humans are comparison creatures.
It used to be that our primary reference of comparison was our local communities, primarily neighbors and co-workers. Because we tend to gather around those similar to ourselves in terms of educational level, work income, and shared interests, the range of differences when we compared ourselves to others was fairly small. Unfortunately, with the emergence of the Internet, we can now compare ourselves to literally anyone in the world.
These harmful comparisons also damage our emotional lives. When we feel lacking, we experience a variety of unpleasant and unhealthy emotions. We feel jealousy and envy for what others have and what we lack.
It’s one thing to realize that you compare yourself to others. It’s another thing to recognize that social comparison is often corrosive (逐步侵蚀的) to you in so many ways psychologically and emotionally. It’s an entirely other thing to stop yourself from comparing yourself to others.
| A．We are constantly measuring ourselves against other people. |
| B．Yet it is possible, and it is worth the effort for your mental health. |
| C．Thus, we are now exposed to groups that are quite different from us. |
| D．We believe that there is something wrong with us compared to others. |
| E．We can even feel bitterness and anger at others for the unfairness of it all. |
| F．Comparing ourselves to others has the potential to increase our life experience. |
| G．This new level of comparison has huge implications for our psychological lives. |
9 . In the days before the Internet, critical thinking was the most important skill of informed citizens. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development, and her colleagues, an even more important skill is critical ignoring.
As the researchers point out, we live in an attention economy where content producers on the Internet compete for our attention. They attract us with a lot of emotional and eye-catching stories while providing little useful information, so they can expose us to profit-generating advertisements. Therefore,we are no longer customers but products, and each link we click is a sale of our time and attention. Toprotect ourselves from this, Kozyreva advocates for learning the skill of critical ignoring, in which readers intentionally control their information environment to reduce exposure to false and low-quality information.
According to Kozyreva, critical ignoring comprises three strategies. The first is to design ourenvironments, which involves the removal of low-quality yet hard-to-resist information from around. Successful dieters need to keep unhealthy food out of their homes. Likewise, we need to set up a digital environment where attention-grabbing items are kept out of sight. As with dieting, if one tries to bank onwillpower not to click eye-catching “news”, he’ll surely fail. So, it’s better to just keep them out of sightto begin with.
The next is to evaluate the reliability of information, whose purpose is to protect you from false and misleading information. It can be realized by checking the source in the mainstream news agencies which have their reputations for being trustworthy.
The last goes by the phrase “do not feed the trolls.” Trolls are actors who internationally spread false and hurtful information online to cause harm. It may be appealing to respond to them to set the facts straight, but trolls just care about annoying others rather than facts. So, it’s best not to reward their bad behaviour with our attention.
By sharpening our critical ignoring skills in these ways, we can make the most of the Internet while avoiding falling victim to those who try to control our attention, time, and minds.
1. What can we learn about the attention economy from paragraph 2?| A．It offers little information. | B．It features depressing stories. |
| C．It saves time for Internet users. | D．It seeks profits from each click. |
| A．To discuss the quality of information |
| B．To prove the benefits of healthy food. |
| C．To show the importance of environments. |
| D．To explain the effectiveness of willpower. |
| A．Reveal their intention. | B．Turn a deaf ear to them. |
| C．Correct their behaviour. | D．Send hard facts to them. |
| A．Reasons for critical thinking in the attention economy. |
| B．Practising the skill of critical ignoring in the digital age. |
| C．Maximizing the benefits of critical ignoring on the Internet. |
| D．Strategies of abandoning critical thinking for Internet users |
10 . Imagine looking through 3.7 million outfits online in search of just the right fit. Sounds like an impossible task, doesn’t it? Not anymore — artificial intelligence (AI) stylists make such a task possible.
An AI stylist is a computer algorithm (算法) that can put together outfits. It works by scouring the internet in a very similar way to the Google search engine. The program searches for clothing images on fashion blogs, online stores and social media, collecting thousands of outfits created by human stylists. The program can also “read” text and pick out important details about each article of clothing. Both the images and text are stored in a data set from which the AI stylist makes fashion suggestions for people based on their personal preferences.
An AI stylist can collect tens of thousands of outfits to display to millions of shoppers online. This data set of outfits is constantly updated and controlled by a team of people. The team helps the computer improve the algorithms which in turn helps the AI stylist put together better outfits for a customer.
An AI stylist displays outfits and fittings based on a customer’s desires, but it can also suggest things that may be a little out of the customer’s comfort zone. People are often willing to try something new if they are following styling advice.
An AI stylist can run into trouble when people of different cultures use it. What is trendy in Asia can be very different from what is fashionable in Europe. AI stylists keep up with the latest trends in different countries and then change the program for different regions. Companies can create a set of guidelines for the AI stylist to use, which can be adjusted by country to reflect preferences for different styles.
An Al stylist must also keep up with “fashion rules”. For example, big-sleeved tops do not go with skinny fit blazers. It is difficult for the AI stylist to recognize “rules” like these. So a different AI model that can recognize the cut, style and color of garments adds that information to the database.
AI stylists have been tested against real stylists and fashion influencers and have received positive feedback. Maybe someday we won’t put together an outfit without using our AI consultant first.
1. How can an AI stylist choose the suitable outfit from plentiful ones?| A．By its reading abilities. | B．By its supporting team. |
| C．By its powerful algorithm. | D．By its connection to the internet. |
| A．Because the algorithms need updating. |
| B．Because AI stylists are testing customers’ feedback. |
| C．Because people usually accept professional suggestions. |
| D．Because AI stylists have not read the users’ preferences. |
| A．They may fall behind the fashion. |
| B．They cannot be accessible in some countries. |
| C．They cannot recognize the styles of some clothes. |
| D．They may be unable to understand some fashion rules. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Doubtful. | C．Predictable. | D．Promising. |
| A．AI VS. Humans | B．How to Choose a Proper AI |
| C．AI: Changing How You Look | D．Warning: AI Replacing Stylists |
