1 . We know it can be hard to put your phone to bed before you sleep. However, if you’re trying to improve your sleep, you really should ditch your phone at least an hour before bedtime. Luckily, our experts can help.
Scientific evidence suggests that the blue light emitted from your phone, tablet, computer, and TV suppresses (抑制) your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone (荷尔蒙) that plays an important role in your sleep cycle. Melatonin release in the evening helps you relax before bedtime. A 2013 study that analyzed technology use and sleep patterns with data from a National Sleep Foundation poll found that using devices like phones was tied to more sleep disruption than electronics that aren’t interactive.
Many of us use the excuse that our mobile devices serve as our wake-up calls, or keep them nearby to use meditation apps. If you want to use your phone as an alarm, consider setting it a couple of hours before you turn in for the night, and then setting the phone itself to bedtime mode for the rest of the evening.
Here’s another groundbreaking idea: You could get a real alarm clock. After reviewing them at Reviewed, we recommend the Sharp Dream Caster. Not only is it easy to set a wake-up time, the clock includes white noises and rain noises to help you sleep, plus a number of volume settings to pick what works best for you.
But an alarm clock won’t help you avoid doom-scrolling through social media. Take things a step further by avoiding using electronic devices. You can try reading a book (one made of paper), taking a bath or drinking a cup of chamomile tea.
Finally, if you want to keep up your meditation practice screen-free, consider the Morphée. It looks like a little music box and comes with a variety of breathing exercises and soundscapes to help you get to sleep.
1. What does the underlined word “ditch” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Set aside. | B．Pick up. | C．Show off. | D．Turn to. |
| A．Relaxing yourself before bedtime. |
| B．Sleeping less than you normally would. |
| C．Adapting to your sleep cycle more easily. |
| D．Reducing the pressure from screen use. |
| A．It is sold at a lower price. | B．It can predict a heavy rain. |
| C．It is controlled by cellphone. | D．It helps put your eyes together. |
| A．Making the best of the eco-friendly products. |
| B．Making a change according to circumstances. |
| C．Establishing a bedtime routine without electronics. |
| D．Keeping a consistent bedtime and wake-up time. |
This year’s winter has proven an important season for Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province, as interest
To facilitate the consumption of Harbin’s popular frozen pears, the city has even introduced frozen pear plates, making
It is these careful and considerate details
3 . In late 2022, Matthew Pittman and Eric Haley carried out three studies on Americans aged 18-65 to test how people in different situations react to ads differently.
The control group in each study was asked to just look at an ad. The second group had to memorize a nine-digit number and then look at an ad. The third group looked through their Instagram updates for 30 seconds before looking at an ad. The first study used an ad for a meal preparation service, the second was for ice cream and the third was for coffee beans. The ad photos and introductions were the same for everyone in each group, with only the number of likes being different. Participants may see an ad with a few hundred likes or tens of thousands of likes. After viewing the ad, each participant rated how willing they would be to buy the product. The group that used Instagram first was the most likely to want to buy the product when there were lots of likes.
In the second study, participants were asked why they wanted to buy the product and those in the control group gave simple, reasonable answers for their choice. “I was thinking of the taste of the ice cream and how delicious it would be.” Or “I like the ad. It’s simple and clean. It gets straight to the point.” However, most of those who had viewed social media content for 30 seconds gave answers that made no sense. For example, some gave one-word answers like “food” or “plate”. Researchers refer to this as “cognitive overload”.
Then the researchers further developed their study of the ad for coffee beans. And they discovered that those who often drank coffee carefully considered many factors, like the type of the beans and their country of production. So even when these people were in a mental fog, they were not convinced by ads with a large number of likes.
By understanding how they might be influenced by social media in unconscious ways, consumers can be more thoughtful and hopefully won’t buy a product they don’t need.
1. What can be inferred from the three studies?| A．Social media greatly influences consumer behavior. |
| B．Ads for food are more popular than other types of ads. |
| C．People using social media choose more useful products. |
| D．Memorizing numbers has little effect on buying intentions. |
| A．New ideas come into mind quickly. |
| B．One’s attention can be easily directed. |
| C．One shows little interest in communication. |
| D．The brain has too much information to process. |
| A．Social media is a valuable advertising tool. |
| B．Product knowledge reduces the outside influence on buying. |
| C．Consumers with health concerns are careful about shopping. |
| D．People with a high quality of life hardly buy unnecessary things. |
| A．Focus on yourself: you can make good choices |
| B．Click on more ads to choose the most cost-effective goods |
| C．Keep up with the times to improve your shopping experience |
| D．Buy without thinking: you are being influenced by social media |
4 . Thirteen-year-old Kaylee has a lot of friends — 532, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.
But is it possible that Kaylee’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.
Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not Words With Friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.
Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platforms (平台).
In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger, “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.
Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual words, we will have little time for our real-world friendships.” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need someone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To summarize the text. | B．To tell about true friends. |
| C．To bring up a discussion. | D．To encourage online friendship. |
| A．In person. | B．In advance. | C．In any case. | D．In full measure. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Confused. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．It’s wise to turn to friends online. |
| B．It’s easier to develop friendships in reality. |
| C．Social media help people stay closely connected. |
| D．Teenagers need focus on real-world friendships. |
5 . In 2020, Pink launched the world Regret Survey, the largest survey on the topic ever undertaken. With his research team, Pink asked more than 15, 000 people in 105 countries, “How often do you look back on your life and wish you had done things differently?” Most of them said regret was at least an occasional part of their life. Roughly 21 percent said they felt regretful all the time. Only 1 percent said they never felt regretful.
If you are of the “no regrets” school of life, you may think that all this regret is a recipe for unhappiness. But that isn’t the case. Letting yourself be overwhelmed by regret is indeed bad for you. But going to the other extreme maybe even worse. To extinguish your regrets doesn’t free you from shame or sadness but causes you to make the same mistakes again and again. To truly get over our guilt requires that we put regret in its proper place.
Uncomfortable as it is, regret is an amazing cognitive (认知的) feat. It requires that you go back to a past scene. Imagine that you acted differently to change it, and with that new scene in mind, arrive at a different present — and then, compare that fictional present with the one you are experiencing in reality. Not all regrets are the same, of course. Pink says they come in four basic varieties, and an instance of regret may involve just one combination.
Many connection regrets overlap (重叠) with moral regrets, which can come about after you go against your own values. For example, you may pride yourself on being a loving person, and thus regret not living up to this image in the relationship you harmed. Moral regrets can also involve (涉及) just yourself. Maybe you regret not living up to your commitment (承诺、保证) to your health when you ate a whole pizza or skipped the gym.
If not analyzed and managed, any variety of regret can be harmful to your health. Regret is linked to depression and anxiety, and excessive regret can have a bad effect on your immune system. But regret doesn’t have to be put aside and ignored.
1. What could be concluded from Pink’s research ?| A．Half of the people felt regretful. |
| B．Most people lived without regrets. |
| C．None could live a life without regrets. |
| D．The majority of the people had regrets. |
| A．Admit. | B．Destroy. | C．Treasure. | D．Advance. |
| A．The harm of moral regrets. |
| B．The importance of commitment. |
| C．The relationship between regrets and values. |
| D．The connection between reality and imagination. |
| A．Types of regrets. | B．Causes of regrets. |
| C．Benefits of experiencing regrets. | D．Ways of dealing with regrets. |
6 . Parents have been urged to stop pretending Father Christmas is real in case the “lie” damages relations with their children. Making up stories about Santa risks destroying a child’s trust and is morally unbelievable, according to two experts.
Psychologist Professor Christopher Boyle and social scientist Dr. Kathy McKay also criticize the idea employed by parents—Santa Claus judges children to be nice or naughty. Writing in a well-known journal, they argue, “If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?”
Defending the claims, Prof Boyle said, “The morality of making children believe in such myths has to be questioned. All children will eventually find out they’ve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies they’ve been told. Whether it’s right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and it’s also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered.”
Dr. McKay, from the University of New England in Australia, said there was clear evidence from the world of make-believe in movies and TV that adults looked for a chance to be children again. “The persistence of fandom(影迷) in stories like Harry Potter and Star Wars indicates their desire to briefly re-enter childhood,” she said. “However,” she added, “if adults have been lying about Santa, even though it has usually been well intentioned, what else is a lie? If Santa isn’t real, are fairies real? Is magic? Is God?”
They conclude, “Many people may long for a time when imagination was accepted and encouraged, which may not be the case in adult life. Might it be the case that the harshness of real life requires the creation of something better, something to believe in, something to hope for in the future or to return to a long-lost childhood a long time ago in a galaxy far far away?”
1. What did parents do that drew criticism from Dr. Kathy McKay?| A．They were fond of Harry Potter and Star Wars. |
| B．They acted as the guardians of wisdom and truth. |
| C．They said Santa Claus could judge a kid to be good or bad. |
| D．They have told many lies to their children besides Santa Claus. |
| A．Parents are capable of making up stories about Santa Claus. |
| B．Lies about Santa Claus can have a negative impact upon children. |
| C．Stories about Santa Claus develop children’s trust in their parents. |
| D．Experts think it right to make children believe in Father Christmas. |
| A．They desire to return to the long-lost childhood. |
| B．Everything will become better in movies than in real life. |
| C．They want to get away from pressure from life and work. |
| D．They didn’t watch such exciting movies when they were young. |
| A．Positive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Disappointed. | D．Concerned. |
7 . The Global Food Donation Policy Atlas has issued a recent report in order to recommend ways to increase food donations, reduce food waste, and fight hunger, which may help Kenyan leaders meet 2030 food waste reduction goals.
Food donation can reroute eatable food—that would otherwise give off greenhouse gasses in a landfill—to those experiencing hunger. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, 3.5 million Kenyans, roughly 37 percent of the population, face severe hunger. At the same time, the Policy Atlas reports roughly 40 percent of food produced within Kenya goes to waste. But Broad Leib, Deputy Director of Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), sees some promising changes. “While progress is not happening as quickly as needed, Kenya’s food loss index has been steadily reduced from 1,744 metric tons in 2017, to 1,531 in 2018, to 1,446 metric tons in 2019, indicating a steady improvement and national commitment to food loss reduction,” reports Broad Leib.
According to the Policy Atlas, motivating food donation with rewards is particularly important, which helps food donors and food recovery organizations make up for costs necessary for recovery, storing, processing, and transporting food for donation.
“A major driver of food waste is inconsistent or unclear date labels that cause confusion among all actors along the value chain and limit the ability of businesses to donate food. This increases the likelihood that much safe food will go to waste,” Broad Leib tells Food Tank. However, he acknowledges Kenya’s current dual (双的) date labeling laws. While food may lose its freshness over time, it is still eatable before expiration (到期). Dual date labeling on packaged foods reduces bewilderment by defining dates for both safety and quality. This helps reduce considerable waste and responsibility for donors.
Broad Leib believes that the private sector can also play a significant role in decreasing food waste in Kenya. It is vital for consumer education campaigns. FLPC’s research shows that public-private initiatives can help raise awareness among consumers and donors around issues of food waste and food donation.
1. What changes does Broad Leib see?| A．People in Kenya no longer suffer hunger. |
| B．Kenya has gradually reduced its food waste. |
| C．Kenya is not committed to reducing food loss. |
| D．Progress in reducing food waste is happening quickly. |
| A．Sadness. | B．Convenience. | C．Confusion. | D．Emotion. |
| A．By increasing storehouses. |
| B．By fighting hunger with rewards. |
| C．By reducing food produced within the country. |
| D．By using double date labeling on packaged food. |
| A．Consumer education campaigns are the most important. |
| B．Only the private sector is helpful in reducing food waste. |
| C．Private and public joint efforts matter around food issues. |
| D．Broad Leib doesn’t agree with FLPC on food waste reduction. |
8 . It was decades ago now, but it’s still one of the most memorable conversations of my life. On a long, slow train heading north, with nothing to do but watch the rain, the man sitting opposite began trying to talk to me. Like most young women who have learned the hard way to be careful of strangers, I was unfriendly. But curiosity took over when he said that he was just bored, and liked talking.
So that’s what we did for hours and hours as the man turned out to be quite talkative. When the train finally pulled in, we didn’t change numbers. However, I still think about it sometimes on long, boring journeys, before getting a phone out and scrolling silently like everyone else. It’s a rare person who can cheerfully break the social rule about not talking to strangers without any ill intention, but life would be more interesting if more of us knew how to do it.
And that’s why I can’t be as cynical as I probably should be about “Tube Chat” campaign launched to encourage Britons to talk to each other. All anyone is being asked to do is to start a conversation they wouldn’t otherwise have had — maybe with a friend from whom they’ve been apart or a neighbor they don’t know.
Obviously, it takes more than a bit of small talk over garden fences to unite strangers together. More people live alone than did so a generation ago, and the rise in freelancing (自由职业) means more of us work alone too. We socialize increasingly through screens, sending texts instead of bothering to call.
It’s true that the “Tube Chat” campaign of a few years back failed in its attempts to make Londoners talk to each other on public transport. But even city people who would normally die rather than make eye contact with strangers still happily gather in large numbers by the Thames for the New Year’s Eve fireworks. They would get a far better view at home on television — it’s not really about the fireworks, but about being part of something communal (公共的).
There’s no guarantee (保证) that this latest campaign to reconnect will succeed wherever others have failed. But if there ever a moment to stop social disbelief it may start a fire to warm a world that sometimes feels cold. Wherever my train friend is now, I hope he’s still talking.
1. The author introduced her train friend to .| A．share her most memorable but boring journey |
| B．express her deep regret for losing touch with him |
| C．show that talking to strangers can add interest to life |
| D．explain why people are becoming indifferent |
| A．doubtful | B．supportive | C．confused | D．disappointed |
| A．“Tube Chat”, failed in its attempts to unite strangers together |
| B．it’s hard to break the social rule about not talking to strangers |
| C．people have a wish to be socially connected by nature |
| D．“Tube Chat” made some difference to reconnecting people |
| A．Keep our desire to connect. | B．Avoid talking to strangers. |
| C．Show respect for social disbelief | D．Socialize with our friends. |
9 . As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remembering less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory,your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remembered the folder location better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory (交互记忆)”.
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organise huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn’t mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.
1. What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow’s research?| A．We are using memory differently. |
| B．We are becoming more intelligent. |
| C．We have poorer memories than before. |
| D．We need a better way to access information. |
| A．To introduce the main topic. |
| B．To show the author’s attitude. |
| C．To describe how to use the Internet. |
| D．To explain how to store information. |
| A．Sparrow’s team typed the information into a computer. |
| B．The two groups remembered the information equally well. |
| C．The first group did not try to remember the information. |
| D．The second group did not understand the information. |
| A．To keep the information in mind. |
| B．To change the quantity of information. |
| C．To organise information like a computer. |
| D．To remember how to find the information. |
10 . This month, Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles. They would define the driver’s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.
The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.
Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel — to check email, say — the car’s maker is responsible if there is a crash.
“The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.
Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. “The liability (责任) issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.
An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, insists that a human “be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.
But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. “When you say ‘driverless cars’, people expect driverless cars,” Merat says. “You know — no driver.”
Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without human operation.
Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.
That would go down poorly in the US, however. “The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.
1. What does the phrase “death valley” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A place where cars often break down. | B．A case where passing a law is impossible. |
| C．An area where no driving is permitted. | D．A situation where drivers’ role is not clear. |
| A．stop people from breaking traffic rules | B．help promote fully automatic driving |
| C．protect drivers of all ages and races | D．prevent serious property damage |
| A．Singapore | B．the UK | C．the US | D．Germany |
| A．Autonomous driving: Whose liability? | B．Fully automatic cars: A new breakthrough |
| C．Autonomous vehicles: Driver removed! | D．Driverless cars: Root of road accidents |
