1 . Tackling lonely emotions
Do you feel lonely? The World Health Organization (WHO) recently addressed loneliness as a pressing health threat.
Loneliness is a state of mind marked by feelings of isolation despite wanting social connections. So people who are lonely usually experience the emotional pain of not being connected with others.
Social isolation impacts the health and well-being of all age groups across the world.
Social disconnection in adolescence can lead to poorer education outcomes, since young people who have experienced loneliness in high school are more likely to drop out of university. Lack of social connection carries a risk of early death equivalent to other better-known risk factors such as smoking, obesity and air pollution, or potentially even greater.
To tackle this crisis, the WHO launched the Commission on Social Connection, which held its first leadership meeting to outline solutions to build social connections at scale.
A.The following aspects are something concerning how to tackle loneliness. |
B.It called for countries and organizations to make social connections a priority. |
C.Solitude (独处) on the other hand, is voluntary. |
D.It can be a result of feeling stressed due to loneliness. |
E.According to the WHO, one in four old people experience social isolation. |
F.Loneliness cannot be identified as a fatal emotional factor, |
G.Loneliness not only has a far-reaching impact comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day according to a 2017 study. |
2 . As we know, queues (队列) have always been related to the theme park experience. Disliked by many, attractions do their best to stop them from having a bad influence on the guest experience. However, queues remain a necessity for gated attractions with popular rides.
The most obvious problem with queues is that they waste time, and for guests, wasting their limited time during their visit leads to a poor experience. For attraction operators, queues can be a letdown too. Even though long queues might be a sign that business is good, the more time guests spend tied up in long lines, the less opportunity they have to spend money on on-site retail and food offerings.
Thankfully, technology is developing to meet changing guest expectations. Many theme parks are taking guests out of physical queues and putting them into virtual queues through an app or wearable device.
Free from queues, guests are likely to spend their time and money far more freely around the attraction. Even though no one has to wait in line, attractions can still offer queue upgrades within a virtual queue system. According to a recent survey done by Attractions.io, over 84% of theme park visitors said they would rather use virtual queuing.
But queuing isn’t all bad, either. Making a queue part of the experience can also create an opportunity for better guest management. For example, Disney observes queues on many of their rides to give worried kids a space to relax. For smaller attractions, physical queues can be useful for judging how busy different rides are likely to be.
So to queue or not to queue? We say, why not both. In an ideal world, every attraction will have both virtual and physical queues. While virtual queuing can ensure that no one has to stand in line for hours, not every ride will need one. Short physical queues may still work for smaller or less popular rides, which guests can even enjoy while they wait in line virtually for another ride.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 1 refer to?A.Guests. | B.Queues. |
C.Attractions. | D.Experiences. |
A.The disadvantages of physical queuing. |
B.The changing ways of queuing in theme parks. |
C.The influence of physical queuing on attractions. |
D.Guest expectations for theme park queue systems. |
A.Virtual queuing actually saves people’s money. |
B.Most attractions find virtual queue systems helpful. |
C.A majority of theme park visitors prefer to wait online. |
D.Virtual queuing allows people to make the most of their time. |
A.It will replace physical queuing. |
B.It isn’t good for guest management. |
C.It isn’t useful for less popular rides. |
D.It should coexist with physical queuing. |
3 . Santosh Jadhav, a 28-year-old farmer from Maharashtra’s Sangli district, had never dreamed he would be trending on YouTube tending to his land. But as you watch his videos on Indian Farmer—the channel he runs with his friend, Akash Jadhav, 27—you quickly understand why he is attracting millions of views.
Set up in 2018, Indian Farmer was a result of the two friends’ love of farming, technology and filmmaking. Their videos offer tips, advice and information on various aspects of agriculture, including direct-farming techniques, agriculture-related activities, new farming tools, and agricultural apps. In addition to explaining how agricultural markets function, the channel shares success stories from across the country. A section that draws the most attention features workable solutions to everyday problems and do-it-yourself mechanical quick-fixes.
“We were looking to do something together. Agriculture was something we had in common. Plus, we were young and idealistic—we wanted to do something with a social impact,” says Santosh.
The channel has certainly made a mark, as the numbers show. Since 2018, their channel has built a user base of 21.5 million, thanks to the affordable mobile data revolution and the increasing popularity of smartphones in India. While Akash takes charge of the production side of things, Santosh offers his hands-on knowledge obtained from running his family farm. According to them, the Indian Farmer channel adds an average of 60,000 subscribers and earns between 70,000 and 100,000 in revenue every month.
“Knowledge in this sector is often inter-generational: a farmer is limited to what the others nearby know and do. There was very little by way of books or culture channels that addressed the needs, mistakes and scarcities of farmers. Social media has changed things, enabling cross-sharing of knowledge, all for free,” Akash says.
1. What’s the channel’s most popular section?A.Inspiring stories. | B.Advanced tools. |
C.Practical solutions. | D.Agricultural activities. |
A.Experienced and sociable. | B.Cooperative and devoted. |
C.Conservative and diligent. | D.Courageous and humorous. |
A.To show the economic gains. | B.To imply the cooperation relationship. |
C.To highlight social media engagement. | D.To indicate the success of the channel. |
A.Resources were available to address farmers’ needs. |
B.Farming knowledge relies on books and the Internet. |
C.Agricultural modernization is dependent on technology. |
D.Social media facilitates free knowledge exchange in agriculture. |
“Military-style” travel has become the
Different people have different views, with some netizens
According to some experts, the “military-style” travel is a form of budget travel appealing to specific groups of people who are less
There is no doubt that cell phones play a important part in our daily life. However, be addicted to cell phones does a lot of harms to the users. First, staring at a cell phone screen for hours can lead to dry eyes or other eye diseases. Second, if you always overuse your cellphone, your head as well as your neck ache, which will have a bad effect to your daily life. Beside, on your way home or to school, with your attention fully focus on the cell phone, you may fail to notice the traffic around you, which will be a great danger to you. Therefore, I strong suggest that everyone would use our cell phone wisely.
6 . A career in comics (漫画) is a dream for many talented, creative artists. It’s an opportunity to express one’s imagination through powerful stories. Traditionally, it was difficult, and sometimes expensive, to make it in the comic world. However, webtoons, comic platforms for viewing on the web and mobile devices, are changing the situation for independent artists. Artists can gain a following on webtoons platforms without having to depend on large publishing agents (代理商). It’s a fantastic opportunity for comic book lovers to find exciting new stories.
WEBTOON is the largest and most well-known webtoons platform, and it offers creators the chance to gain deals with famous agents and publishers. Some creators who got their start on WEBTOON have seen their stories adapted (改编) for TV series or movies. American Netflix has published two live-action adaptations of webtoons. WEBTOON has also worked with brand-name comics. For example, DC Comics, one of America’s oldest and largest comic book producers, produced a comic book series Batman: Wayne Family Adventures with WEBTOON. The popular DC series got more than 76 million views on WEBTOON.
In addition to all that, webtoons have helped independent artists and writers make it in the comic world. Azumi was a webtoons follower, who even won a webtoons competition, but he had no means to continue comic book writing full-time. In 2021, a WEBTOON producer found his great work and employed him to write. This opportunity allowed Azumi to give up his job and focus on his art. Azumi explains, “Many groups and stories that have not been shown in traditional publishing can have a voice and space on WEBTOON.”
“WEBTOON creators are some of the most talented and creative people the history of comics. In a time when comics have never been more popular, we’re proud of the growing Creator Economy and the ecosystem we’ve built to celebrate and support WEBTOON creators,” said CEO, Ken Kim.
1. What can we learn about webtoons from the first paragraph?A.They push artists to attract mobile viewers. |
B.They enable artists to show their works easily. |
C.They will take the place of traditional publishing. |
D.They encourage users to recommend creative artists. |
A.WEBTOON is competing with big agents. |
B.Creators are full of curiosity about adapted works. |
C.WEBTOON achieves development through partnerships. |
D.Creators hope to publish their works on different platforms. |
A.His familiarity with webtoons. |
B.WEBTOON’s recognition of his talent. |
C.His excellent performance in a competition. |
D.WEBTOON’s close contact with its followers. |
A.Surprised | B.Worried | C.Unclear | D.Satisfied |
7 . When Amelia thinks about her freshman year two years ago, she remembers being tardy to her 8 a.m. first period class from time to time. “It was so hard to wake up in the morning,” she said. “I had to bike to school and I lived on the other side of the island.”
Like other teens, mornings area struggle because she had several hours of homework and extracurricular activities the night before, but research shows that’s not the entire story. According to psychotherapists, Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright in their book Generation Sleepless, today's teens are sleepier than ever and earlier school start time is disturbing their body's circadian (昼夜节律的) rhythm.
“One of the things that happens somewhere around age 12 is that their brain clock becomes set to a later pace,” said Turgeon, which put sateen about two hours behind the sleep schedule of a young child or an adult. “That means they want to go to sleep later and they want to wake up later,” she said.
“We consider adequate sleep —the very lowest amount—to be about eight hours,” said Wright. However, the average sleep time for high school students is usually about 6.5 hours. And missing out on just a couple hours of rest each night has negative consequences for developing teenage brains.
When a teen is tired, the amygdala—which is the part of the brain that responds to danger—will become more active. And the parts of the brain that are in charge of judgment become less active. Sleep issues are commonly associated with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder (双相情感障碍) and ADHD (多动症). “We see teens with very serious mental health issues and accidents and soon things that parents really worry about—and getting enough sleep addresses those issues.”
Even with research showing that letting students sleep well contributes to better academic performance, lower truancy (旷课) rates and improved mental health, there has been pushback from parents and school districts about delaying the start of the school day.
1. What does the underlined word “tardy” probably m can in paragraph 1?A.Late. | B.Busy. | C.Tired. | D.Excited. |
A.They feel more tired than ever | B.They sleep later and wakeup later. |
C.They have about 6.5 hours of sleep | D.They sleep about two hours later than adults. |
A.The teens are always feeling tired |
B.The amygdala becomes more active. |
C.The lack of sleep causes many problems. |
D.The teenagers have trouble sleeping |
A.Favorable | B.Doubtful | C.Ambiguous. | D.Disapproving |
8 . A new study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology found that performing acts of kindness can heal depression and anxiety. 123 young participants from all works of life were divided into three groups. Two of the groups were equipped with techniques often used in dealing with depression: planning social activities or cognitive (认知的) reassessment. Members of the third group were instructed to perform three acts of kindness a day for two days out of the week.
Participants followed their instructions for ten weeks. The findings showed that participants in all three groups showed an increase in life satisfaction and a reduction of depression and anxiety symptoms (症状). “These results are encouraging because they suggest that all three study methods are efficacious at reducing anxiety and improving satisfaction,” the study’s co-author David Cregg said.
However, the group performing acts of kindness led to improvements not seen in the two other groups. “The acts of kindness still showed an advantage over both social activities and cognitive reassessment by making people feel more connected to other people, which is an important part of well-being.” The acts of kindness technique was the only means tested that helped people feel more connected to others.
“Social connection is strongly associated with well-being. Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections,” Cregg said. The authors noted that just participating in social activities did not improve feelings of social connection in this study. “There’s something specific about performing acts of kindness that makes people feel connected to others. It’s not enough to just be around other people, participating in social activities,” said co-author Jennifer Cheavens.
Some of the acts of kindness that participants later said they did include baking cookies for friends, offering to give a friend a ride, and leaving notes for roommates with words of encouragement. “Something as simple as helping other people can go above and beyond other treatments in helping heal people with depression and anxiety,” Cregg added.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?A.Kind acts can solve all kinds of psychological problems. |
B.All participants selected were not university students. |
C.Planning social activities is the technique used in 3 groups. |
D.Members in group three need to show kindness every day. |
A.Productive. | B.Equal. | C.Useless. | D.Misty. |
A.It is the best way to lift spirit. | B.It brings participants satisfaction. |
C.It connects people to create happiness. | D.It is the easiest means to make friends. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Cautious. | C.Indifferent. | D.Favorable. |
9 . Whether you’re a citizen, consumer or investor, it is fast becoming a key life skill to make out greenwashing, a word meaning a company claims that its products are environmentally friendly but actually not green at all. Misleading, or not proved claims about benefits to climate can make it harder for people to make informed decisions. They can also weaken real efforts by companies to clean up their act and deal with the climate crisis.
The basic problem is a lack of clarity. Indeed, when it comes to spottıng greenwashing, it can actually be more helpful to focus on the color grey—because it is the many grey areas that have helped make greenwashing appear in particular places. These grey areas might be around measurements, definitions, best practice, standards or regulations. Even the language we use is very imprecıse, leaving lots of room for vagueness, confusion or complete cheating. For instance, what do words such as “green”, “sustainable” and “eco” even mean? You have no standards, measurements or definitions to judge by.
These problems are increasingly important when it comes to the greenwashing of investment products, such as pensions and investment funds. In recent years, there has been a sharp rise in consumer demand for funds that invest according to environmental, social and governance (管理) criteria, often referred to as ESG funds. According to the financial data provider Morningstar, the value of assets (资产) held in UK funds grew from £29bn at the beginning of 2017 to £71bn by the end of 2020.
With that much money at risk for high profits, misleading claims can effectively hamper the flow of money and resources into really green new plans and businesses, preventing global efforts from dealing with the climate emergency. “I describe it as the ‘teenage years’ of responsible investing, with a lot of experimentation, and a lot of people trying out new things.” says Ashley Hamilton Claxton.
1. Which of the following can be called greenwashing?A.A product that is claimed to benefit the climate. |
B.A product that is claimed to be green while not the case. |
C.A product that can be washed in a green way. |
D.A product that is absolutely environmentally friendly. |
A.There are no such words as “sustainable”. | B.The language isn’t grammatically right. |
C.The product’s description is not clear. | D.The company doesn’t say it’s “green” and “eco”. |
A.Stop. | B.Clarify. | C.Put. | D.Divide. |
A.Much money enables high profits. |
B.Responsible investing is still at its early stage. |
C.More money is invested in real green businesses. |
D.A lot of people are unwilling to try out new things. |
内容包括:
1.浪费粮食的现象;
2.节约粮食的做法;
3.节约粮食的倡议。
注意:1. 写作词数应为100左右;
2. 可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Say NO to Food Waste
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