1 . As computers become all the more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes（笔画）of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.
Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school(小学). And computer dependence is more wide-spread among university students. Almost all their assignments and essays are typed on a computer.
All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.
It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being applied more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear.
"When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I’m familiar with it."
"I'm not in the mood(状态) to write when faced with a pen and paper."
Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?
Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei , the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said "Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic(审美的) value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only maintain their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's emotion. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them"
To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory(必修的)and in universities, some professors are asking students to hand in their homework and essays written by hand.
1. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?| A．The Importance of Handwriting and Typing. |
| B．To Type or To Hand Write |
| C．Writing By Computer Will Replace Writing By Hand |
| D．Practical and Aesthetic Value of Chinese Characters. |
| A．they are usually asked to e-mail their Homework and Essays |
| B．they can correct the mistakes they make quickly and conveniently |
| C．they find it not easy to remember how to write a character |
| D．computers have become a trend and fashion in China. |
| A．Handwriting contains the writer's emotion. |
| B．The writer’s thinking and personality are shown in his or her handwriting, |
| C．Handwriting can impress people well and build one’s self-confidence |
| D．Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic value. |
| A．getting bored with | B．getting dependent on |
| C．becoming crazy about | D．getting curious about |
2 . If one more person talks about the benefits of mindfulness, I will throw cabbage at them. Just kidding. But I do have lots of cabbage happily rotting away in my, kitchen thanks to the wellness obsession(着迷) that failed to keep my attention. This is a symptom of a phenomenon known as “wellness tiredness”.
Wellness is seriously big business with a worth of $3.72 trillion and a healthy annual growth of 14 percent. To satisfy this consuming desire, brands of super foods and various exercise classes crowd in. “The problem with all this constantly changing information on what to eat or which exercise class to take is that people begin to form distorted(扭曲的) mindsets towards the idea of a healthy lifestyle,” explains Dr Bijal, a psychologist at Nightingale Hospital. “The least harmful result of a distorted mindset will be confusion. The most harmful would be serious physical and mental disorders like extreme dieting or over-exercising.”
It’s little wonder that many people are beginning to reject the idea of wellness and the lifestyle it advocates. “I can’t tell you the number of wellness accounts I’ve unfollowed on Instagram,” one fitness-enthusiast friend tells me. When I ask her why, she tells me that the public pursuit(追求) of wellness has reached “the eye-roll stage”. Meanwhile, sales of fitness trackers and wearable wellness things have dropped sharply.
Speaking of gym culture, which offers classes like Hula Hoop and Yoga, it’s also beginning to show signs that people are returning to more conventional forms of exercise-some that wouldn’t look out of place on a school timetable.
The whole point of wellness is that it should become such an everyday thing that you forget about seeking it. Living a healthy lifestyle becomes a given rather than something singled out as impressive and worth applauding. Now, more people are starting to cycle to and from work, swim on lunch breaks and even try to buy old school exercise bikes.
1. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?| A．The wellness business costs people a great deal of money. |
| B．People are faced with too many food and exercise choices. |
| C．Distorted mindsets to wellness cause harmful consequences. |
| D．The wellness industry has been developing at a steady speed. |
| A．To inform us wearable wellness things are not popular. |
| B．To advocate the idea of wellness and a healthy lifestyle. |
| C．To tell us that online wellness accounts are hard to follow. |
| D．To show the public’s unfavorable attitude to wellness obsession. |
| A．Sports such as cycling are more impressive. |
| B．People are treating wellness as an everyday thing. |
| C．Classes like Hula Hoop and Yoga are too expensive. |
| D．People have come to know wellness is not so necessary. |
| A．The Importance of Living a Healthy Lifestyle |
| B．Are You Suffering from Wellness Tiredness? |
| C．The Benefits of Mindfulness in Wellness Industry |
| D．What is the Real Meaning of Wellness Obsession? |
3 . If you are reading this, you were probably born in the 2000s. The oh-ohs. The 21st century. That would make you young, creative, connected, global, and no doubt smart. Maybe good-looking, too. Right? But what do other people think about your generation?
Some adults worry that you’re more interested in the screen in front of you than the world around you. They think of you as the “face-down generation” because you use your phone so much and they wonder how you will deal with school, friends, and family. Are today’s teenagers too busy texting and taking selfies to become successful in real life—or “IRL”, as you would say?
Other adults worry that today’s youth are spoilt and don’t want to face the challenges of adult life. Many children born in the 1990s and 2000s were raised by “helicopter parents", who were always there to guide and help their children with a busy schedule filled with homework and after-class activities such as dancing, drawing, or sports. With parents who do everything for them, today’s youth seem to prefer to live like teenagers even when they are in their 20s or 30s.
With these taken into account, does the face down generation need a warning? Well, probably not. The fact is that many of today’s teenagers are better educated and more creative than past generations. They seem to be enthusiastic and willing to be become leaders. More young people than ever volunteer to help their communities. There are also brave young people such as Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for pushing girls’ rights to go to school.
So if you’re one of the oh-ohs, there are reasons to be hopeful about the future. Things are looking up for the face-down generation. Chances are that you will do GR8 (great) and LOL (laugh out loud).
1. Which of the following words can not be used to describe the oh-ohs?| A．Creative. | B．Caring. |
| C．Ignorant. | D．Intelligent. |
| A．parents who are rich and travel by helicopter. |
| B．parents who always watch over their children. |
| C．parents who have a very busy schedule. |
| D．parents who only turn up when necessary. |
| A．The writer is a member of the face-down generation. |
| B．The writer is optimistic about the future of the oh-ohs. |
| C．The oh-ohs are more good-looking than their parents. |
| D．The oh-ohs care about nothing other than their phones. |
| A．The “helicopter parents” | B．The over-worried parents |
| C．The spoiled generation | D．The face-down generation |
征稿目的:宣传防疫知识、引导同学们正确认识新冠肺炎、鼓舞战胜疫情的信心。
艺术形式:绘画、书法、摄影、音乐、剪纸等等
作品要求:紧扣主题、传播正能量、原创
投稿要求:作品在2020年4月12日前发至邮箱:hiclara@163.com，邮件内注明作者姓名、班级、联系方式
参考词汇:
流行病 传染病:epidemic；新冠状病毒:novel coronavirus；稿件:contribution
CONTRIBUTIONS WANTED
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5 . Royal Dutch Shell is launching a $ 300 million and forestry program, at a time when an increasing number of oil companies are putting money in carbon offset (碳补偿)plans to meet climate goals. The company will spend the money over the next three years on projects to store carbon, including large forests in the Netherlands and Spain, and will start offering motorists the option of purchasing carbon offsets when they buy petrol at the pump.
The executives of the company explained that these carbon offset projects were a new business opportunity for Shell, as well as a way to meet its climate targets. “We believe that over time we will be building a business, because these carbon credits will become more valuable as carbon becomes more limited," they said. Shell recently decided to cut its net carbon footprint (碳排放)by 2-3 percent in five years, which includes emissions (排放)from the products it sells. The company plans to produce carbon credits from the forestry projects, then sell these credits on to customers buying its oil and gas products, or apply the credits to its own operations to lower its carbon footprint.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and restoring forests and other natural areas is considered one of the simplest ways to store carbon. However, the voluntary market for carbon credits based on forestry projects has its critics, as projects in developing countries can be hard to monitor. Shell's move has also been criticized by some environmentalists. They worried that there was a risk of " greenwash when companies invested in forestry projects. "There is an entire debate about whether forestry projects truly reduce emissions or not," they said, pointing out that planting in one area could cause deforestation (滥伐森林)to another.
Shell said it would rely on the third party to ensure its forest program to meet the Voluntary Carbon Standard and strict biodiversity requirements. Mark Lewis, head of climate change investment research at BNP Paribas, said, " Planting trees to offset emissions, as far as it goes, is a step in the right direction."
1. What is popular among oil companies these days?| A．Studying climate changes. |
| B．Launching forestry programs. |
| C．Working out carbon offset plans. |
| D．Attracting motorists to buy their petrol. |
| A．By quitting the emissions of its products. |
| B．By reducing its carbon footprint by a quarter. |
| C．By limiting the oil used by its own operations. |
| D．By putting carbon credits it produces on the market. |
| A．The projects can't really stop carbon emissions. |
| B．The projects are hard to monitor in poor countries. |
| C．The projects may lead to deforestation in other forests. |
| D．The projects haven't met strict biodiversity requirements. |
| A．Discount. | B．Cheat. |
| C．Decline. | D．Change. |
6 . The decade of the “young old” begins
The year 2020 will mark the beginning of the decade of the yold, or the “young old”，
| A．The yold are also better off |
| B．In short, the yold are not just any group of old people |
| C．The yold are both young and old |
| D．as the Japanese call people aged between 65 and 75 |
| E．Health worsens with age, but the yold are resisting the decline better than most |
| F．The yold are busier, too |
| G．The yold can’t resist aging |
7 . Every year, millions of people make the same New Year’s resolution(决心): to lose weight. But there’s a problem that requires as much resolution to change as weight: the societal prejudice surrounding weight and obesity.
For decades, researchers have documented negative attitudes toward overweight people - a form of prejudice known as “weight bias (偏见).” People with obesity are commonly viewed as lazy, unintelligent, unattractive, and lacking willpower and self-control. Weight – based discrimination is found in educational, employment and health care settings, yet minimal legal protection exists for those who are targeted. In addition to experiencing weight bias from others, people with obesity tend to accept weight-biased beliefs, leading to lower self-worth.
Some people argue that bitter messages about weight are necessary to motivate those with obesity to take responsibility for their health and lose weight. After all, critics say, it’s their own fault that they are “fat,” and, if they really wanted to, they could control their weight. In this view, promoting body acceptance would only weaken behavior change and encourage obesity.
The problem with this argument is that it flies in the face of hundreds of scientific studies showing the negative health effects associated with experiencing and accepting weight-biased beliefs. The psychological effect of being undervalued due to one’s weight may not seem surprising: increased risk for depression, anxiety, and even self-harming thoughts and attempts in youth.
Also worth noting are the effects of weight bias on weight gain and obesity-related health. Studies show that weight bias is stressful, and when people are under stress, they tend to eat more. Further, when people worry about being judged due to their weight, they avoid fitness and health care setting.
In the coming year, whether or not weight loss is a goal, we can all make efforts to get rid of weight bias and be a little kinder to ourselves and others.
1. What do we know about obese people?| A．They are fond of making resolutions. |
| B．They are lacking in self-control. |
| C．They care little about others’ opinions. |
| D．They tend to undervalue themselves. |
| A．They can encourage obese people to lose weight. |
| B．They can improve self-worth in obese people. |
| C．They can promote body acceptance. |
| D．They can relieve depression. |
| A．Confirms. | B．Copies. | C．Splits up. | D．Goes against. |
| A．A healthy diet: good for your mind and body |
| B．New Year’s resolution: lose weight bias instead of weight |
| C．Control your weight by accepting the bitter messages readily |
| D．Eat your own way regardless of others’ thoughts |
8 . If you go to any college in the United States, you will find most students carrying the same items：books, laptops, cell phones and their official school identification cards, or IDs. These small plastic cards do more than showing the names and pictures of students.
In recent years, IDs in some colleges can also buy things. The schools enter into agreements with banks so students can link their cards to private financial accounts. This way, students can use their cards to pay for things like food on campus and school supplies. In other words, their IDs become debit cards(借记卡）. However, new research suggests that the way these card programs operate can harm students.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group(U.S. PIRG) aims to use research to support and protect people's financial interests. The organization has been looking into agreements between colleges and banks for several years.This April, Kaitlyn Vitez, higher education campaign director for U.S. PIRG, released their latest findings."Students with campus debit cards paid over $ 24 million in fees during the last contract year. For example, students may be charged fees if they use another bank to withdraw money. Or, they may be charged fees if they spend more money than they have in their bank accounts , " she said . " Any large fee can create unexpected problems for students , however , banks do not make possible fees clear enough to students."
U.S.PIRG noted that some banks pay colleges for permission to advertise their debit card programs on campus. The advertising can appear to be part of official school programmes and students may feel pushed towards opening accounts.U.S.PIRG also found a connection between colleges with paid agreements and student fees. Students at colleges that received money from banks ended up paying up to 2.3 times more than students at colleges with unpaid agreements. U.S. PIRG contacted several of the colleges in their latest research, yet they seem not to give satisfying comments.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about ?| A．Potential harm of IDs. | B．Additional use of IDs. |
| C．Students consuming habits. | D．Students' financial condition. |
| A．All banks pay for their bank card ads on campus. |
| B．Campus debit cards present high fees for students. |
| C．Many students like to use debit cards at college. |
| D．Colleges have signed illegal agreements with banks. |
| A．Colleges benefit a lot from working with banks. |
| B．Most students fall into heavy debts at college. |
| C．Banks give away students' financial privacy somehow. |
| D．Students lack enough information on their campus debit cards. |
| A．Solutions to the phenomenon. | B．Future of school IDs. |
| C．Details of debit card programs. | D．Response of some schools. |
There is a plan to build a new supermarket on the edge of the Whitefields housing estate（住宅区）, on the land where the local library now is. I live at Whitefields, and I would like to express my concern about this plan. It is not that I am completely against the idea of building a supermarket—I just think that as a community we need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages before committing ourselves.
It is clear that the library is under-used and in poor condition. It is also clear that there are very few shops near here and a supermarket would be a good thing to have. But the people who want to build the supermarket seem to think that no one wants the library any more, and that it isn’t a must because of the Internet and so on. Is this necessarily true, especially for elderly people? What about young people who don’t have the Internet at home and need to go to the library to do their homework? Where can they study if they have to share a room with a younger brother or sister?
On the other hand, there is an argument that a new supermarket would not only bring more choice of shopping and more convenience for local people, but it would also bring some much-needed jobs for younger people in the town—and this is a good point. What we need to do is consider the effect a supermarket will have on our quality of life. Certainly local people, including me, will find shopping a lot easier and more convenient. But there will also be extra traffic. In a few years from now, the roads in and around will be full of cars in the daytime and delivery lorries at night, and not only that—we will have got used to it, too. Are more jobs and more convenience worth such an influence on our daily lives? Perhaps, but this is what we have to ask ourselves.
I believe that all the people of Whitefields, and the authority, need to discuss this question in an open-minded way—and I hope that by the time a decision is taken, we will have had a full and fair discussion of the issues involved, and that the local authority will have really listened to everyone’s view. Is that too much to ask?
Yours faithfully,
Tom Watkins
1. The supporters of the supermarket probably think ________.| A．the library is no longer needed |
| B．the library is too poor to be rebuilt |
| C．the supermarket brings down goods price |
| D．supermarket increases local workers’ income |
| A．Shopping convenience. | B．Job opportunity. |
| C．Life quality. | D．Traffic condition. |
| A．Approving. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Negative. | D．Confident. |
| A．To promote effective public reading. |
| B．To call for concern over an urban project. |
| C．To discuss ways of improving life quality. |
| D．To express dissatisfaction with public equipment. |
10 . People say money doesn’t buy happiness, but how much money you make can affect the way you experience it?
While it’s true that money can’t buy happiness, having money has certain benefits. For example, money can buy you time to do things that make you happier, and giving away some of your money can make you happier as well. Now scientists from the University of California at Irvine have found that how much money you make may impact (影响) how you experience happiness; higher earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on themselves, while lower earners are more likely to experience positive emotions focused on connecting with other people.
Scientists used data from an existing survey of 1,519 U.S. adults between the ages of 24 to 93, to be representative of the entire U.S. population. From the survey, scientist collected the household income of each person and analyzed how each person experienced the seven emotions that are believed to cause happiness: amusement, admiration, compassion, satisfaction, enthusiasm, love, and pride.
What they found was that higher earners were associated with the happiness-related emotions of satisfaction, pride, and amusement, all of which are self-focused in nature. Lower earners were associated with more other-oriented (他人指向) happiness-related emotions: compassion, love, and admiration. There were no differences observed with enthusiasm.
As to reasons for the difference, the researchers suppose that while pride and satisfaction may reflect upper class individuals’ (个人) desire for independence, increased love and compassion may help lower class individuals form more harmonious (和谐的), interdependent bonds to help deal with their more threatening environments. In other words, the researchers are not saying that one way of getting happiness is better than another, but rather that the way one obtains happiness may be a product of existing and coping within one’s particular circumstances.
1. What do higher earners prefer to do?| A．Long to connect with others. | B．Spend more money on the poor. |
| C．Buy things to make them happier. | D．Pay more attention to themselves. |
| A．They can make people happy. |
| B．They can be bought with money. |
| C．They are the most common feelings. |
| D．They are the results of and existing survey. |
| A．Pride and satisfaction. | B．Enthusiasm and amusement. |
| C．Admiration and compassion. | D．Compassion and satisfaction. |
| A．They all live a hard life. |
| B．They have different ways to get happiness. |
| C．They are all satisfied with their lives. |
| D．Their happiness has nothing to do with money. |
