1 . Rap music has long been the poster child for negativity in society for a number of decades. It has been criticized (批评) in the media and seen by a good number of people as a bad influence on citizens in general. The lyrics might have something to blame in this regard as they often seemingly celebrate violence as well as drugs and alcohol. The reality is that rap music is greatly misunderstood. In spite of the negativity that often surrounds it, however, rap music can have a positive influence on listeners.
One of these positive effects is that it has been used as a great unifier of diverse populations around the world. It started as a subculture among African American communities in America but it is now a phenomenon of global culture. As a matter of fact, it isn't only limited to African American communities, as non black communities make up seventy five percent of the global rap audience. Its infectious rhythms, catchy beats, and relatable lyrics hold universal attraction that goes beyond cultural and language barriers.
Rap has also been vital in promoting social and political awareness among the youth of today. Rap music educates people from different points of views and raises many social issues. Rap is channel (渠道) for people to speak freely about their view on political or social issues and by doing so, it encourages teenagers to become concerned and aware of these issues. A few of them that rap has created awareness in are racial discrimination (歧视), the importance of education and believing in your dreams.
Rap music is entertainment (娱乐) and should not be treated any differently than any other form of entertainment out there. If critics of rap music still believe that rap only sends negative messages, they should listen closer. The bottom line is that all rap music is not degenerate (堕落的) and consideration should be taken when analysing the message that the music is presenting
1. Why is rap music often connected with negativity?| A．It has long been the poster child for negativity. |
| B．It has shown a bad influence on citizens in general. |
| C．It seems to celebrate violence as well as drugs and alcohol. |
| D．It started as a subculture among African American communities. |
| A．Its positive influence on listeners around the world. |
| B．Its engaging music elements like rhythms, lyrics and beats. |
| C．Its continuous promotion of social and political awareness. |
| D．Its African American culture that fascinates non black communities. |
| A．By making social issues more entertaining. |
| B．By providing a platform to voice their opinions |
| C．By stressing the importance of education and dreams. |
| D．By drawing teenagers’ attention to racial discrimination. |
| A．Rap music is now unfairly treated. |
| B．Rap music is suitable for everyone. |
| C．Rap music is difficult to understand. |
| D．Rap music is simply for entertainment. |
2 . Over the years, April Fools’ Day has become larger than life. While it may be seen as just a bit of fun, there is more to jokes and humour than may be obvious, begging the question: are the jokes on the 1st of April a good or a bad idea?
Every year, individuals and newspapers present jokes on the 1st of April that may be funny, yet sometimes causing an unexpected upheaval. One radio announcement made in 1949, that a mile-wide swarm of wasps (一群黄蜂) was heading for Auckland, was taken a bit too seriously. The news even came with advice on how to prepare for the incoming insects, resulting in all residents walking outdoors tucking (塞) their trousers into their socks, wearing masks (面罩) as well as setting honey traps outside their doors.
What makes things funny? This is a million-dollar question and one that’s not easily answered. First, it’s influenced by the context, the culture, and personal opinions, meaning that it’s not consistent (一致的) across populations. Besides, if a joke is violating (违反) a norm or rule, it’s more likely to be regarded as funny. Such violations need to be harmless, as they can otherwise be considered unpleasant. In terms of personal experience, serious events may be considered funnier over time, while stubbing (踩) a toe, considered a small violation, would lose its comedic effect over time. Interestingly, people, children, in particular, have been found to be more likely to laugh when they are near others compared to when alone.
Jokes may not seem serious but can actually serve social functions like managing emotions and also be used to deal with matters in work. For example, studies have found that there is a meaningful function of humour in healthcare settings, as it strengthens the connection between medical staffs and patients as well as relieves stressful situations linked to end-of-life care among nursing professionals.
However, it’s suggested that jokes be used cautiously. For example, David Letterman gained reputation (名声) for an interview he had done with Lindsay Lohan in 2013, when the audience had laughed loudly at his repeated questions about her going to receive treatment. However, 8 years later, his comments were seen as offensive (冒犯的). So it’s important to ensure that any violations made are not significant enough to damage your future fame.
1. What does the underlined word “upheaval” probably mean in paragraph 2?| A．Upset. | B．Fun. | C．Annoyance. | D．Popularity. |
| A．People’s opinion of jokes differs. | B．Jokes remain humorous all the time. |
| C．Jokes can strengthen our connection. | D．Children are more likely to laugh than adults. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By answering questions. |
| A．To tell us the function of jokes. | B．To provide information about jokes. |
| C．To help make up funny jokes. | D．To propose telling jokes carefully. |
3 . The number of states requiring high schoolers to learn about personal money matters continued to increase in 2021, and another —Florida—is ready to join the group shortly. In Florida, the Legislature has passed a law requiring students to take a full term course in personal finance (金融) before graduating.
Financial concerns grew during the pandemic, and rising inflation (通货膨胀) is tightening household budgets. Those factors, combined with worries about burdensome student debt levels, have created a stronger reason for making personal money skills a must for high schoolers.
“The need has never been greater,” said Annamaria Lusardi, the founder and academic director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at George Washington University. “We owe it to this young generation to be well prepared for the future.”
Financial literacy (金融素养) — a working grasp of concepts like saving, credit, interest rates, investing and risk assessment — is generally low among American adults, especially younger adults. Two-thirds of Generation Z adults, for example, couldn’t correctly answer more than half the financial questions in the center’s survey, which compared financial literacy across five generations.
“The pandemic has shown a great need for the average Americans to have these skills,” said Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance.
State-level surveys conducted for Next Gen have found strong support for high school personal finance requirements, Mr. Ranzetta said, and dozens of proposals are awaiting action in state legislatures. It’s uncertain how many will become laws, but a requirement in a large state like Florida, he said, may help promote other states’ efforts.
While the progress among states is encouraging, there is more to do. Currently, just nine of the 23 states require personal finance to be taken as a stand-alone course. Others permit the subject to be combined with other classes, like math or social studies, or provide other ways for students to quit the course.
1. Which is NOT the reason for requiring students to take a course in personal finance?| A．The impact of the pandemic. | B．The tight household budgets. |
| C．An increase in financial cases. | D．Concerns about student debt levels. |
| A．Dozens of proposals are sure to become laws. |
| B．Florida’s new law may encourage other states’ efforts. |
| C．Personal finance is not necessary for the average Americans. |
| D．The young generation have been well prepared in personal finance. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. | C．Indifferent. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．A New Course in Personal Finance |
| B．A Great Need for Financial Literacy |
| C．High Schoolers’ Growing Financial Concerns |
| D．High Schools’ Requirements for Personal Finance |
4 . Social media and the Internet are powerful tools that are an important part of our everyday lives. We use them to learn, communicate, work, and more.
Schedule your Internet time
A hobby gives you something to spend time on that’s not the Internet. Take a yoga class, start learning to play an instrument, start gardening, sign up for the gym, or do anything else that interests you. At the beginning, commit to spend just 1 hour a week on the hobby, then gradually ram p up the hours or take up more hobbies. Make sure you turn off your phone or hide your devices while you do your chosen hobby.
Spend more time with friends offline.
Make it a point to schedule in-person social activities. Go to dinner with friends once a week, get together with a group of people for a weekend hike, or reach out to people you haven’t seen in a while and schedule a catch-up date. If you feel like you don’t have anyone to spend time with, reach out to acquaintances and ask them to join you for lunch or a coffee—you can always make new friends!
| A．Cut out Internet use for a set period each week. |
| B．Do a screen-free hobby for at least an hour a week. |
| C．Using technology right before bed can negatively affect sleep quality. |
| D．But, sometimes, using them too much can negatively affect our lives. |
| E．Create a clear division between Internet time and time for other things. |
| F．You can also join a club to spend more time on off line social activities. |
| G．So you don’t get interrupted or distracted by social media and the Internet. |
5 . When Senait Lara, a 28-year-old video producer, was questioned by her friends about her lack of communication in their group chat, the blames were as follows: she only caught up every few days; when she did, it was hardly an interaction — Lara spent time “liking” messages instead of responding with words and sometimes she would never respond at all. Lara didn’t deny it. She knew she sometimes preferred to completely avoid her phone rather than deal with a large number of requests. Actually, in person, Lara felt comfortable talking with people, but when communication came down to a text message or an email, she wanted to tap out.
While social media and messaging apps keep us more connected to each other, many younger users are finding themselves tired out from receiving constant notices and carrying on conversations that can last all day. The after-effect? Delayed responses, forgetting to get back to someone entirely, and a need for frequent breaks.
In fact, a 2023 study exploring the effects of information overload and online conversation dynamics (动态) found that “over-exposure to information can suppress the possibility of response by overloading users.”
Smartphones have quickly changed into handheld storage units for our conversations, thoughts, music and everything else. That shift to feeling constantly attached to our phones as if they were a limb relates to the burnout, says psychologist Emily Balcetis.
As the pressure to be online and always available continues to grow in our society, in-person interactions provide far more real communication than digital ones. From body language to eye contact and all the other social clues that exist in real life that aren’t available in a text message, it’s far easier to be present when you’re face-to-face. As Balcetis notes, “At the end of the day, I think what we’re looking for is not more ways to stay connected, but higher quality ways to be connected.”
1. What dissatisfied Senait Lara’s friends?| A．Lara denying her problems. |
| B．Lara avoiding using her phone. |
| C．Lara’s preference for digital communication. |
| D．Lara’s communication style in the group chat. |
| A．They are starting to have memory problems. |
| B．They refuse to put down their smartphones. |
| C．They are tired of frequent digital contact. |
| D．They feel more connected to each other. |
| A．The need to take a break from digital devices. |
| B．The pressure of always being available online. |
| C．The importance of face-to-face communication. |
| D．The ability to understand clues behind text messages. |
| A．Negative. | B．Unconcerned. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
6 . Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a totally different country?
The term “third-culture kids” was invented in the 1960s by U.S. sociologist Dr. Ruth Hill Useem. She first encountered this phenomenon when she researched North American children living in India.
Ginny, aged 20, was born in the U.K. Since her early childhood, she had lived abroad moving around with her parents every few years, before she returned to the U.K. to study. When returning to the U.K. to go to university, she realized she had benefited a lot from her years overseas.
Yet being a third-culture kid is not always easy. In fact, many hardships may arise from this phenomenon. A third-culture kid may not be able to adapt themselves completely to their new surroundings as expected.
As a part of the growing “culture”, TCKs may find it a great challenge for them to feel at home in many places.
| A．If so, then you are a third-culture kid! |
| B．About 90 percent of them have a university degree. |
| C．The languages picked up abroad were really useful. |
| D．The only problem was that she caught the travel bug. |
| E．After many years, these kids still could not adapt to their host culture. |
| F．Instead, they may always remain an outsider in different host cultures. |
| G．These children often get along well with those who suffer from the same confusion. |
7 . What are the most important factors that distinguish NBA legends from the rest? When scoping out talent, scouts (星探) look for two main things: outstanding previous performance and “unexploited potential”. There is an assumption that physical stature and athleticism (e.g., arm span, flexibility, swiftness, etc) are markers of unexploited potential, and will therefore continue predicting success in the NBA. But is this assumption correct?
A new study sheds some new light on the issue. Unsurprisingly, measures of physical makeup and athleticism clearly influence selection into the NBA draft. But they did not distinguish productive NBA players from unproductive players after taking into account prior performance. In fact, the only variables that predicted NBA success were youth, college performance, and college quality. Of course, the researchers didn’t analyze every possible measure of skill, such as passing, defense and shooting. Also, many external factors could also have played a role, such as coaching and team social dynamics. But none of them may be as important as the biggest elephant in the room. Let’s turn to Michael Jordan, the basketball legend.
A lot has been made of Jordan’s “cut” from his school basketball team in Grade Two in high school. In reality, Jordan wasn’t cut, but just placed elsewhere: on the junior team. The school team really needed size, and at the tryouts Jordan was 5feet 10 inches. He didn’t have his big growth shoot until the following year, when he was placed on the school team. What’s more, at the tryouts, Jordan didn’t really stand out on any of the characteristics the coaches were looking out for.
Well, except one: “If Jordan distinguished himself at all during the tryout, it was through his extreme effort.”
What truly saddens me is that professionals judge the “natural” performer who demonstrates early evidence of ability to be more talented, and more hirable than the “striver”, who shows early evidence of high motivation and perseverance. Maybe it’s time to completely rethink this whole belief of unexploited potential. Perhaps we should think about early ability as merely potential that was realized earlier than others. Nothing more, nothing less.
1. According to the passage, what do team managers generally value in players?| A．Athletic skills and training experiences. | B．Motivation and team social dynamics. |
| C．Physical makeup and athletic competence. | D．Early performance and professional spirit. |
| A．The most efficient training program. |
| B．The most essential quality as a player. |
| C．The greatest NBA legend Michael Jordan. |
| D．The most obvious factor but one that is ignored. |
| A．He lacked talent for the sport. |
| B．He was too short to win the coach’s favor. |
| C．He was needed more by the school’s junior team. |
| D．He didn’t make enough efforts to impress the coach. |
| A．Super efforts can make up for the lack of athleticism. |
| B．The concept of “unexploited potential” doesn’t make sense. |
| C．Those who show early evidence of ability are not truly talented. |
| D．Passion and dedication are as worth considering as athletic characteristics. |
8 . Many economists predict 2024 will be the time shoppers tighten their belts. That doesn’t mean people will stop spending, say retail (零售) analysts. But it will change what they choose to buy. With a slowing job market, global consumers are likely to move away from more high-priced purchases and focus instead on smaller, less expensive treats.
The economic uncertainty means that consumers are becoming more discriminating about their purchases, says Ethan Chermofsky, senior vice president of marketing at intelligence platform Placer. ai. “There are the things we decide are necessary, and then there’s another category of things that aren’t necessary but that we consider affordable luxuries, he says. This desire for these “affordable luxuries” is common in difficult economic times. Some economists refer to the phenomenon as the “lipstick index”: a small economic increase led by budget-minded consumers seeking out relatively affordable splurges (挥霍), like small cosmetics (化妆品).
Analysts at Deloitte say consumers will spend on little luxuries like specialty coffees and snacks as well. Additionally, stressed-out shoppers are prioritizing small splurge purchases for wellness and personal care.
As retailers see shoppers turning to little luxuries, they’re offering more and more of them. Target, for example, has staked a flag in what they refer to as “affordable joy”, which includes a selection of self-care and cosmetic products, along with wellness-centric beauty products. Beyond diversifying their offerings, stores are also bringing in luxury-feeling products at lower price points to appeal to more consumers.
Ethan says not every shopper will shift their spending to little luxuries-but even those who are still longing for the “must-haves” of social media will also look to get a deal. They want the feeling of purchasing lower-priced affordable treats. To get these goods, shoppers are likely to tap into the re-sale market for designer items at a more reasonable price. They want things that make them feel good about themselves-they just want to do it without breaking the bank.
1. What can affordable luxuries be?| A．Inexpensive daily necessities. | B．High-end products. |
| C．Reasonably-priced designer items. | D．High-priced purchases. |
| A．The strategies retailers use. | B．The joy businesses offer. |
| C．The competition stores face. | D．The products consumers buy. |
| A．Social-media deals. | B．World-famous brands. |
| C．Second-hand bargains. | D．Budget-friendly pleasures. |
| A．Lipstick Index: Where Does It Lead Us? | B．Must-have Treats: A Future Spending Trend |
| C．Affordable Joy: Will We Fall Into The Trap? | D．Little Luxuries: A Driving Force Behind Consumption |
1. Who are the target customers of Bill Bird’s workshop?
| A．Those who prefer fashionable shoes. |
| B．Those who need unusual-sized shoes. |
| C．Those who like to order shoes quickly. |
| A．The lack of computer technology. |
| B．The shortage of skilled workers. |
| C．His outdated shoe-making skills. |
| A．Fashionable. | B．Interesting. | C．Devoted. |
10 . Are you one of those people who like spending time alone? If so, you probably already know that there are some people who will scold you for it. They think you are alone because you are anxious around other people and just don’t have very positive relationships with humans.
This is a common phenomenon of being alone for too long. Recently, scholars have increasingly recognized the value of spending time alone.
As important as that distinction is, some scholars believe it is not enough. Even people who choose to be alone, they point out, can do so for different reasons.
For young people, spending time al one for positive reasons is associated with a number of healthy psychological experiences. Those who are alone for negative reasons are worrying. However, wanting to be alone for positive reasons and wanting to be alone for negative reasons are not completely separate.
| A．They have even documented it. |
| B．They are forced to spend much time alone. |
| C．There is a small relevance between the two. |
| D．They assume you are lonely and depressed. |
| E．The two have nothing to do with each other. |
| F．Some reasons for being alone are likely to cause trouble. |
| G．How do you decide whether being alone is good or bad? |
