1 . A friend sent me an email, asking if I’d consider writing about educational apps for children to watch while on road trips. The email said, “Many are turning to road trips. And often with long car rides comes the use of on-screen entertainment. These educational apps should also develop their art, math and design skills.”

While I realize the intention is well-meaning, and doubtless would lead to a quieter car ride for the parents, the thought of sticking kids in front of screens on a road trip makes me queasy. You see, if they’re glued to a screen for hours on end, they will miss everything that’s going by outside the window. And that means they’ll miss out a major part of the trip and the opportunity to engage in conversation with family members, but to be alone with their own thoughts, or simply to be bored.

There is so much to see on a road trip! Cars, trees, faces, building, markets, airplanes landing — the entire world is out there, and staring at it from the backseat of a car familiarizes a child with what is going on.

I have a theory that paying attention to one’s surroundings while traveling by car helps children develop an internal compass. If they don’t pay attention during all those years when they’re being driven, they’ll struggle to know where to go and how to locate themselves once they’re independent. This doesn’t mean they have to be alert (警惕的) for the entire journey, but not being on a screen naturally allows for a higher level of engagement with one’s surroundings. When you listen to music, you’ll look up occasionally; you’ll pay attention to landmarks.

What can children do on the trip? Actually, there are plenty of off-screen activities.

1. What was the author’s friend’s intention to develop apps?

A．To play games.	B．To make some extra money.
C．To entertain and educate children.	D．To improve the relationship in the family.

2. Which can best replace the underlined word “queasy” in paragraph 2?

A．uncomfortable.

B．tired.

C．unsafe.

D．lonely.

3. What is the author’ s opinion on focusing on the surroundings when traveling?

A．It can raise children’s environmental awareness.

B．It can help children develop a sense of direction.

C．It can give children the courage to learn to drive.

D．It can enable children to become more independent.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Take the Chance of Traveling to Relax Yourself.

B．Say Goodbye to Educational Apps on Your Holiday.

C．Learn to Look up from Your Screens from Time to Time.

D．Leave the Screens Alone on Your Next Family Road Trip.

4 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.

Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial strains, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution(内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.

“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis (宣泄) and adjustment,” said a scholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”

Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty about their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.

“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”

1. What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Warned.

B．Punished.

C．Amused.

D．Touched.

2. What might have caused the “lying down” lifestyle among the young?

A．Improvements in living conditions.

B．Growing pressure from family and social life.

C．Increasing material possessions from families.

D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions.

3. What’s the scholar’s attitude toward the “lying down” group?

A．Understanding.

B．Intolerant.

C．Supportive.

D．Unclear.

4. What can be inferred about the young generation from the text?

A．They never really drop their responsibilities.

B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle.

C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach.

D．They would rather escape than take challenges.

5 . The Internet plays a big part in human life. We use it for work and pleasure. We use it to learn a new language. We find advice on it. We use it to connect with family and friends. We use it to stay in touch with events we care about.The list goes on and on.

As far as the Internet being a part of our lives, well, that train has left the station. There is no going back to an Internet-free life. But can using the Internet too much be bad for our health? It might be, say researchers. A new study finds that heavy Internet use may be connected to high blood pressure in a young group: teenagers.

The study results show that teens who spend at least 14 hours a week only online may cause high blood pressure, which makes their hearts and blood vessels(血管) work too hard. Over time, this extra pressure increases the risk of a heart attack. High blood pressure can also cause heart and other diseases.

The Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan did the study. 335 young people, from 14 to 17 years old, took part in it. 134 of the teens were described as “heavy Internet users”. And researchers found that out of these 134 teens, 26 had high blood pressure. The researchers said the study was the first to connect heavy Web use with high blood pressure.

The lead researcher is Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow. She says, “Using the Internet is part of our daily life, but it shouldn’t ruin(毁坏) us.” Ms. Cassidy-Bushrow adds that it is important for teens to stop to have a rest regular from their computers or smartphones and do some kind of physical activity. She also suggests that parents shouldn’t let their children use the Internet for more than two hours a day, five days a week.

1. What does the underlined part “that train has left the station”mean in Paragraph 2?

A．The train has changed its course.

B．Life without the Internet is nowhere to be found.

C．The Internet brings great changes to people’s life.

D．The Internet has improved people’s life.

2. What can we know about the study according to Paragraph 4?

A．There was no similar study like it before.

B．Most of the young people had high blood pressure.

C．Adult people aged above 17 took part in the study.

D．Over half of the teens in the study were heavy Internet users.

3. Which of the following would Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow probably agree with?

A．That teenagers shouldn’t use the Internet.

B．That the Internet will ruin human life in the future.

C．That smartphones are more harmful than computers.

D．That regular breaks are necessary when using the Internet.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Heavy Internet users are mostly teenagers.

B．Every coin has two sides—so does the Internet.

C．Too much Internet use may be bad for teenagers.

D．How to prevent teenagers from using the Internet.

6 . Children should spend at least one hour playing and spending time in nature each day, according to the Wildlife Trusts.     1     It is now calling on the government to include nature time into daily school life.

    2    Its 451 students in the study were 8 or 9 years of age. They were interviewed before and after nature activities. The activities were run by the Wildlife Trusts over the course of several weeks, such as learning about plants and trees.

The children showed a great increase in personal health.     3    90 percent said they learned something new about the natural world; 79 percent felt the experience would help their schoolwork;     4    Perhaps most importantly, 79 percent mentioned they would believe more in themselves.

    5    And the time has been reducing greatly in recent years. A 2017 report found that less than 10 percent British kids enjoys themselves in nature, compared to 40 percent of adults when they were younger years ago. To improve the situation, the organization is calling on the government to free up a daily hour for nature time for kids.

A．Parents care much about their kids' nature time.”

B．However, parents aren't giving kids that time.

C．81 percent said they had better relationships with their teachers.

D．The calling comes from a study by University College London.

E．The students are asked to study in University College London for one day.

F．It is an organization which speaks for 2,300 nature protection areas.

G．And they also showed a sense of connection with the natural world and high levels of enjoyment.

8 . 阅读下面短文,在空白处填入适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式，并将答案填写在答题卡上。

There are several reasons why school uniforms are a good idea. First of all, uniforms help the school look smart. The students feel that they belong to a particular group. When every pupil in the school wears the uniform, nobody     1     ( have) to worry about fashion(时尚) . Everybody wears     2     same style of clothes. Uniforms can be useful in unexpected ways. A school in Ireland has introduced     3     interesting new uniform. On the edge of the jacket, there is a piece of cloth     4     gives off light in the dark. When the children are walking or     5     (cycle) to school on dark mornings, car drivers can     6     (easy) see them.

But can uniforms help improve school standards? The answer     7     this question is not clear. One study in America found that students' grades     8     (improve ) a little after the school introduced uniforms. But some students didn’t want     9     ( wear) the uniform. Other American studies showed no     10     (connect) between uniforms and school performance.

9 . Cities across America have set up bike-share programs as sustainable (可持续的) transportation alternatives to ease traffic jams. Yet despite these programs’ advantages and popularity, significant operational challenges remain.

Residential neighborhoods face shortages of bicycles in the morning rush hour, while business districts have a lack of bikes in the evening. What’s more, parking docks can be full at certain hours when riders have reached their destinations. Currently, many systems rebalance their bike supply using box trucks that reallocate dozens of bikes at a given time. This is a costly, time-consuming attempt that enlarges the systems’ carbon footprint. Thus, it is vital that rebalancing be as efficient as possible. With that in mind, my colleagues and I set out to develop advanced algorithms (算法) to deal with the novel challenges of bike-share operations.

One area to which our methods were applied was the Bike Angels program that our collaborators run in cities across the country. Initially, riders of Bike Angels earn points by renting or returning bikes at certain high-need stations.

In a study, we found that these fixed patterns cause inefficiencies when returns are incentivized (激励) in locations where they do not actually help with rebalancing.

The changes to operational patterns we made based on our algorithms can increase the efficiency of the incentives by around 15 percent. And importantly, this form of rebalancing comes with a much better carbon footprint than box trucks!

Our algorithms are applied for other purposes, too. For instance, by analyzing usage information, we were able to help operators make accurate determinations about whether they need to send out crews to fix a broken bike or dock as well as dealing with maintenance (维修) issues in a timely manner.

To be sure, algorithms can’t fix every new transportation problem and they have many limitations. But what is clear is that many challenges that come with new options, including e-bikes and free-floating bike-share systems, require the real-time data-driven approaches.

1. What can we learn about bike-share programs in Paragraph 1?

A．They have many drawbacks.

B．They add a burden to city traffic.

C．They work much better in business districts.

D．They increase the popularity of sharing economy.

2. What does the underlined word “that” in Paragraph 2 probably refer to?

A．How to reduce box trucks’ carbon footprint.

B．How to use box trucks to reallocate bikes.

C．How to rebalance bike supply efficiently.

D．How to help riders earn more points.

3. Which of the following shows the advantages of the author’s algorithms?
①Increasing box-truck companies’ profit.
②Improving the effectiveness of incentives.
③Providing more incentives for regular cyclists.
④Making bike reallocation more environmentally friendly.
⑤Making the maintenance of bikes more timely and accurate.

A．①②③

B．①③④

C．③④⑤

D．②④⑤

4. What can be the suitable title for the text?

A．Creative approaches to easing traffic jams

B．Advantages of developing advanced algorithms

C．An introduction of Bike Angels’ incentive system

D．An effective solution to bike-share operational problems

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Do you find it hard not    1     (check) your phone every couple of minutes? Do you respond to notifications (通知) as soon as they come in? If so, you're not alone, and you might be interested to know what    2     (make) us keep checking our phones.

As we know, when we do get the rewards: a like, a follower, comments or shares of    3     (we) posts, it excites the brain and produces a chemical    4     (call) dopamine (多巴胺). This is a chemical    5     provides a "feel-good" response to these rewards. Meanwhile,this dopamine hit can become addictive    6     encourage us to go back to our phones hoping fora reward again. This addictive loop is one of the biggest     7     (reason) why we are checking our phones every couple of minutes.

So, what are some of the ways we can break this addictive loop so that real life does not pass by? The first is to turn off all notifications on your phone so that you cannot    8    (disturb) by the attractive messages. Next is to put your phone out of sight, in a drawer or in another room. This is particularly    9     (help) if you are preparing yourself    10     exams.Finally, look for and create opportunities for gaining dopamine hit in other ways, such as exercise or music.