1 . Culture is one of the most important concepts within sociology because sociologists recognize that it plays a crucial role in our social lives.     1    

Sociologists define the non-material aspects of culture as the values and beliefs, language, communication and practices that are shared in common by a group of people. Expanding on these categories, culture is made up of our knowledge, common sense, assumptions and expectations.     2     It informs how we walk, sit, carry our bodies and interact with others: how we behave depending on the place, time and “audience”, and how we express identities of race, class and gender among others.

    3     This aspect of culture includes a wide variety of things. from building, technological gadgets and clothing, to film, music, literature and art, among others. Aspects of material culture are more commonly referred to as cultural products.

Sociologists see the two sides of culture-the material and non-material-as closely connected. Material culture emerges from and is shaped by the non-material aspects of culture.     4     But it is not a one-way relationship between material and non-material culture. Material culture can also influence the non-material aspects of culture.     5     This is why cultural products tend to follow patterns. What has come before in terms of music. film, television and art, for example, influences the values, beliefs and expectations of those who interact with them, which then. in turn, influence the creation of additional cultural products.

A．It is composed of both non-material and material things.

B．Without culture, we would not have relationships or society.

C．Culture is also what we do and how we behave and perform.

D．Material culture is composed of the things that humans make and use.

E．Culture is different from social structure and economic aspects of society.

F．In other words, what we value, believe and know influences the things that we make.

G．For example, a great documentary film might change people’s attitudes and beliefs.

3 . Reading doesn’t come naturally to people, but most of us have learned how. Eighty-six percent of the world’s population is literate (有读写能力的), and this rate has been increasing for centuries. Literacy makes it possible to navigate a world filled with books, websites, text messages, road signs and more.

Could a growing number of people participate in today’s world without reading or writing at all? Technology makes it possible. Most of our devices now talk to us and take spoken commands. Smart cars ask for a destination and then give directions. Smart virtual assistants listen for requests to report the weather, play a song, set a timer, order groceries, and much more. Software can also read text aloud or turn speech into text. These interactions aren’t perfect — the software still makes silly mistakes. But it’s getting better and better. It’s possible to imagine a future world where all of our communication with our devices and each other is spoken.

But reading and writing are powerful tools. For one, most people read faster than they speak. A podcaster or audio book narrator speaks at around 150 to 160 words per minute, while a strong reader can cruise through a text at 300 to 400 words per minute. That’s twice as fast! Research has also found that people remember more information and stay more interested when they read as opposed to listen. Learning to read also creates new connections in the brain. In her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf writes that with the invention of reading, human beings “rearranged the very organization of our brain, which in turn expanded the ways we were able to think, which changed the intellectual evolution of our species.” Would we really choose to give up that progress? What do you think? Do you hope people keep on reading and writing, or will technology make literacy obsolete (淘汰的)?

1. What does the 2nd paragraph focus on?

A．Technology makes up for illiteracy.

B．Many people have problems with literacy.

C．Technology is a double-edged sword.

D．Technology is changing fast.

2. Compared to listening, what will a person do when reading?

A．Gather more information.	B．Remember less clearly.
C．Show less interest.	D．Learn more words.

3. Why does the author mention Maryanne’s book?

A．To give an example of a book on reading.

B．To show the evolution of human beings.

C．To prove that reading is related with brain.

D．To illustrate the need for reading and writing.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A textbook.

B．A blog post.

C．A book review.

D．An academic article.

7 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

People are being lured (引诱) onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service,     1     realizing that they’re paying for it by giving up plenty of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send     2     (target) messages.

Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea     3     they’re paying for Facebook, because people don’t really know what their personal details are worth.

The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you could keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook — you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules     4     many things — your city, your photo, your friends’ names — were set, by default (默认) , to be shared with everyone on the Internet.

According to Facebook’s vice president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “    5     (satisfying) experience.”

Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model,     6     involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they are connecting with their friends online?

So far the privacy issue     7     (land) Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Commission to set regulations for social-networking sites.

I suspect that whatever Facebook has done     8     (invade) our privacy is only the beginning, which is why I’m considering     9     (cancel) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that     10     information is in the hands of people I don’t trust. That is too high a price to pay.

9 . Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.

The cottages could be an example of the industry’s odd love for “low technology”, a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual — so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by hand in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example, but Twitter’s designs lie on the extreme end. Other companies are using a broader interpretation of low technology that focuses on nature.

Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire floor is carpeted in grass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking path.      

Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “We have lost the connections to the maker in our lives, and our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished (贫乏的), because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “They’re looking for a way to regain their individual identity, and we’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to do that.”      

This craft-based theory is rooted in history. William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life,” Morris said.      

Research has shown that natural environments can restore our mental abilities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe”, taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.      

These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environments. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office — even simple views of trees and flowers — felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially nourish the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.

1. Why did the writer mention the two nineteenth-century cottages?

A．To show that Twitter is having a hard time.

B．To show that old cottages are in need of protection.

C．To show that early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana.

D．To show that Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology.

2. Low technology is regarded as something that _____.

A．is related to nature	B．is out of date today
C．consumes too much energy	D．exists in the virtual world

3. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 5?

A．Human beings have destroyed many pre-industrial arts.

B．Human beings have a tradition of valuing arts and crafts.

C．Human beings can become intelligent by learning history.

D．Human beings can regain their individual identity by using machines.

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

A．Past Glories, Future Dreams

B．The Virtual World, the Real Challenge

C．High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices

D．The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity

10 . How to pick the best place for a much-needed refreshment? If you’re like most people, a simple clue is likely to vary your choice. You will look for the busiest restaurant with the most diners because its popularity is bound to reflect on the quality of food and service.     1    

Early diners with no meaningful clues as to which restaurant to choose may have picked their evening eatery at random, for example selecting the place with the nicest name or the smiliest waiter. The following passers-by may have misinterpreted their restaurant choice as a well-informed decision and blindly followed their example.     2     Ever-increasing numbers of customers were attracted to the restaurant in question, which could have led to a bad dinner choice in an overcrowded restaurant.

Voluntarily copying other people’s thoughts or choices or simply going with the crowd is often referred to as “herd behaviour.”   It is a frequent occurrence amongst humans as well as many other animals, a common example being sheep.     3    

In an earlier article, I discussed the so-called “wisdom of crowds”, which suggests that average judgements of large groups of people often outperform individual choices. Furthermore, following the crowd appears to offer protection and comfort.     4     Finally, following the herd reduces the effort needed to make a personal or unique decision.

    5     Contrary to the so-called “wisdom of crowds”, herd behaviours typically rely on so-called “information cascades (瀑布)”, where people take on others’ beliefs or copy their choices without critically appraising the underlying reasons. This frequently leads to the imitation of unreasonable or simply stupid behaviours.

A．But is this true?

B．It is therefore an easy option.

C．After all, there’s “safety in numbers”.

D．Herding can appear to make a lot of sense.

E．This could have resulted in a snow-balling effect.

F．Herd behaviours, while easy to explain, hold significant dangers.

G．The number of diners is unlikely to indicate the quality of the meal.