1 . Before uploading a photo of ourselves to social media, the chances are that we’ll use an app to smooth our skin, enlarge our eyes, and sharpen our jawlines. With a couple of ta ps on our mobile phones, we can get a quick fix and present the “best” version of ourselves to the world. However, the problem is that when we simply edit out our imperfections, we’re also changing the way we look at ourselves.
Last month, researchers published the article Selfies — Living in the Era of Filtered Photographs. The article analyzed photo editing apps’ bad influences on people’s self-respect and their possibility of causing anxiety about appearance. The researchers also warned that such apps might make the young generation misjudge themselves. “These apps allow one to change his or her appearance in minutes and follow an unrealistic standard of beauty,” the article read.
In the past, people may have compared their looks to those of famous persons. But for today’s young people, beauty standards are most likely set by what they see on social media. “From birth, they are born into an age of social platforms where their feelings of self-worth can be based purely on the number of likes and followers that they have, which is linked to how good they look,” British cosmetic doctor Tiji on Esho told The Independent. This is why many young people suffer an identity trouble when it comes to appearance.
“Now you’ve got this daily comparison of your real self to the fake self that you present on social media,” Renee Engeln, professor of psychology, told the HuffPost website. Engeln further pointed out that when people spend too much time making such comparisons, they might become “beauty sick” and find it difficult to accept what they actually look like. “Because between you and the world is a mirror, and it’s a mirror that travels with you everywhere. You can’t seem to put it down,” she told The Washington Post. So when we look at ourselves in a real mirror, we shouldn’t think, “Do I look as good as myself in the filtered photos?” Instead, we should think, “I feel good; I have my health.”
1. Before uploading a photo to social media, we probably ______.A.use an app to fix our photos | B.use a cream to smooth our skin |
C.present the best version of the text | D.have an operation to widen our eyes |
A.They are beneficial to people. | B.They can make us more beautiful. |
C.They tend to trigger appearance anxiety. | D.They help people judge realistic beauty. |
A.Because they compare their looks to those of celebrities. |
B.Because beauty standards are merely set by social media. |
C.Because their self-worth is associated with their appearance. |
D.Because their self-worth depends on their own likes and dislikes. |
A.take a mirror with us everywhere | B.feel content with our actual images |
C.compare our real self to the fake self | D.try to look good in the filtered photos |
1. What’s the topic of the conversation?
A.About health. |
B.About smoking. |
C.About equal rights. |
A.Supportive. |
B.Disapproval. |
C.Unknown. |
A.Smoking is bad for health. |
B.No one has the right to smoke. |
C.He has the right to smoke whenever he wants to. |
3 . A new study finds sales of sugary drinks obviously fell across several US cities, after they carried out soda taxes (汽水税) aiming those drinks — and those changes continued over time. Taxes ranged from 1 to 2 cents. For a 2-liter bottle of soda, that comes out to between 67 cents to $1.30 extra in taxes.
“While prior (先前的) studies have looked at the impact of soda taxes, they usually studied one city at a time. This new study looked at the overall effect of the taxes on several cities to get an idea of what might happen if these taxes were more widespread — or enlarged to the state or national level,” says Scott Kaplan, an economics professor and the study’s lead author.
Kaplan and his co-workers found that prices for sugary drinks went up by 33.1% and purchases (购买量) went down by basically the same amount. So when people had to pay more for sugary drinks, they reduced their purchases — the effect was large and continued.
As Kaplan notes, “Sugary drinks make up a quarter of all the added sugar we see in the average adult American diet. And that’s a really big amount.” Jennifer Pomeranz, a professor at the School of Public Health, says, “Taxes that aim sugary drinks are good public health policy because these drinks have no nutritional (营养的) value, but they are linked with diet-related diseases. Too much added sugar is linked to a host of poor health outcomes, including overweight and heart disease.” Last month, WHO called on countries to increase taxes on sugary drinks as a way to promote healthier diets.
Today, the sugary drink industry’s strategy of offering consumers more choices with less sugar is working, and nearly 60% of drinks sold have zero sugar. The calories that people get from drinks have decreased to the lowest level in decades.
1. What’s the difference between the new study and the prior ones?A.The range. | B.The challenge. | C.The expense. | D.The benefit. |
A.They bought them in overseas markets. |
B.They turned to the government for help. |
C.They cut down the drinks’ consumption. |
D.They added sugar to drinks by themselves. |
A.To better protect people’s health. |
B.To encourage research into drinks. |
C.To improve the nutrition of drinks. |
D.To make more money for the government. |
A.It is a short-sighted decision. |
B.It is a success story. |
C.It benefits sugary drinks industry. |
D.It upsets customers. |
4 . The printed book is back. Recent studies have shown that students remember more information when they read a paper book compared to reading an e-book. One school responded to these findings by ditching its e-readers. The students found that “the ease of navigation (导航)” was greater when using a traditional book.
I love the way we now judge printed books using the language of the digital world. E-books may come with “navigational tools,” but it turns out the best navigational tools are the “devices” at the ends of your arms. You can use them to flip the pages forward and backward.
Fans of digital books may point out that e-readers have a handy “search” tool. Old-fashioned books also have a search function, in which you turn back to the opening part to help you remember the hero’s name. They even have a “bookmark system,” which uses something called a “bookmark.”
Can a traditional book offer all the features of an e-book? Alas, no. It has no “progress bar (进度条)” indicating how much of the book has been read. Luckily, a clever tip is available: turn your book so that it can be viewed from the side or top. It will naturally form two parts joined in the middle. If the left part is thicker than the right one, you are more than halfway through.
Admittedly, e-books are lighter than paper books, but one must question whether this is really an advantage. In secondary school my body figure was actually transformed by the daily need to carry textbooks. For me and my fellow students, these weighty books would draw our shoulders back and our chests forward.
Educational fashions come and go, so maybe the return of traditional books won’t last. But for the moment, I find myself welcoming their wonderful return.
1. Which can best replace the underlined “ditching” in paragraph 1?A.Referring to. | B.Getting rid of. |
C.Getting used to. | D.Making use of. |
A.Bookmarks. | B.Fingers. | C.The progress bar. | D.The opening part. |
A.To explain an opposing idea. | B.To provide additional information. |
C.To support the author’s argument. | D.To connect paragraph five and paragraph six. |
A.Why the Printed Book Is Back? |
B.How the Printed Book Benefits us? |
C.What Future the Printed Book Faces? |
D.Which Is Better, Printed Book or E-book? |
5 . My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere
When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I
I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased
As much as having a smartphone was
A.through | B.without | C.despite | D.upon |
A.updates | B.instructions | C.assessments | D.decisions |
A.symbol | B.responsibility | C.reality | D.addiction |
A.conscious | B.shameful | C.foolish | D.random |
A.sell | B.pull | C.throw | D.mind |
A.avoided | B.denied | C.missed | D.allowed |
A.assist | B.improve | C.associate | D.occupy |
A.requests | B.thoughts | C.directions | D.comments |
A.instead of | B.regardless of | C.but for | D.apart from |
A.creativity | B.productivity | C.knowledge | D.independence |
A.routine | B.necessity | C.loneliness | D.temptation |
A.genuine | B.grateful | C.direct | D.desperate |
A.naturally | B.certainly | C.seemingly | D.gradually |
A.wonder | B.imagination | C.interest | D.authenticity |
A.depressive | B.comfortable | C.stressful | D.boring |
6 . It was a comfortable sunny Sunday. I was going to meet an old university friend I hadn’t seen for years, and was really excited.
My train was running a little late, but that was no big problem—I could text him to say I would be delayed. He would understand. But … where was my mobile phone? I had that familiar sinking feeling. Yes, I’d left it at home.
No mobile phone. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling anxious, on edge and worried when I don’t have my phone with me. In fact, I know I’m not alone: two-thirds of us experience “nomophobia (无手机恐惧症)”, the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
That’s according to a study from 2012 which surveyed 1,000 people in the UK about their relationship with mobile phones.
It says we check our mobile phones 34 times a day, and that 18—24-year-olds, especially girls, are the most likely to suffer fear of being without their mobiles: 77% of them say they are unable to be apart from their phones for more than a few minutes.
Do you have nomophobia?
● You never turn your phone off.
● You frequently check for texts, missed calls and emails.
● You always take your phone to the bathroom with you.
● You never let the battery run out.
It’s funny to think that around 20 years ago the only people with mobile phones would be businessmen carrying their large, plastic “bricks”. Of course, these days, mobile phones are everywhere. A UN study from this year said there would be more mobile phones than people across the world by the end of 2020.
And when there are more phones than people in the world, maybe it’s time to ask who really is in charge? Are you in control of your phone, or does your phone control you?
So, what happened with my university friend? When I arrived a few minutes late he just laughed and said: “You haven’t changed at all—still always late!” And we had a great afternoon catching up, full of jokes and stories, with no desire to check my phone.
Not having it with me felt strangely free. Maybe I’ll leave it at home on purpose next time.
1. The underlined phrase “on edge” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________”.A.energetic | B.nervous | C.brilliant | D.amazed |
A.Worried. | B.Positive. | C.Neutral (中立的). | D.Negative. |
A.A successful manager. | B.A 21-year-old girl. |
C.A 21-year-old boy. | D.A lonely middle-aged person. |
A.The history of mobile phones. |
B.The story of meeting an old university friend. |
C.The attraction of playing mobile phone. |
D.The terrible feeling of being without their mobiles. |
7 . In the days before the Internet, critical thinking was the most important skill of informed citizens. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development, and her colleagues, an even more important skill is critical ignoring.
As the researchers point out, we live in an attention economy where content producers on the Internet compete for our attention. They attract us with a lot of emotional and eye-catching stories while providing little useful information, so they can expose us to profit-generating advertisements. Therefore,we are no longer customers but products, and each link we click is a sale of our time and attention. Toprotect ourselves from this, Kozyreva advocates for learning the skill of critical ignoring, in which readers intentionally control their information environment to reduce exposure to false and low-quality information.
According to Kozyreva, critical ignoring comprises three strategies. The first is to design ourenvironments, which involves the removal of low-quality yet hard-to-resist information from around. Successful dieters need to keep unhealthy food out of their homes. Likewise, we need to set up a digital environment where attention-grabbing items are kept out of sight. As with dieting, if one tries to bank onwillpower not to click eye-catching “news”, he’ll surely fail. So, it’s better to just keep them out of sightto begin with.
The next is to evaluate the reliability of information, whose purpose is to protect you from false and misleading information. It can be realized by checking the source in the mainstream news agencies which have their reputations for being trustworthy.
The last goes by the phrase “do not feed the trolls.” Trolls are actors who internationally spread false and hurtful information online to cause harm. It may be appealing to respond to them to set the facts straight, but trolls just care about annoying others rather than facts. So, it’s best not to reward their bad behaviour with our attention.
By sharpening our critical ignoring skills in these ways, we can make the most of the Internet while avoiding falling victim to those who try to control our attention, time, and minds.
1. What can we learn about the attention economy from paragraph 2?A.It offers little information. | B.It features depressing stories. |
C.It saves time for Internet users. | D.It seeks profits from each click. |
A.To discuss the quality of information |
B.To prove the benefits of healthy food. |
C.To show the importance of environments. |
D.To explain the effectiveness of willpower. |
A.Reveal their intention. | B.Turn a deaf ear to them. |
C.Correct their behaviour. | D.Send hard facts to them. |
A.Reasons for critical thinking in the attention economy. |
B.Practising the skill of critical ignoring in the digital age. |
C.Maximizing the benefits of critical ignoring on the Internet. |
D.Strategies of abandoning critical thinking for Internet users |
8 . The most obvious dog fetish (迷恋) today is the longing for cuteness. Almost every day you can see adorable pictures of dogs and other animals that will make you smile and say, “How cute!”
It is a cultural phenomenon that the media scholar James Meese calls the “cute economy” which exists primarily on social media, is user-generated, and is heavily dominated by pictures of animals, especially pets. The goal is to generate a positive response, probably followed by a tap on the screen to “like” and “share”. We can click through image after image of cute animals doing cute things, feeling a little boost of good cheer.
The marketing researchers have identified some of the most common categories of cuteness in online pet content: animals doing silly things; animals of extreme size; animals with unusual looks; and animals behaving in ways that seem human-like. Dogs and other animals in the “cute economy” are often further humanized by being dressed in clothing and accessorized (装饰) with hats, jewellery, nail polish and fur dyed a rainbow of colors. Users who post successfully and with some strategies can make money by doing so. Thus, certain dogs have become cuteness celebrities, with millions of devoted followers and paid content from advertisers.
Unfortunately, the price of the “cute economy” comes at a serious cost. The cutest and most popular breeds tend to be those with the most significant risk of health and behavioral problems. Cuteness is often coupled with their discomfort. People are drawn to the cuteness of dogs with extremely foreshortened skulls and extremely short legs and awkwardly long bodies, such as the French bulldog and the corgi.
Actually, there are well-established health issues. We should treat the “cute economy” with caution, like resisting the commodification (商品化) of appearance by opting out of social media channels promoting the “cute economy”. We can also choose not to “like” or “share” images of dogs whose cuteness is linked with discomfort. Although we are biologically attracted to dogs that are super cute, we should be mindful in our “impulses”.
1. What is the key to the “cute economy” according to the text?A.Taking photos of different animals. |
B.Cute animals’ attractive appearance. |
C.Pets’ owners’ liking adorable pictures. |
D.Posting cute animals’ pictures on social media. |
A.A normal-sized dog is eating bones. |
B.A white cat is quietly lying next to its owner. |
C.A monkey is attentively taking care of its baby. |
D.A parrot dressed in a suit is singing and dancing. |
A.It will change the animals’ nature. |
B.It may make the animals not so cute. |
C.It may cause health problems to the animals. |
D.It will result in a decline in animal population. |
A.The Cute Economy and Its Price | B.Share Pictures or Not |
C.Happiness from Pets | D.Marketing Strategy — Cuteness |
9 . Every festival has its own meaning. Labor Day, for example, celebrates the value of hard work. Thanksgiving is about showing thanks to people around you. And Valentines’ Day is a time when you express love to your loved ones. But somehow it now seems that all festivals we just care about one thing — shopping. And that can be a big problem.
“In a way, over-consumption (过度消费) is the mother of all our environmental problems,” Kalle Lasn once told CNN. Lasn is the organizer of Buy Nothing Day, a day set up in Canada in 1992 to fight against unhealthy spending habits, and has now become an international event. It’s held on the day, which is known as Black Friday — a famous shopping day in the US and Canada.
You can see the irony (讽刺) here.
Even though the idea of Buy Nothing Day was brought up 26 years ago, we seem to need it now more than ever. It’s just as Lasn said, all the different kinds of pollution in our lives today — bad air quality, the reduction of forest area, endangered animal species, and plastic bags found in the ocean — seem to be the same cause: over-consumption.
The latest example is the Singles’ Day shopping craze of Nov 11, which saw a new sales record. But as Nie Li, a campaigner at Greenpeace, told Reuters, “Record-setting over-consumption means record-setting waste.” And it was reported that last year the Singles’ Day packages left more than 160,000 tons of waste, including plastic and cardboard. The Collins Dictionary has also just named “single-use” its Word of the Year, pointing out the problem that there’re too many things we tow out after only using them once.
So, Buy Nothing Day might only be here for one day a year, but it’s not just to remind us to the a break from shopping on that day, but to change our lifestyle completely, focusing on fun “with people we care about” rather than wasting money on useless things.
1. What’s the authors purpose of writing the first paragraph?A.To express the people’s love for all festivals. |
B.To talk about the meaning of the festivals. |
C.To appreciate the value of the festivals. |
D.To bring out the topic of the passage. |
A.To help people save money. | B.To cut the cost for daily life. |
C.To prevent over-consumption. | D.To set up a new sales record. |
A.Opposed (反对的). | B.Supportive. |
C.Unknown. | D.Neutral (中立的). |
A.Creating a New Lifestyle | B.Buy Nothing Day |
C.Festivals Around the World | D.A Change in People’s Life |
10 . While English is getting more important in our schools, Chinese has become popular among foreign kids. But Chinese can be more difficult to learn. At least 16-year-old Piao Chenglong thinks so. “English is easier for me. Chinese characters (汉字) have too many strokes (笔画),” said Piao. “But I want to learn it. I want to study at Beijing University when I grow up.” Piao is from Korea. He came to China in 2008.
In Korea, there are more than 300, 000 Chinese learners like Piao. Some Korean students begin to learn to write the language on their first day at school. To help students learn Chinese, Korea holds speaking competitions for high school students every year.
Chinese isn’t just popular in Korea. People from all the world want to learn it. The Ministry of Education of China says that nearly 130 million people from 85 countries are learning Chinese. This number will be increasing to 800 million in the coming years.
In America, Chinese is the second most popular foreign language after Spanish. Some American middle schools have Chinese classes. Students learn to make jiaozi and tie Chinese knots (中国结). Some even try to write and draw in the Chinese way!
People want to learn Chinese because China is becoming such an important country. Foreign countries want to understand China better to help them with business. The Chinese government is also helping the world learn Chinese. It has sent more than 200 Chinese teachers to more than 60 countries in the world. Many more Confucius Institutes (孔子学院) will be set up in the world. These institutes will teach Chinese to foreign students.
1. Which of the following is the topic sentence for the text?A.Chinese has become popular among foreign kids. |
B.Chinese can be more difficult to learn. |
C.In America, Chinese is the second most popular foreign language after Spanish. |
D.Students learn to make jiaozi and tie Chinese knots. |
A.China. | B.America. | C.Korea. | D.Spain. |
A.making jiaozi |
B.writing and drawing in the Chinese way |
C.tying Chinese knots |
D.singing Chinese songs |
A.Because Chinese is getting more important in their schools. |
B.Because Chinese characters have too many strokes. |
C.Because the number of people learning Chinese will be 800 million. |
D.Because China is becoming more and more important in the world. |