1 . We can text WhatsApp, Facebook message and Snapchat — but are we losing the convenience of the phone conversation? Who has time to chat when you can spend hours on WhatsApp?

Most of my phone calls are less than a minute long. If I unintentionally hit answer instead of pressing the ignore button, I usually say, “Hold on, I’ll call you back,” before quickly typing out a “what’s up?” text. My list of recent phone calls is limited to four people and unless we live together, are related, or dating, there’s very little chance that you’ll be added to that list.

It seems I’m not the only who’s abandoning the phone call. The average adult spends more time on media or communication per day than on sleeping, but among all that communication, the phone call is the medium that’s falling.

So why has the phone call fallen out of favor? Many messaging apps seem to have created a grade of communication, so that the phone call is no longer the standard way of conversing long distance, but a relatively intimate (亲密的) thing.

Rachel, 24, says that she used to speak to all her girlfriends on the phone but now only calls a few. “I rarely even speak to good friends on the phone and if they call me I’m like, ‘Hello, is something wrong?’,” says Rachel. “If I do a phone call it feels really official, like it’s a big deal.”

Instead of taking the time to ring a friend and catch up, it now seems easier to send a short message. And unless you’re very close to someone, an unscheduled phone call can feel like an intrusion (干扰). While text messages can be put to one side for hours or even days, a phone call demands attention in the moment.

But while text messages and emails may be a more efficient way of sharing basic facts and information, they’re not necessarily the best way of communication. We may be communicating more than ever before, but we seem to be listening far less.

1. What does the author intend to tell us in paragraph 1?

A．People chat much less on the phone now.

B．People are addicted to messaging apps.

C．People find no time to chat face-to-face.

D．People have many ways to communicate.

2. According to Rachel, when a good friend calls her, she __________.

A．will ignore the call.

B．will call back immediately.

C．will make an official visit to her friend.

D．will think her friend has some problems.

3. What can be learned from the text?

A．Text messages demand immediate attention.

B．An unscheduled phone call may be unwelcome.

C．Using a phone call to communicate is out of date.

D．It is hard to keep track of friends on messaging apps.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards phone conversation?

A．Doubtful.	B．Uncaring.
C．Supportive.	D．Hopeful.

2 . When your parents advise you to “get an education” in order to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower（人力资源）for your society, but not so much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.
Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can successfully dropout in grade school.
Get a college degree, if possible. With a B. A., you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an M.B.A., and the famous law of diminishing(逐渐减少的) returns begins to take effect.
Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more per year than full professors? Yes, the average salary for those truckers was $24000 while the full professors managed to earn just $23030.
A doctorate is the highest degree you can get. Except for a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, if you pursue such a degree in any other field, you will face a future which is not bright. There are more doctors unemployed or underemployed in this country than any other part of the world.
If you become a doctor in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or—worst of all—in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands.
Thousands of doctors are selling shoes, driving cars, waiting on table, and endlessly filling out applications month after month. They may also take a job in some high school or backwater(闭塞) college that pays much less than the doorkeeper earns.
You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.
1. According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people who ______.

A．will not be a disgrace to society

B．will become loyal citizens

C．can take care of themselves

D．can meet the nation’s demand as a source of manpower

2. Many doctors are out of job because ______.

A．they are improperly educated

B．they are of little commercial value to their society

C．there are fewer jobs in high schools

D．they prefer easier jobs that make more money

3. The nation is only interested in people ______.

A．with diplomas

B．who specialize in physics and chemistry

C．who are valuable to the gross national product

D．who receive little education

4. Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Bernard Shaw didn’t finish high school, nor did Edison.

B．One must think carefully before pursuing a master’s degree.

C．The higher your education level, the more money you will earn.

D．If you are too well-educated, you’ll be overeducated for society’s demands.

5. The writer sees education as ______.

A．a means of providing job security and financial security and a means of meeting a country’s demands for technical workers

B．a way to broaden one’s horizons

C．more important than finding a job

D．an opportunity that everyone should have