2 . Good morning! I’m glad this day has arrived and I’m so glad you are here. As you set off on the grand adventure of a liberal education, I want to share with you a bit of wisdom.

Today, I want to urge you to cultivate the habit of moving purposefully, systematically, slowly, not necessarily to slow down your pace in four years’ time, but to reflect on the ideas to which you will be exposed, and to be in a position to repair what is broken in the world you will then enter.

As perhaps never before, you have come of age in a culture of hurriedness. Yours is a generation that has never known life without the instant spread of information. Social networking was born before nearly all of you. And similarly, novel technologies that were unthinkable in my generation are native to yours.

Many of the innovations on which society has come to rely are the fruit of a mantra (口号) first expressed by Mark Zuckerberg. “Move fast and break things,” he instructed his staff at Facebook around the time of its 2004 launch. “Unless you are breaking stuff,” he continued, “you are not moving fast enough.”

To be sure, this mantra was eventually phased out (淘汰) as Facebook’s motto, but it remains very much a dominant ethos (理念) in today’s tech ecosystem.

This ethos also has gone into the DNA of newer online platforms that prioritize,rather harmfully, speed over depth. The appearance of artificial intelligence has allowed us to find its potential to compound (重) these trends.

So, rather than “move fast and break things,” I suggest here doing the opposite.

I am not against technological progress. I treasure the benefits of technological advance to our lives and our relationships. But the trend we have developed for the immediate divests us of the time and space necessary for careful reflection. So, I encourage you to watch out for it.

1. The speaker worries that the audience of this speech might become too ______.

A．adventurous

B．shallow

C．technological

D．purposeless

2. Why does the author mention Mark Zuckerberg?

A．To offer some background information for his speech.

B．To provide supporting evidence for his viewpoint.

C．To remove misunderstanding of his speech purpose.

D．To introduce the main problem mentioned in his speech.

3. What does the underlined “divests us of” in the last paragraph mean?

A．reminds us of saving	B．convinces us of using
C．saves us from losing	D．prevents us from having

4. The speaker made the speech mainly to ask her audience to ______.

A．slow down college education	B．catch up with the trends
C．slow down and fix things	D．abandon using technology

3 . Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, recently signed two bills into law that strictly limit children’s use of social media platforms. Under the law, which takes effect next year, social media companies have to check the ages of all users in the state, and children under age 18 have to get agreement from their parents to have accounts. Parents will also be able to use their kids’ accounts, apps won’t be allowed to show children ads, and accounts for kids won’t be able to be used between 10:30 pm and 6:30 am without parental agreement.

While some people argue age limitation allows tech companies to collect even more data about users, let’s be real: These companies already have much private information about us. To solve this problem, we need a separate data privacy law. But until that happens, this concern shouldn’t stop us from protecting kids.

One of the key parts of the law is allowing parents to use their kids’ accounts. By doing this, the law begins to help address one of the biggest dangers kids face online: harmful content.

One huge challenge the law helps parents get over is the amount of time kids are spending on social media. A 2022 survey found that, on average, children aged 8 to 12 spend 5 hours and 33 minutes per day on social media while those aged 13 to 18 spend 8 hours and 39 minutes daily. It’s warned that lack of sleep is connected with serious harm to children — everything from injuries to depression (抑郁), fatness and diabetes. So, parents need to have a way to ensure their kids aren’t up on social media platforms all night.

Considering the experiences many kids are having on social media, this law will help Utah’s parents protect their kids. Parents in other states need the same support. Now, it’s time for the government to step up and ensure children throughout the country have the same protection as Utah’s kids.

1. Which is allowed according to the new bill?

A．Ads can be put on to children.

B．Children can use social media freely.

C．Parents can check their kids’ accounts.

D．Related companies protect users’ accounts.

2. Why are some people concerned about the new bill?

A．Because children’s right to surf the Internet is limited.

B．Because more personal information may be given away.

C．Because it prevents the data privacy law from taking effect.

D．Because children may become too dependent on the Internet.

3. What benefit will limiting children’s Internet time bring?

A．Higher learning efficiency.

B．Better personal eating habits.

C．Easier access to healthy media.

D．Improved physical and mental health.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the new law?

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Flexible.

D．Negative.

4 . In early December, the US broke a terrible new record:38mass shootings in a single year, in which 203 people have died. This beat the previous record of 36 mass shootings, according to The Guardian. But why is there so much gun violence in the US? Although the issue is complicated, there are three big reasons: too many guns, weak gun laws and loopholes (漏洞), and cultural factors.

The US has a lot of guns –120.5guns for every 100 Americans, according to a 2017 survey. In other words, there are more guns than people in the US. This makes it easier for people to get guns.

Although US federal law says certain people can’t buy guns, it’s still fairly easy for Americans to buy them anyway, said Vox. A big part of this is loopholes in gun sales. In the US, when you buy a gun from a licensed shop or at a gun show, they have to check your background. But if you buy from a private seller, they don’t have to do that. Even in those cases where a background check is made, it can only take up to three days at most. If the seller does not receive a clear answer within three days, the seller can still sell the gun, reported CGTN.

The US also has a unique gun culture, influenced by the Second Amendment(第二修正案) of the US Constitution. Some people believe it gives them special rights, making them refuse to give up their guns for the greater good.

Despite these challenges, around 60 percent of Americans think gun violence is a big problem and want stricter gun laws, a 2022 Pew Research Center study said. But it’s unclear if US lawmakers, who listen to powerful gun groups like the National Rifle Association or Gun Owners of America, will make changes.

1. What are the main reasons for increasing gun violence in the US?
a. the high ownership of guns             b. the weak laws on buying guns
c. the light punishment on gun violence             d. the right to have guns in the minds of Americans

A．abc

B．abd

C．acd

D．bcd

2. Those who are not allowed to have guns _____.

A．won’t have any chance to buy guns	B．can purchase guns with a special license
C．can purchase guns from private sellers	D．can buy guns by showing their background

3. In the writer’s opinion, to keep gun violence under control in the US is _____.

A．meaningless

B．costly

C．tough

D．possible

4. What’s the structure of the story?

A．	B．
C．	D．

5 . One of the biggest concerns about today’s tech giants is their market power. In many countries, Google, Facebook, and Amazon dominate online search, social media, and online retail respectively. And yet economists have largely failed to address these concerns in a proper way. To help regulators as they struggle to address this market concentration, we must make economics itself more relevant to the digital age.

Digital markets often become highly concentrated, with one dominant firm, because larger players enjoy significant returns. For example, data generation plays a self reinforcing (自我强化的) rule; more data improves the service, which brings more users, and then generates more data.

As several recent reports have pointed out, the digital economy poses a problem for competition policy. Competition is vital for boosting productivity and long term growth, because it drives out inefficient producers and encourages innovation. Yet how can this happen when there are such dominant players?

Today’s digital giants provide services that people want: one recent study estimated that consumers value online search alone at a level which is equal to about half of media income. Rather than assessing likely short-term trends in specific digital markets, they need to be able to estimate the potential long-term costs.

This is no easy task, because there is no standard methodology (方法) for estimating uncertain futures. Economists ever disagree on how to measure static consumer valuations of free digital goods such as online search and social media. And although the idea that competition operates dynamically through firms entering and exiting the market dates back at least to Joseph Schumpeter, the standard approach is still to look at competition among similar companies producing similar goods at a point in time.

The characteristics of digital technology pose a great challenge to the entire discipline. As I pointed out more than 20 years ago, the digital economy is “weightless”. Moreover, many digital goods are non-rival “public goods”. You can use software code without stopping others from doing so, whereas only one person can wear the same pair of shoes.

1. What makes the regulators worry about the tech giants?

A．Market dominance.

B．Market profits.

C．Digital high-tech.

D．Economic stability.

2. How does a digital platform get profits?

A．By enlarging the platform.	B．By collecting more data.
C．By avoiding network effects.	D．By encouraging innovation.

3. What causes the difficulty in estimating a digital company?
①Lack of standard methodology.        ②Disagreements among economists.
③Innovation from producers.             ④Use of digital products at the same time.

A．①②③

B．②③④

C．①③④

D．①②④

4. Where does the passage probably come from?

A．A business magazine.	B．A science report.
C．A marketing guide.	D．An IT textbook.

6 . Fidget toys have been going viral recently, arousing safety concerns among parents and the whole society. To better protect the physical and mental health of young students, the Ministry of Education recently issued a notice, aiming to prevent fidget toys from presenting a risk to the health of the younger generations.

Fidget toys include inhaler nasal sticks and radish knives, which are popular as stress-relievers among students.

The “Energy Stick,” or inhaler nasal stick, has been selling well online recently on platforms such as Taobao. Some online shops have already sold nearly 100,000 sticks, whose prices range from 6 yuan to approximately 128 yuan. The product contains watermelon, tea and orange flavors and even alcohol to attract more customers. The online store salesperson responded by stating that the main ingredients of the product are camphor and mint (薄荷), which do not contain any addictive properties. Meanwhile, Zhao Ting, a medical expert, told the Global Times that some children are likely to get addicted to the “Energy Stick.”

The colorful plastic toy knife, a radish knife, nicknamed “Carrot Knife,” has also skyrocketed an astonishing selling online. “After her classmate had bought a Carrot Knife and said it was a fun toy to use, my daughter also bought one, which makes me anxious.” Julian, a father from Beijing told the Global Times on Saturday. Some of radish knives are so small that they can be gripped in the palm of a child’s hand while others are as long as one meter. There are various ways of playing with the radish knife, with some mimic (模拟) attack at friends as part of a game, according to media reports.

Experts warned that such toys could encourage violence and cause long-term mental harm to children. To change this situation, the government stressed the importance on maintaining strict management, and stopping harmful toys into campus. Schools should organize safety promotion activities to teach students to correctly identify and keep away from dangerous and harmful toys. Also, parents should teach their children to play with toys safely and correctly.

1. Why have fidget toys become popular recently?

A．They are beneficial to young students’ well-being.

B．They can help to reduce young students’ pressure.

C．Young students are allowed to use them at schools.

D．Young students can afford them at a suitable price.

2. What may help the “Energy Stick” attract young students?

A．Its high value.

B．Its plentiful nutrition.

C．Its rich contents.

D．Its effective sales.

3. What does Julian really want to say about the “Carrot Knife”?

A．It brings his daughter a lot of joy.	B．It might do harm to his daughter.
C．It has no effect on his daughter.	D．It helps his daughter realize her dream.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．Different responses made to fidget toys.	B．Great importance attached to fidget toys.
C．Practical measures dealing with fidget toys.	D．Potential dangers brought about by fidget toys.

7 . “Few articles change owners more frequently than clothes. They travel downwards from grade to grade in the social scale with remarkable regularity,” wrote the journalist Adolphe Smith in 1877 as he traced a coat’s journey in the last century: cleaned, repaired and resold repeatedly; cut down into a smaller item; eventually recycled into new fabric. But with the improvement in people’s living standards, that model is mind-boggling in the era of fast fashion. The average British customer buys four items a month. And it is reported that 350,000 tonnes of used but still wearable clothes go to landfills in the UK each year.

Yet the gradual revival of the second-hand trade has gathered pace in the past few years. At fashion website Asos, sales of vintage clothes (古董衫) have risen by 92%. Clothing was once worn out of necessity, and now it is simply a way of life. Busy families sell used items on eBay, teenagers trade on Depop and some fashion people offer designer labels on Vestiaire Collective. Strikingly, it has become big enough business that mainstream retailers (零售商) want a slice of the action.

For some buyers and sellers, the switch to the second-hand is born of financial difficulties. Only a few have become worried about the impact of their shopping habit on the planet. But the shift is only a partial solution. Some people worry that some mainstream brands may “greenwash” — using second-hand goods to improve their image, rather than engaging more seriously with sustainability.

However, the biggest concern may be that people keep buying because they know they can resell goods, still chasing the pleasure of the next purchase but with an eased conscience (愧疚). Boohoo, a powerful fast fashion company, has seen sales and profits rise, despite concerns about environmental problems in its supply chain that led to an investigation last year.

A new Netflix series, Worn Stories, documents the emotional meanings that clothes can have: Each old item is full of memories. Actually, a handbag from a grandmother and a scarf passed on by a father are both valuable for us. A love of style is not a bad or an unimportant thing. But a committed relationship is better than a quick flash. Can we learn to appreciate our own old clothes as well as others’?

1. What does the word “mind-boggling” underlined in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Unbelievable.

B．Popular.

C．Reasonable.

D．Influential.

2. With the business mentioned in paragraph 2, the author wants to show _______.

A．old clothes are more popular than new pieces

B．the online second-hand markets are booming

C．the fashion world begins to favor vintage clothes

D．many clothing brands are innovative in their new products

3. How does the second-hand trade impact people according to paragraph 4?

A．It makes people feel free to pursue fast fashion.

B．It makes people more cautious about their budgets.

C．It encourages people to choose eco-friendly clothes.

D．It pushes people to be more engaged with sustainability.

4. Which of the following views does Worn Stories advocate?

A．Old items have lost favor with the public.

B．Old items are worthy of being long cherished.

C．Older generations attach great importance to old items.

D．Older generations care about the quality of their clothes.

8 . My family has a new toy. At every gathering, a Mata Quest 2 virtual reality headset is now carefully unpacked and passed around. The metaverse (元宇宙) that the headsets access sounds like an appealing place. Create your own form, move between worlds and beyond the limitations of reality — what could be better? Yet the headsets are still massive and the apps cartoonist. Even the game my family loves best shows that perfect interaction with the real world and realistic pictures are still years away. After an hour, not even my nephews want to play anymore.

Yet this observation runs counter to the steady drumbeat of warnings that have emerged about virtual life over the past year. When Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen spoke out against her employer, addiction to the metaverse was one of the things she claims to be most worried about. Immersive environments would encourage users to disconnect from reality altogether, she said.

You can see why product managers like Haugen might worry. Many of us lost the battle against limiting our Internet use long ago. Tech addiction has tricked our brains into habits that ensure our overconsumption of tech products. For instance, our addiction to checking and rechecking our messaging apps. Or looking out for email notifications (通知). On this point, I agree. I’m guilty of both. I turned my own screentime reminders off months ago. Simply knowing how much time I was spending on my phone didn’t seem to be having any effect on my habits.

In lockdowns, spending hours at a time on the Internet became normalized. Yet this does not mean we are all on the edge of spending hours and hours in the metaverse. In the four years I have spent testing out virtual and augmented (强化的) headsets, I have yet to try one that feels comfortable. “Like tying a brick to your forehead,” as one friend put it. It is possible to buy upgraded head bands that attempt to redistribute the weight, but even so the sets still remain heavy.

1. How did the attitude of the author’s family change towards playing VR games?

A．From being absorbed to bored.

B．From being confused to confident.

C．From being curious to excited.

D．From being casual to interested.

2. In paragraph 2, what does the underlined phrase “run counter to” mean?

A．Confirm.

B．Challenge.

C．Repeat.

D．Ignore.

3. What does the underlined word “both” refer to?
① minimizing online use.
② checking messaging apps repeatedly.
③ being addicted to email notifications.
④ silencing the screen-time reminders.

A．①②

B．②③

C．③④

D．①④

4. What might stop people from spending too much time on the metaverse?

A．The addiction to virtual reality.

B．The anxiety caused by lockdowns.

C．The heaviness of virtual reality headsets.

D．The cost involved with buying tech products.

9 . When Jean-Philippe Michel, a career coach, works with secondary school students, he doesn’t use the word “profession”. Rather than encouraging his young clients to choose a profession, say, architect or engineer, he works backwards from the skills that each student wants to acquire.

Deciding the skills you want to use leads to a career that’s more targeted — and thus more likely to bring you satisfaction. “They need to shift from thinking about jobs and careers to thinking about challenges and problems,” Michel says.

“The purpose is to help teenagers plan for a “portfolio career”, which is made up of numerous micro-jobs and will be better received in the next decade, ”says Michel. “Instead of identifying your job role or description, you will be constantly adding skills based on what is going to make you more employable,” says Jeanne Meister.co-author of The Future Workplace Experience.

More traditional companies are offering various project opportunities to their own employees. Workers are encouraged to choose their next projects based on their skills, or skills they want to develop, which can mean working in different parts of the company. For companies, the payoff for experimenting with internal project-based opportunities means workers are less likely to jump from one company to the next. Micro-jobs can inspire a sense of belonging and autonomy within a company, which in turn might keep staff from job-hopping (跳槽) to the competition

“But when it comes to building a long-term career, there are disadvantages to creating a portfolio of work,” say experts. If you constantly hop from one project to the next, the change can be jarring and leave you without a clear path to success. “With fewer promotions and changes to job titles, it can be more difficult to feel like you’re succeeding even if you’re regularly completing projects,” says career coach Michel.

Of course, it can take companies years to change from traditional mentality to what boosts professional growth.

1. Why does Michel avoid using the word “profession” with his students?

A．To help them realize what they want to be.

B．To encourage them to choose a dream job.

C．To enable them to master survival skills.

D．To guide them to focus more on challenges

2. What is the advantage of portfolio career to employees?

A．It will make them more popular with colleagues.

B．It will equip them with more competitive skills.

C．It will discourage them from switching jobs.

D, It will help them enjoy a stable working state.

3. What does the underlined word “‘jarring” in paragraph 6 mean?

A．Unpleasant.

B．Significant.

C．Permanent.

D．Unavoidable.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards portfolio career?

A．Supportive.

B．Objective.

C．Doubtful.

D．Intolerant.