1 . Gather together a couple of good friends and take a leisurely stroll through the streets — this is what many youngsters in China enjoy doing when they visit a new city.
To them, Citywalk means “roaming around the city” on foot. Participants can follow a distinctive urban route, soaking up the atmosphere, exploring old buildings, browsing boutique shops, sipping a cup of coffee, or indulging in authentic local snacks.
Citywalk can be a special guided trip for a small group of people, or simply a leisurely stroll for one or two to explore new areas, sticking to the key point: avoiding famous scenic spots and big crowds to gain a more inclusive experience of the places you visit. Besides interacting with a city, Citywalk provides young people with a new social scene, where they who share the same interests and ideas can easily make friends.
In China, the Citywalk trend is spreading from first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai to second and third-tier cities, encouraging more participants and event organizers to get involved. Some organizers invite folk culture researchers and enthusiasts to act as tour guides. Xiao Yiyi, a young entrepreneur in Changsha, recently launched six Citywalk routes in different cities on her social media account, with the aim of providing experiences for visitors to “walk in open-air museums”. Her Changsha route features more offbeat sights like historical architecture from the 19th century, artsy old alleys, and even a stop-off to sample the local spicy crayfish specialty.
Even though Citywalk is a relatively new phenomenon, it is offering a positive change to urban travelers as they can better choose the experiences based on their interests and needs. At the same time, Citywalk represents an opportunity for tour guides and travel service providers to offer a more tailored, professional service to meet with ever-changing market demands.
1. Why do young people choose Citywalk?| A．To enjoy a guided tour. |
| B．To cut down expenses. |
| C．To dig deeper into a city. |
| D．To make new friends. |
| A．Doing sightseeing on foot. | B．Avoiding hot scenic spots. |
| C．Taking a local tour guide. | D．Keeping a fixed urban route. |
| A．A tour guide | B．A culture researcher. |
| C．A Citywalk enthusiast. | D．An event organizer. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Dismissive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
2 . A small town in western France has gone viral for marking a busy crossroads with overlapping (重叠的) white lines in order to confuse motorists and make them slow down.
The town of Bauné, near Angers, is home to only about 1,700 people, but it has to deal with heavy traffic on a daily basis because of its location at the crossroads between two departmental roads — D74 and D82. Some of the roughly 2,300 vehicles that pass through Bauné every day can have speeds of over 100 km/h, even though the town’s crossroads is clearly marked with signs limiting the speed at 30 km/h. In order to get drivers to slow down, local authorities came up with the idea of using confusing road markings in the form of overlapping continuous lines. Interestingly enough, the strategy worked like a charm!
Photos of the odd road markings on the busy crossroads of Bauné went viral on French social media recently and left a lot of people scratching (抓) their heads. Many people have pointed out that a continuous white line is impassable (不可通行的), so having the lines overlap and cover the entire square doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Others simply wondered why the local authorities didn’t use more traditional means of decreasing vehicle speed, like a roundabout (环形交叉路口) or traffic lights.
According to Grégoire Jauneault, deputy mayor of Loire-Authion and the person in charge of local development, the deliberately confusing road markings started working on the day they were completed, with data showing a significant decrease in motorists’ speeds. However, a part of the local community predicted that the result was only temporary and that as soon as motorists figured out the game, they would go right back to their speeding ways.
1. What’s the purpose of marking a busy crossroads with overlapping white lines?| A．To make headlines on social media. |
| B．To reduce traffic jam at the crossroads |
| C．To make drivers slow down their speed. |
| D．To reduce the number of people crossing the crossroads. |
| A．Only 1,7000 people living there. |
| B．The speed limit is 100 km/h at the crossroads. |
| C．Traffic jam happens every day at the crossroads. |
| D．Roughly 2,300 vehicles pass through Bauné every week. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Supportive | C．Opposed | D．Objective |
| A．In a textbook | B．In the newspaper |
| C．In a research paper | D．In a travel magazine |
Jennifer Jones, a 15-year-old teenage girl, fainted in her PE class and then
Jennifer’s case is a reminder of the dangers of the
Anyway living well is the safest and most effective way to get into shape. If we all do so, our society
4 . A woman held her phone tightly to her heart the way a churchgoer might hold a Bible. She was anxious to take a picture of an impressive bunch of flowers that sat not so far away, but first she had to get through a crowd of others pushing their way to do the same. The cause of this was Bouquets to Art, one of the most popular events at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
Flower sellers were asked to create flower arrangements that respond to pieces of art on display, from ancient carvings to contemporary sculptures. It’s extremely attractive and also memorable, to the point that it has become a problem.
In recent years, the de Young received more than a thousand complaints from people who felt that cell phones had spoiled their experience of the exhibit. Institutions of fine art around the world face similar problems as the desire to take photographs becomes a huge attraction for museums, as well as something that upsets some of their patrons(资助人). So the de Young responded with a kind of compromise: carving out “photo free” hours during the exhibition’s six-day run.
One common complaint about the effect of social media on museum culture is that people seem to be missing out on experiences because they are so busy collecting evidence of them. A study recently published in the journal Psychological Science suggests there is some truth to this. It finds that people who keep taking photos of an exhibit and posting them on social media rather than simply observing it, have a hard time remembering what they see. But the issue is complex for the professionals running museums. Linda Butler, the de Young’s head of marketing and visitor experience, acknowledges that not everyone wants a museum to be “a photo-taking playland”. Yet a lot of people do and she believes that the de Young is in no position to judge one reason for buying a $28 ticket to be more valid than another. “If we removed social media and photography,” she says, “we would risk becoming irrelevant.”
1. What was the woman eager to do according to paragraph 1?| A．To get her phone. | B．To escape the crowd |
| C．To take a photo. | D．To push ahead. |
| A．By setting periods without photo-taking. |
| B．By making the exhibition free of charge. |
| C．By compromising with the government. |
| D．By extending the free exhibition hours. |
| A．uncover the truth | B．cause irrelevancy |
| C．bring more pleasure | D．play a negative role |
| A．Reducing admission prices. | B．Meeting different needs of the visitors. |
| C．Reserving judgement in public. | D．Banning social media and photography. |
5 . You cannot judge a book by looking at its cover! That's what a group of parents and students in Hangzhou has found out this term.
When they came to school in September, the students were shocked to learn that their class teacher was to be a P.E. teacher. How could someone who teaches table tennis and basketball know anything about academics? Their parents were equally worried and pressured the school to replace ''Miss Muscle'' with a ''Miss Brain. '' However, the principal(校长) did not give in to the pressure and now the parents and students are happy that the school firmly insisted.
After three months, the P.E. teacher, whose name is actually Miss Su, has turned out to be a wonderful class teacher. She is intelligent, kind and helpful. She is a good leader who keeps her students active in their studies and participate in school activities. And she has won the parents over with her real caring for their children. In other words, Miss Su, the P. E. teacher, is ''pretty extraordinary. ''
The early negative reaction against Miss Su is an example of bias(偏见). A ''bias'' is wrong in thinking that has an influence on a person's opinions and decisions. For example, in business, tall men are more likely to be bosses. In the United States, anyone who is above 190 centimeters tall can expect to have a higher salary and to get more promotions than his shorter co-workers. Similarly, women have a difficult time climbing the career ladder because their bosses(mostly men!) think that women lack leadership skills and the necessary toughness to make difficult decisions. Neither of these opinions is based on facts or the talents of the individual. They're just bias.
1. What seemed to be the parents' early reaction to Miss Su?| A．They were excited. | B．They were amazed. |
| C．They were worried. | D．They were interested. |
| A．She is an excellent P. E. teacher. |
| B．She was finally removed. |
| C．She really cared about her students. |
| D．The headmaster was proved to be wrong. |
| A．tall men are usually excellent | B．people are often judged with bias |
| C．opinions should be based on facts | D．women lack leadership skills |
| A．Disagreeable. | B．Acceptable. |
| C．Careless. | D．Curious. |
6 . There are many different voices on charity donations recently. Chen TianQiao, one of the Chinese billionaires, gave away $115 million to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to help promote brain research. Chen has been interested in the brain research, believing it can advance the industries of artificial intelligence and virtual reality. However, this huge donation has caused heated discussion among Chinese scholars and internet users.
Many criticized him for giving money to a foreign university rather than domestic institutes for brain research, which are developing fast and are catching up with the US in just a few years. RaoYi, a biologist at Peking University, even said the donation was a typical mistake.
Others, however, support his choice. They believe Caltech is a more reasonable choice compared with Chinese research Institutes. Caltech has a long history and has taken a leading position in biology, and therefore it produces more efficient results. What’s more, the results of the research will benefit not only the Americans, but also the rest of the world.
A similar controversial(有争议的) case started two years ago when Pan ShiYi, chairman of SOHO China, donated $15 million to Harvard University to help disadvantaged Chinese Students.
Many believe that China is still far behind in management and use of donated money, and that as a result, Chinese donators are looking abroad. In comparison, Western countries like the US, which have a long history of donating money, have well-developed systems that use money efficiently. They can also provide full access for donors who want to track the use of the money. To get more donations, Chinese universities should be braver and more honest. They need self-reflection rather than envy.
1. Why did Chen’s huge donations draw people’s attention?| A．It was used for brain research rather than for the poor. |
| B．It was not used efficiently. |
| C．It was the largest donation. |
| D．It should have been donated to a Chinese college. |
| A．home. | B．family. |
| C．household. | D．homepage |
| A．inform some Chinese students are poor at education |
| B．show off the generosity of Chinese billionaires |
| C．present the widespread disagreement over donating abroad |
| D．prove the Chinese are crazy about donations |
| A．Developing artificial intelligence. |
| B．Educating the braver and more honest graduates. |
| C．Developing fast to catch up with the US. |
| D．Developing systems to use the donations efficiently. |
7 . You may have noticed something different when you ate at your favorite restaurant. Or perhaps you picked up on it while looking through your social media apps (社交媒体软件) . You guessed it——we’re becoming a foodie (吃货) culture.
For some, that means photographing every dish, but others are taking it one step further. Sophia Hampton, a senior at Staples High School in US, chooses to make her own food. She has been published in Future Chefs, a cookbook of recipes (食谱) by teens.
Hampton’s best advice for those who want to be foodies is to get in the kitchen.
“Start cooking,” she said. “There are so many resources online, like recipes and articles about food. Go to your local farmers’ market and start cooking with them.”
Besides blogs and online resources, there are also hands-on cooking classes for students. The Chopping Block, a Chicago cooking school, offers many different classes for teens, including courses on chocolate and French food.
By attending cooking classes, surfing online and going to restaurants, you can find endless recipes. But sometimes becoming a real foodie means being behind a camera. As our food-loving culture becomes more popular and teen-friendly, social media apps like Facebook, have become major players in food culture.
“Getting involved in foodie culture is as easy as having a camera and a social media app,” one foodie said. “I always go to streets and farmers’ markets to take beautiful pictures of food. Wherever food prices are expensive, the photos are free.”
1. What does Hampton advise those who want to be foodies to do?| A．Post their recipes online. | B．Cook food by themselves. |
| C．Eat at their favorite restaurant. | D．Take photos of every dish they eat. |
① cooking classes ② online resources ③ new restaurant ④ public libraries
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ |
| C．②③④ | D．①②④ |
| A．People’s growing interest in traditional culture. |
| B．The convenience of getting different food. |
| C．The use of cameras and social media. |
| D．The drop in food prices. |
Everyone knows that the Frenchmen are romantic, the Italians are fashionable and the Germans are serious. Are these just stereotypes or is there really such a thing as national character? And if there is, can it affect how a nation succeed or fail?
At least one group of people is certain that it can. A recent survey of the top 500 entrepreneurs (企业家) in the UK found that 70% felt that their efforts were not appreciated by the British public. Britain is hostile (敌意的) to success, they said. It has a culture of jealousy (嫉妒).
Scientists at Warwich University in the UK recently tested this idea. They gathered a group of people together and gave each an imaginary amount of money.
“It is not really success that the British dislike,” says Carey Cooper, a professor of management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. “It’s people using their success in a way that seems proud or unfair or which separates them from their roots.”
| A．This seems to prove that the entrepreneurs were right to complain. |
| B．The one who owns most money in the end is the winner. |
| C．As a result, the survey said, entrepreneurs were “unloved, unwanted and misunderstood.” |
| D．It is not true that British people are born jealous of others` success. |
| E．Some were given a little, others a great deal. |
| F．But instead of being happy they complain that nobody loves them. |
| G．Perhaps it is the entrepreneurs who are the problem. |
Many theories regarding the causes of juvenile delinquency（crimes committed by young people）focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence．Theorieson the individual suggest that childrencriminal behavior before they were not sufficientlyfor previous misbehaviors or that they have learned criminal behavior through interaction with others．Theories focusing on the role of society suggest that children commit crimes into their failure to rise above their socioeconomic status or as a rejection of middle-class values.
Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on children fromfamilies，the fact that children from wealthy homes also commit crimes．The latter may commit crimes for lack of adequate control from parents．All，however，are uncertain or unimproved and are of course challenged with criticism.
Changes in the social structure may indirectlyjuvenile crime rates．For example，changes in the economy thatto fewer job opportunities for youth and rising unemployment make gainful employment increasingly difficult to obtain．This results inamong youths and may inlead more youths into criminal behavior.
Families have also experiencedthese years．More families consist of one parent households or two working parents；，children are likely to have less supervision at home than was common in the traditional family．This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates．Other noticeableof offensive acts includeexperience or failure in school，theavailability of drugs and alcohol，and the growing phenomenon of child abuse and child neglect．All these conditions tend to increase theof a child committing a criminal act，a direct cause and effect relationship has not yet been established.1.
| A．centering | B．depending | C．figuring | D．concerning |
| A．refer to | B．know about | C．engage in | D．learn of |
| A．punished | B．forgiven | C．forgotten | D．excused |
| A．return | B．contact | C．reference | D．response |
| A．respected | B．cultivated | C．disadvantaged | D．immigrated |
| A．considering | B．ignoring | C．highlighting | D．believing |
| A．values | B．misbehaviors | C．criminals | D．theories |
| A．affect | B．reduce | C．prevent | D．reflect |
| A．point | B．lead | C．come | D．add |
| A．in general | B．on average | C．by contrast | D．at last |
| A．discomfort | B．dissatisfaction | C．dishonesty | D．discrimination |
| A．case | B．short | C．turn | D．return |
| A．failure | B．miseries | C．development | D．changes |
| A．contrarily | B．consequently | C．similarly | D．occasionally |
| A．education | B．concept | C．structure | D．economy |
| A．suggestions | B．causes | C．ideas | D．reports |
| A．smooth | B．favorable | C．unfavorable | D．practical |
| A．increasing | B．restricted | C．reasonable | D．popular |
| A．knowledge | B．aspect | C．strength | D．probability |
| A．since | B．although | C．as | D．because |
Bill Lasik, senior editor of Harper’s Magazine, organized the first flash mob in Manhattan in May 2003 and the first successful flash mob came together on June 3, 2003 - after the first attempt was foiled at Macy's department store．Lasik claimed that the activity was designed to make fun of hipsters （起时髦的人）, and call attention to the cultural atmosphere．
Flash mob gatherings can sometimes shock people．Such an activity might seem amusing and untrue, but it also might frighten people who are not aware of what is taking place．Undoubtedly, flash mobs can serve as good political tools in any direction．They also have great economic potential, such as using flash mobs to advertise a product．
The flash mob is now becoming more and more popular．People use it to do many things．For example, in 2009, Michael Jackson's fans took part in a flash mob to remember him．Hundreds of his fans gathered singing and dancing Michael's famous song "Beat It" together．Flash mobs give people from all walks of life an opportunity to come together to create a memory．
1. The undefined word "foiled" in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by .
| A．forgotten | B．prevented |
| C．announced | D．confirmed |
| A．The flash mob usually breaks up quickly for lacking enough time. |
| B．Once the place for the activity is determined, it can't be changed. |
| C．The flash mob can be made use of in many fields just for fun. |
| D．It gives people the chance to come together to do something unusual. |
| A．to entertain | B．to encourage |
| C．to inform | D．to persuade |
| A．negative | B．favorable |
| C．objective | D．doubtful |
