1 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?A.By listing some numbers. | B.By analyzing hidden causes. |
C.By making an interesting comparison. | D.By explaining its working principle. |
A.Lead enters poor countries in one way. |
B.Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries. |
C.Lead will definitely not harm anymore. |
D.Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
A.Fixing these used batteries. | B.Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
C.Ignoring the illegal use of lead. | D.Putting certain effort and money. |
A.The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man. |
B.The Global Lead Poisoning Problem. |
C.The Ways to Solve Lead Problem. |
D.The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles. |
2 . One single night every January, volunteers all over America search parks, woodlands and pavements to count those without shelter. After seeing their own figures for homelessness increase by 20%between 2022 and early 2023. Jersey officials were shocked into action. Officials spent more on rental assistance for those at risk of becoming homeless. More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The state also gathers real time data. In November New Jersey’s Office of Homelessness Prevention released its own figures , showing unsheltered homelessness falling across the state by 23% year on year.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city and home to the state’s largest homeless population, recorded a 58% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since the start of the year due to the government’s financial support to reduce street homelessness, improve the shelter system and expand housing and prevention services.
Luis Ulerio, the director of Newark’s Office of Homeless Services, says “there’s just been a lot of hard work behind that number.” Mr. Baraka, the mayor (市长),converted a local primary school into a 166-bed facility. He built temporary housing out of shipping containers. A second cluster (群) of containers with supportive services, called Hope Village II, will open soon. The containers have been altered to look like little cottages. A third cluster is in the works Mr.Baraka wants to create a pipeline from shelters to transitional housing and then to getting long-term homeless people into permanent housing.
More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The city also provides money for overdue rent to prevent homelessness. Beth Shinn of Vanderbilt University points out that it’s cheaper to give $ 200 to help make due rent for the poor than to pay thousands later. The city also relies on data , updated daily by those working with Newark’s homeless people. Real-time data is crucial , he says , in order to carry out interventions in state policy all on the frontline.
1. What can we learn about homelessness in New Jersey from paragraph 1?A.It has greatly affected people’s lives. | B.Official efforts are lacking to address it. |
C.Great progress has been made to ease it. | D.It is the most serious all over America. |
A.He designed and built the Hope Village series for them. |
B.He turned a school and shipping containers into o homes. |
C.He joined a permanent pipeline to the homeless houses. |
D.He led the volunteers to count people without shelter. |
A.Extended. | B.Donated. | C.Distributed. | D.Changed. |
A.Rent should be provided for the poor when it’s due. |
B.No rent should be charged to stop overdue rent . |
C.Real-time data should be in place to spot overdue rent. |
D.A limit should be set to avoid large sum of overdue rent. |
3 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in a row. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favorite shows stream (流播) directly to their television at their convenience.
This behavior is nothing new. In fact, binge-watching has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.
However, recent research suggests that out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back (一集接一集地), almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and 25% have neglected their household chores (家务活). Next we’ll be missing work!
Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of them are often associated with a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist (抗拒) watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?
The countless number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. However, when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning, then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, “A little of what you fancy does you good.”
1. How did the writer develop the first paragraph?A.By giving a definition. | B.By telling a story. |
C.By listing some examples. | D.By analyzing the cause and effect. |
A.For convenience. | B.At the same time. |
C.In detail. | D.Free of charge. |
A.people can’t control their feelings | B.people can’t resist the temptation of Bingeing |
C.people have no patience to do work | D.people are addicted to waiting for a new episode |
A.To keep online media from stopping functioning. |
B.To enjoy entertainment as much as possible. |
C.To learn life lessons from the episodes. |
D.To watch episodes in a moderate way. |
4 . A vague image shows a nearly naked (赤裸的) man in a vast field of rainforest, spear (矛) held up to the sky and pointed at both the helicopter and photographer circling above him – a man defending his territory and people from outside influence.
This very scene made headline news some years ago in the UK. It instantly addressed the loss of ancestral homelands some tribal (部落的) communities face as a result of ever-expanding plantations. However, bad news has a way of dominating the front pages, so we’re of the opinion that all aboriginal (原始的) communities are in decline --- and that’s not true.
During my travel through Inda, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early 1990s, I spent some time living with the Kalash, a tribe that inhabits three valleys in the Hindu Kush mountains range. I became frim friends with Saifullah, the chief spokesperson, and we’re still in touch to this day.
Back then I remember talking to a very serious aid worker in the American Club in Peshawar who told me straightly the Kalash, surrounded by conservative Islam, had no chance of survival and would be gone in 10 years. That was 25 years ago. When I caught up with Saifulluah recently, I asked what his response was to those who claim Kalash culture is dying.
“It’s not true,” he exclaimed, “The Kalash culture and community is as strong today as it was when you first came. We still have our festivals. We still have a shaman, bow shakers, and Qazis – people, who are holding the culture, the religious ceremony. Our younger people are not becoming more proud of their culture – they know they are different and they appreciate it. Many are learning the old ways from their seniors,” he added, “There are now over 4,000 Kalasha. Back in the 1970s they were maybe 2,500.”
Will Millard, a TV presenter who spent a year living with the Korawai of West Papua, agrees, “Perhaps tribal communities aren’t in decline, but just in transition,” he told me. “As a human society, we are in constant state of shift. We charge them of losing their culture because they’re wearing clothes, or using a gun instead of arrows, but a T-shirt doesn’t make them any less of a Korawai man. Culture was kept alive below the surface.” added Millard.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?A.To give a defintion. | B.To introduce an argument. |
C.To make a comparison. | D.To demonstrate a fact. |
A.Sceptical. | B.Objective. |
C.Dismissive. | D.Disapproving. |
A.Kalash people have increased awareness of their unique culture. |
B.The young generation has lost their traditions. |
C.The Kalash culture has been declining. |
D.Original culture has made Kalash people richer. |
A.Tribal culture is worth preserving. |
B.Tribal communities have been damaged. |
C.“Disappearing” culture remains the same as before. |
D.Traditional communities’ lives are changing. |
5 . New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka came of age alongside the internet. As a teen, he published his own blog and joined forum (论坛) for pop music. He discovered one of his favorite Jazz songs --- John Coltrane’s full version of “My Favorite Things” – driving around at night, listening to the local radio station.
Chayka misses the time ---and the ways, then, that personal discoveries like these were made. In his new book, Filterworld: How Algorithms (算法) Shaped Culture, Chayka says he never would have fallen in love with Coltrane’s songs if he’d heard it on Spodify. He says he doubts Spodify’s algorithm would even suggest it, because the song is so long. And that, even if it did, he wouldn’t have learned anything about Coltrane as an artist, because the Spodify interface doesn’t provide the same context that a radio DJ does, sharing details between songs. The person behind the song choice, he argues, made his emerging interest in Coltrane possible in a way modern recommendation system cannot.
This is one of many “back in my day” stories Chayka uses to illustrate his argument that algorithms have “shaped culture”. Thanks to recommendation generators like Tiktok’s top picks and Spodify’s autoplay suggestions, “the least troublesome and perhaps least meaningful pieces of culture are promoted,” Chayka argued. He admits that quality is subjective when judging these things, and instead argues that recommendation systems undermine personal taste. Taste, he writes, was once a combination of personal choices and popular influence --- but now algorithms rely more on choices of the masses. Developing taste requires effort and active engagement, but what we see now are algorithms turning taste into consumerism.
A central point of the book, in fact, is that people today are not only well aware of the power of algorithms, they can’t escape them. He interviews a young woman who wonders if “what I like is what I actually like,” worried that her taste is so shaped by algorithms that she can’t trust herself. The book may be most useful in these sections, where Chayka and his interviewees attempt to make sense of how internet algorithms have shaped their own lives and work.
1. What causes Chayka to be interested in John Coltrane’s music?A.The details provided by algorithm. | B.Listening to the local radio station. |
C.Recommendation of Spodify. | D.The charm of John Coltrane. |
A.How early internet shapes our culture. |
B.How technology impacts our personal taste. |
C.How social media changes our view of reality. |
D.How digital platform redefine mass consumption. |
A.underestimate. | B.enhance. |
C.transform. | D.disturb. |
A.Show the highlights of the book. | B.Comment on the structure of the book. |
C.Encourage the use of internet. | D.Praise Chayka’s writing styles. |
6 . The saying “You need to walk a mile in their shoes” couldn’t be truer. It goes for a person in a wheelchair to attend an event. You can’t fully grasp what it would be like for your attendees who use a wheelchair to experience your event until you’ve sat in their seat.
With that in mind, Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) offered participants an opportunity to attend the “Event Mobility & Accessible Design — An Immersive Tour” in a wheelchair. The event was led by accessibility advocate Rosemarie Rossetti, who has been in a wheelchair since an accident paralyzed (使瘫痪) her from the waist down 25 years ago. Rossetti took us for a test run of the wheelchair tour, which opened our eyes to the challenges those in a wheelchair face when attending events and gave us a better understanding of how to make those events more welcoming for them.
After we started pushing ourselves around, I was immediately reminded of a recent article on how San Diego Comic-Con attendees were disappointed except for those in a wheelchair. The exhibit hall of the event was not carpeted. The first thing you realize when pushing yourself in a wheelchair is that it’s far less physically taxing on cement (水泥) than on carpeting. You should know the truth that it takes more energy and time to navigate in a wheelchair.
I hope that my temporary experience in a wheelchair won’t fade from memory and that I will look at every event with fresh eyes. In the registration form, it’s not enough to ask whether the attendees need wheelchair access but what convenience they need.
What can be especially helpful to those in wheelchairs, Rossetti shared, was to feature an accessible navigation map in the app to highlight a wheelchair-only access route. Rossetti accompanied planners on their site visits to make sure the attendees would be fully accessible, but she also suggested proactive use of a wheelchair on the next site visit.
1. Why were the wheelchairs offered to the attendees at the event led by Rossetti?A.To make disabled people know the event’s challenges. |
B.To help them get used to disabled persons’ daily life. |
C.To make the event understood better by the organizers. |
D.To help them experience the event from disabled persons’ view. |
A.Demanding. |
B.Attractive. |
C.Ignorant. |
D.Rewarding. |
A.Organize more events. |
B.Care for many attendees. |
C.Make events more accessible. |
D.Design advanced wheelchairs. |
A.The achievements Rossetti made in the past. |
B.The feelings Rossetti had during the previous events. |
C.Rossetti’s suggestions on helping disabled attendees. |
D.Rossetti’s opinions on setting up accesses for disabled people. |
7 . A new survey by Harvard University finds more than two-thirds of young Americans disapprove of President Trump’s use of Twitter. The implication is that Millennials prefer news from the White House to be filtered through other source, not a president’s social media platform.
Most Americans rely on social media to check daily headlines. Yet as distrust has risen toward all media, people may be starting to beef up their media literacy skills. Such a trend is badly needed. During the 2016 presidential campaign, nearly a quarter of web content shared by Twitter users in the politically critical state of Michigan was fake news, according to the University of Oxford.
Young people who are digital natives are indeed becoming more skillful at separating fact from fiction in cyberspace. A Knight Foundation focus-group survey of young people between ages 14 and 24 found they use “distributed trust” to check stories. They cross-check sources and prefer news from different perspectives — especially those that are open about any bias. “Many young people assume a great deal of personal responsibility for educating themselves and actively seeking out opposing viewpoints,” the survey concluded.
Social media allows users to experience news events more intimately and immediately while also permitting them to re-share news as a projection of their values and interests. This forces users to be more conscious of their role in passing along information. A survey by Barna research group found the top reason given by Americans for the fake news phenomenon is “reader error,” more so than made-up stories or factual mistakes in reporting. About a third say the problem of fake news lies in “misinterpretation or exaggeration of actual news” via social media. In other words, the choice to share news on social media may be the heart of the issue. “This indicates there is a real personal responsibility in counteracting (抵消) this problem,” says Roxanne Stone, editor in chief at Barna Group.
So when young people are critical of an over-tweeting president, they reveal a mental discipline in thinking skills — and in their choices on when to share on social media.
1. What does the underlined phrase “beef up” mean in Paragraph 2?A.sharpen. | B.define. | C.boast. | D.share. |
A.tend to voice their opinions in cyberspace. |
B.check news by referring to diverse resources. |
C.have a strong sense of responsibility. |
D.like to exchange views on “distributed trust”. |
A.readers’ outdated values. |
B.journalists’ biased reporting. |
C.readers’ misinterpretation. |
D.journalists’ made-up stories. |
A.A Rise in Critical Skills for Sharing News Online. |
B.A Counteraction Against the Over-tweeting Trend. |
C.The Accumulation of Mutual Trust on Social Media. |
D.The Platforms for Projection of Personal Interests. |
8 . Think what the places you go to for nature was like in your parents’ or grandparents’ time. In many cases, the natural places of today are more developed or surrounded by more development, than they were decades ago. But to you, they still feel like nature.
That’s what psychology professor Peter Kahn calls “environmental generational amnesia (失忆症)”. What each generation comes to think of as “nature” is relative, based on what they’re exposed to.
In early research, Kahn studied children’s concepts of the environment in Houston, one of the largest and most polluted cities in the country. He found that, when children were asked about air pollution, most could explain it and point out other cities that were polluted — but not their own. “Each generation tends to see that degraded condition as the nondegraded condition, as the common experience,” Kahn wrote.
Interacting with nature makes a difference in how people view and move in the world, Kahn said. He turned to a preschool in Seattle and observed children developing skills in nature there. “The skills are not given,” Kahn said. “We have an entire generation that spends so much time in front of screens that, when they do go out into nature, they don’t know how to interact with it, or handle themselves.”
Meaningful interactions with nature not only can teach, but also help people revive, reflect and recognize the importance of the outdoors. Developing a “nature language” — meeting the environment in ways large and small that result in positive feelings — can begin to overturn environmental generational amnesia.
Here in Seattle, the city’s largest park can serve as a laboratory for how people interact with nature. “A park of that size allows for interactions with nature that are almost impossible to have in the city. It’s not enough, but it’s better than not having it.” Kahn said. “A bigger park is better than a smaller park, and a smaller park is better than no park. You can’t take nature for granted anywhere.”
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?A.Deforestation goes better. | B.Nature disappears quickly. |
C.The concept of nature changes. | D.Environmental amnesia worsened. |
A.Comfortable. | B.Sustainable. | C.Accessible. | D.Acceptable. |
A.offer positive feelings | B.improve people’s memory |
C.make surroundings greener | D.develop cities’ economy |
A.Seattle’s parks aren’t natural. | B.Seattle’s nature is well-preserved. |
C.More parks should be encouraged. | D.People can enjoy nature in the laboratory. |
9 . Here are some of the stereotypes or false impressions about Germany that we’re sick and tired of hearing.
Germans are unfriendly
If you’re living in Germany, don’t expect to make casual chat at the supermarket or bus stop. But it doesn’t mean Germans are unfriendly. The truth is that a lot of Germans are just more particular about when they socialize. If you’re in a space that’s made for socializing-anything from a dinner party to a nightclub-that cold shoulder you get in public will usually disappear.
Germans put efficiency ahead of everything
To some degree, it is true. For example, you might notice that the bus runs usually on time, and that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for recycling and careful uses of resources. On the other side, though, anyone who has lived in Germany might have had painful experiences with its public services. From taxes to gas bill, almost everything happens slowly and on paper.
German food is terrible
Ask foreigners about food in Germany and it’s likely that they will say it is too heavy on tasteless sausage and bread. But those complaints overlook a wealth of fantastic food, both cheap and fancy.
For one thing, Germany has 309 restaurants with Michelin stars, more than any other country except France, Italy and Japan. For those who don’t want to throw down € 100 on a meal, Germany also has a variety of bakeries. The country’s bread-making culture has its own UNESCO listing, and sweet treats from apple or cherry cakes to doughnuts are excellent, too.
1. Where do Germans most likely have small talks?A.In a gym. | B.In the office. | C.At the supermarket. | D.At a dinner party. |
A.The public transport isn’t well-managed. | B.Waste is rarely recycled. |
C.Online services aren’t easily available. | D.A lot of resources are wasted. |
A.Diverse. | B.Cheap. | C.Boring. | D.Expensive. |
10 . We grow up with a mixed message: making mistakes is a necessary learning tool, but we should avoid them. And that’s a real shame. Because when we tell kids that learning is all about the results, we teach them that mistakes are something to be feared and avoided. We stifle (压制) their interest in experimenting because experimenting means you’re going to make a mess and fail. And that’s too big a risk.
Here’s a fascinating experiment that shows how children absorb what we say about effort vs. results. One of professor Carol Dweck’s experiments asked 400 5th graders in New York City schools to take an easy short test, on which almost all performed well. Half the children were praised for “being really smart”. The other half were complimented for “having worked really hard”. Then the students were asked to take a second test and given the option of either choosing one that was pretty simple and that they would do well on, or one that was more challenging, but on which they might make mistakes. Of those students praised for effort, 90 percent chose the harder test. Of those praised for being smart, the majority chose the easy test. Professor Dweck told me: “One thing I’ve learned is that kids are exquisitely (敏锐地) familiar to the real message, and the real message is ‘Be smart’. It’s not ‘We love it when you struggle or when you learn and make mistakes.’”
One way we can fix this is by understanding the concepts of “fixed mindsets” and “growth mindsets”. Those with fixed mindsets believe either we’re good at something — whether it’s math or music or baseball — or we’re not. When we have this fixed mindset, mistakes serve no purpose but to highlight failure. Those with growth mindsets are much more likely to be able to accept mistakes because they know that they’re part of learning. And it’s been shown that when students are taught about growth mindsets, their motivation to learn improves.
1. Why do children often avoid experimenting?A.They consider the process time-consuming. |
B.They prefer easy tasks over challenging ones. |
C.They are not interested in hands-on activities. |
D.They are afraid of making mistakes and failing. |
A.Praise promotes children’s self-confidence. |
B.Keep children away from struggle and mistakes. |
C.Praise children for their devotion instead of their talent. |
D.Parents should give their children timely encouragement. |
A.A guidebook to parenting. |
B.A report on the art of praise. |
C.An introduction to a psychology book. |
D.A review of modern teaching. |
A.Is Making Mistakes a Challenging Process? |
B.Is Making Mistakes a Bad Thing Among Kids? |
C.Should Kids Be Praised for Efforts or Results? |
D.Should Kids Have Fixed Mindsets or Growth Mindsets? |