1 . China’s generation-Z is not “lying flat”, a phrase for giving up on hard work, as is often claimed, and making constant efforts to do everything is still the mainstream of a group who believes success should be achieved by constant efforts, Chinese officials said at a press briefing on Thursday, in response to a question on how younger generations should achieve balance between a lifestyle of “lying flat” in face of high pressure and involution.
“Most Chinese youth hold an optimistic view on the future, and the saying ‘lying flat’ is more of a joke to release pressure and express their feelings,” He Junke, the First Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), said at a press briefing of the State Council Information Office on Thursday.
At the press briefing, China released the first nationwide white paper on youth development titled “Youth of China in the New Era,” which showed achievements linked to the country’s youth development in the new era and reflected the spirit of younger generation. The white paper was also released ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of CYLC.
He said China has attached great importance to deeper issues reflected in the talk of “lying flat” among young generation, a result of increasing pressure from work, study and life caused by China’s unique demographic structure and highly competitive labor market.
“Some in the younger generation feel confused or lost. In response, authorities have scaled up (扩大) the amount of support available to help solve their issues in education, employment, marriage and child raising,” He noted, while urging the whole society to support the mental development and psychology of generation-Z.
He Junke pointed out that it is also important for certain young people to realize that it is unrealistic to build a career without taking responsibility and making efforts. “All happiness is achieved through devoted efforts, and making constant efforts is also a kind of happiness,” He stressed.
1. What does the underlined word “involution” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．The cruel external competition. |
| B．The healthy external competition. |
| C．A great change in conditions. |
| D．A complete circular movement. |
| A．He thinks that “lying flat” is useful to release pressure. |
| B．He laughs at most Chinese youth who give up hard work. |
| C．He thinks that “lying flat” is fun to express their feelings. |
| D．He disagrees that most Chinese youth is giving up working hard. |
| A．Problem of “lying flat” reflected deeper issues. |
| B．More and more young people choose to lie flat in China. |
| C．Young people face great pressure in their study and work. |
| D．China’s population structure affects the supply of labor market. |
| A．To encourage them to “lie flat” and avoid hard work. |
| B．To create a highly competitive labor market for the younger generation. |
| C．To push them to take on more responsibility and make concrete efforts. |
| D．To help them solve their issues in education, employment, marriage, and child raising. |
2 . There are many differences in ways of thinking between East and West. Many of them are reflected in daily behaviour. In particular, Chinese people sometimes attach more importance to their appearance and social status than to their inner qualities, while Westerners think the opposite. However, Socrates (Ancient Greek philosopher) and Confucius share significant similarities that are universal.
Both philosophers share several teachings in common; for example, their understanding of the nature of knowledge and their opinions on education. Socrates believed “There is only one good, knowledge;and only one evil, ignorance.” Similarly, Confucius said, “Isn’t it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?” But both also acknowledge the limits of knowledge. Socrates said: “All I know is that I know nothing.” Similarly, Confucius said, “When you know a thing, to hold you know it; when you don’t know a thing, to allow you don’t know it-this is knowledge.”
However, there are important differences in their understanding of morality. Confucius believed each person should follow certain regulations according to virtue(德行). Everyone should play their role in a society where people are interdependent in order to achieve harmony in the whole society. For instance, when asked how to govern a country, Confucius stated “An emperor should act like an emperor, a subject should act like a subject.” Socrates, however, places self-knowledge over social knowledge.
Another difference between them is their attitude towards political domination(支配). Confucius believed the best way to govern a country isn’t through legal system, but through virtue. Socrates, by contrast, declared that “nothing is more important than justice”.
Why have East and West developed such different cultural values? A widely accepted theory holds that Eastern civilization was an agricultural civilization. Hence the need for a collective society and friendly relations with neighbors was strong. Western civilization, however, was nomadic(游牧的). Their mobility makes them less dependent on society after migration.
In spite of their differences, the two cultures have more in common than differences. The shared concern for moral values in the teachings of Socrates and Confucius also shows us more fundamental similarities between Eastern and Western cultures in their pursuit of virtuous lives.
1. What do the two philosophers share about knowledge?| A．The learning of knowledge is easy. | B．The learning of knowledge is endless. |
| C．A man without knowledge is foolish. | D．A man shall not pretend to understand. |
| A．Nothing is more important than a legal system. |
| B．I am not a Chinese, but a citizen of the world. |
| C．Not everyone should play his own role in society. |
| D．A man does what is proper to the position he is in. |
| A．The difference in political atmosphere. | B．The difference in the length of history. |
| C．The difference in economic development. | D．The difference in levels of social dependency. |
| A．Reasons for similarities of Eastern and Western cultures. |
| B．The introduction of great figures of two different cultures. |
| C．Comparisons of the thoughts of the two great philosophers. |
| D．The contributions of two great philosophers to civilization. |
3 . College. It means that you are finally going to leave your parents’ nest and experience a lot of personal freedom and independence. You’ll wear whatever you want. You’ll make new friends. And you are definitely ready to enjoy your time in “paradise”.
However, college might be different than you have considered. When an English speaking contest was held in Beijing, about two-thirds of the 62 college students recalled their frustrations about their life in college.
Many of them said they didn’t know what they were supposed to do in college. “Most of the time, I lingered around in my dorm, idling hours and hours away, watching entertainment shows or soap operas on the Internet, or chatting with roommates, ”Huang Xuan, 23, from Guangxi University, said of his first two years of college life.
However, one day his mum asked him about his future plans after college. It was then that he realised his future would be ruined if he kept up such self-indulgence.
Li Yan, 20, from Shenzhen University, suffered a loss of not being one of the “marked” students. She was neither the chairman of the Student Union nor the one with the highest scholarship. Sun Tingting, 21, from Suzhou University of Science and Technology, dominated all the exams with the highest scores, but she felt confused because when she was free, she could think of nothing else to do and no one else to talk to. Zhang Xin, 19, from Beijing Foreign Studies University, began to re- examine what “college” means after she noticed many graduates from elite schools ending up in a job that does not pay well. “Our future is not guaranteed by our college, but rather by how we reshape ourselves in college.”
“Young people are experiencing ‘growing pains’,” said Li Fang, a mental health consultant. In the process of self-discovery, she thinks many Chinese young people suffer more than their peers in the West. Their independence comes much later. They are so used to relying on their parents that when independence suddenly comes in college, it can be difficult.
“Relax,“ Li advised. “This is part of growing up.”
1. The underlined expression “idling hours and hours away” in paragraph 3 can be replaced by “________”.| A．killing time | B．making use of time |
| C．saving time | D．valuing time |
| A．They are no longer the “best” students. |
| B．They have no friends to talk to in their spare time. |
| C．They have trouble communicating with their parents. |
| D．They realise that good college doesn’t guarantee a good job. |
| A．They often abandon themselves to watching TV or shows on the Internet. |
| B．They are accustomed to counting on their parents before coming to college. |
| C．They have never left their parents’ nests. |
| D．They are definitely ready to enjoy their time in college. |
| A．Learn from their peers in the West. |
| B．Consult a psychologist. |
| C．Relax and consider this as part of growing up. |
| D．Stop relying on their parents and learn to take responsibility. |
4 . Anyone can be late a handful of times, but to be the person who is always late—that’s an art, a frustrating art. Or, a side effect of your personality, scientists have found.
So what is it that causes some people to constantly miss trains, make it to the wedding just after the bride’s shown up and regularly annoy their friends? And why is it so hard for us to fix it? “There are allsorts of punishments for being late, but we are still late even when those punishments and consequences exist.” said Justin Kruger, a social psychologist at New York University.
One of the commonest reasons why people are frequently late is that-they fail to accurately judge how long a task will take—something known as the planning fallacy. Research has shown that people on average underestimate the tune to complete a task by a significant 40 percent.
Besides, forever-late-comers are more likely to be multitaskers. A 2023 study found that out of 181subway operators in New York City, those who preferred multitasking were more often late for their job. This is because multitasking makes it harder to have the awareness of what you’re doing. It’s also discovered there is a personality type that’s more likely to be late. While highly nervous, achievement-oriented Type A individuals arc more possible to be punctual, Type B individuals, however, who are calmer and more relaxed, have a higher chance to be late.
Admittedly, knowing all of this doesn’t necessarily help fix the problem. But scientists are starting to work on strategies that can slowly improve our punctuality. For people who constantly underestimate tasks, breaking down an activity into detailed steps can help people estimate how long something will take more accurately. As for your personality type, unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do to change that. But accepting that you need to struggle for it may just help. Acceptance, after all, is the first step to change.
1. What does the underlined word “fallacy” mean in paragrqph3?| A．A reasonable argument. | B．A mistaken belief. |
| C．A modest expectation. | D．A realistic idea. |
| A．They tackle more than one task at a time. |
| B．They plan to spend longer time on a task. |
| C．They suffer from concentration difficulties. |
| D．They have high expectations for achic’vcments. |
| A．Learning to accept who you are. | B．Changing your personality type. |
| C．Keeping to the timetable accurately. | D．Divide a task into smaller ones. |
| A．Late comers should be severely punished. |
| B．Time management contributes to success. |
| C．The habit of being late is related to character. |
| D．Accepting your personality improves punctuality. |
5 . Some 72% of American consumers say that product packaging influences their purchase decisions — a statistic not lost on food producers. This applies to not just the appearance design of packaging but what the labels say as well.
Louis Biscotti, the National Leader for Food & Beverage (饮料) Services Group, says that when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) updated its nutrition facts label for packaged foods in 2020, companies found new opportunities to increase sales. “The information on the FDA label and what you pack onto your label and packaging can be important factors in boosting sales.” He adds that 30% of U.S. consumers surveyed are more likely to buy products with sustainable certificates and that “clean label” characteristics can “win over consumers”.
A new report from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Economic Research Service takes a look at the popularity of the “natural” claim on food packaging — and it’s eye-opening. Study after study on the topic reveals that people think a product labeled as “natural” delivers benefits far beyond what it does, with most consumers mistakenly assigning health and environmental stewardship (管理) attributes to natural-labeled food.
At first, this might simply seem frustrating—that food producers capitalize on consumer simplicity to boost prices. And that consumers aren’t getting what they think they’re getting. But the more serious problem is how this harms food producers who are actually meeting the standards for more strict labels that are actually doing good, like ones around organic practices or animal welfare. Farmers and producers doing the work end up at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace if consumers treat foods labeled natural as alike.
“The economic problem raised by natural labels is that consumers could be paying extra for product attributes they are not receiving while producers of products with those attributes lose sales,” says Louis Biscotti. “As a consequence, any health and environmental stewardship benefits that might have been realized from consumers choosing products that matched their preferences could be lost.”
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The label’s influence on marketing. | B．The FDA study on nutrition facts. |
| C．The market theory of Louis Biscotti. | D．The basic data of the food producers. |
| A．Turn a deaf ear to. | B．Make use of. |
| C．Meet the needs of. | D．Break away from. |
| A．Critical. | B．Favorable. | C．Tolerant. | D．Unclear. |
| A．The Marketing Strategy of Packaging |
| B．The Function of Food Packaging and Labels |
| C．The Misleading Nature of “Natural” Labels on Food |
| D．The Consumers’ Purchasing Preference and Guideline |
6 . After bikes and umbrellas are made sharable across China, some companies started eyeing the fitness market, so shared gym rooms have hit the streets in Beijing.
Unlike common gyms that provide large, open spaces for many members to share at the same time, the newly built shared gym rooms are small, stand-alone rooms for a person to use, often set up near living communities.
Every four-square-meter room is equipped with a treadmill (跑步机), an air cleaner, a mirror, a television and an air conditioner, and users can let down the curtains for privacy. When exercising, users can listen to music, watch movies and check emails by connecting to the Internet by the screen fixed on the treadmill. There’s no shower or washbasin.
Similar to using a shared bike, users can locate a shared gym room by smartphone application, book a room in advance and then need to scan a QR code for use. A refundable deposit (保证金) of 99 yuan is required, and users are charged 1 yuan every 5 minutes.
The shared gym rooms are created by Misspao, a Beijing-based technology company founded in July. Within several months since it was founded, the company has already raised over 100 million yuan, Yicai Global reports. The idea of the shared fitness experience is not entirely nascent. Last December, the Shanghai-based technology company VRUN set up shared treadmills in office and apartment buildings.
The sharing economy is still becoming popular in China. According to Yicai Global, confident investors are pouring millions into sharing start-ups. In March, the State Information Center published a report which predicts that the total value of China’s sharing economy will see a yearly growth of 40% in the coming years, and it is expected to make a great contribution to the country’s GDP.
1. What makes the shared gym room different from the common one?| A．Holding one person at a time. | B．Standing in the living zone. |
| C．Offering open spaces. | D．Having some advanced equipment. |
| A．Let down curtains for privacy. | B．Pay 100 yuan first. |
| C．Use a smartphone. | D．Have a shower before exercise. |
| A．Simple. | B．Popular. | C．Satisfying. | D．New. |
| A．To advertise a technology company. | B．To introduce shared gym rooms. |
| C．To support the shared gym rooms. | D．To predict the future of shared gym rooms. |
7 . In the rush of day-to-day life, we don’t always have the time to slow down and move at our own speed. Even on vacation, we always try to visit, do and taste as many things as possible in a new place or many places.
“I’ve heard countless times how tired people are when they come back from their vacation and feel like they ‘need a vacation from their vacation,’ and that’s because many times we pack so much into a very short time,” said travel blogger Esther Susag. “We want to see everything, do everything, and not waste a minute.
There is, however, another method that many experienced travelers suggest: slow travel. But what exactly is slow travel, and how do you take full advantage of this kind of trip? Below ,travel experts break it down.
As the name suggests, slow travel generally needs travelers to slow down and enjoy each moment, rather than rushing to check off the list items. “Slow travel may mean different things to different travelers, but I define (定义) it as staying in one place for longer and going deeper into the local culture,” said Paul Jacobs, general manager and vice president of Kayak North America. “It’s taking the time to make real connections with locals instead of packing a schedule full of tours.”
For travel expert and author La Carmina, slow travel allows people to stop and smell the roses-quite directly. “It’s about being fully present in the moment and experiencing the sights, sounds and sensations (感觉) around you completely “letting the experience develop at its own speed and without expectations,” she said. “To me, slow travel doesn’t have a strict definition or certain things to do, but rather focuses on the feeling of being a visitor to a place.”
Slow travel is becoming more and more popular now, because it can do good to us in many ways.
1. Why are people tired when they return from their vacation?| A．They have no place to rest. |
| B．They are on a busy schedule when traveling. |
| C．They travel to some places far away. |
| D．They feel quite excited and enjoy their trip fully. |
| A．It can let travelers experience the place deeply. |
| B．It can make travelers save a lot of money. |
| C．It can allow travelers to explore more places. |
| D．It can save travelers much more time. |
| A．Other ways of travel. |
| B．The definition of slow travel. |
| C．The proper places for slow travel. |
| D．The advantages of slow travel. |
| A．Life. | B．Society. | C．Sports. | D．Education. |
8 . Many people would love to leave their jobs behind and have a life-changing adventure overseas. They imagine lying under palm trees as the sun goes down. However, life overseas is not always easy, and many are not prepared for the shock of living in an alien culture.
The honeymoon period
At first, for those who actually decide to move abroad, life is an exciting adventure. They enjoy exploring their new surroundings, and life seems like an extended holiday. They don’t mind trying the local cuisine and discovering the local culture. They can even afford to practice their foreign-language skills without fear of making mistakes.
Trouble in paradise
In many cases, when people consider moving to another country, they often fail to realize how different life will be. As time goes by, they become frustrated when language and cultural misunderstandings become a daily headache. In this stage, the visitors begin to withdraw from life in the host country and avoid spending time with local people in favor of mixing with others from their own cultural background.
The road to recovery
Gradually, most visitors realize they must accept the differences and not fight against them. This change encourages them to improve their language skills and slowly they manage to do the things they could easily do at home, such as opening a bank account. This new-found confidence enables them to see a side of life which very few tourists get to witness.
Adjusting to life abroad can often be a real problem. The secret to overcoming it is to stop trying to change your host country: you will not succeed. If not, you risk losing your dream and having to return to the old life you wanted to leave behind.
1. Why do people moving abroad feel excited at first?| A．They find foreign living much easier. |
| B．They love the adventure and exploration. |
| C．They have the necessary language skills. |
| D．They enjoy meeting people from different cultures. |
| A．Culture shock. | B．Homesickness. |
| C．Health problems. | D．Lack of employment. |
| A．Go on holidays frequently. | B．Learn how to open a bank account. |
| C．Study the local language. | D．Seek out people from their home country. |
9 . As the saying goes: The Internet is forever. Once you’ve put something online—a credit card number, a silly photo, a heat-of-the-moment comment on social media—it can come back to disturb you.
But what are the risks, really? “There are two worst-case situations,“ says Richard Klosowski, privacy and security editor of a product-recommendation service.” The most obvious one is a security issue. Everyone’s e-mail address and basic details are let out somewhere online, and if you reuse passwords, that means a criminal or immoral person will have an easier time getting into you accounts.
The problem is getting worse: Identity theft cases more than doubled in 2020, according to a survey conducted by Harvard university, with reported financial losses from fraud(欺诈) overall climbing to $3.3 billion from $1.8 billion in 2019.
“The second worse-case situation is more primal: embarrassment,” says Klosowski. And sometimes the pricks(刺痛) to our pride are far more personal than feeling ashamed over an awful photo. “Many of us store our most intimate thoughts in a digital notes app, draft e-mails we never send, or pour out our private feelings into a direct message to a friend. This is the type of thing that can be disclosed online, either through a provider being ignored or through your own misunderstanding of the often-confusing privacy settings in the software and services.”
With these sorts of slip-ups, the stakes can be high. But you’re not powerless. You can stand up for your privacy and begin to take control, starting right now.
1. The underlined saying “The Internet is forever.” in Paragraph 1 probably means_____| A．More and more people can’t live without the Internet. |
| B．People use the Internet to solve problems all the time. |
| C．The Internet is developing so fast that it will exist forever. |
| D．What people used to do on the Internet can be traced back. |
| A．By quoting experts. |
| B．By analyzing the data. |
| C．By providing examples. |
| D．By making comparison. |
| A．Their private thoughts and feeling get leaked online. |
| B．Their private thoughts arc written in an digital notes app. |
| C．Their messages are sent with private feeling to their friends. |
| D．Their privacy settings are paid no attention to in the software. |
| A．The benefits that the Internet bring to people. |
| B．The other serious problems people meet online. |
| C．More examples of how people feel embarrassed online. |
| D．The measures people should take to solve the problems. |
10 . It is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though he has to explain about his efforts to give his students a better future.
Mr Koziatek is part of something pioneering. He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not about books and tests and rote memorization(死记硬背), but something practical. As Koziatek knows, there is learning in just about everything. Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students to learn geometry at a desk. They can also learn geometry by putting together a bicycle.
But he’s also found a kind of prejudice. Working with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority (低等). Schools in the family of vocational(职业的) education “have that opinion … that it’s for kids who can’t make it academically,” he says.
On the one hand, that viewpoint is a logical product of America’s evolution. Manufacturing(制造业) is not the economic engine that it once was. The job security that the US economy once offered to high school graduates has largely disappeared. More education is the new way. We want more for our kids, and rightfully so.
But the headlong push into bachelor’s degrees for all — and the devaluing of anything less — misses an important point: That’s not the only thing the American economy needs. Yes, a bachelor’s degree opens more doors.
But even now, 54 percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs, such as construction and high-skill manufacturing, according to the National Skill Coalition. But only 44 percent of workers are adequately trained. There is a gap in working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs most aren’t equipped to do them. Koziatek’s Manchester School of Technology (High School) is trying to fill that gap.
Koziatek’s school is a wake-up call. When education becomes one-size-fits-all, it risks overlooking a nation’s diversity of gifts.
1. What’s the characteristic of Mr Koziatek’s school?| A．Paying attention to practical learning. | B．Letting students do many tests. |
| C．Encouraging students to read books. | D．Forcing students to learn by rote. |
| A．Vocational education is for academically challenged students. |
| B．Vocational education is undoubtedly a good choice. |
| C．Not all students can be admitted to college. |
| D．Not all students can do physical work. |
| A．They lower their expectations. | B．They try to improve their skills. |
| C．They turn to the government. | D．They continue their education. |
| A．It needs lots of effort. | B．It is worth achieving. |
| C．It is unpractical. | D．It is adventurous. |
