1 . Not everyone is excited about birthdays. There are many people out there who never feel excited about it.
This may be common in those who are in their 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s... For some people in this age, life becomes a journey that is going on and on and on at a faster pace. They feel like losing control of their time and every passing year doubles the fear of dying soon. This is not good as it is negative.
Some people do not like to come to the notice of others due to any possible reason on this earth. You may feel amazed about this nature. But they like to remain as part of the crowd.
Here comes another part of the population that thinks it is a waste of money.
Instead of aiming for a perfect day, set realistic expectations for your birthday.
| A．They don’t like it either. |
| B．But they can’t help doing so. |
| C．Birthdays are contrary to this feeling. |
| D．What makes them act so indifferent after all? |
| E．Everyone wants to know the plans of the birthday. |
| F．They do not spend on those who do not help earn money. |
| G．Nothing in their routine changes in the name of celebration. |
2 . 1 It is commonly believed that teens’ preference for waking up and staying up later was driven by social forces—the pressures of school, the pleasures of partying. Mary Carskadon at Brown University, Rhode Island, however, assumed that biological factors might be responsible.
2 To test that theory, she surveyed 2000 schoolchildren across the US on their preferred and actual bedtimes and wake times; the times of day when they felt most or least attentive and energetic; and their physical development. The results pointed to biology. Sixth-graders ( aged 11or 12) scored higher on “eveningness” and lower on “morningness” than younger children, even though they occupied the same social background—a tendency that connected with their stage of puberty (青春期). In earlier studies, Carskadon had shown adolescents need more sleep than younger kids to avoid daytime sleepiness. Therefore, she and her team concluded, the practice of ringing the morning bell earlier at middle schools (for 1 1 to 13-year-olds) and high schools (for ages 14 to 18) than at elementary schools “may run exactly oppose to children’s biological needs”.
3 Carskadon went on to confirm her findings using more direct methods, such as measuring levels of melatonin (褪黑激素) in teens’ saliva (唾液) round the clock. In response, a growing number of local governments in US began pushing back start times in middle and high schools. Further research linked such moves to higher test scores, as well as lower rates of depression, substance use, illness and vehicular accidents.
4 In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that middle and high schools start the day no earlier than 8: 30 am. The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association later followed suit. In 2019, California became the first US state to pass laws based on those guidelines. This May, Florida became the second. Meanwhile, school districts from Australia to South Korea have launched similar reforms.
1. What did Carskadon believe caused teenagers waking up and staying up later?| A．Social factors. | B．Academic burden. |
| C．Biological elements. | D．The pleasure of having parties. |
| A．Her assumption was totally baseless. | B．Younger children tended to stay up later. |
| C．Younger children and teens had a lot in common. | D．Physiological stage affected teen’s sleep behaviors. |
| A．Pushing back middle school start times is beneficial. | B．Direct methods are adopted in Carskadon’s research. |
| C．Carskadon’s research needed further improvements. | D．Some middle schools started their school later now. |
| A．Broke down barriers. | B．Acted in the same way. |
| C．Convinced the authority. | D．Raised people’s awareness. |
3 . “If you feel unloved, go mountain climbing, after which you will feel so exhausted that you won’t think about it.” Recently, a self-made sign post at Yuelu Mountain in Changsha, Hunan province has trended on social media platforms. Many people go to the mountain to take pictures with the sign. Mountain hiking has become a new trend for people looking for beautiful autumn views.
One can find the sign on a small road near the west gate of the mountain. The sign has also become a must visit for travelers. One netizen joked that it is vital to climb the mountain. Another said if you feel unloved, go working, and then you will also be exhausted and get paid.
A staff member from the Yuelu Mountain scenic spot management office said the office did not put up the sign, but it has become famous.
A milk tea store at the foot of the mountain has launched an “unloved” specialty and many travelers bring bumper stickers that say “unloved” while looking for the “unloved” sign, the staff said.
The sign was actually put up by mountain climbing lovers. The “heart-shaped track” on Yuelu Mountain has also trended at social media platforms recently, with netizens exploring a new track to climb the mountain, which forms the shape of a heart. While one can reach the mountain top, which is about 300 meters high, in about 30 minutes via a concrete road, the heart-shaped track is much longer and takes about three to four hours to complete.
ICE (pseudonym), 28, said she and her friends tried the heart-shaped track a few days ago and did not feel very tired. “Many people do not exercise often and are not in very good health, so the sign is a way to joke about mountain climbing,” she said.
1. Which word could best describe the milk tea store keeper?| A．Smart. | B．Committed. |
| C．Industrious. | D．Unrealistic. |
| A．Many people feel unloved nowadays. | B．Working is more rewarding than hiking. |
| C．Being exhausted is the best cure for a broken heart. | D．People have different interpretations of the sign post. |
| A．Whoever takes it could find true love. | B．It is more demanding than another route. |
| C．Both the sign and the track are practical jokes. | D．The management office designs the track this autumn. |
| A．A Signpost Shoot to Fame Online | B．Hiking is A Good Way to Find Love |
| C．Yuelu Mountain, A Famous Scenic Spot | D．Mountain Hiking, A Fashionable Trend |
4 . Technology has changed our lives and reshapes the way we live. Some of us love it and some of us are frustrated (懊恼的) with it. This is clear as most of us are guilty of being addicted to the Internet and social media.
The invention of airplanes, ships and spacecraft always allows people to visit other countries and even other planets. As long as we follow the laws of immigration, we can go to any country we like.
In addition, technology is also used by a large number of teachers to improve their teaching. It can make the lessons more interactive and interesting for students. E-learning is possible with the use of the Internet connection and computers. People wishing to study for a degree can do so at their comfortable homes.
However, we have to say that technology can be a double-edged sword. Nowadays, instead of paying attention to the conversation we are having face to face, we just take the phone. We are distracted by smartphones and technology in general. But we can’t blame technology. We should not blame ourselves, either.
| A．This gives students flexibility. |
| B．What we need to do is to find some balance. |
| C．This makes it easy for students to make progress. |
| D．Nevertheless, we have seen some benefits of technology. |
| E．When it comes to shopping, technology is also of great help. |
| F．Besides, we have suffered a lot from modern communication. |
| G．And of course, travelling can make people’s lives more colorful. |
5 . You’re passed over for a job. Your back aches. Faced with difficulties large and small, you wonder if you’re an unlucky person. We turned to experts to understand why we believe in luck and how we can have that belief to make changes in our attitude towards life.
Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor, doesn’t believe there’s anything magical about luck — it won’t help you or hurt you. “On the other hand, considering yourself lucky or unlucky is a way of seeing yourself, which has an impact on how you behave and how you think, and becomes a self-fulfilling anticipation,” he says. “So, in a sense, it absolutely does exist.”
The sociology lecturer Vik Loveday interviewed academic employees who were on temporary contracts, an uncertain situation that caused anxiety. In general, when one of these academics learned about good news concerning their careers, such as getting a permanent job, they would attribute it to luck. Because they felt they had so little control, a move in a positive direction happened almost by accident, rather than as the result of hard work.
In a 2021 study, Professor Woolley has looked at this idea in children and adulthood. For example, basketball player Michael Jordan would wear his college practice shorts under his National Basketball Association uniform for good luck. “Obviously, it’s that the superstitious (迷信的) custom gives him confidence and then he plays better,” Woolley says.
Is it possible to change your attitude towards luck to get better outcomes? Wiseman believes some steps can improve your luck. He has found “lucky people not only maximize opportunities and know where they’re heading, but often they change course depending on how the wind is going”. Lucky people can also transform bad experiences to good. Specifically, you can shift your focus towards the positive by keeping a “luck diary”. Also don’t be a creature of habit. Watch a different TV program, speak to different people — even small shifts can be effective.
1. What does Wiseman say about luck in paragraph 2?| A．It might be wise to try one’s luck. |
| B．Luck is a magical force to control us. |
| C．The belief in luck influences our behavior. |
| D．People’s well-being is determined by luck. |
| A．Confirming Loveday’s study. |
| B．Showing luck exists in real life. |
| C．Disapproving Woolley’s research. |
| D．Comparing different lucks in sports. |
| A．Getting into a routine. | B．Sticking to a goal firmly. |
| C．Setting down terrible things. | D．Making changes flexibly. |
| A．Less Anxiety, More Luck |
| B．Good or Bad Luck? Up to You |
| C．One Can Stay Lucky Through Life |
| D．Genius — the Mother of Good Luck |
6 . By now, nearly everyone knows we can be addicted to our digital devices. The average smartphone user rarely goes two hours without using her device, unlocks her device 50 or more times a day, and swipes or taps on it as many as 2,617 times in the process. The youth are particularly affected: A 2018 Pew Research Center report found that 44 percent of teens said they often check their devices for messages or notifications as soon as they wake up, 54 percent said they spend too much time on their mobile phone, and 42 percent feel anxiety when they do not have it.
A device addiction is quite harmful. It is associated with depression and anxiety. According to the technology research firm Compare Camp, 26 percent of car accidents in the U.S. today are due to the use of smartphones while driving. These problems are obvious to almost everyone; the solutions, less so. Some experts suggest taxation to help limit digital overuse, similar to the way the government discourages tobacco use. Others say the only way to beat an addiction is to quit cold turkey and go device-free.
But in a world of electronic payments, digital documents, and remote work, a truly smartphone-free lifestyle is getting less and less practical. A better—and, for many of us, more reasonable—approach is to manage addictive behavior by moderating device use. This isn’t just a matter of setting screen-time limits you can easily break; rather, you can start to develop specific habits to replace the unhealthy ones that keep sending you back to your phone.
The digital-technology scholar Cal Newport recommends the “phone foyer” method, wherein he leaves his phone by the front door when he walks into his house, and doesn’t put it in his pocket until he leaves again. If he needs to look at it, he does so only in the foyer. Just as the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus taught in his Discourses, “No man is free who is not master of himself.”
1. How does the writer explain phone addiction in paragraph 1?| A．By giving reasons. | B．By listing numbers. |
| C．By raising questions. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Charging a tax. | B．Stop eating turkeys. |
| C．Stop using smartphones. | D．Discouraging smoking. |
| A．To show respect to Epictetus. | B．To prove the “phone foyer” method. |
| C．To advise people to be a master. | D．To inspire people to get rid of phone addiciton. |
| A．How to Break a Phone Addiction | B．Effect of Phone Addiction on Teens |
| C．Phone Addiction Ruins Our Freedom | D．Device Addiction Contributes to Depression |
7 . One of the biggest worries we have is that we’re not getting enough hours of sleep, which means that we’re doomed to (命中注定) bad health, everything from high blood pressure to Alzheimer’s disease. But there are two disadvantages with this kind of messaging.
The first is that it is not completely accurate. Seven to eight hours of sleep, while recommended for adults, is just an average. And while messages have to be simplified for health communication to the public, sometimes important nuances (细微差别) get lost. It’s true that not getting enough sleep in the long term is associated with health problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression. But focusing only on seven to eight hours ignores the fact that there’s a range of sleep that people need. Some adults need eight, but some are just fine on six.
The second error with this kind of messaging is that it can be counterproductive (适得其反的), especially for people who do have trouble sleeping. For instance, it was estimated that 21 percent of adults in the US were wearing sleep tracking devices. It’s fascinating to see how much sleep you’ve gotten each night and what part of your night was spent in deep sleep. But having all of that sleep data is causing some people to become addicted to it; so much so that it’s leading to a condition some call orthosomnia (完美睡眠主义), which is causing more sleep problems.
So stop focusing on the number because that can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep. The basic questions you should ask yourself are: Do I generally sleep through the night without disturbances? If I wake, do I fall back asleep easily? Can I stay awake through the day without unconsciously falling asleep? If your answers are yes, there’s no need to worry about your sleep. If you’re struggling with your sleep, instead of buying expensive sleep trackers, try talking with your doctor to make sure there aren’t any medical conditions that need to be explored first and accept necessary therapies when advised.
1. Which is a reason that the text discusses why we should stop worrying about sleep?| A．High-tech sleeping monitoring devices are just a fraud. |
| B．The existing scientific researches are not reliable at all. |
| C．Such worries may work against improving sleeping quality. |
| D．A lack of sleep would not cause any physical health problems. |
| A．The specific definition of high blood pressure. |
| B．Messages concerning the time we should sleep. |
| C．The correlation between sleep and various diseases. |
| D．Worries that people possess due to sleep problems. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Indifferent. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Curious. |
| A．Try to become a habitual self-examinator. |
| B．Treat your sleep issues with proper actions. |
| C．Always remember to seek help from doctors. |
| D．Say “no” to any products about personal health. |
8 . “Life is for living”, according to the well-used expression: What we choose to do is up to us. That may not be completely true, but there is no harm in dreaming about what we’d like to achieve in our life. Many of us write a list of things we’d like to do before we leave this world — often called a bucket list.
Bucket lists have been called “the greatest hits of your life” and have helped sonic people overcome anxiety which would have stopped them following their dreams. Some of us may choose to write one to fill our life with exciting and new experiences - from skydiving to swimming with sharks - the list is unlimited. This is something the BBC radio programme “All in the Mind” has been looking at. It heard from a blogger called Annette White, who said she made a promise to live her bucket list which “continuously pushes the comfort zone to its limits and beyond it.” Such a list can be exciting and can indeed help you plan your life and give you focus.
Creating a bucket list can certainly give us hope, but some people have argued it can be used as a coping strategy to try to control something unretractable. Clinical psychologist Linda Blair told the BBC that he was “not really in favour of bucket lists, which take you away from the chance to be spontaneous(顺其自然的).” It’s probably true that a list can encourage people to follow someone else’s idea of the perfect life. But why not at least dream of what we would like to do? Why not reach for the slurs, even if we only reach the sky? Whether we want to plan it or just see what happens, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so maybe we should live for today.
1. Why does the author mention the expression at the very beginning?| A．To support an argument. | B．To make a persuasive appeal. |
| C．To bring out the text topic. | D．To demonstrate a comparison. |
| A．Their helping functions. | B．The working principle. |
| C．Their wide popularity. | D．The existing problems. |
| A．Lead a good life by bucket lists. | B．Don't get addicted to daydreams. |
| C．Create daily bucket lists for yourself. | D．Live to the fullest in the moment. |
| A．Where we can gel a bucket list. | B．Whether we need a bucket List. |
| C．How we can use our bucket list. | D．When we ignore our bucket list. |
9 . Children's average daily time spent watching television or using mobile device increased from 53 minutes at 12 months old to more than 150 minutes at 3 years old, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Children aged 7 were more likely to spend the highest amount of screen time if they had been in bad home-based childcare or were born to first-time mothers.
“Our results indicate that screen habits begin early,” said Edwina Yeung, an investigator in National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), “This finding suggests that interventions to reduce screen time could have a better chance of success if introduced early.”
In the research, mothers of 4,000 children responded to questions on their kids' media habits when they were 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media exposure for children under 18 months of age, introducing children 18 to 24 months of age to screen media slowly, and limiting screen time to an hour a day for children from 2 to 5 years of age. In the current study, researchers found that 87% of the children had screen time exceeding these recommendations. However, while screen time increased throughout infancy, after 8 years of age, screen time fell to under 1. 5 hours per day. The researchers believe this decrease relates to time consumed by school-related activities.
The study authors classified the children into two groups based on how much their aver- age daily screen time increased from age 1 to age 3. The first group, 73% of the total, had the lower increase, from an average of nearly 51 minutes a day to nearly an hour and 47 minutes a day. The second group, 27% of the total, had the higher increase, from nearly 37 minutes of screen time a day to about 4 hours a day. Higher levels of parental education were associated with the lower odds of inclusion in the second group.
1. Which of the following is a reason for children's addiction to the media?| A．Low economic level. | B．Poor family education |
| C．The media's attraction. | D．The shortage of parents' love. |
| A．To stop children using the media. | B．To help parents care for children well |
| C．To reduce children's screen time earlier | D．To increase intervention to children |
| A．By giving some examples. | B．By showing some data. |
| C．By analyzing some reasons. | D．By concluding some results. |
| A．Probability. | B．Price. | C．Cost. | D．Income. |
10 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).
To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.
On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.
"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."
Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.
1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?| A．Calculating students' happiness. |
| B．Asking students certain questions. |
| C．Analyzing data from a survey. |
| D．Doing experiments on screen time. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making an argument. |
| D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the study. |
| B．To offer some advice to the readers. |
| C．To prove social activities' importance. |
| D．To support the researchers' finding. |
| A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness |
| B．Screen Time Should Be Banned |
| C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply |
| D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier |
