1 .
Chen Chen is 8 years old. For the Spring Festival this year he was given an iPad as a present and never goes anywhere without it.
Many children in China are suffering the same problem:
“There are about 30 shortsighted children coming every day,” said Hu Dali, a doctor at Guiyang Aier Eye Hospital. “Half of those children are suffering from reduced vision because they have played with mobile phones and iPads for too long.”
Experts say children’s version is not yet fully developed and their eyes get tired more easily.
The iPad uses a very bright LED backlight. A user’s pupils (瞳孔) have to keep getting used to the new light levels. If children stare at an iPad screen for a long time, their eyes do not have time to rest.
Experts suggest that users should hold their iPad between 40—60 centimeters away from them. The brightness of the screen should be made comfortable for children. Parents should also stop their children from using an iPad for more than one hour every day.
| A．IPad use is damaging their eyesight |
| B．A month later his eyesight has reduced to 300 degrees |
| C．Children go eye bad due to the iPad |
| D．How an iPad influences children |
| E．This will make their eyesight worse over time |
| F．It does harm to their eyesight |
| G．This means the iPad has a greater effect on their eyes |
过去：满街小商铺，小卖摊点，拥挤，垃圾遍地；
现在：街道宽敞，沿街种植了绿树和鲜花，新建了公园和高楼。
问题：一些历史性建筑被破坏，城市失去了特色。
建议：在建设和发展的同时，还应加强文物和古迹保护，以传承文化。
注意：1. 词数：100~120；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯
3. 参考词汇：摊点：stalls 历史文物historical relics
Dear Editor,
This year is the 70th anniversary of the founding of new China!Our city has changed greatly over the last few years.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
3 . Electronic waste, also known as e-waste, consists of a discarded phones, printers, TVs, electric toothbrushes and many other electronic goods no longer in use.
A shocking 53. 6 million tons of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019 — less than a fifth of which was recycled, according to UN's Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report.
Of the total e-waste last year, Asia contributed the biggest amount — 46.4 per cent — followed by the Americas(24.4 percent), Europe (22.3 percent), Africa (5.4 percent) and Oceania (1.3 percent).
The combined heap of e-waste for 2019 averaged 7. 3 kg for every man, woman and child on Earth. The UK averaged the second-biggest in the world, at 23.9 kg, behind Norway, which averaged 26kg.
The report also reveals that just 17.4 percent of the e-waste was properly collected and recycled. E-waste is a health and environmental hazard (危害), containing hazardous substances such as mercury, which damages the human brain.
After a device is discarded and e-waste is warmed up, toxic chemicals are released into the air, damaging the atmosphere. E-waste in landfills can also seep (渗透) toxic materials into groundwater, affecting animals and plants.
Gold, silver, copper, and other high-value materials were collectively valued at $57 billion. However, they were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse. In countries with developing markets, an increasing number of household electronics like refrigerators, air conditioners, and lamps are now being bought, leading to the rapid increase in e-waste. A global obsession with smart phones, which tend to be replaced by an updated model after a year, also helps build e-waste piles.
It's not that countries don't have policies to fight e-waste since 2014, the number of countries that have adopted a national e-waste policy has increased from 61 to 78, the report says. But advances are slow, enforcement (执行) is poor, and policies fail to encourage the collection and proper management of e-waste. The lack of effective policies around the world needs to be addressed (解决) as soon as possible.
1. According to official figures, how much e-waste was recycled in 2019?| A．53.6 million tons. | B．10.8 million tons. |
| C．9.3 million tons. | D．20.1 million tons. |
| A．health condition | B．electronic products |
| C．energy resources | D．environmental protection |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Indifferent. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Critical. |
| A．E-waste is increasing. | B．E-waste is being reduced. |
| C．E-waste is harmful to people. | D．E-waste is being encouraged. |
4 . A proud and happy all-female Delta flight crew lit up the skies earlier last October, flying 120 female students from Salt Lake City to NASA in Houston for tours of the facilities and to meet with female leaders in the industry.
The flight was part of the airline’s Women Inspiring our Next Generation (WING) program, which was created in 2015 to help close the gender gap in aviation (航空) and expose more young girls to STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers. This is the fifth WING flight, with more than 600 female students flying Delta so far through the program.
The flight was planned and executed (执行) completely by women, including pilots, ramp agents, gate agents and flight control.
“At Delta, we believe you have to see it to be it, “said Beth Poole, general manager of pilot development, who helped start Delta’s WING initiative, in a statement. “We’re taking ownership to improve gender diversity by exposing girls at a young age and providing a pipeline so that 10 years from now, they will be the pilots in the Delta cockpit (驾驶舱) inspiring generations of women who follow. ”
While the students, who ranged in age from 12 to 18, were in Houston, they met with female mentors in aviation. They toured NASA’s Mission Control Center, Johnson Space Center and other key facilities in areas of flight and space exploration.
“It didn’t seem realistic to go after a career in aviation, but today I realized, ‘Hey, I can do this too’, ” said Katelyn J, age 17, a 12th grader from Advanced Learning Center.
Delta has achieved 100% pay parity for employees in frontline jobs. In the past four years, 7. 4%of the airline’s newly hired pilots have been women. The WING program is one of the ways they’re hoping to increase those numbers.
“I’ve loved being able to look at all of the things these successful women have accomplished, ” said Shanae C., 17, a 12th grader from Jordan Technical Institute. “I think we ill learn from them and build on their foundation of success.”
1. What can we know from this text?| A．Female pilots receive their training at the early age. |
| B．More and more female pilots will take males’ place. |
| C．Male pilots are more likely to have air crash than female pilots. |
| D．The WING program is intended to train more youngsters in STEM. |
| A．Minority. | B．Diversity. | C．Equality. | D．Majority. |
| A．A poster. | B．A travel brochure. | C．A novel. | D．A newspaper. |
| A．The Gender Gap Is Closed | B．The Sky Has No Limit |
| C．Female Pilots Are Better Than Males | D．Gender Discrimination Exists in Aviation |
Lots of foreigners don’t understand why so many Chinese people are sorrowful about Yuan Longping’s passing away.
This reminds me
Western scholars’ prediction of China back then was indeed analyzing China’s problems, but they failed
If they had had any knowledge of Yuan who worked devotedly for our country, they wouldn’t have made such pessimistic evaluations. Why did the Chinese people make
6 . As Wilson Guarin watched the helicopter flying above, he wondered if the men being lifted into the sky felt the risk had been worth it.
Moments earlier, Guarin and his children had hiked to Hermit Falls in Angeles National Forest, one of the most popular waterfalls in the Los Angeles area. Soon after they arrived, they saw a man injure his shoulder when he jumped into the rock pool at the base of Hermit Falls. Less than a minute later, another man jumped and appeared to break both his legs. Guarin said the cliff jumpers' purposes were obvious. They wanted to get a video of themselves and post it to social media.
A thirst among hikers, often inexperienced and under-prepared, to collect "likes" and shares on Instagram and other social media sites has led to a sharp increase in rescue missions by first responders.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Search and Rescue teams conducted 681 missions in 2017, the largest number in five years. It's a 38% increase from the 491 rescues they did in 2013.
The teams' leaders say the single largest factor for that increase is people posting videos of extreme activities online. Then, without any thought about the difficulty, others try to recreate their own 15-second version of glory.
On Instagram, posts from visitors making adventures in waterfalls and swimming holes in Angeles National Forest and other recreation areas show hikers changed into models, striking seemingly the same poses in the same places.
We shouldn't prevent people from enjoying the outdoors. But many accidents are avoidable and happen either when people go off trail or ignore official warnings about an area being closed and visit anyway.
Guarin still thinks about the two men he watched in helicopter rides sent to a hospital. "You get concerned about what people are willing to do—to not have fun. It's risking everything for no reason.
Well, there are the "likes".
1. What happened to the two jumpers?| A．They both got badly injured. | B．They were trapped in a rock pool. |
| C．They were caught in an air crash. | D．They were rescued by the Guarins. |
| A．More social rescues are timely and effective. |
| B．More attention is paid from the social media. |
| C．More public resources are clearly being occupied. |
| D．More people raise the awareness of self-defense. |
| A．Hikers are inexperienced and under-prepared. |
| B．Helicopters are easily available in more areas. |
| C．Travelers go off trail or ignore official warnings. |
| D．More people share their extreme activities online. |
| A．It is not a wise thing to do. | B．It is their own version of glory. |
| C．Watching it online is a lot of fun. | D．Getting "likes" makes it worthwhile. |
7 . The evidence shows that being lonely is bad for your physical and mental health. But with support from groups and specialists — and even the Internet — you needn't deal with it on your own.
Recognize the impact of loneliness
It is clear that loneliness has become such a pressing public health concern.
Work out exactly why you are lonely
The Mental Health Charity Mind mentions two main factors that can cause loneliness: someone either not having enough basic social contact or, despite being surrounded by people, not feeling understood, listened to or cared for.
Talking to friends and family is an obvious and easy path to handling loneliness, but if you feel you lack it, joining a club or socializing through hobbies or interests is a good way to meet new people and increase social interactions.
Get online
Spending time online obviously cannot replace all your real-life interactions, but it can help. The NHS recommends time online to older people experiencing loneliness. This might not be the glorious panacea (灵丹妙药) it immediately seems, however, more than one study has found a link between loneliness and time spent online.
Increase meaningful social contact
It's all very well joining Twitter or volunteering at your local charity shop.
| A．Meet new people |
| B．Speak to someone |
| C．And learning to change your thinking matters. |
| D．So it is important to add online chats to meetups. |
| E．It suggests figuring out which factor fits you best. |
| F．Loneliness can be as damaging as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. |
| G．But some research suggests that who you spend your time with matters, too. |
8 . It’s likely that you don’t think you’ve invited a spy into your home when setting up a new TV. But new Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs can document and share everything that’s viewed, whether it’s a broadcast or something streaming from the Internet. And some smart TVs can even track what DVD you’re watching.
Your viewing habits are valuable information for marketers who might want to use the information to advertise new shows and products, offer extra content on shows you want to watch. The advertisements are like the ones you see on your computer.
You might not realize that you allowed TVs to collect your viewing habits when you agreed to the long privacy (隐私) policy during setup. With Samsung, there are 47 screens of text. LG and Vizio also ask you to agree to the privacy policy in thousands of words in fine print.
When Consumer Reports emailed the makers to ask how they are using the technology, managers of Samsung and Vizio didn’t say anything An LG manager said that the company isn’t using any data to send personalized ads and has no plans to do so. But Consumer Reports says that could change at any time.
You might think, “How can I turn those advertisements off?" It’s not always so easy. To stop tracking, you have to fight your way through menu settings. On an LG set, go to settings, then options, then Live plus, click off, then close. With Vizio, it’s like a long tour through three menus to turn off the advertisements. With Samsung, it’s a similar trip to find the box “SyncPlus and Marketing”to disable it.
Consumer Reports says that cancelling the marketing (营销) feature may cause you to lose some extra services from makers, but it’s more important to protect your privacy.
1. What does the underlined word “document” mean in paragraph1?| A．Exploring. | B．Defending. | C．Recording. | D．Learning. |
| A．Advertise new shows and products. |
| B．Improve the quality of smart TVs. |
| C．Collect some suggestions about shows. |
| D．Build a good relationship with customers. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Confident. | D．Believable. |
| A．How we learn to use TVs’ settings. |
| B．How we can get more shows from TV. |
| C．How we send personal information to others. |
| D．How we stop advertisements from appearing on the screen. |
9 . A competition making up Versailles literature was launched on Sina Weibo recently. So what is Versailles literature?
Actually, the term has nothing to do with the French palace nor with literature. It came from The Rose of Versailles, a Japanese manga series about aristocratic life at the palace of Versailles in France in the late 18th century, and was coined by a Chinese influencer earlier this year. Known as humblebragging, it is a boast disguised as a complaint. “I have too many houses. How can I decide which one to decorate?” and “I thought I lost weight this morning. So disappointed when I realized it was because I took off the huge diamond ring my boyfriend gave me last night” are some examples of Versailles literature. The intention is to show off — usually things of materialistic values, yet one ought to pretend that’s not the point.
As the 19th century English author Jane Austen famously wrote, “Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility.” The psychology behind humblebragging is to be recognized for one’s successes and be liked by others at the same time, according to scholars. In her article titled Why do people hate humblebragging? published in Psychology Today, psychologist Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne at the University of Massachusetts Amherst noted that humblebragging is a “strategy in pursuit of respect” because it draws attention to one’s accomplishments in a circuitous way.
However, studies on social media users show that humblebragging as a self-promotion strategy does not work. In the essay Humblebragging: A distinct and ineffective self-presentation strategy, the University of North Carolina researcher Ovul Sezer and Harvard University scholars Francesca Gino and Michael Norton concluded from their research that humblebraggers are perceived more negatively than straight braggers due to the former’s insincerity. “The critical factor differentiating the two groups of people is sincerity. People don’t like braggers, but they at least see them as more sincere than humblebraggers,” said Francesca Gino.
So, how can we annoy humblebraggers back? “Just pretend you don’t get whatever it is they try to show off,” a netizen advised. “And respond with genuine sympathy for their complaints.”
1. Which of the following statements is typical of “Versailles literature”?| A．You know who my father is? My father is Li Gang. |
| B．Got five offers to date. I’m at a loss which to choose. |
| C．It’s a headache how to make my son tidy up his room regularly. |
| D．I’m fed up with living in the countryside with no shopping malls around. |
| A．To win others’ sympathy. | B．To earn others’ admiration. |
| C．To show his/her sincerity. | D．To mask his / her complaint. |
| A．Indirect. | B．Straightforward. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Double-edged. |
| A．Braggers are relatively more sincere than humblebraggers. |
| B．Humblebragging is an artificial appearance of being humble. |
| C．To respond with real sympathy will discourage humblebraggers. |
| D．If you want to be perceived positively, try to use Versailles literature. |
10 . In the digital age, we rely on technology such as social media in trying to build interesting and varied lives. Social networking sites like Facebook are designed and promoted to make us believe enthusiastically that they are able to open up new experiences for us. There are constant notifications (通知), status updates and incentives to check-in to find out what is new.
But if we do not use the technology wisely, we can end up becoming overly attached and trapped in a cycle of social media FOMO, a sign of deeper unhappiness. FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a fear that exciting or interesting events are happening somewhere else and that we are not able to take part.
People who experience high levels of FOMO have been found to be more likely to give in to urges to compose and check text messages while driving, as well as to use Facebook more often directly after waking, while going to sleep and during meals.
When it comes to lasting happiness, it is best not to give in to FOMO, but rather to deal with the cycle of desires that fuel it. Hard as it is, we are better off working toward facing the fearful reality that we cannot experience everything we might like than to get caught in a cycle of checking behaviors that only sustain anxiety.
If we have become accustomed to using social media as part of our attempts at living interesting lives, we must acknowledge that it is not easy to change our approach. But change is almost always worthwhile in the long run.
The fact that FOMO is so common in our digital age is a sign that there is something wrong with the way we are pursuing happiness and that we are not as happy as we might think we are. It should warn us that, in our keenness to use digital technology to try to make ourselves happier, we may unintentionally be bringing on exactly the opposite result.
1. With paragraph 1, the writer aims to tell us that social media _________.| A．is not worthy of our trust | B．tries to attract our attention |
| C．needs to be checked constantly | D．provides new reliable information |
| A．Being afraid of missing a Facebook update. | B．Feeling anxious about socializing with others. |
| C．Posting food photos on social media. | D．Handling multiple tasks at once. |
| A．Select the social media platform that is suitable to your taste. |
| B．Strive to make small changes on a daily basis. |
| C．Acknowledge there are limits to enjoyment in life. |
| D．Get rid of the desire to check social updates |
| A．Influence of FOMO. | B．Wise use of technology. |
| C．Problems FOMO can reflect. | D．Ways of pursuing happiness |
