1 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese who are eager to take pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.
Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial strains, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution(内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.
“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, endure and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as catharsis (宣泄) and adjustment,” said a scholar. “It is no wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”
Interestingly, the majority of millennials and Gen Zs reached by the Global Times, who claim to be big fans of the lying down philosophy, acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But in fact, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty about their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.
“Young people on campus have both aspirations and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”
1. What does the underlined phrase in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Warned. | B．Punished. | C．Amused. | D．Touched. |
| A．Improvements in living conditions. |
| B．Growing pressure from family and social life. |
| C．Increasing material possessions from families. |
| D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Intolerant. | C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They never really drop their responsibilities. |
| B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle. |
| C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach. |
| D．They would rather escape than take challenges. |
2 . In our daily lives, we spend a lot more time typing on a keyboard than writing with pencil and pen, so does handwriting still offer anything useful?
Researchers tasked 42 adult volunteers with learning the Arabic letters from beginning: Some through writing it out on paper, some through typing it out on a keyboard, and some through watching and responding to video instructions. Those in the handwriting group not only learned the unfamiliar letters more quickly, but they were also better able to apply their new knowledge in other areas—by using the letters to make new words and to recognize words they hadn’t seen before, for example.
The real question is: Are there other benefits to handwriting that have to do with reading and spelling and understanding?
While writing, typing, and visual learning were effective at teaching participants to recognize Arabic letters—learners made very few mistakes after six exercise sessions—on average, the writing group needed fewer sessions to get to a good standard.
Researchers then tested the groups to see how the learning could be generalized. In every follow-up test, using skills they hadn’t been trained on, the writing group performed the best: naming letters, writing letters, spelling words, and reading words.
While 42 people isn’t a huge sample size for a study of this type, the trends reported by the study indicate that pen and paper still have an important role to play in learning, even as digital formats (格式) have come to control our communications. And although adults were used in this particular experiment, the researchers say their findings should have relevance to children too. Several previous studies have also highlighted the advantages of copying as an aid to learning.
Today pupils in schools spend far less time than they used to on handwriting skills and practice, for obvious reasons—but based on what this study shows, it wouldn’t be wise to put away the pens and pencils permanently. Because with writing, you’re getting a stronger representation in your mind that lets you support other types of tasks that don’t in any way involve handwriting.
1. How did the researchers get the conclusion?| A．By making comparison. | B．By studying document. |
| C．By asking volunteers. | D．By watching videos. |
| A．Communicating with others. | B．Reviewing the previous skills. |
| C．Learning a new language. | D．Setting an example to kids. |
| A．They don’t like pencils and paper. | B．The digital tools are more powerful today. |
| C．Handwriting has nothing to do with study. | D．Nobody forces them to practice handwriting skills. |
| A．Put down your keyboard. | B．Pen will replace computers. |
| C．Handwriting is out of time now. | D．Handwriting is better in learning. |
3 . Researchers have found multilingualism(多语言能力)is good for economy. Countries which actively encourage the development of different languages gain a range of rewards，from more successful exports to a more creative workforce.
“Language matters on a larger national level and at the level ot smaller companies，” said Hogan-Brun，a researcher in language study. Switzerland，for example，owes 10% of its GDP to its multilingual background. The country has four national languages. Britain，on the other hand，is thought to lose about 3.5％of its GDP every year since 95％of its population speaks English，which is the primary language of the country.
What Hogan-Brun said is reasonable. Languages partly can help build trade relations. A study of small and medium-sized companies in Sweden and Germany found that those that invested more in languages were able to export more goods. German companies that invested heavily in multilingual staff added 10 export countries to their markets. Companies that invested less said they missed out on business deals.
Researchers have also long stressed the individual benefits of speaking more than one language. Several studies show that languages help promote earning power. According to a Canadian study，women and men who can speak several languages earn 3.6％and 6.6％more than their English-only colleagues respectively. The twist：This is true even if they don’t use their second language for work. “It seems that you don’t have to actually speak a second language on the job to receive the financial rewards，”said an economics professor. He thought that this was because knowing a second language was seen as a sign of power. Beyond these， immediate economic rewards，languages can help a country’s workforce in long-term ways. Multilingualism has been shown to delay memory loss. It has also been associated with a better ability to concentrate and process information.
1. What can multilingual countries expect?| A．Large numbers of imported goods. |
| B．New chances of developing education. |
| C．Productive workers with great creativity. |
| D．Powerful comprehensive natmnal power. |
| A．European countries are rich. |
| B．Language research is important. |
| C．The number of English speakers is increasing. |
| D．Multilingualism can promote national economic growth. |
| A．Add some forecast intormation. |
| B．Support Hogan-Brun’s viewpoint. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| D．Give some advice to small companies. |
| A．Women learn more languages than men. |
| B．bood native language is a sign of power. |
| C．Being multilingual benefits brain health. |
| D．Canadians prefer using their second language. |
4 . I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won’t find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity’s appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful that it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided do set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favorite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children’s books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don’t encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡100 million a year, funding(帮助) medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.
1. The author loves the charity shop mainly because of .| A．its convenient location | B．its great variety of goods |
| C．its spirit of goodwill | D．its nice shopping environment |
| A．sell cheap products | B．deal with unwanted things |
| C．raise money for patients | D．help a foreign country |
| A．What to Buy at Charity Shops. |
| B．Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development. |
| C．Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate. |
| D．The Public’s Concern about Charity Shops. |
5 . Type the words“kind of”，“probably”or“perhaps”into an email in Microsoft Outlook and the program might well tell you to think again．If the artificial intelligence-powered“Microsoft Editor”decides you’re not sounding decisive enough，it will warn you：“Words expressing uncertainty lessen your impact．”
To me，this suggestion sums up something we’ve got wrong in society．It highlights a broader issue：we live in a world that rewards those who speak with conviction—even when that is misplaced—and gives very little airtime to those who acknowledge doubt．
Research shows that the human brain is hard-wired to hate uncertainty：a 2016 study published in Nature Communications found that when volunteers were given electric shocks，their stress levels were highest when they had no idea whether they were going to be given a shock or not—higher even than subjects who were told they definitely would get one．
While confident-sounding specialists might be giving us what our brains ache for，the relief they are providing is probably misleading．Yet overconfident“thought leaders”and other public figures are usually the ones who get the most newspaper headlines and biggest social media followings．Psychology professor Philip Tetlock ran a series of“forecasting tournaments”between 1984 and 2003，in which he found that there was a negative association between the fame of forecasters and their ability to predict the outcomes of events．
Tetlock divided up forecasters into“foxes”and“hedgehogs”．Foxes consider all sorts of different approaches and perspectives，and integrate those into detailed conclusions．Hedgehogs tend to view the world through the lens(透镜)of one single defining idea．That makes the hedgehogs worse forecasters but more likely to get attention．
Perhaps we care less about the truth and more about some sense of security，however momentary that might be．And it makes Sense that when we’re all feeling anxious and making so many sacrifices，we would want to feel that some adults somewhere know what they’re doing．Nevertheless，is it time to give a bit more attention to the foxes?
1. What does the underlined word“conviction”in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Strong belief． | B．Heavy doubt． |
| C．Creative thought． | D．Specific knowledge． |
| A．Big fame most probably promotes certainty． |
| B．Confident public figures attract more followers． |
| C．Thought leaders are capable of forecasting events． |
| D．High reputation may relate to poor predicting ability． |
| A．Their ideas are more optimistic． |
| B．Their conclusions are more decisive． |
| C．Their viewing angles are intergrated． |
| D．Their approaches to forecasting are detailed． |
| A．Determined attitudes enhance popularity． |
| B．Certainty is over-rated and over-rewarded． |
| C．Confidence is vital to accurate predictions． |
| D．Human brains desire for a sense of security． |
6 . For the first time, the Oxford English Dictionary has chosen not to name a word of the year, describing 2020 as "a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word". Instead, from "unmute" to "mail-in", and from "coronavirus" to "lockdown", the famous reference work has announced its "words of an unprecedente(史无前例的) year".
Coronavirus, one of its words of the year, is a term that dates back to the 1960s. By March this year it was one of the most frequently used nouns in the English language. "Covid-19". first recorded on 11 February in a report by the World Health Organization, quickly overtook(超过) coronavirus in frequency of use. noted the dictionary. Other coronavirus-related language cited by the OED includes "pandemic". which has seen usage increase by more than 57,000% this year, as well as "lockdown", "shelter-in-place" “face masks".
The revolution in working habits has also affected language, with both "remote" and "remotely" seeing more than 300% growth in use since March. "Unmute" have seen 500% rises since March, while the "workation" and "staycation" increased by 500% and 380% respectively.
Other news events have also been reflected in language. In the early months of 2020, there were peaks in usage of "impeachment", and "mail-in" has seen an increase of 3,000%, Use of "Black Lives Matter" and "BLM" also increased sharply. "Bushfires", meanwhile. has been included. Use of "Brexit"(脱欧) however, has dropped by 80% this year.
"What words best describe 2020? A strange year? A crazy year? A lost year? Oxford Languages' monitor corpus(语料库) of English shows a huge rise in usage of each of those phrases compared to 2019," said the OED in its report. "What was genuinely unprecedented this year was the super speed at which the English-speaking world built up a new collective vocabulary relating to the coronavirus, and how quickly it became, in many instances, a core(核心的) part of the language.”
1. Why did Oxford Dictionaries fail to select the word of the year 2020?| A．Because working habits affect language. |
| B．Because new words have not been created |
| C．Because no word can summarize the events of 2020. |
| D．Because coronavirus is the most significant event in 2020. |
| A．Remotely | B．Mail-in. | C．Staycation. | D．Workstation. |
| A．The revolution in working habits. | B．The impact of "Black Lives Matter" |
| C．The vocabulary linked to bushfires. | D．The increase and wide usage of coronavirus-related words. |
| A．Oxford Dictionaries: words to describe 2020 |
| B．Oxford Dictionaries: 2020 is an unprecedented year |
| C．Oxford Dictionaries: news events reflected in language |
| D．Oxford Dictionaries: 2020 has too many Words of the Year to name just one |
7 . "Your husband, wife, or sweetheart probably doesn't come to work with you every day," says Brittany Solomon. But his or her influence clearly does.
Solomon, a Ph. D. candidate in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, recently led a study analyzing the careers and personalities of about 5,000 married people, aged 19 to 89, over a five-year period. About 75% were in two-career couples.
The conclusion: Employees of both sexes who scored highest on three measures of occupational success — salary increases, promotions, and job satisfaction — all went home at night to mates with the personality type known as "conscientious." These are people who are reliable, consistent, detail-oriented, and organized. The study result will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science.
Note to singles: If you're aiming high at work, you might want to settle down with someone conscientious. Psychologists often sort out people according to four other broad measures: openness, outgoingness, agreeableness, and neuroticism (神经质). Although previous studies show that "people tend to look for a potential mate with a high degree of agreeableness and low neuroticism, our findings suggest that anyone with ambitious career goals would be better off looking for a supportive partner with a highly conscientious personality," Solomon notes.
A mate's conscientiousness boosts career success in three ways, the study found. First is what the researchers call "outsourcing," which means it's a lot easier to concentrate on your next brilliant idea at work if someone else can be counted on to make sure the dog has all his shots, the car gets inspected on time, and the kids are fed. Also, the ability to depend on a significant other cuts down on overall stress and makes work-life balance easier to manage, for men and women alike.
But beyond the day-to-day being practical, a conscientious partner can have a subtler, more pervasive influence. "Conscientious people tend to be resilient in the face of setbacks, and they're thorough. They finish what they start," says Solomon. Over time, those features can rub off on a spouse. People often unconsciously try to equal those they live with — and the qualities we associate with 'conscientious' types are the same ones that lead to success in a career.
1. Which of the following qualities is what you can't find on a conscientious person?| A．Trustworthy. | B．Orderly. | C．Careful. | D．Neurotic. |
| A．To give examples of what a conscientious mate should be like. |
| B．To explain how one's mate's conscientiousness promotes one's career. |
| C．To describe what qualities can make a conscientious mate. |
| D．To stress the reliability of the final conclusion drawn from this study. |
| A．Erase off. | B．Wipe out. | C．Get influence. | D．Have effect. |
| A．conscientiousness is a must for career success |
| B．one's mate's personality influences one's career success |
| C．one's mate's personality promotes one's occupational success |
| D．conscientious persons are more suitable for ambitious ones |
8 . Our culture has changed greatly as a result of the smartphone. We can get reassurance for every doubt by texting our friends or feel approval by getting “likes” on our social media. But heavy dependence on devices is responsible for a shift in how we regulate our emotions. A by-product of this instant communication is a decreased ability to sit with uncertainty.
Intolerance to uncertainty tends to cause a range of psychological difficulties. Psychologists consider a person’s over-dependence on their phones as a “safety seeking behaviour” which reduces anxiety in the moment. But over time, safety behaviours actually feed anxiety because they prevent people from realizing their fear has no basis once the situation has actually unfolded, or that it is something they’re able to deal with.
Learning to face uncertainty is essential to managing our mental health. Being more comfortable with uncertainty improves a person’s ability to deal with worry and is closely associated with improvement for those experiencing anxiety. When treating anxiety, psychologists encourage clients (客户) to sit without knowing the outcome of a particular situation and wait to see if what they are afraid of will happen. They gradually learn to let go of trying to control situations and realizes they can survive the uncertainty.
Using phones to push the worry onto another person prevents self-management from occurring. Often, we don’t realize that after a little while the unpleasant feeling will go away. Keep in mind the old saying that “no news is good news” and resist the tendency to message first. If something unpleasant happens, it is healthy to talk to someone and reflect on a situation that upsets us, especially if it is really important. However, to have this as the first option to manage every doubt is not healthy. Being able to wait and let go of the desire to control each situation is a major key to overcoming anxiety.
1. What might be a consequence of relying on electronic devices too much?| A．Getting “likes” more easily. |
| B．Being able to sit attentively. |
| C．Sending text messages rarely. |
| D．Having trouble controling feelings. |
| A．They realize their fear has no basis. |
| B．Their physical security is threatened. |
| C．They fail to judge the reality correctly. |
| D．Their safety isn’t guaranteed in the real world. |
| A．Learn to face uncertainty. |
| B．Pay attention to the worries. |
| C．Keep in touch with psychologists. |
| D．Consider the outcome of a situation. |
| A．Wait and see. | B．Talk to someone. |
| C．Take control of it. | D．Let go of the past. |
9 . Today it is common to see people who walk about with colored wires hanging from their ears wherever they go. They move about in their personal bubbles，sometimes unaware of what’s happening around them.
For me, walking around in my own personal bubble is perfect.
Suppose you’re at work and about to make an incredible breakthrough，but a colleague suddenly turns up. At this precise moment，the slightest disturbance would break your concentration.
Pretty soon，not only will we have pretty colored wires hanging from our ears，but also our brains will be directly plugged into some new high-tech instrument. We’ll be in a virtual world，communicating with everyone else，as we like. In this world，we will all be permanently plugged in.
In the end, there is a thin line between using technology as a tool for making life better and being a slave to it! It’s so strange—suddenly. I don’t feel like wearing my earphones anymore.
| A．Our instruments are changing quickly. |
| B．I also have wires hanging from my ears. |
| C．In the home situation，teenagers love these wires. |
| D．I don’t have to deal with the noise from the environment. |
| E．After all，I am listening to my favourite music and would rather not be disturbed. |
| F．They walk around in their own spaces, with their personal “digital noise reduction systems”. |
| G．Listening to music through earphones is one of the perfect ways to ignore such interruptions. |
10 . Years ago it was popular to speak of a generation gap, a disagreement between young people and their elders. Parents said that children did not show them proper respect and obedience (服从), while children complained that their parents did not understand them at all. What had gone wrong? Why had the generation gap suddenly appeared? Actually the generation gap has been around for a long time. Many people argue that a gap is built into the fabric (结构) of our society.
One important cause of the generation gap is the chance that young people have to choose their own ways of life. In more traditional societies, when children grow up, they are expected to live in the same area as their parents, to marry people that their parents know and agree to, and to continue the family occupation. In our society, young people often travel great distances for their education, move out of the family home at an early age, marry or live with people whom their parents have never met, and choose occupations different from those of their parents.
In our easily changing society, parents often expect their children to do better than they did: to find better jobs, to make more money, and to do all the things that they were unable to do. Often, however, the strong wish that parents have for their children is another cause of the disagreement between them. Often, they discover that they have very little in common with each other.
Finally, the speed at which changes take place in our society is another cause of the gap between the generations. In a traditional culture, elderly people are valued for their wisdom, but in our society the knowledge of a lifetime may become out of date overnight. The young and the old seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and abilities. No doubt, the generation gap will continue to be a feature of American life for some time to come. Its causes are rooted in the freedom and changes of our society, and in the rapid speed at which society changes.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The concept of generation gap. |
| B．The reasons for generation gap. |
| C．Ways to reduce generation gap. |
| D．Attitudes towards generation gap. |
| A．depend on their parents to make a life |
| B．live with their parents in the same area |
| C．ask their parents for the best advice |
| D．have very little in common with their parents |
| A．Parents should be strict with their children. |
| B．The generation gap is partly caused by the older generation. |
| C．Parents couldn’t do things well themselves. |
| D．The young never want to satisfy their parents. |
| A．Parents are not strict enough with their children. |
| B．The young value the old too much for their wisdom. |
| C．Young people don’t have the knowledge of a lifetime. |
| D．The society develops too fast. |
