1 . The world food safety could be in danger because of a number of food production shocks (冲击), according to an Australian study.
The researchers from the University of Tasmania found that there were 226 shocks in the area of food production across 134 nations and the frequency has been increasing over the past 50 years.
According to Cottrell, a researcher from the University of Tasmania, the main causes behind the shocks are different. For crops, extreme weather events such as floods and no rain for a long time play the biggest part. Weather also plays a role in livestock(家畜)production, but disease plays a bigger role. Disease also leads to aquaculture(水产业)shocks, while in the ocean most of the food shocks are caused by overfishing.
“When we look at the food production systems, covering crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture,” Cottrell said, “we find that crops and livestock are more easily affected than aquaculture. And some countries in South Asia are more frequently affected than others.”
The effects of production shocks reached far away from where they happened. When one means of food production is greatly reduced, it will cause unexpected results. “The India got a lot of food production shocks in crops and livestock, largely because of floods,” Cottrell explained. “If countries like India are shocked and the rice production is much smaller, they’ll probably send less goods to another country. And that shock suddenly starts to affect all the trade partners of the major producers as well.”
According to what Cottrell said, while the international community faces a great challenge to these problems, steps taken now can help fight against unexpected shocks in the future. “This can be done through measures such as food store systems so that they are better able to deal with the effect which is caused by problems such as climate change.” said Cottrell.
1. What do we know about food production shocks?| A．Their causes are different in different production areas. |
| B．Some diseases are the main cause. |
| C．Extreme weather is the biggest shock. |
| D．Overfishing is the main cause. |
| A．Livestock in Australia. | B．Crops in Australian. |
| C．Fisheries in India. | D．Livestock in South Asia. |
| A．To show India sells a lot of crops to other countries. |
| B．To show the shocks can cause unexpected results. |
| C．To show Indian shocks are more often. |
| D．To show India has a lot of flood. |
| A．Results Caused by the Problem of Global Food Safety |
| B．Measures Solving the Problem of Global Food Safety |
| C．Production Shocks Threatening Global Food Safety |
| D．The Importance of Global Food Safety |
2 .
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 |
3 . You know the feeling — you have left your phone at home and feel anxious, as if you have lost your connection to the world. “Nomophobia” (无手机恐惧症) affects teenagers and adults alike. You can even do an online test to see if you have it. Last week, researchers from Hong Kong warned that nomophobia is infecting everyone. Their study found that people who use their phones to store, share and access personal memories suffer most. When users were asked to describe how they felt about their phones, words such as “hurt” (neck pain was often reported) and “alone” predicted higher levels of nomophobia.
“The findings of our study suggest that users regard smartphones as their extended selves and get attached to the devices,” said Dr Kim Ki Joon. “People experience feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness when separated from their phones.” Meanwhile, an American study shows that smartphone separation can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
So can being without your phone really give you separation anxiety? Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, says it is what is on the phone that counts — the social networking that creates Fomo (fear of missing out).
“We are talking about an Internet-connected device that allows people to deal with lots of aspects of their lives,” says Griffiths. “You would have to surgically remove a phone from a teenager because their whole life is ingrained in this device.”
Griffiths thinks attachment theory, where we develop emotional dependency on the phone because it holds details of our lives, is a small part of nomophobia. For “screenagers”, it is Fomo that creates the most separation anxiety. If they can’t see what’s happening on WeChat or Weibo, they become panic-stricken about not knowing what’s going on socially. “But they adapt very quickly if you take them on holiday and there’s no Internet,” says Griffiths.
1. Which of the following may Dr Kim Ki Joon agree with?| A．We waste too much time on phones. |
| B．Phones have become part of some users. |
| C．Addiction to phones makes memories suffer. |
| D．Phones and blood pressure are closely linked. |
| A．We worry we may miss out what our friends are doing |
| B．We fear without phones we will run into a lot of trouble |
| C．We are accustomed to having a phone on us |
| D．We need our phones to help us store information |
| A．Approved of. | B．Relied on. | C．Opposed to. | D．Determined by. |
| A．In a research report. |
| B．In a science textbook. |
| C．In a popular science magazine. |
| D．In a fashion brochure. |
“Military-style” travel has become the
Different people have different views, with some netizens
According to some experts, the “military-style” travel is a form of budget travel appealing to specific groups of people who are less
5 . Justice is something we all desire, and the hope is that our legal system can be fair. In the past, people often saw injustices taking place that went unpunished. Some of these people got fed up, took matters into their own hands, and became vigilantes (治安员). They played the role of judges, jury and executioners (执行者). Today, the same thing is happening on a much larger scale, and it is known as Internet vigilantism.
Internet vigilantism works by first identifying a person who has committed a crime or done something that is considered uncivil.
Our modern age that is filled with digital cameras has made injustice easy to record, and the Internet has made it easy to distribute the evidence instantly. This method has been successful in many cases for tracking down people who have committed crimes. It also has been very helpful in keeping those with power in check. Keeping power in check is the upside of distributing evidence only if justice is reached through proper channels.
However, there are two sides to Internet vigilantism. When Internet citizens gang up on people for minor crimes or small faults, those who are the focus of the gangs can have their lives ruined. The vigilantes gather information on the Internet and use it to publicly shame the person. The accused person thus loses all his or her rights to privacy and everything about him or her is brought out into the open. Internet vigilantism violates basic human rights to privacy and can cause serious damage to people or their reputations.
Another problem is that it also has a negative effect on the friends and family members of the person being shamed. Innocent people with the same name as the accused can also get caught in the cross fire. Worst of all, the person being targeted rarely gets a chance to defend himself or herself.
We need to ask ourselves how far we will go to punish someone and how much privacy they deserve. When it comes to Internet vigilantism, remember that it is very easy to post an opinion or video anonymously (匿名地) online and give a one-sided or partial account of the truth. Like so many other aspects of life, we must resist passing judgment before fully understanding a situation.
1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?| A．To explain what is justice. | B．To introduce the legal system. |
| C．To lead into the topic. | D．To compare some phenomena. |
| A．accuse the person who loses privacy |
| B．identify a person who broke the law |
| C．protect the privacy and reputation of the accused person |
| D．protect people with the same name as the accused person |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Approval. | C．Subjective. | D．Objective. |
| A．“Justice” on the Internet | B．How Much Privacy They Deserve |
| C．Criminals Tracked Down | D．Internet Vigilantism Works Well |
6 . Thirteen-year-old Kaylee has a lot of friends — 532, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.
But is it possible that Kaylee’s online friendships could be making her lonely? That’s what some experts believe. Connecting online is a great way to stay in touch, they say. However, some experts worry that many kids are so busy connecting online that they might be missing out on true friendships.
Could this be true? During your parents’ childhoods, connecting with friends usually meant spending time with them in the flesh. Kids played Scrabble around a table, not Words With Friends on their phones. When friends missed each other, they picked up the telephone. Friends might even write letters to each other.
Today, most communication takes place online. A typical teen sends 2,000 texts a month and spends more than 44 hours per week in front of a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media platforms (平台).
In fact, in many ways, online communication can make friendships stronger, “There’s definitely a positive influence. Kids can stay in constant contact, which means they can share more of their feelings with each other,” says Katie Davis, co-author of The App Generation.
Other experts, however, warn that too much online communication can get in the way of forming deep friendships. “If we are constantly checking in with our virtual words, we will have little time for our real-world friendships.” says Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University. Rosen also worries that today’s kids might mistake the “friends” on the social media for true friends in life. However, in tough times, you don’t need someone to like your picture or share your blogs. You need someone who will keep your secrets and hold your hand. You would like to talk face to face.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To summarize the text. | B．To tell about true friends. |
| C．To bring up a discussion. | D．To encourage online friendship. |
| A．In person. | B．In advance. | C．In any case. | D．In full measure. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Confused. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．It’s wise to turn to friends online. |
| B．It’s easier to develop friendships in reality. |
| C．Social media help people stay closely connected. |
| D．Teenagers need focus on real-world friendships. |
7 . For every one article on some positive aspect, some positive element of life, wellbeing, satisfaction, joy, happiness, you get 21 articles on depression, anxiety and so on. Ratio of 21 to 1. Studies focus primarily on what doesn’t work. And this is not a new phenomenon. The science of psychology (心理) has been far more successful on the negative than on the positive side. It has revealed to us much more about man’s shortcomings, his illnesses, but little about his potentialities, his virtues or his psychological height. We study a lot of depression and anxiety, misjudgments and errors, very much focusing on this aspect and very little on the positive. If you had a person who 21 hours in a day was depressed and one hour in a day felt good or one day feeling good and then 21 days feeling anxious and depressed, you would say that this person would need help. And I think psychology needs help.
Today depression is 10 times higher than it was in 1960. Now part of it is because there’s more awareness, because we measure better. But that’s not all. It’s also simply because objectively there’s more depression. The average age for depression today is less than 15. Kids at very young age are introduced to the “information highway”. And very often, they are not prepared, not able to deal with it in an effective way.
As a result, when we look at this data, we say we do need more research to help people overcome depression or anxiety. And there seems nothing wrong about that.
According to the studies, 47% Harvard students over the past year have experienced depression to the point of not functioning. So they couldn’t leave home. They were really struggling to just basically get through the day. Now this is not unique to United States. We have a global epidemic here. And once again going back: Is the 21: 1 ratio good? How can we even think about studying happiness and well-being and love and joy?
What I’m going to argue for is that we do need to also focus on the positive. I am going to talk about three reasons why we should do that. The first reason is that it is important to focus on what works, because what works or what we focus on rather creates reality. If we focus on what is working, we’ll have more working in our world, more working in ourselves, more working in our relationships. The second reason why positive psychology as an independent field of study is important is that being happy is not just the negative statement of depression. It doesn’t mean just getting rid of depression or anxiety that I am experiencing so I spontaneously (自然而然) become happy. That’s not the case. That’s not how it works. And finally, prevention, which is the most effective way of preventing hardship, is actually realized by focusing on and cultivating the positive. So for these three reasons, we need positive psychology.
1. By using the ratio of 21 to 1, the author means in fact that ________.| A．on an average a person is depressed 21 hours a day and feels good one hour |
| B．most articles and studies focus primarily on what goes wrong |
| C．the science of psychology has revealed human’s nature |
| D．nearly half of Harvard and nationwide students suffer from depression |
| A．The reason for more measures. | B．The need for doing with depression. |
| C．The reason for more depression. | D．The need for taking some measures. |
| A．Prevention by focusing on and cultivating the positive feelings. |
| B．Offering various ways of overcoming the negative feelings. |
| C．Focusing on what is working to have more working in our life. |
| D．Being happy is not equal to avoiding being unhappy. |
| A．It is essential for our research to focus more on the bright side. |
| B．There is no need for the science of psychology to deal with the negative side. |
| C．The conflict between the negative psychology and positive one can’t be avoided. |
| D．We have to remove depression completely for the purpose of being happy. |
8 . Most college students think that there are only two choices after graduation—finding a job or entering graduate school. An opportunity that is often missed is volunteering with an organized volunteer program.
Volunteering provides a year of intention (计划) in a community where recent graduates can learn about the world they are entering, about themselves as individuals (个体) and about their role in this world. It provides intentional time to understand the purpose that drives one as an individual in life. Taking a year off after graduation to volunteer allows students to slow down and really understand where they want their future to lie. Not only this, but students will also be helping others, getting work experience, living in a community and giving back to society.
Volunteering often leads to a job opportunity. A volunteer might stay and work with the organization, shifting from a volunteer position to a paid position. For example, an individual doing volunteer teaching with an organization might be offered a teaching position at their school. Even if the volunteer position does not lead to a paid position, the volunteer should keep in touch with their organization. One reason is that the organization can write letters of recommendation (推荐) for the volunteer’s job applications. What’s more, volunteer experience on a resume could catch the attention of schoolmates from the organization or program who work at a place of employment (雇用). A shared volunteer experience with the manager might help one find a job!
Volunteers have fun together and like helping others a lot. They share a common mission and vision (使命和愿景), continue personal and professional development, and get new ideas about the world around them. They get to know the community, practice their social responsibility, and build their skill set and network with others. Even if volunteers are not paid, they receive these and many other benefits through their service.
1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Why students should volunteer during college. |
| B．What the value of volunteering after graduation is. |
| C．Whether recent graduates should have a yearly plan. |
| D．How to find a volunteer program that works for you. |
| A．To receive a job offer. | B．To find old schoolmates. |
| C．To apply for a new program. | D．To get support when seeking jobs. |
| A．Sharing your future plans. |
| B．Showing your social responsibility. |
| C．Letting others know more about you. |
| D．Catching the attention of your schoolmates. |
| A．To explain what volunteering is. |
| B．To offer new volunteer opportunities. |
| C．To encourage recent graduates to volunteer. |
| D．To discuss whether to volunteer without pay. |
9 . In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic(官僚主义的)management in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, well-equipped factories and piped music, and by psychologists and “human-relations” experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and he is bored with it. In fact, the blue-collar and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.
The worker and employee are anxious, seemingly because they might find themselves out of a job or they would say that they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction or interest in life. In fact, they feel desperate as they live and die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings.
Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their first job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the right mixture of submissiveness and independence. From the moment on they are tested again and again by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one’s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.
Am I suggesting that we should return to the pre-industrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century “free enterprise” capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities - those of all love and of reason - are the aims of social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.
1. By “a well-oiled cog in the machinery”, the author expresses the idea that man is _________.| A．an essential part of society though individual’s function is negligible |
| B．expected to work in reasonable harmony with the rest of society |
| C．a replaceable component of society, though functioning smoothly |
| D．responsible for the smooth running of society and business operations |
| A．they are filled with well-founded fear of being unemployed |
| B．they don’t have any genuine satisfaction or being unemployed |
| C．they have to face the fundamental realities of human existence |
| D．they are deprived of their independence |
| A．hold well-paid and life-long jobs | B．enjoy high social status and reputation |
| C．outperform their fellow-competitors | D．stay away from over-competitiveness |
| A．resort to the production mode of our ancestors |
| B．offer higher wages to workers and employees |
| C．enable man to fully develop his potentialities |
| D．escape consumerism and embrace humanism |
10 . Sending a thumbs-up can be seen as passive aggressive(冒犯的), according to Gen Z (those born between 1995 and 2009) who say they feel attacked whenever it is used. Whether the chat is informal, between friends or at work the symbol appears to have a very different, ‘rude’ meaning for the younger generation.
A 24-year-old on Reddit summed up the Gen Z argument, saying it is best ‘never used in any situation’ as it is ‘hurtful’. “No one of my age in the office does it, but the Gen X (those born between 1966 and 1980) people always do it. Take me a bit to adjust and get it out of my head that it means they’re mad-at me,” he added. Other young people agreed it is bad form, especially at work where it can make the team appear unfriendly and not easygoing.
“My last workplace had a WhatsApp chat for our team to send information to each other on, and most of the people on there just replied with a thumbs up. I don’t know why but it seemed a little bit hostile to me,” one woman said. One Reddit user also said the thumbs up actually means that “I’ve read your message and have nothing to add and I hope and pray...all the people in this group chat have nothing to say on it too.”
Older workers appear confused by the reaction, saying they use the thumbs up in work-related chats to show “I agree” or “I understood and will follow.”
Part of the issue is that young people tend to use the thumbs-up in jokes. Barry Kennedy, 24, he said he only used it to communicate with older people like his parents or older colleagues. A survey of 2, 000 people conducted by Perspectus Global showed that a majority of people between the ages of 16 and 29 believe that you are “officially old” if you use thumbs-up or heart emoji.
1. Which of the following point is not the Gen Z’s understanding of the emoji thumbs-up?| A．Being rude. | B．Being agreeable. |
| C．Being hurtful. | D．Being unfriendly. |
| A．Unfriendly and aggressive. | B．Tough and difficult. |
| C．Unwanted and unacceptable. | D．Strange and unusual. |
| A．Because of their poor communications kill. |
| B．Because of their being old with worse memory. |
| C．Because of their less communicating with the young. |
| D．Because of their different understanding of the emoji. |
| A．The Thumbs-up Emoji: Rejected by the younger generation |
| B．The Thumbs-up Emoji: Highly Welcomed by Old People |
| C．The Thumbs-up Emoji: A Sign of Generation Gap |
| D．The Thumbs-up Emoji: A Sign of Being Aggressive |
