1 . Twelve-year-old Catherine has a lot of friends—632, actually, if you count up her online friends. And she spends a lot of time with them.
But is it possible that Catherine’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 platform.
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 world, 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 anyone 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 tell about true friends. | B．To start a discussion. |
| C．To encourage online friendships. | D．To summarize(总结) the text. |
| A．In any case. | B．In public. | C．In person. | D．In advance. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Positive. | C．Worried. | D．Confused. |
| A．Teenagers need to focus on real-world friendships. | B．It’s easier to develop friendships in real life. |
| C．It’s wise to turn to friends online. | D．Social media help people stay closely connected. |
1. What was Prof. Stone’s grandfather afraid of?
| A．Leaving his home. |
| B．Parting from his son. |
| C．Taking early retirement. |
| A．Lack of moral support. |
| B．Loss of self-worth. |
| C．Change of living habits. |
| A．Public services they ask for. |
| B．Health care available to them. |
| C．Contributions they can make. |
3 . After years of observing human nature, I have decided that two qualities make a difference between men of great achievement and men of average performance — curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known an average man who had both.
Together, these deep human urges (驱策力) count for much more than ambition. Galileo was not merely ambitious when he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower at Pisa and timed their fall to the ground. Like Galileo, all the great names in history were curious and asked in discontent, “Why? Why? Why?”
Fortunately, curiosity and discontent don’t have to be learned. We are born with them and need only to recapture them. “The great man,” said Mencius, “is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” Yet most of us do lose it. We stop asking questions. We stop challenging custom. We just follow the crowd. And the crowd desires only the calm and restful average.
Most of us meet new people, and new ideas, with hesitation. But once having met and liked them, we think how terrible it would have been, had we missed the chance. We will probably have to force ourselves to waken our curiosity and discontent and keep them awake.
How should you start? Modestly, so as not to become discouraged. I think of one friend who couldn’t arrange flowers to satisfy herself. She was curious about how the experts did it.
The way to begin is to answer your own excuses. You haven’t any special ability? Most people don’t; there are only a few geniuses. You haven’t any time? That’s good, because it’s always the people with no time who get things done. Harriet Stowe, mother of six, wrote parts of Uncle Tom’s Cabin while cooking. You’re too old? Remember that Thomas Costain was 57 when he published his first novel, and that Grandma Moses showed her first pictures when she was 78.
However you start, remember there is no better time to start than right now, for you’ll never be more alive than you are at this moment.
1. In writing Paragraph 1, the author aims to ________.| A．present an argument | B．make a comparison | C．reach a conclusion | D．propose a definition |
| A．Scientists tend to have varied ambitions. | B．Trial and error leads to the finding of truth. |
| C．Creativity results from challenging authority. | D．Greatness comes from a lasting desire to explore. |
| A．Observe the unknown around you. | B．Develop a questioning mind. |
| C．Lead a life of adventure. | D．Follow the fashion. |
| A．Gaining success helps you become an expert. |
| B．The genius tends to get things done creatively. |
| C．Lack of talent and time is no reason for taking no action. |
| D．You should remain modest when approaching perfection. |
4 . The way people work has changed. The increasing use of technology presents new and continual challenges to small and large businesses, employees and managers, teachers and students.
In today’s world, training and learning do not stop when we finish school.
As technologies grow and develop, ongoing training will continue to be necessary.
| A．They are especially significant in the workplace. |
| B．They must now continue throughout our working lives. |
| C．It seems that everyone is being affected by the technological revolution. |
| D．Besides, this also highlights the need for teacher training, and re-training. |
| E．Moreover, what the professors need to do is to continue lecturing online. |
| F．The changing work environment is also affecting education and how we learn. |
| G．To be successful in the workplace, people will not stop learning when they leave school. |
5 . Volunteering is one of the best ways for the elderly to get involved in their local communities, share a lifetime of experiences, develop new relationships, and help make the world a little bit better.
There are many good reasons to volunteer, and it’s important to understand that many of them involve meeting the older people’s needs. “That’s not being selfish,” says Tema Fishbein, director of external affairs for Experience Corp, a school mentoring nonprofit that places older people in schools in 22 communities around the country. “Most people do selfless things for personal reasons, and that’s not necessarily bad,” she says. Among the motives she sees in volunteers are a desire to give back to the community to improve one’s own life and health, to meet new peers (同龄人) and expand one’s social network, and to give purpose and meaning to life.
Will you be good at it? People who’ve functioned well in the home and workplace have picked up the skills needed to be productive volunteers. Life experiences count as much here as book smarts. Most volunteer work is people intensive, so the ability to work well with others is particularly useful. “Someone who has a good work ethic (职业道德) or commitment to what they want to do makes for a good volunteer,” Fishbein says. “They also need flexibility so they can fit themselves into an organization. And they all need empathy — the ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.”
Volunteers spend different amounts of time in their work, but the best matches are those where supply and demand are balanced. Do you want to make a commitment to tutor a young student, such as building a close relationship that may extend over several years? Or are you more interested in single shot opportunities that might engage you for a few weeks or months? You can find them all. “We want our volunteers to be renewable and to work with us for a number of years,” says Fishbein.
1. What is the benefit of the older people’s volunteering?| A．Getting more help from local communities. | B．Sharing their own experiences with others. |
| C．Making others daily life easier. | D．Keeping in touch with old friends. |
| A．To join the nonprofit organization. | B．To make young friends. |
| C．To lead a meaningful life. | D．To change their lifestyles. |
| A．Learning new skills is required to become a volunteer. |
| B．Book smarts are more important than life experiences. |
| C．Working experience is required to become a volunteer. |
| D．A person who is flexible is welcome for the volunteer organization. |
| A．Volunteering is a rewarding way for the elderly |
| B．What does a great volunteer need |
| C．Seniors use their wisdom to help others |
| D．Volunteer services help build communities |
Offshore production
The world’s consumption of fashion is huge. The European Union imported textiles (clothing and carpets) to the value of €83.7 billion in 2010. Prices have fallen, too, with hand-finished shirts costing less than five euros. To make clothes at these low prices, companies have to keep costs down. They use offshore production to do this. Large companies make their products in developing countries where workers are paid much less than in developed countries.
A point that should be considered in that case is that developing countries encourage developed countries to invest in them to provide jobs. Supporters of overseas production point out that increased investment has positive effects in the long term. Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman points out that the growth in manufacturing has an impact on the rest of the economy, because it reduces the number of people needing to work in agriculture and increases competition for labour. This leads to higher wages, which lead to other improvements, such as the ability to send children to school. On the other hand, the disadvantage of this foreign investment is the fact that it can have a negative impact on the economy of developed countries, because people lose their jobs when production is outsourced to other countries.
It seems that if multinationals are going to benefit from low production costs by using overseas suppliers, they should do more to improve the social situation-for example, by building schools for the children in those communities. It is also clear that multinationals should invest in communities in the developed countries where they sell their products. Furthermore, given multinationals do benefit from lower costs of production in developing countries and their workers, they need to feel obliged to protect the workers in overseas manufacturing plants.
| represent; category; increase; face; emotion; appropriately; tend; convey |
Mobile phones are playing a(n)
8 . The robots are coming！
All the efforts you put into studying at university may not have been enough—because robots could be coming for your job. A new study finds that as many as 800 million workers could be replaced by robots by 2030.
The study from the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that “between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be replaced by automation (自动化) or robots and need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world”. It estimates that 30 percent of the hours people spend on working globally could have been automated by that time.
Those most affected will be people who work in “predictable environments” doing tasks such as operating machines and preparing fast food. Those who make a living collecting and processing data also face a high risk of being replaced by robots. But people who work in less predictable environments such as gardeners, plumbers, and childcare staff face a smaller risk, because their roles “are technically difficult to be automated and often command relatively lower wages, which makes automation a less attractive business proposition”.
However, it's not all doom (厄运) for the future of employment. The study notes that automation sometimes allows workers to remain employed in a different position. “Even when some tasks are automated, the employment rate in those occupations may not decline because workers may perform new tasks，” McKinsey & Company wrote in a release on its website.
It noted that China has the largest number of employees who would need to switch occupations, up to 100 million if automation was adopted rapidly, or 12 percent of the 2030 workforce. The numbers are higher in more advanced economies, with up to onethird of the 2030 workforce in America and Germany needing to switch occupations, along with nearly half of the 2030 workforce in Japan. Countries which fail to prepare workers for transition to new jobs will feel the impact of a rise in unemployment and depressed wages, according to the study.
1. Why will lots of people need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world？| A．They don't put efforts into their study at university. |
| B．The world's working population is on the steady increase. |
| C．They will be paid less with the development of technology. |
| D．Robots or automation will take the place of their positions. |
| A．Machine operation. | B．Fast food cooking. |
| C．Childcare in kindergarten. | D．Data collection. |
| A．Optimistic. |
| B．Pessimistic. |
| C．Unconcerned and indifferent. |
| D．Having no personal preference. |
| A．Education. | B．Technology. |
| C．Lifestyle. | D．Business. |
9 . You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community (社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness(意识) of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and in 1981, the first woman to join the U. S. Supreme Court (最高法院). O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks(1913-2005)On December 1,1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rasa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott (抵制). It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1. What is Jane Addams famous for in history?| A．Her social work. | B．Her teaching skills. |
| C．Her efforts to win a prize. | D．Her community background. |
| A．Not having training in law. | B．Her little work experience in court. |
| C．Her identity as a woman. | D．Her poor financial conditions. |
| A．Jane Addams. | B．Rachel Carson. |
| C．Sandra Day O’Connor. | D．Rosa Parks. |
| A．They are highly educated. | B．They are truly creative. |
| C．They are pioneers. | D．They are peace-lovers. |
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