Recently, the number of American teenagers reporting feelings of depression has grown significantly. A big new study suggests an
As a matter
Some research, however, suggests that social-networking sites can promote happiness if used properly. This provides a reminder that it is users’ attitudes
2 . As a society we might want to rethink the time and money spent on education, so that these resources can benefit a greater percentage of the population. Ideally, both high schools and colleges can prepare individuals for the ever-changing roles that are likely to be expected of them.
High school degrees offer far less in the way of preparation for work than they might, or than many other nations currently offer, creating a growing skills gap in our economy. We encourage students to go on to college whether they are prepared or not, or have a clear sense of purpose or interest, and now have the highest college dropout rate in the world.
We might look to other countries for models of how high schools can offer better training, as well as the development of a work ethic (勤奋工作的美德) and the intellectual skills needed for continued learning and development. I recommend Harvard’s 2011 “Pathways to Prosperity” report for more attention to the “forgotten half” (those who do not go on to college) and ideas about how to address this issue.
Simultaneously, the liberal arts become more important than ever. In a knowledge economy where professional roles change rapidly and many college students are preparing for positions that may not even exist yet, the skill set needed is one that prepares them for change and continued learning.
Learning to express ideas well in both writing and speech, knowing how to find information, and knowing how to do research are all-solid background skills for a wide variety of roles, and such training is more important than any particular major in a liberal arts college. We need to continue to value broad preparation in thinking skills that will serve for a lifetime.
Students also need to learn to work independently and to make responsible decisions. The lengthening path to adulthood appears exacerbated (恶化) by parental involvement in the college years. Given the rising investment in college education, parental concern is not surprising, but learning where and when to intervene will help students take more ownership of the outcomes of these increasingly costly educations.
1. What kind of education does the author think is ideal?| A．It benefits the great majority of the general population. |
| B．It prepares students to meet the future needs of society. |
| C．It encourages students to learn throughout their lives. |
| D．It ensures that students' expectations are successfully fulfilled. |
| A．Ignoring the needs of those who don't go to college. |
| B．Teaching skills to be used right after graduation only. |
| C．Giving little attention to those having difficulty learning. |
| D．Creating the highest dropout rate in the developed world. |
| A．New positions are constantly created that require people to keep learning. |
| B．Students majoring in liberal arts usually have difficulty securing a job. |
| C．People have to receive higher education to qualify for a professional position. |
| D．Colleges find it hard to teach students how to cope with the changing economy. |
| A．Basic skills needed for change and lifelong learning. |
| B．Practical skills urgently needed in current society. |
| C．Solid background knowledge in a particular field. |
| D．Useful thinking skills for advanced academic research. |
| A．Rethinking the value of higher education. |
| B．Investing wisely in their children's education. |
| C．Helping their children to bring their talent into full play. |
| D．Avoiding too much intervention in their children’s education. |
3 . Each culture has a diet of its own. The diet of the people in that land is influenced by the availability of food in that area. For example, meat is one of the main sources of energy for the body in colder climates. Therefore, it can be seen that meat in the diet of people in cold countries is more plentiful.
In Kerala, India, people eat more fish. Rice is Kerala’s main food. In all three meals, rice dishes can be seen.
While preparing powdered porridge, baked pappadam and healthy coconut milk, a grandmother was listening to her grandchildren call her. Then the door opened and there came her grandchildren. Something unfamiliar was found in the bowl in their hands. The grandmother gave it a sniff (嗅) and put it back. Through the look on her face, you could tell that she did not like the smell. Then one of the grandchildren said, “How easy it is to make noodles! Only five minutes is enough.” This is the experience of an old grandmother who came to stay with her kids and grandchildren. Two days later, the grandmother, who was ready to spend at least two months with her children, returned to her village.
Traditional dishes of Kerala, such as powdered porridge, pappadam, bread, kappa, fish curry, sambar and spices, are disappearing. Instead, even in the slums ( 贫民窟) of Kerala, many foreign dishes such as fried rice, chilli chicken and ginger chicken are becoming available. After working in the sun all day in the fields, the last generation could be seen drinking a cup of sambhara, a traditional Indian tea. But today, people prefer drinking modern red and yellow flavoured water.
When our taste in food changes, it can affect more than just our diet. Those who don’t know how to make overseas dishes don’t even get kitchen work today. We try to mimic (模仿) foreigners and accept the dishes they find unhealthy, even though foreigners are culturally inclined towards (倾向于) our diet. Though visitors come to Kerala to buy our bread, fish curry, pudding and fruit, people in Kerala go to restaurants to buy foreign rice and soups and empty their pockets.
1. Why did the old grandmother return to her village ahead of time?| A．She got terribly angry with her kids. |
| B．She had something important to deal with. |
| C．She didn’t enjoy the food at her kids’ home. |
| D．She didn’t get along well with her grandchildren. |
| A．The loss of Kerala’s traditional dishes. |
| B．Measures to save Kerala’s traditional dishes. |
| C．Benefits of keeping Kerala’s traditional dishes. |
| D．The improvement of people’s living conditions in Kerala. |
| A．Kerala has shaken off the “poor” label. |
| B．Foreign food is popular in Kerala. |
| C．Kerala offers cooks few job opportunities. |
| D．Fewer and fewer people in Kerala cook for themselves. |
| A．Worried. | B．Grateful. | C．Doubtful. | D．Satisfied. |
What makes something a sport? Traditional definitions usually included some physical activity,
The word eSports is short
The first eSports event was the one
5 . TikTok has appeared as a major starter of food trends—from mushroom coffee and pancake cereal to cloud bread. But there’s another trend dominating TikTok that’s become bigger than any of these viral recipes. That’s the #whatieatinaday trend, which is nearing 9 billion views. These video food diaries are also popular on Instagram—typically featuring a wellness influencer or celebrity showing their foods they ate that day—often with a full-length yoga clothes mirror selfie.
The basic message these posts send is that if you eat like them, then you can eventually look like them. The posts are promoting the idea of a perfect or ideal day of eating, along with a perfect body size.
“Younger audience, especially girls and young women, accept the message that they must eat like these creators in order to achieve and maintain not only health, but also social attraction,” says Cara Harbstreet. “The biggest harm I see with this trend is that it normalizes disordered or restrictive eating behaviors. This could prevent someone struggling with an eating disorder from seeking and receiving support or treatment.”
Even if the #whatieatinaday posts are displaying a balanced day of eating, the message of “eat like me, and you will look like me” is harmful because people would not necessarily achieve the same body size as the Instagrammer even if they copied their day of eating bite for bite.
Rather than a day’s worth of food, many experts suggest posting a single meal instead. Rachael Hartley said an individual meal or recipe could serve as an idea or inspiration versus a full day of eating to copy.
“I occasionally share #whylate Wednesday posts, with the aim of showing a wide range of foods, including fast food, desserts, convenience foods and other foods that diet culture might dislike, as well as showing how to include nutrition in a gentle way,” she said.
Rachael says diet culture has changed our sense of how much is “normal” to eat at meals or snacks, so it can be helpful to see a full meal that shows a variety of foods.
1. What is paragraph I mainly about?| A．The popularity of TikTok cooking classes. |
| B．The origin of the #whatieatinaday trend. |
| C．The Internet hit of posting a whole-day diet. |
| D．The disagreement of selfies in yoga clothes. |
| A．It makes people less attractive. | B．It confuses dieting with healthy eating. |
| C．It contributes to emotional disorder. | D．It restricts people’s choice to vegetables. |
| A．A big Sunday supper with various dishes. |
| B．A single meal with only convenient noodles. |
| C．Breakfast, lunch and dinner on a Wednesday. |
| D．A day’s meals with more vegetables than meat. |
| A．To compare different eating habits. |
| B．To inform a standard posting method. |
| C．To argue against #whatieatinaday posting. |
| D．To discuss the pros and cons of diet culture. |
Friends who are not
“
On average, friends are as “related” as fourth cousins or people who share great, great, great grandparents,
One of the most interesting
7 . The British has obeyed the “keep to the left” rule for long. Have you ever wondered why? There is a historical reason for this: it’s all to do with keeping your sword hand free! In the Middle Ages you never knew who you were going to meet when travelling on horseback. Most people are right-handed, so if a stranger passed by on the right of you, your right hand would be free to use your sword if required.
Indeed the “keep to the left” rule goes back even further in time; archaeologists have discovered evidence suggesting that the Romans drove carts and wagons on the left, and it is known that Roman soldiers always marched on the left. This “rule of the road” was officially sanctioned in 1300 AD when Pope (教皇) Boniface Ⅷ declared that all pilgrims (朝圣者) travelling to Rome should keep to the left.
This continued until the late 1700s when large wagons became popular for transporting goods. These wagons were drawn by several pairs of horses and had no driver’s seat. Instead, in order to control the horses, the driver sat on the horse at the back left, thus keeping his whip hand free. Sitting on the left however made it difficult to judge the traffic coming the other way, as anyone who has driven a left-hand drive car along the winding lanes of Britain will agree!
In Britain there wasn’t much call tor these massive wagons and the smaller British vehicles had seats for the driver to sit on behind the horses. As most people are right-handed, the driver would sit to the right of the seat so his whip hand was free. Traffic congestion in 18th century London led to a law being passed to make all traffic on London Bridge keep to the left in order to reduce collisions. This rule was incorporated (并入) into the Highway Act of 1835 and was adopted throughout the British Empire.
1. What probably happened in the Middle Ages?| A．Passers-by walked on the right. | B．Strangers fought every time they met. |
| C．People would be attacked by strangers. | D．Tourists travelled everywhere without limit. |
| A．Recognized. | B．Designed. | C．Explained. | D．Postponed. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Indifferent. | C．Negative. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．What Is the “Keep to the Left” Rule? | B．Why Do the British Drive on the Left? |
| C．Where Was “Drive on the Left” Carried Out? | D．When Is the “Keep to the Left” Rule Popular? |
8 . If job seekers knew companies were using AI to fill open positions, would it stop them from applying for the job? The answer, according to a recent study, is yes — sometimes.
The researchers found that in certain instances, like the screening (筛选) of applications, participants usually accepted some degree of automation. But in other instances, like interviews, automation could stop job seekers from applying for a position.
Companies facing recent labor shortages are increasingly turning to AI as a way to facilitate and speed up the hiring process. AI can be used in tasks such as screening job candidates, checking professional licenses, and interviewing candidates.
The new research suggests that using AI in hiring could be quite opposite. For instance, in one part of the study, participants were shown fictional job postings and then asked if they intended to apply for the position. The researchers found that if the job posting said that AI was used both to screen applicants and to conduct interviews, participants’ intention to apply for the position averaged 2.77 on a six-point scale. If AI was used only for the screening process, participants’ intention to apply averaged 3.73.
In another experiment, the researchers also found that study participants saw pros and cons in the use of AI in interviewing. When told the hiring would be fully automated, some participants expected the whole hiring process to be more consistent (始终如一的) in its judgments. But others tended to believe that they had less voice in the final outcome. Overall, the study results suggest this concern tends to outweigh the appreciation of AI’s lack of bias (偏见) at the interviewing stage.
A mixed approach may be a way to get the best of both worlds. Participants may have been more open to automation earlier in the hiring process because they could see some benefits from using AI — such as less-biased decisions. But during the later stages applicants expect personal interaction, to give them an opportunity to sell themselves and to learn more about the company.
1. Why do companies increasingly turn to AI in hiring?| A．To attract more applicants. | B．To boost hiring process. |
| C．To pick out top candidates. | D．To solve labor shortages. |
| A．Screening job candidates. | B．Interviewing candidates. |
| C．Grading professional licenses. | D．Predicting final outcomes. |
| A．Less AI involvement. | B．Lack of consistent judgments. |
| C．Less-biased decisions. | D．Lack of personal interaction. |
| A．Hi-tech is a two-edged sword. |
| B．AI finds its way to hiring process. |
| C．Automation may discourage job seekers. |
| D．A mixed approach should be adopted in hiring. |
9 . No business would welcome being compared to gambling (赌博). Yet that is what is happening to makers of video games. For years parents have complained that their children are “addicted” to their video games and smartphones. Today, however, even more doctors are using the term. On January 1 this year, “gaming disorder”— in which games are played uncontrollably, despite causing harm — gained recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Are games really addictive? Psychologists have different opinions. Those who don’t think so say that this is just another moral panic. Similar warnings have been given about television, rock’n’roll, jazz, comic books, novels and even crossword puzzles, but it turns out that they are not as harmful as expected.
However, supporters argue that games developers have the motivation and the means to design their products to make them extremely attractive. For one thing, the business-model has changed. In the old days games were bought once and for all. But these days, games are free and money is earned from purchases of in-game goods, which ties playtime directly to revenue (收益). For another, games-makers combine psychological theory and data, which helps them maximize the playtime. Smartphones and modern video game machines use their permanent Internet connections to send gameplay data back to developers. In this way products are constantly adjusted to encourage players’ spending. The biggest spenders are known as “whales”, a term that originated in casinos (赌场).
The gaming industry should realize that, in the real world, it has a problem, and that problem is growing. Now that gaming addiction comes with an official WHO recognition, diagnoses will become more common. Anyway, being put together with gambling in the public mind, whether it is fairly or not, will not do the industry any good.
1. What do we know from Paragraph 1?| A．It is not suitable to compare video games to gambling. |
| B．Parents complain about their children’s addiction to gambling. |
| C．More doctors are against the use of the term “addicted”. |
| D．Gaming addiction was officially recognized as a disease. |
| A．Wrong judgment on how harmful something is. |
| B．Trouble caused by someone’s immoral behavior. |
| C．Social progress caused by science and technology. |
| D．Panic due to the gap between the rich and the poor. |
| A．They don’t charge players for in-game goods. |
| B．They adjust products based on received data. |
| C．They keep players’ video game machines updated. |
| D．They reward big spenders with a unique title. |
| A．offer a suggestion | B．make a prediction |
| C．give a warning | D．put forward a solution |
10 . It’s once again been declared the world’s most popular museum.
The museum broke its own
But the Louvre’s uptick (小幅上升) in visitors
“The Louvre is suffocating (令人窒息的),” the workers union said in a statement. “The public has increased by more than 20% since 2009, but the palace has not grown,” the union
The museum was
Although tensions with its workers still
The social media that are
But while visitor numbers rose at the Louvre, overall attendance was relatively
| A．Moreover | B．However | C．Finally | D．Eventually |
| A．splendid | B．skeptical | C．tough | D．sad |
| A．promise | B．rule | C．record | D．law |
| A．musicians | B．artists | C．visitors | D．volunteers |
| A．accuses | B．suffers | C．blames | D．proves |
| A．strikes | B．recognition | C．misery | D．contests |
| A．flooding | B．jumping | C．crawling | D．slipping |
| A．stopped | B．added | C．started | D．paused |
| A．decorated | B．repaired | C．visited | D．closed |
| A．lecture | B．meeting | C．speech | D．lesson |
| A．queued | B．dined | C．helped | D．served |
| A．turned up | B．turned over | C．turned away | D．turned on |
| A．die out | B．pay off | C．fade away | D．go on |
| A．healthy | B．funny | C．odd | D．restless |
| A．quality | B．attendance | C．photo | D．worker |
| A．alarm | B．attack | C．recovery | D．prediction |
| A．paintings | B．products | C．population | D．tourism |
| A．innocent | B．selfish | C．crazy | D．generous |
| A．concert | B．video | C．festival | D．industry |
| A．high | B．huge | C．round | D．flat |
