1 . Mr. Ma, a famous mental doctor from Beijing once said at an important meeting, “Now many young students can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people around them like their parents and classmates. Parents and teachers should care more about this mental problem.”
Then Mr. Ma gave some examples. One patient, a middle school student from Xi’an was doing badly in his lessons. He thought his teachers and friends often laughed at him, and he became so nervous and worried that one night he left his home without telling his parents. Another student, a14-year-old school girl from Shanghai, was very afraid of exams. While she was reading the exam paper, she couldn’t think of anything to write.
A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of young students in Shanghai have mental problems. They often feel worried and very unhappy. Unluckily many of them won’t go and ask for help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others won’t talk about their secrets.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Ma offered some good ideas for young people:
• Talk to your parents or teachers often.
• Take part in group activities.
• Try to get on well with the people around you.
• Go to see a doctor if you often feel unhappy.
1. The schoolgirl’s problem happened whenever she _______.| A．studied very hard | B．had exams |
| C．talked with her parents | D．went to school |
| A．They may have no parents. |
| B．They may have poor memories. |
| C．They may have no secrets. |
| D．They may have mental problems. |
| A．difficult things | B．strange mind |
| C．something wrong with mind | D．great thought |
| A．they don’t want to tell their secrets to others |
| B．their parents are too busy to look after them |
| C．doctors can’t help them with the problems |
| D．they don’t have time to ask anyone for help |
| A．It’s good for kids to have more group activities. |
| B．It’s helpful for you to see doctors every day. |
| C．It’s useful for students to keep quiet in class. |
| D．We can only go to the doctor when we are ill. |
2 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a TV show one after another. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now watch their favorite shows directly on the Internet at their convenience.
This behavior is nothing new. In fact, “binge-watching” has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available at the same time. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.
However, this wonderful gift may in fact be poisonous. Recent research from British media Ofcom suggests that this behavior may have become a hindrance(障碍). Out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show in a row, almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and one quarter have failed to do their household chores. Next we’ll be missing work!
Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of which are often associated with compulsive (强迫性的) behavior, a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director at Ofcom, said: “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, coupled with the fact that it has shown to lead to negligence (疏忽) in many, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?
The large number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. It offers us opportunities to better understand the world we live in, educate ourselves and enjoy much needed downtime. However, like any behavior done to an extreme degree, it can become dangerous. And when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning-then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, a little of what you fancy does you good.
1. What effects can binge-watching bring about if you have formed the habit?| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Neutral. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Watching too much. | B．Being too careless. |
| C．Too many TV shows. | D．Uncontrollable behavior. |
| A．By educating ourselves. | B．By doing something good. |
| C．By watching neither too less nor too much. | D．By better understanding the world we live in. |
3 . Self-driving technology is expected to have a great effect on public health and reduce the 1.25 million deaths every year on global roads. At the same time, this new technology is a threat to the employment of the millions who are paid to sit behind the wheel — from truck drivers to cab drivers and delivery workers.
Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng, an expert in the world of artificial intelligence, acknowledges the unemployment concerns, but he sees a way forward that offers society the benefits of autonomous vehicles and blunts the negative (消极的) effects of job losses.
Baidu plans to have commercial self-driving cars on the road in 2018. “I feel a strong moral responsibility to try to make self-driving cars a reality as quickly as possible,” Ng said in a visit to The Washington Post. At Baidu, a Chinese tech company where Ng is developing self-driving technology, the number 3,000 has become a rallying call (号召), representing the number of humans killed every day on roads. For Ng self-driving cars are a good example of the benefits of what he calls the golden age of artificial intelligence.
But for humans who could lose their jobs in this golden age, governments could offer a solution. “We as a society have a responsibility to help those whose jobs are displaced by this value — creating artificial intelligence,” Ng said. “I think everyone in this country has a right to the chance of having a great life.”
He is an advocate for basic income, in which governments pay citizens a nominal (象征性的) amount to guarantee a basic standard of living. Several Northern European countries are planning basic income experiments. Ng also suggests an adjustment to basic income — paying the unemployed to study online and prepare for a new career.
1. Once self-driving cars are available, drivers and delivery workers may ________.| A．lose their jobs | B．eam more money |
| C．work for Baidu | D．get basic income |
| A．Avoids. | B．Increases. | C．Weakens. | D．Causes. |
| A．Offering them self— driving cars. | B．Funding them to learn new living skills |
| C．Ensuring them to have a great life. | D．Providing them with new careers. |
| A．A science magazine. | B．A transport website. |
| C．A government report. | D．A tour guide. |
4 . A worldwide problem has long caught people’s attention: student loan (贷款) debt. In America, the country’s overall student debt reached a record of $1.6 trillion in 2019. The average person with student loan debt owed between $20,000 and $25,000. A recent Japanese government report says it has been lending over $9 billion yearly to students since 2010. Similar conditions exist in Africa and South America.
Several factors account for high student loan debt. One is that employers everywhere have increased their demands for skilled workers, making higher education a requirement for many jobs. The students, however, after graduation, often find that their country’s economy is not strong enough to support their financial needs, so their ability to pay back the loan becomes a problem.
To solve the problem, many countries are seeking their ways. Australia has developed a system where students do not have to pay anything back until they are earning at least $40,000 a year. In America, several candidates running for president in the 2020 election have offered more extreme solutions that all or at least some of these loans will be forgiven.
Some professors in several universities recently studied what the effects of debt forgiveness might be. They found that, overall, sudden debt relief greatly improved the borrowers’ lives. Not only did they have more money, but they were more likely to move to a new area and seek better paying work.
Yet the professors’ research doesn’t include what might happen to financial institutions or the overall economy if debt were totally forgiven. It only looks at how debt forgiveness would help the borrowers. They warn of some other possible negative effects. If a borrower knew that if he ran into any trouble he would be saved because he could get the debt relief, then he might actually become more reckless (轻率的) with his borrowing in the future.
No matter what, the professors agree that if countries do decide to approve some student debt relief, the neediest students should be helped first.
1. What causes students unable to pay back the loan?| A．High financial needs. | B．Realistic economic situation. |
| C．Rising need for skilled workers. | D．Requirement for higher education. |
| A．Extreme. | B．Welcome. | C．Conditional. | D．Impractical. |
| A．Borrowers will lead a better life. |
| B．The country’s economy will be boosted. |
| C．The loan problem will be forever solved. |
| D．Borrowers will care more about future borrowing. |
| A．Debt relief is a double-edged sword. |
| B．Student loan debt is helpful to all in need. |
| C．Growing global student debt inspires search for solutions. |
| D．Student loan debt will become a serious concern worldwide. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2. 只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
For thousands of years, people had accepted challenges in different fields. There are not only physical challenges and also intellectual challenges. Some people risk his lives to play sports to see how good they can do. Others try to invent something make life easier. They all enjoy challenges. Today, there are still much challenges before us. Medical science face the challenge of conquering(攻克)many diseases what still attack human beings. Engineers and planners must build new city and design new kinds of transportation. Scientists must develop new forms of energy. In short of, we live in an age full of challenges.
6 . Social media use has been linked to depression, especially in teenage girls. But a new study argues that the issue may be more complex than experts think.
The research involved interviews with 10,000 teenagers in England. “Our results suggest social media itself doesn’t cause harm, but that frequent use may disrupt activities that positively impact mental health such as sleeping and exercising, while increasing exposure of young people to harmful content, particularly cyberbullying (网络欺凌),” study co-author Russell Viner said in a statement.
Bob Patton, a lecturer of the University of Surrey, said this means strategies focusing only on reducing social media use to improve mental health might not help. He said, “Building strategies to increase resilience (适应力) to cyberbullying and promote better sleep and exercise is needed to reduce psychological (心理的) harm.”
The research was conducted by interviewing teenagers once a year. They would report the frequency of their using social media. More than three times daily was considered “very frequent”. The researchers noted that they did not capture how much time the participants spent on these websites, which was a limitation of the study. “For boys, the impact on their mental health may result from other reasons,” the authors said.
The researchers found that, in both sexes, very frequent social media use was associated with greater psychological harm. The effect was especially clear among girls: The more often they checked social media, the greater their psychological harm was.
But most impact on psychological harm in girls could be accounted for by lower sleep quality and greater exposure to cyberbullying, with decreased physical activities playing a lesser role. But for boys, those factors explained only 12% of the effects of very frequent social media use on psychological harm.
“It’s an important distinction,” said Ann DeSmet, a professor at Ghent University in Belgium. “If healthy lifestyles can be replaced, the positive effects of social media use, such as encouraging social interactions, can be more supported.”
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．The risk of cyberbullying. | B．The report of the statement. |
| C．The findings of the research. | D．The functions of social media. |
| A．The need to fight against mental harm. | B．The proper way to improve mental health. |
| C．The benefit of limiting social media use. | D．The impact of social media use on people. |
| A．It had shortcomings. | B．It needed more attention. |
| C．It was the first in its class. | D．It was difficult to carry out. |
| A．The research on teenage girls | B．The harm of using social media |
| C．Social interactions are encouraged | D．Social media use influences girls especially |
Nowadays, our classrooms, neighborhoods and communities become
How we respond to this diversity will decide not only our future as a person but also our future as a society. As Maya Angelou said, “In diversity there is beauty and
The opposite of tolerance is closed-mindedness. Arguments, fights and wars
8 . What are the most popular college majors in the world? The answers may surprise you!
China:7 out of the Top 10 are STEM majors.
According to China University Alumni Association, among those who score well enough in China’s highly competitive exam system to get into university, 19.39% choose to study Economics and 19.06%select Business Management, which means business& management related majors account for almost half of the popular majors.
The third most popular major in China is Informatics Engineering (6.87%) followed tightly by Law (6.53%). From No.5 to No.10, the most popular majors are almost all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Majors such as Biological Sciences(5.93%), IT and Computer Sciences (5.72%), Architecture (3.84%), Physics (3.37%) and Automation Engineering (3.23%).
It’s not until No.11that some social science majors such as Chinese Language and Literature, Foreign Language Studies and Journalism appear.
US: Health, Psychology, Biology. American students like to explore human beings.
Business and Management are the most popular subjects in the US (289,384 degrees). Health related programs such as Nursing are next in line (141,632 degrees) Psychology and Biological and Biomedical Sciences run almost neck and neck (127,066 degrees and 120,375 degrees, respectively).
The 5th place belongs to Engineering, with 117,553 degrees awarded. Social science majors such as Education (102,219) follows up, and the difference between Communications (98,949) and Finance and Accounting (98,663) is rather small.
A little bit surprisingly, Anthropology and Sociology (57,630) beat Computer Science (55,843) and have moved into the top 10.
The trends in prevailing college majors in the US connect directly to the average starting salary. The UK: Social science receives a relatively warm response.
Respecting the UK, data from the British Higher Education Statistics Agency illustrate that Business & Administrative studies are the most popular subjects (342,970).
Subjects allied to Medicine and Biological Sciences are the second and third (288, 065 and 233,970 respectively ). Social Studies receive a warm welcome among young people as well (229,360). The 5th, 6th and 7th are respectively Creative Arts & Design (178,415), Engineering &Technology (164,975) and Education (145,445).
The other two subjects that have over 100,000students are Computer Science (107,250) and Languages (103,545). Physical Science (95,720) is also close to this number. Social Studies are more popular in the UK than in America.
1. What college major ranks Top 10 in China?| A．Anthropology and Sociology. | B．Creative Arts & Design. |
| C．Journalism. | D．Biological Sciences. |
| A．In China. | B．In the US. |
| C．In the UK. | D．None of the above. |
| A．Medicine. | B．Entertainment. |
| C．Education. | D．Sports. |
9 . Will we ever be free from the constant stream of notifications(通知)? The headache caused by your phone beeping and vibrating 24/7? Being contactable whenever and wherever you are?
Don’t get me wrong, I’d find it really difficult to be sociable without social media. It would be extremely hard to keep in contact with friends and family, especially if they live far away. Organising meet-ups would be a nightmare–imagine having to set a date in writing or in person, weeks in advance. What would happen if you were running late? You wouldn’t even be able to ping your friends a text to let them know. Events on Facebook and WhatsApp group messages have made organising everything so easy. They’ve enabled spontaneity–if it’s a sunny day, why not go for a picnic in the park?
But I find social media stressful. If you’re not checking your phone at least every half an hour, you might miss out on something important or fun. If you don’t message that friend you haven’t seen in a while, they might think you’ve forgotten about them. If you don’t remember to shower your bestie with ugly selfies, you might not keep up that Snapchat streak!
If you’re meant to be doing homework, can you resist the temptation to check why your phone is flashing? If you have friends round and there’s a lull in conversation, are you tempted to tap out a quick reply to your friend on the other end of the internet rather than playing a game with your friends on the sofa next to you?
In the 21st century contact is quicker and easier, but that doesn’t mean we have more free time.The ability to send a quick message to one friend means we have time to send one to five others, and before you know it you’re having five conversations at once. How can you really concentrate on any of them? And if your Twitter or Instagram feed is buzzing, why bother going outside to kick a football about or signing up for music lessons? You’re entertained enough–you just never have time to relax, let off steam, enjoy the world. Try leaving your phone at home and doing something productive, maybe even alone, today–you might feel all the better for it.
1. What’s the function of the questions in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic. |
| B．To attract the readers’ interest. |
| C．To look for fun. |
| D．To entertain the readers. |
| A．Organising meet-ups is easy without social media. |
| B．It’s difficult to be sociable without social media. |
| C．Social apps enable us to have a picnic. |
| D．Social media makes it hard to keep in contact with friends and family. |
| A．Convenient but stressful. |
| B．Interesting and wonderful. |
| C．Great and wonderful. |
| D．Exciting and funny. |
| A．We can’t miss anything important by checking every half an hour. |
| B．We don’t care long-time-no-see friends any more. |
| C．We can’t leave our phones at home to enjoy the world better. |
| D．We don’t have more free time in 21st century. |
10 . Strategies for Getting Kids off Screens
It’s time to keep kids off the screens! Parents should use the winter vacation to remind their children of what it’s like to play freely, offline for hours on end.
Set clear screen time limits
Establish how many minutes or hours you’re OK with them each week, and make it something that can never be changed. For example, you could say they’re allowed to watch for an hour on Sunday morning, or for 15 minutes in the evening while dinner is being made, or none at all for the rest of the winter—and then stick to it.
Get kids cooking
Involve them in meal preparation by assigning recipes that you’d like them to make each day.
There are numerous half- and full-day camp options and lessons that can occupy a child’s time, such as swimming, art classes, tennis, dinosaur camp and sports camp. Look around your community for activities that can get them out of the house for a few hours each day.
Establish a reading routine (习惯)
| A．Sign up for lessons |
| B．Assign household work |
| C．That helps stop arguments of screen time |
| D．Of course, this is easier said than done |
| E．Master some basic tricks, using a homemade tool |
| F．They’ll develop new skills at cutting, cooking and baking |
| G．Go to the library once a week to store up fresh reading material |
