1 . Do you follow fashion? If so, you know how quickly trends can change.
Fashion trends changed at a slower pace in the past. Designers produced new styles and clothing lines four times a year — once for each season.
Fast fashion refers to low-cost, quickly-made clothing that copies the latest high-end fashions. Fast fashion companies may produce new clothing weekly — 52 times per year instead of the traditional four.
Fast fashion has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, these companies seek to produce clothing as cheaply as possible, which makes it possible to sell items at much lower prices.
However, fast fashion has its downsides. The use of cheap materials means the clothing produced doesn’t last long.
| A．After a few wears, it may become torn or damaged. |
| B．Clothing may be in style one day and outdated the next. |
| C．Consequently, far more people can afford their products. |
| D．People used to make repairs to damaged clothes instead of throwing them away. |
| E．Actually, there are many ways we can do to avoid fast fashion and make a difference. |
| F．However, since the rapid rise of fast fashion in the last 50 years, all that has changed. |
| G．Therefore, fast fashion gives more people the chance to express themselves through fashion. |
2 . It’s cool to be a fool in school, obviously. Research from Florida Atlantic University shows that aggressive, troublesome adolescents often end up becoming quite
Importantly, researchers explain that being popular and having friends aren’t one in the same. Popularity
Being popular is thought a major status symbol for an
The team at FAU performed a study to test their
Aggression,
While researchers don’t think
| A．delicate | B．mature | C．tough | D．popular |
| A．requires | B．realizes | C．means | D．reminds |
| A．consider | B．feel | C．make | D．describe |
| A．limit | B．prefer | C．apply | D．compare |
| A．adult | B．adolescent | C．audience | D．acquaintance |
| A．hard | B．true | C．wise | D．wrong |
| A．crazy | B．hardworking | C．cruel | D．outgoing |
| A．result | B．plots | C．theory | D．characters |
| A．tolerate | B．strengthen | C．contradict | D．design |
| A．aggression | B．conservation | C．alternative | D．sensitivity |
| A．experiment | B．increase | C．appointment | D．assessment |
| A．treatments | B．development | C．arguments | D．punishment |
| A．on the contrary | B．in most cases | C．by the way | D．in my opinion |
| A．physical | B．mental | C．facial | D．official |
| A．set off | B．put about | C．back down | D．stick up |
| A．attacks | B．awards | C．helps | D．actions |
| A．receives | B．promotes | C．evaluates | D．distinguishes |
| A．doubt | B．forget | C．inspect | D．explain |
| A．conflict | B．warn | C．peace | D．effort |
| A．wonder | B．advertise | C．ignore | D．believe |
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。
When I was my way to school last Saturday afternoon, I saw a mother and her son preparing to go across the street. A mother was about to run the light while her son prevented her. The mother felt embarrassed and stops. With more and more cars coming into our families, it had greatly improved our life. But unlucky, it has also brought many problems, such as heavy traffic and traffic accident. Traffic safety is everybody’s business. We must to obey the rules. We can tell our parents not to drink before we drive, not to run through red lights, not to talk and laugh while drive etc.
4 . In the last 50 years the media influence has grown increasingly with the advance of technology. First there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, the television and now the Internet.
We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.
In our daily life, we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of. We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works.
Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television. We are constantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and much more, in fact a child may be exposed to about 40,000 ads a year.
But who owns the media, which are the companies or people that shape our values, beliefs and decisions? In America, the media is basically dominated by five major companies. Those five companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day. They own the major entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programming, video news and sports entertainment. They also own integrated telecommunications, wireless phones, video games softwares, electronic media, the music industry and more.
Years ago there was more diversity in companies, but they have been combined so now they are just a few and they have the power to shape our opinions and beliefs and those of our kids. So it’s important to be aware of what your kids are exposed to every day and you should also try to look at things from different perspectives and not just from the one the media gives you.
1. What does the underlined word “dominated” probably mean?| A．Invested. | B．Controlled. | C．Played. | D．Sold. |
| A．Newspaper. | B．Telegraph. | C．Radio. | D．TV. |
| A．We will know nothing about the outside world. |
| B．We’ll know more about what our kids are exposed to. |
| C．Our opinions and beliefs will be easily shaped. |
| D．A lot of money will be saved and spent on other projects. |
| A．Mass media influence |
| B．The concept of mass media |
| C．What are we exposed to? |
| D．How does the media harm the public? |
5 . Feeling controlled by your to-do list can certainly make you unhappy, but new research suggests that more free time might not be the magic elixir (灵丹妙药) many of us dream it could be.
In a new study shown last week, researchers analyzed data from two major surveys about how Americans spend their time. Together, the surveys included more than 35,000 respondents (受访者). The researchers found that people with more free time generally had higher levels of subjective well-being—but only up to a point.
People who had up to two hours of free time a day generally reported they felt better than those who’d had less time. But people who had five or more hours of free time a day generally said they felt worse.
So finally the free-time “sweet spot” might be two to three hours per day, the findings suggest. “While too little time is bad, having more time is not always better,” said Marissa Sharif, lead author of the paper.
Of course, most people know that being too busy can cause stress. But the new study is not the first to question whether more free time will actually make people as happy as they believe it will. Part of “sweet spot” has to do with how people spend the free time. Researchers conducted several smaller online experiments. In one they asked participants to imagine having 3.5 to 7 free hours per day. They were asked to imagine spending that time doing “productive” things (like exercising) or to imagine doing “unproductive” activities (like watching TV).
Study participants believed their well-being would suffer if they had a lot of free time during the day—but only if they used it unproductively. Though that experiment was hypothetical (假设的), which is one limitation of the new research, it’s certainly in line with other research showing that being in a state of “flow” can be good for people’s mental health.
In other words, how people use their free time matters, Sharif said. Of course, what feels “productive” is up to you.
1. What can we know about the new study?| A．It included many American respondents. | B．It surveyed people from different countries. |
| C．It found that more spare time was better. | D．It’s the first to question the importance of free-time. |
| A．Less than 2 hours. | B．About 3.5 hours. | C．About 2 to 3 hours. | D．More than 7 hours. |
| A．The experiment included unproductive activities. |
| B．The experiment wasn’t in line with other researches. |
| C．The experiment didn’t include enough participants. |
| D．The experiment was not based on adequate evidence. |
| A．Being productive is an important matter. |
| B．The way people spend their spare time makes a difference. |
| C．Being in a state of “free” can be good for people’s mental health. |
| D．More free time will actually make people as happy as they believe. |
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。
With the popularity of cellphones and Internet, some of we students spend too much time playing with cellphones, which is bad for our studies. Worse is still, we have little time to communicating with our parents and friends. So do we have time for physical exercises.
How shall we do to improve the situation? All of us should realize the negative effects of modern media. Let’s limit our time by playing with cellphones. Instead we should spend more time playing sports or talking straightly with our parents and friends, which helped us relax and communicate.
7 . Reading poems is not exactly an everyday activity for most people. In fact, many people never read a poem once they get out of high school.
It is worth reminding ourselves that this has not always been the case in America. In the nineteenth century, a usual American activity was to sit around the fireside in the evening and read poems aloud. It is true that there was no television at that time, nor movie theatres, nor World Wide Web, to provide diversion. However, poems were a source of pleasure, of self-education, of connection to other people or to the world beyond one’s own community. Reading them was a social act as well as an individual one, and perhaps even more social than individual. Writing poems to share with friends and relations was, like reading poems by the fireside, another way in which poetry has a place in everyday life.
How did things change? Why are most Americans no longer comfortable with poetry, and why do most people today think that a poem has nothing to tell them and that they can do well without poems?
There are, I believe, three factors: poets, teachers, and we ourselves. Of these, the least important is the third: the world surrounding the poem has betrayed us more than we have betrayed the poem. Early in the twentieth century, poetry in English headed into directions unfavourable to the reading of poetry. Readers decided that poems were not for the fireside or the easy chair at night, and that they belonged where other difficult-to-read things belonged.
Poets failed the reader, so did teachers. They want their students to know something about the skills of a poem; they want their students to see that poems mean something. Yet what usually occurs when teachers push these concerns on their high school students is that young people decide poems are unpleasant crossword puzzles.
1. Why is reading poems thought to be a social act in the nineteenth century?| A．Because it built a link among people. |
| B．Because it helped unite a community. |
| C．Because it was a source of self-education. |
| D．Because it was a source of pleasure. |
| A．Stories. | B．Changes. | C．Amusements. | D．Concentrations. |
| A．Students are poorly educated in high school. |
| B．Poems have become difficult to understand. |
| C．Students are becoming less interested in poetry. |
| D．TV and the Internet are more attractive than poetry. |
| A．The history and changes of poetry. |
| B．The correct way for teachers to teach poetry. |
| C．The failure of poetry in people’s life nowadays. |
| D．The reason why people aren’t keen on poetry today. |
8 . We know it can be hard to put your phone to bed before you sleep. However, if you’re trying to improve your sleep, you really should ditch your phone at least an hour before bedtime. Luckily, our experts can help.
Scientific evidence suggests that the blue light emitted from your phone, tablet, computer, and TV suppresses (抑制) your body’s production of melatonin, a hormone (荷尔蒙) that plays an important role in your sleep cycle. Melatonin release in the evening helps you relax before bedtime. A 2013 study that analyzed technology use and sleep patterns with data from a National Sleep Foundation poll found that using devices like phones was tied to more sleep disruption than electronics that aren’t interactive.
Many of us use the excuse that our mobile devices serve as our wake-up calls, or keep them nearby to use meditation apps. If you want to use your phone as an alarm, consider setting it a couple of hours before you turn in for the night, and then setting the phone itself to bedtime mode for the rest of the evening.
Here’s another groundbreaking idea: You could get a real alarm clock. After reviewing them at Reviewed, we recommend the Sharp Dream Caster. Not only is it easy to set a wake-up time, the clock includes white noises and rain noises to help you sleep, plus a number of volume settings to pick what works best for you.
But an alarm clock won’t help you avoid doom-scrolling through social media. Take things a step further by avoiding using electronic devices. You can try reading a book (one made of paper), taking a bath or drinking a cup of chamomile tea.
Finally, if you want to keep up your meditation practice screen-free, consider the Morphée. It looks like a little music box and comes with a variety of breathing exercises and soundscapes to help you get to sleep.
1. What does the underlined word “ditch” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Set aside. | B．Pick up. | C．Show off. | D．Turn to. |
| A．Relaxing yourself before bedtime. |
| B．Sleeping less than you normally would. |
| C．Adapting to your sleep cycle more easily. |
| D．Reducing the pressure from screen use. |
| A．It is sold at a lower price. | B．It can predict a heavy rain. |
| C．It is controlled by cellphone. | D．It helps put your eyes together. |
| A．Making the best of the eco-friendly products. |
| B．Making a change according to circumstances. |
| C．Establishing a bedtime routine without electronics. |
| D．Keeping a consistent bedtime and wake-up time. |
9 . When it comes to a public library, you usually think of books and computers for people to use. You can even think of educational lectures and concerts that are often held in the library. But few people would expect to have a farm in the library.
But why not? After all, with rising costs, food safety is a community-wide issue. The Cicero Public Library near Syracuse in New York solved this problem by building a farm on its land. When Meg Backus saw all the open space in the library across the street from the building, he realized it could be used to benefit the community.
The farm was created in 2011 and in the beginning, 40 members of the library brought seeds (种子), water, and supplies to see if they could grow food on the land. It turned out that they could. To get the needed supplies for a larger farm, the library began to work with the organization Syracuse Grows Agency.
The community farm donates (捐赠) over 200 pounds of fresh produce (农产品) to local food banks every year. Half of the growing area is used as the Food Educational Garden. The other half is used by growers themselves. During the year, there are educational programs held at the library to teach people how to garden. There are also a lot of gardening books that can be used at the library.
Lauren Rosenstein, a worker of the library, said that she felt like she was giving something back to the community. “You’re really making a difference as a local community because you’re growing the food that people are eating.”
1. Why did Meg Backus build the farm?| A．To earn money. |
| B．To attract more readers. |
| C．To improve food safety. |
| D．To teach readers how to grow food. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Stressed. | C．Hopeless. | D．Confident. |
| A．Farmers’ life. | B．Food donation. | C．Gardening skills. | D．Food banks. |
| A．Make a Farm Popular | B．Turn a Library into a Farm |
| C．Meet the First Library Farm | D．Find a Job on a Library Farm |
10 . What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a shop? The products displayed at the entrance? Or the soft background music?
But have you ever noticed the smell? Unless it is bad, the answer is likely to be no. But while a shop’s scent (香味) may not be outstanding compared with sights and sounds, it is certainly there. And it is proving to be an increasing powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.
A brand store has become famous for its distinctive (独特的) scent which floats through the fairly dark hall and out to the entrance, by scent machines. A smell may be attractive but it may not just be used for freshening air. One sports goods company once reported that when it first introduced scent into its stores, customers’ intention to purchase increased by 80 percent.
But while e-shops can only use sights and sounds, bricks-and-mortar stores (实体店) can offer a full experience from the minute customers step through the door to the moment they leave. Another brand store seeks to be much more than a shop, but rather a destination. And scent is just one way to achieve this.
Now a famous store uses complex man-made smell to make sure that the soft scent of baby powder floats through the kid department, and coconut (椰子)scent in the swimsuit section. A department store has even opened a new lab, inviting customers on a journey into the store’s windows to smell books, pots and drawers, in search of their perfect scent.
1. According to the passage, what is an increasingly powerful tool in the success of some brand stores?| A．Friendly assistants. | B．Unique scents. |
| C．Soft background music | D．Attractive window display. |
| A．show the advantages of bricks-and-mortar stores |
| B．urge shop assistants to change their attitude |
| C．push stores to use sights and sounds |
| D．introduce the rise of e-commerce |
| A．compare and evaluate | B．examine and assess |
| C．argue and discuss | D．inform and explain |
