1 . Most of us spend our lives surrounded by screens, which offer us convenience as well as connection and an ocean of information. But since it’s easy to feel pressured to keep up with every notification, technology may feel more like a burden than a blessing. Thus, the idea of “digital detox” is becoming increasingly inviting.
The phrase “digital detox” describes getting rid of TV, phones, computers and other forms of technology that control our lives for a period of time. Some experts advocate completely avoiding unnecessary screen time for 30 years. Others suggest using an app that will limit the amount of time one can spend on certain websites. A third option is logging out in evenings or on weekends. Others simply turn their phones off at scheduled times. Some even pay high prices to take vacations in places where they can unplug from their digital routine.
Why might you want to take a digital detox? Perhaps you find that you are spending longer than you intend on certain apps or that they distract you from more important things. Perhaps social media is depressing because you compare yourself to others or you fear missing out on things that other people are enjoying. Constant negative news can also give rise to a lot of stress.
Technology can also have physical effects. Many people experience back or neck pain as a result of bending over screens. The blue light coming from most screens can also affect people’s sleep by preventing production of melatonin(褪黑素).
Giving up all screens may not be realistic, but strategic breaks from technology may be good for your body, mind, emotions and relationships. It is high time that you picked a time to turn off your devices and focus on really important things.
1. Why does the author say “technology may feel more like a burden than a blessing” in paragraph 1?| A．To confirm a concept. |
| B．To present a problem. |
| C．To explain a rule. |
| D．To make a prediction. |
| A．Recover. | B．Benefit. | C．preventing | D．Suffer. |
| A．Apps selection difficulty. |
| B．Fear of missing important things. |
| C．Exposure to false news. |
| D．Pressure from social comparison. |
| A．To recommend healthy lifestyles. |
| B．To call for reducing the use of digital devices. |
| C．To give instructions on starting digital detox. |
| D．To present different attitudes to digital products. |
2 . If we’re already working alone at home, why do we always think of working with our heads similarly down in a public setting?
Of course, Covid-19 has made impossible the stay in a cafe for long, and meanwhile made remote work normal part of life. As we begin another year living with a pandemic (流行病), we might wonder why, when things settle down, we should bother going back out to work in public, only to work independently with our heads down — something we’re already doing at home now.
But putting on your noise-lessening headphones to work at your desk is actually different from doing the same surrounded by other people buzzing over your shoulder. There are many ways coffee shops awake our creativity in a way offices and homes don’t.
A 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that background noise in a place like a cafeteria can actually increase your creative output. The idea is that if your attention is slightly taken away from the task at hand by stimuli (刺激), it improves your abstract thinking ability, which can lead to more creative ideas.
Another study from 2019, which had similar findings, centers around what’s called “stochastic resonance”: originally observed in animals, it’s the phenomenon in which just the right amount of noise benefits our senses. And while the amount varies, audio stimuli in the background also help us improve decision making. So, the jazz, light conversation and banging coffee grounds aren’t an annoyance — they could help you come up with your next grand work.
There’s also the fact that in a cafe, we’re surrounded by people who’ve come to do the same thing as us, which acts as something encouraging. A 2016 study backed up this idea noting “simply performing a task next to a person who made a lot of effort in a task will make you do the same”.
1. According to paragraph 2, what might be people’s attitude towards working in a cafe?| A．Supportive. | B．Unclear. | C．Doubtful. | D．Positive. |
| A．Clapping you on the shoulder. | B．Talking to you continuously. |
| C．Making noises around you. | D．Working on the same task. |
| A．It promotes your abstract thinking. |
| B．It keeps your attention from wandering away. |
| C．It is beneficial to our senses. |
| D．It encourages us to learn from hardworking people. |
| A．Working in cafes — a choice by the majority | B．Working in cafes — a reflection of creativity |
| C．Working in cafes — a tendency in pandemics | D．Working in cafes — a source of creativity |
Celebrating Western holidays, following K-pop bands and going abroad to study.... Many young people
But data has shown that young Chinese people have demonstrated an
According to the website of the Communist Youth League of China, the organization has more than 15. 7 million followers on Sina Weibo. As long as
On March 5, the league wrote a post celebrating the 12rd anniversary of the birth of China’s first premier, Zhou Enlai,
Young people not only expressed their patriotism in words, but also through action. Chinese youths’ patriotism may
4 . How does our memory work, and how can we use it to the best of our ability on a daily basis? This question is at the heart of many neuroscience (神经系统科学) research projects, and now the reward system is at the center of investigations.
By examining brain activity in healthy human subjects, scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have highlighted the lasting positive effect of a monetary (钱的) reward on individuals’ ability to store a variety of information.
“The positive influence of a reward on memory is a well-known phenomenon,” said Sophie Schwartz, professor at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, who led this work. However, the experiment addressed two questions: Does the effect last over time, and what role does the accumulation (累积) of reward play?
Using magnetic resonance imaging — an imaging technique that allows real-time observation of the brain in action — 30 healthy subjects were asked to remember associations between objects and people. Each correct answer earned points, and incorrect answers lost points. Participants were then asked to retrieve these associations to earn additional points. They were given monetary rewards based on their total number of points. Critically, the average number of points that could be gained varied over the course of the experiment.
Kristofer Aberg, the study’s first author, stated: “The best results were not associated with the highest accumulation of rewards.”
Schwartz added, “Our brain needs rewards to motivate us, but also challenges. If the task is too easy, motivation decreases as quickly as if it is too difficult.”
The hippocampus primarily manages memory, but when a reward is involved, the ventral tegmental area (腹侧盖膜区) of the brain releases dopamine (多巴胺): the hormone (荷尔蒙) related to satisfaction.“ It is the dialogue between these two brain areas that helps maintain motivation, improve learning, and consolidate (巩固) memories, even over time,” explained Aberg.
1. What is one purpose of the experiment?| A．To discover what role rewards plays in affecting our memory. |
| B．To find an effective approach to improving our memory. |
| C．To test if rewards motivate the brain to perform better. |
| D．To investigate if rewards have an enduring effect on our memory. |
| A．Recall. | B．Choose. | C．Discover. | D．Explain. |
| A．Results varied in different stages of the study. |
| B．Both rewards and challenges affect the result. |
| C．The more rewards we get, the better memory we have. |
| D．Those who received the most rewards achieved the best results. |
| A．how the hormone decreases |
| B．the importance of dopamine |
| C．the brain mechanisms at work |
| D．how the brain gets satisfaction |
5 . Social media is such a huge part of everyone’s life nowadays. It’s hard to
For me, however, I
I don’t see any
I don’t let myself feel like I have to post every day to feel like I am
Social media has so many
| A．imagine | B．postpone | C．admit | D．risk |
| A．mail | B．post | C．tell | D．ask |
| A．view | B．scene | C．glimpse | D．challenge |
| A．usually | B．normally | C．rarely | D．nearly |
| A．when | B．as | C．since | D．unless |
| A．problem | B．interest | C．plan | D．case |
| A．clothes | B．cuisine | C．study | D．friend |
| A．find | B．waste | C．reserve | D．touch |
| A．selective | B．confident | C．objective | D．engaged |
| A．resolve | B．recommend | C．pray | D．present |
| A．productive | B．tough | C．brave | D．unique |
| A．people | B．nobody | C．media | D．myself |
| A．useless | B．ridiculous | C．uncertain | D．positive |
| A．changing | B．sharing | C．hiding | D．missing |
| A．put up with | B．settle down to | C．look forward to | D．make up for |
6 . Pet industry seems to resist gravity. With continual growth over the past 50 years, it shows no sign of slowing down. With people treating their pets more and more like a family member, the pet industry continues to see a rise in related products and services.
The pet industry in the USA reached a milestone in 2020, with total sales of $103.6 billion, a historic high, according to the American Pet Products Association State of the Industry Report, compared to sales of $48 billion in 2010. That is more than a 100% increase in just ten years in what you might consider to be a relatively boring industry.
The pet supplement industry has been growing rapidly as pet owners treat their cats like a member of the family, almost mirroring human behavior. Pay attention to what human trends for health as it might cross over to their pets.
And if you thought product innovation was limited to humans, you would be wrong. We are starting to see significant amounts of innovation in pet product research and development. For example: pet wipes. Pet wipes are essentially moist towelettes (湿纸巾) used on pets after going to the bathroom. Another relatively new pet product category is pet toothpaste.
The same trend goes in the high-end product as well. If it will make their pets happier, there’s a group of owners who will buy it. And that includes relatively expensive luxury products. A new brand of kitty letter (猫砂) changes color based on a cat’s urine pH levels and the company claims that the product helps cat owners detect illness in their cats.
It seems that anything humans need, pets need. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that pet insurance is on the rise. The global pet insurance market size was estimated at $3.8 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $4.4 billion in 2020 according to Grand View Research. Even Lemonade, the AI-powered insurer recently launched its own pet insurance coverage.
1. What makes pet industry continue to develop?| A．Its resistance to gravity | B．People’s growth of love for pets |
| C．The support of some organizations | D．The fashionable products and services |
| A．The diversity of pets | B．The family members’ behavior |
| C．The amount of money spent on it | D．Human’s needs for their own life |
| A．Pets’ health and wellbeing | B．Pets’ appearance and beauty |
| C．Pets’ training and behavior | D．Pets’ rescue and protection |
| A．What is the influence of pet industry? |
| B．Why do pet owners treat pets kindly? |
| C．Does a pet belong to family members? |
| D．How does pet industry continue growing? |
In “Squid Game”, a nine- episode series shown on Netflix, 456 people
“Squid Game” is now the top- ranked show in the United States on Netflix and is on its way
South Korea boomed in the postwar era, making it one of the richest
As South Korean families have tried to keep up, household debt has mounted, leading some economists to warn that the debt could hold back the economy. Home prices have increased to the point
“In South Korea, all parents
8 . According to a new study in the online PLOS ONE, people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you’re selling.
Researchers from Britain’s University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments. The research team used computer software to make 40 faces, from the least to the most trustworthy-looking. The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn’t as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly (稍微) angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted.
Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest (投资) the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted. The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn’t change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.
Chris Olivola, one of the study’s authors, said in the University of Warwick’s press release: “It seems we are still willing to go with our feelings about whether we think someone looks like that we can trust them. The desire to judge strangers by their faces is hard to resist.”
1. According to the study, which of the following faces is most likely to be trusted?| A．A sad face. | B．A smiling face. | C．A crying face. | D．An angry face. |
| A．The trustworthy faces were given good information. |
| B．Researchers took photos of the 40 people’s faces in college. |
| C．Participants liked to choose the faces with good information. |
| D．Most participants gave their money to the trustworthy-looking faces. |
| A．People don’t trust strangers with sad faces. |
| B．People often judge strangers by their faces. |
| C．People prefer good-looking faces to money. |
| D．People can’t rely on background information to judge others. |
| A．Who did the Experiments? | B．What Kind of Face do You Trust? |
| C．Why do You Trust Him or Her? | D．Why did They do the Experiments? |
9 . When I was a child, I was often asked at school who my role model was, the person that you admire and inspires you. I always mentioned different names: from the celebrity of the moment to my grandfather.
It was always difficult for me to choose a single person as a role model, because I liked different things from different people. Based on the people that I admired and inspired me, I managed to create a custom role model in my mind.
For years there has been a constant struggle to achieve gender equality, and when I decided to study at my university I leaned towards engineering because I wanted a challenge in my life, both intellectually and culturally. Back then, only 10% of the students were women. This certainly did not stop me. On the contrary, it was a determining factor for me to prove myself that I could handle something that was “not expected” for women.
Throughout my studies I realized that there was no difference between me and my teammates; we all had the same possibilities and capabilities. However, my main challenge was determined by culture, as we grew up with certain values and social norms that told us that careers in science or engineering were not for women.
It was complicated and I had to go through uncomfortable situations, but pursuing a technical career brought me many benefits, such as developing systematic thinking. This is a basic tool to create possibilities in the future and achieve a more rational understanding about the economic and social systems in which we live, and it allows you to have the possibility to become the architect of your own life.
When girls decide to pursue a technical career, they not only benefit themselves, but also help break the stereotypes in their environment. They become agents of change capable of modifying existing structures.
It is like sowing seeds for the future. If we want a fairer world where women and men can decide on our future, we have to involve girls starting today, encouraging them to explore technology and science. Sow a seed and in the future it will give you a tree with many fruits. This is not only an individual benefit but a collective one.
1. What did the author manage to do in her childhood?| A．Change her role models all the time. |
| B．Find the basis for admiring a person. |
| C．Imagine a particular role model for herself. |
| D．Treat her grandfather as a famous person. |
| A．Women have intellectual challenges. |
| B．Women are different in capabilities. |
| C．Women achieved gender equality at work. |
| D．Women are suitable for technical careers. |
| A．To stress the benefits of technical careers. |
| B．To explain its application in architecture. |
| C．To introduce this basic thinking tool. |
| D．To show the possibilities it brings in life. |
| A．Become famous models. | B．Explore science and technology. |
| C．Struggle for gender equality. | D．Decide on their own future. |
China’s youth are developing into a generation capable of shouldering the
The white paper,
“In the new era, China’s youth have shown their grit (勇气) at critical moments,” noted the white paper. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke, young people
