1 . A question has increasingly bothered me since I began studying our relationship with technology two decades ago: Will we ever pay attention again? The concern arose from measuring the shrinking attention spans in various work roles. Whether we’re talking about a Gen Z or a baby boomer, a CEO or an administrative assistant, attention spans on our computers and phones are short and declining.

We tend to blame this trend on growing digital alerts and notifications, or on algorithms aimed at capturing our focus. These do play measurable roles. But it turns out that people are nearly as likely to switch their attention of their own volition. We are determined to be interrupted, if not by others, then by ourselves. Simply choosing to check our email is a major reason for interruptions. Our research found that, on average, people check their inboxes 77 times a day. More than 40% of the time, they do it willingly, without being spurred by any alert.

Are we doomed to see our attention spans nosedive? Completely unplugging from technology might help us recover, but few of us are ready to give up the benefits of online connections. There are possible remedies, however, if not real solutions.

First, we can become more intentional in our actions by examining the reasons behind: Am I distracting myself because I am bored? Are there other options? Taking proper breaks is also important; research shows that even a 20-minute walk in nature can lead us to increase our generation of ideas. Finally, people can plan to concentrate on important tasks when their mental resources are at their peak for avoiding distraction.

Institutional decisions can also help us to preserve attention. It’s not realistic to cut off email completely, but the volume can be reduced. We found that cutting email off in an organization for one workweek helped people focus longer on screens and reduced stress. Companies with an email-free day a week have reported positive results.

The German companies Volkswagen and Allianz have gone a step further and adopted a policy called “Right to Disconnect”. Actually, this policy of not punishing workers for failing to answer e-communications after work hours has been instituted in Ireland and France. How does this help? A 2017 study found afterhours work communications created emotional exhaustion, and a 2014 study showed detaching from work can improve sleep. The study found when sleep deficits increase, attention spans decrease.

Our online behavior is greatly influenced by the wider culture and the ever more sophisticated tools of digital technology, but we can’t just blame our short attention spans on algorithms and notifications that flood in. We still own our attention, and we can take change into our own hands.

1. In paragraph 2, the author mentions the result of the research to show that________.

A．we are likely to interrupt ourselves in most cases

B．people will sometimes voluntarily seek distraction

C．people are constantly interrupted by email from others

D．digital alerts are not to blame for the reduced concentration

2. What can be inferred about the two German companies before the introduction of the “Right to Disconnect” policy?

A．The companies used to punish workers for not staying connected after work.

B．The employees of these companies were generally not satisfied with their job.

C．Their employees had lower sleep quality compared to those in France and Ireland.

D．The companies refused to adopt the policy because they wanted to make more profits.

3. What can we conclude about digital technology from the passage?

A．It’s up to us human beings to decide how much we want to be distracted by it.

B．We can adjust our online behavior by making some changes to digital culture.

C．Standards must be set to ensure that we do not fall victim to its negative effects.

D．The impact of digital technology on our lives can be extended by cultural behavior.

2 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空，在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Nowadays, people are choosing to live in a minimalist lifestyle. Minimalism,     1     (bear) out of early 20th-century modernism, was a trend     2     over-decorated and over-furnished. One of the main reasons people choose to become minimalists is that they want to achieve more meaning in their life. Through practicing minimalism, people reduce their possessions to ones that make them     3    (true) happy. Besides, digital minimalism is particularly appealing to millennials who have grown tired of social media and being addicted to their technology.

3 . A video circulated on social media earlier this year, showing a tourist opening the door of a vehicle, reaching out an arm and attempting to stroke a passing lioness. The lioness shrugged him off, but it could have easily gone horribly wrong.

Reckless behaviour around wildlife risks the safety of both people and animals. People risk being attacked, mauled (撕咬) and possibly killed, while animals can be harmed, removed or put down, irrespective of whether they were only defending themselves. Animal attacks can also cast a destination in a negative light, causing temporary closures or scaring off visitors. All just so someone could boast that they had stroked a lion or captured a moment on a camera phone.

“Tourists are getting more and more reckless around wildlife and the source of the problem is social media.” says wildlife photographer Anette Mosshachers. “People risking their lives or doing stupid things with wildlife are after ‘likes’ and followers, something to show off on social media,” says Mossbacher. “The greater the risk, the more ‘likes’ they get. With some clients, it seems like a sickness or addiction.”

Yet social media is not entirely to blame. People have always taken risks for an experience. Foolish behavior and a tendency to get cocky around dangerous animals must have been around since the dawn of humanity. A hunger for attention online might drive some of the current madness, but some individuals might be trying to recreate a piece of the action they have seen on television. Perhaps the adrenaline (肾上腺激素) rush when close to wild animals causes an evaporation of common sense.

“There’s a worrying lack of awareness that animals several times our size, weight, speed and strength can easily hurt us,”says wildlife photographer David Lloyd. “I don’t think parks are doing enough to raise awareness. Tourists need to know how their presence can affect wildlife. A good example is cheetahs (猎豹) on vehicle rooftops. It may be a thrill for the bystanders, but the consequences if a mother cheetah falls off would be severe. She would no longer be able to hunt, so her cubs could easily starve.”

“People aren’t getting the education about why they need to stay away from wildlife, including avoiding diseases, keeping people secure and letting wildlife be wild,” says Philip Muruthi, vice president of species conservation and science for the African Wildlife Foundation. “We need to educate tourists through signs, pamphlets and frontline drivers. We should stick to guidelines, and there needs to be enforcement through the law.”

1. What can we learn about reckless behaviour around wildlife?

A．It harms tourists more than animals.

B．It enables tourists to get intimate with animals.

C．It may bring more profits to a tourist destination.

D．It may get animals killed for defending themselves.

2. As for Mossbacher’s opinion on what drives people’s reckless behavior, the author is______.

A．sympathetic	B．disapproving
C．doubtful	D．indifferent

3. What does the underlined word “cocky” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Selfish.	B．Frightened.
C．Arrogant.	D．Shocked.

4. What can we conclude from the passage?

A．Parks are expected to take more responsibilities for educating tourists.

B．Raising tourists’ awareness means stressing the danger of animals to them.

C．More regulation of the tourist industry is the key to raising tourists’ awareness.

D．Penalties rather than education can stop people taking silly risks around wildlife.

4 . 阅读下面的短文，并根据短文内容回答后面的问题。

The Weight of White Lies

A man taking his mother to a surprise party tells her they’re going to the mall. A woman fibs that the store was out of her overweight boyfriend’s favorite junk food. A tutor assures his student that her spotty resumé looks fine.

Even benevolent forms of deception come in shades of acceptability, and people who learn that they have been misled don’t always see it the way deceivers do. A lie that’s meant to inflate   someone’s confidence or discourage a bad habit, for example, often involves making a judgment about what’s best for that person. That presumption can backfire.

In recent experiments, participants playing an economic game on a computer received a tip that led them to one of two possible payoffs. Some learned that the sender of the tip had lied to them to secure them a particular option. If the best option had been debatable rather than obvious—such as receiving $10 right away rather than $30 after three months—participants judged that person as less moral for lying and were less satisfied with the outcome, on average, even if it was the one they had previously said they preferred. “People seem to feel they have a right to the truth, and that by taking that away, you diminish their ability to act freely,” says study co-author Matthew Lupoli, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, San Diego.

Making up falsehoods isn’t the only way to kindly deceive, though: You might also simply leave out unpleasant facts. Recent studies by University of Chicago researcher Emma Levine and colleagues examined both types of lie in hypothetical patient-doctor talks and other contexts.

People in the role of deceiver tended to view the omission of potentially harmful details (such as a poor prognosis) as comparable to or more acceptable than offering a comforting fiction (that a patient’s outlook was favorable). But those in the role of the deceived often considered false-but-supportive statements more tolerable than lies of omission. For deceivers, actively committing a lie feels more intentional and might provoke more guilt than omission, Levine says. But the targets of deception “aren’t likely to be sensitive to these differences because they just experience the consequences.”

In general, honesty is probably still the best policy. A lie that provides some emotional benefits and has little downside could be the closest second.

1. What is the presumption people make when telling a white lie (a lie that’s meant to be good)?
________________
2. What are the ways to kindly deceive others?
________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Those in the role of the deceived often considered lies of omission more tolerable than false-but-supportive statements.
________________
4. Do you prefer to be honest or tell a white lie when informing your friend of something unpleasant? Why? (In about 40 words)
________________

5 . Every day, thousands of rangers patrol national parks and other protected areas in Africa. Their job is fraught with danger, both from hostile humans armed with automatic weapons and from the unappreciative and potentially aggressive wildlife, armed with tusks, teeth and claws, which they are helping to preserve.    1    

That is particularly true of data on poaching (偷猎), which remains, in both senses of the word, an elephantine problem. Since 2006 African elephant populations have declined by around 30%. In 2021, according to Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), a conservation programme, around 40% of elephant deaths were a result of poaching.

    2     The MIKE data show a welcome fall in rates throughout the 2010s, but according to research published in 2020 by Scott Schlossberg of Elephants Without Borders, a charity, this can be attributed entirely to a decline in eastern Africa.

Elsewhere, there is great variation in the pressure on animals like elephants. Some parks, like Garamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are badly hit — with more than 90% of the bodies found by rangers being victims of poachers.     3    To untangle the factors influencing poaching, Timothy Kuiper of the University of Cape Town, Eleanor Milner-Gulland at Oxford, and a team of collaborators have analysed data collected for MIKE by rangers from 64 sites in 30 African countries over the course of 19 years. They correlated these with potentially relevant factors, both natural and human, and have published their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Natural variables such as habitat type, they discovered, make little difference.     4     Unsurprisingly, low household wealth, poor health, poor law enforcement and poor national governance all contributed to higher rates of poaching. So did the price of ivory.

    5     For there did not seem to be much. The impact was a consequence of a few special cases in DRC, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, rather than a general rule about young men with guns behaving badly.

One factor that was unquantifiable, and therefore untestable, according to Dr Kuiper, was local political will to preserve wildlife. But this study does nevertheless confirm observations made elsewhere, that the best form of conservation is a prosperous population.

A．Human ones predominate.

B．The severity of elephant poaching varies from place to place.

C．Humans are the biggest factor defining elephant ranges across Africa.

D．There was one unexpected result, though — the impact of armed conflict.

E．But their work is important, not least because the data they collect are crucial to conservation planning.

F．In others, like Chobe, in Botswana, less than 10% of dead elephants discovered have been killed illegally.

G．Current discussion of how to reduce poaching focuses on two areas: reducing demand and reducing supply.

6 . The question of how trucking capacity is growing or declining is common in industry, but the reality is that demand fluctuations are far more important to monitor as they swing much more violently.

Since December of 2018, the total tractor count from for-hire fleets (non-private) has grown 18%, according to the FMCSA, but has never shown a monthly change of over 2%. By contrast, the Outbound Tender Volume Index (OTVI), a measure of total truckload demand, has grown 12% over the same period, but monthly fluctuations topped 20% at times.

Even before the pandemic, the OTVI had 5-7% monthly swings in demand. Given the OTVI measures total tenders and is not a pure proxy (指标) for shipments, it is reflective of how fast demand-side conditions change in trucking.

The point is that capacity shifts are slow and stable, while demand changes much more rapidly and is very unpredictable over time. This is the consummate struggle of supply chains and transportation companies across the globe — how much infrastructure (capacity) is needed to be able to flex up but not have too much overhead when demand softens?

The process of ordering and seating a truck takes close to a year. That truck can haul roughly seven 500-mile loads per week, or 360 loads per year. This only occurs if shipping patterns are consistent and drivers are readily available, and neither are true. So it isn’t a pure question of how much capacity is available in aggregate, but are those trucks available in the right places at the right times in general? This metric is extremely difficult to attain.

Since demand is uneven and spread unevenly throughout the country, trucks and drivers need to exceed the number of shipments available. So even if capacity grows by 1%, it just increases the chances that loads will be covered marginally.

Probably more important than any of the previous points is that there are already measures of the relationship between supply and demand in trucking. Tender rejection rates (OTRI) and spot rates (NTI) measure when capacity is meeting demand in the contract and spot markets, respectively.   

There is little use for knowing how much capacity is available in the for-hire freight market other than being interesting. But there is exceptional value in knowing how well capacity and demand are lining up and in what direction they are trending. Since December 2021 tender rejection rates have fallen from over 20% to under 4%, while spot rates are down 27%.

Demand-side indicators are probably the most crucial to getting the earliest signs of market shifts, while rejection rates and spot rates answer the two most important questions that companies want answered: Can I get a truck and how much will it cost me?

1. The Outbound Tender Volume Index ________.

A．is a proxy for shipments only

B．is a measure to track truckload demand

C．can tell the current trucking capacity in the US

D．can tell the relationship between supply and demand in trucking

2. What problem do supply chains and transportation companies face commonly?

A．How capacity can meet the changing demand.

B．How capacity and demand can be predicted.

C．What facilities are needed to ship the goods.

D．What trucks can function the best.

3. What can we tell about OTRI and NTI?

A．They are both measures in the contract and spot markets.

B．They are of little use to know the capacity and demand.

C．They can change the uneven demand situation in the US.

D．They can help to tell the companies how market might change.

4. Where can we probably find this passage?

A．In a school newspaper.

B．In a book.

C．In a biography.

D．In a magazine.

8 . As a doctor, I can give you a lot of useful advice about how to get healthy and stay that way, but you don’t need me to tell you that exercise is good for you. Staying active can benefit the heart, the waistline, even the mind.     1     More than 60% of American adults don’t exercise regularly, and many say they don’t exercise at all. More than 72 million are overweight, and almost all of them would like to lose the extra pounds. So, if exercise is such a good idea, why don’t more people do it?

    2     Even as I write this, I am watching my two-year-old run around in circles. Kids seem to be born in constant motion, but along the way that behavior changes.

The slowdown occurs for most at the beginning of college. Academic pressure and lack of organized sports are certainly part of the problem. A bigger part may be looking at life changes as an occasion to blow up old rules and not create new ones in their place.     3     The demands of a new job usually mean less time at the gym. How about a new marriage? How many times have we seen just-married couples looking a lot heavier in first-anniversary photos than they did in the wedding pictures?

    4     People who set general goals, like “I will exercise in my free time,” did a far worse job of sticking to that plan than did people who made a firm commitment, like “I will walk to my friend’s house and back every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

The good news is, there are solutions to all these. We can begin with exercises as simple as remembering to sit straighter or drink enough water. Specific workout plans can turn a general desire to exercise into a firm commitment.     5    

We may never again have the energy of a two-year-old, but getting back even a little of our early-life energy can make our later lives a whole lot healthier.

A．Being in college is certainly part of the problem.

B．This is especially so when it comes to staying fit.

C．Not having a clearly defined exercise plan can hurt.

D．We often wish to go back to our two-year-old selves.

E．For instance, you can schedule a weekly gym visit with friends.

F．Still, there’s a real disconnect between what we know and what we do.

G．The most puzzling part of our inactive nature is that we don’t start out that way.

9 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。请在答题卡指定区域作答。

With society’s high pressures to achieve, it’s understandable that individuals prefer to hide their weak points—but doing so comes at a cost.

I learned that lesson when I participated in a hiking expedition. As a new hiker, I struggled. The trip was difficult to me even without needing to carry my heavy camping packs. I was slowed down, yet I refused to tell my teammates in hopes that I would seem perseverant. To my delight and surprise, one of the more active members requested that we stop for a break. I quickly realized I wasn’t the only one hiding my weaknesses after noticing the rest of the team’s apparent relief.

For many of us, authenticity, or behaving as one’s true self in daily life, is quite challenging. As social beings, we’ve learned to adapt and fit into our environment, making it challenging to display who we are at times. Yet, the advantage of authenticity is evident, driving its recent popularity among thought leaders. Authenticity even improved my hiking experience—the moment my group admitted to our shortcomings was when we started working better as a team. So, can being ourselves not only help us work better, but help those who workaround us?

The truth is, it can.

Researchers have found that not only did authentic workers have higher work engagement and lower work tiredness, but their teammates had the same results, regardless of whether they were genuine themselves. The results suggest that the benefits of authenticity go beyond the individual, and spread to teammates as well. So, we can improve our teammates’ work behavior by merely being ourselves.

Why does authenticity boost our teammates? This is because authentic teammates do not prioritize protecting themselves at the cost of their work or relationships. Instead, they recognize the interests of both themselves and others when making decisions. This allows those they work with to feel safe while being themselves at work. By focusing lesson appearing hard-working in hopes to get ahead—and more on trying to be better all-around individuals—authentic teammates can make a great impact on their work environment.

1. How did the author feel when one team member asked for a rest during the hiking?
_______________________________________________________________
2. Why is it hard for people to display their true selves?
_______________________________________________________________
3. Decide which part of the following statement is wrong. Underline it and explain why.
Authentic workers feel safe by being then selves at work, so authenticity boosts their teammates.
_______________________________________________________________
4. Apart from what is mentioned in the passage, what other benefit(s) do you think authenticity can bring to us?(In about 40 words)
_______________________________________________________________

10 . As we enter a period of profound economic uncertainty, presaged (预示) by recent high-profile layoffs and a culture of “quiet quitting”, thinking about the future of work might well seem a daunting (令人生畏的) prospect.

Indeed, an ever-increasing digital skills gap threatens to stop businesses adopting the game-changing technologies that will help to power growth in the months and years ahead. For instance, with each exciting new technology comes a growing concern about whether we have a digitally savvy (精明的) workforce ready to take advantage of it. After all, keeping the workforce up to speed with the latest advances is a key element of the digital transformation process, which will prove essential if we hope to improve business productivity and efficiency alongside our efforts to achieve sustained growth.

Likewise, at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, the cybersecurity skills gap was named as one particular area of concern. There’s good reason for this focus: if businesses can’t protect themselves against external threats, they risk going backwards. And that’s before they even start thinking about achieving growth. This is why we need to address the digital skills gap urgently.

Well, we should start by changing the narrative to help us recruit and retain from a more diverse pool of talent, giving businesses a far better chance of finding the up-to-date digital skills they need. And, when it comes to engaging and empowering the current workforce, learning and development opportunities will be key, helping employees to improve their skills for the benefit of both themselves and their employers.

To make this all happen, leaders and employers must demonstrate a commitment to teaching their workforces digital skills by setting clear expectations and providing all the resources required. One approach, for example, would be to focus on the potential in the existing talent pool by identifying those already skilled in digital capabilities and supporting them to upskill their colleagues. Creating a culture of learning, with an emphasis on personal growth, can be an impressive motivator in the workplace.

Of course, it’s all well and good saying that digital skills are vital, but a workforce with purely hard skills will not future-proof a business. There’s a need for soft skills that support the broader goal, so as not to neglect the other competencies required in a digital transformation: communication, critical thinking, creative design skills, and leadership. To exploit the technology to its full potential, such qualities are equally important.

Fundamentally, getting the interaction right between humans and technology will be paramount if businesses are to succeed. As a result, human skills must not be underestimated. Every business will need a range of people with a variely of skills — not only those well-versed in math, engineering, and science, but also those with creative minds and leadership qualities.

1. The writer’s main concern in the digital transformation process is ________.

A．the threats from technology	B．the challenge of upskilling workforces
C．the culture of quiet quitting	D．the shortage of experienced workers

2. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 and 5 that ________.

A．replacing current workforces with digital talents is the key

B．high requirements of recruitment ensure a sound workforce

C．employers should develop a learning culture inside their workforces

D．business leaders should focus on the training of the existing talent pool

3. What does the underlined word “paramount”in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Crucial.	B．Beneficial.
C．Challenging	D．Inspiring

4. What might be the purpose of the passage?

A．To advocate the necessity of improving digital skills.

B．To warn humans of the potential problems with technology.

C．To stress the importance of combining hard skills with soft skills.

D．To draw people’s attention to the ever-increasing digital skills gap.