1 . I had to say something after reading The Anxious Generation. It is going to sell well , because Jonathan Haidt is telling a scary story about children’s development many parents are led to believe. However, the book’s repeated suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing the epidemic (流行病) of mental illness is unsupported by science. Worse , the rude proposal that social media is to blame might distract (分心) us from effectively responding to the real causes of the current mental-health crisis in young people.
Researchers have searched for the effects suggested by Haidt. Our efforts have produced a mix of no, small and mixed associations. Most data are correlative. When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers.
We are not alone here. Several analyses and systematic reviews centralize on the same message. An analysis done in 72 countries shows no consistent or measurable associations between well-being and social media globally. Moreover, studies from some authorities finds no evidence of intense changes associated with digital-technology use.
As a psychologist studying children’s and adolescents’ mental health, I appreciate parents’ frustration (沮丧) and desire for simple answers. As a parent of adolescents, I would also like to identify a simple source for the pain this generation is reporting. There are, however, no simple answers. The beginning and development of mental disorders are driven by a complex set of genetic and environmental factors.
More young people are talking openly about their mental-health struggles than ever before. But insufficient services are available to address their needs. In the United States, there is, on average, one school psychologist for every 1,119 students. We have a generation in crisis and in desperate need of the best of what science and evidence-based solutions can offer. Unfortunately, our time is being spent telling stories that are unsupported by research and that do little to support young people who need, and deserve, more.
1. What is presented in The Anxious Generation?| A．Scary stories affect children’s brains. |
| B．Parents are responsible for children’s health. |
| C．Teen’s mental illness results from screen time. |
| D．The epidemic of mental illness is unavoidable. |
| A．Many countries do research in mental health. |
| B．Well-being and social media are closely related. |
| C．The young are trapped in the mental-health crisis, |
| D．Social media don’t necessarily cause mental illness. |
| A．Effective actions need to be taken. | B．Positive stories should be shared. |
| C．Financial support needs to be provided. | D．Broader research should be done. |
| A．To suggest ways to help those in need. |
| B．To encourage parents to brave the crisis. |
| C．To recommend a newly-published book. |
| D．To give a voice to children’s mental issues. |
2 . Digital reading appears to be destroying habits of “deep reading”. Amazing numbers of people with year of schooling are in effect illiterate (不识字的). Admittedly, some people have been complaining about new media since 1492, but today’s complaints have an evidential basis, Ljubljana Reading Manifesto says, “The digital area may lead to more reading than ever in history, but it also offers many attractions to read in a shallow and scattered (碎片化的) manner— or even not to read at all. This increasingly endangers higher-level reading.”
Digital literacy has changed reading. When you read a book on paper, you can be entirely inside the experience, absorbing hundreds of pages to capture the world’s complexity. Online, says Maryanne Wolf of UCLA, we are “skimming, scanning, scrolling”. The medium is the message: doing deep reading on your phone is as hard as playing tennis with your phone. Recently, a bright 11-year-old told me I was wasting time on books: he absorbed more information faster from Wikipedia. He had a point. But digital readers also absorb more misinformation. And they seldom, absorb nuanced (微妙的) ideas.
In the white paper that underlies the Ljubljana Reading Manifesto, experts catalogue the passive parts of digital reading: “Recent studies of various kinds indicate a decline of... critical and conscious reading, slow reading, non-strategic reading and long-form reading.” In the 2021 international PISA survey, 49 percent of students agreed that “I read only if I have to”, 13 percentage points higher than in 2000.
As professors from Northwestern University foresaw in 2005, we are returning to the days when only an elite (精英的) “reading class” consumes long texts —despite more people spending longer in education and book sales remaining robust.
People who lose higher-level reading skills also lose thinking skills. That’s horrible, because “higher-level reading” has been essential to civilization. It enabled the Enlightenment, and an international rise in sympathy for people who aren’t like us.
1. What is the advantage of the digital reading?| A．It makes more people start to read widely. |
| B．It makes more people begin to think deeper. |
| C．It helps the young to make use of the Internet. |
| D．It helps people take advantage of their spare time. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Opposed. | C．Objective. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Teens should change the critical and conscious reading. |
| B．Nearly half of the teens never read at all. |
| C．They don’t believe what the experts indicate. |
| D．The trend of reading books is increasingly declining. |
| A．More and more books are purchased. |
| B．It’s unnecessary for people to buy books. |
| C．More and more people like to visit the bookstores. |
| D．The sales of books keep still for a really long time. |
3 . Every bookstore in Beijing used to have a massive fiction room piled to the ceiling with great books. These days, you’re as likely as not to find that those rooms have been shrunk down to the size of a solitary (单独的) table thickly covered with the latest releases and best-selling novels. This, however, begs the question: Is fiction dying out, or is print media finally succumbing to (屈服于) its electronic and audio copy rivals (对手)?
Now that Kindle is leaving China, some say that maybe people will get back to traditional reading. I doubt it, however. This downward reading trend has been evident for a long time now. When Jeff Bezos first launched Kindle, Steve Jobs from Apple said it would fail because “people don’t read anymore. It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is.”
But I don’t think reading itself is dying. It is merely becoming more functional — in other words, something you have to do in order to get some tangible (实际的) benefit. Gone are the days when people just read for fun. Why lumber (迫使担负) through a musty old book when you can watch an action movie or play a video game? Of course, people know that these are poor substitutes (替代品) for a good book.
In fact, there is nothing better than getting lost in a great book. I remember reading Shackleton, the British polar explorer, when I was a boy. After turning over the last leaf of this extraordinary adventure, I felt as if I, too, had just been to the South Pole and back. This imaginary achievement translated into a sense of confidence which must have been infectious, as soon afterwards all of my friends were themselves picking up books to read for fun. Psychologists say that you are the average of the five friends you surround yourself with. We can learn from them and they can also come to have a profound effect on our own habits and mindset. In this way, a book, too, can be a mentor (导师). The ideas, advice, mindset, and experiences of other people living in other times can get transmitted to us down through the pages of a good book.
In the age of fragmented (碎片化的) information, the winners will be those who can stay focused. However, in a world that easily gets distracted, deep reading seems to be getting further away from us. Our biggest problem is not Kindle’s departure from China, but our own departure from reality. Great books transmit universal truths; get them read. How exactly you do so is up to you.
1. The author mentioned Kindle in the text to _______.| A．praise its convenience and popularity in reading |
| B．explore the reason for the decline of print media |
| C．highlight the decreasing trend of traditional reading |
| D．show our regret for its departure from China’s market |
| A．He is famous for imaginary writing. | B．He finds nothing better than an old book. |
| C．He visited the South Pole many times himself. | D．His adventure story influenced the author a lot. |
| A．we can be influenced by positive ideas | B．we’d surround ourselves with good friends |
| C．we can learn from other people’s experiences | D．we can develop good habits and ways of thinking |
| A．great books are more popular than action movies |
| B．we should avoid being distracted by modern technology |
| C．reading great books can help us stay focused |
| D．traditional reading will eventually disappear |
| A．It’s necessary to find a better substitutes for books like Kindle. |
| B．We should read more in order to escape from reality. |
| C．We need to face the reality that reading is becoming less popular. |
| D．We have to accept the fact that Kindle is leaving China. |
| A．To discuss the future trend of reading. | B．To advocate the benefits of reading. |
| C．To analyze the reasons for the decline of reading. | D．To compare different forms of reading. |
1.说明问题及其影响；
2.提出建议。
注意：
词数100左右；
可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
开头已为你写好，不计入总词数。
Good morning, everyone! Today, I want to talk about something that’s often overlooked by students: labor education.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . About one in four Americans are physically inactive, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But for many of us, physical inactivity is not an intentional choice. It stems from sitting all day at a desk job, driving to work because there are no suitable walking or cycling routes. But what if the infrastructure (基础设施) around you gave you the opportunity to move your body without taking extra time out of your day?
“An active city would offer you loads of ways to get from A to B,” said Anna Boldina, an architectural researcher and designer who studies active cities at the University of Cambridge in the U. K. “Not only would these active cities be full of variety, but the various elements of an active city also have their own specific benefits: for example, stepping stones improve balanced co-activation of a variety of upper and lower body muscles as well as mindfulness and concentration on’ here and now,’ known as a stress relief.”
This all sounds great for future city design and planning, but how can we integrate these feature s into existing city infrastructure? “The best way to transform a place into an active city is through small interventions here and there: an extra stepping stone shortcut across the grass or extra log across the rain garden,” Boldina said. “Sometimes it is not about adding; it is about removing. It is also important that these routes are accessible to people of all ages and abilities.”
Of course, if there are always less challenging alternatives available, how can we encourage those who are able to take the more physically active routes? “One of our studies was aimed specifically at encouragement,” Boldina said. The study found that the most effective means of encouragement was providing a shortcut. “Other factors included playfulness, crossing water, using natural materials and adding handrails for confidence,” added Boldina, whose group is currently working with architects in Cambridge to create such active landscapes.
1. Which of the following best explains “stems from” underlined in paragraph 1?| A．Relies on. | B．Is caused by. | C．Mixes with. | D．Is changed into. |
| A．They contribute to better health. | B．They offer personalized activities. |
| C．They rely on governmental support. | D．They generally look like each other. |
| A．Protecting the local environment. | B．Adding a variety of safety equipment. |
| C．Making it easy for people to use. | D．Designing as many routes as possible. |
| A．How to motivate citizens to use active routes. |
| B．How to make active routes functional and fun. |
| C．Why citizens have little interest in active routes. |
| D．Why Cambridge can succeed, in adopting active routcs. |
6 . In response to the rumor that “80% of Tsinghua graduates go abroad”, Tsinghua University clearly stated: “NO!”
Data show that the proportion of 2023 graduates of Tsinghua University going abroad for further study is 8.0%. Among them, the proportion of undergraduate students (本科生) studying abroad is 15.6%, and the proportion of undergraduate students studying in China is 65.2%. The proportion of master students (研究生) going abroad for further study is 5.9%. The proportion of domestic advanced education was 6.9%. In addition, according to the “Tsinghua People” mini-program registration information of Tsinghua Alumni Association, most of the alumni (校友) who have studied abroad in the past 20 years have returned to work after completing their studies and play a backbone in all walks of life.
What industries do Tsinghua graduates go into? According to the statistics of Tsinghua University, 83.0% of the graduates of 2023 are employed in key units in important fields related to the national economy and people’s livelihood, covering many important industries such as national defense science and technology, manufacturing and energy industries, information communication and Internet, public administration and service institutions of higher learning and research institutes.
Where do Tsinghua graduates go? According to statistics provided by Tsinghua University, 53.8 percent of its 2023 graduates are employed outside Beijing. In the past 10 years, most graduates of Tsinghua University have gone to work outside Beijing, and the number of employment in the national defense and military industry and the western region has continued to rise.
The university also announced the most employable employers for the class of 2023. Among them, the top two state-owned enterprises are China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and State Grid Corporation, and the top two private enterprises are Huawei and BYD.
1. What percentage of Tsinghua undergraduate students studying abroad in 2023?| A．8.0%. | B．65.2%. | C．5.9%. | D．15.6%. |
| A．An international school. | B．An application. |
| C．A charity organization. | D．A private enterprises. |
| A．Internet and energy industries. |
| B．Tea trade and public administration. |
| C．Gardening technology and national defense. |
| D．Pet rescuing and information communication. |
| A．List data. | B．Give examples. | C．Make comparisons. | D．classify facts. |
7 . Food waste across the globe continues to fuel climate change, nature loss and pollution while hurting the global economy according to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, which says it is important for countries to connect the fight against hunger and the three global crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
The report, whose findings revealed that the total food loss on the global economy is estimated at roughly $1 trillion, emphasized that reducing food waste is an opportunity to reduce costs and tackle some of the biggest environmental and social issues of our time: climate change and food insecurity.
While making opening remarks at the conference that launched the report, Dechen Tsering, acting director of the climate change division at the UNEP, said government polices, such as tax rebates (退税) and waste collection fees, could be used to stimulate changes in business practices and consumer behavior. In addition, better data on the cost of food waste and the environmental, economic, and social benefits of limiting food waste could help influence investors and consumers.
According to the report, as of 2022, only 21 countries had included food loss and waste reduction in their national climate plans, including China, Namibia, Sierra Leone, etc. Meanwhile, the number of people who are food insecure and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the Greater Horn of Africa rose to 74 million at the end of February, according to another report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other agencies.
The international agencies said that the 2023 El Nino rains contributed to the rise in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the region. With wetter-than-normal conditions forecast in most parts of African countries during the 2024 March-May rainfall season, the situation may not improve.
1. What does the Report 2024 indicate?| A．Food loss is the biggest problem to tackle. |
| B．Serious pollution can cause food insecurity. |
| C．Food waste worsens the environmental situation. |
| D．Many countries are cooperating to fight against hunger. |
| A．Effective measures should be taken by government. |
| B．Unnecessary costs in climate lead to development problems. |
| C．Data make no sense to consumer behavior and investors’ decision. |
| D．Avoiding waste collection fees is beneficial to limiting food waste. |
| A．Humanitarian assistance is the only way to help African people. |
| B．Food insecurity is still a big challenge to many African countries. |
| C．The situation of food waste in Africa becomes more and more severe. |
| D．The number of people needing help is increasing mainly due to bad weather. |
| A．To reveal the urgent financial situation in Africa. |
| B．To stress the necessity of food waste prevention. |
| C．To call for the joint efforts of governments in climate. |
| D．To raise the awareness of environmental conservation. |
8 . How the economics profession should fix its gender problem
At the heart of economics is a belief in the virtues (好处) of open competition as a way of using the resources you have in the most efficient way you can. Thanks to the power of that insight, economists routinely tell politicians how to run public policy and business people how to run their firms. Yet when it comes to its own house, academic economics could have done more to observe the standards it applies to the rest of the world.
In particular, it recruits (招聘) too few women. Also, many of those who do work in the profession say they are treated unfairly and that their talents are not fully realised. As a result, economics has fewer good ideas than it should and suffers from a skewed (歪曲的) viewpoint. It is time for the dismal science to improve its dismal record on gender.
For decades relatively few women have participated in STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. Economics belongs in this list. And a survey by the American Economics Association (AEA) this week shows that many women who do become academic economists are treated badly.
To deal with its gender shortfall (缺口), economics needs two tools that it often uses to analyse and solve problems elsewhere: its ability to crunch data and its capacity to experiment. Take data first. The AEA study is commendable, but only a fifth of its 45,000 present and past members replied to its poll. Better data are needed to capture how work by female economists is discriminated against. The more comprehensive (全面的) the picture that emerges, the sooner and more easily action can be taken to change recruitment and to reform professional life.
The other priority is for economists to experiment with new ideas, as the AEA is recommending. For a discipline that values dynamism, academic economics is often conservative, sticking with teaching methods, hiring procedures and social conventions that have been around for decades. The AEA survey reveals (显示) that 46% of women have not asked a question or presented an idea at conferences for fear of being treated unfairly, compared with 18% of men. Seminars could be organised to ensure that all speakers get a fair chance. The way that authors’ names are presented on papers could ensure that it is clear who has done the intellectual heavy lifting.
Instead of moving cautiously, the economics profession should do what it is best at: recognise there is a problem, measure it objectively and find solutions. If the result is more women in economics who are treated better, there will be more competition for ideas and a more efficient use of a scarce (稀缺的) resource. What economist could possibly object to that?
1. Why does economics have fewer excellent ideas than it should?| A．Economical environment isn’t good enough. |
| B．Professionals in this field are treated unjustly and their gifts are not fully recognized. |
| C．Too many women are employed. |
| D．Women do worse in economics than men. |
| A．Data to capture how work by female economists is discriminated against. |
| B．Its ability to process data quickly and its capacity to experiment. |
| C．Action to change recruitment and professional life of female economists. |
| D．Seminars organised to ensure that all speakers get a fair chance. |
| A．The result of the AEA survey is that there is better treatment to women. |
| B．More women in economics will bring more competition of scarce resource. |
| C．A balanced sex ratio will do good to the development of economics. |
| D．Men in economics can’t make this discipline better. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Positive. | C．Objective. | D．Indifferent. |
9 . One single night every January, volunteers all over America search parks, woodlands and pavements to count those without shelter. After seeing their own figures for homelessness increase by 20%between 2022 and early 2023. Jersey officials were shocked into action. Officials spent more on rental assistance for those at risk of becoming homeless. More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The state also gathers real time data. In November New Jersey’s Office of Homelessness Prevention released its own figures , showing unsheltered homelessness falling across the state by 23% year on year.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city and home to the state’s largest homeless population, recorded a 58% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since the start of the year due to the government’s financial support to reduce street homelessness, improve the shelter system and expand housing and prevention services.
Luis Ulerio, the director of Newark’s Office of Homeless Services, says “there’s just been a lot of hard work behind that number.” Mr. Baraka, the mayor (市长)，converted a local primary school into a 166-bed facility. He built temporary housing out of shipping containers. A second cluster (群) of containers with supportive services, called Hope Village II, will open soon. The containers have been altered to look like little cottages. A third cluster is in the works Mr.Baraka wants to create a pipeline from shelters to transitional housing and then to getting long-term homeless people into permanent housing.
More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The city also provides money for overdue rent to prevent homelessness. Beth Shinn of Vanderbilt University points out that it’s cheaper to give $ 200 to help make due rent for the poor than to pay thousands later. The city also relies on data , updated daily by those working with Newark’s homeless people. Real-time data is crucial , he says , in order to carry out interventions in state policy all on the frontline.
1. What can we learn about homelessness in New Jersey from paragraph 1?| A．It has greatly affected people’s lives. | B．Official efforts are lacking to address it. |
| C．Great progress has been made to ease it. | D．It is the most serious all over America. |
| A．He designed and built the Hope Village series for them. |
| B．He turned a school and shipping containers into o homes. |
| C．He joined a permanent pipeline to the homeless houses. |
| D．He led the volunteers to count people without shelter. |
| A．Extended. | B．Donated. | C．Distributed. | D．Changed. |
| A．Rent should be provided for the poor when it’s due. |
| B．No rent should be charged to stop overdue rent. |
| C．Real-time data should be in place to spot overdue rent. |
| D．A limit should be set to avoid large sum of overdue rent. |
10 . “Sating from now on, to be healthy, I will NOT eat any snacks besides granola bars (燕麦棒),” is what I told myself yesterday, and yet here I am today chewing a Chocopie. I’m aware that I’m breaking my own promise to myself. Instead of eating this, I should be working out or something. But the thing is, chocolate is too good at this moment for me to refuse it!
As I type this, I’m experiencing what’s called instant gratification — the desire to experience pleasure or fulfillment without delaying it for a future benefit. Essentially, when you want it, you get it.
Instant gratification is also the exact opposite of what we’re taught to do-delayed gratification: deciding to put off satisfying our current want to gain something better in the future. We’ve all encountered instant gratification before. Should I sleep in or wake up early to work out? When I get home, should I rest and watch TV first or get started on my homework?
All humans have the tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain, which is a basic but fundamental concept known as the pleasure principle. Originally coined by Sigmund Freud, it clearly states that all humans are driven, to some extent, by pleasure.
Constantly seeking quick pleasure may bring subsequent troubles. However pleasant not doing your homework may seem pleasant right now, it only results in pleasure plagued by guilt and last-minute panicking late at night. An inability to resist instant gratification may result in underachieving in the long term and failure to meet certain goals.
Instant gratification, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t always have to say no to things you want at that moment, and it’s good to treat yourself when you need it. In other words, times where you “treat yourself” are only valuable in combination with delayed gratification. While my Chocopie may taste good now, it’ll taste even better if I only eat it after I’ve worked out or done something healthy.
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By making a contrast. | B．By giving a definition. |
| C．By citing a personal case. | D．By listing detailed problems. |
| A．Purchasing items regardless of budgets. | B．Exercising regularly for long-term health. |
| C．Limiting time on social media platforms. | D．Finishing homework before watching TV. |
| A．Reminded. | B．Highlighted. | C．Introduced. | D．Bothered. |
| A．Delayed gratification is pointless. |
| B．Instant gratification should be prioritized. |
| C．Enjoying the moment brings in endless pleasure. |
| D．Instant treats paired with delayed gratification are sweeter. |
