1 . Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, recently signed two bills into law that strictly limit children’s use of social media platforms. Under the law, which takes effect next year, social media companies have to check the ages of all users in the state, and children under age 18 have to get agreement from their parents to have accounts. Parents will also be able to use their kids’ accounts, apps won’t be allowed to show children ads, and accounts for kids won’t be able to be used between 10:30 pm and 6:30 am without parental agreement.
While some people argue age limitation allows tech companies to collect even more data about users, let’s be real: These companies already have much private information about us. To solve this problem, we need a separate data privacy law. But until that happens, this concern shouldn’t stop us from protecting kids.
One of the key parts of the law is allowing parents to use their kids’ accounts. By doing this, the law begins to help address one of the biggest dangers kids face online: harmful content.
One huge challenge the law helps parents get over is the amount of time kids are spending on social media. A 2022 survey found that, on average, children aged 8 to 12 spend 5 hours and 33 minutes per day on social media while those aged 13 to 18 spend 8 hours and 39 minutes daily. It’s warned that lack of sleep is connected with serious harm to children — everything from injuries to depression (抑郁), fatness and diabetes. So, parents need to have a way to ensure their kids aren’t up on social media platforms all night.
Considering the experiences many kids are having on social media, this law will help Utah’s parents protect their kids. Parents in other states need the same support. Now, it’s time for the government to step up and ensure children throughout the country have the same protection as Utah’s kids.
1. Which is allowed according to the new bill?| A．Ads can be put on to children. |
| B．Children can use social media freely. |
| C．Parents can check their kids’ accounts. |
| D．Related companies protect users’ accounts. |
| A．Because children’s right to surf the Internet is limited. |
| B．Because more personal information may be given away. |
| C．Because it prevents the data privacy law from taking effect. |
| D．Because children may become too dependent on the Internet. |
| A．Higher learning efficiency. |
| B．Better personal eating habits. |
| C．Easier access to healthy media. |
| D．Improved physical and mental health. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Flexible. | D．Negative. |
2 . Yang Le Ge Yang, a game on WeChat’s mini program platform, has spread widely on Chinese social media, with a related topic lopping the trending charts (排行榜) on Weibo.
The game is characterized by comic-like art design and background music and its brief introduction that less than 0.1% of players can complete all the levels.
In order to pass the level efficiently, a huge crowd, especially the teenagers, focus their energy and pocket money on seeking the strategy, with little knowledge of the potential risk of being cheated.
Hanging over the situation, China’s top legislature (立法机关) took an effective measure against telecom and online fraud (诈骗) on September 2 by adopting widely expected law that will smooth out these crimes (犯罪) which have long disturbed the public and led to people’s financial losses after receiving spam messages (垃圾短信) and calls.
The law on telecom and online fraud, which has 50 articles, was passed after being reviewed three times by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. China’s top legislative body, aiming to offer strong protection of people’s rights and punish cheaters.
As some people, particularly teenagers, were defrauded by being tricked into buying online game equipment, the Cyberspace Administration of China has worked with the Ministry of Public Security in the fight against cheaters since the beginning of this year. So far, they have dealt with more than 12,000 such cases and asked internet operators to improve the public’s channels to provide fraud-related information.
1. Why does the passage begin with a popular game?| A．To share a hot game. | B．To entertain the readers. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To attract readers’ attention. |
| A．Telecom and online fraud is a new crime. |
| B．Teens focus on the game as a result of feeling secure and protected. |
| C．China’s legislation will take action to fight against the online fraud. |
| D．Some individuals fail to recognize the truth of spam messages and calls. |
| A．It was officially reviewed 50 times. |
| B．It didn’t reach the public’s expectation. |
| C．It hardly contributed to guarding against online fraud. |
| D．It was passed to protect people’s rights and punish cheaters. |
| A．The ways to rise to frauds. |
| B．The details of various frauds. |
| C．The frauds that teenagers were tricked into. |
| D．The channels to provide fraud-related information. |
3 . “There is one and only one social responsibility of business,” wrote Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, “that is, to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.” But even if you accept Friedman’s statement and regard corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies as a waste of shareholders’ money, things may not be absolutely clear-cut. New research suggests that CSR may create monetary value for companies at least when they are charged with corruption (腐败).
The largest firms in America and Britain together spend more than $15 billion a year on CSR, according to an estimate by EPG, a consulting firm. This could add value to their businesses in three ways. First, consumers may take CSR spending as a “signal” that a company’s products are of high quality. Second, customers may be willing to buy a company’s products as an indirect way to donate to the good causes it helps. And third, through a more diffuse (分散的) “halo effect” its good deeds earn it greater consideration from consumers and others.
Previous studies on CSR have had trouble distinguishing these effects because consumers can be affected by all three. A recent study attempts to separate them by looking at bribery prosecutions (起诉) under American’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It argues that since prosecutors do not consume a company’s products as part of their investigations, they could be influenced only by the halo effect.
The study finds that, among prosecuted firms, those with the most comprehensive CSR programmes tend to get more lenient punishments. Their analysis rules out the possibility that it is the firm’s political influence, rather than its CSR stance, that accounts for the leniency: Companies that contribute more to political campaigns do not receive lower fines.
In all, the study concludes that whereas prosecutors should only evaluate a case based on its merits, they do seem to be influenced by a company’s record in CSR. “We estimate that either eliminating a substantial labor-rights concern, such as child labor, or increasing corporate giving by about 20% result in fines that generally are 40% lower than the typical punishment for bribing foreign officials.” says one researcher.
Researchers admit that their study does not answer the question at how much businesses ought to spend on CSR. Nor does it reveal how much companies are relying on the halo effect, rather than the other possible benefits, when companies get into trouble with the law, evidence of good character can win them a less costly punishment.
1. The author views Milton Friedman’s statement about CSR with___________.| A．uncertainty | B．interest | C．approval | D．tolerance |
| A．guarding it against malpractices | B．protecting it from consumers |
| C．winning trust from consumers | D．raising the quality of its products |
| A．less debatable | B．more lasting | C．more effective | D．less severe |
| A．comes across as reliable evidence | B．has an impact on their decision |
| C．is considered part of the investigation | D．increases the chance of being punished |
Besides such ethical concerns, the legal situations the autonomous vehicle industry is likely to be confronted with have
The word justice is usually associated with courts of law. There is no doubt
There are rare instances when justice almost ceases to be an abstract concept. Reward or punishment are given quite independent
When a thief was caught in a large jewellery store one morning, the shop assistants must have found it impossible to resist the temptation to say “it serves him right”. The shop was an old house with many large, disused fireplaces and tall, narrow chimneys. Towards midday, a girl heard a muffled (捂住) cry coming from behind one of the walls. As the cry
6 . Repair or replace? This is a difficult choice for people when appliances (家用电器) that they own, like TVs and refrigerators, break down. Too often, the only option, or at least the cheaper one, is to replace an appliance rather than get it repaired.
But now in the UK, people don’t have to do this. Manufacturers (制造商) are now legally required to make spare parts that people can buy to repair their products.
The right to repair rules are designed to deal with “built-in obsolescence” where manufacturers build appliances to break down after a certain period on purpose to encourage people to buy new ones.
These new rules should bring an end to the frustration (沮丧) of having to throw away a product because a small part is no longer working and no longer supplied. Rather than having to buy a whole new product, replacement parts must now be sold directly by the manufacturer for 10 years, whether or not they are still selling the complete product.
Some companies said the rules could make appliances more expensive. John Elliott, chairman of Ebac, said, “The rules will influence companies who have been in a race to the bottom on prices for many white goods, but it will not make much difference to my business. We don’t look to make the cheapest washing machine. We look for one that’s going to do the job and last a long time.”
The company has been manufacturing washing machines for about fifty years. “Our focus is always on quality — not just a low price,” Mr Elliott said. “The secret of a product that’s easy to repair and long-lasting is the design.”
Rob Johnson, operations director at repair business Pacifica, said that his company was now hoping to enlarge its team of engineers because of new rules. The company already has 400 skilful engineers going into homes to fix about 6,000 appliances per week.
He said the rules “give customers real choice” about whether to repair or replace their product.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Fixing broken appliances. | B．Buying cheaper appliances. |
| C．Replacing broken appliances. | D．Finding spare parts of appliances. |
| A．Sell certain products for at least ten years. |
| B．Make sure their products last for ten years. |
| C．Sell spare parts of their products for ten years. |
| D．Have their products serviced for over ten years. |
| A．It will stick with its original focus. | B．It will lose business to its competitors. |
| C．It will sell its products at higher prices. | D．It will make its products easier to repair. |
| A．Take on more engineers. | B．Start a new repair business. |
| C．Give customers lessons on repairing. | D．Train its engineers to be more skilful. |
Do you know the UK government has
The motivation behind this
A similar law
As of January 2015, 22% of adult men and 17% of adult women smoke in Great Britain. The possibility of smoking in the UK increases with age so that by 15 years of age 8% of school children
Smoking is one of
First it was pets, then fish.Now it's poultry(家禽）and pigs. The list of animals
Since a ban on processed animal protein was imposed in 2001 in the wake of the“mad cow”crisis, soy and fishmeal
The one thing going against them is price: insect protein is two to three times
Poultry and pig feed are by far
The center of American automobile innovation
In a bid to take production back to Detroit, Michigan lawmakers have introduced legislation that could make their state
“Michigan’s role in auto research and development is under attack from several states and countries which desire to take
If all four bills pass as
Lawmakers in Michigan clearly want to make the state ready for the commercial use of self-driving technology.
10 . Home to 8.2 million people, 36 percent of whom were born outside the United State, New York, known as the Big Apple, is the biggest city in America. Nearly twenty times bigger than the capital, Washington DC, you might expect New York to be twenty times more dangerous, actually, it’s safer. Recent figures show that New York now has fewer crimes per 100,000 people than 193 other US cities. It's also healthier than it used to be. For example, the smoking rate has gone down from 21.5 percent a few years ago, to 16.9 percent today.
New Yorkers should be delighted, shouldn't they? In fact, many feel that New York is losing its identity. It used to be the city that never sleeps. These days it's the city that never smokes, drinks or does anything naughty (at least, not in public). The Big Apple is quickly turning into the Forbidden Apple.
If you decided to have a picnic in Central Park, you'd need to be careful—if you decided to feed the birds with your sandwich, you could be arrested. It's banned. In many countries a mobile phone going off in the cinema is annoying. In New York it's illegal. So is putting your bag on an empty seat in the subway. If you went to a bar for a drink and a cigarette, that would be OK, wouldn't it? Er ... no. You can't smoke in public in New York City. In fact, you can't smoke outdoors on the street or in parks either. The angry editor of Vanity Fair magazine, Gray don Carter, says, “Under New York City law it is acceptable to keep a gun in your place of work, but not an empty ashtray.” He should know. The police came to his office and took away his ashtray.
But not all of New York's citizens are complaining. Marcia Dugarry, seventy-two, said, "The city has changed for the better. If more cities had these laws, America would be a better place to live."
The new laws have helped turn the city into one of the healthiest—and most pleasant places to live in America—very different from its old image of a dirty and dangerous city. Its pavements are almost litter-free, its bars clean and its streets among America's safest. Not putting your bag on subway seats might be a small price to pay.
1. The author writes Paragraph 1 mainly to tell the reader that New York is________.| A．bigger than Washington D.C. | B．the best place in the world |
| C．safer and healthier | D．the most dangerous city |
| A．quite popular | B．not allowed in law | C．very impolite | D．quite common |
| A．Some of New York's new laws are not reasonable. |
| B．A gun is much easier to get than an ashtray. |
| C．The police had no right to take away his ashtray |
| D．there should be a law to keep guns away from people. |
| A．The writer supports them. | B．The writer is against them. |
| C．The writer is not interested in them. | D．The writer's attitude is not clear. |
