For those who are too young to know what a Tamagotchi is, it’s an egg-Shaped plastic device with a black-and-white screen on which appears a little pixelated (像素化的) pet. With the three buttons below the screen, you can feed the pet, care for it and clean up its mess. And just like a real pet, it gets sick and dies if neglected.
When it was first released by Japanese company Bandai in 1997, this virtual (虚拟的) “pocket pet” was so popular with school children that it was frequently sold out at stores all over the world. For many people, the Tamagotchi was their first ever experience of raising and caring for a “pet”.
A lot has certainly changed in the last 20 years — especially when it comes to technology — so would it be a good idea to reintroduce the Tamagotchi to today’s world?
Bandai obviously thinks so since it’s going to re-release it next month, marking the device’s 20th anniversary. “We are going after that nostalgia,” said TaraBadie, director of Tamagotchi’s brand management, according to The Verge.
Modern features:
Nostalgia is all the rage these days. Just look at Nintendo’s Pokemon Go — the 2016 smartphone game originated from its 1996 version — and Nokia’s 2017 version of the 3310 — the mobile phone released in 2000 that it seems nearly everyone in the world owned. But these companies didn’t just simply copy from the past — they managed to update the old version and adapt it for the modern world.
With Pokemon Go, Nintendo successfully combined cutting-edge (前沿的) argumented reality (增强现实) technology with the game’s original storyline.
“Pokemon Go tells us about the future of software and the nature of reality-and how they integrate (整合) into what we think of as entertainment,” technology writer Om Malik wrote on The New Yorker.
And although Nokia’s new 3310 stayed faithful to the original phone’s design, it added a few modern features like a color screen, camera and internet access. It even kept the symbolic game Snake, which many of today’s adults would have spent hours playing as teenagers.
But while nostalgia is certainly a selling point to many people, not everyone is a fan.
“I'm so sick of nostalgia as a ploy (噱头) for profit. From the ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan, to the endless Star Wars and X-Men movies, we’ve become a world obsessed with looking backward for lazy sources of joy”, wrote tech reporter Thomas Ricker on The Verge.
But will the magic of nostalgia work with the Tamagotchi? According to Julia Alexander, editor for video website Polygon, it seems pretty unlikely.
After trying the new product, Alexander soon found out that little has been changed since the original.
“I grew up and, unfortunately, the Tamagotchi didn’t,” she wrote.
So when it comes to nostalgia, maybe the fond memories of our favourite childhood products are best left as that-fond memories.
1.What is the author’s main purpose in writing the passage?
A.To promote the new Tamagotchi.
B.To compare some hit video games.
C.To explore why “nostalgia” is valued these days.
D.To analyze whether it was wise to bring the Tamagotchi back.
2.According to the text, the success of Pokemon Go and Nokia’s new 3310 lies in the fact that they both_________.
A.use argumented reality technology
B.look exactly the same as the original version
C.made creative adaptations from the old version
D.changed what we think about entertainment
3.Why isn’t Thomas Ricker a fan of using nostalgia for profit?
A.It could make people less inventive.
B.The original products were often bad.
C.It could make people become addicted to the past.
D.It ruins our tonal childhood memories.
4.It can be inferred from the passage that the author__________.
A.isn’t completely supportive of re-releasing old products
B.believes that nostalgia is a great selling point
C.believes the new Tamagotchi will appeal to the public
D.loves products that can help revive her good memories
I will never forget the darkness, the pain and strong desire to die.
November arrived grey and busy, and going into an even more stressful. December, I was filled with anxious thoughts.
A visit to my father’s grave is often a good chance to cry and when I leave I feel a little more at peace. But this time was different. I drove home and every night for the rest of that week, I cried.
On Saturday, I watched a TV program teaching baking, and then I started to learn. By the end of the weekend, I had a dining room table covered with sweet treats. I packaged them up in tins, attached a label to each of them with “winter love” on it, and dropped them off on a few of my neighbors’ porches (门廊) before work. It shocked me how much it lightened my mood, seeing a small package lost on a porch.
The thanks I received later from the neighbors made me light up. It felt so good, and it distracted me from my dark thoughts.
By January I had developed a routine: on Sunday I’d bake cookies and package them up, and on Monday I'd deliver them. Every week I added a few different people to my delivery route, baked a few different kinds of cookies.
Somewhere along the way things started showing up on my doorstep a homemade cup, a pair of socks with tiny cookies and even a gift certificate from the local bookstore. Every single one melted my heart. But what I really appreciated was how people began to share their own stories of mental health with me. There is no greater honor than to be trusted with another’s life. I was overwhelmed by the love and care of my community. It humbled me that something so simple had created such incredible kindness. It reminded me that there was good in me, in my neighbors, in the world.
I was shifting into a new season of light, while letting go of a season of darkness. What had begun as an attempt to bring light into my own darkness had been transformed into a story more beautiful than I could have ever dreamed. It reminded me that there is beauty in being kind. That life is tough, but there is a quiet strength in knowing you are not alone.
1.After she started sharing cookies with neighbors, the author_________.
A.gained trust and care from them
B.added other things to her delivery list
C.felt her life was no longer busy or stressful
D.found some of them had more mental problems than her
2.What is the author’s attitude toward her future life?
A.Positive. B.Cautious. C.Doubtful. D.Concerned.
3.What is the main purpose of this passage?
A.To express gratitude to caring neighbors.
B.To speak of the benefits of baking cookies at home.
C.To share how being kind helped her regain hope.
D.To show the importance of a closely connected community.
It should come as no surprise that England has some of the world’s most interesting attractions for literature lovers, from birthplace museums of some of the world’s most celebrated authors to everyday sports made famous through fictional accounts.
Bath
In England’s West County, not far from the border with Wales, the gorgeous Georgian town of Bath is an undisputed must-visit for fans. Some of the country’s most celebrated authors have lived (and written) here, including Mary Shelley, of Frankenstein fame, along with her poet husband, Percy Bysshe Shelly. However, the town’s best-known former resident is Jane Austen, who spent five miserable yeas in the spa town. The Jane Austen Centre and its Regency Tea Room are among Bath’s most-visited attractions, and there is a 10-day festival held every September that honors the writer and her work.
London
London has long been a favorite setting for English storytellers, and the capital city has appeared in countless stories and novels over the years, from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to Helen Fielding’s bestselling Bridget Jones books. Sherlock Homes had a flat on Baker Street in his crime-solving days, and you might know Soho as the home turf of the legendary Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Charles Dickens is perhaps the best-known(or at least most celebrated)author of the lot, and there are dozens of Dickensian London tours available to literature lovers. Scrooge keeps all office in Cornhill part of the City of London financial district, while Fleet Street makes an appearance in the Pickwick Papers and A Tale of Two Cities. Finally, Oliver Twist fans might remember that the Artful Dodger tricks young Oliver to reach Fagin’s den, located in Saffron Hill in Camden.
Stratford-upon-Avon
The birthplace of William Shakespeare, Stratford-upon-Avon, has built an entire tourism industry around the Bard. Although many of Shakespeare’s plays were set in faraway destinations such as Greece, Italy, Denmark and a make-believe island in the middle of the ocean, there are still plenty of attractions that fans won’t want to miss. Here You can visit Shakespeare’s birthplace along with the homes of his mother, daughter and granddaughter. Most visitors also make a point of catching a performance at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
And for the full Stratford experience, travelers can stay the night at one of the Towns many historic hotels; Billesley Manor Hotel is a popular choice, and rumor has it that Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in a tiny chapel on the grounds way back in 1582.
1.What happens in every September of Bath?
A.A book exhibition. B.A movie show of Frankenstein.
C.A festival to honor Jane Austen. D.A tour to celebrate Mary Shelley’s birthday.
2.Which place may appeal to Oliver Twist fans most?
A.Oxford. B.London. C.Bath. D.Stratford-upon-Avon.
3.Who are likely to visit these places mentioned in the passage?
A.Literature fans. B.Film producers.
C.History researchers. D.Photography enthusiasts.
假设你是李华，你的英国朋友Jerry在来信中提到对中国的唐诗很感兴趣，想让你给他介绍一位你最喜欢的唐代诗人。你决定向他介绍诗人李白，信的内容主要包括：
1. 诗人的基本情况；
2. 诗人的代表作品；
3. 你喜欢他的原因。
注意：1. 字数100词左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已经为你写好，不计入总词数。
Dear Jerry,
How are you?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文，文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
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。
I’d like to share with you what has happened to the transportation in our city.
Firstly, great changes have been taken place to the transportation inside the city, which makes it convenient for citizens to get around. Some narrowly streets have been broadened, but there are less traffic jams. Secondly, transportation to other cities had also improved. Several highways are now on construction. Two high-speed railways connected our city to the national high-speed railway web is close to completion. At that time, the travel time to Beijing will be reduced to three hour. What deserves to be mentioned is that a airport has been in use for several years, making your city more and more popular.
课文填空，一空一词
1.The poems may not ________ ________ and even seem contradictory, but they are easy to learn and recite.
2.First, you can become ________ addicted to nicotine, which is one of the hundred of chemicals in cigarettes.
3.So when the drug leaves your body, you get ________ symptoms.
4.Neither did I know that my cigarette smoke could affect the health of ________.
