When Denis wants to relax at work, he steps into a quiet room, sits in a chair, slips on a virtual-reality headset, and escapes to the beach. For Denis, those minutes are a tool he relies on regularly to both relieve and prevent stress.
He's not the only one at his company to use the room, where workers can also use a headset to watch a moon walk, take a virtual roller-coaster ride or access a meditation (冥想) app.
Research shows VR can help reduce pain and anxiety. But it's not yet clear why it works. Experts believe it's related to the technology's power to distract.
''Whatever their problems are, whatever their stresses are, they can literally neglect them and have a different emotional pulse, '' Denis said.
Virtual-reality headsets haven't taken off with consumers, but they're now powerful and inexpensive enough for companies to consider investing in them to help make workers and customers happier.
The headsets may help people take a virtual break from their surroundings, but there are challenges to consider. Ramon Llamas, a tech market researcher, noted that there could be challenges in handing out headsets. Some people get sick or dizzy while using virtual reality, and the headsets may get dirty or broken. There's also the task of quickly familiarizing people with using the headsets, especially since VR adoption has been so limited and the ways they are controlled can vary.
For now, Llamas said, he's concerned about privacy and security. What if, for instance, someone manages to back into a headset and insert some content into what you're watching?
Another potential issue is the managing of the headsets and software that goes along with them. This is likely not a complication for an office like Umber Realty's, where people can simply take a headset off if they feel something wrong. But it could be more of a problem if you're stuck in a dentist's chair. ''The last thing you want is that in the middle of extracting a tooth something goes wrong.'' Llamas said.
1.What does Denis's company use Virtual Reality for?
A.Improving the customers' experience.
B.Displaying the schedule of his company.
C.Relieving the staff's work pressure.
D.Saving the trouble of transportation.
2.How can the VR devices help the users by Denis?
A.Ignoring reality for the moment. B.Improving their thinking.
C.Designing work for the company. D.Investing in a new industry.
3.What does the author focus on in the last three paragraphs?
A.The potential problems with VR.
B.The privacy policy available for VR.
C.The management of these devices in the market.
D.The standards the VR technology is to follow.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A.VR, a promising business in future! B.Is VR always making us relax?
C.The adoption of VR needs investments. D.Are we saying ''goodbye'' to VR?
Having hundreds of friends online is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life. Researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online. The number of ''peripheral others'', someone connected with online — former classmates and coworkers, for example — had no connection with how satisfied they felt.
Scientists did their study using data from two online surveys conducted on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organization. People taking part in the study revealed their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of well-being. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbours, and whether they included people who provided services for them in their networks. The number of close friends someone had was the only thing that influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.
''Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,'' said Dr Bruine, an expert of the study. ''If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.''
In the study, they found older people tended to have smaller social networks. Younger people's were larger but this was mostly made up of ''peripheral others'' — not true friends, just people they knew — and did not contribute to their happiness.
Even variations in the number of family members or neighbours somebody spent time with did not affect how happy they were with their social life. Dr Bruine said her research echoed other findings showing people would be happier if a larger proportion of their online friends were actually their friends in reality.
She added, ''Stereotypes of aging tend to paint older adults in many cultures as sad and lonely. But the research shows that older adults' smaller networks didn't weaken social satisfaction and well-being. In fact, older adults tend to report better well-being than younger adults.''
1.What has a good influence on one's happiness according to the study?
A.Having impersonal networks of friends.
B.Meeting with close friends face to face.
C.Helping familiar coworkers.
D.Keeping in touch with family members online.
2.What did the 1,496 people taking part in the study have to do?
A.Keep off using the Internet.
B.Show their attitudes to happiness.
C.Reveal their social life thoroughly.
D.Find ''peripheral others'' from their friends.
3.Who is more likely to be attacked by loneliness from the study?
A.Parents living with their children.
B.Older adults with fewer friends online.
C.Those having fewer relatives or neighbours.
D.Young people without friends in reality.
4.What does the underlined word ''paint'' mean in the last paragraph?
A.treat B.draw
C.describe D.criticize
The year was 1999. I was 18, living with friends in a town about an hour north of Milwaukee. Desperate for adventure, we often talked about haunted (闹鬼的) locations, and even wandered around the woods near Rienzi Cemetery. So when a friend shared a story about an abandoned house just down the road from Rienzi, how could I possibly resist? The group of us jumped in the car and headed off into the wild unknown, completely unaware of the misfortune that would soon befall us.
The house was isolated, overgrown and barely visible from the road. Most of its windows were broken. It seemed completely neglected except the locked door and a NO ENTRY sign outside. How would anyone notice, or possibly even care, if we went in and looked around?
We stole inside, hoping for anything to prove the legend. Nothing valuable was found until an old letter, addressed to a Mr. J. Witherell, caught my eye. Its paper was stiff and yellowed. Excited by the physical evidence, I slipped the letter into my back pocket. I was about to exit the house when I noticed firetrucks and police cars lining up out on the road. While most of us were exploring the house, one of us managed to knock a fire detector off the ceiling, which triggered an automated alarm at the fire department. I quickly alerted the others, but there would be no escape.
After a moment of panic, we decided to go outside and face the music. To avoid a theft charge, I left the letter where it was before stepping outside.
The result? Not only did we all get fined for entering, we were required to pay for property damage totaling $1,500 each — too much for us to afford.
For so many years, I have been wondering: Why is the deserted house so heavily protected with detectors and other security measures? Why is the property regularly maintained? What's the story behind that mysterious letter?
1.What did the shabby appearance of the house seem to remind the kids?
A.They would have no trouble entering it.
B.Their entry would bring them a surprise.
C.Their entry would disturb the neighbours.
D.Their behavior would be noticed by its owner.
2.Why did the author attempt to take the letter away?
A.It might reveal who had been maintaining the house.
B.It might help uncover the mystery of the abandoned house.
C.It must have been written to disclose a tragedy.
D.It was an evidence of the house being heavily protected.
3.What led the police cars and firetrucks to arrive so quickly?
A.The police officers were checking there.
B.The house owner reported to the police.
C.The police cars were passing by accident.
D.Some boy started the fire alarm system.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.The empty house has been under strict protection.
B.The author wonders why they got fined.
C.No maintenance to the house is conducted regularly.
D.There is much mystery about the abandoned house.
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1.Who is iD tech summer camp intended for?
A.The iD tech instructors. B.World-famous universities.
C.Students seeking success in STEM. D.Parents interested in iD.
2.Why is ''iD tech'' flexible for students?
A.Registration can be changed free.
B.It allows students to study online.
C.Instructors create a good environment.
D.It leads to more job opportunities.
3.The record of student success is used to make the ad more _____.
A.technical B.interesting
C.professional D.persuasive
Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.正是那位作家对他说的一番话鼓励了他投身于写作。（It）
2.这个国家经常陷入战乱，这就是它极度贫困的原因。（account）
3.一个刚从大学毕业的没有实践经验的年轻人是很难找到一个高薪职位的。（difficulty）
4.这位年轻人非常激动，他都不知道如何表达对这些援救人员给予他的无私帮助的感激之情。（So）
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
The Voice in the Box
When I was quite young, my family had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished the wooden case fastened to the wall on the lower stair landing. But my first personal experience with this genie-in-the-receiver came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench, I hurt my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn’t seem to be much use crying, because there was no one home to offer sympathy. I walked around the house, and finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly I ran for the footstool and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. “Information Please,” I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.
A click or two, and a small, clear voice spoke into my ear, “Information.”
“I hurt my finger…” I cried into the phone. The tears came readily enough, now that I had an audience.
“Isn’t your mother home?” came the question.
“Nobody’s home but me.” I sobbed.
“Are you bleeding?”
“No,” I replied. “I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts.”
“Can you open your icebox?” she asked. I said I could. “Then break off a little piece of ice and hold it on your finger. That will stop the hurt. Be careful when you use the icepick(冰锥),” she said, “And don’t cry. You’ll be all right.”
After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked her for help with my geography and she told me where Philadelphia was, and the Orinoco, the romantic river that I was going to explore when I grew up. She helped me with my arithmetic, and she told me that my pet chipmunk----I had caught him in the park just the day before----would eat fruit and nuts.
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