Have you ever run into a careless cell phone user on the street? Perhaps they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new “species” of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name — phubbers（低头族）.
Recently, a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cell phone while letting his patient die, a pretty woman takes selfie in front of a car accident site, and a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events eventually leads to the destruction of the world.
Although the ending sounds overstated the damage phubbing can bring is real.
Your health is the first to bear the effect and result of it. “Constantly bending your head to check your cell phone could damage your neck,” Guangming Daily quoted doctors as saying. “the neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching.” Also, staring at cell phones for long periods of time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.
But that’s not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. At reunions with family or friends, many people tend to stick to their cell phones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.
It can also cost you your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cell phones in broad daylight.
1.For what purpose does the author give the example of a cartoon in Paragragh2?
A. To inform people of the bad effects of phubbing.
B. To advertise the cartoon made by students.
C. To indicate the world will finally be destroyed by phubbers.
D. To warn doctors against using cell phones while treating patients.
2.Which of the following is NOT a risk a phubber may have?
A. His social skills could be affected.
B. His neck and eyesight will be gradually harmed.
C. He will cause the destruction of the world.
D. He might get separated from his friends and family.
3.Which of the following may be the author’s attitude towards phubbing?
A. Supportive. B. Opposed.
C. Optimistic. D. Objective.
4.What may the passage talk about next?
A. Advice on how to use a cell phone.
B. People addicted to phubbing.
C. Measures to reduce the risks of phubbing
D. Consequences of phubbing.
You’re probably aware of the basic trends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men fail to benefit.
In elementary and high school, male academic performance is lagging. Boys earn three-quarters of the D’s and F’s. By college, men are clearly behind. Only 40 percent of bachelor’s degree go to men, along with 40 percent of master’s degree.
Thanks to their lower skills, men are dropping out of the labor force. In 1954, 96 percent of the American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today, that number is down to 80 percent. In Friday's jobs report, male labor force participation reached an all-time low.
Millions of men are collecting disability benefits. Even many of those who do have a job are doing poorly. According to Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project, annual earnings for average prime-age males have dropped by 28 percent over the past 40 years.
Men still dominate (主宰) the top of the corporate ladder because many women take time off to raise children, but women lead or are gaining nearly everywhere else. Women in their 20s outearn men in their 20s. Twelve out of the 15 fastest-growing professions are dominated by women.
Over the years, many of us have employed a certain theory to explain men's economic decline. It is that the information-age economy rewards qualities that women are more likely to possess.
To succeed today, you have to be able to sit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to be emotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men are not good at these.
But, in her fascinating new book, The End of Men, Hanna Rosin suggests a different theory. It has to do with adaptability. Women, Rosin argues, are like immigrants (移民) who have moved to a new country. They see a new social context, and they flexibly adapt to new circumstances. Men are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one. They speak the old language. They follow the old customs. Men are more likely to be rigid; women are more fluid.
This theory has less to do with born qualities and more to do with social position. When there’s big social change, the people who were on the top of the old order are bound to stick to the old ways. The people who were on the bottom are bound to experience a burst of energy. They are going to explore their new surroundings more enthusiastically.
Rosin reports from working-class Alabama. The women she meets are flooding into new jobs and new opportunities — going back to college, pursuing new careers. The men are waiting around for the jobs left and are never coming back. They are strangely immune (免疫的）to new options. In the Auburn-Opelika region, the average female income is 140 percent of the average male income.
Rosin is not saying that women are winners in a global gender (性别) war or that they are doing super simply because men are doing worse. She's just saying women are adapting to today’s economy more flexibly than men. There’s a lot of evidence to support her case.
A study by the National Federation of Independent Business found that small businesses owned by women outperformed male-owned small business during the last recession (衰退). In finance, women who switch firms are more likely to see their performance improve, whereas men are likely to see theirs decline. There's even evidence that women are better able to adjust to divorce. Today, more women than men see their incomes rise by 25 percent after a marital breakup.
Forty years ago, men and women stuck to certain theory, what it meant to be a man or a woman. Young women today, Rosin argues, have abandoned both feminist (女权主义者）and prefeminist preconceptions. Men still stick to the masculinity (大男子主义的）rules, which limit their vision and their movement.
If she's right, then men will have to acknowledge that they are strangers in a strange land.
1.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Male labor force participation has declined by 80% since 1954.
B. More men than women take time off to raise children now.
C. Good communication is one of the qualities that women possess.
D. Men are still taking most top and fastest-growing professions.
2.In Hanna Rosin’s opinion, male performance is falling behind because _______.
A. men are less likely to sit still and focus in school at early age
B. men are more rigid and less able to adapt to new circumstances
C. women are doing better for genetic and cultural reasons
D. it is more and more difficult for men to get bachelor’s degree
3.What is the passage intended to convey?
A. The differences between men and women.
B. The reasons why men do no better than women.
C. The social status of men and women.
D. The reasons why men fail compared with women.
Research shows that childhood friendships are important indicators of future success and social adjustment. Children’s relationships with peers (同龄人) strongly influence their success in school，and children with fewer friends are more at risk of dropping out of school，becoming depressed and other problems.
Making and Keeping Friends Is More than Child’s Play
When 6yearold Rachel returned to school on a recent Monday morning，her eyes immediately scanned the playground for her friend Abbie. “Though they were only separated by a weekend，the girls ran right into each other’s arms and hugged,” recalls Rachel’s mother Kathryn Willis of Gilbert. “It was like a scene from a movie.”
Most parents instinctively (本能地) know that having friends is good for their child. Experts agree that friendship is not simply child’s play，but a powerful predictor of social adjustment throughout life.
A Skill for Life
“Childhood friendships serve as a very important training ground for adulthood,” says Dr.Robbie AdlerTapia，psychologist with the Center for Children’s Health & Life Development at the East Valley Family Resource Center.
Researcher William Hartup states，“Peer relations contribute significantly to both social and cognitive (认知的) development.” Hartup concludes that the single best childhood predictor of adult social adaptation is not school grades or classroom behavior，but rather，how well a child gets along with other children.
The work of Arizona State University professor of Developmental Psychology Gary Ladd proves that just as being able to make and keep friends is beneficial to kids while the lack of friends is detrimental.
Good Friendships Don’t Just Happen
Experts agree that it is essential for children to establish highquality friendships. But，researchers warn，these friendships don’t necessarily just happen. Often，a good friendship begins with involved parents.
Psychologist Dr.Lynne Kenney Markan believes kids should be taught social skills in much the same way they are taught math and reading.
Bad Company
Many parents worry about the quality as well as the quantity of their child’s friendships. “When she was in 1st grade，her supposed ‘best friend’ began calling her names and threatening to hurt her,” says Mindy Miller. “My daughter wasn’t allowed to talk to or even look at other girls in her class. It really crushed her spirit. I told my daughter she didn’t need a ‘friend’ like that.”
“I’ll bend over backwards(拼命) to help my son get together with a friend I think is good for him,” AdlerTapia says. “I don’t look at it as manipulation (操纵)，just positive parental involvement.”
1.The example of Rachel and Abbie is used to indicate that________.
A. childhood friendship is of great significance to their growth
B. a positive friendship helps children solve emotional and physical problems
C. it is a proven fact that peer friendship is the most rewarding experience throughout life
D. Rachel missed her friend Abbie very much because of their separation of one weekend
2.The underlined word “detrimental” could be replaced by________.
A. aggressive B. disappointing
C. ridiculous D. harmful
3.We can learn from the passage that high quality friendship most probably results from______.
A. social skills and good study habits
B. school grades and classroom behaviors
C. academic success and social adaptation
D. positive parental involvement and social skills
4.From the last paragraph we can conclude that Dr.Robbie AdlerTapia agrees that________.
A. parents should regard making friends as something that just happens
B. it’s wise for parents to support and encourage healthy peer relationships
C. parents only need to help their children to cope with difficult social situations
D. parents are supposed to encourage their children to make as many friends as they can
A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package: What food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse declared the warning, “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me, I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.” “I am so sorry, Mr Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “A mouse trap, am I in grave danger, huh?”
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and depressed to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was an evil snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knew to treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral. The farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
1.We could see from the passage that the mouse was ______.
A. kind and warm-hearted B. well-informed
C. good at cheating others D. foolish and rude
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The pig was comparatively less friendly than the others in the farmyard.
B. The mouse trap that the mouse discovered was not a practical one.
C. The farmer and his wife trapped an evil snake that night.
D. The farmer’s family was in fact poor and they had no friends.
3.The underlined word “ingredient” (Paragraph 7) refers to ______.
A. the mouse B. the pig
C. the snake D. the chicken
4.What can we learn from the story?
A. Better safe than sorry.
B. Traps are usually well disguised.
C. To help others is just to save you.
D. To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us all.
书面表达
假定你是李华,最近你在当地报纸上看到一则游泳培训班的广告,称其有称职教练( instructor)，一周包会。你会一点游泳,但水性不太好,想在暑假参加训练.请你写一封咨询信了解相关情况,要点如下：
1. 训练的具体时间和地点。
2. 条件和费用。
3. 其他特别注意的事项。
注意
1.词数 100 左右。
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3.开头语和结束语已为你写好。
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have read your advertisement in the newspaper. __________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Your s sincerely ,
Li Hua
短文改错
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：在错的词下画一横线，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。
Dear Joe,
Thanks for you mail. I’m glad to know you are interested in the 2014 Florida Winter Camp. It will be held from January 27 to February 13, during that time you will get wonderful experience. You will have chances to improve your speaking English in the courses providing. Also, activities arranged for you to spend weekends together with your host family, so you can learn American English in authentic situations. However, a trip to the local Disneyland will certainly add up the fun of the camp.
Join in the camp and you will have the better knowledge of American culture and life. You are sure to benefit from it.
Yours truly
Li Hua
