They may have text, email, Facebook and Twitter, but young people are still lonelier than any other age group. The Loneliness in New Zealand report, published by Statistics New Zealand, shows under 30s are more likely to feel lonely than older people because loneliness decreases with age. Loneliness and poor mental health were strongly related across all ages. Young people were not as likely to feel lonely because of financial hardship, but among older people, lack of money was a significant influence on loneliness. Women were more likely to feel lonely than men.
Philip Walker, spokesman for the General Social Survey, said because it was relatively new it was hard to know whether loneliness among young people was a new trend. But overseas research has found that levels of loneliness in youth today are growing.
Walker said the finding needed more exploration, including looking at the role of technology and social media. “It could be that people’s expectations of connection have gone up, so we expect increased levels of connection,” he said. “While technology like cell phones could help young people stay connected, on the other hand for those who do get bullied (欺辱), especially bullied online, it’s quite isolating. A lot of the time potentially it is a big contributor to loneliness.”
Figures from online dating website FindSomeone also confirmed more young people were looking for love. Manager Rick Davies, said younger dating hopefuls were the fastest growing group on the site.
Mr. Davies noted that since the report data was collected in 2010 there had been huge growth in smart phones, which meant people were online even more. He believed online tools, such as Skype, could help people stay connected. “People can keep in touch with a wide range of friends from all over the world much more easily now. It’s like you’re sitting in your living room having a chat with them.”
Bemardine Reid, operations committee chairwoman for Samaritans, which operates a free helpline, said many of their calls came from people who were lonely. “It might be that they’ve got some problem, just like all the things people would normally talk to a friend about, but people who are alone lack those normal contacts.” (交流)
The Statistics New Zealand report also showed people who didn’t have face-to-face contact with family and friends were more likely to feel lonely, as were those who lived alone.
1.Which of the following may Mr. Walker agree with?
A. High technology may become a reason for loneliness.
B. People shouldn’t use the Internet to get to know strangers.
C. It’s hard for people to get enough connection online as expected.
D. Social media should play an important role in helping lonely people.
2.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. FindSomeone is a website where you can find old friends
B. without technology, young people would not feel lonely
C. high technology results in the older being lonely
D. those cheated or hurt online tend to feel lonely
3.From the last two paragraphs, we can conclude that ________.
A. Internet can keep people free from loneliness
B. people chatting a lot online tend to be optimistic
C. people living alone tend to have more connection online
D. people communicating less in the real world risk loneliness
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. Loneliness around You B. Young People Online
C. Young but Lonely D. E-times and Young People
This year at the Olympic Games in Rio, you might stumble across a pretty interesting sight outside of the various stadiums holding competitions around the city.
Meet Chen Guanming, a 60-year-old Chinese farmer who pedaled his rickshaw (人力车) all the way from China to Rio. He calls himself “Olympic madman,” and surely he deserves it: this is the third Olympic Games he rode to. Brazilians welcomed him with the best friendship and a splendid show after he arrived in Rio a week earlier.
Seventeen years ago, he embarked the crazy adventure as an Olympics chaser: he toured around China before attending the Beijing Olympics in 2008, then made it to London in 2012, and now he’s in Rio. He plans to finish his global journey in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.
He doesn’t really have money, but strangers he met on the road have been pouring support to him: a heartfelt encouragement, a warm meal, or a lift up a hill — the rickshaw, his good buddy, carries all his luggage and weighs as heavy as 400 pounds.
Zsofia Korodi, a Hungarian living in London, set up a Facebook fan page after being “inspired by his actions,” so that supporters keep track of him. That way his journeys are pieced together, and people call out the next town to look out and take care of him. When there’s water to cross, people he met fly him over, and he will patiently wait for the rickshaw to arrive by ship.
Chen spent two years, traveled almost 40,000 miles to get to the London Olympics. For Rio, he hopped a plane to Canada and then made his way from Canada through the US, South America to Rio. Chen said he does it all to enhance the Olympic spirit. “My biggest hope is to encourage the vulnerable, the weak, and those who are afraid of challenges.”
In Rio, he’s apparently becoming an Olympic celebrity— a sportsman that compete out of the fields, with himself and gets stopped wherever he goes to take pictures. Even though he couldn’t watch the games at the scene, he’s completely happy by helping to pick trash and clean the surrounding areas of the stadiums. That’s what the Olympics is about. “It is to challenge the boundaries, to compete in a friendly manner, and to win the honor of the higher calling.” He said.
See you in Japan in 2020, Mr. Chen!
1.Mr. Chen calls himself “Olympic madman” because ________.
A. he has a bad temper whenever Olympic Games come
B. he rides to Olympic Games as a crazy Olympics chaser
C. he becomes super busy with his business in Olympic season
D. he gets splendid results every time he competes in Olympic Games
2.Which city didn’t Mr. Chen ride to for Olympic Games?
A. Beijing B. Rio
C. London D. Tokyo
3.Why did Mr. Chen ride to Rio?
A. He wanted to win the honor of Olympics at the scene.
B. He planned to challenge and compete in a friendly manner.
C. He hoped to promote the Olympic spirit and encourage others.
D. He intended to pick trash and clean the surrounding areas of the stadiums.
4.Which word can be used to describe Mr. Chen best?
A. Enthusiastic B. Intelligent
C. Sensitive D. Competitive.
Whether you’re a grandparent who takes care of the little ones once or twice a week and is looking for interesting ways to keep them entertained, or a long-distance grandparent relying on technology to stay in touch, we’ve got you covered with the best apps for grandparents.
Story Patch (iPad) Great for boosting creativity amongst the little ones, but also a challenge that you and the pint-sized writer of your family can do together. The app allows children to create their own themed tale, paired with a choice of over 800 illustrations. |
JBaby Grandparents Frame (iPad, iPhone, Android)
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Perfect for grandparents who want nothing more than to be involved in every step of their grandchild’s development. It does require a Wi-Fi frame to work, but this can be bought from an electronic store. |
Zero to Three - Let’s Play (iPad, iPhone, Android) With a little help during play time, anything is possible. The app features “boredom killers” and provides fun ideas categorized specifically by age group. Particularly useful when looking after babies or toddlers. |
Little Peanut on the Go (iPad, iPhone)
Ideal for parents who want to stay well-connected to their caregivers and children while away. It allows them to share schedules with you if you’re in charge of the grandchildren and it may just give them some peace of mind if they’re leaving their children for the first time. |
Toilet Finder (iPad, iPhone) Especially useful when you happen to find yourself in a sticky spot (after your grandchild has alerted you to their “need” at the last minute, of course). Through ‘satellite navigation’ signals, your phone or tablet tracks the nearest loo to your current location. A potential life-saver when you’re out and about. |
1.Which of the following can be used in Android system?
A. Story Patch. B. Little Peanut on the Go.
C. Toilet Finder. D. Zero to Three — Let’s Play.
2.What can we know about the apps?
A. Toilet Finder can be used through voice signals.
B. Zero to Three — Let’s Play can provide lots of entertainment.
C. We can download JBaby Grandparents Frame from the App Store for free.
D. Grandparents can share location with caregivers by Little Peanut on the Go.
3.What is the purpose of this article?
A. To explain how to use some smartphone apps.
B. To make life more convenient for grandparents.
C. To recommend some apps to assist grandparents.
D. To advocate interaction between family members.
假设你是李华，你的美国老师Miss Morgan要求你们明天下午去听一个美国历史的讲座。你因故不能参加。请你根据以下要点，写一封短信向Miss Morgan请假。
内容要点: 1. 表示歉意； 2. 理由:去机场接从法国回来的舅舅；
3. 询问:是否有录音，以便补听讲座。
注意:1. 词数:100词左右；
2. 可根据内容要点适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Miss Morgan，
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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。
Dear Laura,
Thanks for letting us to stay at your seaside house. Now, you might have heard from your neighbors about which happened on Saturday evening. When I was out a walk, my younger son, Tom, played football before your house. He made so many noise that the neighbors got quite angrily. Even worse, Tom broke one of the window of Mr. Wilson’s house. Tom and I apologized to all the neighbors for the unhappy happenings, but promised to have the broken window repair soon. Tom said that we would not do such silly things any more. I am glad that your neighbors had forgiven us. They are really nice people.
Yours,
Betty
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
From the first day I arrived in Kunming, I had my understanding of China 1.(change). Far from being narrow-minded and hostile to 2.(foreign) ，people came up to talk to me the first time I went out on the street. It happened to be all in Chinese, so I didn’t understand much, 3.it did cause me to rethink my assumptions.
As my Chinese improved, this continued throughout my stay, from my landlord introducing me to people who could help us learn Chinese to 4.(get) to know the couple who ran a noodle restaurant nearby.
If you’re interested in other people, their culture, and their language, they’ll be5.(friend) to you. China isn’t 6.exception.
Don’t judge a country by its media coverage, 7.(especial) some Western media, which have much prejudice.
I saw a very different kind of China with my own eyes. Kunming, 8. I lived for most of my stay, wasn’t much polluted. I had frank conversations with Chinese people about almost everything.
Still China 9.(develop) ，but the economic growth means that most people 10. (see) their living standards improve rapidly in the last 20 years. People I spoke with were generally optimistic about the future.
