Having hundreds of friends on Facebook is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life, a study has found. 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 bearing on how satisfied they felt.
Social media, the researchers said, has encouraged younger people to have larger but more impersonal networks of “friends”. But instead of trying to amass friends, they added, a better cure for loneliness might be spending time with those you’re closest to.
Scientists from the University of Leeds 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 offered their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of happiness. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbors, and whether they included people who provided services to them in their networks. The number of close friends someone had appeared to be the only thing which 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 Wändi Bruine de Bruin. “It’s often the younger adults who admit to having negative opinions of their friends. Loneliness occurs in people of all ages. 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.”
1.What does the underlined word “amass friends” probably mean?
A.Make more friends. B.Help their friends.
C.Meet their friends. D.Recognize their friends.
2.What does Para.3 mainly talk about?
A.Introducing research ways. B.Social interaction.
C.Feelings of happiness. D.Carrying out the study.
3.What makes people happy in social life?
A.Having good appearance. B.Living alone.
C.Having close friends D.Making as many friends.
4.What does Dr Wändi Bruine de Bruin talk about?
A.The quantity of friends. B.Loneliness.
C.Negative opinions. D.Friendship.
“I want to mention an example,” Guo said. “How should a director choose a film project among 100 film scripts? A good story is an important criterion, under which 95 film scripts may be less than adequate. Eventually we have five good stories to enter our final considerations. In this case, an additional criterion should be considered if the story gives strong messages about our Chinese culture. If so, we may undertake it. But if not, why should we bother to make a film that filmmakers from other nations can also produce?”
Smash hit The Wandering Earth is based on works by Liu Cixin, who has tried to create an obviously Chinese style of science fiction. Also, critics owe the film’s domestic success to its unique cultural context because it tells a story Chinese people are quite familiar with. For instance, the Chinese people in the film wanted to help make the Earth move as it was coming to a stop. Some critics have pointed out that this plot point is linked with Chinese farming culture.
Regarded as a science fiction director, Guo continued to say that a style of Chinese sci-fi film hasn’t been set up yet. He believes that China is not ready to make ‘soft’ sci-fi films, which put more focus on characters, culture and sociology.
“There’s a logical order in it. We may find there are both lots of soft and hard science fiction films in Hollywood. But the hard sci-fi movie, a category characterized by focusing on scientific accuracy and logic, came first to serve as a foundation,” Guo said. “Hollywood filmmakers spent decades making hard sci-fi movies, which paved the way for the growth of soft sci-fi films afterwards. China is still young in making sci-fi films.”
There’s a whole new world in sci-fi film. Moviegoers will first have to believe in such a world before getting interested in it. “So, gaining their trust is important, otherwise they wouldn’t be interested in the characters as well as their emotions in the films,’’ Guo Fan said.
1.What attracts a film director’s attention?
A.A. good actor. B.A. good story.
C.An important criterion. D.An adequate film.
2.What’s The Wandering Earth based on?
A.A true story. B.An author’s works.
C.A Chinese style. D.A. successful man.
3.Why is The Wandering Earth a success?
A.It tells a story about Chinese culture. B.It made many actors famous.
C.It aroused a widespread discussion. D.It makes the earth move again.
4.What can we know from the passage?
A.Hard sci-fi films mainly focus on characters. B.The Wandering Earth was made in Hollywood.
C.China has a long way to go in Sci-fi films. D.The soft sci-fi films mainly center on logic.
Last semester in my final year of high school, I had a kind teacher whom I can never forget. I was not the best student when it came to writing tests. I had to work extra hard to get good marks, although I enjoyed learning. Anyway, this class that I truly enjoyed still had me struggling to do well on my tests. My teacher willingly helped me and was always willing to answer my questions, and I greatly appreciated it. He was a remarkable teacher, always reaching out to students and helping them achieve their greatest potential.
I remember the day of writing my final exam, I was the last one still writing in the exam room as always, reviewing my exam paper, while everyone else had already finished and left the room. After turning in my exam-paper, I started to leave the classroom, but decided to turn around and say what I had meant to say.
What I did right then was that I sincerely thanked my teacher for everything. What I said to him lastly meant a lot more to him than I thought it would —“I really enjoyed this class.” I did not think much about it. I was just being honest with him, but the look on his face was remarkable. He seemed really touched and appreciated my simple comment, just knowing that one of his students had truly enjoyed his class. That is what I call a simple, yet very meaningful act of kindness to brighten a teacher’s day, because they work so hard for us and truly inspire us to learn.
It is what we say and do to show concern to others that can make somebody else’s day extra special. I believe that a simple praise can mean a lot more than one can think.
1.What can we know from the first paragraph?
A.The author was good at learning.
B.The author didn’t do well in writing.
C.The classes had me struggling.
D.The teacher answered all my questions.
2.Why is the author thankful to his teacher?
A.He taught him how to learn.
B.He let him pass the tests.
C.He helped arouse his potential.
D.He listened to him patiently.
3.Which words can describe the teacher?
A.Honest and kind. B.Kind and outstanding.
C.Special and patient. D.Skillful and clever.
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.A teacher is always helping his students.
B.We should be honest with others.
C.We should appreciate others’ help.
D.A simple comment matters a lot to others.
假定你是李华，是校乒乓球社团负责人。你校英国交换生Peter打算学习乒乓球，来信询问你们社团暑期的乒乓球公益培训项目情况。请给他回信，内容包括：
1.培训时间和地点；
2.培训内容，如接(receive)发(serve)球，对抗训练等；
3.报名方式。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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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（八），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。
There was a lively discussion held in my class last Friday. It was main about protecting the fine Chinese culture. Some suggested raising people's aware of preserving our culture and making people fall in love with them. For example, we could conduct creative activity like discovery tours and culture shows to help people have better understanding of our culture. Others think some courses should be offered in schools, which goal was to help students learn more about our customs, ways of life and so on. And in my view, what was mattered was that everyone should feel proud in our own culture. Also, we should attempt to passing our fine culture down from generation to generation.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Hidden beneath the ocean waters and often1.(call) the " rainforests of the sea", coral reefs(珊瑚礁)are some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, with perhaps one-quarter of all ocean species relying on reefs for 2. (survive). Being home to countless sea3.(creature), coral reefs are important ecosystems for coastal people, too. It is estimated4. coral reefs contribute billions of dollars to world economies annually, 5. (provide) food, protection of shorelines, and jobs.
Unfortunately, coral species are being 6. (severe) threatened, many of which7.(destroy) by pollution, overfishing practices, and other impacts over the past centuries. Climate change, which results in rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification(酸化)，8. (be) the most pressing threat to coral reefs now. High water temperatures cause corals to lose the algae(海藻) that provide them with food, 9. makes the corals appear white or bleaching (白化)and can increase outbreaks of infectious disease.
A team of researchers are trying to develop super corals at their research center at the moment. They began by selecting certain coral species that seem to have adapted. to the changing ocean conditions better 10.others. Hopefully, the super corals will not only survive but thrive in the warmer and increasingly acidic oceans.
