Are you familiar with the greeting, "Can I add you on WeChat?" It seems like every time we meet new friends or colleagues nowadays, the first thing that springs to mind is adding each other on the app. Nevertheless, more than 80 percent of WeChat users report feeling stressed or anxious when they receive a large number of messages, according to a study done recently by the app's developer Tencent (腾讯). In other words, WeChat can overwhelm (使应接不暇) us, while also breaking down the boundaries between our work and private lives.
Just think how easy it is now for bosses to hand out assignments during the holiday, so long as they have your WeChat contact. When you're at the cinema enjoying a romantic movie or having a barbecue in the backyard, you can never cut yourself off from the outside world unless you switch off your phone. Not to post something in WeChat Moments before replying to your boss first!
Apart from interrupting your leisure time, WeChat can also reduce your productivity at work. For many office workers, logging in to WeChat on their computers at the start of the day has become routine. But what if browsing the Moments distracts us from doing the work? The app steals our time without us even noticing it, making us have the false belief that we are busy all the time.
And as if that weren't bad enough, there're the "one-off" friends who take up space on our WeChat friend list. A handy way to check how many one-off friends you have is to take a look at your chat history with them. Sometimes, you only sent the initial friend requests so you could invite them to a WeChat group or inform them of something for your boss. Yet still, as your friend count (好友数量) ever goes up, it can make you feel the need to post selfies (自拍) and share details of your life in your Moments, just so you can stay up to date.
With WeChat, all our spare time is swallowed up by the constant torrent of messages and our attention keeps getting diverted by Moments and pop-up ads. So it's time that we should do something to nip this problem in the bud.
1.What is most of WeChat users' reaction when receiving a mass of messages?
A.They are quite upset. B.They think it's unavoidable.
C.They break down. D.They complain about Tencent.
2.Which of the following may make your boss angry according to Paragraph 2?
A.Enjoying a movie at the weekend.
B.Posting something in WeChat Moments.
C.Having a barbecue on vacation.
D.Ignoring the assignment he handed out when seeing it.
3.How can we decide who is the one-off friend on our WeChat friend list?
A.By checking if you sent the initial friend request.
B.By seeing if your boss asked you to inform him of something.
C.By having a look at your chat record.
D.By counting the number of your friends on the list.
4.What can be a suitable title for this text?
A.Is WeChat becoming a necessity in our life?
B.Are WeChat friend requests ruining your life?
C.Does your boss want to be your WeChat friend?
D.Is it better to have more WeChat friends?
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Recently, I experienced a wonderful lesson in how little things still mean a lot. My brother, mother and I live in Hawaii. Our farm is at least a dozen miles from even the most basic of services. Therefore, I take weekly trips to the shop to get supplies. About a month ago, I finished loading up the car and was about to leave, when a piece of paper on the ground caught my eye. I picked it up and read it carefully.
It was a receipt from the State Motor Vehicle Division, recording the owners payment of her Vehicles Registration fees. At first I thought that I could find the owner. So I waited there for about an hour. Although the receipt had been borne on the wind, where in the busy, crowded parking lot would I find the owner? I looked over the receipt for contact or any personal data, perhaps a license tag or telephone number. I checked the date, the fees paid, noted the name of the owner and pocketed the paper. I concluded that the best and easiest step to take was to put the receipt in an envelope and send it to the owner first the next morning.
By the end of the week, I received a beautiful "thank you " letter from a very grateful and happy woman containing a handwritten message and a gift card. In the letter, the woman explained how the wind snatched (夺去) her receipt from a pocket in her car’s passenger door. She had searched everywhere for quite some time before giving up.
It felt great to know I had helped someone avoid a loss by doing something that at first glance(一瞥) seemed little and unimportant.
1.What can be the best title for the text?
A.A Lesson I Will Never Forget B.Never Lose Heart or Give up
C.Little Things Still Mean a Lot D.Think Carefully Before You Act
2.What can we learn about the author?
A.He lives downtown in Hawaii.
B.He goes to the shop to get supplies once a week on foot.
C.He is too poor to have basic supplies for his family.
D.He is patient and willing to help others.
3.The underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 most probably refers to_______.
A.the receipt B.the license tag
C.the telephone number D.the personal data
4.How did the woman lose her receipt?
A.She forgot where she had put it. B.A strong wind blew it away.
C.A thief took it away. D.She left it in the parking lot
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
"Mummy, I don' t know what to play with." Steve interrupts his mother, who is talking to a friend, for the fourth time. "You've got a room full of toys!" his mother says, impatiently. In fact it is the jumble of toys which is to blame for four-year-old Steve's lack of interest in his dolls, cars and stuffed (packed) animals. Each morning he tips out three washing baskets of toys all over his floor, listlessly pulls out something and shortly after is standing at his mother's desk or following her into the kitchen saying: "Mummy, I am bored."
A family therapist ( 心理医生) explains why children lose interest when they have a whole "toy shop" at home: "According to their brain development, little children are not in a position to judge the quality of a variety of things at once. There is always just one favorite toy for the moment. All the rest is left lying about." What can parents do to stop their children from being oversupplied with toys? Under no conditions simply make something disappear without the child's knowledge. If he/she takes no more notice of a toy, a parent can ask if it can be stored or given away. Be warned though the child will always say he/she wants it then! A talk with relatives and friends may also help. Lyn is the mother of four-year-old Jessie, and we like her way. A small set of shelves in her child's room holds the toys and books that are the current (at present) favorites. When it seems to her that her daughter is tired of these toys, they put them away in a box together and select some other toys from a cupboard in another room. The box of "old" toys goes into the cupboard. When her child says she is "bored", they also get something from her cupboard - it may be something she has had for some time but because she hasn't seen it for a while it is almost like a new toy.
Some favorite toys stay out all the time, and there is collection of dolls which sits in the corner, but in this way Lyn has found that she has fewer toys to put away at the end of the day and her daughter always has something "fresh" to play with.
1.Steve interrupted his mother several times because _____.
A.he felt uninterested in his toys
B.he disliked his mother's guest
C.he didn't have enough toys to play with
D.he hoped his mother would play with him
2.According to the therapist, children often complain that they have nothing to play with because _____.
A.they can't play alone for a long time
B.they are too young to play with so many toys
C.they are too lazy to pick out their favorites
D.they lack the ability to value too many things at a time
3.Which of the following can be used in place of "jumble"?
A.Simple choice. B.Mixture in disorder.
C.Ordinary appearance. D.Same shape.
4.Which is the advice given to parents in the text?
A.Buy fewer toys for their children.
B.Form good habits for their children.
C.Spare some time to play with their children.
D.Put some toys away without telling their children.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
As a rule, a child who has once been happy with a tale likes to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to tell a story than read it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce what, in the actual situation of the time and the child, is an improvement on the printed text, so much the better.
A charge made against fairy tales is that they harm the child by frightening him or making him sad thinking. To prove the latter, one would have to show in a controlled experiment that children who have read fairy stories were more often sorry for cruelty than those who had not. As to fears, there are, I think, some cases of children being dangerously terrified by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition turns the pain of fear into the pleasure of a fear faced and mastered.
There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that they are not objectively true, that giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets, etc. do not exist; and that, instead of being fond of the strange side in fairy tales, the child should be taught to learn the reality by studying history. I find such people, I must say, so peculiar(奇怪的) that I do not know how to argue with them. If their case were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girlfriend.
No fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world and no clever child has ever believed that it was.
1.The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when .
A.it is repeated without any change B.it is treated as a joke
C.some changes are made to it by a parent D.it is set in the present
2.According to the passage, great fear can take place in a child when the story is .
A.in a realistic setting B.told in a different way
C.repeated too often D.heard for the first time
3.The advantage claimed for repeating fairy stories to young children is that it .
A.develops their power of memory B.makes them less fearful
C.makes them believe there is more to be afraid of D.encourages them not to have strange beliefs
4.One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that .
A.they are full of history B.they make teachers of history difficult to teach
C.they are not interesting D.they are just made up of unreal stories
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Recently a new US study has shown that couples who expect their children to help care for them in old age should hope they have daughters because they are likely to be twice as attentive overall.
The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, a sociologist at Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.
Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over-50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.
“Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with limitations they face, such as employment or childcare, sons’ caregiving is connected only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent's spouse (配偶),” she explained.
“Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”
“This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”
In the UK, the 2011 census (人口普查)showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities — a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.
But many are doing so at the risk of their own health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full-time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts (相对应的人)who are not careers.
1.What does the underlined phrase “is associated with” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A.is faced with B.is related to
C.is filled with D.is fond of
2.According to the study we know that .
A.American couples are preferring daughters to sons a lot
B.sons are twice likely as daughters to care for parents in old age
C.having a brother makes women do their share less
D.men tend to take less care of their parents than women
3.Which of the following statements is true?
A.The number of people providing care has increased by 6.5 million.
B.More people have left behind their work to look after the elderly.
C.Many people who both work and care others can be threatened by health problems.
D.People shouldn't take much responsibility to care for the old.
4.What's the attitude of the author in the article?
A.Positive. B.Subjective.
C.Objective. D.Negative.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
With climate change and overfishing threatening our oceans, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to closely observe and check sea animals and plants. However, it’s almost impossible to make it since human presence scares the animals. Now, thanks to the robot, aka SoFi, researchers may be able to solve the problem.
Built by MIT’s laboratory, the snow-white remote-controlled robot simulates fish, complete with a flexible tail that moves from side to side and two “fins (鳍)”.
When the robot is under the sea, a motor is pumping water into a pair of balloon-like rooms located in the robot’s tail. These rooms operate similarly to the key parts in engines. As one room expands, the tail bends to one side; when the motor pushes water to the other channel, the tail bends in the other direction. Thus the robot gains the ability to move to where it wants to go.
SoFi solves many of the issues that have affected the usefulness(有效性) of previous robots --- some types of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
AUVs traditionally often have had to be tied to a boat because radio frequency communications do not work well underwater. So researchers use sound waves. The new technology can travel greater distances, allowing drivers, by using a controller, to pilot SoFi from up to 50 feet away. SoFi can move around the ocean, unaffected by ropes. Also limiting traditional AUVs’ usefulness is the risk of hitting something, like hard stones. With the outside made of rubber(橡胶) and plastic that can keep its built-in electronics dry, SoFi can efficiently avoid hitting. So a soft robot is more likely to survive a potential crisis.
During test dives in Rainbow Reef, SoFi swam alongside the unsuspecting(无疑心的) ocean life at depths of 50 feet for up to 40 minutes at a time, obtaining high-quality photos and videos. More importantly, it was able to do so without causing any disturbance. Researchers say sometimes the fish would swim alongside the strange-looking robot in curiosity, while at other times they appeared to completely ignore its existence. “It’s not perfect, but we’re improving it. Our efforts will pay off,” says Robert Katzschmann.
1.The robot SoFi is created to ________.
A.observe climate change B.help to monitor sea creatures
C.catch fish and observe them D.prevent overfishing in oceans
2.What does the underlined word “simulates” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A.Is modeled after. B.Is designed for.
C.Is combined with. D.Is applied to.
3.What’s Paragraph 3 mainly written to show?
A.The shape of SoFi. B.The application of SoFi.
C.The structure of SoFi’s tail. D.The theory of SoFi’s movement.
4.What’s Robert Katzschmann’s attitude towards SoFi?
A.Satisfied. B.Negative. C.Hopeful. D.Neutral.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
You know Australia is a big country, but you may not know how easy it is to get around. The untouched beaches that go for miles and deserts that touch the horizon are just there, waiting to be reached and explored. The following are the different ways you can explore our vast country.
Getting around Australia
Air
Flying is the best way to cover large distances in a short time. You can spend more time on the Australia’s can’t-miss landscapes and relaxing lifestyle. Moreover, competition among airlines makes great flying fees available for you.
Drive
Australia has a vast network of well-maintained roads and some of the most beautiful touring routes in the world. You have no difficulty finding car rental companies at major airports, central city locations, suburbs and attractions.
Bus
Bus travel in Australia is comfortable, easy and economical. Buses generally have air conditioning, reading lights, adjustable seats and videos. Services are frequent, affordable and efficient.
Rail
Train travel is the cheapest and gives you an insight into Australia’s size and variety, all from the comfort of your carriage. Scheduled services are a great way to get quickly between our cities and regional centers.
Ferry
The Spirit of Tasmania runs a passenger and vehicle ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania nightly. Extra services are running during summer rush hours. Sealink ferries connect South Australia and Kangaroo Island several times a day. Ferries connect suburbs in our capital cities.
Walk
With easy on the feet pedestrian streets, walking is a great way to get around our cities. Besides all the above, you can also experience some of the longest tracks and trails in the world in central Australia—impressive journeys of a thousand kilometers or more that can take several weeks to complete.
1.The underlined word “untouched” in the 1stparagraph means _____.
A.secure B.special
C.natural D.artificial
2.Which of the following is TRUE about travelling in Australia?
A.More travelers make the flying fees among airlines higher than before.
B.You can easily rent a car to explore its most beautiful touring routes.
C.Taking a bus tour is the most comfortable, economical and efficient way.
D.Train services can offer you more comfort than any other means of transport.
3.Ferry service between Melbourne and Tasmania usually runs ____.
A.only at night hours B.only during rush hours
C.several times a day D.Between different cities
4.From the passage, we know that ____.
A.pedestrian walking is a great way to travel between cities
B.walking in central Australia takes a long time
C.central Australia has the world’s longest railway line
D.you have to walk over a thousand kilometers in Australia
5.If you have only 5 days and want to visit Australia’s famous attractions that are far away from each other, which way of travelling best suits you?
A.By air. B.By car.
C.By bus. D.On foot.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Teenagers who talk on the cell phone a lot, and hold their phones up to their right ears, score worse on one type of memory test. That’s the finding of a new study. That memory impairment might be one side effect of the radiation (放射线) that phones use to keep us connected while we’re on the go.
Nearly 700 Swiss teens took part in a test of figural memory. This type helps us remember abstract (抽象的) symbols and shapes, explains Milena Foerster. The teens took memory tests twice, one year apart. Each time, they had one minute to remember 13 pairs of abstract shapes. Then they were shown one item from each pair and asked to match it with one of the five choices. The study volunteers also took a test of verbal memory. That’s the ability to remember words. The two memory tests are part of an intelligence test. The researchers also surveyed the teens on how they use cell phones. And they got call records from phone companies. The researchers used those records to figure out how long the teens were using their phones. This allowed the researchers to work out how big a radiation exposure (接触) each person could have got while talking.
A phone user’s exposure to the radiation can differ widely. Some teens talk on their phones more than others. People also hold their phones differently. If the phone is close to the ear, more radiation may enter the body, Foerster notes. Even the type of network signal that a phone uses can matter. Much of Switzerland was using an older “second-generation” type of cell phone networks, the study reports. Many phone carriers (通讯公司) have moved away from such networks. And more companies plan to update their networks within the next few years.
The teens’ scores in the figural memory tests were roughly the same from one year to the next. But those who normally held their phones near the right ears, and who were also exposed to higher levels of radiation, scored a little bit worse after a year. No group of teens showed big changes on the verbal memory test. Why might one type of memory be linked to cell phone use, but not another? Foerster thinks it could have to do with where different memory centers sit in the brain. The site that deals with the ability to remember shapes is near the right ear.
1.According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is TRUE?
A.The teens took two types of memory tests four times in total.
B.The teens needed to report the average time spent on their phones.
C.Researchers paid little attention to the teens’ habits of using phones.
D.The teens’ ability of remembering words is shown in figural memory test.
2.What can we infer from Paragraph 3?
A.How people hold their phones has no effect on their bodies.
B.Phone users can make more money with new networks.
C.The cell phone network type has little to do the cell phone use.
D.Radiation levels are affected by the cell phone network types.
3.According to the study, teens who use their phones to their right ears a lot do worse in ________.
A.matching numbers B.reading signals
C.remembering shapes D.learning words
4.What might be the best title for the text?
A.Cell phone use and safety warnings
B.Facts about cell phone use at school
C.Dangerous levels of cell phone use among teens
D.Teen’s cell phone use linked to memory problems
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while—then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily, but truly can’t manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes,
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for pure business matters. So accept their hospitality at home !
1.Where are we expected to call our American friends if we go there by plane?
A.On the bus. B.At the airport.
C.Near their home. D.At our own hotel.
2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.
B.Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.
C.Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.
D.Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.
3.Which is the typical way of American hospitality?
A.Treating friends at home. B.Sharing everything they have.
C.Taking days off to be with friends. D.Meeting friends at the airport at midnight.
4.In which part of a newspaper can this article be found?
A.Culture. B.News.
C.Story. D.Travel.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Albert Einstein, the genius behind the theory of relativity, which provided a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time, has recently been making headlines again. However, this time it is not for a new scientific breakthrough, but because of two handwritten notes the scientist gave a bellboy 95 years ago.
The story goes something like this. In October 1922, Einstein was invited to Tokyo to deliver lectures. As the scientist was making his way from Europe to Japan, he received a telegram informing him that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Though pleased at the news, he decided to continue with his Japanese trip instead of heading to Stockholm to accept the honor.
When in Tokyo, he penned two notes in German. One of them, written on a piece of plain paper, said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Why did Einstein write the notes? Some believe they were to express Einstein’s delight at the reception he received from the people of Japan who crowded to attend the laureate’s (获奖者)lectures. Others think they were specially written for a bellboy who came to deliver a message, either because the scientist did not have loose change to tip him, or because the messenger refused to accept tips. Regardless of the reason, Einstein purportedly told the bellboy, “Maybe if you are lucky, those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip.” He was right!
Earlier this year, the bellboy’s nephew decided to part with the letters and handed them to Winner’s Auctions and Exhibitions. The “theory of happiness” brought the owner an astonishing $1.56 million from a European buyer. The second note, which opened at $1,000, and expected to fetch a maximum of $6,000, sold for $240,000!
1.What made Einstein become people’s focus again?
A.The theory of relativity. B.His new concepts of space.
C.The notes written by himself. D.His notes about his theory.
2.Where did Einstein write the words?
A.Bern. B.Stockholm.
C.Germany. D.Japan.
3.How were Einstein’s lectures?
A.They had a great effect. B.They attracted a lot of people.
C.They successfully inspired people. D.They were hard to understand.
4.How might the owner of the notes feel about the deal?
A.Disappointed. B.Curious.
C.Unfair. D.Unexpected.
高二英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析