Gretchen Altman is smiling, leaning back casually, a cup of coffee in hand — Hills Bros. Coffee, to be precise. It looks like a casual shot, but if you hit like, leave a comment, and tag a friend, you can get three different cups of coffee, for free.
Altman is part of a growing trend of "micro-influencers". She has a small following — around 6,000 on Instagram (社交平台).Her going rate is $300 to $800 to promote something. She does some posts in exchange for free goods, as long as it's stuff she believes in.
As a micro-influencer she has a much closer relationship with her followers than a big social media star. "I'm just living a normal life and people relate to that," she says. "They just feel like I'm a friend of theirs."
But it worries consumer rights groups. Several recent studies have found that young audiences are largely unable to understand when something is sponsored content.
In some cases, it's clear. When a big star takes to a social media to advertise Coca-Cola, for example, the assumption is that he or she's probably getting paid to do so. And the posts are clearly labeled as ads, with the caption "advertisement" or "sponsored content".
But what happens when an everyday person with just a couple thousand followers takes to social media to extol(颂扬)the virtues of a product? The motivations are not so clear-cut. The problem with these social media posts is that you don't know whether it's an ad or not.
Altman is diligent about using those hashtags(标签).She loves what she does and sees it as a business, but she doesn't necessarily want to be a social media celebrity.
"With social media being so integrated into our everyday lives, we have this unique opportunity that I don't think anyone has ever had before where we can each be our own brand," Altman says.
1.What does a micro-influencer do according to the passage?
A.Offer enough likes. B.Recommend some comments.
C.Post to increase sales. D.Create advertisements.
2.What makes consumer rights groups feel worried?
A.Ads with caption on posts. B.The unclear motivations of the posts.
C.Sponsored ads content. D.The increasingly growing number of audiences
3.How does Gretchen Altman feel about being a micro-influencer?
A.Pleased B.Upset.
C.Ambitious. D.Disappointed.
4.Which of the following can be the best title?
A.We Can Each Be Our Own Top Brand
B.To be a Micro-influencer or to be a Big Star
C.Hills Bros. Coffee, Your Coffee
D.Instagram Advertising: Do You Know It, When You See It
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
On a recent Wednesday morning, I woke up like a little kid on Christmas morning, filled with joy and excitement for the day ahead. The reason why I was so happy was that my 15-year-old daughter was coming home from overnight camp that day after being gone for four weeks.
That afternoon, as I watched her drop off the bus and run into my arms,my emotions took over and I started crying. As we hugged each other, I thought, “I'm never sending her back there again. This is just too much.” But who am I kidding? Not only is she planning on going back next year, she wants to go for eight weeks.
Sending my kid to a Wisconsin town five hours away and having no communication with her other than a few handwritten letters (no cell phones are allowed at camp) still freaks me out. But I have to say overnight camp was one of the best parenting decisions I’ve ever made.
It all started when my daughter was in middle school and going through the typical social problem that comes up around that age. She would come home crying so often because she felt constantly left out. Concerned about her unhappiness and lack of self-confidence, I felt like I had to do something. One day, it hit me: Overnight camp.
That first year we put her on the bus was terrifying. With her cell phone in a desk drawer at home, we said goodbye knowing we would have to wonder for 28 days how she really was.
Would she miss us so much that she'd cry every night? Would she be frightened? Would the girls be mean to her? We really had no idea what to expect, but we knew that if something was really wrong, we'd get a call. It turned out that that never happened, and the letters we got from her all shined with positivity. The changes I saw in my daughter’ s personal growth were immeasurable.
1.What does the underlined part “freaks me out" in Paragraph 3 mean?
A.cheers me up. B.gets me angry.
C.tires me out. D.makes me nervous.
2.What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A.Parents were all concerned about their children.
B.The author's daughter had a tough time at school.
C.Overnight camp was really of great value for her daughter.
D.The author sent her daughter to overnight camp for compromise.
3.What does the author's daughter think of overnight camp?
A.It has ruined her life. B.It puts her in low spirits.
C.It has benefited her a lot. D.It leaves her with little personal time.
4.What is the theme of the text?
A.To recommend overnight camp. B.To share a story of the author.
C.To show the importance of education. D.To demonstrate her love for her daughter.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Elephant, horse and cow wastes could be endless sources for a key element needed to make paper. It is good news for some nations where trees are scarce while animal wastes come in especially handy.
The idea for the unusual use of elephant and cow wastes first came to mind when researcher Dr Alexander Bismarck noticed something strange about goat wastes while vacationing in Greece. He observed some goats eating summer-dry grass and came to an interesting conclusion about what they digest.
Dr Bismarck said: “I realized what comes out in the end is partially digested plant matter so there must be cellulose (纤维素)there". Animals eat dry grass containing cellulose, chew it and digest it in their stomach and then produce wastes. Up to 40 percent of those wastes are cellulose, which is easily accessible. Therefore, making paper from the partially digested material would take much less energy than using raw wood. Additionally, it would require fewer chemical treatments.
This supply of raw material is plenty: parks in Africa that are home to hundreds of elephants produce tons of wastes every day, and enormous cattle farms in the US and Europe produce mountains of wastes.
In order to make paper, the material must be processed with a special method. But it requires little because there is no need to break it down into small parts for use in paper, in contrast to conventional methods which need a lot of energy to break down wood.
Using wastes, we can reduce the number of steps needed in papermaking, simply because the animal already chewed the plant and attacked it with acid in their stomachs. You inexpensively produce a paper staff that has the same or even better properties than that from wood, with lower energy and chemical consumption.
1.What is mainly talked about in paragraph 2?
A.The observation of goat wastes. B.The usage of animal wastes.
C.The origin of the unusual idea. D.The vacation spent in Greece.
2.Animal wastes can be used to make paper mainly because ________.
A.they will never run out B.they are easy to access
C.they are partly digested D.they contain much cellulose
3.What is the advantage of making paper from animal wastes?
A.It is more profitable. B.It is energy-saving.
C.It needs less material. D.It fits all parts of the world.
4.What is the probable explanation of the underlined word “attack"?
A.Treat. B.Mix.
C.Clean. D.Protect.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Agriculture plays an essential role in the rise of the human civilization. Even though agriculture is contributing to employment of a significant part of the population in majority nations, over the years, the percentage of workers has witnessed a steep decline. According to world-wide estimations, not even five percentage of the population in rich nations is employed in the agricultural sector.
Agriculture is still the backbone of the economy in several nations of Africa. According to data released by the World Bank in 2017, the top ten countries where agriculture plays a vital role in employment are in Africa. Burundi, the landlocked nation on the eastern side of the continent, has 91% of its population dependent on it. However, only 15% of the total agricultural production goes to the market. Sweet potatoes, beans, bananas and corn, are some major crops produced on the land.
The second largest employment in agriculture was also registered in an African country; Chad with 87% population working on the field. Other nations which follow on the list are: Somalia, Central African Republic, Malawi, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Mauritania, Madagascar and Mozambique. Amid the developing countries of BRICS, it is India where more people are employed by agriculture. The agriculture in India can be traced back to the era of Indus Valley Civilization. By 2017, 43 % of the Indian population is dependent on the agriculture sector for employment.
Meanwhile, many developed countries witness less than 15 percent of their population engaged in the agriculture sector. These nations include Greece, Malaysia, Russia, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and many others. At the bottom of the list stand United Arab Emirates , Singapore and Hong Kong, with 0 % of its people employed in agriculture.
1.What does the writer want to highlight in the first paragraph?
A.Agriculture is the foundation of civilization.
B.Agriculture is the main sector of employment.
C.Agriculture is the backbone of the economy.
D.The agricultural population is in sharp decline.
2.Most part of the agricultural produce in Burundi ________.
A.is for family use B.goes to the market
C.is used for export D.goes to the government
3.Where does Central African Republic rank in employment in agriculture in the world?
A.Second. B.Third.
C.Fourth. D.Fifth.
4.We can infer from the text that the larger population in agriculture ________.
A.the more developed the country B.the less developed the economy
C.the more advanced the civilization D.the longer the history of a country
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Even if you’ve never been to Phoenix, you know this about the place: It’s hot. But that doesn't stop hikers from attempting the 1.3-mile trek (跋涉) to the top of the city’s famed Camelback Mountain. Signs warn that the trail is “extremely difficult”. If you continue, a posted checklist suggests at least a liter of water per person. And if you keep climbing, another sign farther up declares; “If you’re halfway through your water turn around!”
Unfortunately, many people do not pay attention to the warnings. Fortunately, Scott Cullymore does. The 53-year-old man hikes up and down Camelback a couple of times a day giving out cold bottles of water to worn-out hikers. He has helped so many hikers that he has earned a heavenly nickname: the Water Angel. I’d like a more manly name, but, you know, he told azfamily, com.
Cullymore was on Camelback Mountain one day in 2015 when a British tourist died after being lost for nearly six hours in the July heat. That experience inspired him to start helping people caught unaware by Arizona’s unforgiving version of Mother Nature. “They underestimate the mountain, and they overestimate what they can do, and they get themselves in trouble,” he told the Arizona Republic. If a hiker has a red face and is not sweating anymore, Cullymore reaches into his insulated (隔热的) backpack, pulls out a frosty bottle, and hands it to the person. “It’s misleading that we’re in the middle of the city. You can die up here, and no one would know.”
One hiker who received Cullymore’s water agrees. “You think you know the heat, but then you get out here in the desert and it surrounds you like a blanket,” he said, pointing to Cullymore, “but we are lucky, we run into this good man here.” And with that, the Water Angel goes in search of another hiker in need.
1.What is the purpose of the signs along the hike way?
A.To show the trek is difficult. B.To warn hikers to take enough water.
C.To frighten people to give up. D.To avoid hikers getting lost.
2.What does Scott Cullymone think of his nickname?
A.It’s womanish. B.It’s manly.
C.It’s ironic, D.It’s appropriate.
3.Who will Scott offer his help to?
A.Anybody he meets. B.Those in the middle of the trek.
C.Anyone in need of water. D.Those who sweat a lot.
4.What can be the best title of this text?
A.A Desert-Like Mountain B.Fighting against Heat
C.Necessities for Hiking D.Water Angel
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Amsterdam Destination Guide
Amsterdam is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, famous for its beautiful canals, top art museums and cycling culture.
Must-See Attractions
Most visitors begin their Amsterdam adventure in the Old Centre, which is full of traditional architecture, shopping centers and coffee shops. Don't miss the Dam Square and the areas around Spui and Nieuwmarkt. You'll also want to check out Amsterdam's Museum Quarter in the South District,which is great for shopping and having a picnic in the Vondelpark, The top museums to visit are the Rijksmusuem, the Ann Frank House, and the Van Gogh Museum.
If You Have Time
There are several other unique districts in Amsterdam, and you should try to explore as many of them as time allows. The Canal Ring is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was originally built to attract wealthy home owners and is a center for celebrity spotting and nightlife today. The Plantage area has most of the city's museums, including the Jewish Historical Museum,the Scheepvaart Museum,and the botanical gardens.
Transportation
Travelers should be aware that Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the busiest airports in the world. This airport is located about 15 kilometers southwest of city center. You can catch a train from Schiphol to Amsterdam Central Station, which has many connecting routes. It's typically not a good idea to drive a car to the city center because traffic is very busy and parking is difficult to find. Cycling is incredibly popular here, and it's easy to find cheap bike rentals around town. Amsterdam has a flat place and is a great city to explore on foot.
Recommended Restaurants
Amsterdam is a top destination for foodies,so it can incredibly difficult to narrow down your dining choices. You are sure to find a restaurant that suits your taste.
1.Which place do most visitors see first in Amsterdam?
A.The Old Center. B.The Dam Square,
C.Spui and Nieuwmarkt, D.The Museum Quarter.
2.What do we know about the Canal Ring?
A.It was built by rich people. B.It is a beautiful natural river,
C.Many famous people live here. D.Visitors here are all museum lovers.
3.How can you get to the city center from the airport?
A.By bike. B.By train,
C.By car. D.By bus.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Feedback is regarded as an essential component of a successful business culture. Used correctly, it can improve performance and teamwork. In a recent study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the IESE Business School in Barcelona examined which type of feedback tended to lead to cooperative behaviors and which to competitive behaviors. To this end, 112 students of different subjects and 28 managers, all of whom had at least seven years of professional experience, were invited to participate in a laboratory experiment.
Groups of four participants played variants (变体)of a classic public goods game. Each player was given a fixed number of points to invest per round. During the time of the ten rounds, they were required to decide how many points they wanted to invest in a group project and how many in their own individual project. The rewards for cooperative behavior differed across the two experimental scenarios (方案),impacting participants, scores and finally how much money they were paid. In the first scenario, cooperative behavior on average led to a better score for the group, but to a worse score on the personal level. In the second scenario, cooperation paid off for both the group and the individual. Uncooperative behavior not only reduced the overall score, but also harmed the other players more than it did the participants themselves. After each round, the participants received feedback—either just on their own performance (individualistic feedback) or additional feedback on the performance of the group as a whole (joint outcome feedback) or on how they ranked relative to the other players (ranking feedback).
The results showed that the type of feedback received had a significant impact on participants' views of the scenario and on whether they behaved cooperatively or competitively. Participants who were given individual feedback behaved cooperatively in the cooperative scenario and increasingly selfishly in the competitive scenario over the rounds played. Participants who were given feedback on the performance of the group as a whole were generally interested in maintaining cooperation, regardless of the scenario.
1.What does the study try to find out?
A.What can improve employees' performance and teamwork.
B.What professional feedback is needed to inspire employees.
C.How the professional experience inspire teamwork among employees.
D.How different types of feedback impact interactions among employees.
2.What were the participants asked to do in the game?
A.Find at least two partners.
B.Play it more than ten rounds.
C.Set up and invest their own projects.
D.Invest every round with given points.
3.What did the participants get when they worked individually in scenario two?
A.A better score for the group but a worse for individuals.
B.A worse score for the group and more harm to others.
C.A worse score for the group but a better for individuals.
D.A worse score for the group and more harm to themselves.
4.What is probably discussed in the following text?
A.How different scenarios reward participants.
B.How participants given ranking feedback behaved.
C.How participants given individual feedback behaved.
D.How participants given joint outcome feedback behaved.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Tim Wasem, an English teacher, says he's still getting his head around it. "I have students coming in this semester who are asking, like, 'When are we gonna do the podcast (播客)challenge? When's that gonna happen?' I didn't know the answers."
That's because a year ago, an unlikely team of 11th-graders at Elizabethton High School in east Tennessee won NPR's first-ever Student Podcast Challenge. Their 11-minute entry told the story of how the nearby town of Erwin is trying to rehabilitate (挽回)its image a century after hanging an elephant. They called their podcast"Murderous Mary & The RISE Of Erwin."
As the Student Podcast Challenge opens this month for its second year and as our new podcast about the contest launches on Monday, we've checked back in with last year's two grand-prize winners to see how the experience changed their learning and their lives.
Deanna Hull was a driving force behind "Murderous Mary". She says the experience gave a big lift to her "internal confidence as a student and just as a person in general”. Now a senior, Hull is making college plans, and she says winning the contest helped her see what she's truly capable of. "I'm typically very self-critical of my work. I can't really see what everyone else sees... But then when we found out we'd won, I was like, 'Whoa, OK. Hull admits that she and her classmates took a few weeks to find their footing. Wasem and a fellow teacher Alex Campbell assigned the teams themselves, often avoiding friend groups and forcing unlikely cooperation.
And Hull says that while she was proud of the finished project, she never imagined it could win. The podcast project not only helped Hull and her team but also changed the lives of some of their classmates who didn't win. "The most amazing thing that came from the podcast experience of that class is how many of them found their passion through this project," Campbell says, "and how this project helped them connect to people and learn how to tell someone else's story."
1.How did Tim Wasem feel about his students' questions?
A.He felt tired of them.
B.He was surprised at them.
C.He lacked confidence in them.
D.He had no idea of their answers.
2.What can we learn about "Murderous Mary & The RISE Of Erwin”?
A.It lost a chance to win last year.
B.It tells people elephants are friendly.
C.Its winning was beyond its makers' expectation.
D.It is about the history of the makers' hometown.
3.What did Deanna Hull mainly get from the winning?
A.Self-confidence.
B.Her passion for science.
C.Admission into a college.
D.A good knowledge of her disadvantages.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.Making a Podcast Enriched Students' Lives
B.What Can Make the Podcast Sound Better?
C.A Successful Way to the College: Podcast Challenge
D.More Problems to be Solved About Podcast Challenge
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Each month, we post a photo online. All you need to do is work out where it is and you could win three superb illustrated (有插画的)DK Travel Guide books.
To give you a helping hand, we'll be revealing clues here. So make sure to check back, and follow @MirrorTrapel and @TravelEdNigel on Twitter for updates !
This month's picture shows a shining royal palace. It's in the capital of an exotic country and a popular tourist destination—but it's not the most famous one in this nation.
The question for April—name the COUNTRY.
CLUE 1 :The city is on the banks of a famous 2,703-miIe-long river.
CLUE 2: Sounds like you could find a pen pal here.
THE PRIZE:
The first correct answer chosen at random will win three beautifully illustrated DK Travel country or city guides of their choice, each up to a value of £19. 99. For a full list of titles visit dk. co. uk.
HOW TO ENTER:
When you think you've guessed our mystery location, simply fill out the form below with your answer and details.
Terms & Conditions:
Competition closes on April 30, 2020.
Entry is open to aged 18 or over only. Employees of Reach pic, DK Travel Ltd, their families, agents, suppliers of the prizes and anyone professionally connected with this competition are not included.
Only one free entry per person via the competition entry form above.
Entries made using methods produced by a movie, macro (微距镜头)or the use of automated devices will be useless. No responsibility is accepted for entries which are invalid, incomplete, unclear, lost or delayed in transit, or which fail to be properly submitted. All of these will be considered useless.
Entry is considered acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
The winner will be the first correct answer drawn at random after lines close.
1.What does the author want readers to do?
A.Find out the best photos.
B.Guess the mystery picture location.
C.Work out the most popular country.
D.Take part in a photography competition.
2.Who can take part in the competition?
A.A pupil whose hobby is photography.
B.An employee of Reach pic, DK Travel Ltd.
C.An adult sending his entry before April 30, 2020.
D.A college student who selected a picture from a movie.
3.Where is the text probably from?
A.A weather report.
B.A travel website.
C.A geography textbook.
D.A photography magazine.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
If humans ever settle on Mars, they will need water. There is just one problem---there seems to be only huge sheets of ice. Luckily, we know how to drill(钻孔) ice for water. Such methods are already used in Antarctica, and researchers now think they could get them to work on the Red Planet, too. The atmosphere of Mars is too dry to make extracting water vapour from it possible. So ice seems the best bet. But the obvious ice sheets are in the unlivable polar ice caps and would be difficult to reach for drilling.
However, in 2018, at the edge of the cliffs, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted relatively accessible water ice that is probably at least 130metres thick and covered in just a few metres of rock and dust. These may be the best place to get the water needed for future exploration of the planet.
The drilling techniques needed have already been developed for cold areas on Earth where we need to melt buried ice for water. In the early 1960s the US Army used a type of subsurface reservoir(水库)called Rod Well, in army camps in Greenland. The method works by drilling through the ground into the ice, melting the ice to create a pool, and then pumping water up. By supplying heat continuously, they create a reservoir and a steady water supply. It has been used in remote areas such as the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station Stephen Hoffman at the Aerospace Corporation in Texas and his colleagues simulated(模拟)how a Rod Well would do on Mars. They found that with the power of 9 kilowatts (千瓦)to melt ice, it could in theory produce about 380 litres of water each day and maintain a reservoir of constant size at the bottom of a borehole(钻孔). That is close to the average daily water use each person in the US, but about 10 times what each astronaut on the International Space Station uses daily.
1.Which of the following can replace the underlined word "extracting" in the first paragraph ?
A.obtaining B.protecting
C.Preventing D.choosing
2.Why does the author mention the Rod Well in Paragraph 3?
A.To explain how water ice is drilled on Mars.
B.To tell about the history of water ice drilling techniques.
C.To prove the importance of water ice drilling techniques
D.To show techniques for drilling water wells in Martian ice exist.
3.On average, how much water does an astronaut on the International Space Station use daily?
A.10 litres B.38 litres
C.160 litres D.380 litres
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A.Preparing to settle on the Red Planet one day.
B.Finding water on the Red Planet for survival.
C.Using some ways to create a livable environment on Mars.
D.Drilling water wells in Martian ice to survive on Mars.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析