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A young woman sits alone in café sipping tea and reading a book. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café waiter: “Where are the toilets please?” This is a familiar scene in Tokyo’s so-called “silent cafes”, where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.
The concept rises by a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainly, a shift in traditional family support structures and the growing social isolation. The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation-free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a “one woman wedding” – a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression – “botchi-zoku”, referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.
One recent weekday afternoon, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off in order to enjoy some solo time. Speaking quietly at the entrance of the café, Miss Higashikokubaru said: “I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it’s always very busy. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it’s a big busy city. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I’m going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere.”
The desire to be isolated is not a new concept in Japan, home to an estimated 3.6 million “hikikomori” – a more extreme example of social recluses（隐士）who withdraw completely from society.
1.What is special about the “silent café”?
A. It provides various tea and books.
B. People are not allowed to communicate.
C. It has attracted many popular young people.
D. It offers service by writing not by speaking.
2.Which of the following accounts for the idea of being alone in Japan?
A. The increasing social isolation.
B. The stable economic situation.
C. The rising demand for privacy.
D. The rapid development of internet.
3.What do we know about Higashikokubaru?
A. She doesn’t like to be a nurse.
B. She doesn’t like the life in big cities.
C. She enjoys her solo time in a quiet place.
D. She travelled to Tokyo on her work days.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A. Silent cafes B. Lonely Japanese
C. One woman wedding D. Social recluses in Japan
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In the mid-2000s, Waze Mobile co-founder Ehud Shabtai received a cutting-edge (尖端的) gift from girlfriend: a GPS. The expensive gift was supposed to be helpful. But straight out of the box, it was already out of date.
Shabtai, a coding enthusiast, had an immediate reaction to reinvent. Shabtai’s solution? To build an app. With 80 million monthly active users globally and nearly 400,000 superusers who function much like Wikipedia volunteer editors (editing maps rather than words), Waze Mobile caught the eye of Google as a revolutionary approach to navigation (导航).
Acquired by Google in 2013, Waze’s value mainly lies in its high rate of user involvement. Unlike traditional navigation apps that simply show directions, Waze asks its users to report accidents and other road conditions in real time, so other users can avoid the traffic by using an alternative route.
The goal behind Waze’s approach is an ambitious one: not just avoid traffic, but end it altogether. Waze is finding new ways to put its loyal and active user base to use to make that vision a reality, including a plan to make carpooling (拼车) cool.
To be sure, traffic jams are troubling people all over the world. Waze has been quietly ahead of the game for some time. In 2013, when Waze was just a small digital-mapping business with limited resources it had something Google Maps and other competitors didn’t: richer GPS guidance thanks to its stream of live traffic reports from users.
These users were the basis of Shabtai’s plan to solve for his GPS device’s “silent” hardware: he grounded the app in software that could be perpetually updated by users, anywhere and anytime.
Waze Carpool is going straight to the heart of traffic jams, trying to get more drivers off the road and into carpools. The app has already connected tens of thousands of rideseekers with drivers willing to ferry them along a shared route, and that trend could be the answer to a traffic-free future.
1.What did Shabtai do when he found his girlfriend’s gift out of date?
A. He improved it. B. He took it apart.
C. He put it away. D. He used it anyway.
2.What sets Waze Mobile apart from traditional navigation apps?
A. It has the most users. B. It can indicate directions.
C. It reports road conditions in real time. D. Most users help edit its words.
3.What does the underlined word “perpetually” in paragraph 6 probably mean?
A. Difficultly. B. Carefully.
C. Greatly. D. Constantly.
4.What is mainly talked about in the text?
A. The rise of carpooling. B. An advanced navigation app.
C. The development of Google. D. Traffic problems in the world.
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Success seems to find Maya Moore everywhere she goes. But life hasn’t been a bed of roses for Maya and her biggest supporter, her mother. 1.
Maya discovered her love of basketball in 1997 at the age of 8. That was the year the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) began holding games. The young girl watched WNBA star Cynthia Cooper play in Olympics. 2.
Three years later her mother, Kathryn, was offered a better job in North Carolina. Kathryn decided to make the move from Missouri because North Carolina provided greater basketball opportunities. Sadly, in under two months the company downsized, and Kathryn lost her job. She remembers, “3.” Maya says the difficulties brought them closer, and she praises her mom. “She’s more than a teammate. I know she’s going to be on my side.”
About a year later, mother and daughter moved to Georgia, where Maya continued to play basketball. In high school she had the opportunity to play basketball against some of the nation’s best players. 4. Maya led her team to 125 victories and three state championships. During this time, she was named the national player of the year twice.
5. Maya and her mother approached the college decision like they did everything. With careful consideration, Maya chose the University of Connecticut.
A. It was a bad time.
B. It really a competitive skill.
C. The competition improved her skills.
D. You can’t succeed without too much payment.
E. The path to success required a lot of hard work.
F. Maya dreamed to compete in the Olympics one day.
G. Universities compared to invite her to join their teams.
