Teens and younger children are reading a lot less for fun, according to a Common Sense Media report published Monday.
While the decline over the past decade is steep for teen readers, some data in the report shows that reading remains a big part of many children’s lives, and indicates how parents might help encourage more reading.
According to the report’s key findings, “the proportion (比例) who say they ‘hardly ever’ read for fun has gone from 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds in 1984 to 22 percent and 27 percent respectively today.”
The report data shows that pleasure reading levels for younger children, ages 2—8, remain largely the same. But the amount of time spent in reading each session has declined, from closer to an hour or more to closer to a half hour per session.
When it comes to technology and reading, the report does little to counsel(建议) parents looking for data about the effect of e-readers and tablets on reading. It does point out that many parents still limit electronic reading, mainly due to concerns about increased screen time.
The most hopeful data shared in the report shows clear evidence of parents serving as examples and important guides for their kids when it comes to reading. Data shows that kids and teens who do read frequently, compared to infrequent readers, have more books in the home, more books purchased for them, parents who read more often, and parents who set aside time for them to read.
As the end of school approaches, and school vacation reading lists loom(逼近) ahead, parents might take this chance to step in and make their own summer reading list and plan a family trip to the library or bookstore.
1．What is the Common Sense Media report probably about?| A．Children’s reading habits. |
| B．Quality of children’s books. |
| C．Children’s after-class activities. |
| D．Parent-child relationships. |
| A．In paragraph 2. | B．In paragraph 3. |
| C．In paragraph 4. | D．In paragraph 5. |
| A．E-books are of poor quality. |
| B．It could be a waste of time. |
| C．It may harm children’s health. |
| D．E-readers are expensive. |
| A．Act as role models for them. |
| B．Ask them to write book reports. |
| C．Set up reading groups for them. |
| D．Talk with their reading class teachers. |
Imagine a team of humans and robots working together to process online orders. Real-life workers strategically positioned among their automated coworkers who are moving intelligently back and forth in a warehouse (仓库)space, picking items for shipping to the customer.
This could become a reality sooner or later thanks to researchers at the University of Missouri, who are working to speed up the online delivery process by developing a software model designed to make transport robots smarter.
“The robotic technology already exists,” said Sharan Srinivas, who specializes in data analytics and operations research. “Our goal is to best apply this technology through efficient planning. To do this, we’re asking questions like ‘given a list of items to pick, how do you optimize (优化)the route plan for the human pickers and robots?’ or ‘how many items should a robot pick in a given tour?’ Likewise, we have a similar set of questions for the human worker. The most challenging part is optimizing the collaboration plan between the human pickers and robots.”:
Currently, a lot of human effort and labor costs are involved with fulfilling online orders. To help optimize this process, robotic companies have already developed cooperative robots, also known as cobots or autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), to work in a warehouse or distribution center. AMRs are equipped with sensors and cameras to help them navigate(确定方向)around a controlled space like a warehouse.
Srinivas said, “The robot is intelligent, so if it’s instructed to go to a particular location, it can navigate the warehouse and not hit any workers or other obstacles along the way. AMRs are not designed to replace human workers, but instead can work cooperatively alongside them to help increase the efficiency of the order fulfillment process.”
“The one drawback is that these robots do not have good grasping abilities,” said Srinivas. “But humans are good at grasping items, so we are trying to balance the strength of both resources.”
1．What does the underlined word “collaboration” in paragraph 3 mean?| A．Technology. | B．Similarity. | C．Exploration. | D．Cooperation. |
| A．To look cool. | B．To sense warnings. |
| C．To direct AMRs’ way. | D．To find human workers. |
| A．Jumping. | B．Climbing. | C．Walking. | D．Holding. |
| A．The Simple Use of Robots |
| B．Warehouse Workers and Robots |
| C．Making Transport Robots Smarter |
| D．Transport Robots Invented by Sharan |
The Birthday Cake
Josie was a girl who loved to bake. She always helped her uncle at his bakery. Mostly she carried ingredients from the refrigerator to the large work table. Sometimes Uncle Dave let Josie stir (搅拌) the cake batter (面糊) with a wooden spoon.
Josie wanted to learn to bake a cake on her own. She asked if Uncle Dave would show her how Her mother’s birthday was only two days away. If Josie made a cake all by herself, it would be a wonderful surprise.
On Saturday morning, Josie arrived at the bakery just as it was closing. The bakery always closed early on the weekend so Uncle Dave could walk his dogs. “Ready, Josie?” Uncle Dave asked “Ready!” Josie answered.
First, Uncle Dave had Josie get all the ingredients (原料) and line them up on the work table. Then he showed her how to measure flour and sugar so that she had the exact right amount. She added these ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Next, Uncle Dave tapped an egg on the side of the bowl to crack it. “Be careful not to get any bits of shell in the bowl,” he said.
Josie tapped her egg very gently on the bowl. It didn’t crack. She tried again, and this time the shell came apart. She pulled the egg apart over the bowl and watched the yellow egg yolk drop into the flour.
Now it was time to stir. “This is fun!” said Josie.
When the batter was ready, Uncle Dave helped Josie pour it into the cake pan. He gave Josie oven mitts (烤箱手套) and showed her how to put the pan in the oven without burning her hands.
While the cake baked, Josie and Uncle Dave wiped off the table and washed all the dishes.
On her mother’s birthday, Josie put the cake before her mom secretly.
One day a man was asked to paint a boat by the owner of the boat. He brought with him paint and brushes and began to paint the boat bright red, as the owner asked him. While painting, he
The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter and offered him a nice check (支票), much
“But this is not for the paint
“But it was such a(n)
“ My dear friend, you do not
“Then, I
So, no matter who, when or how, just
| A．told | B．reminded | C．found | D．held |
| A．repair | B．wipe | C．hide | D．measure |
| A．benefit | B．bag | C．key | D．money |
| A．higher | B．less | C．quicker | D．wealthier |
| A．delighted | B．excited | C．moved | D．surprised |
| A．award | B．kindness | C．job | D．skill |
| A．cheap | B．small | C．valuable | D．important |
| A．lending | B．selling | C．borrowing | D．paying |
| A．excuse | B．cry | C．agree | D．understand |
| A．decided | B．hated | C．forgot | D．remembered |
| A．went through | B．went on | C．dreamed of | D．turned to |
| A．hole | B．sign | C．rule | D．danger |
| A．pulled | B．booked | C．examined | D．destroyed |
| A．saved | B．taught | C．instructed | D．educated |
| A．exactly | B．carefully | C．actually | D．finally |
After I made it to the city center, I started to feel it might be easy for a foreigner to deal with the great size of Beijing. With growing confidence, I decided to take the subway to the hotel, not realizing that the network didn’t go that far. Impressed with the cleanliness of the station, I bought a ticket and boarded the first subway that came along.
After a few minutes I asked in English a young man seated next to me where I should get off closest to the Friendship Hotel. Wearing a smart business suit and tie, he would surely speak English, wouldn’t he? Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand me but seemed very friendly. I showed him the room card with all the information of the Friendship Hotel in Chinese characters （汉字）. He looked at it, and then his eyes moved quickly to the carriage （车厢） subway map. Next, he raised three fingers of his right hand.
In Australia, raising fingers at someone is not usually nice, but this man wasn’t smiling. At the next station he showed me two fingers. Now in Australia, that’s really rude, but I got the message. When we stopped at the third station, he didn’t just point to the door, but got up, took me out of the train, and led me to the top of the stairs, and out onto the street. Then he stopped a taxi and told the driver where to take me.
All this came from a man who couldn’t speak my language, and I couldn’t speak his. I was now speechless, especially when he refused my offer of money. I felt a little embarrassed having even thought he would accept a tip.
This experience made it clear I had to learn some Chinese quickly or my adventures might start turning into misadventures.
1．The author decided to take the subway because ______.| A．he believed in his ability to deal with the trip |
| B．the network covered most of the stops |
| C．he lived near the city center |
| D．he had a good impression of its cleanliness |
| A．still remained puzzled |
| B．understood the author well |
| C．answered the author directly |
| D．pointed at the subway map |
| A．Helpful. | B．Rude. |
| C．Warm-hearted. | D．Caring. |
| A．prove the importance of being careful |
| B．introduce a young man who didn’t know English |
| C．complain some cultural misunderstanding |
| D．describe one of his adventurous experiences |
Doctors have long advised patients to do physical activity to help keep their brains healthy. New research suggests that even a simple exercise program might help older people with light memory problems.
Researchers found around 300 inactive older adults with memory changes called mild cognitive impairment(MCI) (轻度认知障碍). Half of the older adults did aerobic (有氧) exercises, and the rest did light exercise that raised their heart rates a little.
“After a year, testing of cognitive skills showed neither group had worsened.” said lead researcher Laura Baker of Wake Forest School of Medicine in the state of North Carolina. “Brain examinations did not show the shrinkage (收缩) that often goes with worsening memory problems.”
By comparison, similar MCI patients in another long-term study of brain health—but without exercise—experienced cognitive reduction over a year.
The results suggest “this is doable for everybody—not just seniors healthy enough to work up a hard sweat,” said Baker at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. “Exercise needs to be part of the prevention strategies for at-risk seniors.”
The new study is especially interesting because the COVID-19 pandemic (疫情) began halfway through the study. That meant the study members became separated from others. Less social contact has long been known to increase people’s risk of memory problems. “For me, to show that we have a positive message even during a pandemic means that it could be a believable finding in the situation of other challenging life events,” Baker said.
1．What does the new research find?| A．Light exercise protects the brain of MCI older people. |
| B．Doctors have long given wrong advice on brain health. |
| C．Light memory problems can be solved after a programme. |
| D．People’s memory problem comes from poor exercise habits. |
| A．Why the adults were chosen. | B．Who took part in the research. |
| C．How the study was carried out. | D．What the research was based on. |
| A．The pandemic stopped the research halfway. |
| B．The influence of the pandemic was rather bad. |
| C．The study members were interested in the pandemic. |
| D．The pandemic proved the finding is more dependable. |
Recently my wife and I were flying across the country and were about to board our plane when a woman sitting across from us at the gate had a medical
The woman, Jackie,
In one hand I held her and with my other hand I
I stood up
Fortunately, Jackie just needed someone to listen to her and
| A．exam | B．card | C．report | D．condition |
| A．track | B．sight | C．control | D．memory |
| A．changed | B．introduced | C．considered | D．pretended |
| A．ordered | B．needed | C．arranged | D．prepared |
| A．pointed | B．showed | C．believed | D．explained |
| A．felt | B．checked | C．covered | D．supported |
| A．yes | B．much | C．hello | D．sorry |
| A．lift | B．buy | C．mark | D．request |
| A．safely | B．quickly | C．actively | D．secretly |
| A．for | B．against | C．before | D．after |
| A．liked | B．tried | C．agreed | D．remembered |
| A．fine | B．ready | C．outgoing | D．friendly |
| A．pay | B．beg | C．fight | D．look |
| A．doctors | B．helpers | C．strangers | D．managers |
| A．opinions | B．battles | C．decisions | D．mistakes |
“Why are we bringing groceries for Mrs. Killinger?” Bobby asked his mother, Anna, as they walked back from the supermarket with a few extra bags for their elderly neighbor. He enjoyed helping his mother with these tasks, but they had never bought anything for any neighbor before.
“Honey, Mrs. Killinger is now having trouble walking around, so I offered to bring some things from the market,” Anna explained as they climbed up the wooden steps to Mrs. Killinger’s house and rang the doorbell.
“Ok, but she could get a wheelchair and move around,” the boy commented as if it was the most straightforward solution in the world.
“You know, Bobby. Mrs. Killinger doesn’t have the money to buy one right now.
They can get expensive.” Anna explained, and Bobby pursed his lips in thought.
Mrs.Killinger answered the door, smiled, and invited them for some coffee and cookies. Bobby noticed how slowly she moved, and an idea formed in his mind. He told the older woman and his mother all about it, and they grinned at him indulgently (宽容地笑).Neither of them thought Bobby would do it.
That’s why Anna was surprised the following day when Bobby had made several ads. “Mom, can you add your phone number here, so people can call me with work?”
“Oh, honey. This is very sweet. But I don’t know if it’ll be enough to raise the money she needs to buy a wheelchair,” Anna explained. She loved that her son had such a big heart, but he didn’t want him to be heartbroken if no one called or he couldn’t raise the money.
“Well，at least，I can say that I tried to help，” Bobby chirped (欢快地说)with his bright smile and eager eyes. Anna nodded and added her phone number to the ads. In his ad, Bobby offered his “services” which included helping with shopping, mowing lawns, keeping company, and walking dogs. He also left the price of his services, which made Anna smile. He honestly just wanted to help.
Anna helped him put up the ads around the neighborhood.
Two weeks later, Bobby still hadn’t raise the amount of money he wanted.
Consider these facts: The tennis champion Williams sisters are a generation apart, according to the Pew Research Center. Venus, born in 1980, is labelled “Gen X”; Serena, born in 1981, is a “millennial”. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Michelle Obama both belong to the same generation. The former was born in 1946 while the latter was born in 1964, making them both “baby boomers”.
Before you push these diverse personalities into generational stereotypes (刻板印象), let me stop you there: Just don’t. Generation labels, although widely adopted by the public, have no basis in social reality. In fact, in one recent survey, most people did not identify the correct generation for themselves, even when they were shown a list of options.
This is not surprising since the labels are forced by survey researchers, journalists or marketing firms before the identities they are supposed to describe even exist. Instead of asking people which group they identify with and why, they just declare the labels and start making pronouncements about them. That’s not how social identity works.
The practice of naming “generations” based on birth year goes back at least to the supposed “lost-generation” of the late 19th century. But as the tradition slid into a never-ending competition to be the first to propose the next name that sticks, it has produced gradually declining returns to social science and the public understanding.
The supposed boundaries between generations are no more meaningful than the names they’ve been given. There is no research identifying the appropriate boundaries between generations, and there is no statistical basis for requiring the sweeping character traits (特征) that are believed to define them. In one article you might read that millennials are “liberal lions”, “downwardly mobile”, and “distrustful”; even though they also “get along well with their parents, respect their elders and work well with colleagues”.
Ridiculous, clearly. But what’s the harm? Aren’t these labels just a bit of fun for writers? A method to attract readers and a way of communicating generational change, which no one would deny is a real phenomenon? We, in academic social science, study and teach social change, but we don’t study and teach these labels because they simply aren’t real. And in social science, reality still matters.
Worse than irrelevant, such baseless labels drive people toward stereotyping and thoughtless character judgment. Measuring and describing social change is essential, and it can be useful to analyze the historical period in which people were born and raised, but drawing random lines between birth years and assigning names to them doesn’t help.
Today there are lots of good alternatives to label generations. We can simply describe people by the decade in which they were born and define generational groups specifically related to a particular issue—such as 2020 school kids. With the arrival of “Generation Z”, there has never been a better time to get off this train.
1．What do the facts listed in Paragraph 1 imply?| A．Different people have different opinions about generation labels. |
| B．People with the same generation label may not be of similar age. |
| C．Generational change can be measured by generation labels. |
| D．Generation labels are widely adopted by celebrities. |
| A．is understood | B．is analyzed | C．is described | D．is accepted |
| A．the generation label is a harmless device writers use to reflect reality |
| B．generation boundaries are more meaningful than generation labels |
| C．assigning character traits to a certain generation is misguided |
| D．journalists should find alternative ways to judge character |
| A．Generation labels: It’s high time to retire them |
| B．Generation labels: The ongoing debate will never end |
| C．Generation labels: What do they say about who we are? |
| D．Generation labels: Expand or bridge generational differences? |
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow(乌鸦) perched on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this?” The son replied, “It is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son the second time, “What is this?” The son said, “Father, I have just now told you ‘It's a crow’”
After a little while, the old father asked his son the third time, “What's this?”
At this time some expression of irritation(恼怒) was felt in the son's tone when he said to his father, “It's a crow, a crow.” A little while later, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “What is this?”
This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’? Are you not able to understand this?”
A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old torn diary, which he had kept since his son was born.
On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page.
When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary：
“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated but I had a deep affection for my innocent child.”
After reading the diary, …
Feeling ashamed, the son got down on his knees before his father.
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