“Selfie” (自拍) joins ranks of dictionary words.
In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s 21st birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on some steps and cut his lip. He took a picture of his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum. “And sorry about the focus,” he wrote, “it was a selfie.” That was the first recorded use of the word “selfie”, according to linguistic experts at Oxford Dictionaries.
On Nov 19, Oxford Dictionaries declared “selfie” Word of the Year for 2013, in honor of the term having taken over the world thanks to millions of smart phone self-portraits and the resulting shares on social media.
So what does the choice of the word say about our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism(自恋).Megan Jackson from a local newspaper points out a selfie may only focus on appearance.
Selfies invite judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the warped way we teach girls to see themselves as decorative,” said Ryan.
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves and taking control of their own self-presentation. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse of girl pride —a shout-out to the self”. Which of the following is true about the first use of “selfie”?
| A．The Australian man created it to celebrate his friend’s 21st birthday. |
| B．The Australian man created by chance when he got drunk and shared his photo online. |
| C．The Oxford Dictionary used it to thank the creation of smart phone. |
| D．The social media were so advanced that they made the word transmitted. |
The underlined word “tripped” in the first paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．traveled | B．stepped lightly |
| C．fell down | D．made mistakes |
Who holds a positive opinion towards selfie in the life of women?
| A．Mary Elizabeth. | B．Megan Jackson. |
| C．Erin Gloria Ryan. | D．Rachel Simmons. |
The text is mainly concerned with ________.
| A．the introduction of the word “selfie” |
| B．the choice of the word “selfie” |
| C．the history of the word “selfie” |
| D．the characteristics of the word “selfie” |
Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore（探索）, enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life.
Visit the Amazon jungle（丛林）village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing…
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we’ll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator（模拟装置）for the Journey to Mars!
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several.
In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see…
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps. For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors .
| A．realize the importance of traveling |
| B．become familiar with mountain countries |
| C．learn how to make things such as fishing nets |
| D．learn something about different places in the world |
If you are interested in knowing about what people’s life will be, you may visit .
| A．the Travel Pavilion | B．the Future Tower |
| C．the Safari Park | D．the Pyramid |
If you want to get a toy lion to take home, where will you most likely go?
| A．The Pyramid. | B．The Nature Park |
| C．The Future Tower. | D．The Travel Pavilion. |
Many animals recognize their food because they see it. So do humans. When you see an apple or a piece of chocolate you know that these are things you can eat. You can also use other senses when you choose your food. You may like it because it smells good or because it tastes good. You may dislike some types of food because they do not look, smell or taste very nice. Different animals use different senses to find and choose their food. A few animals depend on only one of their senses, while most animals use more than one sense.
Although there are many different types of food, some animals spend their lives eating only one type. The giant panda eats only one particular type of bamboo (竹子). Other animals eat only one type of food even when given the choice. A kind of white butterfly (蝴蝶) will stay on the leaves of a cabbage, even though there are plenty of other vegetables in the garden. However, most animals have a more varied diet (多样化饮食). The bear eats fruits and fish. The fox eats small animals, birds and fruits. The diet of these animals will be different depending on the season.
Humans have a very varied diet. We often eat food because we like it and not because it is good for us. In countries such as France and Britain, people eat foods with too much sugar. This makes them overweight, which is bad for their health. Eating too much red meat and animal products, such as butter, can also be bad for the health. Choosing the right food, therefore, has become an area of study in modern life.We can infer from the text that humans and animals .
| A．depend on one sense in choosing food |
| B．are not satisfied with their food |
| C．choose food in similar ways |
| D．eat entirely different food |
Which of the following eats only one type of food?
| A．The white butterfly. | B．The small bird. |
| C．The bear. | D．The fox. |
Certain animals change their choice of food when _________.
| A．the season changes |
| B．the food color changes |
| C．they move to different places |
| D．they are attracted by different smells |
We can learn from the last paragraph that .
| A．food is chosen for a good reason |
| B．French and British food is good |
| C．some people have few choices of food |
| D．some people care little about healthy diet |
The best way to cure sadness is not shopping, according to a recent study. The so-called shopping method has become common practice these days, but that can put your wallet under a lot of pressure. So if you are sad and feel like shopping, don’t!
According to the recent study, sadness leads to self-focus (自我为中心的) thinking. In other words, sad people are willing to spend more money on the same thing than calm people.
"It is the result of sadness and self-focus, and it turns out that sadness leads to an increase in self-focus," said Cynthia Cruder. "What we think is that sad and self-focused people are feeling pretty bad about themselves, and one way to deal with this is buying material goods."
In a perfect situation, when you know you are sad, you should avoid(避免) making decisions and spending money. Sounds simple? Sadly, it is not. Most people don’t even know they’re sad, the study shows, and they are not aware that their feelings influence their decisions.
What to do? The study showed that those who watched a tragedy(悲剧) were more likely to spend three times more money for a simple bottle of water than those who watched a comedy. The solution: well, for starters, don’t go shopping! If you can’t help it, it is probably better to see a doctor.When you can’t help shopping after feeling sad, you’d better _______.
| A．talk to your friends |
| B．go to the store directly |
| C．go to bed and rest |
| D．go to hospital and get checked out by a doctor |
We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．sad and self-focused people are poor |
| B．sad people make important decisions easily |
| C．tragedies may make people buy more expensive goods |
| D．sad people are less confident than calm people |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．The Loss of Money Caused by Sadness |
| B．Shopping is Not the Best Way to Cure Sadness |
| C．A Study About How to Stay in a Good Mood |
| D．How to Make Decisions When You Are Sad |
Kenyon Scudder once told me a story about his friend, Michael. Michael happened to be on a train sitting next to a young man who seemed worried. Finally the young man told the friend that he was a convict (罪犯) returning home from a prison far away. What he did had brought shame (羞耻) on his family, and they had neither visited him nor written to him. He hoped, however, that this was only because they were too poor to travel and too busy to write.
When he was set free he had written to tell them he wanted to go home. To make matters easy for them, however, he had asked them to put up a signal (信号) for him when the train passed their little farm. If the family had forgiven (原谅) him, they were to put up a white ribbon (丝带) in the big apple tree near the railway. If they didn't want him back, they were to do nothing, and he would stay on the train, and go far away.
As the train neared his hometown his suspense became so great that he was afraid to look out of the window. He asked Michael to watch for the big apple tree. They changed seats. In a minute, Michael put his hand on the young convict’s shoulder. "There it is," he said, his eyes filled with sudden tears. "It’s all right. The whole tree is white with ribbons."For which of the following reasons might the young man be worried?
| A．His family might not allow him to go home. |
| B．His family would not remember him. |
| C．His family hadn’t written to him frequently. |
| D．His family hadn’t visited him for a long time. |
According to the passage, the white ribbon in the big apple tree means ________.
| A．pleasure | B．forgiveness |
| C．happiness | D．education |
The word "suspense" underlined in the last paragraph can best be replaced by ________.
| A．pain | B．interest |
| C．worry | D．happiness |
Why did Michael cry at the end of the story?
| A．The young man couldn’t live with his family. |
| B．There were many white ribbons on the apple tree. |
| C．He was moved by the young man. |
| D．The young man was very sad. |
Once an Englishman named Larry Belmont went to Russia for a holiday. After he got back, some of his friends came. “I had a very dangerous trip while I was in Russia,” Larry said. “I went to see a friend in the country when the sun went down, I was still traveling through a forest in a sleigh(雪橇). It was a long way from my friend’s house when about twenty wolves began to follow my sleigh.”
“It was very dark in the forest. There was thick snow on the ground. First I heard the wolves. The noise was terrible! Then I saw long, grey forms among the trees, and soon the wolves were near me. They were running very fast, and they didn’t seem to get tired like the horses.”
“What did you do?” one of Larry’s friends asked.
“When the wolves got very near,” Larry answered, “I put up my gun and shot the first wolf dead. Then all the other wolves stopped and ate it, so my sleigh got away from them for a few minutes. Then they finished their meal, and I heard them coming again. The moon was shining brightly on the snow now, and after a few minutes I saw them running among the trees once more. They came nearer again, and then I shot another one of them, and the others stopped once more to eat it. The same thing happened again, and my horses became more and more tired and ran slower and slower until, after two hours, only one wolf was still alive and following me.”
“Wasn’t it too fat to run?” one of Larry’s friends asked.The purpose of this passage is to_______.
| A．amuse readers |
| B．tell an exciting adventure |
| C．praise Larry Belmont’s bravery |
| D．show the danger of traveling through a forest |
Larry told his friends what happened to him when he was ______.
| A．in Russia one winter morning |
| B．in England one winter evening |
| C．in Russia one winter evening |
| D．in America one winter morning |
According to what Larry said, the last wolf ______.
| A．was the strongest of all |
| B．had eaten up all the other wolves |
| C．ran much faster than the other wolves |
| D．was very fat and couldn’t run fast enough |
From what Larry’s friend asked in the end we know that_______,
| A．Larry’s trip was really dangerous |
| B．the last wolf was too fat to run |
| C．all the wolves had been shot by Larry |
| D．the friend did not believe what Larry had said |
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