MANY of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold
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MANY of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold it at a high angle (角度), making your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more marked out. You turn to your best side and click.
There it is – your selfie.
Over the past year, “selfie” has become a well-known term across the globe. This August the Oxford dictionary added the word to their online dictionary and defined it as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”
Today it’s not difficult to find social networking pages full of photos people have taken of themselves and their friends. And selfie culture has become especially related to young people. As many as 91 percent of teenagers have posted photos of themselves online, according to a recent survey by the US Pew Research Center.
So what are the reasons for the rise of selfie culture?
“The cult (狂热) of the selfie celebrates regular people,” Pamela Rutledge, a professor at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, told Vogue magazine. “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”
Posting selfies also allows you to control your image online. “I like having the power to choose how I look, even if I’m making a funny face,” Samantha Barks, 19, a high school student in the US, told Vogue.
In addition to self-expression and documentation (记录), selfies “allow for an close friendship for long-distance friends, because you can see each other’s faces every day”, wrote Casey Miller at The Huffington Post.
But US psychologist Jill Weber is concerned that selfies might lead to social problems. “There’s a danger that your self-esteem (自尊心) may start to be tied to the comments and ‘likes’ you get when you post a selfie, and they aren’t based on who you are – they’re based on what you look like,” Weber told Vogue. “When you get nothing or a negative response, your confidence can plummet.”
小题1:The first paragraph is intended to _________.| A．explain why selfie is popular | B．describe how to make selfie | | C．show the importance of selfie | D．introduce the topic of selfie |
小题2:How many reasons for the rise of selfie culture are mentioned in the passage?小题3:What is Jill Weber’s opinion about selfies?| A．Comments on selfie are based on who you are. | | B．Selfies have more disadvantages than advantages. | | C．Others’ response to selfies might affect one’s self-esteem. | | D．Selfies shouldn’t be encouraged for they lead to social problems. |
小题4:The underlined word “plummet” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to __________.| A．go down | B．calm down | C．pick up | D．build up |
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答案
小题1:D
小题2:B
小题3:C
小题4:A |
解析
试题分析：文章主要讲述的是“自拍”这个话题，很贴近日常生活。自拍已经成为一种全球性的流行语，自拍照流传于各种社交网站。自拍的狂热主要有三方面的原因。在肯定自拍的同时，也有人担心自拍照会影响到个人的自尊心。
小题1:把相机放到一个较高的角度，使眼睛看起来更大一些，颧骨更突出一点。第一段描述了自拍的过程，起到引入“自拍”这个话题的作用。第二段总结说，“这就是自拍”。
故选D。
小题2:根据倒数第二段“In addition to self-expression and documentation (记录), selfies “allow for an close friendship for long-distance friends”可知，自拍的流行，有三方面的原因。故选B。
小题3:根据最后一段“There’s a danger that your self-esteem (自尊心) may start to be tied to the comments and ‘likes’ you get when you post a selfie”可知，Jill Weber认为，他人对自拍照的回应和喜好会影响到照片本人的自尊心。故选C。
小题4:根据“When you get nothing or a negative response”可知，当无人关注或得到他人消极的评价时，你的自信心可能会下降。故选A。 |
举一反三
Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity (名人) chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, according to a report from Oxford University.
The effect of the celebrity role models, who have given cooking a more manly picture, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality and men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they did in 1961.
According to the research by Prof. Jonatahn Gershuny, who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.
Prof. Gershuny said, “The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of sexual equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come.”
Women, who a generation ago spent nearly two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes—a great fall, but they still spend far more time in the kitchen than men.
Some experts have named these men in aprons as “Gastrosexuals (men using cooking skills to impress friends)”, who have been inspired to pick up a kitchen knife by the success of Ramsay, Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.
“I was married in 1974. When my father came to visit me a few weeks later, I was wearing an apron when I opened the door. He laughed,” said Prof. Gershuny. “That would never happen now.”
Two-thirds of adults say that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table. Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around a table—with many “family meals” in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by family members. “The family meal has changed a lot, and few of us eat—as I did when I was a child—at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format.”
小题1:What is one reason behind the trend that men spend more time cooking than before?| A．The improvement of cooks’ status. | | B．The influence of popular female chefs. | | C．The change of female’s view on cooking. | | D．The development of sexual equality campaign. |
小题2:What does the author think about the time men and women spend on cooking?| A．Men spend more time cooking than women nowadays. | | B．Women spend much less time on cooking than before. | | C．It will take 40 years before men spend more time at the stove than women. | | D．There is a sharp decline in the time men spend on cooking compared with 1961. |
小题3:How did Prof. Gershuny see the family meal according to the passage?| A．It has become a thing of the past. | | B．It is very different from what it used to be. | | C．It shouldn’t be advocated in modern times. | | D．It is beneficial to the stability of the family. |
小题4:Which is the best title for the passage?| A．The Changes of Family Meals | | B．Equality between Men and Women | | C．Cooking into a New Trend for Men | | D．Cooking—a Thing of the Past for Women |
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I prefer Lynne Truss’s phraseology: I am a grammar “sticker”. And, like Truss – author of Eats, shoots & Leaves – I have a “zero tolerance” approach to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid.
Now, Truss and I disagree on what it means to have “zero tolerance”. She thinks that people who mix up basic grammar “deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked (砍) up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave”, while I just think they deserve to be passed over for a job – even if they are otherwise qualified for the position.
Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a compulsory grammar test. If job hopefuls can’t distinguish between “to” and “too”, their applications go into the bin.
Of course, we write for a living. iFixit.com is the world’s largest online repair manual (指南), and Dozuki helps companies write their own technical documentation, like paperless work instructions and step-by-step user manuals. So, it makes sense that we’ve made a strong strike against grammar errors.
But grammar is relevant for all companies. Yes, language is constantly changing, but that doesn’t make grammar unimportant. Good grammar is credibility, especially on the Internet. And, for better or worse, people judge you if you can’t tell the difference between “their” “there” and “they’re”.
Good grammar makes good business sense – and not just when it comes to hiring writers. Writing isn’t in the official job description of most people in our office. Still, we give our grammar test to everybody, including our salespeople, our operations staff, and our programmers.
Grammar signifies more than just a person’s ability to remember high school English. I’ve found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing – like stocking shelves or labeling parts. It is the same with programmers. Applicants who don’t think writing is important are likely to think lots of other things also aren’t important.
小题1:The author agrees with Lynne Truss in that ________.| A．grammar mistakes can’t be tolerated | | B．books on grammar make people stupid | | C．people need to learn basic grammar | | D．grammar mistakes are absolutely unavoidable |
小题2:What’s the author’s “zero tolerance” approach to these job seekers who mix up basic grammar?| A．They should be left out for a job. | | B．They have to correct their mistakes. | | C．They aren’t qualified for their jobs. | | D．They must be severely punished. |
小题3:Which of the following is TRUE of iFixit and Dozuki?| A．Only one of them has a compulsory grammar test. | | B．They are companies where one learns grammar. | | C．Grammar is quite important for their existence. | | D．They depend on grammar correction for a living. |
小题4:What can we learn from the text? | A．Companies giving grammar tests may have no good business sense. | | B．Grammar becomes unimportant as language is constantly changing. | | C．A “zero tolerance” approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. | | D．People who pay attention to writing may pay attention to other things. |
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Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home, proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective – they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”
小题1:What does the story mainly talk about?| A．The importance of proper table manners . | | B．The development of table manners in Western countries. | | C．Some unwritten rules of table manners in the US and UK. | | D．Differences between American and British table manners. |
小题2: The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means ______.| A．worked in practice | B．became popular | | C．drew attention | D．had a positive effect |
小题3:Which of the following events influenced people’s table manners most according to the article?| A．The introduction of forks. | | B．The tax deduction policy. | | C．The rise of the Renaissance. | | D．Petrus Alfonsi’s efforts in promoting table manners. |
小题4:What can we conclude from the article?| A．British and American table manners are completely different from each other. | | B．American people pay more attention to their table manners than British people do. | | C．With globalization, the American cut-and-switch method has been abandoned in the US. | | D．British people’s way of using a knife and fork may be more efficient than American people’s. |
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An old problem is getting new attention in the United States—bullying．Recent cases included the tragic case of a fifteen-year-old girl whose family moved from Ireland．She hanged herself in Massachusetts in January following months of bullying．Her parents criticized her school for failing to protect her．Officials have brought criminal charges against several teenagers．
Judy Kaczynski is president of an anti-bullying group called Bully Police USA．Her daughter Tina was the victim of severe bullying starting in middle school in the state of Minnesota．She said, "Our daughter was a very outgoing child．She was a bubbly personality, very involved in all kinds of things, had lots of friends．And over a period of time her grades fell completely．She started having health issues．She couldn"t sleep．She wasn"t eating．She had terrible stomach pains．She started clenching her jaw and grinding her teeth at night．She didn"t want to go to school．"
Bullying is defined as negative behavior repeated over time against the same person． It can involve physical violence．Or it can be verbal — for example, insults or threats．Spreading lies about someone or excluding a person from a group is known as social or relational bullying．
And now there is cyberbullying, which uses the Internet, e-mail or text messages．It has easy appeal for the bully because it does not involve face-to-face contact and it can be done at any time．
The first serious research studies into bullying were done in Norway in the late 1970s．The latest government study in the United States was released last year．It found that about one-third of students age twelve to eighteen were bullied at school．
Susan Sweater is a psychologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and co-director of the Bullying Research Network．She says schools should treat bullying as a mental health problem to get bullies and victims the help they need．She says bullying is connected to depression, anxiety and anti-social behavior, and bullies are often victims themselves．
小题1:From the case of Tina, we can know that ．| A．bullying is rare | B．victims suffered a lot | | C．schools are to blame | D．personalities are related |
小题2:Which of the following is NOT bullying?| A．To beat someone repeatedly． | | B．To call someone names． | | C．To isolate someone from friends． | | D．To refuse to help someone in need． |
小题3:Why is cyberbullying appealing to the bully?| A．Because it can involve more people． | | B．Because it can create worse effects． | | C．Because it is more convenient． | | D．Because it can avoid cheating． |
小题4:According to Susan Sweater, ．| A．bullies are anti-social | | B．bullies should give victims help | | C．students are not equally treated | | D．bullies themselves also need help |
小题5:Which of the following can be the best title of the text?| A．Bullying—Old Irish Girl Committed Suicide | | B．15-Year-Old Irish Girl Committed Suicide | | C．Cyberbullying-Taking Off in Schools | | D．How to Find Bullying among Teens |
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Where Are We Going, Dad? has become one of China"s most popular television shows, since its debut (首次登场) in October, averaging more than 600 million viewers each week. Sponsorship rights (冠名权) for the show"s second season were sold for 312 million yuan (about $ 50 million), more than ten times higher than the rights to the first season.
What accounts for its popularity? The show features a new generation of Chinese fathers, who, as part of the country’s new middle class, have faced more problems with modern child-raising techniques such as taking an active role with their children.
Part of the appeal of the show is the chance to throw a glance at the lives of Chinese celebrities (名流) and their children. Audiences are interested in watching the failed attempts of celebrity dads making dinner, doing hair, and disciplining (管教) children -- tasks often left to mothers in a society still influenced by the saying that “men rule outside and women are inside.” “In traditional Chinese culture, fathers are strict and mothers are kind. But on the show, we see fathers who are much gentler on their kids and more involved in their upbringing, ” said Li Minyi, an associate professor. “This show raises an important question for modern Chinese society -- what is the role of fathers in today’s China?”
After each episode (集) goes to air, the Chinese internet explodes with comments on each celebrity"s parenting style.
Actor Guo Tao tries to communicate with his son, Shitou, but is seen as a more traditional Chinese father, and has been criticised online for being too harsh. Zhang Liang, a supermodel, is an audience favorite for treating his son, Tiantian, more like a friend. The show’s most famous celebrity, Lin Zhiying, a film star, was originally praised as patient with his son Kimi. But as the season progresses, fans begin to criticise him for raising a spoiled, undisciplined boy. Director Wang Yuelun is at a complete loss when it comes to care of his daughter’s hair.
Even the People"s Daily is pleased with the success of the show.
小题1:Sponsorship rights for the show’s first season were sold for about______.| A．312 million yuan | B．50 million yuan | | C．31 million yuan | D．600 million yuan |
小题2:According to the passage, the show______.| A．gives audiences the chance to raise the star"s children themselves | | B．invites some famous film stars to take part in it | | C．lets people think about the role of fathers in modern families | | D．raises people"s concern about women"s role in the society |
小题3:The underlined word “harsh" in the fifth paragraph most probably means “______”.| A．careless | B．strict | C．clumsy | D．kind |
小题4:According to the writer, ______is the most successful father.| A．Guo Tao | B．Zhang Liang | C．Lin Zhiying | D．Wang Yuelun |
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