There's been a warning about the imminent death of literate civilization for a long time. In the 20th century, first it was the movies, then radio, then television that seemed to spell doom for the written world. None did. Reading survived; in fact it not only survived, it has flourished. The world is more literate than ever before—there are more and more readers, and more and more books.
The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should worry over. The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown the way forward for reading and for writing. Take the arrival of e-book readers as an example. Devices like Kindle make reading more convenient and are a lot more environmentally friendly than the traditional paper book.
As technology makes new ways of writing possible, new ways of reading are possible. Interconnectivity allows for the possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable before. Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations, and e-book can provide readers with an unlimited number of links: to texts, pictures, and videos. In the future, the way people write novels, history, and philosophy will resemble nothing seen in the past.
On the other hand, there is the danger of civilization. One twitter group is offering its followers single-sentence-long "digests" of the great novels. War and Peace in a sentence? You must be joking. We should fear the fragmentation of reading. There is the danger that the high-speed connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span—that we will be incapable of reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration.
In such a fast-changing world, in which reality seems to be remade each day, we need the ability to focus and understand what is happening to us. This has always been the function of literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear. Our society needs to be able to make sense of a dynamic, confusing world.
In the 15th century, Johannes Guttenberg's invention of the printing press in Europe had a huge impact on civilization. Once upon a time the physical book was a challenging thing. We should remember this before we assume that technology is out to destroy traditional culture.
Which of the following paragraphs briefly reviews the historical challenges for reading?
A.Paragraph One.
B.Paragraph Two.
C.Paragraph Three.
D.Paragraph Four.
A.I understand culture as a treasure that is part of our collective memory, of our perception of ourselves.
B.The more we know about the cultures of others, the more open-minded, tolerant and global we become.
C.Our cultural traits, values and beliefs are different and diverse. However, it is the respect and understanding we foster that makes us truly human.
D.Culture is only visible in the ways of people’s life
填词补文
Life is Difficult
What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is a painful one. Problems cause (1) , anger, fear or despair. These are (2) feelings, often as painful as any kind of physical pain. And since life (3) an endless series of problems, it is (4) difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.
Yet it is in this process of (5) and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems call forth our (6) and our wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow (7) and spiritually. When we want to encourage the (8) of the human spirit, we encourage the human capacity to solve problems, just as in school we deliberately (9) problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of confronting and resolving that we learn. It is for this reason that (10) people learn not to fear but actually to welcome problems and actually to welcome the pain of problems.
A. meeting
B. courage
C. careful
D. growth
E. wiseI. poses
F. takesJ. always
G. sadness
H. setL. mentally
K. uncomfortable
When I talk about money this way to a group, there is always someone who comes up to me and says, " Suze, you are so wrong. Money isn't the key to life—this is!" At which point their wallet flies open and they show me a photo of their family.
That's when things get interesting, because I start asking them questions: Did you take that photo with your own camera? It looks like a beautiful beach, was the photo taken on a family vacation? Do you hope to help those beautiful boys and girls go to college?
As their answers are "yes" , I ask them how they provide all of that for their family. That's when they understand that I had it right.
I totally agree that family and friends are of great importance to our well being; without meaningful relationships, there's no chance of ever being truly happy. That's why, every Saturday night, I end my CNBC show with the following words:" People first. Then money. Then things. "
How we deal with the money we have also plays into our happiness. Over the past few decades (十年), the percentage of Americans who say they're happy hasn't changed much, while at the same time the average income has doubled. So we have more money, but we're not much happier on average.
A paradox(悖论) ? Far from it. My sense is that while we're making more money, we aren't making more of the money we make. We have to pay for a lot of things, and we have to worry a-bout saving for retirement (退休) in a way that our parents and grandparents never did. And as man-y of you know, it's really hard to increase your happiness when you've got a lot of money worries.
Do you agree, or am I way off base? I'd love to know what do you think about the money/ happiness connection.
Why do people often show the author their family photos?
A.They hope to show money is very important.
B.They want to prove they can afford a holiday.
C.They think a good family makes them truly happy.
D.They believe a happy person considers people first.
A.They hope to show money is very important.
B.They want to prove they can afford a holiday.
C.They think a good family makes them truly happy.
D.They believe a happy person considers people first.
B
I find it annoying and funny when I think about how we use protective or decorative wrappings ' (装饰性包装)in this country.
When I come home from the supermarket and start to unpack, I am always shocked at the lay-ers of wrappings we cover our food with.
There is hardly anything we buy that doesn ' t come in at least two wrappings, and then several of them are gathered by the shop assistant and put into a small bag. Then several of the small bags are grouped together and put into a big bag. If you have several big bags with small bags in them, they give you a cardboard box to put the packages-in-the-little-bags-in-the-big-bags in.
A lot of things we buy wouldn ' t really need any protective wrapping at all. The skin of an or-ange protects an orange pretty well for most of its natural life , but we aren ' t satisfied with what na-ture has given it. We wrap them in plastic or put them in a net bag, and then in a paper bag. The orange inside the skin, inside the plastic which is in the paper bag, must wonder where it is.
A box of biscuits often has waxed paper(蜡纸) next to the biscuits, a cardboard box holding the food and then a decorative wrapping around it.
A relative of ours bought a new sofa recently because she liked the fine leather (皮革)it was covered with. She liked it so much she didn ' t want it to get dirty, so she bought a cloth cover to put over it.
We may never again see the leather she' s protecting.
60. According to the author, the use of protective wrappings_______- .
[A] can be wasteful and unnecessary
[B] makes everything look funny
[C]gives people more work to do
[D] is a practice against natural life
排队的英文
随着社会的发展,网上购物已经成为一种新型的购物方式。某英文报以“shopping on line”为话题进行征文。请你根据下表提示,谈谈网上购物的利与弊并发表你自己的看法。 要求:1.语句流畅,书写规范。 2.包含提示内容,并可适当发挥。 3.词数不少于80个词,开头已给出,不计入总词数。
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随着社会的发展,网上购物已经成为一种新型的购物方式。某英文报以“shopping on line”为话题进行征文。请你根据下表提示,谈谈网上购物的利与弊并发表你自己的看法。 要求:1.语句流畅,书写规范。 2.包含提示内容,并可适当发挥。 3.词数不少于80个词,开头已给出,不计入总词数。
____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ |
A Speech: Better Life for All
In today's society, working people can seldom find time to relax in their busy schedules. They often work overtime because of too much work waiting in a queue, which ends up causing a lot of physical and mental problems. Fortunately, more and more people are now aware that relaxation and stress -relief are necessary for life. One's health should never be sacrificed for a need to work hard. Indeed, finding time to relax makes people work more efficiently.
Many people plan trips to spend their free time traveling with their loved ones. This may have been a luxury in the past, but it has become more common in recent years, Traveling at home and abroad has now become convenient and affordable.
Going jogging and going to the gym after work have also become more popular, as they are rather convenient ways to exercise and stay fit. Exercising helps relax your body and has been shown to relieve mental stress as well. This demand for recreation and leisure service has also stimulated the economy, as new businesses are created to meet these needs.
In sum, working hard is important, but having a good quality of life can actually facilitate your success at work. Knowing when and how to relax should be a part of well-balanced lifestyle. Take a walk outdoors, visit the gym, or go jogging You will find that your time was not wasted, even if it was not spent working in your office.
() 21.In today's society, working people can often find time to relax in their busy schedules.
() 22.In the past few people might afford traveling.
() 23.The demand for recreation and leisure service has made the economy develop.
() 24.Exercising can only help relax your body instead of staying fit.
() 25.People should take a balance between work and relaxation.