How many of you have unfriended(拉黑) someone on Facebook because they said something bad about politics, childcare or food? And how many of you ever hide from someone just because you don’t want to talk to them?

In order to have a polite conversation, we used to follow the advice — make our conversation go around the weather and your health. But these days, with climate change and vaccine (疫苗) problems, those subjects — are not safe, either. Every conversation may lead to a fight.

Pew Research did a study of 10,000 American adults, and they found at this moment, we are less likely(可能) to listen to each other. Depending on what we already believe, we make decisions about where to live, who to marry and even who our friends are going to be. A conversation needs a balance(平衡) between talking and listening, and somewhere along the way, we lost that balance.

Now, part of that is because of technology, such as the smartphones. They are either in your hands or close enough for you to get quickly. According to the Pew Research, about one third American teenagers send more than a hundred texts(信息) a day. And many of them, almost most of them, are more likely to text their friends than they are to talk to them face to face.

There’s a great piece in The Atlantic. It was written by a high school teacher named Paul Barnwell. He gave a communication project to teach students how to speak on a special topic. But he failed to make it and said: “I realize kids spend hours each day connecting with ideas and each other through screens, but they hardly discover their communication skills. It might sound like a funny question, but we have to ask ourselves. Are there any 21st-century skills more important than being able to make a real conversation?

1.It used to be safe to talk about________in a polite conversation.

A.health B.childcare C.food

2.What can we learn from the study of Pew Research?

A.People make their own decisions by listening to others.

B.We probably like talking with friends face to face better.

C.There isn’t a balance between talking and listening now.

3.About 30% American teenagers send ________ texts a day.

A.more than 1000 B.about 500 C.Over 100

4.The last paragraph mainly talks about ________.

A.some communication skills

B.a project by Paul Barnwell

C.a magazine called The Atlantic

5.What is the best title of the passage?

A.Why not have a conversation now?

B.How can we speak politely?

C.What can we do with smart phones?

Tina woke up at midnight .She looked out of her window and saw a yellow light in the sky. It suddenly flew towards the ground. She heard a noise and saw a red light.

The next morning, Tina told it to her brother Tom. "I'm sure something landed in the forest near the mountains as I heard a loud noise last night," she said. "Let's find out after school."

At 6 p.m. Tina and his brother reached the forest. They heard some voices speaking a strange language, so they hid behind some little trees and kept quiet then they saw an alien(外星人) It was tall, with a round head and a shining grey-white colored body. It was standing next to a long spaceship. There was something wrong with the spaceship.

The children were scared .Suddenly, another alien appeared from the little trees in front of them. It found them and made terrible noise!

The next morning Tina and Tom told their parents about what they saw yesterday. "They were very ugly. They had some hair, but they didn't have any feathers (羽毛)," said Tina.

“There was something written on the spaceship,” said Tom. “It looked like this .I wonder what it means.” He drew something on a piece of paper.

But dad said, "Since no one else saw these aliens, I refuse to believe you .Now go to school!”

The children opened their wings ( 翅膀) and flew to school together.

Dad looked at the piece of paper with the strange word on it. “It looks strange.” he said, as he looked at the word “EARTH”.

1.According to the passage, ______first found that the aliens landed in the forest.

A.Tom B.Tina's friend C.Tina D.Tina's father

2.Which of the following statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A.The children were afraid when they saw the aliens.

B.The aliens came from the earth.

C.Tina, Tom and their parents lived on the earth.

D.The children had wings and they could fly.

3.What does the underlined word they in Paragraph 5 refer to (指的是)?

A.Aliens. B.Tina and his brother. C.Tina's parents. D.The children.

4.What's the best title for this passage?

A.Don't Lie to Your Parents B.A Happy Family and Aliens

C.Aliens Fought Humans D.Aliens Arrived

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网