It’s 5pm on a Friday and I'm standing in a coffee shop above Shibuya crossing - one of the most busiest place in Japan where more than a thousand of Tokyo’s smartly dressed people gather at eight points, ready to cross - then rush straight for each other. It looks like they must bump into each other, but It’s amazing that they all manage to reach the other side safely.
But the real reason I'm here is that I want to see people crash. I want businessmen to knock into each other, their umbrellas flying off their arms, and uniformed schoolchildren hitting grannies. Why may I see this now, but wouldn't have had the chance even a year ago? It’s very simple - smartphones.
Smartphone use is booming in Japan. In 2012, only about a quarter of Japanese used them, most being perfectly happy with their everyday mobiles. But now more than half of all Japanese now own a smartphone and the number is rising fast. But with that rise has grown another phenomenon - the smartphone walk. Those people who're staring at a phone screen adopt this kind of pace- their head down, arms outreached, looking like zombies(僵尸)trying to find human prey(猎食).
Surprisingly, an American named Michael Cucek who has lived here for more than 20 years told me smartphone walk probably wouldn’t be a long-term problem. Japanese phone manner is in fact better than anywhere else in the world - hardly anyone speaks on their phones on trains, and teenagers wouldn't dare broadcast music out of one. If things got truly bad at Shibuya, the police would just start shouting at people to look up.
But really, is the smartphone walk such an annoying problem? There's only one way to find out. So I leave the coffee shop, head down to the crossing and start typing an email, promising myself I won't look up until I get to the other side. When they start walking past me, it's my time to cross. As I step forward, the experience quickly becomes nervous - legs jump in and out of my vision without warning, while shopping bags fly towards my face before being pulled away at the last moment. I'm sure I'm going to get hit, but after a few seconds I relax. It’s OK. Everyone's reacting for me.
I expect to see two smartphone walkers just like me. But instead I find a young couple, very much in love and very much refusing to let each other’s hands go just to give way to a fool on his smartphone. The girl gives me such a look of dislike that I quickly apologize and rush round them. That look was enough to ensure I'll never be smartphone walking again.From paragraph 1, we can know _____________.
A.people at Shibuya crossing always bump into each other. |
B.more than a thousand of people gather at Shibuya crossing every day. |
C.more than a thousand of people are ready to rush in a competition every day. |
D.more than a thousand of people at Shibuya crossing make it a busy one in Japan. |
Why does the author stand in a coffee shop above Shibuya crossing?
A.Because he is waiting for somebody. |
B.Because he can have a good view from there. |
C.Because he wants to see what would happen because of smartphones. |
D.Because it’s interesting to see businessmen’s umbrellas flying off their arms |
How does Michael Cucek find smartphone walk in Japan?
A.He found it by accident when he lives here. |
B.Japanese pay much attention to their phone manner in public. |
C.The police in Shibuya are too strict with people’s phone manner. |
D.Smartphone walk in Japan has a deep root. |
How does the author confirm whether smartphone walk is annoying or not?
A.By personal experimenting |
B.By comparing with other way of walk |
C.By giving example. |
D.By explaining the traffic rules patiently |
After smartphone walking himself, the author thinks___________.
A.it’s exciting to walk while sending emails |
B.it’s really dangerous to walk while sending emails |
C.there are some others smartphone walking like him |
D.other passers-by give way to him although they dislike. |
Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public.Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before.He hopes the public will listen and understand he wants to teach them, and he wants them to learn from him.
What visual(视觉的)artists like painters want to teach is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because painters translate their experiences into shapes and colours, not words.They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colours, out of the countless billions possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us.Without their work we should never have noticed these particular shapes and colours, or have felt the delight which they brought to the artist.
Most artists take their shapes and colours from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and repose(动态和静态), their choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights.Contemporary(当代的)artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern that there is nothing more in it.Yet even they do choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.If one painter chooses to paint a gangrenous(坏疽性的)leg and another a lake in moonlight, each of them is directing our attention to a certain aspect of the world.Each painter is telling us something, showing us something, emphasizing something all of which means that, consciously or unconsciously, he is trying to teach us.
1.It is hard to explain what a painter is saying, because.
A.most painters do not express themselves well
B.a painter uses unusual words and phrases
C.a painter uses shapes and colours instead of words
D.many painters do not say anything
2.A painter chooses certain shapes and colours because he feels that they.
A.have been used frequently in the past B.are easy to work with
C.are worth showing to the public D.will be most attractive to the public
3.The writer says that contemporary artists might say their choice of subject.
A.carries a message to the public B.only provides interesting patterns
C.has no pattern or form D.teaches the public important truths
4.Compared with a painter of unpleasant subjects, a painter who draws a lake in moonlight is.
A.having more meaningsB.pointing out different things
C.more skilled D.giving less information
5.Implied(暗示)but not stated:.
A.A painting is more easily understood than a symphony(交响乐)
B.Art is merely the arranging of shapes and colors
C.Every artist tries to say something to the public
D.One must look beyond shape and colour to find what the artist is saying
第三部分阅读(共两节,满分40分)
阅读理解(共15小题,每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出
最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Two American scientists told the people in industrial nations(工业国) that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of foods eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since human first appeared on earth, but the way we live has changed greatly.Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses.These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times.So they are called “diseases of civilization (文明)”.Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks (心脏病)and strokes(中风)are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that early stone-age people used very little alcohol(酒精) or tobacco, probably none.Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and life today.
Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than farm animals.They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables, and fruits.They did not use milk and other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains.But today, we eat a large amount of dairy products and grain foods.We eat six times more salt than stone-age people.We eat more sugar.We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein(蛋白质)and much less vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live as people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate as those ancient people did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods.
1.The people in industrial nations would be much healthier if they ate.
A.more foods as humans living 10,000 years ago did
B.as humans living 10,000 years ago
C.more kinds of food eaten by people living over 10,000 years ago
D.more of the same kinds of foods eaten by people over 10,000 years ago.
2.New kinds of sicknesses have been found because.
A.the human body has changed compared with human first appeared on earth
B.the way we live has changed a little
C.our body can’t deal with the changes in life style
D.the way we live today is proper for the human body
3.What is the main cause mentioned in the article why people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
A.Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise
B.People today have a lot of alcohol
C.People today have more tobacco
D.Food is quite different between life today and life in ancient times
4.Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of.
A.milk and other dairy products
B.grain foods and farm animals
C.salt and sugar
D.wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits
5.From this article, we know that are not good to our health.
A.protein and vitamin
B.milk and grain foods
C.wild animals, vegetables and fruits
D.a huge amount of fatty, salty and sweet foods