Some teenagers think that newspapers are boring and only for adults. But that’s not true. There are many interesting stories in the paper. You just need to make clear what you are looking at. “I spend about half an hour reading newspapers every day,” said 15-year-old Gao Ming from Beijing. “I’m interested in things happening at school.” School news is just one kind of news story in newspapers. There’s also world news: from international (国际的) problems to pop stars.

Read the newspaper carefully, and we’ll find different kinds of articles on the pages:

News stories—these stories are about events (事件). Reporters try to show all points of a story to help readers understand what happened. Reporters try to speak to as many people as possible. They also use pictures and numbers to show the readers that the stories are true. The newspaper Teenagers has lots of news stories on the news page and front page. When we read them, we learn more about the facts, not the writers’ ideas.

Opinion writing—opinion writing is usually about something happening right now. But it isn’t just facts. Here writers add (增加) their own opinions to the news. Writers pick only the facts that help back their ideas. They make readers believe that they are telling the truth (真相). This is usually the kind of story that gets people thinking. Go to “Speak Out” on Page Two for an example of opinion writing in Teenagers.

Advertisements—Don’t get happy too early when you read them. Those sweet words and lovely pictures are just ways to get us interested in their products (产品)! People have to pay to put advertisements in newspapers!

Have you heard of “Buy Nothing Day”? Do you think you can spend no coin on that day?

This holiday encourages people to stop buying things. It began in the 1990s in Vancouver,Canada. It was the idea of a man named Kalle Lasn. After working for many years in advertising (广告业), Lasn began to question the ways advertisers influenced people to buy things.

Lasn knows that people need to buy things. They have to buy things to eat, live and even enjoy life. But Lasn believes that many companies encourage people to buy far more than is necessary. He thinks it hurts people and culture.

Lasn tries to help people understand some of the false (错误的) values and ideas behind advertising. The main value he fights is the idea, “You must buy more to be happy.” Encouraging people to celebrate “Buy Nothing Day” is one idea he came up with (提出).

“Buy Nothing Day” is celebrated on the fourth Friday of every November. Lasn chose this day for a very important reason. It is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Advertisers call this day Black Friday.

The first “Buy Nothing Day” was celebrated in Canada in 1992. Many other countries also have growing problems with too much consumption (消费). Now, over sixty different countries, including theUSA, theUK,Germany,France, Japan, are celebrating “Buy Nothing Day”.

Some people doubt if “Buy Nothing Day” can really change culture. It is only one day, they say. Other people say that consumers should not just buy less, but they should buy better. These people encourage consumers to buy things made in environment-friendly ways.

But “Buy Nothing Day” does get people thinking about the negative influences of buying too much.

Tea parties have been around for over 3,000 years. People all over the world have tea parties every day. Let’s talk about tea parties.

1 Choose your time. Traditionally, a tea party is in the afternoon, either late noon (11:30 am to 12:30 pm) or afternoon (3:00 pm to 4:00 pm).

2 Send out invitations about two weeks before the tea party.

3 Set out fresh linen(亚麻布) on the table, and make sure the garden is nice or the room for the tea party is clean.

4 Begin to set out your fine china, tea cups, eating utensils(器具) and decorations(装饰) about two hours in advance(提前).

5 Begin boiling the water and setting out food about 10 minutes before guests arrive. Take this time to put the tea inside the tea pot. You may use this time to talk when the water is boiling.

6 When the water is ready, put the water into the tea pot and take the tea pot to the table.

7 Bring guests to the table and chat, slip tea and eat the delicious food.

Have you ever had trouble trying to choose a gift? Perhaps you need a birthday present for someone who is hard to please. How about clothing? You might be worried about choosing the wrong size, color, or style. Books or DVDs? You may not know enough about the person’s likes, dislikes, and interests. And giving money may not seem right. Well, how about a gift card?

  A gift card is a card that is issued (发行) by a certain store. It’s worth a certain amount money. It looks like a credit card (信用卡), but it actually works like cash. A gift-card holder can spend the amount of money noted on the card in the store that issued it. These cards are big money makers. One reason is that when gift-card holders go to the store, they often see other things to buy, and they end up spending more money than the gift card is worth.

  Gift cards are becoming popular in many countries around the world. Why? Cards are easy to buy and easy to use, either in the store or online. The receiver can select his or her own gift, and the giver doesn’t have to worry about finding just the right thing.

  Receiving a gift card, however, is not the same as receiving a gift. An actual gift can better remind us of the giver’s thought and effort that went into the choice. The message of a real gift is more likely to be, “I spent some time trying to find the right gift for you because I care about you.”

  Often a gift card doesn’t pass on the same message as an actual gift. It may seem to say, “I was in a hurry. I didn’t have time to think about what you really like.” In today’s busy world, gift cards are certainly convenient. However, they can make us forget the real purpose of giving gifts, which is to build a closer bond relationship between the gift-giver and the gift-receiver.

Without proper planning, tourism(旅游业) can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy. They began to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help the country’s economy. It is important to think about the local people and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty than attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wealth and happiness of local inhabitants.

Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry（产业）. This means more other parts of the country’s economy（经济）can suffer.

On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, first-class roads, and other support facilities（设施）needed by tourist attractions.

For example, a major international class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel lose money.

Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, sewers to handle waste and water. All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost.

For some people, music is no fun at all. About 4% of the population is what scientists call “amusic”. People who are amusic are born without the ability to enjoy musical notes. Amusic people often cannot tell the differences between two songs. 

  As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amuics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. In fact, most people cannot understand what it feel like be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping center can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics have to stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in social loneliness. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify(辨别) this unusual condition. 

  Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different for those of people who can enjoy music. The difference is complex(复杂的), and it is not connected with poor hearing. Amusics can understand other non-musical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding common speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors. 

  Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem music. Now she knows that she is not alone. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say ”No, thanks. I’m amusic.’” says Margret. 

We all know that life without emojis would be extremely boring．Therefore，it is only fitting that the editors of the well-known oxford English Dictionary chose —the face with the tears of joy as its ‘Word of the Year’ for 2015．

The company that announced its unusual word choice on November 16th said that it was picked over several other traditional choices．Among them were ‘refugee’，‘sharing economy’ and ‘on fleek’．However，it was this simple emoji that resonated with the editors because it appeared to best describe the spirits, mood, and concerns of 2015．

They also thought that this was a good year to pay homage to the emoji. For though they have been around since the late 1990’s，the use of the digital signs and the word that describes them，has increased sharply this year．Besides，emojis are now used by people of all ages，not just teenagers．

Also, though the word comes from the Japanese language—e(picture)，moji(character or letter)，the digital signs can be understood by everyone regardless of the language they speak．Therefore it only makes sense to acknowledge their importance to global communication．

As to how they selected from the thousands of emojis that are available，the company says that they partnered with a leading mobile technology company SwifiKey to determine the most popular emoji．It turns out that ‘tears of joy’ is the most used icon. According to SwiffKey，made up 17％of all emojis used in the U．S．A and a surprising 20％in the United Kingdom!

Though this is the first time the Oxford University Press has selected an image for its‘word of the year’．it is not the first time they have tried to combine modem lingo into their 150-year-old publication．In 2013，in recognition of the growing popularity of self-portraits，the editors selected ‘selfie’, for the‘Word of the Year’！

Question 11-15 Multiple Choice Questions

There are four choices for each question. Refer to the passage and choose the correct answer.

                                                                                                             C

       When we think of Hollywood, we think of films and famous film stars. They are part of Hollybood's history. Today people make films in other places too. Not all famous film stars live in Hollywood. But Hollywood is still a very special city in Los Angeles. There is a big sign on the hills. It says "HOLLYWOOD". The white letters are fifty feet tall. You can see the sign from far away. The Hollywood sign is a famous Hollywood landmark(标记) in Los Angeles. Many postcards show this famous Hollywood landmark.

       In the hills of Hollywood, there is also the Hollywood Bowl. This is an open-air theatre. It is one of the largest open-air theatres in the world. It has seventeen thousand seats and a very different stage(演奏台). The design of the stage was by a great American named Frank Loyed Wright. You can listen to all kinds of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

C

   The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean(地中海)。It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been a bridge between East and West for over 2,000 years。

   The ancient road started from Chang’an (nowXi’an) and ended in Eastern Europe, near today’sTurkeyand theMediterranean Sea. It was about 6,500 kilometers long and went across one-fourth of the planet。

   The Silk Roadgot its name in the 19th century because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road。 Silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome。 And from the west came glass, gems and food like carrots。

   The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world。 It was more than an ancient international trade route。 Besides trade, knowledge about arts, science and literature, as well crafts and technologies was shared across theSilk Road。 In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other。                

   Today, China is trying to build the "21st Century Marine(海洋的) Silk Road". With the help of APEC held in Beijing in November 2014,the dream of One Belt One Road(the "Silk Road Economic(经济的)Belt"and"21st Century Marine Silk Road")("一带一路")is coming true。