四川省历年中考真题分类汇编：阅读理解（社会现象类）

    Every year thousands of young people in England finish school and then take a year off before they start work or go to university. Some young people go to other countries and work as volunteers.

    Volunteers give their time to help people. For example, they work in schools or hospitals, or they do something helpful for the environment.

    Paul, 18, comes from Wales. Next year he wants to go to university to study Chinese, but now he's living in Belize. Paul says," I'm working with other people here to save the coral reefs(珊瑚礁) in the sea near Belize. The reefs here are beautiful, but if the sea water is very polluted, the coral will die. I'm helping to do research on the coral and the fish that live around the reefs. All over the world, coral reefs are dying. We need to do something about the problem before it's too late. I'm staying with a family here and I help do same housework. I don't get any money, but that's OK. I love my work here, and I'm learning a lot about the people of Belize...and myself. When I finish my work, I want to stay here for another three months. I want to travel around Belize and Central America."

    Few students like homework, but it is an important part of middle school life in the UK.

    The UK has these rules for homework: Grades7and 8 (ages 11 to 13): 45 to 90 minutes per day; Grade 9 (ages 14 to 15):1 to 2 hours a day.

    Today, many homework tasks are done on a computer. For example, preparing reports, using the Internet or doing online tasks. So schools are usually open before and after normal hours. In this way, students without computers or the Internet at home can use the schools' facilities(设备).

    Sometimes, students are given extended learning tasks. That means they need to do more research and analysis(分析).But however big a task is, teachers always give feedback反馈）to help students find the areas where they can improve.

    Some schools send students home with home diaries. They advise parents to check on their

    Children's progress. Sadly, not every parent takes much interest. In a survey of 1,000 students aged 11 to 18, over 10 percent said that they did not have space at home to do homework. Almost 15 percent said their families did not support them enough.

    On a weekend during Spring Festival, my parents and I were sitting in a restaurant. The drinks and food were good, so when we finished, my father left a tip(小费). As we were about to open the door, the waiter caught up with us. He gave the tip back to us. My dad forgot that here is China, and tipping is not common.

    However, in some countries, tipping is the norm. That's the way it is in the US. It's said to be good manners to tip your waiter, taxi driver, hairdresser, doorman and so on. And how much you tip depends on the service, which can really put your math skills to the test! But we usually give a tip that is 15-20% of the bill.

    So why is there a strong custom of tipping? In the US, waiters have a very low income(收入). They depend on tips to pay their bills. As a US writer once wrote about her experience as a waitress, "It was difficult and I lived and died by my tips."

    Have you ever heard "You never get a second chance to make a first impression(印象)?" It may sound like an unusual piece of advice, but it is true—the first impression someone has of you when meeting you for the first time will probably influence how that person reacts to you in the future.

    What is even more interesting is that the brain takes in all the information to create that first impression in about three seconds. When you meet someone for the first time, by the time you have said your name or shaken hands, the other person has already formed(形成) an opinion about the kind of person you are.

    So how do you make a good first impression? Being polite and being well dressed is very important. However, the most important way of making a good first impression is your face. Smiling almost always leaves a positive(积极的) impression on people, especially those who do not know you. Most people, generally speaking, are ready to smile back when they are smiled at.

    What's more, smiling and being positive helps you to know and get a better understanding of new things. This means that you can possibly be friendlier to people you do not know and be more creative and able to solve problems more quickly. So if you ever need a reason to be happy, think about the wonderful people you might meet—and impress—with a cheerful smile.

    Kermit the Frog, a popular puppet character from US -kids show Sesame Street, is probably most well-known for saying, "It's not easy being green." Well, our famous frog friend won't have to worry much longer! It seems that the color green is coming back in style in 2020.

    Based on fashion collections made for spring/summer 2020, it is clear that major brands have been inspired by nature's beauty. The new designs have a variety of leaf prints and floral fashion.

    This new trend in seeing the color green as fashionable shouldn't come as a surprise, though. The popularity of the color has actually been growing for a while now. In 2017, Pantone named Greenery its color of the year as a symbol of new beginnings.

    Green is a strong fashion trend for 2020 and it seems like it is here to stay, According to the famous Dutch trend forecaster, Li Èdelkoort green, will be a major color of the 10 years. She believes the new "Green Wave" is connected with a hunger for nature. "The need for green is so powerful that it will turn around fashion and design without any doubt…it is impossible to ignore,"Edelkoort writes on her company website describing the new trend.

There is much more to green than it being just a color. Edelkoort continues, “But maybe the most important thing about green is its capacity to bring joy," Maybe it's easier to be green than Kermit originally thought.

What time does your school start? Do you wish you could get up later every morning? You are not alone if your answer is "Yes." In the US, many middle school students have the same wish.

In America, many schools start before 7:30 am. But that may change soon. A new law has been passed in California. According to the law, middle schools should not start before 8:00 am. The government hopes school children will have longer time in bed.

Many scientific studies show that teenagers are more active in the afternoon and in the evening. Simply telling them to go to bed earlier doesn't work well. Most of them don't get enough sleep because of bad sleeping habits and early school starting time. They need more sleep in the morning. Scientists suggest middle schools should start at 8:00 am. or later. Students can get well ready to learn and they won't fall asleep in class. ____________ The change can help improve students' grades.

While scientists are happy with the new law, many parents disagree with it. They won't be able to send their children to school before they go to work. They also fear that later school starting time will lead to later ending time. As a result, their children will have less time to take part in after-school activities.

It's good news that Chinese education experts have noticed the problem and made some rules about that. So what's your opinion? Do you expect China to pass a similar law?

We did a survey about unpaid work among 300, 000 married couples in our city. One third of them have no children, another third have one or two and the last third have three or more. The unpaid work includes childcare and housework. The diagram (图表) on the right shows the result of the survey.

We've all had bad experiences with restaurants, stores or hotels. Maybe you've been to a restaurant that served terrible food. Perhaps you've been to a store that had high prices and bad service. Or maybe you've booked a hotel and found out later that the room was nothing like the advertisement (广告).

These days, we have a better chance of stopping these unpleasant surprises. We can do this by using apps. An app is a computer program on a smartphone. You can use apps to do almost anything. App can help you play games, get directions, talk to friends, and so on.

If you want to find information about a store or a hotel, you can use a review app. Review apps help us evaluate (评价) service and products before we hand over our money. The idea is very simple. After you go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel, you can post a review with one of your apps. You can say anything you want. If you like a hotel that you stayed in, you can tell people that it was wonderful. If you think that the food in a certain restaurant was bad, then you can tell people not to eat there. Other people can use their app to read your reviews.

Plenty of people prefer not to use these review apps. Many of these people think that it's a waste of time to look through websites and read reviews. These people prefer to go out and decide for themselves whether or not a service is good. However, review apps are getting more and more popular every day. Some apps are for exact services. For example, trip adviser gives attention to travel, and good reader pays attention to books. There are also other larger apps that provide information for just about every service that you can think of.