Smartphones have been blamed for everything from taking drivers’attention from driving to keeping people on the sofa scrolling (滚屏) videos. But the smartphone that seems to be everywhere could just easily increase physical activity if it pushes its owner’s buttons in the right way.

New research shows that making social connections (人际关系) through activity-tracking apps gets people to move more. And another study on the “Pokemon Go” phenomenon shows that the smartphone game got players to take thousands more steps than usual. Together, the studies show the potential (潜在性) of smartphones to push a range of people to be more active.

People who linked with friends on the activity-tracking app increase their steps by 400 a day on average, compared with people who made no social connections, according to Tim Althoff and two other computer scientists at Stanford University. Such opinions show the possibilities of smartphones and games to help with one of the most stubborn public health problems — that even people who want to be active have trouble staying active.

An NBA video game, for example, will give players extra powers in the game if they reach a step goal in real life. The app “Zomies, Run!” uses audio stories to push people to run more or run faster.

Still, there is room for growth: Only about 4% of all health apps use “gamification”, such as point- scoring or competition, according to a study published in October in BMJ Open. “Gamification is actually quite closely linked with behavior change techniques,” says Dr. Elizabeth Ann Edwards, the study’s lead author.

【小题1】According to the “Pokemon Go” phenomenon, smartphone users become more active because __________ .

A．they have more social connections	B．they get extra powers in life
C．the games increase physical activity	D．a life goal has been set step by step

【小题2】Who are most likely to exercise more?

A．Video watchers on the sofa.	B．Smartphone game lovers.
C．People with no social connections.	D．People with trouble staying active.

【小题3】How does the author try to argue the benefits of smartphones?

A．By showing the results of some research.

B．By explaining the functions of smartphones.

C．By giving clear description of some games.

D．By analyzing the causes of public health problems.

语法填空

In the last thirty years, the Internet 【小题1】 (grow) rapidly. In 1983, there were only 200 computers 【小题2】 (connect) to the Internet; now there are around 50 million and this growth is 【小题3】(clear) going to continue.

Some experts are pessimistic about the future. One worry is crime in cyberspace. Even now, young 【小题4】 (hacker) can get into the computers of banks and governments. In the future, terrorists may “attack” the world’s computers, cause chaos, 【小题5】 make planes and trains crash.

However, many people are 【小题6】 (optimism) about the future of the Internet. Already, users can buy books, find out about holiday offers, book tickets, and get all sorts 【小题7】 information from the Internet.

“In the next few years,” says Angela Rossetto of Cyberia magazine, “【小题8】 is clear that we are going to see a huge 【小题9】 (grow) in shopping on the Internet.” She also believes that, in the future, we will get entertainment from the Net and that television will probably 【小题10】 (appear). The mail service may also disappear with the increasing use of e-mail.

   A lot of people say math is not their strong suit. One New Jersey parent wants to help change that. Laura Overdeck grew up with numbers. She always helped measure ingredients（食材）when her mother baked，and she learned about angles from her father. She went on to major in astrophysics（天体物理学）in college. Overdeck wanted her own children to be good at math，too.“And when our first child was about two，we just started giving her a math problem every night，”Overdeck said. The problem was usually a story，involving animals，cars or candies that let the kid count.“Our third child started，at age two，yelling that he wanted his own math problem because he saw his brother and sister doing it. And we thought，‘Wow，we have a household where math is the popular thing at bedtime，’”Overdeck said.

In February，Overdeck set up Bedtime Math，an Internet website where she posts daily puzzles for children. Overdeck is particularly keen to hook（吸引）children on numbers before they go to school. So why introduce little ones to math so early？

Sian Beilock，an expert on performance anxiety，says the more fun and familiar math is early on，the less likely children will feel nervous when they start to learn math in school.“My lab has shown recently that kids as early as first grade report feeling anxious about doing math，”Beilock said.

“You can hear totally educated adults say，‘You know I’m just not that good at math.’or‘I’m kind of afraid of math.’And that’s a totally acceptable thing for a well-educated person to say，but you never hear them say，‘Well，you know，I’m just not that good at reading.’，”Overdeck said. She wants children and their parents to become as fluent in numbers as they are in Harry Potter.

【小题1】Overdeck majored in astrophysics because she.

A．was really fond of mathematics

B．hoped to change math education in the US

C．had an interest in physics

D．would like her children to be good at math

【小题2】What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?

A．Stories can be used to encourage kids in solving math problems.

B．Math will become more popular in every household.

C．Math is enjoyable in Overdeck’s family.

D．The third child is cleverer than his brother and sister.

【小题3】Beilock’s attitude towards Overdeck’s idea is.

A．agreeable	B．puzzled
C．anxious	D．critical

【小题4】The unfavorable situation of the US in math ability is shown by.

A．the popularity of Bedtime Math

B．children’s performance anxiety in school

C．people’s reaction to math

D．adults’ great fondness for Harry Potter

Well, parents, surprise! Lots of us are using Twitter and Facebook to find rides, and not just to school. It’s awkward to call a friend and ask for a ride, and half the time they’ll say, “Sorry, my car is full.” But with Twitter, you just tweet (贴子,留言) and look for other people heading the same way.
It may sound risky, but many teens stay within their own social circles to find rides, and don’t branch out beyond friends of friends when asking on Twitter. For me, I only rideshare with people I know, but to some young people, especially those taking longer trips, stranger danger is less of a concern.
The sharing economy got big during the recession（经济衰退）. It allows people to access more goods and services using technology, while also allowing them to share cost. And that technology, for me, is what the car was for my mom, a gateway to more freedom.
According to the researchers at the University of Michigan, 30 years ago, eight in ten American 18-year-olds had a driver’s license. Today it’s six in ten. So it’s not that surprising that on my 16^thbirthday I wasn’t rushing to get a license. All I wanted was an iPhone. Juliet Schor (Sociology professor at Boston College) knows people my age love being connected and for young people driving means they have to disconnect from their technology, and that’s a negative. So if they could sit in the passenger side and still be connected, that’s going to be a plus.
To me, another plus is ridesharing represents something much bigger than trying to save money. I see it as evidence that people still depend on each other. My generation shares their cars and apartments the way neighbors used to share cups of sugar. For the system to work, some of us still need our own cars. But until I get my own version of the silver Super Beetle, you can find me on Twitter.
【小题1】The writer usually rideshares with _____.

A．anyone heading the same way	B．people he knows
C．friends of friends	D．strangers of his age

【小题2】Fewer young people choose to ride by themselves because _____.

A．driving means offering free rides to others.

B．getting a driving license becomes more difficult.

C．driving one’s own cars causes a negative impression.

D．driving makes them disconnected from technology.

【小题3】We can conclude from the passage that _____.

A．the writer rideshares just to save money

B．people under 18 are not allowed to drive

C．silver Super Beetle is the writer’s favorite

D．the older generation had to fight for freedom

【小题4】Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Teens use Twitter to thumb rides.

B．Tips on reducing risks in ridesharing.

C．Car is no longer a gateway to freedom.

D．New generation knows how to save money.

   Robyn Lee， a 15-year-old teenage girl who studies at York Community High School， US says she has four friends. But she also has 15 to 20 other friends she considers part of her regular social circle.

“It's like a bad thing to have only one， friend ，”explained Robyn. “If you have one friend， it means only one person likes you. That’s not cool，” she said.

For many years， experts studying teen friendships have known that teenagers prefer to travel in groups. In studies conducted in 1963 and in 1995， researchers found teen friendship groups averaged six people. In 2005， when teens were asked about how many friends they kept in touch with regularly， the average answer was 20.

The change to bigger -group friendships has advantages， such as increasing more connections and improving teens' self-pride by giving them a place to belong.

However， the change also has some disadvantages，say psychologists. “The meaning of friendship is becoming much more complicated，” said Bernardo Carducci， a professor of psychology at Indiana University Southeast.

MaryRose Moss， a 17-year-old in Chicago， knows how she could get more friends. She created a Facebook page when she was 14 and within months ， she had her group of 500 friends.

Text messaging has opened the door to many new connections， she says. “I'm friends with some people that I wouldn't be as close to if it weren't for technology，” said Moss. “It's so easy to send a text to somebody even if you don't know him very well. ”

Some psychologists wonder whether social-networking technology is affecting some skills children once got from making friends in the old-fashioned way.

“In the past， you argued， discussed and reached an agreement， but if somebody disagrees with you now， you can ‘defriend’ him with the click of keys，” said Carducci.

Marianne Boe， a social studies teacher in Chicago ， sees signs of changing friendships in the hallways. Ten years ago， she could easily know groups of girls who stayed friends through all four years of high school. “Today， it's harder，” Boe said.

【小题1】Robyn is introduced at the beginning _____________ .

A．to show how today's teenagers make friends

B．to give an example of modern teen friendship patterns

C．to show that today's teenagers are afraid of loneliness

D．to give an example of teen addiction to social networks

【小题2】What is behind the change to bigger-group friendships，according to the passage?

A．Text messaging.

B．Changes in teen taste.

C．Modern technology.

D．Social-networking culture.

【小题3】What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Teenagers don't know how to develop really close friendships.

B．Teenagers change their friends more often than before.

C．True friends no longer appear in the school hallways.

D．Teenagers respect others' privacy more than before.