Television is an important part of modern life, one we can hardly imagine living without it. If I were forced to live without television, I would seek other interests, socialize（参加社交活动） with my friends and family and exercise more often.
Without TV in my home, I would have time to seek other interests. For example, I love to play the piano and without the fun of TV, I would have more time to practice. At other times, I could paint portraits of my family and friends.
Not only that, but also I could find much more time to socialize with my friends and family if my TV disappeared. At my house, the TV is a
lways on during dinner. Without TV we might have time to tell each other about what happened to us that day. In addition, we could more easily find more time to talk with old friends on the telephone. Thus, social time would increase without TV.
Most importantly, lacking a TV would give me a big increase in the available time for exercise in my life. With extra time, I could make the long journey to Bowen Island and go on an enjoyable hike in the mountains. Another exercise would be to go swimming or to an aerobics（有氧运动） class at Bonsor Community Centre. Watching more TV will only develop my bottom muscle.
Seeking other interests, socializing with friends and family, and exercising frequently would be the benefits of having no TV at my home. Just think how much more time I would have if I got rid of my computer, too!
62. According to the passage, we can infer that the author _________ too much.
A. takes exercise B. plays the piano
C. watches TV D. talks with his family
63. The passage mainly tells us ________.
A. we can’t live without TV
B. TV does harm to the author’s life
C. what the author could do without TV
D. why the author dislikes TV
64. The author thinks that he could do the following EXCEPT _____ without TV.
A. playing computers
B. doing outdoor sports
C. make conversations with family and friends
D. doing social activities
65. What’s the most suitable title for the passage?
A. We can’t live without TV. B. TV benefits us a lot.
C. Disadvantages of TV. D. Living without TV.
This is a story from 28 years ago. My dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for an auction. Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction.
One day, I was riding with my dad when he noticed a hitch-hiker with a backpack. Without hesitation, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name, and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things. Dad asked him where he was going. The hitch-hiker told him he was heading for the west. I can’t recall why but he told Dad a lot of things that had occurred to him and that persuaded him to make that decision. He talked about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before. He was low in spirits, but I could see that the hitch-hiker’s attitude was changing as someone was really listening to him.
We drove 45 minutes before the hitch-hiker got off. We pulled over and Dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitch-hiker a twenty-dollar bill. The guy smiled. He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway.
We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I had just witnessed. I was always told by everyone never to pick up a hitch-hiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. While reflecting upon that story I came to understand that just one single kind act could change someone’s life, and I am sure that my father’s deed made that poor man’s day.The underlined words “that decision” in Para. 2 refer to ___________.
| A．catching the car | B．heading for the west |
| C．talking about his experiences | D．driving 45 minutes |
What made the hitch-hiker become less upset?
| A．The writer’s father offering him a free ride |
| B．The writer’s father really listening to him |
| C．The writer’s father agreeing to driving him to his destination |
| D．The writer’s father talking to him about all sorts of things |
When his father helped the hitch-hiker, the writer ___________.
| A．was deeply moved | B．strongly disagreed |
| C．admired his father | D．couldn’t understand |
Which of the following words cannot be used to describe the father?
| A．willing to help | B．easy-going | C．far-sighted | D．full of sympathy |
The author wrote the text mainly to _________.
| A．show his respect for his father |
| B．tell a story about his kind father |
| C．prove his father is the best teacher |
| D．advise people to learn from their fathers |
The Wife-carrying World Championship has been celebrated in a small town in central Finland since 1992. in 1992, the people of the town decided that it was time to restart some long-forgotten traditions. Back in the late 1800s, there was a robber called Rosvo-Ronkainen in that area. He was said to only accept men as members of his gang who proved their worth in challenges. At that time, it was also a common practice to steal women from neighboring villages.
The Wife-carrying World Championship is becoming increasingly popular. A large number of competitors, people, and journalists from Finland to Canada attend the Wife-carrying World championship every year.
The event is well-known for its warm and humorous atmosphere. The Wife-carrying World Championship is held on a 253.5 meters long official track. The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about a meter deep.
There are a few basic rules and the winning team is the couple who complete the course in the shortest time. The wife to be carried may be your own, or your neighbor’s. the minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49kg. if she is less than 49kg, the wife will be given a heavy bag to carry. Each time a competitor drops his wife, that couple will be fined 15 seconds.
Along with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there is also a team competition. The distance is the same but three men in the team carry the wife in turns. At the exchange point the carrier has to drink the official “wife-carrying drink” before continuing the race. A special prize is awarded to the team with the best costumes.
Alongside with the Wife-carrying World Championship, there are bands playing music, a wife-carrying dance and other forms of entertainment.According to the passage, the Wife-carrying World championship ___________.
| A．was first celebrated in 1992. |
| B．was first held by Rosvo-Ronkainen |
| C．is celebrated in Finland or Canada every year |
| D．will award “wife-carrying drinks” to the winners |
The Wife-carrying World championship is famous because ___________.
| A．it is held on a 253.5 meters long track |
| B．many competitors take part in it |
| C．it has a pleasant atmosphere |
| D．the winner will be awarded a lot of money |
If a husband drops his wife three time in the competition, he will be fined ________.
| A．15 seconds | B．35 seconds | C．45 seconds | D．60 seconds |
compared with the Wife-carrying World championship, the team competition _______.
| A．is more exciting | B．has a special prize |
| C．has a different track | D．has three teams altogether |
The passage is written mainly to ____________.
| A．warn people that the competition is dangerous |
| B．attract more visitors to the Wife-carrying World championship |
| C．introduce how the Wife-carrying World championship has become popular |
| D．tell us something about the Wife-carrying World championship |
Dogs have an understanding of fair play and become angry if they feel that another dog is getting a better deal, a new study has found.
The study looked at how dogs react when a companion is rewarded for the same trick in an unequal way. Friederike Range, a researcher at the University of Vienna in Austria, and her colleagues did a series of experiments with dogs who knew how to respond to the command “give the paw “. The dogs were normally happy to repeatedly give the paw, whether they got a reward or not. But that changed if they saw that another dog was being rewarded with a piece of food, while they received nothing.
“We found that the dogs hesitated significantly longer when obeying the command to give the paw,” the researchers write. The unrewarded dogs eventually stopped cooperating.
Scientists have long known that humans pay close attention to inequity. But researchers always assumed that animals didn’t share the trait. “The argument was that this is a uniquely human phenomenon,” says Frans de Waal, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta.
That changed in 2003 when he and a colleague did a study on monkeys. The monkeys had to hand a small rock to researchers to get a piece of cucumber in return. They were happy to do this. But if they saw that another monkey was getting a more delicious reward, a grape, for doing the same job, they would throw away the food and rock, and at some point just stopped performing.
In that experiment, the monkeys considered the fairness of two different types of payment. But when Range and her colleagues did a similar study with their trained dogs, testing to see if dogs would become upset if they only got dark bread when other dogs received sausage, they found that as long as the dogs got some kind of food payment, even if it wasn’t the most delicious kind, the animals would play along.How did the dogs in Range’s study react to the order of “giving the paw”?
| A．They took the order even without being rewarded. |
| B．They took the order only when rewarded. |
| C．They turned a deaf ear to repeated orders. |
| D．They hesitated longer when given repeated orders. |
The research by Frans De Waal in 2003 ___________.
| A．originated from Range’s research on dogs. |
| B．showed that animals do pay attention to inequity. |
| C．began the argument that only humans are aware of inequity. |
| D．was conducted to find out how monkeys reacted to humans’ orders. |
Some monkeys in the research become angry because they found another monkey _______.
| A．was given less work. |
| B．was given more food. |
| C．was given the same type of food. |
| D．was given more delicious food. |
Range found that, compared with monkeys, dogs ____________.
| A．care more about whether they are rewarded. |
| B．care less about what they are rewarded with. |
| C．care more about what they are ordered to do. |
| D．care less about who gives them orders. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Animals have various ways to show their anger. |
| B．Dogs are less intelligent than monkeys. |
| C．Dogs have a sense of fairness. |
| D．Most animals want to be rewarded equally. |
February 28th, 2009 2:54 am GMT
I have to say that am shocked at just how bad the new music is. This cannot be the same band that produced great albums such as HTDAAB and ATYCLB! This is awful! They either do not care anymore, or have completely lost it. I never thought U2 would become irrelevant, but they have officially become one of those bands that you will now say, “Remember when they were great?”
----- Posted by Ronald Harris
February 28th, 2009 8:29 pm GMT
Total drivel, Mr Harris. The new album is great, far better than the safe, cynical HTDAAB and ATYCLB. U2 have become inventive again, like they were in the 1990s. thank goodness!
----- Posted by Dan
March 3rd, 2009 12:09 pm GMT
Agree, Dan. The new album is the best since Actung Baby. Magnificent is an anthem in the waiting, Breathe is unbelievable, and Stand Up Comedy is absolutely outstanding----- to name just three! Loving the new sound, pure class as usual.
----- Posted by Martin
March 4th, 2009 7:43 pm GMT
Totally agree with you guys. This album is unbelievable. Breathe is definitely a great song, same with Moment of Surrender. I bet their upcoming tour will be amazing. If you haven’t bought the CD yet, you should. I bought mine on Amozon.com for $3.99. I couldn’t believe it.
----- Posted by Josh BriggsAccording to Ronald Harris, U2’s new album is _________.
| A．pretty good | B．so bad | C．the same as before | D．completely fresh |
whose comment is contrary to the others?
| A．Martin’s | B．Dan’s | C．Josh Briggs’ | D．Ronald Harris’ |
Martin and Josh Briggs both like the song _________.
| A．Magnificent | B．Moment of Surrender | C．Breathe | D．Stand Up Comedy |
Which of the following statements is not true according to the passage?
| A．Most fans felt disappointed at the new album. |
| B．The new album is available on the Internet. |
| C．The people who made comments are fans of U2. |
| D．U2’s upcoming tour may be a great success. |
The passage is most probably from ________.
| A．a concert poster | B．a TV review | C．a newspaper | D．the Internet |
A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth．
Until now，it has been widely assumed that the kind of mental ability that allows us to solve new problems without having any relevant previous experience—what psychologists call fluid intelligence—is innate and cannot be taught（though people can raise their grades on tests of it by practicing）．
But in the new study，researchers describe a method for improving this skill，along with experiments to prove it works．
The key, researchers found, was carefully structured training in working memory—the kind that allows memorization of a telephone number just long enough to dial it．This type of memory is closely related to fluid intelligence，so the researchers reasoned that improving it might lead to improvements in fluid intelligence．
First they measured fluid intelligence of volunteers using standard tests．Then they trained each in a complicated memory task—the child’s card game，in which they had to recall a card they saw and heard．During the course, they needed to ignore irrelevant items, monitor ongoing performance，manage two tasks at the same time and connect related items to one another in space and time．
The four groups experienced a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively．To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills，the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training．
The results, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences，were striking．Improvement in the trained groups was a lot greater．Moreover，the longer they trained, the higher their scores were．All performers，from the weakest to the strongest，showed significant improvement．
“Our results show you can increase your intelligence with proper training．” said Dr Jaeggi, a co-author of the paper．“No one knows how long the gains will last after training stops,” he added, “and the experiment’s design did not allow the researchers to determine whether more training would continue to produce further gains．”The researchers thought the key to improving the intelligence was ______________．
| A．memorizing telephone numbers | B．improving working memory |
| C．training in concentration | D．recalling a card |
The following aspects of the training help increase intelligence EXCEPT___________．
| A．ignoring irrelevant items |
| B．monitoring ongoing performance |
| C．managing two tasks at the same time |
| D．using previous experience |
When the experiment was conducted, the researchers______________．
| A．trained the four groups for the same period of time |
| B．only made comparisons between the four groups |
| C．compared the four groups with control groups |
| D．trained the four groups together |
By writing the article，the writer intends to ______________．
| A．inform the readers of a new study |
| B．call on people to be trained to increase intelligence |
| C．prove one’s born brainpower can be improved |
| D．tell people the improved intelligence will last forever |
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