Two third of the singles looking for love in Britain turned to the Internet last year, according to figures made in public yesterday. Special sites offer introductions to smokers, Roman Catholics, tall people, beautiful people, frequent flyers and vegetarians. Technology has brought about a great change in the dating games.
A survey by Parsnip, a Briatain branch of Europe’s largest dating service with more than 1.5 million members, says that 65 percent of the 5.4 million Britons looking for a relationship used online dating services last year.
A spokeswoman for Relate, the relationship advisor, confirmed the a figure of two thirds feel it all right. “Doing it online allows people quite a lot of privacy, because they can do a bit of quite research and look around from the comfort of their own home. You don’t have to meet a middleman or go to an actual dating agency office, which takes a lot of courage.” She said.
There are more than 100 independent online dating agencies in Britain. Parsnip says that 50 percent of single people believe they will meet a suitable partner through the Internet, from 35 percent six months ago.
Mary Balfour, the founder, say that Internet has changed the dating industry complexly. “It’ s like a return to old-fashioned love letters.” She said “You don't’t base your initial judgement on how someone looks or what his or her figure is like. You e-mail or talk before uou actually see each other. Everybody you know who is single these days has at least had a good look at a dating site, introduction agency or personal ad. They have to, because al the old matchmaking institutions have gone. People work harder, settle down later and live more isolated lives. They are much more likely t end the day with a DVD and a can of beer than by going to a villlage dance. ”
56.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.Brirish singles go online for love. B.British singles like going online
C.Going online for love is dangerous. D.New ways of dating in Britain
57.The followding statemints are false EXCEPT that singles____.
A.don’t have to do any research at all B. needn’t go to a go between
C. need to actually meet each other D. Have to go to a village dance
58.According to the text, about ____ Britons dated Online last year.
A. 3.5million B.1.5 million C. 2.7 million D. 1.9 millon
59.From the passage, we can learn that______ .
A. old-fashioned love letters become popular again
B. online dating services are out of date
C. half singles believe they can meet a suitable partner online
D. online dating needs a lot of courage
The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony（交响乐） that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”
Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5，I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.
Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.
Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.” The first paragraph tells us that _____.
| A．Brightman is very popular around the world except in America |
| B．Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz |
| C．the British people don’t like her for her style of music |
| D．Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber |
Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.
| A．she could adopt one |
| B．her life and career were unbelievably rich without children |
| C．she felt it normal not to have children |
| D．she was too busy |
The following statements are true except ______.
| A．Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5 |
| B．Brightman disliked life on the campus |
| C．Brightman was very gifted when she was young |
| D．The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous |
The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.
| A．located | B．admired | C．followed | D．found |
What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?
| A．Brightman has to accept the fact that she is not liked in Britain |
| B．Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country |
| C．The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland |
| D．Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain |
阅读下面的短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。
[1] I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day. But I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
[2] The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Recently I was in a car with three friends. The driver told us to be quiet because he could not hear the person on the other end of his cell phone. There we were, four friends going down the highway, unable to talk to one another because of a tool designed to make communication easier.
[3]Why is it that the more connected we get, ________________________ ? Every advance in communications technology is a hurt to the closeness of human interaction (互动). With e-mail and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone.
[4] More and more, l find myself hiding behind e-mail to 
do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn’t really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier.
[5]
So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cell-phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I' m home. What does the author say about communications technology according to the first two paragraphs? (within 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________________Which sentences in the text is the closest in meaning to the following one?
However, I felt left out as if we were not conducting the conversation.
_________________________________________________________________________ Fill in the blanks in Paragraph 3 with proper words. (within 10 words)
_________________________________________________________________________ Does the author restrict (约束) his own activity to improving the situation? Give an example. How？(within 15 words)
_________________________________________________________________________ Translate the underlined sentences in Paragraph 4 into Chinese.
________________________________________________________________________
When six the very best students from different cities in Guandong province all together chose universities in Hong Kong; when the very best student of Beijing picked up HK University while giving up the nearby Peking or Tsinghua University; when the highest enrollment （录取）rate of Hong Kong Science and Industry University reached 48:1, it’s the high time to ask where the real education heaven for students in China is.
Years ago, the answer certainly would be “Peking or Tsinghua University”. But now no one could give the exact reaction without hesitation. The only sure thing is that HK universities have gradually showed an unusual attraction to a great many mainland students.
It’s no doubt to call this HK craze（狂热）,which is even out of the expectation of those HK universities themselves.
How can HK universities shake the steady foundations of Peking and Tsinghua and attract so many mainland students?
First, Hong Kong universities offer large-amount scholarship, especially for the top students who can receive the sum scholarship as much as 400,000 HK dollars. Since higher education has become a kind of heavy burden of many families, it’s easy to understand why the reaction to the generous offering of HK universities is great.
Second, most HK universities receive professors and students from all over the world and carry out bilingual（双语）education. This kind of excellent language atmosphere is another attraction for mainland students.
Further more, university students in Hong Kong have a better chance to study abroad as exchange students.
Can mainland top universities like Peking or Tsinghua University calm as before when facing the unexpected competition from HK? Will they take relevant measures to win back the top students who once help them set the worldwide reputation? Time will explain it.
The fierce competition brought by HK universities can be a good thing for an entire improvement of education in China. After the awakening and action
taking of mainland universities, they can perform better together with HK universities.
At least, it reminded the mainland universities the tuition fees（学费）are among students’ top concern when they are choosing universities. It’s time to move.What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Some thought brought by the enrollment of HK universities. |
| B．Higher education in Hong Kong. |
| C．The competition between HK University and Peking University. |
| D．The fall of mainland universities. |
Top students from mainland apply for HK universities because .
| A．many students now would love to study aboard to get a better experience. |
| B．they concern only about the tuition fees when choosing universities. |
| C．HK universities offer higher scholarship, better environment and more opportunities for their further study. |
D．Peking university has lo st its worldwide reputation. |
What is the author’s attitude toward the competition brought by HK universities?
| A．The government should take relevant measures to stop this unfair competition. |
| B．Mainland universities had better lower their tuition fees and win back the top students. |
| C．Universities both in mainland and in HK would get an entire improvement during the competition. |
| D．It may probably cause a complete loss both sides in the end. |
From the passage we can see HK universities .
| A．didn’t mean to enroll top students from mainland |
| B．didn’t expect their enrollment of mainland students would be so popular |
| C．have strict enrollment rules and only 1 out of 48 students can get the chance to study there |
| D．are proud of their teaching staff and facilities |
What does the author mean by saying “It’s time to move” in the last paragraph?
| A．Mainland universities should take measures as soon as possible to attract students. |
| B．The opportunities come for top students to study abroad. |
| C．Mainland universities should make full preparations to challenge mainland universities. |
| D．Top students should be offered further education free of charge. |
This hotel in the trees is famous in the world. Peop1e who know very little about Kenya, know of Treetops. When King George VI died, Princess Elizabeth was staying on the Treetops, and when she came down from there, “She succeeded him as the queen of the country”. This hotel in the middle of the forest shows the pleasure of Africa. When you visit it, you will be sent into the heart of the forest by hotel buses, and then a guide, with a gun to protect you against big game, will go with you to the Treetops. Before and after dinner, for the whole night if you wish, you can sit on the corridor(走廊), watching animals come to the water pool. The earliest hotel Treetops was built round a large tree on the opposite side of the water, but that was destroyed by fire and the new hotel Treetops, which is built round several trees, is much bigger.
The dining room at Treetops is small, and the waiters cannot walk round to serve guests, a clever “railway service” has been invented. Guests take their food as it passes slowly in front of them, along a line in the center of the table.
There are many animals around the Treetops. When you visit them, you can see:
---Animals and their babies are waiting to greet the guests.
---Animals, enjoying the Treetops pool in the daylight.
---A long bodied, long ring tailed very active cat-like animal is a special one coming out at night. He hunts and eats anything he can overpower and is very destructive. He lives in the trees at Treetops .He comes for his food every evening. Do not get too near to him, as his teeth and claws（爪）can do you harm. These animals can be trained and become lovely pets.
---Some other animals who have a thick coating of fur to keep them warm in the cold forest nights.
---Many buffaloes（水牛）coming to the Treetops for water and salt during the day or night.“She succeeded him as the queen of the country” In this sentence, “succeeded” means_______.
| A．did what she was trying to do | B．gained her purpose |
| C．got a position on the death of the King | D．completed an easy task |
According to the passage, “railway service” actually refers to __________.
| A．the service provided at the railway station |
| B．the supply of food on the train |
| C．the service provided along the railway |
| D．the supply of food along a moving line |
Which of the following statements about “the cat-like animal”, described in the passage, is NOT true?
| A．It comes for food only at night. |
| B．It lives in the trees at Treetops. |
| C．Its teeth and claws can do people harm. |
| D．It can catch any other animal in the forest. |
According to the passage. Treetops is famous in the world because ________.
| A．it shows the pleasure of America |
| B．Princess Elizabeth got to the crown when coming down from there |
| C．it is built round several trees |
| D．there are many animals that can be trained and become lovely pets |
We can learn from the passage, that the guests＿＿＿＿．
| A．should not play games on the Treetops |
| B．could not sit on the corridor at night |
| C．could enjoy their dinner in the dining room |
| D．should keep off the cat-like animals |
Most children, even the youngest of children, are delighted to be around cats and dogs. But these pets carry plenty of germs and allergens（过敏原）,prompting researchers to ask: Are cats and dogs really safe for children？
A study finds that, contrary to many parents' fears, owning cats or dogs does not increase a child's risk of developing allergies, and in fact, may actually protect them. The study's lead author, Dr. Dennic Ownby of the Medical College of Georgia, says that even he was "very surprised" by the results. Ownby and colleagues followed more than 470 children from birth to age 6 or 7, comparing those exposed to cats and dogs during their first year of life to those who were not.
By using skin-prick tests for detecting common allergies, the researchers found that, contrary to what many doctors had been taught for years, children who had lived with a pet were not at greater risk.
Even mor
e remarkable, children who had two or more dogs or cats had an even greater reduction, up to 77 percent, in risk of allergies. Researchers suggest this protective effect may be the result of early exposure to lots of bacteria that are carried by dogs and cats. Exposing young children to these bacteria helps" exercise" their immune systems early in life so that they're better able to resist allergic diseases later.
There's something very important in that first year of life when the immune system is developing that we can retrain it away from an allergic response, said Dr. William Davis.
And while researchers are not encouraging parents to buy dogs or cats just to reduce a child's allergy risk, they say if a family already has one or more animals, there's no need to get rid of them. Why do the researchers feel “very surprised” by the results of the study?
| A．Because the results are contrary to their expectation． |
| B．Because so many children are playing with cats and dogs． |
| C．Because parents are so much worried about their children． |
| D．Because children with animals may develop allergies easily． |
Compared with children who have pets，those who haven’t ______.
| A．will lose the chance to develop immune system |
| B．may suffer allergic diseases more often |
| C．will reduce the harm from bacteria |
| D．can keep doctors away |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______．
| A．pets are ill-treated by their owners |
| B．less families would like to own cats and dogs |
| C．keeping pets is a good way to keep children healthy |
| D．the results of the study can make families with pets feel at ease |
The underlined word “it” in the fifth paragraph refers to________.
| A．the early life |
| B．an allergic disease |
| C．immune system |
| D．something important |
What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．How to protect your kids from allergies |
| B．Your pets may be helping your kids |
| C．Bacteria do good to your kids |
| D．Advantages of owning pets |
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