Today, there’s hardly an aspect of our life that isn’t being upended by the tons of information available on the hundreds of millions of sites crowding the Internet, not to mention its ability to keep us in constant touch with each other via electronic mail. “If the automobile and aerospace technology had exploded at the same pace as computer and information technology,” says Microsoft, “a new car would cost about $ 2 and go 600 miles on a small quantity of gas. And you could buy a Boeing 747 for the cost of a pizza.”
Probably the biggest payoff, however, is the billions of dollars the Internet is saving companies in producing goods and serving for the needs of their customers. Nothing like it has been seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when power-driven machines began producing more in a day than men could turn out in nearly a year. “We view the growth of the Internet and e-commerce as a global trend,” says Merrill Lynch, “along the lines of printing press, the telephone, the computer, and electricity.”
You would be hard pressed to name something that isn’t available on the Internet. Consider: books, health care, movie tickets, construction materials, baby clothes, stocks, cattle feed, music, electronics, antiques, tools, real estate, toys, autographs of famous people, wine and airline tickets. And even after you’ve moved on to your final resting place, there’s no reason those you love can’t keep in touch. A company called FinalThoughts.com offers a place for you to store “afterlife e-mails” you can send to Heaven with the help of a “guardian angel”.
Kids today are so computer literate that it in fact ensures the United States will remain the unchallenged leader in cyberspace for the foreseeable future. Nearly all children in families with incomes of more than $75,000 a year have home computers, according to a study by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Youngsters from ages 2 to 17 at all income levels have computers, with 52% of those connected to the Internet. Most kids use computers to play games (some for 30 hours or more a week), and many teenage girls think nothing of rushing home from school to have e-mail chats with friends they have just left.
What’s clear is that, whether we like it or not, the Internet is an ever growing part of our lives and there is no turning back. “The Internet is just 20% invented,” says cyber pioneer Jake W
inebaum. “The last 80% is happening now.”What can we learn from the Microsoft’s remark?
| A．Today’s cars and airplanes are extremely overpriced. |
| B．Information technology is developing at an amazing speed. |
| C．Information technology has reached the point where improvement is difficult. |
| D．There’s more competition in information technology industry than in car industry. |
According to the author, the biggest benefit of the Internet is that___.
| A．it saves companies huge amounts of money |
| B．it speeds up profit making |
| C．it brings people incredible convenience |
| D．it provides easy access to information |
The author gives the example of FinalThoughts.com to make the point that____.
| A．there are some genius ideas on the Internet |
| B．almost anything is available on the Internet |
| C．people can find good bargains on the Internet |
| D．people are free to do anything on the Internet |
What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?
A．There is a link b etween income and computer ownership. |
| B．Many American children don’t put computers to good use. |
| C．Studies show that boys are more computer literate than girls. |
| D．The U.S. will stay ahead in the information technology in years. |
Which sentence has the phrase that has the same meaning as the one underlined in the fifth paragraph?
| A．Some can tell you that he has changed their lives, while others think nothing of him. |
| B．Think nothing of it. It was my pleasure. |
| C．He thinks nothing of staying up all night in the Café bar. |
| D．He thinks nothing of the pain in his back for the moment. |
What is the message the author intends to convey?
| A．The Internet is going to get firm hold of our lives some day. |
| B．The Internet is going to influence our lives even more greatly. |
| C．We should have a positive attitude towards the changes the Internet brings. |
| D．Children should be well prepared for the challenges in the information age. |
You speak, write a letter, make a telephone. Your words carry a message. People communicate with words. Do you think you can communicate without words? A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad.
When you put up your hands in class, the teacher 
knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head, and people know you are saying "No". You nod and people know you are saying "Yes". Other things can also carry messages. For example, a sign at the bus helps you to know which bus to take. A sign on the door helps you where to go in or out. Have you ever thought that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time? People can communicate in many other ways. An artist can use his drawing to tell beautiful mountains, about the blue sea and many other things. Books are written to tell about all the wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas. Books, magazines, TV, radio and films all help us communicate with others. They can help us to know what is going on in the world and what other people are thinking about.People communicate ________.
| A．with words only | B．in many different ways |
| C．in letters and drawings | D．with smiles, tears and hands |
Signs can carry as many _________ as words.
| A．questions | B．examples | C．tears and smiles | D．messages |
Which of the following is not talked in the passage as which can help us communicate?
| A．books and magazines | B．TV and films | C．newspapers | D．radio |
Communication is important because it can help people to ______.
| A．understand the world and other people better around us. |
| B．teach each other to speak, write, read and draw. |
| C．know what other people are thinking about |
| D．learn about mountains,blue sea and other things. |
The best title（题目）for this short passage is _________.
| A．Signs Carry Messages | B．The important Communication |
| C．Words, Signs and Drawing | D．Ways of Communication. |
The word “day” has two meanings. When we talk about the number of days in a year, we are using “day” to mean 24 hours. But when we talk about day and night, we are using “day” to mean the time between sunrise and sunset. Since the earth looks like a ball, the sun can shine on only half of it at a time. Always one half of the earth is having day and the other half night. A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by the spinning(旋转) of the earth. At the equator(赤道) day and night are sometimes the same length. They are each twelve hours long. The sun rises at 6 in the morning and sets at 6 in the evening. For six months the North Pole is tilted(倾斜) toward the sun. In those months the Northern Hemisphere(半球) gets more hours of sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere. Days are longer than nights. South of the equator nights are longer than days. For the other six months the North Pole is tilted away from the sun. Then the Southern Hemisphere gets more sunlight. Days are longer than night. North of the equator nights are longer than days. Winter is the season of long nights. Summer is the season of long days.When the Western Hemisphere is having day, the Eastern Hemisphere is having ______.
| A．both day and night | B．day | C．neither day nor night | D．night |
A place is moved from day into night and from night into day over and over by ______ of the earth.
| A．the pushing | B．the pulling | C．the spinning | D．the passing |
At the equator day is as long as night ______.
| A．sometimes | B．never | C．usually | D．always |
When the North Pole is tilted toward the sun, the Northern Hemisphere gets _____ sunlight.
| A．less | B．more | C．all | D．no |
When it is winter in China, ______.
| A．the USA is tilted toward the sun |
| B．the South Pole is tilted away from the sun |
| C．the North Pole is tilted toward the sun |
| D．the North Pole is tilted away from the sun |
Are you looking for something fun and would you like to help others in your spare time? Then join us to be a volunteer! We’re a non-profit (赢利的) organization. We have volunteer jobs of all ages. Anyone, from twelve-year-old children to people in their seventies can become a volunteer.
You can help people in many ways. Schools need help with taking care of children while parents are working. Hospitals need volunteers to look after children while their parents are seeing a doctor. Animal lovers can help take care of those dogs and cats without homes. There is something for everyone.
“As a volunteer, I don’t want to get anything. Seeing the children’s happy faces, I’m happy, too.” Said Carlos Domingo, an old woman of 62. “I often played computer games in my spare time before. Now I help older people learn how to use computers.” said another volunteer at the age of 18.
If everyone helps out a bit, we’ll have a better world to live in. Interested? Call us 1-800-555-5756 or visit our website: www.activol.com.When do the volunteers help others?
| A．In their spare time. | B．At weekends | C．On weekdays. | D．In the evenings. |
_____ can be a volunteer.
| A．Children | B．Old women | C．Anyone aged 12-70 | D．Young people |
Volunteers want to get _______ when they help others.
| A．money | B．computers | C．everything | D．nothing |
Carlos Domingo does volunteer work with ______.
| A．animals | B．children | C．computers | D．older people |
We can read such a passage ______.
| A．in a newspaper | B．in a storybook | C．in a picture book | D．in a textbook |
What is your favorite color? Do you like yellow, orange, red? Do you prefer grays and blues? Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be pessimist. At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of color preference, as well as the effect that colors have on human beings.
If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly
A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day.
A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自杀) than any other bridge in the area-until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.
It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or gray.
| A．On the other hand, black is depressing. |
| B．They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favorite color as grow up—we are born with our preference. |
| C．The rooms are pained in different colors as you like. |
| D．If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement. |
E. Light and bright colors make people not only happier but more active.
F. Life is like a picture or a poem, full of different colors.
G. Colors do influence our moods-there is no doubt about it.
How I Turned to Be Optimistic
I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt’s house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America .We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school 
children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought abou
t all the places I was going to see-the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost-having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times”.
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule: almost all common trouble eventually go away! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.How did the author get to know America?
| A．From her relatives |
| B．From her mother |
C．From books a nd pictures |
| D．From radio programs |
Upon leaving for America the author felt .
| A．confused | B．excited |
| C．worried | D．amazed |
For the first two years in New York, the author .
| A．often lost her way |
| B．did not think about her future |
| C．studied in three different schools |
| D．got on well with her stepfather |
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