News that Microsoft was making a $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo was greeted with heated discussion by many Internet users on Friday. Here are some responses:
Mark Galeassi of Kansas City, Missouri
This is the best move for both parties. Yahoo has the ideas and Microsoft has the money to finally market these ideas correctly. Microsoft and Yahoo are a perfect fit and the deal will be good for consumers.
Scott G of New Jersey
I was a Yahoo user for years along with Hotmail from Microsoft. Then Google came along: Google Earth, Google Toolbar and Gmail. Google is so innovative (创新的) with everything they do. Yahoo and Microsoft... same old story... I don’t think the merger (合并) will do anything for either company except improve the Yahoo shareholders’ bank accounts.
Michael Glosser of Estero, Florida
Right now, Yahoo offers a lot of features and tools at no cost for all different levels of Internet users. Microsoft seeks nothing but profit. Undoubtedly, they’ll do nothing other than find ways to start removing Yahoo’s formerly non-priced features. Microsoft’s greed will ruin the great thing that Yahoo currently is.
Toni Suarez of Hacienda Heights, California
Perhaps it would bring better high technology innovations to e-mail and help in researching and developing a better Internet!
Antonio Simmons of Parkville, Maryland
Microsoft purchasing Yahoo would be nothing more than an attempt from Microsoft to further impose upon the users their poor-quality software and obtain more wealth for the company. In my opinion, they will never be able to compete with Google because Yahoo and Microsoft’s current search engines are too inferior (差的) to compete. Even if combined, they still lack.Who is in favor of the merger of Microsoft and Yahoo?
| A．Antonio Simmons. | B．Michael Grosser. |
| C．Scott G. | D．Mark Galeassi. |
In the opinion of Scott G , _______.
| A．the merger will contribute to Microsoft |
| B．Yahoo and Microsoft are lacking in innovation |
| C．Google is getting short of management experience |
| D．the merger will allow Microsoft to overtake Google |
Michael Grosser is afraid that _______.
| A．the merger will cost Yahoo’s free features |
| B．the merger will lead to Microsoft’s defeating Yahoo |
| C．the increased competition will force Google out of the game |
| D．Internet users will have to buy Microsoft’s expensive software |
What is Antonio Simmons’ attitude towards Google?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Disapproval. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed from the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure（ 基础设施）that must be maintained.
Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It is not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.
Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.
Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipe almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.
Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is lack of money. The United States has 378 mountains, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.
Yosemite is one national park that does have money fro repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park.
A Sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowed park. According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when
they are appreciated from _______ .
| A．the bottom of the valleys | B．the top of the mountains |
| C．the side of the mountains | D．the edge of the valleys |
National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to
meet the need of visitors because _______ .
| A．their transport management needs improving |
| B．they spend too much on their service systems |
| C．their service systems frequently go out of order |
| D．they need help from environmental organizations |
The main problem of Yosemite Park is its ________ .
| A．modern water pipes | B．overcrowdedness | C．lack of water | D．narrow roads |
According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be _______ .
| A．an environmental group | B．an information center |
| C．a travel service | D．a law firm |
Compassion is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into action. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register(收款机) with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash(现金), had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.
Icouldn’t help staring at him. I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world. I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.
Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable. “Charge it to me,” was all he said.
What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either. Then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion. The aged gentleman who wanted to buy the biscuits ______.
| A．promised to obey the store rules |
| B．forgot to take any money with him |
| C．hoped to have the food first and pay later |
| D．could not afford anything more expensive |
Which of the following best describes the old gentleman?
| A．kind and lucky | B．poor and lonely |
| C．friendly and helpful | D．hurt and disappointed |
The writer acted upon the store rules because ______.
| A．he wanted to keep his present job |
| B．he felt no pity for the old gentleman |
| C．he considered the old man dishonest |
| D．he expected someone else to pay for the old man |
What does the writer learn from his experience?
| A．Wealth is more important than anything else. |
| B．Helping others is easier said than done. |
| C．Experience is better gained through practice. |
| D．Obeying the rules means more than compassion. |
Most people around the world are right-handed . This also seems to be true in history . In 1799 , scientists studied works of art made at different times from 1,500 B.C. to the 1950s . Most of the people shown in these works are right-handed , so the scientists guessed that right-handedness has always been common through history . Today , only about 10% to 15% of the world’s population is left-handed .
Why are there more right-handed people than left-handed ones ? Scientists now know that a person’s two hands each have their own jobs . For most people , the left hand is used to find things or hold things . The right hand is used to work with things. This is because of the different work of the two sides of the brain . The right side of the brain , which makes a person’s hands and eyes work together , controls the left person’s hands and eyes work together , controls the left hand . The left-side of the brain , which controls the right hand , is the centre for thinking and doing problems . These findings show that more artists should be left-handed , and studies have found that left-handedness is twice as common among artists as among people in other jobs .
No one really knows what makes a person become right-handed instead of left-handed . Scientists have found that almost 40% of the people become left-handed because their main brain is damaged when they are born . However , this doesn’t happen to everyone , so scientists guess there must be another reason why people become left-handed . One idea is that people usually get right-handed from their parents . If a person does not receive the gene（基因）for right-handedness , he / she may become either right-handed or left-handed according to the chance and the people they work or live with .
Though right-handedness is more common than left-handedness , people no longer think left-handed people are strange or unusual . A long time ago , left-handed children were made to use their right hands like other children , but today they don’t have to . After studying works of art made at different times in history , the scientists found .
A. art began from 1, 500 B.C.
B. the works of are ended in the 1950s
C. most people shown in the works of art are right-handed
D. most people shown in the works of art are left-handedHow many people in the world are left-handed now ?
| A．Less than one sixth . | B．More than a half . |
| C．About 40% . | D．The passage doesn’t tell us . |
What is the left hand for most people used to do ?
| A．It’s used to find or hold things . |
| B．It’s used to work with things . |
| C．It’s used to make a person’s eyes work together . |
| D．It’s the centre for thinking and doing problems . |
According to the passage , which of the following is NOT true ?
| A．No one really knows what makes a person become right-handed . |
| B．Left-handedness is cleverer than right-handedness . |
| C．Today children are not made to use their right hands only . |
| D．Scientists think there must be some reason why people become left-handed . |
The best title for this passage is .
| A．Scientist’s New Inventions |
| B．Left-handed People |
| C．Which Hand |
| D．Different Brains , Different Hands |
Parents have widely different views on the problem of pocket money . Four new fathers were asked this question and this is how they answered .
Ashish Khanna :Although many argue that pocket money helps develop children’s sense of value , I don’t agree . I wouldn’t give my child any pocket money . First of all , I never got pocket money and I seem to have a good value for money . If my child ever needed something and I felt it was a reasonable（合理）request , I would buy it for him .
Sharad Sanghi : No , I wouldn’t give my child pocket money because I don’t want to create the perception（观念） of “ her ” money and “ my ” money . Besides , if I refuse to buy her something that I think is bad for her , she may buy it with her pocket money on the sly . In this way , I would lose control over my child’s requests . I feel it also encourages children to care more about money than anything else . I don’t want my child to start judging other children by the amount of money or pocket money they have .
Rakesh Shah : Yes , I would give my child pocket money . I feel that children should learn to spend money intelligently and not go overboard spending . They will learn what their limitations（限制）are and feel the difficulty when they have to pay for something that is over in their own pockets .
Rajiv Patel : Yes , I would give my child pocket money because it is important that she learns to manage money . I will give her a fixed amount every month and if she spends the money before the month is over , then she will learn a lesson and not spend money so freely .
Vikram Desai : Yes , I would certainly give my child pocket money . But I would not give it to him on a weekly or monthly basis . He would have to earn it . If he helped me finish some of my jobs or helped his mother with housework , I would reward him . This helps him realize that “ money does not grow on trees ” and it requires hard work to earn money .Ashish Khanna may agree that .
| A．he was given too much pocket money when young |
| B．he can take much control of his child by money |
| C．he will buy anything he thinks his child really needs |
| D．pocket money helps children develop a good value for money |
The underlined phrase “ on the sly ” in Paragraph 3 is the closest in meaning to “ ”.
| A．for free | B．at a lower price | C．happily | D．secretly |
What do Rakesh Shah and Rajiv Patel have in common ?
| A．They want their children to learn to manage money . |
| B．They ask their children to get pocket money by working . |
| C．They teach their children the difficulty of making money . |
| D．They allow their children to spend money freely . |
According to Vikram Desai , children’s earning money by themselves makes them know that .
| A．money is not easy to get |
| B．money can be gotten from the trees |
| C．one can get lots of money if he / she works hard |
| D．money is not so important for people nowadays |
Who would give his child pocket money every month ?
| A．Ashish Khanna . | B．Sharad Sanghi . | C．Rakesh Shah . | D．Rajiv Patel . |
A painting by Chinese artist Qi Baishi set a record for modern art and calligraphy (书法) on the mainland when it sold for 425.5 million yuan at an auction (拍卖) on May 22. The sale was a milestone (里程碑) in the auction of modern and contemporary artworks.
The price meant its value had risen more than 2,000 per cent in six years . The work , Eagle standing on pine tree with four-character coupleti（对联）, measures about 2.6 metres by 1 metre . It was the second highest price paid for an artwork on the mainland . A Song dynasty work by Huang Tingjian was sold for 436.8 million yuan in 2010 . Qi’s painting was finished in 1946 when Qi was 86 , and was his largest work . With a starting price of 88 million yuan , it attracted nearly 50 bids（出价）in half an hour . Shanghai businessman Liu Yiqian said that the work had belonged to him and had cost less than 20 million yuan in 2005 . The auction company said the work was brought back to the mainland after being bought from a private owner in San Francisco six years ago .
China ranked first in global art sales last year , ahead of the United States and Britain . Four Chinese artists were among the top 10 in worldwide sales : Qi Baishi , Zhang Daqian , Xu Beihong and Fu Baoshi . Qi’s works ranked second in sales to Pablo Picasso’s last year . Qi was born into a peasant family in Hunan in 1864 . He taught himself to paint and focused on nature including plants , insects , birds and fish . He is mostly well-known for his paintings of shrimps . In 1953 , he was elected president of the Association of Chinese Artists . He died in Beijing in 1957 .What’s the best title of the text ?
| A．Qi Baishi’s Painting Was Discovered . |
| B．Qi Baishi’s Painting Was Brought Back . |
| C．Qi Baishi’s Painting Sets an Auction Record . |
| D．The Value of Qi Baishi’s Paintings Is on the Increase . |
Whose artwork sold for the highest price on the mainland ?
| A．Qi Baishi’s . | B．Huang Tingjian’s . |
| C．Xu Beihong’s . | D．Zhang Daqian’s . |
The auction price of Qi’s painting was million yuan higher than the starting price in the auction .
| A．337.5 . | B．348.8 . | C．50 . | D．11.3 . |
Which of the following is TRUE ?
| A．Qi finished the painting when he was young . |
| B．The painting was once stolen by an American . |
| C．The owner of this painting Liu Yiqian gained a lot of money . |
| D．Pablo Picasso’s works ranked second in sales to Qi’s last year . |
The text is most probably taken from a .
| A．computer book | B．library guide |
| C．technology magazine | D．newspaper report |
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