Have you ever heard of blogs (博客)? If you haven’t, you should have. It’s here, it’s growing and it’s having an influence on our life. Surf the Internet and you’ll find blogs everywhere. A blog, shortened from “weblog”, is a public Internet journal written by one person or a group of people. It is a website in which a person or a group can place news, personal thoughts, text, photos, video or audio files, or links upon which visitors can comment. A blog lets you post on the Internet without having to know web design or be technical. You are given an environment to make dated entries on the topic of your choice which are “published”, so other people can read them.
Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Blogging has revolutionized Internet publishing in the last several years because it gives everyone with Internet access the opportunity to become an online writer. Objects, such as “text and photos” in a blog can be called “blog posts”, “posts”, or “entries”. The person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”.
Now, somewhere around the world, a blog is created almost every 6 seconds. Because it’s great potential, Bill Gates views it as important as e-mail, BBS, and MSN. He’s trying to make blogs the important tools for future business communications.A blog is .
| A．a comment | B．an Internet journal |
| C．a design | D．a link |
A person can do the following things in a blog EXCEPT _______.
| A．talk to others | B．give comments | C．read articles | D．enjoy photos |
Who is a blogger?
| A．A person who posts letters. |
| B．A person who writes articles. |
| C．A person who posts text or photos in a blog. |
| D．A person who is an online publisher. |
According to the passage, the reason why blogs are so popular is that they ____.
| A．give everyone the chance to be an online writer |
| B．can be created by people without much knowledge of computer technology |
| C．enable a blogger to place news, personal thoughts, text and photos and give comments |
| D．all of the above |
“Eat local. ” It’s one way to reduce human effect on the planet. Eating local means to try to buy and consume foods that are grown in places close to home. However, most of the food sold at supermarkets is not locally grown or produced. Trucks and planes deliver these foods from hundreds or thousands of miles away. During the transportation, greenhouse(温室)gases are produced, causing global warming. So the shorter the distance your foods must travel, the less the harm is done to the environment.
But how do you get local food if you live in a large city, hundreds of miles away from farms？Environmental health scientist Dickson Despommier and his students came up with the idea of a “vertical(垂直的) farm”. 
A vertical farm is a glass-walled structure that could be built as tall as a skyscraper(摩天大楼). Since the garden is built upwards, rather than outwards, it requires much less space than an ordinary farm. The world is quickly running out of room for ordinary farming. Vertical farms could be a key to this situation. Despommier imagines a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor. The walls of the building would be clear, to allow crops to get as much sunlight as possible. Depending on a city’s water resources, Despommier thinks hydroponic(水培的) farming is another method for the vertical farm which needs no soil to grow plants.
Despommier says the hydroponic greenhouses would use a system that would use a city’s waste water and fill it with nutritions to make the crops grow. If this method works, it would provide food to a city and save millions of tons of water.
The idea of a vertical farm has attracted the attention of government officials around the world. Scott Stringer, a government official from New York City, thinks the city is suitable for the vertical farming. “Obviously we don’t have much land left for us,” Stringer said. “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan. ”
Despommier admits that there is still a lot of work to do to make vertical farms a reality. “But I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way,” he says.Why are people advised to eat local?
| A．Because it means convenience(方便) to people. |
| B．Because it can help people save a lot of money. |
| C．Because local food has more nutrition. |
| D．Because it is environmentally friendly. |
Which is one of the vertical farm’s benefits when compared with ordinary farming?
| A．It produces healthier food. |
| B．It does less harm to the cities. |
| C．It needs less space of the city. |
| D．It requires less transport costs. |
By saying “the sky is the limit in Manhattan”, Stringer means _____.
| A．people can make full use of vertical space of Manhattan |
| B．there is a limit for using empty land in Manhattan |
| C．the height of buildings in Manhattan is limited |
| D．Manhattan can spread as far as possible |
Verbier language school
Beginner? Fluent? Young? Young at heart? VLS can help you learn or improve your language skills in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere with fun, professional teachers.
What we offer:
·Individual (个人) and group French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Swedish lessons for children and adults.
·Exam preparation for TEFL, TOEFL, IELTS, Common Entrance, GCSE.
·Summer course.
·Translation services.
·Summer immersion (浸泡式) camps—language and activities including cooking, performances, art and crafts, walking, biking, various sports etc. 9am—4pm (lunch included)
·Winter immersion camps—language and skiing. 9am—4pm (lunch included)
Course + prices (Prices shown are for 1 hour lessons, per student):
| Private lessons |
90 dollars |
| Semi-private (2 people) |
50 dollars |
| Group lessons (3-6 people) |
30 dollars |
Private—one-to-one tuition focusing on the individual needs of the student.
Group—learn in a relaxed and fun environment.
Maximum of 6 students per group so there are still plenty of chances to ask questions.
Children—learning with fun and games in private or group lessons.
Corporate—arrange private or group classes for your company aimed at your specific needs.
Conditions
·If registering by phone and email, classes are not confirmed(确认) until a deposit(定金) has been received via the bank or Paypal. Please contact us for bank details.
·Payment for the classes must be paid in full in advance or at each lessons.
·Students must complete a test at their first lesson to make sure of their level.
Contact us
By post: Verbier Language School, Centre de l’Etoile, Case Postal 475, Rue de M dran 6, 1936 Verbier, Switzerland
By phone: + 41 (0) 79 653 22 27
By email: info@verbierlanguageschool.comIn the first paragraph, “Young at heart” refers to ___________.
| A．optimistic people | B．people with a strong heart |
| C．old professional teachers | D．the elderly people |
It can be inferred that IELTS is _________.
| A．a language course | B．a language test |
| C．a sports competition | D．a summer camp |
.John and his father both attend the Group lessons to learn German. They learn two hours each day. How much do they need to pay per day?
| A．200 dollars | B．180 dollars | C．120 dollars | D．60 dollars |
In their first lesson, students are required to _______.
| A．report their interest | B．take an exam | C．complete a form | D．pay by credit card |
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
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 and... I became invisible, absent from the conversation. The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction（互动）. With email 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. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated（自动化）, the alienation index（疏远指数） goes up. You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person any more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn't wise... they're a great help to us. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.
More and more. I find myself hiding behind email 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 ...or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts.
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 at home.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Advance of Communications Technology |
| B．The Consequences of modern Technology |
| C．The Story of Communications Revolution |
| D．The Automation of Modern Communications |
The sentence “Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent” means that ________.
| A．the people sitting beside you have to go away to receive a phone call |
| B．you can hardly get in touch with the people sitting beside you |
| C．modern technology makes it hard for people to have a face-to-face talk |
| D．people can now go to work without going to the office |
The writer feels that the use of modern communications is ________.
| A．satisfying | B．encouraging | C．disappointing | D．embarrassing |
The passage implies that ________.
| A．modern technology is bridging the people |
| B．modern technology is separating the people |
| C．modern technology is developing too fast |
| D．modern technology is interrupting our communication |
Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective in history. His astonishing power of observation and analysis meant that he was able to solve cases which left the real police completely perplexed. As a problem solver in the law forced business, he was a knowledgeable person equal to Superman, the comic book hero.
Like Superman, of course, Holmes did not exist. He was the creation of a Scottish doctor and novelist Arthur Conan Doyle, and remains one of the most famous literary fiction characters of all time.
Holmes’ general rule when trying to solve a case was as follows: completely get rid of the impossible. Then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
It’s said that Holmes’ powers of deduction (推断) were superhuman, particularly his ability to process information from what he observed. In a story called The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Holmes examines the area near a lake where a murder has been committed. The local police have already searched the area and found no clues. Holmes spends ten minutes in the area, and announces that the murderer “is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting boots and a gray coat, smokes Indian cigars, uses a cigar holder, and carries a penknife in his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be enough to aid us in our search.” Needless to say, he has found evidence to support all of these statements.
The fictional Holmes lived in an apartment at 221 Baker Street, a real street in Central London. When Conan Doyle wrote about Holmes, there was no 221 Baker Street, but after the street was extended northwards, there was. There is currently a bank at that address.
The fact that Holmes didn’t actually exist doesn’t stop thousands of people writing to him for help every year.The bank kindly responds to every letter they receive with the following message: “Mr. Holmes thanks you for your letter. At the moment he is retired in Sussex, keeping bees, and does not undertake detective work nowadays.”In the first paragraph the underlined word “perplexed” suggests that the police were _______
| A．confident | B．worried | C．confused | D．sure |
How does the writer describe Holmes and Superman?
| A．Neither Superman nor Holmes was a real character. |
| B．Both Superman and Holmes used super intellect to solve problems. |
| C．Superman was a comic book figure, while Holmes was a real detective. |
| D．Superman and Holmes were equally intelligent and brave. |
How did Holmes use his powers of deduction in the fourth paragraph?
| A．He spent a long time thinking about possible solutions. |
| B．He found clues to help him create a full description of a suspect. |
| C．He observed the crime area and guessed what happened. |
| D．He searched the area with the police and discussed with them, |
When letters are written to Holmes, _______
| A．he answers letters when he receives them |
| B．his secretary answers them for him. |
| C．the bank at 221 Baker Street where he used to live sends the letters back |
| D．the bank at his address replies that Holmes is no longer working as a detective |
It was time to break free.
I needed to run away and the Bloomsburg Fair was the best place to go.
I don’t know if you can call it running away wince it was only and hour away from my home. But once I entered the fair grounds, I crossed over into another world. The loudspeaker offered background music over the sounds of people of people talking, bargaining and food sellers yelling for your attention.
I belonged here. I didn’t know if I had it in my blood or not, but I always wanted to have a small food stand and travel in my off season from fair to fair selling goodies. Perhaps one day. It certainly wasn’t a priority(优先考虑的事)in my life , Perhaps it should be.
After I was there a while, I needed to get away to a quiet spot. Most of the time, I could find that anywhere the farm animals were kept. They needed the quiet. So I went there to find peace with the cows, goats, horses, pigs and yes, the turkeys. You'd think being this close to "Thanksgiving", they'd be a little scared, but they were not.
It was in the dairy barn（仓库）where I found peace this time. I so admired the young folks who tended to farm animals. I thought they had a greater appreciation for life. They participated in it firsthand. I once watched a young fanner help bring a baby cow into the world.
My favorite scene was to come across a young cowboy lying in the hay asleep among the cows that had settled down for a rest. There, with his heads in a small soft spot alongside his favorite cow, I had seen him in a much deserved sleep. Perhaps better at rest there than in his own bed.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a young teenage farm girl that day.
"You look so comfortable," I said to her.
"Oh I am," she said. "Life makes it comfortable for me."
"You mean being a farm girl?"
"No, Life! That's the name of my cow," she said, smiling as she gently patted the cow's side.
"I thought they called cows Betsy and Elsie. Why did you call her Life?"
“I discovered life again here. It was the only meaningful name that came to mind. I had been raised in the big city and really hated it. Then we moved to the country, running away from Lt all. I think my parents called it a mid-life crisis," she said, laughing.
"Oh, I can understand that. I've been in one since birth," I said.
"It was on the farm that I learned to love life again. I was there when Life was born. It was so exciting. My whole outlook on the world changed. So I named her Life. Now, I can say I really love 'Life'," she said.
"How amazing! I write stories and I am always trying to get people to enjoy life, to wake up each day expecting the best from it. But they all too often go to bed with so much bad stuff in their soul, and on their mind, that they wake up feeling bad and expect it to only get worse from there. All too often it does, just because that's all they choose to see in that otherwise perfectly beautiful day," I told her.
"That's too bad. They need to see a cow born, a chicken hatch. I guess they need to wake up early and hug Life!" she said, laughing.
"When was the last time you hugged Life?" she asked me.
"I am sorry to say even I have had trouble doing that lately," I said.
"Come here!" she said.
Then standing up and stepping aside, she said, "Go ahead…hug Life!"
I paused for a moment and dropping all thoughts of looking silly, I did. I hugged a cow.The writer went to the Bloomsburg Fair probably in order to .
| A．have fun | B．get ideas for writing |
| C．do shopping | D．escape something he disliked |
The following things happened in the Bloomsbury Fair except .
| A．food sellers' shouting |
| B．the writer's selling goodies |
| C．people's bargaining and talking |
| D．the loudspeaker's broadcasting music |
What can we learn from Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7_______?
| A．The writer tended to farm animals firsthand. |
| B．The cowboy was lazy and fell asleep among the cows. |
| C．The writer found peace where farm animals were kept. |
| D．The turkeys got into panic with "Thanksgiving" approaching |
The underlined word "it"（Paragraph 14）refers to .
| A．the city | B．the country | C．the barn | D．the fair |
The writer was surprised at the farm girl's words and he thought people often________.
| A．expected to get the best things |
| B．enjoyed perfectly beautiful days |
| C．ignored the bright side of each day |
| D．felt really bad due to poor sleep at night |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Farm Life and Happiness | B．Hugging Life |
| C．A Farm Girl and Her Cow | D．Enjoying Freedom |
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