What will city life be like in the future? Some people think that life in the cities is going to be horrible. They say that cities will become more and more crowded. As the number of people increases, there will be less space for each person. This overcrowding will cause other problems — more crime, dirtier streets , and worse problems with traffic than we have now. How will people find enough drinking water, energy (such as gas and electricity ), and housing? Because life will be hard, people who live in cities will worry more, and they may become sick. For these reasons, some say that nobody will want to live in city areas.
How can we deal with such problems as overcrowding, crime, and traffic? In some cities, thousands of people are already sleeping in the streets because there is little suitable housing — and because houses are too expensive. The crime rate isn’t going down. Instead, it is increasing so fast that many people are afraid to go out at night. Traffic is also getting worse. More and more often, traffic jams are so bad that cars don’t move at all for several streets. These problems have been getting worse, not better, so many people see no hope for the future of the city.
Los Angeles, California, for example, has no subway system and buses are slow. Instead, many commuters (乘、开车上班族) drive many miles from their homes to work. Many of these drivers spend several hours each day on busy freeways. New York, however, has a big transit system — buses, commuter trains, and subways. Because the public transportation is crowded and dirty, many people drive private cars, and the traffic jams are worse than that in Los Angeles. A taxi driver complains, “I was driving home, but in forty-five minutes I moved only two miles! Finally, I turned off the engine and just sat there. A lot of people left their cars where they were in the middle of the street and went into a bar for a few beers!”
On the other hand, some cities have clean, fast and pleasant public transportation systems. In Paris, France, and Toronto, Canada, for example, anyone can use buses or subways to move quickly from one part of the city to another.What do some people think is the main problem of the future city like?
| A．Poor housing. | B．Overcrowding. |
| C．Environmental pollution. | D．Traffic jams. |
The best way to work out the traffic problem in Los Angels might be _________________.
| A．cutting down the number of private cars |
| B．providing more buses in the freeway |
| C．building a subway system |
| D．persuading people to live nearer to their workplaces |
Which of the following sentences is NOT TRUE?
| A．Thousands of people are already sleeping in the streets. |
| B．The crime rate isn’t going down. |
| C．The traffic jams are so bad that cars don’t move at all for several streets. |
| D．Many people have a positive attitude towards the future of the city. |
How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time ? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演) and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day” they speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back
on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area？I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.
The first paragraph of the passage tells us that .
| A．we always try to find some time to write a book |
| B．we always make plans but seldom fulfill them |
| C．we always enjoy many of life's best moments |
| D．we always do what we really want to do |
The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6) most probably means .
| A．leave for | B．return to | C．give up | D．rely on |
The man ( paragraph 6) left his first job partly because he was .
| A．in an abnormal mental state | B．under too much pressure |
| C．not well paid | D．not respected |
What is probably the best title for the passage?
| A．Provide Homes For Our Family | B．Take Up Horse-riding |
| C．Value This Very Day | D．Stay Alive |
The iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, each of apple's products sounds cool and has become a pad (一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i”，-- and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer —which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the internet—adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear—popular in the US and UK—that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”.A slimmed-down version of London’s Independent newspaper，was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general，single-letter prefix have been popular since the 1990s，when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i”products are targeted at young people and considering the major readers of the Independent’s “i”，it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”.Why not use “a”，“b”or “c”instead？According to Tony Thorne，head of Language Center at King’s College，London，“i”works because its meaning has become ambiguous .When Apple uses “i”，no one knows whether it means internet，information，individual or interactive，Thorne told BBC magazines “even when Apple created the iPod，it seems it didn’t have one clear definition，”he says.
“However，thanks to Apple，the term is now associated with portability （轻便）， ”adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i”also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs，and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google”and “blog”，readers of BBC magazines voted “i”as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows，people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to the 1990s，products with “2000”in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However，as we entered the new century，the trend inevitably disappeared.
We can infer that the Independent’s “i”is aimed at _______.
| A．young readers | B．old readers | C．fashionable women | D．engineers |
Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime “business hours” are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week have become irrelevant. A half century ago in the United States, most people experienced strong and precise dividing lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the boundaries still exist, but they seem not clear. 
The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer; in most, it still does. And whether the work week should strengthen its legal limits, or whether it should become more “flexible,” is often debated. How should we, as a society, organize our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the boundaries of time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other? These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we rarely recognize the “law of time” even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to attend school a certain number of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years — but unless we meet the truant officer （学监）, we may well think that we should go to school due to social custom and parents’ demand rather than to the law. As adults we are familiar with “extra pay for overtime working,” but less familiar with the fact that what constitutes （构成） “overtime” is a matter of legal definition. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight-saving time, have we ever thought to ourselves: “Here is the law in action”? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has great influence on how we organize and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving law — as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess. . By saying “Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be”, the writer means that .
| A．work time is equal to rest time |
| B．many people have a day off on Monday |
| C．it is hard for people to decide when to rest |
| D．the line between work time and rest time is unclear |
The author raises the questions in Paragraph 2 to introduce the fact that people ________ .
| A．fail to make full use of their time | B．enjoy working overtime for extra pay |
| C．are unaware of the law of time | D．welcome flexible working hours |
According to the passage, most children tend to believe that they go to school because they ______.
| A．need to acquire knowledge | B．have to obey their parents |
C．need to find companions | D．have to observe the law |
The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph probably refers to ___
_____ .
| A．influence |
| B．overtime |
| C．a law of time |
| D．being late to work |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Our life is governed by the law of time. | |
| B．How to organize time is not worth debating. |
C．New ways of using time change our society. |
| D．Our time schedule is decided by social customs. |
Movies in the theater get their recognition at awards ceremonies, such as the Oscars. But how about movies for phones? They are getting their turn at MoFilm—the first mobile film festival.
The first MoFilm competition received 250 entries from more than 100 countries. Entries were restricted to films that were five minutes or less in length—ideal 
forviewing and sharing on mobile phones. An independent jury then selected a shortlist of five film-makers. The winner was chosen from the shortlist by an audience voting using their phones.
New Platforms
The awards highlight the increasing impact that mobile phones are making in the entertainment industry. Many grassroots filmmakers start out with short films. They are thwarted by the lack of opportunities to screen their work. Therefore, mobile phones are increasingly being seen as a new platform for these short works.
It is a good place for anyone who wants to express themselves and find a way to have that expression be seen by a wide audience. Just think about how many people have mobile phones in the w
orld!
New Technology Advances
MoFilm is pioneering content for mobile and online services that is a world away from Hollywood. The majority of films made for mobiles are now short in length, taking into account the screen size. However this could be overcome as technology advances.
In the near future, longer films will likely be seen on the mobile phone. And there are mobile companies creating phones where users can watch movies at higher quality.
Wherever you see movies, one thing is certain: the quality of work, the simple ability at story telling, and the thing that inspires someone to tell a story can really come from anywhere. At the first MoFilm, .
| A．movies in the theater got their recognition |
| B．more than 100 countries took part in the competition |
| C．ideal films were five minutes or less in length |
| D．the winner was chosen by experts' voting |
They are thwarted by the lack of opportunities to screen their work. The underlined word means “ ”.
| A．disappointed | B．surprised | C．frightened | D．encouraged |
Nowadays the majority of films made for mobiles are short in length because of .
| A．online services | B．the mobile phone | C．technology advances | D．the screen size |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Putting Movies on Mobiles |
| B．Introduction of Latest Mobile Phones |
| C．Mobile Phones’ Ceremonies |
| D．Film Awards Broadcast on Mobile Phones |
Which statement is NOT true?
| A．MoFilm is not a part of Hollywood. |
| B．Mobile phones are considered to be a new platform for short films. |
| C．MoFilm get their recognition through Oscars. |
| D．Films made for mobiles will likely be cleaner. |
Like distance runners on a measured course, all of us will move through time in a roughly predictable pattern.
In the first stage of our lives, we develop and grow, reaching toward the top of physical vitality (活力,生气).
After we grow up, however, the body begins a process of gradually wearing out.
A new awareness of physical fitness may help lengthen our years of health and vitality, yet nothing we do will work to stop the unavoidable force of aging.
Most of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body. The lungs become less able to take in oxygen. Powerful muscles gradually lose their strength. The heart loses power and pumps less blood. Bones grow easier to break.
Finally, we meet a stress, a stress that is greater than our physical resistance. Often, it is only a minor accident or chance infection (a disease caused by virus), but this time, it brings life to an end.
In 1932, a classic experiment nearly doubled the lifetime of rats, simply by cutting back the calories in their diet. The reason for the effect was then unknown.
Today, at the University of California at Berkley, Dr. Paul Seagle has also greatly lengthened the normal lifetime of rats. The result was achieved through a special protein limited diet, which had a great effect on the chemistry of the brain. Seagle showed that within the brain, specific chemicals control many of the signals that influence aging. By changing that chemical balance, the clock of aging can be reset.
For the first time, the mystery of why we age is being seriously challenged. Scientists in ma
ny fields are now making striking and far-reaching discoveries.
An average lifetime lasts 75 years, yet in each of us lies a potential for a longer life. If we could keep the vitality and resistance to disease that we have at age twenty, we would live for 800 years. What does the underlined word “it” refer to?
| A．Physical vitality. | B．Stress. | C．Aging. | D．Physical resistance. |
Which of the following is not a change of aging?
| A．The lungs become unable to take in oxygen. |
| B．People gradually lose their muscle strength. |
| C．The heart loses power and pumps less blood. |
| D．Bones tend to break more easily. |
The author believes the following except that ________.
| A．human’s life pattern is predictable |
| B．physical fitness can’t stop the force of aging |
| C．human’s lifetime will last longer than 75 years |
| D．all of the changes of aging take place deep inside the body |
How did Dr. Paul Seagle lengthen the lifetime of rats in his experiment?
| A．By limiting the protein in their diet. | B．By cutting the calories in their diet. |
| C．By resetting their clock of aging. | D．By keeping their physical fitness. |
What is probably the best title for the article?
| A．Two Great Experiments | B．The Mystery of Human Life |
| C．Ways to lengthen Human Life | D．The Breakthrough in the Study of Aging |
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