When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication． For the first time, people could talk to each other over great distances almost as clearly as if they were in the same room． Nowadays, though, we increasingly use Bell' s invention for taking photographs, accessing the internet, or watching video clips, rather than talking． Over the last two decades a new means of spoken communication has appeared: the mobile phone．
The first real mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper, the scientist who invented the modem mobile handset． Within a decade, mobile phones became available to the public． The streets of modem cities began to feature sharp-suited characters shouting into giant plastic bricks． In Britain the mobile phone quickly became the same with the "yuppie" , the new type of young urban professionals who carried the expensive handsets as status symbols． Around this time many of us said that we would never own a mobile phone．
But in the mid-90s, something happened． Cheaper handsets and cheaper calling rates meant that, almost overnight, it seemed that everyone had a mobile phone． And the giant plastic bricks of the 80s had changed into smooth little objects that fitted nicely into pockets and bags．
Moreover, people' s timekeeping changed． Younger readers will be amazed to know that, not long ago, people made spoken arrangements to meet at a certain place at a certain time． But later Meeting times became approximate under the new order of communication: the Short Message Service （SMS） or text message． Going to be late? Send a text message! It takes much less effort than arriving on time, and it' s much less awkward than explaining your lateness face to face and the text message has changed the way we write in English． Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important when you' re sitting on the bus, hurriedly typing "Will B 15mm late - C U @ the bar． Sorry! - ）"．
Alexander Graham Bell would be amazed if he could see how far the science of telephony has progressed in less than 150 years．If he were around today, he might say "That' s gr8! But I' m v busy rite now．Will call U 2nite．"What does the underlined part in Para． 2 refer to?
| A．Houses of modern cities． | B．Sharp-suited characters． |
| C．New type of professionals． | D．Mobile phones． |
According to Paragraph 4, why did Meeting times become approximate?
| A．People were more likely to be late for their meeting． |
| B．SMS made it easier to inform each other． |
| C．Young people don' t like unchanging things． |
| D．Traditional customs were dying out． |
If you want to meet your friend at the school gate this evening, which of the following message can you send him?
| A．Call U@ SKUg8 2nite． | B．IM2BZ2CU 2nite． |
| C．CU@ the bar g8 2nite． | D．W84U@ SKUg8 2nite． |
What does the passage mainly tell us about?
| A．Alexander Graham' s invention． |
| B．SMS @ a new way of communication． |
| C．New functions of the mobile telephone． |
| D．The development of the mobile phone． |
Robots are smart. With their computer brains, they help people work in dangerous places or do difficult jobs. Some robots do regular jobs. Bobby, the robot mail carrier, brings mail to a large office building in Washington, D.C. He is one of 250 robot mail carriers in the United States. Mr. Leachim, who weights two hundred pounds and is six feet tall, has some advantages as a teacher. One is that he does not forget details. He knows each child’s name, their parents’ names, and what each child knows and needs to know. In addition, he knows each child’s pets and hobbies. Mr. Leachim does not make mistakes. Each child goes and tells him his or her name, then dials an identification (识别) number. His computer brain puts the child’s voice and number together. He identifies the child with no mistakes.
Another advantage is that Mr. Leachim is flexible. If the children need more time to do their lessons they can move switches. In this way they can repeat Mr. Leachim’s lesson over and over again. When the children do a good job, he tells them something interesting about their hobbies. At the end of the lesson the children switch Mr. Leachim off. The first paragraph of the passage tells us
| A．human beings are not as smart as robots |
| B．robots will take the place of man to rule the earth |
| C．we can only use robots to do some regular jobs |
| D．robots can help people in many different ways |
What is the most important thing Mr. Leachim can do in his lessons?
| A．To meet the needs of each student. |
| B．To talk to the students in different languages. |
| C．To keep everyone’s interest in his lessons. |
| D．To introduce more hobbies to the children. |
The underlined word “flexible” probably means
| A．not strict | B．not hard |
| C．suitable | D．changeable |
Which of the following statements may be TRUE according to the passage?
A. There are 250 robot teachers in the United States.
B. Mr. Leachim is run and controlled by electricity.
C. Bobby works in a large office building in Washington D.C.
D. The lessons taught by Mr. Leachim are given on a TV set.
Once my friend Peterson bought a pack of chicken, the brand of which was very famous at that time. But when he got home he found that the chicken had gone bad. He took the chicken back to the shop and he was paid twice of the price. We may say now he should have been satisfied but my friend would not like to stop. He decided to write a letter to Frank, president of the company, who was also the founder of the chicken brand.
About a week later he received a letter written by the president himself. In the letter he apologized to my friend for it whole –heartedly .There was also a card in the envelope ,with which my friend could get another pack of chicken in any of the shops. In the end my friend was asked to answer some questions.
1. When and where did you buy the chicken?
2. What was the real problem of the chicken?
3. What did the shop ass istant say when you took the chicken back to the shop?
4. W hat do you think is the reason for the chicken to go bad?
5. What do you suggest we should do to get away from such problems?
Two days later, my friend also received a telephone call from the president’s office, asking whether he had received the letter as well as the card and then some other questions. Since then, my friend has always bought chicken of this brand whenever he wants to.What did the friend get when he took the bad chicken back to the shop?
| A．Another pack of chicken. |
| B．Two packs of chicken. |
| C．Double the price. |
| D．A whole-hearted apology. |
What did the author’s friend do when he came back from the shop after he was paid back?
| A．He felt satisfied with the result. |
| B．He wrote a letter to the President of the US. |
| C．He became very angry with the shop assistant. |
| D．He wrote a letter to the president of the company. |
What is the author’s friend’s attitude towards the chicken brand?
| A．He still believes in it. |
| B．He doesn’t believe it at all. |
| C．He will never buy it again. |
| D．He has never been satisfied with it. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The company may still be a top brand now. |
| B．The president of the company is a responsible person. |
| C．The company must have closed down. |
| D．The author may also believe in the chicken brand. |
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic/interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our points of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail — other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merit of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our mind or prey on our vulnerability. Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
| A．changing others’ points of view |
| B．exercising power over other people |
| C．getting other people to consider your point of view |
| D．getting people to agree with you and do what you want |
The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means________.
| A．win | B．fail | C．speak | D．listen |
The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
| A．a danger to society | B．difficult to do well |
| C．unwelcome behavior | D．never successful |
The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．how people persuade |
| B．why people persuade |
| C．that persuasion is both good and bad |
| D．that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
A new study says one part of the human brain may become smaller as the result of a condition known as jet lag. Jet lag results from flying long distances in an airplane. Jet lag interferes with a person's normal times for sleeping and waking. People with jet lag may feel extremely tired for several days. They also may have problems thinking clearly and remembering.
Kwangwook Cho is a researcher at the University of Bristol in Britain. He reported the findings of his jet lag study in the publication Nature Neuroscience.
The study involved twenty young women who worked for international airlines. The women had served passengers on airplanes for five years. These flight attendants flew across many countries and at least seven time zones. In the study, the flight attendants had different amounts of time to recover from jet lag. Half the women spent five days or fewer in their home areas between long flights. The other half spent more than fourteen days in their home areas.
Mister Cho took some fluid from the women's mouths to measure levels of a hormone that increases during stress. He tested them to see if they could remember where black spots appeared on a computer screen. And he took pictures of their brains using magnetic resonance imaging. This is a way to measure the size of the brain's temporal lobes.
It was found that the women who had less time between flights had smaller right temporal lobes. This area of the brain deals with recognizing and remembering what is seen. The same group performed worse and had slower reaction times on the visual memory test. And their saliva samples showed higher levels of stress hormones.
Mister Cho says he believes the brain needs at least ten days to recover after a long trip. He says airline workers told him their ability to remember got worse after working on planes for about four years. Other studies have shown that increased feelings of stress can cause a loss of cells in the part of the brain that controls memory.
Scientists say more tests are needed to study the effects of jet lag on the brain. They want to find out if too much jet lag could permanently affect memory.According to the text, jet lag _____.
| A．can cause difficulties in speaking |
| B．can make people feel tired for a few weeks |
| C．is the illness only found in people who work on the airplanes |
| D．can be caused by flying over several time zones in an airplane |
It is inferred that more tests need to be done because _____.
| A．the conclusion was questioned by many scientists |
| B．scientists fear that his research is not done properly |
| C．every scientific conclusion needs the support from many tests |
| D．the woman who were studied in the research were not healthy |
What is the subject discussed in the test?
| A．The cause of jet lag. |
| B．A story of a group of flight attendance. |
| C．A research about the effects of jet lag on the brain. |
| D．The importance of having enough rest after long flights. |
The Channel is the name given to the stretch of water which separates England and France. Ferries operate all year round to carry people across the Channel, and they are busy most of the year. January is the only quiet month nowadays. As well as summer holiday-makers, there are day trippers and coach traffic, not to mention lorries and other commercial vehicles. Some ferries carry cars and their passengers, while others also connect train passengers with the Continental rail network.
The biggest hazard for the ferry is the wind. The crew listens to BBC weather reports four times a day. Or they sometimes get gale warnings from local radio station.
Crossing the Channel by ferry is a bit like trying to cross Oxford Street on a busy afternoon, according to one ferryboat captain. The ferries from Folkstone and Dover to Calais and Boulogne have to cross the main flow of traffic. This consists of ships traveling through the Channel to and from Northern Europe. There may be four hundred ships making the journey at any one time, and they all pass through a “choke point” which is only fifteen miles (twenty-five kilometers) wide. The cross-channel ferries have to sail right through the middle of all this traffic.The passage is mainly concerned with _____.
| A．the English Channel |
| B．the weather on the Channel |
| C．cross-channel ferries |
| D．what crossing the Channel by ferry is like |
The word hazard is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．trouble | B．danger | C．enemy | D．problem |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．if there is a gale warning from the BBC, the ferries will stop operating. |
| B．the traffic on the Channel is very busy only in winter |
| C．ferries are busiest in the afternoon |
| D．the crew of the ferry listens to the weather reports four times a day |
Where does this passage most probably appear?
| A．In a dictionary. | B．In a novel. |
| C．In a transportation magazine. | D．In a geography textbook. |
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