The bedroom door opened and a light went on, signaling an end to nap time．The toddle（初学走路的婴儿）, sleepy-eyed, clambered to a swinging stand in his crib．He smiled, reached out to his father, and uttered what is fast becoming the cry of his generation: "iPhone!"
Just as adults have a hard time putting down their iPhones, so the device is now the Toy of Choice for many 1-, 2- and 3-year-olds．The phenomenon is attracting the attention and concern of some childhood development specialists．
Natasha Sykes, a mother of two in Atlanta, remembers the first time her daughter, Kelsey, now 3 but then barely 2 years old, held her husband's iPhone．"She pressed the button and it lit up．I just remember her eyes．It was like 'Whoa!' "The parents were charmed by their daughter's fascination．But then, said Ms．Sykes （herself a Black Berry user）, "She got serious about the phone．" Kelsey would ask for it．Then she'd cry for it．"It was like she'd always want the phone," Ms．Sykes said．
Apple, the iPhone's designer and manufacturer, has built its success on machines so user-friendly that even technologically blinded adults can figure out how to work them, so it makes sense that sophisticated children would follow．Tap a picture on the screen and something happens．What could be more fun?
The sleepy-eyed toddler who called for the iPhone is one of hundreds of iPhone-loving toddlers whose parents are often proud of their offspring's ability to slide fat fingers across the gadget's screen and pull up photographs of their choice．
Many iPhone apps on the market are aimed directly at preschoolers, many of them labeled "educational," such as Toddler Teasers: Shapes, which asks the child to tap a circle or square or triangle; and Pocket Zoo, which streams live video of animals at zoos around the world．
Along with fears about dropping and damage, however, many parents sharing iPhones with their young ones feel guilty．They wonder whether it is indeed an educational tool, or a passive amusement like television．The American Academy of Pediatrics is continually reassessing its guidelines to address new forms of "screen time．" Dr．Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, a member of the academy's council, said, "We always try to throw in the latest technology, but the cellphone industry is becoming so complex that we always come back to the table and wonder- Should we have a specific guideline for them?"
Tovah P. Klein, the director of a research center for Toddler Development worries that fixation on the iPhone screen every time a child is out with parents will limit the child's ability to experience the wider world.
As with TV in earlier generations, the world is increasingly divided into those parents who do allow iPhone use and those who don't. A recent post on UrbanBaby.com, asked if anyone had found that their child was more interested in playing with their iPhone than with real toys. The Don't mothers said on the Website: "We don't let our toddler touch our iPhones ... it takes away from creative play." "Please ... just say no. It is not too hard to distract a toddler with, say ... a book."
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a psychology professor who specializes in early language development, sides with the Don'ts. Research shows that children learn best through activities that help them adapt to the particular situation at hand and interacting with a screen doesn't qualify, she said.
Still, Dr. Hirsh-Pasek, struck on a recent visit to New York City by how many parents were handing over their iPhones to their little children in the subway, said she understands the impulse (冲动). "This is a magical phone," she said. "I must admit I'm addicted to this phone."The first paragraph in the passage intends to ______.
| A．get us to know a cute sleepy-eyed child in a family |
| B．show us how harmful the iPhone is |
| C．lead us to the topic of the toddlers' iPhone-addict |
| D．explain how iPhone appeals to toddlers |
According to the author, iPhones are popular with both adults and young kids because they are______.
| A．easy to use | B．beautiful in appearance |
| C．cheap in price | D．powerful in battery volume |
The underlined word "them" in the seventh paragraph refers to ______.
| A．televisions | B．cellphones | C．iPhones | D．screens |
The tone of the author towards parents sharing iPhones with their children is ______.
| A．negative | B．subjective | C．objective | D．supportive |
The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．children's iPhone addict is becoming a concern |
| B．iPhone is winning the hearts of the toddlers |
| C．Apple is developing more user-friendly products |
| D．ways to avoid children's being addicted to iPhone games |
Any mistake made in the printing of a stamp raises its value to stamp collectors. A mistake on one inexpensive postage stamp has made the stamp worth a million and a half times its original value.
The mistake was made more than a hundred years ago in the British colony of Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. In 1847 an order for stamps was sent to a London printer — Mauritius was to become the fourth country in the world to issue stamps.
Before the order was filled and delivered, a ball was planned at Mauritius’ Government House, and stamps were needed to send out the invitations. A local printer was instructed to copy the design for the stamps. He accidentally inscribed the words “Post Office” instead of “Post Paid” on the several hundred stamps that he printed.
Today there are only twenty-six of these misprinted stamps left fourteen One Penny Orange-Reds and twelve Two Penny Blues. Because of the Two Penny Blue’s rareness and age, collectors have paid as much as ＄16 800 for it.Over a century ago, Mauritius _______.
| A．was an independent country |
| B．belonged to India |
| C．was one of the British colonies |
| D．was a small island in the Pacific Ocean |
The mistake on the stamps was made _______.
| A．in Mauritius | B．at Mauritius Government House |
| C．in a post office | D．in London |
Stamp collectors have paid 16 800 for _______.
| A．fourteen One Penny Orange-Reds |
| B．twelve Two Penny Blues |
| C．one One Penny Orange-Red |
| D．one Two Penny Blue |
Before the early 1960’s people interested in the differing roles of the left and right hemispheres(半球) of the brain depended almost entirely on facts drawn from animal research, form studies of patients with one-sided brain damage. But it was possible to find out which brain hemisphere was most involved in speech and other functions in normal people by having them listen to two different words coming to the two ears at the same time. This became known as the “dichotic listening” procedure. When several word pairs are given in a row, people are unable to report them all, and most right-handers prefer to report, and report more correctly, words given to their right ears. This seems to be related to the fact that signals from the right ear, although sent to both hemispheres, are better sent to the left hemisphere which controls speech. People who have speech represented(回忆) in the right hemisphere, a very unusual occurrence even in left-handed people, more correctly report what their left ears hear.
In contrast to the right-ear advantage for speech, there is generally a left-ear advantage for another type of auditory(听觉的) signal: music. When right-handed people listen to melodic patterns they report them better from the left ear.Which of the following would be the most proper title for the passage?
| A．An Introduction to Speech Damage in Patients with Brain Damage. |
| B．An Investigation into the Role of the Brain’s Hemispheres. |
| C．An Analysis of Left and Right-handed People. |
| D．An Examination of “Dichotic Listening”. |
The “dichotic listening” procedure could best be described as hearing _______.
| A．two different words in the same ear twice |
| B．the same word twice in the same ear |
| C．two different words in different ears |
| D．two different words twice in two ears |
according to the passage, right-handed people normally _______.
| A．have better hearing in their both ears |
| B．have little difficulty in reporting words given to their right ears |
| C．are unable to report word pairs given to their left ears |
| D．correctly report word pairs given in a row |
according to the passage, music is best appreciated when heard by _______.
| A．the left ear of right-handers |
| B．people with a left-ear advantage |
| C．left-handers in their right ears |
| D．right-handed people who understand melodic patterns |
“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” -a document(文件) stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores(杂务). Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled, ” admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press(also part of the bargain), stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids.
Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs(叹气), “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however-until Bob signed the contract, whereupon she decided to relax and enjoy it.
Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria(食堂), his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely(日常地) sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative(暂定的) title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.The couple signed the contract because _______.
| A．Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself |
| B．Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest |
| C．they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks |
| D．Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book |
It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.
| A．pay a certain amount of money |
| B．do all the housework for years |
| C．say sorry to his wife |
| D．admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood |
What can we learn about Pat Peters?
| A．She was hard-working and selfless. |
| B．She was pretty and kind-hearted. |
| C．She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks. |
| D．She did not love Bob any longer. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Bob managed to keep the kids’clothes clean. |
| B．Bob tried to cook good meals for his children. |
| C．Bob frequently took the kids out to eat because he was too busy at work. |
| D．Bob taught the kids to make their beds every day. |
Which of the following can best end the news story?
| A．“My experience of being a mother.” |
| B．“I’m proud of you all, my dear!” |
| C．“Wait till your mother gets home!” |
| D．“Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.” |
Why do women earn less than men?
Women earn less than men. For example, in 1988 the hourly wages of women in the U.S. were 16% less than those of men. The gap between male and female incomes varies with age. The gap between the labor incomes of young women and young men is much smaller than that between middle-aged women and men. It is also clear that jobs in which women are concentrated pay less. The larger the number of workers in an industry who are women, the lower the average wages.
Why do women earn less than men? Are the differences explained by the fact that women are looked down upon? If so, the government has to intervene, to force the employers to pay equal wages to equal jobs. however, there is no agreement among economists about the causes of the gap. One view argues that women on the average have chosen low-paying jobs in which workers enjoy the freedom of entering and leaving the labor force, which reduces their years of experience relative to men. Other people say the gap can also be explained by the difference in educational background which is shown in the difference in the marginal product between men and women.
Much of the gap, however, has not been fully explained. It might be the result of some bias against women. It is this part that has produced calls for government action. What would happen if the government did intervene to increase the wages paid to women? One possibility is that incomes for women as a group might actually decline. An increase in wage decreases the quantity of labor input demanded, resulting in decreased employment as the rate of hiring new workers declines. The result will be a surplus of labor. Those who can find jobs might be better off while those who had jobs might find themselves out of work.The difference in labor incomes is most obvious between _______.
| A．young men and young women |
| B．young women in the same industry |
| C．middle-aged men and middle-aged women |
| D．middle-aged women in the same industry |
Some economists believe women earn less than men partly because ______.
| A．women are less experienced than men |
| B．women are only provided with low-paying jobs |
| C．women have much freedom in selecting their jobs |
| D．there is more than enough women in the labor force |
Which of the following cannot be inferred from the second paragraph?
| A．Women receive less education than men. |
| B．Women are not as productive as men. |
| C．Levels of education are closely related to productivity. |
| D．Goods produced by women are not as good as those by men. |
What does the author suggest that the government should do for women workers?
| A．To ensure equal pay for women. |
| B．To explain why women are paid less. |
| C．To force employers to hire more women. |
| D．No solution is clearly suggested. |
What would happen if women’s wages were raised?
| A．Input of capital would be increased. |
| B．The unemployment rate would go up. |
| C．Those that have jobs would become better off. |
| D．Women as a group would earn more than before. |
Macao, also called Macau, is on the western side of the Pearl River entrance, at the head of which is the Chinese port of Guangdong and it stands opposite Hong Kong which is on the eastern side of the entrance. It is made of a small narrow peninsula(半岛) sticking out from Guangdong province. The total area of Macao is about 21.45 square kilometers, and it is made up of three parts: Macao Peninsula, Dingbat Isle and Lehman Isle.
Between Macao Peninsula and Dingbat Isle there are two bridges which join the two parts together, and there is also a highway between the Dingbat and Lehman Isles. Therefore, two bridges and one highway make the three parts of Macao into an integrated region(一个整体).
Macao faces to the vast sea and its back is the Pearl River Delta. The two big cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and the two special economic zones Hula and Shenzhen are its neighbors. All of this offers much advantage for its economic development.
Macao has a population of about 450, 000. This is very large against the size of the area. The average population density(密度) reaches 20, 000 per square kilometer. It is one of the densest population regions in the world. The majority of its people are Chinese, who make up 96% of the whole population.Which is the advantage for Macao’s economic development?
| A．Macao is on the coast line. |
| B．Macao is near some big cities or special economic zones. |
| C．Macao’s back is a rich delta. |
| D．All of the above. |
In Macao there are only about _______ people who are not Chinese.
| A．18,000 | B．20,000 |
| C．21,450 | D．428,000 |
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