A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet computer Web site called a “blog”. The word “blog” is a short way of saying Web log, or personal Web site. Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like.
There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. They provide news, information and ideas in many people who read them. They contain links to other Web sites. And they provide a place for people to write about their ideas and react to the ideas of others.
A research company called Perscus has studied more than 300 Web logs. It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls. They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives. The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year.
However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas. For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs. And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products.
At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service weblogs. com. He says the site became too costly to continue. He started the blog four years ago. And thousands of people had written on it. They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closing.
One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket. Rebecca Blood created the Website in 1999. She wrote about the history of blogs on the site. That article led to a book called “The Weblog Handbook”. It has been translated into four languages so far.
Ms. Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket gets about 30,000 visitors a month. She writes about anything and everything—politics, culture and movies. She recently provided medical advice. And she wrote about how to prevent people from stealing money from on-line bank accounts.The text is mainly written to .
| A．introduce an Internet computer Web site called “blog” |
| B．introduce a short way of saying Web log |
| C．tell readers about blogs |
| D．tell readers how to write blogs |
From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except .
| A．different ideas | B．medical advice |
| C．advertisements | D．account passwords |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
| A．Politicians don’t use blogs at all |
| B．A lot of bloggers no longer write or read blogs |
| C．Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls. |
| D．Dave Winer closed his “weblogs.com” because of money shortage. |
The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that .
| A．it was created by a woman. |
| B．it is about the history of blogs. |
| C．it provides useful information and advice |
| D．it has editions in at least four different languages |
A new generation addiction(着迷,迷恋) is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive (强迫的,难以抑制的) habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessional behavior has affected teenagers and collage students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computer and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don’t concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at school. Because they can find everything on websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual (虚拟的）life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident of the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect all the world.The main idea of the passage is about .
| A．the cause of weboholism. |
| B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism |
| D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined word “obsessional” in the second paragraph most probably means .
| A．attractive | B．addictive |
| C．professional | D．potential |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers. |
| B．students can hardly balance real and virtual life. |
| C．people are addicted to games on the Internet. |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway. |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will be getting more and more serious later. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
In a recent study, participants were asked to drink beer from either a straight-sided glass, or a curved “beer glass”. People took about almost twice as long to finish when drinking alcohol from the straight-sided glass, compared with the curved glass. There was no difference in drinking rates from the glasses when the drink was nonalcoholic.
People may drink their alcohol faster from curved glasses because it is more difficult to accurately judge the halfway point of these glasses, the researchers concluded. As a result, drinkers may be less able to measure how much they have consumed. “People often talk of ‘pacing themselves’ when drinking alcohol as a means of controlling levels of drunkenness, but I think the important point to take from our research is that the ability to pace effectively may be compromised when drinking from certain types of glasses,” said study researcher Angela Attwood of the University of Bristol’s School of Experimental Psychology in the United Kingdom.
In another experiment, participants completed a computer task in which they were shown pictures of two glasses containing varying volumes of liquid, and asked to judge whether each glass was more, or less, than half-full. The researchers found people made greater errors in judging the halfway point of the curved glass.
“The participants who showed the greatest error in these judgments also tended to show the greatest changes in their drinking rates,” the researchers said. “The speed at which people drink alcohol influences their level of intoxication (迷醉), and the number of drinks they consume on an occasion. Therefore, slowing down is likely to have a positive impact for the individual, and also at a population level.”If a man finishes drinking alcohol from a curved glass in 30 minutes, from a same-volumed straight glass, he will spend _____.
| A．about 15 minutes | B．about 60 minutes |
| C．about 45 minutes | D．about 25 minutes |
According to the passage, the experiment shows that _____.
| A．curved glasses mislead people’s judgment |
| B．people differ greatly when judging the same glass |
| C．people do computer tasks poorly after drinking |
| D．the type of liquid influences people’s thinking |
What advice do the researchers give drinkers?
| A．Use a curved “beer glass”. |
| B．Drink at a slower pace. |
| C．Drink with positive people. |
| D．Try different types of alcohol. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Shape may influence your drinking |
| B．Curved glass is out of date |
| C．Drink less for your health |
| D．Drinkers favor a different type of glass |
From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine for man. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat banknote. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Wildcats and their stories. |
| B．Wildcats and their characters. |
| C．Varieties of animal species. |
| D．Relationship between animals and humans. |
The underlined words "a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat" in Paragraph 1 may refer to " ".
| A．gasoline companies |
| B．automobile manufacturers |
| C．brands of automobile |
| D．names of wildcats |
Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?
| A．Wildcat congressmen. | B．Wildcat oil wells. |
| C．Wildcat banks. | D．Wildcat cars. |
It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money .
| A．people couldn't buy anything with the money |
| B．people complained and suffered a lot |
| C．the rich invested too much on oil wells |
| D．people didn't know how to save money |
Here is a true story about a famous man who worked in the White House and a criminal. They once faced the same thing: their mother gave them apples when they were young.
The criminal said: one day, my mother brought some apples and asked my brother and me: “Which do you want?” “The reddest and biggest one,” my little brother said. My mother stared at him and said to him angrily: “You should learn to give the good things to others; you shouldn’t always think of yourself.” Seeing this, I suddenly changed my idea and then said to my mother: “Mum, please give me the smaller one and give the bigger one to my little brother.” Hearing my words, my mother was very happy. She kissed me on my face and gave the reddest and biggest apple to me as a prize. From then on, I learned to tell lies, fight, steal and rob. In order to get what I wanted, I played hard. As a result, I was sent into prison.
The famous man from the White House said: One day, my mother brought some apples. She said to my brother and me: “You all want the reddest and biggest one, right? Well, let’s have a competition. Now I divide the grassland in front of the gate into two and I will give one to each of you and you must shear(修剪) it well. And I will give the reddest and biggest apple to him who does it the most quickly and best.”
After the competition, I won and I got the biggest apple. In our family, as long as you want to get the best things, you must take part in competition. I think it is fair. No matter what you want, you must pay lots of efforts.The criminal got the reddest and biggest apple because .
| A．he told the truth that he wanted a smaller one |
| B．his mother loved him more than she loved the younger brother |
| C．elder brother should of course have the bigger one |
| D．he knew how to make his mother happy from his answer |
We can conclude from the passage that .
| A．it’s important to make children aware that no matter what they want, they must pay work |
| B．it’s wrong to ask children to choose apples when they are not old enough |
| C．it’s wrong to ask children not to always think of themselves |
| D．it’s always necessary to have a competition when we give children apple |
The writer tells the story by .
| A．organizing it in the order of time |
| B．making a comparison between two men |
| C．providing some scientific information |
| D．describing it in the order of space |
It is implied in the passage that .
| A．we should always try to win competitions which can bring us a lot |
| B．in order to get what we want, we should play hard |
| C．giving children apples will lead them to become criminals |
| D．a mother’s educational method has a great influence on a child’s growing |
When the seventeenth-century settlers brought the English language to America, they immediately and necessarily began to adapt (使适应) it to their new environment. These changes were clear early and criticized by some people on both sides of the Atlantic. However, after the Revolution, Americans began to be proud of their own form of English. Noah Webster was the major early supporter of American meanings and spellings over British ones and published the earliest American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language. During the years since Webster, language differences have continued to develop, proving (证明) the truth of George Bernard Shaw’s often-repeated words that the two nations are divided by a common language.
Like the American language, the earliest American literature (文学) copied English models. However, after the Revolution and the War of 1812, writers began to create a clear American literature. However, in 1820, Sydney Smith asked the famous question “Who reads an American book?”
Answering to this and similar taunts (讽刺) with creative anger, American writers soon produced works that plenty of British people read. Works by Washing-ton Irving, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain had been acclaimed greatly in Britain by the end of the nineteenth century.
Even as American writers got respect in Britain, British writers continued to have great influence in America. Charles Dickens went to America twice, in 1842 and 1867-68. Other major British writers who traveled and lived in the United States include D.H. Lawrence and Aldous Huxley. British best works continue to be widely read. The works of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen became popular films.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, many books and writers continue to cross the Atlantic in both directions — made possible by the proud heritage (继承) of the shared language.The author of this passage seems to think ______.
| A．British English is better than American English |
| B．American English is better than British English |
| C．the same language has divided the two nations |
| D．the same language has connected the two nations |
From the question asked by Sydney Smith, we can infer ______.
| A．the British had to translate American books into English ones |
| B．the British found American books difficult to understand |
| C．the British thought highly of books written by Americans |
| D．the British looked down upon American books at first |
The underlined word “acclaimed” in Paragraph 3 probably means “______”.
| A．sold | B．discussed |
| C．welcomed | D．refused |
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