Here’s a movie-a sharp, sugar-rush of fun that’s guaranteed to entertain the entire family.
With some terrific computer-generated effects, a great cast and a fun-packed storyline, Robots is the best animated film(动画片) since The Incredibles. Yep, it really is that good.
Set in a world populated by robots, Ewan McGregor plays Rodney Copperbottom, a young robot who leaves his small-town home to pursue his dream of becoming an inventor.
But after arriving in Robot City, his hopes of getting a job at Bigweld Industries are destroyed when he learns the firm has been taken over by the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear).
Egged on by his controlling mum, Madame Gasket (Jim Broadbent), Ratchet plans to reduce half on Robot City’s citizens to scrap metal by refusing to sell the spare Pans they need to survive.
Instead, he wants to make a fortune selling expensive upgrades that few can afford. As he says, “Why be you when you can be new?”
Aided by a few misfit robots known as the Rustles-including Robin Williams as the cowardly(胆小的) Fender (“I’m made of a metal called Afraidium”)-Rodney must track down the firm’s founder, Bigweld (Mel Brooks), and convince him to save the city from Ratchet’s plans.
The first thing that’ll strike you about the movie is the thought that’s gone into creating Robot City. It’s a wondrous world full of mechanical marvels including wind-up cars and walking streetlamps.
Also terrific are the special effects. This might be animated movie but at times you’ll catch yourself thinking it’s really a live-action film.
Of course, there have been plenty of animated movies that looked the part but were let down by a weak storyline(see Shark Tale, for example).
But Robots grips(扣人心弦)right from the start thanks to a heart-warming and thoroughly engaging plot that never bores.
My only complaints are with Williams who, as usual, has a one-in-10 success rate with his jokes. Also a letdown is a romantic subplot between Rodney and a shapely robot called Cappy (Halle Berry) that doesn’t go anywhere.
Complains aside, this is a mechanical marvel that’ll have you bolted firmly to your seat.
BEST QUOTE(引述)：Fender：“Even though you had a discouraging day, just remember there’s another one coming tomorrow.
BEST BIT：Check out those amazing images.
WORST BIT：Robin Williams’ character does an unfunny Britney Spears dance routine.
IF YOU LIKED…Ice Age, The Incredibles, Toy Story…YOU’LL LIKE THIS.This piece of writing is a _____.
| A．film review | B．commercial advertisement |
| C．movie poster | D．1iterary essay |
The cast of Robots is made up of all the following actors or actresses EXCEPT ______.
| A．Ewan McGregor | B．Britney Spears |
| C．Robin Williams | D．Halle Berry |
What is Shark Tale an example of?
| A．A great cast. | B．Special effects. |
| C．A poor plot. | D．Clumsy animation. |
C
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure--and so soon--that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I’m dead--take me away” when it is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I’m dead---take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait— I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory, Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．Leading the following paragraphs. |
| B．Showing the main idea of the passage. |
| C．Introducing the background of the passage. |
| D．Giving a summary of the passage. |
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
| A．is weaker than | B．is stronger than | C．is better than | D．is worse than |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving. |
| B．When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical. |
| C．A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical. |
| D．Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other. |
Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?
| A．Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places. |
| B．Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants. |
| C．Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory. |
| D．Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own. |
New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly increased by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts.
Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to manage back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign customers over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, businesspeople ________.
| A．are eager to work overseas |
| B．have to get familiar with modern technology |
| C．are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations |
| D．are attaching more importance to their overseas business |
In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Line 3, Para. 3) probably means ________.
| A．leaving all care and worry behind |
| B．being unable to think properly for lack of insight |
| C．being totally out of touch with business at home |
| D．missing opportunities for promotion when abroad |
According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?
| A．Ability to speak the customer’s language. |
| B．Connections with businesses overseas. |
| C．Technical know-how. |
| D．Business experience. |
The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can ________.
| A．fast-forward their proposals to headquarters |
| B．better control the whole negotiation process |
| C．easily make friends with businesspeople abroad |
| D．easily find new approaches to meet market needs |
Pacing and Pausing
Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve's new wife, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn't hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.
Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there's no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I'm finished or fail to take your turn when I'm finished. That's what was happening with Betty and Sara.
It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.
The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping (思维定式). And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in --- and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.
That's why slight differences in conversational style --- tiny little things like microseconds of pause --- can have a great effect on one's life. The result in this case was a judgment of psychological problems --- even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?
| A．Betty was talkative. | B．Betty was an interrupter. |
| C．Betty did not take her turn. | D．Betty paid no attention to Sara. |
57. According to the passage, who are likely to expect the shortest pauses between turns?
| A．Americans. | B．Israelis. | C．The British. | D．The Finns. |
58. We can learn from the passage that ______.
| A．communication breakdown results from short pauses and fast pacing |
| B．women are unfavorably stereotyped in eastern cities of the US |
| C．one's inability to speak up is culturally determined sometimes |
| D．one should receive training to build up one's confidence |
Why Doesn't Anybody Copy Apple?
Apple’s products are the envy of the world. They have been amazingly successful and are widely imitated, if not copied. The minute Apple launches a product, everyone knows how to compete．This idea that the basis of competition is set by Apple and then the race is on to climb the path of improvement is unquestionable. When Apple releases a product that defines a category or dramatically changes the structure of an industry, it becomes obvious what needs to be built. But what I wonder is why everyone wants to copy Apple's products but nobody wants to copy being Apple?
I can think of two reasons. Firstly, Apple is not worth copying because it's not successful; secondly, Apple's success cannot be copied because it is a magical process.
There is a great deal of evidence for the first assumption. The idea of Apple being successful is not something reflected in its stock price. Being valued lower than the average company in the S&P（标准普尔）500 indicates that to whatever degree Apple was successful in the past, and it's not seen by the vast majority of observers as successful in the future. Why should one bother copying Apple if it results in being punished with a low valuation? If one works really hard at innovation（革新）and then that innovation becomes commoditized（商品化）very quickly, why should one bother?
When innovation practitioners are asked what makes Apple successful, the answers regarding the cause of this success border on the mythical. The fabulous part of this assumption is the " chief-sorcerer" theory of success which places one magician, like Steve Jobs, in charge of casting all the right spells．
What about Apple's own opinion of what makes it tick? Tim Cook refers to a great team and integration（一体）of hardware, software and services as unique Apple advantages. It's a better explanation. Integration is something that can take a long time, but it is possible with great effort. A few companies are starting to make moves in that direction, but efforts are half-hearted. There is no "move the Earth" feeling to become an integrated company from Samsung, Google or Microsoft.
My own suspicion is that Apple is more aware of what makes it special than it lets out. However, as Tim points out, it's not a formula. It's complex, it's subtle, but it's not magic. It's a process that requires a degree of faith and courage.When a new product of Apple comes out, often it _________.
| A．ruins an industry dramatically |
| B．puts itself in an unbeatable position |
| C．starts a revolution of an industry |
| D．is soon overtaken by imitated products |
According to the passage, other companies don't "copy being Apple" because_________.
| A．Apple is not a successful company |
| B．they have no access to relevant resources |
| C．it's hard to find a magician like Steve Jobs |
| D．being Apple takes more than time and efforts |
We can infer from Para. 5 that _________.
| A．other companies are dedicated to integration |
| B．Apple itself is fully aware of its unique advantages |
| C．Apple will hold the leading position in this industry |
| D．other companies don't have an extraordinary team as Apple does |
What does the author think of Tim Cook's statement?
| A．Neutral. | B．Disappointing. | C．Indifferent. | D．Acceptable. |
WASHINGTON—Laura Straub is a very worried woman. Her job is to find families for French teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.
It’s not easy, even desperate.
“We have many children left to place: 40 out of 75,” said Straub, who works for a Paris-based foreign exchange programme called LEC. When exchange programmes started 50 years ago, family life was more accommodating. For one thing, more mothers stayed home.
But now, increasing numbers of women work outside the home. Exchange-student programmes have struggled in recent years to sign up host families for the 30,000 teenagers who annually come from abroad to spend their academic year in the United States, as well as the thousands more who participate in summer programmes.
School systems in many parts of the US, unhappy about accepting non-taxpaying students, have also strictly limited the number of exchange students they accept. At the same time, the idea of hosting foreign students is becoming less exotic.
In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly broadening their appeals to include everyone who has the ability to do it.
“We are open to many different types of families,” said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE, a 25- year-old programme that sends about 30,000 teenagers on academic year exchange programmes worldwide.
“For elderly people, exchange students keep us young; they really do!” said Jean Foster, who is hosting 16-year-old Nina Porst from Denmark.Vickie Weiner is the person who ________.
| A．works for a programme called LEC |
| B．works for a programme called ASSE |
| C．is 25 years old |
| D．hosts foreign students |
From the passage we can learn that at the beginning of the exchange programmes_______.
| A．all the families could host foreign students |
| B．only young couples could host foreign students |
| C．only those who were retired could host foreign students |
| D．those who were not too old could host foreign students |
Which of the following is the best title of this passage?
| A．US Struggles to Find Host Families |
| B．Idea of Hosting Students Is Different |
| C．Foreign-exchange Program Is Going On |
| D．Exchange Students Keep Old People Young |
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