Three months after the government stopped issuing(发放) or renewing permitsfor Internet cafes because of security (安全) concerns, some café owners are having financial(经济的) concerns of their own.
The permits were stopped suddenly three months ago by the . governmentuntil new safeguards could be put in place to prevent misuse of the information superhighway, but for cafe owners it’s a business breakdown with no fix in sight.
“I handed in a request to open up an Internet cafe and received the conditions. ” said the businessman Obeidallah. “I rented a place in the Sharafiah district at SR45, 000 and prepared the place with equipment that cost me more than SRI 00,000. When I went to the local government after finishing everything, I was surprised to find that they’d stopped issuing permits for Internet cafes. ”
Having an Internet cafe without Internet is much like having a coffee shop without coffee. "I’m avoiding closing the place, but it's been more than three months with the situation ongoing as it is,” Obeidallah said “Who will bear the losses caused by the permit issue?”
The decision took many cafe owners by surprise. “I asked to open an Internet cafe, and I was handed a list of all the things that were needed to follow through, such as a sign for the place filling out forms,” said Hassan Al-Harbi.
“I did all that was asked and rented a place . And after the Haj vacation I went to the local government and they surprised me , saying that there are new rules that forbid the issuing of any more Internet cafe permits and that one can't even renew his permit. I’ve lost more than SR80,000, "Al-Harbi added.
As for the government, officials say a method to deal with it is on the way, but security concerns come before profit (盈利).The government stopped issuing or renewing permits for Internet cafes ____
| A．to prevent misuse of new safeguards in Internet cafes. |
| B．to make cafe owners earn less profit from their business. |
| C．to stop the use of the information superhighway on Internet. |
| D．to make sure of the proper use of the information superhighway. |
The government’s decision led to the fact that many cafe owners ____.
| A．suffered heavy financial losses |
| B．asked to open up Internet cafes |
| C．continued to operate Internal cafes |
| D．asked the government for payment. |
The underlined phrase in the last paragraph “on the way” means ____.
| A．to be studied |
| B．to be put into practice. |
| C．to be changed |
| D．to be improved |
The cafe owners found the governments decision ____.
| A．surprising and unacceptable |
| B．understandable and acceptable |
| C．reasonable but surprising |
| D．surprising but acceptable |
Diet Coke, diet Pepsi, diet pills, no-fat diet, vegetable diet .... We are surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.
Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing our brains to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale(秤) instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.
On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.
The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.
Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.From Paragraph 1, we learn that ______.
| A．diet products fail to bring out people’s potential |
| B．people have difficulty in choosing diet products |
| C．diet products are misleading people |
| D．people are fed up with diet products |
One psychological effect of diet products is that people tend to ______.
| A．try out a variety of diet foods |
| B．hesitate before they enjoy diet foods |
| C．pay attention to their own eating habits |
| D．watch their weight rather than their diet |
In Paragraph 3, “gain comes without pain” probably means ______.
| A．diet products bring no pain |
| B．it costs a lot to lose weight |
| C．losing weight is effortless |
| D．diet products are free from calories |
Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products ______.
| A．are over-consumed |
| B．lack basic nutrients |
| C．are short of chemicals |
| D．provide too much energy |
Apparently，we are safe neither at home nor in the business office．We use water in both places，but the research shows that chemicals added to our local water supply to kill harmful bacteria can have unwanted side effects．These chemicals can cause potential harm through drinking and in seemingly harmless activities as cleaning one’s house．They are released(set free)from water by daily actions like water running out of tap，spraying from garden pipes，or splashing in dishwashers and washing machines．As the water is moving．these chemicals are released into the air and then breathed in. Once inside our bodies, they start to affect our health.
Does this mean we should stop bathing? No, say the scientists, but we should put all pollution into perspective. Activities at home such as the burning of coal, cooking oil, or even candles release carbon monoxide and particulates such as cigarette ashes which have been proven as harmful to health as working or living near heavy traffic. New tugs, bedding, and even clothing give off that“new smell, ”which is a sure sign of chemicals. In the office, newly applied paint, newly purchased telephones and other telecommunications equipment, and computers release polluting chemicals, too. As offices and homes often have inadequate ventilation (通风), these chemicals can build up to become health problems. Their poisonous effects are only now being slowly recognized.
These facts suggest that, at a minimum, proper airing of newly purchased goods with an obvious chemical smell is a wise warning. Home and office windows should be opened during good weather. Even one’s car needs to be ventilated as well while in the garage.
We need further research to understand better other potential health dangers, too. For example, the effects of overcrowding of schools (carbon dioxide build-up ), the factory work environment ( an endless list of potentially dangerous substances ), and even home heating and cooling (the air conditioner may be our enemies, not our friends) have only recently started to come to light. Until we understand the effects of our new technological environment better, we can only hope that“there is no place like home.”What is the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．The air we breathe in is harmful. |
| B．The water in everyday use is unsafe. |
| C．Chemicals are added to the drinking water. |
| D．Chemicals are released in the running water. |
In Paragraph 2, the underlined sentence means that .
| A．bathing should be done with caution |
| B．homes and offices should be aired often |
| C．any pollution should be taken into consideration |
| D．we should prevent any pollution from doing harm to us |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To call on us to guard our water. |
| B．To show us that no place is like home. |
| C．To make us aware of the pollution around us. |
| D．To argue that neither homes nor offices are safe. |
I passed all the other courses that I took at my university, but I could have never passed botany. This was because all botany students had to spend several hours a week in a laboratory looking through a microscope at plant cells, and I could never once see a cell through a microscope. This used to make my professor angry. He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the students were making in drawing the structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. “I can’t see anything,”I would say. He would begin patiently enough, explaining how anybody can see through a microscope, but he would always end up angrily, claiming that I could too see through a microscope but just pretended that I couldn’t. “It takes away from the beauty of flowers anyway.”I used to tell him.“We are not concerned with beauty in this course,”he would say.“We are concerned with the structure of flowers.” “Well,” I’d say.“I can’t see anything.” “Try it just once again,” he’d say, and I would put my eye to the microscope and see nothing at all, except now and again something unclear and milky. “You were supposed to see a clear, moving plant cells shaped like clocks.” “I see what looks like a lot of milk.” I would tell him. This, he claimed, was the result of my not having adjusted the microscope properly, so he would readjust it for me, or rather, for himself. And I would look again and see milk.
I failed to pass botany that year, and had to wait a year and try again, or I couldn’t graduate. The next term the same professor was eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. “Well,”he said to me, happily, “we’re going to see cells this time, aren’t we?” “Yes,sir,” I said. Students to the right of me and to the left of me and in front of me were seeing cells; what’s more, they were . Of course, I didn’t see anything.
So the professor and I tried with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only once did I see anything but blackness or the familiar milk, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amazement, something like stars. These I hurriedly drew. The professor, noting my activity, came to me, a smile on his lips and his eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. “What’s that?”he asked.“That’s what I saw,”I said.“You didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t!”he screamed, losing control of himself immediately, and he bent over and looked into the microscope. He raised his head suddenly. “That’s your eye!”he shouted.“You’ve adjusted the microscope so that it reflects!You’re drawn your eye!”Why couldn’t the writer see the flower cells through the microscope? .
| A．Because he had poor eyesight |
| B．Because the microscope didn’t work properly |
| C．Because he was not able to adjust the microscope properly |
| D．Because he was just playing jokes on his professor by pretending not to have seen it |
What does the writer mean by “his eyebrows high in hope”in the last paragraph?
| A．His professor expected him to have seen the cells and drawn the picture of them |
| B．His professor hoped he could perform his task with attention |
| C．His professor wished him to learn how to draw pictures |
| D．His professor looked forward to seeing all his students finish their drawings |
What is the thing like stars that the writer saw in the last paragraph?
| A．Real stars | B．His own eye |
| C．Something unknown | D．Milk |
In what writing style did the writer write the passage?
| A．Realistic | B．Romantic | C．Serious | D．Humorous |
Two men dressed as police officers stole about ＄200 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum early this morning.
The two burglars knocked on a side door of the museum at about 1:15 am. They told the two security guards on duty that there was a disturbance in the area. The guards then made the very serious mistake of allowing the two men to go into the building. After they went in, the two burglars tied the guards up with tape.
The two men stole 11 paintings and an ancient Chinese vase. The stolen works included three paintings by Rembrandt. A maintenance（保卫）worker discovered the two guards at about 7 am and called police.
One of the greatest losses was Rembrandt’s works, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” It was a very popular attraction at the museum and was one of the most valuable works stolen.
Museum officials said that the value of the stolen art is at least 200 million dollars, and may in fact be much more. The true value of the paintings is unknown, because they have not been on the market for nearly a century. This is considered to be the biggest theft ever in the United States. Officials are waiting to see whether the burglars will demand a ransom for the paintings or try to sell them to a private collector.
Museum officials and police are not sure why the burglars chose certain works and not others. There are other paintings in the museum that are even more valuable than the ones that were stolen.
Special investigators are looking into the theft and the museum’s security system. They believe that this is a “professional job,” because the people involved were well prepared and knew what they wanted. How did the two burglars get into the museum?
| A．They broke into the museum. |
| B．They had the key to the museum. |
| C．They tied the guards up with tape. |
| D．The security guards opened the door for them. |
According to the passage, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee” was the following except that .
| A．it was the most valuable work at the museum |
| B．it was Rembrandt’s works |
| C．it was very attractive to visitors |
| D．it was one of the greatest losses |
Which of the following best explains “demand a ransom for the paintings”?
| A．Ask for money to give the paintings back. |
| B．Send the paintings to some foreign country. |
| C．Hide the paintings in a secret place. |
| D．Change them into more valuable things |
The investigators believe that this is a “professional job” because the burglars .
| A．were dressed as police officers |
| B．didn’t steal the most valuable works |
| C．liked Rembrandt’s work and made careful plans about the theft |
| D．made careful plans about the theft |
TV Shows and Long Bus Trips
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end— with ads thrown in every three or four minutes. The ads are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard appears outside the bus window.“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.”“Drink Good’n Wet Root Beer.”“Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “You Need It! Buy It Now!”
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed—new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly daring, the ride can be as exciting as a suspense(悬念) story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane?After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests—even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the right time. There are just no more ways to sit.According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?
| A．Buses on the road. |
| B．Films on television. |
| C．Advertisements on billboards. |
| D．Gas stations. |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To talk about the similarities between long bus trips and TV shows. |
| B．To persuade you to take a long bus trip. |
| C．To display the differences between long bus trips and TV shows. |
| D．To describe the billboards along the road. |
The writer of this passage would probably favor
| A．bus drivers who weren’t caring. |
| B．driving alone. |
| C．a television set on the bus. |
| D．no billboards along the road. |
The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because
| A．the ads both on TV shows and on the billboards along the road are fun. |
| B．they both have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with commercials in between. |
| C．the drivers are always daring on TV shows just as they are on buses. |
| D．both traveling and watching TV are not exciting. |
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are
| A．exciting. |
| B．comfortable. |
| C．tiring. |
| D．boring. |
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