How many times a day do you check your email? When you wake up? Before bed? A dozen times in between? The technology that was supposed to simplify our lives has become the vital time-suck: the average teen spends more than seven hours a day using technological devices, plus an additional hour just text-messaging friends.
The advantage of technological devices is connectedness: email lets us respond on the go, and we are in touch with more people during more hours of the day than at any other time in history. But is it possible we’re more lonely than ever, too? That’s what MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes in her new book, Alone Together, a fascinating portrait of our changing relationship with technology. Turkle details the ways technology has redefined our comprehension of closeness and loneliness—and warns us of the danger of accepting such virtual(虚拟的) relationships in place of lasting emotional connections.
For Turkle, the biggest worry is the effect all these shallow connections have on our development. Is technology offering us the lives we want to live? “We’re texting people at a distance,” says Turkle, “We’re using lifeless objects to convince ourselves that even when we’re alone, we feel together. And then when we’re with each other, we put ourselves in situations where we are alone—constantly on our mobile devices. It’s what I call a perfect storm of confusion about what’s important in our human connections.”
What can’t be denied is that technology, whatever its faults, makes life a whole lot easier. It allows us to communicate with more people in less time and makes conversation simple. But it can also be seductive(具有诱惑性的), providing more stimulation than our natural lives. There are usually some unhealthy videos online which remove teenagers’ attention from their schoolwork. Besides, some online activities make people addicted, which occupied their daily life and affected their ability to form real-world relationships. “Technology can be more immediately satisfying than the labor of building an intimate relationship,” said one highschool student, “Every time I text, I start to have some happy feelings.”
But are any of those feelings equal to the kind we feel when engaged in real, face-to-face communication? Online, you can neglect others’ feelings. In a text message, you can avoid eye contact. A number of studies have found that this generation of teens is less sympathetic than ever. That doesn’t spell disaster, says Turkle, but…… From the first paragraph we can infer that_________.
| A．email checking helps people wake up early |
| B．technological device production has been simplified |
| C．using technological devices costs teens much time |
| D．people communicate mainly by text-messaging now |
Turkle’s new book mainly discussed________.
| A．ways to draw a fascinating portrait |
| B．the advantages of technology |
| C．the dangers of accepting emotional connections |
| D．how technology influences human relationships |
What worries Turkle most is that more and more people are_________.
| A．starting to accept emotional connections in place of virtual connections |
| B．being affected by the shallow connections through the mobile devices |
| C．dropping the use of technological devices for connection with each other |
| D．convincing themselves by using fewer lifeless objects in connections |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．Others’ feelings can be ignored in online communication. |
| B．No stimulation is provided in natural life connections. |
| C．People always send text messages to avoid eye contact. |
| D．It may be a disaster that teens are less sympathetic than ever. |
What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To instruct people how to do with emails. |
| B．To lead us to consider what’s important in human connections. |
| C．To promote a wider use of technological devices. |
| D．To stress the importance of technology. |
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. |
It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.
My daughter Carla’s fifth grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a prefect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.The whole passage deals with ________.
| A．social education | B．school education | C．family education | D．pre - school education |
The article gives us a good suggestion about how to evaluate（评价）your child’s work at home. That is to ________.
| A．praise his success | B．promise him a trip |
| C．give him a punishment | D．promise him a ball game |
The author advises readers to________.
| A．learn from himself, for he has a good way of teaching |
| B．take pride in Carla’s fifth - grade teacher |
| C．do as what Carla’s teacher did in educating children |
| D．follow Carla’s example because she never fails in the test |
Having read the last paragraph, we can conclude that ________.
| A．pride goes before a fall | B．practice makes perfect |
| C．no pains, no gains | D．failure is the mother of success |
How does a place become a World Heritage Site? It takes a lot of people to decide.
1）If a country wants one of its places to be on the World Heritage List, it has to ask UNESCO. The place must be important and special. UNESCO put the Great Wall on the list in 1987 because, it said, it was a great part of Chinese culture and beautifully made to go with the land．When a country asks, it must also make a plan for taking care of the place.
2）The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO talks about different places and decides whether to put them on the list. The committee meets every June. Many experts help the committee to decide.
3）After a new place goes on the list, UNESCO gives money to help keep it looking good．If a place is in serious danger, it may be put on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. UNESCO gives special care and help to those places.
4）Countries have to give UNESCO regular reports about places on the list. If UNESCO thinks a country isn’t taking good enough care of a place, the site will be taken off the list.The passage implies that _____.
| A．becoming a world heritage site takes hard work |
| B．a place with beautiful scenery is often on the World Heritage List |
| C．a place which was taken good care of is often on the World Heritage List |
| D．the Great Wall became a World Heritage Site for its long history. |
If a place successfully becomes a World Heritage Site, the country _____.
| A．can ask UNESCO for more money and help |
| B．should continue to take special care of it |
| C．won’t take trouble of caring for it |
| D．will try to put it on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger |
The passage mainly discusses ______.
| A．how the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO decides a World Heritage Site |
| B．how the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO protects a World Heritage Site |
| C．how the Great Wall becomes a World Heritage Site |
| D．how a place becomes a World Heritage Site |
The purpose of putting a place on the World Heritage List is _____.
| A．to attract more tourists from other countries |
| B．to get more money and help from other countries |
| C．to have it taken better care of |
| D．to make it known to other countries |
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