Nowadays, more and more teenagers use smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices more than ever before. And the amount of time they spend on these devices is only likely to increase in the future. But are all these changes good?
We sometimes call children who are able to use mobile devices and technology easily digital natives. They can text, email, get Wi-Fi, and download. Some experts say that long periods of time spent chatting to friends online, playing video games and listening to mp3s, for example, may possibly change how their brains work.
Then there is the question of privacy. All this online activity creates a digital footprint. Every time we share a photo or a post on social media, and every time we search for something on the Internet, information about our activity is stored somewhere.
Our inability to control what happens to our children's digital footprint and their personal privacy has big possibilities. It might become normal for companies to ask their employees for their social media qualifications. We are also becoming more aware that companies and governments may be able to 'listen in' on our communications. So it is important to make our children aware of the possible results of over sharing.
Another area where the digital world may have a big effect is in education. One worry is that kids who spend a lot of time online at home are sometimes unable to socialize properly with other children when they are at school. Other experts point out that, when it comes to children and technology, the children are the experts, not the teachers. They say that we should stop seeing online as 'bad' and offline as 'good' and there is evidence of innovative work in some schools.
So, do we really need to rescue our children from the dangers of the digital world?Which of the following can summarize the main idea of the text?
| A．Do we need to rescue our kids from the digital world? |
| B．Should children learn to use digital technology? |
| C．Are there changes in children’s school life? |
| D．Should teachers accept changes in our life? |
According to the second paragraph, what is the possible effect of digital childhood?
| A．Children can grow up quickly. |
| B．Children can read texts fluently. |
| C．Children’s way of thinking may be changed. |
| D．Children may become mentally disabled. |
All the following may happen to our digital footprints EXCEPT________
| A．When surfing the Internet, our digital footprints are saved. |
| B．Some business societies may take advantage of the information. |
| C．Government may look into our communication through the Internet. |
| D．Digital pictures may be printed by our computer automatically. |
Why are many teachers doubtful about digital technology?
| A．Because some students can not do well in studies. |
| B．Because some teachers haven’t changed for years. |
| C．Because some students addicted to digital technology can not socialize well. |
| D．Because some teachers addicted to tradition technology cannot teach well. |
When my daughter Sally was five, I bought Grimm’s Fairy Tales and read Snow White to her one night. At the end of the original Grimm tale, Snow White’s stepmother is made to put on red-hot iron shoes and dance until she falls down dead.
This came as something of a shock. I always thought fairytales had happy endings. And I didn’t want my five-year-old daughter going to sleep thinking: “Thank goodness they tortured (折磨) that old woman to death.” That’s when I decided to write fairy tales.
In the years that followed, I wrote tales non-stop and read them to Sally at bedtime. The Corn Dolly was based on a child who was always complaining; The Silly King was just a silly story Sally loved; I wrote The Witch and the Rainbow Cat for Sally because of her enormous appetite for stories about witches while Dr Bonocolus’s Devil is a new version of the Faust legend．
Nifobobinus, however, was different. I wrote this book when Sally was older and took up all things girls have to do — who’s friends with who, who stuck a sticker on the back of whose boyfriend, or whatever thing she felt funny.
Nicobobinus, the boy who could do anything, came out of my desire for a more innocent world. He lived a 1ong time ago, in a city called Venice. Only his best friend, Rosie, knew he could, and nobody took any notice of anything Rosie said, because she was always having wild ideas anyway.
Nicobobinus was so different that it turned out to be an instant hit. The Times called me “an author setting out to rival the classic fairytales”. I asked Sally what she thought of Nicobobinus. She said it was her favourite.
What led the writer to start writing fairy tales for her daughter?
| A．The frightening ends of past fairy tales. |
| B．His daughter’s strong interest in fairy tales. |
| C．His desire to let his daughter know more stories. |
| D．His attempt to fill his daughter’s bedtime with something. |
We can infer from the third paragraph that the writer _____.
| A．was a very productive fairy tale writer |
| B．based all his stories on some old legends |
| C．never described witches in his fairy tales |
| D．created his stories out of his own interest |
When creating Nicobobinus, the first thing the writer considered was _____.
| A．the changes of his daughter’s interests |
| B．what story the publisher wanted to get |
| C．ways to keep his daughter Sally innocent |
| D．the difference of the story from other stories |
The underlined word “rival” in the last paragraph can be replaced by _____.
| A．follow | B．explore | C．challenge | D．recommend |
Summer Rain
The worst days of any summer are the rainy ones. We spend all year looking forward to nice weather and long, hot days. All of winter, with its cloudy days and bitter cold, we dream of those endless days at the beach, lying on the sand and enjoying the bright and burning sun. And then, summer comes, and it rains.
As a child, I would wake up to rainy summer days and come close to crying. It wasn’t fair. We suffered through months of school and experienced bad weather for those short ten weeks of freedom and pleasant weather.
On those rainy summer days, I had nothing fun to do and could only sit inside, staring out at the rain like a bird in a cage. I was an only child, so there was no one else to play with. My father worked from home, so I was not truly alone, but he could not actively play with me since he was at work. It was those days that I would watch whatever was on television or read any books that I could find lying around. I’d drag through the day and pray each night that the rain would not be there the next day.
As an adult, though, my opinion of summer rain has changed. When you have to work every day, summer is not as exciting. Everything seems dull. Such a mindset makes you cheer for anything new or different. I spend the winter dreaming of summer and the summer dreaming of winter. When summer comes, I hate how hot it is. And then I look forward to the rain, because the rain brings with it a cold front, which makes me comfortable. Rainy days are still the worst days of the summer, but summer rain today means positively beautiful — and considerably cooler — weather tomorrow.When the author was a child, he ______.
| A．hated rainy days |
| B．liked staying indoors |
| C．preferred cooler weather |
| D．dreamed on summer days |
We can learn from the passage that the author ______.
| A．was often left alone at home |
| B．had no brothers or sisters |
| C．preferred reading to playing outside |
| D．could enjoy the brilliant sun in winter |
As an adult, the author views summer rain differently because ______.
| A．he knows it won’t last long |
| B．his summer holiday is very short |
| C．rain makes the weather cooler |
| D．he can better deal with his holiday |
Imagine being given the opportunity to wake up to lions, eat your meals with monkeys, and even share your bath with bears, all from the comfort of a unique new lodging experience.
The Jamala Wildlife Lodge opened its doors in January 2015, which was set up in an effort to educate visitors about aiding the survival of many of the world's endangered species.
“It’s great for the animals; they're going to get more space. It's great for the viewing public; they're going to get more things to see. It will be great for tourism and just for the local community," Said Richard Tindale, the owner and operator.
Spreading across three locations in the National Zoo, the 18 rooms, which range from giraffe tree houses to jungle bungalows, offer a fantastic experience with wildlife
The Giraffe Treehouse
The Giraffe Treehouse is set among the giraffe enclosures (围场), and the Jungle Bungalows are luxurious individual suites which are next to either lion, cheetah(猎豹), brown bear, or Malaysian sun bear enclosures.
The Ushaka House
Housing up to 26 people, the Ushaka House is built around the monkey enclosure and has a built-in aquarium which offers private views of some of the zoo’s sharks.
The Burley Griffin House
Only meters from the edge of Lake Burley Griffin, the indoor and outdoor entertaining areas have splendid views across the lake to Black Mountain.
The Shark House
The Shark House has its own little jetty(码头) and it comes out over the shark tank here and so the people who stay in the room will be able to go to their bedroom and pat the shark.
Location
Located in the heart of Australia’s political capital, the Jamala Wildlife Lodge at the National Zoo and Aquarium is just ten minutes from Canberra’s central Business District. Which of the following is TRUE about the Iamala Wildlife Lodge?
| A．The Jamala Wildlife Lodge lies in the heart of Canberra. |
| B．The Jamala Wildlife Lodge has a very long history. |
| C．The Jamala Wildlife Lodge is outside the National Zoo. |
| D．The Jamala Wildlife Lodge has altogether 26 houses. |
If a tourist wants to visit Lake Burley Griffin, he'd better choose ________．
| A．The Giraffe Treehouse | B．The Ushaka House |
| C．The Burley Griffin House | D．The Shark House |
The purpose of writing the passage is to ________．
| A．attract more tourists to visit the National Zoo |
| B．introduce the Jamala Wildlife Lodge in Australia |
| C．raise people's awareness of protecting animals |
| D．offer visitors an opportunity to play with sharks |
La Gomera is the only place in the world that has a whistle language. We do not know how and why it began because we do not know the complete history of the island. But we can certainly imagine the reasons for the beginning of the whistle language. There are many deep valleys on the island. A person on one side of a valley can not easily shout to a person on the other side. But he can whistle and be heard. Some of the best whistlers can be heard from four miles away and the record is seven miles.
The people who live on the island usually have good teeth, and this helps them to whistle well. They must also have good ears so that they can hear other whistlers.
We can understand why the whistle language continues. It is very useful on the island, and quite easy to learn. When somebody is hurt or ill, the whistle language takes the place of telephone. If the sick person is quite far away from the town, people pass the message from one to another. A boy guarding cattle on a hillside whistles to a man fishing from his boat. The last one is able to describe the trouble fully and exactly to the doctor in town. People help one another in the same way when a car breaks down or a cow is lost.
The whistle language is hundreds of years old, and probably it will continue to live on for hundreds of years more. Radio and TV often kill the special ways of speaking in different parts of a country. But on La Gomera you are nobody if you cannot whistle. Perhaps soon after TV arrives on the island, people there will be whistling the news and other facts and opinions. If a person on La Gomera is ill, ______.
| A．the whistle language will help pass the message to the doctor |
| B．people will take him to town by carriage |
| C．his family will take him to the hospital |
| D．others will phone the doctor in town |
La Gomera is special because ______.
| A．we don’t know its complete history |
| B．people have to shout if they want to communicate |
| C．people there have good teeth and ears |
| D．people there use the whistle language to communicate with each other |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The whistle language has been used for hundreds of years on the island, but will not be used any longer. |
| B．The whistle language can only be found on La Gomera. |
| C．It is not easy for a person to live on La Gomera if he cannot whistle. |
| D．The record shows that one best whistler can be heard by others from seven miles away. |
Which of the following will be the best title of this passage?
| A．The Secret Language |
| B．Do You Know the Whistle Language? |
| C．The Life of Islanders |
| D．La Gomera－a Mystery |
Winter begins in the north on December 22nd. People and animals have been doing what they always do to prepare for the cold months. Squirrels, for example, have been busy gathering nuts from trees. Well, scientists have been busy gathering information about what the squirrels do with the food they collect.
They examined differences between red squirrels and gray squirrels in the American state of Indiana. The scientists wanted to know how these differences could affect the growth of black walnut trees. The black walnut is the nut of choice for both kinds of squirrels. The black walnut tree is also a central part of some hardwood forests.
Rob Swihart of Purdue University did the study with Jake Goheen, a former Purdue student now at the University of New Mexico. The two researchers estimate that several times as many walnuts grow when gathered by gray squirrels as compared to red squirrels. Gray squirrels and red squirrels do not store nuts and seeds in the same way. Gray squirrels bury nuts one at a time in a number of places. But they seldom remember where they buried every nut. So some nuts remain in the ground. Conditions are right for them to develop and grow in the following spring. Red squirrels, however, store large groups of nuts above ground. Professor Swihart calls “death traps for seeds”.
Gray squirrels are native to Indiana. But Professor Swihart says their numbers began to decrease as more forests were cut for agriculture. Red squirrels began to spread through the state during the past century.
The researchers say red squirrels are native to forests that stay green all year, unlike walnut trees. They say the cleaning of forest land for agriculture has helped red squirrels invade Indiana. Jake Goheen calls them a sign of an environmental problem more than a cause.The study done by Rob Swihart and Jake Goheen is to ________.
| A．find out the living conditions for squirrels |
| B．do something to get rid of squirrels |
| C．learn squirrels’ influence on black walnut trees |
| D．save the forests in the American state of Indiana |
The difference between gray squirrels and red squirrels mainly lies in ________.
| A．the way they gather the walnut |
| B．the place they store the walnuts |
| C．the number of the nuts they can collect |
| D．the fact that the gray squirrels have a bad memory |
When Professor Swihart says “death traps for seeds”, he actually means that ________.
| A．nuts above the ground will not develop into plants |
| B．red squirrels eat more nuts than gray squirrels |
| C．gray squirrels and red squirrels will have severe fights |
| D．seeds can be traps for other animals in the forest |
According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．Gray squirrels do more harm to the forest than red squirrels. |
| B．Red squirrels and gray squirrels have helped the spread of walnut trees. |
| C．The cleaning of forest land benefits gray squirrels directly. |
| D．Human beings should bear some responsibility for the decreasing number of gray squirrels. |
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