What is a six-letter word that immediately comes to mind when you need some information on the Internet? You probably thought of Google. But Google wasn’t always the name of the famous search engine. In fact, the original name was BackRub!
BackRub was the name two graduate students gave to the new search engine they developed in 1996. They called it BackRub because the engine used backlinks to measure the popularity of Web sites. Later, they wanted a better name — a name that suggests huge quantities of data. They thought of the word googol. (A googol is a number followed by 100 zeros.) When they checked the Internet registry of names to see if googol was already taken, one of the students misspelled the word by mistake, and that’s how Google was born.
Google is just one example of a name change in the business world. Many other companies have decided to change their names or the names of their products. Here are some more examples:
Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young computer specialists, developed a guide to Internet content in 1994. They called it “Jerry and David’s Guide to World Wide Web.” But they soon realized that this wasn’t a very catchy name, so they searched through a dictionary and found a better one: “Yahoo.”
Sometimes companies change their names because of the popularity of one of their products. In 1962, a young runner named Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight decided to design and manufacture his own brand of shoes. He named the shoes after the Greek goddess of victory — Nike. Nike shoes became so well known that Knight changed the name of the whole company to Nike.

1. According to the text, Google      .

A．has been famous since 1996.

B．is a result of a spelling mistake.

C．means a number followed by 100 zeros.

D．is the original name of the search engine,

2. Jerry and David changed the guide’s name to Yahoo because the original name       .

A．had been registered

B．had been forgotten

C．was too short

D．was not attractive

3. The company Nike got its name from       .

A．its founders

B．its customers

C．its popular products

D．its advanced techniques

Grant Wood’s American Gothic caused a stir（轰动）in 1930 when it was exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago and awarded a prize of 300 dollars. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and the painting of a farmer and a younger woman posed before a white house brought the artist instant fame.
In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in the small southern Iowa town of Eldon. Wood was so fascinated by it that he decided to paint the house along with the kind of people he thought should live in that house. In the painting, the farmer is modeled on his dentist. Dr. Byron McKeeby. His younger sister Nan served as a model for the woman （imagined to be the farmer’s wife or daughter）. Wood wanted to give a description of the traditional roles of men and women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hard labor. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. The Gothic style of the house inspired the painting’s title.
American Gothic remains one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art. The painting has become part of American popular culture. Some believe that Wood used it to satirize（讽刺） the narrow-mindedness that has been said to characterize Midwestern culture. The painting may also be read as a praise of the moral virtue or rural America or even as a mixture of praise and satire. American Gothic is one of the few images to reach the status of cultural symbol, along with Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
4. Which of the following is true about American Gothic?

A．It won a prize of 300 pounds.

B．The two characters in it posed before the White House.

C．It was the first painting by Grant Wood.

D．It was on show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930.

5. From the passage we can infer Iowa is in __________.

A．the southern town of Eldon

B．the Midwest of the United States

C．a European country

D．the city of Chicago

6. Grant Wood chose the two models __________.

A．to describe traditional roles of men and women

B．to praise the moral virtue of rural America

C．to make his dentist and his sister famous

D．to carry the story across the country

7. The title of the painting is based on __________.

A．the name of a small town

B．the man and the woman

C．the style of the house

D．the pitchfork symbolizing hard labor

Soup on my nose, a nearly spilled glass of wine and chocolate down my white blouse, as blind dates suggest, this was a really messy one. I have never made so much noise with plates and glasses, nor had I dined with a never-before-met companion. This blind date was quite different: we could see nothing. "Put your left hand on my shoulder, and then we'll take small steps forward," said Michael, the visually impaired(视力障碍的) server, in an East London accent. We three felt our way carefully bumping past heavy curtains before being arranged at the dining table, where we would eat and drink three completely secret and unseen courses.
Welcome to Alchemy in the Dark, Hong Kong's first full-time restaurant in total darkness. Upon arrival, diners briefly tell the chef on their allergies(过敏性反应), lock away their mobile phones and enter the windowless restaurant, which can seat 25. When the meal is over, the contents of the delicious menu are shown --- often to the diners' surprise. "This is definitely duck," my friend said, while eating chicken. "This soup," I declared, "is carrot and coriander." Even the too-close smell did not reveal the real tomato and cumin flavors. Dining in the dark changes everything:   the sense of smell is heightened, manners go out of the window ----using your hands to feel around the plate becomes normal--- and there is a strange thrill in being able to ignore your facial expressions. Best of all? You don't have to spend hours beforehand(事先) wondering what to wear.
Alchemy in the Dark is at 16 Arbuthnot Road, Central, (tel: 6821 2801) and is open Monday to Saturday, from 7pm to 11pm. Reservations are required. A three-course meal with wine pairing costs HK$700 per person. Five per cent of all profits go to the Hong Kong Society for the Blind.
8. How did the author and her companion arrive at their dining table?

A．By using a map

B．By being led

C．By feeling their way.

D．By finding it by themselves

9. According to passage, which of the following is true?

A．The diners might eat what they are allergic to.

B．The author enjoyed a special lunch at Alchemy in the Dark.

C．The restaurant donated some money to the H. K Society for the Blind.

D．The diners aren’t allowed to take phones to the restaurant at any time.

10. From the passage we can learn that the author ___________.

A．had the table booked

B．shared the meal with a friend.

C．practiced how to eat in total darkness.

D．chose her clothes in advance for the meal.

11. The last paragraph is intended to ____________.

A．present some facts about eating in the dark.

B．inform what to do at Alchemy in the Dark

C．conclude the experience of eating at Alchemy in the Dark.

D．provide some information about Alchemy in the Dark.

It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr.Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.
Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.
Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena.” The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.
Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”, In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.
12. The author mentions Dr.Johnson’s comment to show that________.

A．most commentators agree with Dr.Johnson

B．Dr.Johnson is famous for his weather observation

C．the comment was accurate two hundred years ago

D．English conversations usually start with the weather

13. What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?

A．An emotional state

B．An unknown phenomenon.

C．A historical concept.

D．A social trend.

14. According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that________.

A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather

B．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty

C．the English weather attracts people to the British Isles

D．there is nothing special about the English weather

15. What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To convince people that the English weather is changeable.

B．To analyze misconceptions about the English weather.

C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.

D．To explain what English weather-speak is about.