1 . Each of Apple’s products such as the iPhone and the iPad sounds cool and has become a fashion. Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i”, and many other brands are following suit. The BBC iPlayer, which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet, used the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and the UK — that plays music and video is called iTeddy. A simplified version of The Independent was launched in 2010 under the name i.
In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of The Independent’s sister paper I, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a” , “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, former Director of the Language Centre at King’s College London, “i” works because its meaning has become unclear. “When Apple uses ‘I’, no one knows whether it means the Internet, information, individual or interactive,” Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPad, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he said.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便),” added Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western world is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and they love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows, people grow tired of fashion. From the 1900s to the 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern.
However, as we entered the new century, the trend unavoidably disappeared.
1. Why do people use iPlayer?| A．To listen to music. |
| B．To make a call. |
| C．To watch TV programs online. |
| D．To read newspapers. |
| A．Engineers. |
| B．Young readers. |
| C．Fashionable women. |
| D．Old readers. |
| A．easy to carry |
| B．environmentally friendly |
| C．advanced |
| D．personalized |
| A．“i” products are often of high quality. |
| B．Actually nobody likes products with “2000”. |
| C．Fashion is closely connected with time. |
| D．The popularity of “i” products may not last long. |
1.家庭：
2．工作：
3.业余生活。
注意：1.词数100左右：
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯：
3.开头语已为你写好。
I often imagine what my life will be like in the future._______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3 . In the far future, robots live on Earth as humans but the population of humans is smaller than a thousand. This is a story of a repair robot R-62.
One day, a car came to the repair factory and a human stepped out of the car.
“Wow, a human! I have never seen a real one,” said R-62.
“Humans are quite clever. They’re able to do any action they want to. They’re even able to harm other human beings or organize wars, which they have been doing a lot in the history. Also they don’t even have to follow orders if they don’t want to,” said another robot T-59 quietly to R-62.
“How terrible it is! And almost all robots seem afraid of him and don’t look at him directly,” said R-62.
The human then sat down and asked if there had been any problems in the last 10 years and he only got a quick answer, “No, sir.”
Then suddenly, R-62 said loudly, “I have one question for you.”
The human said, “Yes”, a bit unhappy for not getting “sir”.
“Why do human create so many robots?” asked R-62.
Silence followed the question and he then said, “I don’t need to answer questions from robots!” He then went into his car and drove away quickly.
“I really don’t understand why humans replaced (取代)themselves with robots,” asked R-62.
“Because they thought that robots were more advanced(先进的) than humans. They created us to support themselves,” answered T-59.
“But there are so few humans on Earth. What they should do is take away the robots or at least make them stop doing the work which humans are supposed to do,” said R-62.
“I agree. But we can do nothing about it. And now we have to finish repairing this car,” said T-59.
“All right, let’s continue.”
1. In T-59’s opinion, humans are ________.| A．stupid | B．polite |
| C．dangerous | D．smart |
| A．dared not look at the human directly | B．decided to give up its job |
| C．was not friendly to the human | D．hope to live on Earth |
| A．R-62 doesn’t know what human beings look like. |
| B．T-59 knows a lot about human beings. |
| C．T-59 doesn’t want to support human beings. |
| D．R-62 and T-59 are brothers and do different jobs. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Excited. |
| C．Frightened. | D．Supportive. |
4 . For the growing number of Chinese heading west to work and study, there's plenty they find surprising. Upon arrival in the West, many Chinese find they have to firstly put on the brakes. Li Yifeng, raised in northern China and now based in England, agrees.“The only thing Chinese people would be shocked by in Britain is how long it takes to do things，” he says. “For instance in China if you want to open a bank account, you don't wait, you just do it at the counter.” Outofhours and weekend work is standard in China, but in Britain, the weekend is for family and friends.
Jack Chen, who left his homeland 12 years ago and is now a lawyer in Belgium says office politics are simpler in Europe, partly because the hierarchy (等级制度) is less rigid than in China, where the boss really is the boss and social class in the office is very obvious and important. As a result, staff in a Chinese company think very carefully about how to present their views and ideas. Employees in the West can share their opinions more freely. In China you should have the wisdom to say something in an appropriate way. But in Europe you can just say what you want.
The newest Chinese arrivals have a very different view to previous generations, according to Sharon Jin, who moved to the US 20 years ago and is now an American citizen. “Almost 100% of people of my generation who came to the States want to get a green card，” she says. “But today younger Chinese plan to work for 10 years here and then return to China to buy a house or look after their parents.” While a record number of 523,700 students left China to study elsewhere in 2015, roughly 70%～80% of students abroad have been returning in recent years because of the attractive job market at home, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education (CME)．
1. What do many Chinese find surprising while in Britain?| A．That they drive faster than the drivers in Britain. |
| B．That they can open a bank account at any time. |
| C．That working extra hours in Britain is very common. |
| D．That working pace in Britain is less fast than at home. |
| A．Jack Chen has been a lawyer in Belgium for 12 years |
| B．employees in the West show less respect for their boss. |
| C．Chinese employees are cautious when presenting ideas |
| D．people in Europe express themselves in a modest way |
| A．it's hard for them to get a green card |
| B．it's easy for them to buy a house at home |
| C．they will have to look after their parents |
| D．there are more job opportunities in China |
| A．By interviewing students abroad. |
| B．By comparing the differences. |
| C．By discussing some facts. |
| D．By listing some figures. |
5 . When people find out that I am a journalist, they often ask me: What do you think about the future of newspapers?
I tell them that I think the future of communications is moving online. People expect me to be fearful for the future of print. After all, in some people's minds I wouldn't be able to build a career in journalism if it all moves online. However, strangely enough, I’m actually comforted by the fact that online journalism is becoming usual. I am a blogger who has always been able to find a home for my writing online.
Since I began writing blogs, I have become aware of how many people you can reach with online writing. Compare this to the newspapers circulation base, and you will have a strong reason for online journalism.
In her successful blog post titled The Job I have spent the last year learning is not the one I will have, author Jenny Surane states, "Print is an expensive product to love. And general managers, publishers and editors must now figure out a profitable way to get their news into readers' heads.” She goes on to state that people don't feel like picking up a newspaper now and would rather scroll(滚屏) through their Twitter feed, and get news from many different sources.
If print is dying, then a new form of communicating information is being born. The need for information has not died. If anything, it has increased. What has died, rather, is the way in which information is presented.
Now more than ever, in this age of information, there is a desire for stories on the same topic from different points of view. The printing industry can keep pate with the need of providing a variety of sources, if it chooses to.
Is the future of print grim? Maybe, But is the future of journalism of communicating information to people, grim as well? Definitely not.
1. According to Paragraph 2, the author feels .| A．confident about the future of his career |
| B．worried about the future of print |
| C．tired of being a newspaper journalist |
| D．embarrassed about online writing |
| A．Twitter is not very popular |
| B．It is hard to manage online journalism |
| C．Prim still has its advantages |
| D．People have more choices to get information |
| A．Promising | B．Depressing |
| C．Unforgiving | D．Encouraging |
| A．To explore the future of journalism |
| B．To analyze the cause of print decline |
| C．To explain the bright future of a journalist |
| D．To introduce a successful blog post about print |
