1 . Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour. Aireraft cross the world a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left bebind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have dange according to some seientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imaginations take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faeed; they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

1. The new products become more and more time-saving beeause_________.

A．our love on speed seems never-ending

B．time is limited

C．the prices are increasingly high

D．the manufacturers boast a lot

2. What does“the days”in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Imaginary life.	B．Simple life in the past.
C．Times of inventions.	D．Time for constant activity.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?

A．Critical.

B．Objective.

C．Optimistic.

D．Negative.

4. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．The present and past times.	B．Machinary and human beings.
C．Imaginations and inventions.	D．Modern technology and its influence.

2 . The rising costs of health care have become a problem for many countries in the world. To deal with this problem, it is recommended that a big part of the government’s health budget（预算)be used for health education and disease prevention instead of treatment. Actually, many kinds of diseases are preventable in many ways and preventing a disease is usually much cheaper than treating it. For example, people could avoid catching a cold if they dressed warmly when the weather starts getting cold. But many people get sick because they fail to do so, and have to spend money seeing a doctor.

Daily habits like eating more healthy food would have kept millions of families from becoming bankrupt if the patients had taken measures for early prevention. For example, keeping a balanced diet, such as not consuming too much animal fat and insuring a steady intake of vegetables and fruits, seems to be quite important.

One very effective and costless way of prevention is regular exercise, which is necessary for a healthy mind and body. Regular exercise, such as running, walking, and playing sports is a good way to make people feel better or reduce stress.

In addition, health education plays a key role in improving people’s health. By giving people more information about health, countries could help people understand the importance of disease prevention and ways to achieve it. For example, knowing one’s family medical history is an effective way to help keep healthy. Information about health problems among close relatives will make them aware of what they should do to prevent certain diseases through lifestyle changes, which will work before it is too late.

However, stressing disease prevention does not mean medical treatment is unimportant. After all, prevention and treatment are just two different means toward the same effect. In conclusion, we could save money on health care and treat patients more successfully if our country spends more money on health prevention and education.

1. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Prevention or Education?	B．Prevention or Treatment?
C．Health or Illness?	D．Exercise or Illness?

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “bankrupt”?

A．Unable to be cured.

B．Unable to pay one’s debts.

C．Stronger than ever before.

D．More successful than ever before.

3. We learn from the passage that             .

A．dressing warmly can prevent diseases

B．a balanced diet is cheaper than regular exercise

C．It’s better to have more health education.

D．the government’s health budget should be increased

4. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
CP(Central Point) P(Point) S(Sub—point次要点)   C(Conclusion)

A．	B．
C．	D．

3 . A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWest that has started a five-year researeh project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts man any before.
University tuition fees (学费) are currently capped at £3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.
In the researeh, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average £ 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just £ 17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than £ 10.000. Average debts for graduates are £ 12，363.
Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."
Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweathcr. aged 15. from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.
1. Which of the following can be found from the five-year researeh project?

A．Students understand personal finances differently.

B．University tuition fees in England have been rising.

C．Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.

D．The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

2. The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A．to raise the student loans	B．to improve the school facilities
C．to increase the upper limit of the tuition	D．to lift the school building roofs

3. According to Stephen Moir, students_______.

A．are too young 10 be exposed 10 financial issues

B．should learn 10 manage their finances wellC- should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans

C．benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Many British teenagers do not know money matters well

B．Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.

C．Financial planning is a required course at college.

D．Young people should become responsible adults.

4 . LONDON — A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake bomb detectors (探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn’t cared about potentially deadly consequences.

It is believed that James McCormick got about $ 77.8 million from the sales of his detectors — which were based on a kind of golf ball finder — to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. McCormick, 57, was convicted of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.

“Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people,” Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. “You have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt.”

The detectors, sold for up to $ 42, 000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they “lacked any grounding in science” and were of no use.

McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.

“I never had any bad results from customers,” he said.

1. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?

A．He sold bombs.

B．He caused death of people.

C．He made detectors.

D．He cheated in business.

2. According to the judge, what McCormick had done .

A．increased the cost of safeguarding

B．lowered people’s guard against danger

C．changed people’s idea of social security

D．caused innocent people to commit crimes

3. Which of the following is true of the detectors?

A．They have not been sold to Africa

B．They have caused many serious problems.

C．They can find dangerous objects in water.

D．They don’t function on the basis of science.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick         .

A．sold the equipment at a low price

B．was well-known in most countries

C．did not think he had committed the crime

D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text

5 . It seems that people are gradually losing their smartness as smartphones become increasingly important assistants in their lives. As we rely too much on technology instead of our brains, many people have lost three basic abilities.
The first skill many people have lost is remembering phone numbers. Because phone numbers are stored in smartphone contacts, there’s now no need to dial a number or look at it again. ______________________________________________.
And some people may also have lost their sense of direction because some apps can guide people anywhere they want. People get so dependent on them that when they can’t use their smartphones, they get lost and anxious.
But the worst lost skills may be social ones, meaning that some people are becoming socially inept (无能的). People often bury themselves in their smartphones. As we’re too absent-minded by what’s happening in the virtual (虚拟的) some of us have lost conversational skills and sometimes can’t even tell whether a person is happy or not.
Last August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 51 students aged 11 and 12 who had over five hours’ screen time every day. Their task was to tell the emotions of 48 pictures of faces that were happy, sad, angry or scared.
The children made an average of 14.02 mistakes at the beginning. But after a five-day camp without electronic (电子的) products, they made only 9.41 mistakes on average.
Luckily, people still have a chance to get these abilities back. You should try to keep your parents’ numbers in mind for emergencies. You should also pay more attention to street signs and stores, which will help you to draw a mind map and stop you from getting lost. And the easiest solution to social skill loss is to take a break from electronic products.
1. The underlined sentence in the second paragraph implies that ______.

A．you are able to turn to others for help

B．others are able to call you anytime and anywhere

C．others are unable to get in touch with you by smartphone

D．you are unable to contact others without your smartphone

2. The experiment shows that without electronic products, one could ______.

A．recognize more facial expressions correctly

B．lose the sense of direction frequently

C．tell different emotions immediately

D．tell more pictures of faces easily

3. Overusing smartphones, people will probably ______

A．have no sense of numbers

B．fail to find their destination

C．lose face-to-face communication skills

D．weaken their senses of hearing and sight

4. What’s the writer’s attitude towards electronic products?

A．Objective.	B．Critical.
C．Supportive.	D．Optimistic.

6 . Have you ever noticed advertisements which say “Learn a foreign language in 6 weeks, or your money back! From the first day your pronunciation will be excellent. Just send…” and so on? Of course, it never happens quite like that. The only language that is easy to learn is one’s mother tongue. And think how much practice that gets! Before the Second World War people usually learnt a foreign language in order to read the literature of the country.
Now speaking a foreign language is what most people want. Every year millions of people start learning one. How do they do it? Some people try at home, with books and records of tapes; some use radio or television programs; some use computers and network; others go to evening classes. If they use the language only 2 or 3 times a week, learning it will take a long time, like learning a foreign language at school. A few people try to learn a language fast by studying for 6 or more hours a day. It is clearly easier to learn the language in the country where it is spoken.
However, most people cannot afford this, and for many it is not necessary. They need the language in order to do their work better. For example, scientists and doctors chiefly need to be able to read books and reports in the foreign language. Whether the language is learnt quickly or slowly, it is hard work. Machines and good books will help, but they cannot do the student’s work for him.
1. According to some advertisements, you ______.

A．have to pay your money if you cannot master a foreign language in 6 weeks

B．needn’t pay your money if you cannot learn a foreign language in 6 weeks

C．must pay your money if you cannot master a foreign language in 6 weeks

D．will be paid much money if you cannot learn a foreign language in 6 weeks

2. Now most people try to learn a foreign language in order to ______.

A．read the literature of the country

B．read books and reports

C．do their work better

D．go to foreign countries

3. Learning a foreign language is a hard job ______.

A．only for scientists and doctors

B．only for the students at school

C．for those people at home

D．for most people

7 . Children’s schooling is changing very fast today. In the past, teachers k    1    children sitting still for hours. They made them remember d    2    kinds of things. In other w    3    , The children had to go on repeating things until they knew them “by heart”. Today, many teachers want to know if it is p    4    to make children learn at all. They say you can o    5    help them learn. They say you must let children learn and find out things for t    6    .
But for these children, school is a kind of prison. They are there only because their p    7    make them go. They get out of the classroom as soon as the teacher lets them l    8    . Many of them want to find work, but the law will not let them work until they reach a certain a    9    . And so, they have to stay in school. Often they do not learn anything at all and h    10    every moment in class.

8 . It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true ? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.
Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day. They never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason ? No one could be sure. Herpin died at the age of 94.
1. The main idea of this passage is that _______.

A．a person was found who actually didn't need any sleep

B．large numbers of people do not need sleep

C．everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

D．people can live longer by trying not to sleep

2. The doctors came to visit Herpin, expecting to _______.

A．cure him of his sleeplessness

B．find a way to free people from the need of sleeping

C．find that his sleeplessness was not really true

D．find out why some old people didn't need any asleep

3. After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin _______.

A．was too old to need any sleep

B．needed no sleep at all

C．often slept in a chair

D．needed some kind of sleep

4. One reason that might explain Herpin's sleeplessness was _______.

A．that he hadn't got a bed

B．that he had gradually got tired of the sleeping habit

C．his mother's injury before he was born

D．his magnificent physical condition

9 . A study shows that about two-thirds of typical Chinese Internet users use the computer for news,often entertainment-related, or for online games, music or movies, all of which can be downladed for free． Most people prefer messages to e-mails, and seldom do online shopping at all．
Although they are now depending on the Internet more often than before to communicate with others who have the same professions, hobbies and interests, online shopping still remains unpopular in China． Three-quarters of users surveyed have never bought anything over the Internet, and 10 percent do shopping even once a month．Among those who do buy online.most pay for entertainment while others buy phone cards, or computer hardwares or so of iwares．
"Many people don't trust the quality of goods bought online," the researcher said． "If they buy something in a store and don't like it, they can easily bring it back．"
The survey was done in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Changsha． There-
sults do not necessarily show the situation countrywide because internet use in the countryside is lower than in cities． The study showed that the typical netizensc网民） in the five cities are richer and more highly educated． Males make up two-thirds of the group, and more than 80 percent of users are under 24． As the age increases, the percentage of netizens decreases．
China has more than 20 million people online, however, forty-two percent say they do not use search engines．Others seek entertainment news, as well as information useful for work or study online． Baidu．com is used by half of those surveyed, compared with a quarter forGo-ogle, the leading search engine in the United States．
1. The passage is mainly about        ．

A．shopping online	B．Internet use in China
C．the typical Chinese netizens	D．popular search engines

2. A typical Chinese lnternet user will be the one who        ．

A．likes to send e-mails	B．likes to buy goods online
C．likes to pay for entertainment	D．likes the games sites

3. Online purchases still remain unpopular in China mainly because        ．

A．it is more difficult to return the goods

B．most people haven't got computers

C．people can't have a look at the goods

D．goods bought online are of good quality

4. Which is NOT the character of most typical "netizens" in the five cities?

A．Well educated．

B．Richer．

C．Female．

D．Young．

5. Which picrure shows the right relation between online people and their ages?

A．	B．
C．	D．

10 . Extract（摘要）1
A computer is an "information processor".It is given information,called "data",instructed to do certain things and then show us the results.The data put into the computer is called the"input" and the results which come out are the "output".Some people say the circle of large standing stones at Stonechenge is a kind of computer.Prehistory people worked out their calendar（日历）from the position of the shadows made by the sun shining on the stones.
Extract 2
Teach yourself new subjects and skills at your own pace with a home computer.Use it to help with schoolwork,for self-improvement,even to improve your career skills.Learn touchtyping.   Foreign languages or computer programming.A home computer can help children of all ages learn classroom subjects such as spelling,geography and others.In fact it makes learning fun.So if you want to teach yourself,or help your children teach themselves-get a home computer.It can also help you manage your personal finances or help you to work taxes and plan household budgets.You can make business a pleasure with a home computer.
1. The writer introduces the words such as "input" and "output" in order to_____.

A．introduce people to computer language

B．show computer language is the same as English

C．help people some scientific language

D．give people some scientific language

2. Why does the writer talk about Stonechenge in Extract 1?

A．To give an example of the very first computer.

B．To show that computers are older than mankind.

C．To tell the difference between the past and the present.

D．To give another way of explaining computers.

3. If you think of the circle of large standing stones as a computer,_____.

A．the shadow is the input and the position is the output

B．the sunlight is the input and the calendar is the output

C．the position is the input and the sunlight is the output

D．the calendar is the input and the shadow is the output

4. Extract 2 is probably taken from_____.

A．a computer textbook	B．a company's advertisement
C．a teach-yourself computer book	D．a children's guide to computers