1 . Facebook Is a Big Waster
During the first decade of the 21st century, a popular and new word has come into our vocabulary—Facebook. This is the most popular social networking website on the Internet. The main idea of Facebook is that you can keep in touch with all your friends around the world who have Facebook. You can send messages to your friend’s electronic wall, put up a status saying something like “Going to the mall, I need to get a new pair of shoes” or “it’s finally the weekend!”
In spite of the benefit it does on common people, it is true that this social network is a big waster. There are about 350 million active users on this website and 67% of them are between the ages of 13-25. More than 35 million users update their status every day.
The highest age group who use Facebook are teenagers. Most of them keep the website running whenever they are using the computer. if they aren’t in school or when they aren’t asleep. Facebook is just changing the new generation of youngsters unconsciously. The teenage life is one of the most important stages of life.
Facebook is also where people can see the gossip among their friends, virtual arguments, relationship status and updates, who is in whose “top friends”, you can become fan of anything, join groups, post pictures and videos, play childish games, invite friends to parties or events and a lot more. Generally, all these would just disturb (扰乱；妨碍) people into living life to the fullest. It’s not just teens who become addicted, even grown-ups do. An average person spends about 55 minutes on Facebook.
| A．And 2.5 billion photos are added each month. |
| B．Wasting it on Facebook is not encouraging in any way. |
| C．As a result, the average Facebook users have 130 friends who they share links with. |
| D．This statistic isn’t that bad but some people spend about 3-5 hours. |
| E．It is time people should take a break from Facebook once in a while. |
2 . As computers become all the more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes（笔画） of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.
Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school. And computer dependence is more widespread among university students. Almost all their assignments and essays are typed on a computer.
All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.
It’s faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that’s why computers are being applied more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear.
“When I’m writing with a pen, I find I often can’t remember how to write a character, though I feel I’m familiar with it.”
“I’m not in the mood to write when faced with a pen and paper.”
Many students don’t feel this is something to worry about. Now that it’s more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?
Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei, the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said, “Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic（审美的） value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only keep their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer’s emotion. Through one’s handwriting, people can get to know one’s thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them.”
To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory（必修的） and in universities, some professors are asking students to turn in their homework and essays written by hand.
1. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?| A．To Type or To Handwrite |
| B．The Value of Chinese Characters |
| C．The Importance of Handwriting and Typing |
| D．Writing by Computer Will Replace Writing by Hand |
| A．Students think typing is more efficient. |
| B．Handwriting contains the writer’s emotion. |
| C．A lot of Chinese people don’t write Chinese characters. |
| D．The writer’s thinking and personality are shown in his or her handwriting. |
| A．getting bored with | B．getting dependent on |
| C．becoming crazy about | D．becoming afraid of |
| A．writing by hand will give way to typing by computer one day |
| B．the typed article better expresses one’s emotion and quality |
| C．more and more students will give up writing on a computer |
| D．more and more students will pay attention to handwriting |
In America,
The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people’s lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot
Humankind’s growing need for food is running up against thousands of other species’ need for space. By 2050, humans may need to clear an additional 3.35 million square
6 . On Feb. 21, four students were standing on the side of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu when a driver going 110 miles per hour lost control of his car and it crashed into the parked vehicles.12 people were killed at the scene, including 2 drivers.
This kind of traffic death shouldn’t be called an accident. In Los Angeles, we seem to have accepted constant carnage (屠杀) in our streets in exchange for maximizing driver speed and convenience. The official responses to proven traffic dangers are mere gestures, if even that.
Los Angeles is a uniquely deadly city with a death rate that is four times the national average. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a city that has been designed with one thing in mind: a concept called level of service, which grades streets on how well they serve those in automobiles. To many Angelenos, that makes sense — to design our streets for car traffic, which is the way many get around the city. Unfortunately, we don’t recognize that there’s a trade-off. We can either have streets bettered for free-flowing traffic, or we can design streets for people to move around safely outside of cars.
City leaders consistently choose for the easy but deadly option. In one recent example, a resident asked the city’s Department of Transportation to block drivers from using Cochran Avenue at Venice Boulevard as a cut-through street, as they were speeding through a quiet residential neighbourhood. The department responded by suggesting a “speed awareness campaign” in which neighbours put up yard signs urging drivers to slow down.
People don’t drive based on signage, but they drive on the design of the street. The trunk roads of Los Angeles such as Venice Boulevard all need to be revised so that people are prioritized over cars. This would include narrowing travel lanes (道), building bike lanes, and banning right turns at red lights. These measures would make drivers feel like they’re in a city and not on a highway. A recent John Hopkins study says this would have substantial safety benefits.
With more than 7,500 miles of streets in the city of Los Angeles, they won’t all be rebuilt anytime soon. But with each road construction project, or each crash, we should be revising streets to make them safer for all road users.
The solution to traffic jam isn’t to make more space for cars. It’s to design the streets to be safe enough for alternatives such as biking, walking and mass transit, especially for the 50% of trips daily in Los Angeles that are less than three miles. The solution to protecting people dining outdoors isn’t crash barriers. It’s a street design that forces drivers to go slowly. The problem is carnage in the streets, and we know the solutions.
1. Why should the traffic death in Los Angeles be called “constant carnage”?| A．The traffic accidents happen quite often. |
| B．Too many people are killed in the traffic accidents. |
| C．The drivers’ speeding is to blame for the traffic death. |
| D．City leaders’ consistent choice contributes to the traffic death. |
| A．Balance. | B．Guideline. | C．Conflict. | D．Resolution. |
| A．To widen travel lanes. | B．To add more crosswalks. |
| C．To arrange more traffic police. | D．To punish speeding drivers. |
| A．Drivers first or walkers first? | B．Traffic death or constant carnage? |
| C．More warning signs or safer designs? | D．More narrow lanes or speedy highways? |
The dinner party is
8 . Showrooming
One of the biggest challenges facing brick-and-mortar retailers (实体零售店) in recent years has been the “showrooming”. Driven by the desire to get the best prices, many shoppers are now visiting brick-and-mortar stores to personally check on products that interest them, only to leave and then buy the items online. The new trend is forcing retailers to find out new ways to keep consumers from leaving their store for cheaper prices online.
Recent research found that 40 percent of U.S. shoppers have showroomed previously, with big-box retailers suffering the most. Specifically, the study shows that Best Buy, Walmart and Target are the most likely brick-and-mortar stores to have shoppers test out a product in-store and then purchase it online later, while Amazon is benefiting most from the practice, with nearly 60 percent of shoppers using the online retail giant (巨人) most often to make their showrooming purchases.
Smartphones have pushed showrooming into the front. Shoppers no longer have to wait until they get home to see if they can find a cheaper price for the products they’re considering buying. With smartphones, consumers can now compare virtual prices, at both other brick-and-mortar stores and online ones while still inside a retail store. If they can find what they’re seeking for less online, the majority will be seeking the first exit. A recent study showed that 45 percent of customers shopping at brick-and-mortar stores walk out and buy their purchase online for a discount of as little as 2.5 percent.
This puts pressure on retailers to provide both an in-store experience worth staying for and an online presence that can attract shoppers who are showrooming in other businesses.
To cut down on showrooming, many retailers are adopting new methods to keep shoppers in their stores. Among the steps they’re taking are price-matching assurances that allow shoppers to pay a discounted price if they find it cheaper online. This ensures that even a showrooming shopper can make the purchase in the store — regardless of whether they find the cheaper price online.
Another popular method to fight against showrooming is to give shoppers the ability to buy something online and pick it up at the store. This reduces shipping costs and gets customers in the store, where they may be encouraged to make an additional purchase.
It is also important for businesses to take into consideration what makes shoppers purchase something in-store rather than online, and meet those needs. Research has found that more than 8 in 10 Americans consider being able to take the goods home immediately and the ability to touch and feel them—the most important aspects when deciding to purchase in a store rather than online.
1. What contributes to the growing popularity of showrooming?| A．The wide use of smartphones. | B．The competition between big stores. |
| C．The advertisement by online retail giants. | D．The decline of the brick-and-mortar stores. |
| A．searching for lower prices | B．leaving as soon as possible |
| C．locating the first exit quickly | D．making a purchase on the spot |
| A．increasing sales at stores | B．preventing purchase online |
| C．satisfying customers’ needs | D．advising shoppers to buy more |
9 . Many on the Mountain
We often see people waiting in lines at supermarkets, theatres and amusement parks. Surprisingly, some people even have to wait in line at the summit (顶峰) of Qomolangma in the Himalayas.
The best time to climb the Himalayas is during the months of April and May, as well as some days in September and October. "In these periods of recent years, the path contains rocks and deep crack from melting ice due to the warm weather, which make expeditions up the mountain more dangerous," said Apa, an experienced Nepalese guide. During this year's climbing season, crowds of climbers became stuck in a long line near the summit. The line is above the mountain's highest campsite—about 8,000 meters above sea level.
However, most people can only spend a few minutes at the summit without extra oxygen supplies. Twenty-one mountaineers have died in the Himalayan mountains so far this year, according to Gripped, a magazine dedicated to mountain climbing. Eleven of these climbers died on Qomolangma.
This death count marks a four-year high. Overcrowding, inexperience and poor weather have been the most common causes of death, USA Today reported.
After these tragedies, one question remains: Why do so many people risk their lives to climb the mountain? The answer differs from climber to climber. Studies suggest that people who take risks tend to perceive themselves differently than people who avoid risky activities. But for adventurers who are drawn to the Himalayas, reaching the summit of Qomolangma is a lifelong dream, according to Discovery News.
"Qomolangma is like a light to bugs that attracts people once they hear about it. It represents the ultimate for many people," US mountaineer Alan Arnette said. Technological advances have also encouraged more people to climb the mountain. People can get high-tech safety equipment more easily than before. And with the internet, climbers know better than ever about how to reach the summit safely, Yahoo Travel noted.
1. What do we know from the USA Today report?| A．21 climbers have lost their lives on Qomolangma this year. |
| B．This year's climber death count is four times more than last year's. |
| C．Climbers who have less experience may have a higher risk of death. |
| D．Climbers can only spend a few minutes at the summit of Qomolangma. |
| A．Think. | B．Promise. | C．Change. | D．Pretend. |
| A．The risks on Qomolangma. | B．Mountaineers' lifelong dream. |
| C．Causes of mountaineers' deaths. | D．Reasons for climbing Qomolangma. |
The term “multitasking” originally
