Cyber Cafe computer centers are found in many cities around the world. Now, a few American high schools are opening these centers. For example, high school in the state of Maryland began operating a Cyber Cafe last March. All students at Bethesde-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda can use the Cyber Cafe. But school officials say I especially helps students who have no computer or cannot use the Internet at home.
The officials say thirteen percent of the students at the school are from poor families. Many student have arrived in the United States from poor families. Many students have arrived in the United States from other countries only recently. Students in the school’s program for learning English speak twenty-three other languages.
The idea for a Cyber Cafe at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School began three years ago. A that time, officials were planning o restore the school building. Parents interested in technology proposed a Cyber Cafe.
They wanted this center even though schools in the area had suffered budget cuts. The community wanted to help. It wanted all students to have the best chances to learn.
Officials in the area supported the idea. So did an organization called the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Educational Foundation. The foundation includes parents, teachers, former students, and business, community and other leaders.
Over two years, the foundation collected money for a Cyber Cafe and other new computers. It received more than one hundred seventy thousand dollars. The Café now has sixteen computer, a printer and a device called a scanner . School official Ann Hengerer (HEN-grr-er) says students use the Internet to complete research. They also write homework and required papers on the computers. In addition, they can send and receive electronic mails. That is especially helpful for the many students who have family members in other nations.
The Cyber Cafe also serves a social purpose. Visitors can stop by for a drink of coffee, tee or hot chocolate. On Long Island, in School has six computers in is Cyber Cafe. One student at the school says students can start their homework even before they leave school. What is mainly discussed in the passage?
Cyber Cafe computer centers in many cities around the world
High school Cyber Cafe
Cyber Cafe at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
Cyber Cafe at Walter G. 0’Connell Copiague High SchoolWho can use the Cyber Cafe?
Only the students from poor families
All the students at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High school
Only the students from other countries
Only the students who have no computer or cannon use the Internet at home Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
Parents interested in technology proposed a Cyber Cafe.
The community wanted all students to have the best chances to learn.
Officials in the area supported the idea.
The foundation didn’t support the idea until two years later. This passage may be adapted from a column entitled _________.
| A．Education Report | B．In the News | C．Development Report | D．Science Report |
第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
If you’ve ever seen a James Bond movie you’ll know that the hero gets around in a smart Aston Martin car. Even if you know full well that you could never afford such an expensive vehicle, you don’t forget the name, or the car.
Why? You have been subjected to product placement.
Companies pay a film to place their products in the movie. Product placement took off in the West in the 1980s and is now catching on in China. Two Hunan Satellite TV dramas arerecent examples：Ugly Wudi and Let’s Go Watch the Meteror Shower（《一起去看流星雨》）.
Shampoo, mobile phones, cars and fitness centers-anything can be product-placed. Advertisers value the mass appeal of the movies, knowing that a successful film can showcase their goods to hundreds of thousands of viewers. But when product placement takes over, artistic considerations can take a back seat.
Cai Zhiyong has been product-placing for years. The Beijing-based advertiser admits there is a conflict between art and business. He explains the way one ad works. In If You are the One（《非诚勿扰》）,the actress Shu Qi plays a flight attendant. The movie contains product placement for airline companies.
Cash-strapped filmmakers often have to sacrifice the quality of their work because they need money form advertisers. In the original story for Meteor Shower, the heroine’s mother owned an ice cream shop. But no ice cream company wanted to sponsor the film. For this reason, the story was changed. In the film the man drinks20 cups of milk tea where it was originally intended that he would eat ice cream.
Even here tough, you may see the power of business over the movies, since the script was perhaps written so a product could be placed-whether it was ice cream or milk tea.
1.James Bond movies are mentioned in the first paragraph to show_________.
A．how popular James Bond is B．how great the Aston Martin car is
C．how to make a movie more artistic D．how effectively product placement works
2.Product placement can have a bad effect on the_________ of a movie.
A．atmosphere B．mass appeal C．commercial success D．artistic value
3.What does the underlined word “cash-strapped” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
A．Short of money. B．Self-financed
C．With abundant cash. D．Intending to earn money
4.We can learn from the adaptation of Meteor Shower that__________.
A．business has a big say in the movie
B．the original story was not suitable for a movie
C．filmmakers are more concerned about making money.
D．milk tea companies are more successful than ice cream companies.
Just as our degree of individual freedom uncomfortable to many foreign visitors, foreign attitudes toward truth seem uncertain to Americans.
In many countries people will tell you what they think you want to hear, whether or not it is true. To them, this implies politeness. To Americans, it is considered misleading-even dishonest--to distort facts on purpose, however kind the motive. The point is ---our priorities(优先) are different; in the United States truth has a higher priority than politeness. We are taught from babyhood that “Honesty is the best policy.” Elsewhere, politeness, honor, family loyalty, “machismo” or many other values might come far ahead of honesty if one is listing priorities.
But with us, trust and truth are of paramount importance. If we say of a man, “You cannot trust him.” This is one of the most damning statements that can be made about him.
In view of such profound differences in values, it is natural that misunderstandings and irritations often occur, especially in exact areas such as the negotiation of contracts. A Mexican has said, “With us business is like a courtship(求爱).” Americans lack this grace, but on the other hand you can count on their word. You know where you are with them; except in advertising, they will not be “whispering sweet nothings” that they do not mean in order to make you feel desirable!
“How far is it to the next village?” the American asks a man standing by the edge of the road. In some countries, because the man realizes that the traveler is tired and eager to reach his destination, he will politely say “Just down the road.” He thinks this is more encouraging, gentler, and therefore the wanted answer. So the American drives on through the night, getting more and more angry, feeling “tricked.” He thinks the man deliberately lied to him, for obviously he must have known the distance quite well.
Had conditions been reversed, the American would feel he was “cheating” the driver if he implied the next town was close when he knew it was really 15miles further on. Although, he, too, would be sympathetic to the weary driver, he would say, “you have a good way to go yet; it is at least 15 more miles.” The driver might be disappointed, but he would know what to expect.
This often-epeated question of accuracy versus courtesy leads to many misunderstandings between people of different cultures. If you are aware of the situation in advance, it is sometimes easier to recognize the problem.
1．The best title for the passage should be_________.
A．Truth or politeness B．Truth or lying
C．Cultural differences D．Honest Americans
2．In American’s view, people who tell you what they think you want to hear, whether or not it is true, are _________.
A．polite B．honest C．kind D．misleading
3．According to the author, misunderstandings and angers often occur as a result of_________.
A．the exactness of negotiation B．the importance in trust and truth
C．deep differences in values D．lack of respect
4．According to the author, Americans_________.
A．treat a business deal like a courtship
B．list honor on the top of the list of values
C．do not whisper sweet nothings in advertising
D．expect to know the exact distance when asking the way
In 1993, researchers at the University of California at Irvine discovered the so – called “Mozart Effect” – that college students who listened to ten minutes of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (D大调) before taking an IQ test scored nine points higher than when they had sat in silence or listened to relaxation tapes. Other studies also have indicated that people gain information better if they hear classical or baroque (a style of art) music while studying.
It is said that Albert Einstein was an average student until he began playing the violin. "Before that, he had a hard time expressing what he knew," says Hazel Cheilek, orchestra director at Fairfax County's Thomas Jefferson High School. “Einstein said he got some of his greatest inspirations while playing the violin. It liberated his brain so that he could imagine." In the early 1700s, England's King George I also felt he would make better decisions if he listened to good music. Reportedly, Handel responded by composing his Water Music suites to be played while the king floated the Thames on his royal boat. Even Plato in ancient Greece believed studying music created a sense of order and harmony necessary for intelligent thought.
The deepest effects take place in young children, while their brains are growing. This year, the same researchers at Irvine’s Center for Neurobiology of Leaming and Memory found that preschoolers who had received eight months of music lessons scored 80 percent higher on certain tasks than other youngsters who received no musical training.
Music students continue to beat their non – arts peers (同龄人) on the SAT, according to the 1999 “Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers” from The College Board. Students with coursework in music appreciation scored 42 points higher on the math section of the test than students with no coursework or experience in the arts.
All of this to say "you are the judge" but listening to Mozart certainly won't hurt you. My point always is that making music is preferable to passive listening and that listening to live music is always preferable to listening to recorded music. Mozart WILL NOT raise your IQ, but it might help you organize your thoughts better before taking a standardized test.
1．When people mention Albert Einstein, King George I and Plato, they believe that the effect of music is_________.
A．positive B．negative C．suspicious D．sensitive
2．So far researchers at the University of California at Irvine have done studies about_________.
A．college students who listen to rock music every day
B．people who hear classical music while studying
C．preschoolers with music lessons
D．music students in SAT
3．Which of the following is an opinion rather than a fact?
A．Handel composed Water Music to be played while the kind floated the Thames on his boat.
B．Mozart might help you organize your thought better before taking a standardized test.
C．Preschoolers with music training scored higher on object – assembly tasks.
D．Music students continue to beat their non – arts peers on the SAT.
4．What is the author’s opinion about music?
A．He thinks that listening to music is better than making music.
B．He has a doubt whether listening to Mozart will hurt the listeners.
C．He is sure that listening to the music of Mozart will raise people’s IQ.
D．He thinks that live concert is better worth listening to than recorded music.
Barack Obama
In the past hundred years, the U.S. presidency has turned more and more to the left – not in policy, but in handedness. Barrack Obama is the latest to join a long list of left – handed presidents from the 20th century: James Garfield, Herbert Hoover, Henry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were all southpaws.
What makes lefties so electable? Some experts think left-handed people have a greater aptitude for language skills, which may help them craft the rhetoric necessary for political office. And as for the bout of recent left-handed presidents, some think it’s because teachers only recently stopped working to convert lefties to rightist at an early age.
Bill Gates
Claiming the nation’s richest man among their number is a source of considerable pride for America’s society of southpaws. In fact, the Microsoft titan and philanthropist(巨头兼慈善家) is one of a surprising number of U.S. business moguls to be left-handed, including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and former IBM head Lou Gerstner. But the club seems to be a guys-only fraternity — research suggests that while left-handed men tend to earn more than their right-handed colleagues, there is no similar advantage for women. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research floated the idea that left-handed men favor "divergent" thinking, a form of creativity in which the brain moves "from conventional knowledge into unexplored association." Maybe that’s what it takes to develop a net worth estimated at $ 57 billion.
Oprah Winfrey
The talk-show queen doesn’t need much more to set her apart from the rest — what with her estimated $ 2.7 billion fortune and a magic ability to sell books just by glancing at them — but she also has the distinction of being a member of the left-handed club. Since men are more likely to be left-handed than women, that makes Oprah doubly impressive. She’s in good company: Other show-business ladies of the left – handed persuasion include Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie
Marie Curie
Not only was atomic scientist Marie Curie left-handed, but she was the matriarch of a whole family of accomplished, southpaw scientists. Curie, who discovered the principles of radioactivity and won two Nobel Prizes, was married to fellow lefty Pierre Curie, who was instrumental in helping Marie’s atomic research and shared one of her Nobel awards. Historians believe their daughter, Irene, was also left-handed. Irene went on to win a Nobel Prize of her own with her husband — who, you guessed it, was also left-handed.
1．The underlined word “southpaws” in the last sentence of Paragraph 1 means_________.
A．people coming from the south B．powerful presidents
C．people who use their left hand D．forceful speakers
2．What makes it so easy for lefties to be elected as presidents according to the passage?
A．Their great gift for foreign language.
B．Their great language skills to make speeches.
C．The need of left – hinders in the political office.
D．Teachers stopping to force them to use their right hand.
3．It can be implied that Bill Gates, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and Lou Gerstner_________.
A．have creative thinking B．have formed a special club.
C．earn more money than their wives D．are wealthy philanthropists
4．The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 “She is in good company” means “_________”.
A．she works in a very good company B．she has many good friends
C．she has got on well with others D．she is among many female lefties
Vampires (吸血鬼), creatures of myth, have been around in one form or another for centuries. Terrifying but also attractive, they are as popular in the early 21 st century as ever, as the current popularity of Twilight series, and its hero Edward Cullen, show.
Vampires first appeared in fiction in the 1700s. in 1895 Irish novelist Bram Stoker published Dracula, introducing the world’s most famous vampire.
But just what is it about these drinkers of human blood that continues to fascinate us? Speaking to Eric Lewis of the Times and Transcript website, academic Deborah Wells said that vampires are “culturally adaptive”. “We create very different vampires to fit different times. Edward Cullen is not the same as Count Dracula,” she said.
Different as they are, Wells believes vampires are “the perfect containers into which we can pour our current cultural anxieties”, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is powerful, yet old and physically ugly. Stoker’s book dealt with fear of the fall of the British Empire, real fears in the day in which it was written.
According to the website Bookrags, today’s vampires have all our cultural desires, money, power and sexual attraction. Represented by Cullen, they are noble, handsome young men whom women find irresistible. What’s more, vampires challenge traditional ideas about death, science and parental authority. This may be why teenagers are drawn to vampire tales.
“In many ways, the vampire story shows up teenage concerns,” said wells. “The emotional intensity (强度) of the relationship with the vampire matches the intensity of how it feels to have your first real love affairs. Your first real love, it really feels like life and death.”
1．The best title for this passage should be_________.
A．Vampires may continue to drink our blood
B．Vampires have been around us for long
C．Why Twilight is so popular nowadays
D．We still like the story about vampires
2．What is the image of the vampire in Bram Stoker’s book?
A．Anxious but perfect.
B．Powerful, old and ugly.
C．Terrifying but also attractive.
D．Afraid of the fall of the British Empire.
3．According to the website Bookrages, today’s vampires_________.
A．desire money, power and sexual attraction
B．may not think highly of parental authority
C．dare to give up traditional ideas
D．are likely to be resisted by women
4．Which of the following statements is true according to Wells?
A．People need different vampires in different times.
B．Our current cultural anxieties are hidden in vampires.
C．The vampire story reflects the conches of the teenagers.
D．The relationship with the vampire equals your first real love.