Supermarkets are trying out new computers that make shopping carts more intelligent（具备智能的）. They will help shoppers find paper cups or toilet soap, and keep a record of the bill.
The touch-screen devices（触摸屏装置）are on show at the Food Marketing Institute’s exhibition here this week. “These devices are able to create value and get you around the store quicker,” said Michael Alexandor, manager of Springboard Retail Networks Inc, which makes a smart cart computer called the Concierge.
Canadian stores will test the Concierge in July. A similar device, IBM’s “Shopping Buddy”, has recently been test-marketed at Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts.
Neither device tells you how many fat grams or calories are in your cart, but they will flash you with items on sale. The idea is to make it easier for people to buy, not to have second thoughts that maybe you should put something back on the shelf.
“The whole model is driven by advertisers’ need to get in front of shoppers,” said Alexandor. “They’re not watching 30-second TV ads anymore.”
People can use a home computer to make their shopping lists. Once at the store, a shopper can use a preferred customer card to start a system（系统）that will organize the trip around the store. If you’re looking for toothpicks, you type in the word or pick it from a list, and a map will appear on the screen showing where you are and where you can find them.
The device also keeps a record of what you buy. When you’re finished, the device figures out your bill. Then you go to the checker or place your card into a self-checkout stand and pay.
The new computerized shopping assistants don’t come cheap. The Buddy devices will cost the average store about $160,000, and the Concierge will cost stores about $500 for each device.
53. The underlined word “they” (paragraph 1) refers to______.
A. supermarkets B. shop assistants
C. shopping carts D. shop managers
54. Which of the following is the correct order of shopping with computerized shopping carts?
a. Start the system. b. Make a shopping list.
c. Find the things you want. d. Go to a self-checkout stand.
A. abdc B. bacd C. acbd D. bcad
55. We can learn from the last paragraph that______.
A. intelligent shopping carts cost a large sum of money
B. the Concierge is cheaper than the Buddy devices
C. shop assistants with computer knowledge are well paid
D. average stores prefer the Concierge to the Buddy devices
56. What might be the most suitable title for the text?
A. New age for supermarkets B. Concierge and Shopping Buddy
C. New computers make shopping carts smarter
D. Touch-screen devices make shopping enjoyable
A gentleman put an advertisement in a newspaper for a boy to work in his office. Out of the nearly fifty men who came to apply, the man selected one and dismissed(解散) the others.
“I should like to know,” said a friend, “the reason you preferred that boy, who brough not a single letter—not a recommendation(介绍信）.”
“You are wrong,” said the gentleman. He had a great many. He wiped his feet at the door and closed the door after him, indicating that he was careful. He gave his seat immediately to the crippled (跛的) old man, showing that he was kind and thoughtful. He took off his cap when he came in and answered my questions immediately, showing that he was polite and gentlemanly.
“All the rest stepped over the book which I had purposely put on the floor. He picked it up and placed it on the table; and he waited quietly for his turn instead of pushing and crowding.
When I talked to him, I noticed his tidy clothing, his neatly brushed hair, and his clean fingernails(指甲). Can’t you see that these things are excellent recommendations? I consider them more significant(明显的) than letters.”
45. A gentleman put an advertisement in a newspaper _____
A. in order to hire an office boy
B. so as to dismiss the others
C. in order to select one among the fifty applicants
D. so as to select one and dismiss the others
46. The underlined word “indicatiing” probably means _______
A. drawing B. saying C. showing D. speaking
47. _______ was the very person the gentleman preferred.
A. He who had many letters
B. He who had no letters
C. He who wiped his feet
D. He who was careful,kind, polite and thoughtful
48. According to the passage, we know that the gentleman hired the boy by________
A. his good manners B. the relationships between them
C. by the feelings D. his letters
Soong Mei-ling was one of the most well-known Chinese women of the twentieth century.
Mei-ling was born in Hainan in 1898, the youngest daughter of Charlie Soong. At the age of 8, she was sent to the United States to go to school, where she did well. She graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1917 with a degree in English Literature. Because of her education Mei-ling spoke excellent English.
After graduation Mei-ling returned to China and she met Chiang Kai-shek(蒋介石) in 1920. She married him in 1927 after his divorce. During the war against Japan, Mei-ling acted as her husband’s interpreter and translator. She worked hard to promote the Chinese cause during the war, especially in the United States. In 1943 she became the first Chinese national and only the second woman to speak before the US Congress(国会).
After the defeat(溃败) of her husband’s government in 1949, Mei-ling moved to Taiwan. She lived there until her husband’s death in 1975. She then emigrated to the USA and lived on her family’s estate(别墅) in Lattington, Long Island, near New York. She spent much of time painting.
Mei-ling died peacefully at her apartment in New York on October 23, 2003 at the age of 105.
41. Mei-ling was born in ______
A. 1920 B. 1927 C. 1917 D. 1898
42. After graduation Mei-ling_______
A. went back to China B. studied English Literature
C.. lived in Massachusetts D. spoke little English
43. During the war against Japan, Mei-ling________
A. was her husband’s interperter and translator
B. toured the United States
C. spent her time in Long Island
D. lived in Tai’wan
44. Soong Mei-ling ______
A. was the oldest Soong sister B. loved money
C. died in the USA D. married Dr Sun Yat-sen(孙中山)
Every year, major storms cause many problems around the world. There is nothing people can do to stop these powerful forces of nature. But new techniques are helping scientists to predict how, when, and where big storms will happen. The more exact scientists’ warnings are, the better people can prepare for the storms.
Predictions are improving. “We’re gotten better over the years, especially the last few years,” says Phil Klotzbach, a scientist at an American university. How is a storm formed? Even if scientists know where a storm will happen, winds can suddenly change, carrying the storm to a new direction. “For a hurricane to happen, conditions have to be just right, ” Klotzbach says.
First, the ocean water needs to be warm enough so that it evaporates and rises into the air. As it rises, the vapor（水蒸气）cools and turns back into liquid. This process gives off heat. This produces energy like an engine that causes winds to increase. It drives the formation of a hurricane.
If wind speeds reach 40 miles per hour, the system is called a “tropical storm”, and it gets a name. At 75 miles per hour, it becomes a hurricane.
Hurricanes that hit the US start when a thunderstorm forms off the coast of Africa. Storms also develop over tropical waters in other parts of the world.
On average, 60 or 70 storms form off Africa every year. About 10 of them get names. There are usually about six hurricanes. Two tend to be very big, with winds of 115 miles per hour or higher.
The hurricane season lasts from June to November. Ninety percent of all hurricanes hit in August, September, and October.
1. According to the passage, hurricanes usually ________.
A. form off the coast of Africa and America
B. travel at 40 miles per hour and get its name
C. cause sea winds to rise and blow over the sea
D. hit parts of the world in summer and autumn
2. The underlined word “evaporates” (in Paragraph 5) probably means “________”.
A. begins to move B. gets lost C. becomes hot D. changes into gas
3. Which of the following about the information of a hurricane is the correct order?
a. The ocean water evaporates and goes into the air.
b. Heat creates energy and causes winds to increase.
c. The vapor cools.
d. The ocean water is warm enough.
e. The vapor changes back into liquid.
f. This course gives out heat.
A. a, d, e, b, c, f B. a, b, c, f, d, e C. d, a, c, e, f, b D. d, a, b, c, e, f
4. According to the passage, the speed of the biggest two hurricanes reaches ______.
A.115 miles per hour B.110 miles per hour
C.75 miles per hour D.95 miles per hour
We each have a memory. That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.
1. Some people can easily learn many things by heart because ________.
A．they always sleep very well B．they often eat good food
C．they read a lot of books D．they have very good memories
2. Before a child can speak, he must ________.
A．read and write B．make sentences
C．hear and remember the sounds D．think hard
3. In school the pupils can’t learn a foreign language well because________ .
A．they have no good memories B．they have no recorders
C．they have too much time for it D．they are busy with other subjects
4. Your memory will become better and better ________.
A．if you have plenty of good food
B．if you do more and more exercises
C．if you do morning exercises every day
D．if you get up early
Signs in Chinese will be set up in public areas such as airports, to benefit Chinese travelers, the Italian Government announced in late February. Now many European countries are expected to follow this example.
Despite the different languages, travel across Europe has never been so simple. Just five years ago, if you wanted to visit Germany in the north and Spain in the south in one trip, you had to wait for weeks to apply for different visas from the two countries. You also needed a calculator because both countries had different money.
Today, with a Schengen Visa issued by any member country, you can travel across 15 European countries without stopping. Since 2002, within most of the EU, there is now just one type of money called the Euro. The Euro was designed to be the only money in the EU, and already makes it easier to shop around. If you drive, your driving license and car insurance policy are valid（有效的）in the other European countries. And you can use your mobile phone everywhere.
All the countries in the continent are melting into a united Europe under the EU. For Europeans and visitors, the result is that is more convenient to travel back and forth between the different countries.
1. What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To encourage us to travel across Europe.
B. To suggest that the whole world is melting into one like the EU.
C. To praise the tourism policy of the EU.
D. To introduce tourism conditions in the EU.
2. By saying the underlined sentence “Now many European countries are expected to follow this example”, the writer means that ________.
A. more signs will be set up in Chinese in European countries
B. more and more Europeans have a desire to know more about China
C. more and more Chinese people will go to travel across Europe
D. Chinese is now an important language in Europe
3. Compared to five years ago, traveling in Europe has become easier because ______.
A. you needn’t drive a car
B. you can use a calculator to exchange money
C. applying for different visas is much simpler
D. one visa is good enough for traveling in a number of countries
4. It can be inferred from the passage that _________
A. an increasing number of Chinese tend to travel to Europe
B. Chinese has become an important language in Europe
C. the Euro is the only money used in the EU now
D. it is always necessary to unite many countries into one