When you think about math, you probably don’t think about breaking the law, solving mysteries or finding criminals. But a mathematician in Maryland does, and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal (揭示) the identity of the criminal. It’s long been believed, for example, that criminals will break the law closer to where they live, simply because it’s easier to get around in their own neighborhood. If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area, they may look for a suspect who lives near the crime scenes. So, the farther away from the area a crime takes place, the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O’Leary, a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland, says that this kind of approach may be too simple. He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal’s home base by combining these patterns with a city’s layout (布局) and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets — that is, the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob. Because these stores are along roads, the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are. O’Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city. His program also includes information about the people who live in the city, and information about how a criminal’s patterns change with age. It’s been shown, for example, that the younger the criminal, the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software, but O’Leary’s uses more math. The mathematician plans to make his computer program available, free of charge, to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime. O’Leary says that criminology — the study of crime and criminals — contains a lot of good math problems. “I feel like I’m in a gold mine and I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun.”
61. To find criminals, police usually _________.
A. check who are on the crime scene
B. seek help from local people
C. depend on new mathematical tools
D. focus on where crimes take place
62. O’Leary is writing a computer program that _________.
A. uses math to increase the speed of calculation
B. tells the identity of a criminal in a certain area
C. provides the crime records of a given city
D. shows changes in criminals’ patterns
63. By “I’m the only one who knows what gold looks like”, O’Leary means that he _________.
A. is better at finding gold than others
B. is the only one who uses math to make money
C. knows best how to use math to help solve crimes
D. has more knowledge of gold than other mathematicians
64. What do you know about O’Leary according to the passage?
A. He is a man full of impractical imagination.
B. He is a man full of self-confidence.
C. He is a man who is talkative but lazy.
D. He is a man who doesn’t like mathematics.
65. What is the main idea of the text?
A. Math could help police find criminals.
B. Criminals live near where crimes occur.
C. Crime records could be used to fight crime.
D. Computer software works in preventing crimes.
Betty is not traditional American beauty. She is unfashionable, has thick red glasses, untidy hair and large metal braces (牙套) on her teeth. But this hasn’t stopped her from becoming one of American’s favorite TV characters. So how did she manage to do it?
The answer is that charm can be more attractive than beauty. Betty is the main character in a TV show Ugly Betty. The show is about her life as a n office worker at a fashion magazine in New York.
The TV show has just started. Betty has many exciting experiences and romantic stories. Betty is often looked down on and laughed at by the people around. But she manages to do better than others with her hard work, charm and wisdom. The show tells us about how a girl goes from an ugly young duck into a beautiful swan.
Though you may know the ending of the show from the beginning and the story is familiar to many of us, it has still been a big success in the USA. It has attracted a large number of viewers and won two Golden Globes awards, one of the highest honors for a television program in the USA.“ I think you can see a bit of Betty in all of us, and I mean men as well, because it’s about the underdog (弱者)”，says Ashley Jensen, who plays one of the characters on the show.
The program is so popular because of the performance of the 23-year-old actress America Ferrera who plays the role of Betty. She brings the character alive on the screen. Betty is popular because of ____.
| A．her clothes | B．her charm |
| C．her personality | D．her appearance |
Which is the reason for the success of the show?
| A．A large number of viewers. |
| B．Her life as an office worker. |
| C．The wonderful performance. |
| D．Two Golden Globes awards. |
Which of the following is NOT true according of the show?
| A．Betty is a girl of wisdom. |
| B．Betty acts as a beautiful swan on the show. |
| C．Betty is an American favorite TV character. |
| D．Betty is often looked down on by the people around. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Beauty from within. | B．A romantic story. |
| C．An ugly girl. | D．An exciting experience. |
One day Mr. Brown sees a young woman in the street with children. He is very surprised because all the children are wearing the same clothes. White caps, blue coats and yellow trousers.
“Are all these children yours?” he asks the woman.
“Yes, they are.” she answers.
“Do you always dress them in the same clothes ?” asks Mr. Brown.
“Yes,” answers the mother. “When we have four children, we dress them in the same clothes because we don’t want to lose any of them. It is easy to see our children among other children because they are all wearing the same clothes.
And now we have ten, we dress them like this because we don't want to take other children home by mistake. When there are other children among ours, it is easy to see them because their clothes are different.How many people does Mr. Brown see in the street one day? He sees ____in all.
| A．twelve | B．eleven | C．four | D．ten children |
Why is Mr. Brown surprised? Because ________ .
| A．all the children are boys |
| B．all the children are in the same clothes |
| C．all the children are lovely |
| D．all the children are wearing the same trousers |
Why does the woman dress her children in the same clothes? Because ___________.
| A．she has so many children |
| B．she loves her children |
| C．she doesn't want to take her children home |
| D．she wants to see her children easily among others |
The Hunan Satellite TV(HNTV) show “Where are we going, Dad?” is a big hit. Many famous stars brought their children to a strange village alone, and they had to spend 72 hours with their children there. The program fully showed us a modern version of the “how to be a good father”. As the young parents today are too busy to take care of their children, this new form of “Lost on the way” played by nanny Daddy and cute kids caused a lot of people’s emotional resonance(共鸣). Both the kids and their parents will find that their hearts are being drawn closer. But this kind of feeling has just proved that there is a big spiritual barrier between the modern parents and children.
The TV shows like “Children are hard to support!”, “Where are we going, Dad?”, “hot mom” and “cute kids” are becoming more and more popular. All of these show the new parents’ confusion in children’s education and the appeal for the balance between career and family.
In real life, on the one hand the young parents feel helpless because they are too busy to accompany their children under the pressures of work and life; on the other hand they continue to do so. The data collected by HNTV shows that nearly two-thirds of their audience are female, among whom 36% are aged from 25 to 34.We can imagine such a scene that one evening a young mother is watching the show with her young children, while her husband is still at work or trapped in socializing, or maybe is just playing computer games in the bedroom. The story of a child without the company of father is still going on. In fact, it is sometimes the same to mothers. In a modern family, it is often the old who take the responsibility of raising a child. The participation of mother in the children’s education is also very low.
It is just this kind of confusion where the parents have gone in the modern family education, and where the parents will guide their children to go that “Where are we going，Dad?” shows us. If a child wants to grow up healthily and safely into a modern citizen with independent personality and free spirit, it is very important for him or her to follow the parents who serve as their first teacher. Maybe this is the real reason why such kind of TV programs could get hot. The truth is that children will go where their parents go; and society will go where the children go.What attitude towards modern family education does the author express in the second passage?
| A．worried | B．favorable |
| C．optimistic | D．proud |
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．36% of the audience of the program are male aged from 25-34. |
| B．Parents shouldn’t entirely leave the education of children to the old. |
| C．In a modern family it is often mothers who are responsible for raising a child. |
| D．The program shows us the confusion where the parents and children will go to play. |
In raising a child in modern society, parents should___________.
| A．play computer games with their children |
| B．balance well between family and career |
| C．keep their children at home to avoid socializing |
| D．break down the barrier between children and teachers |
Which one is the best title of the passage?
| A．Nanny Daddy and Cute Kids |
| B．Modern Education is Important |
| C．Confusion Behind “Where are we going, dad?” |
| D．New problems in Modern Children’s Education |
For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.
As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “The Old Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.
However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.
That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of business. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.
This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.
In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men’s Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all. The passage mainly tells us something about ______.
| A．the importance of British pubs |
| B．the decline of British pubs |
| C．the long history of British pubs |
| D．the past and present of British pubs |
Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?
| A．The present closing time. |
| B．The ban of smoking. |
| C．The lack of enough spare money. |
| D．The credit crunch. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．binge drinking means drinking less beer |
| B．closing the pubs early will reduce social problems |
| C．British people used to like drinking slowly |
| D．British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking |
We can see from the last paragraph that the author _______.
| A．holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs |
| B．thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need |
| C．thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems |
| D．is against the admission of too many women to the pubs |
Are you single or married? Are you a cat or a dog owner? Do you exercise, or are you a “couch potato”? These questions and many others are about your lifestyle.
People in the United States feel that they can choose their lifestyles and even shape their own identities. In newspapers, lifestyle issues are discussed in the features or style section. In the Chicago Tribune this section is called “Tempo”. People turn to this section for lively discussion on lifestyle choices they face with regard to their personal identities, their families, and their social lives.
Many American people believe that they can make their lives happy and satisfying despite their problems. If they lack confidence or tend to feel anxious, shy, angry, or depressed, they believe that they can change themselves. Self-help books, magazines, and feature articles are filled with advice from experts about steps to take to become a happier or more satisfied person and to improve one’s self-respect. Part of this research for self-improvement is a belief that even one’s own appearance can be controlled.
Lifestyle choices also involve moral and social issues. How should children be raised? How should people behave on a date? How should elderly people be treated? How can people stay happily married? All these kinds of issues are constantly discussed and are constantly changing.
Not only are experts such as psychologists consulted, but stars from the political and entertainment worlds are held up as lifestyle leaders as well. In the newspaper, some articles discuss in detail the personal lives or public work of famous movie stars, authors and artists. The lifestyle choices these people make contribute to the public discussion of all the issues that people think about.
A well-known advertising slogan is “Just do it.” In the culture of the United States, people believe that they can take action and become the kind of people they want to be and live the way they want to live.The section “Tempo” in the Chicago Tribune mainly discusses ______.
| A．current affairs |
| B．lifestyle choices |
| C．experts’ opinions on life |
| D．one’s self-respect |
According to the author, Americans are pretty sure that they can ______.
| A．control their own appearance |
| B．solve all the problems in their life |
| C．live a happy life in spite of their problems |
| D．improve their life by following the elders’ advice |
According to the passage, people’s opinions on moral or social issues can be influenced by ______.
| A．their teachers |
| B．family members |
| C．experts and famous people |
| D．friends and colleagues |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Lifestyles in the United States |
| B．Americans’ opinions on happiness. |
| C．Advice on shaping Americans’ identities |
| D．A famous advertising slogan —“Just do it.” |