Imagine you’re at a party full of strangers. You’re nervous. Who are these people? How do you start a conversation? Fortunately, you’ve got a thing that sends out energy at tiny chips in everyone’s name tag. The chips send back name, job, hobbies, and the time available for meeting-whatever. Making new friends becomes simple.
This hasn’t quite happened in real life. But the world is already experiencing a revolution using RFID technology.
An RFID tag with a tiny chip can be fixed in a product, under your pet’s skin, even under your own skin. Passive RFID tags have no energy source-batteries because they do not need it. The energy comes from the reader, a scanning device, that sends out energy (for example, radio waves) that starts up the tag immediately.
Such a tag carries information specific to that object, and the data can be updated. Already, RFID technology is used for recognizing each car or truck on the road and it might appear in your passport. Doctors can put a tiny chip under the skin that will help locate and obtain a patient’s medical records. At a nightclub in Paris or in New York the same chip gets you into the VIP (very important person) section and pays for the bill with the wave of an arm.
Take a step back:10 or 12 years ago, you would have heard about the coming age of computing. One example always seemed to surface: Your refrigerator would know when you needed to buy more milk. The concept was that computer chips could be put everywhere and send information in a smart ne
twork that would make ordinary life simpler.
RFID tags are a small part of this phenomenon. “The world is going to be a loosely coupled set of individual small devices, connected wirelessly,” predicts Dr.J.Reich. Human right supporters are nervous about the possibilities of such technology. It goes too far tracking school kids through RFID tags, they say. We imagine a world in which a beer company could find out not only when you bought a beer but also when you drank it. And how many beers. Accompanied by how many biscuits.
When Marconi invented radio, he thought it would be used for ship-to-shore communication, not for pop music. Who knows how RFID and related technologies will be used in the future. Here’s a wild guess: Not for buying milk.
1. The article is intended to .
A. warn people of the possible risks in adopting RFID technology
B. explain the benefits brought about by RFID technology
C. convince people of the uses of RFID technology
D. predict the applications of RFID technology
2. We know from the passage that with the help of RFID tags, people________.
A. will have no trouble getting data about others
B. will have more energy for conversation
C. will have more time to make friends
D. won’t feel shy at parties any longer
3. Passive RFID tags chiefly consist of _______.
A. scanning devices B. radio waves
C. batteries D. chips
4. Why are some people worried about RFID technology?
A. Because children will be tracked by strangers.
B. Because market competition will become more fierce.
C. Because their private lives will be greatly affected.
D. Because customers will be forced to buy more products.
5. The last paragraph implies that RFID technology________.
A. will not be used for such matters as buying milk
B. will be widely used, including for buying milk
C. will be limited to communication uses
D. will probably be used for pop music
On September 22, 1986, Jay Brunkella, a police-officer in the Rogers Park district in Chicago, was shot during a drug arrest and died. Shortly af terwards, fellow officer Ken Knapcik, a 20-year veteran (老警官) of the force, returned home after work to find a note from his 15-year-old daughter on the dining table.
Dad-This poem came directly from my heart. I love you so much! It scares and amazes me that you go out every day and risk everything to provide us with all that we have. I wrote this to express how much I love you and how much lost I’d be without you-Laura. P.S.: Hey, let’s be careful out there.
Titled “The Ultimate Cop”, Laura’s poem was dedicated “To all the cops in the world who have daughters who love them with all their hearts. And especially to my dad.” It was about a police-officer’s daughter who sees on the night time news that her father has been shot. Part of poem: “Daddy, my Daddy, can you hear me cry? Oh, God, I need my Daddy, please don’t let him die.”
Ken Knapcik stood alone as he read the poem. “It took me several minutes,”he said.“I’d get through part of it and have to stop before I could go on. I was weeping. She had never told me she was scared.” He took the poem to work the next day and showed it to his fellow officers. “I’ve never seen so many grown men cry. Some couldn’t finish it.”
Knapcik keeps Laura’s poem in the pocket of his police jacket. He takes it with him every time he leaves the house for a new shift. “I don’t want to be out there without it.” he said, “I’ll probably carry it with me forever.”
1.Laura wrote the poem ______.
A.in memory of her father who was shot in the drug arrest
B.to show her great sorrow in losing her father
C.to show her respect to all the cops who lost their lives
D.to tell officer Ken Knapcik how much she loved him
2.All the officers cried because ______
A.Jay Brunkella was shot and died
B.they were greatly touched by the poem
C.the poem was so sad that they couldn’t hold back their tears
D.they thought of their dangerous life
3.Knapcik keeps Laura’s poem in his pocket ______.
A.to treasure her daughter’s love and to value his own life B.to keep it from missing
C.because he can’t go out without it D.to mourn over the death of officer Jay Brunkella
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A.Poem for a cop B.An offier’s death
C.Daughter’s love D.Love my job, love my daughter
In some urban centers, workaholism is so common that people do not consider it unusual:
They accept the lifestyle as normal. Government workers in Washington D.C, for example, frequently work sixty to seventy hours a week. They don’t do this because they have to; they do it because they want to.
Workaholism can be a serious problem. Because true workaholics would rather work than do anything else, they probably don’t know how to relax.
Is workaholism always dangerous? Perhaps not. There are, certainly, people who work well under stress. Some studies show that many workaholies have great energy and interest in life. Their work is so pleasurable that they are actually very happy. For most workaholics, work and entertainment keep them busy and creative.
Why do workaholics enjoy their jobs so much? There are several advantages to work. Of course, it provides people with paychecks, and this is important. But it offers more than financial security. It provides people with selfconfidence; they have a feeling of satisfaction when they’re produced a challenging piece of work and are able to say,“I made that.” Psychologists claim that work gives people an identity through participation in work, they get a sense of self and individualism. In addition, most jobs provide people with a socially acceptable way to meet others. Perhaps some people are compulsive about their work, but their addiction seems to be a safe-even an advantageous-one.
9.The passage indicates that workaholics .
A.just know work but nothing else
B.are willing to work hard for long hours without pay
C.find their work provide them more satisfaction and selfconfidence than how much they are paid
D.has the work with more responsibility than others
10.One of the reasons that some people are not willing to quit their jobs even in their eighties and nineties is that
A.they are in the need of financial security
B.they would rather work than be disturbed by domestic affairs
C.they long for a sense of identity and being accomplished
D.they may have health problems from sheer boredom
11.This passage is mainly about .
A.workaholics are usually successful people, but their lives are in a mess
B.workaholism can lead to serious problems but it can also create a joyful life
C.people who are absorbed in their work may enjoy movies, sports and other kinds of entertainment
D.those who work even under difficult conditions may be very happy
12.It can be inferred from the passage that .
A.in the eyes of all the common people workaholics are peculiar
B.to workaholics, work is the sole source of happiness
C.a piece of challenging work may provide the workaholics a sense of satisfaction
D.workaholics are as addicted to their job as other people are to drugs or alcohol
Across the globe, single parent homes are on the rise. In the US, the 2000 census (人口普查) showed 24.8 million, or nearly 24 percent of the nation’s 105.5 million households, were traditional two-parent homes. By comparison, 9.8 million households, or 9 percent of all US households were headed by an adult raising a child alone. The 1990 census showed 26 percent of homes were led by a married mother and father, and 8 percent of homes were led by a single parent.
Similar increases occurred in other countries. In the UK, lone-parent homes increased from 3.3 percent in 1990 to 5.5 percent in 1999. Single parent households in Australia rose from 5.8 percent in 1990 to 7.6 percent in 1999. Belgium saw the increase from 1.8 percent to 2.7 percent during the same period of time. These countries tend to have greater acceptance of the single parent because there are fewer nearby family members to disapprove, Riche, a Census Bureau director, said.
Just as in the US, those changes raised new questions about how involved govenment should be in helping single parent families. Some research suggests children raised in two-parent families are better off than those who depend on one.
“The position of one-parent families in any country is very much a gender (性别) issue-women’s opportunities, especially working-class women on low income,” said Sue Cohen, coordinator (协调员) of the Single Action Parents Network in England.
5.Not considering the exact number of the single-parent families, which country saw the fastest rise rate in 1999, compared with 1990?
A.UK. B.Australia. C.America. D.Belgium.
6.What is the cause of the rise of single parent families across the globe?
A.The nearby family members have a favourable opinion.
B.A lone parent is well off enough to support his /her children.
C.A lot of problems have arisen in two-parent families.
D.We cannot get enough proving information from the text.
7.Which of the following is TRUE about the increase of single parent families according to the passage?
A.It will somewhat limit the growing population of younger generation.
B.Governments should take actions about the social problems brought about by it.
C.Single parent families are not looked down upon in any country mentioned here.
D.Generally speaking, the single parents needn’t worry since they are highly paid.
8.Which of the following diagrams correctly shows the rise of single parent families in the US from
1990 to 2000?
Does a drink a day keep heart attacks away? Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have found that moderate alcohol consumption, s ay, one or two beers, glasses of wine or cocktails daily helps to prevent coronary heart disease. Last week a report in the New England Journal of Medicine added strong new evidence in suport of that theory. More important, the work provided the first solid indiction of how alcohol works to protect the heart.In the study, researchers from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School compared the drinking habits of 340 men and women who had suffered recent heart attack with those of healthy people of the same age and sex. The scientists found that people who sip one to three drinks a day are about half as likely to suffer heart attacks as nondrinkers are. The apparent source of the protection: those who drank alcohol had higher blood levels of highdensity lipoproteins, the socalled good cholesterol, which is known to prevent heart disease.
As evidence has mounted, some doctors have begun recommending a daily drink for patients of heart diseases. But most physicians are not ready to reommend a regular happy hour for everyone. The risks of teetotalling(绝对戒酒) are nothing compared with the dangers of too much alcohol, including high blood pressure, strokes and liver troubles—not to mention violent behaviour and traffic accidents. Moreover, some studies suggest that even moderate drinking may increase the incidence of breast and colon cancer. Until there is evidence that the benefits of a daily dose of alcohol outweigh the risks, most people won’t be able to take a doctor’s prescription to the neighbourhood bar or liquor store.
1.The medical article quoted in the first paragraph indicates .
the way in which alcohol can help the heart
how a couple of cocktails daily can stop heart problems
why alcoholic drinks are dangerous to one’s health
that reports on the advantages of alcohol were misled
2.Experiments showed that nondrinkers had .
| A．larger amounts of good cholesterol |
| B．smaller amounts of good cholesterol |
| C．higher blood pressure |
| D．lower blood pressure |
3.According to the passage, moderate drinking .
is recommended by most doctors for heart patients
should be allowed on prescription
is still not medically advisable
is not related to liver problems
4.The main theme of this passage is .
the change in recent drinking habits
the connection between cancer and alcohol
whether moderate drinkers outlive nondrinkers
whether alcohol may be good for one’s health
His eyes nearly in tears from the crush of fellow travelers at Guangzhou's train station, Hong Tao said things were much better on Sunday, after days of waiting for a train to his home in Hubei province.
"I think it's fine today, and everything is going smoothly," the 28-year-old said. "I thought it would be really crowded but it has turned out to be OK."
Chinese authorities say they expect 1.3 million people to travel out of Guangzhou's train station over the next few days, as they rush to get home by Wednesday, the eve of Lunar New Year.
Hong's optimism may have been helped by the blue skies that emerged over Guangzhou on Sunday for the first time in a week.
Last week, a rare winter storm paralyzed China's transportation system as millions tried to get home to celebrate the holiday — the only chance for many migrant workers to see their families all year.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency said Friday that 95 percent of rail traffic had "returned to normal." But Guangzhou's train station remained packed with a backlog of hundreds of thousands of travelers hoping to get home for the holiday.
A young woman was stepped on in a stampede (人群蜂拥) at the train station Friday, and later died of her injuries, according to Xinhua. Video of the situation on Friday showed crowds of people screaming, elbowing each other, in some cases sobbing and collapsing in the rush to get a slot (狭缝，窄孔) on a train.
China Sunday announced it has organized over 300,000 People's Liberation Army forces to southern China in what it described as a "war on winter weather".
The government also announced a $700 million plan to help farmers whose crops have been destroyed.
6. How many days is it from the day this article was made to the Lunar New Year?
A. Two days. B. Three days. C. Four days. D. Five days.
7. What can we know about the weather condition of last week in Guangzhou?
A. Sunny with blue sky. B. Rainy for a whole week.
C. Heavily snowy. D. Rainy first and snowy now.
8. Why are there so many passengers in Guangzhou’s train station?
A. Because the heavy snow stopped the passengers from leaving the station.
B. Because the passengers didn’t hope to leave the station right now.
C. Because the passengers hoped to leave for their hometown.
D. Because the holiday was coming near.
9. Where is Hong Tao from?
A. Shandong province. B. Hubei province.
C. Guandong province. D. Not mentioned.
10. What can we infer from the passage?
A. On Friday, a young man was dead because of crowds’ elbowing, screaming.
B. China’s Government have arranged the PLA forces to help.
C. The government of China have offered money to help farmers enjoy the new year.
D. Many crops have been destroyed by the crowds of people.