“Yes, madam, your husband ran into some trouble,” he replied. “They were caught in a heavy storm.” .Storms often cause trouble. When I was a baby, Dad had to spend long weeks at sea as a fisherman. One day, I suddenly began to cry loudly. No matter how Mom comforted me, I just kept crying. Mom felt uneasy. A feeling told her that something bad would happen. Then a word hit her----“Mayday”. Mom called the Coast Guard, asking the man on duty about my Dad and his ship.
Father and his crew radioed for help when water started pouring in his ship. We flew out there about an hour ago and dropped them a pump. “Take it easy. He will be back soon.” “What if the pump doesn’t work?” Mom questioned. “You should do another fly-over.” The man tried to comfort Mom, “He must be all right now, Mrs Hemingway, or we would have heard a radio signal from him.” “You haven’t got a Mayday?” “No, but we will let you know if we hear the radio signal.” Mom hung up.
I remained crying. Mom called the Coast Guard again. Finally, they said they would send out a rescue plane.
At midnight the phone rang. It was the Coast Guard. They had found my father and all his crew floating in sea 15miles off Jamaica. Dad’s ship had sunk, but fortunately all were safe.
“The pump they dropped didn’t work fast enough,” Dad said. “I radioed a Mayday, but I couldn’t get through.”
Dad didn’t get through to the Coast Guard because of the storm, but he got through to us. Really, there is something that can’t be seen but exists, as is said but can’t be explained, between us, the families.
55. The underlined word “Mayday” in the first paragraph probably means “_________”.
A. a radio program B. the signal for help
C. the holiday in May D. a sign of feeling sick
56. Why did the man on duty say the author’s father would return soon?
A. The pump they dropped was of high quality.
B. The author’s father called him and told him so.
C. The plane waited until the pump worked.
D. He thought no news was good news.
57. We can infer from the text that _________.
A. the man on duty in the Coast Guard was careless
B. the plane failed to find the ship which was in danger
C. the author’s father was in charge of the ship
D. the pump saved the author’s father finally
58. What may be the explanation for the author’s (as a baby) crying?
A. He might feel hungry in the evening
B. He might see something terrible in the room.
C. He might be afraid when left alone in room
D. He might have a feeling of uneasiness.
The Internet is not perfect．There are many problems with it．
The Internet is not organized．There is no one in charge of the Internet．It is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for．It is also easy to get the wrong information on the “Net”．
Some businessmen cheat people on the Internet．Internet thieves can steal credit card numbers．Some advertisers send spam to e-mail boxes．E-mail boxes are often filled with these unwanted advertisements．
Illegal businesses can operate on the Internet．These businesses sell X-rated materials, cigarettes and alcohol to teenagers．
The Internet has websites with information about making bombs, breaking the law and terrorism．
Criminals can fool people, especially children, in chat rooms．They can spread poisonous information and attack new members．
The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since human emerged．But it can also be like a dark alley in a dangerous part of town．Parents need to set parental controls on their children when they use the Internet．This will keep some of the bad materials away from their children．
The Internet can be dangerous to computers, too．Some people who have evil intentions enjoy causing problems for other people they don’t even know．They create computer viruses．A computer can get viruses by downloading a program that has a virus in it．Some viruses come by e-mail．
A virus can destroy the data a person has saved in computer files．A virus can cause a computer to crash．A virus can also reproduce itself! It can send copies of itself to everyone on a person’s e-mail address list．Then these people’s computers will have the same problems and can’t work normally!The underlined word “spam” in the third paragraph means __________．
| A．letters | B．products |
| C．useless information | D．poisonous information |
Why can illegal businesses operate on the Internet?
| A．Because there is no one in charge of the Internet． |
| B．Because some people like to buy banned products on the Internet． |
| C．Because X-rated materials, cigarettes, alcohol and so on can be sold well on the Internet． |
| D．Because people who operate businesses on the Internet are criminals． |
Parental controls are needed when children use the Internet because __________．
| A．children can’t use the computers well |
| B．children may damage the computers |
| C．the Internet is always unsafe for the children |
| D．poisonous information may have a bad effect on children |
We can infer from the passage that the key to solving the problems with the Internet is __________．
| A．to improve the computers |
| B．to improve people’s moral level |
| C．to order people not to use the Internet |
| D．to find a medicine to kill computer viruses |
Grandpa’s hobby was making birdhouses. He always said, “A man has to keep busy to stay out of trouble.” Leigh wasn’t sure how much trouble Grandpa could get into anyway, since he was such a nice man, but Leigh tried to listen to his advice. Besides, she liked to help on his birdhouses.
Grandpa’s shop was full of well-oiled and carefully-kept tools. Whenever he used something, he put it back in exactly the right place. He had rules about how he treated his tools, because he hated buying something new if the old one still worked. He also made sure to clean up each time he worked on something.
It wasn’t too fun cleaning up, but it was nice to watch him cut boards to exact lengths. It was nice to see the drill put in holes for screws(螺丝) to go in cleanly. It was like being a doctor, but with wood. The best part of building was seeing all the pieces come together in the final form.
The last steps always included lacquer or paint, to help protect Grandpa’s hard work from the weather. His birdhouses lasted for years. If he didn’t coat them properly, the sun and rain would turn the wood gray and weak in a short period of time. No, he always made sure to do things right. Even if he put rocks or other cute decorations on them, it was done right and made to last.
Grandpa was a hard worker, but he was also smart and generous. He let Leigh keep the birdhouses sometimes, but only if he got to help hang it up or set the post for it. It had to be done just right, after all.
The birdhouses were a great way to learn about woodworking, hard work, taking care of what you have, and about birds. The best thing about building birdhouses was that Leigh spent some time with Grandpa.What’s the best title for the text?
| A．Long-lasting Birdhouses |
| B．Birdhouses Making |
| C．Birdhouses, Home for Birds |
| D．Grandpa’s Birdhouses |
What did Leigh value most?
| A．Listening to Grandpa’s advice. |
| B．Helping Grandpa on his birdhouses. |
| C．Spending some time with Grandpa. |
| D．Learning about woodworking and birds. |
We can learn from the text that Grandpa ________.
| A．was a very good carpenter |
| B．lived a very hard life |
| C．didn’t care about cleaning up |
| D．kept thousands of birds |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information , to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological(病态的) relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude（奴役）. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means________.
| A．advantage | B．attraction |
| C．adaption | D．attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to_______.
| A．attract people to buy their products |
| B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life |
| D．deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ________.
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
| A．Neutral. | B．Doubt. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
| Share with us Would you like to have your writing published in this magazine? Then let us know! We pay for stories, anecdotes and jokes: Anecdotes and Jokes ＄50 What’s made you laugh recently? A funny sign? A colleague’s behaviour? Got a joke? Send it in for Laughter is the Best Medicine! Email: Juliet@sws.com Smart Animals Up to ＄100 Send us a tale about the strange behaviour of unique pets or wildlife in up 300 words. Email: audry@sws.com Power of Love Up to ＄150 Acts of generosity can change lives or just give you that warm feeling full of love. Share your moments in 100—500 words. Email: susan@sws.com My Story ＄350 Do you have an inspiring or life-changing story to tell? Your story must be true, unpublished, original and 800-1,000words. Email: nanjc@sws.com For more information, please visit: http://www.sws.com./share |
How much will the magazine pay for a joke to be published?
| A．＄50 | B．＄100 | C．＄150 | D．＄350 |
If you want to share a story of your pets with the readers, you need to submit it to .
| A．Anecdotes and Jokes | B．Smart Animals |
| C．Power of Love | D．My Story |
A story showing people’s generosity should be emailed to the editor at.
| A．juliet@sws.com | B．susan@sws.com |
| C．audrey@sws.com | D．nanjc@sws.com |
An inspiring story sent to the magazine should.
| A．describe strange behaviour |
| B．contain less than 800 words |
| C．be real and original |
| D．be published before |
Nothing could stop Dad. After he was put on disability for a bad back, he bought a small farm in the country, just enough to grow food for the family. He planted vegetables, fruit trees and even kept bees for honey.
And every week he cleaned Old Man McColgin's chicken house in exchange for manure(肥料). The smell really burned the inside of your nose. When we complained about the terrible smell, Dad said the stronger the manure, the healthier the crops, and he was right.
For example, just one of his cantaloupes filled the entire house with its sweet smell, and the taste was even sweeter.
As the vegetables started coming in, Dad threw himself into cooking. One day, armed with a basket of vegetables, he announced he was going to make stew(炖菜).Dad pulled out a pressure cooker and filled it up with cabbages, eggplants, potatoes, corns, onions and carrots. For about half an hour. The pressure built and the vegetables cooked. Finally, Dad turned off the stove, the pot began to cool and the pressure relief valve sprayed out a cloud of steam. If we thought Dad's pile of chicken manure was bad, this was 10 times worse. When Dad took off the lid, the smell nearly knocked us out.
Dad carried the pot out and we opened doors and windows to air out the house. Just how bad was it? The neighbors came out of their houses to see if we had a gas leak!
Determined, Dad filled our plates with steaming stew and passed them around. It didn’t look that bad, and after the first wave had shut down my ability to smell, it didn’t offend the nose so much, either. I took a taste. It would never win a prize in a cooking competition, but it was surprisingly edible, and we drank up every last drop of soup.Why did Dad clean Old Man MoColgin’s chicken house regularly?
| A．To earn some money for the family. |
| B．To collect manure for his crops. |
| C．To get rid of the terrible smell. |
| D．To set a good example to us. |
What can we infer about Dad’s stew?
| A．It is popular among the neighbors. |
| B．It contains honey and vegetables. |
| C．It looks very wonderful. |
| D．It tastes quite delicious. |
What does the underlined word “offend” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．To attract. |
| B．To upset. |
| C．To air. |
| D．To shut |
What can we learn about Dad form the text?
| A．He is an experienced cook. |
| B．He is a troublesome father. |
| C．He has a positive attitude to life. |
| D．He suffers a lot from his disability. |