One of the founding fathers of the internet has predicted the end of traditional television. Vint Serf, who helped to build the internet while working as a researcher in America, said that television was approaching its “iPod moment.”
In the same way that people now download their favorite music onto their iPods, he said that viewers would soon be downloading most of their favorite programmers onto their computers. “85 percent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it at any time,”said Mr. Cerf, who is now the vice-president of Goggle.
“You’re still going to need live television for certain things--like news, sporting events and emergencies--but increasingly it will be almost like iPod, where you download content to look at later.”
Although television-on-demand has not yet become a main activity in the UK, the BBC, 1TV and Channel 4 have all invested a lot of money in technology which Mr. Cerf think will enable viewers to watch their favorite shows on their computers.
However, some critics(批评家)have warned that the Internet will collapse(崩溃)if millions of people try to download programmers at the same time.
Over the next four years, scientists think the number of videos watched over the Internet will double, with people moving from short chips to hour-long programmes.
Broadband companies claim that the service will cause“traffic jams”,which will cost millions of pounds to solve. Mr. Cerf dismissed these warnings, saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the net would collapse when people all around the world started to use it at the same time, “We’re far from exhausting (用尽)the capacity,” he said.“I want every one of the six billion people in the planet to be able to connect to the Internet.”
61.Vint Cerf is all the following EXCEPT that ___________.
A. a researcher in the United States
B. the vice-president of Goggle
C. one of the founders of the Internet
D. a manager of a broadband company
62. Which of the following is NOT something Vint Cerf has predicted?
A. Traditional television will soon have its iPod moment.
B. The number of videos watched over the Internet will double.
C. Viewers will be able to download TV programmers onto their iPods.
D. Viewers will be able to watch their favorite TV shows on the Internet.
63. According to the passage, people can always do all the following EXCEPT ____________.
A. watch short clips over the Internet
B. download live TV over the Internet
C. download per-recorded videos over the Internet
D. listen to their favorite music on their computers
64. Some critics are now predicting __________.
A. the Internet will collapse if millions of people use it at the same time
B. people all over the world will be able to connect to the Internet
C. the Internet will crash if too many people download TV programmes at the same time
D. the videos people watch over the Internet
65. This passage mainly tells us __________.
A. a Goggle expert is predicting the end of traditional television
B. the Internet will never be used to download people's favourite shows
C. the Internet will become more popular
D. something about Vint Cerf
Rules
Students are asked to submit essays of 500 to 700 words of their own work. Any essay containing material plagiarized(剽窃) from another source will be disqualified.
Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced, with the student’s name, address, and grade level on a separate sheet of paper.
Essays must be turned in by 4:00 p.m. on November 30. They can be brought to Mrs. Elton in Room 104 or to Mr. Markham in the school library.
Essay-Writing Tips
Catch your readers’ interests--- Your opening should immediately pull your readers into your essay. Asking a question or starting with an anecdote, quotation, or surprising statement is a good way to do this.
Create a picture--- Use active words that show your readers what is happening. Instead of telling your readers vaguely that “the room was disordered”, paint a picture using active verbs and lively adjectives.
Have a purpose--- Well-written essays do more than just describe an incident or express a viewpoint, and they also communicate a message.
Check for mistakes--- Read your paper over to check for mistakes. Ask another student to read your paper and make suggestions. Another pair of eyes will often spot a mistake you’ve overlooked.
Format your essay--- Neatly type your essay on white paper. Choose an attractive cover for submission. The computer lab will be open after school from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. each day this month so that students can use the computers.
Prizes
Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times. Every contestant (选手) will also receive a free pass to enter one school activity or athletic game this year.
First Prize: $150
Second Prize:Dictionary and thesaurus
Third Prize: Pen set and journal
Special thanks to the Centerville Writers’ Association for the prizes to help encourage our aspiring authors. Good luck to all contestants.
1. The first writing tip given is mostly about________.
A. the use of quotations and anecdotes in an essay
B. using active verbs and lively adjectives
C. How a student should begin an essay
D. how to submit your essays
2. The prize section of the poster is included in order to _________.
A. show organizations how to donate prizes
B. inform teachers of the prizes available
C. persuade students to enter the essay contest
D. convince students to buy the local newspapers
3. Thanks are given to the Centerville Writers Association because it has_________.
A. offered to judge the contest B. prepared the essay-writing tips
C. organized the essay contest D. donated prizes for the contest
4. What do we know by inference from the passage?
A. The computer lab usually closes at 4:15 p.m. each day.
B. Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times.
C. Every contestant will benefit from the essay contest.
D. The essay contest is held annually at Centerville High School.
Vincent Van Gogh was not always an artist. In fact, he wanted to be a church minister and was even sent to the Belgian mining community of Borinage in 1879. He discovered that the miners there endured terrible working conditions and poverty-level wages. Their families were skin-and-bone and struggled simply to survive. He felt concerned that the small pay he received from the church allowed him a reasonable lifestyle, which, in contrast, seemed to him unfair.
One cold February evening, while he watched the miners trudging home, he spotted an old man staggering toward him across the fields, wrapped in a burlap(粗麻布) bag for warmth. Van Gogh laid his own clothing out on the bed, set aside enough for one change, and decided to give the rest away. He gave the old man a suit of clothes and he gave his overcoat to a pregnant woman whose husband had been killed in a cave-in.
He lived on starvation food and spent his salary on food for the miners. When children in one family caught typhoid fever, though feverish himself, he packed up his bed and took it to them.
A wealthy family in the community offered him free room and board, Van Gogh declined the offer, stating that it was the final temptation (诱惑) he must reject if he was to faithfully serve his community of poor miners. He believed that if he wanted them to trust him, he must become one of them. And if they were to learn of the love of God through him, he must love them enough to share with them.
He was acutely aware of the big difference between words and actions. He knew that our lives always speak louder and clearer than our words. Maybe that is why Francis of Assisi often said to his monks, “Wherever you go, preach(讲道). Use words if necessary.”
Others are “listening” carefully to your actions. What are you saying to them?
1. We can infer form the passage ____________.
A. our lives always speak louder and clearer than our words
B. the miners there worked under excellent working conditions
C. the ministers lived a much better and easier life than the miners at the time
D. Van Gogh himself offered to work in the Belgian mining community of Borinage in 1879.
2. What does the underlined word “trudging” in the second paragraph mean?
A. Moving very quicklyB. Moving with quick light steps
C. Walking slowly for pleasure. D. Walking with slow heavy steps.
3. According to the passage, which of the following words can best describe Van Gogh?
A. Ambitious and aggressive. B. Considerate and sympathetic
C. Greedy and selfish. D. Determined and grateful
4. What does the last paragraph want to tell us?
A. Use words if necessary B. Actions speak louder than words
C. Rome was not built in a day. D. Where there is a will there is a way.
Watch out, Yahoo. There is a search engine out there with super speed and accuracy. It’s very cool.
Google is the Web’s largest search engine. In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering what you are looking for in a second. The site now does this 40 million times a day --- a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad.
Google doesn’t need them. In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby (the online version of the Oscar) for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages.
Yahoo still has ten times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they are looking for most or all of the time. “You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter.
No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probably sometime in 2004. they make a great comedy duo(成对的表演者)。When they first met as Ph. D. students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but driven together by a computer-science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web.
The idea behind the Google is that traditional search engines are stupid. They think relevance (关联) is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear. Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse. If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code(编码).
1What does the underlined word “them” in the third paragraph refer to?
A. 40 million times B. Speed and accuracy.
C. TV and newspaper ads.D. Web pages
2. Which of the following win greater customer satisfaction?
A. Yahoo B. Tiger Woods C. Larry Page D. Google
3. It can be inferred that Page and Brin ______________.
A. hold very important positions in Google
B. are two ordinary computer programmers of Google.
C. used to hate each other very much
D. hold quite different opinions of computer-science
4. We can learn from the last paragraph that ___________.
A. Google is open to abuse
B. Google remains a traditional search engine
C. Google thinks relevance is based on repetition
D Google is better than traditional search engines
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
When I first heard that Zhang Yimou, China’s leading director most well-known for Hero in the West, was remaking the Coen Brothers’ first film, Blood Simple, a question immediately came into my mind: Would A Simple Noodle Story be directed by the good Zhang Yimou or the bad Zhang Yimou? The answer: neither.
Starting with his first time as a cinema-photographer on Yellow Earth right after graduating from film school in the early 80s, everything Zhang shot was inspired. In the late 80s and early 90s, he directed several movies already considered classics, including the banned To Live.
A Simple Noodle Story is set in the late Ming Dynasty (1368--1644), follows several amusing characters working in a restaurant in the faraway, but naturally beautiful, western province of Gansu, Zhang brought together a group of popular comedic(喜剧) actors led by Xiao Shenyang, who shot to fame earlier this year because of his very funny styles. Shenyang’s character, Li Si, is having an affair with his boss’s wife, who is simply called “Boss’ Wife” throughout the movie.
A Simple Noodle Story, which started national Screening Friday, is already bringing in money, scoring a total box office income of 67.1 million yuan($9.83 million) by Sunday morning and is expecting its first weekend to reach 100 million yuan ($14.65 million).
In spite of the box office success, the film has received mixed reviews. Most local media admitted Zhang’s success in entertaining the public, but writer Han Han wrote in his blog that A Simple Noodle Story is more like a long-drawn-out TV comedy and that Zhang has made no improvement in directing since his first film.
In his defense, Zhang said that he was just trying to have fun with the film. “I’m not a master of artistic films. I’m just trying to make a fun movie.”
1. Which of the following about A Simple Noodle Story is wrong?
A. Xiao Shenyang was the host of the film.
B. It has earned a lot of money after being put on.
C. It is about a story happening in the ancient times.
D. Xiao Shenyang became famous because of the character of Li Si.
2. What kind of result has A Simple Noodle Story got?
A. It has earned a little money and bad reviews.
B. It has earned lots of money but bad reviews.
C. It has earned little money but good reviews.
D. It has earned lots of money with good and bad reviews.
3. What does Han Han think of Zhang’s direction?
A. He thinks it’s improved to a higher level.
B. He thinks it can prove Zhang’s new improvement.
C. He thinks it has fallen down to the bottom at the beginning.
D. He thinks Zhang is a master of artistic films.
4. From the last paragraph we know Zhang________.
A. wants to protect himself with fighting words
B. just wants to have fun with a film
C. just wants to make money with a fun film
D. wants to prove his ability to be great director.
The GUARANTEE ON THIS WATER HEATER IS IN EFFECT ONLY WHEN THE HEATER IS INSTALLED AND OPERATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS. READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE STARTING.
LOCATION:
Select a location accessible to water lines and power supply. Do not locate the heater where water lines could be subjected to(受…影响) freezing temperatures. It is recommended that the heater be located near the center of greatest hot water usage to prevent heat loss through the pipes.
ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS:
Before any electrical connections are made, be sure that the heater is full of water and that the valve(阀门) in the cold water supply line is open.
OPERATION
When the switch is closed, the operation of this electric water heater is automatic. The thermostats are preset to the "HOT" setting to provide a water temperature of approximately 120oF to reduce the risk of being burnt.
MAITENACE
Shut off the electric power whenever the water supply is turned off.
Shut off the electric power, water supply and drain the heater completely to prevent freezing whenever the building is left unoccupied during the cold weather months.
SERVICE
The trip–free devices on this heater will cut off all power if temperature of water is above 190F. If there is no hot water after a reasonable period of time, check the main fuse(保险丝) box. In the event that the fuses have not blown, call a serviceman.
1.The location of the water heater shall ___________.
A. be close to water lines and power supply
B. be subjected to low temperature
C. be in the centre of the house
D. have a longer distance to hot water usage.
2.Before any connection of power , make sure that one thing you have to do is _____.
A. to have the heater in the water B. to open the cold water inlet valve.
C. to shut off the thermostats D. to replace wiring diagram
3.When you are not using the heater in winter months, it is better for you to________.
A. have the tank full of clear water B. drain the heater
C. to leave it untouched D. prevent it from losing heat
4. What will happen to the heater when the temperature of water is above 190F?
A. it will cause damage B. It will break off automatically.
C. It will produce cold water. D. It will blow the fuse.