Language is always changing. In a society where life continues year after year with few changes, the language does not change either. The earliest known languages had difficult grammar but a small, limited vocabulary. Over the century, the grammar changed, and the vocabulary grew. For example, the English and Spanish people who came to America during the sixteenth century gave names to all the new plants and animals they found. In this way, hundreds of new words were introduced into English and Spanish vocabularies. Today life is changing very fast, and language is changing fast too.
There are several major language families in the world. Some scientists say there are nine main families, but other scientists divide them differently. The languages in each family are connected, and scientists think that they came from the same parent language. About 3 percent of the people in the world speak languages that are not in these major families. （词数155）The early language had ________.
| A．a lot of problems | B．words and easy grammar |
| C．words but no grammar | D．grammar but not many words |
In the next few hundred years we can expect language to _____.
| A．stay exactly the same | B．change a great deal |
| C．change only a little | D．ask more words and drop some grammar |
What this article shows is that _____.
| A．languages change fast | B．languages really don't want to change |
| C．language really with changes in society | D．Spanish and English change |
In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose physical attributes(特性) will sell their product.
As our country is trying to reduce the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. While obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes. Children as young as elementary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. In my opinion, it seems that “fat” has become the new“ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television reporter Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a man named Krause. In the email Krause attacked her, writing,“Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look and appear to their peers rather than what is inside. The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. Just because someone is heavier, that doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food around the day. Likewise, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you struggle with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, understand that I respect and support you. Beauty is not defined by size; it is defined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. In the words of the talented film actress Kirstie Alley, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.” With so many people losing weight, it will end in .
| A．models’ and actors’ appearance in ads |
| B．the fall of media and entertainment industries |
| C．more and more people becoming obesity |
| D．more people’s suffering from eating disorder |
The underlined phrase “the numbers that appear on the scale” in the second paragraph may mean.
| A．intelligence | B．weight | C．patience | D．strength |
The writer used the example of Jennifer Livingston to show .
| A．people think “fat” looks ugly |
| B．fat people are becoming cleverer |
| C．physical condition is good |
| D．young people never follow example |
What Kirstie Alley said means .
| A．people should pay attention to the appearance |
| B．there is no need for any people to go on diet |
| C．people are beautiful when they concern others |
| D．there’s always someone who understands and supports you |
What is a six-letter word that immediately comes to mind when you need some information on the Internet? You probably thought of Google. But Google wasn’t always the name of the famous search engine. In fact, the original name was BackRub!
BackRub was the name two graduate students gave to the new search engine they developed in 1996. They called it BackRub because the engine used backlinks to measure the popularity of Web sites. Later, they wanted a better name — a name that suggests huge quantities of data. They thought of the word googol. (A googol is a number followed by 100 zeros.) When they checked the Internet registry of names to see if googol was already taken, one of the students misspelled the word by mistake, and that’s how Google was born.
Google is just one example of a name change in the business world. Many other companies have decided to change their names or the names of their products. Here are some more examples:
Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young computer specialists, developed a guide to Internet content in 1994. They called it “Jerry and David’s Guide to World Wide Web.” But they soon realized that this wasn’t a very catchy name, so they searched through a dictionary and found a better one: “Yahoo.”
Sometimes companies change their names because of the popularity of one of their products. In 1962, a young runner named Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight decided to design and manufacture his own brand of shoes. He named the shoes after the Greek goddess of victory — Nike. Nike shoes became so well known that Knight changed the name of the whole company to Nike.According to the text, Google.
| A．has been famous since 1996 |
| B．is a result of a spelling mistake |
| C．means a number followed by 100 zeros |
| D．is the original name of the search engine |
Jerry and David changed the guide’s name to Yahoo because the original name .
| A．had been registered | B．had been forgotten |
| C．was not attractive | D．was too short |
The company Nike got its name from .
| A．its founders | B．its customers |
| C．its popular products | D．its advanced techniques |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
| A．The name changes | B．The history of Google |
| C．How to choose a name? | D．Why are names important? |
Having a great collection of books at home doesn’t really mean that you are a person who has a passion for literature and reading． It can be a family inheritance or it can be just to impress people around you by the fact that you are a person of culture． On the other hand, there are many persons who cannot afford to buy books, because some of them are quite expensive, but who usually go to libraries and spend hours reading something that interests them a lot, or just borrow books to home．
From my point of view, literature is very important in our life． For example, reading is a means of gaining culture and enriching our knowledge in different areas． It can help us have a great imagination and it makes things easier when it comes to make compositions on different themes． It gives you the possibility to speak about science, even if you don’t work in this domain, or you can express your opinion about a political aspect, just because you have read something connected to that．
Secondly, literature offers us the possibility to enter the world of imagination, and to leave the real one for a couple of hours． We come to meet kings and queens many years ago, dream of being in the world of the rich or imagine how life will be in the future． Sometimes, we identify ourselves with the characters in the stories we read and they can give us some clues to solve our problems and how to react in certain circumstances．
In conclusion, I would like to say that literature is the perfect means to enrich our culture, to express ourselves correctly, to have a rich vocabulary, to be able to interfere in conversations in different fields of interest and to really be considered an erudite person．People who are fond of literature are those that ________ ．
| A．have much interest in reading |
| B．keep many books |
| C．go to libraries every day |
| D．buy expensive books in the bookstore |
According to the author we can broaden our knowledge by ________ ．
| A．composing | B．imagining | C．communicating | D．reading |
We can know from the third paragraph that ___________ ．
| A．we can bring kings and queens back to life |
| B．it is very good for us to stay alone for some hours |
| C．what we read can be useful in our daily life |
| D．we can make friends with people in the stories |
The underline word “erudite” in Paragraph 4 probably means “ _______”．
| A．learned | B．enthusiastic | C．smart | D．creative |
What is the author’s purpose by writing the passage?
| A．To share his own reading experience． |
| B．To distinguish the true readers． |
| C．To attract people to literature． |
| D．To stress the importance of imagination． |
Joke l：
A man was sitting reading his papers when his wife hit him round the head with a frying pan． “What was that for?” the man asked．
The wife replied, “That was for the piece of paper with the name Jenny on it I found in your pocket．” The man then said, “When l was at the races last week Jenny was the name of the horse I bet on．” The wife apologized and went on with the housework． Three days later the man was watching TV when his wife hit him on the head with an even bigger frying pan, knocking him unconscious． Upon regaining consciousness the man asked why she had hit again． Wife replied, “Your horse phoned．”
Joke 2：
“Do you believe in life after death?” the boss asked one of his employees．
“Yes, sir, ” the new employee replied．
“Well, then, that makes everything just fine, ” the boss went on． “After you left early yesterday to go to your grandmother’s funeral． she stopped in to see you!”
Joke 3：
“Oh, I am happy to see you, ” the little boy said to his grandmother on his mother's side． “Now maybe daddy will do the trick he has been promising us． ” The grandmother was curious． “What trick is that?” she asked．
“I heard him tell mommy that he would climb the walls if you came to visit, ” the little boy answered．
Joke 4：
A woman’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day． One day, he signaled for her to come nearer． As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, “You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times．
When I got fired, you were there to support me．
When my business failed, you were there．
When I got shot, you were by my side．
When we lost the house, you stayed right here．
When my health started failing, you were still by my side… You know what Martha?”
“What dear?” she gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth．
“I’m beginning to think you’re bad luck…”The wife became angry suddenly in Joke 1 because __________．
| A．she had her frying pan burned while away |
| B．her husband made a bet on a horse but lost |
| C．her husband was carrying with himself a woman’s name |
| D．her husband’s pocket money was lost without any reason |
Who called the husband in Joke 1?
| A．The organization of the horse races of a club． |
| B．Jenny the man chose to bet on in the races． |
| C．Jenny who won the race successfully． |
| D．Jenny whom the man made friends with． |
What dose the boss mean in Joke 2?
| A．He was lucky to see the employee’s former grandmother． |
| B．The employee’s grandmother has come into heaven after death． |
| C．He has figured out that the employee told a lie to him． |
| D．The employee’s grandmother was an honest woman． |
What can we learn about the little boy from Joke 3?
| A．His father likes to make fun of his mother-in-law． |
| B．He likes to play tricks on others． |
| C．His mother is strict with him． |
| D．His father doesn’t like his mother-in-law to come． |
The husband in Joke 4 means that __________．
| A．he is thankful for his selfless and lovely wife |
| B．he realizes he is unlucky to have married his wife |
| C．it is fortunate to experience so many unforgettable things |
| D．his wife deserves all his love because of her devotion |
Today, children start to use computers, smart phones and tablets from a very young age． Many parents and child experts believe that this is very wrong． They claim that early exposure to technology can make individuals lazy and distracted． That may be true, but there it is practically impossible to change the world we live in now． What we can do is embrace smart mobile technologies the best way we can． That is Microsoft’s Windows 8 App Store． One of its applications is entirely educational, Windows 8． There, students of all ages can find apps that can greatly help them in their studies． We have prepared the 4 best of them．
Wikipedia—Wikipedia is the first place where students search for information． The articles on the popular website are updated regularly and they include many details, figures and resources． With this app, you can access Wikipedia faster than ever．
SAS Flash Cards—One of the most effective ways to learn your school or university material is by using the so-called “flash cards”． This app, however, allows users to create an entire set of cards in a matter of minutes． Also, the cards can be divided into different subject categories, which makes studying easier and more fun than ever before．
Kindle Reader—If you don't have a Kindle e-Book reader, you can use your Windows 8 device． Just install this app and the Kindle word will land in your smart phone, tablet or laptop． With the Kin-die Reader W8 app, you can also organize and store all of your favorite books．
My Study Life—This application is the mobile version of the website My Study Life． The app can be very useful for students in terms of school and university organization． There you can store all the information you want like homework, assignments and papers． In addition, you can create your own school calendar that will remind you of your upcoming exams, for instance．
There is one main reason why these Windows 8 apps are appropriate for students． Apart from useful, they are completely free! All you need to do is go to Microsoft’s Windows 8 App Store, download the applications you want and install them onto your device．The underlined part means we should __________．
| A．update the technologies as often as we can |
| B．accept the smart mobile applications willingly |
| C．purchase a smart mobile with much money |
| D．develop some new smart mobile functions |
If you want to know of Rafael Nadal you can use __________．
| A．Wikipedia | B．SAS Flash Cards | C．Kindle Reader | D．My Study Life |
The function of “flash cards” is __________．
| A．to make your smart phone closely attached |
| B．to update your information every day |
| C．to help you get your favorite reading materials |
| D．to help students learn their subjects easily |
We can learn from the passage that __________．
| A．students can buy the apps at a certain discount |
| B．the applications above are all for nothing |
| C．you should pay much to download the apps |
| D．It’s easy for parents to keep a watch on their children |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Top Windows 8 Apps for Students |
| B．Windows 8 to Be Updated for Students |
| C．Games Apps in Windows 8 Store |
| D．Microsoft Company and Its Apps |