Lily，Susan,David,Chris和Michael-优题课

Are you a media addict who would go mad after two hours without TV, friend requests, exciting online games and your mobile – or would you easily survive?
Recently, university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called Unplugged. It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours.
Unplugged is being run by Dr Roman Gerodimos, a lecturer in Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University. The experiment is now over but he doesn’t yet know the full findings. However, during the experiment, Dr Gerodimos said there were already signs of how much the exercise affected volunteers. He said: “They’re reporting withdrawal symptoms(症状), overeating, feeling nervous, isolated and disconnected.” During their 24-hour painful experience, three of the experiment’s guinea pigs had to endure one intrusion(侵扰) from the media: a BBC reporter plus cameraman who followed them around for the day. They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline, but of course, they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops. Elliot Day wrote: “Today, my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air. Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty my life felt without the radio or newspapers.” From Caroline Scott, we read: “I didn’t expect it, but being prevented from the media for 24 hours resulted in my day-to-day activities becoming so much harder to carry out than usual… I didn’t break out in a cold sweat like our lecturer expected us all to, but it’s not something I would like to do again!” And Charlotte Gay wrote: “I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been my mobile; not only is it a social tool, it’s my main access point of communication.”
Earlier in the year, a UK government study found that in the UK we spend about half our waking hours using the media, often plugged into several things at once. And a recent study by Nielson found that on average, US teenagers send and receive over 3,000 texts per month ---that’s about six texts per waking hour. So, with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate, how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?
What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To ask for information.	B．To entertain the readers.
C．To lead to the topic.	D．To present an idea.

About Dr. Roman Gerodimos’ experiment, we know that ________.

A．volunteers felt uncomfortable in it.

B．volunteers didn’t want to eat anything.

C．the experiment was still going on.

D．volunteers were allowed to take their laptops.

Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Three pigs were included in the experiment.

B．A BBC reporter discussed the experiment.

C．During the 24 hours’ experiment the volunteers wrote out their experiences.

D．The lecturer had expected sweat would suddenly appear on the volunteers through fear.

What does the sentence “…was thrown up into the air” most probably means?

A．went on normally.	B．was completely disturbed.
C．turned out perfect.	D．was badly designed.

Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?

A．Surviving without the Media.	B．Unplugging Your Life.
C．Valuing Social Communication.	D．Setting Aside Time for Sleep.

Now let us look at how we read. When we read a printed text, our eyes move across a page in short, jerky movement. We recognize words usually when our eyes are still when they fixate. Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time in which the eyes stop ---the duration of the fixation ----varies considerably from person to person. It also varies within any one person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. Furthermore, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the printed page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, numerous exercises have been devised to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For instance, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for, say, a tenth or a twentieth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often constructed in the shape of rather steep pyramids so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.
The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following facts except ________ .

A．the length of a group of words.

B．lighting and tiredness.

C．one’s familiarity with the text.

D．one’s purpose in reading.

The author may believe that reading ______.

A．demands an deeply-participating mind.

B．demands more mind than eyes.

C．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation.

D．requires a reader to see words more quickly.

What does the author mean by saying “but it’s one thing to improve a person’s ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently.” in the second paragraph?

A．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve an efficient reading.

B．The reading exercises mentioned has done a great job to improve one’s ability to see words.

C．The ability to see words is not needed when an efficient reading is conducted.

D．The reading exercises mentioned can’t help to improve both the ability to see or comprehend words.

Which of the following is NOT true?

A．The emphasis on the purely visual aspects is misleading.

B．The eye training will help readers in reading a continuous text.

C．The visual span is a word or a group of words we see each time.

D．Many experts began to question the efficiency of eye training.

The tune of the author in writing this article is ________.

A．pessimistic

B．optimistic

C．critical

D．neutral

阅读下面短文，并根据短文后的要求答题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。
Scientists believe that conditions on Mars around 3.8 billion years ago were very similar to those of the early earth, when primitive organisms were spreading through our oceans. At that time, Mars would have been much warmer and wetter than it is today, with an atmosphere composed mainly of carbon dioxide, just like that of the earth at the time. Under these conditions, it is highly probable that life may have arisen on Mars as well.
But, even if life did not arise naturally on Mars, it does not mean that it could not have existed there. According to Professor Paul Davies of the University of Adelaide, Australia, life forms could have been transferred between the earth and Mars in wreckage (broke pieces) created by the impact of comet(彗星) and small planets on the surface of the two planets.
Even today, about 500 tons of material from Mars lands on earth every year. It is mainly in the form of the dust but occasionally a larger chunk(厚片，大块) strikes the earth. In 1911, a piece of Martian rock crashed in Egypt, killing a dog. According to Professor Davies, it is in these chunks of rock, which were much larger and more frequent in the past that life forms could have been transported from planet to planet.
“But how could these life forms have survived their journey through space?” says Paul Davies, “The difficulty in believing this theory is that a bacterium on its own in space has to struggle itself not only against cold but also against deadly cosmic (宇宙的) radiation. But wrapped in a rock the situation is different. A rock ten meters across would shield life inside it from a lot of radiation and the temperature might only be minus 10 or 20 degrees, the sort of thing we have on earth.”
Where do some scientists suppose life probably come from? (3’) (No more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
What does Professor Paul Davies believe? (3’) (No more than 6 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
Why could life survive when transferred from one planet to another? (3’) (No more than 12 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
According to Professor Paul Davies, how did the wreckage come into being? (3’) (No more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
List at least two differences about Mars between the past and now. (3’) (No more than 16 words)
____________________________________________________________________________

There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penage. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back..
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
The author expected the train trip to be_________.

A．adventurous

B．dull

C．exciting

D．pleasant

What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?

A．The mountains along the way.

B．The friendly country people.

C．The crowds of people in the streets.

D．The simple lunch served on the train.

Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “relish” in the second paragraph?

A．choose

B．enjoy

C．prepare for

D．carry on

Where was the writer going?

A．Butterworth.

B．The Causeway.

C．Johore Baru.

D．Singapore.

What can we learn from the story?

A．Comfort in traveling by train.

B．Pleasure of living in the country.

C．Reading gives people delight.

D．Smiles brighten people up.

Protecting Copyright
Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.
“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Down loaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.
Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.
However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuingfile-sharers.”
Which of the following best describes the passage?

A．Downloading material can be illegal.

B．Music on the Internet is of better quality.

C．It’s good to get free music on the Internet.

D．Baidu is a popular web company.

The four web companies were put to court because ________.

A．they got copyrighted songs without paying

B．they make copyrighted files for free downloads

C．they downloaded copyrighted music for people

D．they offer free music on line

How do some of the teenagers feel while downloading free music after the lawsuit?

A．A bit guilty.	B．A little sad.
C．Extremely angry.	D．Awfully sorry.

What’s the advantage of file sharing for recording companies?

A．Getting more money from web companies.

B．Making pop singers more popular.

C．Helping to improve the music.

D．Enabling people to download favorite songs.

It can be inferred from the text that _________.

A．Web companies are still ignoring the copyright laws.

B．Teenagers haven’t got money to buy CDs.

C．Teenagers are probably still downloading free music.

D．Teenagers prefer CDs with copyright to pirated music.