The average college student in America spent an estimated seven hundred dollars on textbooks last year. The National Association of College Stores reported more than five billion dollars in sales of textbooks and course materials. Association spokesman Charles Schmidt says electronic textbooks now represent just two to three percent of sales. But he says that is expected to reach ten to fifteen percent by 2012. Online versions are now available for many of the most popular college textbooks. E-textbooks can cost half the price of a new print textbook. But students usually lose access after the end of the term. And the books cannot be placed on more than one device (装置) so they are not easy to share.
So what do students think of e-textbooks? Administrators at Northwest Missouri State University wanted to find out. Earlier this year they tested them with five hundred students in twenty classes. The university is unusual. It not only provides laptop computers to all seven thousand of its full-time students. It does not require students to buy their textbooks either. They rent them to save money. The school aims to save even more by moving to e-textbooks. The students in the survey reported that downloading the books from the Internet was easy. They liked the idea of carrying lighter backpacks. And fifty-six percent said they were better able to find information. But most found that using e-textbooks did not change their study habits. And sixty percent felt they read more when they were reading on paper. In all, almost half the students said they still liked physical textbooks better. But the survey found that cost could be a big influence. Fifty-five percent said they would choose e-textbooks if using them meant their textbook rental fee would not increase. Roger Von Holzen heads the Center for Information Technology in Education at Northwest Missouri State. He tells us that administrators are disappointed with the e-textbooks now available because the majority are not interactive. He thinks growth will come when more digital books include video, activities, games and other ways to interact with the information. The technology is improving. But for now, most of the books are just words on a screen. The passage mainly tells us about ________.
| A．the development of e-textbooks |
| B．different attitudes towards e-textbooks |
| C．the sales of textbooks and course materials |
| D．the differences between e-textbooks and physical text-books |
According to the survey, over half of the students think e-textbooks ________.
| A．can be rented for less money | B．help in finding more information |
| C．are convenient to carry around | D．help them do better in their lessons |
It can be inferred from the passage that e-textbooks ________.
| A．will replace physical textbooks | B．are available at any time |
| C．have a very bright future | D．still have a lot to improve |
A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge.” She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage (抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for Slate, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans.
It sounded too good to be true, but I replied, thanking him for his exceptional generosity, that we had no places to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to rent his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance. The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of ________.
| A．unconcern | B．sympathy |
| C．doubt | D．tolerance |
What do we know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a writer of an online magazine. |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida. |
| C．He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail. |
| D．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
It can be inferred from the text that ________.
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
From Paragraph 4, we can know that the author’s new house ________.
| A．was located in the University of Florida |
| B．was offered by a poet and the rent was expensive |
| C．was sponsored by James Kennedy with its 8-month rent |
| D．was well-equipped but the rent was low |
The author learned from his experience that ________.
| A．worldly possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people benefit from their sad stories |
| D．human beings are kind after all |
If boy wizard Harry Potter uses his magic to capture (迷住) the hearts of millions of teenagers, high school students Gabriella and Troy have charmed American boys and girls with their stories of campus life.
They are the leading characters in High School Musical, a series of hugely successful films in the US. The sequel (续集), High School Musical 3, came out on October 24 and has topped the American box office for two straight weeks.
The show has everything attractive to teenagers — dancing, catchy music, puppy love and good looks. The story starts when high school basketball star Troy and brainy Gabriella — two teenagers who are worlds apart — meet during the winter break. At a karaoke contest they discover their love for singing and an interest in each other. When school starts, Troy finds out that Gabriella is the new girl at his school.
Eager to find the magic they had during karaoke, Troy and Gabriella decide to audition (试镜) for the school’s upcoming musical. This angers the school’s drama queen Sharpay. However, they overcome difficulties and become the leading actors.
But the story doesn’t end there. High School Musical 2 follows their adventures over summer vacation when Sharpay tires to break up Troy and Gabriella. In the latest sequel, high-school seniors are facing the possibilities of being separated from each other as they go off in different directions when graduating from high school.
Joined by the rest of their friends, Troy and Gabriella stage a musical reflecting their experiences, hopes and fears about the future.
“The success of the High School Musical films shows Disney’s long-term efforts to attract youngsters for whom Mickey Mouse seems to babyish,” wrote New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff. “For the time being, the movie has made fictional high school students as recognizable as that 79-year-old mouse.”What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Boy wizard — Harry Potter. |
| B．High school students Gabriella and Troy. |
| C．A successful show — High School Musical. |
| D．Disney’s long-term efforts. |
How many films are there in this series of films?
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
What can you learn from the words “two teenagers who are worlds apart”?
| A．They live far away from each other. |
| B．They used to know each other well. |
| C．They have a big difference between each other. |
| D．They study at different schools. |
What happens in High School Musical 2, according to the passage?
| A．Troy and Gabriella audition for a school musical. |
| B．Troy and Gabriella meet at a karaoke contest. |
| C．Troy and Gabriella graduate from high school. |
| D．Sharpay tries to break up Troy and Gabriella. |
What does New York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff mean?
| A．High School Musical is possibly more attractive to youngsters. |
| B．The high school students don’t like Mickey Mouse. |
| C．Mickey Mouse is more attractive to youngsters. |
| D．Mickey Mouse is too old to be recognized by youngsters. |
April 27 is Take Our Daughters to Work Day in Britain. Started at first in the United States and brought to Britain in 1994, Take Our Daughters to Work Day has become a special day for girls between 11 and 15. On that day thousands of girls take a day off school and go together with one of their parents to their work places. The purpose of this day is to broaden girls’ horizons and raise their self-confidence.
For many years people have thought that boys can do better than girls in society. But actually, “girls can be whatever they want to be just like boys, whether it is a pilot, a nurse or a chief executive,” says the chairman of Our Sons and Daughters Charitable Trust, an organization which supported the activity of the Day. “Now the girls have a close look at what their parents are doing and this may help them to be more self-confident when they are faced with a choice of work.”
Schools and many companies support the activity too. Palmers Green High School for Girls, in north London, has made the Day a necessary part of career education.
Zarina Bart, 15, from Palmers Green, went with her mother to her lawyer’s office on this year’s Take Our Daughters to Work Day. She found it interesting to see her mother at work. “It’s really strange seeing Mum at work — running around, getting serious and telling people what to do.” She has always liked this idea of going into law and thinks it likely that she will follow in her mother’s footsteps. Having a chance to see how her mother works has given her more self-confidence.
Experts believe that girls with higher self-confidence aim higher and are more likely to be successful in life. Parents have the most important effect on the confidence of teenage girls. If parents believe in their daughters and show examples both at work as well as at home for them, this will give a lot of help to girls. Take Our Daughters to Work Day is surely a step in the right direction.What is the topic of this passage?
| A．Raising daughters’ self-confidence. |
| B．Take Our Daughters to Work Day. |
| C．Equally between boys and girls. |
| D．Following mothers’ footsteps. |
It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that ________.
| A．women pilots are popular in Britain |
| B．girls are sure about their future jobs |
| C．people have wrongly believed that girls can do as well as boys |
| D．for many years boys have had a relatively wider choice of work |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Take Our Daughters to Work Day is British in origin. |
| B．Palmers Green favors Take Our Daughters to Work Day. |
| C．On the Day children are taken to their parent’s work places. |
| D．Parents in Britain show good examples both at work and at home. |
After her experience on Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Zarina felt ________.
| A．confident about finding a job in the future |
| B．strange to watch her mother working in the office |
| C．sure about what to choose as her future career |
| D．interested in doing the same job as her mother |
The author’s attitude towards the Day is ________.
| A．favorable | B．unclear |
| C．critical | D．neutral |
BEIJING, (Xinhua) —China’s capital city launched its first underground library, “M Subway Library” on Jan. 12，2015. The theme of its first activity is “Our Characters”. Citizens riding the special train on subway Line 4 now can read e-books provided by the National Library by scanning the QR code in the carriage.
“M Subway Library” is a public welfare program initiated by the Beijing MTR and the National Library to provide qualified book resources to the public through the platform of public transportation. The library will organize different themed activities regularly and recommend a dozen free books to the public each year in the long term.
XINING, (Xinhua) —A bullet train made its maiden trip from Xining city to Lanzhou city in Northwest China on Dec. 26, 2014, marking the start of the full operations of the Lanxin high-speed railway. The Lanxin high-speed railway links Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, and Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, slashing the total travel time from more than 23 hours to 11 hours and 50 minutes. The 1,776-kilometer high-speed rail line, with a designed speed of 250 kilometers per hour, is China’s first high-speed railway built in a high-altitude region.
NINGBO, (Xinhua) —Ningbo Subway Line 1 started running special trains with 3D paintings featuring the city’s culture starting on Dec. 20, 2014．Through the paintings, the city in East China’s Zhejiang province seeks to share its culture and attract more outside visitors. The paintings focus on four themes: rice cake, fishing festival, books and Buddhism.The purpose of launching “M Subway Library” is to .
| A．earn more money by making advertisements in the carriage |
| B．attract more tourists to come to Beijing to take the subway |
| C．make the idea of “Green Travel” go deep into people’s mind |
| D．offer the passengers an additional reading platform |
Which of the following statements is correct according to the news?
| A．The Lanxin high-speed railway covers Gansu, Xinjiang and Tibet. |
| B．It is China’s first high-speed railway. |
| C．It has a length of 1,776 kilometers. |
| D．It will take you 11 hours and 50 minutes to travel from Xining to Urumqi. |
What can you enjoy when you ride the special train on subway Line 1 in Ningbo?
| A．Chinese classical music. |
| B．3D paintings about Ningbo’s culture. |
| C．Traditional Chinese paintings. |
| D．3D films which were shot in Ningbo. |
Three-dimensional printers are fast becoming everyday devices in the United States. Three-D printers are used to make everything from automobile parts to bone replacements for human patients. American research scientists are now working on creating replacements for living tissue.
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have been working on creating and manufacturing living tissue since 2003．This process is called biofabrication (生物制造) . It requires special printing equipment and a special kind of ink.
Traditional printers require ink to produce an image or design on a piece of paper. For their three-D printer, the South Carolina researchers prepare complex nutritious solutions they call bio-inks. Bio-inks are made of proteins and glucose (葡萄糖) , which normally provides energy for most cells of the body. The researchers also add living cells taken from the animal that will receive the new, printed tissue. The bio-inks are then added to a device that researchers call the Palmetto bio-printer.
Sarah Grace Dennis is one of the researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina. She says new technology, like the Palmetto bio-printer, is a great help to the biofabrication process.
The bio-inks are placed in three dispensers (分配器) , containers, inside the printer. Lasers control both the position of the printing surface and the places where the bio-ink is released.
Michael Yost is a leader of the research team. He says the printing process is fully automated— machine-operated. He says that the Palmetto bio-printer makes it possible to create complex tissue types.
The researchers say bio-printing is still experimental. But they hope in a few years they may be able to print tissue to replace damaged human organs.
But there are still some problems which need to be solved. Some scientists worry about how to get blood to the replacement tissue. The flow of blood is important to keep the printed tissue alive.
Michael Yost hopes that more people will believe in the benefits of biofabrication.
“Tissue biofabrication is a reality, and it is a reality now, and if you come here and you get to see it. You will get to see it. You can’t touch it, but you will see it and think this is real. And this is really human.”What can we know about the bio-inks?
| A．They are the necessities of bio-printing. |
| B．They only contain proteins and glucose. |
| C．They can be placed in the traditional printers. |
| D．They are available in our local drugstores. |
Which of the following is one of the concerns with biofabrication?
| A．Researchers can’t find enough living cells of animals to make the bio-inks. |
| B．The price of the bio-printer is too high and most people can’t afford it. |
| C．Scientists have some difficulty in getting the blood to the replacement tissue. |
| D．People are worried about the safety of the biofabrication process. |
According to Michael Yost, we can infer that.
| A．the Palmetto bio-printer can workwithout power |
| B．the Palmetto bio-printer has been used to treat the patients |
| C．the Palmetto bio-printer can only be found in the United States |
| D．the Palmetto bio-printer will have a bright future in medical use |
The passage mainly tells us about .
| A．the three-D printer and its working principles |
| B．the bio-inks and their use in bio-printing |
| C．the spread use of the bio-printer in the USA |
| D．the growing demand for biofabrication |