“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”
This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown citizen who lived in Rome in AD 52 wrote it.
We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improve the quality of our lives?
Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?
Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead simpler lives.
One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10, and Tomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.
The grandmother, Lyn, said, “It was hard physically, but not mentally.” She believed life was less materialistic. “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes,” She said. The boys said they fought less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（时髦的）, beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things.”
Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!
Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day.
Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.The passage is mainly about _______.
| A．problem with technology |
| B．improvements of our life with technology |
| C．the important roles technology plays in our everyday life |
| D．major changes which will be likely to happen to technology |
The writer quoted (引用) what a citizen in ancient Rome said at the beginning of the story in order to ______________.
| A．share a truth about life |
| B．tell us what life was like long time ago |
| C．make us wonder what causes such a thing to happen |
| D．point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same |
Why did the family choose to spend some time in a 1940’s house? Because ______________.
| A．they liked to live simple lives |
| B．they were curious about how people lived without modern inventions |
| C．they were troubled by modern inventions |
| D．living in a different time would be a lot of fun for them |
What do you think the underlined word “available” in the first suggestion offered by the writer mean?
| A．Busy on line | B．Free | C．Be able to | D．Be found by others. |
The word “sport” first meant something that people did in their free time. Later it often meant hunting wild animals and birds. About a hundred years ago the word was first used for organized games. This is the usual meaning of the word today. People spend a lot of their spare time playing football, basketball, tennis and many other sports. Such people play because they want to. A few people are paid for the sport they play. These people are called professional sportsmen. They may be sportsmen for only a few years, but during that time the best ones can earn a lot of money. For example, a professional footballer in England earns more than 30,000 dollars a year. The stars earn a lot more. International golf and tennis champions can make more than 500,000 dollars a year. Of course, only a few sportsmen can earn as much money as that.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about sportsmen and money is that the stars can earn more money from advertising than from sports. An advertisement for sports equipment does not simply say “Buy our things”. It says “Buy the same shirt and shoes as …”. Famous sportsmen can even advertise things like watches and food. They allow the companies to use their names or a photograph of them and they are paid for this. Sport is no longer just something for people’s spare time.The word “sport” now usually means ________ .
| A．organized games |
| B．hunting wild animals and birds |
| C．what people do in their spare time |
| D．something people are paid to do |
According to the passage, an international golf champion can make ________ in a year.
| A．more than 500,000 dollars |
| B．more than 30,000 dollars |
| C．500,000 dollars |
| D．30,000 dollars |
What surprises people most is that _______.
| A．the word “sport” meant hunting animals |
| B．the stars get more money from advertising than from sports |
| C．professional sportsmen are paid for what they do |
| D．only a few sportsmen can earn $ 500, 000 a year |
Too many people want others to be their friends, but they don’t give friendship back. That is why some friendships do not last very long. To have a friend, you must learn to be one. You must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous; be understanding.
Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven’t been honest, you may lose your friend’s trust. Good friends always trust one another to speak and act honestly.
Generosity (大度) means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes of course. Instead you have to learn how to share things you enjoy, like your hobbies and your interest. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend.
Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand.
No two friendships are ever exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity, and understanding.Some friendships don’t last very long because ____.
| A．there are too many people who want to make friends |
| B．they don’t know friendship is something serious |
| C．those who give others friendship receive friendship from others |
| D．some people receive friendship but don’t give friendship back |
The best title of this passage is _____.
| A．Honesty is the Best Policy |
| B．A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed |
| C．Three Important Points in Life |
| D．Three Important Points in Making Friends |
Which of the following isn’t mentioned in the passage?
| A．Always tell your friends the truth. |
| B．Sharing your mind with your friends is of great value. |
| C．Discussing your problems with your friend often helps to solve the problem. |
| D．A friend who gives you his lunch money is a true friend. |
Advertising is a highly developed twentieth-century industry. The development of radio, television, cinema, magazines and newspapers has gone hand in hand with the development of advertising. Why is advertising so popular? Is it a waste of money? It has been proved again and again that repeated advertising increases product sales. Since it increases production, the price can be reduced. Therefore advertising, instead of making a product more expensive, makes it cheaper.
Advertising is now a scientific business. Once managers would say jokingly,“I know thathalf of what I spend on advertising is wasted, but I don’t know which half.”Now, all parts of an advertising program are properly measured and researched.
What makes a good advertisement? There have been major changes in advertising in the pastsixty years. People read advertisements partly for information and partly for pleasure. Today’s advertisements often start with a question, or a puzzle, with the purpose of attracting the reader’s attention. Of course, most advertisements contain information. But this is usually contained in a text that is interesting and often funny. Humor is very important. Sometimes advertisements tell a story, or the story may be continued over a number of advertisements. However, there is a danger in this. It is possible that the reader or viewer will remember the advertisement but not the name ofthe product.The purpose of advertising is ________.
| A．to increase products sales |
| B．to make a product much better |
| C．to spend more money |
| D．to reduce the production |
Which of the following can be used in place of the underlined phrase“ hand in hand”?
| A．Here and there. | B．Again and again. |
| C．As usual. | D．At the same time. |
What is meant by what managers said in the second paragraph?
| A．All the money on advertising was wasted. |
| B．Not all the advertisements were well designed. |
| C．All the managers knew about advertising then. |
| D．Managers spent no money on advertising. |
What does the writer think of advertising?
| A．Useless | B．Unnecessary. |
| C．Important. | D．Wasteful. |
Driving to a friend’s house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s roof-tops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that most citizens, myself included, usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.
My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.
I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon,which struck me deeply.
Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibre-glass. We have televisions, cellphones, papers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of which was spent in⁃doors, I thought that before long I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains, and perhaps write, but not in anger. I may be come an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon. The best title for the passage would be ________.
| A．The pleasures of modern life |
| B．Touched by the moon |
| C．A bottomless well of silence |
| D．Break away from modern life |
What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?
| A．No modern equipment. |
| B．Complete silence. |
| C．The nice moonlight. |
| D．The high mountains. |
Modern things (Paragragh 4) are mentioned mainly to ________.
| A．show that the writer likes city life very much |
| B．tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life |
| C．explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature |
| D．show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them |
The author wrote the passage to ________.
| A．express the feeling of returning to nature |
| B．show the love for the moonlight |
| C．advise modern people to learn to live |
| D．want to communicate longing for modern life |
The winter holiday season is the busiest time of the year in the US, and Thanksgiving is the one holiday this time of year that doesn’t get the attention it deserves — it is often overshadowed by Christmas. However, I still feel the festive atmosphere in my family.
Each year, I attend not just one Thanksgiving dinner, but typically between three and four. Thanksgiving lasts all throughout the second half of the week. I travel to different houses to spend time with different parts of my family. We usually eat a giant amount of traditional Thanksgiving foods such as deviled eggs, ham, green beans, potatoes, and breads. We don’t eat the traditional turkey like many families do, but we have just about everything else that someone would want to eat.
After eating, we sit around and chat. Usually someone has brought a guest, such as a new boyfriend/girlfriend or a new baby, so there’s always a chance to get to know the new family member, as well as catching up with family that I haven’t seen for a long time.
My extended families are very different, which makes for different holiday experiences. My other’s family is very polite and quiet, and that makes the dinner with them seem very formal. My father’s family is the opposite. They’re loud and don’t even try to control what words come out of their mouths. Their Thanksgiving usually includes yelling at whatever football game is on the television. It’s very casual and relaxed. Either way, it’s nice to be able to see my family and spend time with them.
In my eyes, Thanksgiving is a holiday based on being thankful for what you have, spending tine with family, and eating a lot more food than you probably should. Not all these things go with its history, but it makes for a nice tradition. The underlined word“overshadowed”in the first paragraph probably means ________.
| A．compared |
| B．celebrated |
| C．related |
| D．made to feel less important |
How does the author usually celebrate Thanksgiving?
a. eating turkey.
b. chatting with her family.
c. watching the annual Thanksgiving shows on TV.
d. attending several Thanksgiving dinners with different parts of her family.
| A．a, b. |
| B．a, c. |
| C．b, d. |
| D．c, d. |
What does the author think of her parents’families?
| A．She thinks that her parents’families have a lot in common with each other. |
| B．She believes that her mother and father’s families should learn from each other. |
| C．She prefers her father’s family’s casual way of celebrating Thanksgiving to her mother’s family’s way. |
| D．She enjoys spending time both of her parents’families although they are quite different. |