Women turn to online shopping
Women have jumped ahead of men for the first time in using the Internet to do their holiday shopping, according to a study published last week in the US.
For years men have been more likely to shop on the Internet than women, but during the 2004 holiday season, 58 percent of those making online purchases were women.
“It shows how mainstream the Internet is becoming,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project group, which carried out the study.
Rainie said it was only a matter of time before women shoppers caught up with men. This is because women traditionally make decisions about spending.
Users were more likely to shop online to save time. Internet users between the ages 18 and 29 were responsible for some of the most dramatic increase in the online gift-buying population this time around.
However, three- quarters of the US Internet users did not buy holiday gifts online in 2004. They worried about credit card security, or just compared online prices with off-line prices, then dashed off to the shops to get the best deals.
“ But even if shoppers don’t buy online , websites are becoming promotion tools for stores,” said Dan Hess, vice president of ComScore Networks Inc. Hess said that actually most stores’ websites can make customers fully believe the security of their credit card numbers. And most are able to ensure that gifts arrive on time.
“ It’s all about making the shopping experience more efficient, more reliable and more comfortable.” Hess said.Which of the following statements is true?
| A．There were fewer women online shoppers than men in 2004 |
| B．Most of the Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 are women. |
| C．People in the US were more likely to buy gifts online. |
| D．More women shopped online than men in 2004 |
From the passage we can infer that______.
| A．Men usually decide how to spend money in the family |
| B．Women usually decide what to buy in the family |
| C．The Internet is used in all the shops |
| D．More and more shops will sell their goods online |
According to Dan Hess, shopping online_______.
| A．is unsafe | B．is convenient |
| C．is a waste of money | D．is cheaper |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．American people only gift in holidays |
| B．Shopping online is fun for women. |
| C．Shopping off-line provides better service. |
| D．Young people like to do gift-shopping online. |
Good manners play an important part in maintaining（保持）peace in society. A man with good manners doesn’t hurt others’ feelings, and therefore he’s on good terms with everyone. In this way he helps to keep the peace in society.
But a man with bad manners has no respect for others. He uses words carelessly and behaves rudely towards others and causes a lot of unpleasantness. In the end, he himself will suffer the most. Everyone avoids him and he is forced to live alone.
To live well in society, money alone is not enough. Even the richest man cannot afford to have bad manners. He may have enough money to buy all things he wants; but if his manners are bad, he will have no friends, and no one can live happily without friends.
We should have good manners, for it’s human nature to try to get friendship; and friendship has to be earned （获得）through our own attitude towards others. If we are kind to others, they will be kind to us, and kindness is the most basic quality of good manners. Bad manners drive away friends as well as our own family members.
On the other hand, a man with good manners has many friends. He commands the respect of all those who come into contact（联系）with him. He doesn’t talk ill about others. Even when he’s provoked, he tries his best not to upset others. He also feels sorry about the weak and the disabled.
There are, however, many people who behave so well outside their homes that they are respected by everyone outside. But in their own homes they are worse than the devil（魔鬼）. Such people cannot be said to have good manners. Their behavior will soon be discovered by others.
If one’s manners are good, one behaves well everywhere, even when one is away from the critical（爱挑剔的）eyes of others. Only such a person can live well in society.People with good manners bring society _____.
| A．peace | B．enjoyment | C．respect | D．friendship |
What does the author mainly want to tell us in Paragraph 4 ?
| A．People are born friendly. |
| B．Bad manners make people lose friends. |
| C．Money is not the most important. |
| D．Kind people will be treated kindly. |
The underlined word “provoked” in the passage may mean _____.
| A．tired | B．sad ` | C．made angry | D．left alone |
What’s the main idea of the passage ?
| A．Kindness is important. |
| B．Friendship is important. |
| C．Good manners are important. |
| D．People with bad manners can’t live well. |
Thank you for your interest in helping animals! Volunteering is a wonderful way to learn, have fun and give back to your community（社区）. There are many ways to care for the animals at PAWS.
Youth Work Party
If you are ten years or older, you can join the Youth Work Party Team with a parent to work on different projects around PAWS in Lynnwood, WA. For example, you can build boxes for frightened, injured wildlife to hide in. Ask your parent to sign up to join a work party. If you are eighteen years or older, you can join the Youth Work Party Team independently.
PAWSwalk
PAWSwalk is our biggest fundraising（筹款）event of the year, held at the end of the summer to raise money to care for the animals. You can collect money with the help of your family, friends and school, and then walk in the event.
Cookie Sale
Selling homemade dog cookies is a wonderful way to help the animals. PAWS can provide brochures（小册子）to give out when you sell the cookies prepared by you and your parents, so people can learn about PAWS at the same time. You can find homemade dog cookie cooking instructions on the Internet or by checking out cookbooks for dogs at the library.
Movie Night
Invite friends, family, neighbors and classmates to watch your favorite animal movie, like Babe or Charlotte’s Web. Ask them to bring an “entrance fee” of donations or supplies for the animals.
Thanks again for your interest in PAWS and helping animals. Share your ideas with your parents and invite a few friends to join you in helping make a difference for animals. If you have any questions, call 425-787-2500-261.Who may work in the Youth Work Party Team by himself/herself ?
| A．A ten-year-old student. | B．A thirteen-year-old student. |
| C．A sixteen-year-old student. | D．A nineteen-year-old student. |
If a child wants to take part in Cookie Sale, he/she needs to _____.
| A．sell cookbooks for dogs | B．cook and sell dog cookies |
| C．sell cookies made by PAWS | D．offer brochures about cookies |
Which of the following takes place in the summer ?
| A．Youth Work Party. | B．PAWSwalk |
| C．Cookie Sale | D．Movie Night. |
It can be inferred that PAWS might be _____.
| A．a skill training program for youths |
| B．a series of cookbooks for dogs |
| C．an animal protection organization |
| D．a community center for children |
Two years ago my grandmother was going to turn 75. My family discussed what was the best way to celebrate. Should we throw her a party ? Should we take her on a trip ? We remembered that she had touched so many people’s lives, and there were so many people for her to consider. Then someone got the idea that we should include everyone in the celebration by turning it into a tribute（献礼）to my grandmother.
We secretly sent out letters to the people in Grandmother’s address book and asked them to send a letter with a memory that they had shared with her. People sent us letters with poems, stories and pictures. The deep feeling that was shared through the response（回应）surprised us. We compiled（编辑）these letters into a memory book and amazed her with it on the morning of her birthday.
The unusual thing about my grandmother’s friends was not the number that she had, but the connection they shared. In many ways this book of friendship was the greatest achievement of my grandmother’s life.
I believe that developing true friendships is one of the most important things that anyone can do in one’s lifetime. It is not a matter of the number of friends one has, but the quality of the bonds. If one has had at least one true friendship before dying, then one can say one has lived a successful life. I have made many friends and I believe I have begun to develop the same types of friendships my grandmother kept up over her lifetime. I only hope that I will be as successful as she has been.How did the author’s family celebrate Grandmother’s birthday ?
| A．They took her on a trip across the country. |
| B．They gave her a memory book of friendship. |
| C．They invited all her friends to her birthday party. |
| D．They asked all her friends to send her cards. |
When receiving her birthday gift, the author’s grandmother probably felt _____.
| A．disappointed and lonely | B．sorry and sad |
| C．surprised and pleased | D．nervous and excited |
According to the passage, the author probably agrees that _____.
| A．the more friends you have, the better |
| B．friends are more important than family |
| C．understanding leads to greater success |
| D．true friendship is very important to us |
Which of the following words can best describe the author’s grandmother ?
| A．Kind. | B．Great. | C．Polite | D．Pleasant |
Let's face it．No one drinks diet soda for the taste．People drink diet soda in the hope that it will help them lose weight or at least keep them from gaining it．Yet it seems to have exactly the opposite effect, according to a new study．
Researchers from the University of Texas said those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had waist size increases that were six times greater than those who didn't drink diet soda．"What we saw was that the more diet sodas a person drank, the more weight they were likely to gain," said Sharon Fowler．
The study was based on data from 474 participants in a large, ongoing research project, where the participants were followed for nearly l0 years．
While the findings are surprising, they also offer some explanations．
Nutrition expert, Melanie Rogers, who works with overweight patients in New York, has found that when patients are switched from regular to diet soda, they don't lose weight at all．"We weren't seeing weight loss necessarily, and that was confusing to us," said Rogers．
So why would diet soda cause weight gain? No one knows for sure yet, but it could be that people think they can eat more if they drink diet soda, and so over-compensate for the missing calories．
A related study found some sweeteners （甜味剂） raised blood sugar levels in some mice．"Data from this and other potential studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners may be risky," said Helen P．Hazuda, professor at the University of Texas's school of medicine．"They may be free of calories, but not of consequences．"People drink diet soda to _____．
| A．enjoy its taste | B．achieve weight loss |
| C．stay in fashion | D．gain more energy |
The new study suggests that drinking diet soda _____．
| A．causes people to become heavier | B．helps people to be healthier |
| C．makes people much thinner | D．offers people more calories |
We can learn from the passage that _____．
| A．regular soda makes people lose more weight |
| B．diet soda does help reduce calories |
| C．diet soda drinkers tend to eat more food |
| D．most blood diseases come from diet soda |
The underlined word "They" in the last paragraph probably refers to _____．
| A．sweeteners |
| B．diet soda drinkers and sweetener takers |
| C．sodas |
| D．diet sodas and artificial sweeteners |
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 rooftops. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it was that most city people, 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, cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: 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 become 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．The nice moonlight | B．Complete silence. |
| C．No modern equipment | D．The high mountains |
Modern things (Paragraph 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．show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them |
| D．explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature |
The author wrote the passage to_______.
| A．advise modern people to learn to live |
| B．show the love for the moonlight |
| C．express the feeling of returning to nature |
| D．want to communicate longing for modern life |