Last week, I bought an alarm system for about $ 450. It consisted of a control unit with three small units. I put the control unit in the sitting-room and fastened the other units by the front door, back door and living-room windows. The instructions told us to choose three numbers, so we chose 4, 9 and 1, the last three numbers of our telephone number.
Now I must explain how the alarm works:
l There is a power siren(警报器) in the control unit. It makes a very loud noise.
2 Each of the small units sends out beams or rays in different directions. If anything moves, it breaks a beam. This sends a signal to the control unit. The siren makes a noise which you can hear 50 meters away.
3. When we go to bed, I press the three buttons numbered 4, 9 and 1. Then we have 30 seconds to get out of the room before the alarm starts to work.
That night I slept soundly because I was sure that no burglar(夜贼) could get into our house. However, at about 2:10 a. m., I woke up and heard the siren. “There must be a burglar in the house,” Mary said. “What shall we do?”“I’ll go and see who’s there,” I said. “Stay here. Don’t make a noise.”I went downstairs quietly. When I reached the living-room, I switched on my torch and looked round the room. Then I turned the light on. I switched the siren off and searched the rooms downstairs. There was nothing wrong except that the back door was unlocked. I locked it, reset the alarm and went back to bed. About an hour later, the alarm started again. I jumped out of bed, fell over a chair in the dark and bumped into the bedroom door. Mary woke up and started hitting me with a torch. “Hey! Wait a minute!” I whispered. “It’s only me. I’m going downstairs to see what’s wrong.”I went down into the living-room and listened for a moment. The only sound I could hear was the siren. I turned on the light and then switched the siren off. As I did so, I glanced across at the curtains in front of the windows. I saw a house lizard (a kind of small animal) disappear behind the curtains.“Oh!” I said to myself. “That’s our burglar. ”When the lizard moved, it started the siren. I guessed that the alarm had been made in Europe, where there are no house lizards. Well. I won’t finish this story but if you want an alarm system free of charge, let me know. I’ll send you ours. We bought a dog this morning. It knows the difference between a lizard and a burglar.The writer bought an alarm system to ________.
| A．make sure that he got up early every day |
| B．warn him when there were lizards in his house |
| C．frighten burglars and tell him that somebody had got into the house |
| D．make Mary feel safe to live in the large room |
The purpose of the three units was to________.
| A．send a message to the control unit and start the siren |
| B．sound their own sirens when the control unit told them so |
| C．check that the control unit worked properly all the time |
| D．give them enough light |
If the writer set the alarm and remained in the room for more than half a minute, _______.
| A．nothing would happen |
| B．the control unit would not work |
| C．the siren would make a noise |
| D．the dog would bark |
The purpose of the writer in writing the passage is to ________.
| A．tell us that the alarm system doesn’t work |
| B．tell us an interesting experience |
| C．show us how the alarm system works |
| D．make it clear that he wants to give away his alarm system |
All over the world, libraries have begun the Herculean(巨大的) task of making faithful digital copies of the books, images and recordings that preserve the intellectual effort of mankind. For armchair scholars, the work promises to bring such a wealth of information to desktop that the present Internet may not match.
Librarians see three clear benefits to going digital. First, it helps them preserve rare and fragile objects without refusing the demands of those who wish to study them. The British Library, for example, holds the only medieval manuscript（手稿）of Beowulf in London. Only qualified scholars were allowed to see it until Kevin S. Kiernan of the University of Kentucky scanned the Manuscript with three different light sources and put the images up on the Internet for anyone to use.
A second benefit is convenience. Once books are changed to digital form, readers can find them in seconds rather than minutes. Several people can read the same book or view the same picture at the same time. Clerks are spared the chore of reshelving. And libraries could use the Internet to lend their collections to those who are unable to visit in person.
The third advantage of electronic copies is that they occupy millimeters of space on a magnetic disk rather than meters on a shelf. The cost of library buildings is increasingly high. The University of California at Berkeley recently spent $ 46 million on an underground addition to house 1.5 million books----an average cost of $30 per volume. The price of disk storage, on the contrary, has fallen to about $ 2 per 300-page publication and continues to drop.What is the message in the first paragraph?
| A．More people can read precious books. |
| B．The Internet provides more information. |
| C．Libraries are making efforts to preserve books. |
| D．Libraries are making digital copy of books. |
Which words in the second paragraph help you to identify the supporting points?
| A．three, First, for example | B．benefits, manuscript, scholars |
| C．helps, holds, scanned | D．clear, qualified, different |
Which of the following is mentioned in the text as benefits of going digital?
| A．Fewer staff will be required in libraries. |
| B．Libraries will be able to move underground. |
| C．Borrowers need not go to the library building. |
| D．Old manuscripts can be moved more easily. |
How is the text organized?
| A．Opinion – Description | B．Message – Explanation |
| C．Main idea – Comparison | D．Introduction – Conclusion |
More than 6000 children were expelled(开除) from US school last year for bringing guns and bombs to school, the US Department of Education said on May 8.
The department gave a report to the expulsions(开除) as saying handguns accounted for 58 percent of the 6093 expulsions in 1996---97, against 7 percent for rifles(步枪) or shotguns and 35 percent for other types of firearms.
“The report is a clear sign that our nation's public schools are cracking down(严惩) on students who bring guns to school,” Education Secretary Richard Riley said in a statement. “We need to be tough-minded about keeping guns out of our schools and do everything to keep our children safe.”
In March1997, an 11 years old boy and 13 years old boy using handguns and rifles shot dead four children and a teacher at a school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In October, two were killed and seven wounded in a shooting at a Mississippi school. Two months later, a 14-year-old boy killed three high school students and wounded five in Dasucah, Kentucky.
Most of the expulsions, 56 percent, were from high school, which have students from about age 13. 34 percent were from junior high schools and 9 percent were from elementary schools, the report said. The main idea of the passage is that in the US schools _______.
| A．students enjoy shooting |
| B．students are eager to be soldiers |
| C．safety is a problem |
| D．students can make guns |
From what Richard Riley said we can infer that ________.
A. the number of the expulsions is not large
B. the number of the expulsion is wrong
C there are soldiers hiding among the students
D. guns are out of control in US schools The main idea of paragraph four shows us ______.
| A．some examples of shoot in US schools. |
| B．the American's feeling. |
| C．some famous schools. |
| D．that some teachers were killed by students. |
From this passage we get to know that ________.
| A．every American cannot have guns |
| B．only soldiers and police can have guns |
| C．every American citizen can own guns |
| D．teachers have no money to buy guns |
How to Order
Ordering from BooksFirst is easy and safe.
Selecting Your Books
When you have found a book you would like to order, just click on Add to Basket and it will be added to your shopping basket. To make it easy to keep track of the books you’ve selected, My Shopping Basket will display your choices wherever you are on the site. When you’re ready to place your order, select View Basket.
View Basket
This is where you select the postal destination for your order, indicate whether you would like Next Day Delivery in the UK and choose gift-wrapping. You can also amend (修改) the contents of your basket by making any changes and then selecting Update Basket.
Overseas customers ordering three or more books can also request reduced airmail charges here. When you’re happy with the contents of your shopping basket, go to the Secure Checkout.
The Order Form
After you’ve completed the order form, you will receive an on-screen acknowledgment. This will be followed by an email confirming the details of your order.
We will then inform you when your order has been sent. If this is your first order, we will also inform you of your personal BooksFirst account number.
Your First Order
We’ll send you a personal account number after you have placed your first order. For following orders all you need to do is enter your personal account number and email address.
Returning Customers
If you have ordered from us before, online, by mail or telephone, you will have already owned a personal account number. You then only need to complete the full order form. Using your account number allows us to find your details from our records (they are not accessible online).
However, you do not need your BooksFirst personal account number to place an order—simply present all the required details on the order form. If you don’t have a note of your account number just Contact us so that we can supply it to you.We can probably read this advertisement ______.
| A．in a newspaper | B．in a magazine |
| C．on the Internet | D．on TV |
The information under RETRUNING CUSTOMERS is for those _____.
| A．who have forgotten their BooksFirst account numbers |
| B．who haven’t got their BooksFirst account numbers |
| C．who have experienced BooksFirst online shopping before |
| D．who have never done online shopping before |
Which of the following is true?
| A．You must put what you choose in a basket as you do in a supermarket. |
| B．You can find your Shopping Basket nowhere but in View Basket. |
| C．You will pay less if you are an overseas customer and buy over three books. |
| D．You can get an account number only after you place an order online |
The purpose of this advertisement is________.
| A．to promote the sale of books |
| B．to show the procedure of ordering books online |
| C．to help readers apply for account numbers |
| D．to supply account numbers to readers |
One answer to the question of land shortage was suggested by an organization some years ago. A city was to be built at sea, housing 30,000 people.
The suggestion was to shape the city like a harbor(港口).The outer wall of the harbor would stand on steel columns resting on the sea-bed. Naturally this could only be where the water was fairly shallow. The people would like to live in flats in the fifty-metre high outer wall. The flats would be all face inwards, and would be made of concrete(混泥土) and glass. The glass would be specially made and colored to control the heat and strong light from the sun. The planners called this man-made harbor would be calm. On it would be floating islands carrying more building: a hospital, two theaters, museum, an art exhibition hall and a church. On one of the islands would be a special factory to take the salt out of sea water and turn it into fresh water.
People living in the city could move around on small boats driven by electricity, so there would be no air pollution from the burning of gas. There would be platforms outside the man wall for ships bringing supplies. People could also travel to the mainland by motorboat or water plane. What was suggested about the construction of a new city at sea?
| A．The city was to be designed together with a harbor. |
| B．The walls around the city would be made of steel and glass. |
| C．The building of the city would rest on a floating island. |
| D．The people would live in tall building surrounded by a wall. |
How would fresh water be supplied to the city?
| A．By treating sea water. |
| B．By getting it from the surrounding islands. |
| C．By building a small lake of fresh water inside the city. |
| D．By transporting it from the mainland. |
The suggestion made by the organization is to solve the problem that _______.
| A．there is not enough space for building cities on land |
| B．land transportation has became increasingly difficult |
| C．there are too many people on land |
| D．present cities are heavily polluted by cars |
The purpose of the writer is _______.
| A．to suggest how new type of harbor could be built at sea |
| B．to give a description of a new-type city |
| C．to draw people's attention to the problem of air pollution |
| D．to introduce a new way of building harbor-cities |
Mobile phones are an important business tool for farmers in rural areas．But they also put a valuable educational tool in their hands．
The University of Illinois in the United States has a project called SAWBO—Scientific Animations Without Borders．It produces educational videos that can be downloaded to cell phones．The goal is to help people in developing countries improve their lives．
One video shows farmers how to make a natural insecticide from neem seeds to prevent insect damage to crops．The process starts with sorting and drying the neem fruits．Then let the fruit dry in the sun for about three or four days, until they become brown．Using a mortar（碾槌） and stick, the fruits are slightly pounded to remove the shells from the fruits without breaking the seed inside．
The videos use computer animation（动画）．Some of the animated characters are a little funny looking-like a farmer with a long nose．But the subjects are serious, including a health video on preventing cholera（霍乱）．Team member Francisco Seufferheld says the information in the videos is meant to be quickly understood．He says, “The information is digested in such a way that in two minutes, we can transmit a complex idea．”
The researchers tested the seven-minute video on seven mobile phones．They wanted to see if people would share the video using Bluetooth wireless technology．With Bluetooth, files can be passed to a nearby phone even if neither phone is connected to the internet．As a result, in one month, the video had spread to one hundred eighteen people in fifty different villages．" This is just incredible impact," said Francisco Seufferheld．
The team has made a few videos so far．These are available in a total of eighty languages, dialects and accents．Professor Barry Pittendrigh says there are plans for more videos later this year．What is the text mainly about?
| A．A best-selling mobile phone |
| B．A valuable educational project for farmers |
| C．United States support for developing countries |
| D．A new type of scientist –farmer relationship |
The SAWBO program is introduced in order to ____．
| A．raise farmers’ standard of living |
| B．do some research on mobile phones |
| C．develop farmers’ practical skills |
| D．help farmers prevent insect damage to crops |
The biggest advantage of the program is that it______．
| A．includes health video on preventing cholera |
| B．can be passed to farmers using Bluetooth technology |
| C．can be used to sort and dry the neem fruits |
| D．is easy for farmers to understand |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “ pound” in the 3rd paragraph?
| A．moved | B．beat | C．picked | D．cut |