The city can seem a cold, mean place. In the middle of so many people hurrying about their own business, a person can feel alone among the millions of others.
There is a popular view that in cities, strangers are less likely to help an elderly person cross a street or call the police when they see a bike being stolen. Recently, a New Yorker named Casey Neistat did an experiment. He chained up his bike in several public places, then "stole" it in a number of obvious ways, such as using a hacksaw (钢锯). He filmed everything to see whether other New Yorkers would try to stop a shameless bike theft. The result? People just walked on by.
Is this evidence of an immoral, selfish urban society? Not necessarily. According to another recent study, the way city people mind their own business is about other factors besides morality (道德).
This is called the Bystander Effect, the theory that city people do not react because of the urban enviromnent they live in.
Psychologist Dr. Harold explained why people did not involve themselves in Neistat's bike theft experiment with the Bystander Effect.
First, people who live in cities are surrounded by so much activity that they stop noticing what is going on around them. Second, they are less easy to surprise and assume every activity has a logical explanation.
"The third is that people notice it, but they don't know what to do," he continued. "And the fourth is fear — they know they should do something, but they're afraid to challenge someone with a hacksaw."
A lack of concern is only a small reason why people don't take action, concludes Dr. Harold.
Despite the results of Neistat's experiment, there is also evidence of a sense of team spirit that connects people in cities. All it takes is a funny joke or a shared interest to start a conversation with someone at a bus stop. When city folk are in trouble, they come together for support — famously in New York on September 11, 2001.
City society is different, but that doesn't mean it's cold or mean — it just means it's busy! Casey Neistat fihned everything in the experiment with the purpose of .
| A．proving that he was not the thief |
| B．telling people that bike theft was immoral |
| C．finding out who had a sense of right and wrong |
| D．making his experiment well-known to the public |
We can infer from the third paragraph that morality .
| A．can partly explain a selfish urban society |
| B．is what our society should pay special attention to |
| C．is the only factor that leads to a selfish urban society |
| D．is the root of the Bystander Effect mentioned in the passage |
The underlined part September 11, 2001 in Paragraph 9 serves as .
| A．a reminder of the sad memories |
| B．a way to prove Dr Harold's Bystander effect |
| C．evidence that city life can be really dangerous |
| D．an example to show team spirit connecting city people |
As can be inferred from the passage, the writer probably .
| A．criticizes the loss of morality in urban society |
| B．feels sad about the result of Neistat's experiment |
| C．thinks city people are too busy to care about others |
| D．disagrees that city life sometimes can be cold and mean |
A man who served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife was officially cleared yesterday, walking free from Jingshan County People's Court—the same body that sentenced him to a 15year jail term in 1998—as over 2000 local residents cheered.
“Police and other law enforcers made the errors,”39yearold She Xianglin told China Daily, “I believe the law will punish them and give me a just result.”
The original conviction came based on a confession which She said was extracted under police torture and the misidentification of a still-unknown woman's body.
“The provincial Hubei government has sent a team of police, procurators and high people's court officials to investigate the case,” a spokesperson for the Jingmen government, which administrates Jingshan County, said yesterday.
The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, resurfaced late last month after being thought missing for 11 years.
This was despite at least five letters from Zhang to her brother over the last two years, which he said he didn't report to police because he thought they were a hoax.
Zhang disappeared in January 1994 from Yanmenkou Township, and 3 months later a body was found in a pond that her relatives positively identified.
Local police arrested Shen for murder in April 1994,although questions had been raised about discrepancies between the features and clothes of the body and Zhang. Confirmation through DNA testing had not been attempted.
Zhang Chengmao, Shen's lawyer, said yesterday he would seek State compensation “but we have not reached a figure yet”.
When asked about compensation, Shen said, “My mother, who died from the stress of continually appealing, cannot be bought. Eleven years of freedom cannot be bought. Schooling of my daughter that was stopped because of poverty cannot be bought.”
As for his wife, the man said he did not hate her at all. “If she had not reappeared, maybe I would have been wronged for life,” he said.
He also said he did not plan to sue Zhang for bigamy, though she had remarried in Shandong Province without divorcing him.Why did She Xianglin served 11 years in prison?
| A．Because She Xianglin was convicted of murdering his wife. |
| B．Because the Police and other law enforcers made the errors. |
| C．Because through DNA testing the dead woman was his wife. |
| D．Because her wife was missing. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife reappeared. |
| B．The man said he did not hate her at all. |
| C．Zhang Zaiyu wrote at least five letters to her brother over the last two years to hoax him. |
| D．She Xianglin's mother died from the stress of continually appealing. |
We can infer from the passage _______.
| A．She Xianglin will get State compensation |
| B．She Xianglin's daughter dropped out of school because of poverty |
| C．She Xianglin stayed in prison for 11 years |
| D．who murdered the woman is known to all |
The underlined word “cleared” in the first paragraph means _______.
| A．清除 | B．宣告无罪 | C．（天气）变晴 | D．移走物体 |
The Internet has led to a huge increase in credit-card(信用卡) fraud. Your card information could even be for sale in an illegal Web site(网站).Web sites offering cheap goods and services should be regarded with care. On-line shoppers who enter their credit-card information may never receive the goods they bought. The thieves then go shopping with your card number—or sell the information over the Internet.
Computers hackers(黑客) have broken down security(安全) systems, raising questions about the safety of cardholder information. Several months ago,25 000 customers of CD Universe, an on-line music retailer(批发商),were not lucky. Their names,addresses and credit-card numbers were posted on a Web site after the retailer refused to pay US $157 828 to get back the information.
Credit-card firms are now fighting against on-line fraud. MasterCard is working on plans for Web-only credit card, with a lower credit limit. The card could be used only for shopping on-line.
However, there are a few simple steps you can take to keep from being cheated.
Ask about your credit-card firm's on-line rules: Under British law, cardholders are responsible(对……负有责任的) for the first US $78 of any fraudulent spending.
And shop only at secure sites: Send your credit-card information only if the Web site offers-advanced secure system.
If the security is in place, a letter will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. The Web site address may also start with https://—the extra “s” stands for secure. If in doubt, give your credit-card information over the telephone.
Keep your password safe: Most online sites require a user name and password before placing an order. Treat your passwords with care.What do most people worry about the Internet according to this passage?
| A．A lot of stolen credit-cards were sold on the Internet. |
| B．Fraud on the Internet. |
| C．Many Web sites are destroyed. |
| D．Many illegal Web sites are on the Internet. |
What is the meaning of “fraud”?
| A．cheating | B．sale | C．payment | D．safety |
How can the thieves get the information of the credit-card?
A. The customers give them the information.
B. The thieves steal the information from Web sites.
C. The customers sell the information to them.
D. Both A and B. How many pieces of advice does the passage give to you?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money, but most mistakes are about people. “Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?” “When I got that great job, did Jim, as a friend, really feel good about it? Or did he envy my luck?” “And was Paul friendly just because I had a car?” When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad.
But when we look back, it is too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends, or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meanings. And if we do not really listen, we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, “You're a lucky dog!”(你真幸运!) Is he really on your side? If he says, “You're a lucky guy(人,家伙)!”,that is being friendly. But “a lucky dog”, there is a bit of envy in those words. What he may be saying is that he does not think you deserve your luck.
“Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for” is another phrase that says one thing means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem. But this phrase contains the thought that your problem is not at all important.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone's words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Is what he says shown by the tone of voice? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save your another mistake.When the writer recalls(回想) some of the things that happened between him and his friends, he _______.
| A．feels happy, thinking how nice his friends were to him |
| B．feels he might not have understood his friends' true feelings |
| C．think it a mistake to have broken up with his girl friend |
| D．is sorry that his friends let him down |
When the writer talks about someone saying, “You're a lucky dog!”, he is saying that _______.
| A．the speaker is just friendly |
| B．this sentence suggests the same as “You're a lucky guy!” |
| C．the word “dog” should not be used to apply to people |
| D．sometimes the words show that the speaker is a bit envious |
This passage tries to tell you how to _______.
| A．avoid(避免) mistakes about money and friends |
| B．get an idea of friendly people |
| C．avoid mistakes in understanding what people tell you |
| D．keep people friendly without trusting them |
PALO ALTO, California—“Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter—even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise, ”US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.9 kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity,” said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.
“American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing video games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years,” Robinson said.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet or took part in any extra exercise.
“One explanation for the weight loss could be that the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories,” Robinson said.
“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,” Robinson said.The author tries to tell us in the first two paragraphs that _______.
| A．children will get fatter if they eat too much |
| B．children will get thinner if they eat less |
| C．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV |
| D．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV |
According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV_______.
| A．is more than four hours a day | B．is less than four hours a day |
| C．doubled in the last twenty years | D．is more than on any other activities |
The time children spend on TV viewing every day is suggested to be about _______.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．three hours | D．one hour |
Which one of the followings is right?
| A．Children usually eat fewer while watching TV. |
| B．Children usually eat more while watching TV. |
| C．Children eat the same amount of meals while watching TV. |
| D．Children usually eat nothing while watching TV. |
Jane Austen, a famous English writer, was born at Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16,1775,and died on July 18,1817.She began writing early in life, although the prejudices of her times forced her to have her books published anonymously(匿名).
But Jane Austen is perhaps the best known and best loved of Bath's many famous local people and visitors. She paid two long visits here during the last five years of the eighteenth century and from 1801 to 1806,Bath was her home. Her deep knowledge of the city is fully seen in two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, which are largely set in Bath. The city is still very much as Jane Austen knew it, keeping in its streets and public buildings the well-ordered world that she described so well in her novels. Now the pleasure of learning Jane Austen's Bath can be enhanced (增强)by visiting the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street. Here, in a Georgian town house in the heart of the city, you can find out more about Bath in Jane Austen's time and the importance of Bath in her life and work.
The Centre has been set up with the help and guidance of members of the Jane Austen Society. After your visit to the Centre, you can look round the attractive shop, which offers a huge collection of Jane Austen related books, cards and many specially designed gifts. Jane Austen quizzes are offered to keep the children busy.
You can also have walking tours of Jane Austen's Bath, which is a great way to find out more about Jane Austen and discover the wonderful Georgian city of Bath. The tour lasts about one and a half hours. The experienced guides will take you to the places where Jane lived, walked and shopped.Jane Austen paid two long visits to Bath _______.
| A．in her early twenties | B．in her early teens |
| C．in her late twenties | D．in her late teens |
What can we learn about Bath from the passage?
| A．Bath has greatly changed since Jane Austen's death. |
| B．The city has changed as much as Jane Austen knew it. |
| C．Bath remains almost the same as in Jane Austen's time. |
| D．No changes have taken place in Bath since Jane Austen's time. |
The author writes this passage in order to_______.
| A．attract readers to visit the city of Bath |
| B．ask readers to buy Austen's books |
| C．tell readers about Jane Austen's experience |
| D．give a brief introduction to the Jane Austen Society |
It takes you about one and a half hours_______.
| A．to get to the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street |
| B．to buy Jane Austen related books, cards and gifts |
| C．to find a guide to take you to the Centre |
| D．to look around the city of Bath on foot |