Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, made his first public appearance since going on medical leave six weeks ago, taking the stage at a San Francisco media event to introduce the iPad 2, the second generation of the company’s tablet computer.
Thin but energetic, Mr. Jobs showed off a thinner iPad. “ We’ve been working on this product for a while and I just didn’t want to miss this day,” he said.
His absence has concerned investors, especially since the group has given no details of his condition. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and had a liver transplant during almost six moths of medical leave in 2009. People close to him said last month his health had been changing.
Apple’s stock rose more than 2 percent in the minutes after Mr. Jobs began speaking, then gave up some of its gain as he detailed the iPad 2.
The iPad 2 will go on sale in black and white versions in the US on March 11 and in 26 other countries, including the UK and Germany, on March 25. The table is Apple’s biggest product launch since the iPhone three years ago, and is comparable to the iPhone as the most expected in Apple’s history.
Most of the improvements in the latest version had been expected, including front and rear-facing video, which allows video conferencing between iPads, Mac computers and the most recent iPhones and iPods, a larger speaker, a faster processor and other upgrades. The iPad 2 is one-third thinner than the original tablet and slightly lighter, with a 9.7-inch touchscreen. It can run movies, books, games and a complete range of applications. In the US it will work with AT&T and Verizon, the top two mobile carriers. The pricing will be the same to the 2010 iPad at its introduction, ranging from $499 to $829 in six models. But Apple dropped prices on the older iPad on Wednesday by $100 across the board.
Apple has made the most of its year-long head start in tablets, selling 15,000,000 units of the older iPad last year and taking about 85 percent of the market. Forrester predicted that the iPad 2 would clain 80 percent of the US market this year, or 20,000,000 out of 24,000,000 total shipped. This prediction was based on both the technical improvements to the iPad 2, and the distribution difficulties and higher prices for Apple’s rivals.
Motorola, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, Samsung and others have brought out competing tablets, many based on Google’s Android software.
Mr. Jobs said the rest of the field was still catching up with the first iPad and their markets for applications designed for tablets had, at best, 100 small programs. This compares with 65,000 on Apple’s applications store.Why are the investors of Apple worried according to the text?
| A．Apple’s stock price changes a lot |
| B．Steve Jobs’ health condition is not stable |
| C．The iPad 2 has some technical drawbacks |
| D．Apple faces strong competition from other companies. |
In what respect are the iPad 2 and the 2010 iPad exactly alike?
| A．the weight | B．the speaker |
| C．the thickness | D．the pricing at the introduction |
How many tablet computers were sold in the market last year?
| A．about 15,000,000 | B．about 17,000,000 |
| C．about 20,000,000 | D．about 24,000,000 |
What makes Apple’s tablets superior to the competing tablets of other companies?
| A．the low price |
| B．the Android software |
| C．the full kinds of models |
| D．the tens of thousands of applications |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Jobs on Stage to Introduce iPad 2 |
| B．iPad 2 Better than the Original |
| C．Best Applications for iPad 2 |
| D．iPad 2 vs. Competitors |
C
A man from Sri Lanka on Friday broke the Guinness world record for the longest time spent watching TV. He finished with 69 hours and 48 minutes.
Suresh Joachim did his TV viewing in the lobby (门厅) of WABC-TV as part of the “Guinness World Record Breaker Week ” on the TV talk show “Live With Regis and Kelly”.
After passing the previous record of 50 hours and 7 minutes Thursday, Joachim continued until about 7 am Friday.
Sitting on a brown leather couch, he watched nothing but ABC shows.
“I’m going to be a little tired of watching TV after this,” Joachim told reporters by phone during a brief break.
Rules of Guinness for the couch potato honor, allow for a five-minute break every hour and a 15-minute break every eight hours. The viewer must be constantly looking at the screen.
The hardest part, Joachim said on Live With Regis and Kelly, was “I couldn’t watch the people” — the many waving passers-by on the street outside the ABC studio.
Joachim, who lives in Toronto but comes from Sri Lanka, now holds more than 16 Guinness records, including the longest duration (持续) balancing on one foot (76 hours, 40 minutes) and bowling for 100 hours. He does it, he says, to raise awareness of suffering children.
64. Which paragraph shows the main idea of the passage?
A. The first paragraph. B. The last paragraph.
C. The second paragraph. D. The sixth paragraph.
65. How long had Joachim spent when the new “couch potato” record was made?
A. Half a week. B. Less than two days.
C. 76 hours, 40 minutes. D. Nearly three days.
66. Which of the following phrases can replace the underlined word “constantly”?
A. All the time. B. At times. C. Some time. D. Once upon a time.
67. What’s the biggest pity for Joachim when he did his TV viewing?
A. That Joachim could eat nothing.
B. That Joachim couldn’t watch the people outside.
C. That Joachim felt very tired.
D. That Joachim didn’t have any time for a break.
B
SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
| Captain Goodfellow Do your children enjoy interesting stories, funny games, and exciting dances? Captain Goodfellow will be ready to teach all these things to children of all ages at the City Theatre on Saturday at 17:00, FREE. |
Walking Tour of the Town Forget your worries on Saturday morning. Take a beautiful walk and learn about local history. Meet at the front entrance of the City Hall at 9:30. Wear comfortable shoes! |
| Film at the Museum Two European films will be shown on Saturday afternoon at the Museum Theatre. See Broken Window at 1:30. The Workers will be at 3:45. For further information, call 4987898. |
| Do You Want to Hear “The Zoo” “The Zoo”, a popular rock group from Australia, will give their first US concert tomorrow at 20:00 at Rose Hall, City College. |
61. You can send your children to Captain Goodfellow to learn dances _______.
A. at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday B. at 9:30 on Saturday morning
C. on Saturday afternoon D. every day except Saturday if you pay
62. If you are going on the Walking Tour, don’t forget _______.
A. your worries B. your beautiful walk
C. the local history D. your pleasant shoes
63. “The Zoo” is ______.
A. a park with lots of animalsB. a famous concert
C. a musical band D. the first group to US
第二部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
More and more often we heard of people talking about Karaoke (卡拉OK). But what on earth it is about still remains a question for many people. Karaoke is a sort of acoustic (听觉的) equipment which was invented in Japan around the middle of the 1970's. It means "a band without people" in Japanese. In fact, it is just a music tape without words. This equipment first appeared in some public houses and snack bars, and mainly for the customers to enjoy themselves. Most of the music in Karaoke was popular music. Therefore, at times, when anyone felt like it, he might sing songs to the accompaniment (陪伴) of the music that came from the equipment. Shortly after its invention, Karaoke was spread to the whole world. It was introduced to China and was welcomed by many people. Although you are not a good singer, or even sometimes you may sing out of tune, you can always enjoy yourself by singing Karaoke.
56. In this passage "band" means "group of persons ________."
A. who play games on the sports ground
B. who play music together
C. living in the same neighborhood
D. doing things together under a leader and with a common purpose
57. Karaoke is just a ______.
A. cassette tape with only music B. cassette tape recorder
C. band from JapanD. voice recording equipment
58. People went to public houses and snack bars ______when Karaoke appeared.
A. to have a good timeB. to have something to drink
C. to get something to eat D. to buy the equipment
59. Karaoke was spread to the whole world ________.
A. as soon as it was invented B. long before
C. not long after it was invented D. before long
60. The main idea of this passage is ______.
A. all persons like to play Karaoke
B. to introduce Karaoke to the people
C. Karaoke is a wonderful equipment
D. Karaoke is used everywhere including snack bars
E
Research on the human brain has been attracting more and more scientists in recent years, just like the booming hi-tech industry. One of the latest research topics is how to change the human brain or combine the computer and the human brain, i.e. to transplant a chip into a human brain. This idea may make everyone’s dream come true. If we compare a human brain to a hard disc（硬盘）, what the scientists are doing is to enlarge the capacity of the hard disc. For the time being, there are some difficulties in such transplant experiments, but scientists never give up.
Experiments have started on animals. In 1996, a transplant experiment performed at the Defense and Military Physiology Research Institute in the U.S. turned a bear into a dolphin.
The dolphin was named Ted, and the bear was named Tallin. Using the most advanced technology available, deep and detailed images were made of the memory area in Ted’s brain containing information about swimming by the scientists. They obtained a series of useful information, the signals transferred by the nervous system. Such information was saved into a button-sized chip, which was then transplanted into the action memory area in Tallin’s brain. The information saved on the chip was released by means of electric power.
Recently, another comprehensive memory transplant was performed at the Motor Nerve Research Institute of the University of California. The comprehensive memory transplanted in the experiment included actions, moods, logic, words, images, etc. The experiment involved an entire transplant of the memory area. This was the largest such experiment done so far.
The transplant was performed making a transfer from a dog named “Genius” to a dog named “Idiot”. “Genius” could understand and follow up to 100 gestures and orders made by its master. It was a real genius in memorizing. “Idiot” was the younger brother of “Genius”. It had no contact with people at all since its birth. It became an animal with nothing in its brain, without any memory.
The operation was a complete success. When the two dogs woke up, “Idiot” had grasped all the abilities “Genius” possessed; it was good at memorizing and sensible. It could follow every gesture and any command given by its master. But “Genius” gave no response to its master, and in fact did not recognize him at all.
57. The purpose of the experiment is _____.
A. to combine the computer and the human brain
B. to enlarge the capacity of human brain
C. to make some stupid dog turn clever D. to make bear swim
58. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The scientists transferred a button-sized chip with useful information in Tallin’s brain.
B. The first comprehensive memory transplant was performed at the Motor Nerve Research University.
C. The second experiment wasn’t an entire transplant of the memory area.
D. The Idiot was an animal with memory before brain experiment
59. What does the underlined word “success” refer to?
A. The two dogs woke up.
B. They were both good at memorizing.
C. The Idiot grasped all the abilities of Genius.
D. The Genius grasped all the abilities of Idiot.
60. According to the text, we can infer _____.
A. a person can know more after the experiment
B. a bear can swim after being transferred a chip with related useful information
C. a dog can become clever after entire transplant of the memory area
D. it is really good for animals to have been involved in the transplant experiment
D
It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries(食品杂货)，saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before. People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity(人性) as a whole. And it has influenced us to be more mindful. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.
53. How did people get to know the couple’s problem?
A. From radio broadcasts. B. From a newspaper.
C. From TV news. D. From a stranger.
54. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The author used to get to work by bike.
B. Several strangers offered bikes to them, but they only accepted one of them.
C. The author’s husband often parked the bike outside the back door.
D. Somebody had stolen their bike before, but soon returned it to the author.
55. What do we learn from the couple’s experience?
A. An act of kindness can mean a lot. B. One should take care of their bike.
C. News reports make people famous. D. Strangers are usually of little help.
56. Why was the bike so important to the couple?
A. The man’s job was bike racing. B. It was their only possession.
C. It was a nice Kona 18 speed. D. They used it for work and daily life.