Someday a stranger will read your e-mail without your permission or scan the website you’ve visited or perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phone bills to find out your shopping calling habits
In fact, it’s likely that some of these things have already happened to you. Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen.
Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, that it’s important to reveal yourself partly to friends, family and lovers at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to know who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can reveal what you think. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.
The key question is: Does that matter?
For many Americans, the answer apparently is “no”.
When opinion polls ask Americans about privacy, most say they are concerned about losing it. 60 percent of respondents say they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me”.
But people say one thing and do another. Only a small number of Americans change any behavior in an effort to preserve their privacy. Few people turn down a discount at tollbooths to avoid using the EZ-Pass system that can track automobile movements. Privacy economist Acquisti has run a series of tests that reveal people will give up personal information like social security numbers just to get their hands on a 50-cents-off coupon. But privacy does matter-at least sometimes. It’s like health: when you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.What would psychologists advise on the relationships between friends?
A.Friends should open their hearts to each other. |
B.Friends should always be faithful to each other. |
C.There should be a distance even between friends. |
D.There should be fewer arguments between friends. |
Why does the author say “we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret”?
A.Modern society has finally developed into an open society. |
B.People leave traces around when using modern technology. |
C.There are always people who are curious about others’ affairs. |
D.Many search engines profit by revealing people’s identities. |
According to the passage, privacy is like health in that _____.
A.people will make every effort to keep it |
B.its importance is hardly understood |
C.It is something that can easily be lost |
D.people don’t value it until they lose it |
What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Value your health. |
B.Treasure your privacy. |
C.Boundaries are important between friends. |
D.The information age has its own shortcomings. |
Wugging, or web use giving, describes the act of giving to charity at no cost to the user. By using Everyclick.com, which is being added to a number of university computers across the UK, students can raise money every time they search, but it won' t cost them a penny.
Research shows that students are extremely passionate about supporting charity -- 88% of full time
students have used the Internet to give to charity. This age group is often the least likely to have their own income. 19% of 22 to 24 year olds have short- term debts of more than £5,000. With rising personal debt levels in this age group, due to university tuition fees or personal loans and a lack of long-term savings, traditional methods of donating to charity are often not appealing (有感染力的) or possible.
Beth Truman, a 21 year old recent university graduate, has used Everyclick.com to donate to her chosen charity, the RSPCA, for two years and has seen the "wugging" movement grow in popularity with students. "When you're at university you become more socially aware, but it's sometimes, hard to give to others when you have little money yourself," says Beth. "Wugging is great for people in this age group as it allows them to use the technology on a daily basis to give to charity, without costing them a single penny."
Wugging is perfect for people who want to be more socially aware and supportive but don't feel they have the means to do so. Students using the web can raise money for causes they care about without costing them anything in terms-of time or money and charities get a valuable source of funding.
Everyclick.com works like any other search engine, allowing users to search for information, news and images but users can decide which of the UK's 170,000 charities they would like to support through their clicks. Everyclick.com then makes monthly payments to every registered charity. Launched in June 2005, Everyclick.com is now the eighth largest search engine and one of the busiest charity websites in the UK.
67. According to the passage, "wugging" is actually ________.
A. a websiteB. a charity-related action
C. a school organization D. a student movement
68. In the case of charity, Everyclick.com ________.
A. frees students of the financial worriesB. receives much money from students
C. offers valuable information to students D. praises students for their money-raising
69. From the passage, we can conclude that ________.
A. most full time students do charity on the Internet every day
B. Evervclick.com helps students pay for the college education
C. "wugging" is a win-win idea for both students and charities
D. Everyclick.com is the most successful search engine in the UK
70. What would be the best title for this passage?
A. "Wugging", a new popular term on the Internet.
B. British people show strong interest in charity.
C. More Britain charities benefit from the Internet.
D. Students raise money for charity by "wugging".
The H1NI flu outbreak has resulted in the first death outside Mexico today -- a 23-month-old child in Texas.
Three more cases were confirmed in the UK, adding to the two previously disclosed in Scotland.
A 12-year-old girl is among five people in the UK to have contracted HIN1 flu after visiting Mexico, Gordon Brown told the Commons during prime minister's questions.
Two adults -- one from Birmingham and one from London -- are undergoing treatment.
More than 150 people are suspected to have died of the virus in Mexico and the illness has spread around the globe, but news of the first death outside the country where it originated will increase fears that a pandemic (流行病) could develop.
The infant's death from H1NI flu in the US was confirmed by Dr Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He gave no other details about the child.
America has confirmed 65 cases of HIN1 flu, most of them mild, but Besser said more deaths were likely.
"HIN1 Flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique so it' s hard to know what we' re going to be seeing, but given what we've seen in Mexico we have expected that we would see more severe infections and we would see deaths," he said.
It was unclear if the girl had contracted the illness in Mexico, or been infected in the US.
Confirmation that infected people in two countries are spreading the new disease to their families or contacts n a sustained way would meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) criteria (标准) for declaring a phase five alert on its scale of one to six. It raised the level from three to four on Monday as the virus moved to Europe.
The WHO spokesman Gregory Hard told reporters yesterday, "If we have a confirmation from the United States or Canada, we could move to phase five."
64. How many cases of HINI flu are there in the UK?
A. One. B. Two. C Three D. Five.
65. According to Dr Richard Besser, why is it hard to predict what things will be like?
A. Because more than 150 people have died of the virus in Mexico.
B. Because H1 N1 flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique.
C. Because the infections are severe and there will be more deaths.
D. Because the WHO has raised the alert level from three to four.
66. What's the main idea of the news?
A. More cases of H1NI flu were confirmed in the UK.
B. It's hard to deal with the HINI flu.
C. H1NI flu caused death outside Mexico.
D. "The WHO will raise the alert level.
The reading skills of young male students may improve more when huts are tutored (辅导) by women, a Canadian study shows, contradicting some school policies to hire male teachers to improve boys' literacy.
Herb Katz, an education professor at the University of Alberta, took 175 boys in the third and fourth grades, identified as struggling readers, and paired them with a research assistant who worked on their reading skills for 30 minutes a week over 10 weeks.
On average, the boys paired with female tutors felt better about their reading skills after the 10 weeks than those who were guided by a male research assistant, the study found.
Katz said the study, published in the US journal Sex Roles, may cause educational policy - makers in countries such as Australia and Britain to rethink policies that call for more male teachers to be hired to provide role models for boys whose reading skills fall behind their peers (同龄人). "It tells us that the way governments respond with policy is perhaps a little too quick and a little too simple," Katz said." Boys and girls enter kindergarten with similar reading skills, Katz said, but by the end of the third grade, boys have lower reading scores than girls. The reasons behind that difference are not entirely clear. "I don't know that reading skills fade so much as teachers may not recognize what boys are doing," he said. "We don't really know a lot about boys, even in those early years."
The boys involved in the study attended 12 schools in the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most were from downtown neighborhoods. About a third were native Canadians and 55 percent came from ethnic minority groups.
60. What's the purpose of this passage?
A. To encourage boys to do more reading. B. To persuade schools to hire female teachers.
C. To advise good ways for reading skills. D. To provide some information about a study.
61. The underlined word "contradicting" in the first paragraph probably means"_________".
A. finding out B. going against C. standing by D. bringing about
62. Which of the following is TRUE about the boys taking part in the study?
A. They have difficulty in reading. B. They take no interest in reading.
C. They come from different Canadian cities. D. They have no female teachers at school.
63. It can be known from the passage that _________.
A. women must be better al teaching than men
B. girls do more reading than boys
C. male teachers are preferred to help reading- troubled boys in Australia
D. governments will change their policy on hiring teachers
第三部分: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。
"Reduce, reuse and recycle", this familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways.
The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste – electronic junk (电子垃圾), such as old computers, cell-phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
"A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of tense - to bridge the digital divide," said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it's picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen "a green passport" to ship waste around the globe. '" Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves," Gutierrez said. But, he added, "A greater part of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state."
China, for example, has become a dumping place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial, is finally beginning to take the lead.
56. What does the fourth paragraph mainly discuss?
A. Old computers and TVs still work before they are sent abroad.
B. Poor people break up e-waste to collect some valuable materials.
C. A lot of e-waste is dumped in developing countries.
D. The problem of e-waste is growing in developing countries.
57. From what Gutierrez said we can learn that ________.
A. exporting countries should mainly be responsible for this problem.
B. neither rich nor pour countries should be blamed for this problem
C. developing countries should be responsible for this problem
D. poor countries should be blamed for this problem
58. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that __________.
A. China has hidden a large amount of e-waste in many secret places
B. China has greatly changed her idea about the problem of e-waste
C. China has prevented poisonous materials from entering China for a long time
D. China is failing behind other countries in dealing with e-waste
59. The passage mainly tells us that ________.
A. developing countries are facing serious environmental problems
B. e-waste is a growing problem in developed countries
C. e - waste is sent to developing countries under the excuse of reuse
D. developing countries are making full use of e-waste
第二节 根据对话内容,从对话后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
—Lovely day, isn't it?
—Mm, yes, 61And it's supposed to get warmer.
—Yes, that's true. You know, though, I'm always a little worried to see winter go.
— 62
—Well, I love skating. In fact, I used to teach skating for a living.
—Oh? That sounds interesting. 63
—I work at Bank of America. How about you?
— 64
—Here?
—No, I'm from Chicago. I'm just visiting here for the wedding.
—Oh, I see.
—By the way, 65I'm Helen Keller.
—Nice to meet you. My name is John Smith.
A.But what do you do now? |
B.It's very cold. |
C.It's really warm. |
D.I guess I should introduce myself. |
E. I'm on the radio station.
F. What' your name?
G. Really?