The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad (一度时髦的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” — and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer — which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet — adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and the UK — that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version of The Independent newspaper was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of The Independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, former head of the Language Center at King’s College London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBCMagazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition,” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now associated with portability (轻便).” Adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western world is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBCMagazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the trend unavoidably disappeared.People use iPlayer to _________.
| A．listen to music | B．make a call |
| C．watch TV programs online | D．read newspapers |
We can infer that The Independent’s “i” is aimed at _________.
| A．young readers | B．old readers |
| C．fashionable women | D．engineers |
Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are _________.
| A．portable | B．environmentally friendly |
| C．advanced | D．recyclable |
The writer suggests that _________.
| A．“i” products are often of high quality |
| B．iTeddy is a living bear |
| C．the letter “b” replaces the letter “i” to name the products |
| D．the popularity of “i” products may not last long |
For most people, shopping is still a matter of wandering down the street or loading a cart in a shopping mall. Soon, that will change. Electronic commerce (trade) is growing fast and will soon bring people more choices. There will, however, be a cost: protecting the consumer from being cheated will be harder. Many governments therefore want to apply street regulations to the electronic world. But politicians would be wiser to see cyberspace as a basis for a new era of corporate self-regulation.
Consumers in rich countries have grown used to the idea that the government takes responsibility for everything from the stability of the banks to the safety of the drugs or their rights to refund when goods are faulty. But governments cannot enforce national laws on businesses whose only presence is on the screen. Even in a country where a clear right to compensation exists, the on-line customer in Tokyo, say, can hardly go to New York to get a refund (退款) for a clothes purchase.
One answer is for government to cooperate more: to recognize each other’s rules. But that requires years of work and volumes of detailed rules. And plenty of countries have rules too fanciful for sober countries to accept. There is, however, another choice. Let the electronic businesses do the regulation themselves. They do, after all, have a self-interest in doing so.
In electronic commerce, a reputation for honest dealing will be a valuable competitive asset. Governments, too, may compete to be trusted. For instance, customers ordering medicines on- line may prefer to buy from the United States because they trust the rigorous screening of the Food and Drug Administration; or they may decide that the FDA’s rules are too strict, and buy from Switzerland instead.
Customers will still need to use their judgment, but precisely because the technology is new, electronic shoppers are likely for a while to be a lot more cautious than customers of the normal sort. And the new technology will also make it easier for them to complain when a company lets them down. In this way, at least, the advent(出现) of cyberspace may argue for fewer consumer protection laws, not more.In case an electronic shopper bought faulty goods from a foreign country, what could he do?
| A．Refuse to pay for the purchase. |
| B．Go to the seller and ask for a refund. |
| C．Appeal to consumer protection law. |
| D．Complain about it on the Internet. |
In the author’s view, businesses would place a high emphasis on honest dealing because in the electronic world _______.
| A．international cooperation would be much more frequent |
| B．consumers could easily seek government protection |
| C．a good reputation is a great advantage in competition |
| D．it would be easy for consumers to complain |
We can infer from the passage that in licensing new drugs the FDA in the United States is______.
| A．very quick | B．very cautious | C．very slow | D．rather careless |
According to the author, what will be the best policy for electronic commerce?
| A．Self-regulation by the business. |
| B．Strict Consumer protection laws. |
| C．Close international cooperation. |
| D．Government protection. |
Bayfield Shopping Coupons(赠券)
| 1. Six Hours Free Parking If you spend $100 or more in our stores you will receive six hours of free parking. When you have spent $100 or more, just take this coupon and your receipt to the customer service desk on lever 4. They will stamp your parking ticket to allow 6 hours of free parking. Offer here until November 14. |
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| 2. Win a $1,000 CD Collection Win your choice of $1,000 worth of CDs from JB Music Store. Just buy any two CDs and your name will go into the competition. Select your own prize from our wide variety of rock, pop, jazz, and classical music. Competition ends November 14. Prize drawn on November 21. Check store for more information. |
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| 3. Buy One, Get One Free Buy one shirt or tie at Deniel’s Menswear, and get another shirt or tie of the same value free. Choose from any of our dress shirts and we will give you another one at no cost. Hurry! Offer ends November 14. Offer limited to one per customer. |
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| 4. 10% Off Present this coupon at Tile Book Store to get a 10% discount on any books you buy. We have lots of books to choose from, including children’s books, novels, travel guides, and science works. You’ re sure to find something that you will enjoy. Shop now for Christmas. We have plenty of toys as gifts for you and avoid the rush! Offer here until November 14. |
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| 5. Half price Movie Tickets Buy any full price movie ticket on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, and you can buy a second ticket for a friend for only half price. The latest movies are show in one of our five theaters at Bayfield Shopping Centre. Offer here through December 1. Limit one per customer. |
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| 6. Free Soft Drink Buy any meal for at least $ 6 at Mike’ s Cafe, and receive a free soft drink. We serve the best fast food in the Shopping Centre. Come in and try our delicious meals and our excellent service. You won’ t be disappointed ! Free soft drink offer ends November 14. |
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What are these ads for?
| A．Food you can order for delivery. | B．Places to go on vacation. |
| C．Special offers at a shopping center. | D．Things on sale in a big store. |
Which of the following is true according to the ads?
| A．Spending $ 50 means 3 hours of free parking. |
| B．One person can buy 4 tickets for the price of’ $ 2. |
| C．After buying two CDs, you can get another two CDs for free. |
| D．At Mike’ s Cafe, people can get a free soft drink after spending $ 6. |
We can know from the passage _______.
| A．there is more than one theatre in the centre |
| B．if you buy a book there, you may pay less than half the price |
| C．you may get a free one if you buy a shirt, or a tie, or a pair of shoes |
| D．you won’t get a free soft drink unless you spend more than 10 dollars on the meal |
People who are cheerful and relaxed are less likely to suffer from colds. It’s possible that being full of vim and vigor helps the body fight illnesses, say the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh.
“We need to take more seriously the possibility that a positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk,” says psychologist Sheldon Cohen, the study’s lead researcher.
In a previous study, Cohen and his colleagues found that people who tended to be cheerful and lively were least likely to develop sniffles, coughs, and other cold symptoms(症状).
Those findings were interesting, but they didn’t prove that a person’s attitude affects whether he or she gets sick. Instead, it was still probable that a person’s underlying personality is what matters.
Evidence suggests, for instance, that certain people are naturally more likely to be outgoing and optimistic, with high self-respect and a sense of control over life. This would mean that who we are, not how we feel, finally decides our chances of catching colds.
To figure out which mattered more (personality or emotions), the CMU team interviewed 193 healthy adults. The researchers talked to each person over the phone every evening for 2 weeks. They told the researchers about the positive and negative feelings they had experienced that day.
The results showed that everyone in the study was equally likely to get infected. Their symptoms, however, differed depending on the types of emotions that they had reported over the previous 2 weeks.
Among those who reported good moods and had been infected with the flu virus, for example, 28 percent developed coughs and stuffy(堵塞)noses. On the other hand, those symptoms struck 41 percent of people who had been less positive. Scientists argue about whether negative emotions or positive emotions have a stronger effect on how healthy we are. For now, it can’t hurt to look on the bright side more often than not! What is the text mainly about?
| A．how to get rid of colds | B．Attitude determines life |
| C．Smiles turn away colds | D．Different opinions about colds |
The word “full of vim and vigor” underlined in Paragraph 1 probably means_______.
| A．ignorant | B．well-informed | C．energetic | D．in low spirits |
According to the finding a leading factor of catching colds should be one’s _______.
| A．health. | B．personality. | C．quality | D．mood |
Bysayingthelastparagraph,thewriterintendstosuggest_______.
| A．positiveemotionsareasgoodasnegativeemotions |
| B．itisnotnecessarilygoodforyouifyoualwayslookatproblemspositively |
| C．itwillbegoodforyourhealthtoalwayskeepupanoptimisticstateofmind |
| D．thesaying---everycoinhastwosides. |
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy – five, he gave $ 60,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s ground.
As a result of his kindness, he became famous. Many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening,” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.Johnson became a rich man through _______.
| A．doing business | B．making whisky |
| C．cheating | D．buying and selling land |
The gift of money to the school suggests that Johnson _______.
| A．had many children in the school | B．was a strange old man |
| C．was very fond of children | D．was very kind |
Many people wrote to Johnson to find out _______.
| A．what kind of whisky he had |
| B．how to live longer |
| C．how to become wealthy |
| D．in which part of the neck to have an injection |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that _______.
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening |
| B．he needn’t an injection in the neck |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck |
Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel. All believed that they were the most important.
“ Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. Without me, all animals would die. ” Green said.
“ You only think about the earth,” Blue interrupted, “ but consider the sky and the sea. The sky gives space, peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing. ”
Yellow shouted, “ You are all so serious. I bring laughter and warmth into the world. Without me there would be no fun. ”
Orange started next , “ I am the color of health and strength. My beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you. ”
Red could stand it no longer, he shouted out, “ I am the ruler of all of you. I am the color of danger and of bravery. Without me, the earth would be an empty as the moon. ”
Purple rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp(炫耀), “ I am the color of loyalty(忠诚) and power. I am the sign of authority(权利) and wisdom. People do not question me! They listen and obey. ”
Finally Indigo(靛蓝) spoke, much more quietly than all the others, “ I represent thought and reflection（反思）. You need me for balance and contrast(对比). ”
Their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning. Rain started to pour down and speak “ You should stretch across the sky in a great bow of color. Remember to appreciate one another. Only the rainbow is the most beautiful. ”Green thinks he is according to the passage.
| A．the sign of life | B．the laughter of the world |
| C．the ruler of the world | D．the sign of authority |
Purple thinks people should listen and obey him because he stands for .
| A．life | B．peace | C．power | D．strength |
From the story we know that is very calm(镇定的).
| A．Red | B．Yellow | C．Purple | D．Indigo |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．None of the colors would agree with others. |
| B．Yellow believes the world have fun because of him. |
| C．Rainbow is the most beautiful because of all the colors. |
| D．Rain thinks he is the most important. |
The implied(暗指的) meaning of the story is that .
| A．colors can quarrel like humans |
| B．everyone should learn to appreciate one another |
| C．only the rainbow is the most beautiful |
| D．the rainbow is made up of many colors |