Your smartphone can do a lot of things. It can call people. It connects to the Internet. It enables you to play fun games. But there is a dark side to this smart little equipment of yours----- it might also spread disease.
“People are just likely to get sick from their phones as from handles of the bathroom, ” Jeffrey Cain, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians , told The Wall Street Journal.
This may be hard to believe, but scientists reached this conclusion after they tested eight cell phones from an office in Chicago. All the tested phones showed high numbers of coliforms (大肠菌), a kind of bacteria found in human waste , with about 2700 to 4200 units of the bacteria on each phone. The bacteria can cause flu, pinkeye and other diseases . That is right --- your phone is covered in our human waste.
Although computers, keys and pens carry germs (细菌) , our phones get far dirtier. They touch a lot of things, including our hands and the inside of our pocket or purse. We take them almost everywhere: the bus, the subway and who hasn’t played Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja while sitting on the toilet?
“Some things that we think are personal are actually more public than we imagine,” Cain said. What is even worse is that after the phone returns from its dirty trip, it then spends most of its time cozying up to our faces. You don’t think about how often you touch your phone to your face, do you? Our noses, mouths and ears are all warm and rich in grease (油脂) , an environment that germs really like.
So how do you keep your phone clean? Alcohol is effective when used to kill germs from the back and side of your phone. But it might harm the screen. There is one simple and reliable way you can reduce the germs on your phone’s surface: wash your hands regularly.The underlined word “dark” in the first paragraph means _______
| A．black | B．hopeless | C．unpleasant | D．unclear |
Which of the following best describe the tone of the third paragraph?
| A．Terrified | B．concerned | C．Satisfying | D．Threatening |
By saying “Some things we think are personal are actually more public than we imagine,” Cain means that ________.
| A．people love to share their phones more than they realize |
| B．our personal items could be as risky to our health as public items |
| C．phones are used in public places more than people realize |
| D．Most people don’t know how dirty their cell phones are |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．Tips on the use of phones |
| B．Health problems caused by the use of phones |
| C．The danger of coliforms infection |
| D．The influence that phone have on our life |
Computer programmer David Jones earns $35.000 a year designing new computer games. yet he cannot find a bank ready to let him have a credit card（信用卡）.Instead he has been told to wait another two years until he is 18. The 16-year-old works for a small firm in Liverpool where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job .David’s firm releases（推出）two new games for the fast growing computer market each month
But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Even though he earns a lot he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage（抵押贷款）,or get credit cards. David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago ,a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs” he said. David spends some of his money on records and clothes and gives his mother 50 pounds a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school” he said, “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time .I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway” David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement（退休）is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.”
56．In what way is David different from people of his age?
A．He often goes out with friends B．He lives with his mother
C．He has a handsome income D．He graduated with six O-levels
57．What is one of the problems that David is facing now?
A．He is too young to get a credit card B．He has no time to learn driving
C．He has very little spare time D．He will soon lose his job
58．Why was David able to get the job in the company?
A．He had done well in all his exams
B．He had written some computer programs
C．He was good at playing computer games
D．He had learnt to use computers at school
59．Why did David decide to leave school and start working?
A．He received lots of job offers B．He was eager to help his mother
C．He lost interest in school studies D．He wanted to earn his own living
“I find myself glancing at my watch to see how long I’ve been standing in line,” she said. “Everywhere I go, I notice if the dumpster(垃圾罐)gates are open or if there’s trash in the parking lot.” Ms. Clark is a “mystery shopper”, one of thousands of contract workers that companies hire to pretend as regular customers in order to judge customer service, cleanliness and whether a store is selling a product that meets company specifications (规格).
Mystery shoppers can be found or, rather, not found, everywhere from restaurants and automotive shops to convenience stores and department stores. They play a constant cat-and-mouse game with store and restaurant employees and managers. However it’s not all fun and games. Once in the field, a mystery shopper will typically visit several stores or restaurants per hour, taking mental notes while inside, then jotting down physical notes after they leave.
It’s important for mystery shoppers to be as exact as possible, because the client companies are looking for data they can use to improve their service. The questionnaire won’t say, “Does the trash can need to be emptied?” What an educated shopper will say is, “The trash can to the left of the front door was overflowing with 10 pieces of trash on the ground.” Companies don’t need opinion but facts.
Nowadays mystery shoppers are armed with a number of high-tech devices, such as a digital scale and a digital thermometer, as well as a handheld PC for recording the entire experience. It’s a challenging job but a rewarding one. Mystery shoppers can be full time or part time, but the full-time workers tend to stick to standard mystery shopping while part-timers often choose the less complex reward-based programs. In those , the shoppers stay disguised(装扮的) only until the “shop” is finished, and then reveal (透漏) themselves to the store management and award prizes to employees who provided excellent service.
To be a mystery shopper, it’s important to be a good observer, but sometimes it’s important to have the right profile(外表), too. Companies often hire shoppers from particular backgrounds to better blend in with clients’ regular customers. If a secret shopper will be sent in, for example, to do a high-end automotive shop, the candidate must have a particular profile that meets a high-end, luxury car-type buyer profile. “It’s a challenge to perform your shop without being discovered,” Ms. Clark said, “because most of the people that we work for are very aware of the mystery shopping program.”
67. According to the text a “mystery shopper” would not have to .
A. sign a contract with the employer B. travel a lot around the city
C. provide exact facts to the company D. fill in questionnaires
68. We learn from the text that Ms. Clark .
A. visits some shops regularly and sometimes does something special
B. pretends to be a shopper and evaluates the services
C. is a government official looking into the services
D. is a manager of a company offering good services
69. People are willing to become a mystery shopper mainly because they can .
A. get the best service and get paid at the same time
B. play a cat-and-mouse game with shop employees and managers
C. do the job either full time or part time and get paid well
D. observe clearly what happens in the shops
70. What does the underlined word “those” in the 4th paragraph refer to?
A. The shops where the mystery shoppers go.
B. The less complex reward-based programs.
C. Part-time jobs.
D. Excellent services.
Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realized about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus(SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.
Lovers of SCUBA diving like the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna(动、植物). Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.
SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities(死亡)are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.
63. What is the writer trying to do in the text?
A. Advertise some popular diving sites.
B. Describe how to dive underwater.
C. Warn people against diving in the sea.
D. Give information about SCUBA diving.
64. What can the reader learn from the text?
A. There is uncertainty about SCUBA diving safety.
B. Divers have caused a lot of damage to the environment.
C. SCUBA diving is an old sport with a long history.
D. Divers always face the pressures in their life.
65. How might the writer describe SCUBA diving?
A. Interesting. B. Relaxing. C. Frightening D. Unpleasant.
66. What do you think the author is most likely to suggest if he continues to write?
A. Getting out to dive underwater. B. Stopping damaging environment.
C. Making better use of SCUBA. D. Getting over the troubles of daily life.
Bicycles for rent could become as common as newspaper stands and mail boxes on Germany’s street corners if a scheme launched by Deutsche Bahn is successful.
The German rail operator has launched a bicycle-hire scheme designed for simple one-way trips.
“It’s a new concept,”said Andreas Knie, head of the project.
Users must first register with Call-A-Bike at a cost of 15 euros（US$14.7）. With a simple phone call, they can hire one of the many bikes parked outside stations, at a cost of 3 to 5 cents per minute. At the end of their journey, they ring a computer and tell it where the bike is parked.
The bikes are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
No one will be breaking speed records with Call-A-Bike bicycles. They weigh in at 25 kilograms, at least double the weight of a normal bicycle, though they do have eight gears（齿轮）.
“They are pretty heavy, but we don’t want people taking them on the train or into the subway,” Knie said.
They are also designed with parts that do not fit a normal bicycle. Even the screws are irregular and the bike looks so odd that thieves would stand out.
Vandalism and theft have led to the downfall of previous schemes which date back to Amsterdam’s 1966“White Bike”scheme.
In that short-lived experiment, anti-establishment groups painted bikes white and left them around the Dutch capital.
However, many were taken permanently and repainted, while the police took away others on the basis that ownerless bikes were street rubbish.
Copenhagen, Vienna and Helsinki also have free bike schemes, in which users deposit a coin in Copenhagen’s case 20 crowns（US$2.50）—to free a bike from a rack.
“The advantage these schemes have is ease of use. But because they’re so cheap, people tend to hold on to the bikes and then there are none on the streets,”the person in charge said.
Oslo is also planning a bike-hire system where users will pay a symbolic fee of 50 Norwegian crowns（US$6.50）for unlimited use in the city for a year.
Users will buy an electronic identity card as a key that will register when the bike is parked or taken from a rack.
59. How many European countries have already launched the free bike schemes?
A. Four. B. Five. C. Six. D. Seven.
60.What can be learned about Amsterdam’s 1966“White Bike”scheme?
A. The bicycles were twice as heavy as a normal bicycle.
B. A heavy rain stopped the scheme from being carried out.
C. Some bicycles were damaged or stolen and the scheme failed.
D. The police ended the scheme for traffic safety
61.What can be inferred from the text?
A. Bicycles for rent have become as common as newspaper stands and mail boxes on Germany’s street corners.
B. The bikes in Germany are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
C. German bicycles for rent are designed specially so that they will draw people’s attention.
D. Germany has taken some measures to stop the bicycles for rent from being taken away.
62.Which do you think is the best title?
A. Free Bicycles for Europeans.
B. Tough Transporters.
C. Customer is King.
D. Unpractical Scheme.
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C. read the Art section D. read Weekend section
57. From the passage we know that _______.
A. the Times sells at a lower price than before
B. the Times has improved a great deal and everyone likes to read it
C. many of the good features of the Times remain unchanged
D. you will learn everything by reading the Times every day
58. The owner of the passage advertises ________.
A. to introduce the new sections
B. to announce the new sections of the Times
C. to make known his new plan of the Times
D. to persuade people to buy the Times