Why buy a new car when you can improve the one you have with the latest technology? Here are two new methods that will not only make life behind wheel more comfortable but may also end up saving you money.
| WI-FI on Wheels It’s not enough that children complain about having nothing to watch on television. These days, they even complain about having nothing to watch in the car. Fortunately, for every unsatisfied youth, there is a new technological solution: Wi-Fi Internet access for the back seat of your vehicle. In the United States, Chrysler is the first to offer such a system, which turns any Chrysler or Dodge into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Called UConnect, the $499 dealer-installed option is a high-speed cell-like Internet connection with a wireless router that sits in your car’s trunk. Monthly service costs $29 for Internet access, which is available to any device that has Wi-Fi and is within 100 feet of your car. With UConnect, passengers can check emails messages on a laptop, send instant messages to friends or watch YouTube videos online. It allows passengers to search for movie listings on a smart phone or connect a Sony PSP video game player to the Web. It also offers the ability to freely upload photos from a Wi-Fi-equipped digital camera to an online sharing service like Flickr. For critics who claim that putting Wi-Fi Internet access in a car feeds the danger of driver distraction, parents may well disagree: What’s more distracting, the temptation to check email or a lot of children talking to you from the back seat? |
Watch Your Back Blind spots behind cars and SUV’s make backing up dangerous as well as potentially deadly for children. Nationally, the group Kids and Cars estimates that two children a week are killed by cars backing up. The Transportation Department is establishing visibility standards for future vehicles, but there’s no need to wait. A back-view back system can be an expensive option in a new car. In the 2008 Subaru Tribeca, for example, the back-view camera option is available only in connection with the inner navigation system, at a price of $2,400. And professionally equipped systems can cost $400 or more. However, there are now inexpensive back-view packages you can help yourself, such as the $130 Audiovox ACA250 Wireless Vehicle Rear Observation System. It includes a camera that increases on a back license-plate holder and grasps onto a vehicle’s backup light. It can send a back-view image to a small L.C.D. Monitor that can be carried into electronic equipment and increased on the dashboard(仪表板). Audiovox claims the camera housing is not afraid of dust. In some areas where radio waves are plentiful, the image can be affected by occasional interference, but the picture, with its wide 110-degree camera point, is good enough to see things or children behind you. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．DIY methods for your car. |
| B．How to save money in your life? |
| C．The way of putting a back-view system. |
| D．The importance of putting internet access in your car. |
What’s the parents’ attitude to the safety concern of car Internet access?
| A．They agree with the critics’ opinion. |
| B．They consider it a great danger for driving. |
| C．They think that talking with children is more dangerous. |
| D．They believe it unnecessary to have car Internet access. |
What’s the potential danger for children?
| A．Electronic equipment. | B．Backing-up car. |
| C．Earphones behind the wheel. | D．Highway engine failure. |
How can the back-view package see the back of the car?
| A．With a cell phone. |
| B．With an inner navigation system. |
| C．With a dashboard. |
| D．With a camera onto the side of backup light. |
Last year,I lived in Chile(智利) for half a year last year. I lived with a Chilean family and had to do the same things as any Chilean teenager. I had good days and bad days I didn't understand.
Chuquicamata, my host community, is a mining camp. When I arrived there,I was scared. It was so different from what I was used to. There were lots of dogs on the streets,and there was no downtown(商业区),few good streets,and little to do for fun. Rain was not seen very often, earthquakes and windstorms happened quite often.
I had studied Spanish for two and a half years and was always one of the best students in my class. But in my first week in Chile,I was not able to communicate and I needed a person to whom I could explain my shock.But I couldn't speak the thoughts in my head and there were so many. Most exchange students experience this like me.And I had to deal with all the difficulties on my own.
However, as time passé, everything changed. I began to forget words in English and started to dream in Spanish and love Chilean food. I got used to not buying expensive things for fun. Fun in Chuquicamata was being with people. I took math, physics, chemistry, biology, Spanish, art, and philosophy in school.
What I lost was nothing compared to what I acquired. I learned how to accept and to succeed in another culture. I now have a deeper understanding of both myself and others. What is this passage mainly about?
| A．People’s life in Chile |
| B．The hard life of an exchange student |
| C．The writer’s life in Chile as an exchange student |
| D．What the writer learned in Chile as an exchange student |
When the writer arrived at Chuquicamata, he/she most probably felt ___.
| A．happy |
| B．excited |
| C．sad |
| D．angry |
What does the underlined word”acquired”in the last paragraph mean?
| A．Enjoyed |
| B．Learned |
| C．Did |
| D．Picked |
According to the passage, which of the following facts about Chile is TRUE?
| A．All people there speak English |
| B．It has a lot of rain all year round. |
| C．It has a lot of earthquakes and windstorms |
| D．Its people like shopping very much |
Mr. Templat was a teacher that I will never forget. I truly believe the teen years were the hardest time of my life. At that time, as a girl, I hated it when my parents asked me directly about my problems, making me more comfortable. I also remember many times when Mr. Templat would take me aside and talk to me. He had a special way of drawing out what the problem was. Every time he talked with me, I felt better.
He had a way of making his classes enjoyable. We always got the highest marks in math in our grade with his teaching. If there was a big world ball game on the radio, we would drop everything and he would put the name on so we could all enjoy it. That’s just the way he is.
Teens often hear things on TV or from adults about world problems that can frighten them. Now it is terrorism（恐怖主义）. Back in my teen years, it was the cold war. It worried me so much that I thought each day would be my last. Mr. Templat knew how much it troubled his students. He opened the subject up to discussion. He gave us a way to express our greatest fears and helped us understand war and politics. “One can feel afraid however brave he is.” We were told.
When I think back to those special days, I appreciate that he helped me through such a difficult time in my life. To learn about the problems the writers had, Mr Templat would _________________.
| A．ask her about the problems directly |
| B．wait until she told him about them |
| C．ask her parents about the problems without letting her know |
| D．ask her about them without making her feel uncomfortable |
From the second paragraph, we learn that __________________.
| A．Mr. Templat was a very serious man |
| B．the students like Mr. Templat’s teaching very much |
| C．the students could do whatever they like in Mr. Templat’s class |
| D．the students were more interested in sports than in their studies |
What does the underlined part “the subject” in the third paragraph most probably refer to?
| A．War and politics. |
| B．World history. |
| C．Terrorism. |
| D．The cold war. |
Michelle kwan was born on July 7,1980,in Torrance,California.The daughter of Hong Kong immigrants(移民),Kwan watched her older brother play ice hockey as a kid.She began skating when she was five,and entered and won her first figure skating competition at seven.She won the world title in the 1994 World Championships at the age of 13,and earned a spot as an alternate(候补者）for the 1994 Olympic Games.Kwan went on to capture the world title in 1996,1998,2000,2001 and2003.
At the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998,Kwan was believed to win gold,but ended up with a disappointing silver medal when fellow US skater Tara Lipinski surprisingly took first place.Shortly before the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002,Kwan,who was then the reigning world champ,surprisingly fired both her choreographer(编舞者）,Lori Nichol,and longtime coach,Frank Carroll.Once again, she failed to get the gold medal when she finished third behind Irina Slutskaya of Russia and US skater Sarah Hughes, who took first.
As a student at the University of California in Los Angeles,Kwan has continued to compete since her defeat(战败）in Salt Lake City.In Febuary 2006, she was unable to take part in the Olympic Games in Torino, Italy because of a serious injury.Though Michelle Kwan did not compete during the 2006--2007 figure skating season; she has turned down an offer to work for NBC Sports and says she is not retiring.The underline word”capture”in the first paragraph means ___.
| A．enter |
| B．win |
| C．learn |
| D．find |
What happened to Michelle Kwan in 2002?
| A．Her coach didn’t want to train her any longer |
| B．She went to study at the University of California |
| C．She failed to take part in the Olympic Games in Torino, Italy |
| D．She failed to win the gold medal in the Olympics again |
Which of the following may NOT be a world champ?
| A．Lori Nichol |
| B．Michelle Kwan |
| C．Tara Lipinski |
| D．Sarah Hughes |
Stamp collecting is easy when you do it as a hobby. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on it. Sometimes stamps can be got from many sources（来源） for free.
Getting Started
If you have no stamps at all, you might want to buy a packet of 500 or 1,000 different worldwide stamps from a hobby shop or stamp dealer to get stared. One good choice is eBay. Try entering phrases like “worldwide stamps” in the searching box. However, even if you want to specialize in collecting stamps, my advice is not to spend much money on stamps in the beginning. Start off collecting stamps from many source for free until you have collected enough stamps and had enough experience.
Sorting Stamps
Assume (假设) you have some stamps and they are in paper. Before you take them from the paper, you should sort the stamps for example, by country. This is because dealing with stamps is much easier when they are on paper. When you take them off the paper, they become easy to bend, crease and tear easily.
Trimming (修剪) Stamps
Never try to take a stamp off its paper backing by pulling at it, even if it appears to be loose enough to do so. First, trim the paper around the stamp with a pair of sharp scissors making sure not to cut off the edge of the stamps. I suggest that you’d better leave a quarter inch safety area from the edge of the stamp when you trim the paper before you are good at doing it. This passage is written for people who .
| A．have no money to collect stamps |
| B．want to sell their stamps |
| C．want to collect stamps |
| D．don’t know how to sort stamps |
The writer didn’t mention collecting stamps from a .
| A．hobby shop | B．shopping website | C．post office | D．stamp dealer |
According to the writer, at the very beginning, stamp-collecting beginners shouldn’t .
| A．collect common stamps |
| B．borrow some stamps from their friends |
| C．act as an inexperienced collector |
| D．spend a lot of money in buying stamps |
What does the writer suggest not do when trimming stamps?
| A．Pulling at them to take them off the paper backing when they look loose. |
| B．Trim the paper around the stamps with a pair of sharp scissors. |
| C．Leave a quarter inch safety area from the edge of the stamp. |
| D．Make sure not to cut off the edge of the stamps. |
If you are having trouble falling asleep, you are in good company. About 65% of Americans said they have sleeping problems a few nights each week, according to a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleeping too little can lead to a higher risk of becoming fat and getting depressed(沮丧的). But before you go to a doctor for advice, it is worth examining your sleeping habits one more time. Some of your favorite evening habits may have something to do with the sleeping problems.
1. Setting a Bright Alarm Clock.
The light of your bright alarm clock can prevent you from falling asleep. You can make your room as dark as possible. Cover the bright numbers with a book or consider buying a small travel clock. Your cellphone alarm may also do the trick.
2. Counting Sheep
When you just can't fall asleep, it's useless to stay in bed to count sheep. If you've been trying to fall asleep for more than 30 minutes, the National Sleep Foundation suggests you get up to do some reading or watch TV for a while. Such activities will make you sleepy. Before you know it, you'll be going back to bed really tired.
3. Exercising Late at Night
Daytime workouts(锻炼) will keep you full of energy for hours. That's why you don't want to exercise within three hours of hitting the sack. Fierce(剧烈的)physical activity raise your body temperature and pumps your energy level-both are bad for a good night's sleep.What can we learn from the first sentence of the passage?
| A．It's not good to fail to fall asleep at night. |
| B．People in a good company often have sleeping problems. |
| C．There are many people who have sleeping problems. |
| D．You should find someone to talk to if you can't fall asleep. |
The underlined part "hitting the sack" in the last paragraph means "______".
| A．going back home |
| B．going to bed |
| C．going to the gym |
| D．falling asleep |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．The bad results of getting too little sleep. |
| B．Why the bright alarm clock keeps you awake. |
| C．What to do if you can't fall asleep after 30 minutes. |
| D．Why watching TV and reading books make people sleepy. |
By writing the passage, the writer mainly wants to tell us _______.
| A．why so many people can't sleep well at night |
| B．how to enjoy a good night's sleep |
| C．that sleeping problems are troubling more and more people |
| D．that people may solve their sleeping problems by changing some habits |