Children's lives have changed greatly over the last 50 years．But do they have a happier childhood than you or I did?
It's difficult to look back on one's own childhood without some element of nostalgia（怀旧的）．I have four brothers and sisters, and my memories are all about being with them．Playing board games on the living room floor, or spending days in the street with the other neighborhood children, racing up and down on our bikes, or exploring the nearby woods．My parents scarcely appear in these memories, except as providers either of meals or of severe blame after some particularly risky adventure．
These days, in the UK at least, the nature of childhood has changed dramatically．Firstly, families are smaller, and there are far more only children．It is common for both parents to work outside the home and there is the feeling that there just isn't time to bring up a large family, or that no one could possibly afford to have more than one child．As a result, today's boys and girls spend much of their time alone．Another major change is that youngsters today tend to spend a huge amount of their free time at home, inside．More than anything this is due to the fact that parents worry far more than they used to about real or imagined dangers, so they wouldn't dream of letting their children play outside by themselves．
Finally, the kind of toys children have and the way they play is totally different．Computer and video games have replaced the board games and more interesting activities of my childhood．The irony（令人啼笑皆非的事情） is that so many ways of playing games are called "interactive”．The fact that you can play electronic games on your own further increases the sense of loneliness felt by many young people today．
Do these changes mean that children today have a less relaxing childhood than I had? I personally believe that they do, but perhaps every generation feels exactly the same．What is the purpose of the direct question given in the first paragraph?
| A．To show who the passage is written for |
| B．To gather people's opinions on childhood |
| C．To compare the childhood lives of two generations |
| D．To get people's attention and lead in the topic |
Which is NOT a reason for the changes?
| A．Families are smaller today |
| B．Toys can be played by children alone at home |
| C．It's too dangerous to play outside |
| D．Parents worried too much about their children |
What has the writer focused on in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Some games that young people play today aren't really good |
| B．Computer and video games have replaced the board games |
| C．Young people today shouldn't play electronic games |
| D．Board games are much more interesting than computer games |
The writer's attitude towards the childhood changing is _____．
| A．approving | B．objective | C．unconcerned | D．optimistic |
A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.
For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manthttan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch picture to find her—www.Nygirlofmydreams.com.
Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing. New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt.
The mysterious girl was named as Camille Hayton, from Melbourne, Australia, who was working at the magazine Black Book and also lived in Brooklyn. One of her friends spotted the sketched picture on the Web site and recognized her.
But after finding each other, appearing on TV and getting international press, the couple took their romance out of the public eye, with Moberg closing down the Web site and with both refusing to make any more comments—until now.
Hayton told Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that she dated Moberg for about two months but it just didn’t work out.
“I say we dated for a while but now we’re just friends,” Hayton, now 23, told the newspaper. Hayton said she is still recognized about three times a week on the streets of Manhattan as “that girl” and the question is always the same: “So what happened?”
“I think the situation was so intense that it linked us,” she said, adding, “it linked us in a way that you could mistake, I guess, for being more romantic than it was. I don’t know. But I wanted to give it a go so didn’t wonder what if, what if?”
Hayton told The Sunday Telegraph that she is enjoying single life in New York, keeping busy with acti
ng classes, working in two clothing stores. Last week she had a small role as a waitress in the long-running daytime soap As the World Turns.
“I just can’t believe it happened. It feels like a long time ago,” said Hayton. Moberg, however, was still refusing to comment on the relationship.After Moborg lost the girl in the crowd he set up a website with.
| A．a pretty notice to find her | B．a rough drawing to discover her |
| C．an exciting program to attract her | D．an inspiring story to move her |
Moberg found the girl in a short time because.
| A．he phoned everybody in the city | B．he e-mailed everybody in the city |
| C．he continued his hunt day and night | D．he got help from the net citizens |
What has happened to Hayton after the subway romance?
| A．She has become a superstar in the city. |
| B．She has become a journalist in Australia. |
| C．She still gets noticed in the streets in New York. |
| D．She is out of work and is looking for a new job. |
The best title for this passage may be.
| A．NY subway romance hits end |
| B．NY subway romance causes debate(争论) |
| C．NY—a romantic city for the young couple |
| D．NY—a heartbreaking city for the young couple |
Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.
Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.
E-mail makes it easy to work at home, which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were，but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she’d been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.
The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun -see a great movie perhaps and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may be tired of telling the story.
With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.
E-mail is also an inexpensive way to stay in close touch 
with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college.
We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They don’t take the place of any of the old ways. The purpose of this passage is to ________.
| A．explain how to use the Internet |
| B．describe the writer’s joy of keeping up with the latest technology |
| C．tell the merits(价值) and usefulness of the Internet |
| D．introduce the reader to basic knowledge about personal computers and the Internet |
The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ________.
| A．spend less time working | B．have more time with his child |
| C．work at home on weekends | D．work at a speed comfortable to him |
The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．Computer: New Technological Advances |
B．Internet: New  Tool to Maintain Good Friendship |
| C．Computers Have Made Life Easier |
| D．Internet: a Convenient Tool for Communication |
HOW would you like to step into the world of other people’s dreams? That’s just what Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCapr
io) does. His work is to steal secrets from people when they are asleep and dreaming. He has an even rarer ability: He can plant an idea in someone’s sleeping mind, and watch it grow and take root in reality. This ability is called inception.
The movie Inception (《盗梦空间》) was on show in Chinese cinemas not long ago. It is imaginative, of course. The movie leads one to wonder just how much we know about dreams. For years, scientists and researchers have been trying to solve sleep’s greatest mystery.
Is it possible to enter someone’s dreaming mind? In the movie, DiCaprio uses a drug and a dream machine to put a scenario (某一特定情节) into someone’s sleeping mind. He then goes to sleep himself, connected to the machine, and enters the other person’s dream.
In real life, there is a machine that can read someone’s mind. A brain scanner takes pictures of brain activity, and then the software recreates images of what the person was looking at.
Researchers say it may be possible one day to record someone’s dream – without the danger (or the fun) of actually sharing that dream.
What’s a dream, anyway? A dream is a group of images and sounds our brain creates when we’re sleeping. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a sleeping condition that happened around every 90 to
120 minutes during sleep: rapid eye movement, or REM. During this period you’re fast asleep, yet your eyes move around quickly under your eyelids (眼皮) and your brain is nearly as active as during the day. That’s when most dreams happen.
What do dreams mean? Dreams are not always filled with meaning. Sometimes dreams are just your mind playing with thoughts and images from your life, or things you may have read or seen on TV. But at other times, dreams show things that you want to achieve in real life, or things that cause you trouble or stress. The movie Inception is mentioned at the beginning of the article to ______.
| A．encourage readers to watch the movie |
| B．tell readers about people with special dreaming abilities |
| C．inform readers about the science of dreams |
| D．warn reader about the threat of dream stealers |
According to the article, how does a brain scanner work?
| A．It records dreams. |
| B．It uses a special drug that causes no pain. |
| C．It finds out what dreams mean. |
| D．It takes pictures of brain activity and recreates images. |
According to the article, which of the following statements about REM sleep is TRUE?
| A．Most dreams occur in REM sleep. |
| B．Over the last ten years scientists have solved the mystery of REM sleep. |
| C．People always remember what they have dreamed in a REM sleep. |
| D．People can have REM sleep all night. |
The article claims that ______.
| A．dreams tell us a lot about a person’s character |
| B．dreams are connected to real life |
| C．dreams are useful and help keep our brains active |
| D．dreams are usually about meaningful things |
High-quality customer service is preached(宣扬) by many ,but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.
Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store, but instead will alert their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers-and anyone who will listen.
Store managers are often the last to hear complaints, and often find out only when their regular customers decide t frequent their competitors, according to a study jointly conducted by Verde group and Wharton school.
“Storytelling hurts retailers and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, President of the Verde group.” the store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”
On average, every unhappy customer will complain to at least four other, and will no longer visit the specific store for every dissatisfied customer, a store will lose up to three more due to negative reviews. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.
According to the research, shoppers who purchased clothing encountered the most problems. ranked second and third were grocery and electronics customers.
The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered (塞满了的) shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude salespeople.
During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved the parking problems by getting moonlighting（业余兼职的）local police to work as parking attendants. Some hired flag wavers to direct customers to empty parking spaces. This guidance eliminated the need for customers to circle the parking lot endlessly, and avoided confrontation between those eyeing the same parking space.
Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store layouts, pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.
Most importantly, salespeople should be diplomatic and polite with angry customers.
“Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly.” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as simple as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”
Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world. Retailers are hard-pressed to improve when they have no idea what is wrong.Why are store managers often the last to hear complaints?
| A．Most customers won’t bother to complain even if they have had unhappy experiences. |
| B．Customers would rather relate their unhappy experiences to people around them. |
| C．Few customers believe the service will be improved. |
| D．Customers have no easy access to store managers. |
What does Paula Courtney imply by saying “ … the shopper must also find a replacement” (Line 2, Para. 4)?
| A．New customers are bound to replace old ones. |
| B．It is not likely the shopper can find the same products in other stores. |
| C．Most stores provide the same. |
| D．Not complaining to the manager causes the shopper some trouble too. |
What contributes most to smoothing over issues with customers?
| A．Manners of the salespeople. |
| B．Hiring of efficient employees. |
| C．Huge supply of goods for sale. |
| D．Design of the store layout. |
To achieve better shopping experiences, customers are advised to _________.
| A．exert pressure on stores to improve their service |
| B．settle their disputes with stores in a diplomatic way |
| C．voice their dissatisfaction to store managers directly |
| D．shop around and make comparisons between stores |
SCIENTISTS have discovered that living to the age of 100 may have nothing to do with the lifestyle you lead and everything to do with the type of genes (基因) you have.
For the lucky carriers of “Methuselah” genes, worries over smoking, eating unhealthily and not getting enough exercise may not be as necessary as to those of us without the special gene pattern .
The “Methuselah” genes could give extra protection against the diseases of old age such as cancer and heart disease. They could also protect people against the effects of the unhealthy lifestyles that we believe will lead us to an early death, scientists say. However, the genes are very rare.
The genes include ADIPOQ, which is found in about 10 percent of young people but in nearly 30 percent of people living past 100. They also include the CETP and the ApoC3 genes, which are found in 10 percent of young people, but in about 20 percent of people over 100 years old.
Some of those genes were discovered by a research group at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, led by Professor Nir Barzilai. The team studied the genes of over 500 people over 100 years old, and their children.
The studies show that tiny mutations (变异) in the make-up of some genes can greatly increase a person’s lifespan. Barzilai told a Royal Society conference that the discovery of such genes gave scientists clear targets for developing drugs that could prevent age-related diseases, allow people to live longer and stay healthy.
David Gems, a researcher at University College London, believes that drugs to slow ageing will become widespread.
“If we know which genes control longevity (长寿) then we can … target them with drugs. That makes it p
ossible to slow down ageing,” he told The Times.
“Much of the pain and suffering in the world are caused by ageing. If we can find a way to reduce that, then we are obliged to take it.” According to the article, which of the following is the most important if a person is to live to the age of 100?
| A．Eating healthy food every day. |
| B．Having the right types of genes. |
| C．Having a healthy lifestyle. |
| D．Taking drugs that prevent ageing. |
According to the article, the ApoC3 gene is found in ______ of people over 100 years old.
| A．10% | B．20% | C．30% | D．50% |
Which of the following statements is TRUE of the research led by Professor Nir Barzilai?
| A．The team studied the genes of over 100 people over 100 years of age. |
| B．The researchers found that mutations in certain genes lead to longer life. |
| C．The researchers found ways to develop drugs that could cure age-related diseases. |
| D．The study suggested that most people have genes that could lengthen their lives. |
According to David Gems, ______.
| A．drugs to slow ageing will be very expensive |
| B．modern science will be able to find more longevity genes |
| C．it is the duty of medical scientists to fight the problems of ageing |
| D．scientists can make new genes that will allow longer life |