The home computer industry has been growing rapidly in the United States in the last ten years. Computers used to be large, expensive machines that were very difficult to use. But scientists and technicians have been making them smaller and cheaper while at the same time they have been made easier to use. As a result, their popularity has been increasing as more people have been buying computers for their homes and businesses.
Computers have been designed to store information and compute problems that are difficult for human beings to work out. Some have voices that speak to their operators. Stores use computers to keep records of their inventories and to send bills to their customers. Offices use computers to copy letters, record business and keep in touch with other offices. People also use computers in their homes to keep track of the money they spend.
One important new use of computers is for entertainment. Many new games have been designed to be played on computers. People of all ages play these games. People also buy home computers to watch movies and listen to concerts at home. They have become very popular indeed.Compared with those of today, computers used to ______.
| A．work rapidly | B．be used for fun |
| C．be large and expensive | D．be easy to use |
In recent years, computers have become ______.
| A．more and more difficult to use | B．slower and slower |
| C．more and more expensive | D．smaller and smaller |
Home computers can be used for ______.
| A．doing business | B．writing letters |
| C．playing games | D．all of the above |
Salesmen use computers mainly to ______.
| A．talk with their friends | B．write letters |
| C．check the list of goods and send bills | D．play games for pleasure |
It's interesting that the arrival of snow has effect on people in different countries. For some countries it is an important happening to celebrate each year, while for others a catastrophe(灾害) or even a wonder.
But there are countries between these two kinds that normally expect snow some time over-the winter months, but never receive snow regularly or in the same quantities every year. Britain is one of them, for which the arrival of snow quite simply causes problems. Within hours of the first snowfalls, however light, roads are blocked; trains and buses have to stop in the middle of the way. Normal communication is affected as well: telephone calls become difficult and the post immediately takes more time than usual. And almost within hours, there are also certain shortages—bread, vegetables and other things—not because all these things can no longer be produced or sent to shops, but mainly because people are frightened and go out and store up with food and so on just for fear that something bad should happen.
But why does snow have this effect? After all, the Swiss, the Austrians and the Canadians don't have such problems. It is simple because there is not enough planning and preparation. We need money to buy equipment to deal with snow and ice. To keep the roads clear, for example, requires snow-ploughs(扫雪机) and machines to spread salt. The reason why a country like Britain does not buy snow-ploughs is that they are used for a few days in any one year, and the money could be more useful in other things such as hospital, education, helping the old.According to the writer, Britain is a country _______.
| A．which has regular snow | B．which is not well prepared for snow |
| C．for which snow is a catastrophe | D．for which snow is a wonder |
After a few hours' snowing there are often some shortages of food because _______.
| A．shops have closed down | B．people buy as much as they can |
| C．farmers cannot produce any more | D．people eat more vegetables in winter |
The words “two kinds” in the passage mean the countries _______.
| A．which have weather as yearly happening to celebrate or as rare (少见) weather |
| B．which either have heavy snow or light snow |
| C．to which snow either causes problems or no problems |
| D．which either have snow-ploughs or no snow-ploughs |
A man who served 11 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife was officially cleared yesterday, walking free from Jingshan County People's Court—the same body that sentenced him to a 15year jail term in 1998—as over 2000 local residents cheered.
“Police and other law enforcers made the errors,”39yearold She Xianglin told China Daily, “I believe the law will punish them and give me a just result.”
The original conviction came based on a confession which She said was extracted under police torture and the misidentification of a still-unknown woman's body.
“The provincial Hubei government has sent a team of police, procurators and high people's court officials to investigate the case,” a spokesperson for the Jingmen government, which administrates Jingshan County, said yesterday.
The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, resurfaced late last month after being thought missing for 11 years.
This was despite at least five letters from Zhang to her brother over the last two years, which he said he didn't report to police because he thought they were a hoax.
Zhang disappeared in January 1994 from Yanmenkou Township, and 3 months later a body was found in a pond that her relatives positively identified.
Local police arrested Shen for murder in April 1994,although questions had been raised about discrepancies between the features and clothes of the body and Zhang. Confirmation through DNA testing had not been attempted.
Zhang Chengmao, Shen's lawyer, said yesterday he would seek State compensation “but we have not reached a figure yet”.
When asked about compensation, Shen said, “My mother, who died from the stress of continually appealing, cannot be bought. Eleven years of freedom cannot be bought. Schooling of my daughter that was stopped because of poverty cannot be bought.”
As for his wife, the man said he did not hate her at all. “If she had not reappeared, maybe I would have been wronged for life,” he said.
He also said he did not plan to sue Zhang for bigamy, though she had remarried in Shandong Province without divorcing him.Why did She Xianglin served 11 years in prison?
| A．Because She Xianglin was convicted of murdering his wife. |
| B．Because the Police and other law enforcers made the errors. |
| C．Because through DNA testing the dead woman was his wife. |
| D．Because her wife was missing. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The miscarriage of justice only came to light when Shen's wife reappeared. |
| B．The man said he did not hate her at all. |
| C．Zhang Zaiyu wrote at least five letters to her brother over the last two years to hoax him. |
| D．She Xianglin's mother died from the stress of continually appealing. |
We can infer from the passage _______.
| A．She Xianglin will get State compensation |
| B．She Xianglin's daughter dropped out of school because of poverty |
| C．She Xianglin stayed in prison for 11 years |
| D．who murdered the woman is known to all |
The underlined word “cleared” in the first paragraph means _______.
| A．清除 | B．宣告无罪 | C．（天气）变晴 | D．移走物体 |
The Internet has led to a huge increase in credit-card(信用卡) fraud. Your card information could even be for sale in an illegal Web site(网站).Web sites offering cheap goods and services should be regarded with care. On-line shoppers who enter their credit-card information may never receive the goods they bought. The thieves then go shopping with your card number—or sell the information over the Internet.
Computers hackers(黑客) have broken down security(安全) systems, raising questions about the safety of cardholder information. Several months ago,25 000 customers of CD Universe, an on-line music retailer(批发商),were not lucky. Their names,addresses and credit-card numbers were posted on a Web site after the retailer refused to pay US $157 828 to get back the information.
Credit-card firms are now fighting against on-line fraud. MasterCard is working on plans for Web-only credit card, with a lower credit limit. The card could be used only for shopping on-line.
However, there are a few simple steps you can take to keep from being cheated.
Ask about your credit-card firm's on-line rules: Under British law, cardholders are responsible(对……负有责任的) for the first US $78 of any fraudulent spending.
And shop only at secure sites: Send your credit-card information only if the Web site offers-advanced secure system.
If the security is in place, a letter will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. The Web site address may also start with https://—the extra “s” stands for secure. If in doubt, give your credit-card information over the telephone.
Keep your password safe: Most online sites require a user name and password before placing an order. Treat your passwords with care.What do most people worry about the Internet according to this passage?
| A．A lot of stolen credit-cards were sold on the Internet. |
| B．Fraud on the Internet. |
| C．Many Web sites are destroyed. |
| D．Many illegal Web sites are on the Internet. |
What is the meaning of “fraud”?
| A．cheating | B．sale | C．payment | D．safety |
How can the thieves get the information of the credit-card?
A. The customers give them the information.
B. The thieves steal the information from Web sites.
C. The customers sell the information to them.
D. Both A and B. How many pieces of advice does the passage give to you?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money, but most mistakes are about people. “Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?” “When I got that great job, did Jim, as a friend, really feel good about it? Or did he envy my luck?” “And was Paul friendly just because I had a car?” When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad.
But when we look back, it is too late.
Why do we go wrong about our friends, or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meanings. And if we do not really listen, we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, “You're a lucky dog!”(你真幸运!) Is he really on your side? If he says, “You're a lucky guy(人,家伙)!”,that is being friendly. But “a lucky dog”, there is a bit of envy in those words. What he may be saying is that he does not think you deserve your luck.
“Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for” is another phrase that says one thing means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem. But this phrase contains the thought that your problem is not at all important.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone's words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Is what he says shown by the tone of voice? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save your another mistake.When the writer recalls(回想) some of the things that happened between him and his friends, he _______.
| A．feels happy, thinking how nice his friends were to him |
| B．feels he might not have understood his friends' true feelings |
| C．think it a mistake to have broken up with his girl friend |
| D．is sorry that his friends let him down |
When the writer talks about someone saying, “You're a lucky dog!”, he is saying that _______.
| A．the speaker is just friendly |
| B．this sentence suggests the same as “You're a lucky guy!” |
| C．the word “dog” should not be used to apply to people |
| D．sometimes the words show that the speaker is a bit envious |
This passage tries to tell you how to _______.
| A．avoid(避免) mistakes about money and friends |
| B．get an idea of friendly people |
| C．avoid mistakes in understanding what people tell you |
| D．keep people friendly without trusting them |
PALO ALTO, California—“Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter—even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise, ”US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.9 kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
“The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity,” said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.
“American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing video games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years,” Robinson said.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet or took part in any extra exercise.
“One explanation for the weight loss could be that the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories,” Robinson said.
“Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more,” Robinson said.The author tries to tell us in the first two paragraphs that _______.
| A．children will get fatter if they eat too much |
| B．children will get thinner if they eat less |
| C．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV |
| D．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV |
According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV_______.
| A．is more than four hours a day | B．is less than four hours a day |
| C．doubled in the last twenty years | D．is more than on any other activities |
The time children spend on TV viewing every day is suggested to be about _______.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．three hours | D．one hour |
Which one of the followings is right?
| A．Children usually eat fewer while watching TV. |
| B．Children usually eat more while watching TV. |
| C．Children eat the same amount of meals while watching TV. |
| D．Children usually eat nothing while watching TV. |