In today’s world of cell phones, mini laptops and MP5 players, most people have at least one time-telling tool with them. Since these devices are so common, is time running out for the 500-year-old watch? According to some consumers, yes. New Jersey teenager Charlie Wollman says a watch is “an extra piece of equipment with no necessary function”. Many young adults agree and use their cell phones to tell time. It is said that fewer young people wear watches today than five years ago. As a result, some people claim that the watch industry is at a crossroads.
However, watchmakers optimistically say that watches redeem popularity when consumers reach their 20s and 30s. By then, they are willing to spend money on a quality watch that doesn’t just keep good time. Fifty years ago, watchmakers boasted about their products’ accuracy. But in recent years, the watch industry has transformed itself into an accessory（饰品）business. And for many today, the image a watch communicates has become more important than the time it tells.
“Complications” --- features that go beyond simple timekeeping--- are an important part of a watch’s image. Today’s watches offer lots of features that meet almost any personality. These features include compasses, lunar calendars, USB drives, and even devices that measure the effectiveness of golf swings（挥棒方式）!
Creativity is also a key element in today’s watches. For example, Japanese watchmaker Tokyoflash makes watches that don’t even look like watches. The company’s popular Shinshoku model uses different color lights to tell the time. It looks more like a fashionable bracelet (手镯) than a watch.
Whether a watch communicates fashion sense, creative flair or a love of sports, consumers want their timepieces to stand out. Nowadays, everyone has the same kind of gadget(小玩意儿) in their bags, so people want to make a statement with what’s on their wrists. Will this interest in wrist fashion last? Only time will tell! The underlined word “redeem” in Paragraph 2 can be best replaced by “__________”.
| A．enlarge | B．regain | C．prove | D．lose |
According to the passage, a multi-function watch can _________.
| A．store the list of phone numbers | B．remind you of your daily affairs |
| C．be used as a calculator | D．show the direction |
In Paragraph 4, Japanese watchmaker Tokyoflash is mentioned to _________.
| A．prove today’s watches are fashionable |
| B．compare a watch with a cool bracelet |
| C．show how popular Shinshoku watches are. |
| D．stress it’s Tokyoflash that makes Shinshoku watches |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Japanese watches stand out |
| B．Watches tell more than time |
| C．Watch industry is in a bad situation |
| D．Watches are becoming less popular |
One of the big challenges that students face in applying to universities abroad is writing the application essay．
The essay topics all have something in common. They attempt to get at what type of person you are, what motivates you，and what you feel passion for. In a single 500-word piece of writing，
admissions officers(招生负责人)attempt to gather all about you. So your task is of your personality on the essay and make yourself special.
You can try and guess what the admissions officers like. But that won’t work．The essay will sound empty and become another dull piece of writing，which admissions officers get thousands of each year．
It is true that admissions officers aren’t exactly looking for anything. The answer is just as open-ended as the question itself. If they ask for someone who has inspired you, it could be anyone. It could be a grandmother, a teacher, or even a character from a movie. A lot of people will say their dad. But since you really feel it, you’ll have a lot to write about.
There are some important things to remember．These admissions officers want good writers. You don't have to be Ernest Hemingway, but you have to be able to form an interesting story．That means revision(校对)and editing，cutting out stupid grammar mistakes，reading it over several times，leaving it for a few days and looking at it again. Whatever you do, make sure the essay is as good as possible.
Also，you should use exciting language and really make the reader feel the same passion as you do. It also means finding something unique about your point of view, something that other people might not think of．For example，if you want to write about your dad, you can focus on a specific anecdote(趣闻)about him .Admissions officers love personal stories that ring true．The purpose of the passage is to give advice on how to_________.
A. choose an essay topicB. read the officers’ minds
C. be a good writer D write an effective applicationThe underlined part of paragraph 2 suggests that you__________.
| A．stick enough stamps before posting your application essay |
| B．write something unique in an essay to impress the readers |
| C．take the task of showing off yourself seriously |
| D．pay attention to your personal essay |
When admissions officers ask who has inspired you，they mean to________.
| A．know about your family members | B．understand you better |
| C．find out what your father does | D．discover your personal affairs |
According to the writer, it is wise to produce an essay with__________.
| A．500 beautiful words | B．many funny things | C．truthful specific stories | D．indirect answers |
When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.According to the passage, winners .
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others | B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues | D．blame themselves rather that others |
The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to .
| A．avoid | B．accept | C． improve |
D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should .
| A．blame him for his lack of responsibility | B．find a better way to handle the problem |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem | D．ask a more able colleague for help |
When problems occur, winners take them as
| A．excuses for their failures | B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues | D．chances for self-development |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Winner’s Problem. | B．A Winner’s Secret. |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity. | D．A Winner’s Achievement. |
Do you know of anyone who uses the truth to deceive (欺骗)? When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can give you a false picture.
For example, some might say, “I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery (彩票). It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”
This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought $200 worth of tickets, an
d only one was a winner. He’s really a big loser!
He didn’t say anything that was false, but he left out important information on purpose. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Some politicians often use this trick. Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents(对手) says, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!” That’s true. However, and honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net gain of two million jobs.”
Advertisers(广告商) will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false statements so they try to mislead you with the truth. An advertisement might say, “Nine out of ten doctors advised their patients to take Yucky Pills to cure toothache.” It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Company.
This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of life: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well.How much did the lottery winner lose?
| A．One hundred dollars. | B．Two hundred dollars. |
| C．Three hundred dollars. | D．Four hundred dollars. |
We may infer (推断) that the author believes people should _______.
| A．buy lottery tickets | B．make use of half-truths |
| C．not trust anything without careful thoughts | D．not trust the Yucky Company |
What do the underline words “net gain” in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．big advantage. | B．large share. | C．total loss. | D．final increase. |
What can we know from the example of the Yucky Pill advertisement?
| A．False statements are easy to see through. | B．Half-truths are often used to mislead people. |
| C．Doctors like to act in advertisements. | D．Advertisements are based on facts. |
Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.The new products become more and more time-saving because.
| A．our love of speed seems never-ending | B．time is limited. |
| C．the prices are increasingly high. | D．the manufactures boast a lot. |
What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．Imaginary life | B．Simple life in the past. |
| C．Times of inventions | D．Time for constant activity. |
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．The present and past times. | B．Machinery and human beings. |
| C．Modern technology and its influence. | D．Imaginations and inventions. |
When you arrive at the Shanghai Expo site, the first thing you will see is a huge red building in the ancient Chinese dougong(斗拱) architectural(建筑的) style. Built according to the concept of “Oriental Crown”, the China Pavilion(展厅) is the largest national pavilion at the Expo.
Themed “Search of the East”, the pavilion is divided into three sections. Footprint of the East on the top floor shows the change of Chinese cities; a Journey of Wisdom on the second floor, China’s four great inventions—the compass, paper, printing and gunpowder are displayed; and Blossoming(盛开的) City on the ground floor shows the scenery of future cities.
Take a lift, and you’ll be taken to the 8,500-square-meter top floor. There, in a film by Lu Chuan, you’ll see how Chinese cities have changed, especially over the past 30 years. The 10-minute movie is shown in a 600-seat theater.
The painting Along the River During Qingming Festival, is considered a national treasure. It describes life in Bianjing, which is today’s Kaifeng in Henan province. More than 1,000 years ago, it was the largest city in the world. Multimedia technology makes more than 1,500 characters of the painting walk and move along a 100-meter-long wall.
Four families are chosen from Zhejiang province to show their daily lives. Films of the families and furniture from the households are exhibited. At the pavilion, you’ll get insight into the daily lives of these families at different periods. The designers believe these will mirror the great changes Zhejiang has seen 
since China’s reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?
| A．Visitors can see the China Pavilion built in a modern style. |
| B．The theme of the China Pavilion is “Oriental Crown”. |
| C．Visitors can get to the top floor of the China Pavilion by lift. |
| D．The China Pavilion is designed by famous film director Lu Chuan. |
If a visitor wants to enjoy the scenery of future cities, he will go to ______.
| A．the top floor | B．the second floor | C．the ground floor | D．a 600-seat theater |
The painting Along the River During Qingming Festival in the China Pavilion is attractive and special because ______.
| A．it shows what life was like in Beijing, the capital of China. |
| B．it shows the development of Chinese cities. |
| C．it describes what happened in history. |
| D．Visitors can see more than 1,500 characters of the painting walking along a 100-meter-long wall with the help of multimedia technology. |
What’s the main idea of the article?
| A．A brief introduction to the China Pavilion. | B．The theme of the China Pavilion. |
| C．The films of the China Pavilion. | D．The structure of the China Pavilion. |