Women turn to online shopping
Women have jumped ahead of men for the first time in using the Internet to do their holiday shopping，according to a study published last week in the US.
For years men have been more likely to shop on the Internet than women，but during the 2004 holiday season 58 percent of those making online purchases were women.
“It shows how mainstream the Internet is becoming”，said Lee Rainie，a director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project group，which carried out the study.
Rainie said it was only a matter of time before women shoppers caught up with men. This is because women traditionally make decisions about spending.
Users were more likely to shop online to save time. Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 were responsible for some of the most dramatic（显著的）increases in the online gift-buying population this time around.
However，three-quarters of the US Internet users did not buy holiday gifts online in 2004．They worried about credit card security，or just compared online prices with off-line prices，then dashed off to the shops to get the best deals.
“But even if shoppers don’t buy online，websites are becoming promotion tools for stores，”said Dan Hess，vice president of Comscore Networks Inc．Hess said that actually most stores’ websites can make shoppers fully believe the security of their credit card numbers. And most are able to ensure that gifts arrive on time.
“It’s all about making the shopping experience more efficient，more reliable and more comfortable，” Hess said.Which of the following statements is true?
| A．There were fewer women online shoppers than men in 2004． |
| B．Most of the Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 are women. |
| C．People in the US were more likely to buy gifts online. |
| D．More women shopped online than men in 2004. |
From the passage we can infer that________.
| A．men usually decide how to spend money in the family |
| B．women usually decide what to buy in the family |
| C．the Internet is used in all the shops. |
| D．more and more shops will sell their goods online. |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．American people only buy gifts in holidays. |
| B．Shopping online is fun for women. |
| C．Shopping off-line provides better service. |
| D．Young people like to do gift-shopping online. |
Plants have family values, too; it seems, with new research suggesting they can recognize close relatives in order to work together.
An ability to tell family from strangers is well known in animals, allowing them to cooperate and share resources, but plants may possess similar social skills, scientists believe.
Susan Dudley and Amanda File of McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, report they have demonstrated for the first time that plants can recognize their kin.
This suggests that plants, though lacking recognition and memory, are capable of complex social interactions.
“Plants have this kind of hidden but complicated social life，” Dudley said.
The study found plants from the same species of beach-dwelling wildflower grew aggressively alongside unrelated neighbors but were less competitive when they shared soil with their families.
Sea rocket, a North American species, showed stronger and healthier root growth when planted in pots with strangers than when raised with relatives from the same maternal(母系的) family, the study found.
This is an example of kin selection, a behavior common in animals in which closely related individuals take a group approach to succeeding in their environment, the researchers said.
Kin selection also applies to competition, because if family members compete less with each other, the group will do better overall. “Everywhere you look, plants are growing right up next to other plants，” Dudley said，“ Usually it’s a case of each plant for itself. But sometimes those plants are related, and there are benefits to not wasting resources on being competitive, and there is not really a cost to not being competitive as long as your neighbor is also not being competitive.”
Learning and memory appear to be important for kin recognition in animals, but this isn’t an option for plants, she noted.
Some researchers speculate(猜测) that plants communicate through their roots, identifying themselves using tiny chemical signatures specific to each plant’s family.What’s the main idea of the message?
| A．Studies find plants can recognize, communicate with relatives. |
| B．Kin selection is important for plants. |
| C．Animals can recognize and memorize their relatives. |
| D．Competition asks plants to recognize their relatives. |
Which of the following is NOT right about animals’ social skill?
| A．Animals can recognize and memorize their relatives. |
| B．Animals’ social skill is to cooperate and share resources. |
| C．Animals’ social skill can recognize close relatives in order to work together. |
| D．Animals’ social skill is no use at all. |
Plants’ kin selection is to ________.
| A．grow well | B．compete with other kinds of plants |
| C．strengthen the relationship among siblings | D．find which one is the best |
From the passage，we learn that ________.
| A．sea rocket is a South American species |
| B．sea rocket grows aggressively alongside unrelated neighbors |
| C．sea rocket grows aggressively alongside its siblings |
| D．sea rocket is a kind of bush without flowers |
How can the plants communicate with each other according to experts’ suppose?
| A．Plants communicate by using tiny chemical signatures specific to each plant’s family. |
| B．Plants communicate with each other through their roots. |
| C．Plants communicate with each other by their leaves. |
| D．Plants communicate with each other with their flowers. |
A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become a compulsive behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessive behavior has affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computers and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don't concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at schools. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from the society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real life friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect the whole world.The passage is about________.
| A．the cause of weboholism | B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism | D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined word "obsessive" in the second paragraph most probably means
| A．attractive | B．addictive | C．professional | D．potential |
We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers |
| B．teenagers can hardly balance real and virtual life |
| C．people are addicted to games on the internet |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will have a negative influence on our future. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
The author's attitude towards weboholism is that of being ______.
| A．objective | B．positive | C．opposed | D．acceptable |
The Americans have been voted the world’s “funniest nationality” ---the one “best at making people laugh” ---in a global poll (民意调查), which also names the Germans the “least funny” nationality and the British “not as funny as they think”.
30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name both the “funniest” and “least funny” nationality in a poll conducted by Badoo.com, the world’s largest social network for meeting new people, with 119 million users worldwide.
The Americans were voted the funniest nationality, ahead of the Spanish --- the funniest Europeans --- in second, Italians in third and British in seventh.
The voting for the “least funny” nationality confirmed the view of America’s Mark Twain that “a German joke is no laughing matter”. The Germans won, ahead of the Russians and Turks. The stereotype of German humourlessness is believed to derive from their reputation for efficiency, punctuality and rationality(理性). Examples of German jokes include: “Yesterday, I met my friend Horst at the hospital. He’d swallowed a sponge. He says it doesn’t hurt but he’s always thirsty.”
“When we meet someone new, one of the first things we notice is whether they make us laugh”, says Lloyd Price, Badoo’s Marketing Director. “America is a worthy poll winner”, says Price. “It’s the world’s only comedy superpower.”
The British pride themselves on their humour but learn from the poll that they’re not as funny as they think. They placed just seventh of 15 --- behind the Brazilians, French and Mexicans.According to the poll, which is the right order from the funniest nationality to the least funny one?
| A．Spanish, Americans, French, Mexicans, British |
| B．Americans, Spanish, Italians, Brazilians, French |
| C．British, Mexicans, Brazilians, Spanish, Americans |
| D．Italians, French, British, Mexicans, Brazilians |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The poll was conducted among 119 million people by Badoo. com. |
| B．Spanish are the funniest nationality in Europe. |
| C．That Germans are named the “least funny” nationality is because of Mark Twain. |
| D．Some people think that British are funny while others think the opposite in the poll. |
Which can be the substitute of the word “derive” in the fourth paragraph?
| A．acquire | B．suffer | C．translate | D．accomplish |
What is the author’s purpose of telling us a German joke?
| A．The author wants to show that Germans are good at telling jokes. |
| B．The author wants to confirm what Mark Twain said. |
| C．The author wants to prove that Germans are not funny at all. |
| D．The author just wants to say that swallowing a sponge is no harm. |
It seems that the best title for this passage is ______.
| A．The Funniest Nationality |
| B．A Global Poll Conducted by Badoo.Com |
| C．Americans Won the Funniest Nationality |
| D．Americans Voted “Funniest Nation”, Germans “Least Funny” |
The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean, so that the audiences could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other for ever. He sent his camera crew out one evening to film the sunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, “Have you provided me with that sunset?”
“No, sir,” the men answered.
The director was angry, “Why not?” he asked.
“Well, sir,” one of the men answered, “we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets in the west. We can get you a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.”
“But I want a sunset!” the director shouted. “Go to the airport, take the next flight to the west coast, and get one”
But then a young secretary had an idea. “Why don’t you photograph a sunrise?” she suggested, “and then play it backwards? Then it’ll look like a sunset.”
“That’s a good idea!” the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said, “Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay. Then at nine o’clock they took it to the director. “Here it is, sir.” They said, and gave it to him. He was very pleased.
They all went into the studio. “All right,” the director explained, “now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ‘sunset’ behind them.”
The “sunset” began, but after a quarter of minute, the director suddenly put his face in the hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.One evening, the director sent his camera crew out ______________.
| A．to watch a beautiful sunset | B．to find an actor and an actress |
| C．to film a scene on the sea | D．to meet the audience |
Why did the director want to send his crew to the west coast?
| A．Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset. |
| B．Because he was angry with his crew. |
| C．Because it was his secretary’s suggestion. |
| D．Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset. |
The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because___________.
| A．it went well with the separation of the hero and heroine |
| B．when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening |
| C．it was more moving than a sunrise |
| D．the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset |
After the “sunset” began, the director suddenly put his face in his hands __________.
| A．because he was moved to tears |
| B．as he saw everything in the film moving backwards |
| C．as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined |
| D．because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and heroine |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．The crew had to follow the secretary’s advice. |
| B．If you want to see a sunrise, the east coast is the place to go to. |
| C．The camera crew wasn’t able to film the scene the first day. |
| D．The director ordered his crew to stop filming the sunrise. |
Since the beginning of history, man has been attracted by the idea of living forever, of winning the fight against death and disease. So far, this has only remained a dream. Many people have wondered whether it would be possible to find a way to preserve human bodies, and what would be the best way.
It has long been known that meat of fruit can be kept fresh for long periods by freezing; in ancient China, for example, food was stored with ice to keep it fresh. This method could also be useful for preserving humans.
However, most living beings that exist under warm conditions die when frozen. This is because of the harmful effects of freezing ice crystals(晶体), which not only are larger than the volume(体积) of the water originally in the cells, but also form sharp cutting shapes that harm the cells.
In the 1940s Dr B.J. Luyet and a group of scientists in England were working on the problem of freezing cells without damaging them. Since the harm caused by ice crystals was the main cause of damage, Luyet suggested removing some or all of the water from the cells before freezing them.
Using living cells form chicken, Luyet and his assistants discovered that they could partly dry the chicken cells, using a mixture of the white part of an egg and glycerin (丙三醇). Some success was obtained. The chicken cells were dried, frozen for a period of time, and then carefully unfrozen. Almost all the cells recovered when they reached normal temperatures.
Since then, the cooling of whole animals to a temperature far below freezing point for later unfreezing has become more of a possibility, and the glycerin method would probably be used to accomplish this. When this can be done completely and successfully, science will have moved much closer to its aim of freezing and storing incurable patients until the day they can be cured. What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Easy but practical ways to remove water from living cells. |
| B．The possibility of preserving human bodies by freezing. |
| C．The practice of preserving food by freezing. |
| D．The harmful effects of freezing. |
The idea of freezing human bodies to preserve them ______________.
| A．has already been realized |
| B．was invented in ancient China |
| C．has its roots in the way of storing food |
| D．is widely accepted by the scientific world |
According to the text, freezing _________________.
| A．is harmful to living cells |
| B．is the best way of preserving food |
| C．reduces the volume of water in living cells |
| D．is a way of removing water from living cells |
What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A．It is impossible to have whole animals frozen. |
| B．It remains unknown how to unfreeze frozen animals. |
| C．Freezing incurable patients for later treatment is still an idea. |
| D．The glycerin method has already been adopted to treat patients. |