Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PCbased email exchanges.
In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and webbased email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.
Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal webbased email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.
In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email，causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.The earliest web-based email came into being probably _______.
| A．in 1991 | B．in 1996 | C．in 1997 | D．in 2007 |
The author mentions “fax” in the third paragraph in order to tell us that _______.
| A．it is exactly as good as email |
| B．it is much better than email |
| C．it is less convenient than email |
| D．it is easier and faster than email |
The underlined word “compulsion” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.
| A．strong desire | B．common sense | C．special curiosity | D．general idea |
Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．We should check email boxes frequently. |
| B．Lazy people like sending an email. |
| C．Email brings us great convenience. |
| D．Good inventions also cause problems. |
Rain, who was born on June 2, 1982 in Seoul, South Korea, is a popular singer with a very deep and rich voice. Jung Ji Hoon is his real name, known as the “Michael Jackson of Korea” for his amazing dancing skills. Rain is very modest and friendly, even a little shy.
He released his first album Bad Guy in 2002, which caused a sensation. It took him to all the major award ceremonies, and many of them honored him with Best New Award. His following album How to Run from the Sun was successful, and his third album It’s Raining topped the charts for weeks.
Rain is not only a singer but also an actor, who has given impressive performances in two TV series, Sang Doo! Let’s go to school（《尚道，上学去》）in 2003 and Full House（《浪漫满屋》）in 2004. Rain’s leading role in Full House made him win Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards and also deeply touched the hearts of many Asian female fans. At the same time it made him become one of the most popular Korean actors in Asia.
Now Rain is very popular in China. It’s Raining has already sold more than 100,000 copies in China. Rain received the “Korean Artist of the Year” award at the MTV -- CCTV Mandarin Music Honors held on July 24, 2005 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing, China. His recent Beijing concert caused a great hit, creating “Korean Fever” in China.The reason why Jung Ji Hoon is called “Michael Jackson of Korea” is that ______.
| A．he is a popular singer with a rich voice |
| B．his dancing skills are amazing |
| C．he is very modest and friendly |
| D．he shares the same name with Michael Jackson |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Michael Jackson of Korea --Rain |
| B．Jung Ji Hoon’s First Album – Bad Guy |
| C．Rain, a Singer and a Painter |
| D．Korea Fever in China |
Which of the following is True about Rain?
| A．His album “How to Run from the Sun” was so successful that it topped the charts for weeks. |
| B．Rain’s leading role in “Sang Doo! Let’s go to school” made him win Best Actor Award at the KBS Acting Awards. |
| C．Rain won the “Korean Artist of the Year” award because of his music career. |
| D．Rain has suffered a fever since his recent Beijing concert caused a great hit. |
Which of the following is the passage most likely from?
| A．Textbooks for senior school students. |
| B．Entertainment newspapers. |
| C．Textbooks for music students. |
| D．A book written for Michael Jackson. |
A man in a very splendid restaurant started to take off his jacket. Seeing this, the head waiter dashed to his table and said, “ I’m afraid I must ask you to keep your jacket on, sir, for it is not good manners to do it in such a smart restaurant.”
“Now listen,” said the man, “I’ll let you know that the Queen of England gave me permission to remove my jacket here.” “The Queen of England?” said the waiter in great surprise. “Sure,” replied the man, “ When I was in England last month, a friend of mine who had a very important position in high society took me to see the Queen. It was rather hot, so I started taking my coat off. The Queen looked over and said, “You may do that in the United States, but you may not do it here. ” So I got the Queen’s permission, right?When the head waiter asked the man not to take off his jacket, the man ______.
| A．took his advice immediately |
| B．obeyed him without any hesitation |
| C．apologized for his bad manners |
| D．refused to listen to him |
What the Queen really meant was that ______.
| A．people in the U.S. were stupid and less polite |
| B．she permitted him to take off his jacket in America |
| C．the English and the Americans enjoyed different ways of life |
| D．he shouldn’t take off his coat in such a formal occasion in England |
It is certain that the story happened ______.
| A．in England | B．in the Queen’s party |
| C．in America | D．in an ordinary restaurant |
Many smokers aren't finding the cost of cigarettes a laughing matter. The federal tax(联邦税) on a pack jumped Wednesday -- April Fools' Day -- from 39 cents to $1.01. The tax increase is so big, it's being called "historic."Higher federal taxes apply to(适用于) other tobacco products, so even those smokers who have taken to rolling their own to save money can't escape them. The tax is expected to cause about 1 million smokers to quit.
New York leads the pack, so to speak, with a combined $3.76. Any smokers planning to visit New York City should bring cigarettes from home. A pack there now costs more than $9.
Some tobacco companies raised their prices several weeks ago. For example, the price of a pack of Marlboros jumped 71 cents. Where the price settles depends on the company. Some may absorb part of the tax and others will make smokers carry the entire weight and more.
However, some people think the tax unfair. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only one in five Americans smokes, and over half of all smokers are low income, and one of four is officially classified as poor.
What do you think? Is the tax unfair? We think cancer sticks should have been taxed into disappearance years ago, combined with a very strong public and private effort to help smokers quit.Which of the following statements is wrong according to the passage?
| A．Cigarettes as well as other tobacco products are affected by the tax increase. |
| B．More and more smokers have to stop smoking as a result of tax increase on tobacco. |
| C．Cigarettes in New York must be very expensive. |
| D．smokers will carry all the tax increase on tobacco. |
The author’s attitude toward the tax increase is ________.
| A．showing agreement with the tax |
| B．showing disagreement with the tax |
| C．could not be seen |
| D．keeping his own ideas |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．The Federal Tax |
| B．New Cigarette Tax Is No April Fools’ joke |
| C．Stop Smoking Immediately! |
| D．Unfair Tax on Tobacco |
It’s said that one can know the nature of both man and woman by their behaviors at table. Indeed table manners are closely related to one’s life and one’s job. As the saying goes“ When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, English learners should know what the proper table manners are in western countries if invited to a dinner party. The followings are some suggestions that may be helpful to you.
The first important thing you need to know is when to begin eating. Before dinner, the hostess usually serves guests first and herself last. So do not eat as soon as you are served but wait until the hostess has also been served and has picked up her fork as the signal to begin. But at a large dinner party where there are many guests, the hostess may ask everyone to begin eating as soon as they are served. If you want to talk while eating, your mouth should certainly not be full of food because it is considered very bad manners. But it is possible to speak with a little food in the mouth. When you have to answer a question, naturally you must wait until the food in your mouth is eaten.
When a dish is passed to you with a fork in the plate, you should use it to take your food. Do not take too much at a time and make sure that the other guests can have enough food.
Anyway, good table manners are very important and they are not so simple as we thought. But it is necessary for one to know what good table manners are because they can help one succeed in his life!Table manners are closely related to one’s _______ in paragraph 1.
| A．life and name | B．job and age |
| C．job and name | D．life and job |
what is the first important thing to know at a dinner party?
| A．what to eat | B．whether to talk |
| C．when to begin eating | D．How to use forks. |
If you have to answer a question while eating, you should ________.
| A．refuse to answer it |
| B．answer it immediately |
| C．tell him/her to ask it later |
| D．wait until the food in your mouth is eaten |
In which section(栏目) of a newspaper can you find such a passage?
| A．Sports | B． Culture | C．Music | D．News |
A teacher let her class play a game. The teacher told each child to bring a bag with some potatoes. Each potato would be given a name of a person that the child hated, so the number of potatoes in his/her bag would depend on the number of people the child hated. Some children had two potatoes, some had three and others had up to five potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry the bag wherever they went for a week. After a week, the teacher asked, ”How did you feel?” The children started complaining about the unpleasant smell coming from the rotten potatoes when they had to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes everywhere they went.
Then the teacher said,” This is the same when you carry your hate for somebody inside your heart. The smell of hate will pollute your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot bear the smell of rotten potatoes for just one week, can you imagine what it is like to have the smell of hate in your heart for your lifetime?”In the game, the students should _________.
| A．keep the bag of potatoes in the classroom |
| B．carry the bag of potatoes everywhere they go |
| C．leave the bag of potatoes at home |
| D．count the bag of potatoes every day |
The underlined word “rotten” most probably means ___________ in Chinese.
| A．美味的 | B．新鲜的 | C．甜的 | D．腐烂的 |
According to the last paragraph, we can learn that ________.
| A．potatoes are very important to the students |
| B．hating others can make the life unhappy |
| C．the smell of hate is good for our health |
| D．the students like to carry the bag of the potatoes |
Which is the best title of this passage?
| A．An interesting game |
| B．Carry the smelly potatoes |
| C．The rotten potatoes |
| D．To excuse others is to excuse yourself |