My house is made of wood, glass and stone. It is also made of software.
If you come to visit, you'll probably be surprised when you come in: Someone will give you an electronic PIN to wear. The PIN tells the house who you are and where you are. The house uses this information to give you what you need. When it's dark outside, the PIN turns on the lights near you, and then turns them off as you walk away from them. Music moves with you, too. If the house knows your favorite music, it plays it for you. The music seems to be everywhere, but in fact other people in the house hear different music or no music. If you get a telephone call, only the nearest telephone rings.
Of course, you are also able to want something. There is a home control console (控制台) which is a small machine that turns things on and off around you.
The PIN and the console are new ideas, but they are in fact like many things we have today. If you want to go to a movie, you need a ticket. If I give you the key to my car, you can use my car. The car works for you because you have the key. My house works for you because you wear the PIN or hold the console.
I believe that in ten years from now, most new houses will have the systems that I've put in my house. The systems will probably be even bigger and better than the ones I've got.
I like to try new ideas. I know that some of my ideas will work better than others'. But I hope that one day I will stop thinking of these systems as new, and ask myself instead, ”How did I live without them?”The writer’s house is made of the following EXCEPT_________.
| A．bamboo | B．wood | C．glass | D．software |
What is the writer most likely to be according to the passage?
| A．An IT expert. | B．A famous doctor. |
| C．A sportsman. | D．An experienced teacher. |
The writer's new house is different from ordinary ones mainly because______________.
| A．it has your favorite music following you |
| B．you can make a telephone call anywhere |
| C．the writer is able to change his new idea into practice |
| D．it is controlled by computers |
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．How to develop a new system. | B．The function of the PIN. |
| C．How great the computers are. | D．Easy life in the future. |
Good news for game lovers― a tank game has come out recently. In this game you are in a tank and the screen shows your view of the landscape outside. You gain points by shooting enemy tanks, super tanks, missiles and flying saucers（飞碟）.
Expert players can gain scores of around 150,000 points at this game. To get a high score you have to destroy twenty tanks as quickly as possible. After this, the super tanks, missiles and flying saucers appear. These are worth far more points than the ordinary tanks. However, the number of tanks you have to destroy before the super tanks appear varies on different machines.
Try to get close to an enemy tank from the side or the back, so it cannot shoot at you. Then, when you get close, turn to face it, line it up in your sights and fire before it turns to shoot at you. If you miss or are too slow, quickly escape by moving out of the enemy’s line of fire. You can then move around the enemy and come in from another side.
When a super tank appears, try to destroy it as quickly as possible. Then wait safely behind an obstacle（障碍物）for a missile or flying saucer. The cubes are useful objects to hide behind as you can fire over them without exposing yourself to danger. The missiles will fly straight at you, but they are difficult to hit, so do not shoot at them until they are quite close. The saucers are much easier to hit, but do not follow them as you will be open to attack from enemy tanks.This passage is an about a game.
| A．experiment | B．invention | C．expression | D．instruction |
If you hide behind the cubes during an attack, which of the following may not happen?
| A．Avoiding being exposed to danger. | B．Being hit by a missile. |
| C．Destroying a missile. | D．Firing over missiles or flying saucers. |
If you can destroy a super tank, missile or flying saucer, you will get.
| A．a machine to play with | B．many more points |
| C．an ordinary tank | D．nothing |
From the last sentence we can see that you are likely to be attacked by tanks if you.
| A．hit a flying saucer | B．shoot at enemy tanks |
| C．fire straight at a missile | D．run after a flying saucer |
“There are no real friends or enemies in the business world”. This saying may have been on the minds of bosses at China’s main online video providers, Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd, when the one-time rivals（对手）agreed to merge (合并) on March 12. The deal will create the country’s largest company in the online video industry, Youku Tudou Inc.
Three months ago, the two companies were involved in a copyright dispute. On December 12, Tudou charged Youku.com with illegally airing the entertainment series, Kangxi is coming. Tudou was the only company which had rights to the series. In response, Youku filed a lawsuit（诉讼） against Tudou, claiming the company was broadcasting more than 50 Youku-owned TV series.
According to analysts, the deal came out of the market battle between the two companies. Each spent so much money buying licensed content that they ended up in the red last year. “Funding pressures are the main reason for the deal,” said Shi Jialong, a Hong Kong-based analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “After the merger, there might be a fall in copyright purchase prices, which is good for the industry in the short term.”
The new company will face competition from Web portals(门户网站) providing similar services. Youku owned 21.8 percent of Chin’s online video market in the last quarter of last year and Tudou 13.7 percent, but Sohu.com followed close on the heels with 13.3 percent, according to domestic research company Analysys International.
Some analysts do not feel the deal will secure the market for Youku Tudou. Shi Yu, CEO of media company KU6, said the merger was unlikely to have a “one plus one more than two” effect. In his opinion, video-hosting sites need to find new ways of generation profit to succeed in the market.The main reason for Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd to merge is that .
| A．the two companies were in great demand of money |
| B．they were charge with illegally airing the entertainment series |
| C．the two companies created the country’s largest company |
| D．they intended to cut down the prices of copyrights |
The underlined words “in the red” in the third paragraph mean “”.
| A．in a big fight | B．in a great trouble | C．at a loss | D．at a distance |
What do the last two paragraphs imply?
| A．Shi Yu doesn’t think it a good idea for the two companies to merge. |
| B．The merger is really a win-win deal for the companies involved. |
| C．The merger may not promise a bright future for Youku Tudou. |
| D．The new company will be more competitive after the merger. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The merge will benefit the online video industry to some degree. |
| B．The two companies spent lots of money building video-hosting sites. |
| C．Youku Tudou Inc currently controls half of the online video market in China. |
| D．The new company has taken charged of all the entertainment series. |
Hello, you guys! Do you want to make e-pals via the Internet and have fun? Here’s some advice for you to follow. First take a look at www. Spoton. Community. Click on international pen-pal sites to find some of our favorite international e-pal and pen-pal web sites. Don’t forget: some e-pal services cost money and some are safer than others. Remember to read a web site safety warning before you join!
KidFu （www. Kidfu. com）says it is the safest place online for kids to chat, play games and make friends. Get your parents to help you register and then you can write things about yourself or read what other kids have written. There’re also chat monitors that make sure that the online chat rooms are safe and friendly. KidFu costs money, but the first month is free.
If you join e-PALS （www. Epals. com), you can choose a pen-pal from over 65,000 kids from 191 countries. You can also find information about how teachers can get pen-pals for their pupils. Or if you want to start sending e-mails right now, go to Europe Pages（www. europa-page. com）. Lots of young people have written their names, interests, home countries and their e-mail addresses. Just click on a name and start writing!
Well, however, there are tips that you should keep in mind: never be absorbed in the line for too long, so stay there not more than 2 hours once. Never go out with your pals without your parents’ permissions. Let your parents know about what you are doing. Then, have fun!If you want to choose a safer web site, you'd better click on .
| A． www. europa-page. Com | B．www. Spoton. de |
| C．www. e-pals. com | D．www. Kidfu. com |
A teacher can visit to help his/her pupils to get pen-pals.
| A．KidFu | B．Europe Pages | C．e-PALS | D．spoton. community |
The advantage of Europe Pages is that .
| A．you can start sending your e-mails immediately |
| B．you can choose more pen-pals from many countries |
| C．it is free and you can find names of different countries |
| D．it is the safest one among all the web sites |
A chat monitor mentioned in Paragraph 2 is probably .
| A．a person in the web site to give safe online advice |
| B．a police officer to keep order in the chat rooms |
| C．an engineer in charge of controlling the chat |
| D．a software to keep online chatting clean and safe |
Disease, poverty, hate, love－Charles Dickens’ stories opened his readers eyes to the most important themes of his age. Two hundred years on, his stories still speak volumes across the world, proving that Dickens’ legacy（遗产） was far greater that just “great-literature”.
February 7 marks the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birthday. To mark this date, BBC writer Alex Hudson listed six things Dickens gave the modern world. Let’s take a look at two of them.
A White Christmas
Dickens is described as “the man who invented Christmas” － not the religious festival, but the cultural aspects that we associate with the festive season today.
In the early 19th century, Christmas was barely worth mentioning, according to critic and writer Leigh Hunt. The committee which ran the Conservative Party even held ordinary business meetings on Christmas Day－unthinkable in the West nowadays, when everyone but the most necessary workers takes at least three days off.
Many people believe that Dickens’ popular descriptions of the festive period became a blueprint for generations to come. In his classic novel, A Christmas Carol, he not only put forward the idea of snow at Christmas, but also painted a picture of glowing warmth－“home enjoyments, affections and hopes”.
In his biography of Dickens, Peter Ackroyd wrote: “Dickens can be said to have almost single-handedly created the modern idea of Christmas.”
“Dickens” poverty
Dickens was one of the first to take an honest look at the underclass and the poor of Victorian London.
He helped popularize the term “red tape” to describe situations where people in power use needless amounts of bureaucracy(官僚作风) in a way that particularly hurts the weaker and poorer members of society.
“Dickensian” has now become a powerful word for describing an unacceptable level of poverty. In 2009, when the president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK wanted to talk about poverty in some areas of Britain, she did not use words like “terrible” or “horrific”, but rather described it as “life mirroring the times of Dickens”.The article is mainly about .
| A．a brief introduction to Charles Dickens’ |
| B．Charles Dickens’ impact on the world |
| C．the characters in Charles Dickens’ stories |
| D．Charles Dickens’ achievements in literature |
Why is Dickens’ called “the man who invented Christmas”?
| A．Because he created both religious and culture festival. |
| B．Because his novels have something to do with Christmas. |
| C．Because one of his novels helped to shape Christmas celebrations. |
| D．Because he was the first man to have proposed celebrating Christmas. |
Wecanlearnfromthepassagethat .
| A．Charles Dickens’ novels reflect the true life at his age |
| B．Dickensian is widely used to describe the Christmas |
| C．Every person can take three days off for Christmas |
| D．The theme of Charles Dickens’ stories is about poverty |
According to the passage the phrase “red tape” refers to .
| A．regulations that are required to finish a task |
| B．a situation where poor members of society are hurt |
| C．conflict between people in power and weaker people |
| D．agreements made by the underclass of society |
Here's one very simple yet potentially lifechanging advice I first heard from Brian Tracy. 1Instead use that hour to read books that could improve your life.
If you're in sales, Google or browse Amazon for what other people think are the best and most useful books on improving your sales.
2. Maybe you want to improve your health, become a more energetic person with a better looking body. Or maybe you want to improve your productivity, your relations or perhaps do some general personal development.
One hour a day is not much. But if you read for one hour a day on weekdays, that's about 260 hours a year. 3If applied everyone knows what great things and feelings could come into your life this year.
Also, all that cool information and useful advice will start to open up your mind. You will start to see more possibilities in your everyday life.
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1. I really don't have the money...
Answer: Visit your local library or search their database if they got a website. Or look for used copies in places like amazon.com or some more local alternative if you're outside of the US.
2. Yeah, ok, but I really don't have the time...
Answer: Buy the books as audio books and listen to them in the car while driving to and from work. Or transfer them to your mp3-player and listen while riding your bike/bus to work or school. Recently selling audio books directly through mp3-downloads have become popular. It's probably something we will see more and more as people and companies discover this easy (and if the technology works) smooth way of shopping.
So start browsing for recommendations on books or ask your friends and colleagues.
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| A． Now, you might think something like this: |
| B． This of course applies to all fields, not just the work related ones. |
| C． All these possibilities in your everyday life will help solve the following problems: |
| D． And shut of the TV a little earlier and start reading this week. |
E. That's a lot of books and loads of useful advice.
F. Cut down on the TV at night by just one hour.
G. In a word, more recommendations on books will help you find good books.