Inthepasttenyears,America’sNat-优题课

Son’s Help
Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup(拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him.
It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen.
“I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, “so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”
Mr. Lang was paid much because _______.

A．he was a driver	B．he worked in a factory
C．he had worked there for a long time	D．he had a lot of work to do

Mrs. Lang did all housework because _______.

A．she thought her husband was tired	B．she couldn’t find any work
C．her husband spent all time in gambling	D．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling

_______, so he was put into lockup.

A．Mr. Lang was late for work	B．Mr. Lang often gambled
C．Mr. Lang didn’t help his wife at home	D．Mr. Lang wasn’t polite to the police

The woman had to leave Mr. Lang because _______.

A．he wouldn’t stop gambling	B．he didn’t love her any longer
C．he had been put into lockup	D．he was hardly sent away by the factory

Which of the following is right?

A．The boy thought his father needed some policemen

B．The boy hoped his father to be put into lockup again.

C．The boy hoped his father to stop gambling soon.

D．The boy hoped his mother to come back.

Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless （鲁莽的） or daring, the ride can be as thrilling （惊心动魄的） as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the armrests even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.
According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?

A．Advertisements on the billboards.	B．Films on television.
C．Buses on the road.	D．Gas stations.

What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To explain how bus trips and television shows differ.

B．To persuade you to take a long bus trip.

C．To give the writer’s opinion about long bus trips

D．To describe the billboards along the road.

The writer of this passage would probably favor .

A．bus drivers who aren’t reckless	B．driving alone
C．no billboards along the road	D．a television set on the bus

The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because .

A．they both have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with commercials in between

B．the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun

C．the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses

D．both traveling and watching TV are not exciting.

The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are .

A．comfortable

B．exciting

C．tiring

D．boring

They may be just passing your office, computer bag slung (悬挂) over one shoulder. Or they may be sitting in a car outside it, causally tapping away at a laptop. They look like innocent passers-by. In fact, they are stealing your corporate secrets.
Drive-by hacking is the trendy term given to the practice of breaking into wireless computer networks from outside the buildings that house them. A recent study in the UK, sponsored by RSA Data Security, found that two-thirds of organizations with wireless networks were risking their data in this way. Security experts patrolled (巡逻) several streets in the City of London seeking evidence of wireless networks in operation.
Of 124 that they identified, 83 were sending data without encrypting（加密）them. Such data could readily be picked up by a passer-by armed only with a portable computer, a wireless modem and a few pieces of software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet.
The data could include sensitive company documents containing valuable information. Or they could be e-mail identities and passwords that could be used by hackers to log into corporate networks as if they were legal users.
Most companies using wireless networking technology do not take even the simplest of measures to protect their data. Nearly all wireless network technology comes with some basic security features that need only to be activated (激活) in order to give a minimum level of security, for example, by encrypting the data being passed over the network.
Raymon Kruck, business development manager at Check Point Software, a security technology specialist, believes this could be partly a psychological problem. People see the solid walls of their building as safeguards and forget that wireless networks can extend up to 200 meters beyond physical walls.
Companies without any security at all on their wireless networks make it ridiculously easy for hackers to break in. Switching on the security that comes with the network technology should be automatic. Then there are other basic steps a company can take, says Mr. Kruck, such as changing the passwords on the network from the default (默认) setting.
Companies can also install firewalls, which form a barrier between the internal network and the public Internet. They should also check their computer records regularly to spot any abnormal activity, which might betray the presence of a hacker.
According to the study sponsored by RSA Data Security, two thirds of the subjects _______.

A．had most of their company data stolen

B．depended on wireless computer networks

C．were exposed to drive-by hacking

D．were unaware of the risk of wireless hacking

Whichof the following is NOT considered in the study?

A．The number of computer hacking incidents.

B．The number of wireless computer networks identified.

C．The way in which data are sent and received.

D．The way in which data are hacked and stolen.

Most wireless network technology has_________.

A．data encryption program	B．password security programs
C．illegal-user detection	D．firewall

Raymond Kruck most probably agrees that wireless network security involves ________.

A．wireless signal administration	B．changes in user’s awareness
C．users’ psychological health	D．stronger physical walls

The passage is most likely to be seen in a __________

A．book review

B．science fiction

C．textbook

D．computer magazine

Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word “cold”. For centuries, the body’s blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people act in merciless ways. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident. For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone, not in self-defense. He seemed to kill for no reason, and with no emotion, as if taking someone’s life meant nothing.
Cold can affect other parts of the body, the feet, for example. Heavy socks can you’re your feet, if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression—to get cold feet—that has nothing to do with cold or your feet.
The expression means being afraid to do something you have decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being the president when you understand the situation.
Cold can also affect your shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant and cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you, or to someone who has lied about you to others.
A cold fish is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.
Out in the cold is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise, and that he was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.
The passage is intended to tell us that ______ .

A．cold weather has a great effect on human bodies

B．many English expressions contain the word “cold”

C．cold is a word closely linked with human emotions

D．the word “cold” has many different meanings in English

The underlined word “brutal” in Paragraph 1 most probably means “______”.

A．impolite

B．illegal

C．cruel

D．extreme

Which of the following expressions can best describe a person who is unwilling to offer anything to others?

A．Cold-blooded.

B．To get cold feet.

C．A cold shoulder.

D．A cold fish.

You can say Tom ______ if the teacher gives all the boys except him a pen as a prize.

A．is given the cold shoulder

B．is left out in the cold

C．has got cold feet

D．is murdered by a cold-blooded killer

We can draw a conclusion from the passage that ______ .

A．all the expressions containing the word “cold” have a negative meaning

B．all the expressions containing the word “cold” have something to do with cold

C．people who show no human emotions or feelings have cold blood

D．many parts of the human body can be badly affected by cold

As the sound of footsteps behind her grew louder, she quickened her pace. She didn’t want to turn around as the memory of that morning’s newspaper headline made her afraid of what she would see: “City Killer Claims Fourth Victim.”
“Why did I stop for a few drinks in the bar after work?” she thought to herself. Now it was dark and the streets deserted. She was alone and a sitting duck.
She felt as if she was walking in the rain. Her clothes were damp from nervous sweat and as each short hot breath hit the night air, it turned to steam, coating her glasses in a thin film so all she saw seemed covered in fog.
The footsteps were closer now. She needed to get off this street. Her eyes began a useless search for an open store or lighted window. Passing a small lane she looked through，for a possible escape route. But the lane was a dead - end and she laughed to herself at the irony.
The sound of a car behind her turning onto the street interrupted her self – pity. Escape was at hand. But as she was about to throw herself onto the road and shout for the car to stop, the car’s headlights cast a shadow that paralyzed （使瘫痪） her with terror.
It was the footsteps’ owner. The figure was huge and in its raised arm it held what looked like a lead-pipe, no doubt the one that was about to claim victim number five.
The shadow dissolved as the car passed by and disappeared into the distance. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was all happening as if in slow – motion. She was waiting for her life to flash before her eyes like all those novels said it would – but it didn’t. The only thing she thought of was her dear husband. She recalled phoning him from work that very afternoon and joking about, of all things, the city killer. It was a night full of ironies.
There was a voice talking to her now but she was lost in thoughts of her fate and didn’t respond. The hand then began turning her around. It was surprisingly gentle given what was about to come. She allowed it to guide her without resistance. （抵抗；反抗）
She looked up. She recognized the face, but she didn’t know from where. Its mouth was still talking to her but she couldn’t understand. Then she remembered. The face belonged to the foreign looking man who had served her at the bar. She looked down to his hand and saw in it not a lead – pipe but a rolled up copy of a work report she had been correcting in the bar as she drank.
His words suddenly started to register in her brain and she could hear him. “Miss, Miss. Are you OK? You left this in the bar and it looked important so I thought I’d better give it to you.”
The woman was feeling nervous because .

A．she had left her report in the bar

B．there was a killer in the city

C．she was being followed by someone

D．the streets were dark and empty

The underlined expression “a sitting duck” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “ ”.

A．an easy target	B．a frightened person
C．a foolish animal	D．a still position

What is the correct order of events that happened to the woman on the day of the story?
a. She went for a drink in a bar. b. She corrected the report.
c. She heard loud footsteps. d. She read the newspaper.
e. She called her husband. f. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

A．d,c,a,e,b,f

B．c,d,a,e,f,b

C．d,a,b,e,c,f

D．d,e,a,b,c,f

Why did the woman laugh when she looked into the lane?

A．She was excited because she thought it may be a way to escape.

B．She felt bitter because she had no chance to escape.

C．She was becoming more and more nervous.

D．She realized that she was behaving foolishly.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A．It was raining when she left the bar.

B．The woman had felt nervous about the city killer for days.

C．The temperature was very low that evening.

D．The woman was behaving unreasonably.