Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological（病态的）relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．advantage | B．attraction | C． adaption | D．attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.
| A．attract people to buy their products | B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life | D．deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ______.
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
| A．Neutral. | B．Sceptical. | C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
Life is difficult.
But life is no longer difficult once we truly understand and accept it. Most do not fully see this truth. Instead they complain about their problems and difficulties as if life should be easy. It seems to them that their difficulties represent a special kind of suffering especially forced upon them or else upon their families, their class, or even their nation.
What makes life difficult is that the process of facing and solving problems is painful. Problems, depending on their nature, cause us sadness or loneliness or regret or anger or fear. These are uncomfortable feelings, often as any kind of physical pain. And since life causes an endless series of problems, life is always difficult and is full of pain as well as joy.
Yet, it is in this whole of solving problems that life has its meaning.
Problems are the serious test that tells success from failure. When we desire to encourage the growth of the human spirit, we encourage the human ability to solve problems just as in school we set problems for our children to solve. It is through the pain of meeting and working our problems that we learn. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Those things that hurt, instruct.” It is for this reason that wise people learn not to fear but to welcome the pain of problems.The writer uses just one short sentence in the first paragraph probably to _________.
| A．make a suggestion | B．persuade readers |
| C．make readers laugh | D．get readers’ attention |
According to the passage, we give school children difficult problems to solve in order to __________ .
| A．encourage them to learn |
| B．make them suffer |
| C．make their life easier |
| D．help them understand life is difficult |
“Those things that hurt, instruct.” from Benjamin Franklin suggests that ________ .
| A．we do not learn from experience |
| B．we do not learn when we are in pain |
| C．pain teaches us important lessons |
| D．pain cannot be forgotten |
From the passage, it can be inferred that __________.
| A．not everybody has the same problems |
| B．we become stronger by facing and solving the problems in life |
| C．life is difficult because our problems bring us pain |
| D．people like to complain about their problems |
Tea, the most important of English drinks, is a relative latecomer to British shores. Although the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium BC in China, it was not until the mid 17th century that tea first appeared in England.
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o’clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked her servant to bring a tray of tea, bread, butter and cake to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.
This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880’s upper class and society women would change into long gowns(长袍), gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o’clock.
Traditional afternoon tea consists of a selection of dainty(讲究的) sandwiches, scones(烤饼)served with cream and jams. Cakes and pastries(面团) are also served. Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from silver teapots into delicate bone china cups.
Nowadays, however, in the average suburban home, afternoon tea is likely to be just a biscuit or small cake and a mug of tea, usually produced using a teabag.The title of the passage is __________.
| A．Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford |
| B．Tea, the most important of English drinks |
| C．Anna, a person introducing afternoon tea to England |
| D．Afternoon tea, a very British tradition |
Afternoon tea was introduced in English in _________.
| A．1880 | B．the mid 17th century |
| C．1840 | D．3 BC |
Traditional afternoon tea is made up of __________.
| A．sandwiches, scones as well as cakes and pastries |
| B．a biscuit or small cake and a mug of tea |
| C．a tray of tea, bread, butter and cake |
| D．a selection of dainty sandwiches |
According to the passage, we can learn that _________.
| A．Tea appeared in England much earlier than in China |
| B．The reason why the Duchess was hungry at 4 p.m. is that dinner time came quite late |
| C．In the suburban home, afternoon tea is also served in a dainty way |
| D．Tea grown in India or Ceylon is poured from china teapots into delicate bone silver cups. |
A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new high-tech integrated systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It’s extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components (元件),” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the go-ahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own,” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it’s connected to,” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, off-board power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a built-in power source, so that it might someday perform data-gathering work at rescue sites, in farmers’ fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around,” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insect-scale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead,” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a day to day basis.”The robotic fly project has been conducted __________.
| A．just by accident |
| B．within a decade |
| C．just by a professor |
| D．for more than ten years |
The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that __________.
| A．they had no model in their mind |
| B．they did not have sufficient time |
| C．they had no ready-made components |
| D．they could not assemble the components |
Which of the following can be learned from the passage?
| A．The robotic flyer is designed to learn about insects. |
| B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments. |
| C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly. |
| D．Wood’s design can replace animals in some experiments. |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Father of Robotic Fly |
| B．Inspiration from Engineering Science |
| C．Robotic Fly Imitates Real Life Insect |
| D．Harvard Breaks Through in Insect Study |
From the health point of view we are living in a wonderful age. A large number of once fatal illnesses can now be cured by modern drugs and surgery. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the incredible killing of people on the roads. Man is opposite to the motor-car! It is a never ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people are killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering-wheel(方向盘) , his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man's worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They are rude, ill-mannered and aggressive. All their hidden frustrations and disappointments seem to be brought to the surface by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles on the motorist and seems to forgive the behaviour. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities and towns are made ugly by huge car parks.
It is high time a world law were created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are not strict and even the strictest are not strict enough. A law which was universally accepted could only have a beneficial effect on the accident rate. Here are a few examples of some things that might be done. The driving test should be made to a fixed standard and far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21 ; all vehicles should be put through strict annual tests for safety. Present drinking and driving laws (where they exist) should be mad much stricter. Driving speed should be limited on all roads. These measures may sound extremely severe. But surely nothing should be considered difficult if it results in reducing the annual toll of human life. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.The main idea of this passage is______.
| A．traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists |
| B．thousands of people in the world are killed each year |
| C．only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents |
| D．the laws of some countries about driving are too strict |
Which of the following is right according to the passage?
| A．It is right to build huge car parks in cities and towns. |
| B．all the drivers must be asked to take a test every year. |
| C．Working by car can save time and money. |
| D．Society overlooks their rude driving. |
Why does the author say" his car becomes the extension of his personality" ?
| A．Driving can show his real self. |
| B．Driving can bring out his good character. |
| C．Driving can make a man excited and joyful. |
| D．Driving can make a man quiet and pleasant. |
The attitude of the author is______.
| A．approving | B．critical |
| C．sympathetic | D．aggressive |
Home stay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals. Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week. You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Home stays are located in London mainly in Zones2,3 and of the transport system. Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential(居住的). Zones3 and 4often offer larger accommodation in a less crowned area. It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
♢ Continental Breakfast
♢ Breakfast and Dinner
♢ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It’s important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast. Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice, cereal（谷物类食品），bread and tea or coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally
part of a Continental Breakfast in England. Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by desert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit. You must first ask your host’s permission. You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
Self-Catering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room-only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room. This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long-stay student. However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary home stay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much.The passage is probably written for ____________.
| A．host willing to receive foreign students |
| B．foreigners hoping to build British culture |
| C．travellers planning to visit families in London |
| D．English learners applying to like in English homes |
Which of the following will the host provide?
| A．Room cleaning. | B．Medical care. |
| C．Free transport. | D．Physical training. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph3?
Zone 4 is more crowded than Zone 2
B. The business centre of London is in Zone.
C. Hosts dislike travelling to the city centre.
D. Zone 2 is more crowded than Zone 4. According to the passage. What does continental Breakfast include?
| A．Dessert and coffee | B．Fruit and vegetables. |
| C．bread and fruit juice | D．Centre and cold meat. |