How could we possibly think that keeping animals in cages in unnatural environments－mostly for entertainment purposes－is fair and respectful?
Zoo officials say they are concerned about animals. However, most zoos remain “collections” of interesting “things” rather than protective habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals bored, lonely, and far from their natural homes.
Zoos claim to educate people and save endangered species, but visitors leave zoos without having learned anything meaningful about the animals’ natural behavior, intelligence, or beauty. Zoos keep animals in small spaces or cages, and most signs only mention the species’ name, diet, and natural range(分布区). The animals’ normal behavior is seldom noticed because zoos don’t usually take care of the animals’ natural needs.
The animals are kept together in small spaces, with no privacy and little opportunity for mental and physical exercise. This results in unusually and self-destructive behavior called zoochosis. A worldwide study of zoos found that zoochosis is common among animals kept in small spaces or cages. Another study showed that elephants spend 22 percent of their time making repeated head movements or biting cage bars, and bears spend 30 percent of their time walking back and forth, a sign of unhappiness and pain.
Furthermore, most animals in zoos are not endangered. Captive breeding(圈养繁殖) of endangered big cats. Asian elephants, and other species has not resulted in their being sent back to the wild. Zoos talk a lot about their captive breeding programs because they do not want people to worry about a species dying out. In fact, baby animals also attract a lot of paying customers. Haven’t we seen enough competitions to name baby animals?
Actually, we will save endangered species only if we save their habitats and put an end to the reasons people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups that work to protect animals’ natural habitats.How would the author describe the animals’ life in zoos?
| A．Dangerous. | B．Unhappy. | C．Natural. | D．Easy. |
In the state of zoochosis, animals _________.
| A．remain in cages |
| B．behave strangely |
| C．attack other animals |
| D．enjoy moving around |
What does the author try to argue in the passage?
| A．Zoos are not worth the public support. |
| B．Zoos fail in their attempt to save animals. |
| C．Zoos should treat animals as human beings. |
| D．Zoos use animals as a means of entertainment. |
The author tries to persuade readers to accept his argument mainly by _________.
| A．pointing out the faults in what zoos do |
| B．using evidence he has collected at zoos |
| C．questioning the way animals are protected |
| D．discussing the advantages of natural habitats |
Although he argues against zoos, the author would still agree that __________.
| A．zoos have to keep animals in small cages |
| B．most animals in zoos are endangered species |
| C．some endangered animals are reproduced in zoos |
| D．it’s acceptable to keep animals away from their habitats |
When Gretch en Baxter gets home from work as a New York City book editor, she checks her cellphone at the door. "I think we are attached to these devices (装置)in a way that is not always positive, " says Baxter, who'd rather focus at home on her husband and 12-year-old daughter. "It's there but we get crazy sometimes and we don't know where it should stop. "
Americans are connected at unprecedented (前所未有的)levels—93% now use cellphones or wireless devices; one-third of those are "smartphones" that allow users to surf the Internet and check e-mails, among other things. The benefits are obvious： checking messages on the road, staying in touch with friends and family, efficiently using time once spent waiting around.
The downside： Often, we're effectively disconnecting from those in the same room.
That's why, despite all the technology that makes communicating easier than ever, 2010 was the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another. From texting at dinner to posting on Facebook at work or checking e-mails while on a date, the connectivity revolution is creating a lot of divided attention. Many analysts say it's time to step back and reassess.
"What we're going to see in the future is new opportunities for people to be connected like never before, " says Scott Campbell, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, who studies the social implications (暗示)of using mobile devices. "It can be a good thing. But I also see the traditional social structure is getting somewhat torn apart. "
Sherry Turkic, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self in Cambridge, Mass, wants to remind people that technology can be turned off. "Our human purpose is to really have connections with people," she says. "We have to reclaim (收回)it. It's not going to happen naturally." According to the first paragraph, Gretchen Baxter thinks _____ .
| A．cellphones are not always helpful |
| B．we benefit a lot from the invention of cellphones |
| C．using cellphones too much may be bad for health |
| D．cellphones play an important role in her life |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．People communicate more now than in the past. |
| B．Using mobile devices can focus people's attention quickly. |
| C．93% of Americans often use cellphones to surf the Internet. |
| D．The use of mobile devices has a negative effect on the traditional social structure. |
What is Sherry Turkle’s attitude towards using mobile devices?
| A．Positive. |
| B．Negative. |
| C．Confused. |
| D．Uncertain. |
The main purpose of the passage is to tell readers that _____ .
| A．something must be done for people to get a real connection with others |
| B．cellphones may be replaced by new devices |
| C．cellphones should be turned off on some occasions |
| D．people should have more connections with others |
Function of Mass Media
Mass media are tools of communication. Mass media allow us to record and pass information rap-idly to a large, scattered(分散的）audience. They extend our ability to talk to each other by helping us overcome barriers caused by time and space.
There are various ways in which mass media make daily life easier for us. First, they inform and help us keep a watch on our world. They gather and pass on information we would be unlikely or unable to get on our own.
Second, mass media help us to arrange time and life. What we talk about and what we think about are greatly influenced by the media. When people get together, they tend to talk about certain happenings in the newspapers or on TV. Because we are exposed(暴露）to different points of view through different kinds of media every day, we are able to evaluate(评价）all sides of a certain issue.
Third, the media are used to persuade people. A good example is advertisements through the media. Newspapers, magazines and TV are filled with all kinds of colorful, persuasive advertisements. Though many advertisements may not say openly that they want you to buy a certain product, they describe their products in such a way that you may want to buy them.
Fourth, the media also entertain. All of the media make some effort to entertain their audience. For instance, even though the newspaper is primarily a medium of information, it also contains entertain-ment features(特征）. Television, motion pictures, fiction books and some radio stations and magazines are devoted mainly to entertainment. It is estimated that in the future, the entertainment
function of mass media will become even more important than it is now. This passage mainly tells us __________.
| A．something about the function of mass media |
| B．something about the development of mass media |
| C．how the media entertain us |
| D．the types of mass media |
How many ways in which mass media help make daily life easier are mentioned in this passage?
| A．Two. |
| B．Three. |
| C．Four. |
| D．Five. |
It can be known from the passage that __________.
| A．from mass media, we know what is happening in the world |
| B．sometimes we arrange our time and life according to mass media |
| C．mass media's main purpose is to pass the information of advertisements |
| D．mass media can make people feel easy |
From the passage we know that __________.
| A．mass media are the only tools of communication |
| B．mass media make our life much more difficult |
| C．the media tell people truth at any time |
| D．in the future mass media will make us more relaxed |
Games originally are entertainment. Contem-porary games are very realistic and for this reason they are a source of great experience for the player and develop the imagination. Games are entertain-ment and even more than that. The statistics (统计）of the New York University led by Green claim that the player preferring active games get improvement of some types of brain activity. In particular, game players deal with problems of simulta-neously(同时地） tracking several moving objects at the average level of 30% better than people who do not play active computer video games. The "gaming" violent experience may not be the cause of violent behavior in reality. None of the playing experience will become the priority in making important decisions concerning problems in real life. A game is an abstraction(抽象概念）. A player gets abstract tasks and acts according to abstract rules.
Games are also the possibility to be whatever a person wants to be and to rest from the outside world for some time. But what if a person gets so much excited with the game scenes that he becomes violent in reality? Then, it proves that the games cause people to become violent in reality. But a psychologically healthy person will never confuse these two different worlds. A game is a virtual world with visual images very similar to human's. These images are nothing but playing obstacles(障碍）. A game may potentially give the opportunity to "destroy the obstacles”that may not be destroyed according to the rules but it is more about personal choice whether to do it or not. This leads us to the conclusion that violence is not a consequence but the cause. People who are originally prone to violence may get into a temper by games and perform violence in the “ real world ”. But in this case violence in games is just a simple justification(正当的理由）of the violent nature of the player. The passage is __________.
| A．a story |
| B．a descriptive writing |
| C．an argumentative writing |
| D．a scientific essay |
In the first paragraph the author used the statistics to prove that __________.
| A．games can provide experience for the players |
| B．games can help develop players' imagination |
| C．games can cause violent behavior |
| D．games are more than entertainment |
What is the author's attitude towards the "computer games”？
| A．"Violent games" can lead to the performance of violence in the real world. |
| B．Violence is not a consequence of the “ computer games” but the cause. |
| C．Games are just entertainment and nothing more. |
| D．The virtual world and the real world are just the same. |
The best title for this passage is __________.
| A．Violent games cause violence |
| B．Games-resulting in violence? |
| C．The cause of violence |
| D．The consequence of games |
What is eBay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes—the list goes on and on.
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child. At high school, he became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988，he worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started eBay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the web-site that he had to upgrade (升级)and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill, and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. Even in the great. com crashes of the late 1990s, eBay has gone from strength to strength. It is now one of the the most visited online shopping websites on the Internet.
eBay sells connections, not goods* putting buyers and sellers into contact with each other. All you have to do is make an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business： the world is your market place. Of course for each item (商品)sold eBay gets a percentage and that is a great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold.We learn from the text that eBay provides people with ________ .
| A．a way of buying and selling goods |
| B．a website for them to upgrade |
| C．a place to exhibit their own photos |
| D．a chance to buy things at low prices |
Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?
| A．For fun. |
| B．To make money. |
| C．For gathering the engineers. |
| D．To fulfill a task of his company. |
From "he has never looked back" in Paragraph 2 we learn that Peter ________ .
| A．did not feel lonely |
| B．was always hopeful |
| C．did not think about the past |
| D．became more and more successful |
How does eBay make money from its website?
| A．By bringing callers together. |
| B．By charging for each sale. |
| C．By listing items online. |
| D．By making e-photos. |
A 33-year-old financial analyst in California recently quit his job to devote himself to an unpaid job teaching math on the Internet, and his lessons are reaching almost 100，000 people a month. Sal-man Khan's voice is heard every day on the net—by tens of thousands of students around the world who are hungry for help in learning math. He has posted 1，200 lessons on YouTube—lessons that appear on an electronic blackboard, which range from basic addition to advanced mathematics for science and finance. And they are free.
Khan lives in Silicon Valley, with his wife, a doctor, and their new baby. He got the idea for his “Khan Academy" four years ago, when he taught a young cousin how to convert (转换）kilograms to grams. With Khan's help, the cousin got good at math, and Khan began a new career.
Now, Khan records his lessons himself, but he never goes on camera. “It feels like my voice in their head. You're looking at it and it feels like someone's over your shoulder talking in your ear, as opposed to someone at the blackboard, which is distant from you，” he said.
When Springfield High School in Palo Alto, California invited Khan to speak in person—he immediately connected to the students there.
The idea of short lessons that can be played over and over again attracted high school senior Bridget Meaney. She says she had trouble with math in the seventh grade. “I think the teachers are good, but they can't teach at a speed that's perfect for everyone，” she said. “I like the idea of learning something in class but then going back and pressing pause or rewind (倒回）and actually getting a deeper understanding of it. ”
Originally, Khan kept his lessons short because of YouTube restrictions (限制）. Now, he thinks short is better. “Education researchers now tell me that 10 minutes is how long someone can have a high level of concentration. And anything beyond that and your brain switches off，"he said.
For Khan, teaching math, science, and finance is just the beginning. He says he's ready to expand his YouTube site to include other subjects as well. What gave Khan the idea of teaching math online?
| A．His success in helping his cousin learn math. |
| B．His discovery that many students found learning math difficult. |
| C．A suggestion made to him at a local high school. |
| D．His interest in Internet teaching. |
Why does Khan never go on camera?
| A．He's too shy to show his face on camera. |
| B．It's restricted by YouTube for education videos. |
| C．He wants to keep distant from the viewers. |
| D．He wants to create a more relaxed learning atmosphere. |
Why does Bridget Meaney like Khan's lessons?
| A．Khan teaches seventh grade math better than her teacher. |
| B．The lessons can be watched repeatedly until fully understood. |
| C．She can perfectly follow the pace of Khan's teaching. |
| D．She cannot concentrate when learning in class. |
From the passage, we know that __________.
| A．Khan travels to many schools to promote his lessons |
| B．Khan plans to include more subjects in the future |
| C．Khan gives live math lessons every day for free |
| D．Khan set up the Khan Academy with his wife |