(2013·福建，C)
This is What a REAL Silver Dollar Looks Like
If you trust in the yen, the euro, and the dollar... stop reading.
Because this is a story about the silver coin EVERYBODY wants.
You read the headlines. You know that troubled economic times have put global currency on a rollercoaster (过山车) ride. But millions have found a smarter way to build longterm value with highgrade collectable silver. And right now, those people are lining up to secure some of the last 2012 U. S. Mint Silver Eagles, America's Newest Silver Eagle Dollars. Today, you can graduate to the front of that line. Buy now and you can own these brilliant uncirculated Silver Dollars for only $38.95!
You Can't Afford to Lose
Why are we releasing (发行) this silver dollar for such a remarkable price? Because we want to introduce you to what hundreds of thousands of smart collectors and satisfied customers have known since 1984—New York Mint is the place to find the world's finest highgrade coins. That's why we're offering you this Brilliant Uncirculated 2012 U. S. Silver Eagle for as little as $37.45 (plus s/h)．
Timing is Everything
Our advice? Keep this to yourself. Because the more people who know about this offer, the worse it is for you. Demand for Silver Eagles in 2011 broke records. Experts predict that 2012 Silver Eagles may break them all over again. Due to rapid changes in the price of silver, prices may be higher or lower and are subject to(受……影响) change without notice. Supplies are limited. Call immediately to add these Silver Eagles to your holdings before it's too late.
Offer Limited to 40 per household 2012 American Silver Eagle Coin
Your cost 1－4 Coins
$38.95 each＋s/h
5－9 Coins
$38.45 each＋s/h
10－19 Coins
$37.95 each＋s/h
20－40 Coins
$37.45 each＋s/h
Note: $10 s/h (shipping and handling) for each purchase
For fastest service, call tollfree 24 hours a day
1－888－201－7143
Offer Code (代码) ASE177－04
Please mention this code when you call.
New York Mint 14101
Southcross Drive W．，Dept. ASE177－04
Burnsville, Minnesota 55337
www. NewYorkMint. com
What is stressed in the ad?
| A．The coin is of high quality and worth collecting. |
| B．The coin can be circulated as a currency. |
| C．Limited supplies guarantee a stable price of the coin. |
| D．Demand for the coin is bound to break records. |
If you buy six 2012 U. S. Mint Silver Eagles by post, you should pay at least ________.
| A．$230.7 | B．$233.7 |
| C．$240.7 | D．$243.7 |
The ad strongly encourages people to purchase the silver coins by ________.
| A．shopping online |
| B．making a phone call |
| C．lining up in front of the stores |
| D．writing to the company |
My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork. My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.
Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant (无关的). What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.
If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.
That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.
If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.
Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.From the passage, we know that the author is probably ______ .
| A．a poet | B．an educator |
| C．a novelist | D．an engineer |
We can infer from the 2nd paragraph that we students still _____ .
| A．have enough time |
| B．can meet the president |
| C．get everything done well |
| D．should accept the explanation |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The author’s students make good use of their time to do all their homework. |
| B．The author tried to tell the professor that he/she (author) had done a good job. |
| C．You can’t improve the quality of the work if you can’t get more time. |
| D．You’ll try to improve your skills in reading and writing if you’re a clever student. |
What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．Students don’t have enough time. |
| B．Don’t work harder; work smarter. |
| C．No one can get more time. |
| D．Read better and write better. |
One evening I went out and left my 17-year-old son and his girlfriend in charge of his 8-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister． I left with complete confidence that the older children would do a wonderful job of babysitting the younger children and the younger children would do a wonderful job of accompanying（陪伴）the older ones. Later, I discovered that I was completely wrong.
I had decided to return home earlier than planned so that my son and his girlfriend could go out. I called home with this happy news．But instead of hearing his cheerful, grateful voice on the other end of the line, all I heard was the sound of a telephone ringing.
It was, I should point out, after 10 p.m., when the two younger children should have been in bed, and when the two older children should have been answering the phone. “I’ll give him a lesson, ” I said．I decided they must be outside．Why they might be outside at 10:30 on a winter night I had no idea, but it was the only explanation I could come up with.
Finally, in desperation（绝望）, I called his girlfriend’s house. His girlfriend answered．“Yes,” she said brightly, “He’s right here.”
He came on the phone．I was not my usual calm, patient．After all, one of the rules of survival for modern parents is that you can’t trust modern teenagers．“Where are the children?” I said．He said they were with him．They had done nothing wrong．My son had taken the younger children over to his girlfriend’s house just for ice cream and cake． Well, it turns out that I shouldn’t have believed it．It was only part of the truth.
The following Saturday evening we were at my parents’ home, celebrating my birthday．My oldest son gave me the children’s gifts-- a series of lovely color photographs of my children, dressed in their best clothes, and wearing their most wonderful expressions. They are pictures to treasure a lifetime, all taken by the father of my son’s girlfriend.The author went out and left her eldest son in charge of the younger children because .
| A．she knew that his girlfriend was a good baby-sitter |
| B．she believed he could take good care of the younger ones with the help of his girlfriend |
| C．the older children have always loved the younger ones |
| D．she could not find a baby-sitter on that winter night |
Shortly after the author left home one evening, she discovered that .
| A．her son had brought his girlfriend home |
| B．her son had left home with his girlfriend |
| C．she shouldn’t have completely trusted her son |
| D．she should have taken the children along with her |
“It was only part of the truth.” implies that the children not only enjoyed ice-cream but also .
| A．had their pictures taken | B．received some gifts |
| C．had a birthday party | D．showed off their best clothes |
Which is the best title of this passage?
| A．An Evening Out | B．Modern Teenagers |
| C．Mother and Children | D．A Precious Birthday Gift |
Scientists added a record of 715 more planets to the list known to the world beyond the solar system, astronomers said on Wednesday, in February 2014. The additions include four planets about 0.5-2 times as big as Earth that are the right distance from their parent stars for liquid surface water, which is believed to be fit for life.
The discoveries were made with the NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope. The telescope, launched in 2009, spent four productive years observing 160,000 target stars for signs of planets passing by, within the telescope’s sight.
The numbers of planets announced at a NASA press conference on Wednesday increased Kepler’s confirmed planets from 246 to 961. Combined with other telescopes’ results, the total number of planets beyond the solar system now is nearly 1,700. “We almost doubled, just today, the number of planets known to humans,” astronomer Douglas Hudgins, head of planet exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, told reporters on a conference call.
Many planets’ discovery is due to a new technique that analyzes potential planets in batches rather than one at a time. The method was developed after scientists realized that most planets, like those in the solar system, have similar worlds orbiting a common parent star.
The newly found planets strengthen the evidence that small planets, two to three times the size of Earth, are common throughout the galaxy(银河系).
“Generally, wherever (Kepler) can see them, it finds them,” said astronomer Sara Seager, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “That's why we have confidence that there will be planets like Earth in outer space.”
Like the solar system, which has eight planets plus Pluto and other so-called “dwarf planets,” the newly found planets belong to families. But unlike the solar system’s planets, which are about 150 times farther from the sun than Earth. Most of the planets fly nearer to their parent stars than Venus（金星） orbits the sun, a distance of about 67 million miles (108 million km.)
NASA and other space agencies are designing new telescopes to discover planets in so-called “habitable zones” around their parent stars where temperatures would be suitable for liquid surface water. Two papers on the new Kepler research will appear in an upcoming issue of ‘The Astrophysical Journal’.The underlined word ‘batches’ in the fourth paragraph probably means _____ here.
| A．continent | B．program |
| C．group | D．association |
Through Kepler, Scientists have found more planets ________ throughout the galaxy.
| A．the same size as Earth |
| B．about 0.5—2 times as big as Earth |
| C．twice the size of Earth |
| D．two to three times the size of Earth |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．All the planets known to the world are believed to be fit for life. |
| B．There may be liquid surface water on some of the newly found planets. |
| C．Kepler space telescope spent four years observing 160,000 target planets. |
| D．The orbits of the newly found planets are just like those of the solar system |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．US space telescope discovers more planets |
| B．Kepler observes many new target stars |
| C．Scientists believe 715 planets fit for life |
| D．NASA finds liquid surface water on the planets |
Microsoft Windows XP support ends: How to update? If you’re still running Windows XP — what do you do now? This doesn’t mean that computers running the operating system will stop working, but it is likely that the computer will be attacked by hackers as the company stops providing security-updates and technical support for Windows XP.
Generally speaking, you have two new choices: Buy a new computer or update to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. If you’re not ready to make a change, there are things you should do if you’ll still be on XP over the next couple of months.
Firstly, make sure the software you have is as up-to-date as possible. That means having any security fixes you can’t get from Microsoft’s website and make sure that you’ve got some (non-Microsoft) antivirus software installed(安装) from other websites. Of course, if you want to keep really safe then you’d better stay off the web altogether, though for many users this won’t even be a choice. Another choice is to change from using an administrator account to a limited account for tasks, like checking your e-mail. This means that if a hacker attacks your computer, at least they won’t have administrator-level access.
However, we have to stress that these steps are just temporary(临时的) measures and aren’t enough to protect your computer in the long run. Whether you’re buying a new computer or simply updating your present operating system depends on yourself. You’ll have to choose between Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Whichever you go for, you’ll need to check that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for either system. For either Windows 7 or 8.1, you’ll need at least a computer with 1GB of RAM, 1GHz processor and 160GB of hard disk space. However, to run a better operating system, you’ll need a computer with over 4GB of RAM, a 2GHZ processor and 500GB of hard disk space. Buying a new computer with these functions, you may pay more than＄500.
If you’re still planning on updating, Microsoft offers some great guides on their own website, meaning that you can download your new operating system and copy all your old files without leaving your computer. Windows 7 is certainly better than Windows XP, but you should be aware that it is also an ‘old’ operating system. Microsoft Company will add more updates to Windows 8.1 over time, while Windows 7 will also come to an end before long — just like XP.
‘Microsoft Windows XP support ends’ means that _________.
| A．the operating system of Windows XP will stop working |
| B．Microsoft stops providing technical support for Windows XP |
| C．people must install other websites’ antivirus software for Windows 7. |
| D．people must buy a new computer and update to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 |
To prevent a hacker from attacking your computer, you’d better NOT_________.
| A．update your computer |
| B．stay off the web altogether |
| C．use an administrator account |
| D．install some antivirus soft wares |
From the fourth paragraph, ___________ is a better choice in the long run.
| A．buying a new computer as Windows XP support ends |
| B．updating your present operating system to protect your computer |
| C．having a new computer with at least 1GB of RAM, 1GHz of hard disk space |
| D．choosing a new computer with over 4GB of RAM and 500GB of hard disk space |
From the passage we can conclude that __________.
| A．hacker attacks will happen more often in the future |
| B．an operating system develops quickly as time goes by |
| C．a new computer will be more expensive than it used to be |
| D．people tend to use security fixes except Microsoft Company’s |
Classified Ads SEEK is the trademark of Classless.com, a site registered in Singapore. You can buy, sell, trade, rent, deal, find and advertise almost anything here. Common categories(种类) include house, parking, camera, computer, mobile phones, bags, shoes, clothing, jewelry, car, private teacher, car rental, hotels, business, pets, food, restaurants, sports, music and others. The site is also available in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Philippines plus a global site which is open to all countries worldwide. Here, you can advertise your things for free. Ads may contain video for better product presentation.
What are you waiting for? Explore the site and advertise for free! The following are some of the Ads in Australia.
The reason for Dr. Johnson’s giving the puppies out is that he _______.
| A．dislikes little puppies |
| B．wants to make more money |
| C．is busy and going abroad |
| D．finds loving homes for the puppies |
If you want to hire the bus for half a year, you will have to pay _______.
| A．2,520US＄ | B．4,200 US＄ |
| C．25,200 CN￥ | D．33,000CN￥ |
In the Ads we can learn that ______.
| A．classified Ads SEEK is a site registered in Malaysia |
| B．you should pay some money for advertising your products. |
| C．you can add video to your ads to present your products better. |
| D．Dr. Johnson was too busy and poor to raise the three little dogs. |