Interactive Home-security Systems
Tarik Celebi, who lives in San Francisco suburb, takes his home-security system with him to work, to dinner, just about anywhere．By his cell phone, he "arms" his home-security alarm from his car before he leaves for work．During his workday, he gets e-mail alerts every time his front door opens, even though he's miles away．If the door opens at an unusual time -say midday when no one should be coming or going - he can order a 30-second video clip（片段） from the camera that watches the door．If it's just his mother-in-law getting a package delivery, no worries．
Celebi is one of the first users of the latest interactive home-security systems．In addition to sounding alarms when the house is broken into and notifying homeowners or police, as traditional systems do, the interactive systems give users new ways to remotely control their systems and their home environment．Different from traditional home-security alarms, which homeowners typically have to press buttons on a keypad to turn on before they leave their homes, the interactive systems enable consumers to arm and disarm systems from smart phones, iPads and PCs, no matter where they are．
Most traditional systems are set up to sound an alarm if doors or windows are opened． The interactive systems give homeowners more options．For example, users can elect when they want to be notified．They might want an e-mail or a text every time a door is opened, or only during the hours of 3 to 4 p．m．, when kids come home from school．Like Celebi, they can add cameras and get video clips when doors open．That could be helpful in making sure kids aren't bringing friends home when they're not supposed to．
Nationwide, about 20% of homes have．traditional home-security systems．About half stop using them because they tire of the trouble．Being able to arm systems even while dashing to the subway or while at work will increase their usage of the new interactive systems．Although the new functions add costs to home security, the interactive-systems are believed to push home-security systems' usage rates closer to 30%, which would be a big movement for an industry that's been largely stuck at 20% for the past decade．"We all know it's going to get bigger, though we don't know how long it's going to take," Eric Taylor, an officer from San Francisco Security Department says．What may Celebi first do if his front door opens at a wrong time when he is away?
| A．Inform the police． | B．Call his mother-in-law． |
| C．Arm the security alarm． | D．Observe through video． |
The interactive systems enable the user to ______．
| A．improve his home environment remotely |
| B．lock his house's door while he is miles away |
| C．operate the home-security systems at any place |
| D．sound the alarm and inform the police at the same time |
What's the advantage of the interactive systems over the traditional ones?
| A．They are cheaper． |
| B．They are easier to set up． |
| C．They can give quicker reaction． |
| D．They have more ways to inform the users． |
What is the last paragraph mainly about?
| A．The importance of security industry． |
| B．The functions of the interactive alarms． |
| C．The popularity of home-security systems． |
| D．The market potential of the interactive systems． |
With the development of society and economy, animals and their habitats are getting pushed aside as households decrease in size and increase in number.
Small numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of this problem may be insufficient natural resourc
es to meet consumer demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.
Personal freedom and social choice ma
y come at huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.
The effects of such “personal freedom and social choice” have already surfaced in south-west China’s Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong, they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood consumed for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has contributed to disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas.
Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing similar phenomena, they got the support of a team of researchers including Stanford’s Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the difficult choice of Wolong is part of a global trend.
In the 76 countries considered biodiversity “hotspots”, such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Kenya, the number of households grew by 3.1% every year, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decline in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hotspot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.
In the 10 non-hotspot countries — those without high-density areas of animal and plant species — similar results were found, though on a lesser scale. Even in countries experiencing population decline, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size.What does the underlined word “insufficient” mean?
| A．Plenty of. | B．Not enough. | C．Abundant. | D．Little. |
It can be learned from the passage that China’s Wolong Nature Reserve__________.
| A．is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world |
| B．sets a good example in protecting animals |
| C．is a place where giant pandas and their habitats are not affected |
| D．is a place where animals and their habitats are seriously damaged |
Which of the following is best supported by the last two paragraphs?
| A．Biodiversity is better kept in countries with smaller populations. |
B．Biodiversity is bet ter kept in hotspot countries. |
C． The threat to nature from reduction in household size is a worldwide problem. |
| D．Both hotspot countries and non-hotspot countries face the threat of the same scale. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Reduced household size leads to an increase in household number. |
| B．Modern homes consume more natural resources. |
| C．How to meet consumer demand without endangering animals and their habitats. |
| D．Reduction in household size as well as increase in household number threatens nature. |
Recently, online high schools in America have sparked (激发) a debate about whether or not taxpayers’ money should be used to support online education. Online schools receive the same amount of funding as all other public schools, even though they don’t have to pay for rent or school equipment. States should use their educational funds to improve education at real schools, not to support online programs.
Some students only use online classes to supplement their school work. They benefit from the social experience of a traditional high school, while still taking online courses.
However, about 90 thousand students in America receive their education only from online schools. 50 thousand of these students take courses at Florida Virtual School, the largest online school in the country. While this method of schooling helps students who live in remote regions, most school systems are upset that they are losing more students each year to these online programs.
Although online learning allows children to work at their own pace, these online schools have only one teacher per several hundred students. Often, teachers can’t give struggling students the help they need as they are unable to talk face-to-face with them, to find exactly what they’re having difficulty with.
Additionally, even though online schooling accommodates (顾及) students who live in more remote states, students in online programs may suffer in social situations because they will not learn valuable communication skills from their schooling. Similar to students who are home schooled, those who take only online classes won’t learn social etiquette (礼节), and will be treated differently by their peers.
Online schooling might be useful for places where there are not enough students for a real school, such as agricultural regions, but states should only spend taxpayers’ money on online schools in extreme cases.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Whether students should study at online schools. |
| B．Whether online schools should be allowed to exist. |
| C．Whether taxpayers should pay for online schools. |
| D．Whether traditional schools should be replaced. |
According to the passage, online schooling _____.
| A．is helpful to students living in remote regions |
| B．allows students to work together |
| C．makes it possible for students to get immediate help |
| D．develops students’ critical thinking |
According to Paragraph 5, the author worries that students at online schools _____.
| A．might lose interest in learning |
| B．would play online games |
| C．could not receive teachers’ help |
| D．could not become fully developed |
What is the author’s attitude?
| A．Taxpayers should not pay for online schools at all. |
| B．Taxpayers should pay more for online schools than real schools. |
| C．Taxpayers’ money should be spent on online schools conditionally. |
| D．Taxpayers should support online schools in different ways. |
Ibrahim became disabled after contracting polio (小儿麻痹症) when he was three years old. At first his parents, like many other parents of disabled children in Niger, did not want to send him to school. They were worried he would be laughed at by his classmates.
Despite his disability, and his parents’ doubts, Ibrahim was determined to go to school. “When I was eight,” Ibrahim says, “other kids of my age were going to school while I stayed at home. I did not like that. So, I pestered (缠着) my parents until they finally let me go to school.”
Ibrahim’s parents sent him to a private school nearby. Although the journey to and from school was a short one, it still wasn’t easy for Ibrahim. He had to use his hands to help him move along, protecting them with plastic slippers. But at least he was getting an education.
However, after only a year in school, Ibrahim’s education was interrupted when his parents separated. His mother did not have the means to continue paying for his tuition.
In 2007, Ibrahim received some money to be fitted with a leg brace (支架), corrective shoes and his first pair of crutches (拐杖). Now that he was more mobile than before, the most important thing for him was to find a way to go back to school.
“I wanted to start school again last October,” Ibrahim says. “After my mother told me she could not afford it, I went to visit some of my relatives for support. And I collected 5,000 francs CFA (US $8) to pay my tuition for half a year. I will find the rest of the money somehow.”
Ibrahim attends a school in which he is the only disabled student. According to his teacher, he is among the top five students in a class of 55. Why did Ibrahim’s parents prefer Ibrahim to stay at home?
| A．There was a lot of housework for him to do. |
| B．They had no money to pay for his tuition. |
C．There were not enough schools in the  country. |
| D．They were afraid the students would make fun of him. |
How did Ibrahim go to school before his parents separated?
| A．He went to school on his wheelchair. |
| B．He went to school on his parents’ bicycle. |
| C．He walked to school with the support of his hands. |
| D．He walked to school using a pair of crutches. |
Ibrahim’s education was interrupted because of his _____.
| A．parents’ doubts | B．lack of tuition | C． physical disability |
D．terrible mood |
The best title for the passage might be _____.
| A．A long way to go | B．Determined to learn |
| C．The only disabled student | D．I did not like that |
The days of Europeans relaxing in the cafe with a newspaper and a seemingly endless cup of coffee appear to be numbered．A new English expression is popular in Europe these days：“coffee to go．”
“Five or ten years ago it was much more normal to sit in a cafe for several hours than it is nowadays，”says Joann，who works in a central Berlin coffee bar owned by the Canadian coffee and bakery chain Tim’s.
“There is a trend towards a more fast-paced life．But people still act surprised when you ask if the coffee is‘to go’．You mean I can take it with me? they ask..”
“Europe is often five or eight years behind trends in America，”says Joann.“In the States.‘coffee to go’is part of everyday life.”
Owing in part to Starbucks，it appears to be very much part of everyday life in many other countries too．
The Seattle-based group compete with a growing number of global chains in attempting to reshape coffee drinking cultures in regions including Asia and the Middle East．
The US is the model for continental Europe’s new“coffee to go”culture：Each of the new cafe bars offers bagels，muffins，brownies and cookies to go with the coffee.
But then,“coffee to go’’might sound a little odd to English ears used to the words “takeaway”or take one．
It does sum up the brisker pace of life since the city resumed its status as the German capital following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
As one more sign of the changing times，one of Berlin’s most venerable(古老而庄重的)coffee houses，cafe Einstein，has followed the trend by opening a small chain of coffee shops across the city．
Taking coffee,slowly and in decorous（端正的）surroundings,has been a feature of European coffee houses,particularly in German speaking countries,for decades.
For the elderly citzens of Vienna it amounts to a ritual（仪式）when they gather in coffee houses around the city for a cup of their favovrite drink and a piece of rich,creamy cake.From the passage,we can see that .
| A．“coffee to go” springs in Europe these days |
| B．Europe is often a few years before trends in America |
| C．America often follows Europe’s “coffee to go”culture |
| D．it’s easy to reshape coffee drinking cultures in the Middle East |
Every new cafe bar offers some to go with the coffee
| A．food | B．newspaper | C．drink | D．music |
More and more Europeans have takeaway coffee because .
| A．Europeans live a more fast-paced life now |
| B．The coffee is much cheaper |
| C．Europeans are used to taking away the coffee |
| D．the coffee is easy to take away |
The characteristic of European coffee houses is .
| A．“coffee to go ”as part of daily life |
| B．sitting in a cafe bar for several hours |
| C．having coffee slowly in a pleasant atmosphere |
| D．taking away coffee in a hurry |
Advertisement is the difficult business of bringing information to great numbers of people.The purpose of an advertisement is to make people respond to make them react to an idea，such as helping prevent forest fires，or to make them want to buy a certain product or service.At the beginning of the 20th century，advertisement was described as“salesmanship in print”.If this definition were expanded to include radio and television，it would still stand today.The most effective way to sell something is through person-to-person contact.But the cost of person-to-person selling is high because it takes a great deal of time，and it increases the cost of the product or service.Advertising distributes the selling message to many people at one time.The first printed advertisement in the English language appeared in 1278，more than a century before Shakespeare’s first play was produced.This early advertisement was the work of William Caxton，England’s first printer，who used it to advertise religious books from his own workshop Caxton posted small printed notices along London’s main streets．Besides advertising his product，he identified his shop with a red-striped shield(盾形徽章)so that customers could find it easily．
This same sort of simple informational advertising is still used.Examples are the roadside signs that tell travelers that they can buy fresh corn just down the road or that there is a restaurant in the next town.
The Industrial Revolution，in the 18th and 19th centuries，brought a new kind of advertising.Large factories took the place of small workshops and goods were produced in large quantities.
Manufacturers used the newly built railroads to distribute(递送)their products over wide areas.They had to find many thousands of customers in order to stay in business.They couldn’t simply tell people where shoes or cloth or tea could be bought---they had to learn how to make people want to buy a specific product. Thus modern advertising was born．
Advertising created new markets and helped to raise standards of living as people came to feel that they had a right to new and better products.The passage mainly talks about .
| A．the development of advertisement |
| B．the first advertisement in the world |
| C．the difficulty in advertising |
| D．the advantages of advertisements |
Why is advertisement accepted by people?
| A．Because it can help to prevent forest fires. |
| B．Because it cand make people want to buy a certain product or service. |
| C．Because it can bring information to great numbers of people. |
| D．Because it can help people live longer. |
Modern advertisement was born as a result of .
| A．the Industrial Revolution |
| B．the newly built railroads |
| C．the appearance of the first printer advertisement |
| D．people’s need |
We can conclude from the passage that .
| A．red-striped shield is the best thing to use in advertising |
| B．main streets and television are used in advertising |
| C．person-to-person selling is the best way in advertising |
| D．people show little interest in advertisement |