The £109 Nest Protect Smoke Alarm promises Internet alerts（警报）and an end to the low battery chirp（短而尖的叫声）. Besides, it uses a voice to tell you where the fire is.
The alarm is the first UK product from Nest, which is run by iPod-inventor Tony Fadell. The company claims the device’s batteries will last for up to seven years. The device will offer a spoken warning before it sounds a major alarm. Also it will use text messages and apps on your phones to alert users to low-level risks.
The present smoke alarms constantly alert users to non-existent threats, which will make many users annoyed and finally remove their batteries altogether. “We’ve all experienced the smoke alarm going off while we’re cooking. Sometimes, we need to search for the source of that non-stop low-battery chirp at midnight,” said Fadell. “Therefore, every time a smoke alarm cries wolf, we trust it a little less, and then — in a moment of frustration — we take the batteries out to stop the beep（嘟嘟声）. And that leaves us and our families at risk.”
If the Protect smoke alarms are used, they can be set up in up to ten zones, so that the clear warnings tell users where the risk has been detected.
“Safety shouldn’t be annoying,” said Matt Rogers, Nest founder and vice president of engineering. “It was unacceptable to us that one in eight houses in the UK has a non-functioning smoke alarm. These products are required by law and are supposed to keep us safe, yet people hate them. We wanted to change that.”
For what purpose did Nest create the Protect Smoke Alarm?
| A．To predict low-level fire risks. | B．To experiment with a new battery. |
| C．To improve present smoke alarms. | D．To avoid the low-battery chirp. |
What did Tony Fadell really want to tell us in Paragraph 3?
| A．One of his cooking experiences. |
| B．Disadvantages of present smoke alarms. |
| C．His growing distrust of smoke alarms. |
| D．His source of annoyance to crying wolf. |
Which of the following are the advantages of the Protect Smoke Alarm?
a. Rechargeable batteries b. A talking smoke alarm
c. Longer battery life d. Going off constantly
e. Internet connection
| A．a, b, c | B．c, d, e | C．a, c, e | D．b, c, e |
What can we know from the last paragraph?
| A．In the UK people seldom set up smoke alarms. |
| B．Matt Rogers didn’t like the safety requirements. |
| C．Non-functioning smoke alarms make people annoyed. |
| D．The government should pay attention to safety issues. |
Most people know that the United States is made up of fifty states. However, few people know a lot about all fifty of them. Sufjan Stevens is a young American musician. He wants to change this situation.
Sufjan Stevens plans to make an album about each of the fifty American states. During college he played in several musical groups and recorded an album of his own music. However, he wanted to be a writer, not a musician. So after college he moved to New York City to study writing.
In New York. Stevens had trouble writing stories. He discovered that he missed music. He also discovered that most of the stories he did write were about his home state of Michigan. So, Sufjan Stevens decided to make an album of songs about Michigan.
Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State was released in 2003. The album was a big success. Many young people and music critics liked it. Before long, Stevens announced that he wanted to make an album for every state. He called it his “fifty states project”.
Stevens chose Illinois as his next state. He read many books about Illinois. He studied police documents and old newspapers. He talked to people who live in the state. The CD Illinois was released in 2005. Critics loved the album. It won many awards. Illinois became popular at colleges throughout the United States. People said the CD sounded different from anything else they had ever heard.
Sufjan Stevens is keeping his next state a secret from reporters. People have said that he is writing about Oregon, Rhode Island, or Minnesota. However, no one but Stevens knows for sure.Why does Sufian Stevens plan to make an album about each of the American states?
| A．To excite the music talent in ordinary Americans. |
| B．To record an album of his own music. |
| C．To let people know more about all the American states. |
| D．To go on writing stories. |
What did Sufjan Stevens do to make an album of songs about a state?
| A．He played in several musical groups. |
| B．He studied documents and newspapers and talked to people there. |
| C．He moved to New York City to study writing. |
| D．He kept his next state a secret from reporters. |
Which of the following can serve as the proper title for the passage?
| A．Fifty States Project |
| B．The Fifty States in America |
| C．Songs About American States |
| D．Sufjan Stevens and Michigan |
A little boy selling magazines for school walked up to a house that people rarely visited. The house was very old and the owner hardly ever came out. When he did, he would not say hello to neighbors or passers-by, but simply glare at them.
The boy knocked on the door and waited, sweating from fear of the old man.
As he was ready to walk away, the door slowly opened. “What do you want?” the old man said.
“Uh, sir, I uh am selling these magazines and, uh, I was wondering if you would like to buy one.”
The old man just stared at the boy. The boy could see inside the old man’s house and saw that he had dog figurines (小雕像) on the fireplace. “Do you collect dogs?” the little boy asked.
“Yes, I have many collectibles in my house. They are my family here. They are all I have.”
The boy then felt sorry for the man, as it seemed that he was a very lonely soul. “Well, I do have a magazine here for collectors. It is perfect for you. I also have one about dogs since you like dogs so much.”
The old man was ready to close the door and said: “No, boy, I don’t need any magazines of any kind, now goodbye.”
The little boy was sad for the old man because he was alone in the big house. Then he thought of a little dog figurine that he had got some years earlier from an aunt. The boy headed back down to the old man’s house with it. He knocked on the door again and this time the old man came right to the door. “Boy, I thought I told you no magazines.”
“No, sir. I know that. I wanted to bring you a gift.” The boy handed him the figurine and the old man’s face lit up.
The old man was surprised and said: “Boy, you have a big heart. Why are you doing this?”
The boy smiled at the man and said: “Because you like dogs.”
From that day on, the old man started coming out of the house and greeting people. He and the boy became friends.
This simple nice act changed both of their lives forever.How did the boy feel when he first knocked on the old man’s door?
| A．Excited. | B．Sad. |
| C．Frightened. | D．Silly. |
What can we learn from the article about the old man?
| A．He preferred dog figurines to real dogs. |
| B．He longed for (渴望) friendship with others. |
| C．He found his neighbors unfriendly. |
| D．He was sad because he felt alone. |
When the boy knocked on the door again, ________.
| A．the old man was impatient with him |
| B．the old man refused to open the door |
| C．he didn’t think the old man would open it |
| D．he wanted to sell a magazine to the old man |
With the story, the author tries to show us that _______.
| A．smiling is the best way to make others feel comfortable |
| B．we should help strangers if they are angry |
| C．being kind to others can have a positive effect on our lives |
| D．you need to do something special if you want to make friends |
Sunny English Club
For students
16:00--18:00 Every Saturday
200 Yuan a month
9 Zhou Yu Street
Tel: 3785290
Foreign teachers, English songs and films and more!
Ocean Museum
9:00--17:00 From Thursday to Sunday
Ticket: 50 yuan
132 Xue Yuan Street
Tel: 5439871
Show you a full picture of sea lives!
Health Centre
9:00--17:30
16 Yong Le Street
Tel: 3801451
Free examinations for those over 70
Give you good advice to keep healthy!Sunny English Club is for _______.
| A．nurses | B．policemen |
| C．businessmen | D．students |
You will pay ________ if you want to stay in the English club for a month.
| A．200 yuan | B．300 yuan |
| C．400 yuan | D．100 yuan |
One can get free examinations in Health Centre if he is ________.
| A．9 | B．17 |
| C．67 | D．73 |
If you are interested in the life of fish, you should go to________.
| A．Health Centre | B．Ocean Museum |
| C．Sunny English Club | D．16 Yong Le Street |
When can you go to Ocean Museum?
| A．On Monday | B．On Tuesday |
| C．On Wednesday | D．On Saturday |
Dinner customs (风俗) are different around the world. If you are a dinner guest (客人) in Ghana(非洲的加纳), this information will help you.
In Ghana, dinner is usually from four in the afternoon to six in the evening. But there are no strict rules about time in Ghana. Whenever a guest arrives, a family offers food.
When you go to a home, the host takes you to the living room first. At this time everyone welcomes you. Then you go to the dinner room. There you wash your hands in a bowl of water. All the food is on the table.
In Ghana you usually eat with your fingers. You eat from the same dish as everyone else. But you eat from one side of the dish only. It is not polite to get food from the other side of the dish. After dinner, you wash your hands again in a bowl of water.
Most meals in Ghana have a dish called fufu. People in Ghana make fufu from the powder（粉末） of some plants. Sometimes they cut the fufu with a saw（锯） because it is very hard and like rubber（橡胶）. You must chew fufu well, or you can get sick. You eat fufu with fingers of your right hand only.If you are a dinner guest to a family in Ghana, you’re first ________.
| A．told to wash your hands |
| B．taken to the dinning-room |
| C．told some strict rules about dinner |
| D．taken to the living-room |
In the fourth paragraph, the writer wants to tell us ________
| A．what to eat in Ghana |
| B．how much time to spend on a dinner. |
| C．the way of eating |
| D．different food at a dinner |
The word “chew” in the last paragraph means ________
| A．smell | B．taste |
| C．presses with your hands | D．crush with your teeth |
Let’s say a person gets up at 7:00 in the morning and goes to bed at 11:00 at night. He comes home from work about 6:30, and by the time he has finished with dinner it is after 8:00. He steps outside in the summer to relax — but it’s already getting dark! Not much time to enjoy the summer day.
Now suppose you set the clock ahead one hour. This person still does everything at the same time — but this time, when he steps out at 8:00 there’s still plenty of light to enjoy. An hour of daylight has been “saved” for him!
Daylight saving time doesn’t, of course, add any hours to a day. This is impossible. All it does is to increase the number of useful hours of daylight during the seasons when the sun rises early.
Daylight saving is most popular in cities. It allows the closing of offices, shops, and factories at the end of the working day while the sun is still high. Farmers, who do their work by sun time, usually do not observe daylight saving time. They cannot work in the field before the morning dew(露水) has dried or after it appears in the evening.
Did you know who first thought of daylight saving time? It was Benjamin Franklin! When he was living in France in the 18th century, he suggested the idea to the people in Paris. But it was not adopted then.
Daylight saving laws were first passed during World WarⅠ, when materials for making electricity was hard to find, and when it was necessary to save on artificial light. With daylight saving, the bedtime of many people comes soon after it gets dark, while without it, if people stay up until the same hour they may have to use artificial light.
Germany was the first country to adopt daylight saving time in 1915. Then England used it in 1916, and the United States adopted it in 1918.What does the underlined word “artificial” mean?
| A．natural | B．man-made |
| C．bright | D．sun |
What’s the purpose of adopting daylight saving time?
| A．To have more artificial light. |
| B．To have one more hour to work. |
| C．To make better use of daylight in certain seasons. |
| D．To have one more hour to rest. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Once the idea of daylight saving time is proposed, it was adopted. |
| B．The idea of daylight saving time went through a long process of being adopted. |
| C．It was a French scientist that put forward the idea of daylight saving time. |
| D．The idea of daylight saving time didn’t make any difference at all. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Winter is a good season for daylight saving time. |
| B．Daylight saving time is especially good for wars. |
| C．Daylight saving time is good for anyone in any places. |
| D．Not all seasons are good for daylight saving time. |