Many companies use guards and expensive alarm systems to protect their property（财产）. Soon a new kind of protection will be used—robots. Engineers have been working on the first mobile robots for businesses. The robots will guard factories, warehouses（仓库）and museums at night.
The mobile robots will move around slowly on wheels. They will be able to detect（察觉，发现） people through walls and pick up sounds, such as breaking glass. They can be fixed with loud sirens to frighten thieves, or radios to signal police or guards.
To protect a building, a robot will have to move around without knocking into the walls. Information about the building will have to be stored in the robot’s small, built-in computer. A floor map could be programmed into the computer’s memory, for example.
A mobile robot will not be able to do everything. Unlike human guards, it will not be able to climb stairs, open doors, or move along rough ground. It won’t be able to tell the difference between friends and enemies. Because of that, people will have to be prevented from entering the area it moves.
One kind of mobile robot will be able to “sense” whether a chair or a box has been moved and go around it. This robot will also judge size well enough so that it won’t send an alarm if a cat crosses the room. And if someone tries to steal this robot, it will sound a loud, painful siren. The three-foot-tall robot is hard to be stolen anyway. It weighs about 200 pounds.
U.S. companies pay almost $10 billion a year to protect their property with alarm systems and human guards. Mobile robots may be cheaper.Why is the new kind of robots called mobile robots? Because they can _______________.
| A．guard factories, warehouses and museums |
| B．send loud, painful sirens when it is stolen |
| C．sense moving objects and signal police |
| D．move around and do the programmed work |
How will a robot get directions for moving around a building?
| A．From a human guard. | B．From a built-in computer. |
| C．From another robot. | D．From radio signals. |
What can be the best title of this passage?
| A．New Guards. | B．Science and Technology. |
| C．Alarm Systems. | D．Engineers and Robots. |
Try this: for a whole day, forget about the clock. Eat when you’re hungry and sleep when you’re tired. What do you think will happen?
You may be surprised to find that your day is much like most other days. You’ll probably get hungry when you normally eat and tired when you normally sleep. Even though you don’t know what time it is, your body does.
Inside our bodies are several clocklike systems that follow a 24- hour cycle. Everyone is unique, which is why you might like to stay up late while your sister always wants to go to bed early.
Regularly staying up late can make kids do worse on tests and quizzes. And working shifts at night leads to higher rates of heart disease.
“There is a growing sense that when we eat and when we sleep are important parts of how healthy we are,” says Steven Shea, Director of the Sleep Disorders Research Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“During the night, we are prepared to sleep,” Shea says. “During the day, we are prepared to eat and move around, If you reverse ( 颠倒) what you are doing, everything is out of phase. That can have adverse consequences.What does the underlined sentence suggest?
| A．We don’t need to care about time. |
| B．We don’t need the clock. |
| C．The clock is not useful. |
| D．The clock is not remembered. |
What makes some like to stay up late while others go to bed early?
| A．our bodies | B．our minds | C．the clock | D．our unique system |
Steven Shea suggests ________.
| A．when we eat, we are prepared to eat. |
| B．when we sleep, we are prepared to sleep |
| C．when we eat and when we sleep are important parts of how healthy we are |
| D．we are prepared to follow clocklike system |
“Everything is out of phase.” means________.
| A．everything is out of order |
| B．everything is bad |
| C．everything is good |
| D．everything is not controlled |
Most American students have said goodbye to fancy(高级的) fruits these days. In school canteens across the country, cheaper fruits like apples and oranges have taken their places.
“People are afraid to spend now,” said Linda Morrow, who owns a shoe and handbag store. “They don’t know what the future will bring.”
During the financial crisis(金融危机), several of the country’s biggest banks have been forced to sell or close. This has made lots of Americans afraid to buy expensive goods.
Samira Marino, a restaurant owner in Miami, has found everyone is ordering water instead of juice and more people are sharing meals. In more than two dozen interviews with The Associated Press across the country last month, Americans talked about their concerns, from worries about small businesses to doubts about simply making ends meet.
The crisis began last year. Experts think it was because US banks lend money too easily. Last year a lot of people and companies, who borrowed money, have found themselves unable to pay it back. This left the banks, as well as the people who put their money in the banks, without money. Since the banks borrowed money between themselves and even across borders(国界), the whole world was in trouble.
This month the US government agreed on a $700 billion plan to try to save the financial market. But no one is sure whether it will help or not. President George W. Bush has warned it will take some time.
Last week top finance officials from 20 countries promised to work together to find a way out of the money trouble.Why are people in the US afraid to spend?
| A．Because they think it’s unnecessary. |
| B．Because they don’t have the habit of spending money. |
| C．Because they worry about their future. |
| D．Because they don’t have enough money. |
The fifth paragraph mainly _________.
| A．tells what it is like in a crisis |
| B．explains why there is a crisis |
| C．warns people of the danger of the crisis |
| D．asks people not to borrow money from banks |
People feel ______ about the US plan to save the market.
| A．satisfied | B．doubtful | C．hopeless | D．angry |
The best title for the story is ________.
| A．Ways to make ends meet |
| B．The money problem facing the world |
| C．Healthy fancy fruits |
| D．The art of borrowing |
Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs. They loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their houses.
One evening, Brownie’s family noticed that their dog hadn’t returned home. They went looking for him, but with no success. Brownie didn’t show up the next day, and by the next week he was still missing.
Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie’s house alone. He barked loudly. But busy with their own lives, Brownie’s family just ignored (忽略) their neighbor’s nervous little dog.
Finally, one morning Spotty refused to take “no” for an answer. He followed Ted, Brownie’s owner, everywhere he went. He barked, then rushed towards a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, “ Follow me!”
Finally, Ted followed the dog across the empty lot. The dog led the man to a tree a half-mile from the house. There Ted found Brownie alive. One of his legs was crushed (夹住) in a trap. Ted wished he had taken Spotty’s earlier appeals (求助) seriously.
Then Ted noticed something amazing. In a circle around the injured dog, he saw a lot of dog food. They were the remains of lots of meals.
Spotty had been visiting Brownie every day. He had stayed with Brownie to protect him, snuggling(依偎) with him at night to keep him warm and nuzzling(用鼻子爱抚) him to keep his spirits up. What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?
| A．Brownie and Spotty didn’t like their owners. |
| B．Brownie was missing for three days. |
| C．Brownie’s family didn’t love him. |
| D．Spotty probably knew where Brownie was. |
According to the story, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Spotty barked loudly at Ted because he was scared. |
| B．Ted followed Spotty because Spotty asked him to. |
| C．Spotty succeeded in escaping from the trap. |
| D．Brownie had nothing to eat that whole week. |
The underlined phrase “keep his spirits up” in the last paragraph probably means______.
| A．feed him | B．praise him | C．comfort him | D．protect him |
What does the story aim to tell us?
| A．Dog is man’s best friend. |
| B．Even dogs can have strong friendship. |
| C．Dogs are one of the cleverest animals. |
| D．Dogs have a special way to look for help. |
| Sale Car made in America Half new $500 Charlie Li Email: Charlieli@yahoo.com |
Needed Babysitter(临时保姆) 10 dollars an hour Speak good Chinese Jenny Wang 2657891 |
| Room-mate Wanted A male Chinese speaker Share a two-bedroom flat with washing machine, fridge, kitchen Flat near Harvard University Call Henry 2641832 |
Least(出租) One-bedroom flat From July 1to Dec.30. Next to Harvard University Call Robert 2648321 |
The American car belongs to _______.
| A．Robert | B．Henry | C．Jenny | D．Charlie |
If the babysitter works five hours a day, she will get _____dollars.
| A．30 | B．50 | C．20 | D．100 |
Henry needs_____________.
| A．a room-mate who is a girl and can speak Chinese |
| B．a room-mate who is a boy and can speak Chinese |
| C．a room-mate who is a girl and can speak English |
| D．a room-mate who is a boy and can speak English |
I have been using the Internet since I was five years old, when my dad first sat me down in front of a computer and connected me the World Wide Web.
I’ve always felt like a master of the Internet world. AOL Instant Messaging, MSN, Gmail, Facebook. Myspace---I’ve got it all under control. I thought there was nothing more to it besides checking my e-mail and wasting my time, until I was introduced to electronic commerce(e-commerce): business on the Internet.
Some online business are run from one- room home offices. Others have hundreds of employee(雇员)spread across five different continent. Have you ever heard of Amazon. com, Yahoo. com?
My friends often said they got cheap textbooks off Amazon.com, or had a good deal(交易)on Steve Madden boots that were on sale at SteveMaden.com. Unfortunately for me, I continued my “e-commerceless” Web-surfing, unaware(不知道)of all the deals I was missing out on.
That is, of course, until my sister finally sold the idea to me.
“Why are all these packages arriving in the mail for you, Katy?” I asked her one day. Strange envelopes had been put on our doorstep for weeks now, each one always addressed to my sister; and we all know little sisters should never be getting more mail than their elders!
“Oh, it’s the things I ordered online!” she answered. I watched speechlessly as she opened them. There was no way our parents were letting her spend that much money- online or off!
“How much did all of this coat?”
“Oh, only about $15in all!” She said excitedly. “Everything on eBay is on sale! It’s way better than going to the mall.”
I felt as if my entire life, there had been a store right in my backyard that I had never walked into! That week, I ordered a used Spanish textbook for my summer course online for 10 percent of the publishing price. A few days later, I bought an iPod protector and a book or two via the wonderful eBay.com.From the first two paragraph we can conclude that the author
| A．had no experience using computers |
| B．had no idea of what e-commerce is |
| C．only used the Internet to check e-mail |
| D．thought surfing the Internet was a waste of time |
The writer didn’t find out about e-commerce until
| A．he stopped web-surfing |
| B．he visited a store in his backyard |
| C．his friends told him about the online deals they made |
| D．his sister explained the packages she got by mail |
We can infer from the last paragraph that the author.
| A．has begun to enjoy online shopping |
| B．loves the big store in her backyard |
| C．feels she is a true master of the Internet |
| D．never enjoyed shopping that much |
What’s the purpose of the article?
| A．To make an online shopping ad. |
| B．To do business on the Internet. |
| C．To advise people to do online shopping |
| D．To suggest how he begins online shopping. |
What would be the best title of the article?
| A．Online Business | B．Good deals |
| C．A master of the Internet | D．Everything on Sale |