As for older people, some of the applications（应用程序）are hard to use because they didn't grow up with them. They don't have simple models of how it should work. They don't know what to do when it doesn't work.
I think there is huge potential, so I have designed some for them. The ability to connect to friends, who remember the same movies, news and music, is really important, especially as people get older. They end up in retirement homes and they aren't always close to their friends. Allowing the network to help them connect with friends and family members is a really powerful thing.
My wife likes using the Internet, although it took me years to get her to use e-mail. She was born with normal hearing, but lost it when she was three years old. She was totally deaf for many years until 53 when she got ear implants（移植）．They work really well. That is a big change for her. Before then, her friends couldn't call her on the phone, so they insisted that she use e-mails to communicate with them.
The younger people don't even think of this as technology. It's just there, and they use it .There's been a very interesting change in communication styles between the old and the young .A woman named Sharryturkle wrote about this phenomenon（现象）．There are some kids who are now in their teens and are tending not to make phone calls. And they think of e-mail as old-fashioned and slow.
The reason why teens don't make phone calls seems to be that they don't know what to say. When they call they often pause for a while. On the other hand, texting is considered proper, and it's OK if you don't answer. You might have been distracted（心烦意乱的）．It's not considered rude, but it's considered unusual if you're in this kind of voice conversation and simply stop talling. We can infer from the text that the author is a____.
| A．company manger | B．program designer |
| C．college professor | D．family doctor |
Why did the author's wife connect with others by e-mail? Because she______.
| A．didn't like to talk on the phone |
| B．didn't know how to use the phone |
| C．couldn't move or meet with her friends |
| D．was deaf and couldn't hear others on the phone |
What do the young people think of the Internet according to the text?
| A．Interesting. | B．Amazing. |
| C．Common. | D．Dull. |
What is the best way for the teens to communicate with others?
| A．Sending e-mail. | B．Making phone call. |
| C．Writing letters. | D．Sending text messages. |
“I THIRST”
Each day water-related diseases kill 3,900 of the world’s children.
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation (卫生设备).
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
* The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometres.
* Only 58 percent of children in sub-Sharan Africa are drinking safe water, and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
* Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1) Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2) Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3) Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S. based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows, some organizations are large, others small-scale, some operate world-wide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America. Support them generously.The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that ______.
| A．poverty can result in water-borne diseases |
| B．people have no access to clean drinking water |
| C．women’s rights are denied in some developing countries |
| D．safe drinking water should be a primary concern |
The intended readers of the passage are _______.
| A．Americans | B．overseas sponsors |
| C．Congressmen | D．U.S. based water organizations |
The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to ______.
| A．get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries |
| B．donate money to people short of water through religious groups |
| C．fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem |
| D．take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations |
No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DONQUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic(卖弄学问的). They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified (加强), not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.Which is NOT the standard in the following when evaluating a great book?
| A．Although not a best seller for a year or two, it must be the most widely read. |
| B．A great book can be read without any effort. |
| C．Great books are never out of date. |
| D．Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well. |
According to the author, GONE WITH THE WIND is ______.
| A．a best seller |
| B．disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare |
| C．read more often than Don Quixote |
| D．a great book |
After reading the passage, we can infer that ______.
| A．different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for people to choose from |
| B．if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an advanced one |
| C．Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out |
| D．great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have confidence in settling them |
The best title for this passage is ______.
| A．Great Books in Your Life | B．Great Books in Your Specialty |
| C．How to Find a Great Book? | D．What Is a Great Book? |
Ever since he got into the Hong Kong film industry in 1994 with He’s a Woman, She’s a Man, Hong Kong director, Peter Chan has been one of the industry’s most powerful voices. Later in 1996, another milestone Comrades: Almost a Love Story came into being. Chan’s latest film, American Dreams in China is a carefully-calculated film with an eye toward opening the mainland cinema market.
American Dreams in China is a film purely for Chinese audiences, but how it plays there remains to be seen. It sends the right messages, but whether that’s enough to make it a hit is everyone’s guess. Mainland audiences aren’t quite that easy to “speak” to.
The film began during the period of economic reforms in China in the 1980s. The bookish farm boy Cheng Dongqing (Huang Xiaoming), the ambitious and confident boy Meng Xiaojun (Deng Chao) and the poetic Wang Yang(Tong Dawei), were three friends at university in Beijing and preparing for American visa interviews. Wang was the first to be granted the visa but he gave it up for his western girlfriend, and Cheng was repeatedly denied. Only Meng actually got a study visa. As he was leaving, he told his friends that he wouldn’t come back.
Several years later, Cheng and Wang built a successful school, New Dream, from the ashes of Cheng’s misfortune(his girlfriend got a visa too, and Cheng lost his university teaching job) and Wang’s ability to connect with students often through Hollywood movies. In America, Meng suffered a lot. Disappointed, he went home and joined his friends at New Dream. Later, the three friends’ relationship became worsened, but finally was improved under the weight of their common goals. Which of the following films made Peter Chan a most influential director in Hong Kong?
| A．American Dreams in China |
| B．Comrades: Almost a Love Story |
| C．New Dream |
| D．He’s a Woman, She’s a Man |
The underlined word “granted” (in paragraph 3) probably means “_________”.
| A．prepared | B．given | C．involved | D．permitted |
When the three men made preparations for American visa interviews, how many was/were offered a visa?
| A．None | B．One. | C．Three. | D．Two |
What led Cheng and Wang to start a business?
| A．The connection with Hollywood movies. |
| B．The weight of their common goals. |
| C．Cheng’s misfortune and Wang’s ability. |
| D．Meng’s disappointment and sufferings. |
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat w ere being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football. Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）. “I’m trying to fi gure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. “At one point, I considered turning back,” he says. “I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella!”
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
“Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. “Can you guys swim?” he cried. “A little bit,” the boys said.Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again. “Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing. |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water. |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air. |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys. |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
Winners Club
You choose to be a winner！
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account（交易账户）where you receive a key-card so you can get to your money 24/7—that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers：
No account keeping fees！
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transacting fees!
Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits（储蓄）without talking them out in a month.
Convenient
Teenagers are busy—we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet. You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!
Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key-card) but it is easy. We can’t wait to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner! The Winners Club is a bank account intended for _________.
| A．parents | B．teenagers | C．winners | D．adults |
The Winners Club provides magazines which ________.
| A．encourage spending |
| B．are free to all teenagers |
| C．are full of adventure stories |
| D．help to make more of your money |
If you want to be a member of the Club, you must _________.
| A．be an Internet user | B．be permitted by your parent |
| C．has a big sum of money | D．be in your twenties |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To set up a club. | B．To provide part-time jobs. |
| C．To organize key-cards. | D．To introduce a new banking service. |