The 4G mobile phones have been made available for some time and are now on hot sale. Quite a few customers are attracted by the much quicker access to the Internet and some new fancy features or functions and some people just want to keep pace with fashion.
By today's standards, my mobile phone is pretty rubbish. It's a Nokia 1616. If that doesn't mean much to you (it's not the kind of phone you see advertised on television), all you need to know is that it's a small, not very heavy device with which you can send and receive telephone calls and text messages. It also has a very handy flashlight on the top for when you can't find your keys, or when you drop something on the floor in the cinema. Other than that, my phone doesn't do much. Well, it has an alarm, and it probably has a calculator and things like that, but it's nothing compared to a smartphone. Why would I want one of those?
I have often been told that the big advantage of having a smartphone is that "you can do everything with them!" But when was the last time you saw someone doing "everything" with a smartphone? Okay, so they may have an endless list of functions, but generally they are used for checking social networking sites, playing games, and receiving and replying to emails. I'm happy just doing all of those things at home on my laptop.
As far as I can tell, the best thing about having a smartphone is that you can be connected to the internet all the time. Don't get me wrong. I love the internet, but I just don't see the point of constantly being online. I can't remember the last time I received a Facebook update which was so urgent that I had to read it as soon as it appeared, and I can't imagine ever having a job which was so important that I would need to read work-related emails immediately. I would think that if someone needed me urgently, they would just ring me rather than send an email. And my trusty Nokia can manage that.
One of the most peculiar effects of the smartphone is, in my opinion, the newly-found addiction to maps and navigation (导航) systems. Is there anything more boring than knowing exactly where you are all of the time? How do you get to know an area if you don't get lost there a few times? And if you are dependant on online maps, what happens to those great places you find just by chance? You can't exactly find out from Google maps the journey from“here”to “that hidden cafe with the tasty-looking cakes", or to "that pond next to the church which looks really pretty in the evening sun. " It is, of course, true that we all occasionally need to be pointed in the right direction, but I find that there are often real life humans you can ask.
There are many benefits of having a very basic mobile phone, like the fact that it cost me about twenty pounds, and that I don't have to worry too much about it being stolen. But the main benefit has to be the fact that it provides me with the word “greatest excuse for my bad habits”. Whether it's turning up late to events, or getting lost on a trip, or missing buses or trains, or forgetting about an appointment at work, I'm pretty sure I'm covered with the following explanation "I'm really, sorry I don't have a smartphone."The writer uses his Nokia 1616 mainly to __________.
| A．play online games |
| B．do calculating work |
| C．make calls and text messages |
| D．check social network sites |
It can be inferred from the above passage that__________.
| A．work-related emails should be answered immediately |
| B．a Facebook update is usually very important |
| C．smartphones should always be connected to the net |
| D．a laptop and a smartphone share many functions |
According to the passage, if you use navigation systems, you may __________.
| A．find a boring trip actually exciting |
| B．miss some really wonderful places |
| C．be persuaded to eat in a certain café |
| D．be misled to a totally wrong place |
To the writer, one benefit of having a basic mobile phone is that__________.
| A．it can be used as an excuse for his bad habits |
| B．it can often be found back after it is stolen |
| C．it can remind him of important appointments |
| D．it can save him the trouble of catching trains |
Generations of Americans have been brought up to believe that a good breakfast is essential to one’s life. Eating breakfast at the start of the day, we have been told, and told again, is as necessary as putting gasoline in the family car before starting a trip.
But for many people, the thought of food as the first thing in the morning is never a pleasure. So in spite of all the efforts, they still take no breakfast. Between 1977 and 1983, the latest year for which figures could be obtained, the number of people who didn’t have breakfast increased by 33%—from 8.8 million to 11.7 million—according to the Chicago-based Market Research Corporation of America.
For those who dislike eating breakfast, however, there is some good news. Several studies in the last few years have shown that, for grown-ups especially, there may be nothing wrong with omitting (省略) breakfast. “Going without breakfast does not affect work,” said Arnold E. Bender, former professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London, “nor does giving people breakfast improve work.”
Scientific evidence linking breakfast to better health or better work is surprisingly little, and most of the recent work involves children, not grown-ups. “The literature,” says one researcher, Dr Earnest Polite at the University of Texas, “is poor.” For those who do not take breakfast, the good news is that _______.
| A．several studies have been done in the past few years |
| B．eating little in the morning is good for health |
| C．the omission of breakfast has little effect on one’s work |
| D．grown-ups have especially made studies in this field |
The sentence in paragraph 3 “nor does giving people breakfast improve work” means _______.
| A．people without breakfast can improve their work |
| B．having breakfast does not improve work, either |
| C．not giving people breakfast improves work |
| D．people having breakfast do improve their work, too |
The word "literature" in the last sentence refers to _______.
| A．stories, poems, play, etc |
| B．the films about the breakfast |
| C．newspaper articles or novels |
| D．written works on a topic |
What is implied in the passage is that _______.
| A．Breakfast does not affect work |
| B．Dr Polite works at Market Research Corporation |
| C．Not eating breakfast might affect the health of children |
| D．Professor Bender once taught college courses in nutrition in Chicago |
The main idea of the passage is that _______.
| A．breakfast has nothing to do with people’s health |
| B．breakfast is not as important as we thought before |
| C．breakfast is not as important to us as gasoline to a car |
| D．a good breakfast used to be important to us |
“I once hoped to afford a wonderful telescope, but now I wish my father would be back.” Lucy Lawrence’s letter to Father Christmas written after his father had been knifed to death outside his school gate, must have touched every heart. Lucy went on to say that without his father he couldn’t see the stars in the sky. When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stars for a while.
But Lucy, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone ,you will see them again . And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart . I find that my parents , long dead now , still occur in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than I ever did when they were alive . I still live to please them and I’m still surprised by their reactions. I remember that when I became a professor , I was so proud , or rather so pleased with myself , that I couldn’t wait to write to my parents . The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all Mother said was “I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children! ” I haven’t forgotten. The values of my parents still live on.
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care. Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors, and to lay down my life for those in my care ? How many people would want me back for Christmas? It’s a serious thought, one to give me pause.
I pray silently , sometimes , in the dead of night ,that ancient cry of a poet “Deliver my soul from the sword（剑）, and my darling from the power of the evil .” Yet I know the death comes to us all, and sometimes comes suddenly. We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die tomorrow. We live on, I’m sure, in the lives of those we loved, and therefore we ought to have a care for what they will remember and what they will treasure. If more parents knew this in their hearts to be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today.According to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph .
| A．shows the author’s pity on the kid |
| B．acts as an introduction to the discussion |
| C．puts forward the subject of the text |
| D．makes a clear statement of the author’s opinions |
In the second paragraph the author mainly wants to explain to us .
| A．why his parents often appear in his dream |
| B．how much he misses his parents now |
| C．when Lucy will get over all his sadness |
| D．how proud he was when he succeeded in life |
What feeling did the author’s mother express in her reply?
| A．Proud. | B．Excited. |
| C．Uninterested. | D．Uneasy. |
What does the writer mean by the sentence taken from an old poem?
| A．Call on criminals and murderers to lay down their guns. |
| B．Advise parents stay with their children safely at home. |
| C．Try to keep violence and murder far away from society. |
| D．Spend every day meaningfully in memory of the death. |
Many people once thought that air pollution had a bad influence upon only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is nearly worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of factories and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide( 二氧化碳) in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a“greenhouse effect” － holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another opinion, less widely held, is that increasing tiny substances in the atmosphere are blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature－a result that would be equally disastrous.A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to new ice age and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will make up for each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution _____.
| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
| B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
| C．almost brought worldwide effect |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
As far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the author _____________.
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its consequence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded |
| D．thinks that it will increasingly destroy the world |
It can be inferred from the passage that ____________.
| A．raising the world’s temperature a little would not do much harm to life on earth |
| B．lowering the world’s temperature a little would lead to agricultural disasters |
| C．almost no temperature changes have occurred over the past decade |
| D．the world’s temperature will remain constant in the years to come |
This passage is primarily concerned with _____________.
| A．the greenhouse effect in the world |
| B．the measures to adjust the climate |
| C．the potential effect of air pollution |
| D．the measures to protect the environment |
" Vi-Lasata!I can't believe it--a Vi-Lasata!” —You see some attractive young ladies looking at a sweater in a department store and you listen to their conversation:
“ Vi-Lasata is almost impossible to find. Isn't it beautiful? And it's a lot cheaper than the one Terry bought in Rome."
When they leave, you go over to see this unbelievable sweater. It's nice and the price is right.You've never heard of Vi-Lasata, but those girls looked really stylish. They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Vi-Lasata clothes.
Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover （暗中影响的）marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.
Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don't pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the “thumb generation” -- consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It is a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't trust ads.
So advertising agencies hire young actors to "perform" in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice cheating, but marketing director Jonathan Ressler calls it creativity. "Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is falling."
However, one might ask what exactly is "real" about of young women pretending to be enthusiastic about a sweater? Advertising agent would say it's no less real than an ad. The difference is that you know an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. You don't know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance.Vi-Lasata is __________.
| A．a very popular department store |
| B．the brand name of a sweater |
| C．a clothing company in Rome |
| D．an advertising agency |
The attractive young women were talking so that they could ________.
| A．get the sweater at a lower price |
| B．be heard by people around |
| C．be admired by other shoppers |
| D．decide on buying the sweater |
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Traditional advertising is becoming less effective as it's too direct. |
| B．The “ thumb generation” tends to be more easily influenced by ads. |
| C．The two girls are in fact clerks in the Vi-Lasata Company. |
| D．Undercover marketing is surely against the law in that country. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Performance in Shops | B．Vi-Lasata Sweaters |
| C．Ways of Advertising | D．Undercover Marketing |
Dear Customers,
I feel quite pleased to announce Amazon Prime, our latest membership program, which provides “all-you-can-eat” express shipping. It’s simple: for a directly yearly membership fee, you get unlimited two-day shipping for free on over a million in store items. Members also get overnight shipping for only $3.99 per item—order as late as 6:30PM ET.
Amazon Prime takes the effort out of ordering: no lowest purchase and no combining orders. Two-day shipping becomes an everyday experience rather than an occasional excitement.
We are offering Amazon Prime membership at the introductory price of $79 per year, which includes sharing the benefits with up to four family members in your household. Considering that we normally charge $9.48 for two-day shipping on a single book and $ 16.48 for overnight, many of our customers will find the program very rewarding. It works across books, DVDs, music, electronics, kitchen, tool, health, personal care, etc, etc.
We expect Amazon Prime to be expensive for Amazon.com in short term. In the long run, we hope to earn even more of your business, which will make it good for us too. We hope you enjoy our latest transformation(转变).
You can sign up for membership with one click HERE.
Sincerely,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
What’s the purpose of the letter delivered by the CEO?
| A．To encourage customers to join in a special program for free. |
| B．To ask for the feedback of the customers. |
| C．To express festive greetings to the consumers. |
| D．To encourage customers to consume more on line. |
How much can you save compared with the ordinary customers if you have two orders each with a two-day shipping and a over-night shipping?
| A．$ 21.97 | B．$ 25.96 |
| C．$ 16.48 | D．$ 9.48 |
What does “all-you-can-eat” mean in the first paragraph?
| A．direct | B．unlimited |
| C．convenient | D．cheap |
What does the last part infer?
| A．They lose much in the special program. |
| B．The customers spend more in the future. |
| C．This program can offer a double-win in a long term. |
| D．Amazon.com is a very popular on-line bookstore. |