St paul’s Cathedral
Ludgate Hill, EC4
Underground: St Paul’s; Bus: 6,7,11,15,22,25
Open: Daily 8:00-19:00(17:00 from Oct. to Mar.)
Entrance free
Designed by the great architect, Sir Christopher Wren, St Paul’s Cathedral was built following the Great Fire of London of 1666, which destroyed the gothic cathedral on the site at that time. It is crowned by a magnificent dome and its choir(唱诗班)is internationally famous. Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married here in 1981.
Buckingham Palace
South end of the Mall(SW1)
Underground: St. James’s Park, Victoria, Hyde Park Comer, Green Park Bus:2,11,14,16,19,22,24,29,30,38,52,73,74,137
Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the monarch(君主) for much of the year. (When the monarch is in residence, a flag flies over the palace.) The Mall is a very impressive wide street, leading from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square.
Note: As the palace is the monarch’s official residence, it is not open to the public during most of the year.
The Tower of London
Tower Hill, EC3
Underground: Tower Hill; Bus: 42, 78
Open: Mon. – Sat.9:00—18:00. 8:00—19:00
Parts of the Tower of London are over nine centuries old, as building began under William the Conqueror in 1078. Famous as a prison in the distant past, the Tower has also been a royal residence, a zoo and an observatory (瞭望台), among other things. It is now a museum and many thousands of people visit it every year in particular to see the Crown Jewels.
Westminster Abbey
Broad Sanctuary, SW1
Underground: Westminster, St James’s Park; Bus: 3, 11, 12, 24, 29, 39, 53, 59, 76, 77, 88, 109, 155, 168, 170, 172, 184, 503
Open: Daily 8:00—19:00(Mar.-DEC., Tuesday till 20:00)
Entrance free
A Benedictine abbey(本笃会修道院) which already existed on the site was rebuilt by Edward the Confessor and consecrated(奉为神圣) in 1065. On the way to its present form, the abbey was extended in the 13th-16th centuries, with the two west towers being added in the 18th. There are many famous tombs in the abbey, including that of the unknown Warrior and those of many poets and writers. Where is the text most probably taken from?
| A．A history book about London. |
| B．A guidebook for visitors to London |
| C．A book describing London’s development. |
| D．A book about London’s churches and cathedrals. |
No.11 bus can take you to all three of these places: _______.
| A．St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London |
| B．St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace |
| C．St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace |
| D．Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace |
You can see the inside of all the buildings all the year round except _____.
| A．St Paul’s Cathedral | B．The Tower of London |
| C．Westminster Abbey | D．Buckingham Palace |
The two places that you can visit by getting off at the same underground station are _____.
| A．Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey |
| B．Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral |
| C．Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London |
| D．The Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral |
Want a glance of the future of health care? Take a look at the way the various networks of people about patient care are being connected to one another, and how this new connectivity (连通性)is being used to deliver medicine to the patient—no matter where he or she may be.
Online doctors offering advice based on normal symptoms (症状)are the most obvious example. Increasingly, however, remote diagnosis (远程诊断)will be based on real physiological data (生理数据)from the actual patient. A group from the University of Kentucky has shown that by using personal data assistance plus a mobile phone, it is perfectly practical to send a patient's important signs over the telephone. With this kind of equipment, the cry asking whether there was a doctor in the house could well be a thing of the past.
Other medical technology groups are working on applying telemedicine to countryside care. And at least one team wants to use telemedicine as a tool for disaster need—especially after earthquakes. On the whole, the trend is towards providing global access to medical data and experts' opinions.
But there is one problem. Bandwidth (宽带)is the limiting factor for sending complex medical pictures around the world —CT photos being one of the biggest bandwidth users. Communication satellites may be able to deal with the short-term needs during disasters such as earthquakes or wars. But medicine is looking towards both the second-generation Internet and third-generation mobile phones for the future of remote medical service.
Doctors have met to discuss computer-based tools for medical diagnosis, training and telemedicine. With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should start a new time when telemedicine and the sharing of medical information, experts, opinions and diagnosis are common. The writer mainly talks about _____ .
| A．the use of telemedicine |
| B．the online doctors |
| C．medical care and treatment |
| D．communication improvement |
The basis of remote diagnosis will be _____ .
| A．personal data assistance |
| B．some words of a patient |
| C．real physiological information |
| D．medical pictures from the Internet |
Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
| A．Patients don't need doctors in hospitals any more. |
| B．It is impossible to send a patient's signs over the telephone. |
| C．Many teams use telemedicine dealing with disasters now. |
| D．Broadband communications will become cheaper in the future. |
The "problem" in the fourth paragraph refers to the fact that _____ .
| A．bandwidth isn't big enough to send complex medical pictures |
| B．the second-generation of Internet has not become popular yet |
| C．communication satellites can only deal with short-term needs |
| D．there is not enough equipment for spreading the medical care |
When Gretch en Baxter gets home from work as a New York City book editor, she checks her cellphone at the door. "I think we are attached to these devices (装置)in a way that is not always positive, " says Baxter, who'd rather focus at home on her husband and 12-year-old daughter. "It's there but we get crazy sometimes and we don't know where it should stop. "
Americans are connected at unprecedented (前所未有的)levels—93% now use cellphones or wireless devices; one-third of those are "smartphones" that allow users to surf the Internet and check e-mails, among other things. The benefits are obvious： checking messages on the road, staying in touch with friends and family, efficiently using time once spent waiting around.
The downside： Often, we're effectively disconnecting from those in the same room.
That's why, despite all the technology that makes communicating easier than ever, 2010 was the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another. From texting at dinner to posting on Facebook at work or checking e-mails while on a date, the connectivity revolution is creating a lot of divided attention. Many analysts say it's time to step back and reassess.
"What we're going to see in the future is new opportunities for people to be connected like never before, " says Scott Campbell, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, who studies the social implications (暗示)of using mobile devices. "It can be a good thing. But I also see the traditional social structure is getting somewhat torn apart. "
Sherry Turkic, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self in Cambridge, Mass, wants to remind people that technology can be turned off. "Our human purpose is to really have connections with people," she says. "We have to reclaim (收回)it. It's not going to happen naturally." According to the first paragraph, Gretchen Baxter thinks _____ .
| A．cellphones are not always helpful |
| B．we benefit a lot from the invention of cellphones |
| C．using cellphones too much may be bad for health |
| D．cellphones play an important role in her life |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．People communicate more now than in the past. |
| B．Using mobile devices can focus people's attention quickly. |
| C．93% of Americans often use cellphones to surf the Internet. |
| D．The use of mobile devices has a negative effect on the traditional social structure. |
What is Sherry Turkle’s attitude towards using mobile devices?
| A．Positive. |
| B．Negative. |
| C．Confused. |
| D．Uncertain. |
The main purpose of the passage is to tell readers that _____ .
| A．something must be done for people to get a real connection with others |
| B．cellphones may be replaced by new devices |
| C．cellphones should be turned off on some occasions |
| D．people should have more connections with others |
Function of Mass Media
Mass media are tools of communication. Mass media allow us to record and pass information rap-idly to a large, scattered(分散的）audience. They extend our ability to talk to each other by helping us overcome barriers caused by time and space.
There are various ways in which mass media make daily life easier for us. First, they inform and help us keep a watch on our world. They gather and pass on information we would be unlikely or unable to get on our own.
Second, mass media help us to arrange time and life. What we talk about and what we think about are greatly influenced by the media. When people get together, they tend to talk about certain happenings in the newspapers or on TV. Because we are exposed(暴露）to different points of view through different kinds of media every day, we are able to evaluate(评价）all sides of a certain issue.
Third, the media are used to persuade people. A good example is advertisements through the media. Newspapers, magazines and TV are filled with all kinds of colorful, persuasive advertisements. Though many advertisements may not say openly that they want you to buy a certain product, they describe their products in such a way that you may want to buy them.
Fourth, the media also entertain. All of the media make some effort to entertain their audience. For instance, even though the newspaper is primarily a medium of information, it also contains entertain-ment features(特征）. Television, motion pictures, fiction books and some radio stations and magazines are devoted mainly to entertainment. It is estimated that in the future, the entertainment
function of mass media will become even more important than it is now. This passage mainly tells us __________.
| A．something about the function of mass media |
| B．something about the development of mass media |
| C．how the media entertain us |
| D．the types of mass media |
How many ways in which mass media help make daily life easier are mentioned in this passage?
| A．Two. |
| B．Three. |
| C．Four. |
| D．Five. |
It can be known from the passage that __________.
| A．from mass media, we know what is happening in the world |
| B．sometimes we arrange our time and life according to mass media |
| C．mass media's main purpose is to pass the information of advertisements |
| D．mass media can make people feel easy |
From the passage we know that __________.
| A．mass media are the only tools of communication |
| B．mass media make our life much more difficult |
| C．the media tell people truth at any time |
| D．in the future mass media will make us more relaxed |
Games originally are entertainment. Contem-porary games are very realistic and for this reason they are a source of great experience for the player and develop the imagination. Games are entertain-ment and even more than that. The statistics (统计）of the New York University led by Green claim that the player preferring active games get improvement of some types of brain activity. In particular, game players deal with problems of simulta-neously(同时地） tracking several moving objects at the average level of 30% better than people who do not play active computer video games. The "gaming" violent experience may not be the cause of violent behavior in reality. None of the playing experience will become the priority in making important decisions concerning problems in real life. A game is an abstraction(抽象概念）. A player gets abstract tasks and acts according to abstract rules.
Games are also the possibility to be whatever a person wants to be and to rest from the outside world for some time. But what if a person gets so much excited with the game scenes that he becomes violent in reality? Then, it proves that the games cause people to become violent in reality. But a psychologically healthy person will never confuse these two different worlds. A game is a virtual world with visual images very similar to human's. These images are nothing but playing obstacles(障碍）. A game may potentially give the opportunity to "destroy the obstacles”that may not be destroyed according to the rules but it is more about personal choice whether to do it or not. This leads us to the conclusion that violence is not a consequence but the cause. People who are originally prone to violence may get into a temper by games and perform violence in the “ real world ”. But in this case violence in games is just a simple justification(正当的理由）of the violent nature of the player. The passage is __________.
| A．a story |
| B．a descriptive writing |
| C．an argumentative writing |
| D．a scientific essay |
In the first paragraph the author used the statistics to prove that __________.
| A．games can provide experience for the players |
| B．games can help develop players' imagination |
| C．games can cause violent behavior |
| D．games are more than entertainment |
What is the author's attitude towards the "computer games”？
| A．"Violent games" can lead to the performance of violence in the real world. |
| B．Violence is not a consequence of the “ computer games” but the cause. |
| C．Games are just entertainment and nothing more. |
| D．The virtual world and the real world are just the same. |
The best title for this passage is __________.
| A．Violent games cause violence |
| B．Games-resulting in violence? |
| C．The cause of violence |
| D．The consequence of games |
What is eBay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes—the list goes on and on.
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child. At high school, he became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988，he worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started eBay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the web-site that he had to upgrade (升级)and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill, and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. Even in the great. com crashes of the late 1990s, eBay has gone from strength to strength. It is now one of the the most visited online shopping websites on the Internet.
eBay sells connections, not goods* putting buyers and sellers into contact with each other. All you have to do is make an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business： the world is your market place. Of course for each item (商品)sold eBay gets a percentage and that is a great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold.We learn from the text that eBay provides people with ________ .
| A．a way of buying and selling goods |
| B．a website for them to upgrade |
| C．a place to exhibit their own photos |
| D．a chance to buy things at low prices |
Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?
| A．For fun. |
| B．To make money. |
| C．For gathering the engineers. |
| D．To fulfill a task of his company. |
From "he has never looked back" in Paragraph 2 we learn that Peter ________ .
| A．did not feel lonely |
| B．was always hopeful |
| C．did not think about the past |
| D．became more and more successful |
How does eBay make money from its website?
| A．By bringing callers together. |
| B．By charging for each sale. |
| C．By listing items online. |
| D．By making e-photos. |