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May 28 (Reuters Life!) - A Japanese university is giving away Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) trendy iPhone to students for free, but with a catch: the device will be used to check their attendance.
The project, which is being tested ahead of its formal launch in June, involves 550 first and second year students and some staff of a department at Aoyama Gakuin University, which is located just outside Tokyo in Sagamihara city.
The school's iPhones are meant to create a mobile information network between students and professors, but they are also a convenient way for the teachers to take attendance in class. As students enter the room, instead of writing their name on a sheet, they simply type in their ID number and a specific class number into an iPhone application. To prevent students from logging in from home or outside class, the application uses GPS location data and checks which router the students have logged in to.
"We don't want to use this to simply take attendance. Our hope is to use this to develop a classroom where students and teachers can discuss various topics," professor Yasuhiro Iijima told Reuters as he demonstrated the application.
University officials insist the project is not intended to infringe on students' privacy or track them down.
"With Japanese cellphones it's possible that the location data is automatically sent. However, with the iPhone, you must always confirm before the GPS data can be sent," Iijima said.
Many of the students testing the system said they were happy with it.
"Up until now, we've been using little slips of paper to take attendance. But with a cell phone, you don't have to spend time collecting all of those and so I think it's quite nice," 20-year-old student Yuki Maruya.
When the system goes fully online next month, the university also hopes to provide video podcasts of lectures to help students who missed classes, or just can't remember their lessons.The news report mainly tells us that ______
| A．Iphone has got well developed in Japan |
| B．Iphone is to take attendance at Japanese universities |
| C．Iphone has been accepted by many students |
| D．Iphone is free of charge at Japanese universities |
The iphone being tested at Aoyama Gakuin University is mainly to _____
| A．help students to study hard |
| B．check students’ attendance |
| C．help learn the information network |
| D．develop a special classroom |
Teachers at Aoyama Gakuin University can finish taking attendance by asking students to_____
| A．write their names on the paper |
| B．Type in their ID and class numbers into iphone |
| C．log in from home or outside class ahead |
| D．put in right GPS location data and their router |
what about the future of Apple Inc’s iphone
| A．It still has many disadvantages |
| B．It goes against many students’ interest |
| C．It will receive some other uses. |
| D．It will avoid students’ being late for class |
Any mistake made in the printing of a stamp raises its value to stamp collectors. A mistake on one inexpensive postage stamp has made the stamp worth a million and a half times its original value.
The mistake was made more than a hundred years ago in the British colony of Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean. In 1847 an order for stamps was sent to a London printer — Mauritius was to become the fourth country in the world to issue stamps.
Before the order was filled and delivered, a ball was planned at Mauritius’ Government House, and stamps were needed to send out the invitations. A local printer was instructed to copy the design for the stamps. He accidentally inscribed the words “Post Office” instead of “Post Paid” on the several hundred stamps that he printed.
Today there are only twenty-six of these misprinted stamps left fourteen One Penny Orange-Reds and twelve Two Penny Blues. Because of the Two Penny Blue’s rareness and age, collectors have paid as much as ＄16 800 for it.Over a century ago, Mauritius _______.
| A．was an independent country |
| B．belonged to India |
| C．was one of the British colonies |
| D．was a small island in the Pacific Ocean |
The mistake on the stamps was made _______.
| A．in Mauritius | B．at Mauritius Government House |
| C．in a post office | D．in London |
Stamp collectors have paid 16 800 for _______.
| A．fourteen One Penny Orange-Reds |
| B．twelve Two Penny Blues |
| C．one One Penny Orange-Red |
| D．one Two Penny Blue |
An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him. You may say something like this, “I’m afraid it’ll have to be some place cheap, as I have very little money.” The other person may say, “OK, I’ll meet you at McDonald’s.” This means that two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also say, “Oh, no. I want to take you to lunch at Johnson’s”, or “I want you to try the steak(牛排) there. It’s great.” This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn’t pay for the meal. You may just say, “Thank you. That would be very nice.”
American customs about who pays for dates(约会) are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But, today, a university girl or a woman in the business world will usually pay her own way during the day. If a man asks her to dinner or a dance outside the working hours, it means “come as my guest”. So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning. In the old days _______ often paid for all the meals.
| A．women | B．men |
| C．university students | D．businessmen |
“To go Dutch” means to _______.
| A．go to play outside | B．eat out |
| C．pay for oneself | D．go to a cheaper eating place |
“McDonald’s” here means _______.
| A．a tea house | B．a gate |
| C．an office | D．an eating place |
If you feel friendly to the person, _______.
| A．you should pay for him | B．you needn’t pay for him |
| C．you can accept his invitation | D．you can’t accept his invitation |
We’d better know who will pay for the meal _______.
| A．at the beginning | B．at the end |
| C．in the middle of the meal | D．after drinking |
The deserts of the world are not all covered with sand. Many of them have surfaces of rock or clay or small stones. They are not flat, either. They often have high hills and deep valleys. There is some plants’ life in many parts of the desert. There is little rain in the desert, but it does fall often enough for most plants.
The deserts of the world are not uninhabited(not lived by people). People also live outside oases(绿洲), but these people are not farmers. They have camels, goats, donkeys, sheep, etc. These animals can live on the desert plants and do not need much water.
The people of the desert have to move constantly from place to place, they must always look for grass or desert plants for their animals. They usually live in tents. When there is no more food for their animals, they fold up their tents, pat them on their camels and donkeys, and move to another place. In good years, when there is enough food for their animals, they trade their skins and their goats and camel hairs with the people of oases for wheat and fruit. But in bad years, when there is not enough food for their animals, the people of the desert would attack the oases people. But they are also hospitable, no man in the desert would ever refuse to give a stranger food and water.according to the passage, deserts are mostly made up of _______.
| A．clay | B．rock |
| C．sand | D．stones |
The underlined word “hospitable” has the meaning of being _______.
| A．brave | B．cruel |
| C．strange | D．kind |
In the desert _______.
| A．it rains in spring only |
| B．it rains for a short time every month |
| C．there is some rain, but far from enough |
| D．the rainfall is just enough for the plants |
People live _______.
| A．only inside the oases | B．only outside the oases |
| C．both inside and outside the oases | D．in places with regular rainfalls |
From the passage we know that life _______.
| A．is hard in deserts | B．is happy in deserts |
| C．is impossible in deserts | D．in deserts in much better now |
Some scientists warn that ice near the Earth’s Poles may indeed be melting. This “polar meltdown” may be the first sign that the Earth is heating up. We could be in very serious trouble if this trend continues. It is estimated that a meltdown of as little as 10 percent of Antarctica’s ice would raise sea levels around the globe by 4 to 9 meters. Floods would cover low-lying regions and turn coastal cities like New York and New Orleans into real life underwater world.
Scientists first predicted in the 1970s that heat trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere could cause a polar meltdown. Many now believe that human activities are turning up the heat. When we burn fossil fuels like coal and oil, we add carbon dioxide(CO2) gas to the Earth’s atmosphere. Cutting down trees also makes CO2 levels raise because trees normally soak up CO2 to make food. Scientists say higher CO2 levels strengthen the “greenhouse effect” and could increase the Earth’s temperature. In fact, CO2 levels have risen by 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Over the past three years, satellite measurements have shown a sea level rise of about a quarter inch worldwide. “If nothing is done to reduce fossil-fuel pollution and global warming, sea levels will rise even more.” says geologist Richard Alley.
But even Alley admits that a polar meltdown would take time. The ice in Antarctica and Arctic locks up nearly nine times the volume of water contained in all the world’s rivers and lakes. These are such big “ice cubes” and it would probably take thousands of years to melt them.
Another scientist Charles Bentley doesn’t think a meltdown will happen at all. “Even if warmer temperatures begin to melt polar-ice,” he says, “the excess moisture would most likely be redeposit as snow.” In other words, the melted ice would evaporate into the atmosphere, refreeze, and fall as rain and snow over the Poles.What consequence of global warming is mentioned in the passage?
| A．More tropical storms. | B．More tropical diseases. |
| C．Changes in farm productivity. | D．Coastal flooding. |
Which of the following statements does the second paragraph support?
| A．CO2 in the atmosphere cannot keep the heat from escaping into space. |
| B．The increase of CO2 gas may warm the planet and help to melt polar ice. |
| C．Cutting down trees helps to greatly reduce CO2 levels. |
| D．The end of the short-lived age of fossil fuels is already in sight. |
Geologist Richard Alley most likely agrees that _______.
| A．the sea-level rise can be prevented by cutting back on energy-consuming activities |
| B．the recent breaking off of ice blocks from Antarctica is just a natural part of a long-term cycle |
| C．Antarctica temperatures have significantly changed since the Industrial Revolution |
| D．the polar meltdown may be an accidental change of climate rather than a sign of global warming |
Charles Bentley believes that a polar meltdown will not occur because _______.
| A．governments around the world are beginning to reduce CO2 levels in the air |
| B．a melting of the polar ice cannot be achieved with the present technologies |
| C．the melted ice in the polar areas would change into snow and rain over the Poles |
| D．the sun’s heat would have no chance of being absorbed by the polar ice |
In which paragraph does the author mention the immense quantities of polar ice?
| A．In the second paragraph. | B．In the third paragraph. |
| C．In the fourth paragraph. | D．In the fifth paragraph. |
A desert is a beautiful land of silence and space. The sun shines, the wind blows, and time and space seem endless. Nothing is soft. The sand and rocks are hard, and many of the plants even have hard needles instead of leaves.
The size and location(分布) of the world’s deserts are always changing. Over millions of years, as climates change and mountains rise, new dry and wet areas develop. But within the last 100 yeas, deserts have been growing at a frightening speed. This is partly because of natural changes, but the greatest makers are humans.
Humans can make deserts, but humans can also prevent their growth. Algeria Mauritania is planting a similar wall around Nouakchott, the capital. Iran puts a thin covering of petroleum(石油) on sandy areas and plants trees. The oil keeps the water and small trees in the land, and men on motorcycles(摩托车) keep the sheep and goats away. The USSR and India are building long canals to bring water to desert areas. In this passage, “needles” refers to _______.
| A．small, thin pieces of steel. |
| B．long, thin pieces of branches. |
| C．small pointed growth on the stem(茎) of a plant. |
| D．small, thin pieces of sticks. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The greatest desert makers are humans. |
| B．There aren’t any living things in the deserts. |
| C．Deserts have been growing quickly. |
| D．The size of the deserts is always changing. |
People in some countries are fighting a battle against _______.
| A．the growth of deserts | B．the disappearance of desert plants |
| C．natural changes | D．congenital climate |
We can guess that Mauritania and Algeria belong to _______.
| A．Asian countries | B．American countries |
| C．European counties | D．African countries |
Choose the sentence which best gives the main idea of the passage.
| A．The deserts of the world are always changing. |
| B．Man is to take measures to control the growth of the world’s deserts. |
| C．Deserts are lands of silence and space. |
| D．Deserts have grown at a fast pace in the past 10 years. |