Many of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold it at a high angle--- making your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more defined. You turn to your best side and click.
There it is - your selfie.
Over the past year, "selfie" has become a well-known term across the globe. This August the Oxford dictionary added the word to their online dictionary and define it as: "A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website."
Today it's not difficult to find social networking pages full of photos people have taken of themselves and their friends. And selfie culture has become especially relevant for young people. As many as 91 percent of teenagers have posted photos of themselves online, according to a recent survey by the US Pew Research Center.
So what are the reasons for the rise of selfie culture?
"The craziness about the selfie celebrates regular people," Pamela Rutledge, a professor at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, told Vogue magazine. "There are many more photographs available now of real people than models."
Posting selfies also allows you to control your image online. "I like having the power to choose how I look, even if I'm making a funny face:' Samantha Barks, 19, a high school student in the US, told Vogue.
In addition to self-expression and documentation (记录), selfies "allow for a close friendship for long-distance friends, because you can see each other's faces every day", wrote Casey Miller at The Huffington Post.
But US psychologist Jill Weber is concerned that selfies might lead to social problems. "There's a danger that your self-esteem (自尊心) may start to be tied to the comments and '1ikes' you get when you post a selfie, and they aren't based on who you are - they're based on what you look like," Weber told Vogue. "When you get nothing or a negative response, your confidence can decrease."Why does the writer mention the fact that "selfie" was added to an online dictionary?
| A．To inform readers where to find the meaning of the word. |
| B．To recommend the dictionary to readers. |
| C．To show that the online dictionary is widely used. |
| D．To indicate that the word has become very popular. |
According to the passage, "selfie" mainly involves _______.
| A．young people | B．models | C．students | D．celebrities |
How many reasons are mentioned for the rise of selfie?
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
Many people post photos of themselves online to _________.
| A．make fun of themselves | B．become powerful |
| C．beautify themselves | D．choose how they look |
In Jill Weber's opinion, selfies may cause one to _________.
| A．be cheated | B．feel discouraged |
| C．lose money | D．succeed more easily |
There’re five people at our table, including myself. I’ve already learnt a great deal about them in the short time we’ve been at sea, although we rarely meet except at meal times.
First of all, there’s Dr Stone. He’s a man of about sixty five, with gray hair and a friendly face. He gave up his work a short while ago and is now traveling round the world before he retires to some quiet country village. As a young man, he served for many years as a doctor in the army and visited many countries. He’s told us a lot about the city to which we are going.
Then there’s “Grandmother”. I call her that because her name escapes me. In spite of being a grandmother, she looks rather young, not more than fifty, she’s on her way to visit a daughter who went to Australia some years ago. Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grandchildren, whom she has never seen.
Then there’s a man I don’t care for very much, an engineer by the name of Barlow. He has been on leave in England and is now returning to his work in Singapore.
The other person who sits at our table is Mrs. Hunt. I’ve found out hardly anything about her. She’s extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult（咨询）the doctor about children’s various illness. She’s on her way to join her husband in India.
64. What can we know about Mr. Stone?
A. He is a doctor in the army now.
B. He is going to give up his work.
C. He knows a lot about the city the author is going to.
D. He has been retired for many years.
65. The writer calls the second person “Grandmother” because_______.
A. she looks old B. She has three daughters
C. he respects her D. he can’t think of her name
66. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Dr Stone lives in a quiet village now. B. “Grandmother” is an Australian.
C. Barlow works in Singapore D. Mrs Hunt is a woman of many words.
Four hundred and three babies are crying loudly. Do you know how to make them quiet in 41 seconds? There is an amazing new product on sale in Japan which does exactly this. It is an LP (a long-playing record) of sounds from inside a mother's body, which a hospital doctor recorded. In tests with the record she played the LP to 403 crying babies. After 41 seconds none of the babies was crying and 161 of them were sleeping.
The record began as an experiment by Professor Hajime Minooka of the Nippon Medical University near Tokyo. He was looking for something natural that helps new-born babies go to sleep. The sound of the mother's heart-beat and other body sounds are the things the babies heard inside their mothers. They feel safe and happy when they hear these sounds again. And they go to sleep.
Hospitals in Osaka and Tokyo are using the LP. 10,000 young couples are using it too. Toshiba Music Company who make and sell the records are very happy. One and a half million couples（夫妇) marry every year in Japan. Many will have babies, so the LP will definitely（明确的、干脆地) be a hit!
60.The experiment was made on ___ babies.
A. 10,000B. 564C. 403D. 161
61. What is TRUE according to the text?
A. About 55% of the crying babies fall asleep after 41 seconds hearing the LP.
B. The LP sounds were first recorded by Professor Hajime Minooka.
C. The LP is produced and sold by Toshiba Music Company.
D. One million and a half babies are born in Japan every year.
62. Babies feel ___ when they hear these LP sounds.
A. the sounds be their mothers' voices
B. as if they were inside their mothers
C. the music natural and soft
D. themselves sleeping together with their mothers
63 "Many will have babies, so the LP will definitely be a hit!" The word "hit" means"____".
A. popularityB. amazementC. strikeD. experiment
When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand French. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice and easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstandings began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Daisy a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes, "I said, "I want to give my friend a ring. "
"Well, that's nice, "he said. "Are you getting married? But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there's a phone box?"
"Oh! "he said. "There's a phone downstairs. "
When at last we met, Daisy explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry, "she said to me. "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You' ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
56. The writer thought ______ in America.
A. he wouldn't have any language difficulties
B. he would not understand the Americans
C. the Americans might not understand him
D. he would have difficulty at the airport
57. The writer wanted to _____.
A. buy a ring for his friend
B. make a call to his friend
C. go to the telephone company
D. see his friend off
58. From the passage we can see that "give somebody a ring" ______.
A .means the same in America as in England
B. means "call somebody" to the old man
C. has two different meanings
D. means "be going to get married" in England
59. In the last paragraph the underlined word "they" refers to ______.
A. the old man and the boyB. the Americans
C. the British D. the French
Bells sound. Lighted messages appear. Men and women work at computers. They talk on the telephone. At times they shout and run around.
This noisy place is a stock exchange (证券交易所). Here expert salespeople called brokers buy and sell shares(股份) of companies. The shares are known as stocks. People who own stock in a company own part of that company.
People pay brokers to buy and sell stocks for them. If a company earns money, its stock increases in value. If the company does not earn money, the stock decreases in value. Brokers and investors(投资者)carefully watch for any changes on the Big Board. That is the name given to a list of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange.
Investors and brokers watch the Big Board to see if the stock market is a bull market or a bear market. In a bear market, prices go down. In a bull market, prices go up.
Investors in a bear market promise to sell a stock in the future at a set price. But the investor does not own the stock yet. He or she waits to buy it when the price drops.
The meaning of a bear market is thought to come from an old story about a man who sold the skin of a bear before he caught the bear. An English dictionary of the sixteen hundreds said, to sell a bear is to sell what one has not.
Word experts dispute the beginnings of the word bull in the stock market. But some say it came from the long connection of the two animals – bulls and bears – in sports that were popular years ago in England.
Investors always care about the possibility of a company failing. In the modern world, a company that does not earn enough profit (利润)is said to go belly up. A company that goes belly up dies like a fish. Fish turn over on their backs when they die. So they are stomach, or belly up.
Stock market investors do not want that to happen to a company. They want a company whose stock they own to earn more profit than expected. This would sharply increase the value of the stock. Investors are hoping for a windfall(横财).
72. The first paragraph is written for the purpose of ________.
A. making readers interested in buying stocks
B. telling readers the place is so busy
C. telling readers people in the stock exchange are busy
D. attracting readers’ attention to the topic of the passage
73. A fresher of a stock market probably turns to a (n) _______ for advice.
A. company B. investor
C. broker D. word expert
74. John bought his stock from a company which has gone belly up this year. We can infer _________ .
A. John would lose money this year
B. John would earn money this year
C. the stock market is a bear market
D. the stock market is a bull market
75. The reason why investors pay attention to the company whose stock they own is that _______ .
A. the company belongs to them
B. the company earns much money
C. they work for the company
D. they are financially connected with the company
Tom was a clever boy, but his parents were poor, so he had to work in his spare time and during his holidays to pay for his education. In spite of this, he managed to get to the university, but it was so expensive to study there that during the holiday he found it necessary to get two jobs at the same time so as to make enough money to pay for his studies.
One summer he managed to get a job in a butcher’s shop(肉店)during the day-time, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learnt to cut meat quite nicely, so the butcher often left him to do all the serving while he went to the back room to do the accounts(账目). In the hospital , on the other hand, he was , of course , allowed to do the simplist jobs, like helping to lift people and to carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both at the butcher’s shop and at the hospital, Tom had to wear white clothes.
One evening at the hospital, Tom had to carry a woman from her bed to the place where she was to have an operation. The woman was already feeling frightened at the thought of the operation before he came to get her, but when she saw Tom, that finished her.
“No! No!” she cried. “Not my butcher! I won’t be operated on by my butcher!” and fainted away(昏厥).
68. Tom made enough money by ________.
A. studying in the university B. working in a butcher’s shop
C. doing two jobs D. cutting meat well
69. Tom was a student, but at the same time he was__________.
A. a butcher and a doctor B. a manager and a doctor
C. an assistant D. a manager
70. The woman patient recognized Tom because ____________.
A. he was wearing white clothes
B. he had sold meat to her
C. he was now working in the hospital
D. he was going to operate on her
71. When she saw Tom, that finished her, the sight of Tom _________.
A. plunged her into deep sorrow
B. made her decide not to have an operation
C. broke her heart
D. took all her strength and courage away