Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end—with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste. " "Drink Good'n Wet Root Beer. " "Fill up with Pacific Gas. " Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of “ You Need It! Buy It Now!"?
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed—new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you've sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests—even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.According to the writer, long bus rides and TV shows are similar in that __________.
| A．they are both long and boring, with commercials disturbing you all the time |
| B．they both have a beginning, middle, and an end, with commercials in between |
| C．they are both exciting, with new things to see in every three or four minutes |
| D．they both make you sit in your seat uncomfortably for a very long time |
The writer sounds as if he likes __________.
| A．reckless bus drivers | B．sleeping on bus trips |
| C．salty food | D．commercials |
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are __________.
| A．tiring | B．comfortable | C．exciting | D．boring |
When passengers get tired, they tend to __________.
| A．watch the commercials | B．eat food |
| C．cross their legs | D．change their ways to sit |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To warn people of the danger on long bus trips. |
| B．To persuade readers to take a long bus trip. |
| C．To describe the writer's own feelings from long bus trips. |
| D．To explain how bus trips and television shows differ. |
Back those photos up
The images were striking. Homes on the East Coast were washed away by Superstorm Sandy. People were in tears, picking up faded photographs, among their only remaining possessions.
If that doesn’t move you to get serious about safekeeping your lifetime of memories, what will? The digital age offers tools never imaginable before—including one-click access to a lifetime of family photos.
Here is a brochure on how to back up (存) your photos and save them online, where they can live forever and be accessible in good times and bad.
Scanning
The first step for those old photos is to scan them and save them to a digital format. Most printers come with scanners these days, so that’s an easy but extremely time-consuming step.
Storing the photos
With your scans in place, import the photos into your computer, and back them up.
You could make multiple copies of the disks and spread them to loved ones. Or you could choose external(外接的) hard drives or USB thumb drive, and add your photo and video collection from your computer.
Online backup
If you need lots of space, look at a pure online backup service, Caronite.
Caronite backs up 300 million files daily. Once you sign up, it starts to pick up everything you have on your hard drive. But photo collection on your computer’s main hard drive charges for $59 a year.
Cloud Storage
For folks who don’t need automatic backup, but instead want to take a more active approach, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft’s SkyDrive let you store files online by yourself, share and instantly access them. All offer free options—2GB of free storage for Dropbox, 5GB for Google and 7GB for SkyDrive. But if you want more, you need to pay.
Bottom Line
The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and easiest. But drives can fail. Online services are more expensive, but more secure. With more of us switching back and forth between our computers, such services are the best way to get access to our data from wherever we are.Why does the author mention Superstorm Sandy?
| A．To tell the background of the scanning photos.. |
| B．To attract the readers’ interest in the backups. |
| C．To describe a severe natural disaster. |
| D．To win the readers’ sympathy. |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．Scanning photos takes little time but costs a lot. |
| B．The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and safest. |
| C．Google Drive offers unlimited free photo storage on line. |
| D．Caronite charges for backing up photos from hard drive. |
Which of the following allows storing files automatically?
| A．Caronite. | B．Dropbox. |
| C．SkyDrive. | D．Flash drive. |
The main purpose of the passage is to _____.
| A．tell real stories about storage services |
| B．describe the functions of storage services |
| C．introduce some of the storage services |
| D．argue about the advantage of storage services |
Mrs. Squirrel and I Negotiated Terms
I was sitting in the room reading when I heard a loud noise. To defend my home from break-in, I picked up my defense weapon--- a broom and went out. There on the roof of my porch（门廊）, I saw a grey fluffy squirrel. I drove her away with the broom, but the next day I heard her again.
I searched squirrels on the net and found because their teeth keep growing, they have to constantly chew on things to shorten their teeth. This was disturbing so I asked my husband to call in some wildlife control people.
On Monday morning two men showed up, with guns in their hands. I pointed uneasily to the hole in my porch roof. They held up their guns. Suddenly I saw in my mind the baby nursery inside. I stopped them and confirmed that they wouldn’t harm her. They hesitated, but finally put down their guns. Then they brought out a bottle of deodorizer（除臭剂）and sprayed it into the squirrel’s home. They told me she would not like the smell and would leave.
There was no sign of Mrs. Squirrel, so they blocked the hole, took mychequefor $250 and left.
Shortly after they left, Mrs. Squirrel returned from her shopping trip. She was mad at being
driven out and began feverishly clawing at the porch roof. In order to stop the destruction of my home, I drove her away with the broom again.
Each day thereafter, Mrs. Squirrel continued her attack on my possession. I then called the company to report that “SHE’S BAAAAAACK…” The receptionist said that if Mrs. Squirrel had managed to find another way into my porch roof, it would be a new charge. I replied I couldn’t continue contributing my husband’s hard-earned income to their silly wildlife experts and hang up.
I went to the porch and banged on the roof. Mrs. Squirrel came out and glared at me. We negotiated some terms, came to an agreeable arrangement and went back into our respective homes.
All is quiet these days, although large quantities of materials have been removed from my garage wall and my daughter claims that some of her doll-house furniture has disappeared. I still hope that Mrs. Squirrel would leave, but I will wait until it is warmer and hopefully until after the birth of the little ones.What did the author think of the squirrel at first?
| A．Dangerous. | B．Troublesome. |
| C．Interesting. | D．Clever. |
Why didn’t the author ask the wildlife control people to come again?
| A．She thought the company charged too much. |
| B．She worried about the safety of the squirrel. |
| C．She decided to drive away the squirrel herself. |
| D．She doubted the ability of the wildlife control people. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Getting rid of the squirrel needs patience. |
| B．The squirrel has destroyed the author’s house. |
| C．The author has developed affection for the squirrel. |
| D．The author signed an agreement with Mrs. Squirrel. |
The author has written the passage in a (an) ________ way.
| A．persuasive | B．serious |
| C．amusing | D．informative |
Antarctica's icy lakes are home to a surprisingly diverse (various) community of viruses, including some that were not identified ( 确认) before.
At first sight, Antarctica's freshwater lakes don't seem very hospitable to life. They remain frozen for a good nine months out of the year, and they contain very few nutrients. Some of these lakes have little animal life and are ruled by microorganisms(微生物), including algae(海藻）, bacteria, protozoans (原生动物）and viruses.
With few animal and microbial predators (微生物的捕食性动物) around, viruses likely play an important role in controlling the number of other microorganisms, the researcher says. However, these viruses have been historically hard to study since many cannot be grown in a lab. But thanks to new technology, scientists can identify viruses without needing to grow them.
“We are just starting to uncover the world of viruses, and this is changing the way we think about viruses and the role they play in microbial ecosystems (微生物的生态系统)," said Antonio Alcami, a researcher from the Spanish Research Council.
A virus is little more than a package of DNA surrounded by a capsule structure. To survive, viruses must attack, or infect, living cells and use the host's equipment to reproduce.
Alcami and his colleagues analyzed DNA from viruses found in water samples collected from Antarctica's Lake Limnopolar, a surface lake on Livingston Island. They found nearly 10,000 species, including some small DNA viruses that had never before been identified. In total, the viruses were from 12 different families, some of which may be completely new to science, the researchers suggest.
The results show this Antarctic lake supports a virus community that's more diverse than most aquatic(水生的) environments studied in the world so far — a surprising find considering that the polar region is generally thought to have low biological variety due to the extreme environmental conditions. The scientists guess the newly discovered viruses may have got used to growing in such hard conditions.
The team also found the community of viruses changed greatly depending on the season. When the lake was ice-covered in the spring, small viruses ruled the liquid water under the ice mostly, but in the summer months when the ice melted, the lake was home to mostly larger viruses.
“It looks like a completely different lake in summer," Alcami said. The scientists think the change might be due to an increase in algae in the summertime, which affects the larger viruses.
The researchers hope to find out whether any of the viruses are unique to Antarctica. If so, that would shed light on (为…提供线索) whether microbial life developed independently in Antarctica, which has been separated for millions of years, or they were introduced there more recently.The underlined word hospitable in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to ________.
| A．pleasant | B．disturbing |
| C．harmful | D．complex |
Why are viruses likely to play an important role in the icy water environment?
| A．Viruses are stronger and more ready to attack than other microorganisms. |
| B．Viruses are better at attacking other living cells than other microorganisms. |
| C．Viruses survive well in a place with few animal and microbial predators. |
| D．Viruses exist in larger quantities than other microorganisms. |
What do scientists think of viruses on Antarctica?
| A．Their discoveries of viruses there have made them change the way they think about viruses. |
| B．They were not surprised at all to find such a large quantity of viruses in an icy lake. |
| C．They think the viruses they found on Antarctica may do harm to people on earth. |
| D．They believe the discoveries of new viruses may help them find cure of diseases. |
Which of the following about the viruses is NOT correct?
| A．10,000 species of viruses including some newly-identified ones were found in the lake. |
| B．The community of viruses changed greatly depending on the season. |
| C．Scientists have found that many new viruses discovered there are unique to Antarctica. |
| D．The appearance of larger viruses in summer might have something to do with an increase in algae. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A research center was set up on Antarctica by scientists. |
| B．Thousands of more deadly viruses have been found on Antarctica. |
| C．A huge diverse community of viruses have been found in a lake on Antarctica. |
| D．Viruses on Antarctica have made scientists realize that viruses are important. |
Over thousands of years, human beings have been learning about more and more about this world, and have figured out many ways to avoid risks and make our lives easier. Even in ancient times, we used fire to frighten away animals, built simple boats to cross waters, and armed ourselves with sharpening stones and sticks. Nowadays, with advanced technology and instrument, people know the world better than ever. It’s surprising how much people already know about this world and how much we’ve changed our lives by using the knowledge we have.
But if you think we know everything, that’s wrong. I guess sometimes we have to accept the limitation on our understanding of the world. No matter how much we’re already known about the world, there are things that remain mysterious. I learned this from my pregnancy (妊娠) which ended in the 6th month, due to a placental abruption (胎盘早剥). I started to see my OB/GYN (产科医生) every month, taking vitamins regularly, doing all the lab tests to make sure we were expecting a healthy baby. All the results looked promising, and we thought we would have a healthy baby girl in January next year. Even in the week before placental abruption, when I was in hospital because of a sudden bleeding, doctors didn’t believe there were any bad possibilities after reading my blood tests. Unfortunately it still happened. Later, I asked my doctor “So what caused this?” She said, “I don’t know. We probably will never know.”
After leaving the hospital, I sometimes do feel frustrated for what happened. But I already accept the fact that there are simply things that we do not know. No matter how well you plan and monitor your life there are uncertainties that can not be predicted and thus can not be avoided. We are only human beings.
Her name was Janet. She came to the world in April, and left us 6 months later. Though we never had the chance of meeting her, she is always our beloved daughter.
In the late May 2013, during our first OB visit, we saw a little heart beating happily inside its mother. We couldn’t even tell that was a baby, but we knew the magic was happening.
The first three months was a disaster, Janet showed her power by making her mama throw up every day. Daddy became the cook of the family, and spent hours learning new dishes to please his picky wife.
In the 12th week, we saw her again during an OB screening. When the doctor tried to measure her, she suddenly waved her hand to us, as if saying “I know you are spying on me again.”
Every regular OB check became our favorite experience, when we could hear her heart beating and knew she was enjoying herself. In the 18th week, one day when daddy was singing, she suddenly kicked her mama. We never felt so happy. Since then, she became more and more naughty, doing all sorts of exercise in her warm little house. We started to think about names, decorate her pink room, and shared the news with our friends. For young parents, there are always a lot to learn!
Then it was the end of 25th week. A sudden bleeding terrified mama and daddy. After staying in the hospital for three days, things looked all right again, and Janet did not seem to be affected. However, the night after we went out of the hospital, a much worse contraction(痉挛) started which caused placental abruption. When we went back to the hospital, mama survived from an emergency operation, but Janet’s heart was no longer beating.
Janet, thank you for all the joy you brought to us. We love you and we will miss you forever. Rest in peace!Paragraph One impresses us with ________.
| A．man’s frightening away animals |
| B．people crossing lakes and rivers |
| C．people making modern weapons |
| D．man’s ability to know the world |
What happened to the baby girl?
| A．She died six months after birth |
| B．She died in a medical accident. |
| C．She died before she was born |
| D．She died from lack of equipment. |
What does the writer mean by saying “We are only human beings.”?
| A．We can not avoid risks and make our lives easier. |
| B．We have to accept the limitation of human knowledge. |
| C．We can change our lives by using the knowledge we have. |
| D．We know the world better with advanced technology. |
The writer’s detailed description of Janet’s growth shows that ________.
| A．the world is hard to predict |
| B．medical science is powerful |
| C．the mother’s love is endless |
| D．life is full of fun and mystery. |
The tone (笔调) of the passage is ________.
| A．emotional | B．pitiful |
| C．encouraging | D．hopeless |
In our world today, the media and entertainment industries are constantly focusing on beauty over brains. Movies, television shows, commercials, and magazines all make use of models and actors whose wonderful appearance will help sell their products. And make more money for the companies.
As our country become crazy about reducing the obesity numbers, eating disorder statistics continue to increase due to the push for thinner people. Even children as young as primary school age have begun to worry about the numbers that appear on the scale. I agree obesity is a serious medical condition that can lead to many health problems, but many of us try to lose weight for appearance purposes rather than our health. It seems that “fat” has become a new “ugly”.
Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Wisconsin television hostess Jennifer Livingston, who is 235 pounds, received an email from a local security guard named Kenneth Krause. In the email Krause attacked the mother of three, writing, “Your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular.”
Days later on live television, Livingston reacted to this email by responding, “The truth is that I am overweight. But to the person who wrote to me that email, do you think I don’t know that? You know nothing about me but what you see on the outside. And I am much more than a number on the scale.”
While Livingston is not denying her size, she does suffer from hypothyroidism, a hormone (荷尔蒙) disorder that makes it harder to lose weight. Krause doesn’t know that Livingston has also been trying to change her diet and keep a regular exercise since the summer, and has already lost 8 pounds.
What kind of people have we become when we criticize and attack other people we don’t even know? Haven’t we realized by now that weight does not determine character, talent, or qualities?
Today, it seems that a vast majority of people care more about how they look rather than what is inside. Negative attitudes towards heavier people can be seen worldwide because of the growing obesity problem.
The truth is that every person is built differently; we all come in different shapes and sizes. That someone is heavier doesn’t mean they eat large amounts of junk food and hang around all the day. Similarly, even though a person is thin, that doesn’t mean they are necessarily healthy and fit.
If you are reading this and you are fighting with your weight or your appearance, please recognize that you are beautiful and special in your own way. You are worth so much more than you realize, and even if I don’t know you, I respect and support you.
Beauty is not determined by size; it is determined by how we treat others and respect ourselves. Just as the talented film actress Kirstie Alley put it, “There’s a lot more to life than how fat or thin you are.”From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.
| A．fat people are sure to suffer from eating disorder |
| B．models will be out of work if they do not lose weight |
| C．many people nowadays focus too much on appearance |
| D．children in primary schools care little about their weight. |
The writer mentioned the email written by Kenneth Krause in order to tell us ________.
| A．some people still have negative attitudes towards fat people |
| B．Kenneth Krause is an unfriendly person who likes attacking the fat |
| C．we should make an effort to help the fat improve their physical condition |
| D．the fat can not act as a suitable example for the community’s young people |
What do we know about Jennifer Livingston according to the passage?
| A．She has been trying to keep a regular exercise all the time. |
| B．She has already realized her physical condition. |
| C．She is prevented from losing weight because of a kind of hormone. |
| D．She is often attacked by a local security guard because of her shape. |
The article mainly tells us the message that________.
| A．the thin are usually healthier than the fat |
| B．happiness lies first of all in health |
| C．health is more important than appearance |
| D．beauty means more than appearance |
In the writer’s opinion, ________.
| A．“fat” has become a new “ugly” |
| B．your size shows who you are |
| C．the fat should be careful about losing weight |
| D．fat people shouldn’t lose weight |