One of those big social networking sites, Facebook, has attracted over 58 million members. Commentator Melody Cramer is no longer one of them. Here is what she shares with us about her story.
I deleted all 1,281 of my co¬workers, second¬grade classmates and people who I don’t know at all. I shut down my account, completely. I’m 30, and I’ve been on Facebook since March of 2004, which makes me one of the website’s earliest users.
At first, I used it obsessively. If I had a free moment, I’d log on to see whether my friends had updated their profiles. I’d sit alone scrolling through these updates and then run into someone at a coffee shop and have nothing to say because I already knew everything about them, and they knew everything about me.
In November, I went to my ten¬year high school reunion and was not pleasantly surprised. Lauren became a model, Josh went to law school, Dina was a teacher. I hadn’t talked to any of them since graduation, but I knew exactly what they were doing, both now and last week. But lately, I’m overwhelmed(应接不暇). Facebook opened up to everyone, not just college students, and my co¬workers started to join, which meant they now knew what I was doing when I wasn’t at work.
And as a rule: you can NOT make friends with your coworkers because then they’ll ask you the next day. But I thought we were friends. And you are friends but not the kind of friends who tell each other what they do outside of work. So now the people you work with can see what you did last night, and you’re constantlyworrying what people might say about what you did last night instead of actually doing anything tonight.So I quit. I became a 30¬year¬old Luddite, a person who is strongly against technology development. I’ve returned to how the world worked when I was 20, before I knew when my friends and co¬workers were counting down the seconds to vacation or entering a complicated relationship. I’m hoping life will be a lot simpler now. People
will be more mysterious now that I actually have to talk to them to find out their favorite books or hobbies orneurosis(神经症). I don’t know when my college roommate goes to the supermarket, and I think I’m a better person for not knowing. In fact, you could say getting off a social network was the best thing I’ve done this week.
Melody Cramer decided to quit Facebook mainly because ______.
| A．she thought it wasted too much time |
| B．she was afraid of the strangers on her account |
| C．she was tired of exposing her life to co¬workers |
| D．she thought it made real¬world life less interesting |
We can learn from the passage that Melody Cramer ______.
| A．had a 10¬year membership of Facebook |
| B．used to be very objected to Facebook |
| C．was unpleasant to attend high school reunion |
| D．was one of the co-founders of Facebook |
Which of the following about Melody Cramer is TRUE?
| A．She owes her communication skills to Facebook. |
| B．She wishes she could be several years younger. |
| C．She prefers to face her friends and co-worders in reality. |
| D．She is no longer curious about anything around her. |
The best title for this passage can be _____.
| A．Addiction to Facebook |
| B．Farewell to Facebook |
| C．Friends Online |
| D．A Simpler Life |
Equipped only with a pair of binoculars (双筒望远镜) and ready to spend long hours waiting in all weathers for a precious glance of a rare bullfinch(红腹灰雀). Britain’s birdwatchers had long been supposed to be lovers of a minority sport. But new figures show birdwatching is fast becoming a popular pastime, with almost three million of us absorbed in our fluttering feathered friends.
Devoted birdwatchers, those prepared to travel thousands of miles for a sighting of a rare Siberian bird, are fast being joined by a new breed of follower whose interest is satiated by watching a few finches (雀科鸣鸟) on a Sunday walk or putting up a bird-box in the back garden.
“Almost three million UK birdwatchers is certainly possible if you include everyone with only a casual interest,” Stephen Moss said in his newly published book—A Bird in the Bush: a Social History of Birdwatching—which records the pursuit from the rich Victorian Englishman’s love of shooting rare birds to the less offensive observational tendencies of birdwatchers today.
Television wildlife programs have helped to fuel the new trend. Last summer, BBC 2’s Britain Goes Wild was a surprise success. It pulled in three million viewers and led to bird-houses selling out across the UK as 45,000 people promised to put up a box.
Birdwatchers’ networking system first came to the attention of the nation in 1989, when a birdwatcher caught sight of the first Vermivora chrysoptera — a golden-winged songbird from North America—to be seen in Britain. He put a message out on the network service Birdline, and next day 3,000 birdwatchers proved the full pull of a truly rare bird as they visited the Tesco car park in Kent, where it had settled. Today, birdwatchers can log on to www.birdline.co.uk or have news of the latest sightings texted to their phones.
“Multimillion-pound spending on binoculars, bird food and boxes point to the increasing numbers of birdwatchers,” said David Cromack, the editor of Bird Watching magazine, “The number of people involved is so big that they have great potential to influence government decisions affecting the environment.”
1. The word “satiated” in Paragraph 2 can be best replaced by “_______”.
A. affected B. shared C. satisfied D. narrowed
2. What happened after the message of seeing a Vermivora chrysoptera was put on the network?
A. Birdwatchers helped the rare bird settle in Kent.
B. Large numbers of birdwatchers went to view the bird.
C. Many birdwatchers logged on to the website for details.
D. Birdwatchers showed their determination to protect the rare bird.
3. Which of the following CANNOT be true according to the passage?
A. Television wildlife programs started the popular pastime of birdwatching.
B. The network service has contributed to the rapid development of birdwatching.
C. Birdwatching in Britain was long considered a sport with a small group of followers.
D. The current situation of birdwatching may promote the protection of the environment.
4. The passage mainly tells us about ______ in UK.
A. the history of birdwatchingB. a growing passion for birdwatching
C. the impact of media on birdwatching D. birdwatching as a popular expensive sport
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.5 billion people lack basic sanitation (卫生设备).
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometers.
Only 58 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are drinking safe water, and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1)Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2)Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations abroad. Simply put a single project by a U.S. organization can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3)Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S.-based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community-led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows: some organizations are large, other small-scale, some operate worldwide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. Support them generously.
1. The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that ________.
A. poverty can result in water-borne diseases
B. people have no access to clean drinking water
C. women’s rights are denied in some developing countries
D. safe drinking water should be a primary concern
2. The intended readers of the passage are ________.
A. Americans B. overseas sponsors C. CongressmenD. US-based water organizations
3. The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to _________.
A. get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries
B. donate money to people short of water through religious groups
C. fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem
D. take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations
4. What information will probably be provided following the last paragraph?
A. A variety of companies and their worldwide operation.
B. A list of nonprofit water organizations to make contact with.
C. Some ways to get financial aids from U.S. Congress.
D. A few water resources exploited by some world-famous organizations.
Princeton University
Location
The University is in Princeton, New Jersey. It is an hour's train ride south of New York City and an hour's train ride north of Philadelphia.
Students
There are 4,600 undergraduates（本科生）. There are also 1,900 graduate students, but Princeton is unusual among universities in having a student body made up largely of undergraduates.
Faculty
Princeton has about 700 full-time faculty members（教员）. There are another 300 or so part -time and visiting faculty. All faculty members at Princeton are expected to teach and research.
Degrees
Princeton offers two undergraduate degrees: the bachelor（学士） of arts (B.A.) degree and the bachelor of science in engineering (B.S.E.) degree.
Academic Year
An academic year runs from September to late May and lasts two terms (fall and spring). A normal course load is four or five courses per term, although many students take extra courses.
Residences
Princeton provides housing for all undergraduate students. Freshmen and second-year students are required to spend their first two years in one of five colleges. Each college has its own dining hall, common rooms and computer centers.
Fees and Expenses （Academic Year 2010-2011）
Tuition（学费）: $29,910
Room and board: $ 8,387
Other expenses (books, telephone, etc.): $ 3,083
Total: $ 41,380
1. How many kinds of faculty members are there in Princeton University?
A. One. B. Two. C. Three. D. Four.
2. In Princeton University, an undergraduate will pay at least ________ for the Academic Year 2010-2011 besides tuition.
A. $ 41,380 B. $ 52,850 C. $11,470 D. $ 8, 387
3. In what way is Princeton University different from other American universities according to the text?
A. It has five colleges.
B. Its students are mainly undergraduates.
C. It provides housing for all undergraduate students.
D. All the faculty members at Princeton are expected to teach and research.
4. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Princeton offers two undergraduate degrees.
B. An academic year lasts about nine months in Princeton University.
C. Undergraduates should spend their first two years in one of five colleges.
D. It's about an hour's train ride from Princeton University to the north of New York.
Tests administered（实施）to most elementary and high-school students in the United States exert an unfavorable influence on science and math teaching, according to a new ＄1 million study performed for the National Science Foundation. And because schools with high minority enrollments（入学）generally place a greater reliance（相信）on scores from these tests， the study finds, there tends to be “a gap in instructional emphases between high and low minority classrooms that differs from our national concern for the quality of education.”
George F. Madaus and his colleagues at Boston College analyzed not only the six most widely used national standardized tests, but also the tests designed to accompany (go with) the four most commonly used science and math texts in fourth-grade, eighth-grade, and high-school classrooms. Though curriculum（teaching program）experts argue that schools should place greater emphasis on problem solving and reasoning, the new study shows that the tests focus on lower-level skills—primarily mechanical memorization of routine formulas（公式）.
Researchers surveyed more than 2,200 math and science instructors，interviewing in depth some 300 teachers and administrators. Especially in schools with high minority enrollments, teachers reported feeling pressured to help students perform well on these tests. Some states judge schools and some schools determine teacher assignments（工作安排）based on students' test scores.
“With so much worry,” Madaus says, “teachers feel forced to focus their instruction on drilling what the tests will measure—at the expense of the more valuable，higher-level skills.”
1. The author of this article states that ___ _ .
A. the tests don't affect teaching in most elementary and high schools
B. the science and math teaching is influenced by the present tests
C. no study is performed on tests for the National Science Foundation
D. the United States exerts a strong influence on science and math teaching
2. It can be inferred that in high minority classrooms ____ _ ．
A. the students can not get high score from the testsB. scores from the tests are not important
C. instructional emphases are unfavorable D. teaching doesn't focus on the quality of education
3. According to the second paragraph，the study has discovered that ____ _ ．
A. emphasis of teaching is on problem solving and reasoning
B. curriculum is good for national standardized tests
C. the tests mainly center around the memorization of some formulas
D. routine formulas are not useful for students to memorize
4. According to Madaus' opinion，teachers are forced to ____ _ ．
A. evaluate（评估）students' skills every year B. suffer so much worry on the texts
C. teach what will be tested D. focus their instruction on useful drillings
III. 阅读理解
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从文后所给各题的四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Millions of people die of hunger in Southern Africa every year, but when Zambia was offered thousands of tons of free maize by the US, the government politely said no.
“We don’t know whether the food is safe,” said Zambia’s Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Dipak Patel.
His worries are shared by countries around the world that are in two minds about America’s genetically modified (GM) crops. Just last week, EU member nations were discussing whether or not to import GM sweet corn from the US.
Ever since people started farming, they have tried to crossbreed (杂交) plants to make them stronger or better tasting. At one time, only related plants could be crossed with each other.
But when GM techniques were developed in the 1970s, scientists were able to put a single gene from a living creature into an unrelated creature.
This means they can make crops more productive and resistant to disease by adding genes from other species. They can also create food with special characteristics, such as “golden rice”, which is enriched with vitamin A. But many people believe GM foods are a health risk.
“If left to me, I would certainly not eat GM foods,” said Scottish scientist Arpad Pusztai. “We are putting new things into food which haven’t been eaten before. The effects on the immune system are not easy to predict.”
At the moment, the official argument is that GM foods “are not likely to present risks for human health”. But there are still many questions to be answered as the foods are produced in different ways.
Some experts believe the genetic material added to plants can transfer to humans and give damage to our bodies. Further harm could be caused by the genes from GM plants crossbreeding with naturally produced crops.
1. We learn from the passage __________.
A. people have discovered that GM foods will do harm to human health
B. millions of Zambia people die of eating too much GM foods
C. people are still not sure if GM foods will do harm to human health
D. genetic material added to plants will damage our bodies sooner or later
2. What does “in two minds” in the third paragraph mean?
A. Unsure. B. Worried. C. Likely. D. Careless.
3. Which of the following statements is NOT true about GM foods?
A. It is produced from plants added genes from other species.
B. GM foods can have special characteristics.
C. GM foods will affect people’s immune system.
D. GM foods have been produced since 1970s.
4. What’s the author’s attitude?
A. Supportive. B. Neutral. C. Doubtful. D. Critical.