If you hear the sound of a handset beeping(手机响) in a bag or pocket, you could be forgiven for thinking that someone has received a text message. But nowadays there are so many different ways of messaging someone that it could spell the death of the traditional text as we know it.
Text messaging, or texting, is the art of sending a short, electronic message between two mobile phones or tablets(平板电脑). Users pay a certain amount to send messages via(通过) SMS—short message service. But in the last few years, messaging in this way has been on the decline(下降).
The rise of smartphones and tablets has seen an increase in the use of instant messaging apps(即时通信应用程序) , which take the place of traditional texts. Using wireless Internet connections, people can send limitless numbers of IMs to their friends for very little cost. Unlike traditional mobile texts, the user usually only has to pay to download the app once, after which each message they send is free.
Web developers soon got the message. Instant messaging apps have become popular all over the world. WhatsApp in America and Europe, WeChat in China and Kakao Talk in South Korea are but a few which have attracted hundreds of millions of people, who use the apps to chat to their friends in real time. These apps allow people to send picture messages for free—something which previously was quite costly.
Research company Informa said that almost 19 billion messages were sent per day using chat apps in 2012, compared with 17. 6 billion SMS texts. And it expects the chat app market to grow t0 50 billion per day by 2014. So does this really mean the end for communication by text?
Pamela Clark—Dickson from Informa doesn't think so. She says that there are a large number of people who use normal mobile phones, particularly in developing countries, who prefer the SMS messaging tool. There is an awfully big base of mobile phone users who are still going to find that SMS is the best messaging experience for them for a while.
根据材料内容选择最佳答案，并将其标号填人题前括号内。According to Paragraph 3 , which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Instant messaging apps are becoming more and more popular nowadays. |
| B．Compared with instant messaging, traditional texts are more popular now. |
| C．Instant messaging and SMS messaging are both ways we can chat with others. |
| D．More and more people choose to use smartphones and tablets. |
The underlined phrase "got the message" in Paragraph 4 means ______
| A．received an SMS message |
| B．got an instant message |
| C．understood what was wanted |
| D．got a piece of information |
Which of the following is true?
| A．people sent 19 billion SMS texts every day in 2012 |
| B．All the messages sent on mobile phones and computers are free |
| C．Picture messages can be sent at a high price if you use Wechat |
| D．To send instant messages , people usually have to download the app first |
What can we learn from the last paragragh?
| A．p amela Clark-Dickson doesn’t support the SMS messaging |
| B．Few people like sending messages via SMS at phones |
| C．Many people are still senging messages on mobile phones |
| D．SMS messaging has disappeared in developed courtries. |
What is the best title for text?
| A．the death of text messaging |
| B．How to send messages via SMS |
| C．SMS costs less than IMs |
| D．WeChat in China is popular. |
阅读下面的图表，做1-3小题。
We can probably find the advertisement.
A. in a news report
B. on a website
C. in a TV programSara Myers is .
A. the mother of a child
B. the owner of a pet store
C. the name of a writerWhich of the following is NOT true ?
A. The book is written mainly for children
B. From the book , we can know what dogs eat.
C. The book came out in December, 2013 .
Do you know something about tree rings? Do you know they can tell us what the weather was like, sometimes even hundreds of years ago?
A tree will grow well in a climate with lots of sunshine and rainfall. And little sunshine or rainfall will limit the growth of trees by studying the tree rings. For example, to find out the weather of ten years ago, count the rings of a tree from the outside to the inside. If the tenth ring is far from the eleventh ring, then we’re sure that it was sunny and rainy most of that year. If it is near to the eleventh ring, then the climate that year was bad.
Tree rings are important not only for studying the history of weather but also for studying the history of man. Many centuries ago, there lived a lot of people at a place in New Mexico. But now you can find only sand there－no trees and no people. What happened?
A scientist studied the rings of dead trees there. He found that the people had to leave because they had cut down all the trees to make fires and buildings. As all the trees had gone, the people there had to move.
Tree rings can tell ______ according to the passage.
A. whether a tree was strong or not.
B. whether the climate was good or not
C. how tall trees used to be.If you want to find out the weather of twenty years ago, you should study ________.
A. the twentieth ring
B. the tenth ring
C. the twenty-second ringWhat does the underline word “limit” mean?
A. 证实 B. 限制 C.促进Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Trees can’t grow well in a climate with little sunshine and rainfall.
B. Tree rings grow far from each other in a bad climate.
C. The people left the place in New Mexico because the land became sand.The passage mainly tells us ________ .
A. how climate affects the growing of trees
B. the importance of the trees
C Tree rings can help us study the history of weather and man.
At most school, “going green” means less rubbish or recycling. But at New York’s Riverdale Country School, it means being advised to run and even jump in the hallways. And the students really enjoy doing that.
Why? It because the hallways were built with special kinetic(动能的)tiles. When students run or jump on the floor tiles, electricity will be generated(产生). The electricity can be used to power classroom lights, science projects and charge electronic products. 14-year-old Zach Halem tried to make the officials buy them. There are eight tiles near the school’s student center.
Besides providing fun green energy, it’s also a good way to teach the students to be creative. They will be inspired to be scientists, inventors and engineers in the future to find clean energy for all humans.
The tiles are mostly made from rubber and other recycled things. They were invented by an English man Laurence Kembell-Cook. While new to the US, They have been put in many places in Europe- from a London Underground Station during the 2012 Olympics to a marathon (马拉松)track in Paris. When Pavegen started getting popular in London schools, Laurence began to realize that his invention not only saved energy ,but was also fun!Why do the students of New York’s Riverdale Country School enjoy running in the hallways?
Who invented the special floor tiles?
What are the special floor tiles made of?
How can the kids at New York’s Riverdale Country School save energy from the floor tiles ?
What do you think of the invention?
The book is suitable for_____
A. Tom, 5 years old
B. Nick, 10 years old
C Sue, 7 years old______ customers like the book very much.
A. 32 B. 2 C. 8Which of the following is NOT true?
A. If we want to get the book, we should pay for＄12 .
B. The book was written in English and French..
C.There are more than 60 simple recipes show us how to make nice food.
Do you know why different animals or pests (昆虫) have their special colors? Colors in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves.
Some birds like eating locusts (蝗虫), but birds cannot easily catch them. Why? It is because locusts change their colors together with the change of the colors of crops. When crops are green, locusts look green. But as the harvest time comes, locusts change to the same brown color as crops have. Some other pests with different colors from plants are easily found and eaten by others. So they have to hide themselves for lives and appear only at night.
If you study the animal life, you’ll find the main use of coloring is to protect themselves. Bears, lions and other animals move quietly through forests. They cannot be easily seen by hunters (猎人). This is because they have the colors much like the trees.
Have you ever noticed an even stranger act? A kind of fish in the sea can send out a kind of very black liquid (液体)when it faces danger. While the liquid spreads over (散开), its enemies (敌人)cannot find it. And it immediately swims away. So it has lived up to now though it is not strong at all.From the passage we learn that locusts________.
A. are small animals
B. are easily found by birds
C. change their colors to protect themselvesHow can pests with different colors from plants keep out of danger?
A. They run away quickly.
B. They have the colors much like their enemies.
C. They hide themselves by day and appear at night. What does the underline phrase “crops” mean?
A. 灌木丛 B. 庄稼 C.水草Which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Bears and lions can keep safe because their colors are like the trees
B. Some pests can’t change their colors with the crops.
C. The kind of fish can live up to now because its black liquid can kill its enemies.Which is the best title for this passage?
A. The Change of Colors for Animals and Pests
B. The Main Use of Colors for Animals and Pests
C. Colors of Different Animals and Pests