When people imagine a classroom, they usually think of older people teaching younger ones. But when it comes to learning about high-technology devices, the opposite can often be true. A training program called the 50 Plus Center in the eastern American city of Columbia, Maryland offers free technology classes to adults over 50.
The training program also offers many other kinds of lectures from Qigong and Tai Chi to yoga and Latin jam dance. There are a lot of exercise programs including playing cards and physical exercises where many people just relax and spend some time together.
Myra Stafford is 73 years old. She signed up for the class to learn how to use her iPad. She is learning quickly with the help of the young and she enjoys learning from them. She says she is more confident today than she was before. Working with young people makes her feel wonderful because they don’t make her feel that she is old or dumb.
Eleven-year-old Zhion Perekins is a teacher of the technology class. He says some of the older adults know nothing about high-technology devices and they are very anxious, so patience is very important when working with them.
He gains more than just social skills from teaching older residents. He has learned a lot on how to communicate with people. He used to be a shy person, but now he has become outgoing.
There is a huge growing population over 60. The training program offers an opportunity for the old people to buy products online using high-technology devices. As senior citizens get more excited about what they want to buy, it is likely that they will go into the market and buy it, so that could lead to an increase in economy.Who usually act as the teachers in the 50 Plus Center?
| A．The young. | B．Adults over 50. |
| C．The older people. | D．High-technology devices. |
What can we learn about the 50 Plus Center?
| A．It teaches the students social skills. |
| B．There are a variety of activities for students. |
| C．People have to pay for attending the classes. |
| D．It is popular with both the young and the old. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
| A．Myra Stafford is not satisfied with the classes. |
| B．The training program may do good to economy. |
| C．Myra Stafford is too old to learn technology well. |
| D．More and more senior citizens will attend the classes. |
What’s the best title for the text?
| A．A program called the 50 Plus Center |
| B．Teens teach the old about high-technology |
| C．How to help the senior citizens shop online |
| D．The old learn to use high-technology devices |
The Internet is not perfect. There are many problems with it. The Internet is not organized. There is no one in charge of the Internet. It is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for. It is also easy to get the wrong information on the “Net”. Some businessmen cheat people on the Internet. Internet thieves can steal credit card numbers. Some advertisers send spam to e-mail boxes. E-mail boxes are often filled with these unwanted advertisements. Illegal(不合法的) businesses can operate on the Internet. These businesses sell X-rated materials, cigarettes and alcohol to teenagers.
The Internet has websites with information about making bombs, breaking the law and terrorism. Criminals（罪犯） can fool people, especially children, in chat rooms. They can spread poisonous（有毒的） information and attack new members.
The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since human appeared. But it can also be like a dark road in a dangerous part of town. Parents need to set parental controls on their children when they use the Internet. This will keep some of the bad material away from their children. The Internet can be dangerous to computers, too. Some people who have bad intentions enjoy causing problems for other people they don’t even know. They create computer viruses（病毒）. A computer can get virus by downloading a program that has a virus in it. Some virus come by e-mail.
A virus can destroy the data a person has saved in computer files. A virus can cause a computer to crash（崩溃）. A virus can also reproduce（复制） itself! It can send copies of itself to everyone on a person’s e-mail address list. Then these people’s will have the same problems and can’t work normally!The underlined word “spam” in the third paragraph means ___________
| A．letters | B．products |
| C．useless information | D．poisonous information |
Why can illegal businesses operate on the Internet?
| A．Because there is no one in charge of the Internet. |
| B．Because some people like to buy banned products on the Internet. |
| C．Because X-rated materials, cigarettes, alcohol and so on can be sold well on the Internet. |
| D．Because people who operate businesses on the Internet are criminals. |
Parental controls are needed when children use the Internet because________
| A．children can’t use the computers well |
| B．children may damage the computers |
| C．the Internet is always unsafe for the children |
| D．poisonous information may have a bad effect on children |
The harm of a computer virus is that___________
| A．it can change the saved data in computer |
| B．it can reproduce the computer |
| C．it can make the computer operate ill |
| D．it can destroy the saved files and the computer itself |
We can infer from the passage that the key to solving the problems with the Internet is____________
| A．to improve the computers | B．to improve people’s moral （道德）level |
| C．to order people not to use the Internet | D．to find a medicine to kill computer viruses |
Oprah Winfrey is not just a very successful TV personality(名人) in the US, she is also a woman who has encouraged millions. For those people, her life and her success are a good example. She has struggled with many of the challenges（挑战）that we all face, and she has changed her life. Her message is powerful: I did it, and so can you.
Oprah Winfrey is a black woman whose becoming famous is an encouraging story. She was born on January 29, 1954 in a small village in America. Her patents were very poor. For her family, life seemed to hold no promise.
But there was nothing that could stop Oprah. She was an extremely bright girl at school. She asked her kindergarten teacher to let her go to school sooner and she also skipped (跳级)the second grade of primary school（小学）. Her life from the age of six till about fourteen was very hard. For many women such difficulty would be too heavy to bear（忍受）. But not for Oprah. When she was fourteen, Oprah went to live with her father. Her father showed her how hard work and discipline（自律） could lead to self-improvement. Oprah listened to her father, and a few years later she won a college scholarship that allowed her to go to university.
Two years later, after graduation, she started working for television. For more than ten years she worked for different TV stations across the country. In 1984, she moved to Chicago, where she became the host of a talk show called "AM Chicago". When Oprah started, "AM Chicago" had few listeners. By September of the next year, the show was so successful that it was given a new name: 'The Oprah Winfrey Show".
Oprah Winfrey's story encourages many people to believe that success and happiness in life are within reach for everyone. What does Oprah Winfrey mean by saying “I did it”?
| A．I managed to over come (战胜)the challenges. |
| B．I encouraged many people who want to succeed. |
| C．I created many chances to help people. |
| D．I was respected as a source of strength.(力量源泉) |
When Oprah Winfrey was a child, her parents were so poor that _____.
| A．life seemed hopeless. | B．her family never promised anything. |
| C．her family could hardly keep any promise. | D．nobody trusted her family |
From the third paragraph we can infer________.
| A．Oprah was older than most of her schoolmates when she finished primary school. |
| B．Oprah was younger than most of schoolmates when she finished primary school. |
| C．Oprah couldn’t finish primary school because her family was very poor. |
| D．Oprah stopped her study when she was in the second grade of primary school. |
Which of the following statements is WRONG according to the passage?
| A．Oprah’s father had a great effect（影响） on her. |
| B．AM Chicago was a local newspaper in Chicago. |
| C．Oprah worked for different TV stations in the US. |
| D．Oprah suffered a lot when she was young. |
The best title of the passage may be _____.
| A．Oprah Winfrey’s TV show | B．A popular TV show in America |
| C．Oprah Winfrey | D．How to become a successful host |
To me, life without music would not be exciting. I realize that this is not true for everybody. Many people get along quite well without going to the concert, and listening to the record. But music plays an important part in everyone’s life, whether he realizes it or not. Try to imagine, for example, what films or TV plays would be like without music. Would the feelings, the moving plot（情节） and the greatest interests be so exciting or dramatic? I’m not sure about it.
Now, we have been speaking of music in its more common meaning—the kind of music we hear in the concert hall. But if we look at some parts of music more carefully, we discover them in our everyday life too—in the rhythm(节拍) of the sea, the melody of a bird in the woods and so on. So music surely has meaning for everyone, in some way or other. And, of course, it has special meaning for those who have spent all their lives working on playing or writing music.
It is well said, “Through music a child enters into a world of beauty, express himself from his heart, feel the joy of doing things alone, learns to take care of others, develops his mind and makes his body strong.”From the text, we learn that many people______.
| A．don’t realize the importance of music |
| B．get along quite well without music |
| C．go to the concert instead of enjoying music |
| D．think music would be less exciting than films |
What does the underlined word “melody” mean in the text?
| A．flying | B．singing | C．looking | D．living |
From the last paragraph, we learn that music_____.
| A．can make our life exciting and dramatic | B．is very necessary for our daily life |
| C．is very important, especially for children | D．can enter into another beautiful world |
What’s the meaning for those who work on playing or writing music?
| A．They treat music as their life. | B．They treat music as part of their life. |
| C．They don’t think music is important. | D．They think it’s only their job. |
What does the writer say more about in the text?
| A．The importance of music | B．Life without music |
| C．Life full of music | D．The development of music |
Once upon a time there was a precious sword. Now, this sword belonged to a great King, and for as long as anyone could remember, the King spent all his time in his place, enjoying its shows and competitions with other swords. One day a great dispute（争端）arouse between this King and the King of a neighbouring country. It ended with both declaring war.
The sword was greatly excited at the prospect of taking part in its first real battle. It would show everyone how truly brave and special it was, and would become well-known throughout the kingdom. On the way to the front line, the sword imagined itself the winner of many battles. However, when it arrived, the first battle had already broken out, and the sword got to see the results of the war. What it saw had nothing in common with what the sword had imagined. No elegant shining knights, successful, with their weapons shining in the sunlight. Instead, all the sword saw was broken weapons, and a large crowd of hungry and thirsty men. There was hardly any food left. Everything was covered in dirt and disgusting smell. Many were half dead and scattered on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Seeing this, the sword realized it liked neither wars nor battles. It decided it preferred to live in peace and spend its time taking part in tournaments and competitions. So, on the night before what was going to be the big final battle, the sword tried to find a way to prevent it from taking place. After a while, the sword started to vibrate（颤抖）. First it gave out a low buzz, and then this gradually got louder, until it became an annoying metallic noise. The swords and armour（盔甲）of the soldiers asked the King’s sword what it was doing. It told them, “I don’t want there to be a battle tomorrow. I don’t like war.”
One answered, “No one likes it, but what can we do?”
“Make yourself vibrate, just like what I’m doing,” said the King’s sword. “If we make enough noise, no one will sleep.”
So the weapons started vibrating, and the noise became deafening. It was so loud that it reached the enemy camp, and the weapons there, which were equally sick of war, joined the protest.
The next morning, when the battle should have begun, not a single soldier was ready to fight. No one had managed to get even a wink of sleep, not even the King or the Generals. So they spent the whole day catching up on sleep. During the evening they started to wake up, and decided to put off the battle until the next day.
However, the weapons, led by the King’s sword, spent the night repeating their peace song, and again no soldier could rest. The battle had to be postponed yet again, and this carried on for the next seven days. On the evening of the seventh day, the Kings of the two armies met to see what they could do about the situation. Both were very angry at their previous disputes, but after being together for a while they started to discuss their sleepless nights, the surprise on their soldiers’ faces, the confusion between day and night, and the amusing situations all this had created. It wasn’t long before both were laughing, like friends, at these little stories. Fortunately, they forgot their old disputes and they put an end to the war, each returning to their own land with the double joy. From the first paragraph, we can infer that _________.
| A．the great King was fond of his precious sword |
| B．a disagreement led to a war between Kings |
| C．the two Kings were once good friends before the war |
| D．the precious sword was used to entertain the great King |
What is the best word to describe the mood of the sword when it heard about the war?
| A．Worried | B．Fearful | C．Eager | D．peaceful |
When did the sword change its attitude to war?
| A．When it fought at the first battle |
| B．After it realized that it was not powerful |
| C．When it was on the way to the front line |
| D．After it saw the terrible results of the first battle |
What is the right order of the following events?
a. The noise was loud enough to reach the other side
b. The battle had to be postponed because the soldiers in both armies lacked sleep.
c. It let out continuous low noise
d. It persuaded other swords to join in.
e. All the weapons in both side confused day with night
| A．a, b, c, d, e | B．b, a, c, e, d |
| C．c, d, a, e, b | D．d, b, a, e, c |
According to the passage, how many times was the battle put off?
| A．Seven | B．Eight | C．Nine | D．Ten |
What do the underlined words in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．Both King’s sleepless nights |
| B．The end of war and being friends |
| C．The surprise on the soldiers’ faces |
| D．The confusion of day with night |
People go fishing for many reasons, for one they like the sport of it, reeling in (搜卷轴拉近鱼钩) the big catch after a long day of work or just having a few drinks on the water with some friends and letting all the stress just go. Whatever the reasons may be, it is absolutely therapeutic.
People in the south sometimes do a strange type of fishing where they reach their arm inside a hole in the bank and pull out cat fish the size of a boat. There is one form called jug fishing where you get a milk jug or water jug and tie a heavy fishing line with a big hook, put on a small brim（容器的口）and throw it in the water. The next morning you get up and see what’s on the hook. There is fly fishing which is with a lighter string and top water jigs（滚钩）such as bugs that lay on the top of the water until the trout（鳟鱼）comes and takes it. It takes longer to reel them in because the line is so light and the fish are heavy.
Ice fishing is a dangerous kind of fishing in the north. You cut a hole in the ice, drop in your bait（诱饵）and wait for a fish to bite. You have to be careful that the fish doesn’t pull your line into the side of the ice and snap it. That is one problem with ice fishing but the fish are usually bigger and worth the trouble.
Going out on the lake with a couple of friends or alone with a couple of drinks and a fishing pole can be the most stress releasing thing you can do sometimes. Just to feel the waves rocking the boat and a good conversation is all the therapy you will need sometimes. Catching a fish is always a great bonus（奖励）. The underlined word “therapeutic” may be replaced by ________.
| A．beneficial | B．caring | C．curable | D．healthy |
What is the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．Some characters about fishing |
| B．Some different fishing in the south |
| C．Three common fishing in America |
| D．People’s creative fishing in the north |
How many ways of fishing have been introduced in the passage?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
What problem should people pay attention to when going ice fishing?
| A．Dropping in the bait several times |
| B．Waiting for the fish more patiently |
| C．Cutting a big enough hole on the ice |
| D．Taking care of the lines of their poles |
Fishing is becoming more and more popular mainly because _______.
| A．it is a good way to harvest much fish from the rivers |
| B．it can help people have a good time with their friends |
| C．it can help people relax themselves to the fullest |
| D．it is a good way to exercise the strength of their arms |