Modeled after US hot website Groupon.com, group buying websites are now popular in China. These websites use the power of group buying to get competitive discounts (打折)for a daily deal on some best stuff（物品，东西，活儿） to do, see, eat and buy in the cities across China. Discounts are available within just one click. Zhao lei, a software engineer in Beijing, loves the one-hour lunch break at noon, as it is the best time for him to check “today’s special” at his favorite group buying websites . Sometimes he searches for great deals at directory sites devoted to the new shopping space. Zhao spends around 800 yuan ($117.65) on group buying every month, mostly to buy food coupons (优惠劵)for eating at some nice restaurants and occasionally to find something fun to do. ‘‘I love group buying. In addition to the competitive discounts it offers, it helps me get something fun, exciting and new, and such surprises give me a reason to try something new,” he said. When he finds a really good bargain, he will send the link to friends or colleagues through MSN,QQ, or e-mail, or share the information at some social networking websites. In doing so, he often gets a certain cut off the price. At some sites, buyers are invited to leave notes about what they want to buy and the website will consider it if similar applications(申请)reach a certain number. That is how Zuo got her digital camera after waiting for two months. “It is cool. I want to buy a new digital camera for my trip to Switzerland this winter, but I never expected such cheap prices!” Zuo said.We can learn from the passage that________.
| A．China is the first country to start group buying |
| B．the price of group buying depends on the market |
| C．you can’t get the best you need through group buying |
| D．group buying is becoming popular in China |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Zhao Lei’s online purchasing life. |
| B．Group buying |
| C．The US hot websites |
| D．A new digital camera |
Zhao Lei succeeded in getting a certain cut off the price by__________.
| A．bargaining face to face |
| B．discussing with the sellers |
| C．providing the link to others |
| D．inviting others to talk about the price |
Our lifestyles today are very busy. We have family, school, sports, entertainment and social activities to fit into a time that seems never enough. We need to be healthy to meet the demands of daily life. But what does it mean to have a healthy lifestyle?
To have a healthy lifestyle, we need to:
◆ eat different kinds of healthy food most of the time
◆ do exercise often
◆ have time to relax
◆ get enough sleep to give our bodies time to grow healthy and strong
Read about a normal day in the lives of two children.
Abbey gets up at 7:00 am, feeds the dog, and has cereal (谷物) and a glass of juice for breakfast. She walks to school with her friend, Julia. She has a bag of chips for a morning snack, drinks water, and has a chicken and lettuce sandwich with a banana for lunch. She likes to play soccer with her friends at lunch and morning break time. She walks home with Julia, has some crackers with cheese and juice for afternoon snack and plays with the dog for a while. She plays computer games for an hour or two before dinner, then has a shower and does her homework. She watches her favorite television show for an hour, then usually goes to bed at about 9:30 pm.
Carl gets up at 8:30 am and has two pieces of bread with jam and a glass of milk for breakfast. His mother drives him to school on her way to work. He eats cookies with juice for morning snack and a pot pie ordered from the school lunch room with juice for lunch. He likes to play card games with his friends at lunchtime and climb the fixed equipment at morning break time. He catches the bus home, has a cereal bar and a can of soda for afternoon snack, then watches some television. He has a shower before dinner, then plays the computer for an hour or two. He goes to bed at about 10:30 pm.
No matter which kind of lifestyle you agree on, just remember it's important to balance all aspects of life.About a healthy lifestyle, the writer doesn't talk about __________.
| A．diet | B．exercise | C．relaxation | D．medicine |
What can we learn from the article?
| A．Abbey plays soccer with her friends at school. |
| B．Abbey does her homework first after school. |
| C．Carl goes to school by bus every day. |
| D．Carl has only juice for breakfast. |
Where is the article probably from?
| A．A health magazine. | B．A clothing website. |
| C．A sports guidebook. | D．A travel advertisement. |
The Future Body Network
Are you tired of wires that spread all over your desk and make your tea pour onto your keyboard? If so, you may consider using devices（设备）that use technologies like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Neither of them sends information through wires. It sounds perfect, doesn't it? But this is not the end of the story.
Scientists are now trying to use the human body to do a similar job. They have come up with the idea of sending information over the small electric field on the surface of the skin. To do this, a transmitter（传送器）could be built into your pocket or a portable device like an MP3 player. This transmitter would then use your skin's electrical field to send information to a receiving device. Since this kind of transmission can only go as far as 20cm, the receiver would have to be close to some part of your body.
By using this body network, you wouldn't need a wire to link your MP3 player in your pocket to the headphones in your ears, or to send to your computer the pictures from a digital camera hanging around your neck. Moreover, you can exchange electronic cards or share music files with others by shaking hands, dancing cheek（脸颊）to cheek, or kissing each other.
Now, here comes a question. Why would anyone want to use their body as a network when Wi-Fi and Bluetooth already exist? The answer lies in the fact that with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, it is hard to limit the signals only to your own use. In a busy place, you can never know who might steal your information. However, body networking is safer. It is hard for other people to pick up signals sent over the surface of your skin since this body network only has a limit of 20cm from your body. Thus, no one else can easily pick up and interpret your signals.
Moreover, the most important use of body networking in the future may well be communication within the body rather than just on its surface. Imagine having a number of small devices implanted under your skin and using them to control your own nervous system. In other words, imagine that you have a powerful in-body computer. What do you think of this idea? Does it sound cool, like being a character in the movie RoboCop? Or would you prefer to be just an ordinary human being?
What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．Technology is causing us to be lazy. |
| B．Technology is doing harm to our body. |
| C．Technology is advancing too quickly. |
| D．Technology is making our life easier. |
Which of the following is NOT the way to exchange information over the skin?
| A．Shaking hands. | B．Looking into one's eyes. |
| C．Kissing each other. | D．Dancing cheek to cheek. |
The body network is safer because _________.
| A．the information is only important to you |
| B．the information is stored inside your body |
| C．the information is sent out only 20cm from your body |
| D．the information is controlled by your nervous system |
The movie RoboCop is most likely about________.
| A．a man that is controlled by a computer |
| B．a computer that turns into a man |
| C．a robot that catches a thief |
| D．a thief that steals a robot |
During my elementary school years, I used to compare my mom with my best friend Tiffany's mom.
Tiffany's mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her mom allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn't give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave myself. I was annoyed with her.
Whenever I didn't get what I wanted, I would complain to my mom, Tiffany's mom would give her that! I wish she were my mom. Every time, my mom would calmly say "Poor Tiffany". I couldn't understand her. "She shouldn't be feeling sorry for Tiffany!" I thought. "She should be feeling sorry for me."
One day, I couldn't help saying to Mom, "Poor Tiffany? Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her?" I burst into tears. My mom sat down next to me and said softly. "Yes, I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught."
I looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"
Mom said with care, "One day she will really want something. Maybe she'll find out that she can't have it. Her mother won't always be around to give her money, and what's more, money can't buy everything."
She continued, "I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You'll know how to look for bargains and save money, but she won't. You'll understand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won't. When Tiffany is a grown woman, she'll wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you've got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food."
It took some time, but I eventually understood my mom's words. Now I am a happy and successful woman.During the author's elementary school years, she __________.
| A．wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany's |
| B．went to school with Tiffany every day |
| C．usually compared her lesson with Tiffany's |
| D．sometimes gave lots of money to Tiffany |
Why did the author's mom always say "Poor Tiffany"?
| A．She felt sorry for Tiffany because Tiffany was poor. |
| B．She wanted to tell a lie to comfort the author. |
| C．She thought that Tiffany was spoiled by her mother. |
| D．She told the author this and wanted her to help Tiffany. |
What do we learn about the author's mother?
| A．She was strict and taught the author to be independent. |
| B．She cared for other people's children more than her own. |
| C．She thought that life lessons were as important as money. |
| D．She was so poor that she couldn't give the author much money. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The author was quite annoyed with her mother in the past. |
| B．The author's mother felt sorry for Tiffany. |
| C．Tiffany's mother took the author's mother's advice. |
| D．The author is thankful to her mother now. |
THERE is an old saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” It means that you shouldn’t build your first impression of someone on his or her looks alone. But according to a new study, the famous sayingmight not be correct after all. A group of US scientists have found that the first impression we have of someone else is actually right most of the time.
In the study, scientists asked participants to look at a photograph of a person and make a quick judgment about him or her. A month later, the participant and the person in the photo were introduced, and scientists were shocked to find that their judgments oftenmatch those that they had made originally.
It’s true that simply looking at someone won’t provide you with as much information.But, according to scientists, when makinga first impression, people rely more on their instincts (直觉) than on logic (逻辑).“They focus on how that person makes them feel,” Paul Eastwick of the University of Texas told Live Science. “It is very hard to get a sense of this information when simply viewing a profile(简介).As soon as one sees another person, an impression is formed and what we see can sometimes dominate what we know.”
Of course, no one can be right about everything and your instincts can go wrong sometimes. But even if it is proven to be wrong, once people form an opinion about someone, they have a hard time getting over that opinion later on.
The findings help explain why people always tidy themselves up before meeting guests or doing job interviews.
“Their face constantlyremindsus of that firstimpression,” said Rule. People may learn more about another person over time once they get close to each other, but first impressions remain very important and seem difficult to forget.What did the US scientists of the University of Texas find out in their recent study?
| A．It’s unwise to judge a book by its cover. |
| B．It’s better to judge by logic than by instincts. |
| C．First impressions tend to last more often than not. |
| D．Profiles provide more information than you have imagined. |
The underlined word “dominate” is closest in meaning to .
| A．determine | B．change |
| C．cover | D．acquire |
We can conclude from the article that ______.
| A．first impressions never go wrong |
| B．it’s difficult to change a wrong first impression |
| C．it takes a long time to form a first impression |
| D．first impressions are easy to change after people know each other better |
| Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) (Monday Closed) As the best museum in New York City and with a balance of hands-on（实际操作的）activities and information, it’s the rare bird that can entertain and educate people of different ages. It’s a perfect destination for a family trip of a couple of hours. Pros--Excellent movie screenings. Easy subway access. Cons--Difficult to reach by car. |
| New York Hall of Science (NYHS) (Monday Closed) Being New York City’s only hands-on science and technology center, it is an interactive science museum focusing on its audience of children. It has the most hands-on exhibits in an NYC museum, and it’s a fun destination for ages 5 and up. Older folks might take great interest in the NASA rockets outside the museum, but don’t bother unless you’ve kids to keep you company. Pros--Cool interactive science exhibits, the rockets. Cons--Hard to reach by public transportation. |
| Queens County Farm Museum (QCFM) ( Year-round 7days a week ) It is an actual farm in New York City and home to animals your kids can feed and a yard full of a climbing plant whose fruit can be made into wine. Good chance to meet sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and cows! The animals are mostly readily accessible to visitors. And the museum sells food for young hands willing to get licked by sheep and goats. Pros--Outdoor fun. Cons--Expensive festivals, long bus ride, no subway. |
| Queens Museum of Art (QMA) ( Monday and Tuesday Closed) Opened in 1972 to serve as a cultural center for the borough(行政区), it exhibits art by local and international artists. Its best exhibits are on the two World’s Fairs, and of course, the Panorama of New York City, a giant, highly detailed diorama(透景画) of all five New York City boroughs. Pros--The Panorama, great gift shop. Easy subway access. Cons--Not much for kids. |
The least likely choice for 5-year-old Jack to make among the museums is __________.
| A．QMA | B．NYHS | C．MMI | D．QCFM |
According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．All the museums mentioned above lie in New York City. |
| B．No other museum in New York City is better than MMI. |
| C．NYHS has the most hands-on activities in America. |
| D．Lucky visitors can see grapes in one of the museums. |
In which museum can you enjoy outdoor fun?
A. MMI. B. QCFM. C. NYHS. D. QMA.