I fell in love with England because it was quaint(古雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly oldfashioned but nice, like doll's houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I've slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it's an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play
, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are few comfortable meeting places. You're forced to live indoors. In Pairs I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a lot on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p．m. I used to use it, but now I'm afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less nonexistent in England. My family is well united and that's typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn't like London because she________.
| A．is not used to the life there now |
| B．has lived there for seventeen years |
C．prefers to live in an o ldfashioned house |
| D．has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a cafe. | B．In a restaurant. |
| C．In a nightclub. | D．In a pub. |
The underlined part “it” (in Para. 4)refers to________.
| A．a taxi | B．In a r estaurant |
| C．a bomb | D．public transport |
The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he________.
| A．felt lonely in England |
| B．had never been to France |
| C．was from a typical French family |
| D．didn't like the British idea of family |
Last August, Joe and Mary Mahoney began looking at colleges for their 17-year-old daughter, Maureen. With a checklist of criteria in hand, the Dallas family looked around the country visiting half a dozen schools. They sought a university that offered the teenager’s intended major, one located near a large city, and a campus where their daughter would be safe.
“The safety issue is a big one,” says Joe Mahoney, who quickly discovered he wasn’t alone in his worries. On campus tours other parents voiced similar concerns, and the same question was always asked: what about crime? But when college officials always gave the same answer — “That’s not a problem here.” — Mahoney began to feel uneasy.
“No crime whatsoever?” comments Mahoney today. “I just don’t buy it.” Nor should he: in 1999 the U.S. Department of Education had reports of nearly 400,000 serious crimes on or around our campuses. “Parents need to understand that times have changed since they went to colleges,” says David Nichols, author of Creating a Safe Campus. “Campus crime mirrors the rest of the nation.”
But getting accurate information isn’t easy. Colleges must report crime statistics （统计数字) by law, but some hold back for fear of bad publicity, leaving the honest ones looking dangerous. “The truth may not always be obvious,” warns S. Daniel Carter of Security on Campus, Inc., the nation’s leading campus safety watchdog group.
To help concerned parents, Carter promised to visit campuses and talk to experts around the country to find out major crime issues and effective solutions.The Mahoneys visited quite a few colleges last August ______.
| A．to express the opinions of many parents |
| B．to choose a right one for their daughter |
| C．to check the cost of college education |
| D．to find a right one near a large city |
It is often difficult to get correct information on campus crime because some colleges
______.
| A．receive too many visitors | B．mirror the rest of the nation |
| C．hide the truth of campus crime | D．have too many watchdog groups |
The underlined word “buy” in the third paragraph means ______.
| A．mind | B．admit | C．believe | D．expect |
We learn from the text that “the honest ones” in the fourth paragraph most probably
refers to colleges ______.
| A．that are protected by campus security | B．that report campus crimes by law |
| C．that are free from campus crime | D．the enjoy very good publicity |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Exact campus crime statistics. | B．Crimes on or around campuses. |
| C．Effective solutions to campus crime. | D．concerns about kids’ campus safety. |
Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店). Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance. Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits. Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past. But playing doctor can also be a deadly game.
Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers – most of them aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what they find. A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites. They shouldn’t. Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study. Of the 169 websites the researchers rated, only 16 scored as “high quality”. Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet.
The problem is most people don’t know the safe way to surf the Web. “They use a search engine like Google, get 18 trillion choices and start clicking. But that’s risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it’d hard to know if what you’re reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr. Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute.According to the text, an increasing number of American _____.
| A．are suffering from mental disorders |
| B．turn to Internet pharmacies for help |
| C．like to play deadly games with doctors |
| D．are skeptical about surfing medical websites |
Some Americans stay away from doctors because they _____.
| A．find medical devices easy to operate |
| B．prefer to be diagnosed online by doctors |
| C．are afraid to face the truth of their health |
| D．are afraid to misuse their health insurance |
According to the study of Brown Medical School, ______.
| A．more than 6 million Americans distrust doctors |
| B．only 1/10 of medical websites aim to make a profit |
| C．about 1/10 of the websites surveyed are of high quality |
| D．72% of health websites offer incomplete and faulty facts |
Which of the following is the author’s main argument?
| A．It’s cheap to self-treat your own illness. |
| B．It’s embarrassing to discuss your bad habits. |
| C．It’s reasonable to put up a medical website. |
| D．It’s dangerous to be your own doctor. |
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
Back to the Future
With the help of a local inventor’s time machine, Marty travels back to the 1950s. There his 80s hipness stands out, and he inadvertently interferes with the fledgling romance of his parents-to-be. Can Marty keep them together? He’d better, or his own future will fade away. Featuring: Christopher Lloyd, Michael J.Fox. A universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 55 min.
Beethoven’s 2nd
In this sequel to the popular Beethoven, our canine hero falls for Missy, who soon has puppies. Missy’s greedy owner, Regina, who sees only money in the little purebreds, separates mom and pups from Beethoven. His owners rescue the puppies, but Regina still has Missy. Featuring: Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 26 min.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Despite the popularity of his treats, candy maker Willy Wonka shuts himself inside his factory. But then Willy holds a contest, offering five lucky children the chance to see his company. Poor but pleasant Charlie Bucket finds a ticket, as do four less-deserving children. Featuring:
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore. A Warner Bros. Release, 1 hr. 56 min.
Cinderella Man
Based on actual events, this film follows the life of Jim Braddock, a boxer in New York City during the Great Depression. After a series of losses, Braddock is forced into retirement. But he never gives up his boxing dream, and neither does his manager. Featuring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger. A Universal Pictures release, 2 hr. 14 min.
Liar Liar
Lawyer Fletcher Reede has never told the truth in his life. Then his son makes a birthday wish that his dad would stop lying for 24 hours. Suddenly, Fletcher’s mouth spouts everything he thinks. His compulsion brings disaster to courtroom, where he must defend a client whose case was built on lies. Featuring: Jim Carrey, Justin Cooper. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 25 min.Which of the following is probably the name of a dog?
| A．Marty. | B．Missy. | C．Fletcher. | D．Charlie |
Willy Wonka is _______.
| A．a boxer who suffers a series of losses |
| B．a lawyer who has never told the truth |
| C．a man who runs a chocolate factory |
| D．a man who invents a time machine |
Which film is about the life of a real person?
| A．Beethoven’s 2nd | B．Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
| C．Cinderella Man | D．Liar Liar |
November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men:Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John Steinbeck received the award.
Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal Legacy(遗产) of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazzy(1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and 50s.
The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation sport for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.
The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point.What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Toni Morrison’s latest novels |
| B．Toni Morrison and her trilogy |
| C．Toni Morrison and her novel Love |
| D．Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner |
What can we learn about John Steinbeck?
| A．He was a black writer. |
| B．He was born in America. |
| C．He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison |
| D．He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel |
The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.
| A．belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved |
| B．concern families of more than one generation |
| C．deal with life of blacks under slavery |
| D．investigate life in 1920s Harlem |
The novel Love mainly describes ______.
| A．the best-known vacation spot for blacks |
| B．the life of an outstanding black family under slavery |
| C．the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem |
| D．the memories of five women about Bill Cosey |
PITTSBURGH – For most people, snakes seem unpleasant or even threatening. But Howie Choset sees in their delicate movements a way to save lives.
The 37-year-old Carnegie Mellon University professor has spent years developing snake-like robots he hopes will eventually slide through fallen buildings in search of victims trapped after natural disasters or other emergencies.
Dan Kara is president of Robotics Trends, a Northboro, Mass.-based company that publishes an online industry magazine and runs robotics trade shows. He said there are other snake-like robots being developed, mainly at universities, but didn’t know of one that could climb pipes.
The Carnegie Mellon machines are designed to carry cameras and electronic sensors and can be controlled with a joystick(操纵杆). They move smoothly with the help of small electric motors, or servos, commonly used by hobbyists in model airplanes.
Built from lightweight materials, the robots are about the size of a human arm or smaller. They can sense which way is up, but are only as good as their human operators, Choset added.
Sam Stover, a search term manager with the Federal Emergency Management Agency based in Indiana, said snake-type robots would offer greater mobility than equipment currently available, such as cameras attached to extendable roles.
“It just allows us to do something we’ve not been able to do before,” Stover said, “We needed them yesterday.”
He said snifter dogs are still the best search tool for rescue workers, but that they can only be used effectively when workers have access to damaged building.
Stover, among the rescue workers who handled the aftermath (后果) of Hurricane Katrina, said snake robots would have helped rescuers search flooded houses in that disaster.
Choset said the robots may not be ready for use for another five to ten years, depending on funding. Which institution is responsible for the development of Choset’s robots?
| A．Robotics Trends. | B．Pittsburgh City Council. |
| C．Carnegie Mellon University. | D．Federal Emergency Management Agency. |
Choset believes that his invention ______.
| A．can be attached to an electronic arm |
| B．can be used by hobbyists in model airplanes |
| C．can find victims more quickly than a snifter dog |
| D．can sense its way no better than its operators |
By saying “We needed them yesterday” (paragraph 7), Stover means that snake-like robots _____.
| A．could help handle the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina |
| B．would have been put to use in past rescue work |
| C．helped rescuers search flooded houses yesterday |
| D．were in greater need yesterday than today |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Snake-like robots used in industries. |
| B．Snake-like robots made to aid in rescues. |
| C．The development of snake-like robots. |
| D．The working principles of snake-like robots. |