Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people your age could live to be 150,so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age !
You say to your shirt , “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes’color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen . You pick up the milk ,but a voice says , “ You shouldn't drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk , and it knows the milk is old . In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip .
It’s time to go to work . In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way , you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve . Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed,” says scientist Andrew Zolli , “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example --- what will be the next?
We can learn from the text that in the future__________.
| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| B．More drinks will be available for sale. |
| C．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
| D．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
Which of the following is mentioned in the text?
| A．Fridges will know what people need. |
| B．Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
| C．Cars will be able to drive automatically. |
| D．Nothing can replace the Internet. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Future technology in everyday life. |
| B．Food and clothing in 2035. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future. |
| D．The reason for the success of new technology. |
The engineer Camilla Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in Ivrea, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company’s head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much larger than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world,
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13.000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camillo’s son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduced a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and design specialist. The company developed new and better typewriters and then calculators(计算器). In 1959 it produced the ELEA computer system. This was the first mainframe(主机) computer designed and made in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problem. Other companies, especially the Japanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marketing and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one of the world’s leading companies in information technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group—one for personal computers, one for other office equipment, one for systems and service, and two for telecommunications.From the text we learn that
| A．by 1930 Olivetti produced 13.000 typewriters a year |
| B．Olivetti earned more in the 1960s than in the 1950s |
| C．some of Olivetti’s 700 staff regularly visited customers in Italy |
| D．Olivetti set up offices in other countries from the very beginning |
What was probably the direct result of Olivetti’s falling behind in electronic technology
| A．Adriano’s death | B．A period of financial problems |
| C．Its faster progress | D．Its agreements with other companies. |
What do we know about Olivetti?
| A．It produced the best typewriter in the world. |
| B．It designed the world’s first mainframe computer. |
| C．It exported more typewriters than other companies. |
| D．It has five independent companies with its head office in Ivrea. |
The best title for the text would be
| A．The Origin of Olivetti. | B．The Success of Olivetti. |
| C．The History of Olivetti | D．The Production of Olivetti. |
Driving to a friend’s house on a recent evening, I was attracted by the sight of the full moon rising just above my friend’s rooftop. I stopped to watch it for a few moments, thinking about what a pity it is that most city people --- myself included --- usually miss sights like this because we spend most of our lives indoors.
My friend had also seen it. He grew up living in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.
I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.
Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fiber-glass. We have television,
cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought, “Before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains. And perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touched the moon.”The best title for the passage would be _________.
| A．Touched by the Moon | B．The Pleasures of Modern Life |
| C．A Bottomless well of Silence | D．Break away from Modern life |
The writer felt sorry for himself because __________.
| A．there was too much pollution. |
| B．he failed to see the fullest moon. |
| C．he didn’t adapt to modern inventions |
| D．there were too many accidents on the road. |
What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?
| A．No modern equipment. | B．Complete silence. |
| C．The nice moon. | D．The high mountain. |
Modern things are mentioned mainly to ___________.
| A．show that the writer likes city life very much. |
| B．tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life. |
| C．explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature. |
| D．show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them. |
The author wrote the passage to __________.
| A．express the feeling of returning to nature. |
| B．show the love for the moonlight. |
| C．advise modern people to learn to live. |
| D．want to communicate longing for modern life. |
You hear the comment all the time: the U.S. economy looks good by figures, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Wealthy Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
The Wealthy Society is a modern classic because it helped describe a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. “Poverty (贫穷) was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.” After World War II, the fear of another Great Depression gave way to an economic growth. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
To Galbraith, materialism (物质主义) had gone mad and would cause discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it wouldbe unsatisfying. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people wrongly considered government only as “a necessary bad.”
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else isstanding still or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich — overpaid chief managers, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, people feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants — for bigger homes, more health care, more education, and faster Internet connections.
The other great disappointment is that it has not got rid of insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As company unemployment increased, that part has gradually become weaker. More workers fear they’ve become “the disposable American,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict resulted from poverty, the arrival of widespread wealth suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, wealth succeeds. There is much less physical suffering than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, wealth also creates new complaints.
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the search for growth cause new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Wealth sets free the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-accomplishment. But the promise is so unreasonable that it leads to many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown. Figures indicate that happiness has not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply confirmed an old truth: the seeking of wealth does not always end with happiness.The Wealthy Society is a book ________.
| A．about poverty in the past |
| B．written by Louis Uchitelle |
| C．indicating that people are becoming worse off |
| D．about why happiness does not rise with wealth |
According to Galbraith, people feel discontented because ________.
| A．materialism has run wild in modern society |
| B．they are in fear of another Great Depression |
| C．public spending hasn’t been cut down as expected |
| D．the government has proved to be necessary but ugly |
Why do people feel“squeezed”when their average income rises considerably?
| A．They think there are too many overpaid rich. |
| B．There is more unemployment in modern society. |
| C．Their material demands go faster than their earnings. |
| D．Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control. |
What does Louis Uchitelle mean by “the disposable American” ?
| A．People with a stable job. |
| B．Workers who no longer have secure jobs. |
| C．Those who see job stability as part of their living standard. |
| D．People who have a sense of security because of their rising incomes. |
What has wealth brought to American society?
| A．Stability and security. |
| B．Materialism and content. |
| C．A sense of self-accomplishment. |
| D．New anxiety, conflicts and complaints. |
Sports shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to promise time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.
The shoes- named Square Eyes- contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter (发射器) passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves(应得), based on the day's efforts.
The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University in London, UK. "We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out," she says. "And I wanted to tackle that with my design."
Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically (自动地) switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps. Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals exactly one minute of TV time.
Existing pedometers(计步器) normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. "It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort," she says. "That was one of my main design considerations."According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to _____.
| A．keep a record of the steps of the wearer. |
| B．deal with overweight among teenagers. |
| C．enable children to resist (抵制) the attraction of TV. |
| D．prevent children from being tricked by TV programs. |
Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?
| A．They control a child's evening TV viewing time. |
| B．They determine a child's daily pocket money. |
| C．They have raised the hot issue of overweight. |
| D．They contain information of the receiver. |
Compared with other similar products, the new design ___.
| A．sends teenagers' health data(数据) to the receiver. |
| B．counts the wearer's steps through shaking. |
| C．records the sudden movement of the wearer. |
| D．make it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight |
| B．Smart Shoes Guarantee More Exercise |
| C．Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise |
| D．Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time |
When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship （奖学金） and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “ Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story ” , shown in late April.
Liz Murray, a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted （吸毒） parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.
Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “ What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.
She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that “ next to nothing could hold me down ” . She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University . But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “ I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time. ”
Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “ as simple as making a decision ” . In which order did the following things happen to Liz?
a. Her mother died of AIDS.
b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admitted into Harvard.
d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.
| A．b, a, e, c, d | B．a, b, c, e, d | C．e, d, b, a, c | D．b, e, a, d, c |
The main idea of the passage is ________.
| A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University |
| B．what a hard time Liz had in her childhood |
| C．why Liz loved her parents so much |
| D．how Liz struggled to change her life |
What actually made her go towards her goal?
| A．Envy and encouragement. | B．Willpower and determination. |
| C．Decisions and understanding. | D．Love and respect for her parents. |
When she wrote “ What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part of the society ” , she meant that ________.
| A．she had little experience of social life |
| B．she could hardly understand the society |
| C．she would do something for her own life |
| D．she needed to travel more around the world |