Thegreatestscientificbreakthro-优题课

For most people, shopping is still a matter of wandering down the street or loading a cart in a shopping mall. Soon, that will change. Electronic commerce is growing fast and will soon bring people more choices. There will, however, be a cost: protecting the consumer from fraud will be harder. Many governments therefore want to extend high street regulations to the electronic world. But politicians would be wiser to see cyberspace as a basis for a new era of corporate self-regulation.
　　Consumers in rich countries have grown used to the idea that the government takes responsibility for everything from the stability of the banks to the safety of the drugs, or their rights to refund when goods are faulty. But governments cannot enforce national laws on businesses whose only presence in their country is on the screen. Other countries have regulators, but the rules of consumer protection differ, as does enforcement. Even where a clear right to compensation exists, the online catalogue customer in Tokyo, say, can hardly go to New York to extract a refund for a dud purchase.
　　One answer is for governments to cooperate more: to recognize each other’s rules. But that requires years of work and volumes of detailed rules. And plenty of countries have rules too fanciful for sober states to accept. There is, however, an alternative. Let the electronic businesses do the “regulation” themselves. They do, after all, have a self-interest in doing so.
　　In electronic commerce, a reputation for honest dealing will be a valuable competitive asset. Governments, too, may compete to be trusted. For instance, customers ordering medicines online may prefer to buy from the United States because they trust the rigorous screening of the Food and Drug Administration; or they may decide that the FDA’s rules are too strict, and buy from Switzerland instead.
Consumers will need to use their judgment. But precisely because the technology is new, electronic shoppers are likely for a while to be a lot more cautious than consumers of the normal sort---and the new technology will also make it easier for them to complain noisily when a company lets them down. In this way, at least, the advent of cyberspace may argue for fewer consumer protection laws, not more.
According to the author, what will be the best policy for electronic commerce?

A．Self – regulation by the business.	B．Strict consumer protection laws.
C．Close international cooperation.	D．Government protection.

In case an electronic shopper bought faulty goods from a foreign country, what could he do?

A．Refuse to pay for the purchase.	B．Go to the seller and ask for a refund.
C．Appeal to consumer protection law.	D．Complain about it on the Internet.

In the author’s view, businesses would place a high emphasis on honest dealing because in the electronic world .

A．international cooperation would be much more frequent

B．consumers could easily seek government protection

C．a good reputation is a great advantage in competition

D．it would be easy for consumers to complain

We can infer from the passage that in licensing new drugs the FDA in the United States is .

A．very quick

B．very cautious

C．very slow

D．rather careless

If a customer buys something that does not meet his expectation, what is the advantage of dealing through electronic commerce over the present normal one?

A．It will be easier for him to return the goods he is not satisfied with.

B．It will be easier for him to attain the refund from the seller.

C．It will be easier for him to get his complaints heard by other consumers.

D．It will be easier for him to complain about this to the government.

For a 400-year-old art form, operas had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which are hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $ 145 a performance, opera goers also have a certain appearance in people’s mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to bring the opera to the audience. It needs to keep it alive, the young and not-so-rich.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to make the opera closer to common people. That means no formal suits, old-styled theatre or band-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don’t or won’t come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such unusual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera’s choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”, shortened versions (剧本) of child-friendly operas. This summer’s production is Hansel & Gretel. By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists’ Training Program.
Which of the following is the main idea of this passage?

A．Opera is famous for is history.

B．Opera is only for rich people.

C．Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive.

D．Young people are not interested in opera.

The underlined part in Paragraph 2 most probably means .

A．breaking up the old rules	B．changing the dresses
C．making the audience at ease	D．advertising themselves

Opera companies prefer to perform smaller versions because .

A．they can be performed in public libraries

B．short versions are easy to perform

C．it is hard to find long versions

D．they can make people interested

The San Francisco Opera employs young students in order to .

A．attract young people	B．reduce the cost
C．celebrate its 75^th anniversary	D．make Cinderella popular

What can you infer from the passage?

A．The tickets for opera are very expensive at present.

B．Opera is performed in a language difficult to understand.

C．Opera is not so popular an art form today.

D．Students enjoy performing operas very much.

He was just 12 years old when he died. But he brought courage and hope to people around the world.
Nkosi Johnson, who died last June, is remembered today as an AIDS fighter. This young boy challenged his government’s AIDS policies and millions of South Africans in the fight against the disease.
Johnson was the longest survivor born HIV positive（艾滋病病毒携带者）.He survived with this deadly disease for 12 years before it claimed his life.
At first, Johnson was expected to live for nine months when his foster mother, Gail Johnson took him in at the age of two. She now runs Nkosi’s Haven across town from her house in Melville. The Haven is home to 20 children living with HIV or AIDS, and 11 of their mothers.
Johnson attracted the world’s attention and stole the hearts of thousands of people across the world at the 13^th International AIDS Conference in Durban in July 2000. He stood in front of a large audience including South African President Thabo Mbeki. He told them that he wanted AZT, a drug used to treat AIDS patients, to be given to HIV-positive pregnant（怀孕的） women to prevent the disease being passed on to their unborn babies. He received a loud cheer at the end of his speech.
Johnson’s speech was broadcast live across the world. With views beyond his age and even a sense of humor, Johnson soon became an international sign of the fight against AIDS and HIV.
The underlined words “claimed his life” (Paragraph 3) means _______.

A．did harm to Johnson’s life	B．helped Johnson to survive
C．caused the death of Johnson	D．made Johnson weak

The main idea in paragraphs 5 and 6 is ________.
A Johnson attracted the world’s attention
B．Johnson stood in front of South African President Thabo Mbeki
C．Johnson wanted AZT to treat AIDS pregnant women
D．Johnson helped prevent the disease being passed on to an unborn baby
The AIDS child gave the speech in order to _________.

A．steal the hearts of thousands of people

B．be an AIDS fighter

C．get more help from the world

D．fight against the government

From the passage we can infer that _______.

A．the government’s AIDS policies have to be improved

B．the government did nothing to help those with HIV positive

C．the boy’s speech changed the government’s policies

D．no one lived longer than the boy

The best title for this passage is .

A．The Sad Story of an AIDS Child.

B．The Courage of an AIDS Child

C．AIDS, a Deadly Disease

D．A Hero in South Africa

Learning style theory suggests that different people have different ways of obtaining information and use various methods to demonstrate（证明）their intelligence and ability. Although experts have many ideas and categories of learning, it is evident that people learn in three basic styles.
When learning something new, if you prefer to read the information, you are probably a student who learns through seeing. These learners like to see teacher’s facial expressions and body language clearly and rend to sit at the front of the classroom. They take detailed notes, think in pictures and can most easily absorb information from textbooks with diagrams, graphs, photographs and drawings.
Students who find it easiest to learn a new concept by hearing a teacher explain it are learning through listening. Reading aloud, using a tape recorder, hearing anecdotes（趣闻）and talking things through are the best methods for these learners to acquire new information. They give close attention to both the content of the discussion and the way that things are said, such as how the sound of the voice and speed of speech show the mood of the speaker.
Learning through doing means being active in exploring the environment and finding out about things by moving and touching. Students who have this learning style take a hands-on approach to education and enjoy experiments or surveys. They do not like to sit still for long periods of time and sometimes find it hard to concentrate when reading or listening.
Teachers study people’s various ways of learning as part of their training. They select a variety of activities to suit their students’ different learning styles. However, restrictions of time, space and resources often make it impossible for teachers to provide the best exercises for all learners. If you are aware of you own learning style, there is a lot you can do personally to improve your study skills and find the most appropriate ways to approach your study tasks. As a result, you will be able to manage your own learning and study more effectively.

	Features of students’ learning
Learning through seeing	watch a teacher’s facial expressions and body language sit the platform take detailed notes think in pictures
	enjoy reading aloud prefer to listen to recorded materials fond of hearing something and pay special attention to the content of the discussion *focus on people’s
Learning through doing	* and know better about things by moving and touching. know the world carry out experiments or surveys dislike sitting still for long concentrating when reading or listening
	A teacher all his students with a certain teaching method A student should improve his learning skills to learn more effectively.

There is famous story about British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge．He was writing a poem when he was interrupted by a knock at the door．
This was an age before telephones．Someone was delivering a message．When Colcridge got back to his poem, he had lost his inspiration．His poetic mood had been broken by the knock on his
door．His unfinished poem, which could otherwise have been a masterpiece, would now never be more than a fragment(碎片,片段)．
This story tells how unexpected communication can destroy an important thought, which brings us to the cell phone．
The most common complaint about cell phones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them．But marc damaging may be the cell phone’s disruption of our thoughts．
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our call phones, and this is by and large a healthy, productive development．" I didn't hear it ring" or " I didn't realize my cell phone had shut off" arc among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach．
The notion or idea of being unreachable is not a new concept-we havoc "Do Not Disturb" signs on the doors of hotel rooms． So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cell phones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication．Until the recent mass deployment of cell phones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the
globe．We came to take it for granted．
But cell phones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves．Now time alone, or conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished．Even cell phone devotees, myself usually included, can't help at times wanting to throw their cell phone away, or curse the day they were invented．
But we don't and won't, and there really is no need．All that's required to take back our private time is a general social recognition that we have the right to it．
In other words, we have to develop a healthy contempt for the rings of our phones．Given the case of making and receiving cell phone calls, if we don-t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later．
A cell phone call deserves no greater priority than a random word from a person next to us．Though the call on my cell phone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg-who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie．But most likely it is not, and I'm better
off thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the pizza I’ll eat for lunch．
What's the point of the anecdote about poet Coleridge in the first three paragraphs?

A．To direct readers' attention to the main topic．

B．To show how important inspiration is to a poet．

C．To emphasize the disadvantage of not having a cell phone．

D．To encourage readers to read the works of this poet．

What does the writer thinks about people telling "white lies" about their cell phones?

A．It is a way of signaling that you don-t like the caller．

B．It is natural to tell lies about small things．

C．It is basically a good way to protect one's privacy．

D．We should feel guilty when we can't tell the truth．

According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cell phones?

A．People get so bothered by the cell phone rings that they fail to notice anything else.

B．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cell phones.

C．Cell phones interrupt people’s private time.

D．With cell phones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

What does the underlined word “contempt” probably mean?

A．Habit.

B．Disrespect.

C．Like.

D．Value.

What does last paragraph suggest?

A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention.

B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cell phone.

D．Never let cell phones interfere too much with your life.

	Features of students’ learning
Learning through seeing	watch a teacher’s facial expressions and body language sit the platform take detailed notes think in pictures
	enjoy reading aloud prefer to listen to recorded materials fond of hearing something and pay special attention to the content of the discussion *focus on people’s
Learning through doing	* and know better about things by moving and touching. know the world carry out experiments or surveys dislike sitting still for long concentrating when reading or listening
	A teacher all his students with a certain teaching method A student should improve his learning skills to learn more effectively.