According to a survey，more Europeans go digital一changing from fixed lines to mobile phones and from narrowband to broadband Internet connections.
The survey showed that 22 percent of EU households use only mobile phones, up from I8 percent a year ago,while the percentage of households with at least one fixed line decreased by 5 percent to 72 percent, although the percentage of households with at least one mobile phone remains fairly stable at 8l per cent.
Broadband is presenting a rapid upward trend in the EU, showed the survey, which polled(对…进行民意调查)27,000 households across the union. 'Itventy-eight percent of households are now connected to the Internet via high-speed "broadband" links, up six percent from last year, while narrowband usage has dipped by three percentage points to 12 percent. More than half of households access the Internet via an ADSL line and 34 percent of broadband connections are wireless.
"Europe's digital economy is growing strongly as more and more households love to choose between fixed, mobile and Internet services," said EU Information Society and Media Commissioner wiane Reding. "The challenge of this year's reform of the EU's telecom rules will be to respond to this rapidly changing technological environment while enhancing(提高）at the same time effective competition:'
Meanwhile, nearly 20 percent of Europeans buy two or more telecom products from a single service provider, the combination of fixed telephony and.Internet access being the most common. The result may strengthen the commission's case for breaking up telecom giants, whose control over the fixed line networks～accused of hindering(妨碍）competition."Today's survey findings will feed into the ongoing public debate on the reform of the EU telecom rules, planned for summer this year," said Reding.
Today, the percentage of households with at least one fixed line goes down to
A. 34%％ B, 22% C.72% D. 81%
What will be covered in this year's reform of the EU's telecom hales?
| A．The quickly changing technological environment. |
| B．The plan to stop the use of the fixed lines. |
| C．Breaking up telecom giants. |
| D．The ongoing public debate on global economy. |
If a European will buy telecom products from a single service provider, what will be the result?
| A．Less than two services are provided for customers. |
| B．Competition will become fierce in the telecom field. |
| C．A plan on the reform of the telecom is breaking up. |
| D．It becomes more difficult to fight off big companies' control. |
The best title of this article is
| A．Mobile Phones Become Popular |
| B．More Europeans Go Digital |
| C．The disappearance of the fixed line |
| D．The Rules of the EU's Telecom |
I remember my mother as a strong woman. She came to America when she was 12—old enough to remember her language, she achieved scores and grades high enough to be admitted to Duke University. With a degree in computer science, she finally became the manager of a company in New York. My mother could give fluent speeches, say “wolves” correctly.
It was my mother who always stressed the importance of language. From the time I was born, I was read to. I would fall asleep to the sounds of my parents’ voices, whether it was my dad’s softly accented, or my mother’s clear English. The flow of language was unbroken, and whether in Chinese or English, the stream of communication flowed through our house.
One October morning in sixth grade, after my mother had left to catch the train to the city, I left the house for the bus stop. I was surprised when I saw our car, the door hanging open. As I drew closer, I saw my mother lying on the ground.
In the hospital, it was hard to believe that the lady who lay before me was my mom. My mother could not remember my name. As the leaves changed colors, it became clear that the stroke had created a wall between my mother’s mind and mouth: her mind was not any less clear, but the words she spoke were not what she meant.
The battle my mother faced taught me the importance of language. Without it, identity does not exist; relationships cannot be formed; stories cannot be told; directions cannot be given, and knowing anything about anyone is impossible. Without language, communication cannot take place. Without language, one cannot express the beauty of a sunset or the kindness of a stranger. The world would pass us by in silence. From where might the author’s mom come to America?
| A．China | B．England | C．Russia | D．Canada |
From the second paragraph, we can know ________.
| A．the author was taught to read since she was born |
| B．the author’s father spoke English poorly |
| C．the author couldn’t fall asleep without being read to |
| D．the author’s parents taught her language by talking a lot |
According to the last two paragraphs, the author’s mom was unable to _______.
| A．think clearly | B．express herself well |
| C．speak | D．open her mouth |
The underlined word “stroke” in the 4th paragraph most probably refers to ______.
| A．an accident | B．a hit | C．an illness | D．a robbery |
This passage is mainly about _________.
| A．a strong mother |
| B．the importance of language |
| C．a family disaster |
| D．the significance of teaching language |
When a magazine for high school students asked its readers what life would be like in twenty years, they said: Machines would be run by solar power. Buildings would rotate（旋转）so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would “give light” and “change color with the push of a button.” Food would be replaced by pills. School would be taught by electrical impulse（电脉冲）while we sleep. Cars would have radar（雷达）. Does this sound like the year 2000? Actually, this article was written in 1958 and the question was, “what will life be like in 1978?
The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accuately. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen, scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen. But can they? One expert on Cities wrote: Cities of the future would not be crowded, but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in “airbuses”, large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents “almost unheard of”. Does that sound familiar? If the expert had been accurate it would, because he was writing in 1957. His subject was “The city of 1982”.
If the professionals sometimes sound like high school students, it’s probably because future study is still a new field. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, has been around for a long time. It should be accuate, and generally it is. But there have been some big mistakes in the field, too. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market. In October of that year, the stock market had its worst losses ever, ruining thousands of investors who had put their faith in financial foreseers.
One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant error. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rad corporation was asked about the year 2000, “Only one thing is certain,” he answered. “Children born today will have reached the age of 43.”How many examples does the author offer to describe the future life?
| A．Three | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
The high school students’ answers to “What would life be like in 1978?” sound __________.
| A．accurate | B．imaginative | C．correct | D．foolish |
In the second paragraph, the writer gives examples to show _________.
| A．predicting about the future can be done in a humorous way |
| B．no predictions are based on careful research |
| C．experts are always better than others in figuring out what the future will be like |
| D．forecasting the future is not an easy job even for experts in this field |
From the third paragraph we can learn that _________.
| A．economy forecasting is rather a new field |
| B．experts began economy forecasting in 1929 |
| C．the predictions about economic situation caused the investors to lose lots of money |
| D．good, accurate forecasting helped the stock market overcome the difficulties |
H.J.Rand’s prediction about the year 2000 shows that ________.
| A．it is easy to figure out in advance what will happen |
| B．it is difficult to figure out in advance what will happen |
| C．only professionals can figure out in advance what will happen |
| D．very few professionals figure out in advance what will happen |
Going green is something that affects every single one of us. Whether by recycling those plastic water bottles, or by cutting down on electricity in your home, the importance of going green on a personal level is extremely important. But, when you’re a millionaire NBA basketball star, how do you help out the environment?
Yao Ming is a basketball player that plays for the Houston Rockets and has spoken out against hunting of sharks for fins, a delicious food in his native China. He is also the United Nations’ Environmental champion. His goal is to raise awareness of climate change and energy-saving. “I will work with young people across the world and try to inspire them to plant trees, harvest rainwater and to become environmental champions in their own communities.”
The Philadelphia Eagles, a professional American football team, are really doing their part to give back to the community. The Eagles Go Green page has a “Green Energy Calculator” and according to the web site fans have saved $ 73,674.90 a year and saved 666,320 pounds of CO2 per year. Also, the Eagles have set up a “Stop global warming virtual march（虚拟游行）on Washington”, a march across America for one year, through the Internet with a goal to bring fans together and to urge leaders to deal with the serious problem of global warming now.
Bob Burnquist, a Brazilian skateboarder, is a member of Action Sports Environmental Coalition and founder of a program that gets organic foods and farming into schools for healthy lunch programs. Bob also has a huge homegrown organic farm where he hosted a gathering in celebration of Earth Day.
Kelly Slater is a surfer and eight-time champion, but he also supports saving the coral reefs world wide. He has founded the Kelly Slater Invitational Competition which raises funds and awareness for Reef Check, which is able to get its message out to a large group of guests including professional surfers, film and music stars, and other famous people.According to the passage, Yao Ming wants to ________.
| A．help the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship |
| B．ask the United Nations to protect sharks in China |
| C．encourage young people to care about the environment |
| D．train more young people to become players of NBA |
What have the Philadelphia Eagles done to help out the environment?
| A．They have called on fans to do things to reduce global warming. |
| B．They have marched on Washington to bring fans together. |
| C．They have saved $ 73,674.90 for solving global warming. |
| D．They have reduced CO2 emission by 666,320 pounds per year. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the last two paragraphs?
| A．Bob Burnquist created Earth Day. |
| B．Bob Burnquist eats only organic foods. |
| C．Kelly Slater donated a lot of money. |
| D．Kelly Slater held a competition. |
The best title for the passage would probably be _________.
| A．Highly Competitive Athletes |
| B．Environment-friendly Athletes |
| C．World-famous Athletes |
| D．Millionaire Athletes |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Only famous people need to care about environmental problems. |
| B．America is the country that takes best care of environment. |
| C．Environmental problems have a common effect on everyone of us. |
| D．Yao Ming’s goals to raise people’s awareness of environment are mainly about climate change and air pollution. |
Recently, professor of philosophy（哲学）in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our daily life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they can see what they really value in life.
He says our relations with others often become clearly defined（清晰的）when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful relationship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn’t. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.
Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?
Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don’t know much. All I am is rich.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.According to the first paragraph, people have not realized ______.
| A．how important money is in their daily life |
| B．how one spends money shows what is important to him |
| C．that money is more important than their philosophy of life |
| D．that their understanding of life is more important than money |
The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ________.
| A．is a good way to test your friendship |
| B．will do harm to your friendship |
| C．will strengthen your friendship |
| D．is a good way to break off your friendship |
What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?
| A．Money is an end． | B．Money is a means． |
| C．Money is everything． | D．Money is unimportant |
The underlined phrase “enter the picture” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “_________”.
| A．is used up | B．is spent on pictures |
| C．is paid in the right way | D．is paid attention to |
What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?
| A．He doesn’t feel that he is well educated. |
| B．He doesn’t think he is a very important person. |
| C．He doesn’t consider himself to be very successful. |
| D．He doesn’t think that being rich deserves so much attention. |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the younger people learn a second language, the greater the effect is.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度)in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible(灵活的),”he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ______.
| A．science on learning a second language |
| B．language can help brain power |
| C．man's ability of learning a second language |
| D．language learning and maths study |
In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in order to ______.
| A．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
| B．prove that one needs more practice when he (she) is learning a language |
| C．to show the importance of using the language when you learn the language |
| D．say language is also a kind of physical labor |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means ______.
| A．a researcher on language learning |
| B．an English native speaker |
| C．an active language learner |
| D．a person who can speak two languages |
We may know from the scientific findings that ______.
| A．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn't know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people's brain |
| D．the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that ______.
| A．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
| B．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |