Since around the later part of the 1950s, society started to realize that tobacco cigarettes caused health problems. As research progressed along with increasing numbers of people that developed lung cancer, emphysema, and other smoking related illnesses, cigarette smoking has become less accepted and popular. Unfortunately, the nicotine contained in cigarettes is one of the most addictive substances on the planet and makes quitting smoking one of the hardest things to do. In 2003, Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik invented the electronic cigarette as a safer, and cleaner way to breathe in nicotine after his father, a heavy smoker, passed away from lung cancer attributed to smoking tobacco cigarettes.
Hon Lik applied for his first patent on the electronic cigarette in 2003 and afterwards introduced e-cigs to the Chinese market in the following year through his employer, Golden Dragon Holdings. Golden Dragon Holdings later changed the company’s name to “Ruyan” in order to better match the company’s name(Ruyan means “almost like smoke”)to the new product. Since the renaming, the Ruyan company has continued e-cigarette development and grown to be one of the largest global e-cig manufactures.
Dr.Sam Han, CEO of Cixi E-CIG Technology, Inc, Ltd. also has a number of e-cig related inventions, including four patents in the United States and two in China that are electronic cigarette and e-liquid technology related. Similar to Hon Lik’s father. Dr. Han was a heavy smoker for more than 40 years before beginning to work on electronic cigarette technologies in order to help himself and others make the shift to vapor smoking. Dr.Han continues to market and conduct R&D in e-cig related techonologies to this date.
After the successful deployment of Ruyan and Cixi E-CIG electronic cigarettes in China and Asia, the products started to be sold in significant quantities on the Internet.How many years is it since the electronic cigarette was first invented according to the passage?
A.About 5 years. | B.About 11 years. |
C.About15 years. | D.About 20 years. |
What’s the direct reason why Hon Lik invented the electronic cigarette according to the passage ?
A.Tobacco cigarettes caused health problems. |
B.Tobacco cigarettes were too expensive for customers to buy. |
C.Quitting smoking became one of the hardest things to do. |
D.His father died from lung cancer due to smoking tobacco cigarettes. |
Since when have Chinese smokers have been able to buy Hon Lik’s electronic cigarettes according to the passage?
A.2000. | B.2003. | C.2004. | D.2005. |
What’s the correct order of the following events according to the passage?
① Hon Lik applied for his first patent on the electronic cigarette.
② Hon Lik’s father died from lung cancer because of smoking tobacco cigarettes.
③ Hon Lik’s electronic cigarettes were introduced to the Chinese market.
④ The name of the company Golden Dragon Holdings was changed to “Ruyan”.
A.①③②④ | B.①④②③ |
C.②④①③ | D.②①③④ |
第三部分阅读技能 (共三节,满分35分)
阅读理解(共12小题;每小题2分,满分24分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I am an e-mail user. When I first started to use the e-mail system, I used to read all my e-mail. I didn’t have much mail. I gave my friends my e-mail address. Soon I had more mail than I wanted. Some of the mail was junk mail. I was worried. I didn’t want my mail to control me.
I’ve tried some methods to help me get control of my mail. First, I check my mail at the same time every day. Also I try to allow myself only 15-20 minutes every day to process my e-mail. This doesn’t always work, but I try. Sometimes I save the messages. Sometimes I just read them, maybe answer a few, and then delete(删除)them.
Sometimes I’m not at all interested in a message, so I don’t even open it. I delete it right away. This is very much the way I go through the mail that the postal service delivers to my home.
These methods are very simple. I have some friends who are very clever with computers. From time to time, they teach me new tricks for managing my e-mail. I’m still amazed at what e-mail can do for me! I’m still worried, however, about having too much to read.
1. The writer used to read all his e-mail because _______.
A. he didn’t have much mail B. he had nothing else to do
C. he didn’t know how to read mail D. he was forced to do that
2. Which of the following does NOT belong to the ways of the writer’s dealing with his mail?
A. Saving the messages. B. Just reading some.
C. Deleting some. D. Passing some on to friends.
3. What does the underlined word “they” in the last paragraph refer to?
A. messagesB. friends C. computers D. methods
4. What’s the purpose of the writer to write this passage?
A. To share happiness in using mail with us.
B. To share some worries in using mail with us.
C. To share some methods of using computer with us.
D. To persuade us out of using mail.
Are you a problem shopper? The answer is “Yes”, if you or someone else thinks that you sometimes get carried away with shopping. In other words, do you or does someone else think you are occupied in extreme shopping ? If people have regrets later about their shopping, or have an “out-of-control” feeling about the quantities of what they buy or the amount of credit they use, they may be considered to be problem shoppers.
Extreme shopping can lead to a more serious problem –addictive shopping. Addictive shoppers feel driven by the desire to shop and spend money. They experience great tension which drives them to shop and spend money and they feel a “rush” during the time they are occupied with the shopping activity.
Extreme or addictive shopping may result from long-time unpleasant feelings, of which anxiety, pain and shame are common ones,. When we feel bad inside, we often do something to make ourselves feel better. In this case, we often go shopping.
A few people shop to relieve their boredom or emptiness. For some people, the motivation is a desire for status, power, beauty or success. Some love to shop as it makes them feel valued in the eyes of the
shop assistants. Others shop simply because it makes them forget, at least temporarily, tension, fear or unhappiness in their life.
Besides, shopping malls are designed to encourage continual shopping. For instance, there are some malls where you can’t see clocks displaying the time because they don’t want you to become too aware of the time you spend there. What’s more, food courts, coffee shops and restrooms are provided, so you don’t have to leave the mall because of your physical needs.
Therefore, once you become aware of how market forces work, you will certainly come to control your shopping behavior. For example, how much time you will spend and what areas you will visit can be decided before you enter the mall. Keep a written account of what items you will buy and how much money you will spend. Make a plan for what you are going to buy before you feel the urge to shop and then stick to it. That is vital for gaining self-control.
1.Which of the following people may not be problem shoppers?
A.Those who cannot control the amount of credit they use.
B.Those who just walk around the shopping malls.
C.Those who are occupied in too much shopping.
D.Those who feel sorry for their shopping.
2.According to the passage, what may not result in addictive shopping?
A.The awareness of how market forces work.
B.The desire for status, power, beauty or success.
C.Boredom, emptiness, tension, fear or unhappiness in people’s life.
D.Long-time bad feelings of anxiety, pain and shame.
3.What does the author suggest to control our shopping behaviour?
A.Never going to the shopping malls because there are many tricks.
B.Applying for a credit card before we go shopping.
C.Making the shopping time as short as possible.
D.Making a shopping list before we go shopping.
4.The author writes this passage to .
A.inform the shopping malls how to attract more shoppers
B.provide solutions to the problem shopping.
C.scold the problem shoppers
D.tell a shopping story
Eddie’s father used to say he’d spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater. Now, away from that ocean, in the hospital bed, his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to stable and from stable to serious. Friends went from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” to “He’ll be home in a week ” In his father’s absence, Eddie helped out at the pier(码头), working evenings after his taxi job.
When Eddie was a teenager, if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier, his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he’d suggested Eddie take a job there after high school, Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Eddie went to war, when he’d talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, regardless of all that, here he was, at the pier, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later, as the heart weakens, that children understand their stories, and all their accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.
Finally, one night, at his mother’s urging, Eddie visited the hospital. He entered the room slowly. His father, who for years had refused to speak to Eddie, now lacked the strength to even try.
“Don’t sweat it, kid,” the other workers told him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger, the kind that circles in its cage.
In the weeks that followed, Eddie’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there. She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two. One night, when Eddie offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Eddie put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said, softly, “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
1. In Paragraph 4, the writer indicates that .
A.Children like moving away from them parents
B.Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents
C.Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support
D.Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them
2. The underlined sentence probably means “ ”.
A.Don’t give it up B.Don’t worry about it
C.Don’t let him down D.Don’t touch it
3. Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a.Eddie’s father died.
b.Eddie worked as a taxi driver.
c.Eddie married Marguerite.
d.Eddie was bored with his father’s job.
A.bacd B.dcab C.bcda D.dcba
4. From the last part of the passage, we learn that .
A.Eddie’s mother liked to listen to the radio
B.Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes
C.Eddie and his wife lived in his mother’s apartment
D.Eddie’s mother missed her husband so much that she was at a loss
Some years ago, a Miami woman walking through an office building noticed two men standing together.Several minutes after her leaving, the men murdered a person working in the building.The police determined that the woman was the only witness and could possibly describe them.However, her memory of the men proved disappointingly unclear.Several days later, psychologist Ronald Fisher was brought in to obtain a more complete account from the woman.His interview produced a breakthrough—the woman reported a clear picture of one of the suspects.The important information enabled the police to arrest the suspect and close the case.
The police asked Fisher for help because of his rich knowledge in cognitive interview, a kind of memory - rebuilding process.Memory researchers have found that people trying to remember a past event often only recall part of the relevant information.Human memory is selective and it is often distorted by stress.But a person's accurate recall of an event or understanding of a question can be improved using specific interviewing techniques.The "cognitive interview" was developed in the late 1990s.It encourages the witness to take an active role in recalling information rather than giving answers only to someone else's questions.The witness first describes what happened in his or her own words, with no interviewer interruptions.The interviewer
then goes further with specific techniques, such as having the witness tell the details of what happened from different perspectives (角度).
The cognitive interview focuses on guiding witnesses through four general recalling techniques: thinking about physical surroundings and personal feelings that existed at the time of past events; reporting everything that comes to mind about those events, no matter how broken it is retelling events in a variety of time orders, such as from beginning to end, end to beginning, forward or backward; and adopting different perspectives while recalling events.
Experiments with police detectives trained in this demanding interview method find that they obtain nearly 50% more information from witnesses than before training, while error rates remain about the same.It is proved that cognitive interviews are quite important tools in improving the accuracy and completeness of witness testimony (证词).
1. The purpose of the passage is to _____.
A.give an account of a murder case
B.introduce an idea of cognitive interview
C.prove Fisher was an expert in cognitive interview
D.help a witness to recall information in a cognitive interview
2. What is required to recall in a cognitive interview for a witness?
A.The exact time at which a murder took place.
B.The information about the event in the time order.
C.The important things that come to his or her mind.
D.The surroundings and feelings at the time of the event.
3. The key point in a cognitive interview is that
A.the witness is encouraged to take part in recalling information
B.the interviewer should interrupt the witness from time to time
C.the interview should take place outside the police station
D.the witness should recall details at the scene of the event
4. The underlined word "distorted" in the passage probably means " ____
A.arranged B.balanced C.changed D.examined
Blind photography sounds strange.But a striking exhibition of photographs in California argues that it develops as a result of the contemporary art.The show "Sight Unseen", at the California Museum of Photography until Aug.29, includes everything: underwater scenes, landscapes, abstracts and everything else you might expect from a "sighted" photographer.
How do the blind take their photographs? Some rely on assistants to set up and then describe the shots (镜头) , and others just point and shoot in the right place."Just like any good artists," says McCulloh."They have their unique ways of operating." One participating photographer is Pete Eckert, an artist with multiple degrees in design and sculpture who only turned to photography after losing his vision in the mid-1990s.He opens the shutter (快门) on his camera and then uses flashlights, lights, and candies to paint his scene on film.A former fashion photographer in Chicago, Weston, lost his vision due to AIDS in 1996 and focuses on images of destruction and disability.His photos are also a star of the show.
What do gallery-goers say? "I was very impressed by it.The technique and experience was amazingly different," says John Hesketh, a printmaker in Anaheim."You never have a sense of feeling sorry for these people because they've worked very hard to prove their value."
Beyond the praise, however, the exhibition also makes a great example for disabled people everywhere.That point was explained in early May during a discussion on the TV show.At the very end of the talk, one attendee expressed his opinion."This exhibition is extraordinary and revolutionary for many reasons.I think that by being an artist with a disability, you are continuing the work of those people who fought for basic civil rights to gain access and to have a voice.In that way, it's so wonderful that your photographs say it all."
1. From the passage we know that some blind people take photos by ________.
A.describing the things to their assistants
B.holding the camera and shooting randomly
C.opening the shutter with the help of others
D.using special equipment designed for them
2. We can learn from the passage that blind photographers ______
A.were not born blind
B.do jobs related to art
C.focus on different subjects
D.like photos of destruction
3. What is people's reaction to the blind photography show?
A.They admire the blind photographers' hard work.
B.They feel really sorry for those blind photographers.
C.They think some have good techniques while others not.
D.They can understand the real meaning of each photograph.
4. The significance of the exhibition lies in the fact that ______.
A.the California Museum of Photography receives praises for holding the show
B.the public have a chance to know what the blind people are concerned about
C.the blind photographers have a good place to show their works
D.the exhibition can be very inspiring to the blind in the world