阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，-优题课

People are talking about the “new economy.” It’s very different from the “old economy”.
In the old economy, people travel to walk. They buy things in stores. They use the post office, the fax and the telephone to send information. They see people face-to-face at their jobs or in stores. People get information from newspapers, radio, television, books and libraries.
In the new economy, people do business through the “net,” which is a connection of millions of computers everywhere in the world. In the new economy, workers often work at home. They can get information online. They can communicate with employers and co-workers by e-mail. Businesses have “virtual stores”. They are websites on which customers can see the products. Businesses can sell to customers anywhere in the world.
In the new economy, people live a fast paced, convenient and colorful life. The whole world develops more quickly than before. But the new economy is a double-edge sword. Its disadvantage is also obvious. For example, the Internet has led to a huge increase in credit card cheating. Some illegal websites offer some cheap or banned goods or services. Online shoppers who enter their credit card information may never receive the goods they want to buy and their card information could even be for sale in an illegal website. So people in the new economy should be smarter and knowledgeable.
The cause of the differences between the new economy and the old economy is ____.

A．the change of people’s idea	B．the business people do
C．the use of the Internet	D．the change of people’s life

In the old economy, people can do the following things EXCEPT____.

A．getting information from books

B．communicating with friends by telephone

C．meeting people face to face

D．shopping online

“But the new economy is a double-edge sword ” in the last passage means_____.

A．The new economy is as sharp as a sword

B．The new economy has advantages and disadvantages

C．The new economy is better than the old economy

D．Both the new economy and the old economy have disadvantages

Which of the following is NOT true?

A．People can get all kinds of information on the Internet.

B．Telephone, radio, television, newspapers and so on will disappear in the new economy.

C．People in the new economy should have high quality.

D．Life in the new economy is more comfortable than the one in the old economy.

About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen
All of a sudden herhandicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.
That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.
What was the writer a decade ago?

A．A worker working in a university.

B．A teacher teaching in a college.

C．A clerk working in a museum.

D．A university student who had not yet taken a degree.

What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Life difficulty.	B．Troublesome problem.
C．Failure in work.	D．Physical disability.

How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?

A．She felt full of hope.

B．She was filled with confidence.

C．She felt unhappy because of poverty.

D．She felt life was beautiful.

Which of the following title suits this passage best?

A．A Disabled Girl.

B．A Disabled Girl’s Smile.

C．Full of Hope.

D．Full of Confidence.

Three wishes
A man and his wife were very poor. They kept hoping for new clothes and good food. The man enjoyed eating, and he especially liked cakes. One night an old woman came to their house and told them she would let them have three wishes. They could wish for anything they wanted.
The man had just finished eating a piece of bread for his dinner, but he was still hungry. He said, “I wish I had a big cake!”
Suddenly a cake appeared on his plate.
“You fool!” His wife cried. “You could have wished for a house full of wonderful food, but you wished for a cake. I wish that cake was on the end of your foolish nose! ”
Immediately the cake stuck to the end of his nose.
Then the man and his wife started blaming each other. “It’s your fault!” she man cried. “No, it’s your fault!” she answered. What could they do? The cake was still stuck to the husband’s nose.
“Oh!” the wife cried. “I wish none of this had ever happened!”
Immediately the cake was gone, and the man was saying, “I’m still hungry. How I wish I had some cakes! ”
But of course nothing happened.
. The man quarreled with his wife because ___.

A．he always enjoyed eating

B．his wife hoped that he asked for a house

C．the cake stuck to the end of his nose according to his wife’s wish.

D．he didn’t want anything except cakes

The wrong statement of the following is ___.

A．the man made his wishes before dinner

B．the wife made two wishes, which worked

C．the wife wanted her husband to wish for more than a big cake

D．the man wished that the cake were not on his nose

Why did the old woman not satisfy the man’s wish when he said he was still hungry and wanted some cakes?

A．Because the old lady was angry with them

B．Because this was the fourth wish.

C．Because the man had made this wish before.

D．Because the cake had been gone.

William James, the great psychologist (心理学家), said that most men are “old fogies (守旧者) at twenty-five”. He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs. They have closed their minds to all new ideas; they have stopped to grow.
The minute a man stops to grow –no matter what his years –that minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old. Goethe passed away at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier; Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy. Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight. He died crying, “What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense (extremely large).”
And there you have the real answer to the question, “When is a man old?”
Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had a lot to learn.
As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every year and say, “I grew”, he is still young.
The minute he ceases (stops) to grow, the minute he says to himself, “I know all that I need to know,” –that day youth stops. He may be twenty-five or seventy-five; it makes no difference. On that day he begins to be old.
According to William James, _______.

A．most people are not open to new ideas before 25.

B．few people continue to improve themselves after 25.

C．some people still try to make progress after 25.

D．all the people stop to make progress after 25.

The author mentions Goethe, Gladstone and Laplace to show that _____.

A．the great man stops to grow that minute he begins to be old.

B．the really great man never grows old.

C．the great man usually dies young.

D．the really great man never dies.

What do we know about Laplace?

A．He was a great writer.

B．He was not pleased with what he had learned.

C．He thought he was one of the greatest man.

D．He thought he was old when he was 25.

The author probably agrees with _______.

A．people should be pleased with what they have.

B．people should try to make a great difference.

C．people should cease to grow when they are 25.

D．people should not be satisfied with what they know.

A man living absolutely alone in a desert or forest is free from other people; but he is not absolutely free. His freedom is limited in several ways. Firstly, by the things around him, such as wild animals or cliffs too steep (陡峭的) to climb. Secondly, by his own needs: he must have sleep, water, food and shelter from extreme heat or cold. Lastly, by his own nature as a man: disease may attack him, and death will certainly come to him sooner or later.
When men live together, on the other hand, protection against wild animals is easier and they can work together to get food and build shelters; but each man has to give up some of his freedom so that he can live happily with the others.
When men become organized into very large groups, and civilization (文明) develops, it is possible to get freedom from hunger, thirst, cold, heat and many diseases, so that each person can live a happier life than he could if he were living alone; but such a society can not work successfully unless the freedom of each human being is to some extent limited so that he is kept from hurting others. I am not free to kill others, nor to steal someone else's property, nor to behave in a way that offends (触犯) against the moral sense of the society in which I live. I have to limit my own freedom myself so that others will not limit it too much: I agree to respect the rights of others, and in return they agree to respect mine.
The advantages of such an agreement are great: one man can become a doctor, knowing that others will grow food, make clothes and build a house for him, in return for the work he does to keep them healthy. If each man had to grow his own food, make his own clothes, build his own house and learn to be his own doctor, he would find it impossible to do any one of these jobs really well. By working together, we make it possible for society to provide us all with food, clothes, shelter and medical care, while leaving each of us with as much freedom as it can.
A man living alone in a desert or forest ______.

A．is completely free	B．feels rather lonely
C．has limited freedom	D．enjoys no freedom

The author suggests that when men live together ______.

A．they will have no freedom and have to help others.

B．they can help each other protect against wild animals.

C．they have to work for their own food and shelters

D．everyone’s happiness is at the expense of other people’s freedom.

According to the passage, to do all his own jobs one would ______.

A．enjoy a complete freedom.

B．find it a happy thing to do everything at his own will

C．find it a very hard job to deal with everything by himself

D．feel quite fantastic and encouraged.

We may infer from the passage that the author ____.

A．is against separation from a civilized society.

B．is in favor of a well-organized society.

C．is against freedom gained at others.

D．denies the existence of many-sided people

A．building dens	B．climbing trees
C．watching TV	D．playing hide and seek