In the Internet age, speed reading is a necessary and important skill. We skim over articles and e-mails to try to get key words and the main idea of the text. With so much information through our electronic devices (电子设备), it would be impossible to get through everything if we read word by word, line by line. However, a new trend calls on people to enjoy reading slowly.
A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a café and turn off their smartphones. They sit back in comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour.
Unlike typical book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn’t to exchange ideas about certain books, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the story, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the traditional way of reading.
Traditional readers, like Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to understand others. Some of these benefits have been backed up by science. For example, a study of 300 elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that adults who take part in activities that use their brain, such as reading, suffer less memory loss as they get older. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs — a key skill in building relationships.
Yet technology has made us less careful readers. Computer and phone screens have changed our reading patterns from the top-to-bottom, left-to-right reading order we traditionally used, to a wild skimming pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text online that has many links to other web pages also leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says British journalist Patrick Kingsley, only half joking. Because of the Internet, he says we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual tidbits (花边新闻), but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, think and connect all these facts with each other.Speed reading is a necessary and important skill in the Internet age because people ______.
| A．no longer read word by word, line by line |
| B．have to get the meaning faster |
| C．have much more information to read |
| D．must use their smartphones more frequently |
Members of the Wellington book club are expected to ______.
| A．make coffee for the other members |
| B．read peacefully for an hour |
| C．regularly exchange ideas about books |
| D．turn off their smartphones for sleeping |
According to the Neurology study, who is most likely to suffer memory loss?
| A．A 79-year-old woman who reads regularly. |
| B．A 17-year-old middle school student who seldom reads. |
| C．A healthy 24-year-old university graduate who often plays games. |
| D．A 65-year-old man who rarely reads. |
The last paragraph is written to ______.
| A．explain the secrets of others’ minds |
| B．describe the problems caused by electronic reading |
| C．call on people to read more about science |
| D．encourage people to read as slowly as possible |
2011 TEEN TRIP TO THE LELAND HIGH SNOW PLAY
For Teens Currently in 6th to 12th Grades
LELAND HIGH SNOW PLAY -- Class # 8389
Saturday, February 12, 2011
8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Meet at THE UNDERGROUND (Veteran's Building -- 2203 Central Avenue)
Cost per person: $50 ($60 after January 22, 2011) Includes Lunch, Admission and Transportation
With a 4,000 sq. Ft. day-use lodge, the Leland High Snow Play has a huge supply of tubes to choose from, along with awesome tows (拖车) that will tow you up to the top of the hill! Our varied terrains (地形) have something for everyone, while the lodge provides a snack bar, video games, pool tables, five indoor rest rooms, a warm fire, and a sun deck with plenty of tables and chairs overlooking the play area outside. ADDITIONAL LIABILITY FORM REQUIRED FOR THIS TRIP.
Be sure to bring warm clothing and prepare for the cold, but dress in layers in case it warms up. Wear dry boots, socks, and sunscreen. If possible, bring a mobile phone in case of emergency, as well as money for snacks and a light dinner: or bring your own food and drinks.
Meet at The Underground (Veteran's Building -- 2203 Central Avenue) -- don't be late!
Do not bring electronic or fragile items during the trip. The ARPD is not responsible for your personal belongings or money. REFUNDS ARE ISSUED ONLY IF THE ARPD CANCELS THIS TRIP DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS.
Click here to download "2011 Leland High Snow Play" flyers and the registration form (PDF, 261KB)
Click here to download "Leland High Snow Play Liability Form" (PDF, 14KB)
1. You may register in person, or mail the completed form to Leland High Snow Play, Inc.
Send the liability form and payment to the ARPD Office, 2226 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda, 94501.
2. Faxed registration and liability forms accepted with MasterCard/VISA, (510) 747--7566.
3. Online registrations available at www.arpdeplay.com. Make sure you bring your completed liability form on the trip.The purpose of the text is to ________.
| A．explain the details of a school activity |
| B．introduce a famous tour agency |
| C．urge teenagers to climb a snowy mountain |
| D．advertise a trip to the Leland High Snow Play |
People who want to take part in the activity need to ________.
| A．pay for dinner themselves | B．climb the hill themselves |
| C．wear hats to protect themselves from the sun | D．pay for tows individually |
From the text we can infer that ________.
| A．the weather at the hill is changeable |
| B．the activity is very dangerous |
| C．12-year-old children are not allowed on the trip |
| D．the trip will involve outdoor activities only. |
To save money people should ________.
| A．climb the hills instead of taking tows |
| B．bring extra clothing |
| C．register for the activity before January 22 |
| D．register on the Internet after January 22 |
In a little-known part of the counter-terrorism（反恐怖主义） world, one of the most effective detection systems is a 600-pound animal that works for about 20 pounds of fish a day.
Since the 1960s, the United States and a handful of other countries have trained dolphins and sea lions to detect sea mines and swimmers, to recover inert torpedoes（鱼雷）and to test objects used in Naval exercises.
Program officials estimate that the sea lions in the Marine Mammal Program have recovered millions of dollars of U.S. Naval torpedoes and instrumentation dropped on the sea floor.
The U.S. Navy kept its Marine Mammal Program a secret until the 1990s, and this spring CNN became one of only a handful of media outlets to see firsthand how the program works.
The program has trained about 75 Pacific bottlenose dolphins, with natural biosonar (生物声纳) that tracks better than any manmade device; and 35 California sea lions, with superb underwater eyesight.
Not only do these trained marine mammals track and retrieve millions of dollars in U. S. military equipment, they are also helping to save lives.
The Navy won't disclose whether the dolphins and sea lions have effectively intercepted （阻拦）terrorists attempting to do harm to any U.S. facilities.
"Either way, it serves as a deterrent（阻碍） effect." says Christian Harris, operations supervisor for the program. The mammals can be deployed（调动） via C-130 cargo aircraft to perform their missions anywhere in the world within 72 hours. They have been used in exercises from Alaska to Hawaii, operating in great temperature and environmental ranges. They also have the capability to operate off vessels.
Dolphins most recently were deployed in the Iraq war, performing mine detection and clearance operations in the Persian Gulf to ensure safe passage for humanitarian ships delivering aid. Some of these Iraq war "veterans" are now back home, tasked with a new mission: guarding nuclear submarines in their homeports of Bremerton, Washington, and Groton, Connecticut.The underlined word "retrieve" in Paragraph 6 can be replaced by ________.
| A．find out | B．recover | C．save | D．detect |
Which is NOT the purpose of the Marine Mammal Program?
| A．To detect sea mines and swimmers. |
| B．To save lives of people. |
| C．To recover inert torpedoes. |
| D．To help the U.S. Naval test equipment. |
What can be inferred according to the text?
| A．These trained marine mammals eat pounds of fish a day. |
| B．The U.S. Navy performed the Marine Mammal Program for about 30 years secretly. |
| C．These mammals can carry out a task everywhere. |
| D．A lot of countries will train dolphins and sea lions for anti-terrorism. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Special Skills of Marine Mammals | B．The U.S. Anti-terrorism Program |
| C．Exceptional Anti-terrorism Member | D．Trained Marine Mammals |
Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．The underlined word “nerds” can probably be．
| A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills |
| B．successful top students popular with their peers |
| C．students with certain learning difficulties |
| D．born leaders crazy about social activities |
What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students． |
| B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students． |
| C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films． |
| D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society． |
Some students become super-achievers mainly because．
| A．they are born cleverer than others | B．they work longer hours at study |
| C．they make full use of their abilities | D．they know the shortcut to success |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study． |
| B．The brightest students can never get low grades． |
| C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments． |
| D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers． |
The malls were filled with people seeking gifts for their loved ones. Some of the malls remained open around the clock, partly to satisfy our needs to buy gifts.
Behind the materialistic aspect of shopping for gifts lies the idea of caring, being attentive to the desires of special people in our lives. However, to use a well-worn play on words: it is our presence, not our presents, that truly counts. Many of us, unfortunately, can be so inattentive, even in the presence of our loved ones, that we might as well not be there at all.
Attention is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other. Companies around the globe spend billions every year on advertising to catch our attention for just a short moment at a time. Whole industries – media, entertainment, education – rely on the precious gift of our attention for their continued existence. A baby lacking attention for a long time is likely to he psychologically unhealthy.
In earlier times, both diet and attention could be left unregulated without major cause for concern. There were natural checks and balances: limited availability of food meant few got fat, for example. Similarly, in bygone times we might have spent a few hours communicating with the village storyteller, today, watching an entire TV series, while speaking to nobody, is common. In traditional societies, with smaller population, everyone would get a fair deal of attention. On many issues we might go to see Grandma or Grandpa; now we have Google and Wikipedia.
“She just wants attention.” people tend to think little of those doing things simply for attention. But the truth is that human beings need attention, and giving attention to each other is, to a large extent, what human civilization is based upon. This perhaps explains the runaway success（一举成功）of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. While we use such sites for “micro blogging”, “idea voicing” and “status updates” – the reality is that we are often doing no more or less than fulfilling our basic human drive for attention exchange.
I friend you, you friend me, I retweet you, you retweet me. The charming case with which we can now get and give attention is why many people appear overly attached to their smartphones. It is also a vicious（恶性）circle. As ever more people are busy exchanging attention online, there is increasingly less attention to be paid in the real world, which forces more people to seek their attention exchange online, or else risk attention-starvation.
The very nature of attention exchange is being rapidly transformed, and there is a danger that some of us will develop unhealthy practices. Just as eating red meat every day is a bad idea, so it is with too much attention exchange. The biological consequences of our technological advancement in food production are highly visible; heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The consequences of our transformed attention exchanges will be psychological and social, and so may take longer to identify, but they will be equally damaging.
Face-to-face attention is becoming rarer, and therefore more valuable. In a sense it is priceless. And it is a gift that can be given all-year-round.In the first two paragraphs the author.
| A．offers advice to attention givers | B．analyses the present problems |
| C．states the necessity of presents | D．puts forward his point of view |
People use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to.
| A．obtain information | B．give attention to others |
| C．voice their opinions | D．notice and get noticed |
Attention exchange was not a major concern in traditional societies because of.
| A．limited availability of food | B．natural checks and balances |
| C．a much smaller population | D．the guidance from old people |
What can we infer from Paragraph 6-7?
| A．More people will risk attention-starvation in future. |
| B．The nature of attention exchange is rarely changed. |
| C．Technological advancement contributes to all diseases. |
| D．Transformed attention exchanges do harm to society. |
The writer’s purpose for writing the passage is to.
| A．advocate more focus on real life attention |
| B．analyze the necessity of attention giving |
| C．give practical tips on attention exchange |
| D．recommend some social networking sites |
Chinese writer Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize for Literature might ignite an explosion of global interest in Chinese literature and lead to more titles translated into English, European experts say.
“Hopefully, the award means more people will read Chinese literature and more works will get translated,” says Michel Hockx, professor of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia from University of London. “Many very good Chinese writers have been accepted globally for a long time already. Mo Yan is probably the most translated Chinese writer alive, with at least five of his novels made available in English over the past 20 years.”
Jonathan Ruppin, web editor of bookseller Foyles, says Mo’s win coincides with growing interest in Chinese literature and recognizes the talents of a distinctive and visionary（富于幻想的）writer. “We are very excited by the fact that English translations of more of his books should now become available,” Ruppin says. He made the comment after Mo became the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in its century-long history.
As East-West cultural exchange has been booming, Chinese literature has been attracting growing attention in recent years. Hockx explains, “It’s mainly because there are many more opportunities for Chinese writers to visit other countries, to publish their works outside China and to interact with readers abroad. At the same time, more and more people globally are learning Chinese and taking an interest in the Chinese language and culture.”
University of Oxford lecturer in modern Chinese literature Margaret Hillenbrand says, “The obvious reason for the growing global presence of Chinese literature is the growing global presence of China itself. People have come to realize that there is a serious knowledge deficit between China and its international counterparts — in particular, China knows incomparably more about Europe and America than the other way round — and reading Chinese literature is an effective, simple means of solving that gap.”The underlined word “ignite” in Paragraph 1 probably means “________”.
| A．start out | B．burn up | C．set off | D．appeal to |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Chinese literature has spread with the development of China. |
| B．The Nobel Prize for Literature has a history of hundreds of years. |
| C．In the past, no Chinese writers were accepted outside China. |
| D．Foreigners know about China mainly by reading Mo Yan’s works. |
Chinese literature has been attracting growing attention mainly because
| A．Chinese writers have been writing more and more books in English |
| B．the Chinese language has become the most widely used language in the world |
| C．the Chinese government attaches great importance to literature |
| D．the cultural communication between China and western countries has developed |
How do you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
| A．China knows more about Europe and America than before. |
| B．China knows more about Europe and America than they know about China. |
| C．China, Europe and America know one another more than before. |
| D．Compared with America, China knows more about Europe. |