(19)
A world-famous Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has created the world’s first long-distance signing device(装置), the LongPen.
After many tiring book-signing tours from city to city, Atwood thought there must be a better way to do them. She hired some technical experts and started her own company in 2004. Together they designed the LongPen. Here’s how it works: The author writes a personal message and signature on a computer tablet(手写板) using a special pen. On the receiving end, in another city, a robotic arm fitted with a regular pen signs the book. The author and fan can talk with each other via webcams(网络摄像机) and computer screens.
Work on the LongPen began in Atwood’s basement(地下室). At first, they had no idea it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The device went through several versions, including one that actually had smoke coming out of it. The investing finally completed, test runs w ere made in Ottawa, and the LongPen was officially launched at the 2006 London Book Fair. From here, Atwood conducted two transatlantic book signings of her latest book for fans in Toronto and New York City.
The LongPen produces a unique signature each time because it copies the movement of the author in real time. It has several other potential applications. It could increase credit card security and allow people to sign contracts from another province. The video exchange between signer and receiver can be recorded on DVD for proof when legal documents are used.
“It’s really fun”, said the owner of a bookstore, who was present for one of the test runs. “Obviously you can’t shake hands with the author, but there are chances for a connection that you don’t get from a regular book signing.
The response to the invention has not been all favorable. Atwood has received criticism from authors who think she is trying to end book tours. But she said, “It will be possible to go to places that you never got sent to before because the publishers couldn’t afford it.”
1. Why did Atwood decide to invent the LongPen?
A. To set up her own company. B. To win herself greater popularity. C. To write her books in a new way. C. To make book signings less tiring. 2. How does the LongPen work?
A. It copies the author’s signature and prints it on a book.
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B. It signs a book while receiving the author’s signature. C. The webcam sends the author’s signature to another city. D. The fan uses it to copy the author’s signature himself. 3. What do we know about the invention of the LongPen? A. It has been completed but not put into use. B. The basement caught fire by accident. C. Some versions failed before its test run.
D. The designers were well-prepared for the difficulty. 4. How could the LongPen be used in the future? A. To draft legal documents. B. To improve credit card security.
C. To keep a record of the author’s ideas.
D. To allow author and fan to exchange videos. 5. What could be inferred from Paragraphs 5 and 6? A. Atwood doesn’t mean to end book tours.. B. Critics think the LongPen is of little use.
C. Bookstore owners do not support the LongPen. D. Publishers dislike the LongPen for its high cost.
(20)
“Dad,” I say one day，Let’s take a trip. Why don’t you fly and meet me?” My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thought, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall in Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
My father sees me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.
He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.
“What is our first stop?” asks my father. “What time is it?”
“Still don’t have a watch?”
Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite(花岗岩), his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of a little boy.
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“Unbelievable,” he says, “How was this done?”
A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.
We stare up and I ask myself, Would I ever devote my life to anything? No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father’s voice. Now I hear them in my own.
The next day we’re at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.
“Did you ever travel with your dad? I ask.
“Only once,” he says. “I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other---but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave.”
The last sentence----it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me. In Glacier National Park, my father says, “I’ve never seen water so blue.” I have, in several places of the world, I can keep traveling, I realize--- and maybe a regular job won’t be as dull as I feared.
Weeks after our trip, I call my father.
“The photos from the trip are wonderful,” he says.” We have got to take another trip like that sometime.
I tell him I’ve learn decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch. 6. We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that the father _________. A. followed the fashion B. got bored with his job
C. was unhappy with the author’s life style…… D. liked the author’s collection of stamps
7. What does the author realize at Mount Rushmore? A. His father is interested in sculpture. B. His father is as innocent as a little boy. C. He should learn sculpture in the future. D. He should pursue a specific aim in life..
8. From the underlined paragraph, we can see that the author________. A. wants his children to learn from their grandfather B. comes to understand what parental love means C. learns how to communicate with his father D. hopes to give whatever he can to his father
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9. What could be inferred about the author and his father from the end of the story?
A. The call solves their disagreements. B. The Swiss watch has drawn them closer. C. They decide to learn photography together.. D. They begin to change their attitudes to life. 10. What could be the best title for the passage?
A. Love Nature, Love Life B. A Son Lost in Adventure C. A Journey with Dad D. The Art of Travel
(21)
People aren’t walking any more---if they can figure out a way to avoid it. I felt superior about this matter until the other day I took my car to mail a small parcel. The journey is a matter of 281 steps. But I used the car. And I wasn’t in any hurry, either, I had merely become one more victim of a national sickness: motorosis.
It is an illness to which I had thought myself immune(免疫的), for I was bred in the tradition of going to places on my own two legs. At that time, we regarded 25 miles as good day’s walk and the ability to cover such a distance in ten hours as sign of strength and skill. It did not occur to us that walking was a hardship. And the effect was lasting. When I was 45 years old I raced —and beat—a teenage football player the 168 steps up the Statue of Liberty.
Such enterprises today are regarded by many middle-aged persons as bad for the heart. But a well-known British physician, Sir Adolphe Abrhams, pointed out recently that hearts and bodies need proper exercise. A person who avoids exercise is more likely to have illnesses than one who exercises regularly. And walking is an ideal form of exercise--- the most familiar and natural of all.
It was Henry Thoreau who showed mankind the richness of going on foot. The man walking can learn the trees, flower, insects, birds and animals, the significance of seasons, the very feel of himself as a living creature in a living world. He cannot learn in a car.
The car is a convenient means of transport, but we have made it our way of life. Many people don’t dare to approach Nature any more; to them the world they were born to enjoy is all threat. To them security is a steel river thundering on a concrete road. And much of their thinking takes place while
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waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
I say that the green of forests is the mind’s best light. And none but the man on foot can evaluate what is basic and everlasting. 11. What is the national sickness?
A. Walking too much. B. Traveling too much.
C. Driving cars too much. D. Climbing stairs too much. 12. What was life like when the author was young? A. People usually went around on foot. B. people often walked 25 miles a day
C. People used to climb the Statue of Liberty.
D. people considered a ten-hour walk as a hardship.
13. The author mentions Henry Thoreau to prove that ______ . A. middle-aged people like getting back to nature B. walking in nature helps enrich one’s mind C. people need regular exercise to keep fit D. going on foot prevents heart disease
14. What is compared to “a steel river” in Paragraph 6? A. A queue of cars B. A ray of traffic light C. A flash of lightning D. A stream of people
15. What is the author’s intention of writing this passage? A. To tell people to reflect more on life. B. To recommend people to give up driving. C. To advise people to do outdoor activities. D. To encourage people to return to walking.
(22)
Recordings of angry bees are enough to send big, tough African elephants running away, a new study says. Beehives (蜂窝) ---either recorded or real---may even prevent elephants from damaging farmers’ crops.
In 2002, scientist Lucy King and her team found that elephants avoid certain trees with bees living in them. Today, Lucy wants to see if African honeybees might discourage elephants from eating crops. But before she asked farmer to go to the trouble of setting up beehives on their farms, she needed to find out if the bees would scare elephants away. Lucy found a wild beehive inside a tree in northern Kenya and set up a recorder. Then she threw a stone into the beehive, which burst into life. Lucy
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and her assistant hid in their car until the angry bees had calmed down. Next, Lucy searched out elephant families in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya and put a speaker in a tree close to each family. From a distance, Lucy switched on the pre-recorded sound of angry bees while at the same time recording the elephants with a video camera. Half the elephant groups left the area within ten seconds. Out of a total of 17 groups, only one group ignored the sound of the angry bees. Lucy reported that all the young elephants immediately ran to their mothers to hide under them. When Lucy played the sound of a waterfall (瀑布) instead of the angry bees to many of the same elephant families, the animals were undisturbed. Even after four minutes, most of the groups stayed in one place. Lucy is now studying whether the elephants will continue to avoid the sound of angry bees after hearing it several times. She hasn’t tested enough groups yet to know, but her initial (最初的) results were promising enough to begin trails with farmers. She has now begun placing speakers in the fields to see if elephants are frightened away.
16. We know from the passage that elephants may be frightened of _______. A. loud noises B. some crops C. video cameras D. angry bees 17. As mentioned in the passage, Lucy ________. A. works by herself in Africa
B. needs to test more elephant groups C. has stopped elephants eating crops
D. has got farmers to set up beehives on their farms 18. Why did Lucy throw a stone into a wild beehive? A. To record the sound of bees. B. To make a video of elephants.
C. To see if elephants would run away. D. To find out more about the behavior of bees.
19. Which of the following is true according to the passage? A. Young elephants ignore African honeybees. B. Waterfalls can make elephants stay in one place.
C. Elephants do not go near trees with bees living in them. D. Farmers do not allow Lucy to conduct tests in their fields.
(23)
You are the collector in the gallery of your life. You collect. You might
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not mean to but you do. One out of three people collects tangible (有形的) things such as cats, photos and noisy toys. These are among some 40 collections that are being shown at “The Museum Of”---the first of several new museums which, over the next two years, will exhibit the objects accumulated by unknown collectors. In doing so, they will promote a popular culture of museums, not what museums normally represent. Some of the collections are fairly common---records, model houses. Others are strangely beautiful---branches that have fallen from trees, for example. But they all reveal (显露) a lot of things: ask someone what they collect and their answers will tell you who they are. Others on the way include “The Museum of Collectors” and “The Museum of Me.” These new ones, it is hoped, will build on the success of the “The Museum Of.” The thinkers behind the project want to explore why people collect, and what it means to do so. They hope that visitors who may not have considered themselves collectors will begin to see they, too, collect. Some collectors say they started or stopped making collections at important points: the beginning or end of adolescence---“it’s a growing-up thing; you stop when you grow up,” says one. Other painful times are mentioned, such as the end of a relationship. For time and life can seem so uncontrollable that a steady serial (顺序排列的) arrangement is comforting. 20. How will the new museums promote a popular culture of museums? A. By collecting more tangible things.
B. By showing what ordinary people have collected. C. by collecting what museums normally represent. D. By accumulating 40 collections two years from now.
21. What can be learned about collectors from their collections? A. Who they are. B. How old they are. C. Where they were born. D. Why they might not mean to collect. 22. Which of the following is an aim of the new museums? A. To help people sell their collections. B. To encourage more people to collect. C. To study the significance of collecting. D. To find out why people visit museums.
23. From the last paragraph, people may stop collecting when they ___.
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B. feel happy with life
D. feel time to be uncontrollable (24)
Should we allow modern buildings to be built next to older buildings in a historic area of a city? In order to answer this question, we must first examine whether people really want to preserve the historic feel of an area. Not all historical buildings are attractive. However, there may be other reasons---for example, economic (经济的) reasons---why they should be preserved. So, let us assume that historical buildings are both attractive and important to the majority of people. What should we do then if a new building is needed? In my view, new architectural styles can exist perfectly well alongside an older style. Indeed, there are many examples in my own home town of Tours where modern designs have been placed very successfully next to old buildings. As long as the building in question is pleasing and does not dominate (影响) its surroundings too much, it often improves the attractiveness of the area.
It is true that there are examples of new buildings which have spoilt (破坏) the area they are in, but the same can be said of some old buildings too. Yet people still speak against new buildings in historic areas. I think this is simply because people are naturally conservative (保守的) and do not like change. Although we have to respect people’s feelings as fellow users of the buildings, I believe that it is the duty of the architect and planner to move things forward. If we always reproduced what was there before, we would all still be living in caves. Thus, I would argue against copying previous architectural styles and choose something fresh and different, even though that might be the more risky choice.
24. What does the author say about historical buildings in the first paragraph? A. Some of them are not attractive.
B. Most of them are too expensive to preserve. C. They are more pleasing than modern buildings.
D. They have nothing to do with the historic feel of an area. 25. Which of the following is true according to the author? A. We should reproduce the same old buildings.
B. Buildings should not dominate their surroundings. C. Some old buildings have spoilt the area they are in.
A. become adults C. are ready for a relationship
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D. No one understands why people speak against new buildings.
26. By “move things forward” in the last paragraph, the author probably means “_________” A. destroy old buildings B. put things in a different place
C. choose new architectural styles
D. respect people’s feelings for historical buildings 27. What is main purpose of the passage? A. To explain why people dislike change.
B. To warn that we could end up living in caves.
C. To admit how new buildings have ruined their surroundings. D. To argue that modern buildings can be built in historic areas
(25)
You may not have heard of Ashoka, but for the past 27 years, this association, founded by Bill Drayton, has fought poverty (贫困) and sickness, promoted education and encouraged small business. To support these worthy causes, Ashoka provides money for the world’s most promising “changemakers” seeking to solve (解决) urgent problems and would like to create a world in which every citizen is a changemaker. Drayton believes that anyone can become an agent for change. The important thing is to simply give yourself permission. If you see a problem that you care about, you can help solve it. They young in particular are willing to accept this concept because at heart every child wants to grow into a happy, healthy, contributing adult. In fact, it is many young people’s ambition to set up programmes or business that improve social conditions. An excellent example is an Ashoka project started in 1995 in Dhaka, which handled the rubbish problems facing the city, helped local farmers and provided an income for poor people there. When Masqsood and Iftekhar began to study the problem of all the uncollected rubbish that lay in Dhaka’s streets, attracting rats and disease, they discovered that 80% of it was natural waste. So they educated the poor people in the city to compost (把…制成堆肥) this waste. They knew that they would have a market for the end product because local farmers were struggling with chemical fertilisers (化肥) which were expensive and had reduced the natural minerals in the soil over the years. At first, they were refused, but once they
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were able to persuade them that there was money to be made, the project took off. In 2009 sales were $14,000. Drayton is optimistic that in ten years Ashoka will be making really serious, practical progress in bringing about social change by changing the way we look at economic development.
28. Which of the following could be the best title for the passage? A. Changemakers B. Businessmen C. Social Conditions D. Rubbish Problem
29. The underlined word “them” in Para. 3 probably refers to “_________.” A. the local farmers B. Masqsood and Iftekhar C. Drayton and his team D. the poor people in Dhaka
30. It can be concluded from the passage that anyone can become a changemaker if he ________.
A. considers Drayton’s concept B. gets permission from Ashoka
C. tries to improves social conditions D. is a young, happy and healthy adult
31. The author’s attitude towards Ashoka’s program can be described as _______.
A. changing B. forgiving C. cautious D. positive
(26)
When I told my father that I was moving to Des Moines, Iowa, he told me about the only time he had been there. It was in the 1930s, when he was an editor of the literary magazine of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. He also worked as a professor at SMU, and there was a girl student in his class who suffered from a serious back disease. She couldn’t afford the operation because her family was poor. Her mother ran a boardinghouse in Galveston, a seaside town near Houston, Texas. She was cleaning out the attic (阁楼) one day when she came across an old dusty manuscript (手稿). On its top page were the words, “By O. Henry.” It was a nice story, and she sent it to her daughter at SMU, who showed it to my father. My father had never read the story before, but it sounded like O. Henry, and he knew that O. Henry had once lived in Houston. So it was possible that the famous author had gone to the beach and stayed in the Galveston boardinghouse, and had written the story there and left the
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manuscript behind by accident. My father visited an O. Henry expert at Columbia University in New York, who authenticated the story as O. Henry’s. My father then set out to sell it. Eventually, he found himself in Des Moines, meeting with Garoner Cowles, a top editor at the Des Moines Register. Cowles loved the story and bought it on the spot. My father took the money to the girl. It was just enough for her to have the operation she so desperately needed. My father never told me what the O. Henry story was about. But I doubt that is could have been better than his own story. 32. Who found the O. Henry’s manuscript?
A. The girl’s mother. B. The author’s father. C. The girl. D. The author.
33. Which of the following might explain the fact that the manuscript was found in the attic?
A. O. Henry once worked in Houston. B. O. Henry once stayed in Galveston. C. O. Henry once moved to Des Moines. D. O. Henry once taught at SMU.
34. The underlined word “authenticated” in Paragraph 2 probably means . A. named B. treated C. proved D. described
35. According to the text, why did the author’s father go to Des Moines? A. To sell the O. Henry story. B. To meet the author himself. C. To talk with the O. Henry expert. D. To give money to the girl.
(27)
Why do Americans struggle with watching their weight, while the French, who consume rich food, continue to stay thin? Now a research by Cornell University suggests how life style and decisions about eating may affect weight. Researchers conclude that the French tend to stop eating when they feel full. However, Americans tend to stop when their plate is empty or their favorite TV show is over. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, a health expert, the French see eating as an important part of their life style. They enjoy food and therefore spend a fairly long time at the table, while Americans see eating as something to be squeezed between the other daily activities. Mercola believes Americans lose
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the ability to sense when they are actually full. So they keep eating long after the French would have stopped. In addition, he points out that Americans drive to huge supermarkets to buy canned and frozen foods for the week. The French, instead, tend to shop daily, walking to small shops and farmers’ markets where they have a choice of fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs as well as high-quality meats for each meal. After a visit to the United States, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat, decided to write about the importance of knowing when to stop rather than suggesting how to avoid food. Today she continues to stay slim and rarely goes to the gym. In spite of all these differences, evidence shows that recent life style changes may be affecting French eating habits. Today the rate of obesity—or extreme overweight—among adults is only 6%. However, as American fast food gains acceptance and the young reject older traditions, the obesity rate among French children has reached 17%—and is growing.
36. In what way are the French different from Americans according to Dr. Joseph Mercola?
A. They go shopping at supermarkets more frequently. B. They squeeze eating between the other daily activities. C. They regard eating as a key part of their life style. D. The usually eat too much canned and frozen food.
37. This text is mainly about the relationship between . A. Americans and French B. life style and obesity C. children and adults D. fast food and overweight 38. This text is mainly developed . A. by contrast B. by space C. by process D. by classification 39. Where does this text probably come from?
A. A TV interview. B. A food advertisement. C. A health report. D. A book review.
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