One of India’s top engineering schools has restricted Internet access in its boarding houses, saying addiction to surfing, gaming and blogging was affecting students’ performance, making them lonely and even suicidal.
Authorities at the best Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai said students had stopped socializing and many were late for morning classes or slept through them. “Now, a student doesn’t even know who lives two doors away from him because he is so busy on the Internet,” said Prakash Gopalan, dean of Student Affairs. “The old dormitory culture of companionship and socializing among students is gone. This is not healthy in our opinion.”
IIT-Mumbai, with about 5,000 students, is one of the seven IITs across India which are considered to be among the finest engineering schools in the world. They are also a talent pool for global technology giants. But their hard courses, tough competition and lonely campus lifestyle have taken an effect on students. Depressive and dysfunctional lifestyles are known to be common among IIT students, and at least nine have committed suicide in the past five years. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their boarding houses to help them in their studies, but many also use it to surf, chat, download movies and music, blog and for gaming.
“Starting Monday, Internet access will be banned between 11 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. at IIT-Mumbai’s 13 boarding buildings to encourage students to sleep early and to try and force them out of their shells.” Gopalan said. But the move has not gone down well with students who say they hate their lives being regulated. “Now they will say we need to listen to a lullaby (摇篮曲) to go to sleep.” said Rajiv, an electronics student.
1.According to the text, the students addicted to the Internet in IIT-Mumbai are likely to ______.
A. perform well in studies B. participate in social activities
C. know their classmates better D. feel lonely and even suicidal
2.The underlined word “dysfunctional” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “______”.
A. unpopular B. meaningful
C. abnormal D. exciting
3.What measures have been taken in IIT-Mumbai?
A. Students must go to bed before 11 p.m.
B. Students are forbidden to surf the Internet on campus.
C. Students have unlimited free Internet access in their dormitories.
D. Internet access is unavailable in deep night in boarding buildings.
4.We may infer from the last paragraph that ______.
A. all electronics students hate the banning order
B. some students complain about the banning order
C. there is no Internet access on the IIT campus ever since
D. more students prefer listening to music to surfing the Internet
Have you ever been to the world’s smallest bookstore?
The World’s Smallest Bookstore, whose official name is just these three words, sits quietly about 100 miles northeast of Toronto.
The bookstore is about 10 feet by 10 feet，so it is easy to imagine how tiny it really is. The bookstore is open 24 hours a day. Inside the bookstore are various books, especially literary books and classic authors’ works. So if you are looking for something less popular, you may get a bit disappointed there.
Another special feature of this bookstore is that each book only costs three dollars. All the expenses are paid on the honor system, which means buyers should make a note of what they’ve bought and leave their money by themselves. So the tools of the trade in this bookstore are quite simple: pens, papers, light bulbs and a label-maker.
In order to catch passers-by’s attention, the billboards (广告牌) of the bookstore are several times bigger than the store itself. With these large eye-catchers, many people are willing to stop by and have a visit.
1.What’s the passage mainly about?
A. The popular books nowadays.
B. A strange way of selling books.
C. The world’s smallest bookstore
D. The popular bookstores in the world.
2.Which of the following books might you most probably get in the store?
A. Books on popular science.
B. Books on economic control.
C. The year book of a university.
D. Literary books.
3.How could you buy a book from the store?
A. Choose the book(s) and leave the money there.
B. The salesman will get the money for the book.
C. The salesman will help you find the book.
D. Pay on the net and then get the book(s) in the store.
Food production does great harm to our environment.There are many procedures involved in the manufacture of food that result in greenhouse gases and other pollutants.Some procedures require the consumption of large amounts of fossil fuels,such as the transportation and storage of food products.Other factors that cause great damage to our environment include the overuse of fresh water.
The production of beef is more damaging to the environment than that of any other food we consume,Raising large numbers of cattle requires the production of large amounts of food for the animals.It’s estimated that producing one pound of beef requires seven pounds of feed.
Land use is also a problem.If the cattle are free-range cattle,large areas of land are required for them to live on.This has led to disastrous forest cutting and the loss of rare plants and animal species,particularly in tropical rain forests in Central and South America.
Another problem specific to beef production is methane emissions (甲烷排放).Although many people are aware of the damaging effects of carbon dioxide,they don’t realize methane’s global warming potential is 25 times worse,making it a more dire problem.
Unfortunately,beef consumption is growing rapidly.This is the result of simple supply and demand factors.Specifically,there are two main causes of demand that are encouraging the production of more supply.First,the increase in the world population means there are more people to consume meat.The second factor is socioeconomic advancement.As citizens in developing nations become financially stable,they can afford to buy more meat.
Therefore,one way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions is for people around the world to significantly cut down on the amount of beef they eat.
1.Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Raising free-range cattle is eco-friendly.
B. People cut down trees for animal habitats.
C. Producing beef can damage the environment.
D. Carbon dioxide causes far more harm than methane.
2.The underlined word “dire” in Para.4 means .
A. urgent B. common
C. typical D. avoidable
3.Beef production is growing rapidly because .
A. more people are in demand of beef
B. developing countries raise more cattle
C. more land is available to raise cattle
D. the cost of raising cattle is relatively low
4.The author writes this article to .
A. describe the booming of the beef production
B. emphasize the advantages of beef production
C. condemn the deforestation of the rain forest
D. argue for a decrease in beef consumption
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.Why was the Mesa Verde National Park built?
A. To attract more visitors. B. To earn money. C. To protect the culture of ancient Native Americans.
2.What language do the words “Mesa Verde” belong to?
A. English. B. Spanish. C. French.
3.How many ruins were discovered in all?
A. One. B. Two. C. Three.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.How has the man been feeling lately?
A. Lonely. B. Unhappy. C. Depressed.
2.What does the woman advise the man to do?
A. To learn English. B. To join a club. C. To do exercise.
3.What can we learn from the conversation?
A. The man is the woman’s elder brother.
B. You don’t feel alone when you have a close friend.
C. The man comes from north America.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.Why does the man go to see the doctor?
A. Because he is seriously ill. B. Because he wants to see death. C. Because the doctor wants his money.
2.What does the doctor advise the man to do?
A. Take more medicine. B. Have a holiday. C. Give some of his money to poor people.
3.How do you find the man?
A. He is honest. B. He is careless about his health. C. He cares for his money beyond everything else.
