Chris is a columnist (专栏作家) at citypages...

    Nowadays along with the booming of computer science, computers are widely used here and there. People even can find computers in most classrooms. While teachers remain more or less the same, computers are doubling in speed and capability every four years. 1. As far as I am concerned, teachers still play a major role and are still of great importance.

2. However advanced they may be, computers are nothing more than human inventions programmed to perform certain tasks.

They are unable to deal with students with different background. Needless to say, a classroom is a place where individual attention and creativity matter most. Therefore, computers are no better than other tools used by teachers and couldn’t possibly make the roles played by them weaker.

In terms of accuracy and the amount of information, computers outshine humans. 3. Indeed, a good teacher organizes and inspires the students.

Besides, the interaction between students and teachers is vital for the learning. According to most education authorities, real learning occurs during the discussion and sharing of ideas with one’s teacher and classmates. Moreover, a teacher is there to monitor every slight change in students’ attitude, to respond to and encourage them whenever they show signs of frustration and impatience. 4.

Despite the increasing presence of computers inside classrooms, teachers are just as essential, if not more so, as instructors were in the past. 5.

A. It’s time that teachers should develop themselves.

B. Without this kind of interaction, education is unimaginable.

C. Advanced as computers may be, some teachers are less impatient.

D. But to make a good teacher means far more than being an encyclopedia (百科全书).

E. People can’t help wondering whether teachers are as important as they once were.

F. Some drawbacks make it impossible for computers to replace teachers in classrooms.

G. It is well known that computers are better at repetitive work but incapable of creative thinking.

    Connecting with people has become so much easier with advancing technology. Tasks that once required a postage stamp or carrier pigeon are now as simple as tapping a name or even a face on your screen, and you’re connected. But also easier is unconsciously getting caught up in a dilemma by violating certain new rules for communicating. A big one for some: Don’t call until you’ve texted to confirm it’s OK to call. But that’s just the beginning.

“I’m usually pretty mild and not much bothers me,” said Mark Angielle, a 29-year-old office manager from White Plains, New York. But the one thing that he hates more than anything else in life is the terrible one-word message — “K.” “At the very least reply with, Got it.” he said “At least give me a few words here. You’re not that busy.”

There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of others who have taken Lo social media to express their distaste for people who don’t follow the unwritten rules of digital communication.

“These rules are simply a new display of a phenomenon we’ve seen in the past,” said James Ivory, professor of communication a Virginia Tech. In the same way that generations and small groups of friends have their own slang and customs, internet culture has given birth to technology-dependent beings that have their own unique set of routine.

But not everyone gets the point. Unlike language, digital communication can be filled with ambiguous clues (线索、迹象) that the person on the other end of the call, text or email may or may not easily understand.

“As soon as people aren’t talking face to face, the first thing that gets lost is some of the richness of the body language,” Ivory said, “People immediately fill that gap by using emoji (表情符号) to sum up a feeling in seconds.

“There's great potential for danger,” Ivory warned. “What's considered polite in one form might be inappropriate or rude in another occasion.”

1.What can you infer about Mark from Paragraph 2?

A. He is a businessman with a bad temper.

B. He complains about social manners.

C. He can’t bear one- word messages.

D. He dislike a busy business life.

2.According to the text, which of the following breaks the rules for communicating?

A. John says “I got it.” to his boss face to face.

B. Jim calls Bill without confirming in advance.

C. Mary texts Lily to make sure if she can call her.

D. Jack sends “Thanks a lot” to his business friends.

3.Why may people misunderstand each other during digital communication?

A. Emoji cannot sum up feelings.

B. People use their own slang and customs.

C. There are large quantities of written rules.

D. People gets wrong messages without clear clues.

4.What are people expected to do after reading tie passage?

A. To obey their own digital communication rules.

B. To be aware of rules during digital communication.

C. To use advancing technology even with disadvantages.

D. To keep pace with digital communication development.

    You can’t see your sleeping pets brain waves, but its behavior can tell you when your cat might be dreaming. If you watch closely, you’ll see that as she falls asleep, her breathing becomes slow and regular with her body still. She has entered the first stage of sleep, called slow-wave sleep. After about 15 minutes you’ll notice a change in her breathing. Her eyes move under her closed lids, her paws twitch (抽动) and she flicks (尤指用手指或手快速地轻抚) an ear. She has entered dreaming. Although she twitches and makes little grunting (嘟嘟) noises, messages from her brain to the large muscles in her legs are blocked, so she can’t run about. She is in a state of “sleep paralysis (麻痹)”.

Michel Jouvet, a French scientist, interrupted their sleep paralysis. Even though they were completely asleep, the dreaming cats began to run for balls that Jouvet couldn’t see and arched (弓起) their backs at unseen enemies. He figures he was watching them act out their dreams! Obviously, the dreaming cats seemed to be practising important cat skills: following, pouncing (猛扑), and fighting.

In another study, Matt Wilson recorded rats brain waves while they learned mazes (迷宫). One day, he left the brain-wave-recording machine on while the rats fell asleep. The pattern of brain waves in the sleeping rats matched the pattern from the maze so closely that Wilson could figure out exactly which part of the maze each rat was dreaming about!

Many researchers now think that in both people and animals, one purpose of dreams is to practise important skills and figure out recent caning. This may explain why so many people dream about fighting and escaping, skills that were probably important to our ancestors, and why dreaming affects our ability to learn.

Do all animals dream? From looking at the brain waves of sleeping animals. How often animals dream seems to be tied to body size. Cats dream about every 15 minutes, mice every 9 minutes, and elephants every 2 hours. And though cows and horses usually sleep standing up, they only dream when lying down.

1.What does Michel Jouvet find in his study?

A. The dreaming cats are in a state of body paralysis.

B. The dreaming cats often practise their important skills.

C. The eyes of dreaming cats moved while bodies are still.

D. The muscles of the dreaming cats are blocked to move.

2.What can you know about dreaming from the passage?

A. Dreaming a lot can help humans learn more.

B. Learning mazes is the basic skill for cats to learn.

C. Rats often dreams to make certain their recent learning

D. Fighting and escaping are not important skills for ancestors.

3.Which animal may dream most frequently?

A. Rats. B. Dogs.

C. Cows. D. Elephants

4.How does the author develop his passage?

A. By making comparisons. B. By using figures

C. By telling stories D. By showing facts

    When the tornado (龙卷风) passed, Lewis returned to her house after that awful night, and the Bible was the first thing she looked for. She had bought it 35 years earlier, at the start of her marriage. Like many folks, she’d used it to preserve the family’s history: decades-old photos, newspaper obituaries (讣告) of loved ones, a handkerchief from her great-grandmother, even a piece of a scarf her uncle bad brought back from the Korean War.

The Bible was not where she d last seen it, on top of an antique dresser in her bedroom. The only thing left was the solid pieces of marble that had been on the top of the furniture. After an hour of searching, one of the volunteers ran up to her and found the bible while clearing through ruins. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. It had flown about ten feet from the dresser. Surprisingly, while many books had been destroyed beyond recognition, the Bible was still intact, even though it had sat in the rain for days. “It was a miracle,” says Lewis.

A few of the Bible’s treasures did go missing. Yet ever so slowly, they, too, began reappearing in Lewis’s life. Days after the Bible was found, volunteers discovered one of the newspaper obituaries outside the home. Two weeks later, a neighbor found another newspaper clipping (剪辑) by her house. “It was a shock,” say Lewis.

Now the Bible already has its well-deserved place of honor, on the dresser. She knows that while every good book tells stories of disastrous weather and unlikely survival, this one actually lived it.

1.Why was the Bible the first thing to look for?

A. It is a book telling good stories.

B. It was a valuable gift for her marriage.

C. It records her family’s trees and history.

D. It keeps things recalling family’s stories.

2.What does the underlined word “intact” probably mean?

A. Unfolded B. New

C. Undamaged D. fragile

3.What is the best title for tie text?

A. The Bible Beats a Tornado.

B. The Bible Blesses Lewis’ Family

C. Antique Treasures Are Never Gone.

D. Family Treasures Are Along With Us.

    Bright Side did some research on many places throughout the world where you can buy a house for 1 dollar or for free!

Roubaix, France

If you like France, Roubaix located in the north of France is just for you. The local authorities want it to be populated and attractive. You can buy a small house in the industrial district for just $1. The buyer is supposed to live in this house for 3 years.

Buffalo. USA

Buffalo offers whoever qualifies to buy a house for $1. All you need is to be a lawful citizen of the city and invest amount of money into its decoration. Doing this, the authorities are hoping to make the city beautiful again without spending money.

Liverpool, Great Britain

In Liverpool, most of houses were abandoned by the working class during the years of unemployment. The government is trying to sell the houses for just $1. If you want to buy such a house, it has to be your first deal on buying property (不动产).

Candela, Italy

If you still have any doubts about spending SI on a house, you should know: the government will pay you some money, if you move to Candela. In order to be paid, you need to become a permanent citizen and have an income of $7500 per year. If moving a, ne, you will get S800, and if you are going with your family, the pay can be four times as much as only one person.

For more information of other cities, please Click Here.

1.Why do the authorities of Buffalo provide a house for people with 1$?

A. To improve the lives of poor people.

B. To make the city attractive at no cost.

C. To solve the problems of employment.

D. To attract people to the industrial areas.

2.What is required to buy a house for 1 dollar in Liverpool?

A. You need to be an unemployed citizen.

B. You should live in the house for 3 years.

C. You must make the first house purchase.

D. You have to repair and decorate the house.

3.How much money can you get if moving to Candela with a whole family?

A. $3200 B. $1

C. $800 D. $7500

4.Where does this passage come from?

A. a textbook. B. a magazine.

C. the Internet. D. an announcement.