A report by the Consumer Electronics Association says electronics are among the most popular gifts being bought this holiday season.
Jim Barry is a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. He says the CEA study found that electronics represent three of the top five things on its "holiday gift wish list" this year.
JIM BARRY: "Notebook computers are at the top, followed by iPads and then e-readers. IPad is a touch-screen tablet computer and that's really the big player in that category."
The computer company Apple began selling its small, touch-screen computers in April. People use the touch-screen computers to surf the Web, write e-mails, watch movies and read books. Since the iPad's release earlier this year, several other companies have come out with their own tablet computers just in time for Christmas.
A report from the e-Marketer research group predicts that worldwide, tablet sales will reach more than eighty-one million in two thousand twelve. Still, Jim Barry says these devices are facing tough competition this year from another Christmas favorite.
JIM BARRY: "Another hot category right behind that are the e-readers. So you can read on an iPad or a touch-screen tablet, but the e-book readers are less expensive. The Kindle is the market leader there, from Amazon. But you also have the Nook from Barnes and Noble and the e-reader from Sony. And you have more and more of those e-readers coming into the market as well."
The Consumer Electronics Association report found that iPod music players are also in high demand this holiday season.
But not all of the things on the holiday gift wish list involved electronics. Clothes, cars and motorcycles also made the list. So did family togetherness and good health. And the one thing that people wanted most?
JIM BARRY: "At the top of the list was peace and happiness."
That is also our wish for you this holiday season.
1.The best title of the passage is .
A. How to choose a suitable gift for Christmas
B. iPads, E-Readers, Notebook Computers top wish lists
C. What we should buy for our kids this holiday season
D. How modern technology is changing the way people relate
2.People use the touch-screen computers to do all the following things except .
A. surf the Web and write e-mails
B. watch movies and read books
C. surf the Web and contact others on phone
D. surf the internet and use it as an e-reader
3. Which of the following sentences is TURE?
A. iPads are the most popular gift among all the electronics.
B. Only the computer company Apple releases a touch-screen tablet computer.
C. All of the things on the holiday gift wish list are electronics.
D. There are more and more kinds of e-readers in the market.
4. You don't have enough money for an iPad, but you can buy for a friend who enjoys reading.
A. notebook computers B. iPod music players
C. touch-screen tablet computer D. e-book readers
5.We can infer from the last paragraph that .
A. people value peace and happiness more than anything else
B. clothes, cars and motorcycles are also popular gifts for Christmas
C. family togetherness and good health don't make the list
D. JIM BARRY also sends their wish for us this holiday season
A pair of pandas being lent by China to Japan was set to arrive in Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in the Japanese capital and raising hopes that the animals may help improve bilateral (双边的)ties.
Bi Li and his female partner, Xian Nu, both 5, were due to touch down at Narita international Airport in Tokyo on a flight from Shanghai.
Together with their keeper, the pair were transferred from Chengdu, to Shanghai on Monday morning, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the Wolong Nature Reserve.
The pair, which are young adults, will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo since April 2008, when the institution's beloved Ling Ling died.
Ueno Zoo had spent 90 million yen ($1.1 million) installing under-floor heating, a playground with a sandbox and landscaping.
The pair will dine on rare bamboo from the central Japanese mountain of Izu that is similar to what they are used to at home in China.
The zoo's first pair of pandas arrived in 1972, marking the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Expectations are running high that the pandas that will stay in Japan for 10 years will boost the local economy and improve troubled relations between Tokyo and Beijing.
Business and tourism officials expect them to bring in around 20 billion yen a year, or 10 percent of the local economy.
In 1993, a year after Ling Ling arrived in the zoo, an additional 1 million people visited the attraction. Visitors have fallen to around 3 million a year from 3.5 million since Ling Ling's death.
Since a boat collision near the Diaoyu Islands in September, Sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point. The media outlets expressed hope that bilateral relations will improve with the arrival of the pandas.
1.The passage mainly tells us .
A. a pair of pandas was lent to Japan by China
B. the pair of pandas from China brought hope of improving Sino-Japanese relations
C. the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan
D. sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point since the Diaoyu Island incident
2.en the pair of pandas arrives in Japan, .
A. an additional 1 million people will visit the zoo
B. they will eat what they are used to from China
C. they will stay there for 10 years
D. they will be the first pandas at Ueno Zoo
3.According to the passage, we know that Ling Ling stayed in Japan for about .
A. 5 years B. 10 years C. 15 years D. 20 years
4.What does the underlined phrase "touch down" probably mean ?
A. take off B. land C. come up D. meet
5. The arriving of the pandas is expected to bring several positive effects except .
A. boosting the local economy
B. improving the troubled relations between China and Japan
C. bringing in around 20 billion yen a year
D. attracting 3.5 million visitors from China
BUILDING up a close bond (关系) with friends is important in all cultures. But different cultures have different ways of socializing.
The Chinese love going to restaurants. Family, friends and colleagues all go out to eat as a way of relaxing. So Chinese restaurants are much louder and noisier places compared with those in the Western world.
Although British people do socialize by going out for dinner, most people meet in pubs. They go there in the evening and sometimes during the day. Most people order wine or beer.
Going for a drink with colleagues after work is a particularly important British tradition. A recent survey of office workers found three-quarters of people regard the after-work drink as the key to building positive relationships with colleagues.
But for the French, the preferred place to socialize is in cafés. They are a central part of daily life in France and its culture. People will go to cafes at all times during the day.
In the morning, people may go there to buy a newspaper and a cup of coffee. At lunch they may go there for something to eat. Then when it's evening they may return to enjoy a glass of wine.
While the meeting place is different from culture to culture, "Essentially (本质上) they serve the same purpose, which is that humans need a place to come together to meet," said Aidan Saunders, a professor of social history at the University College London. "We are sociable animals."
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.
1.What is the passage mainly about?
A. Different cultures and different people.
B. Different places where different people love to go.
C. Different ways of building up relationships with friends
D. Different relationships in different countries.
2.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The Chinese love to dine out.
B. The Chinese always talk loudly in restaurants.
C. Making friends is an important thing in all countries
D. French people spend all their time in cafes.
3.What does Aidan Saunders mean by "We are sociable animals."?
A. Human beings need society to survive in.
B. Human beings need to communicate with each other.
C. Human beings are the same as the other animals.
D. Human beings are also animals belonging to the society.
4. The following are all mentioned as ways of socializing except .
A. dining out with friends
B. drinking in pubs with colleagues after work
C. going to the cafes to have a cup of coffee
D. going to the cinema to see a film
5.Who are the intended readers of the passage ?
A. People in general. B. Adolescents.
C. Business people. D. Educators.
Of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists (语言学家) say, nearly half are likely to disappear this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two weeks.
Some languages die out in an instant, at the death of the only surviving speaker. Others are lost gradually in bilingual (双语的) cultures, as local tongues are edged out by the dominant (占主导地位的) language at school, in the marketplace and on television.
New research, supported by the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, has found the five regions where languages are disappearing most rapidly. They are northern Australia, central South America, North America's upper Pacific coastal zone, eastern Siberia, and Oklahoma and the southwestern United States.
K. David Harrison, an associate professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, US, said that more than half the languages had no written form and were vulnerable to loss and being forgotten." Their loss leaves no dictionary, no text, or no record of the accumulated knowledge and history of a disappeared culture.
Harrison and other researchers started their rescue project last year. They have been trying to identify and record endangered languages. They interviewed and made recordings of the few remaining speakers of a language and collected basic word lists. The individual projects, some lasting three to four years, involve hundreds of hours of recording speech, developing grammar and preparing children's readers in the obscure (逐渐没落的) language. The research has concentrated on preserving entire language families.
"These are probably languages that cannot be brought back, but at least we made records of them," said Gregory Anderson, director of the Living Tongues Institute, in Oregon, US.
1.What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. Many languages are quickly disappearing.
B. Some languages are disappearing because they are hard to remember.
C. Chinese is one of the languages that are disappearing.
D. Thanks to some researchers, many endangered languages have been rescued.
2.What does the word vulnerable in the fourth paragraph mean?
A. easy to remember. B. easy to forget.
C. likely to be damaged. D. likely to be protected.
3.Which of the following is true according to the fifth paragraph?
A. Harrison and other researchers are trying to find out why some languages died out.
B. Harrison and other researchers tried to start a rescue project.
C. Harrison and other researchers have concentrated on preserving all the languages.
D. Harrison and other researchers have done some rescue work on the obscure languages.
4.One of the things that Harrison and other researchers did was .
A. to have more people speak the disappearing language
B. to make records of the disappearing language
C. to limit dominant languages
D. to publish a dictionary of the disappearing language
5.What do you think is the suggested reason for some languages disappearing?
A. Local tongues are gradually edged out by the dominant language at school, in the marketplace and on television.
B. The number of people who speak the languages are small.
C. There are no dictionaries for the languages.
D. No one make records of the languages, so they gradually disappear.
While eating lunch with my 4-year-old daughter this afternoon at a fast food restaurant, I noticed an old man walking to the table with a stick. The manager kindly carried the food for him. During the meal I 36 the man tell a woman it was his 37 . So I 38 what I heard to my daughter. She loves it when people have birthdays. I told her it was OK for her to wish him a happy birthday. He 39 was spending this special day alone.
At first she was 40 and decided against it. As I was 41 our plates into the dustbin she turned to him and quietly 42 him a Happy Birthday. I could tell he was 43 by the way he looked at her. I 44 behind her and gave him my own wishes. He was grateful.
45 we walked away he called my daughter back and 46 her a brand-new gold $1 coin. She thanked him. But that wasn't enough for him. He 47 his pocket and at that I kindly told him that wasn't 48 . He ignored me and 49 out an envelope with about a dozen of a different kind of gold coins. He continued to give her another one and tell her how 50 it was and that one day it would be worth 51 . He then 52 me in the eye and wished me a good day.
What a kind man. I'm sure my daughter 53 his day. On such a special day, 54 can I take away his glory and 55 his offering of thanks?
Happy Birthday!
1. A. listened B. noticed C. learned D. overheard
2. A. birthday B. gift C. food D. stick
3.A. whispered B. screamed C. shouted D. signed
4.A. eventually B. luckily C. naturally D. obviously
5. A. curious B. angry C. shy D. proud
6. A. filling B. dropping C. cleaning D. emptying
7. A. made B. got C. celebrated D. wished
8. A. encouraged B. touched C. bothered D. respected
9. A. went on B. went up C. looked around D. set out
10. A. So B. If C. As D. Though
11.A. bought B. awarded C. showed D. handed
12. A. picked up B. dug into C. put up D. took out
13.A. bad B. available C. necessary D. impossible
14. A. put B. sent C. pulled D. gave
15.A. beautiful B. common C. necessary D. special
16. A. something B. anything C. everything D. nothing
17.A. caught B. looked C. glared D. touched
18. A. troubled B. made C. witnessed D. remembered
19.A. when B. why C. what D. how
20. A. put away B. turn down C. turn out D. hold up
Compared with that article, this article is but not _.
A. longer; as good B. longer; good C. longest; best D. long; so good
