It has been more than twenty years since pioneering British computer programmer, Sir Tim Berners Lee, created the World Wide Web. But could he have ever imagined how much the web would change our lives? And would he approve of how some British students are taking advantage of his invention?
Universities and exam boards around the UK are becoming increasingly concerned with the rising number of cases of plagiarism, many of which are facilitated (助长) by the Internet access.
In the UK most school and university students complete coursework throughout the academic year which contributes toward their final mark. In many cases coursework makes up the main part of the qualification. Since coursework is completed in the students’ own time it cannot be monitored by teachers in the same way as an exam.
Derec Stockley, director of examinations in the UK, explains, “Plagiarism affects coursework more than anything else, and in the cases that come to our attention, more and more are linked to the Internet.”
At a university level recent reports suggest that plagiarism has evolved from separate cases of individual cheating to systematic and even commercial operation. Students can now pay for bespoke essays to be written for them by experts.
It is estimated that the market in online plagiarism is now worth 200 million pounds a year. Every month more and more websites offering to write student’s essays for them appear on the Internet.
Barclay Littlewood, owner of Degree Essays UK employs 3,500 specialist writers and charges between 120 pounds and 4,000 pounds per essay. However, Mr. Littlewood refutes the accusation that he is helping students to cheat.
1.What dose the underlined word “plagiarism” in Paragraph 2 mean in the passage?
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A．problems of the Internet |
B．cheating |
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C．learning pressure |
D．coursework |
2.Which of the following statements is mentioned by the author?
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A．There will be no problem if online plagiarism is a systematic and commercial operation. |
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B．With the help of online plagiarism, students can write more creative coursework. |
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C．The Internet seems to have contributed much to the problem of online plagiarism. |
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D．Teachers should lay more emphasis on exams than coursework. |
3.It can be inferred from the text that the author seems to _____.
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A．blame Sir Tim Berners Lee for having created the World Wide Web |
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B．have studied the problem of online plagiarism for nearly 20 years |
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C．be in favour of Littlewood’s defence against the accusation of him |
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D．worry about the quality of students’ coursework influenced by the World Wide Web |
4.The paragraph following the passage will most probably be about_____.
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A．Mr. Littlewood’s defence against those who accused him of his website |
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B．different people’s opinions on plagiarism |
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C．how students use the website of Mr. Littlewood |
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D．the author’s opinions of Mr. Littlewood |
Scientist Says ‘No’ to Human Cloning
“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.”
That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and a cat.
They just might succeed in cloning Missy soon — or perhaps not for another five years.
Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog's eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate（代孕的）mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted(流产，发育不全) fetuses（胎）may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.
Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin's phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. “A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right,” says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy's mysterious billionaire owner; he's put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M's research.
Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy's fine qualities after she does die. The prototype（原型；雏形）is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy's master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament（气质、性情）. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy.”
Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.
However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems~ “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we're not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?”
1.By “stupid endeavor”, Westhusin means to say that ________.
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A．human cloning is a foolish undertaking |
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B．animal cloning is absolutely impractical |
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C．human cloning should be done selectively |
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D．animal cloning is not worth the effort at all |
2.What does the first paragraph tell us about Westhusin's dog cloning project?
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A．Its success is already in sight. |
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B．It is progressing smoothly. |
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C．It is doomed to utter failure. |
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D．Its outcome remains uncertain. |
3.By cloning Missy, Mark Westhusin hopes to ________.
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A．study the possibility of cloning humans |
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B．search for ways to modify its temperament |
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C．find out the differences between Missy and its clones |
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D．examine the reproductive system of the dog species |
4.We learn from the passage that animal clones are likely to have ________.
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A．a bad temper |
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B．defective（有缺陷的、有毛病的）organs |
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C．immune deficiency |
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D．an abnormal shape |
LOS ANGELES, the US
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ruled Michael Jackson’s father can receive some medical records related to his superstar son’s death．The judge will review the records first before making them accessible to Joe Jackson’s lawyer，Brian Oxman．Beckloff said the man can only receive records on or after June 25一the day Michael Jackson died．
VANCOUVER，CANADA
World number one Zhou Yang overcame three South Korean players to win the women’s short track speed skating 1,500 meters final at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games．The l8-year-old made perfect debut(首次亮相)as she set an Olympic record of a winning time of 2 minutes and l6,993 seconds among other seven skaters．
China has never won the women’s l,500 meters in the Olympics before，and this time Zhou’s performance gave China its third gold medal in Vancouver．
BElJING，CHINA
China’s first compulsory,(强制性的)safety regulation on primary school buses，which requires every seat to have a seat belt，will take effect on July l to help ensure safer transportation for the country’s 100 million students．
Each primary school bus must also be equipped with a “black box”，0r a recording monitor，to record speed，travel time and distance．Also，the bus must be staffed by teachers who will ensure student safety．In addition，the new rule states that the color of the school buses should be yellow，and each bus must have at least two emergency exits．
Texas，the US
A software engineer who crashed his plane into a Texas building housing a United States tax agency office，killing himself and at least one worker，apparently left behind an angry anti-government manifesto(宣言) detailing his financial difficulties and tax problems．The pilot took off from an airport in Georgetown．about 48 km from Austin．He flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the building．
1.We can learn from the first news that_________．
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A．all Michael Jackson’s medical records can be accessed |
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B．Mitchell Beckloff will not go over the record first |
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C．Joe Jackson’s lawyer will not get any records |
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D．medical records before June 25 won’t be received |
2.The new school bus safety rules include all the followings EXCEPT_____________.
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A．the color of the bus |
B．the equipment of the bus |
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C．the driver’s experience |
D．emergency exits |
3.It seems the software engineer crashed into the US tax office mainly because of___________.
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A．unhappy marriage |
B．financial and tax problems |
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C．heavy work pressure |
D．mental disease |
4.We can infer from the news that____________.
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A．Joe Jackson will be the first to receive the medical records |
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B．the tax agency office is somewhere inside the building in Texas |
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C．Zhou Yang once broke the Olympic records in the same event |
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D．the software engineer flew high over skyline before crashing into the building |
A new system that scans customers’ fingerprints and subtracts（减去）the grocery bill from their bank accounts has taken supermarkets in Germany to use the new system. “Almost a quarter of our customers pay with their fingers,” said an employee at the headquarters. Edeka has tried the system at 70 of its supermarkets. It says it will introduce it at 200 others because customers like it.
“At first we thought that only the young who really keep up with the latest technology would be interested, but we were wrong,” said Stefan Sewoester from IT Werke. “Almost two-thirds of the people who use the system are 40 and older,” he said.
IT Werke, a computer company, is one of the pioneers of fingerprint payment software in Germany. It has helped about 150 shops, canteens and bars to put in the fingerprint scanning machines. Each costs about 2,000 euros.
To sign up for the service, customers must have their fingerprints taken and leave their addresses and banking details with the shop. The shop then takes the cost of goods directly out of the customer’s bank account.
“It is especially a good thing for elderly people. Now they do not have to remember their pin to pay with their bank cards, or to scratch around for their glasses or cash.” Sewoester said.
The stores benefit from the system too. It saves more than time in the check-out line. It also cuts out the hidden costs of accepting electronic card payments.
1.According to the passage, the fingerprint system______.
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A．was invented by the Edeka supermarket chain |
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B．has caused payment revolution in Germany |
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C．is more popular with young people |
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D．is preferred by most American customers |
2.To apply to pay with fingers, customers are required to do all of the following EXCEPT______.
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A．have their fingerprints taken |
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B．leave their addresses |
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C．give the shop information about the bank accounts |
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D．have their phones connected with computers |
3.Why do elderly people benefit much from the fingerprint machine?
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A．They will spend less time on shopping.. |
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B．They are not forgetful. |
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C．They don’t like to pay in cash |
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D．They always fail to find their bank cards. |
When I come across a good article in reading newspapers, I often want to cut and keep it．But just as I am about to do so, I find the article on the 36 side is as much interesting．It may be a discussion of the way to 37 in good health, or 38 about how to behave and conduct oneself in society．If I cut the front article, the opposite one is likely to 39 damage, leaving out half of it or keeping the text 40 the title．Therefore, the scissors would 41 before they start, 42 halfway done when I find out the 43 result．
Sometimes two things are to be done at the same time, both worth your 44 ．You can only take up one of them, the other has to wait or be 45 up．
But you know the future is unpredictable—the changed situation may not allow you to do what is left 46 ．Thus you are 47 in a difficult position and feel sad．How 48 that nice chances and brilliant ideas should gather around all at once? It may happen that your life 49 greatly on your preference of one choice to the other．
In fact that is what 50 is like: we are often 51 with the two opposite sides of a thing which are both desirable like a newspaper cutting．It often occurs that your attention is drawn to one thing only 52 we get into another．The 53 may be more important than the latter and give rise to divided mind．I 54 remember a philosopher's remarks: "When one door shuts, another opens in life．" So a casual 55 may not be a bad one．
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had never occurred to him that he might be falling in love with the new school.
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B．That |
C．It |
D．This |
