Google has been collecting tons of data about smartphone usage around the world. Here are some of the most surprising and interesting facts：
Android is most popular in Japan, with 55% of respondents(调查对象) using it, compared with 39% for iOS.Android is also number one in a few other countries, including New Zealand (41%), the US(40%), and China (38%)．
iOS is farthest ahead in Switzerland, with 52% usage vs 23% for Android.Other countries where iOS is far ahead include Australia (49% vs 25% Android), Canada (45% vs 23% Android and 23% Blackberry), and France (43% vs 25% Android)．
In Egypt, Windows Mobile is far more popular than iOS.13% of survey respondents use the Microsoft smartphone platform, behind Symbian (19%) and Android (14%). iOS is very far down at 4%.
Mobile social networking is biggest in Mexico and Argentina, where 74% and 73% of users visit a social network daily.But mobilesocial is weak in Japan where 34% of users never visit a social network on their phone, and this figure rises to 41% in Brazil.
Watching video is most popular in Saudi Arabia, with 59% of respondents doing it daily.Number two is Egypt, with 41%.
Chinese users shop from their phones.59% of Chinese users do this, compared with only 41% in secondplace Egypt.Chinese users also love to write reviews.41% of them write a review of a local business after looking it up on their smartphone.Number two, Japan, is far behind, with only 24% of respondents doing this.
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1.Which of the following best describes the usage of the smartphone operating systems in Egypt?
A．Windows Mobile＞iOS＞Symbian＞Android
B．Android＞Windows Mobile＞iOS＞Symbian
C．iOS＞Android＞Symbian＞Windows Mobile
D．Symbian＞Android＞Windows Mobile＞iOS
2.In which of the following countries is mobile social networking least popular?
A．Brazil. B．Japan.
C．Mexico. D．Argentina.
3.In which section of a newspaper can we most probably read the passage?
A. Health. B. Environment.
C. Technology. D. Entertainment.
All of us go through some difficult times as we approach teenage years. It's the age when we have to deal with the most ____ in our life. This transition (过渡) from childhood to adulthood is ____ for some, but rough for others. The most important thing about being a teenager is ____. When we are teenagers, we would get blamed or even punished for anything wrong we do.
It's all not so ___ about being a teenager though. We don't have to have our ____ take us to somewhere we want to go or we couldn't go before. We can have ____ with friends or even alone, which we couldn't have because we were too ___ to know what pleasure is! It's a very enjoyable time of life. During this age, we are old enough to ____ what is good for us, and make decisions without ____ others.
But like the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end, but all bad things can continue ___.” During this period, we are having much ____ for our studies. If we don't pass, we won't get jobs, and things will take a turn for the ____. With the present world economy in ___， we have to do really, really well in our ____ for a job. Adults say that their ____ is the hardest part of life. But I think the transition from a kid to an adult is much ____ than being already an adult. What we do in our teenage years will ____ what we become and how we lead our life in the future.
In conclusion, it is quite ____ that parents put much pressure on an already stressed out teenager. If they realized that, living condition for teenagers would be much better. ____ for the teens ourselves we should get to know what is best for us. What's more, we should understand the right ____ of life we choose at this age can make us happy for the rest of our existence.
1.A.chances B．changes
C．feelings D．expectations
2.A.smooth B．practical
C．demanding D．necessary
3.A.knowledge B．independence
C．confidence D．responsibility
4.A.easy B．strange
C．bad D．interesting
5.A.guides B．partners
C．parents D．friends
6.A.fun B．trouble
C．relation D．business
7.A.proud B．young
C．smart D．mature
8.A.predict B．remember
C．imagine D．understand
9.A.guiding B．helping
C．inviting D．consulting
10.A.occasionally B．briefly
C．forever D．naturally
11.A.pressure B．passion
C．motivation D．panic
12.A.better B．worse
C．fewer D．more
13.A.decline B．hope
C．increase D．debt
14.A.contribution B．education
C．application D．qualification
15.A.promotion B．work
C．experience D．age
16.A.harder B．happier
C．easier D．lighter
17.A.reflect B．confirm
C．determine D．identify
18.A.vital B．urgent
C．common D．unnecessary
19.A.Or B．Otherwise
C．But D．Because
20.A.experience B．way
C．condition D．power
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, we might all be braggarts(大话王) in this competitive society addicted to social networking.
Take a close look at your socialnetworking sites. Do you like to post photos of yourself in restaurants to show others what an exciting life you have? Or do you like to write about how happily in love you are? Or perhaps you are of the subtle type who constantly complain about jobs but really just want to impress others with your important position.
According to the results of a series of experiments conducted by Harvard University neuroscientists(神经科学家), the reward areas of our brain——the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food ——are activated when we talk about ourselves. We devote between 30 to 40 percent of our conversation time to doing just that. Unfortunately, Bernstein says, some people can't tell the difference between sharing positive information that others might actually want to know and direct bragging. She suggests that bragging involves comparison, whether stated or implied.
“We are expected to be perfect all the time. The result is that more and more people are carefully managing their online images”. says Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal.
But the issue is not limited to the Internet. In a fiercely competitive job market we must sell ourselves on multiple platforms and show that we are better than others. In fact, we have become so accustomed to bragging that we don't even realize we are doing it, says Bernstein. This is harmful to our relationships and puts people off.
Bernstein talked to some experts who said that people brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention; to prove to ourselves we are doing fine and that people who said we would fail are wrong; or simply because we're excited when good things happen to us.
“Feel sorry for them, because they're doing this unconscious, destructive thing that won't help them in the long run，” said Professor Simian Valier, a research psychologist at Washington University.
1.The underlined word “subtle” in Para.2 is closest in meaning to “________”．
A．hidden B．apparent
C．outstanding D．simple
2.Which of the following is one of the features of braggarts?
A．They control conversation and only talk about themselves.
B．They know well how to share positive information.
C．They selfpromote to stand out in their career.
D．They don't pay much attention to their online image.
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A．Braggarts make a good first impression but the effect decreases over time.
B．People who like bragging know what they are doing.
C．Braggarts always adopt comparison directly to show they are excellent.
D．They care much about the feelings of others when talking.
Growers around the world are using new methods to grow grapes to make wine. They use natural and organic methods to control harmful insects and weeds instead of using chemicals. Now, a winery in Canada has adopted a natural way to control its grapevines (葡萄藤). The Featherstone Winery is in southern Ontario. The grapevines, like other plants, need to be cut every year.
Cutting grapevines must be done very carefully. Only a targeted area of leaves is removed from the lower part of the vines to help the grapes grow better. But at the Featherstone Winery, no man or machine does the cutting. Instead, the job is done by 40 little wooly lambs.
David Johnson owns the vineyard (葡萄园). He says he learned about using lambs while visiting wineries in New Zealand. The young lambs are perfectly designed to do the job. They eat the grape leaves on the lower parts of the vine. But they are not tall enough to reach the grapes. They only weigh about 22 kilograms, so they do not beat down the soil. And their waste makes good organic fertilizer. In addition, using the lambs costs much less than hiring workers to cut the vines for seven weeks in summer. And when the cutting is done in August, the lambs become tasty dishes.
Mr. Johnson says he had a difficult time finding enough lambs to do the job. There are about 50 million lambs in New Zealand. But there are not nearly as many in Ontario. Also, some organic pesticides (杀虫剂) are harmful to lambs. And the lambs must be watched to make sure they do not eat too much of the grapevines.
David Johnson says the lambs help him carry out his environmental ideas about farming. They are lovely and peaceful and he likes having them in his vineyard. People visiting the vineyard also enjoy watching the lambs do their job.
1.Farmers who grow grapes with natural and organic methods ________.
A．don't cut grapevines every year
B．don't use chemicals to control harmful insects and weeds
C．don't need to control harmful insects and weeds
D．don't use organic fertilizer
2.In order to help the grapes grow better, growers ________.
A．only have to remove the dead leaves
B．need to remove a specific area of leaves
C．shouldn't remove any part of the plants
D．should let little lambs do the cutting
3.Paragraph 4 is mainly about ________.
A．the future of getting lambs to do the cutting
B．the worries about using organic pesticides
C．the ways to get lambs to do the cutting
D．the problems related to lambs doing the cutting
4.We can infer from the passage that David Johnson ________.
A．owns several wineries in Canada
B．buys lambs from New Zealand
C．is concerned about protecting the environment
D．loves keeping lambs instead of farming
Pupils remember more and behave better when 3D images areused in lessons，research suggests.They are quicker to learn andabsorb new concepts，and display higher levels of concentration.
Professor Anne Bamford，of the University of the Arts，London，studied the effectiveness of 3D content in 15 schools across seven countries，including the UK.Pupils in 3D classes can remember more than those in the 2D classes after four weeks，improving test scores by an average of 1 7 percent compared with eight percent for 2D lessons.They gave more detailed answer to the tasks and were more likely to think in 3D, using hand gestures and mime(模仿动作) to answer the test questions successfully.
The teachers commented that the pupils in the 3D groups had deeper understanding，increased attention span, more motivation and higher engagement in the lessons.
Children are used to 3D with the rise of computer games that use the technology90 percent of those in the study had seen a 3D film.Schools would need 3Denabled projectors(投影仪)，laptops with good picture capabilities,3D software and glasses for children to introduce animations(动作) into classrooms.
But Danny Nicholson，an educationist，said the technology would be impractical to use inschools and could be costly.He said，“While I think the idea of 3D technology is very interesting，I worry that 3D is a bit of an expensive gimmick(小玩意儿)．There are a few cases where a true3D image might help，but most of the time，good 2D models that can be moved would be just aseffective.”
In the US，one school district in Colorado is already in the process of having 1,000 3Dprojectors fixed in classrooms.And the University of Caledonia, which carries out scientific research into the Lake Tabon Basin, has used 3D presentations with Grade Six pupils.Those who watched the 3D presentations were more engrossed and reported a general increase in their interest in science compared with students who watched the 2D version.
1.What is the main idea of the first three paragraphs?
A．There are slight differences between 3D and 2D images.
B．Pupils perform better when 3D images are used in classes.
C．Schools have difficulties in making full use of 3D technology.
D．3D technology is always more effective than 2D technology.
2.Danny Nicholson holds the view that 3D ________.
A．is of no help in classes
B．has a bright future in classes
C．is more practical than 2D models
D．may not be affordable for schools
3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A．3D technology will replace 2D models in the future.
B．Many pupils are now more Interested In science than before.
C．Teachers will use the 3D technology through specific training.
D．3D will soon be put into use in one school district in Colorado.
4.The underlined word “engrossed” in the last paragraph means ________.
A．absorbed B．annoyed
C．relaxed D. confused
“I will never marry，” the future Elizabeth I declared at the age of eight, and, to the terror of her people, the Great Queen kept her word.
For four centuries, historians have guessed why Elizabeth never married.In her own day, her decision to remain single was considered absurd and dangerous.A queen needed a husband to make political decisions for her and to organise and lead her military campaigns.More important, she needed male heirs to avoid a civil war after her death.
There was no shortage of suitors for the Queen, both English courtiers (朝臣) and foreign princes, and it was confidently expected for the best part of 30 years that Elizabeth would eventually marry one of them.Indeed, although she insisted that she preferred the single state, she kept these suitors in a state of permanent expectation.This was a deliberate policy on the Queen's part, since by keeping foreign princes in hope, sometimes for a decade, she kept them friendly when they might otherwise have made war on her kingdom.
There were, indeed, good political reasons for her avoiding marriage.The disastrous union of her sister Mary I to Philip II of Spain had had an unwelcome foreign influence upon English politics.The English were generally prejudiced against the Queen taking a foreign husband, particularly a Catholic one.Yet if she married an English, jealousy might lead to the separation of the court.
There were other, deeper reasons for Elizabeth's unwillingness to marry, chief of which, I believe, was her fear of losing her autonomy as Queen. In the 16th century, a queen was regarded as holding supreme dominion(统治权)over the state, while a husband was thought to hold supreme dominion over his wife.Elizabeth knew that marriage and motherhood would bring some harm to her power.
She once pointed out that marriage seemed too uncertain a state for her. She had seen several unions in her immediate family break down, including that of her own parents.
Some writers, based on very fragile evidence, have argued that Elizabeth was frightened or incapable of the sex act, but it is more likely that she feared childbirth. Two of her stepmothers, her grandmother and several acquaintances had died in childbed.
Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had had her mother, Anne Boleyn, killed; her stepmother Catherine Howard later suffered the same fate. When Elizabeth was 14 she was all but attracted by Admiral Thomas Seymour, who also went to the prison within a year. Witnessing these terrible events at an early age, it has been argued, may have put Elizabeth off marriage.
Elizabeth had to decide her priorities. Marriage or being single? Elizabeth was far too intelligent.The choice she made was courageous and revolutionary, and, in the long run, the right one for England.
1.To the suitors including English courtiers and foreign princes，Elizabeth ________.
A．held back the truth
B．gave a definite answer “no”
C．kept them expecting deliberately
D．said she preferred the single state
2.If Elizabeth had married a foreign prince, there might have been ________.
A．prejudice against her
B．separation of the court
C．jealousy among English courtiers
D．a negative impact on English politics
3.Which of the following implications is right according to the passage?
A．Queen Elizabeth was not a Catholic.
B．Some foreign princes made war on Britain.
C．Catherine Howard was killed by Anne Boleyn.
D．Admiral Thomas Seymour was killed by Henry VIII.
4.What is the attitude of the author towards Queen Elizabeth never marrying in her life?
A．Pitiful. B．Approving.
C．Negative. D．Neutral.
