Today it is common to see people who walk about with colored wires hanging from their ears wherever they go. They move about in their personal bubbles, sometimes unaware of what’s happening around them. 1. Outside life is shut out. So are you one of “them”?
For me, walking around in my own personal bubble is perfect. 2.What’s even better, wearing earphones seems to give a signal to people which says: “I’m not available for chatting at the moment!”
Suppose you’re at work and about to make an incredible breakthrough, but a colleague suddenly turns up. At this precise moment, the slightest disturbance would break your concentration. 3.Once again, those wires hanging from your ears would be sure to give that “Go away!” signal.
4.It’s probably part of the growing up stage when they just want to ignore their whole family. While their mothers give them lectures about why they should do their homework, they can just turn up the volume(声音) on their MP3 player, smile, and say “Yes, Mum.” Problem solved.
Pretty soon, not only will we have pretty colored wires hanging from our ears—but also our brains will be directly plugged into some new high-tech instrument. We’ll be in a virtual(虚拟) world, communicating with everyone else, or choosing not to, as we like. In this world, we will all be permanently plugged in. 5.and they are changing our social habits along the way.
In the end, there is a thin line between using technology as a tool for making life better and being a slave to it! It’s so strange—suddenly, I don’t feel like wearing my earphones anymore!
A. Listening to music through earphones is the perfect way to ignore such interruptions.
B. I also have wires hanging from my ears.
C. They walk around in their own spaces, with their personal “digital noise reduction systems.”
D. I don’t have to deal with the noise from the environment.
E. After all, I am listening to my favorite music and would rather not be disturbed.
F. Our instruments are changing quickly.
G. In the home situation, teenagers love these wires.
With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9:00 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pajama’s(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.
All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the “night owl” schedule of sleep.
This is opposed to the “early bird” schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as “night owls” and only 10 percent can be classified as “early birds” ------ the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls, this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.
1.What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?
A. Many students are absent from class.
B. Students are very tired on Monday mornings.
C. Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well.
D. Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays.
2.Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?
A. Most students prefer to get up late in the morning.
B. Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems.
C. One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently.
D. Adolescents’ delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern.
3.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “classified”?
A. Criticized B. Grouped C. Organized D. Named
4.What does the text mainly talk about?
A. Functions of the body clock.
B. The “night owl” phenomenon.
C. Human beings’ sleep behaviour.
D. The school schedule of “early birds”.
Think about the last time you felt afraid. Was it a fear of height? Did you oversleep on a weekday and fear you’d get into trouble at the office? In any case, you know what it feels like to feel fear.
But one woman doesn’t the woman, code-named “UM”, gave her first-ever interview after years of being studied by a team of researchers. The woman is given a code name because the researchers want to protect her from anyone who would take advantage of her inability to feel afraid.
UM can’t tell you what fear is because she’s never experienced it. “I wonder what it’s like to actually be afraid of something,” she said. The formal name for the disease is Urbach-Wieth disease, which is characterized by a hoarse(粗哑的)voice，small bumps around the eyes, and calcium deposits(钙沉积的)in the brain.
In the case of UM，the disease has transformed the part of her brain that controls the human response to fear. In the interview, UM talks about an event in her life where she was held at knifepoint and gunpoint, “I was walking to the store，and I saw a man on a park bench．He said. “Come here，please,” so I went over to him. He grabbed me by the shirt，put a knife to my throat and told me he was going to cut me. I told him, “Go ahead and cut me,” I wasn’t afraid at all. And for some reason，he let me go.”
Doctors who have been studying UM’s condition for years have been trying different things that could strike fear into her. They finally figured something out—increasing UM’s carbon dioxide levels．Extra carbon dioxide concentration in the blood is known to cause fear and panic in health individuals. Increasing UM’s carbon dioxide levels did manage to give her a fright．
1.The text starts by_______.
A. challenging the reader
B. solving daily problems
C. listing situations
D. giving explanations
2.Why is the woman with Urbach-Wieth disease given a code name?
A. To tell her case from other patients
B. To respect her privacy
C. To meet the researchers’ demands
D. To ensure her safety
3.From UM’s case，we can know that Urbach-Wieth disease may________.
A. stop the brain from functioning normally
B. lead to a decrease in calcium deposits
C. stop the brain from responding quickly
D. lead to an increase in carbon dioxide
4.What will probably happen to UM from the last paragraph?
A. Dying of the Urbach-Wieth disease
B. Getting the sense of panic
C. Experiencing another danger
D. Speaking with a hoarse voice
For Canadians, backpacking Europe is a special ceremony signifying a new life stage. Unlike package tours, backpacking is a struggle, full of discovery and chance connections. It is about focusing on something different from our own lives and losing ourselves in a new world, if only for a moment.
Well, that's what backpacking Europe is supposed to do. That’s what it used to do before modern communications, social media, and commercial hostelling (旅社). Older Canadians would not recognize the Europe that they backpacked in the 1960s, 1970s and even the 1980s. Far from a rough adventure into foreign cultures, the European experience has been shattered in part by today's technology.
A few years ago, I took my then 60-year-old father on a backpacking trip across part of Europe and Turkey. As he is an experienced traveler and someone who possesses a strong sense of adventure, I decided that we'd travel on a budget, staying in hostel dorms. For him, backpacking through Europe in 1969 was about independence and struggle. But two things surprised him at the end of our journey. First was how technology-based backpacking had become: Young people were so directly connected to home that they were hardly away in any meaningful sense. Second, the lack of connections we made with locals. Instead of making us feel closer to a place, he found commercial hostelling actually made us more alienated (疏远的).
But there was some room for hope. While technology takes our attention away from the beauty and history before us, there were also ways in which it helped us to connect with our surroundings. Websites like Airbnb have made it easier to stay with enthusiastic locals. Couch Surfing helps organize meet-ups between locals and travelers. The online marketplace Dopios offers a chance to meet locals through enjoyable experiences like a personalized city tour.
Backpacking can never be the way it was for our parents’ generation. But doing a little study of history and culture before leaving, and bravely getting rid of any electronic devices while traveling, will help give young travelers a taste of the glory days.
1.The underlined word “shattered” in Paragraph 2 most probably means ________.
A. broadened B. relived C. ruined D. acquired
2.After the recent backpacking trip in Europe, the author’s father finds ________.
A. backpackers connect less with locals than before
B. young people dislike getting in touch with their family
C. a hostel is a nice place for travelers to meet each other
D. backpacking in Europe becomes more difficult than before
3.What’s the author’s attitude towards technology?
A. Negative. B. Objective. C. Uncertain. D. Uninterested.
4.The text mainly discusses the relationship between ________.
A. adventures and cultures B. technology and traveling
C. young people and their family D. Canadian travelers and Europeans
Visitor Oyster cards are electronic smartcards that come fully charged with credit. Whether you're making a one-off trip to London or you’re a regular visitor, using an Oyster travel smartcard is the easiest way to travel around the city's public transport network. Simply touch the card on the yellow card reader at the doors when you start and end your journey.
Advantages of a Visitor Oyster Card
A Visitor Oyster card is one of the cheapest ways to pay for single journeys on the bus, Tube, DLR, tram, London Over-ground and most National Rail services in London:
● Save time----your card is ready to use as soon as you arrive in London.
● It's more than 50% cheaper than buying a paper travel card or single tickets with cash.
● There is a daily price cap----once you have reached this limit, you won’t pay any more.
● Enjoy special offers and promotions at leading London restaurants, shops and entertainment venues----plus discounts on the Emirates Air Line cable car and Thames Clippers river buses.
Buy a Visitor Oyster card
Buy a Visitor Oyster card before you visit London and get it delivered to your home address. A card costs ￡3 (non-refundable) plus postage. Order online and arrive with your Oyster in hand! You can also buy a Visitor Oyster card from Gatwick Express ticket offices at Gatwick Airport Station and on board Eurostar trains travelling to London.
Add Credit to Your Visitor Oyster Card
You can choose how much credit to add to your card. If you are visiting London for two days, you can start with ￡20 credit. If you run out of credit, add credit at the following locations:
● Touch screen ticket machines in Tube, DLR, London Over-ground and some National Rail stations.
● Around 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stops found in newsagents and small shops across London.
● TFL Visitor and Travel Information Centers.
● Tube and London Over-ground station ticket offices.
● Emirates Air Line terminals.
1.When can you use your Visitor Oyster Card?
A. After you become a regular visitor.
B. Only when you end your journey.
C. Once you arrive in London.
D. Before you leave home.
2.What can we learn about the Visitor Oyster card?
A. It can reach you before your journey to London.
B. It requires you to pay as much as the daily price cap.
C. It can provide you a 50% discount at a London shop.
D. It can be delivered to your home address free of charge.
3.Where can you add credit to your Visitor Oyster card?
A. On the Internet. B. At a Tube station ticket office.
C. On Eurostar trains. D. At Gatwick Express ticket offices.
假设最近某校就同学们的习惯养成问题展开了讨论。请你根据下表所提示的信息，用英语写一篇题为A good habit, a successful life 的短文，发表在该校的网站上。
良好的学习习惯 | 1. 上课注意力集中 2. 充分利用课外时间 3. 按时完成作业… |
良好的生活习惯 | 1. 健康的饮食 2. 规律的运动 3. 充足的睡眠… |
养成良好的习惯的好处 | 好习惯对生活有积极地影响 2.… 3.… (请考生结合自身感受补充两点) |
注意：1. 开头已给出。
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
3. 词数100-120。
形成良好的习惯：develop good habits of…
利用：make use of
A Good Habit, a Successful Life
A habit is something that you do often or regularly almost without thinking, especially something that is hard to stop doing.
