Question

    Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

1.The new products become more and more time-saving because __________.

A.our love of speed seems never-ending

B.time is limited

C.the prices are increasingly high

D.the manufactures boast a lot

2.What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to ?

A.Imaginary life.

B.Simple life in the past.

C.Times of inventions.

D.Time for constant activity.

3.What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?

A.Critical. B.Objective. C.Optimistic. D.Negative.

4.What does the passage mainly discuss?

A.The present and past times.

B.Machinery and human beings.

C.Imaginations and inventions.

D.Modern technology and its influence.

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。现代的一些发明以及高科技加快了人们的生活步伐，节省了一些时间，但同时也带来了一些弊端。但是现代化的生活已使得我们过去静静地用收音机听故事的生活一去不复返了，有了现代化的生产设备后，人们也脱离了原始的生产状态。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段中Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.可知事实上，这种对速度的热爱似乎永无止境。每年都生产出速度更快的汽车，每台新电脑都能在处理任务时节省宝贵的时间。由此可知，新产品越来越省时，是出于人们对速度无止境的热爱。故选A。

2.词义猜测题。根据后文are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world可知我们可以安静地听收音机里的故事，让想象力带我们进入另一个世界的日子已经一去不复返了。可知划线短语指的是过去简单的生活。故选B。

3.推理判断题。根据最后一段中Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.可知现代机器把人们从原始生活中解放出来。上文描述了现代技术的发展带来的弊端，最后一段中作者描述了以前没有先进的机器设备时，祖先们的艰难生活，有了这些现代化的生产设备后，人们便脱离了原始的状态。因此可推知，此处只是作者对现代科技只是在客观地描述事实。故选B。

4.主旨大意题。本文主要讲述了现代的一些发明以及高科技加快了人们的生活步伐，节省了一些时间，但同时也带来了一些弊端。但是现代化的生活已使得我们过去静静地用收音机听故事的生活一去不复返了，有了现代化的生产设备后，人们也脱离了原始的生产状态。文章主要讨论了现代技术及其影响。故选D。