“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”
This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown citizen who lived in Rome in AD 52 wrote it.
We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.
But have all these developments really improve the quality of our lives?
Picture this: You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?
Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead a simpler life.
One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10, and Tomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.
The grandmother, Lyn, said, “It was hard physically, but not mentally.” She believed life was less materialistic. “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes,” She said. The boys said they found less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（时髦的）, beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things.”
Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!
Don’t be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day. Don’t check your e-mail every day.
Don’t reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets annoying.
Don’t worry too much about life—laugh more.
1.The passage is mainly about __ .
A. problem with technology
B. improvements of our life with technology
C. the important roles technology plays in our everyday life
D. major changes which will be likely to happen to technology
2. The writer quoted（引用）what a citizen in ancient Rome said at the beginning of the story in order to __ .
A. share a truth about life
B. tell us what life was like long time ago
C. make us wonder what causes such a thing to happen
D. point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same
3.
4.
My wife and I had just finished the 150-mile trip home from our daughter’s college. It was the first time in our life that we would __36__ for any length of time. We wondered how other people had __37__ it.
Later in bed, I __38__ the time I started college. My father had driven me, too. My mother had to stay home to keep the __39__ from getting into the crops. I, the fourth in a line of brothers, was the first to __40__ college.
The truck was slow, and I was glad. I didn’t want to get to the city __41__. I shook hands with my father in the truck and he didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to make a little __42__. He finally said, “I never went to college and __43__ of your brothers did. I can’t say don’t do this or that, because everything is __44__ and I don’t know what is going to come up, but I think things will __45__. When you get a job, be sure to be honest and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be __46__ in the big town and I would be __47__ the life home.
Then my father __48__ the Bible that he had read so often. I knew that he would miss it but I must __49__ it. He just said, “This can help you __50__ you will let it.”
When I finished school I took the Bible __51__ to my father. But he said he wanted me to __52__ it.
Now, too often, I remember. It would have been so __53__ to give it to my daughter when she got out of the car. But I didn’t. My father could give me only a Bible, but now I don’t really believe that I gave her half as __54__ as my father gave me. So the next morning I __55__ up the book and sent it to her. I wrote a note “This can help you.” I said, “if you will let it.”
1. A. worry B. separate C. stay D. travel
2. A. left B. stood C. enjoyed D. tried
3. A. wasted B. spent C. remembered D. killed
4. A. policemen B. workers C. cattle D. birds
5. A. graduate from B. go away to C. set out D. set up
6. A. very late B. far away C. too soon D. once again
7. A. speech B. living C. promise D. progress
8. A. some B. one C. none D. all
9.A. impossible B. different C. difficult D. favorite
10. A. work out B. die out C. hold out D. break out
11. A. happy B. alone C. free D. lost
12. A. losing B. spending C. missing D. living
13. A. brought about B. brought out C. brought up D. brought down
14. A. refuse B. mark C. follow D. take
15. A. if B. unless C. but D. though
16. A. down B. up C. back D. away
17. A. keep B. return C. post D. sell
18. A. popular B. strange C. ready D. nice
19. A. much B. many C. far D. good
20. A. set B. turned C. gave D. wrapped
--John, _________, but your TV is going too loud.
--Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll turn it down right now.
A. I’d like to talk with you B. I’m really tired of this
C. I hate to say this D. I need your help
When _______ help, one often says “Thank you” or “It’s kind of you”.
A. offering B. to offer C. to be offered D. offered
The old woman ______ her sons and daughter ______ and see her from time to time.
A. suggested; to come B. desired; coming
C. desired; to come D. hoped; to come
Harry Potter is such an interesting book ________ all kids like to read.
A. as B. that C. / D. which
