In the case of mobile phones, change is everything. Recent research indicates that the mobile phone is changing not only our culture, but our very bodies as well. First, let's talk about culture. The difference between the mobile phone and its parent—the fixed-line phone, is that a mobile phone corresponds to a person, while a landline goes to a place. If you call my mobile, you get me. If you call my fixed-line phone, you get whoever answers it. This has several implications (含义). The most common one, however, and perhaps the thing that has changed our culture forever, is the "meeting" influence. People no longer need to make firm plans about when and where to meet. Twenty years ago, a Friday night would need to be arranged in advance. You needed enough time to allow everyone to get from their place of work to the first meeting place. Now, however, a night out can be arranged on the run. It is no longer "see you there at 8", but "text me around 8 and we'll see where we all are". Texting changes people as well. In their paper, "Insights into the Social and Psychological Effects of SMS (Short Message Service) Text Messaging", two British researchers distinguished between two types of mobile phone users: the "talkers" and the "texters"—those who prefer voice to text messages and those who prefer text messages to voice. They found that the mobile phone's individuality and privacy gave texters the ability to express a whole new outer personality. Texters were likely to report that their family would be surprised if they were to read their texts. This suggests that texting allowed texters to present a self-image that differed from the one familiar to those who knew them well. Another scientist wrote of the changes that mobiles have brought to body language. There are two kinds that people use while speaking on the phone. There is the "speakeasy": the head is held high, in a self-confident way, chatting away. And there is the "spacemaker": these people focus on themselves and keep out other people. Who can blame them? Phone meetings get cancelled or reformed and camera-phones intrude (侵入) on people's privacy. So, it is understandable if your mobile makes you nervous. But perhaps you needn't worry so much. After all, it is good to talk.
1. If you call my fixed-line phone, you always get me.
3. As to mobile phone users there are more "talkers" than "texters".
A.Right
B.Wrong
C.Not mentioned
A B C
C
[解析] 根据第四段第二句中的“two British researchers distinguished between two types of mobile phone users: the 'talkers' and the 'texters'”可知，两个英国研究人员将手机使用者分为两类：偏爱打电话者与偏爱发短信者。然而，通篇文章并未提到哪一种人占多数。
4. Through a person's texts, we can tell what personality he really has.
1. Early man got his ideas about the universe by looking at the stars as you do. He observed carefully, and learned many things about the sun, the moon, and the stars. 2. Suppose you were asked to collect evidence about the sun as early man did. You might go out morning after morning and see it come up in the east. Even on cloudy mornings, you would observe that the darkness goes away and the world becomes light. You might not see the sun but would be sure it is there, because you notice that the earth warms up. As you continued, the sun climbs higher in the sky each day during part of the year. It stays in the sky longer. The earth gets warmer. Things begin to grow. It is spring and then summer. 3. After a while the sun stays in the sky for shorter and shorter periods. Many plants begin to die. Leaves fall. Winter comes. Year after year this is repeated and you cannot tell exactly why it happens. But you realize that the sun seems to make the difference. Primitive (原始的) man felt that since the sun was so powerful it must be a god. It may seem silly to us now to worship (崇拜) a sun-god, but primitive man was right about the importance of the sun to life on Earth. 4. You have been told that the world is round. But suppose no one had ever taught you that the world was like a huge ball. Would you have ever thought of it yourself? You cannot see the curve (曲线) of the earth at once. You would have no idea of how big it was. That's why early man believed that the earth was small and flat. Such ideas appeared from the evidence they had. 5. If you watch the stars night after night, you will see them rise and set. As you look at the sky, it is not difficult to imagine that you are in the center of a vast collection of twinkling (闪烁) lights. Some early astronomers (天文学家) believed the sky was a crystal shell or series of crystal shells, one inside the other. They believed this because that is what the night sky looked like. For many centuries, men believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun, the moon, and the stars circled around it.
1. Paragraph 2 ______ A. Early ideas about the sky and the stars B. The importance of the sun to life on Earth C. Primitive knowledge of the moon D. The sun in autumn and winter E. Early ideas about the earth F. Collecting evidence about the sun
F
[解析] 第二段第一句是主题句，由该句中的“collect evidence about the sun”可知，第二段主要讲的是搜集有关太阳的证据。
2. Paragraph 3 ______
B
[解析] 第三段最后一句是主题句，由该句中的“the importance of the sun to life on Earth”可知，第三段主要讲太阳对地球生命的重要性。
5. Early man thought the earth was small and flat because ______. A. he did not observe the sun carefully enough B. he could not see its curve C. the sun, the moon and the stars seemed to move around it D. the earth circles around the sun E. it looked like that at night F. it has Dower over life on Earth
B
[解析] 第四段第四、五句表明，早期的人们不能看到地球的弧度，也不知道地球有多大；第四段第六句表明，那正是早期人们认为地球又小又扁的原因。由第四段第四句中的“cannot see the curve of the earth”也不难选出答案。
6. Primitive man believed the sun was a god because ______.
F
[解析] 由第三段倒数第二句可知，原始人之所以认为太阳是神灵，是因为他们认为太阳有无穷的能量。由这一句中的“since the sun was so powerful”也不难选出答案。
7. Early man thought the earth was the center of the universe because ______.
C
[解析] 根据第五段最后一句可知，人们认为地球是宇宙的中心，太阳、月亮与星星都围着它转。不难推测，正是因为认为太阳、月亮与星星都围着地球转，人们才认为地球是宇宙的中心。由这一句中的“the sun, moon, and the stars circled around it”也不难选出答案。
8. Early astronomers believed that the sky was a crystal shell or series of crystal shells because ______.
For centuries, people have wondered about the strange things that they dream about. Some psychologists say that this nighttime activity of the mind has no special meaning. Others, however, think that dreams are an important part of our lives. In fact, many experts believe that dreams can tell us about a person's mind and emotions. Before modern times, many people thought that dreams contained messages from God. It was only in the twentieth century that people started to study dreams in a scientific way. The Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud, was probably the first person to study dreams scientifically. In. his famous book, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud wrote that dreams are an expression of a person's wishes. He believed that dreams allow people to express the feelings, thoughts, and fears that they are afraid to express in real life. The Swiss psychiatrist Car Jung was once a student of Freud's. Jung, however, had a different idea about dreams. Jung believed that the purpose of a dream was to communicate a message to the dreamer. He thought people could learn more about themselves by thinking about their dreams. For example, people who dream about falling may learn that they have too high an opinion of themselves. On the other hand, people who dream about being heroes may learn that they think too little of themselves. Modern-day psychologists continue to develop theories about dreams. For example, psychologist William Domhoff from the University of California, Santa Cruz, believes that dreams are tightly linked to a person's daily life, thoughts, and behavior. A criminal, for example, might dream about crime. Domhoff believes that there is a connection between dreams and age. His research shows that children do not dream as much as adults. According to Domhoff, dreaming is a mental skill that needs time to develop. He has also found a link between dreams and gender. His studies show that the dreams of men and women are different. For example, the people in men's dreams are often other men, and the dreams often involve fighting. This is not true of women's dreams. Domhoff found this gender difference in the dreams of people from 11 cultures around the world, including both modem and traditional ones. Can dreams help us understand ourselves? Psychologists continue to try to answer this question in different ways. However, one thing they agree on is this: If you dream that something terrible is going to occur, you shouldn't panic. The dream may have meaning, but it does not mean that some terrible event will actually take place. It's important to remember that the world of dreams is not the real world.
In the early days of the United States, postal charges were paid by the recipient, and charges varied with the distance carried. In 1825, the United States Congress permitted local postmasters to give letters to mail carriers for home delivery, but these carriers received no government salary and their entire compensation depended on what they were paid by the recipients of individual letters. In 1847, the United States Post Office Department adopted the idea of a postage stamp, which of course simplified the payment for postal service but caused grumbling by those who did not like to prepay. Besides, the stamp covered only delivery to the post office and did not include carrying it to a private address. In Philadelphia, for example, with a population of 150,000, people still had to go to the post office to get their mail. The confusion and congestion of individual citizens looking for their letters was itself enough to discourage use of the mail. It is no wonder that, during the years of these cumbersome arrangements, private letter-carrying and express businesses developed. Although their activities were only semi-legal, they thrived, and actually advertised that between Boston and Philadelphia they were half-day speedier than the government mail. The government postal service lost volume to private competition and was not able to handle efficiently even the business it had. Finally, in 1863, Congress provided that the mail carriers who delivered the mail from the post offices to private addresses should receive a government salary, and that there should be no extra charge for that delivery. But this delivery service was at first confined to cities, and free home delivery became a mark of urbanism. In 1890, of the 75 million people in the United States, fewer than 20 million had mail delivered free to their doors. The rest, nearly three quarters of the population, still received no mail unless they went to their post office.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
A.The history of American postal system.
B.The increasing use of private mail service.
C.The history of postage stamps.
D.The comparison of urban and rural postal services.
A B C D
A
[解析] 综合文章内容和文章标题可知，本篇文章讲的是美国邮政系统的发展史。故选A。
2. Which of the following was seen as a disadvantage of the postage stamp?
A.It had to be purchased by the sender in advance.
Paul had long promised to marry Clara. But at thirty-three he met and married Alice. Clara was driven mad. Paul was taken to court. The judge ordered him to pay Clara $600 because of the broken promise. Paul had to borrow the money from a moneylender. He agreed to pay back $5 a month—for twenty years. His wages at the time were $16 a month. Paul and Alice were poor but not unhappy. They had little enough food, certainly, even before the children began to arrive. Each month Paul paid $5 to the moneylender. He worked hard, never taking a holiday. In time, there were seven mouths to feed. Illness was always with them. It grew serious when the oldest child was eight. The years of hunger weakened the family, because each month Paul paid $5. The details of the sickness were ugly, but the result was this: After twelve years of family life, Paul was alone in the world. He lived alone, except for memories. Work was not now a god for him. it was a pain-killer. Each month he paid, and in time the twenty years ended. From that moment his wages were his own. One day, it was a holiday—he went to the seaside. He sat down on a seat by the sea. A middle-aged woman came and sat down near him. They recognized each other at once. The woman said, "The $600 has been in the bank since the day it was paid to me. It is now $6,000, and I have kept it for you. Will you let me share it with you?" "No," said Paul, gently. "Each thousand is a lost life in a desert between us. It can never bring any happiness."
1. Paul was ordered to pay Clara $600 because ______.
Fear can be fun. Many young people queue up to ride very fast and scary (吓人的) roller coasters, screaming but enjoying themselves. Other people like to read "goose bumps" (鸡皮疙瘩) books or watch horror movies (恐怖电影) at night, scared to death but feeling excited. 1 Fear is an ancient way of surviving. Being scared makes animals (including humans) flee (逃走) from danger and save themselves. It is because of fear that we have lived through millions of years of evolution. 2 What happens in the brain when something frightens you? Nerves (神经) that begin at the eyes and ears lead to a part of the brain called the amygdala (扁桃体). When you suddenly see a snake, for example, the amygdala makes you freeze, perspire (流汗), have a quickened heartbeat, or run very fast. However, seeing the snake also uses another part of the brain, the cortex (皮层). It analyzes the situation, and if it finds that the snake is only made of rubber it tells your heart and the rest of your body to calm down. 3 Back to the first question: Why do some people like to make themselves scared? 4 Kalin said: "To believe we have control over a situation gives us a feeling of power." Scary movies or novels are good practice to prepare young people for the real thing. 5 And there might be some evolutionary advantage to being able to adjust this system that is there to protect people. A. Thrills (恐惧) such as roller coaster rides also go to the brain's pleasure centre. B. Why do people like being scared? C. One reason is that we can play games with fear, and find ways to reduce the scariness by looking away or thinking of something else. D. Those who lacked a strong fear response (反应) were more likely to be killed, leaving the more timid and careful to pass their genes (基因) onto the next generation. E. Think of the amygdala as the engine and the cortex as the brake. F. Screaming saves ancient people's life.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease. In the 1 , it was often considered a death sentence. But many patients now live longer 2 of improvements in discovery and treatment. Researchers say death 3 in the United States from all cancers combined have fallen for thirty years. Survival rates have increased for most of the top fifteen cancers in both men and women, and for cancers in 4 . The National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the number of cancer survivors. A cancer survivor is defined 5 anyone who has been found to have cancer. This would include current patients. The study covered the period 6 1971 to 2001. The researchers found there are three 7 as many cancer survivors today as there were thirty years ago. In 1971, the United States had about three-million cancer 8 . Today there are about ten-million. The study also found that 64% of adults with cancer can expect to still be 9 in five years. Thirty years ago, the five-year survival rate was 50%. The government wants to 10 the five-year survival rate to 70% by 2010. The risk of cancer increases with age. The report says the majority of survivors are 65 years and 11 . But it says medical improvements have also helped children with cancer live 12 longer. Researchers say 80% of children with cancer will survive at least five years after the discovery. About 75% will survive at 13 ten years. In the 1970s, the five-year survival rate for children was about 50%. In the 1960s, most children did not survive cancer. Researchers say they 14 more improvements in cancer treatment in the future. In fact, they say traditional cancer-prevention programs are not enough anymore. They say public health programs should also aim to support the 15 numbers of cancer survivors and their families.
1.
A.past
B.present
C.future
D.old
A B C D
A
[解析] in the past与in the future是固定词组，意思分别为“在过去”“在未来”。由空格后的过去式标志词“was”可知，此处指的是在过去。present常与at连用，构成固定词组at present，意思是“目前”。old老的，旧的。
2.
A.due
B.because
C.despite
D.regardless
A B C D
B
[解析] because of是固定词组，意思是“因为”，其后常跟名词词组作宾语，用在这里指的是，因为研究发现与治疗措施的进步，许多癌症病人现在活得更久。due常与to连用，构成固定词组due to，意思是“归因于”。despite尽管，虽然；regardless忽略，不管。
深色：已答题 浅色：未答题