The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” --and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer--which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet--used the title in 2008. A lovely bear--popular in the US and UK--that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “i”.

In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce(电子商务) first came into use.

Most “I” products are targeted at(针对) young people and considering the major readers of Independent’s “I”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.

But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition(定义),” he says.

“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便).” adds Thorne.

Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.

Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “I” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade(十年).

But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.

1.We can infer that the Independent's "i" is designed at .

A. old readers B. young readers

C. fashionable women D. engineers

2.The underlined word “ambiguous” means “ “.

A. popular B. clear

C. uncertain D. unique

3.Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are .

A. portable B. environmentally friendly

C. advanced D. recyclable

4.The writer suggests that .

A. “i” products are often of high quality

B. iTeddy is alive bear

C. the letter “b” replaces letter “i” to name the products

D. the popularity of “i” products may not last long

D

Among my peers, the most common reasons to sit in front are: poor vision, poor hearing, and harder to fall asleep (my main reason).

That’s about it. I’ve sat in the back and I’ve sat in the front, and I’ve seen no difference in how professors treat me. In fact, I sat in the front of my math class and still fell asleep a lot. I went to office hours for that class regularly and asked the professor if it bothered him and he said he understood completely. I put in the work outside the classroom and performed well on exams, and that’s what ends up on the transcript (成绩单).

From my experience, going to office hours regularly, emailing questions that may be beyond the scope of class just out of your own curiosity, and reading ahead of time so you can ask good relevant questions are the best ways to give a professor a good impression. Where I’ve sat in the classroom hasn’t noticeably affected a professor’s opinion of me in the slightest.

Typically, sitting at the front indicates to me that you want to hear everything I say and want to have more one-on-one questioning with me. Sitting in the middle suggests that you want to fit in, and will be better at group work. Sitting in the back usually means that you want to play with your phone. The people in the front seats will often get the highest grades, dropping as the rows go back. Yes, of course, this is a tendency and not a law, and there are exceptions. But I must point out that for some older professors, they actually can’t see the people in the back well.

I have not noticed where to sit has any effect on attentiveness, participation and respectful behavior. I have noticed though, that students who sit in the back row are almost always disrespectful and inattentive. I have not observed any correlation between achievement and seat location, even though when I was a student myself, I usually preferred to sit in the front.

1.According to the author, the best ways to impress professors do NOT include _____.

A. preparing for the class in advance B. asking questions through emailing

C. going to office hours regularly D. sitting in the front in every class

2.What is the author’s opinion of students sitting in the front?

A. They may be better at group work.

B. They may want to stay awake in class.

C. They want to play with their phones.

D. Their grades are always the highest.

3.What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A. To persuade students to sit in the front.

B. To analyze the advantages of sitting in the back.

C. To show the effect of seating on study results.

D. To discuss different seat locations in the class.

Why is setting goals important? 1.Instead of just letting life happen to you, goals allow you to make your life happen.

Successful people imagine how their life should be and set lots of goals.2.It’s like having a map to show you where you want to go. Think of in this way. There are two drivers. One has a destination in mind which can be found in a map. She can drive straight there without any wasted time or wrong turns. The other driver has no goal, or destination or map. She starts off at the same time from the same place as the first driver, but she drivers aimlessly around. Never getting anywhere, just using up gas. Which driver do you want to be?

3.They decide what they want in life and then get there by making plans and setting goals. Unsuccessful people just let life happen by accident. Goals aren’t difficult to set, and they aren’t difficult to reach.4.You are the one who must decide what to achieve and in what direction to aim your life.

5.Written goals can be reviewed regularly, and have more power. Like a contract with yourself, they are harder to neglect or forget. Also when you write your goals in a particular way you are able to make yourself continuously aware of situations that will bring you nearer to your goal.

A. Winners in life set goals and follow through

B..It’s up to you to find out what your goals really are

C. By setting goals you are taking control of your life

D. Because everybody should have a goal in his mind

E. It’s difficult for a driver to reach his destination without a map

F. Because goals can help you do, be and experience everything you want in life

G. Research tells us that when we write a goal down, we are more likely to achieve it

My timing has always been a little off with Elizabeth Strout. I’ve read and pretty much admired everything she’s written, but, for whatever reason, the books of hers I’ve picked to review have been the good ones, like Amy and Isabelle and The Burgess Boys, rather than the extraordinary ones, like Olive Kitteridge, which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. Anything Is Possible is Strout’s latest book and it’s gorgeous. Like Olive Kitteridge, Anything Is Possible reads like a novel constructed out of linked stories. In fact, it’s hard to know exactly what to call this — a novel or a short story collection. In any case, these stories are animated (栩栩如生) by Strout’s signature themes: class humiliation, loneliness, spiritual and, sometimes, reawakening. When Strout is really on her game, as she is here, you feel like you’ve been carefully lowered into the unquiet depths of quiet lives.

Strout began working on Anything Is Possible at the same time she was writing her novel My Name Is Lucy Barton, which was published last year. Lucy, a dirt-poor child who grows up to become a celebrated writer, floats in and out of these interlocking stories. Some characters catch a glimpse of her being interviewed on TV; one travels to see her at a bookstore. An older Lucy even appears “in the flesh” in one story when she returns home to the small town in rural Illinois where most of these tales are set to visit her troubled brother; but Anything Is Possible also stands on its own. Indeed, a few of the characters here would be ticked off if they thought their stories depended in any way on that Barton girl. Strout’s writerly eye works like a 360 degree camera, so that a character or place that’s on the margins of one tale takes center stage in a later one. This technique sounds contrived, but Strout carries it off lightly.

__ One of the most powerful stories here is called “Dottie’s Bed & Breakfast,” which is an establishment we readers glimpse earlier in the book. Dottie desires to be middle-class and she harbors a grudge (怨恨) against life because she’s had to rent out rooms to make a living. Dottie also possesses a sensitive nose for sniffing out the lower-class origins of some of her guests.

__ “Shoes always gave you away,” comments a woman in a story called “Cracked” about a houseguest’s too-high cork wedges(坡跟鞋). And, in the final story here, called “Gift,” a once-poor man made good says, “The sense of apology did not go away, it was a tiring thing to carry.”

__ But, back to Dottie. When an elderly doctor and his wife come to stay at her guesthouse, Dottie bonds over tea with the wife, Shelley, who shares a story about a long-ago social humiliation.

__ At breakfast the next morning, however, Shelley obviously regrets that confidence and becomes the Doctor’s wife again. She freezes Dottie out and puts her back in her place as the inn-keep.

There’s comic satisfaction in seeing Dottie secretly spitting into the breakfast jam, but the more profound rewards of this story have to do with its recognition of the many varieties of human insecurity — or, as Lucy Barton herself more bluntly puts it, the many ways “people are always looking to feel superior to someone else.”

Other stories have to do with sexual shame, or with the tragic ways close neighbors or family members misread each other; but I’m making Anything Is Possible sound too grim when, in fact, so many of these stories end in an understated (低调的) gesture of forgiveness. Strout is in that special company of writers like Richard Ford, Stewart O’Nan and Richard Russo, who write simply about ordinary lives and, in so doing, make us readers see the beauty of both their worn and rough surfaces and what lies beneath.

1.The author of the article may have reviewed these books EXCEPT_______.

A. Amy and Isabelle B. The Burgess Boys

C. Anything Is Possible D. Olive Kitteridge

2.What can be inferred according to the second paragraph?

A. The book Anything Is Possible depends wholly on that Barton girl.

B. The character Lucy floats in and out of these disconnected stories.

C. An ordinary character in one story can be a leading role in another.

D. Elizabeth Strout isn’t skillful at describing small characters in life.

3.Shelley freezes Dottie out the next morning because _______.

A. she feels she is superior to Dottie

B. Dottie spits into the breakfast jam

C. Dottie desires to be middle-class

D. she regrets the confidence in Dottie

4.The sentence “Indeed almost all of Strout’s characters have sharp eyes and even sharper observations to make when it comes to that great American subject: class.” should be put in ______.

A. ① B. ②

C. ③ D. ④

5.The tone of the article can be described as _______.

A. depressing B. critical

C. appreciative D. indifferent

6.What might be the best title for the passage?

A. Anything Is Possible — unquietness depths of ordinary lives

B. Elizabeth Strout — an outstanding Pulitzer Prize Winner

C. Anything Is Possible — a collection of grim short stories

D. Elizabeth Strout — a writer with clever writing techniques

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