Scott Langteau has this message for kids: Spend less time playing video games.

It’s a message that many a mom and dad has tried to impress upon many a youngster (and some not-so-youngsters) who spends perhaps a bit too much time with game controllers in hand.

But the 40-year-old Langteau isn’t a parent.He’s experienced at video games — one who played producer on three “Medal of Honor” games and co-founded his own game development company.

Langteau has just published a children’s book called “Sofa Boy,” which tells the story of a kid who spends too much time sitting on the couch with controller held in hand and the rather terrible consequences that follow.

It’s a fairy tale plucked straight from Langteau's own experiences as a lad with a fondness for video games and his own bouts with a bit of game addiction.But first, Langteau would like to make one thing clear: “I’m not saying that you shouldn’t play video games.I think video games are great, I think they do great things for kids”.Instead, Langteau says his book is all about a little something called “moderation.(克制)”

 “It’s about being well rounded,” he says.“Just like with anything else, we all need to make sure that there’s a variety in what we do.”

Video gamers can be rather bad-tempered when it comes to accepting criticism about their favorite entertainment.And understandably so.After all, most people who go around talking about the dangers of playing video games tend to be outsiders — people who don’t play video games and certainly don’t understand that they can be a valuable and healthy form of entertainment.

But Langteau and “Sofa Boy” seem to be in a unique position to deliver a message of gaming moderation that the young game-savvy(有经验的) masses might actually listen to.After all, this is a man who understands what it means to be a kid with a passion for games.His early experience has taught him a lesson.

Scott Langteau published “Sofa Boy” to            

       A.share his great skills on games                    

       B.warn kids against game addiction

       C.tell about his fairy tale as a kid                    

       D.deliver a message for games

We can learn from the passage that           

      A.Langteau advises the young to play games within limits

      B.Langteau advises the young not to play games

      C.playing video games ruins the future of kids

      D.playing video games is of no benefit to kids

Why are the video gamers not accepted by the outsiders?

    A.Because they are bad-tempered.

    B.Because they are dangerous to others.

    C.Because they do nothing but play video games.

    D.Because the value of the video games is not understood.

By saying “It’s about being well rounded” Langteau thinks            .20090506

      A.games do great things for kids               

       B.gamers are usually fat and round

      C.games should be viewed from all sides 

       D.gamers are to blame for their behaviors

What topic will be discussed in the following paragraph?

      A.His idea to create “Sofa Boy”.

      B.His great achievement in games as a kid.

      C.His hard times to set up his game company.

      D.His enthusiasm for games when he was a small boy.

 

The African elephant,the largest land animal remaining on earth ,is of great importance to African ecosystem(生态系统).Unlike other animals,the African elephant is to a great degree the builder of its environment.As a big plant-eater,it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原)surroundings in which it lives,therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat(栖息地).

It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat.In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day,it kills small trees and underbushes,and pulls branches off big trees.This results in many open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas.In these open spaces are many plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.

Take the rain forests for example.In their natural state,the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor.By pulling down trees and eating plants,elephants make open spaces,allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor.In such situations,the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.

What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species.If the elephant disappears,scientists say,many other animals will also disappear from large areas of forest and savanna,greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.

1.What is the passage mainly about?

A. Disappearance of African elephants.

B. Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants.

C. The effect of African elephants' search for food.

D. The eating habit of African elephants.

2.What does the underlined phrase “setting the terms” most probably mean?

A. Fixing the time.                  B. Worsening the state.

C. Improving the quality.             D. Deciding the conditions.

3.What do we know about the open spaces in the passage?

A. They result from the destruction of rain forests.

B. They provide food mainly for African elephants.

C. They are home to many endangered animals.

D. They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds.

4. The passage is developed mainly by________..

A. showing the effect and then explaining the causes

B. pointing out similarities and differences

C. describing the changes in space order

D. giving examples

 

  When scientists set out to explore the roots of human laughter, some apes(类人猿) were just tickled(胳肢)to help. That’s how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago. Experts praised the work, it gives strong evidence that ape laughter and human laughter are related through evolution(进化).

Scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, especially to signal that they’re interested in playing. It’s been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate(灵长类动物) roots. But ape laughter doesn’t sound like human laughter. It may be slower noisy breathing. So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha? To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross and her colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds made by tickling three human babies and 21 other primates, apes included.

After measuring 11 features in the sound from each species, they tried to find out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online in the journal Current Biology. They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from ape laughter, their typical features could have come from the same ancestor.

Panksepp, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn’t participate in the new work, called the paper exciting. Panksepp’s own work concludes that even rats produce laughter in response to playing and tickling, with sounds that can hardly be heard by people. Robert Provine, a scientist, who wrote the book, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said the new paper showed some important clues, like ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before.

69. Why did the scientists analyze the laughter made by tickling human babies and apes?

A. To try to discover if they can make characteristic sounds.

B. To see if they interested in playing.

C. To find out if the laughter of apes and humans is related.

D. To find out the differences between humans and apes.

70. Based on Paragraph 3 we can know that researchers measured the features in the sound to ________.

A. find out ape sounds that hadn’t been realized before

B. find out relations among primates’ laughter

C. see what a family tree from each species looks like

D. make a report online in the journal Current Biology

71. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. Panksepp spoke highly of the new research.

B. Rat laughter is likely to be related to ape laughter.

C. Robert Provine provided some new clues for the researchers.

D. Humans don’t enjoy listening to ape laughter.

72. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Ape study explores evolution of laughter.

B. Apes like to laugh when being tickled.

C. Human laughter and ape laughter are different.

D. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation.

 

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