Have you ever run out of coffee or tea? Found no eggs in the fridge? No bread for the sandwich and the nearest shop is too far away? Well, all that can change in the future.

If all goes well, the intelligent future kitchen will soon help solve all your problems. In the future, all kitchen units will be connected to the Internet. The intelligent future kitchen will give wise advice on planning your menu for the day. Worried about your weight? — It will tell you the right diet and what is good for your health. It will even keep in mind your likes and dislikes!

Designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this smart kitchen promises to pay attention to all your needs. The computer’s system will help keep an “eye” on the fridge. If the fridge is empty, the kitchen will automatically call and place an order at the local supermarket. So you don’t have to worry about it at all.

You get home late, and don’t know what to make from the collection of ingredients (原料) in your fridge. A while back you might have ordered a take-out but now, instead of worrying about eating a collection of this and that, you’re excited. You can pull out each vegetable, and pass each one in front of a web camera next to your fridge. A few moments later, a screen on your fridge would display a tasty recipe.

After dinner, you take your plates to a box next to the sink. You don't have to clean them, your machine does. It produces new plates every time you need to eat. Later in the evening, you phone your other half, who is on a business trip half-way around the world. As you drink your cup of hot coffee, it makes your other half’s cup change color on the other side of the world, another special way to keep in touch.

1. The problem mentioned in the first paragraph will be solved ______.

A. by the intelligent kitchen itself

B. by finding a good housekeeper

C. after you call the supermarket

D. after you buy great amounts of food

2.The kitchen of the future may help you ______.

A. lose weight fast B. keep a healthy diet

C. cook delicious food D. clean fridge in time

3.The underlined word “automatically” in the third paragraph means ______.

A. in secret B. by chance

C. by itself D. again and again

4.The fourth paragraph tells us that the smart kitchen ______.

A. will order a take-out for you if you get home late.

B. has a big color television and some web cameras

C. can pull out all the vegetables from you fridge

D. can give a suitable recipe according to your ingredients

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.

As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.

A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”

I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.

Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting(借鉴) my daughter’s experience.

While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experience, grow and find their own voices.

1.What do we learn from the first paragraph?

A. A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays.

B. Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities.

C. Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time.

D. Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.

2.What did the author say about her own writing experience?

A. She was constantly under pressure to write more.

B. Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

C. She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

D. Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations.

3.Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?

A. She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

B. She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

C. She wanted to share her stories with readers.

D. She had won a prize in the previous contest.

4.The underlined sentence probably means that the author was _______.

A. trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life.

B. trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished.

C. making sure that her daughter would win the contest.

D. helping her daughter develop real skills for writing.

阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Insight Without Sight

At the age of eighteen I couldn’t wait to get my first job, which meant I made the first step toward adulthood.

But it was difficult to get a work permit. One day I was dropped off by my parents at the

, where applicants took their physical tests for work permits. Although I had night blindness, my vision was clearer during the day, which helped me walk by myself. Then the doctor began the .He looked into my eyes with a bright light.“I your parents take you to an eye specialist,”he said,“I suspect you have a retinal(视网膜) disease.If you do, you’ll never a day in your life…”

My parents did take me to specialists.After much time and money spent seeking an result, it was determined that I had an eye disease that slowly a person of sight.But still, during daylight, I could walk without .I could read, but not for hours.My eyes began to

and words slipped off the page when I read more than a few pages.However, no matter how tired my eyes became, I never gave up reading.I knew the of great writers as well as I knew the most popular music stars.Their words were powerful, which me to try writing.Soon writing brought me a lot of each time I completed a paper.

Then an important phone call from an editor changed my life.An article I .appeared in a local newspaper.The newspaper, to my , continued to print my work.Next, a book series published several of my essays.I got interested in writing and up with each acceptance.On the pages, readers never knew of my blindness I chose to present it.For me, finding my voice through writing gave me the pride and satisfaction I so many years ago.Now, I have numerous essays and articles in

Should I be thanking that misguided doctor? By falsely predicting that I could never work a day, he fueled my into success.He set the bar too .and focused on what I wouldn’t be able to do.Yet I proved what I could do.

1.A. station B. clinic C. company D. lab

2.A. silently B. suddenly C. proudly D. easily

3.A. operation B. examination C. argument D. treatment

4.A. desire B. order C. suggest D. command

5.A. work B. live C. rest D. sleep

6.A. urgent B. obvious C. ordinary D. accurate

7.A. robs B. warns C. reminds D. informs

8.A. medicine B. allowance C. balance D. assistance

9.A. dance B. shine C. tear D. widen

10.A. houses B. names C. addresses D. habits

11.A. asked B. forced C. encouraged D. permitted

12.A. trouble B. pleasure C. stress D. worry

13.A. admitted B. wanted C. described D. penned

14.A. delight B. admiration C. shame D. disappointment

15.A. gave B. came C. lit D. put

16.A. unless B. although C. since D. after

17.A. feared B. brought C. sought D. rejected

18.A. print B. time C. use D. mind

19.A. imagination B. motivation C. responsibility D. personality

20.A. far B. long C. close D. low

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