Don’t you just hate it when you have to take an important phone call and you’re surrounded by potential eavesdroppers(潜在偷听者)? You either have to whisper or go outside to keep the conversation private, which is not good. Now Hushme aims to fix this problem by muffling your voice and making you look like Bane in the film Batman.

Hushme is a strange high-tech mask(口罩)that blocks the sound of the wearer’s voice so that people nearby can’t hear what is being said. It connects to your phone via Blucetooth and comes with a pair of earphones. When you get a private call, all you have to do is put the mask on and it will do the rest. The pair of thick pads over your mouth does a good job of muffling your voice, but to ensure nothing gets through. Hushme also has speakers that play a variety of sounds when you speak.

The Hushme mask, which comes in a variety of colors, can be worn around the neck, like a regular pair of earphones, and attaches in front of your mouth thanks to a couple of very powerful magnets(磁铁). It’s not yet clear how comfortable speaking with this Bane-like mask over your mouth really is, or how effective its speech muffling ability is, so we know so far is that it makes you look strange. The sound choices for covering your voice currently include wind, ocean, rain, birds, monkey, but new ones could be added in the future.

Advertised as the “world’s first voice mask for mobile phones’. Hushme was showed at CES. At the becoming of this year. Its makers plan to sell it by the end of this year. It will cost about $200.

1.Why does the author mention Bane in the first paragraph?

A. To show what Hushme looks like

B. To tell eavesdropping is impolite

C. To encourage readers to buy Hushme

D. To say Hushme will be popular in the future

2.What does the underlined word “muffling” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. Blocking B. Recognizing

C. Changing D. Remembering

3.What is certain about Hushme?

A. Its popularity B. Its appearance

C. Its high standard for comfort D. Its speech muffling ability

4.What can we know about Hushme?

A. It can be bought in the market now

B. Its price is neither too high nor too low

C. Its speakers will be improved in the future

D. Its makers are confident about its market sales

Whenever anyone measures educational success, East Asian countries are always top scorers. But in a recent league table, a European country, Finland, was top of the class. South Korea was still in second place, though. Britain was at number 6.

In Korea the school day is long?typically 7 or 8 hours, followed by hours of private tutoring in the evenings. All_this_hothousing leaves Korean students so tired, they sometimes fall asleep in class next day. Worries about the effects of late night cramming (填鸭式) led the government to force cramming schools to close by 10 pm.Finnish children spend the least time in class in the developed world, often finishing just after lunch, with about one hour of homework a day. Private tuition is uncommon. The British and American school day is quite long in comparison, around 6 hours, and secondary school pupils do 2 or 3 hours of self?study a night.

The Korean education system, like many in Asia, is intensely competitive, with students even competing to get into the best cramming schools, to help them get ahead. Finnish education is far less cut?throat. Classes are all mixed ability, and there are no league tables. British schools again occupy the middle ground, with quite high levels of competition for places at university, and schools and universities battling to come top of league tables for everything from exam results to student satisfaction. Korea and Finland both do well, yet their education systems are so different.

However, there are some similarities in Korea and Finland. In those countries, teachers have high status in society, and education is very highly valued. Those attitudes can't change quickly. But it can be done. They might be the star pupils now, but until the 1970s, Finland's educational system was poor. Their thoroughly different approach to schooling has taken them to the top in just a generation.

1.The students spend the least time in school in ________.

A. the UK B. Finland

C. the USA D. Korea

2.The underlined phrase “all this hothousing” in Paragraph 2 probably refers to ________.

A. private evening tutoring

B. self?study at home

C. long?hour study

D. school study

3.From Paragraph 3, we can know that ________.

A. Finnish students are less stressed in study

B. there're also many cramming schools in Britain

C. students in Korea are the most competitive in Asia

D. British schools are less competitive than universities

4.According to the author, the key to improving education is ________.

A. the attitude

B. the schooling time

C. star pupils

D. new teaching approach

How to read more and learn more

These days, more and more Chinese people enjoy sending and receiving message on the phone. It can help the to get the latest news and communicate with friends. But I think I should read more books besides the textbooks, the more, the better. It can broaden my mind and improve my language skills.1.Here are some tips for you.

Clear your purpose for reading

2.Most people read for two main reasons, pleasure or knowledge. Clearing about your reading purpose can not only help you choose the books you really need to read, but also remind you why reading the book is important to you, so you will keep reading and complete the book faster.

3.

No matter what you are reading, it is important to enjoy what you read. Your friends may tell you the books they love, but those books might not necessarily be the ones you enjoy.

Give up books that you don’t enjoy

You may have chosen books that you are interested in, and they are right to your purpose. But while you are reading them, there may still be some books that you don’t enjoy reading. Whenever you realize that you aren’t enjoying the book you are reading, give it up. 4.

Set a reading goal

It is interesting that I read the books borrowed from libraries faster than those I bought. The reason is the books I bought don’t have a due date! I don’t need to return those books.5.Before you read each book, ask yourself what time you need to complete this book by.

A. Read only what you are interested in.

B. Read the books borrowed from others

C. Remember reading shouldn’t be a chore

D. Of course, it also can help me to get good grades

E. We need to get the latest news and communicate with friends

F. Before you start reading, ask yourself why you are reading this book

G. Having a reading goal helps you work out how much reading you need to do in a week or even a day.

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