题目内容
Consumer electronics once again topped the list of the most wanted gifts this holiday season. “Seventy-six percent of consumers who plan to buy holiday gifts say that they will spend money buying at least one technology product; definitely a solid vote of confidence for technology.” Steve Koenig is with the Consumer Electronics Association. He says the group’s latest research also shows that Americans this year are spending more on technology products.
“Here in 2012, $252 on average–the technology spend for consumers this year.” From tablet computers to smartphones, American shoppers have been lining up to get the newest and coolest electronic devices on the market. There are more choices today than ever before. “It’s kind of hard to make a decision.”
Tablet computers are one of the best-selling products this year. Brian Tong is Senior Editor of CNET.com. The website reports on tech news and examines the latest electronic products. He says the Apple iPad Mini is one of the most popular tablets. Its starting price is $329. One of Apple’s biggest competitors is the Google Nexus 7. It starts at $199.
“The hardware inside is more powerful than what’s in the iPad Mini, but also it offers you a lot of things like maps that work better than Apple’s maps.” Brian Tong says there is one reason why people may like the iPad Mini more than the Nexus 7. “If you just want to read books and surf the Internet, you don’t really need to get an iPad Mini, but if you want the largest group of apps that’s where the iPad and Apple’s ecosystem shines the most.”
Elman Chacon is with the electronics store Best Buy. He says another hot product this season is smart cameras. They connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi. This makes it easy for users to email or upload photographs directly from the camera. “You can literally take a picture, upload it into your Facebook in a matter of seconds. These things are pretty cool because they do a lot of things.”
Streaming media boxes also connect to the Internet. People are able to watch web content such as movies and YouTube videos on their televisions. Another popular item is wireless speaker systems. The newest ones work with any device that has Bluetooth technology, including smartphones, laptops and tablets.
With the growing popularity of Internet shopping, many consumers will visit a store first to look at a product, and then go online to find it at a lower price. Stores like Best Buy understand that and they want to stay competitive.
“We have something called the perfect match promise which means if you buy a certain device and you find it cheaper within 30 days we’ll go ahead and price match that for you.” Elman Chacon said.
1.According to Brain Tong, ________.
A. the Apple’s iPad Mini is more suitable for enthusiastic readers
B. the hardware in iPad Mini is more advanced than that in Nexus 7
C. Nexus 7 has fewer apps than iPad Mini
D. iPad mini is more eco-friendly
2.If you’ve discovered that a certain device you bought at Best Buy is more expensive than one at another store, ________.
A. you are sure to get double the amount you paid
B. you can return the device and get your money back
C. the store will return the price differences
D. the store will lower the price within 30 days
3.Which of the following would be the best gift for a cab driver?
A. Smart cameras.B. Streaming media boxes.
C. Wireless speaker systems.D. Tablet computers.
1.C
2.C
3.C
【解析】
试题分析：本文叙述了消费类电子产品再次高居今年节日最心仪礼物名单之列。最新研究还表明，今年美国人在科技产品上花费更多。从平板电脑到智能手机，美国消费者一直在排队购买市场上最新最酷的电子设备。另一种受欢迎的产品是无线音箱，这种最新的产品可以连接任何具有蓝牙技术的设备，包括智能手机、笔记本和平板电脑。
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考点：日常生活类短文阅读。
阅读下列短文并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词，每空格1词（共10个小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
Zebras have their own bug repellent(驱虫剂)?
Eww bugs! They are so annoying! We humans are lucky that we can apply repellents to avoid nasty bites. But what’s an animal to do? They have no choice but to spend their days shooing them off with their tails, unless, of course, they are zebras, who apparently have their own automatic repellent--- their striped skin!
Scientists had originally thought that the reason why the animal had developed the black and white lines was to help protect itself from predators in the African savannah, because the stripes make it difficult to single out one zebra that is traveling with a herd.While that may be true, the theory has never been tested or proven. Now the experts have another---that the stripes have evolved to repel the annoying horse flies that not only feed off their blood, but also, transmit dangerous germs into the bodies of these innocent animals.
The study was performed by a team of Swedish scientists. One of the clues that got them thinking along these lines was the fact that darker horses got bitten more often than light-colored or white ones.
The fact that zebras are born black and only develop strips as they grow older made the scientists theorize that the stripes may be something the animals have developed to make themselves less attractive to flies.
To test if this may be the case, they painted some boards at a horse-infested horse farm in Budapest with patterns of black and white stripes of varying widths and applied a layer of glue on them. What they noticed was that the places where the black and white stripes were at their narrowest (similar to what zebras have) attracted the fewest flies. They achieved similar results when they painted horses with black and white zebra-like stripes.
While the research are not sure why this may be the case, they believe it may be something to do with the way insects operate---horseflies are attracted to horizontally polarized light（偏振光）; since white does not reflect it, white horses are luckier than black ones. But zebras seem to be the luckiest of all. When the researchers measured the polarized light reflected from real zebra skins, they found that it matched light patterns that were the least attractive to horseflies.
While this theory does make logical sense, nobody is 100 percent sure that it is really true, given that it has never been tested on a real zebra. If it is true, it does raise the question of why a horse, a close relative of the zebra has failed to develop stripes. The researchers believe that this could be because there are more horseflies in Africa, where zebras reside, then anywhere else in the world.
Title | Zebras have their own bug repellent? | |
Reasons for zebras developing their strips | Original belief | With the black and white lines, one zebra is difficult to single out while traveling with a herd, thus ___1.___ it from its enemies. |
New theory | Zebras, residing in Africa where there are most horseflies in the world ,have developed strips to avoid being___2.____ . | |
A study | Researchers | A team of scientists from ___3.____ |
____4.____ | To test if strips are developed to make zebras less attractive to flies. | |
Clues | *White or light-colored horses are less __5.___ to get bitten than dark ones. *Zebras develop strips as they grow older though born black . | |
Method | *Some boards at a horse farm are painted with patterns of black and white stripes variously ___6.___ , a layer of glue applied on them *Measured the polarized light reflected from real zebra skins | |
_____7.___ | *The places where the black and white stripes were similar to the ___8.___zebras have attracted the fewest flies *Strips of zebras matched light patterns that were the least attractive to horseflies | |
Principle of zebras’ black and white strips repelling the flies | Horizontally polarized light, which white does not reflect, ____9.___ to horseflies.
| |
Conclusion | ____10.___tested on real zebras, the theory isn’t definitely true. | |