Laptop computers are popular all over the world.People use them on trains and airplanes, in airports and hotels.These laptops connect people to their workplace.In the United States today, laptops also connect students to their classrooms.

Westlake College in Virginia will start a laptop computer program that allows students to do schoolwork anywhere they want.Within five years, each of the 1500 students at the college will receive a laptop.The laptops are part of a $10 million computer program at Westlake, a 110-year-old college.The students with laptops will also have access to the Internet.In addition, they will be able to use e-mail to “speak” with their teachers, their classmates, and their families.However, the most important part of the laptop program is that students will be able to use computers without going to computer labs.They can work with it at home, in a fast-food restaurant or under the trees—anywhere at all!

Because of the many changes in computer technology, laptop use in higher education, such as colleges and universities, is workable.As laptops become more powerful, they become more similar to desktop computers.In addition, the portable computers can connect students to not only the Internet, but also libraries and other resources.State higher-education officials are studying how laptops can help students.State officials are also testing laptop programs at other universities, too.

At Westlake College, more than 60 percent of the staff use computers.The laptops will allow all teachers to use computers in their lessons.As one Westlake teacher said, “ Here we are in the middle of Virginia and we’re giving students a window on the world.They can see everything and do everything.”

1.The main purpose of the laptop program is to give each student a laptop to _______.

A.connect them to libraries

B.access the Internet

C.work at home

D.use for their schoolwork

2.Which of the following is true about Westlake College?

A.All teachers use computers

B.1500 students have laptops.

C.It is an old college in America.

D.Students there can do everything.

3.A window on the world in the last paragraph means that students can _______.

A.attend lectures on information technology

B.travel around the world

C.have free laptops

D.get information from around the world

4.What can we infer from the passage?

A.The program is successful.

B.The program is not workable.

C.The program is too expensive.

D.We don’t know the result yet.

George Gershwin,born in 1898,was one of America’s greatest composers.He published his first song when he was eighteen years old.During the next twenty years he wrote more than five hundred songs.

Many of Gershwin’s songs were first written for musical plays performed in theatres in New York City.These plays were a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s and 1930s.Many of his songs have remained popular as ever.Over the years they have been sung and played in every possible way—from jazz to country.

In the 1920s there was a debate in the United States about jazz music.Could jazz,some people asked,be considered serious music? In 1924 jazz musician and orchestra leader Paul Whiteman decided to organize a special concert to show that jazz was serious music.Gershwin agreed to compose something for the concert before he realized he had just a few weeks to do it.And in that short time,he composed a piece for piano and orchestra which he called Rhapsody in Blue.Gershwin himself played the piano at the concert.The audience were thrilled when they heard his music. It made him world-famous and showed that jazz music could be both serious and popular.

In 1928,Gershwin went to Paris.He applied to study composition(作曲)with the well-known musician Nadia Boulanger,but she rejected him.She was afraid that classical study would ruin his jazz-influenced style.While there,Gershwin wrote An American in Paris.When it was first performed,critics(评论家)were divided over the music.Some called it happy and full of life,to others it was silly and boring. But it quickly became popular in Europe and the United States.It still remains one of his most famous works.

George Gershwin died in 1937,just days after doctors learned he had brain cancer.He was only thirty-nine years old.Newspapers all over the world reported his death on their front pages.People mourned the loss of the man and all the music he might have still written.

1.Many of Gershwin’s musical works were

A.written about New Yorkers

B.composed for Paul Whiteman

C.played mainly in the countryside

D.performed in various ways

2.What did Gershwin do during his stay in Paris?

A.He created one of his best works.

B.He studied with Nadia Boulanger.

C.He argued with French critics.

D.He changed his music style.

3.What do we learn from the last paragraph?

A.Many of Gershwin’s works were lost.

B.The death of Gershwin was widely reported.

C.A concert was held in memory of Gershwin.

D.Brain cancer research started after Gershwin’s death.

4.Which of the following best describes Gershwin?

A.Talented and productive.

B.Serious and boring.

C.Popular and unhappy.

D.Friendly and honest.

根据短文内容, 从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

1. This was not because the woods and fields were always far away, but because they were too far from the city to permit people to make a day trip between morning and nightfall.

2. He decided to turn his little school into a dormitory for the summer holidays. Anyone who brought his sleeping bag and cooking equipment along could stay there for a very small quantity of money. The idea was a success. A few years later, the school house was much too small to hold the many young people who wanted to stay there. 3. This was the first hostel (招待所).

Today, young students and workers of every country can meet in the hostel and get to know each other. When young people arrive at the hostel, they have only to show their cards of membership in a hostel organization in their own country. 4.

Often, at the evening meal, a group of boys and girls from various parts of the country or world will happen to meet at the same hostel. They may put their food together and prepare a dinner with many kinds of dishes. Sometimes a program will be organized after the meal with dances, songs, or short talks followed by a question period. 5. For this reason, a few weeks spent “hostelling” can be just as useful a part of one’s education as classes in school.

A. As a result, a dormitory was set up in an old castle nearby.

B. People can stay in the hostel if they brought enough equipment with them.

C. For years, children in the industrial areas of Europe seldom left their cities to see the beauties of the countryside.

D. This card will permit them to stay in a hostel all over the world for very low prices.

E. In 1970, a young German school master had an idea which changed this situation.

F. One can learn a lot about other places, just by meeting people from those places

G. More and more young people went to the hostel for summer holidays.

Even if trees cannot walk, they are still on the move.

In parts of the Arctic, entire forests are moving northward. Across the Arctic, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world. As that happens, the tree line that marks where forests stop and the treeless tundra (冻土地带)starts has been shifting northward. Trees growing along the tree line must protect themselves from the cold wind. To do this, plants tend to grow horizontal (水平的)branches low to the ground. The energy it takes for trees to grow this way means they don't have enough energy to make seeds.

But as Earth's climate has been warming, trees no longer have to just grow horizontally. Many can instead grow up toward the sky. This takes less energy. And with all the leftover energy. these trees have started producing more seeds. This happens especially in places where the white spruce (白云杉)grows.

White spruce, which is a North American tree, is quite able to produce a lot of seeds, which can move long distances in the wind. When wind-blown seeds end up on the tundra beyond the tree line, they eventually can sprout (发芽) new trees. This explains how a forest can move. Of course, the process would work only if the tundra were warm enough. But in recent years, the whole planet has been warming.

New trees will provide shelters for some snow, keeping the sun’s rays from making the white surface disappear. Instead, the trees absorb the sun's heat. This warms the surrounding air. The extra warmth encourages even more trees to produce seeds. That further boosts a forest's ability to expand. In addition, more trees will trap more snow, preventing much of it from being blown away. Snow can trap heat in the soil below,which encourages trees to grow. The recent rise of temperature has helped more trees grow. The recent rise of temperatures has helped more trees grow past the tree line. People worry about impacts on the animals that depend on frozen conditions for food and shelter.

1.What is the main cause of the trees in the Arctic moving northward?

A. The rising temperature.

B. The shrinking of northern tundra.

C. The fierce and cold wind.

D. The abundant resources in the north.

2.What does the underlined word, “this”, in Paragraph 2 mean?

A. To produce more seeds.

B. To move northward

C. To respond to the climate change.

D. To protect themselves from the cold wind.

3.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. New trees can trap the snow, which may make the soil colder.

B. The trapped snow prevents new trees from producing more seeds.

C. New trees can make the surrounding air warmer.

D. New trees can bring more food and shelter for local animals.

4.The passage is most probably taken from _______.

A. a health report B. a science report

C. a fashion magazine D. a children's magazine

A new pollen (花粉) study showed that drought was responsible for the extinction of civilizations more than 3,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.

The reason behind why the civilizations in and around modern-day Israel suddenly broke down more than 3,000 years ago has remained a mystery up until now. A new pollen study by Tel Aviv University researchers finally solved this Bronze Age mystery.

Prof. Israel Finkelstein showed that owing to serious climate changes, the entire world of the Bronze Age crumbled in a short period of time. The discovery was made on the basis of a high-resolution analysis of pollen grains taken from sediments (沉淀物) beneath the Sea of Galilee and the western shore of the Dead Sea.

Prof. Finkelstein received support from the European Research Council to conduct research aimed at reconstructing ancient Israel. Researchers of the part of the project that dealt with climate change extracted (提取) about 60 feet of samples of gray muddy sediment from the center of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. They had to drill through 1,000 feet of water and into 65 feet of the lake bed and were able to recover evidence dating over the past 9,000 years.

“Pollen is the most enduring organic material in nature,” explained Dr. Dafna Langgut, a pollen researcher who carried out the actual work of sampling. “These grains tell us about the plants that grew near the lake in the past and therefore prove the climatic conditions in the region.”

Researchers noted a sharp decrease in Mediterranean trees like oaks and pines in the Late Bronze Age. According to study experts, this could be because of repeated periods of drought. The droughts may have resulted in long famines, forcing people to migrate from north to south.

1.The underlined word “crumbled” in Paragraph 3 means _____.

A. settled B. changed

C. established D. disappeared

2.Prof. Finkelstein conducted the new pollen study to _____.

A. earn some money

B. recreate ancient Israel

C. learn more about local plants

D. discover the ancient civilizations

3.By conducting the study, scientists found _____.

A. Mediterranean trees were rare in the Early Bronze Age

B. climate change was to blame for the lost civilization

C. people in the Late Bronze Age starved to death

D. droughts were rare during the Bronze Age

4.The text is most probably taken from _____.

A. a travel magazine B. a history textbook

C. a newspaper report D. an agricultural book

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