Question

Cellphones are the new cigarettes When you get in your car,you reach for it. When you're at work,you take a break to have a moment alone with it. When you get into a lift,you play with it.

Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No,it's the third most ad?dictive thing in modern life,the cellphone. And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curb their desire to hug it more tightly than most of their per?sonal relationships.

With its shiny surface,its smooth and satisfying touch,its air of complexity,the cellphone connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away. In just the past couple of years,the cellphone has challenged individuals,employers,phone makers and counselors (顾问) in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined.

The costs are becoming even more evident,and I don't mean just the monthly bill. Dr Chris Knippers,a counselor at the Betty Ford Centre in Southern California,reports that the overuse of cellphones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addic?tions; a barrier to one-on-one personal contact,and an es?cape from reality.

Sounds extreme,but we've all witnessed the evi?dence: the person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal,ignoring his kids around the ta?ble; the woman who talks on the phone in the car,igno?ring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school,avoiding contact with kids all around him.

Is it just rude,or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me,but how is this improving the quality of life?

Jim Williams? an industrial sociologist based in Mas?sachusetts,notes that cellphone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation. He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with. De?spite the growing use of phones* email and instant messa?ging,in other words? Williams says studies show that we don't have as many friends as our parents. "Just as more information has led to less wisdom,more acquaintances via the Internet and cellphones have produced fewer friends," he says.

If the cellphone has truly had these effects,it's be?cause it has become very widespread. Consider that in 1987,there were only 1 million cellphones in use. Today,something like 300 million Americans carry them. They far outnumber wired phones in the United States.

20. Which of the following best explains the title of the passage?

   A. Cellphone users smoke less than they used to.

   B. More people use cellphones than smoke ciga?rettes.

   C. Cellphones have become as addictive as ciga?rettes.

   D. Using cellphone is just as cool as smoking ciga?rettes.

21. The underlined word " curb" in Paragraph 2 means      

   A. control   B. ignore   C. develop   D. rescue

22. The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that       .

   A. women use cellphones more often than men

   B. talking on the phone while driving is dangerous

   C. cellphones make one-on-one personal contact easy

   D. cellphones do not necessarily bring people together

Answer 1

本文是篇议论文，主要讲述了在日常生活中由于手机的过度使用，人们忽视了与周围人的相处，从而导致了人与人间的关系更为疏远。

20. C推理判断题。文章标题的意思是"手机是一种新型的香烟"，是个比喻，结合第二段中的"Cigarettes? Cup of cof?fee? No,it's the third most addictive thing in modern life,the cellphone."可知手机已经成了和香烟、咖啡一样让人上瘾的东西。故选(：。

21. A词义猜测题。句中hug后面的it应指的是手机这件令人上瘾的东西。既然是件令人上瘾的东西，那么对它的迷恋程度对很多人来说就应是很难"控制"了，故选A项con?trol。

ignore忽视;develop发展;rescue营救。

22. D推理判断题。结合文章第四段的"…a barrier to oneonone personal contact,and an escape from reality."可知手机已成为一个人与人之间面对面交流的阻碍，没有拉近人们的关系，故选   D.