In today’s world of cellphones, mini laptops and MP3 players, most people have at least one timetelling tool with them. Since these devices are so common, is time running out for the 500­year­old watch? According to some consumers, yes. New Jersey teenager Charlie Wollman says a watch is “an extra piece of equipment with no necessary function”. Many young adults agree — and use their cellphones to tell time. Louis Galie, a senior vice president at Timex, said that fewer young people wear watches today than five years ago. As a result, some people claim that the watch industry is at a crossroads.

However, watchmakers optimistically say that watches regain popularity when consumers reach their 20s and 30s. By then, they are willing to spend money on a quality timepiece that doesn't just keep good time. Fifty years ago, watchmakers boasted about their products' accuracy. But in recent years, the watch industry has transformed itself into an accessory business. And for many today, the image a watch communicates has become more important than the time it tells.

“Complications” — features that go beyond simple timekeeping — are an important part of a watch's image. Today's watches offer a lot of features that suit almost any personality. These features include altitude trackers, compasses, lunar calendars, USB drives, and even devices that measure the effectiveness of golf swings!

Creativity is also a key element in today's watches. For example, Japanese watchmaker Tokyoflash makes watches that don't even look like watches. The company's popular Shinshoku model uses different color lights to tell time. It looks more like a futuristic (未来主义的) bracelet than a watch. Another Japanese watchmaker, EleeNo, makes a “handless” watch. Using a ring of circles to keep time, this watch makes an excellent conversation piece.

Whether a watch communicates fashion sense, creative flair or a love of sports, consumers want their timepieces to stand out. Nowadays, everyone has the same kind of gadget (小玩意儿) in their bags, so people want to make a statement with what's on their wrists. Will this interest in wrist fashion last? Only time will tell!

1.Why aren't watches popular with young people as before?

A. Because watches cannot keep good time as cellphones, mini laptops and MP3 players.

B. Because watches are featured by the disadvantages of simple function.

C. Because watches are too expensive to afford.

D. Because watches don't have beautiful appearance as other modern time­telling tools.

2.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 mean?

A. Watch­making becomes the sunrise industry.

B. Watch­making is faced with the developing opportunity.

C. Watch­making is facing a survival crisis challenge.

D. Watch­making has a specific development target.

3.It can be implied that ________.

A. people will gradually lose interest in watches as they grow older

B. watchmakers scarcely change the development strategy for watches

C. today's watches are better than those in the past in quality

D. customers used to be more concerned with the quality of a watch than with its image

4.The following qualities can make a watch popular EXCEPT ________.

A. multifunction B. accuracy

C. nice design D. low price

阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填人空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Letting go of success

I want to make the most of every day. And, like most people, I've _ __ that the best way to do it is to let go of past failures. But that's not all. One can never fully ___ ____ today while thinking too much about past successes, either. People never ___ ___ while resting comfortably on their laurels (荣誉). The __ ____ is that sometimes our successes hold us back more than our failures!

I once __ ____ a story about the Oscar owner, actor Clark Gable. A friend ___ ____ Gable one afternoon at the actor's home. She brought along her ___ ____ son, who was playing happily with toy cars on the floor. He ___ ____ he was racing those cars around a great track, which in ___ ____ was an imaginary circle around a golden statue (雕像). The small statue the boy played with was actually the Oscar Clark Gable ___ ____ for his performance in the 1934 movie It Happened One Night.

When his mother told him the time had come to __ ____，the little boy asked the actor, “Can I have this？” __ ____ to the Oscar.

“Sure，” he smiled. “It's yours.”

The horrified mother ___ ____. “Put that back immediately！”

Giving the child the golden statue, Clark Gable said, “Having the Oscar around doesn't mean anything to me; ___ __ it does.” The actor seemed to know that past success could be a ___ ____ hammock (吊床) upon which he may be tempted to __ ____， rather than a springboard setting him to begin a new start.

You may have learned to let go of past ___ ____ and mistakes in order to free the present. But will you forget past successes and achievements in order to free the ___ ____？ Will your past be a springboard or a restful hammock?

“I like the __ ____ of the future better than the history of the past，” said Thomas Jefferson. I ___ ____. After all, the future, not the past, is where the rest of your life will be lived.

1.A. discovered B. inferred C. hoped D. worried

2.A. spend B. live C. enjoy D. understand

3.A. struggle B. work C. learn D. succeed

4.A. story B. fact C. idea D. news

5.A. heard B. told C. knew D. wrote

6.A. saw B. recognized C. met D. visited

7.A. careful B. small C. lonely D. clever

8.A. pretended B. believed C. insisted D. suggested

9.A. case B. reality C. turn D. need

10.A. cared B. asked C. looked D. won

11.A. act B. leave C. play D. wait

12.A. running B. getting C. pointing D. shouting

13.A. objected B. noticed C. suffered D. breathed

14.A. selling B. keeping C. sharing D. earning

15.A. special B. comfortable C. expensive D. necessary

16.A. rest B. cheat C. stop D. sit

17.A. difficulties B. Events C. failures D. achievements

18.A. time B. future C. body D. brain

19.A. idea B. meaning C. dreams D. thoughts

20.A. obey B. permit C. wish D. agree

____ apple fell from the tree and hit him on ______ head.

A. An; the B. The; the

C. An; 不填 D. The; 不填

You can imagine the difficulty they have ________ such a large population.

A. fed B. to feed

C. feeding D. been fed

During the last three decades, the number of people participating in physical fitness programs ________ sharply.

A. was increasing B.has increased

C.had increased D.will be increasing

Helen alway s helps her mother even though going to school _____ most of her day.

A. puts up B. makes up

C. saves up D. takes up

Nowadays, many people walk to work ________ Copenhagen Conference calling for living a low-carbon lifestyle to cope with global warming.

A. in response to B. in relation to

C. in addition to D. in opposition to

I felt very tired when I got home. and I _______ straight to bed.

A. go B. went

C. had gone D. have gone

Once the new rules are made，what matters much next is how they will be________to all the members of the club.

A. devoted B. referred

C. applied D. directed

Though they met for the first time, they talked ________ they were good friends.

A. even if B. as if

C. even though D. if only