“Life is speeding up．Everyone is getting unwell．’’

This may sound like something someone would say today．But in fact，an unknown person who lived in Rome in 53AD（公元）wrote it．

    We all love new inventions．They are exciting，amazing and can even change our lives．

But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?

Picture this．You're rushing to finish your homework on the computer．Your mobile phone rings，a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen，the noise from the television is getting louder and louder．Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work．Now you have to stay up all night to get it done．How happy do you feel?

    Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave up feeling stressed（有压力的）and tired．Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities，who have no telephones，no car，not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they live simple lives．

    One family in the UK went ” back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today．The grandparents，with their daughter，and grandsons Benjamin，10 and Thomas，7，spent nine weeks in a 1940s house．They had no washing machine，microwave，computer or mobile phones．

    The grandmother, Lyn，said，“The more things you have，the more difficult life becomes．”The boy said they fought less．Probably, they said，because there was less to fight over such as their computer．Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a” trendy（新潮人物），beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things”．

1．The writer uses the quote（引用）at the beginning of the story to                    ．

A．tell us a truth about our life

B．tell us what life was like long time ago

C．point out what causes such a thing to happen

D．point out that you experience some big problems and they may be the same

2．In the passage the writer describes a picture to show that new inventions                 ．

A．have speeded up our lives

B．have improved the quality of our lives

C．may make people feel very happy

D．may bring people some trouble

3．The family chose to spend some time in a l 940s house because                 ．

A．they loved to live simple lives

B．they wanted to know how people lived without modem inventions

C．they were troubled by modem inventions

D．1iving in a different time would be a lot of fun for them

4．According to the passage，which is NOT right? 

A．People who live far away from noise often seem to be happier．

B．An unknown Roman was sure that the quality of life would get better．

C．The family had some changes when they lived in a l 940s house

D．With the improvement of our lives, we often feel stressed and tired．

5．The passage is mainly about                  ．

A．problems with technology

B．improvements of our lives with technology

C．changes happening to technology

D．the importance of technology

　　Jim was a young man in his early twenties who was studying to be a carpenter (木匠) . He was a good worker, honest and worthy of trust, so his boss was pleased with him. As he was such a likable man and easy to deal with, he was popular with his workmates , too. They also made fun of him a great deal but he never got angry with them and would only laugh.

　　But Jim's one great shortcoming (缺点) was that he could never tell a lie, no matter how hard he tried, not even a little one. In fact, he was so honest and shy that he would blush (脸红) even when he was telling the truth. He used to stand in front of the mirror and practise lying while looking himself in the eyes at the same time. But as soon as he saw his face starting to go red he had to look away .

　　One morning, however, he didn' t feel like going to work because he had been to a party the night before and it hadn't ended till the early hours of the morning. And so far the first time in his life he decided to take the day off. He rang his boss, pretending to be a woman. He spoke in a high voice. “Hello, ”he said nervously (神经紧张地). “I'm afraid Jim can't come to work today. He isn't feeling very well. ”

　　Poor Jim was thankful that his boss couldn' t see him just at that moment because his hands were trembling (发抖) and his face was bright red.

　　“Thank you for letting me know, ”said Mr. Woods, his boss, and then just as he was about to hang up, he said, “Just a moment, madam, who' s speaking”.

　　“Oh! ”he stammered (口吃地说), and going all out for making a voice like a woman, he cried in a loud voice: “This is my landlady speaking!”

1．Jim was ________.

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2．He was a ________.

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A．skillful worker

B．skillful carpenter

C．researcher studying how to be a carpenter

D．being-trained carpenter

3．His boss was ________ with him.

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4．His work mates used to ________.

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5．Telling lies always made him ________.

[　　]

6．At the end of the story poor Jim let the cat ________.

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