Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PC­based email exchanges.

In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and web­based email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.

Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal web­based email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.

In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email，causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.

1.The earliest web-based email came into being probably _______.

A. in 1991                            B. in 1996                   C. in 1997                   D. in 2007

2.The author mentions “fax” in the third paragraph in order to tell us that _______.

A. it is exactly as good as email

B. it is much better than email

C. it is less convenient than email

D. it is easier and faster than email

3.The underlined word “compulsion” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.

A. strong desire                  B. common sense               C. special curiosity          D. general idea

4.Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. We should check email boxes frequently.

B. Lazy people like sending an email.

C. Email brings us great convenience.

D. Good inventions also cause problems.

I came to study in the United States a year ago .Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.

After the accident .my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I’d have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer .Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.

But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time .The final examination report was made up of ten lines, and it cost me $215.

My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss(解雇) him. And he made me pay him $770.

Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company（保险公司） the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time…and I left without getting a cent.

1.A good doctor is necessary and important for the author to __________.

A．be properly treated

B．talk with the person responsible for the accident

C．recover before he leaves America

D．eventually get the responsible party to pay for his injury

2.The word “charge” in the third paragraph means_________ .

A．be responsible     B．accuse            C．ask as a price       D．claim

3.Both the doctor and the lawyer in this passage are very__________.

A．friendly           B．selfish            C．professional       D．busy

4.What conclusion can you draw from the story?

A．Going to court is something very common in America.

B．One must be very careful while driving a car.

C．There are more bad sides in America than good sides.

D．Money is more important than other things in the US.

Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PC­based email exchanges.

In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and web­based email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.

Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal web­based email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.

In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email，causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.

1.The earliest web-based email came into being probably _______.

A. in 1991                            B. in 1996                   C. in 1997                   D. in 2007

2.The author mentions “fax” in the third paragraph in order to tell us that _______.

A. it is exactly as good as email

B. it is much better than email

C. it is less convenient than email

D. it is easier and faster than email

3.The underlined word “compulsion” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.

A. strong desire                  B. common sense               C. special curiosity          D. general idea

4.Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. We should check email boxes frequently.

B. Lazy people like sending an email.

C. Email brings us great convenience.

D. Good inventions also cause problems.

I came to study in the United States a year ago. Yet I did not know the American society until I was injured in a car accident. After the accident, I had to see a doctor and go to court. When the accident happened, my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and decided to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He said he had good reason to charge me and that if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I’d have to have a good lawyer. Now that he had helped me to find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.
But every time I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time. The final examination report only contained ten lines, and it cost me $215.
My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to fire him. And he made me pay him $770.
Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Because of my inexperience, I told the insurance the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time … and I left without getting a cent.
My experiences taught me two things about America: firstly, in a country like America, money is everything. It is more important than friendship, honor or professional morality; secondly, foreigners are still being unfairly treated. So when we talk about America, we should see both its advantages and disadvantages.
【小题1】 The author’s roommate offered to help him because ________.

I came to study in the United States a year ago. Yet I did not know the American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court（法庭）.

    After the accident, my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I'd have to have a good lawyer. Now that he had helped me to find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.

    But every time I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time. The final examination report consisted of ten lines, and it cost me $215.

    My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss（解雇）him. And he made me pay him $770.

    Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time, and I left without getting a cent.

    My experiences taught me two things about America: firstly, in a country like America money is everything. It is more important than friendship honour or professional morality（职业道德）. Secondly, foreigners are still being unfairly treated. So when we talk about America, we should see both its good and bad sides.

1.The author's roommate offered to help him because_____.

A. he felt sorry for the author

B. he thought it was a chance to make some money

C. he knew the doctor was a very good one

D. he wanted the author to have a good lawyer

2. A good doctor is essential for the author to __________.

    A. be properly treated

    B. talk with the person responsible for the accident

    C. recover before he leaves America

    D. eventually get the responsible party to pay for his injury

3. The word "charge" in the passage means __________.

A. be responsible      B. accuse      C. ask as a price      D. claim

4.Both the doctor and the lawyer in this passage are very___.

A. friendly             B. greedy      C. professional      D. busy

5. What conclusion can you draw from this story?

A. Going to court is something every common in America

B. One must be very careful while driving a car

C. There are more bad sides in America than good sides

D. Money is more important than other things in the US