In today's world of cell phones, mini laptops and MP3 players, most people have at least one time-telling tool with them. Since these devices are so common, is time running out for the 500-year-old 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 cell phones 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(自夸) about their products' accuracy. But in recent years, the watch industry has transformed itself into an accessory(附件，配件) business. And for many today, the image(外形) 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 host of features that suit almost any personality. These features include altitude trackers(追踪器), compasses(指南针), 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 the time. It looks more like a futuristic bracelet(手镯) 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 in their bags, so people want to make a statement with what's on their wrists(手腕). Will this interest in wrist fashion last? Only time will tell!
【小题1】Why aren’t watches popular with young people as before?

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

B．watchmakers hardly 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.

B

When I was about 10 one day, I was walking down the street with my mother. She stopped to speak to Mr. Lee. I knew I could see Mr. Lee anytime around the neighborhood, so I just stood there. After we passed him, my mother stopped and said something unforgettable, “You let that be the last time you ever walk by somebody you know without opening your mouth to speak, because even a dog can wag its tail when it passes you on the street.” That sentence sounds simple but it made me become who I am.

At work, I used to say hello to the president of the company and ask him how our business was doing. But I also spoke to the people in the café and people who cleaned the buildings, and asked them how their children were doing, for every single person deserves to be accepted, no matter how humble(低微的) they are. I remember that after a few years of passing by the president, I had the courage to ask him for a chat. We had a great talk. At some point, when I asked him how far he thought I could go in his company, he said that if I wanted to, I could get all the way to his seat.

I’ve become vice-president, but that hasn’t changed how I treat people. I speak to people wherever I am. Speaking to people creates a pathway into their world, and it lets them come into mine, too.

The day you speak to someone who has his head down and then see him lift it up and smile, you will realize how powerful it is just to open your mouth and say hello.

1.What is the best title for this passage?

A．The Power of Being Talkative

B．My Mother’s Influence on Me

C．The Power of Saying hello

D．My Way to Become Vice-President

2. It is implied in the first paragraph that____.

A．the writer didn’t know Mr. Lee

B．the writer didn’t say hello to Mr. Lee on that occasion

C．the writer didn’t get along well with his mother

D．the writer’s mother stopped to say hello to everyone she met

3. What can we learn from the second paragraph?

A．The writer didn’t say hello to everyone in the company.

B．The writer made a very good impression on the president of the company.

C．The president of the company thought the writer was much better than him.

D．The president of the company actually didn’t like the writer at all.

4. For the writer, saying hello to others_______.

A．is a way to get what he wants

B．has become a habit and a way of life.

C．is a way to show respect for his mother

D．is important in making him remembered.

5. According to paragraph 3, in the writer’s opinion, speaking to others can______.

A．make our world much better

B．make people much happier every day.

C．help people understand each other better

D．help people work much better

B
When I was about 10 one day, I was walking down the street with my mother. She stopped to speak to Mr. Lee. I knew I could see Mr. Lee anytime around the neighborhood, so I just stood there. After we passed him, my mother stopped and said something unforgettable, “You let that be the last time you ever walk by somebody you know without opening your mouth to speak, because even a dog can wag its tail when it passes you on the street.” That sentence sounds simple but it made me become who I am.
At work, I used to say hello to the president of the company and ask him how our business was doing. But I also spoke to the people in the café and people who cleaned the buildings, and asked them how their children were doing, for every single person deserves to be accepted, no matter how humble(低微的) they are. I remember that after a few years of passing by the president, I had the courage to ask him for a chat. We had a great talk. At some point, when I asked him how far he thought I could go in his company, he said that if I wanted to, I could get all the way to his seat.
I’ve become vice-president, but that hasn’t changed how I treat people. I speak to people wherever I am. Speaking to people creates a pathway into their world, and it lets them come into mine, too.
The day you speak to someone who has his head down and then see him lift it up and smile, you will realize how powerful it is just to open your mouth and say hello.
【小题1】What is the best title for this passage?

阅读理解

阅读下面短文，从每题所给四个选项中选出最佳答案。

　　One－room schools are part of the United States, and the mention of them makes people feel a vague longing for “the way things were”. One－room schools are an endangered species, however. For more than a hundred years one－room schools have been systematically shut down and their students went away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930 there were 149, 000 one－room schools in the United States. By 1970 there were 1, 800. Today, of the nearly 800 remaining one－room schools, more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a few other states that have on their road maps wide－spaces between towns.

　　Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to think that maybe there is something yet to be learned from one－room schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve as well today. Progressive educators have come up with progressive－sounding names like “peer－group teaching” and “multiage grouping” for educational procedures that occur naturally in the one－room schools. In a one－room school the children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifthgrade level in math and a third－grade level in English without the stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In larger urban and suburban schools today, this is called “mainstreaming”. A few hours is a small school that has only one classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one of the advantages of living in Nebraska is that their children have to go to, a one－room school.

1．It is implied in the passage that many educators and parents today feel that one－room schools ________.

[　　]

A．need to be shut down

B．are the best in Nebraska

C．are a good example of the good old day

D．provide good education

2．Why are one－room schools in danger of disappearing?

[　　]

A．Because they all exist in one state.

B．Because they skip too many children ahead.

C．Because there is a trend towards centralization.

D．Because there is no fourth－grade level in any of them.

3．What is mentioned as a major characteristic of the one－room school in the second paragraph?

[　　]

A．Some children have to be left back.

B．Teachers are always busy.

C．Pupils have more freedom.

D．Learning is not limited to one grade level at a time.

4．Which of the following can best describe the author's attitude toward oneroom schools?

[　　]

5．It can be inferred from the last sentence that parents living in Nebraska

[　　]

A．don't like centralized schools

B．received education in one－room schools

C．prefer rural life to urban one

D．come from other states