OK, I admit it: emoticons (表情符号) are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.

Some, however, such as editor and Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, blast (抨击) the use of emoticons as “infantile (幼稚的) just like the people who use them”  He believes that words themselves should be enough. “If you’re being funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent (明显的) from the comment that goes before the emoticon,” he argues.

In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. “Men don’t use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all,” he said. “Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there’ s an emoticon gene.”

It’s an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed “to seek out representations of humanity”. He believes that they appeal not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they tap into (融入) something beyond language. They reach to our need to be with and communicate with people.

All of these arguments may be somehow valid (正确的). Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I do not have much time for emoticons. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I’d rather let my words do the talking.

Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this. I don’t regard any of my friends as lazy or immature (不成熟的). It’s just a question of individuality. :)

1.According to the article, emoticons are popular because ______. 

A. most of them look funny

B. they are easy for lazy people to use

C. they add feeling and character to a communication

D. a reader cannot understand a message without them

2.Which of the following views would John Blumenthal agree with?  

A. Instant Message chatters are childish.[来源:Zxxk.Com]

B. It’s enough to use language in digital communication.

C. Men never use emoticons.     

D. There is an emoticon gene in everybody.

3.From the text, we can conclude that the author ______. 

A. feels he has no difficulty using emoticons

B. thinks emoticons don’t suit him

C. encourage his friends to use emoticons

D. believes that emoticons are suitable for everyone

4.What is the main point of the article? 

A. Advice on language used over the Internet.

B. The history of emoticons.

C. Arguments over the use of emoticons.

D. Reasons for the popularity of emoticons.

                                     MEN VS. WOMEN
COMPARING NICKNAMES
　If Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Suzanne, Debra and Rose.
　If Mike, Charlie, Bob and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla (怪兽), Peanut-Head and Scrappy.
EATING OUT
When the bill arrives, Mike, Charlie, Bob and John will each throw in $20, even though it’s only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back.
　When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.
MONEY
　A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he wants.
　A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn’t want.
BATHROOMS
　A man has six items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, comb, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn.
　The average number of items in the typical woman’s bathroom is 337... A man would not be able to identify most of these items.
ARGUMENTS
　A woman has the last word in any argument.
　Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
CATS
Women love cats.
　Men say they love cats, but when women aren’t looking, men kick cats.
FUTURE
　A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
　A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
SUCCESS
　A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
　A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
MARRIAGE
　A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
　A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change and she does.
DRESSING UP
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.
　A man will only dress up for weddings and funerals.
NATURAL
　Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.
　Women somehow deteriorate (恶化) during the night.
OFFSPRING
　Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.
　A man is vaguely (含糊地) aware of some short people living in the house.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Any married man should forget his mistakes. There’s no sense in two people remembering the same thing.
63. This passage is_________________.
A. a story           B. an advertisement         C. a report          D. a humor
64. The purpose of this passage is________________.
A. to inform the readers of some secrets between men and women
B. to remind the readers of the big differences between men and women
C. to amuse the readers using some interesting examples
D. to show that men perform better than women in our daily life
65. When the girls get their bill, they take out the pocket calculators_________________.
A. to make sure they won’t be cheated by the servant    B. so that they can share the bill equally among them
C. because they want to know what time it is now        D. if they forget to bring their mobile phones
66. What does the underlined sentence mean?
A. A man doesn’t know what to do before he gets married.
B. A man is worried about his future job after he gets married.
C. Anything unexpected will probably happen to a man after he gets married.
D. It’s not easy for a man to find a good job as a woman thinks.

It happened to me recently. I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of our President. A friend I was talking to agreed with me that it was ,in his words, “a brilliantly（精彩地）written book”. However, he then went on to talk about Mr Obama in a way which suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.
And it seems that my friend is not the only one. Approximately two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In the World Book Day’s “Report on Guilty Secrets”, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The report lists ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading, and as I’m not one to lie too often (I’d hate to be caught out ),I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire top ten . But I am pleased to say that, unlike 42 percent of people, I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s really brilliant.
The World Book Day report also has some other interesting information in it. It says that many people lie about having read Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky(I haven’t read him, but haven’t lied about it either )and Herman Melville.
Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to “impress” someone they were speaking to. This could be tricky if the conversation became more in –depth!
But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, people named J. k. Rowling, John Grisham, Sophie Kinsella (ah, the big sellers, in other words). Forty-two percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story(I’ll come clean: I do this and am astonished that 58 percent said they had never done so).
【小题1】How did the author find his friend a book liar?

Ok, I admit it: Emoticons(表情符号) are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.
Some, however, such as editor and Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, blast the use of emotions as “ infantile(幼稚的) just like the people who use them”. He believes that words themselves should be enough. “If you’re being funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticons,” he argues.
In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. “Men don’t use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all.,” he said. “Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there’s an emoticons gene.”
It’s an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.
In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed “ to seek out representations of humanity”. He believes that they appeal not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they tap into（输入）something beyond language. They reach to our need to be with and communicate with people.
All of these arguments may be somehow valid（正确的）. Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I do not have much time for emoticons. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I’d rather let my words do the talking.
Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this, I don’t regard any of my friends as lazy or immature. It’s just a question of individuality.
【小题1】According to the article, emoticons are popular because_________.

A．most of them look funny

B．they are easy for lazy people to use

C．they add feeling and character to a communication

D．a reader cannot understand a message without them

.John is the only one of the students in the class that never______ a mistake even when it is pointed to him.

A.admit making                                               B.admits making

C.admit to make                         D.admits to make