It’s quite warm _____ January.

In the near future, we may be using our eyes to operate our smart-phones and tablets, even when it comes to playing popular games like Fruit Ninja.

The Gaze Group has been developing eye-controlled computer technology for nearly 20 years. But those devices have been firstly designed to help those with disabilities, and are very expensive.

“After a while, we figured out that probably the best way is to go for a mass-market way,” says Gaze’s Sune Alstrup Johansen. “where everybody would have this available."

Johansen and some of his colleagues have formed a new company, the Eye Tribe, which is hoping to develop the technology on a mass commercial level.

The technology works with the help of the computing device toward the user’s face. After making sure of the user’s eye movements, the technology is then able to easily find where a person’s eyes are moving, and then allow the eyes to control a cursor(光标).

“Our software can then determine the location of the eyes and know where you’re looking on the screen to make sure what you’re looking at, ” reads an explanation on the Eye Tribe site.

There has been a gradual change toward hands-free technology in recent years, particularly in the gaming world. Recently Xbox released the Kinect device, which lets users control their Xbox and play certain games using only their hands, legs and voices. But still, most of these devices have been more of a gimmick than a practical way to use one’s hands to control a mobile device. Johansen said a replaceable filter(滤光器)would be a cheap, convenient way for most consumers.

And even as companies like The Eye Tribe work to create such a product for the average user, making the eye-controlled technology more accessible and less expensive will have similar benefits for physically disabled users.

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1.Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A. An introduction of eye-controlling technology

B. An introduction of a new device.

C. An introduction of smart-phones

D. An introduction of a new technology for the disabled.

2.The underlined word “gimmick” probably means ___________.

A. a way                           B. a trick                          C. a lie                             D. a dream

3.According to the passage, we can learn that ___________.

A. the eye-controlling technology was first developed for the blind

B. the present developing of the technology will bring no good

C. the eye-controlling technology is only intended for the disabled people

D. there is no such a phone as we can use only with our eyes at present

4.This passage is probably taken from ___________.

A. an experiment report                               B. a science fiction

C. a science website                                     D. a school textbook

D

  　　Award­winning author Emma Donoghue's latest book, Room, is a unique and amazing story about a boy's experience living in a small，windowless room with his mother. The 11' x 11' space between the walls of the room is actually all the boy knows because he was born there and has never left. Room will horrify ，surprise, sadden, and finally delight you. Attracted from the start, readers of all sorts won't want to put Room down.

◆First published in the U. S. in September 2010

◆Publisher: Little Brown

◆321 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　Literary master Ian McEwan returns with Solar, a novel about a Nobel prize­winning physicist. The physicist's personal life is in a mess as his fifth marriage breaks，but this time he actually loves his wife and wants to make things better. Solar is a funny story, completely unusual and as good as anything the writer has ever written.

◆Published in March 2010

◆Publisher: Knopf Doubleday

◆304 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　One Day by David Nicholls was an international bestseller before it was released in the U. S. in June. Although it is well written and funny at times, don't be fooled—this isn't a good­feeling romantic comedy. If you decide to read it, be prepared for some heavy moments.

◆Published in the U．S. in June 2010

◆Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries

◆437 Pages                                                                                                                                     

　　Fall of Giants by Ken Follett is the first book in a new trilogy (three books)that will take readers through the major events of the twentieth century by following five families. In Fall of Giants, most of the action centers on World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution. Although Fall of Giants is more than 1,000 pages and has many characters，the story is remarkably connected.

◆Published in September 2010

◆Publisher: Dutton

◆1,008 Pages                                                                                                                                  

1.Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?

A. Ian McEwan once won the Nobel Prize.

B. Fall of Giants is mostly set in wars.

C. One day is written by David Nicholls.

D. Solar is a funny story about a physicist.

2.We can know from the text that ________.

A. the main character of Room has a wide range of knowledge

B. Solar is the only book that Ian McEwan has ever written

C. all the four books were not published in the same month

D. One Day is a funny romantic comedy that sells very well

3.We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. the sixth of Ian McEwan's marriages broke

B. Room by Emma Donoghue has a happy ending

C. the publisher of One Day is Little Brown

D. Dutton and Ken Follett are both publishers

Part B: Vocabulary 9%

F. negative       G. failures         H. defined          I. mark          J. reliable  

We might be surprised at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a person’s knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It is really extraordinary that after all years, educationists have still failed to devise something more 41 than examinations. For all the 42 that examinations test what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact 43. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a person’s true ability.

As anxiety-makers, examinations are 44 to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the 45 of success or failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that don’t 46: the exam goes on. No one can bring out the 47 in him when he is in terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of fierce competition where success and failure are clearly 48 and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of “dropouts”: young people who are written off as 49 before they have started a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?

At night, bats fly through the air, catching hundreds of insects and other small animals. But during the day, they hardly move at all. Instead, bats pass the time hanging upside down from a secret spot.

There are a couple of reasons why bats rest this way. First of all, it puts them in a position for takeoff. Unlike birds, bats can’t fly into the air from the ground. Their wings don’t produce enough lift to take off from a dead stop, and their hind legs are so small and underdeveloped that they can’t run to build up the necessary takeoff speed. Instead, they use their front claws to climb to a high spot, and then fall into flight.

During the hours when most enemies are active, bats gather where few animals would think to look and most can’t reach. This allows them to disappear from the world until night comes again. There’s also little competition for these resting spots, as other flying animals don’t have the ability to hang upside down.

Bats have a unique physiological adaptation that lets them hang around this way without using any energy. For you to hold your fist around an object tight, you contract（紧缩）several muscles in your arm, which are connected to your fingers by tendons（腱）；as one muscle contracts, it pulls a tendon, which pulls one of your fingers closed. A bat’s talons（爪）close in the same way, except that their tendons are connected only to the upper body, not to a muscle. To hang upside down, a bat pulls its claws open with other muscles. To get the talons to take hold of the surface, the bat simply lets its body relax. The weight of the upper body pulls down on the tendons connected to the talons, causing them to hold tight. Therefore, the bat doesn’t have to do anything to hang upside down.

1.Bats hang upside down because________．

A. they haven’t developed a pair of strong claws   B. they can’t start to fly from the ground directly

C. they have no hind legs to support their body    D. they can’t find quiet places to stay during the day

2.The third paragraph tells us that bats’ hanging upside down_______.

A. is to save their energy for night movement      B. is a way to fight against flying animals

C. is a great way to hide from danger             D. is a skill to compete for the flying places

3.Why can bats hang upside down easily?

A. Because their upper body is light.

B. Because they have strong muscles.

C. Because their talons are linked to muscles tightly.

D. Because their tendons are linked to their upper body.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A. The living habits of bats.             B. How and why bats hang upside down.

C. The importance of bats’ hanging upside down.    D. How bats use their energy at night.