D
One of the most popular new online games is Second Life．These games are also called MMOs for short．But unlike other MMOs, Second Life is not about winning or losing．Second Life is technically a computer game．But people involved in it do not consider it a game, because the players Create everything．Second Life is more for socializing and creating communities．
Users of Second Life are called residents．To take part, they must create an electronic image of themselves．Some look like humans, while others look like animals．Inside the Second Life world, residents build homes, run business, buy and sell things, work, play, and attend school．They even have relationships and get married．
Second Life was created in 2003 by Linden Lab in San Francisco, California．Linden Lab controls the website where the ever—changing world is being created．There are now about one million people around the world who are active in Second Life．The number has grown quickly since the beginning of the year when there were about one hundred thousand users．
The average age of people involved with Second Life is about thirty．However, Linden Lab recently created Teen Second Life for young users．Second Life has its own economy and its own money called Linden dollars．Millions of dollars are made and spent each month in Second Life．Users can enter Second Life for free．But they must pay for a membership if they want to own land or buy and sell goods and services．
Lately, several major companies have become involved with Second Life．They want to be part of the growing business world that exists within the made—up reality．The car maker Toyota, music producer Sony BMG, and even Reuters news agency are among businesses now existing within Second Life．
68．The best title for the passage may be    ．
A．Popular Computer Games                     B．Users of Second Life
C．Business within Second Life                 D．A Million People Get a Second Life
69．According to the passage, Second Life refers to a new online game    ．
A．about winning or losing
B．in which players can create everything
C．mostly for children
D．designed for only one player role
70．We can see from the passage that the users of the Second Life    ．
A．can’t create the electronic images
B．become humans and animals
C．don’t work or play
D．can even get married
71．It can be inferred from the passage that    ．
A．these major companies want to become the players inside the Second Life world
B．these major companies: want to make profits from Second Life
C．we can’t believe in the made—up reality inside the Second Life world
D．these major companies show no interest in Second Life

On numerous drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle (甲虫) from certain tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.
Though Mother’s Day follows Earth Day, for me, they have always been related. My mom has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, Mom saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and re-uses her plastic bags.
Mom creates a kind of give-and-take relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to fend off the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it’s likely they’ll be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house are captured (捕获) in a juice glass and set loose in the garden.
I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for spent (开败的) dandelions (蒲公英) to parachute; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mom didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came compassion and an instinct (本能) for preservation.
I am slowing down and it isn’t because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and re-use packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other through the palm (棕榈树) leaves above my porch (门廊).
Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness I immediately wanted to share with my mom.
【小题1】Why does the author say Earth Day is connected with Mother’s Day?

To hitch-hike successfully in any country you must be able to do two things: attract attention and at the same time convince the driver at a glance that you do not intend to rob or murder him．To fulfill the first requirement you must have some mark to distinguish you at once from all other hikers．A serviceman, for instance, should wear his uniform, a student his scarf．In a foreign country an unmistakable indication of your own nationality will also arrest a driver’s attention．
When I hitch-hiked 9,500 miles across the United States and back recently I wore a well-tailored suit, a bowler hat and a trench coat, and carried a pencil-thin rolled black umbrella．My suitcase was decorated with British flags．Having plenty of luggage, moreover, I was not likely to be suspected of being a dangerous lunatic（精神病患者）．I then had to get across to the driver the idea that I was a real traveler, and needed to get somewhere cheaply．
But even with careful preparation, you must not assume（认为） that the task will be easy．You should be prepared to wait a little, for there are drivers who confess to（承认） a fierce prejudice against, （not to say hatred of）, hitch-hikers, and would no more pick up a hiker than march from Aldermaston to London．In America, my average wait was half-an-hour, and my longest two hours, but I have heard of people waiting all day; they probably took less pains to make themselves easy to notice．
Nor must you assume that all the drivers who stop for you are nice, normal people．On one occasion I found myself driving with two boys of about nineteen who turned out to be on the run from the police, and were hoping to use me as an alibi．There are also lesser（较小的） risks: you may find yourself in the car of a Fascist fanatic, a Mormon missionary（传教士）, or just a bad driver．You cannot tell, of course until you are in the car．But you soon learn the art of the quick excuse that gets you out again．
If the hitch-hiker in the U．S．will remember that he is seeking the willingness of drivers to give him a free ride, and is prepared to give in exchange entertainment and company, and not go to sleep, he will come across the remarkable, almost legendary, hospitality of American of the West．It will also help if he can drive—I think that I drove myself about 4,500 of those 9,500 miles I hitch-hiked in the States．
71．A hitch-hiking serviceman should wear his uniform      ．
A．so as not to look too unusual              B．to attract attention
C．to show he is on duty                    D．to put the driver at ease
72．In paragraph 3, we learn that the writer     ．
A．has sometimes failed to hitch a ride
B．has marched from Aldermaston to London
C．has always been successful in hitching a ride
D．has had to wait for long hours for a ridew
73．The main idea of Paragraph 4 is that      ．
A．it is dangerous to be in a car with strangers
B．hitch-hiking may turn out to be risky sometimes
C．a hitch-hiker must also learn the art of quick excuse
D．hitch-hikers might come across bad drivers
74．In the last paragraph, the writer mainly wants to tell us that a hitchhiker should     ．
A．not talk to the driver too much
B．fall asleep to make it a peaceful ride
C．try to make himself pleasant and entertaining
D．seek the willingness of drivers
75．A suitable title for the passage would be     ．
A．“The Art of Hitch-hiking”      B．“An Englishman’s View of the U．S．”
C．“An English Hitch-hiker”        D．“The joys and Dangers of hitch-hiking

The global energy crisis is approaching. What can we do? Here are some steps you can take.
Cooling puts the greatest stress on your summer energy bill and the power grid(电网). Just as t tune-up for your car can improve your gas mileage, a yearly tune-up of your heating and cooling system can improve efficiency and comfort. Clean or replaces filters monthly or as needed.
For central air conditioning systems and room air conditioners, look for the ENERGY STAR, the federal government’s symbol for energy efficiency. For central air, purchase the system with the highest possible Seasonal Energy Efficiency Raton. (SEER)
Use energy-efficient ceiling fans either alone or with air conditioning. Ceiling fans do a great job of circulating air. When used with air conditioning, fans allow you to raise the thermostat(恒温器) and cut costs. Ceiling fans cool people, not rooms, so before you leave; turn off the ceiling fan.
Let a programmable thermostat! “remember for you” to automatically adjust the indoor climate with your daily and weekend patterns to reduce cooling bills by up to 10 percent. You can come home to a comfortable house without wasting energy and cresting pollution all day while you are at work.
Try to make your home airtight enough to increase your comfort, make your home quieter and cleaner and reduce your cooling costs up to 20 percent.
Gut your air conditioning load, and reduce pollution by planting planting leafy trees around your home and fixing reflective bricks on your roof.
Close blinds or shades on south-and west-facing windows during the day, or fix shading equipment to avoid heat build-up.
Turn off everything not in use: lights, TVs, computers. And use fluorescent bulbs(荧光灯), which provide bright, warm light while using at least two-thirds less energy, producing 70 percent less heat and lasting up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs(白炽灯).
Drive the car that gets better gas mileage whenever possible if you own more than one vehicle. If you drive 12,500 miles a year, switching 10 percent of your trips from a car that gets 20 mils per gallon to one that gets 30 mpg will save you more than ￡65 per year.
Carpool. The average U.S. commuter(乘车上班族) could save about ￡260 a year by sharing cars twice a week with two people in a car that gets 20.1 mpg---assuming the three passengers share the cost of gas.
【小题1】According to the passage, the thermostat is used to ______.

Music is an international language. The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to all people everywhere.
Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the streets.
Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people. Most of the radio broadcast is music.
Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state. Once the popular singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star. 
There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.
Serious music for the concert halls is called classical music. Music for instruments is called orchestra music (管弦乐), such as the symphonies (交响乐) of Beethoven. There is opera (歌剧) for singers. There is ballet (芭蕾舞剧) for dancers like the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in China?
67. What can we know about music and people in America?
A. Student drivers carry small radios with earphones when they drive on the streets.
　    B. Students always listen to music before class, after class and at lunch.
　    C. Adult drivers only listen to news except music when they drive to work.
D. Adult drivers never listen to music when they drive to work.
68. How many kinds of music are mentioned in the passage?
　　       A. Six.                    B. Eight.     C. Five.                      D. Seven.
69. Country music ______.
　　 A. is a kind of music that is popular in America
　　 B. has nothing to do with folk music        
C. is only sung by cowboys
　　 D. is not played in the concert halls
70. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
　　      A. All people in America like popular music.
　　      B. Pop singers can get all the money from the tapes.
　　      C. Now, western or country music is a little different from its beginning.
　　      D. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is a kind of pop music.