A newspaper in Helsinki,Finland,recently published a cartoon of a baby with a mobile phone,telling his parents that his diaper(尿布) needed changing.But it's hardly a joke.Helsinki is home to Nokia,the mobile?phone maker.It's one of the most “mobile”cities in the world.About 92 percent of its households have at least one mobile phone.And the kids start young.

“A relatively normal age to get a mobile phone is now 7,”says Jan Virkki,marketing manager for a mobile phone company.Among the second graders at the Kulosaari Elementary School,the most popular object of desire this year is not a Barbie or a Gameboy.It is a Nokia mobile phone with a picture of their own choice on the screen.

“One of the first things we discuss when school starts is the rules for mobile phones,”says Tiia Korppi,a teacher.Among the rules:You have to put it away out of sight.You cannot turn it on.You cannot send text messages to your friends,or play amusing tunes(令人发笑的曲调)in class,or call your parents or call for a pizza during history.

1.The author uses the newspaper cartoon to show that ________ .

A.he is good at telling jokes

B.he cares much for children

C.mobile phones are toys for new?born babies

D.mobile phones are widely used in Finland

2.The passage is mainly about__________

A.different uses of mobile phones        

B.a successful mobile?phone maker        

C.effect of mobile phones on children

D.school rules for the use of mobile phones 

A new law has recently been announced which forbids people to disturb, annoy, harm, kill or interfere with any bats which choose to live in their houses. Anyone who disturbs a bat on its nest ,or handles one without a license will be fined ￡1,000.

There are some people who like bats. The late Mrs. Ian Fleming was one. She would crawl for miles to see them in caves or hanging from trees. Similarly, there are many people who do not like bats much but are not particularly troubled by them. The chance of a bat resting in their attics（阁楼） or spare bedroom curtains may seem far away from them. But there are others who do not fall into either of these categories and Mr. Auberon Waugh is one. Underneath his house are eight large cellars(地下室) which for some reason bats have chosen to claim for themselves. He finds it extremely disagreeable to have to fight his way through a colony of them every time he wants a bottle of wine. And as a wine-lover he gets a particular pleasure from the ownership of wine. He has certain bottles in his cellar which he thinks are too good to serve to anyone he knows, but he likes to go down and enjoy looking at them occasionally. The bats entirely destroy this pleasure.

Until the recent law, he could keep the bat problem within manageable proportions by sending his children down on a bat hunt every three months armed with tennis rackets. They usually managed to kill one or two and discouraged the rest from settling. But now, Mr. Waugh fears that the bats will take over the house. To solve the problem he inquired what course of action he could take and was told by Dr Robert Stebbings of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, “I am sure that no one will mind if you pick up a bat and take it outside and hang it on a tree or the outside of the house.” The trouble with this, as Mr. Waugh explains, is that he would be fined a ￡1,000 if he had not already applied to the Nature Conservancy Council for a license to handle bats. And there is no certainty that he would automatically be granted（agreed to give）one.

Mr. Waugh thinks that bats        .

A. should all be destroyed  B. interfere with his wine 

C. should be kept under control D. prevent him owning wine

Because he is a wine-lover, M. Waugh        .

A. stores only good wines   B. keeps certain good wine

C. refuses to drink good wines  D. only wants to own the best wines

Success in removing bats from your home depends on        .

A. applying for a license from the Nature Conservancy Council

B. seeking help from the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology

C. taking the course of action recommended by Dr Stebbings

D. the granting of a Nature Conservancy Council license

Some people who dislike bats        .

A. think they are unlikely to be bothered by them

B. run the risk of finding them in their attics

C. think it strange they should roost（栖息） in the curtains

D. do not mind them hanging in trees    

A well-known speaker started his speech by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, “What is this piece of   1  and is it worth anything?”
Hands started going up. “It is a $20 bill, encashable(可兑现的) in international and national   2  .”replied one of the   3  who raised their hands.
The speaker continued, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He continued to crumple the 20 dollar bill using both his hands. He then               4  it and asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air.
“Well,” he said, “what if I do this?” He dropped it on the  5  and started to step on it. He picked up the crumpled and   6  bill and said, “Now, who still wants it?”  
7  went back into the air. “I think this bill is still   8  its value”, said a young man in an unsure  9 . “We can still use the bill to   10  goods worth 20 dollars,” said the other people.
“My friends, you have all learned a very   11  lesson in this exercise that we are just through with. You’ve   12  that I can crumple the $20 bill during the process as the effects can be seen clearly.   13 , no matter what I did to the piece of paper, you were   14  in your mind that my actions did not actually decrease its   15 . It was still worth $20.”
“Many times in our lives, we feel like as if we are   16 , crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are   17 ; but no matter what happened or what will happen, please   18 , you will never lose your value.” Values that you keep in your heart will always   19  you from a difficult situation.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or not, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE.” “You are   20 — don’t ever forget it.”

A farmer had some puppies（小狗）to   36  . He painted a sign advertising the puppies and   37__  nailing （钉）it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, a little boy came to him.
“Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”
“Well,” said the farmer, as he   38  the sweat off his face, “these puppies come from fine parents and cost   39  money. Do you have enough money?”
The boy    40   his head for a moment. Then reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of   41  and held it up to the farmer. “I’ve got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?” “Sure,” said the farmer. And with that he  42  a whistle (口哨声), “Here, Dolly!” he called.   43  from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly    44  by four little balls of fur. The little boy’ eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their   45  to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.   46    another little ball appeared; this one noticeably smaller.  Then in a somewhat    47   manner the little pup began hobbling（蹒跚） toward the others, doing its best to    48  .
“I want that one,” the little boy said,   49   to the smallest one. The farmer said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you   50  these other dogs would.”
With that the little boy   51  back from the fence, and began    52    up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he exposed a steel support running down both sides of his leg   53  itself to a specially made   54   . Looking back up at the farmer, he said, “You see sir, I don't   55   too well myself, and he will need someone who understands.”

D
At the railway stations all across Britain next week, groups of students will gather with their backpacks to wait for the trains that will carry them home for Christmas. This is a large movement of human beings as before, but with more contradictory traffic flows, so that trains filled with the young pass each other travelling in every direction.
At first, I went home every weekend with my washing, but then those visits became less regular. How did I let my parents know I was coming? They had no phone. Perhaps I wrote to them (“Expect me with dirty shirts this Friday afternoon”), but more likely I didn’t let them know, and just turned up or didn’t turn up, not understanding that my parents’ hopes of seeing me were a greater disappointment of my carelessness than a spoiled tea.
And in all this I suspect I was typical (有代表性的), at least of young men. As for our fathers and mothers, none of them talked of “empty-nest syndrome (综合症)”, even though its possible effect that the main human duty is to protect and feed the young would have suited their generation better than ours. Then, the feeling of loss went without a name. Today, it’s a condition with remedies, which will make parents feel more enjoyable in their life, The Mayo Clinic, for example, suggests you try to maintain regular contact with your children through “visits, phone calls, emails, texts or video chats”. If you feel unhappy, lean on (depend on … for support) loved ones or your mental health providers. Above all, stay positive: “Thinking about the extra time and energy that you might have to devote to your marriage or personal interests after your last child leaves home, it might help you adapt to this major life change.”
What can’t be denied, however, is that children often leave home. In modern societies, this is what they do. Christmas is the very time they can be depended on to return. For the non-religious, that may be this season’s true comfort and significance.
【小题1】The main reason for the busy traffic across Britain next week is that _______.