Louise was 72 years old and she lived by herself. The first thing she noticed when she came downstairs that Sunday morning was that her __36____ window was open. In fact, it was so wide open that she had ___37___ closing it. Then she realized that things were not in their proper __38____. Finally, when she found her empty ___39___ on the kitchen table, she realized the awful __40____. At first, she didn’t know what to do. Then she decided to ___41___ her son, Derek.

Derek’s wife Sybil answered the phone, “It’s your mother,” she _42___him, coldly. Louise told Derek about the open window, about things being in the wrong places and about the ____43__ missing from her purse.

“ All right,” said Derek, “Don’t __44___ anything. I’ll be __45___ in half an hour.

Louise ___46__ and made herself a pot of tea and some toast. Then she went from room to room wondering __47___ anything else was missing.

When Derek arrived, he was content to __48___ her looking so calm. “Have you rung the ___49___?”he asked. “No? Then I’ll do that straight away.” So he rang the police.

As it was Sunday，__50____ the only detectives were out. However, the police were polite, but vague(含糊的) . “ We’ll send __51__ round as soon as possible.” They said.

Derek telephoned his wife. “I’m not sure when I’ll be home, love,” he told her. “I’ve got to ___52__ for the police.” While Derek and his mother waited, Derek _53___ the catches （挂钩） on the windows and locks on the doors. All of them were old and some of the catches hardly__54___ at all. Derek felt __55___. His mother was an old woman, after all. “I’ll have to change all these.” he told her.

Nowadays people are troubled by the violence that spreads throughout the media. Movies, television and video games are full of gunplay and bloodshed, and one might reasonably ask what’s wrong with a society that presents videos of violence as entertainment.

Viewing large amounts of violent television and video games may well contribute to violent behavior in certain individuals. The trouble comes when researchers downplay uncertainties in their studies or overstate the case for causality（因果关系）. Skeptics were dismayed several years ago when a group of societies including the American Medical Association tried to end the debate by issuing a joint statement: “At this time, well over 1,000 studies… point to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.”

Freedom-of-speech advocates accused the societies of catering to politicians, and even disputed the number of studies (most were review articles and essays, they said). When Jonathan Freedman, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, reviewed the literature, he found only 200 or so studies of television-watching and aggression. And when he weeded out “the most doubtful measures of aggression”, only 28% supported a connection.

The critical point here is causality. The alarmists say they have proved that violent media cause aggression. But the assumptions behind their observations need to be examined. When labeling games as violent or non-violent, should a hero eating a ghost really be counted as a violent event? And when experimenters record the time it takes game players to read “aggressive” or “non-aggressive” words from a list, can we be sure what they are actually measuring? The intention of the new Harvard Center on Media and Child Health to collect and standardize studies of media violence in order to compare their methodologies, assumptions and conclusions is an important step in the right direction.

Another appropriate step would be to tone down the criticism until we know more. Several researchers write, speak and testify quite a lot on the threat posed by violence in the media. That is, of course, their privilege. But when doing so, they often come out with statements that the matter has now been settled, drawing criticism from colleagues. In response, the alarmists accuse critics and news reporters of being deceived by the entertainment industry. Such clashes help neither science nor society.

Why is there so much violence shown in movies, TV and video games?

A. Showing violence is thought to be entertaining.

B. Something has gone wrong with today’s society

C. Many people are fond of gunplay and bloodshed.

D. There is a lot of violence in the real world today.

What is the skeptics’ view of media violence?

A. Violence on television is fairly accurate reflection of real-world life.

B. Most studies exaggerate (夸大) the effect of media violence on the viewers.

C. A causal relationship exists between media and real-world violence.

D. The influence of media violence on children has been underestimated.

The author uses the term “alarmists” to refer to those who _________.

A. use standardized measurements in the studies of media violence

B. initiated the debate over the influence of violent media on reality

C. insist on a direct link between violent media and aggressive behavior

D. use appropriate methodology in examining aggressive behavior

The underlined phrase “weeded out” in Paragraph 3 most probably means _________.

   A. got rid of things that are not good       B. removed unwanted parts from something

   C. picked out things that are useful          D. took away unnecessary details of a report

What does the writer think of the debate concerning the relationship between the media and violence?

A. He more than agrees with the views held by the alarmists. 

B. It should come to an end since the matter has now been settled.

C. The past studies in this field have proved to be misleading.

D. More studies should be conducted before conclusions are drawn.

Maybelle said she wouldn't be coming with me to the library. I asked why, and she said she could get all the short stories she wanted off the Internet. Saved walking all the way to the library, and putting up with my long chat on the way there, and on the way back. Maybelle is very direct like that, always has been.

"But, Maybelle, we've been walking to the library every' Monday for the last fifty years!"

She said," Why don't you get Internet'? We can send each other emails."

So I had to get Internet. I called the local high school. They said they'd send me a good student to tell me all about computers and such.

Evil thing, this Internet. Makes you lose old friends, forces you to learn new complex ideas, even if you're too old. But Maybelle said you have to be modern; otherwise, you're dead.

The kid came the next day. Tall skinny black kid, by tile name of Arsenius, said his work would cost me.

I said, "All right. As long as I get Internet."

"You need a computer, then you need to get hooked up," he said.

"Let's buy a computer and get hooked up, then."

"How much you want to spend?"

"Whatever it takes."

"How many rams you want?"

I wasn't going to show him my ignorance, so I said, "Whatever it takes."

"Let's go to the mall. You got a car?"

"In the garage."

When I opened the garage door, he gasped. Daddy's car is still there, a'57 Chevy. I never drive it. Walk everywhere.

I said," Let's walk. It's only a mile or so."

He said," Let's drive, or you will faint on me in this heat."

"Young man, I don't faint, never have. We're walking."

"I get paid by the hour," he said. "Walking will cost you a lot more. Also, you feel like carrying a computer a mile or so?"

1.What kind of person is Maybelle?

2.Why does the writer want to have Internet at his place?

3.Arsenius gives _________ reasons for driving to the mall.

There is a wonderful story about a young girl who had no family and no one to love her.

One day，feeling very sad and lonely， she was walking through a grassland when she noticed a small butterfly caught in a thorn （荆棘） bush. The young girl carefully released the Butterfly. Instead of flying away， the little butterfly changed into a beautiful fairy. The young girl rubbed(擦) her eyes in disbelief.“For your wonderful kindness，” the good fairy said to the girl，“I will give you any wish you would like.” The little girl thought for a moment and then replied,“I want to be happy.”The fairy  whispered（耳语） in her ear. Then the fairy disappeared.

As the little girl grew up， there was no one in the land as happy as she. Everyone asked her secret of happiness .She would only smile and answer，“The secret of my happiness is that I listened to a good fairy when I was a little girl.”

When she was very old and on her deathbed ,the neighbors gathered around her，they said to her “Tell us， please，” they begged，“Tell us what the good fairy said.” The lovely old woman simply smiled and said,“She told me that everyone， no matter how secure they seemed， no matter how old or young，how rich or poor, had need of me.”

1.______ the girl felt sad and lonely.

2. Noticing the butterfly was caught by the thorn，the orphan girl ______.

3. The butterfly ______ after it was saved by the little girl.

4.The only thing that the little girl wanted was________.

A Brooklyn man who was quarreling with his girlfriend yesterday threw a dog off the balcony（阳台） of her 23rd-story apartment in TriBeCa, killing it, the police said.

The man, John Jefferson, 43, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been charged（指控） with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and animal cruelty, the police said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center yesterday for psychiatric evaluation（精神病鉴定）, they said.

The incident began shortly before 11 a.m., the police said, when Mr. Jefferson went to visit his girlfriend, Eugenia Miller, 41, at her apartment on 80 North Moore Street. She had filed a police report on Friday accusing（控告）Mr. Jefferson of stealing from her, but yesterday she allowed him in and they began arguing, the police said.

Mr. Jefferson threatened Ms. Miller with a knife, and she called 911, the police said. When officers arrived at her door, she ran into the hallway and Mr. Jefferson stayed in the apartment, they said. Mr. Jefferson began throwing Ms. Miller’s things off the balcony, first the television, the air-conditioner and clothes, then her dog, Ribsy, the police and witnesses said.

The dog had lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade and was well liked by children. “He was like a person and he would hang out with us guys or go visit kids at the basketball court,” said neighbors.

1.The man was taken to hospital because _____.

A．he killed a pet dog

B．he was badly injured

C．his girlfriend asked to do so

D．he needed a psychiatric evaluation

2.John Jefferson was accused of the following except _____.

A．his arguing with his girlfriend

B．criminal possession of a weapon

C．animal cruelty

D．robbery

3.From the passage we know that _____.

A．the dog was badly hurt and sent to hospital

B．the dog was popular in the neighborhood

C．the dog was able to play basketball

D．the dog never went out