The Stop Global Warming calculator shows you how much carbon dioxide you

can prevent from being released into the atmosphere and how much money you can save by making some small changes in your daily life. It’s our hope that the calculator will promote action, awareness and empowerment by showing you that one person can make a difference and help stop global warming.

There are many simple things you can do in your daily life—what you eat, what you drive, how you build your home—that can have an effect on your immediate surroundings, and on places as far away as Antarctica. Here is a list of things that you can do to make a difference.

Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Save 300lbs (pounds) of carbon dioxide and $60 per year.

Use Recycled Paper

Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5lbs of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.

Take Shorter Showers

Showers account for 2/3 of all water heating costs. Save 350 lbs of carbon dioxide and $99 per year.

Buy Products Locally

Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your home.

Carpool When You Can

Own a big vehicle？Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. Save 790 lbs of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.

Don’t Idle in Your Car

Idling wastes money and gas, and generates pollution and global warming causing emissions. Except when in traffic, turn your engine off in you must wait for more than 30 seconds.

Buy Organic food

The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.

Turn Off Your Computer

Shut off your computer when not in use, and save 200 lbs of carbon dioxide. Conserve energy by using your computer’s “sleep mode” instead of a screensaver.

With a Stop Global Warming calculator which costs you only $50 in hand, you will find what you do does count.

1. The Stop Global Warming calculator can serve the following purposes EXCEPT __________.

2. How many tips are related to cars?__________.

3. Which of the following is NOT true according to the list of tips? ___________.

4.What does the underlined word “carpooling” mean according to the passage?____.

friends and co-workers

5.  What is the purpose of the author writing this passage?___________.

Market analysts in the United States have recently been quoted as saying that the biggest threat to the luxury (奢侈品) industry in the US is the tech industry. This is according to an article by fellow journalist Ashley Lutz. Her suggestion is sound. The main idea of her article is that products from Tiffany & Co. find their biggest competition not from other luxury brands but from companies like Apple. Lutz points out that luxury products are often only for “show,” while the attraction behind tech products is functionality.

You find few people in the United States today willing to purchase luxury goods at full price. It didn’t use to be that way. Luxury goods used to be actually exclusive. That meant you needed to travel to the right store to purchase them, and you didn’t even have the option of getting a deal.

Today, no one wants to pay full price for luxury goods. People have the unfortunate belief that fakes (赝品) somehow are equal to originals, and if you can’t get a deal on eBay, Amazon, or in an outlet store, purchasing a luxury product probably isn’t worth it. Luxury brands struggle to remain high-end (高档的) images despite the reality that the American consumer is motivated much more by discounts than they are by brand names or image.

Yet people stand in line to pay full price for a new product from Apple and crowds gather to hear about a new smart phone. While electronics are updating every day, people are purchasing technology at full prices much more than they are purchasing luxury goods. What are high-tech makers doing right that luxury makers are pitifully failing at?

Carefully looking at the situation, it would appear as if the Internet didn’t hurt the luxury industry, expectation from the consumers did. What people want these days more than anything is stuff that does something. They want cars that drive, shoes that are comfortable, games that are fun to play, screens that are beautiful to look at, tools that are useful, and entertainment that is entertaining. Little of that fits into what the luxury industry has typically offered with its status, image, and fine materials. The sad reality is that luxury products aren’t that luxury any more.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. Nobody likes luxury goods any more.

B. Luxury goods are of poor quality nowadays.

C. Tech products become the new “luxury goods”.

D. Iphones have taken the place of luxury products.

2.The underlined word “exclusive” in paragraph 2 means _______.

A. unique and with no bargain    B. low in price

C. hard to find     D. easy to sell

3.From paragraph 3 we can know that _______.

A. people have found that some luxury goods are fakes

B. people can buy luxury goods at a low price on eBay

C. luxury brands will give up high-end images

D. consumers prefer brand names to discounts

4.What do people pay most attention to nowadays?

A. The Internet service.     B. The images of luxuries.

C. The function of products.      D. The expectation from the consumers.

Switching telephone providers used to be the only way homeowners could save money on telephone bills. Now thanks to new technology, comsumers have another choice-making phone calls over the internet. And this can be completely free if you call another person with an internet phone set-up.
The technology is called voice over internet protocol (协议), or VoIP. In 2005, consumer demand for VoIP dramatically grew. In the US, where popularity has grown faster than here in the UK, 8.4 million are predicted to subscribe this year. For the past couple years, VoIP pioneers such as Skype have accounted for the majority of internet phone subscribers.
VoIP is attractive to consumers because it’s cheaper than traditional phone services. With the basic equipment of PC, microphone and headset, and VoIP software and broadband internet for optimum (最适宜的) voice quality, consumers can save a fortune chatting for free to other internet phone owners and save money calling regular landlines (通讯电缆). But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many of these services suffer from uncontinuous lapses (失效) in quality. While some users may tolerate echoes or a dropped call, improved quality is needed to attract more customers.
Computing has examined the benefits of using a PC as a telephone with VoIP in how easy they were to set up, how effective they were and the range of their features.
Skype(www. skype.com) came top for its bother-free approach, easy set-up and exceptional voice clarity. Sipgate (www. sipgate. co. uk), MSN(www. messenger. msn. co. uk) and Yahoo! Messenger (uk. messenger. yahoo. com) provide an audio “wizard” that improves sound levels. Google Talk (www. google. com/ talk) was less helpful and Babble. net (www. babble. net) was let down by its poor help files. Yahoo! Messenger provides some of the best features, including the option of landline calls, webcam chats, instant messaging, voice-mail and conference calls.
【小题1】Which one of the following if you call others?

Market analysts in the United States have recently been quoted as saying that the biggest threat to the luxury (奢侈品) industry in the US is the tech industry. This is according to an article by fellow journalist Ashley Lutz. Her suggestion is sound. The main idea of her article is that products from Tiffany & Co. find their biggest competition not from other luxury brands but from companies like Apple. Lutz points out that luxury products are often only for “show,” while the attraction behind tech products is functionality.

You find few people in the United States today willing to purchase luxury goods at full price. It didn’t use to be that way. Luxury goods used to be actually exclusive. That meant you needed to travel to the right store to purchase them, and you didn’t even have the option of getting a deal.

Today, no one wants to pay full price for luxury goods. People have the unfortunate belief that fakes (赝品) somehow are equal to originals, and if you can’t get a deal on eBay, Amazon, or in an outlet store, purchasing a luxury product probably isn’t worth it. Luxury brands struggle to remain high-end (高档的) images despite the reality that the American consumer is motivated much more by discounts than they are by brand names or image.

Yet people stand in line to pay full price for a new product from Apple and crowds gather to hear about a new smart phone. While electronics are updating every day, people are purchasing technology at full prices much more than they are purchasing luxury goods. What are high-tech makers doing right that luxury makers are pitifully failing at?

Carefully looking at the situation, it would appear as if the Internet didn’t hurt the luxury industry, expectation from the consumers did. What people want these days more than anything is stuff that does something. They want cars that drive, shoes that are comfortable, games that are fun to play, screens that are beautiful to look at, tools that are useful, and entertainment that is entertaining. Little of that fits into what the luxury industry has typically offered with its status, image, and fine materials. The sad reality is that luxury products aren’t that luxury any more.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. Nobody likes luxury goods any more.

B. Luxury goods are of poor quality nowadays.

C. Tech products become the new “luxury goods”.

D. Iphones have taken the place of luxury products.

2.The underlined word “exclusive” in paragraph 2 means _______.

A. unique and with no bargain        B. low in price

C. hard to find                 D. easy to sell

3.From paragraph 3 we can know that _______.

A. people have found that some luxury goods are fakes

B. people can buy luxury goods at a low price on eBay

C. luxury brands will give up high-end images

D. consumers prefer brand names to discounts

Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and the required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.

Software developed by an Israeli company could help concerned parents protect their children from possible dangers online.

The software from United Parents, which can be downloaded for free onto the child’s computer, sends parents a warning by email or text message when doubtful relationships or activities are discovered.

A computer analyzes(分析) children’s interactions on Facebook and within 10 days the service will also be able to follow interactions over MSN Messenger. “Parents probably know about one or two email accounts or nicknames the child uses but often there are other accounts they don’t know about,” co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Hanan Lavy said. “We give the parents the information and they choose what to do with it.” When doubtful interactions are discovered, a warning will direct parents to United Parents’ website where they can get more information and advice about what to do next. Lavy said the service protects children’s privacy more than other products that save chat content and screen captures and require parents to look through masses of information. United Parents does not share with parents private content and dialogues, only the analysis done by a computer.

A Consumer Reports survey released in May found that millions of children use Facebook without supervision, exposing themselves to serious threats from potential dangers online. Lavy, who was head of research and development at Mercury, started United Parents after he saw the risky online behavior of a relative. “I thought the methods available were so unhelpful. I wanted the option of building a community where parents can help other parents,” he said.

Though many of the products available are from small players such as United Parents, large companies such as Intel Corp’s McAfee are entering the market.

1.How does the software make parents aware of their children’s doubtful relationships or activities? (No more than 9 words) (2 marks)

____________________________________________________________________________

2.Why do you think some children don’t want their parents to know about all their accounts or nicknames? (No more than 10 words) (3 marks)

____________________________________________________________________________

3.What is the purpose of Lavy’s starting United Parents? (No more than 10 words) (2 marks)

____________________________________________________________________________

4.What is the main idea of the passage? (No more than 12 words) (3 marks)

____________________________________________________________________________