I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?”  He looked perturbed (不安). “Do you want to try it first?” he said. It didn’t quite sound like a question. “Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？” This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. “No, no. But you should try it,” he said encouragingly. “Compare it with the others.”

 I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.

But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out of my chosen camera from cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.

Why do we think that new options(选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.

1.The shop assistant insisted that the writer should               

A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it.

B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others.

C. get more information about different companies.

D. trust him and stop asking questions.

2.What does the writer mean by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2)

A. He should get a 50% discount.

B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.

C. The quality of the camera was not good.

D. The camera would soon fall in value.

3.The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he                  

A. knew very little about it.

B. didn’t trust the shop assistant.

C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best.

D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers.

4.I t can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion,            .

A. people waste too much money on cameras

B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life

C. we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product

D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed (不安).“Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn't quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied. "There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly." Compare it with the others. "
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.
Why do we think that new options (选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.
1. The shop assistant insisted that the writer should __ .
A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it
B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others
C. get more information about different companies
D. trust him and stop asking questions
2. What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"  (Paragraph 2) ?
A. He should get a 50% discount.
B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.
C. The quality of the camera was not good.
D. The camera would soon fall in value.
3. The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he __ .
A. knew very little about it
B. didn't trust the shop assistant
C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best
D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers
4. It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, __
A. people waste too much money on cameras
B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C. we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product
D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

Look! __________.

 Don’t respond to any e-mails     personal information, no matter how official they look.

A. requested    B. request    C. requesting    D. to be requested

We have met the enemy, and he is ours. We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest, suddenly turns up in children in the American Midwest, it’s hard not to wonder if the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections (感染) we think of as human infections started in other animals,” says Stephen Morse, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.

It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are; we’re also bringing them closer to us. Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country. A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets, and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea. “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them,” says Isaksen.

 “Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing,” says Peter Schantz. Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases. A new bug (病毒) may be kind at first. But it may develop into something harmful. Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease. But it is not impossible to pass the disease from person to person.

56. We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may _________.

A. come from Columbia            B. prevent us from being infected

C. enjoy being with children         D. suffer from monkey-pox

57. Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?

A. They attack human beings.         B. We need to study native animals.

C. They can’t live out of the rain forest.  D. We do not know much about them yet.

58. What does the phrase “the wake-up call” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A. a new disease           B. a clear warning   C. a dangerous animal     D. a morning call

59. The text suggests that in the future we _______.

A. may have to fight against more new diseases   B. may easily get infected by diseases from dogs

C. should not be allowed to have pets           D. should stop buying pets from Africa

60. The last paragraph means _________.

A. we should have laws to stop having pets at home 

B. wild animals shouldn’t adopted as pets

C. laws should be passed to avoid pets’ diseases spreading 

D. people with pets should be stayed at home