The internet will open up new vistas (前景), create the global village —you can make new friends all around the world .That, at least, is what it promised us. The difficulty is that it did not take the human mind into account. The reality is that we cannot keep relationships with more than a limited number of people. No matter how hard the internet tries to put you in communication, its best efforts will be defeated human mind.

The problem is twofold（双重的）.First, there is a limit on the number of people we can hold in mind and have a meaningful relationship with. That number is about 150 and is set by the size of our brain. Second, the quality of your relationships depends on the amount of time you invest（投入）in them. We invest a lot in a small number of people and then distribution what’s left among as many others as we can. The problem is that if we invest little time in a person, our engagement with that person will decline（减弱）until eventually it dies into “someone I once knew”.

This is not, of course, to say that the internet doesn’t serve a socially valuable function. Of course it does. But the question is not that it allows you to increase the size of your social circle to include the rest of the world, but that you can keep your relationships with your existing friends going even though you have to move to the other side of the world.

In one sense, that’s a good thing. But it also has a disadvantage. If you continue to invest in your old friends even though you can no longer see then, then certainly you aren’t using your time to make new friends where you now live. And I suspect that probably isn’ t the best use of your time. Meaningful relationships are about being able to communicate with each other, face to face. The internet will slow down the rate with which relationships end, but it won’t stop that happening eventually.

1.What is stressed in the first paragraph?

A. The present situation of the internet.

B. The difficulty in communication on the internet.

C. The socially valuable function of the internet.

D. The role of the human mind in the internet communication.

2.The underlined word “engagement” in the second paragraph probably means “       ”.

A. appointment    B. connection    C. interview     D. agreement

3. According to the passage, the author holds the view that      .

A. the internet fails to play so valuable a role in communication as it promised

B. the Internet determines the quality of social relationships

C. the internet greatly increases the size of social circles

D. the internet communication is no less effective than the face-to-face talk

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the use of the internet to strengthen relationships?

A. He is uncertain about it.    B. He is hopeful of it

C. He approves of it          D. He doubts it

任务型阅读(共10题；每小题1分，满分10分)

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。

注意：每空格1个单词。

D. R. Gaul Middle School is in Union, Maine, a blueberry-farming town where the summer fair finds kids competing in pig scrambles and pie-eating contests.

Gaul, with about 170 seventh- and eighth-graders, has its own history of lower level academic achievement. One likely reason: Education beyond the basic requirements hasn't always been a top priority for families who've worked the same land for generations. Here, few adults have college degrees, and outsiders (teachers included) are often kept at a respectful distance.

Since 2002, Gaul's students have been divided into four classes, each of them taught almost every subject by two teachers. The goal: To find common threads across disciplines to help students create a big picture that gives fresh meaning and context to their classwork -- and sparks motivation for learning.

Working within state guidelines, each team makes its individual schedules and lesson plans, incorporating non-textbook literature, hands-on lab work and field trips. If students are covering the Civil War in social studies, they're reading The Red Badge of Courage or some other period literature in English class. In science, they study the viruses and bacteria that caused many deaths in the war.

Team teaching isn't unusual. About 77 percent of middle schools now employ some form of it, says John Lounsbury, consulting editor for the National Middle School Association. But most schools use four- or five-person teams, which Gaul tried before considering two-person teams more effective. Gaul supports the team concept by "looping" classes (跟班) so that the same two teachers stick with the same teens through seventh and eighth grades. Combining teams and looping creates an extremely strong bond between teacher and student. It also, says teacher Beth Ahlholm, "allows us to build an excellent relationship with parents."

Ahlholm and teammate Madelon Kelly are fully aware how many glazed looks they see in the classroom, but they know 72 percent of their eighth-graders met Maine's reading standard last year -- double the statewide average. Only 31 percent met the math standard, still better than the state average (21 percent). Their students also beat the state average in writing and science. And in2006, Gaul was one of 47 schools in the state to see testing gains of at least 20 percent in four of the previous five years, coinciding roughly with team teaching's arrival.

We need to make better use of our resources. In developing countries we have more than enough, if we are less wasteful in our ways. Fortunately, we can improve. The challenge lies not so much with ‘technical fixes’ but with our approach to our world around us. In the recent past we were in a “Wild West” economy, supposing that there would always be enough resources. Now we know there are no new Earth to explore and exploit; one image to illustrate this is to think of Earth as a spaceship, where most materials have to be recycled. For us, “moving on” will be a case of leaving behind the throwaway society and advancing to a conserver society.

To qualify as citizens of a conserver society, we must change traditional attitudes and thinking. We need to recognize that there is not very often such a thing as “waste”, rather, there are materials which sometimes end up in the wrong place. The change has already begun. The European steel industry reuses scrap（废弃的）metal, resulting in an energy saving of up to 50% . Recycling a glass container saves only 18%; but, in parts of the United States, a citizen buying a bottle of soda or beer now pays a deposit against return of the empty bottle.

If all drink containers in the USA were to be reused, the annual saving would be 0.5 million tons glass, plus about 50 million barrels of oil used in production processes. In Japan, OPEC promoted an increase in recycling of raw materials from 16% to 48% in just five years. In Norway, the price of a new car includes a disposal cost element of about 100 dollars, redeemable（可换成现款的）when the junked car is turned in at an approved receiving center.

Major new businesses are trying to exploit waste chemicals and oil. The Chinese claim to reuse 2.5 million tons of scrap iron and at least one million tons of waste paper each year. In the main, the conserver society depends on the commitment of individuals. But they can be encouraged by government incentive(鼓励) and punishment, which should apply at least as strongly to industry and other commercial interests.

73  Which of the following best expresses the meaning of “a conserver society” in the second paragraph?

A. A wasteful society.

B. A society which thinks of  ways of recycling waste materials.

C. A society which keeps everything.

D. A society which saves electricity.

74  In the last paragraph, the author suggests governments _______.

A. depends on individuals to find ways of conserving energy.

B. find ways of encouraging those industries and individuals who conserve energy and of punishing those who don’t.

C. depend on companies to find ways of saving energy and rewarding workers

D. help establish businesses that will exploit waste materials

75  In this passage the author _______.

A. explains that meaning of the “Wild West” economy

B. tells us what recycled materials are.

C. teaches us how to recycle materials.

D. recommend a change in our use of resources strongly

While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states—at least in getting people off welfare．It's estimated that more than 2 million people have left the list since 1994．

In the past four years, welfare list in Athens County have been cut in half．But 70 percent of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $ 6 an hour．The result: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent —twice the national average．For advocates（代言人） for the poor, that's an indication that much more needs to be done．

"More people are getting jobs, but it's not making their lives any better," says Kathy Lairn, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington．A center analysis of US Census data （户口普查资料） nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed families were earning money on their own, but that average income for these families actually went down．

But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory．"Welfare was a poison．It was a poisonous substance that was poisoning the family," says Robert Rector, a welfare-reform policy analyst．"The reform is changing the moral climate in low-income communities．It's beginning to rebuild the work ethic （道德观）, which is much more important．"

Mr．Rector and others argued that once "the habit of dependency is cracked," then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards．

1.．From the passage, it can be seen that the author __    __．

    A．believes the reform has reduced the government's burden

    B．insists that welfare reform is doing little good for the poor

    C．is not interested in the success of welfare reform

    D．considers welfare reform to be fundamentally successful

2.． Why aren't people enjoying better lives when they have jobs?

    A．Because many families end their marriage．

    B．Because government aid is now rare．

    C．Because their wages are still low．

    D．Because the cost of living is rising．

3.．From the passage we know that welfare reform aims at____．

    A．saving welfare funds                   B, rebuilding the work ethic

    C．providing more jobs                                      D．cutting government expenses

4.According to the passage,____ before the welfare reform was carried out．

    A．the poverty rate was lower   

    B．average living standards were higher

    C．the average worker was paid higher-wages  

    D．the poor used to rely on government aid

For better or worse, multiple marriages aren't just for actress Elizabeth Taylor （famous for her eight marriages） anymore．

More Americans than ever are tying the knot for the third time or more．

Lynn Y. Naugle, a 53-yeap-old family therapist in New Orleans, says that people's personal needs and desires simply change as their life evolves．

"What functions well in the first part of our lives may not function well in the second or third part of our lives," she explains．The first marriage lasted 21 years, her second marriage five years．Two years ago, she wed for a third time, and she describes this union as an "extremely easy marriage"．

Today, at an estimated one of seven weddings, the bride, the groom or both are making that trip down the aisle for at least the third time．That's twice as many as a generation ago, according to the US National Centre for Health Statistics．

In part, the sudden change in multiple marriages is a side effect of the 1970s divorce increase that has supplied an ever expanding pool of divorced singles．Even the simple fact that people are living longer has opened the door to marrying more often．No fault divorce laws （meaning no one is blamed for the failure of the marriage）, and cultural changes have also meant there's less pressure than in past generations to stay in a joyless or abusive marriage．

While a single divorce didn't block either Ronald Reagan or Bob Dole from seeking the most highly demanding job in America—the US presidency—modern society still raises an; eyebrow at more than one

marriage mistake．

Indeed, there are signs that attitudes are changing．"It's coming out of the closet or becoming more accepted," says Glenda Riley, who wrote a book on the history of divorce in the US．"There's still embarrassment on the personal level, while there is growing acceptance on the public level for three or more marriages in a lifetime．"

There is no guarantee, of course, that the third time is the best．To the contrary, second and third marriages run an equal or greater risk of divorce than first marriages, which today are given 4 out of 10 odds of failing, and they tend to end more quickly．Divorce statistics show that failed second marriages typically end two years sooner than first marriages, lasting six years on average rather than eight．That leaves some doubly divorced people open for a third try at a relatively young age．

1.What does the underlined phrase "tying the knot" （Para．2） mean?

    A．Getting married．                    B．Getting engaged．

    C．Having babies．                      D．Attending funerals,

2.What is NOT the reason for the increase in multiple marriages according to the passage?

    A．People are healthier and enjoy a longer life than ever before．

    B．Many people have become single after a divorce boom in the past years．

    C．There is no divorce law restricting people to getting divorced．

    D．People have less pressure to leave a joyless marriage．

3.What can we learn from the seventh paragraph?

    A．Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole failed in seeking the job （the US presidency） because they were divorced．

    B．Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole succeeded in seeking the job （the US presidency） because they were not divorced．

    C．Modern society accepts multiple marriages completely．

    D．There is still prejudice against multiple marriages in modern society．

4.Which of the statement is WRONG?

    A．Acceptance to multiple marriages is different on personal level and public level．

    B．Because second marriages end sooner than first ones, people get married for the third time at a relatively young age．

    C．People learn from experience so that a second or third marriage is more stable

    D．The first marriage lasts eight year on average．