Researchers are placing robotic dogs（机器狗）in the homes of lonely old people to determine whether they can improve the quality of life for humans. Alan Beck, an expert in human-animal relationship, and Nancy Edwards, a professor of nursing, are leading the physical activity, and life satisfaction. “No one will argue that an older person is better off being more active, challenged, or stimulated（刺激）,” Edwards points out. “The problem is how we promote（使……成为现实）that, especially for those without friends or help. A robotic dog could be a solution.”

In the study, the robot, called AIBO, is placed for six weeks in the houses of some old people who live alone. Before placing AIBO in the home, researchers will collect baseline data for six weeks. These old people will keep a diary to note their feelings and activity before and after AIBO. Then, the researchers will review the data to determine if it has inspired any changes in the life of its owner.

“I talk to him all the time, and he responds to my voice,” says a seventy-year-old lady. “When I’m watching TV. he’ll stay in my arms until he wants down. He has a mind of his own.”

The AIBOs respond to certain orders. The researchers say they have some advantages over live dogs, especially for old people. Often the elderly are disabled and cannot care for an animal by walking it or playing with it . A robotic dog removes exercise and feeding concerns.

“At the beginning, it was believed that no one would relate to the robotic dog, because it was metal and not furry, ”Beck says. “But it’s amazing how quickly we have given up that belief.”

“Hopefully, down the road, these robotic pets could become a more-valuable health helper. They will record their masters’ blood pressure. oxygen levels, or heart rhythms. AIBOs may even one day have games that can help stimulate older people’s minds. ”

48．The purpose of Beck and Edwards’ study is to ______.

       A．understand human-animal relationship

       B．make lonely old people’s life better

       C．find the causes of old people’s loneliness

       D．promote the animal-assisted research

49．In the research, the old people are asked to ______.

       A．note the activities of AIBOs

       B．keep AIBOs at home for 12 weeks

       C．record their feelings and activity

       D．analyze the collected information

50．What is the advantage of AIBO over live dogs?

         A．It is easier to keep at home.

         B．It can help the disabled people/

         C．It responds to all the human order.

         D．It can watch TV with its owner.

51．The author seems to suggest that the future robotic dogs may ________.

         A．cure certain diseases

         B．keep old people active

         C．change people’s beliefs

         D．look more like real dogs

单词拼写（10分）

1.An earthquake hit the southeast of the country，causing 6 deaths and hundreds of i_____________.

2.The lady has a very expensive ring with a d__________ in the center.

3.David had prepared carefully for the chemistry exam so that he could be sure of passing it at her first a____________.

4.Life is tough in the city. In order to lose the p____________，some people drink alcohol.

5.She cut her finger on a piece of glass and it is b___________.

6.We feel we are happiest when we chat and e_____________ ideas with one another.

7.She thought it was worthwhile for her to teach in the small village to make a d____________ to the life of the children there.

8.I like reading poems, because poems can c___________ certain emotions.

9.Strict measures have to be a__________ to protect the wildlife from being killed.

Recently a Beijing father sent in a question at an Internet forum (论坛) asking what "PK" meant. "My family has been watching the 'Super Girl' singing competition TV program . My little daughter asked me what 'PK' meant, but I had no idea," explained the puzzled father.

To a lot of Chinese young people who have been playing games online, it is impossible not to know this term. In such Internet games, "PK" is short for "Player Kill", in which two players fight until one ends the life of the other.

In the case of the "Super Girl" singing competition, "PK" was used to refer to the stage where two singers have to compete with each other for only one chance to go up in competition ranking.

Like this father, Chinese teachers at high schools have also been finding their students' compositions using Internet jargons (行话) which are difficult to understand. A high school teacher from Tianjin asked her students to write compositions with simple language, but they came up with a lot of Internet jargons that she didn't understand.

"My 'GG' came back this summer from college. He told me I've grown up to be a 'PLMM'. I loved to 'FB' with him together; he always took me to the 'KPM'," went one composition.

"GG" means Ge Ge (Chinese pinyin for brother). "PLMM" refers to Piao Liang Mei Mei (beautiful girl). "FB" means Fu Bai (corruption). "KPM" is short for KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.

Some specialists welcome Internet jargons as a new development in language.

If you do not even know what a Kong Long (dinosaur, referring to an ugly looking female) or a Qing Wa (frog, referring to an ugly looking male) is, you will possibly be regarded as a Cai Niao!

1.By writing the article, the writer tries to  ________ .

2.What does the writer think about the term "PK"?

3.The examples of the Beijing father and the Tianjin teacher are used to show that Internet jargons ________ .

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

The following is the information about plays which will be on these days.     

Big and Little

It is a play written by Botho Strauss and directed by Laurence Strangio, featuring (由……主演) second-year Performing Arts students. It is about a lonely woman living in a big city. From the play, we can learn how to get along well with our friends, our family, our lovers, ... and with ourselves.

A dreamlike journey in search of identity ...

When:15-17 March, 7:30 pm

Where: Drama Theatre, Centre for the Performing Arts, Building 68, Clayton campus (校园)

Tickets: Adults $10, Concessions (优惠票价) $5

You can get the tickets at the door.

Love Play

It is written by Moira Buffini and directed by Trent Baker, featuring Performing Arts students.

First-year Performing Arts students present

Love Play. It follows a series of unexpected meetings that have taken place in the same place in London across 2,000 years, through the centuries from the Romans to the Elizabethans to the present day. Love Play is a comedy that challenges the reasons and ways we want love.

When:17-19 April, 8 pm

Where: Drama Theatre, Centre for the Performing Arts, Building 68, Clayton campus

Tickets: Adults $10, Concessions $5

You can get the tickets at the door.

Smashed

It is a play written by Lally Katz and directed by Suzanne Chaundy, featuring second-year Performing Arts students. Smashed is about friendship, time travel and death. Writing for TheAge, Helen Thomson calls the play "a wonderful memory of childhood on the edge (边缘) of adulthood."Smashedp raises invention, imagination and girl power.

When: 24-26 April, 8 pm

Where: Drama Theatre, Centre for the Performing Arts, Building 68, Clayton campus

Tickets: Adults $10, Concessions $5 You can get the tickets at the door.

1. We can know from the passage that Moira Buffini ______.

A．is a character in Big and Little

B．is the director of Smashed

C．wrote the play Love Play

D．once wrote for The Age

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．All the plays begin at 8 pm on Clayton campus.

B．The tickets have different prices but all are sold at the door.

C．Love Play is a comedy which has a different idea about love.

D．All the plays are performed by second-year Performing Arts students.

3. The play Big and Little is mainly about _________.

A．friendship, time travel and death

B．the life experience of a lonely woman

C．the life of a Performing Arts student on Clayton campus

D．unexpected meetings in London during the past 2,000 years

WASHINGTON-Laura Straub is a very worried woman. Her job is to find families for foreign teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.?

It's not easy, even desperated.?

“We have many children left to place:40 out of 75,”said Straub, who works for a Paris based foreign exchange programme called LEC. ?

When exchange programmes started 50 years ago, more families were willing to help others. For one thing, more mothers stayed home.?

But now, increasing numbers of women work outside the home. Exchange student programmes have struggled in recent years to sign up host families for the 30 000 teenagers who come from abroad every year to have some courses for one year in the United States, as well as the thousands more who take part in summer programmes.

School systems in many parts of the US, unhappy about accepting non-taxpaying students, have also strictly limited the number of exchange students they accept. At the same time, the idea of hosting foreign students is becoming less exotic(异国情调的).?

In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly broadening their requests to include everyone from young couples to the retired.

“We are open to many different types of families,”said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE, a 25-year-old programme that sends about 30 000 teenagers on one?year exchange programmes worldwide.?

“For elderly people, exchange students keep up young—they really do,”said Jean Foster, who is hosting 16-year-old Nina Porst from Denmark.?

Foreign teenagers come to American families with the purpose of _______.

A. finding their parents in America      B. finding good jobs in America?

C. learning the culture of America       D. enjoying the life of America

In the past, Straub's job was easy, because American families _______.?

A. needed more money to live      B. had fewer children to support?

C. had spare rooms to rent     D. were not as busy as now

To deal with the problems in recent years, Straub and her workmates have to _______.

A. ask different kinds of families for help

B. limit the number of the exchange students?

C. borrow much money to pay for the costs

D. force some families to accept students