A few months ago, it wasn't unusual for 47-year-old Carla Toebe to spend 15 hours per day online. She'd wake up early, turn on her laptop and chat on Internet dating sites and instant-messaging programs – leaving her bed for only brief breaks. Her household bills piled up, along with the dishes and dirty laundry, but it took constant complaints from her four daughters before she realized she had a problem.

　　"I was starting to feel like my whole world was falling apart – kind of slipping into a depression," said Carla. "I knew that if I didn't get off the dating sites, I'd just keep going," detaching (使脱离) herself further from the outside world.

　　Toebe's conclusion: She felt like she was "addicted" to the Internet. She's not alone.

　　Concern about excessive Internet use isn't new. As far back as 1995, articles in medical journals and the establishment of a Pennsylvania treatment center for overusers aroused interest in the subject. But as reliance on the Web grows, there are signs that the question is getting more serious attention: Last month, a study published in CNS Spectrums claimed to be the first large-scale look at Internet overuse. The American Psychiatric Association may also consider listing Internet addiction in the next edition. And scores of online discussion boards have popped up, on which people discuss negative experiences tied to too much time on the Web.

    The new CNS Spectrums study was based on results of a nationwide telephone survey of more than 2,500 adults. Like the latest survey, this one was conducted by Stanford University researchers. About 6% of respondents reported that "their relationships suffered because of excessive Internet use." About 9% attempted to conceal "nonessential Internet use," and nearly 4% reported feeling " still occupied by the Internet when offline."

　　"The Internet problem is still in its early stage," said Maressa Orzack, a Harvard University professor. No single online activity is to blame for excessive use, he said. "They're online in chat rooms, checking e-mail, or writing blogs. The problem is not limited to porn (色情) or gambling websites.”

　　“Excessive Internet use should be defined not by the number of hours spent online but in terms of losses.”said Maressa Orzack. "If it's a loss where you're not getting to work, and family relationships are breaking down as a result, then it's too much."

　　Since the early 1990s, several clinics have been established in the U. S. to treat heavy Internet users. They include the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery and the Center for Internet Behavior.

　　The website for Orzack's center lists the following among the psychological symptoms of computer addiction:

　　● Having a sense of happiness or excitement while at the computer.

　　● Longing for more and more time at the computer.

　　● Neglect of family and friends.

　　● Feeling empty, depremssed or irritable when not at the computer.

　　● Lying to employers and family about activities.

　　● Inability to stop the activity.

　　● Problems with school or job.

　　Physical symptoms listed include dry eyes, backaches, skipping meals, poor personal hygiene (卫生) and sleep disturbances.

　　“People who struggle with Internet overuse maybe depressed or have other mood disorders.” Orzack said. When she discusses Internet habits with her patients, they often report that being online offers a "sense of belonging, and escape, excitement and fun," she said. “Some people say relief…because they find themselves so relaxed.”

　　Some parts of the Internet seem to draw people in more than others. Internet gamers spend countless hours competing in games against people from all over the world. One such game, called World of Warcraft, is cited on many sites by posters complaining of a "gaming addiction."

　　Andrew Heidrich, an education network administrator from Sacramento, plays World of Warcraft for about two to four hours every other night, but that's nothing compared with the 40 to 60 hours a week he spent playing online games when he was in college. He cut back only after a full-scale family intervention (干预), in which relatives told him he'd gained weight.

　　“There's this whole culture of competition that sucks people in with online gaming, ”said Heidrich, now a father of two. People do it at the expense of everything that was a constant in their lives." Heidrich now visits websites that discuss gaming addiction regularly “to remind myself to keep my love for online games in check”.

　　Toebe also regularly visits a site where posters discuss Internet overuse. In August, when she first realized she had a problem, she posted a message on a Yahoo Internet addiction group with the subject line:“I have an Internet Addiction.”

　　“I'm self-employed and need the Internet for my work, but I'm failing to accomplish my work, to take care of my home, to give attention to my children,”she wrote in a message sent to the group. “I have no money or insurance to get professional help; I can't even pay my loan and face losing everything.”

　　Since then, Toebe said, she has kept her promise to herself to cut back on her Internet use. "I have a boyfriend now, and I'm not interested in online dating," she said by phone last week. "It's a lot better now."

What eventually made Carla Toebe realize she was spending too much time on the Internet?

　A. Her daughter's repeated complaints.

　B. Tiredness resulting from lack of sleep.

　C. The poorly managed state of her house.

　D. The high financial costs adding up.

What is the main idea of para4?

A. A study claimed to be the first large-scale look at Internet overuse.

B. The American Psychiatric Association plans to list Internet addiction in its edition.

C. There are heated discussions about negative experiences over internet overuse.

D. There is a growing concern towards internet addiction.

According to Professor Maressa Orzack, Internet use would be considered excessive if ______.

　A. it seriously affected family relationships

　B. one visited porn websites frequently

　C. too much time was spent in chat rooms

　D. people got involved in online gambling

According to Orzack, people who struggle with heavy dependence on    

the Internet may feel ______.

　A. discouraged   B. pressured    C. depressed    D. puzzled

Andrew Heidrich now visits websites that discuss online gaming addiction to _____.

　A. improve his online gaming skills

　B. control his desire for online gaming

　C. show how good he is at online gaming

　D. exchange online gaming experience

Which of the following best describes the tone(口吻) of the passage ?

 A. Humorous      B. Ironic       C. Objective      D. Casual

It’s a sad and familiar sentence from a beggar that we often hear. Usually, when asked “Can you spare some   36   ?” I’ve been struck with a feeling of   37   if I passed by without giving a coin or two.

         My conscience was hurt again when I was making a   38   in Venice in 2006. I was sitting in a quiet café. Outside the café on the street was an old woman on her knees,    39  . Steady streams of   40   were walking past her. A young backpacker stood away from the crowd drinking something, but I noticed he was also    41    the woman.

         She knelt motionlessly, her head almost touching the ground, a worn blanket providing little    protection   42    the cold. The sight was especially   43   when compared with the signs of the   44   city around her.

         A tourist group hurried along the street,   45   at the woman and walked on. Another group of tourists arrived,   46   again, walked past her. The backpacker watched. Then, as I prepared to leave, I stopped at the sight of the backpacker   47   and placing some money in the woman’s cup. He did this rather   48  , just before the arrival of another tourist group. I watched   49   the leader of the group stopped and put some money in the cup. With the young man   50   the way, other tourists followed.

         The young backpacker   51   this process in front of the next tour party going past. Once again, the subtle peer(同伴) pressure   52   on the tourists, who all added coins to the cup. His work   53  , the young man walked over to the old beggar woman and said, “I hope that helps a bit.”

         I placed some money in the woman’s cup and  54   my tour, light-hearted after witnessing such a   55   act of caring.

1.A. time   B. effort    C. change          D. reward

2.A. satisfaction         B. guilt       C. anger    D. pleasure

3.A. lecture      B. report   C. study     D. tour

4.A. crying         B. begging          C. singing  D. dancing

5.A. passengers         B. customers     C. tourists D. foreigners

6.A. ignoring     B. serving C. observing      D. following

7.A. against        B. for         C. with       D. in

8.A. frightening          B. touching        C. fascinating     D. interesting

9.A. peaceful    B. noisy     C. wealthy          D. primitive

10.A. glanced    B. laughed         C. shouted         D. stared

11.A. unless      B. so C. but                   D. or

12.A. looking around         B. stepping forward  C. getting about         D. breaking in

13.A. secretly   B. carelessly      C. deliberately  D. eagerly

14.A. since        B. before  C. after      D. as

15.A. showing   B. showed          C. pointing         D. pointed

16.A. stopped   B. valued  C. made    D. repeated

17.A. moved     B. replied C. worked D. carried

18.A. done        B. was done       C. has been done      D. had been done

19.A. cancelled          B. continued     C. started  D. delayed

20.A. funny       B. smart    C. simple     D. modest

Are you stuck in a rut（车辙）and looking for a change? Fed up of seeing hungry, poor faces on your TV screen and want to do something to help? Perhaps you’ve considered volunteering overseas but ruled it out because you thought you were too old, couldn’t commit enough time, or have a family. If so, think again.

“Over the past five years it has become far safer --- and more professionally acceptable --- to take up a job volunteering overseas,” says David Stitt, managing director of Gap Year for Grown Ups, a company catering for volunteers in their late 20s and upwards. “While 10 years ago intrepid souls took financial and personal risks in volunteering abroad, now several organizations exist to make the experience safe and well-organized.

Nowadays, universities and business encourage overseas volunteering among students and employees. Entire families can volunteer abroad, and agencies are employing more disabled and retired people. A prosperous “humanitarian tourism” industry has sprung up; thousands of UK citizens will do some form of overseas volunteering this year.

“Some volunteering jobs are easier to find than others,” explains Kevin Cusack, from a volunteer advice agency. “If you can speak English, it’s not too hard to land a job teaching English, even without a qualification, and those who enjoy working with children should be able to find child care work.” zxxk

Whether your interest is rainforests or women’s rights, you can find a volunteer position to suit you. But be warned: unless you have relevant skills or existing overseas development experience, it’s going to cost. Just how much depends on the location and length of the position, but you should budget for somewhere between £1,500 and £6,000.

“Having to pay to volunteer may sound paradoxical (矛盾的), but it’s the best way to ensure you get a position that benefits the local community while matching your interests and skills,” explains Cusack.  “You can also discuss the time you want to commit to a project --- many positions can fit into a holiday or even a weekend.”

1.The underlined words “intrepid souls” in Paragraph 2 most probably refers to ___________.

A．companies        B．volunteers         C．fighters           D．students

2.In Kevin Cusack’s opinion, paying to volunteer overseas ___________.

A．must be incredible and unrealistic

B．can help volunteers learn more about another culture

C．may benefit both volunteers and the community they work in

D．needs confidence, courage and determination

3.What can we learn from the text?

A．Disabled people can also take up a job volunteering overseas.

B．In the past no one could take up a job volunteering overseas.

C．“Humanitarian tourism” industry is in its beginning stage.

D．Taking up a job volunteering overseas needs at least £1,500.

4.Where can we most probably read this article?

A．In a job guidebook.

B．In a celebrity biography.

C．In a guidebook to work overseas.

D．In a report on volunteer work.

5.What is the writer’s attitude towards volunteer work?

A．Critical.           B．Unfavorable.       C．Supportive.        D．Disagreeable.

Tim Becker and his neighbors are doing something to make their neighborhood a trouble free area.

When Tim Becker gets in his car to go shopping, he doesn't __36__drive to a store and back home. He always looks__37__ 37 up and down the streets of his neighborhood. He looks for anything___38  such as strange cars, loud noises, __39  windows, or people gathering on street corners.

Tim__40 to a neighborhood watch group in Stoneville, Indiana, USA. The neighborhood watch group__41 on the third Wednesday of every month. That's__42  Tim gets together with about ten of his neighbors to discuss community__43. Members of the neighborhood watch group want to help the police__44_their homes, streets, and families safe.

Tina Stedman, president of__45   neighborhood watch group, agrees with Tim. “People seem to think that crime(犯罪) happens to other people but not__46  them. Well, it's never happened to me,” she said,“but I don't think anyone has the__47  to steal from other people or to make them feel__48  sitting in their own homes.”

Alex, a member of the group, said that all the neighbors__49_our for one another.“We__50 each other's homes. We keep watch on the neighborhood at night and on weekends. Usually a __51 _ of four or five of us goes out together. If something doesn't look right, then we call the__52 . For example, if we notice a group of teenagers who seem to be looking for__53 , or someone destroying property(财产), we report to the police.”

Alex feels the neighborhood watch groups__54  a lot in keeping crime down. Her husband Jim agrees, “Police are good people, but they can't do __55  .”

36.  A. yet           B. still        C. just           D. rather 

37.  A. carefully     B. clearly      C. nervously      D. coldly 

38.  A. familiar      B. unusual      C. expensive      D. interesting 

39.  A. curtained     B. open         C. old            D. broken 

40.  A. attends       B. belongs      C. goes           D .turns 

41.  A. meets         B. quarrels     C. sings          D. searches 

42.  A. where         B. why          C. when           D. how 

43.  A. politics      B. wealth       C. health         D. safety 

44.  A. keep          B. hold         C. let            D. protect  

45.  A. its           B. his          C. their          D. your 

46.  A. round         B. on           C. about          D. to 

47.  A. right         B. chance       C. courage        D. mind 

48.  A. unlucky       B. unsafe       C. disappointed   D. discouraged 

49.  A. set           B. let          C. hold           D. look 

50.  A. care          B. enter        C. watch          D. manage 

51.  A. group         B. set          C. number         D. crowd 

52.  A. judges        B. police       C. firemen        D. doctors 

53.  A. work          B. burden       C. service        D. trouble 

54.  A. produce       B. find         C. get            D. help 

55.  A. anything      B. everything   C. harm           D. wrong 

At 10 years old, Flynn Mc Garry became sick of the meals his mother cooked for him. So the Los Angeles native took matters into his own hands and started making his own dinners. One of his specialties? Trout with braised leeks(韭葱炖鲑鱼).

Now 13, the young chef is being praised as a “food prodigy(神童)”. He will spend his summer apprenticing with some of the best chefs at LA’s famous restaurants, MSNBC Nightly New reports.

Mc Garry began making a name for himself in the culinary(烹饪) world when John Sedlar, owner of the trendy Playa Restaurant, let Mc Garry take over the kitchen for a special nine-course meal. The meal sold out almost instantly.

“Flynn is a very unusual young man, and he’s very, very passionate,” owner John Sedlar told MSNBC.

By usual teenage boy standards, it’s true. So strong is his passion for cooking that the young man has turned his bedroom into an experimental kitchen laboratory.

Instead of video game consoles, baseball trophies and movie posters, Mc Garry’s room is lined with mixers, pots and pans, cutting boards and a stainless steel worktable. It’s where Mc Garry cooks his monthly pop-up dinners, which are served from his family’s dining room, a monthly supper club he calls Eureka.

Mc Garry is deft(灵巧的) and confident in the kitchen, with skills he’s been practicing since he was a child. What started out as a means of self-preservation from his mom’s unsatisfactory cooking has turned into a passion that the teen hopes to develop into a career.

“My goal? Michelin three stars, a restaurant in the top 50 list,” he told MSNBC. “Hopefully the top five.” Meanwhile, Mc Garry’s 13-year-old resume is already richer and more impressive than most cooks many times his age.

Mc Garry isn’t the only talented young prodigy to surprise experts in his field in recent years. At just 17 years old, physicist Taylor Wilson is already teaching graduate-level courses in physics and has built a functioning nuclear reactor.

1.Mc Garry first started cooking ___________.

A．for himself                            B．as an experiment

C．in his own bedroom                      D．with a teacher’s guidance

2.Compared with many adult chefs, Mc Garry ________.

A．has the best cooking equipment in his kitchen

B．is inventive and has many new specialties to his name

C．has much and impressive cooking experience for his young age

D．wants to open his own Michelin three-star restaurant

3.The author mentions Taylor Wilson in the last paragraph to ______.

A．prove that Flynn’s success is not a rare case

B．compare his talent to that of Flynn Mc Garry

C．introduce a young talent in a different field

D．suggest experts should be trained at a young age

4.Where does this text probably come from?

A．A recipe book                          B．A restaurant introduction

C．A career guide                         D．A news report