When Gretchen Baxter gets home from work as a New York City book editor, she checks her Blackberry (黑莓手机) at the door. ‘I think we are attached to these devices in a way that is not always positive,’ says Baxter，who’d rather focus at home on her husband and 12-year-old daughter. ‘It’s there and it beckons (召唤). That’s human nature (but)…we kind of get crazy sometimes and we don’t know where it should stop.’

Americans are connected at unprecedented (前所未有的) levels一93% now use cell phones or wireless devices；one third of those are ‘smart phones’ that allow users to browse the Web and check e-mail，among other things. The benefits are obvious: checking messages on the road，staying in touch with friends and family，efficiently using time once spent waiting around. The downside：often，we’re effectively disconnecting from those in the same room.

That's why，despite all the technology that makes communicating easier than ever，2010 was the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another. From texting at dinner to posting on Facebook from work or checking e-mail while on a date，the connectivity revolution is creating a lot of divided attention，not to mention social anxiety. Many analysts say it's time to step back and reassess.

‘What we’re going to see in the future is new opportunities for people to be plugged in and connected like never before,’ says Scott Campbell. ‘It can be a good thing，but I also see new ways the traditional social fabric (社会结构) is getting somewhat torn apart.’

Our days are filled with beeps and pings·----many of which pull us away from tasks at hand or face-to-face conversations. We may feel that the distractions are too much，but we can’t seem to stop posting，texting or surfing.

‘We're going through a period of adjustment and rebalancing,’ says Sherry Turkle and she wants to remind people that technology can be turned off.

‘Our human purposes are to really have connections with people,’ she says. ‘We have to reclaim it. It’s not going to take place by itself.’

1.What can be the best title for the passage?

    A. 2010: The year technology developed quickly.

B. 2010: The year technology sped up our life pace.

    C. 2010: The year technology replaced talking.     

D. 2010: The year technology made communicating easier.

2.According to Paragraph l，Gretchen Baxter thinks_________.

A. the new technology always influences people’s life in a positive way

    B. the new technology is so tempting that she could even put her daughter and husband behind

    C. it is encouraging to see progress on the new technology every year

    D. people are too dependent on the new technology to let go

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

   A. The wide use of mobile devices has nothing to do with the ‘traditional social fabric’.

    B. Mobile devices play a less important part in American life.

    C. Mobile devices create a lot of divided attention and social anxiety.

    D. Many analysts speak highly of the wide popularity of mobile devices.

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A. Something must be done to get connection with people in reality again·

        B. Using mobile services can help people get connection with each other.

        C. Mobile services have a strong impact on people’s life.

        D. The connection with people can happen naturally.

第二节读写任务（共1小题，满分25分）
阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
Every activity of our lives is communication of a sort, but it is through speech that man asserts his distinctness from other forms of life. He alone, of all animals, has the gift of verbal communication and it is through the quality of his speech that he best expresses his own individuality , his essence. When he is unable to say clearly what he means, through either nervousness, timidity, or foggy thought-processes, his personality is blocked off, dimmed out, and misunderstood.
Business, social, and personal satisfaction depend heavily upon a person’s ability to communicate clearly to his fellow men what he is, what he desires, and what he believes in. And now, as never before , in an atmosphere of international tensions, fears, and insecurities, we need the channels of communication between peoples kept open. It is my hope that The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking will be helpful in all these ways, both to those who wish simply to function with greater ease and self-confidence in practical pursuits, and to those who wish to express themselves more completely as individuals seeking a deeper personal fulfillment.
--- Dorothy Carnegie，Introduction to The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking
【写作内容】
1．用大约30个词概括原文内容。
2．然后用大约120个词表达自己对“沟通”的看法，内容包括：
（1）人们之间沟通的重要性
（2）用自己或他人的事例说明缺乏沟通可能造成误解甚至损失。
【写作要求】
1．作文中可使用自己亲身经历或虚构的故事支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容,
但不得直接引用原文中的句子；
2．作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
【评分标准】概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

In today’s world, we rely on computers as never before. They are used for everything from ordering a pizza to running hospitals and military defense systems. Banking and credit card information is stored and accessed by computers. So what happens when a computer gets infected with a virus? One effect is that people’s access to their e-mail accounts is cut off. A more serious possible consequence is that billions of dollars could be lost.

A virus is a computer program that copies itself onto other programs and infects them. Similar to an easily spread disease, a computer virus goes from computer to computer, either adding to or changing the tasks a program is designed to do.

The first computer viruses were created in the mid’80s and had varying effects. Some caused files to be deleted, or made the letters on the screen appear to fall off. Others displayed a specific message once the computer was turned on.

Viruses today are much more widespread and dangerous than ever before. Perhaps the most damaging has been the “I Love You” virus. “I Love You” appeared in May 2000 and has possibly been the most destructive virus in terms of monetary loss.

The virus is released（释放） when an attachment（附件） to a fake e-mail message is opened. By changing the names of files on computers, “I Love You” makes them difficult to access. It also searches for important personal information, including passwords, which it sends to a Web site for others to see.

It is estimated that more than 45 million people in 20 countries have had their computers infected by the “I Love You” virus. Some say the cost of repair and lost business has been more than US$10 billion.

If you own a computer, it is important to keep it in good health by installing（安装） an anti-virus program. If updated frequently, it will protect your e-mail access-----not to mention your wallet.

51. What does “virus” mean in the article?

A. An easily spread disease.

B. A contagious (传染的) computer program.

C. An extremely small organism（微生物）which causes disease.

D. A parasite（寄生虫）in computer.

52. How dose “I Love You” virus spread?

A. It is spread when an e-mail account is opened.

B. It is spread through on-line chatting.

C. It is spread through e-mail.

D. It spread from web site to web site.

53. Which of the following is one of the damages brought by “I Love You” virus?

A. It deletes files.

B. It automatically turns on computers.

C. It automatically turns off computers.

D. It makes it difficult to access files.

54. Which of the following is the best way to guard against virus?

A. To load an up-to-date anti-virus program into our computer.

B. Not to use an e-mail account.

C. To upgrade our computer.

D. Not to use the Internet.

55. What is the purpose of the article?

A. To warn us against virus.

B. To remind us the importance of being healthy.

C. To stress the importance of computer.

D. To alert us to economic loss.

New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk（收缩）. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communication’s equipment is greatly enhanced by foreign language skills.

Deeply involved with this new technology is a breed of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic(国内的) business efforts.

Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive(行政的) ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superior will have greater confidence in his or her ability to cope back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.

Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.

English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate(候选人) the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.

The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s principal language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign clients(客户) over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.

65. What is the author’s attitude toward high-tech communications equipment?

A. Critical.                   B. Indifferent.               C. Negative.                 D. Positive.

66. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, business people_________.

A. have to get familiar with modern technology

B. are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations

C. are placing more importance on their overseas business

D. are eager to work overseas

67. In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Para. 3) probably means _________.

A. being unable to think properly for lack of insight

B. being totally out of touch with business at home

C. missing opportunities for promotion when abroad

D. leaving all care and worry behind

68. According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?

A. Connections with businesses overseas.     B. Ability to speak the client’s language.

C. Technical know-how.                                   D. Business experience.

Franz Kafka wrote that “a book must be the ax (斧子) for the frozen sea inside us. ”I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn’t seem to require any explanation.

We’d just finished John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are you crying?” one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.”

But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I’ve taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel’s terrible logic—the giving way of dreams to fate (命运).

For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school—one that often attracts the literary-minded children of Manhattan’s upper classes—into a less competitive setting. The daughter of immigrants, with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional “cultural capital” could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph. Ds.

Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn’t always read from the expected point of view.   About The Red Pony, one student said, “it’s about being a man, it’s about manliness.”I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies (独白) read as raps (说唱), but both made sense; The interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck’s writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that “all these people hate each other, and they’re all white.” His historical view was broadening, his sense of his own country deepening. Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in their first year in college as a result of the classes.

Year after year, however, we are increasing the number of practice tests. We are trying to teach students to read increasingly complex texts, not for emotional punch (碰撞) but for text complexity. Yet, we cannot enrich (充实) the minds of our students by testing them on texts that ignore their hearts. We are teaching them that words do not amaze but confuse. We may succeed in raising test scores, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.

1.The underlined words in Paragraph 1 probably mean that a book helps to __________.

A．realize our dreams                      B．give support to our life

C．smooth away difficulties                  D．awake our emotions

2.Why were the students able to understand the novel Of Mice and Men?

A．Because they spent much time reading it.

B．Because they had read the novel before.

C．Because they came from a public school.

D．Because they had similar life experiences.

3.The girl left the selective high school possibly because__________.

A．she was a literary-minded girl              B．her parents were immigrants

C．she couldn’t fit in with her class           D．her father was then in prison

4.To the author’s surprise, the students read the novels__________.

A．creatively         B．passively          C．repeatedly        D．carelessly

5.The author writes the passage mainly to__________.

A．introduce classic works of literature

B．advocate(倡导) teaching literature to touch the heart

C．argue for equality among high school students

D．defend the current testing system