Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.

Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.

E-mail makes it easy to work at home, which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she’d been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.

The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun - see a great movie perhaps - and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may be tired of telling the story.

With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.

E-mail is also an inexpensive way stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college.

We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They don’t take the place of any of the old ways.

1. The purpose of this passage is to ________.

2.The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ________.

3.According to the writer, E-mail has an obvious advantage over the telephone because the

former helps one ________.

4.The best title for this passage is ________.

In the past, when people had problems, they went to their families or friends to get advice.

Today it is possible to get advice from radio shows, TV programmes and telephone hot lines, too. A hot line is a telephone line that offers a direct way of getting in touch with advisers .Most hot lines are completely anonymous ,that is to say , callers do not have to say their names or telephone numbers. Most hot lines are usually free. Callers do not have to pay for the advice or the phone calls, even if the calls are long distance ones. At some hot lines, the advisers are volunteers. Other hot lines pay their advisers for their work. Usually the advisers are full-time people with years of education and experience, but sometimes, the advisers have only taken a short training before starting to work on the hot lines. All the advisers listen to people and help them solve their problems.

1.The underlined word “anonymous” in the passage means        in Chinese.

A .secret      B.  well-known        C. exact        D.  wonderful

2.When people call the hot line advisers, they         .

A .often give their names and telephone numbers

B. generally have to pay for the long distance calls

C. usually pay nothing for most of the calls and advice

D. always try to get in touch with the volunteer advisers

3.The advisers working at hot lines         .

A. have all been trained for a short time

B. are all volunteers

C. have all received years of education

D. are not all paid

4.The writer of the passage seems to think that         .

A. hot lines help the callers a lot

B. advisers will solve all of the callers’ problems

C. people had better pay for the advice

D. people will not get advice from their families or friends

The journey two naval (海军) officers made some time ago to tile very deepest point on the earth makes us realize how much of the world still remains to be explored (探测). The two men went down several miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean hiding in a small steel ball called a “bathy-scaphe” to find out if there are any ocean currents (急流) or signs of life.

It was necessary to set ont early, so that the bathyscaphe would come to the surfacc in daylight, and so be easily found by the mother ship which would be waiting for it. The divers began preparations at dawn and soon afterwards, when all was ready, the steel ball disappeared under the surface of the water.

In time, the temperature dropped to freezing-point and the men trembled inside the ball. They kept in touch with the mother ship by telephone describing how they felt. Then, at a depth of 3 000 feet, the telephone stopped working and they were quite cut off from the outside world. At 30 000 feet, the men were surprised by a sudden, loud noise-------even the smallest hole in the ball would have meant instant death. Luckily, though, it was only one of the outer windows that had broken. Soon afterwards, the bathyscaphe touched the soft ocean floor, raising a big cloud of “dust” made up of different kinds of small, dead sea animals. Here, powerful lights lit up the dark water and the men were surprised to see fish swimming just above them quite untroubled by thc very large wate-pressure. But they did not dare to leave the lights on for long, as the heat from them made the water boil. Quite unexpectedly, the telephone began working again and the weak but clear voices of the officers were heard on thc mother ship. After a stay of thirty minutes the men began their journey up, arriving three hours later, cold and wet through, but none the worse for their experience.

1.The officers started their journey at dawn___.  

A. because they wanted to return to the mother ship in twenty four hours

B. because the sea then was calm

C. when the sun was not too strong

D. so that they could return before dark

2.What did the officers find out at the bottom of the sea?  

A. They only found different dead sea animals.

B. They did find signs of life.

C. There was no signs of any life.

D. There was only dust.

3.The journey to the bottom of the sea helped us to realize that______. 

A. much of the world hasn’t yet been explored

B. there are not any signs of life at the bottom of the sea

C. strong water-pressure has great effect on fish

D. powerful lights can not be turned on at the ocean floor without killing fish

4.Which of the following is closest in meaning to “They were cold and wet through, but none the worse for their experience”?   

A. They were cold and wet through, which was the worst thing of all.

B. They were even worse than cold and wet through at the bottom of the sea.

C. Considering what they had just experienced, being cold and wet through was not too

bad.

D. For such an experience, being cold and wet through was not bad for them at all.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Phones

Nowadays, nearly everyone has a mobile phone. In our daily lives we make phone calls to others, and we need to send messages to exchange information. Now, you can surf the Internet by using your mobile phone. I have to say that I enjoy using my phone, but I am worried at the same time: Is it healthy and safe to use?

   Mobile phones have many advantages. Firstly, we keep in touch with people by using them. Because of our busy life, we have little time to meet friends and our beloved ones. Thanks to mobile phones, we can tell them how everything is going. When an emergency happens, we can call for help using our phones. It is convenient and important in our lives.

    But every coin has two sides and it is the same with mobile phones. As people are used to making phone calls, they are spending less and less time with their family and friends. Phones give them more excuses to stay out of reach. Because of the convenience, the love and care between people has changed into a few words in a message or a phone call. For students, there are more chances to get distracted(分心的) from their lessons. When I was in middle school, I often looked out of the window to rest my eyes, but now I spend those moments on my phone.

 In the end, I hope you can think about the advantages and the disadvantages, and use your mobile phone correctly. We humans created mobile phones, and we should keep them under control.

1.According to the second paragraph, we spend little time with friends because       .

A. we have mobile phones                        B. our lives are comfortable

C. we are shy                                   D. we are always busy

2.What does the underlined word “emergency” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A. A worrying and dangerous situation              

B. An expected event.

C. An important thing.                         

D. A funny and exciting moment

3.Which of the following ways of expressing love and care is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Visiting each other.                             B. Making phone calls

C. Sending messages.                            D. Writing letters.

4.What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

A. To tell us the disadvantages of using mobile phone.

B. To advise us to use mobile phones correctly.

C. To list all the advantages of using mobile phones.

D. To explain why many people don’t use mobile phones.

Do you want to have a mobile phone? Have you had a mobile phone already? Nowadays more and more students have their own mobile phones, and mobile phone use has become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in China have banned students from carrying mobile phones during school hours.

Mobile phone use among children has become a big problem for the school this year. Some children have got mobile phones as birthday gifts, and more students want them.

Wang Pi, an official, said, “Mobile phone use is a distraction (分散注意力的东西) to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms.” Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.

Wang Pialso said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones, but some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t get in touch with their children.

Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, but if their was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school offices. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at school. They were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.

Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones, but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.

1.Some middle schools have banned students from carrying mobile phones         .

2.Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t        during school hours.

3.The three underlined words “they” in Para. 5 refer to       .

4.The passage tells us that         .