Cell Phones Are the New Cigarettes

When you get in your car, you reach for it．When you’re at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it．When you get into a lift, you play with it．

Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive thing in modern life, the cell phone．And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curbtheir longing to hug  it more tightly than most of their personal relationships．

With its shiny surface, its smooth and satisfying touch, its air of complexity, the cell phone  connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away．In just the past  couple of years, the cell phone has challenged individuals, employers, phone makers and  counselors（顾问）in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined．

The costs are becoming even more evident, and I don’t mean just the monthly bill．Dr．Chris  Knippers, a counselor at the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of  cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on-one personal contact, and an escape from reality．

Sounds extreme, but we’ve all witnessed the evidence: The person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him．

Is it just rude, or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me, but how is this improving the quality of life?

Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, notes that cell-phone addiction is part of a set of symptoms in a widening gulf of personal separation．He points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with．Despite the growing use of phones, e-mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don’t have as many friends as our parents. “Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances via the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends,” he says．

If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it’s because it has become very widespread．Consider that in 1987, there were only 1 million cell phones in use．Today, something like 300 million Americans carry them．They far outnumber wired phones in the United States．

1.Which of the following best explains the title of the passage?

A．Cell phone users smoke less than they used to．

B．Cell phones have become as addictive as cigarettes．

C．More people use cell phones than smoke cigarettes．

D．Using cell phone is just as cool as smoking cigarettes．

2.The underlined word “curb” in Paragraph 2 means ____．

A．rescue           B．ignore            C．develop           D．control

3.The example of a woman talking on the phone in the car supports the idea that           ．

A．women use cell phones more often than men

B．talking on the phone while driving is dangerous

C．cell phones do not necessarily bring people together

D．cell phones make one-on-one personal contact easy

二、完形填空（共20小题；每小题1. 5分，满分30分）

Years ago, if a teenager had some problems in her life, she might go home and write in her diary. Now, a teenager with   16   problems might go onto the Internet and write about his problems in a blog. In many ways a diary and a blog are very   17  . So, what makes blogging different from writing in   18   diary?

The biggest difference is that blogging is much more   19   than a diary. Usually, a teenager treats his diary like a book full of   20   that she does not want to   21 

It’s interesting that someone who writes in a blog   22   a diary will probably write nearly the same information.

I have a little sister, and sometimes I go online to read her   23   . She writes about things like waking up early for swimming practice and not studying enough for her chemistry test.  24  I was her age, I wrote about the same things, but   25   in my diary. Then, after I had finished writing, I would hide my diary in a secret place because I was   26   that my sister might read it!

The biggest   27   with blogging is that anyone can read what you write. If I was angry with a friend during high school and wrote something   28   about her in my diary, she would never know!   29, if my sister ever wrote something bad about a friend, that friend   30  read her blog and get a “cry”.

There are also   31   to blogging, of course. If I felt sad one day and wrote in my diary: “Nobody cares about me.”   32   would know about it. However, if my sister wrote the same sentence in her blog, her best friends would   33   respond（回应）and tell her how much they  _34   her. Blogs help people   35   in contact with their friends and know what the people around them are doing.

16. A. the same      B. troublesome       C. difficult      D. daily

17. A. familiar          B. special              C. similar            D. different

18. A. a personal    B. an ordinary     C. a common   D. a traditional

19. A. attractive     B. public         C. convenient   D. quick

20. A. thoughts      B. puzzles          C. mysteries     D. secrets

21. A. tell         B. share          C. publish        D. solve

22. A. instead of     B. as well as      C. in favor of   D. in spite of

23. A. blog        B. diary          C. report       D. web

24. A. Although     B. Since         C. When       D. Because

25. A. only        B. already          C. still          D. never

26. A. angry      B. concerned      C. glad         D. worried

27. A. problem          B. doubt         C. trouble            D. mistake

28. A. boring     B. wrong         C. unpleasant   D. funny

29. A. Beside     B. However       C. Therefore    D. Then

30. A,. should     B. will           C. must        D. might

31. A. reasons     B. disadvantages     C. shortcomings D. advantages

32. A. everyone      B. no one              C. anyone        D. someone

33. A. happily     B. especially      C. quickly       D. immediately

34. A. like         B. miss           C. need        D. help

35. A. lose         B. stay           C. get           D. find

I am trying to muster(鼓起)the courage to toss away my mobile phone to enjoy a more peaceful and ring –free life．

Can you imagine not having your mobile phone? In our high-tech, in-a-hurry age, a cell-free life is a hard concept to swallow． Our mobile phones can now access the Internet, and many people feel the need to express their every thought on their blog pages． If I gave up my cellphone, people would think I was mad．

I wish I had the strength to toss away my technology ． I have an office phone, a home phone, e-mail and if people want to contact me． they can． If I’m out, people can leave a message． Do they really need to find me 24/7 ? However, I’m a bit like Frodo in the movie Lord of the Rings． The power of the ring is too strong and I can’t let it go．

Mobile phones have become necessary tools in our busy life． For most people , they hold all contacts and many of us don't write up address books any more． The latest phones carry our music, pictures, movies and everything else． We feel lost without this device and when we do misplace it , we feel cut off from our fellow,

“Where have you been?” said a friend, who saw me a week after I lost my cell, “I tried calling you , but you disappeared． You disappeared off the face of the Earth。” See, when you don’t have a mobile phone, you don’t exist．

I’m not really going to toss my mobile phone away, in fact． We humans are such social animals and mobile phones serve us well． So in 2009, I’ve dicided not to serve my mobile phone． Like all machine, I can always turn it off．

1．What does the underslined phrase“toss away”mean?

A．give away      B．get away     C．break away      D．throw away

2．The writer mentions Frodo to        

A．show it is difficult to get rid of the mobile phone

B．show how much he likes Frodo

C．suggest a cell-free life is what he wants

D．introduce a film character to us

3．What do we know about mobile phones in the 4 th paragraph?

A．Mobile phones can do anything for us ．

B．Mobile phones have become very important in our life

C．We could not live without mobile phones

D．We would be cut off by our fellow without mobile phones

4．What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The writer is not really going to toss his mobile phone away．

B．When you don't have a mobile phone, you don’t exist．

C．The writer decides not to serve his mobile phone

D．We humans can control ourselves and machines will．

It is reasonable to say that every teenager can be affected by peer pressure (从众心理) at some point. Every day, in any high school, peer pressure has a major influence over the behavior of teenagers. It can be as subtle (微妙的) as being persuaded to be late for class or as extreme as a dangerous drug. Whether subtle or extreme, peer pressure can have damaging, sometimes life changing, and even serious results.

“Teens don’t often consider the long-term results that some behavior can cause,” said Terri Price, a researcher. “Peer pressure can be very difficult to handle for many teens because of their fears of not fitting in”. Peer pressure has always been part of teen life, but teens experience it differently than their former generations did in the past. Sources of peer pressure have increased because of the Internet and other electronic communications.

Recognizing peer pressure can be as simple as noticing that you have been asked to do something that you are not comfortable with. “Listen to your instinct （直觉） , which is a sign for whether something is right or wrong. If it feels wrong, then most likely it is. ”says Price.

Teens are in a time of life when they are still discovering who they are. Many teens are influenced by peer pressure because of their insecurities (不安全感). This can make them helpless especially when their self-control is weak or they lack healthy support, causing them to take risky behavior or turn to unhealthy support.

Dealing with peer pressure is a topic of concern for teens. People can say, “Just say no,” but the truth is that the statement is easier said than done.

1.The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to                .

2.You can know whether a teen suffers peer pressure by watching            .

3.Why are teens easily influenced by peer pressure?

4.According to the passage, we can know that dealing with peer pressure is        

I do desire to help my Chinese students to find a better way of learning. I once divided my Chinese MBA students into six groups and set them an assignment: brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”, for example: a restaurant chain. Originality would be valued most. As a result, five groups proposed projects for restaurant chains. The sixth showed a catering service. I couldn’t help expressing my disappointment, though the time limit had been rather challenging.

Those middle managers and financial analysts from state-owned enterprises and global companies were not untalented or without opinions, but they had been accustomed to an educational system that rarely rewarded critical thinking or Originality. Papers were often copied from the Internet and the Harvard Business Review. Students insisted that copying was a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.

In China, you can see almost all kinds of products you can imagine have been made and sold, but so few well developed marketing and management minds have been produced that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand!

Partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established so as to solve the problem mentioned above. And there’s also the “thousand talent scheme”: this new government program is designed to improve technological modernization by inviting top foreign trained scientists to the mainland with large sums of money. But there are concerns about China’s research environment, which is known for lacking in encouraging independent thinking and inventiveness, and even high salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.

If China wants to become a major world creator, it is no good just seeking partnerships with top Western universities or gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s time to establish a rich learning environment for young minds. Yes, new way of learning is the key!

1.The author feels disappointed when the students hand in their plans because_____

A．there’s one group presenting a catering service.

B．all groups followed his idea of restaurant chains.

C．the students’ ideas were lacking in creativeness.

D．the time limit had been rather challenging.

2.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

A．China can make and sell all kinds of product all over the world

B．High pay can solve the problem of China’s research environment

C．Foreign trained scientists are expected to invent a Chinese brand

D．The new government program is aimed at encouraging imagination

3.Which can serve as the best title of the passage?

A．Look for a New Way of Learning

B．Develop MBA Students’ Creative Thinking

C．Help China to Become a Creator

D．Improve China’s Research Environment