There is no doubt that watching television and movies can influence the way that people behave. Moreover, it seems that people are spending more and more time watching some sort of visual entertainment, whether it is television, a video tape or a DVD. Therefore, the effects of the visual media cannot be ignored.
One obvious effect of these media is that watching them induces(诱导)people to buy certain products. Television advertising is widespread and, nowadays, even movie theaters permit advertisements. Another way TV and the movies affect people is that they give people either a broader view of the world or a distorted(扭曲的)one, depending on what type of program they watch. Those who watch news and educational programs can learn many new things while those who watch primarily entertainment shows may come to believe that most people in the world have great wealth and good looks. It may make them become dissatisfied with their own lives. Finally perhaps the most susceptible(易受影响的)viewers are children, who may be unable to tell fact from fiction and may try to copy acts that they see on TV or in the movies.
With the ever-increasing popularity of video entertainment, society must pay attention to these effects. Television and movies, while entertaining and informative, cannot take the place of real experiences.
【小题1】From the passage, we know that watching television and movies can             .

       Eat, drink and be merry. That’s what the Spring Festival is all about. But there are millions of people, too, who love to let happiness go up in smoke.

       Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect to them. A cup of tea and cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China, especially during festive occasions such as the Lunar New Year.

       No wonder, 40 percent of the people surveyed recently said they would smoke at least twice the usual number of cigarettes during the Spring Festival holiday because of all those gatherings  and parties. Only 20 percent of the respondents said they would refuse a cigarette when offered one. Why can't the others do the same? Because they could be seen as being rude, said more than half of the respondents. Fifteen percent feared they could be taken as "someone who cannot get along well with others".

       The Think-tank Research Center for Health Development and Sohu.com survey shows 61 percent Chinese think offering a cigarette is useful for socializing, and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others. The study polled 3,800 people, 64 percent of them men.

       One-third of those polled were smokers, out of which 57 percent said they couldn't give up smoking because of the offering-and-accepting culture. "People have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends." research center director Wu Yiqun says.

       China has more than 350 million smokers, catering to the tobacco market that is worth 500 billion yuan. "The survey shows we still have a lot of work to do," she says. "Since Beijing is trying to make the Olympic Games smoke-free, it is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately."

1．The passage is written with the purpose of        .

       A．telling us a custom about the Chinese Spring Festival

       B．introducing a way to make friends with Chinese

       C．stopping smoking during the Beijing Olympics

       D．telling us that offering cigarettes is a bad habit

2．The third paragraph mainly tells us             .

       A．the fact that smokers are greatly increasing during the festival

       B．the reason why refusing cigarettes is acceptable

       C．the fact that  many people have to smoke more cigarettes during the festival

       D．it is rude to attend parties without smoking cigarettes

3．Which of the following may not be the reason that  makes many people fail to refuse the offered cigarette?

       A．It’s impolite to refuse.     B．Smoking is harmful to non-smokers.

       C．They want to be friendly. D．It’s a kind of social habit.

4．The writer mentions the 500 billion yuan tobacco market because            .

       A．the tobacco market is  not developing smoothly

       B．the writer thinks that smoking wasters a lot of money.

       C．smoking is helpful to the tobacco market

       D．the tobacco market attracts too many smokers

5．We can infer from the passage that             .

       A．people will be free to smoke during the Beijing Olympic Games.

       B．only a few smokers still have the habit of offering cigarettes

       C．offering cigarettes is the most effective way for socializing

       D．some non-smokers will even accept the offered cigarettes

Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water! This is just one of hundreds of tips you might get if you have the hiccups （打嗝）．Hiccups are so mysterious．We really don't know why they start and why they stop．

Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups．Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well．Others eat a teaspoon of sugar．Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it．

An American man named Jack O'Leary said he had hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years．He tried 60,000 cures, but none of them worked．At last he prayed to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately.

It took a British plumber eight months to cure his hiccups．People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well．He tried them all, but the hiccups continued．Finally, he drank a "secret" mixture someone had sent him．By that evening his hiccups were gone．

Why did these cures work for these two men? No one really knows．But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea—hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure．

1.How did Jack O'Leary stop his hiccups?

2.The British plumber spent _ ___in stopping his hiccups．

3.      might be the best cure for hiccups according to the passage．

4.From this passage, we can learn ____．

5.What is the main idea of this passage?

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

    Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

    The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by his strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him a lot of questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain this question. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

Herpin died at the age of 94.

1.The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to __________.

       A. treat him for his illness

       B. find the reason why some old people didn’t need any sleep.

       C. get some proof to show his sleeplessness was not really true.

       D. help him to have a rest in some day.

2.After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ________.

A. needed some kind of sleep.

B. needed no sleep at all.

C. was too old to need any sleep.

D. often slept in a chair.

3.Al Herpin’s condition could be regarded as ___________.

    A. an unusual one          B. a common one

    C. very healthy           D. very funny

4. The main idea of this passage is that ____________. 

A. large numbers of people do not need sleep

B. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

C. people can live longer by trying not to sleep at all

D. a person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

    Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

    The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by his strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him a lot of questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain this question. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

Herpin died at the age of 94.

The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to __________.

       A. treat him for his illness

       B. find the reason why some old people didn’t need any sleep.

       C. get some proof to show his sleeplessness was not really true.

       D. help him to have a rest in some day.

After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ________.

         A. needed some kind of sleep.

         B. needed no sleep at all.

         C. was too old to need any sleep.

         D. often slept in a chair.

Al Herpin’s condition could be regarded as ___________.

       A. an unusual one                 B. a common one

       C. very healthy                     D. very funny

The main idea of this passage is that ____________.

       A. large numbers of people do not need sleep

       B. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

       C. people can live longer by trying not to sleep at all

       D. a person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep