C

By far the most common difficulty in studying is simple failure to get down to regular concentrated work. This difficulty is much greater for those who do not work to a plan and have no regular routine of study. Many students muddle (胡乱对付) along, doing a bit of this subject or that, as the mood takes them, or letting their set work pile up until the last possible moment.

    Few students work to a set timetable. They say that if they did work out a timetable for themselves they would not keep to it, or would have to change it frequently, since they can never predict from one day to the next what their activities will be.

No doubt some students are more willing to accept a regular routine than others. There are many who shy away from a self-controlled weekly timetable, and dislike being tied down to a fixed program of work. Many able students state that they work in cycles. When they become interested in a topic, they work on it attentively for three or four days at a time. On other days they avoid work completely. It has to be admitted that we do not fully understand the motivation (动机)to work.. Most people over 25 years of age have become used to routine, and the majority of real productive workers set aside regular hours for the more important areas of their work. The “tough-minded” school doesn’t fully accept the idea that good work can only be done naturally, under the influence of inspiration.

Those who believe that they need only work and study as the fit takes them have a mistaken belief either in their own talent or in the value of “freedom”. In fact, freedom from control and discipline（纪律）leads to unhappiness rather than to “self-expression” or “personality development”. Our society insists on regular habits, timekeeping and punctuality (准时), and whether we like it or not, if we mean to make our way in society, we have to meet its demands.

The most widespread problem in applying oneself to study is ______.

    A．changing from one subject to another

    B．the failure to keep to a set timetable of work

    C．the unwillingness to follow a systematic plan

    D．working on a subject only when one feels like it

Which of the following is true?

    A．Many students are not interested in using self-controlled timetable.

    B．Many students don’t like being told to study to a fixed timetable.

    C．Most people of over 25 years of age don’t work to a set timetable.

    D．Tough-minded people agree that good job is done naturally

The underlined part “as the fit takes them” in paragraph 4 probably means ______.

    A．when they have the energy   

    B．when they are in the mood

    C．when they feel fit      

    D．when they find conditions are suitable

A suitable title for the passage might be ______.

    A．Attitudes to Study   B．A study Plan

    C．The Difficulties in Studying D．Study and Self-discipline

B

From E-mail to online shopping, you may think you’ve heard everything there to know about the electronic frontier （新领域）．But with hundreds of thousands of Web pages being added weekly, there are plenty of surprises out there．Here are some of the most intriguing （有迷惑力的）．

……

Put your kid on a greeting card．Here is how: simply take some pictures with a regular camera, and then ask the photo service to develop them digitally （数字化）．For a small fee, you’ll receive your photos on a desk．Put that into your computer and, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can view your photos on the screen．With a few more keystrokes, you can attach the photos to email and send them to friends and relatives worldwide．

　　Sign on to one or several greeting card’s Websites （http://www．cardcentral．net/ is an index of more than 1200 electronic card sites） and create an electronic birthday or holiday card．Using your digital photos, you can paste your grandchildren onto the cover．

　　If you don’t want to use your own photos, go to cards．amzon．com to browse （浏览） hundreds of images in over 30 categories…all of which you can attach to an electronic greeting card for free．For a nominal fee（很低的费用）you can choose from a library of 75,000 images at http://www．phontodisc．com/．

　　Call Australia for free．To have a telephone conversation over the Internet, the person you want to talk to no longer needs a computer．Now all you need to talk to someone in Sydney is one computer with speakers, a microphone, a sound card and some software （available at http://www．vocaltec．com/ or Mricrosoft．com）．Typically, you’ll pay a monthly fee （usually under $20） to a service provider, but after that, the calls themselves are local．Sound quality is the same as that of a cell phone．

　　Even if you don’t have a computer, you can still use the Web to reduce your long distance phone costs．Some companies offer a service that lets you use an ordinary phone to call another ordinary phone, but charge only a few cents per minute for US calls, because they send them through the Internet．

　　Today 48 percent of American homes have computers…a figure that is expected to climb to 60 percent by 2003．And by the end of the next decade, Americans will likely be spending more time shopping, banking, investing and learning on the Internet than in the real world．If you can’t do or find something on the Net today, you probably can tomorrow．

60．Over the Internet, you ________．

       A．can hear everything there

       B．will meet with plenty of surprises which come out every week．

       C．will hear the things about the electronic frontier

       D．can find some things are very interesting

61．From the passage we can infer that _________．

       A．fewer people will use the Internet in the following ten years

       B．more people will study in the regular school by the end of the next decade

       C．fewer people will go to the regular school in the following ten years

       D．more money will be needed for a long-distance call by the end of the next decade

62．If you want to attach to photo to your e-mail, you have to ________ it．

       A．digitalize　　  B．take　　　　   C．picture　　　　      D．send

63．Which of the following is NOT true?

       A．A telephone conversation over the Internet can be carried out without computers．

       B．Over the Internet, the receiver of the phone conversation doesn’t need a computer．

       C．The phone conversations over the Internet are much cheaper．

       D．The long-distance calls are local themselves．

C

　 Being able to multitask—doing several things at the same time—is considered a welcome skill by most people. But if we consider the situation of the young people aged from eight to eighteen, we should think again.

What we often see nowadays is that young people juggle an ever larger number of electronic devices(电子产品)as they study. While working, they also surf on the Internet, send out emails, answer the telephone and listen to music on their iPods. In a sense, they are spending a significant amount of time in fruitless efforts as they multitask.

Multitasking is even changing the relationship between family members. As young people around them. They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house, nor can they cat at the family table.

Multitasking also affects young people’s performance at university and in the workplace. When asked about their opinion of the effect of modern gadgets(器具)on their performance of tasks, many young people gave a positive response(反应). However, the response from the worlds of education and business was not quite as positive. Educators feel that multitasking by children has a serious effect on later development of study skills. They believe that many college students now need help to improve their study skills. Similarly, employers feel that young people entering the job market need to be taught all over again, as modern gadgets have made it unnecessary for them to learn special skills to do their work.

1.What does the underlined word “juggle” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?

A. Want to buy　　　　　　　 B. Take the place of.

C. Use at the same time 　　　 D. Seek for information from.

2.In Paragraph 3, the author points out that 　　 .

A. family members do not cat at the family table

B. family member do not greet each other

C. young people live happily in their families

D. young people seldom talk with their family members

3.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Multitasking is harmful to young people’s development.

B. Young people benefit a lot from modern gadgets

C. Multitasking is an important skill to young people.

D. Young people must learn skills for future jobs.

4.The author develops the passage mainly by 　 .

A. providing typical examples　　 　　　　　

B. following the natural time order

C. comparing opinions from different fields

D. presenting a cause and analyzing its effects

C

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children．On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special．

However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington．A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon（布道）in 1909．Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her．It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man．Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910．

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day．Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died．

When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card．Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental（感伤的）．Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them．Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad．

64．The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______．

      A．many people celebrate the day           B．only America celebrates the day

      C．America makes it an official day  D．all men are honored in America

65．At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______．

      A．Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday

      B．Sonora’s birthday was June 19

      C．it was decided by the president at that time

      D．her mother died on June 19

66．How many years had passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?

      A．4          B．10      C．14        D．24

67．According to the passage, on Father’s Day,  ______．

      A．people will wear the same flowers to honor their fathers

      B．only daughters wear red flowers to honor their fathers

      C．children must go home to honor their fathers

      D．fathers are often honored in different ways

68．According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______．

      A．was very kind to anyone       B．did a lot for his daughter

      C．was the first father honored in 1924     D．always help others by giving money

B

Studies show that laughter is something that makes you feel calm or relaxed for both physical and psychological wounds though it may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear.

When Dan Rather interviewed comedian Bill Cosby just one week after his son, Ennis, was killed, Cosby said, “I think it is time for me to tell people that we have to laugh. You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”

Call it a flashlight for dark times: laughter just seems to adjust attitude better than anything else. Inspirational speaker Steve Rizzo recalls a TV interview with an injured firefighter a few days after 9.11．The man had fallen more than 30 stories in one of the towers and had broken a leg. Everyone was crying, and the reporter asked, “How is it that you’ve come out of this alive?” He looked at her and without missing a beat, said, “Look, lady, I’m from New York and I’m a firefighter; that’ all you need to know.”

“Everyone laughed and though the laughter was only a couple of seconds,” says Rizzo. “Sometimes that’s all you need to catch your second breath. Laughter gives you that couple of seconds. You’re sending a message to your brain, and the message is: If you can still laugh even a little among the pain, you are going to be OK.”

Of course, there is a difference between laughing off a serious situation and laughing off the fear that results. The firefighter was doing the latter, states Rizzo, the author of Becoming a Humorous Being, and so should we. “If there is anything we have learnt from 9.11, it’s how precious life really is,” she says. “We have to send a message that our spirit won’t die. One important thing that unites us is our ability to laugh.”   

60．The writer uses the examples of the comedian and the firefighter to show              .

       A．laughter is a good way to get rid of pain and fear

       B．laughter is the best way to cure psychological wounds

       C．it is your attitude that decides whether you can survive the pain or not

       D．laughing off a serious situation is different from laughing off the fear that results

61．We can infer from the passage that Steve Rizzo is                        .

       A．a reporter    B．a soldier        C．a firefighter   D．a doctor

62．The underlined word futile in the first paragraph means                .

       A．hopeless   B．useless    C．careless  D．worthless

63．From the passage, we can know that Americans are                 .

       A．really inspired after 9.11      B．hardly united after 9.11

       C．nearly surprised by 9.11      D．greatly hurt by 9.11