News that Microsoft was making a $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo was greeted with heated discussion by many Internet users on Friday. Here are some responses:
Mark Galeassi of Kansas City, Missouri
This is the best move for both parties. Yahoo has the ideas and Microsoft has the money to finally market these ideas correctly. Microsoft and Yahoo are a perfect fit and the deal will be good for consumers.
Scott G of New Jersey
I was a Yahoo user for years along with Hotmail from Microsoft. Then Google came along: Google Earth, Google Toolbar and Gmail. Google is so innovative (创新的) with everything they do. Yahoo and Microsoft... same old story... I don’t think the merger (合并) will do anything for either company except improve the Yahoo shareholders’ bank accounts.
Michael Glosser of Estero, Florida
Right now, Yahoo offers a lot of features and tools at no cost for all different levels of Internet users. Microsoft seeks nothing but profit. Undoubtedly, they’ll do nothing other than find ways to start removing Yahoo’s formerly non-priced features. Microsoft’s greed will ruin the great thing that Yahoo currently is.
Toni Suarez of Hacienda Heights, California
Perhaps it would bring better high technology innovations to e-mail and help in researching and developing a better Internet!
Antonio Simmons of Parkville, Maryland
Microsoft purchasing Yahoo would be nothing more than an attempt from Microsoft to further impose upon the users their poor-quality software and obtain more wealth for the company. In my opinion, they will never be able to compete with Google because Yahoo and Microsoft’s current search engines are too inferior (差的) to compete. Even if combined, they still lack.
【小题1】Who is in favor of the merger of Microsoft and Yahoo?

第三部分：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When Janet, a grade two student at a well-known school, was pestered(纠缠) by her classmates to join their group to steal from shops, she was shocked. She was a quiet, well-behaved girl and she did not understand why the girls had approached her.
They showed her some of the things they had stolen and said that shop theft was great fun and very exciting. Then they threatened to beat Janet if she did not join them.
Janet was deeply troubled. She did her best to avoid the group of the girls after class­es, but they often waited for her outside the school and tried to persuade her to come with them.
This problem is one which many school students in Hong Kong face. We asked the chairman of the local-fight-crime committee what Janet should do in these cases.
“First of all, she could try to talk the other girls out of the whole thing. Being caught stealing from shops could ruin their futures and it is simply not worth the risk,” he said.
“Young people may think that it is easy to get away with stealing from shops, but more and more stores now have plain clothes detectives who are dressed like customers. I would say shop thieves have a more than ninety percent chance of being caught.”
“If they won’t listen to her, Janet should go to someone in charge in school, who can then decide if the matter can be dealt with by her or whether it is necessary to report the incident to the police.”
56. From the first three paragraphs we can learn that ____________.
A. Janet didn’t know what to do with the case
B. Janet faced the group bravely
C. the group stole a lot of things
D. the group were short of money
57. The underlined part “talk the other girls out of the whole thing” means ____________.
A. discuss the possible result with them
B. tell them about their futures
C. persuade them to stop theft
D. warn them not to disturb her
58. One of the suggestions to Janet is to ____________.
A. report the situation to the police
B. ask the local-fight-crime committee for advice
C. hire a detective to catch them
D. turn to her teacher for help

The definition of the standard kilogram is almost entirely wrong. Getting that definition right is a challenge that has tried the patience and intelligence of scientists for decades.

Scientists use just seven basic units to define all the other quantities we use — quantities such as speed or electric power. All of those basic units except the kilogram are themselves defined according to natural properties（属性）that are beyond human control.

For example, the standard second (time) is defined as a specific number of vibration（振动）of a type of radiation sent out by atoms of a special metal. The standard metre (length), in turn, is defined as the length of the path light travels under certain conditions.

Not so the kilogram. This orphan of the basic unit family is simply the mass of a small platinum-iridium alloy cylinder（铂—铱合金筒）locked away in a container maintained by the International Bureau of Weights & Measures in Sevres, France, near Paris. Official bodies around the world have copies of the cylinder.

Embarrassingly, the last time the copies were brought to Sevres for a checkup in the 1980s, officials found that some copies had gained about 20 parts per billion in weight compared to the master cylinder since the previous checkup in the 1940s. This implies that the master cylinder itself may be an inconstant standard.

Several efforts in several different countries are under way to redefine the kilogram according to basic physical quantities such as counting the actual number of atoms of a specific substance in a kilogram or the electromagnetic（电磁的）force that balances a kilogram mass against gravity. A project of the latter type at the laboratories in Gaithersburg, Md., hopes eventually to define mass by means of electrical units.

So far, none of these redefinition projects has borne fruit. They require the very accuracy of measurement and control of experimental conditions. The slightest influence — even a tiny change in weather — can ruin results. You’ve got to hand it to scientists who are willing to devote many years to such painstaking — but extremely important — research.

Compared with other basic units, the kilogram is ____.

    A. as accurate as other basic units        

B. not universally accepted in the world

    C. not defined according to natural properties

    D. defined in the same way as other basic units

The author introduced the examination of copies of a platinum-iridium alloy cylinder in the 1980s to indicate that ____.

    A. the causes of weight changes had been found

    B. such kind of checks had been carried out regularly

    C. the changes in weight challenged the definition of the kilogram

    D. the consequences of such changes were great in research

According to the passage, to define the weight of mass by means of electrical units ____.

    A. is the only way to redefine the kilogram scientifically

    B. has been accepted as the only possible redefinition project

    C. is not as complicated as people understand

    D. has been considered by some scientists as a better approach

Which of the following cannot be concluded from the passage?

A. Scientists will achieve success in redefining the kilogram in the near future

B. Some scientists are trying to redefine the kilogram according to basic physical quantities.

C. The redefining of the standard kilogram is quite complicated and can be affected by a number of factors.

D. A number of experiments are being carried out to redefine the kilogram.

People travel for a lot of reasons. Some tourists go to see battlefields or other historic remains. Others are looking for culture, or simply want to have their pictures taken in front of famous places. Most European tourists are looking for a sunny beach to lie on.

Northern Europeans are willing to pay a lot of money for the sun because they have so little of it. People of cities like London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam spend much of their winter in the dark because the days are so short, and much of the rest of the year in the rain . This is the reason why the Mediterranean has always attracted them. Every summer many people travel to Mediterranean resorts（度假胜地）and beaches for their vacation. They all come for the same reason: sun!

The huge crowds mean lots of money for the economics of Mediterranean countries. Italy's 30,000 hotels are booked  every  summer. And 13 million people camp put on French beaches, parks and roadsides. Spain's long sandy coastline attracts more people than anywhere else. 37 million tourists visit there yearly, or one tourist for each person living in Spain.

But there are signs that the area is getting more tourism than it can deal with. The Mediterranean is already one of the most polluted seas on earth. None of these,　however, is mining anyone's fun. Obviously, they don't go there for clean water. They allow traffic jams and seem to like crowded beaches. They don't even mind the pollution. No matter how dirty the water is, the coastline still looks beautiful. And as long as the sun shines, it's still better than sitting in the cold rain in Berlin, London, or Oslo.

The writer seems so imply that Europeans travel mostly for the reason that ________.

A. they want to see historic remains

B. they wish to escape from cold, dark and rainy days

C. they would like to take pictures in front of famous places

D. they are interested in different cultural and social customs

According to the passage, which of the following countries attracts more tourists than the others?

A. Italy　　　　 B. Greece.　　　　 C. France.　　　　 D. Spain.

The underlined part  "one tourist for each person living in Spain" means ________.

A. all the 37 million people living in Spain are tourist

B. every person living in Spain has to take care of a tourist

C. every year almost as many tourists visit Spain as there are people living in that country

D. every family in Spain is visited by a tourist every year

According to the passage, which of the following might ruin the tourists' fun at Mediterranean resorts and beaches?

A. Polluted water　　　 B. Crowded buses. 　　C. Rainy weather.　　　 D. Traffic jams.

Some teens believe drugs will help them think better, and be more popular. These days, drugs can be found everywhere. Many teens are tempted(诱惑) by the excitement or escape from reality that drugs seem to offer.

Drugs are chemicals that change the way our bodies work. When you put them into your body, drugs find their way in your blood and are taken to parts of your body, such as your brain.

The effects of drugs can be different depending on the kind of drug taken, how much is taken, how often it is used, how quickly it gets to the brain, and what other drugs or food are taken at the same time. Although drugs can make you feel good at first, they can finally do a lot of harm to the body.

There are many kinds of drugs available, and there are many reasons for trying them regularly. People take drugs just for pleasure they believe they can bring. Often it’s because someone told them that drugs would make them feel good or that they’d have a better time if they took them.

Many teens use drugs because they’re unhappy or think drugs will help them escape their problems. The truth is that drugs don’t solve problems—they simply hide feelings and problems. When a drug wears off, the feelings and problems remain, or became worse. Drugs can ruin every aspect of a person’s life.

The main idea of the second paragraph is probably _________.

  A. how drugs work   

  B. what drugs are made of

  C. that drugs can reduce physical pain

  D. that drugs dull your senses

People take drugs regularly _________.

  A. just for good health

  B. because they can have a better life

  C. just for pleasure

  D. because they need them

__________ cause teens to take drugs.

  A. Physical pain, escaping and fear

  B. Escaping, excitement and unhappiness

  C. Curiosity, fear and escaping

  D. Excitement, unhappiness and their physical pain

Which of the following is NOT true ?

  A. Drugs may be tempting to teens.

  B. Drugs do harm to the body.

  C. Drugs can solve people’s problems.

  D. Drugs can make people happy.

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

  A. Drugs: the Killer of People

  B. Drugs: the Favorite of Teens

  C. Drugs: What You Should Take

  D. Drugs: What You Should Know