50．What might be the most suitable title of the passage?

　　　 A．New Age for Supermarkets

　　　 B．Concierge and Shopping Buddy

　　　 C．Computers Make Shopping Carts Smarter

　　　 D．Touch-Screen Devices Make Shopping Enjoyable

49．Which of the following is the correct order of customers shopping with computerized shopping carts?

a．start the system.　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 b．make a shopping list.

c．find the things they want.　　 　　　　　　　　　　 d．go to a self-checkout stand.

e．the screen tells their location

A．a,b,e,d,c　　 　　　　　　　 B．b,a,e,c,d　　 　　　 C．b,a,e,d,c　　 　　　 D．a,e,b,c,d

48．The underlined word “they” (in paragraph 1) refers to ___ 　___.

A．supermarkets　 　　　　　 B．shop assistants　 C．shopping carts　 　 D．shopping managers

47．We can infer from the passage that___________.

A．extracurricular(课外活动)activities promote children's intelligence

B．most children will turn to reading with TV sets switched off

C．efforts to get kids interested in reading have been fruitful

D． most parents believe reading to be beneficial to children

D

Supermarkets are trying out new computers that make shopping carts more intelligent. They will help shoppers find cups or toilet soap and keep a recorder of the bill.

The touch-screen devices are on show at the Food Marketing Institute’s exhibition here this week, “These devices are able to create value and get you around the store quicker,” said Michael Alexander, manager of Springboard Retail Networks, which makes a smart cart computer called the Concierge.

Canadian stores will test the Concierge in July. A similar device, IBM’s “Shopping Buddy”, has recently been tested at Stop & Shop stores in Massachusetts.

Neither device tells you how many fat grams or calories are in your cart, but they will flash you with items on sale. The idea is to make it easier for people to buy, not to have second thoughts that maybe you should put something back on the shelf.

People can use a home computer to make their shopping lists. Once at the store, a shopper can use a preferred customer card to start a system that will organize the trip around the store. If you’re looking for toothpicks, you type in the word or pick it from a list, and a map will appear on the screen showing where you are and where you can find them.

The devices also keep a record of what you buy. When you finished, the devices figure out your bill. Then you go to the checker or place your card into a self-checkout stand and pay.

The new computerized shopping assistants don’t come cheap. The buddy devices will cost the average store about $160,000, and the Concierge will cost stores about $500 for each device.

46．The author is concerned about the fact that American kids__________.

A． are engaged in more and more structured activities

B．are increasingly neglected by their working mothers

C．are spending less time watching TV

D．are involved more and more in household work

45．According to the author, a child develops better if　　　　　 .

A．he has plenty of time reading and studying

B．he is left to play with his peers in his own way

C．he has more time participating in school activities

D．he is free to interact with his working parents

44．By mentioning “the same time crisis” (in Para. 2), Sandra Hofferth means_________.

A．children have little time to play with their parents

B．children are not taken good care of by their working parents

C．both parents and children suffer from the lack of leisure time

D．both parents and children have trouble managing their time

43．The best title of this passage can be　　　　　 .

　　　 A．Thanksgiving Day　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．The Origin of Thanksgiving Day

　　　 C．An Important Holiday　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．The Foods on Thanksgiving Day

C

On average, America kids aged 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ballet. Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls half that time. All in all, however, children's leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%

“Children are affected by the same time crisis that affects their parents,” says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children’s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner” households spent 19 hours and 22 hours with their parents respectively(各自的). In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.)

All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. "Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself," says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School. Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to develop their with their parents relationships with their peers, but kids aged 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it.

The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing "free time" watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they’re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren't replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let's face it, who's got the time?

42．The settlers thought that their good harvest　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．came naturally　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B．was due to their hard work

　　　 C．was linked with good weather　　　　　　　 D．was got from God

41．We can know from the passage that　　　　　　 .

　　　 A．the way of celebrating Thanksgiving Day varies from place to place

　　　 B．the most important foods on Thanksgiving Day are roast turkey and pumpkin pie

　　　 C．people of all faiths and backgrounds join together to celebrate this holiday

　　　 D．the roast turkey must be eaten with some bread according to the tradition