40. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Tom and his fellow sportsmen.

B. Tom and his new swimming record.

C. A thirteen-year-old swimming success.

D. European swimming championships.

B

About one-third of primary school students aged 7-12 years old use cellphones; by the time they get to high school that figure has shot up to 96 percent, according to a government survey released. They’re using their phones to read books, listen to music, chat with friends and surf the Internet---an average of 124 minutes a day for high school girls and 92 minutes for boys.

While the wired world they now inhabit holds enormous advantages for learning and communicating, it also brings a downside. It becomes a weapon that children can hold against each other with no thought for the consequences. A girl doing the bullying (威吓)confessed (承认) it made her feel good to see the unease spreading on her friend’s face..

The cellphones will eventually become their main means of communication. Education professor Tetsuro Saito said a survey of 1600 middle school students aged around 14 found about 60 percent carried cellphones and nearly half used them to send 20 or more emails a day.

Most middle school cellphone users rarely used their phones to talk, the survey found. Saito said children seemed to want the security of communicating with someone, without the bother of dealing with a real person.

“Communication ability is bound to decline as cellphones and other devices are now getting between people,” he said.

Tonny, a student, said, “I send some 20 emails a day. There’re people I don’t talk with---even if I see them at school. I just exchange emails with them. I guess we’re connected only by a machine.”

Saito’s survey found that students can also use their cellphones as an emotional support. More than 60 percent of students who said they don’t enjoy being with their families send 20 or more emails a day, compared with 35 percent of those happy with their families.

41. High school students use their cellphones in many fields EXCEPT _________.

A. in their studies              B. in communication

C. in entertainment              D. in committing crimes

42. Though cellphones play an important role, they also bring

disadvantages like ________.

A. a rise in teenagers’ emotional problems and bullying

B. a rise in the conflicts between teenagers and their parents

C. a growing teenagers’ inability to get along well with others

D. an increasing number of teenagers playing games on the phones

43. One of the reasons why students like using cellphones to communicate is that _______.

A. they feel it embarrassing to deal with others face to face

B. they like to make others feel unease with their phones

C. they feel safer to use cellphones than meet a real person

D. they feel it more convenient to send emails with cellphones

44. According to Saito’s survey, middle school students ________.

A. use cellphones mainly to talk about their studies with each other

B. get more dependent on phones as their problems at home increase

C. often use cellphones to talk about their problems with teachers

D. become more dependent on cellphones as they grow older

45. Which of the following opinions does the author most probably hold?

A.It is necessary to forbid middle school students to use

cellphones.

B.There are more benefits than harm to kids behind cellphone screens.

C.Teenagers have become victims of cellphones.

D.There is a very scary world behind cellphone screens.

C

In Western countries people have been using the installment (分期付款) plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments. In the U.S., the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.

The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.

Installment buying has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and start housekeeping. It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is, however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the installment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are not able to pay their installment debts there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries, the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.

46. Which of the following is NOT true about the installment plan?

A.A lot of British families use the installment plan.

B.More than 10 percent American families buy things on

installments.

C.Americans depend more on installment than British people do.

D.Americans spend one tenth of their income on installment buying.

47. Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because ________.

A. the buyer has to pay extra money as interest

B. the delivery of the goods charges extra money

C. the buyer has to pay a down payment

D. the service offered by installment plan charged extra money

48. What will happen to a buyer if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on installments?

A. He might lose his job.

B. He will stop owning the item he has bought.

C. He will have to sell what he has bought.

D. He will go into debt.

49. The advantage of installment buying might include all the following EXCEPT that ________.

A. purchasing power is strengthened

B. employment might be increased

C. people develop a good habit of saving money

D. young couples are able to furnish their homes

50. In some countries, the governments control the installment plan to ________.

A. increase employment

B. avoid depressions

C. ensure that businesses make good profits

D. ensure that people can pay for what hey buy

D

In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French, and English—and all at the same time. This sounds incredible, but Alex Waibel, a computer science professor at US's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe, announced last week that it may soon be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other.?

One application (应用程序), called Lecture Translation, can easily translate a speech from one language into another. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Users also have to be trained how to use the programme.?  Another prototype (雏形机) can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what language they speak. “It is like having a simultaneous (同时的) translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,” Waibel said.?

Prefer to read? So-called Translation Glasses transcribe (转录) the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal (液晶) display (LCD) screen.?Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translate d into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted (灌输) in a person's face, according to researchers.?

During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus, a Chinese student named Sang Jun had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks, neck and throat. Then he mouthed—without speaking aloud—a few words in Mandarin to the audience. A few seconds later, the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: “Let me introduce our new prototype.”?

This particular gadget (器械),when fully developed, might allow anyone to speak in any number of languages or, as Waibel put it, “to switch your mouth to a foreign language”. “The idea behind the university's prototypes is to create ‘good enough’ bridges for cross-cultural exchanges that are becoming more common in the world,” Waibel said.?

With spontaneous(自发的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on the radio, tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people, and leaders of different countries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.?

51. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily.?

B. Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth.?

C. There is no Muscle Translator in the world now.

D. The spontaneous translators will help us a lot.

52. What kind of equipment is NOT mentioned in this passage?

A. Lecture Translation.     B. Multiple Translator.

C. Muscle Translator.?     D. Translation Prototype.

53. What's the final destination of inventing the language translators??  A. To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier.?  B. To help students learn foreign languages more easily.?

C. To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably.?

D. To help people learn more foreign languages in the future.

54. What can be inferred from the seventh paragraph?

A. The translator is so good that it can translate any language into the very language you need.?

B. The translator is becoming more and more common in the world

as a bridge.?

C. With the help of the translator, you only need to open your mouth

when you want to say something without saying the exact words

at all.?

D. The translator needs to be improved before being put into market.

55. Where can this passage probably be taken from?

A. A newspaper.                 B. A magazine on science.?

C. A fairy tale.                D. A scientific fantasy book. 第II卷