Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so.  We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

The new products become more and more time-saving because         .

A. our love of speed seems never-ending      B. time is limited.

C. the prices are increasingly high.           D. the manufactures boast a lot.

What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to ?

A. Imaginary life                             B. Simple life in the past.

C. Times of inventions                        D. Time for constant activity.

What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?

A. Critical             B. Objective.     C. Optimistic.      D. Negative.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The present and past times.        B. Machinery and human beings.

C. Imaginations and inventions.       D. Modern technology and its influence.

根据下面要求，用英语写一篇120 词左右的短文。

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---- You’re coughing badly, Martin．Why not give up smoking?

---- Give up smoking? Easier said than done, Amy．Once you _____ the habit of smoking, it is very hard for you to______．

       A．keep up; break it away                 B．take up; drop it out

       C．pick up; get rid of it                  D．build up; do away with it

He tried to cope with the ever-increasing burden of his work, but finally he _____ and had to take a complete rest．

       A．broke in           B．broke down             C．broke out            D．broke up

Little Bob is often educated by his parents to be good and friendly to anybody even if ________.

     A．attacking       B．is attacked         C．to be attacked        D．attacked  

Having concentrated for a long time he ____ his work, made some coffee and talked with his colleagues.

A. put on      B. put aside     C. put off      D. put back

—Are you sure Mike will help us if we are in trouble?

   — _____. He is a reliable friend.

A. It doesn’t matter                      B. Don’t take it to heart 

C. You can count on it                    D. No problem      

A year ago I paid no attention to English idioms,   41  my teacher said again and again that it was important．

    One day, I happened to  42  an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to  43   ．As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner shook his head, saying, “You don’t say! You don’t say!”  I was  44  , I thought, perhaps this is not a  45  topic．Well, I’d  46  change the topic．So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall?  47  the way, have you ever 48 there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will  49  me if I leave China without seeing  50  ．It was great．” I said, “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world． It is a place of   51  ．” Soon I was interrupted again by his words, “  52  !” I couldn’t  53  asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t ask you to do  54  ”, he answered, gently surprised．

   I said, “Didn’t you say ‘You don’t say’?”

   Hearing this, the Englishman  55  to tears．He began to  56 ,“‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really?’．It is an   57  of surprise．Perhaps you don’t pay attention 58  English idioms. ”

   Then I knew I had made a fool of  59 ．Since then I have been more  60  with idioms．

A.though            B. when         C. if                  D. as

A.look           B. meet       C. pick up             D. find out

A.walk           B. talk        C. play              D. go

A.pleased        B. angry      C. afraid             D. surprised

A.proper             B. strange      C. safe              D. polite

A.to                  B. better       C. not                 D. like

A.On                B. In           C. All                 D. By

A.gone                B. visited      C. seen              D. been

A.look at         B. think of    C. send for          D. laugh at

A.it                B. hem         C. anything       D. something

A.fun            B. interest     C. business            D. mountain

A.Really        B. Good        C. You don’ t say  D. You are right.

A. be               B. help         C. think             D. do

A.this              B. so           C. anything         D. me a favor

A.laughed     B. cried      C. moved             D. came

A.explain         B. shout       C. prove              D. say

A.experience   B. expression  C. explanation       D. example

A.for           B. to           C. at                   D. in

A.me             B. myself      C. him                D. somebody

A.helpful         B. popular    C .careful            D. satisfied

----- Why hasn’t Jane spoken to me for days ?

-----It was ________ you spoke about her behind her back.

A. because of      B. because          C. why            D. that

---How about inviting Jim to come to our party?

   --- ______________  His coming will add to our pleasure.

  A. No wonder.   B. Why not?       C. All right?        D. No doubt.