Now, it’s time for some brief news items.

Teens Go Online

Some 13 million European children under 18 use the Internet for schoolwork, games and music according to research done by Nielsen’s “Net-rating”. The study covered Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Experts advised parents to limit the time their kids spend on line and keep them away from chat rooms.

Chat to the magic Mum

British author J. K. Rowling, mother of magic boy Harry Potter, will do an Internet interview about her new book “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” on June 26. Before the event, children are invited to send their questions about Harry to the website. The book will hit stores in the US and UK on June 21 and will arrive in China in August.

School Soldiers

Russian school students will have to do basic military training in their final year of school, the government has decided. The lesson will include learning to fire guns, marching drills and how to deal with a chemical, nuclear or biological attack. The activity is seen as part of a drive toward the education of their love for their country.

Is it hard for you to get up early and get ready for classes? Some students at Winter Park High School just roll out of bed in their pajamas （睡衣） and go to class in their own bedrooms. Of course, their teachers and classmates do not see them because all their class work is on the computer. The Florida High School, the state’s only online school, has 250 students who are taking classes at home by computer. Students in this first online program take classes in algebra （代数）, American government, chemistry, computer, economics, and web-page design. They also have to go to regular school to attend other classes.

1．In the first news item, which country is NOT covered in the research?

       A．Britain.                                        B．France.

C．Sweden.                                      D．Spain.

2．What is the second news item mainly about?

       A．J. K. Rowling will have an Internet interview.

       B．Children will meet Harry Potter’s mother.

       C．The Harry Potter book will be available on the Internet.

       D．The Harry Potter book will arrive in China in early June.

3．Why will Russian school students have basic military training?

       A．To get ready for a military parade.

       B．To learn to protect themselves.

       C．To gain some military knowledge. 

       D．To develop their love for the country.

4．The news from Florida can be given a title “____________”.

       A．Get up Late                                         B．Online School

       C．Magical Computers                              D．No Teachers 

Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large. The same problem, on a smaller scale, faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. There can be little hope of raising the money needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide money for short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money for long-term projects. So companies turn to the public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future interests. This they do by issuing stocks and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange. By doing so they can put into circulation（流通） the savings of single persons and institutions, both at home and abroad.

When the saver needs his money back, he does not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.

Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local organizations. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not work. All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone. The Government, local organizations, and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending, and they, too, come to the Stock Exchange.

There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.

1．The money which enables these companies to go ahead with their projects is _____.

       A．exchanged for part ownership in the Stock Exchange

       B．raised by the selling of shares in the companies

       C．repaid to its original owners as soon as possible

       D．invested in different companies on the Stock Exchange

2．All the basic services on which we depend are _____.

       A．unable to provide for the needs of the population

       B．financed wholly by rates and taxes

       C．in constant need of financial support

       D．run by the Government or our local organizations

3．The Stock Exchange makes it possible for the Government, local organizations and nationalized industries _____.

       A．to make certain everybody saves money

       B．to borrow as much as they wish

       C．to make certain everybody lends money to them

       D．to raise money to finance new development

4．The underlined word invest here probably means _____.

       A．give more money with           B．provide less money with

       C．borrow less money with                D．make more money with

As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.
    Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.

The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities; others lose heart at the first sign of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "flight or fight" and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Since we can't remove stress from our lives （it would be unwise to do so even if we could）, we need to find ways to deal with it.

1．According to the author, the most important character for a good manager is his _____.

A．strong will to hold out stress           B．knowing the art of relaxation

C．high sense of responsibility            D．having control over performance

2．Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?

A．We can find quite a few ways to avoid stress.

B．Stress is always harmful to people's health

C．It's easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work.

D．Different people can bear different amount of stress.

3．In the last sentence of the passage, "do so" refers to _____.

A．"expose ourselves to stress"

B．"find ways to deal with stress"

C．"remove stress from our lives"

D．"establish links between diseases and stress"

4．According to the author, the right attitude toward stress is _____.

A．to avoid it                         B．to try to cope with it

C．to regard it as a vital motivation        D．to find some relaxation

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, 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 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 translated into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted 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（普通话） 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,自愿的） 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.?

1．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.

2．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.

3．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.

请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每空1词。请将答案写在答案专页上相应的横线上。

                      Celebrating sleep

World Sleep Day, observed on 21 March, was created to bring attention to the growing number of sleep problems worldwide. Sleep is a natural part of human life, but many people in the modern world ignore its importance. As a result, sleep problems are increasingly common.

In 2002, scientists at the University of Athens in Greece conducted a survey of over 35,000 people in 10 countries around the world, including China, Belgium and South Africa. Of the people that responded to the survey, 24 percent said that they did not sleep well, and based on their responses, 31.6 percent were diagnosed with insomnia and another 17.5 percent were diagnosed with borderline insomnia（失眠）. In addition, 30.7 percent of survey respondents reported visiting a doctor for help with sleep problems and 11.6 per cent said that they felt very sleepy during the day.

Overall, the survey found that many people suffer the effects of poor quality sleep, some examples of which are being unable to fall asleep and waking up in the middle of the night. The main factors causing these problems are pressure from school or work and a fast pace of life, but noise pollution and light pollution also interfere with sleep and contribute to poor quality sleep. The survey’s findings are particularly troubling because large numbers of people were found to have difficulty sleeping at night. The short-term effects of this are tiredness and trouble concentrating. If this happens for a long time, the risk of gaining weight and having a heart attack may increase.

There are many things you can do to improve the quality of your sleep. First, you should have regular sleep habits. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day. You also need to make your bedroom a cool, dark, quiet place to sleep so that heat, light and noise do not disturb you. At night, you should also avoid things that contain caffeine, such as chocolate, coffee, tea and many soft drinks, as caffeine may keep you from sleeping.

Getting a good night’s sleep is important for everyone. By following the advice above, you can rest better at night and work better during the day.

Title: Celebrating Sleep

假定你班在“珍爱生命，拒闯红灯”教育活动中，召开了一次主题班会。请你根据下表中的内容，用英语写一篇短文。

注意：1.内容可适当发挥，注意行文连贯；2.词数：150左右。

参考词汇： pedestrian n. （行人）；jay-walk .v（乱穿马路） ；reprimand .v（批评,训诫）

—Would you mind if I used your computer for a little while?

—________.

A. No, please don’t                     B. I’d rather you didn’t       

C. I’m afraid not                     D. Sure, it’s my pleasure

Mr. White, who comes from ________ European country, has formed ________ habit of attending ________ church on Sundays.

A. an; / ; the                 B. a; the; /               C. an; the; /               D. a; a; a

Bird flu, a contagious disease of animals, is believed ________ by viruses that normally infect only birds and less commonly pigs, and rarely humans.

A. caused               B. being caused             C. to be caused             D. to have caused

The police got to ________ was once an old school ________ the peasants used as a store.

A. what; that               B. where; which             C. where; that              D. which; where