Generation next is usually a powerful unknown. Sometimes called Generation Y, sometimes called the Millennials (千禧代), this group of 16-to-25-year-olds live in a world of high-tech advances, increasing racial diversity and economic growth. And it is a generation expected to affect major social change.

    "This is us," said Katie Stroud,16 from South Carolina, US. "This is how we are. Take it or leave it."

    The problem is, they're proving hard to define.

    "This group is unique," said Ken Shin, a sociology professor at the University of South Carolina. "They have different values. They're more informed. They're more tolerant."

    Generation Y is expected to do great things -- to move beyond thought to action.

    "As a generation, they are the strongest and most intelligent," said Joyce Fields, a professor at Columbia College in South Carolina.

    Generation Y has grown up in a digital, instant-messaging age. DVDs, iPods and cell phones are just part of everyday life for this Interact-surfing generation.

"I feel that we're very smart," said Shawn Rumph,18, of Columbia, S.C. "Look at all the technology we have to help us learn."

    Since they have grown up in good times, for Generation Y, success and wealth are almost certain. Their attitude, therefore, shows that they're optimistic and materialistic, Fields said.

    Richard Perry, an 18-year-old University of South Carolina student, agrees that Generation Y is materialistic. "Everybody is into new stuff," he said.

    To marketers selling soda, music, clothes and computers, members of Generation Y look like human dollar signs.

    With a "buy now, pay later" mentality, this group is assaulted with Web ads and TV commercials aimed at getting them to part with their and their parents' money.

    Despite the insistence on having modem-day conveniences, in many ways Generation Y is traditional, experts say. Getting an education and having a family are important.

    Besides, some Generation Y members say they are comfortable with racial diversity and expect discrimination to disappear.

    Elizabeth Pope,16, of South Carolina, said Generation Y probably will elect the first female or minority-race president.

    In any ease, Fields is confident in Generation Y. "I think we're in good hands."

1. In this passage, how many such optimistic young people are mentioned?

A. Four         B. Five          C. Six D. Two

2. Which of the following characteristics of Generation Y is NOT mentioned by Joyce Fields?

A. the strongest                     B. more tolerant

    C. the most intelligent              D. optimistic and materialistic

3. What does it mean by "Everybody is into new stuff."?

    A. Generation Y is in the direction of wealth.

    B. Generation Y has different social values.

    C. Generation Y is during a period of being lost.

D. Generation Y is interested in new things.                   

4. According to the passage, what's the attitude of the experts towards Generation Y?

    A. suspicious     B. sympathetic    C. optimistic     D. pessimistic

5. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. People of Generation Y are more informed and more tolerant.

    B. DVDs, iPods and cell phones are all of everyday life for Generation Y.

    C. Success and wealth are almost certain for Generation Y.

    D. In many ways people of Generation Y are traditional, though.

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values -- this can't be repeated too often -- are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might betaken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car; it needs more mechanical maintenance, as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experience, however good the results. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by pursuing the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You cannot ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel obliged to give them a try, on the principle that while there's life, there's hope.

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

1. It can be implied in Paragraph 1 that                

A. very old people enjoy living with their relatives

    B. very old people would like to live alone so that they can have more personal freedom

    C. social services' have nothing to do with very old people

    D. very old people are able to keep their rooms very clear

2. Some social workers think that                

    A. health and safety are more important than personal freedom

    B. personal freedom is more important than health and safety

    C. old people should keep their rooms clean

    D. one should not take the risk of dealing with old people

3. In the author's opinion                

    A. the human body can't be compared to a car

    B. the older a person, the more care he or she needs

    C. too much emphasis has been put on old people's values

    D. it is easy to provide spare parts for old people

4. The word "it" in the last paragraph refers to         

    A. the conclusion you have come to     B. your talk to the old people

    C. one's money or one's health           D. whether age is happy or unpleasant

5. The author thinks that           

    A. medical decisions for old people should be left to the doctors

    B. old people can enjoy a happy life only if they are very rich

    C. the opinion that we should try every means possible to save old people is doubtful

    D. it is always morally right to treat old people and push off death

Sports are all about change. A team gets better. A kid practices more and swims a personal best or learns a new move on the basketball court.

In 2006, two things happened that got me thinking about change -- in sports and in life.

One of them is tennis champion Andre Agassi, who retired in 2006. Agassi was a super player who won 60 titles, including eight major championships. But his greatest achievement might have been how much he changed during his career.

When he was young, Agassi was a show off who seemed to care only about himself. He didn't train very hard, but he won matches because of his tremendous talent. Eventually, though, injuries and his bad attitude caught up with him. He fell from No.1 in the world ranking to No.141.

So Agassi changed as a player. He trained harder and became a world-class player again. More importantly, he changed as a person. He was nicer to fans and opponents. He stopped thinking just about himself and started               . Through his efforts, he raised more than $60 million to help disadvantaged kids around his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. He even started a school for at-risk kids.

At the start of a new year, lots of people promise themselves they will change. They might vow to get in good physical shape, do better in school or be racer to others.

Changes such as those can be difficult. But they do happen. Just remember Andre Agassi: It wasn't easy, but he changed, and changed for the better.

1. What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words.)

2. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?

However, he received punishment out of his injuries and his poor attitude in the end.

3. Please fill in the blank in the fifth paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words.)

4. What do you plan to do in order to improve yourself?. (Please answer within 30 words.)

5. Translate the underlined sentence in the third paragraph into Chinese.

目前医患双方就“先救人，后缴费”，还是“先缴费，后救人”各持己见。请用英语写一篇120—150左右的短文，描述这一现象，发表自己的观点，并提出一些建议。

          human nose is          under – rated tool. In other words, we are better smellers than we think we are .

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

—What kind of house would you like?

—I’d like          with a garden in front of          .

A．the one; it B．one; it       C．it; one       D．one; one

It wasn’t so much that I disliked her          that I just wasn’t interested in the whole business.

A．rather       B．so     C．than  D．as

          all our kindness to help her, Sarah refused to listen to us.

A．At     B．For    C．In     D．On

As it turned out to be a small house party, we          so formally.

A．needn’t dress up                                         B．couldn’t have dressed up

C．shouldn’t dress up                          D．needn’t have dressed up

Recent evidence suggests that an infant          born with the capacity to speak.

A．be    B．would be     C．is     D．was