My house is made out of wood, glass and stone. It is also made out of software.

If you come to visit, you’ll probably be surprised when you come in. Someone will give you an electronic PIN （个人身份号码）to wear. This PIN tells the house who and where you are. The house uses this information to give you what you need. When it’s dark outside, the PIN turns on the lights nearest you, and then turns them off as you walk away from them. Music moves with you too. If the house knows your favorite music, it plays it. The music seems to be everywhere, but in fact other people in the house hear different music or no music. If you get a telephone call, only the nearest telephone rings.

Of course, you are also able to tell the house if you want something. There is a home control console (控制台), a small machine that turns things on and off around you.

The PIN and the console are new ideas, but they are in fact like many things we have today. If you want to go to a movie, you need a ticket. If I give you my car keys, you can use my car. The car works for you because you have the keys. My house works for you because you wear the PIN or hold the console.

I believe that ten years from now, most new homes will have the systems that I’ve put in my house. The systems will probably be even bigger and better than the ones I’ve put in today.

I like to try new ideas. I know that some of my ideas will work better than others. But I hope that one day I will stop thinking of these systems as new, and ask myself instead, “How will I live without them?”

What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. How to develop a new system.          B. The function of the PIN.

C. A home for the future.                  D. Easy life in the future.

What’s the purpose when the writer wrote the fourth paragraph?

A. To let readers know why his ideas are new.

B. To let readers know how special his house is.

C. To explain the importance of the PIN and the console.

D. To explain more easily what the functions of the PIN and the console are.

The writer’s new house is different from ordinary ones mainly because _____.

A. it has been controlled by computers

B. you can make a telephone call anywhere

C. it has your favorite music following you

D. the writer is able to change his new idea into practice

What is the writer most likely to be according to the passage?

A. An IT expert.    B. A famous doctor. 

C. An idealist      D. An experienced teacher.

What can’t be done in the writer’s new house?

A. turns on the lights              B. play music

C. get a telephone call             D. go swimming

A father sat at his desk poring over his monthly bills when his young son rushed in and announced, "Dad, because this is your birthday and you're 40 years old, I'm going to give you 40 kisses, one for each year!" When the boy started making good on his word, the father cried out suddenly, "Oh, Andrew, don't do it now; I'm too busy!"

The youngster immediately fell silent as tears welled up in his big blue eyes．Apologicaliy the father said, "You can finish later．"

The boy said nothing but quietly walked away, disappointment written over his face．That evening the father said, "Come and finish the kisses now, Andrew!" But the boy didn't respond．

Unfortunately, a few days later after this incident, the boy had an accident and was drowned．His heartbroken father wrote．．．

"If only I could tell him how much I regret my thoughtless words, and could be sure that he knows how much my heart is aching．"

Love is not only giving．Any loving act must be warmly accepted or it will be taken as rejection and can leave a scar．If we are too busy to give and receive love, we are too busy! Nothing is more important than responding with love to the cry for love from those who are near and precious to us, because there may be no chance at all as in the case of the little boy．

What does the underlined phrase "poring over" mean?

       A．looking in on                       B．looking out for

       C．looking through                     D．looking around

The boy is going to give his father 40 kisses because ______．

       A．his father is very busy

       B．this is the boy' birthday

       C．the boy wants to play with his father

       D．this is his father' birthday and he's 40 years old

What happened to the youngster later?

       A．His heart was broken．            B．．He died unexpectedly．

       C．He ran away from home．        D．He fell silent all the time．

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

       A．A Love Story                    B．Love Your Son

       C．A Father and a Son                D．Love is a Two-way Street

Only when the mother comes back the child will stop crying.

              A                  B       C          D

Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants (被告). But in the executive (行政的；管理的) circle, beauty can become a liability.

    While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.

    Handsome male executives were considered as having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.

    Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.

    All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.

    Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine and an attractive man more manly than the less attractive ones. Thus, an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the "manly" qualities required.

    This is true even in politics. "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently," says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.

    The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.

In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness ______________.       

A. makes women look more honest and capable   

B. strengthens the qualifies required

C. is of no importance to women               

D. often enables women to succeed quickly

Bowman's experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness ____________.      

A. turns out to be a disadvantage to men  

B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women

C. affects men and women alike        

D. has as little effect on men as on women

It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often ______________.      

    A. practical     B. supportive      C. old-fashioned    D. one-sided

Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents' home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.

I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend's. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.

I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.

Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I'd left the lights on all day, and the battery(电池)was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership - a shop selling cars - was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.

"Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?" I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.

"Thank you" - two powerful words. They're easy to say and mean so much.

The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City_________.

A. to visit a friend

B. to see his parents

C. to pay at the cash register

D. to have more gas for his car

The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “______”.

A. turned off   B. moved off   C. put up   D. set up

What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?

A. He had it pulled back to the gas station.

B. The couple sent him a business card.

C. The couple offered to help him.    

D. He called his friend for help.

The battery of the author’s car was dead because_______.

A. something went wrong with the lights

B. the meeting lasted a whole day

C. he forgot to turn off the lights

D. he drove too long a distance

By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show______.

A. how to write a thank-you letter

B. how to deal with car problems

C. the kind-heartedness of older people

D. the importance of expressing thanks