Background music may seem harmless, but it can have a powerful effect on those who hear it. Recorded background music first found its way into factories, shops and restaurants in the USA. Very soon it spread to other parts of the world. Now it is becoming difficult to go shopping or eat a meal without listening to background music.

　　To begin with, background music was intended simply to create a soothing (舒适的) atmosphere. Recently, however, it's becoming a big business. An American marketing expert has shown that music can boost(提升) sales or increase factory production by as much as a third.

　　But it has to be the light music. Lively music has no effect at all on sales. Slow music can increase receipts(收入) by 34%. This is probably because shoppers slow down and have more opportunity to spot items they would like to buy. Yet, slow music isn't always the answer. The expert found that in restaurants slow music meant customers took longer to eat their meals, which reduced overall sales. So restaurant owners might be well advised to play faster music to keep the customers moving-unless, of course, the resulting indigestion(消化不良) leads to complaints.

1.Background music was first used ________.

A．in the cinemas and theatres in the USA

B．in the offices and hospitals in the USA

C．in the schools and churches in the USA

D．in the factories, shops and restaurants in the USA

2.An American marketing expert has found background music can __________.

A．increase sales or factory production

B．create a soothing atmosphere

C．make people slow down

D．make people forget their worries

3.Slow music is useless in ________ in increasing sales.

A．shops

B．restaurants

C．factories

D．cinemas

4.Restaurant owners are advised to play ________ to increase overall sales.

A．lively music

B．loud music

C．slower music

D．faster music

 

完形填空

　　From time to time I received PC magazines from well meaning editors. Reading them, I recognized the 1 characters, but the whole thing is Creek to me. When faced with such publications, I think to myself, “They might 2 send newspapers or magazines to a blind person. ”I 3 to say it, but I have to admit I don't 4 know how to type, much 5 how to enjoy the Internet. Several times I've tried to learn to use a computer and each time I gave up 6 , for it is not really very user-friendly. I was afraid of all mechanical 7 , afraid of the keyboard and the jumping mouse. I was content with the 8 that my classmate, Bai Yansong, another prime time host, also wrote his articles by 9 . He told me that feeling the 10 of the pen 11 the surface of the paper gave him a kind of 12 . I had the 13 feeling and found it a good excuse not to use a computer. By 1999, however, I 14 felt this attitude was right. One day I went to my supervisor's(导师) home to 15 an article that was hand-written and a little muddily done. Hearing my 16 , the wife of my supervisor said, “It doesn't matter. I can type it out on my computer. ” “You can use a computer?”

　　“Sure. I learned to use it when I was 70.”

　　I was so 17 that I wasn't able to cry out a single word. 18 out of their flat, I made up my mind for the one-hundredth time to start learning to use a computer. I still had Bai Yansong to 19 me company, but once he started learning to use the computer, he would 20 very fast and then I would be really alone, wouldn't I?

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There were two interesting pieces of news items in the paper a few years ago. One was about a man who received a bill from the telephone company for $ 2,000 a month for doing nothing.
　　The connection between the two news items is simple; computers-the best invention of the 20th century. The telephone bill came from a computer which made a terrifying mistake; that man’s bill was only $ 23.26. The other item was not as amusing. A man walked into the unguarded computer room of a large packaged food company and expertly programmed the computer to pay him $ 2,000 a month for raw meat which he “supplied ” to the company. Of course he never sent the meat, but he certainly received the money . The computer wrote out a bill, and even “signed ” it. It was only a random (随便) check that uncovered the trick. It could be happening in thousands of other companies all over the world.
　　Computers are not the magical workers that some people say they are. They make mistakes, they’re sometimes slower than human beings and they’re easily fooled.
　　The US used to conscript (征兵) people with the help of a computer. The army sent out a card, which had to be filled in and sent back. It was easy to avoid being called up simply by spreading candle-wax(腊) on the card. The computer couldn’t read the card, and did nothing with it.
　　It’s in our everyday life that computers cause many problems. Let’s get back to using people instead of computers, before a mistake that we can’t put right.
【小题1】In the first paragraph we can conclude ______.

A．the paper is telling a lie	B．the first sentence is the topic sentence
C．the two news items made people surprised
D．if a man did nothing at all for the telephone company, he would still get $2,000 a month

【小题2】The main idea of the second paragraph is _______.

A．the computers are magical workers

B．the computers can do anything as well as man

C．the computers can write out the bill and even sign it

D．the computers sometimes also make mistakes

【小题3】Computers ______.

A．were used to conscript people	B．are usually faster than human beings
C．are not so magical as people expect
D．were not easily controlled and always fooled human beings

【小题4】The writer thinks _______.

A．we’d better use people instead of computers in our everyday life

B．we should not use computers because they always make mistakes

C．computers are widely used in our everyday life

D．if we want to work well, don’t use the computers

完形填空

　　You have probably heard of homing pigeons, which usually appeared in war. From 3,000 B．C．to the present, homing pigeons have 1 as postmen. They have been especially useful for carrying messages 2 war. The telegraph is not 3 to carry about. Sometimes only the little pigeon can take a message where it ought to go.

　　In 1870, when the Prussians surrounded the city of Paris, the city was cut off from all the 4 means of communication. The people 5 many different ways of sending news. One way was to let go small balloons carrying mail.

　　 6 of course, they only drifted 7 the wind carried them. Often they landed inside the enemy’s lines. Even balloons large enough to carry a pilot could hardly be well controlled.

　　It was pigeons that in the end. solved the 8 . Homing pigeons were brought into 9 . Soon they were carrying letters far and wide. The enemy bought 10 to catch pigeons, but the little postmen could fly faster than their 11 . Strangely enough, pigeons played an important 12 in war.

　　During World War I every army unit had a group of pigeons 13 . Many of them wore honored. Among them 14 an American pigeon with a French name Char Ami, which meant “dear friend”. A group of U.S. soldiers were surrounded by the enemy. They had no food and no bullets. They nearly died of 15 . There was little hope for them. Cher Ami made his way 16 the bullets and succeeded. At once planes 17 to drop food and ammunition (军火) to them. With their strength 18 , the soldiers fought back to their own army and got saved.

　　 19 can pigeons carry the message? There were various methods. Usually the message is put into a little glass tube. The tube is tied to the leg or hidden under 20 or hung around the neck.

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第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Miss Gorgers taught physics in a New York school. Last month she explained to one of her classes about sound, and she decided to test them to see how successful she had been in her explanation. She said to them, “Now I have a brother in Los Angeles. If I was calling him on the phone and at the same time you were 75 feet away, listening to me from the street, which of you would hear what I said earlier, my brother or you and for what reason?”

Tom at once answered, “Your brother. Because electricity travels faster than sound waves.” “That’s very good,” Miss Gorgers answered; but then one of the girls raised her hand, and Miss Gorgers said, “Yes? Kate.”

“I disagree. Your brother would hear you earlier because when it’s 11 o’clock here and it’s only 8 o’clock in Los Angeles.” Kate said.

1. Miss Gorgers was teaching her class ______.

A. how to telephone         B. about electricity

C. about time zone           D. about sound　

2. Miss Gorgers raised this question because she wanted to know whether ______.

A. it was easy to phone to Los Angeles

B. her student could hear her from 75 feet away

C. her students had understood her lesson

D. sound waves were slower than electricity

3. Kate thought Tom was wrong because ______.

A. clocks in Los Angeles showed a different time from those in New York

B. electricity was slower than sound waves

C. Tom was not good at physics at all

D. Tom’s answer had nothing to do with sound waves

4. Whose answer do you think is correct according to the law of physics?

A. Tom’s. 　　                  B. Kate’s.          C. Both A and B. 　　          D. Neither A nor B.