Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically much smaller, in both actual size and aggregate file size. Microblogs “allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links”.

As with traditional blogging, microbloggers post about topics ranging from the simple, such as "what I'm doing right now," to the thematic(主题的), such as "sports cars.” Commercial microblogs also exist, to promote (促进) websites, services and/or products, and to promote collaboration within an organization.

Some microblogging services offer features such as privacy settings, which allow users to control who can read their microblogs, or other ways of publishing rights besides entering the web-based interface.(界面) These may include text messaging, E-mail, or digital audio.

The first microblogs were known as tumblelogs. The term was invented in a blog post on April 12, 2005. However, by 2006 and 2007, the term microblog came into greater usage for such services provided by Tumbler and Twitter. Other leading social networking websites Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and XING also have their own microblogging features, better known as status updates.

Several studies, especially by Harvard Business School have tried to analyze the usage behavior of Microblogging services. Many of these studies show that for services such as Twitter, there is a small group of active users contributing to most of the activity.

Twitter, Facebook and other microblogging services are also becoming a platform for marketing and public relations, with a sharp growth in the number of social media marketers. The Sysomos study shows that this specific group of marketers on Twitter is much more active than general user population, with 15% following more than 2,000 people.

1.Why is a microblog different from a traditional blog?

   A. Because a microblog doesn’t include pictures, but a traditional blog does.

   B. Because a microblog doesn’t include videos, but a traditional blog does.

   C. Because a microblog has smaller contents than a traditional blog in actual and total file size.

   D. Because a microblog can only be written on the cell-phones.

2.Microblogging can protect the following privacy EXCEPT_______.

   A. deciding the readers of the microblogs

   B. allowing readers to publish their views

   C. readers’ deleting what a microblog says

   D. deciding whether readers can enter it

3.We can infer from the passage that______.

   A. microbloggers always post about the thematic topics instead of the simple ones

   B. microblogging has developed so quickly and brought the owners more and more benefits.

   C. microblogging protects both the owners’ and the readers’ privacy

   D. the studies by Harvard Business School have analyzed the usage of microblogging services

 

The story goes that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "Today my best friend slapped me in the face."  They kept on walking until they found an oasis（绿洲）, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.  After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "Today my best friend saved my life."  The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write on a stone. Why?"

    The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in the sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in the stone where no wind can ever erase it."

    You have to learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in the stone.

64．One friend slapped the other because ____.

       A．he was angry that his friend took him to the desert by mistake.

       B．He was angry that his friend did not agree with him about something.

       C．He was angry that his friend kept wasting time writing and carving.

       D．He had to save his friend from drowning, and this almost took his own life.

65．The underlined sentence means we should _____.

          A．not let others know we are angry with them by letting wind erase what we write down.

       B．gradually forgive others for bad things they have done to us as time goes by.

       C．make sure what we write in the desert does not remain long .

       D．not try to find stones to record things on in a desert.

66．What is the right understanding of the last sentence of the passage?

       A．We should write and carve to record different kinds of feelings.

       B．We should record different kinds of things in different ways.

       C．We should remember only good things others have done to us and let go bad things.

       D．We should remember things that others do to us, including both good things and bad things.

67．Which of the following can be the proper title of the passage?

A．True Friendship                      B．Sand and Stone 

C．Hurts and Benefits                   D．Forgiveness and Gratitude

The first time I saw Carlos I would never have believed he was going to change my life．I had my arms full of books and I was rushing into the classroom when 1 ran into something solid. It was Carlos.

"My... you're tall," he said. The whole class burst out laughing .

“Take that seat,” Mr. McCarthy told the cocky(骄傲自大的) newcomer Carlos，pointing to the only empty one , in the back of the room.

Carlos laughed widely. "But I need a couple of dictionaries."

The bell rang for classes. As I stood up to go, I saw Carlos coming toward me. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you," he said . I looked straight ahead over the top of his black hair. "That's all right."

"I ought to know better." He was still blocking my way. "What's your name?" "Karen Forbes." He held out his hand. Unwillingly, I shook hands with him. He looked up at me seriously with his brown eyes. " I am Carlos . I don't see why you're so touchy."

It was the school elections that made me think of Carlos again. Carlos was voted vice-president．“How come ?”I kept asking myself, "How come this shrimp（虾）who’s only been in town for a little over a month gets to be so popular?"

So on that morning，I stopped Carlos and said，“It doesn't seem to bother you — being short.” He looked up at me, "Of course I mind being short．But there isn’t anything I can do about it. When I realized I was going to have to spend my life in this undersized skin, I just decided to make the best of it and concentrate on being myself." "You seem to get along great,” I admitted, "But what about me? The trouble with you is you’re afraid to be yourself. You’re smart. And you could be pretty. In fact, you might be more than pretty.” I felt myself turning red…

1.It is a story about a short boy who            .

A．won the school election	B．is ashamed of his height
C．has learned to accept his size	D．is embarrassed by his class

2.From the text, we can see Carlos is          .

A．handsome and proud	B．humorous and confident
C．diligent but shy	D．honest but sensitive

3.The underlined word "touchy" in paragraph 8 probably means          .

A．moved

B．cheerful

C．curious

D．annoyed

4.According to the text, which is the most likely ending?

A．The author didn’t want to make friends with Carlos

B．Carlos and the author argued with each other.

C．The author changed her attitude towards Carlos.

D．Carlos was elected president of the student committee.

 

One day a rabbit ran into an elephant. "Hello," said the rabbit. "Fine day, isn’t it?" The elephant stopped to look down at the tiny(小的) creature and shouted. "Leave me alone. I don’t have the time to waste on someone so small." The rabbit was shocked by the elephant’s words. Then he decided to ask the whale(鲸鱼) what she thought about the elephant’s rudeness. But the whale laughed at this tiny animal. The rabbit said, "You think that I am weak, but in fact, I am strong! I can beat you at Tug-of-War (拔河比赛)." The whale looked at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Very well, little one. Go and get a rope," she said. The rabbit ran off to find a strong and thick rope. Then he went to the elephant, "Elephant, I will beat you at a game of Tug-of-War." The elephant laughed loudly, but agreed to challenge the tiny animal. He tied the rope around his huge waist. The rabbit took the other end and ran away. He called back to the elephant, "When I say 'pull’, you start pulling. "The rabbit took the other end of the rope to the whale, "Tie this to your tail and when I say 'pull’，you swim." The whale tied the rope to her tail after laughing at the rabbit’s foolishness. Then the rabbit called out "PULL!" The elephant and the whale began pulling. After a while, they were too tired to continue. The elephant and the whale never knew how such a tiny creature could beat them. But from that day on, they said "hello" to the little rabbit with great respect whenever they met.

1.Why did the rabbit want a game of Tug-of-War?

　  A. He wanted to show he was the best.

  　B. He knew that he could do well in this game.

 　 C. He wanted to get respect from the elephant and the whale.

  　D. He wanted to prove he wasn’t the tiniest animal.

2.What do you think of the rabbit according to the story?

  　A. Smart and brave.              B. Tiny and stupid.

  　C. Pride and naughty.             D. Poor and weak.

3.Why did the elephant and the whale lose the game?

　　A. They didn’t prepare for it.

　　B. They were not as strong as the rabbit.

　　C. They were too impolite to the little rabbit.

　　D. They actually fought with each other but not the rabbit.

4.Which statement is TRUE according to the passage?

　　A. The elephant was pleased to talk to the rabbit at first.

　　B. It was the whale who suggested having a game of Tug-of-War.

　　C. The rabbit was stronger than both the whale and the elephant.

　　D. The whale and the elephant began to respect the rabbit from then on.

 

The global financial crisis is likely to cause increased mental health problems as people struggle to deal with poverty and unemployment, the World Health Organization warned Thursday．

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already affected by mental problems such as depression and bipolar disorders （带躁狂的抑郁症） and the current market meltdown （崩溃） could worsen feelings of despair among people who can't stand such illnesses．

The United Nations agency said the impact(冲击) could be especially marked for those living in low and middle income countries where access to treatment is often limited．

"We should not be surprised at the turbulence （动荡） and likely consequences of the current financial crisis．Now we are seeing a huge gap in taking care of people in great need," WHO director general Margaret Chan told at a meeting of mental health experts．

"It should not come as a surprise that we continue to see more stresses, suicides and mental disorders," Chan warned．

Benedetto Saraceno, director of WHO's mental health, said mental health disorders affected one in four people at some point in their lives．

Mental and neurological（精神的） disorders are often chronic （慢性） and disabling, he said．Nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large part of them are young adults．

Asked about the financial crisis, Saraceno said, "Poverty can be the consequence of such events, the debts, despair and sense of loss that may reach middle and lower classes．Even the poor can be affected by this crisis．"

"There is clear evidence that suicide is linked to financial disasters．I am not talking about the millionaire's jumping out of the window but about poor people," he said．The global crisis could be expected to affect the "stability of communities and families", according to Saraceno．

According to the passage, the chief result of the worldwide financial crisis is that         ．

       A．more people will be poorer  B．more people will be out of jobs

       C．more people will suffer from mental problems

       D．more people will commit suicide

The United Nations agency worried that               ．

       A．more rich people would commit suicide

       B．the financial crisis might especially influence developing or underdeveloped countries

       C．the current market meltdown could worsen feelings of despair

       D．hundreds of millions of people in the world were already affected by mental problems

It can be inferred that               ． 

       A．far more work should be done to help those who are mentally ill

       B．it will be surprising to see more people commit suicide

       C．a mental disorder is a chronic disease

       D．many more young adults commit suicide worldwide than people of other ages

The best title for the passage is               ． 

       A．Global Financial Crisis．

       B．Mental Disorders Resulting From Global Financial Crisis．

       C．Suicides as a Result of Market Meltdown．

       D．Chronic Mental Disorders．