—Hello, Jeff.           ?  

—Not too bad.

A. How are you doing                            B. What are you doing 

C. How is it gong                        D. Where are you going

Can you remember a world before the Internet? If you answer is “no,” then you are probably a millennial. Millennials are the new generation of young Americans. They were born between 1982 and 1992. There are 33 million of them, and they are just starting to enter the workforce(劳动力). Many experts believe that millennials are different from young Americans of past generations. They also believe that millenials will change the workforce in important ways.

How are millennials different? They are the first generation born in the computer age. The internet has always been a part of their lives. They spend about 16 hours a week on the Internet, and this doesn’t include e-mail. And they spend 72 hours a week using other electronic media(媒体), including mobile phones and video games. They are “nation speakers” of the language of the computer age. People who were born earlier will never be native speakers of that language. Why not? They did not grow up “speaking” it.

How will millennials change the workforce? To answer that question, it is important to understand how millennials use the Internet. They use the Internet to communicate. They visit website such as FaceBook and MySpace every day. They share(分享)ideas, music, information, games, and friendships with people all over the world. When they start working, they will want to share their work and ideas with others.

  It is also important to understand the way millennials grew up. Thair parents and teachers gave them a lot of attention. They taught them that their opinions were valuable(有价值的). As a result, amny millennials are very cinfident. At work, they will expect their co-workers and bosses to listen to their opinions.

Millennials also grew up with a lot of structure in their lives. Many of them went to school from the age of two or three and played on sports teams. At work, they will expect the rules to be clear. They will also expect a strong but fair boss, like a coach on a sports team. They will follow the person in charge (主管) if he or she is fair. But they will not follow an unfair boss. They will also expect their work to be fun and creative, similar to their experience on a sports team.

These are a few of the changes that experts believe millennials will bring to the American workforce. But the world is changing very fast. There will probably be more changes that are difficult to imagine today.

1.According to the first paragraph of the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Millennials belong to a new generation.

B. Millennials were born about ten years ago.

C. Millennials are entering the workforce.

D. Millennials know little about the world before the Internet.

2.Which is the main reason that make the experts believe millennials are different from young Americans of past generations?

A. Millennials can speak a better native language.

B. Millennials grow up with computers and Internet. 

C. Millennials use mobile phones and e-mails often. D. Millennials spend long hours playing video games.

3.Why do the millennials experct to share their work and ideas with others?

A. Because they know how to use the Internet to make new friends.

B. Because they understand how to communicate with new friends.

C. Because they grow up sharing ideas, music, information, games, and friendships with others by the Internet.

D. Because the Internet can provide all the information they need.

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

A. Millennials grow up with more attention from their parents and teachers.

B. Many millennials are showing more confident than others at work.

C. Many millennials give more valuable opinions to their co-workers and bosses.

D. Many of the millennials have had fun and creative experiences when they are on sports teams.

5. From the passage we know that ______.

A. the number of the millennials had come to 33 million by the end of 1982

B. most of the millennnials learn native computer language in schools.

C. millennials require their bosses to be healthier and the rules clearer at work

D. more changes will probably be brought to the American workforce by millennials

阅读短文，然后根据内容从Ａ、Ｂ、Ｃ、Ｄ中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
With a determined(坚定的) look on his face, Chicago’s Michael McCarthy held on to the banister(扶手) and climbed to the top of the Willis Tower not long ago. The Tower stands 1,451 feet(442 meters) tall, the＿1＿ building in the US.
As he got to the last step, McCarthy ＿2＿ fell down, but that didn’t stop him. The 14-year-old boy finally finished climbing the 2,109 steps and arrived at the top, where he ＿3＿ cheers from many people.
“I just want to show people that ＿4＿ a kid with no legs can do it, anyone can do it,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy, who was born without legs, has to wear prosthetic legs(假肢) and use a stick to walk. But McCarthy has a strong 5 . He believes having a disability(残疾) shouldn’t stop anyone 6  achieving his or her success.
He has been in a special school 7  he was four. When he decided to climb the Willis Tower, his teacher, Jeff Kohn, was   8  by his determination(决心) and offered to help train him. They   9  more than ten hours practicing climbing stairs and keeping balance with the prosthetics and sticks on the steps every day. “ 10  seems that he never knows how difficult it is. 11  I was so tired that I asked him to rest for a day,”said Kohn. “But he said he was still full of energy and wanted more 12 .”
Kohn always walked with McCarthy for the climb. “I   13  the last 10 floors, he went faster,” said Kohn. “He’s the most cravensportsmanI’ve ever trained.”
McCarthy said he was   14  of himself and that the tower now holds special meaning. “When I’m older, I’ll   15  to the building and say ‘Look at this building I climbed’,” he said.

Even though global warming may have made the weather more mild, many animals are still hibernating（冬眠）. It’s too bad that humans can’t hibernate. In fact we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past, farmers in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation. So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French farmers. As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over the France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio’s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed since the invention of lighting.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first sleep”, which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours’ continuous sleep is a modern invention.
In the past, without the artificial light, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves up around midnight. The late night period was known as “The Watch”. It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbors.
According to some sleep researchers, a short of insomnia（失眠）at midnight is not a disorder. It is normal. Humans can experience another state of consciousness（清醒状态）around their sleeping, which happens in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning. This period can be a creative time for some people.
Playing with your sleep rhythms（节奏）can be dangerous, as worry may set in. Medical science doesn’t help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night’s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren’s theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.
【小题1】The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people ______.

The high school diploma (文凭) is losing its value quickly, as a growing number of students graduate (毕业) from school without the math and reading skills that colleges and companies require, according to a new report.
The high school graduation exams that most states (州) require students to pass before they graduate remain far too easy. Most of the exams generally test eighth-or ninth-grade level work.
Today, even high school graduates who are going to have blue-collar (蓝领) jobs need to study the math, research and writing courses. But in high school, only students who are going to college are now required to take these courses.
“If you want a good job with a good pay, it’s a high-skill job,” said Michael Cohen, a leading member of the America Diploma Project.
The project suggests that all graduates master a wide range (范围) of skills. “A high school diploma should mean something to a company and university,” said Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who is Achieve’s co-chairman.
In Taft’s state, about 30% students who go directly to college from high school have to take remedial classes of English or math, he said. It’s easy to see that the present high-school graduating standards are not preparing students for college education.
And with high-skilled jobs increasingly headed overseas to places like India and Ireland, states need to act, he said.
To prove why math and reading skills matter, the report includes real-life examples of problems students meet in college and that workers must solve each day on the job. ?
Some states are taking actions to upgrade the high school diploma. In Texas, all high school students, starting with the 2008 graduating class, will have to take the college-prep curriculum (大学预备课程) - unless a parent agrees to an easier course load. Other states are planning similar moves.
The report includes examples of reading and math skills that high-school students should have. Project leaders say they hope parents will use those examples to judge (评定) the coursework at their kids’ high schools.
【小题1】Why is the high school diploma losing its value quickly?