①It’s “laughably absurd” on one blog and a “magical revolution” on another．Bloggers are talking about the same device—the Apple iPad, which hit store shelves last week．

       ②Tech-heads hate the iPad because it has many functions—you can e-mail, browse the Web, read books—but it has no specialty．There are other devices on the market that do all its functions faster, cheaper and more efficiently．Get a Blackberry to scan e-mails or any old laptop to access the Internet．

       ③This first version of the iPad lacks many basic features．Tech-heads dislike the device not because of what it offers, but because of what it doesn’t offer．It doesn’t have Flash, and it doesn’t have a camera．It can’t access many of the world’s mobile applications, and it has a very restricted apple store．Based on purely technological grounds, the iPad is said to lack more than it gives．

       ④But if you are not a crazy tech-head, and you love the iPod and iPhone, “this device is for you,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO．The iPad will take online activities truly mobile．It will allow you to read the news in bed, check a recipe in a busy kitchen or view a large-scale Google map．

       ⑤Perhaps most important to the masses, it is a traditional computer without trouble．There are wireless, but it’s totally mobile．You press a button and it comes on in seconds．To add a program, you just download it from the Internet．Since almost everyone uses a computer in the office or at school, the need for the traditional desktop model at home is disappearing．Slate Magazine’s Farhad Manjoo calls the iPad the perfect alternative to the home computer system．

       ⑥But no matter how you feel about the iPad, as a tech-head or an everyman, there’s no arguing with its appeal．Love it or hate it, the iPad sold over 600,000 units on its opening weekend, surpassing the iPhone’s record sales in 2007．

1．What can be the best title for the text?

       A．Loving and hating the iPad      B．An exciting invention

       C．A home computer substitute        D．The iPad—a wise choice

2．According to the text, which of the following is Not true of the iPad?

       A．It can access the Internet．          B．It is wireless but portable．

       C．It can play any online video．       D．It can help you scan e-mail．

3．Which of the following best shows the structure of the text?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4．Farhad Manjoo’s attitude towards the iPad might be that of ______．

       A．doubt      B．unconcern       C．sympathy      D．support

5．Tech-heads dislike the iPad because of ______．

       A．its after-sale services               B．its high price

       C．its function shortages   D．its slow speed

 

Jonathan James looks like just another kid about to graduate from high school. But this 19-year-old Swede is anything but ordinary, from the computer in his parents’ home he helps the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) find out the world’s most wanted cyber criminals .
Jonathan first made headlines when he and another Swede, Fredrik Bjoerck, found out the maker of the “Melissa” virus in March 1999. He came to the aid of the FBI again on May 7, finding out the suspected sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus. The suspect was caught in Manila on May 8.
Jonathan’s special skills are in hot demand as officials around the world express alarm at the “virtual” crimewave. In between studying for final exams, hanging out with friends and refereeing his younger brother’s football matches, the quiet, gentle teenager also gives lessons on e-security (电子安全) to large companies. He reads a lot and exchanges information with other computer experts to know much about the latest tricks of the hacker trade.
Many companies have already tried to employ him, but he is not interested at the moment. Instead, he plans to begin law school in the autumn at Sweden’s Uppsala University and start up his own e-security company.
Although he works with the FBI now, his family insists he’s just “a regular kid”. “Jonathan is a great kid, he has his friends and he does a lot more than just play with the computer,” his little sister Tessa said, adding that he helps the FBI because “he likes to help”, not because he’s looking for fame and recognition.
When the world was hit by the “Love Bug” virus, Jonathan was too busy preparing a speech on e-security to look into the problem. “Finally on May 7, I had some free time, so I began looking.” Within a few hours, he had found the suspect and e-mailed his method and results to the FBI. He said his work on the “Melissa” virus, which took three weeks to solve, was a big help in finding the suspect so quickly.
“This time I knew exactly where to start, I knew what to disregard and what to look at.”
【小题1】The passage mainly wants to tell us that ___________.

A．Swedish kid helps FBI find out the most wanted cyber criminals

B．Jonathan is really a quiet, gentle and ordinary boy

C．many companies want the young computer expert to join in

D．any cyber criminals will surely be found out wherever they are

【小题2】The public started to know something about Jonathan just from _________.

A．his helping the US FBI to find out the sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus

B．his work together with Fredrik Bjoerck to find out the maker of the “Melissa” virus

C．his little sister’s talk about his good qualities as a regular kid and a good programmer

D．his speech on e-security to many computer companies after his fight against hackers

【小题3】 From Jonathan’s success in finding out the sender of the dangerous ‘Love Bug” virus we can infer that _________.

A．where there’s a will, there’s a way	B．experience is knowledge
C．hard work leads to success	D．failure is the mother of success

【小题4】What do we know about Jonathan?

A．He is a good fame hunter with various abilities.

B．He is such a brave fighter that any criminal will feel afraid.

C．He is an expert on security, not interested in running a company.

D．He is a regular kid but does something unusual.

In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French,and English—and all at the same time. This sounds incredible, but Alex Waibel,a computer science professor at US's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe,?announced? last week that it may soon be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other.?

One application, called Lecture Translation, can easily translate a speech from one language into another. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Users also have to be trained how to use the programme.?

Another prototype(雏形机) can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what language they speak.“It is like having a simultaneous translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,” Waibel said.?

Prefer to read? So-called Translation Glasses transcribe(转录) the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal(液晶) display(LCD) screen.?

Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person's face, according to researchers.?

During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus, a Chinese student named Stan Jou had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks, neck and throat. Then he mouthed—without speaking aloud—a few words in Mandarin(普通话) to the audience. A few seconds later, the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: “Let me introduce our new prototype.”?

This particular gadget(器械),when fully developed, might allow anyone to speak in any number of languages or, as Waibel put it, “to switch your mouth to a foreign language”. “The idea behind the university's prototypes is to create ‘good enough’ bridges for cross-cultural exchanges that are becoming more common in the world,” Waibel said.?

With spontaneous(自发的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on the radio, tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people, and leaders of different countries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.?

Which of the following statements is not TRUE??

A. A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily.?

B. There is no Muscle Translator in the world now.?

C. Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth.?

D. The spontaneous translators will help us a lot.

What kind of equipment is NOT mentioned in this passage?

A. Lecture Translation.

B. Muscle Translator.?

C. Multiple Translator.

D. Translation Prototype.

What's the final destination of inventing the language translators??

A. To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier.?

B. To help students learn foreign languages more easily.?

C. To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably.?

D. To help people learn more foreign languages in the future.

Where can this passage probably excerpted from?

A. A newspaper.    B. A magazine on science.?

C. A fairy tale.       D. A scientific fantasy book.

The small coastal town of Broome, in northwest Australia, is a remote village in the vast countryside.

There are no traffic jams and hardly any roads. There is only the massive Australian wild land, where some houses are 500 miles apart and some driveways are 50 miles long.

There seem to be only two main sources of entertainment out here: the sunset at the beach and Sun Pictures.

Sun Pictures is a very different movie theater：The seats are park benches and deck chairs, but you’re also welcome to sit on the grass.

It is the world’s oldest outdoor movie garden. Sun Pictures was built in 1916 on the other side of the globe from Hollywood. All the big films were shipped here and the lonely country was amazed.

Broome resident Pearl Hamaguchi has never traveled far from home. But in the Sun Pictures chairs, under the deep blue night sky, she has been almost everywhere.

“And we came back excited about Gregory Peck,” she recalled.

This is one of the few places left in the world where you can see two sets of stars at the same time-----one set in the sky, the other in the film.

Each night, dozens of people from around the world line up at the old wooden stand, with no computer in sight, and buy their tickets to the latest films.

Sun Pictures is also a museum, exhibiting projectors(放映机) that date back to the silent films, a portrait gallery of the famous people who never knew about this place---- even though they came here all the time.

Every once in a while, I’m told, you might find a non-ticket holder in your seat. That’s why it’s always a good idea to shake out your chair to make sure there are no spiders or scorpions.

“We’ve only had a couple of scorpion incidents but no one’s been stung yet,” said Aaron Mestemaker, a tourist visiting from Michigan.

Sun Pictures is a holy hall of movie history and a reminder that air conditioning and carpet are no match for grass and fresh air---even when the lizards steal the scene.

1.. The first two paragraphs want to show that__________.

A．living in Broome is inconvenient

B．the life in Broome is boring

C．few people like to live in Broome

D．Broome is simple but vast

2..Sun Pictures is different from other theaters because _________.

A．it is the most historical outdoor theater in the world

B．the audience can either sit on chairs or on the grass

C．it was built by some constructor from Hollywood

D．all the films were imported here from Hollywood

3.. Gregory Peck is most probably the name of_________.

A．a place

B．a film

C．a movie star

D．a country fellow

4.. It can be inferred that the tourists in Broome are most attracted by ________.

A．its peacefulness	B．its beautiful sunset
C．the Sun Pictures	D．the gallery of movie stars

 

单词拼写（共10小题；每小题一分，满分10分）

1.It is a great ________ for China to develop the fastest computer in today's world.(荣誉)

2.A collection of rare books is on __________ at the city library.(展览)

3.He keeps a bottle of champagne __________ behind a pile of books.(隐藏)

4.He felt ________ about spending so little time with his children.(内疚的)

5.Mrs. Fenn tried to f_________ the boy into telling her who had broken her window.(恐吓)

6.We didn’t think the new album would be such a big ______(风行一时之物)

7.The older __________ still recalls the horrors of World War II.(一代人)

8.Only when we realize the importance of helping each other can we be devoted to building a ___________society.(和谐的)

9.In spite of her f_______, most of her teachers and classmates still like her.(缺点)

10.There was no e__________ that either driver had been drinking.(证据)