EBay will launch an online group gift-buying service today designed to make it easier for several people to chip in, buy and pay for gifts using their social-network and e-mail contacts．

       EBay North America Vice President Christopher Payne says it is going to be a major step forward in social commerce, which is the still-small practice of selling products through social networks．Online retail experts aren't as certain, but eBay says the new tool makes it easier for friends and relatives to chip in （凑钱） for gifts because it eliminates the headache of collecting contributions．It can also be used for family members to pitch in to buy, say, an expensive child seat for a mother．

       Anything on eBay that's available immediately, rather than up for bid, can be purchased this way starting today at groupgifts．eBay．com．If members of an extended family wanted to buy a gift for one member, one person would choose a gift — or have one recommended by eBay — and invite family members to chip in using Facebook or e-mail．Those who wanted to join in would choose an amount to contribute （or agree to pay a requested amount） and pay using either PayPal or a credit card．They could also add a personal note．

       If enough people don't chip in, the organizer can ask people to contribute more or choose a less expensive gift．

       "I see myself using this most in cases when I typically might not buy someone what they want because of price," says Nitzan Shaer of Boston, who was part of an online test of the site．

       EBay, with its 200 million products, millions of sellers and mobile commerce proficiency, is a logical place to pull together the products, groups of buyers and payment tools, Payne says．

       At least 12 sites, such as FrumUs．com and eDivvy．com, facilitate （便于,利于） group purchases but don't sell products．Although a handful of retailers, including Victoria's Secret and 1-800-Flowers, sell products through Facebook, Payne says he expects social commerce will take off as rapidly as shopping using mobile devices．EBay did more than $600 million in sales on mobile devices last year and expects mobile sales to increase to $1．5 billion this year．

       Although one in five consumers surveyed said they'd used Facebook for shopping in the past year, 88% said they would not be buying holiday gifts through a social network, mobile phone or smartphone．Of these, 26% were reluctant because of security or privacy concerns, and 20% were unclear about the benefits of using phones or Facebook to shop．

What procedure should be followed if your extended family intends to buy your grandpa an 80^th birthday gift?

       ①Asking family members to contribute more money if enough members don’t chip in

       ②Choosing a gift at groupgifts．eBay．com

       ③Paying using PayPal or a credit card

       ④Contributing or agreeing to pay a requested amount of money via Facebook or e-mail

       A．②-①-③-④           B．①-③-②-④    

       C．②-④-①-③            D．②-③-④-①

Where can we most probably read this text?

       A．In a research paper  B．In a travel magazine

       C．In a microblog        D．On a website

What does “it” mean in the 2^nd paragraph?

       A．The online group gift-buying service

       B．People’s social-network and e-mail contacts

       C．A major step forward in social commerce

       D．The still-small practice of selling products through social networks

It can be inferred from the text that ______．

       A．through eBay’s new tool, 200 million products on eBay are available to online shoppers

       B．social commerce can eliminate the headache of collecting contributions

       C．eBay’s new tool will gain mass adoption by online shoppers

       D．with the help of eBay’s new tool, FrumUs．com and eDivvy．com will also sell products

短文填词 （共10小题，每空1分，满分10分）

I’m writing to tell you my imagination about life in the future.

No one can tell exactly what kind of life will be a__________ of                    

___________

us. But I can ____________ (宣布) with certainty that life will                               

___________

be m___________ easier. I’m sure there will be more educational                         

___________

programs on the radio or TV. So children will get _____________                           

___________

at home w_____________ going to school every day. Besides, most                     

___________

of us will have videophones at home through __________ we can                         

___________

have a medical exam or do some _________ (购物) at home. Meanwhile,         

___________

we’ll have robots to _______ (帮助) us in doing housework, allowing                   

___________

us more time to enjoy life. With the development of ___________ (科学)            

___________

researches, ordinary people may soon be able to spend their holidays         

in space and a great __________ of people may live in space or undersea.         

__________

Hee-haw! Scores of farms across the country are opening up to overnight guests. The best have all the appeal of a first-rate inn ----- plus here a moo, there a moo.

Sure, you and your kids plan to conquer the theme parks. In the meanwhile, why not make a little hay? Farm stays are fast becoming the great American alternative to the pre-packaged vacation.

LIBERTY HILL FARM

Rochester, Vt.; 802/767-3926; www.libertyhillfarm.com. Adults$75, teens $50,kids 12 and under $35, including breakfast and dinner; shared baths.

Beth and Bob Kennett run a farm straight out of a storybook. You’ll find Beth in the kitchen, rolling out dough（生面团） for a pie. Bob’s busy with other work. Guests sleep in seven sunny bedrooms right in the farmhouse and can participate in any of the farm jobs. Maybe you and your kids won’t be up at 6 a.m. to meet the milk truck, but you can help with the milking twice a day, collect eggs, and pick sweet corn and wild blackberries in season.

HULL-O FARM

Durham, N.Y.; 518/239-6950; www.hull-o.com; Adults $110, kids 10—14 $60, 5—9 $50, 2—4 $35, under 2 free, including breakfast and dinner; private baths.

It started in 1993 as a way to bring in some extra money at a time of falling milk prices. But soon after Frank and Sherry Hull opened their Catskill Mountains dairy farm to overnight visitors, they discovered they loved it. As you drive up, Sherry greets you on the porch（入口处）of the 1825 farmhouse with a cow-shaped cookie jar. Before long your kids are playing around with the cows, sheep, ducks, goats and getting ready for a hayride（乘坐装满干草的牛车出游）.

MERAMEC FARM CABINS

Bourbon, Mo.; 573/732-4765; http://www.wine-mo.com Doubles with private bath $75, $10 per additional person. Trail and riding fees extra.

Climb onto the back of the Ford pickup and catch up with the herd. One gentle cow named Cricket will even let the kids sit on her back. At the barn（牲口棚）, Carol will introduce you to the horses ---15 Missouri Fox Trotters --- and lead you on a trail ride over the hills and down along the spring-fed Meramec River, where everyone swims. Grab a fishing pole and head back to the river. When you have your fill of the wild, try Carol and Dave’s favorite restaurants or wineries（酿酒厂）, within 20 miles of the farm.

The underlined sentence in the first paragraph implies that ___________.

A. you can enjoy the best cuisine at the first rate restaurant

B. some farm provide country experiences as well as good accommodations

C. farm work is hard, but you can enjoy it a lot, playing with the animals

D. if you want to hear a cow’s cry, please stay on a best farm

We can learn from the three ads that _____________.

A. Hull-O Farm was not built for overnight visitors

B. Frank and Sherry Hull run a farm out of a storybook

C. kids can sit on a gentle cow’s back on Hull-O Farm

D. you can’t milk a cow if you get up late on Liberty Hill Farm

The Browns have a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. If they stay on Liberty Hill Farm for one night, how much will they pay?

A. $175.                B. $220.                C. $235.                D. $250.

Who will be most likely interested in the webpage?

A. Kids who want to find pleasure in the theme parks.

B. People who expect to be employed on the farm.

C. Researchers who are interested in raising cows on farms.

D. Those who plan to have family vacations on working farms.

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.

    The expression “to be in hot water” is one of them. It is a very old expression. “Hot water” was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.

    That no longer happens. But we still get in “hot water”. When we are in “hot water”, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble---serious, and not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he comes into the house with dirty shoes.

    Being in “deep water” is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in “deep water”, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who cannot swim being thrown into water over his head.

     You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest(投资) in stocks(股票) without knowing anything about the stock market.

     “To keep your head above water” is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.

     “Water over the dam” is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water which has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.

53. The passage mainly tells us _______ .

A. the importance of water in our life    B. some expressions about water   

C. some sad stories about water         D. some lessons about daily life

54. When a friend is troubled by a mistake she has made, you might tell her to forget about it. You say “ _______”.

A. You are in hot water                          B. You are in deep water

C. Keep your head above water               D. It is water over the dam

55．Two of the phrases “to be in hot water” “to be in deep water” mentioned in the passage have the same meaning of “ _______ ”.

A. to be in debt                          B. to be in difficulty

C. to be useless                           D. to be out of water

56. Which of the following expressions is a bit different from the others in meaning?

A. To be in hot water.                B. To be in deep water.

C. To keep your head above water.      D. Water over the dam.

Sorry to say,our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30.It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped,but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster.“Your brain is a learning machine,”saying University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich.Given the right tools,we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger.All that’s required is the practice designed just for the purpose:a few exercises for the mind.

Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(过程) in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com).Since much of the data we receive comes through speech,the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy(准确性).

Over the course of training,the program starts asking you to distinguish(辨别) sounds (between“dog”and“bog”,for example) at an increasingly faster speed.It’s a bit like tennis instructor,says Merzenich,hitting balls at you—faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑战).You may start out slow,but before long you’re pretty quick.

The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic.If you ask your brain to learn,it will learn.And it may even speed up while in the process.

To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you:playing table tennis or bridge,doing crossword puzzles,learning a language...“When it comes to preventing ageing,you really do ‘use it or lose it’,”says Barbara Sahakian,professor at Cambridge University.

Dr.Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on ______.

A.speech training

B.computer languages

C.the activities one joins in

D.the information being dealt with

By saying “the brain at any age is highly plastic”,the writer probably means the brain can be ______.

A.used                                                            B.mastered

C.developed                                                     D.researched

What can we learn from the text?

A.Practice makes a quick mind.

B.Brain research started ten years ago.

C.Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer.

D.People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down.

Which of the following agrees with the writer’s idea?

A.The training methods work better for the old.

B.People should use the brain to stop it from ageing.

C.The training of the brain should start at an early age.

D.It’s necessary to take part in as many activities as possible.