To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence？The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet.

If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can recite many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season.

He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US. However, if you ask Smarter Child other questions, you get strange answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns. “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives gets, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”

Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for instance, Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online. For the weather, he visits www.intellicast.com.

Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet, an artificial being with the combined knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born. However, if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A. I. Artificial Intelligence, he must overcome two problems.

The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself.

Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process information more exactly and faster than any human, he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child.

1.From the text we can infer that www.intellicast.com is a website           .

    A．where we people can find Smarter Child

    B．which is specially designed to help Smarter Child

    C．where weather forecasts are made

    D．which is about artificial intelligence

2.It is probably most difficult for Smarter Child to          .

    A．learn the ability to tell right behaviors from wrong ones.

    B．tell us how to spell a difficult word

    C．provide us with a famous poem by Shakespeare

    D．tell us how the American government is run

3.The underlined  “it ” in Paragraph 6 refers to ________.

    A．where to look for the weather    B．Smarter Child.

    C．a much more difficult task       D．to read web pages

4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

    A．A New Web Child                  B．Intelligence Development

C．Smarter Child                        D．The Future of Internet

 

 

In many cultures white is often associated with something positive. A white-collar job, for instance, is the kind of job many people look for, working with your brain and not your hands.

White has a clean and pure image. That is why doctors, dentists, and nurses usually wear white uniforms. Babies are dressed in white at baptisms（洗礼）and brides wear white wedding gowns at weddings. White in these cases is the symbol of innocence or purity.

Sometimes white is used in expressions that are not good. “Whitewash” is one such expression. At first, “whitewash” meant to paint over something with white paint to make it look better. However, it means something different today: to hide or to cover up mistakes or failures.

A “white elephant” is another example of white used in a negative way. In ancient Thailand, a white elephant was regarded as a sacred animal, but it was very expensive to keep. The kings of those days presented a white elephant to the people they wanted to ruin. Once they received this holy, royal animal as a gift, they were not allowed to sell or kill it. Today, a “white elephant” means something that is big, useless, and unwanted. In America, when people want to get rid of their furniture or clothes, they often have a “white elephant sale”.

1.The text is mainly about________.

    A. the meanings of white in English culture  

B. the history of some English idioms

    C. some interesting customs in English culture

    D. some useful English words and expressions

2.Which expression has an historical background ?

    A. White-wash.                           B. White-collar.

C. White elephant.                         D. White elephant sale.

3.In which statement does “white” have a negative meaning?

A. A boy is dressed in white at baptisms.     

B. A bride wears a white wedding gown.

C. A man whitewashes his crime.        

D. A girl finds a white collar job.

4.From the text we can learn that _______.

   A. a white-elephant sale is useful to the poor    

B. the white color is important in our daily life

   C. a white-collar job used to be easy to get

   D. expressions with white have different meanings

5.The author develops the text mainly by ______.

A. analyzing its cause and effect

B. providing typical examples

C. comparing different ideas

D. following the time order

 

One summer my friend and I decided to go to Italy for a holiday and we decided to travel there without going through a travel agency. You know, you would be submerged (淹没) in crowds of tourists and lose lots of opportunities to get familiar with the country more closely. We started to think over our trip and managed to come up with a free tour of Italy.

   The trip was not very long but it was still very impressive. We look forward to going there again! Of course, we spent lots of time arranging the trip, but it was well worth it! Of course I was afraid that something would go wrong and I was especially anxious about my visa, but everything went quite smoothly in the end.

   The most difficult part was getting a visa without an invitation. In the Italian consulate(领事馆), one must hand in some official paper proving that one has a hotel booked for oneself in order to get the visa. Then we had to solve the ticket problem. Airlines often sell cheap tickets and we bought ours far in advance. The next step was to book a hotel. We finally booked a hotel about thirty km away from the heart of Rome and it was the perfect choice for our trip.

   Every day we took a train that carried us to the heart of Rome. Our big house, which was surrounded by the forest, was a rare girl for the fresh air and absolute silence, beautiful views, hospitable (好客的) hosts, comfortable living conditions delighted us to no end. Besides this, we were very lucky that our mistress was Russian. She gave us a lot of advice that was of great use. She told us what transport to choose and where the best places to go.

    Don’t be afraid to arrange your trip by yourself. It’s not difficult! The only thing I'll say right now is that we really enjoyed traveling by ourselves. We walked with a map and a guide-book to wherever we wanted and we even met some of our fellow countrymen on the way just two or three times. So, if you're also planning a "single" trip, don't forget to take a Russian-Italian phrasebook as people in Italy prefer to speak in their native tongue.

1. Why does the author want to go to Italy again?

    A. He had a great time there.

    B. Italy has a lot of attractions.

    C. His friend invited him there.

    D. He didn't stay in Italy long enough.

2.What does the author think was the hardest in preparing for his Italian trip?

    A. Buying cheap airline tickets to Italy before the traveling

    B. Getting a visa without an invitation from the Italian consulate.

    C. Booking a comfortable hotel on his own in Rome.

    D. Solving the ticket problem far in advance.

3. In the fourth paragraph the author mainly explains

    A. the reason why he chose to live in the center of Rome

    B. the reason why the hotel he booked was the right choice

    C. what transport they chose to travel in their Italian trip

    D. the reason why the mistress gave them some advice

4. Which of the following questions has NOT been answered in the passage?

    A. Why did the author decide to go to Italy for a holiday for the first time?

    B. Why did the author decide not to follow a travel agency?

    C. How did the author prepare for his trip?

    D. What tools did the author use for his traveling?

5. From the text we can know the author

    A. enjoys traveling everywhere in the world

    B. likes being accompanied by tour guides

    C. advises us to arrange trips by ourselves

D. met with a lot of his countrymen in Italy

 

 Sitting is art that isn’t getting passed along. People these days feel as though they have to be doing something. If they are not working, they are jogging, or playing tennis or golf, or taking courses to improve their minds or bodies –or they are parked in front of the TV. Sitting in front of the TV isn’t sitting – it’s watching.

People used to sit a lot. You would walk down the street or drive down the road, and there they would be, out on the doorsteps, sitting. You could go down to the store and sit on the bench out front in the summer or around the fire in the winter. There were sitting benches out in the town square. At the garage, there were straight-backed chairs. There among the oilcans and tries and spare parts, you could kick back and sit.

Houses used to have sitting rooms, where the grown ups would go after Sunday dinner. Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Aunt Ruby would sit and digest (消化) the fried chicken and talk about Aunt Ethel’s illness, and how well the minister did today. Outside, the children would play, and the afternoon would pass by in a comfortable haze (悠闲的氛围).

That sort of thing looks like doing nothing. A recharging battery (正在充电的电池) doesn’t look as if it’s doing anything either. Sitting restores your soul if you want to enjoy a truly full life, don’t just do something –sit there.

1.What message does the author try to get through to us ?

A．People should make better use of their sitting room.

B．People should spend less time watching TV.

C．People should pass down their good habits.

D．People should take things easy for their own good.

2.We can learn from the second paragraph that  _____________

A．people lived a more restful life in the past

B．towns were built to make living convenient

C．small town garages had a lot to offer

D．people enjoyed going out for a drive

3.The sitting room mentioned in the text used to be a place for______________.

A．eating food .

B．watching TV .

C．gathering together.

D．playing with children.

4. From the text we know the writer believes_______________

A．sitting has a good spiritual effect	B．sitting helps people remember the past
C．sitting rooms may have different purposes	D．a sitting room is important for the old.

 

 Banks view online banking as a powerful “value-added” tool to attract and keep new customers while helping to eliminate costly paper handling or teller（出纳员）interactions in an increasingly competitive banking environment .

Today , most large national banks , many local banks and credit unions offer some form of online banking , variously known as PC banking , home banking , electronic banking or Internet banking . Online banks are sometimes referred to as “brick-to-click” banks , both to tell them from “brick-to-mortar” banks that haven’t yet offered online banking , as well as from “virtual”（虚拟）banks that have no physical branches or tellers whatsoever .

The challenge（挑战）for the banking industry has been to design this new service channel in such a way that its customers will readily learn to use and trust it . Most of the large banks can now offer fully safe ,fully functional （功能的）online banking for free or for a small cost . As more banks succeed online and more customers use their sites , fully functional online banking will likely become as commonplace as automated teller machines (ATM).

Online banking has a lot of advantages . Unlike your corner bank , online banking sites never close; they’re at hand 24 hours a day , seven days a week , and they’re a mouse click away . If you’re out of state or even out of the country when a money problem appears , you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business . Online bank sites generally carry out and confirm （确认）deals at or quicker than ATM processing speeds . Many online banking sites now offer fashionable tools to help you manage all of your valuable items more effectively .

1.The word “eliminate” in the first paragraph probably means “         ”.

A．keep

B．remove

C．reduce

D．improve

2.What is the challenge for the banking industry according to the text ?

A．To make online banking attractive .	B．To open new services all over the world .
C．To offer online banking for free .	D．To take care of business 24 hours a day .

3.From the text we can conclude that            .

A．“brick-to-click” banks are in fact another kind of physical banks

B．the function of a “brick-to-click” bank is as common as that of an ATM

C．a “ brick-to-mortar” bank is no better than a virtual one

D．customers can deal with their banking by a mouse click

4.What would be the best title for this text ?

A．Banking of Various Forms	B．Improvement of Banking Industry
C．Development of Online Banking	D．Functions of the “Brick-to-Click” Bank