After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend’s Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes too difficult to understand after his clear words on screen; a secretary’s tone seems more rejecting than I’d imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid—hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days.
For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a tele-commuter. I submit（提交） articles and edit them by E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England; so much of our relationship is computer-mediated.
If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard(暴风雪) of ’96 on TV.
But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I’ve merged（融合） with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node（波节） on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It’s like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents’ worst nightmare.
What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance（逃避），a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.
At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter in the background, something that I’d never done previously. The voices of the programs relax me, but then I’m jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather.　“Dateline”, “Frontline” , “Nightline,” CNN, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work moves from foreground to background.
【小题1】Compared to the clear words of her boyfriend on screen, his accent becomes______.

A．unreal	B．unbearable
C．misleading	D．not understandable

【小题2】The passage implies that the author and her boyfriend live in______.

A．the same city	B．the same country
C．different countries	D．different cities in England

【小题3】What does the last paragraph mean?

A．Having worked on the computer for too long, she became a bit strange.

B．Sometimes TV programs give her comfort and even makes her forget her work.

C．She watches TV a lot in order to keep up with the latest news and the weather.

D．She turns on TV now and then in order to get some valuable information.

【小题4】What is the author’s attitude to the computer?

A．At first she likes it but later becomes tired of it.

B．She likes it because it is very convenient.

C．She dislikes it because TV is more attractive.

D．She likes it because it provides an imaginary world.

【小题5】The underlined phrase “coming back out of the cave” probably means______.

A．going back to the dreaming world

B．coming back home from the outside world

C．bringing back direct human contact

D．getting away from living a strange life

After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend’s Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes too difficult to understand after his clear words on screen; a secretary’s tone seems more rejecting than I’d imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid—hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days.

For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a tele-commuter. I submit（提交） articles and edit them by E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England; so much of our relationship is computer-mediated.

If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard(暴风雪) of ’96 on TV.

But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I’ve merged（融合） with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node（波节） on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It’s like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents’ worst nightmare.

What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance（逃避），a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.

At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter in the background, something that I’d never done previously. The voices of the programs relax me, but then I’m jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather.　“Dateline”, “Frontline” , “Nightline,” CNN, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work moves from foreground to background.

1.Compared to the clear words of her boyfriend on screen, his accent becomes______.

A. unreal       B. unbearable

C. misleading       D. not understandable

2.The passage implies that the author and her boyfriend live in______.

A. the same city                  B. the same country

C. different countries              D. different cities in England

3.What does the last paragraph mean?

A. Having worked on the computer for too long, she became a bit strange.

B. Sometimes TV programs give her comfort and even makes her forget her work.

C. She watches TV a lot in order to keep up with the latest news and the weather.

D. She turns on TV now and then in order to get some valuable information.

4.What is the author’s attitude to the computer?

A. At first she likes it but later becomes tired of it.

B. She likes it because it is very convenient.

C. She dislikes it because TV is more attractive.

D. She likes it because it provides an imaginary world.

5.The underlined phrase “coming back out of the cave” probably means______.

A. going back to the dreaming world

B. coming back home from the outside world

C. bringing back direct human contact

D. getting away from living a strange life

 

A language never stands still. It is always changing and developing. These changes are rapid in primitive societies, but slow in advanced ones, because the invention

and printing and the spread of education have fixed a traditional usage. The only important change that English has undergone since the first of the 16th century is a large increase in its vocabulary. It is interesting to trace the different way in which new words are invented. Let us take just two English words and see how they were made, sandwich and television.

   Sandwich, which is now no longer are entirely English words, but also international, comes from the Earl of Sandwich (died in 1792) who invented the particular form of quick meal so that he could go on gambling all through the night without stopping for dinner. Many names of things are in fact taken from the name of the first inventors, for example, the electrical terms Watt and Volt.

    Television is one of many new scientific words which re invented from old Greek and Latin word. “Tele” is Greek, meaning “far”, while “vision” comes from the Latin verb, meaning “to see”.

1. “Stands” in the first sentence means___________.

   A. be in a certain condition　　　　　　　　  　　   B. not sit

   C. remain without change　　　　　　　　    D. rise to the feet

2. What do you think Volt was? It referred to_________.

   A. a player　　　　  B. a physicist　　　　 C. a writer　　 D. a nurse

3. The invention of sandwich has something to do with__________.

   A. work　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　      B. study

   C. gambling　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. journey

4. English has undergone an important change in its vocabulary for almost _______centuries.

   A. five　　　　    B. four　　　　   C. three　　　　   D. six

5. The language cannot develop rapidly in advanced societies because_______.

   A. the societies have stopped changing

   B. the printing has been invented

   C. the education has spread

   D. both B and C

 

　　A language never stands still. It is always changing and developing. These changes are rapid in primitive societies, but slow in advanced ones, because the invention of printing and the spread of education have fixed a traditional usage. The only important change that English has undergone since the first of the 16th century is a large increase in its vocabulary. It is interesting to trace the different way in which new words are invented. Let us take just two English words and see how they were made sandwich and television.

　　Sandwich, which is now no longer an entirely English word, but also international, comes from the Earl of Sandwich (died in 1792), who invented the particular form of quick meal so that he could go on gambling all through the night without stopping for dinner. Many names of things are in fact taken from the name of the first inventors, for example, the electrical terms Watt and Volt.

　　Television is one of many new scientific words which are invented from old Greek and Latin words.“Tele”is Greek, meaning“far”, while“vision”comes from the Latin verb, meaning“to see”.

(1) “Stand”in the first sentence means__________.

[　　]

(2) What do you think Volt was? He was __________.

[　　]

(3) The invention of sandwich has something to do with ___________.

[　　]

(4) English has undergone an important change in its vocabulary for almost centuries.

[　　]

(5) The language cannot develop rapidly in advanced societies because ________.

[　　]

A．the societies have stopped changing

B．the printing has been invented

C．the education has spread

D．both B and C