B

When TV news programs report wars or disasters, the editors rarely use the most horrifying pictures of dead or wounded victims because they don’t want to upset their viewers. Even so, viewers are usually warned in advance that they may find some of these scenes disturbing, so they can look away if they choose. But the men and women whose job is to record those scenes－the TV cameramen－have no such choice. It is their duty to witness the horrors of the world and record them, no matter how terrible and unpleasant they may be. Consequently, it is one of the most dangerous, exposed and emotionally taxing jobs the world has to offer.

Today, the demand for their work is rising. The explosion of satellite broadcasting and 24-hour news in recent years has created an almost insatiable (贪得无厌的) demand for TV information. But major broadcasters and the TV news agencies—such as Reuters and WTN－have never had enough staff to meet the worldwide demand for up-to-date pictures, so increasingly they turn to “freelance” TV cameramen.

These freelance cameramen are independent operators tied to no particular organization. They will work for any company which hires them, be it for just a few hours or for several weeks in a war zone. But if the freelance cameraman is injured in the course of the job, the TV company is not responsible for him. The freelancer must survive on his own.

TV will always need hard, vivid moving pictures which are fresh, but these companies feel uncomfortable with large numbers of employees on their books, explains Nick Growing, once foreign editor for Britain Channel 4 News and now a BBC news presenter.

By hiring freelancers, they can buy in the skills they need only when they need them. It also enables them to contract out the risk, he says.

69. The freelance cameramen             .

A. have better skills than other cameramen

B. are tied to many TV news agencies

C. have to take tremendous(巨大的) risks in the course of work

D. need to contract out risks of work for TV companies

70. It is implied in the passage that          .

A. TV cameramen have to witness disasters and killing whether they like them or not

B. TV cameramen are a special group of people who enjoy horrifying pictures

C. TV cameramen should be given greater choice of work

D. the development of TV resulted in the growing demand for TV cameramen’s work

71. According to this passage, some major broadcasters and TV news agencies            .

A. have employed enough cameramen

B. are not willing to employ many cameramen

C. are very mean to freelancers

D. are responsible for the freelancer if he is injured

72. The author of this passage shows his           the freelance cameramen.

A. respect for      B. sympathy to       C. anger to        D. admiration to

 

D

Eight-year-old Bethany and seven-year-old Eliza are having a great time jumping around in the orchard of their home in a village near Penrith. They can play any time they like because they don't go to school. Instead, they are educated at home by their parents, Paul and Veronika Robinson. But they don't have lessons, have never used a timetable and learn only what and when they want to learn.

"I want my kids to have freedom in their childhood, not spend it in an institution," says 37-year-old Veronika, "School is all about control and following the rules." Veronika and her 56-year-old husband Paul have never experienced the daily rush to get dressed and out of the door that is common in most households with school-aged children. "We get up at our leisure - usually around 8:30," says Veronika. "We might visit a friend, or go to the library, and on Tuesdays we shop at the market. In summer, we spend most of our time outside and the girls entertain themselves a lot."

New research due to be published this spring reveals a very different picture of Britain's home educators. "Out of 297 families, 184 said that they never use a timetable," says Mike Fortune-Wood of Home Education UK. "Ninety per cent never or rarely use textbooks, and nearly all said that happiness, contentment and self-fulfillment were more important than academic achievement. Only 15% felt that planning what to learn was crucial."

So far, so good. But what, you might ask, are the children actually learning?

"It wasn't important to me that the girls could read by a certain age, but they both picked it up for themselves at around seven," says Robinson. "Weighing cooking ingredients uses maths, and making a shopping list teaches them to write. Observing five hens has taught the girls about survival of the fittest. "

But what about when the children grow up? Can they go to university? The home educators' answer is they can if they want to. There are a variety of routes into higher education, but probably the most common is to join a local college. This is what Gus Harris-Reid has done. "I was educated at home all my life. I'd never had a lesson or been inside a classroom until I started GCSEs," says the 18-year-old. "I'm now studying for 4 A-levels at Exeter College. I've had no problem with the work or with fitting in." When asked to reflect on his experience of home education, his considered response is, "Like a permanent holiday, really!" Not a bad start for someone who plans to take a mechanical engineering degree next year.

66. What is the topic of this article?

 A. New ways of learning to read and write      B. Problems with UK schools

C. Home education in the UK                  D. Wild, undisciplined children

67. Why do the Robinsons not send their children to school?

A. They think schools control children too much.

 B. They do not like the courses taught in schools.

 C. They want to teach their children farming skills.

 D. They live in a remote area where there are no schools.

68. According to the article, in homes with school-going children, ______.

  A. mornings are rushed and stressful.   

  B. the children hardly ever go outside.

  C. the family wakes up around 8:30am.

  D. the children must ask permission to go to the toilet.

69. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  A. Most home educators believe that happiness is more important than good grades.

 B. Most home educators believe that planning is important.

  C. Most home educators do not follow a timetable or use textbooks.

  D. Most home educators are not worried about when their children learn to read and write.

70. What does the article say about home-educated children getting into university?

  A. They learn so many useful skills at home that universities are happy to accept them.

  B. They can get into university if they have 4 A-levels.

 C. They can go to school later and get the qualifications they need in order to enter university.

  D. Home education is so relaxed that they are likely to experience problems when faced with the pressures of a degree course.

D

Eight-year-old Bethany and seven-year-old Eliza are having a great time jumping around in the orchard of their home in a village near Penrith. They can play any time they like because they don't go to school. Instead, they are educated at home by their parents, Paul and Veronika Robinson. But they don't have lessons, have never used a timetable and learn only what and when they want to learn.

"I want my kids to have freedom in their childhood, not spend it in an institution," says 37-year-old Veronika, "School is all about control and following the rules." Veronika and her 56-year-old husband Paul have never experienced the daily rush to get dressed and out of the door that is common in most households with school-aged children. "We get up at our leisure - usually around 8:30," says Veronika. "We might visit a friend, or go to the library, and on Tuesdays we shop at the market. In summer, we spend most of our time outside and the girls entertain themselves a lot."

New research due to be published this spring reveals a very different picture of Britain's home educators. "Out of 297 families, 184 said that they never use a timetable," says Mike Fortune-Wood of Home Education UK. "Ninety per cent never or rarely use textbooks, and nearly all said that happiness, contentment and self-fulfillment were more important than academic achievement. Only 15% felt that planning what to learn was crucial."

So far, so good. But what, you might ask, are the children actually learning?

"It wasn't important to me that the girls could read by a certain age, but they both picked it up for themselves at around seven," says Robinson. "Weighing cooking ingredients uses maths, and making a shopping list teaches them to write. Observing five hens has taught the girls about survival of the fittest. "

But what about when the children grow up? Can they go to university? The home educators' answer is they can if they want to. There are a variety of routes into higher education, but probably the most common is to join a local college. This is what Gus Harris-Reid has done. "I was educated at home all my life. I'd never had a lesson or been inside a classroom until I started GCSEs," says the 18-year-old. "I'm now studying for 4 A-levels at Exeter College. I've had no problem with the work or with fitting in." When asked to reflect on his experience of home education, his considered response is, "Like a permanent holiday, really!" Not a bad start for someone who plans to take a mechanical engineering degree next year.

67. What is the topic of this article?

 A. New ways of learning to read and write      B. Problems with UK schools

C. Home education in the UK                  D. Wild, undisciplined children

68. Why do the Robinsons not send their children to school?

A. They think schools control children too much.

 B. They do not like the courses taught in schools.

 C. They want to teach their children farming skills.

 D. They live in a remote area where there are no schools.

69. According to the article, in homes with school-going children, ______.

  A. mornings are rushed and stressful.   

  B. the children hardly ever go outside.

  C. the family wakes up around 8:30am.

  D. the children must ask permission to go to the toilet.

70. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

  A. Most home educators believe that happiness is more important than good grades.

 B. Most home educators believe that planning is important.

  C. Most home educators do not follow a timetable or use textbooks.

  D. Most home educators are not worried about when their children learn to read and write.

71. What does the article say about home-educated children getting into university?

  A. They learn so many useful skills at home that universities are happy to accept them.

  B. They can get into university if they have 4 A-levels.

 C. They can go to school later and get the qualifications they need in order to enter university.

  D. Home education is so relaxed that they are likely to experience problems when faced with the pressures of a degree course.

B

When TV news programs report wars or disasters, the editors rarely use the most horrifying pictures of dead or wounded victims because they don’t want to upset their viewers. Even so, viewers are usually warned in advance that they may find some of these scenes disturbing, so they can look away if they choose. But the men and women whose job is to record those scenes－the TV cameramen－have no such choice. It is their duty to witness the horrors of the world and record them, no matter how terrible and unpleasant they may be. Consequently, it is one of the most dangerous, exposed and emotionally taxing jobs the world has to offer.

Today, the demand for their work is rising. The explosion of satellite broadcasting and 24-hour news in recent years has created an almost insatiable (贪得无厌的) demand for TV information. But major broadcasters and the TV news agencies—such as Reuters and WTN－have never had enough staff to meet the worldwide demand for up-to-date pictures, so increasingly they turn to “freelance” TV cameramen.

These freelance cameramen are independent operators tied to no particular organization. They will work for any company which hires them, be it for just a few hours or for several weeks in a war zone. But if the freelance cameraman is injured in the course of the job, the TV company is not responsible for him. The freelancer must survive on his own.

TV will always need hard, vivid moving pictures which are fresh, but these companies feel uncomfortable with large numbers of employees on their books, explains Nick Growing, once foreign editor for Britain Channel 4 News and now a BBC news presenter.

By hiring freelancers, they can buy in the skills they need only when they need them. It also enables them to contract out the risk, he says.

69. The freelance cameramen             .

  A. have better skills than other cameramen

  B. are tied to many TV news agencies

  C. have to take tremendous(巨大的) risks in the course of work

  D. need to contract out risks of work for TV companies

70. It is implied in the passage that          .

  A. TV cameramen have to witness disasters and killing whether they like them or not

  B. TV cameramen are a special group of people who enjoy horrifying pictures

  C. TV cameramen should be given greater choice of work

  D. the development of TV resulted in the growing demand for TV cameramen’s work

71. According to this passage, some major broadcasters and TV news agencies            .

  A. have employed enough cameramen

  B. are not willing to employ many cameramen

  C. are very mean to freelancers

  D. are responsible for the freelancer if he is injured

72. The author of this passage shows his           the freelance cameramen.

A. respect for      B. sympathy to       C. anger to        D. admiration to

Pulling luggage through the airport can be a pain, as any frequent traveler will tell you. A new suitcase called only “Hop” is looking to change all of that, though, using signals from your cell phone to go hands-free.

According to Hop’s official website, the suitcase uses three sensors (感应器) to identify the Bluetooth signal from your phone and pick you out of a crowd. Once it’s done that, a microprocessor not only figures out Hop’s position as it relates to your phone, but controls the two caterpillar tracks (履带) in the bottom of the unit to get it moving. Hop follows behind the user at a constant distance, so you don’t have to worry about it “stepping” on your heels, so to speak. If it loses the signal it’s following, your phone will vibrate, letting you know that your poor suitcase is lost and alone in a sea of strange people.

We can see Hop in action in the video below, and we have to say that it looks like a great little device. There’s just one problem: it looks as if you’ll have to walk at a relatively slow pace to keep the suitcase from losing the signal. Since a walk through an airport is rarely a leisurely experience, that could potentially cause troubles. Also, don’t expect TSA agents to just smile and wave as you walk through security with a remote-controlled suitcase tailing you.

Still, the idea behind Hop is really cool, and we’re willing to believe that there are some frequent flyers who would like to put down some money for it right this instant. However, this is just a model at the moment, so don’t expect it to be available for sale anytime soon (if it ever is, for that matter). Would you purchase one of these if Hop ever became available commercially?

66. What is “to go hands-free”?

A. The new suitcase.                                     B. Your cell phone.

C. Signals from your cell phone.                     D. Frequent travelers.

67. Which paragraph tells about how Hop works?

A. Paragraph One.     B. Paragraph Two.              C. Paragraph Three.     D. Paragraph Four.

68. The article is probably taken from _____.

A. Hop’s official website                                B. a website of worldwide news

C. a Western newspaper                                D. a Chinese newspaper

69. According to the article, Hop may run into trouble because _____.

A. your cell phone fails to tell you Hop is lost   B. its caterpillar tracks aren’t powerful enough

C. you usually walk too fast for Hop to follow D. TSA agents won’t be patient enough

70. What does the writer think of the invention?

A. Hop will be in production soon.                  B. Hop is sure to be popular someday.

C. It’s silly to have thought of that.                 D. Hop might never go on sale.