IS IT TIME TO GET － MP3

Your computer has been playing music for years, one CD at a time．Now hundreds of songs can be stored in your PC if they’re in the MP3 format．

What is it?

MP3 compresses (压缩) music into small computer—friendly files．You access MP3 music several ways: Tunes can be downloaded from websites that have converted (转变) vast music libraries into MP3．Or you can prerecorded CDs into your PC and convert songs in minutes into MP3．Once MP3 music is on your PC’s hard drive, you can play it through your computer’s speakers, “burn” it onto blank CDs or swap (交换) MP3 files with friends using e—mail．

How much?

Software needed to play and convert MP3 music is often free．It is preinstalled (预先安装)on most new computers or can be downloaded from many websites, including MP3, com．Some MP3 sites are free．Just type at around $50 and can hold hundreds of songs．A blank CD on which you can record music costs about a dollar．

Advantages

MP3 turns your home PC into a jukebox (自动唱机)．Tiny MP3 players are the size of a deck of cards, making it easy to take hundreds of songs with you．

Disadvantages

You may find that music at many sites is limited．And some only allow you to listen rather than download offerings．Others let you download music that then can’t be copied to MP3 players．And a growing number of new CDs make it impossible to copy songs to a computer．

1.How can you get Mp3 music?

2.How much will you pay for a MP3 player?

3.What is the closest meaning of the underlined word “burn”?

第三节回答问题(共3小题；每小题2分，满分6分)

阅读下面短文，根据第58至第60小题的具体要求，简要回答问题。

Nearly all American students in colleges and universities pay for their education. There are many expenses. First of all, there is tuition. At some schools, the tuition is very high, ten thousand dollars a year or more. At other schools, it may only be a few hundred dollars a year. At some community colleges, tuition is free. There are other expenses as well. Many students leave their homes to go to schools in other cities. They may live in dormitories or apartments, and they must pay for it. Finally, students must buy textbooks for their courses. Some families start saving money for their children’s education when the children are small. Many students work to save money for tuition. They can also get loans from the government. They pay the money back to the government when they finish their education.

58. How much is the higher tuition? (no more than 7 words)

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59. Why do many students live in dormitories or apartments? (no more 7 words)

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60. When do many students pay back their loans from the government? (no more than 5 words)

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Feeling blue about world? “Cheer up.” Says science writer Matt Ridley．”The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature．”

Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he’s carefully weighed the evidence; optimistic, because that evidence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good．And this is what he’s set out to prove from a unique point of view in his most recent book．The Rational Optimist．He views mankind as grand enterprise that on the whole, has done little but progress for 100,000 years．He backs his finding with hard facts gathered through years of research．

Here’s how he explains his views．

1) Shopping fuels invention

It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone．Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better ears, and of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us．This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we’ll be．

2）Brilliant advances

One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs -food, clothing, fuel and shelter- have grown a lot cheaper．Take one example．In 1800 a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work．In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for．In 1950 it was eight seconds．Today it’s half second．

3）Let’s not kill ourselves for climate change

Mitigating（减轻）climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself．A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel（化石燃料）electricity is forbidden by well - meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change．If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose - bleed by putting a tourniquet（止血带）around our necks．

1.What is the theme of Ridley’s most recent book?

A．Weakness of human nature．

B．Concern about climate change．

C．Importance of practical thinking．

D．Optimism about human progress．

2.How does Ridley look at shopping?

A．It encourages the creation of things．

B．It results in shortage of goods．

C．It demands more fossil fuels．

D．It causes a poverty problem．

3.The candle and lamp example is used to show that    ．

A．oil lamps give off more light than candles

B．shortening working time brings about a happier life．

C．advanced technology helps to produce better candles．

D．increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods．

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

1  . The time and money that doctors spend on their medical education are probably one reason for this problem.

A visit to a doctor’s office costs from fifteen to fifty dollars. It is impossible to pay for the medical care they need. 2  . Most doctors, however, disagree. They say that they were required to study medicine for a long time. Tuition（学费） for many years of medical education costs a lot of money. Doctors say that it is necessary for most medical students to borrow money from a bank to pay their tuition. 3  , young doctors need a lot of money for their work. 4 .

Therefore it is possible that the high cost of medical care in American is unnecessary. Because high tuition is one cause of high costs,    5   .

E.  The cost of medical care in the United States is very high.

F.  Because this money must be repaid to the bank.

G.  So, they charge people high prices for medical care.

It was Monday. Mrs. Smith's dog was hungry , but there was not any meat in the house.

Considering that there was no better way. Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it：“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently：“Take this to the butcher（* person whose job is selling meat）and he's going to give you your lunch today.”

Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.

At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.

The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers.

But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled . He said to himeself,“This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today？”

Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it！

1.Mrs. Smith treated her little dog quite  　　　.

2.It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs. Smith gave it 　　　.

3.The butcher did not give any meat to the dog  　　　.

4.From its experience, the dog found that  　　　.

5.At the end of the story, you'll find that 　　　.