Computers have many uses today．Computers can solve difficult problems and control complex machines．Many people use small computers called calulators to add,subtract，multiply，and divitde numbers qutckiy．Scientists use largecomputers to solve many problems at the same time．You canplay games with computers,and some computers can help youlearn languages．The Kurzweil Reading Machine is a specialkind of computer．It can read books for blind people．

　　The Kurzweil machine consists of three components:ascanner（扫描仪）,a computer，and a voice synthesize（语音合成仪）．These three parts are like your eyes,your brain,and your voice．The scanner is the“eye”of the machine．It scans,or looks at the words on the page of a book and changes theminto digital signals．These digital signals then go to the cornputer．the“brain”of the machine．The computer analyzes the signals and recognizes the words．The computer sends information abont the words to the voice synthesizer．The voice synthesizer makes the sounds of the words．

　　To use the machine，a blid person simply opens the book and puts it face down on the scanner(like a photocopy machine)．The machine“read”the words on the page．When one page is finished，the blind person turns the page and puts the book on the scanner again．The Kurzweil machine can read in a normal voice or in a special fast voice．It can read words with small letters，large letters，or italics．

　　Blind people like the Kurzweil machine because they can read anything with it:newspapers，magazines，books，even typed letters．Many libraries now have Kurzweil machines for blind people to use．The Kurzweil machine can also help bad sighted children learn to read．

　　Can the Kurzweil Reading Machine help you to read in English?The computer can analyze the grammar of sentences and the voice svnthesizer can make the sounds of the words．However，the machine cannot explain the meanings of thewords．To use the machine,you must know the meanings ofthe words and sentenoes first．

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　　If you have made an agreement to go out to eat withsomeone,you should be clear who is paying．If the other suggests you have lunch with him,or her,you might simply saysomething like this:“I'm afraid I'll have to be some place inexpensive as I have very little money．”The other person maysay,“OK．I'll meet you at McDonald's．”This mean it is agreed that each person pays for his own meal,i．e．that you“go Dutch”．If the person says“Oh,no,I'll take you tolunch in a little restaurant I like very much,”it means that the person wants to pay the bill for both of you．If you feelfriendly towards this person,there is no reason why you should not accept this invitation by simply saying“Thank you．That would be nice．”If a person invites you to his or her home for a meal,it's understood that the person is paying．If you invite someone to your home．it's understood that you are buying the food．If you want to invite someone but for lunch,you must also make yourself clear by saying,perhaps,“I'd like to take you to lunch tomorrow at the Hostess Inn CoffeeShop”(meaning you plan to buy the food)or“Let's have lunch together tomorrow at Burger King．It's on me．”American women used to expect men to pay for all meals,but today most women will pay for themselves．However,you should always make your position clear．Being clear is the polite thing to do．It is lack of clarity that causes loss of face in this situation．

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　　The opera house in Santa Fe,New Mexico,is one of themost beautiful in the United States．It is small and open,withone roof over the stage where singers perform and another roof over part of the andience．This opera house in the mountain is one of the best in the country,which may seem surprising because performances are only given during seven weeks inthe summer,and because Santa Fe is a very small city．

　　One reason why the Santa Fe Opera is so good is that itattracts many excellent young singers．They all hope to singin famous opera houses like Metropolitan in New York someday,and they work hard to become well known during the summer．The musicians and directors are experts who comefrom the best orchestras（管弦乐队）and operas in the country during their vacations．They enjoy working there because they like to live in Santa Fe,which is near both the mountains andthe desert．It is very beautiful there in the summer．

　　The state government of New Mexico advertises the Santa Fe opera in newspapers all over the country,and a great many tourists come to New Mexico because of the opera．Still,most of the audience does come from Santa Fe and other nearby cities,and all the seats in the theater are sold for every show．

　　There is only one thing that some people do not like about the Santa Fe Opera,and that is the cold weather．Because the theater is open,performances cannot start before it gets dark at nine o'clock in the evening,and then the mountain air becomes very cool．Sometimes people complain about the cold air，but because the operas are good,these people come back again-wearing warm coats．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

JACKSONVILLE,Fla,Nov．10．A 14-year-old boywas arrested today after the rotten body of an 8-year-old girlwho was his neighbor was found hidden in his bedroom．Shehad been stabbed and beaten．

　　The boy,Joshua Earl Patrick Philips,admitted and wascharged with murder in the death of the girl,Maddie Clifton,who disappeared on Nov．3,Sheriff Nat Glover said．

　　Joshua,who has no criminal record,would not be eligible（合格的）for the death punishment be cause his age．Detectires recovered a knife and a baseball bat believed to be theweapons used to kill the girl,the Sheriff said．

　　The girl had been stabbed at least nine times and wasstruck in the head,Sheriff Glover said at a news conference．The authorities did not say whether she has been attacked sex-ually,nor did they give motive for the attack．

　　The boy's mother,Melissa Philips,grew suspicious after the police searched her home on Monday and detected a smell,Sheriff said．This morning she pulled aside the frameof the bed,saw a child's feet and called an officer,he said．

　　Maddie's body was found under a sheet of wood supporting the frame of the water bed,which was filled,Sheriff Glover said,adding,“He put her under the bed and taped her up in it．”

　　Investigators believe the third-grader was killed in the boy's house shortly after she disappeared last Tuesday,touching off a widespread search．

　　On Friday．Maddie's parents,Steve and Sheila Clifton,made an earnest request for her return．

　　The boy's house．like others in the neighborhood,had been searched three times．During the third search on Monday,the mother had at first said she thought the odor came from family pets．

　　Hundreds of volunteers had distributed thousands of leaflets with Maddie's picture since she disappeared that evening,about 30 minutes after she went out to play with friends．

　　The girl's house is one of the well-kept,single-family homes in the older working-class of Jacksonville．Yellow rib bons（丝带）still hung from the trees this morning．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Read the advertisements（广告）,then choose the right answer．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　It is the purpose of this book to provide the information and advice needed by people who wish to speak and write English of a good standard．

　　Two virtues are claimed for the book．Firstly,it is written simply,and can be used by people for whom standard references are unintelligible．Any student who has reached senior secondary level should be able to use the book effectively,thereby improving his use of English．Secondly,it includes mumerous exercises which provide a necessary motive for using the reference section．This feature greatly increases the practical value of the book,as a reference and as a textbook．

　　The Dictionary meets a need felt by several groups secondary students and their teachers,students in teacher training colleges and other tertiary（第三产业）institutions,persons employed in secretarial work or concerned with corre-spondence（相符）,and members of the public who simply wish to improve their English．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　The man from the west stopped and drew back his arm．“You're not Jimmy Wells,”he said in a quick and angry way,“Twenty years is a long time,but not long enough to change aman'nose from a Roman to pug?”

　　“It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one?”saidthe tall man“you've been under arrest for ten minutes．Silky Bob．Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way andphones us she wants to have a word with you．Going quietly，are you?That's sensible．Now before we go to the station,here's a note I was asked to hand you．You may read it here at the window．It's from Patrolman Wells?”

　　The man from the West opened the little piece of paper handed him．His hand was steady when he began to read,but it trembled a little by the time he finished．The note was rather short．

　　BoB．I was at the right place on time．When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face wanted in Chicago．Somehow I could not do it myself,so I went around and got a plain clothes man（便衣）to do the job．

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　With kings,artists and writers playing chess,you mightget the idea that chess is the most civilized game．But you'dbe wrong．

　　A Scandinavian manuscript（手稿）,900 years old,tells ofhow one player,who lost a game,picked up the board and hithis opponent on the head with it．Boards were made of stone inthose days．

　　Grandmasters have called it“a blood sport”,“like a fightto the death with broken bottles”and“very dangerous-you have to kill people．”

　　If you agree with the old saying that life is too short for chess,play blitz chess．Five minutes on the clock．Non-play-ers think chess is slow and boring,but blitz is an extremely exciting sport．And as aggressive（进攻性的）as any martial art（武术）．In parks in Russia,where they gather in summer to play blitz,the players don't just take pieces,they knock them off the board onto the ground．And in the classic game,even world championship players have been known to kick each other under the table．

　　With all this aggression,and the stories of nervous breakdowns among chess players,it's worth remembering that chess can heal as well as harm．My own favourite chess story is that of John Healy．His autobiography（自传）,The Grass Arena，was made into a great film by the BBC．Healy was a failed boxer who became the most serious kind of alcoholic（酒鬼）．He became homeless．The bottle nearly killed him．But in prison,he discovered chess,and managed to give up drinking completely．He is now a successful chess player,journalist and writer．

　　Healy is played in the film by the British actor Mark Rylance．It's the performance of a lifetime-chess makes surpris-ingly good cinema．There is a moving scene where Healy tries to find the words to describe how his life has changed．“It's like boxing again…but not with fists…with the mind．”

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的（A、B、C和D）四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Name：Susan Lane　　Age：22

　　Place：Cambridge,England　　Time：2003

　　Cost：$ 7,000．

　　Organization：ARELS

　　Experience：“I think it was a turning point in my life．I beganto understand more about my own culture by experiencing another culture and seeing how other people live．”

　　Name：Sara Small　　Age：23

　　Place：Basel,Switzerland　　Time：2001

　　Cost：$ 8,000．

　　Organization：Southern Cross Cultural Exchange

　　Experience：“I loved the traveling and I made a lot offriends．I found the Europeanschool system to be hard but I am fluent now in French,so it was worth it．I did miss my family and friends in Australia but I wonld love to do it again．”

　　Name：Helen Smith　　Age：20．

　　Place：California,America　　Time：2002

　　Cost：$ 6,000．

　　Organization：SCCE

　　Experience：“I learnt how to be really independent．It was great to be on my own and I got on really well with the family I was with．I will certainly go back one day．”

　　Name：David Links　　Age：16

　　Place：Berlin,Germany　　Time：2001

　　Cost：$ 6,500

　　Organization：SCCE

　　Experience：“I wanted to try something very different to Australia in culture．In Germany everything was different but I soon got settled．The family I was with were great and I really feel as though I have a second family．”

　　Name：Linda Marks　　Age：19

　　Place：Beijing,China　　Time：2003

　　Cost：$ 3,500

　　OrRanization：BLCU

　　Experience：“Traveling in China is extremely interesting，but learning Chinese is really ahard job．I had a few problems but there was always someone to turn to and that was great．”

　　Name：Peter Wang　　Age：21

　　Place：Sydney,Australia　　Time：2004

　　Cost：$ 5,500

　　Organization：Sydney University

　　Experience：“There were times when it was difficult but I like experiencing a different culture．You just have to play each situation as it comes．If there is one thing you learn when you are on a student-exchange program，it is how to take care of yourseff．”

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阅读下列短文，从每题所给的（A、B、C和D）四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　One of the quahlies that most people admire in others isthe willingness to admit one's mistakes．It is extremely hardsometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that,”and it is even harder to say,“I was wrong,and you were rightabout that．”

　　I had an experience recently with someone admitting tome that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago．He told mehe had been the manager of a certain store in the neighborhoodwhere I grew up,and he asked me if I remembered the eggcartons(in many countries,eggs are sold by the dozen and areput in cartons．)．Then he related an incident and I began toremember unclearly the incident he was describing．

　　I was about eight years old at the time．I went into the store with my mother to do some shopping．On that particular day．I must have found my way to the food department wherethe incident took place．

　　There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there were lots of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons．The cartons were put three or four feet high．I must have stopped in front of the piles of egg cartons．Just then awoman came by pushing her shopping cart and knocked off the cartons．Forsome reason,I decided it was up to me to put theeggs back together,so I went to work．

　　The manager heard the noise and came rushing over tosee what had happened．When he appeared,I was on myknees looking at some of the cartons to see if any of the egg were broken,but to him it looked as though I was the on who just did it．He severely reprimanded me and wanted meto pay for any broken eggs．I tried to explain,but it did no good．Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident,it is plain that the manager did not．

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