Here’s an idyllic(田园风光的) scene: a small village where the sun always shines, crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told, there is no disease, and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to FarmVille — current population 69m and rising fast.

“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard, and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”

Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. FarmVille is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, FarmVille now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base — or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.

Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked,” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”

FarmVille intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.

Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but, once hooked, have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight.

“It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (??145) in FarmVille for $40 (??24) in the real world.

“I’d expanded on FarmVille as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”

Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive(令人着魔的) play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.

59. What does Curran do in the passage?

   A. She is a player.                                                      B. She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia.

   C. She is a chemist.                                                  D. She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows.

60. By FarmVille, the writer means ______.

   A. an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers

   B. a London housewife’s farm

   C. an online computer game built into the social networking site

   D. a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well

61. In the last but one paragraph, the husband kept the woman waiting outside ______.

   A. because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm

   B. because he himself was busy with his farm

   C. in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money

   D. so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm

62. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

   A. The population of the UK is less than 69 million.

   B. This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction.

   C. Once hooked, one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level.

   D. Up till now, nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play.

Here’s an idyllic(田园风光的) scene: a small village where the sun always shines, crops always grow and your friends drop by to sweep your yard to the sound of guitar music. Animals do what they are told, there is no disease, and lending folks a helping hand makes you richer and wiser. Welcome to FarmVille — current population 69m and rising fast.
“It reminds me of my childhood,” says one player, Lia Curran, 37, a chemist from London. “Right now I’m growing wheat and poinsettia, I’ve got a small orchard, and I’m keeping some chickens and some cows. I like having the animals. It’s comfortable.”
Curran’s young animals, however, are nothing more than a collection of computer-controlled cartoons. FarmVille is an online computer game built into the social networking site Facebook and is described by its players as “addictive”. Launched last June by Zynga Game Network, FarmVille now has more players than Twiter’s entire user base — or more than the population of the UK. The players are largely women over the age of 35.
Jenny Glyn, 33, a London housewife, started playing in September. “I had a look at a friend’s farm and was hooked,” she says. “My first motivation was to overtake her, but I did that pretty quickly. Now there’s something satisfying about growing crops.”
FarmVille intellectually unites the worlds of social networking and gaming. Players are given a patch of ground with six fields, “cash”, a few seeds and a plough and have to build up wealth, skills and neighbors to create bigger, better, richer farms.
Inviting your online friends to play means you earn more and get free gifts; you rise rapidly through the first levels but, once hooked, have to work harder and harder with no final level or goal in sight.
“It’s very moreish,” says Curran. She hasn’t yet paid real-world money to advance in the game, but her friends do. One buys extra virtual currency at the exchange rate of $240 (£145) in FarmVille for $40 (£24) in the real world.
“I’d expanded on FarmVille as much as I could, but I just wanted a pond and some bushes and trees around it,” says the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named. “I didn’t tell my husband I’d paid real money because he’d think I’m mad. But then he did keep me waiting in the car outside our house while he harvested his raspberries.”
Brian Dudley, chief executive at Broadway Lodge, an addiction treatment centre, warns that this sort of obsessive(令人着魔的) play can lead to an addiction as severe as gambling.
59. What does Curran do in the passage?
A. She is a player.                                                      B. She is a farmer who grows wheat and poinsettia.
C. She is a chemist.                                                  D. She is a housewife who raises chickens and cows.
60. By FarmVille, the writer means ______.
A. an addictive farm on which live 69 million farmers
B. a London housewife’s farm
C. an online computer game built into the social networking site
D. a farm on which people grow real crops and play as well
61. In the last but one paragraph, the husband kept the woman waiting outside ______.
A. because he was angry at his wife’s being mad about the farm
B. because he himself was busy with his farm
C. in order to punish his wife for her having paid real money
D. so that his wife would wake up from her addiction to the farm
62. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. The population of the UK is less than 69 million.
B. This sort of obsessive play can cause very severe addiction.
C. Once hooked, one has to make greater efforts to reach a higher level.
D. Up till now, nobody has yet paid real-world money to advance in the play.

Mahjong, that favorite pastime of “old folks” in Shanghai, is finding a new audience among younger players, and many university students are becoming mad about this traditional Chinese game. Students at Fudan University have even formed a Mahjong club.

This resurgence of the game, however, is not without its critics. Some people still associate the game with gambling and for many years Mahjong was banned in China. One critic, surnamed Meng, was quoted as saying, “Mahjong is a bad custom that will distract students from studies.” But Yu Guangyuan, former vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(中国社会科学院), says Mahjong is a “healthy, scientific, friendly mind game.”

Mr. Yu’s opinion seems to be shared by the majority of Chinese. They see the game as an activity that requires great concentration and intellectual skill. They also see the game as an important part of Chinese culture and a pastime that brings family and friends closer together. This Spring Festival many families will no doubt spend hours around the Mahjong table getting reacquainted with each other. For them, playing Mahjong is a way of spending quality family time. No one knows who invented Mahjong. Some say it was Confucius, others say the current form of the game was developed right here in Shanghai in the late19th century. It is certainly because of Shanghai that the game enjoys its worldwide popularity. It was brought to America in the 1920s and has since spread throughout Europe and other parts of Asia. There is now a World Championship of Mahjong which is held every year. This year’s championship was held in Chongqing and attracted players from America, Europe and Russia, as well as students from Peking University, Tshinghua University and Nankai University. There was no prize money, but the players delighted in using their wits and their understanding of statistics and probability theory(概率论)to defeat their clever opponents.

Of course, Mahjong doesn’t have to always be that intense. For young people it can be a way to relax and to socialize, a chance to get away from their computers and talk to other people face to face. So, this Spring Festival, why not get out the “old folks” tiles: it’s good to be mad about Mahjong!

67. Why do young people in China like Mahjong so much?

A. It’s an activity that requires great concentration and intellectual skill

B. It’s an important part of Chinese culture and a pastime that brings family and friends closer together.

C. It’s a way to relax and to socialize, a chance to stay away from their computers and have face-to-face communication with other people.

D. It’s a healthy, scientific, friendly mind game.

68. Who invented Mahjong?

A. Confucius 　　B. People of Shanghai　 　 C. People of Chongqing 　D. Unsure

69. Why do students from Peking University, Tshinghua University and Nankai University take part in the World Championship of Mahjong?

　 A. Because they can happily use their wisdom and what they have learned to defeat their clever opponents.

B. Because they can win a large amount of prize money.

C. They want to make more friends through Mahjong.

D. Because it’s a thrilling game.

70. What is the best title of the passage?

A. Mad About Mahjong　　　　 B. World Championship of Mahjong

C. The History of Mahjong D. The Favorite Pastime of “Old Folks”

Did you know that about 300 words in the English language derive from the names of people?

A great many of these words are technical words since a new invention or discovery is often named after the scientist who made the discovery. In this way we have such words as watt, ohm, diesel, dahlia, macadam, ampere, mores.

A good many everyday words, however, have also found their way into the language from the names of people. The very popular word sandwich, for example, comes from the name of Lord Sandwich (1718 – 1792). While he sat at the gambling table, he used to eat slices of meat placed between two slices of bread. His friends began to call this sort of food a sandwich because only Lord Sandwich ate it. But later on it became popular and had to have a real name. So what began as a nickname gradually became part of the common language.

Another commonly used word is to boycott, meaning to refuse to have any connection or business with. This comes from Captain Boycott, who was the agent of an English land owner in Ireland in 1880. He treated his tenants so badly that they all refused to speak to hi,. By this policy they eventually obtained his removal. Such treatment was referred to as a boycott. Soon afterwards this verb to boycott was coined. Both the noun and the verb are still widely used.

1．What’s the passage chiefly concerned with?

       A．English words and names of scientists.

       B．English words and names of people.

       C．English words and discovery.

       D．Words and famous people.

2．A sandwich was named after Lord Sandwich because         .

       A．he was fond of it

       B．he was the only person that ate it

       C．he was the manufacturer of the food

       D．it became popular

3．It is suggested that Lord Sandwich         .

       A．was mad about gambling

       B．had to eat a sandwich because he was in debt

       C．invented gambling

       D．coined the word of sandwich

4．The word tenant (Paragraph 4, Line 4) probably refers to a          .

       A．customer                                            B．doctor

       C．patient                                                D．Person who rents a house