The English language started in Britain in the 5th century . It is a mixed（混合的） language. It was built up when German , and French invaders (侵略者) settled in England and created a common language for communication .

Today, it is the official language of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland . Many other countries and regions use it for politics and business, for example, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines. English is also one of the official languages of Hong Kong .

But global advertising and pop music mean that in most countries you will see or hear some English . Thanks to McDonalds, we all know about “ burgers ”, “ fries ” and “ milkshakes ” . Songs by Madonna , Britney Spears and Celine Dion are in English. We can sing along, even if we do not understand what we are singing !

English is a messy language. Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture. For example, computer-related words such as “ blogging ”, “ download ” and “ chatroom ”. Also included are words that teenagers use . Who does not know “ cool ”, “ OK ” and  “ hello ” ?

Other languages also influence English. Many English words come from French. Words like “ cafe ” and expressions like “ C’est la vie ” (that is life) are all part of the English language. German words are also part of English . Words like “ kindergarten ” come from the German language . Recently , British people have become interested in “ yoga ” (瑜伽). But the word comes from an ancient Hindu language in India .

All in all , the English language is full of twists and turns and it is changing all the time . Make sure you keep up with it !

71. The author uses the words “ blogging ” and “ download ” in order to show       .

A. Web is very important               B. he knows a lot

C. he likes surfing the Internet           D. popular culture has an influence on English

72. English borrows words from other languages . Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text ?

A. French .           B. German .           C. Chinese .          D. Hindu .

73. Which of the following pushes the changes of English according to the passage ?

A. Personal interests .                    B. Global advertising .

C. International travelling .                D. Developments of Britain .

74. Which of the following is NOT true ?

A. English has a history of about 150 years .

B. English is one of the official languages of Hong Kong .

C. English has always been changing .

D. English has borrowed words from other languages .

75. What is the main idea of the passage ?

A. Changing English .                   B. The importance of English .

C. The future of English .                D. The birth of English .

Watch out, Yahoo. There is a search engine out there with super speed and accuracy. It’s very cool.
Google is the Web’s largest search engine. In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering what you are looking for in a second. The site now does this 40 million times a day --- a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad.
Google doesn’t need them. In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby (the online version of the Oscar) for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages.
Yahoo still has ten times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they are looking for most or all of the time. “You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter.
No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probably sometime in 2004. they make a great comedy duo(成对的表演者)。When they first met as Ph. D. students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but driven together by a computer-science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web.
The idea behind the Google is that traditional search engines are stupid. They think relevance (关联) is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear. Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse. If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code(编码).
1What does the underlined word “them” in the third paragraph refer to?
A. 40 million times              B. Speed and accuracy. 
C. TV and newspaper ads.        D. Web pages
2. Which of the following win greater customer satisfaction?
A. Yahoo        B. Tiger Woods      C. Larry Page     D. Google
3. It can be inferred that Page and Brin ______________.
A. hold very important positions in Google
B. are two ordinary computer programmers of Google.
C. used to hate each other very much
D. hold quite different opinions of computer-science
4. We can learn from the last paragraph that ___________.
A. Google is open to abuse
B. Google remains a traditional search engine
C. Google thinks relevance is based on repetition
D Google is better than traditional search engines

Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?

Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).

“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.

Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.

As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:

“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”

The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.

The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it.

The passage is mainly about _____.

  A. how a web site is set up                             B. how sad the love stories are

  C. How much a website can make                   D. How many people like the web site

How long is it since the start of this website?

  A. Less than three months.                             B. At least three months.

  C. Less than one month.                                D. Not known.

How many people have registered on this website within three months?

  A. About 600.           B. About 3,000.            C. About 3,500.            D. Not know.

Who set up this website?

  A. Megahn herself alone.                               B. Megahn and her best friend.

  C. Megahn and her stepmother.                      D. Megahn and her exboyfriend.

What’s the meaning of the underlined word “gap” in the last sentence?

  A. Gulf between two people.                        B. Misunderstandings among each other.

  C. Differences from a pawn shop.                 D. A market worth developing.

The inventor of the world wide web，Tim Berners?Lee，has won an important award which comes with a prize bag of one million euros (￡671,000)．The “Father of the Web” was named as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation.He said he had just been “in the right place at the right time” and did not want his photo taken.

In 1991，he came up with a system to organize，link and browse(浏览) Net pages which revolutionized the Internet.The British scientist was knighted(封爵) for his pioneering work in 2003.

Sir Tim created his program while he was at the particle physics institute，Cern，in Geneva.The computer code he came up with let scientists easily share research findings across a computer network.In the early 1990s，it was called the “world wide web，” and is still the basis of the web as we know it.

The famous man never went on to commercialize his work.Instead he worked on expanding the use of the Net as a channel for free expression and cooperation.

“The web is encouraging new types of social networks and opening up new ways for information management and business development.The web has significantly improved many people’s ability to obtain information central to their lives，”said Pekka Tarjanne，chairman of the Millennium Technology Prize award committee.

Just under 80 people from 22 countries were nominated(提名) for the prize for their work in the areas of health，communication，new materials and the environment.

The Millennium Technology Prize was set up by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation，an independent body backed by the public and private money which aims to recognize outstanding creations.

Sir Tim currently heads up the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston，where he is now based as an academic.

1.It can be learned from the first two paragraphs that ________.

A．it is Tim Berners?Lee that invented the Internet

B．no one was able to surf the Net before the world wide web was invented

C．the Internet can’t be used so widely without Tim Berners?Lee’s invention

D．the Millennium Technology Prize was set up for Tim Berners?Lee

2.After inventing the world wide web，Tim Berners?Lee ________.

A．became the first person to receive the Millennium Technology Prize

B．became the first person to be knighted by the Queen of England

C．began to cooperate with many scientists in other areas

D．was given over one million pounds for his great contribution

3.Which of the following best describes Tim Berners?Lee?

A．Optimistic. B．Modest.

C．Ambitious.? D．Careful.

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A．The Millennium Technology Prize

B．Tim Berners?Lee

C．The World Wide Web

D．New Honor for the Web’s Inventor