A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet computer web site called a “blog”．The word “blog” is a short way of saying web log, or personal web site．Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like．

There are millions of blogs on the Internet today．They provide news, information and ideas to many people who read them．They contain links to other web sites．And they provide a place for people to write their ideas and react to the ideas of others．

A research company called Perseus has studied more than 3,000 web logs．It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls．They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their life．The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year．

However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas．For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs．And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products．

At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended．Last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service, weblogs．com．He says the site became too costly to continue．He started the blog four years ago, and thousands of people had written on it．

One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket．It involves much useful information for readers．Rebecca Blood created the web site in 1999．She wrote about the history of blogs on the site．That article led to a book called “The Weblog Handbook”．It has been translated into four languages so far．

Ms Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket gets about 30,000 visitors a month．She writes about anything and everything----politics, culture and movies．She recently provided medical advice．And she wrote about how to prevent people from stealing money from online bank accounts．

1.The text is written mainly to _____

A．introduce an Internet computer web site called “blog”

B．introduce a way of reading on blogs．

C．．tell readers how to write blogs        D．tell readers about blogs

2.From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except ____．

A．different ideas   B．medical advice    C．account codes D advertisements．

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

A．A lot of blggers no longer write or read blogs     B．Politicians don’t use blogs at all

C．Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls

D．Dave Winer closed his “weblogs．com” because of money shortage

4.The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that_____

A．it provides plenty of useful information and advice    B．it was created by a woman

C．it is about the history of books    D．it has editions in at least four different languages

 

Hey, Mr．and Ms．Unluckiness and Unhappiness! Terrorism, the war, the economic crisis and unemployment are at your door．Are you afraid of them? Well, don’t be! America is a happy land．The Smiley Face icon proves this in towns all over the country．

The tallest structure—the steel water tower—is often painted bright yellow, in a circle containing a pair of black dots for eyes and an upturned（朝上的）line for a mouth: the unforgettable smile．Most towns decorated their spheroid (or cylindrical) water storage tanks in the 1970s, when Smiley was still conceptually fresh．As a "safe" counterculture symbol, with absolutely no bite, the Smile Face water tower was a low cost way to radiate sunny greetings to travelers and locals．Calumet City, Illinois claims to have been the first, when 8-year old resident Kim Fornero sent a letter to the city council in late 1972 suggesting a smile face would be more fun to look at than a plain old water tower．

In the 1980s, with the paint on the water tower fading, residents of Calumet City decided to make the face their own．They repainted the tower, and a Happy Cook Restaurant and Smiley Face Inn appeared on the highway outside the town, ready to make you smile! Local businessmen printed the Smiley icon on their business cards, and displayed Smiley Face souvenirs in shop windows．

By the late 1990s, the survival of the Smiley Face water tower was assured．It didn’t matter why the face had been painted there—it was now a part of history．In May 2009, the town again celebrated its Smiley Face water tower as a symbol of hope for a better tomorrow．

60．The author mainly wants to tell readers that the symbol asks them to_________

A．greet people politely       B．deal with their problems

C．enjoy themselves            D．forget the past

61．The underlined word “icon ” in the first paragraph probably means________.

A．beautiful picture      B．building    C．image       D．valuable painting

62．Why did Calumet residents accept the tower happily?

A．It set a good example to them.      

B．It made them work harder.

C．They wanted to think it for supplying water.

D．They wanted to make the Smiley Face their own.

63．From the text we learn that the Smiley Face water tower________

A．was based on a painter’s inspiration

B．is a symbol of the prosperity of the town

C．is meant to give people hope for a better future

D．was created in 1972 by the city council, just for fun

 

A “blogger” is a person who writes on an Internet website called a “blog”. The word “blog” is a short way of saying “web log”, or “personal website”. Anyone can start a blog, and they can write about anything they like.

There are millions of blogs on the Internet today. They provide news, information and ideas to the people who read them. They contain links to other websites. And they provide a place for people to write their ideas and react to the ideas of others.

A research company called Perseus has studied more than 3,000 web logs. It says that blogs are most popular with teenage girls. They use them to let their friends know what is happening in their lives. The study also says that more than 100,000 bloggers stopped taking part in the activity after a year.

However, some people develop serious blogs to present political and other ideas. For example, the Republican and Democratic parties in the southern state of Kentucky recently started their own blogs. And American companies are beginning to use blogs to advertise their products.

At the same time, some long-standing blogs have ended. Last week, blogging leader Dave Winer closed his free blog service “weblogs.com”. He said the site became too costly to continue. He started the blog four years ago, and thousands of people had written on it. They are now upset because they did not know that the site was closed

One blog that is still going strong is called Rebecca’s Pocket. Rebecca Blood created the website in 1999. She wrote about the history of blogs on the site. That article led to a book called The Weblog Handbook. It has been translated into four languages so far.

Miss Blood says Rebecca’s Pocket get about thirty thousand visitors a month. She writes about anything and everything — politics, culture and movies. She recently provided medical advice. And she wrote about how to prevent being stolen from online bank accounts.

1.The text is mainly written to _______.

A. introduce an Internet website called “blog”  B. introduce a short way of saying “web log”

C. tell readers about blogs                   D. tell readers how to write blogs

2. From the text we can learn that blogs cover almost everything except _______.

A. different ideas       B. medical advice   C. advertisements       D. account passwords

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?

A. Politicians don’t use blogs at all.        B. A lot of bloggers no longer write or read blogs.

C. Those who like to use blogs are mostly teenage girls.

D. Dave Winer closed his “weblogs.com” because of the money shortage.

4.The reason why Rebecca’s Pocket is still going strong is that _______.

A. it was created by a woman             B. it is about the history of blogs

C. it provides useful information and advice

D. it has editions in at least four different languages

 

To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence(智力)? The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet.

If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can recite many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season.

He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US. However, if you ask Smarter Child other questions, you get stranger answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns, “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives gets, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”

Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for instance, Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online. For the weather, he visits www. intellicast. com.

Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet, an artificial being with the combined knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears could be born. However if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A. I., Artificial Intelligence, he must overcome two problems.

The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself.

Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process(处理) information more exactly and faster than any human, he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child.

1.From the text we can infer that www. Intellicast. com is a website              .

A．which is specially designed to help Smarter Child

B．where we people can find Smarter Child

C．where weather forecasts are made

D．which is about artificial intelligence

2. It is probably most difficult for Smarter Child to              .

A．tell us how to spell a difficult word

B．tell us how the American government is run

C．provide us with a famous poem by Shakespeare

D．learn how to tell right behaviors from wrong ones.

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A. Smart Child has his own memory bank big enough for all kinds of information.

B. A. I. Artificial Intelligence is probably the name of a film about a boy-computer.

C. Smart Child can recognize different files and find information needed on his own.

D. We have similar product now which has the knowledge of Einstein, Nixon and Spears.

4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．A New Web Child	B．Smarter Child
C．The Future of Internet	D．Intelligence Development

 

Whether I’m looking for a good chat with some old Mends or a quiet place to meet a colleague, the pub will be the place I always choose.

I could, of course, go to a bar. But a pub, I always find, is far more comfortable and has a more relaxed atmosphere.

Many people in the UK also have a favorite pub at the end of the road where they live or nearby to where they work. I can almost always guarantee that I’ll bump into someone I know at my “local”, as we British call our nearest pub.

In fact, many people from the UK say that the pub is a cornerstone (基础) of British life. Coming together over a drink, usually of beer, is generally con­sidered the best way to catch up with friends. For those who are a little reserved (内向的), as the British sometimes are, it’s the best way to open up and get chatting.

However, this habit is slowly changing among some British people. According to a survey completed in August by UK trade magazine The Publican, eating, rather than drinking, has become the main source of income for our 52,000 pubs.

The gastropub (美食酒吧), with its greater emphasis on food, is primarily responsible. All over the country, this more expensive type of pub has been springing up, providing a place for more formal meetings with business partners. Wine is often drunk instead of the traditional beer.

But not everyone’s happy. Many people hate the fact that some local pubs are closing because new gastropubs are proving more profitable. “Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive,” Rob Haward, of the British Beer and Pub Association, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail.

For my part, I’m going to do all I can to keep the local British pub alive. It will be the first place I visit when I go back home.

1..   The article is mainly about         .

A. the British pub losing popularity             B. the author’s love of pubs

C. how the British socialize                     D. the local British pub

2..  Many British people say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life because         .

A. it is nearby and convenient

B. it is a great place for meeting friends

C. it is far more comfortable than a bar to have a drink

D. it is easy to bump into people they know in a pub ,

3..  From the text, we can conclude that gastropubs         .

A. will replace the local pubs

B. attach more importance to drinks

C. are somewhere between a restaurant and a bar

D. attract beer lovers as well as wine lovers

4..   Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A. The author is in favor of gastropubs.

B. Wine is thought to show one’s class and taste.

C. British people do not go to pubs as often as be­fore.

D. Local pubs are being seriously affected by gastropubs.