An Australian company, Smart Car Technologies, has developed a system that lets drivers know when they’re speeding. When the technology becomes commercially available, it could help lead-footed drivers avoid tickets and also save lives. The company that developed the product hopes to convince Australian government agencies to put the technology into use in their automobile fleets.

The product, called Speed Alert, links real-time location data and speed obtained with the help of GPS to a database of posted speed limits stored in a driver’s PDA or programmable mobile phone. The setup of the product does not need to be hooked up to a car’s speedometer. In fact, it is entirely portable. It will also work with newer phones and PDAs that have built-in GPS receivers. If a driver exceeds the speed limit, the speed is shown and an alert sounds.

Michael Paine, an Australian vehicle design engineer and traffic safety consultant, was hired to analyze the product. He told Live Science that his colleagues in the road safety field are “very enthusiastic” about what they’re now calling “intelligent speed alert.” Other research, according to Paine, shows that 40 percent of all traffic deaths involve speeding. There is also a potentially controversial future use: “Since the system is so portable, it would be easy to make it a requirement for teenage drivers to always use a speed alert device when driving,” Paine said. “The system even has the capability to record speeding violations, so parents can monitor their teenage drivers.”

The product will soon go on sale in Sydney.

1. What’s the purpose of the new product?

A. To inform us of the new car system.   B. To introduce some improvement in cars.

C. To limit certain drivers to safe driving.  D. To popularize the built-in car system.

2.The second paragraph mainly talks about        .

A. the project of the built-in product     B. why the system becomes popular

C. the functions of GPS in cars         D. how the product is programmed

3.Which of the following is true of Speed Alert according to Michael Paine?

A. Most of the traffic deaths can be avoided.     B. Speeding violations can be easily found out.

C. The system will excite some teenage drivers.   D. The product will not be available for adults.

4.What can be the best title of the passage?

A. Speed Alert and Its Future Use.             B. Progress in Car-making Science.

C. Warning for Adventurous Drivers.           D. New In-Car Device against Speeding.

 

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, they usually talk simultaneously（同时的）about a variety of subjects, including children, men, careers and what' s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen -- they can' t do both -- and they don' t understand that women can. Besides, women consider that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships -- not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring at the screen.

During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the subtle body language signals that reveal how the characters are feeling emotionally. Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully in order to maintain relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to relate the facts.

Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a means of bonding. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.

There is no convincing evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls' mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked  to and looked at, baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents respond to the brain bias of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech，we therefore talk to them more. Consequently, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short grunts in reply.

 

1. While watching TV with others, women Usually talk a lot because they

A. are afraid of awkward silence with their families and friends

B. can both talk and watch the screen at the Same time

C. think they can have a good time and develop relationships

D. have to explain the plot and body language to their husbands

2.After a vacation with her girlfriend, a woman would talk to her again on the phone for hours in order to              .

A. experience the happy time again    B. keep a close tie with her

C. recommend her a new scenic spot   D. remind her of something forgotten

3.What does the author want to tell us most?

A. Women' s brains are better organized for language and communication

B. Women love to talk because they are more sociable than men.

C. Men do not like talking because they rely more on facts.

D. Social conditioning is not the reason why women love talking.

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Women Are Socially Trained to Talk      B. Talking Maintains Relationships

C. Women Love to Talk                  D. Men Talk Differently from Women

 

Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in no more than ten words:

Just Ask Grandma

We read and hear a lot about healthy eating in newspapers and on TV nowadays. Experts and nutritionists tell us what to eat, when to eat and how to eat to stay healthy, Some of the their advice seems reasonable. Some just sounds strange. Who can we rely on?

Well, ask yourself another question: How did people choose foods and stay healthy before there were nutrition experts? We relied on culture, which is another way of saying: on tradition and common sense.

All of us carry around rules of thumb about eating that have been passed down in our families or plucked（采集） from culture. Earlier this year, US writer Michael Pollen posted a request about these rules on The New York Times website. Within days, he received more than 2,500 responses. Not all of them have stood the test of time or been confirmed by science, but all of them have something to teach us, Pollen said.

Here are some of Pollen’s favorites:

My parents are both from Italy, and one of our family rules was that you could not leave the table until you had finished your fruit. It was a great way to put fruit into our diets and also helped satiate（满足）our sweet tooth, keeping us away from less healthful sweets. – Marta C. Larusso

From my Romanian grandmother: “Breakfast, you should eat alone. Lunch, you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.” – Irina A. Dumitrescu

Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow. – Carrie Cizauskas

“It’s better to pay the grocer（食品商） than the doctor” was the saying that my Italian grandmother would frequently use to remind us of the love and attention to detail that went in to her cooking – John Forti

If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry. – Emma Fogt

“Make and take your own lunch to work.” My father has always done this, and so have I. It saves money and you know what you are eating. – Hope Donovan Rider

Never eat something that is pretending to be something else, e.g.: chocolate-flavor sauce that doesn’t contain chocolate. – Sonya Legg

1.Other than health experts, which other sources are there for us to turn to for advice on diet?

2.What does the underlined sentence imply?

3.According to Marta C. Larusso, we can both satiate our sweet tooth and keep away from less healthful sweets by_________________________________

4.What did John Forti’s grandmother mean when she said, “It’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor.”?

 

第二节：完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）

阅读下面短文，掌握大意，然后从各小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项

When I was a girl, in the deserts of Somalia(索马里), my family was nomadic(游牧的),   36  with our animals, and leading a happy life.

I was about thirteen  37 my father called me at the end of a hot day. “Come and  38  here.” He said．“I’ve found you a  39 ! We have arranged that he will  40  me five camels. “ That night I ran away. I was  41．For almost three weeks, I walked  42  the desert, and finally I got to my auntie’s house in Mogadishu. Auntie’s husband was an ambassador（大使）, and in a few months I  43  Britain to work at his London house.

One day a  44  called Michael Goss saw me in the street. He took my picture and the photographs were  45 . “You should try and do  46 ,” he told me. When my aunt and uncle  47  Africa, I stayed in London. I found a place to stay and got  48  at McDonald’s before I  took Michael Goss’s photographs to an agency one day. They  49  me to a studio, and my picture appeared  50  of the Pirelli calendar. Soon after that, the agency got me  51  in the James Bond film The Living Daylights.

That was seven years ago. Since then I’ve done modeling all over the world and I’ve had frequent  52  in magazines such as Vogue and Elle. I have  53  hosted the US music program Soul Train.

Once  54  five camels, now I can  55  up to ?5000 for one day’s work. I have gone from the bottom to the top.

36．A．working hard     B．living together     C．looking after        D．moving around

37．A．when            B．after              C．as                 D．before

38．A．listen            B．sit                 C．work             D．see

39．A．business          B．boss              C．husband            D．chance

40．A．support           B．provide            C．share             D．give

41．A．excited           B．worried            C．frightened         D．surprised

42．A．around           B．through            C．inside            D．beyond

43．A．flew to           B．stayed in           C．chose            D．left

44．A．director          B．editor            C．photographer       D．writer

45．A．satisfied          B．beautiful           C．well-mannered     D．young

46．A．designing        B．photographing      C．dressing            D．modeling

47．A．moved to        B．changed for         C．returned to       D．started for

48．A．something to eat  B．a job              C．a bedroom        D．a workroom

49．A．sent             B．wanted            C．ordered            D．informed

50．A．in the list        B．on the cover         C．in the ads          D．on the page

51．A．a rise            B．a job             C．a part            D．an actress

52．A．interviews        B．performances       C．visits             D．appearances

53．A．already           B．even              C．yet                D．still

54．A．looking after      B．feeding             C．worth            D．as much as

55．A．pay             B．spend            C．give                 D．earn

 

 

Peter, Helen, Catherine, Elizabeth和Levin 想根据各自在环保方面的兴趣（61-65）进行案例研究。阅读下面某杂志的专题报道摘要（A、B、C、D、E和F），选出适合他们研究的最佳案例，并在答题纸上相应选项的标号涂黑。选项中有一项是多余选项。www.ks*5u.co

1.Peter: Reducing plastic and other wastes through DIY.

2.Helen: Making use of the heavy traffic to produce electricity.

3.Catherine: Building a community without private cars

4.Elizabeth: Building houses with recycled materials and energy-efficiency systems

5.Levin: Developing a new type of urban car which burns less gas

 

 

 

 

A.	B.
Vauban  We know cars are terrible polluters, but would you give yours up? Vauban, a community in southwestern Germany, did just that, and its 5,000 citizens are doing fine. Most streets are free of vehicles, and there are generous green spaces and good public-transport links, including fast buses and bicycle paths. When people must drive, they can turn to car-sharing clubs. “All the citizens had the chance to plan their own city,” says Andreas Delleke, an energy expert, “and it’s just how we wanted it to be.”	Denmark During the period of gas shortage in the early 70s, Denmark decided to become self-sufficient(自足). So they began a few projects making smart investments along the way. On the island of Samsoe, local families, fishermen and farmers bought wind turbines(涡轮机) to produce their own energy, Within seven years these turbines were completely paid for. And can you believe just one of wind turbines produces enough electricity for 600 households?
C.	D.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, have built a sustainable(可持续的) castle with outer siding and inner flooring of recycled wood, recycled carpeting, high-efficiency boiler systems.    “I think more and more today, people are willing to make a statement about the Earth and how they want to protect it,” Michael Ruth, home designer and builder says. “For high-end homes in this valley, this is entirely consistent with what they cost.”	P-NUT Who doesn’t love the name P-NUT—short for Personal-Neo Urban Transport? It’s Honda’s latest attempt to create a tiny footprint for a new urban vehicle. This little P-NUT is unique. With a central driving position, the car is designed to move in tight settings. The 11-foot micro car will seat three with two rear-seat passengers behind the driver. “The P-NUT concept explores the packaging and design potential for a vehicle designed for the city lifestyle.” Said Dave Marek, a Honda design spokesman.
E.	F.
Israel Company     Is it possible that annoying rush hour traffic could become a source of renewable energy?  Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology claims that if we placed special generator(发电机) under roads, railways, and runways—we could harvest enough energy to mass-produce electricity. A trial process has been used on a smaller scale, in dance clubs for instance, where the pounding feet of dancers light up the floor.    “We can produce electricity anywhere there is a busy road using energy that normally goes to waste,” said Uri Amit, chairman of Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology.	Coffee Coffee. Some of us can’t start our day without it, and we don’t mind waiting 10 minutes in line for it. Here is the most effective tip to make you a superstar in environment protection. Get a coffee machine for your home or coffee, or persuade your company into buying one. (Tell them it will improve productivity.) Skip the coffee line on the way to work and make something that is better-tasting and much better for your wallet. Plus, you won’t need those plastic cups or carrying cases that just get thrown away. Better yet, use your favorite travel mug.