(10·江西D篇)

Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so.  We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

68. The new products become more and more time-saving because         .

A. our love of speed seems never-ending

B. time is limited.

C. the prices are increasingly high.

D. the manufactures boast a lot.

Mary Cochran went out of the rooms where she lived with her father, Dr, Lester Cochran, at seven o’clock on a Sunday evening. It was June of the year 1988, and Mary was eighteen years old. She was walking along Tremont, lined with small shops and shabby houses, a rather quiet cheerless place on Sundays where there few people about. She had told her father she was going to church but did not intend anything of the kind. She did not know what she wanted to do. “I will get off by myself and think,” she told herself as she walked slowly along. The night, she thought, promised to be too fine to spent sitting in a church and hearing a man talk of things that had nothing to do with her own problem. Her own affairs were approaching nothing but a crisis, and it was time for her to begin thinking seriously of her future.

The thoughtful serious state of mind in which Mary found herself had been put by a conversation she had with her father on the evening before. Without any talk of the kind before and quite suddenly, he had told her that he was a victim of heart disease and might be gone at any moment. He had made the announcement as they stood together in his office, behind which the father and daughter lived.

1．What did Mary intend to do that night?

    A．She decided to go to church.

    B．She decided not to think about the problem.

    C．She decided to talk over the problem with her father again.

    D．She wanted to be left alone.

2．What put Mary in a serious state of mind?

    A．The uncertainty of her future

    B．Her knowledge of her father’s health condition.

    C．Her concern about her father’s sudden decision.

    D．Her worry about her meeting with the churchman.

3．Where did Mary live?

    A．Opposite the church.            

B．In a shabby house.

    C．In a small shop                                   

D．In the same building as her father’s office.

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

    A．A Life Challenge to Mary Cochran.                 

B．How to React at the Presence of Danger.

C．Dr. Lester Cochran Had a Heart Attack             

D．An Unexpected Attack.

Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so.  We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

The new products become more and more time-saving because         .

A. our love of speed seems never-ending            B. time is limited.

C. the prices are increasingly high.                 D. the manufactures boast a lot.

What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Imaginary life                              B. Simple life in the past.

C. Times of inventions                          D. Time for constant activity.

What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The present and past times.                   B. Machinery and human beings.

C. Modern technology and its influence.           D. Imaginations and inventions.        

Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computer results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
【小题1】 The new products become more and more time-saving because       .

A．the manufacturers boast a lot	B．time is limited
C．the prices are increasingly high	D．our love of speed seems never-ending

【小题2】 What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Simple life in the past.	B．Imaginary life.
C．Times of inventions.	D．Time for constant activity.

【小题3】. What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?

A．Critical.

B．Optimistic.

C．Objective.

D．Negative.

【小题4】. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．The present and past times.	B．Modern technology and its influence.
C．Imaginations and inventions.	D．Machinery and human beings.

Modern inventions have speeded up people’s loves amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boats (吹嘘) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.
All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so.  We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind on another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers, according to some scientist; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.
However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.
There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestor faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.
【小题1】 The new products become more and more time-saving because        .

A．our love of speed seems never-ending	B．time is limited.
C．the prices are increasingly high.	D．the manufactures boast a lot.

【小题2】What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to ?

A．Imaginary life	B．Simple life in the past.
C．Times of inventions	D．Time for constant activity.

【小题3】 What is the author’s attitude towards the modern technology?

A．Critical

B．Objective.

C．Optimistic.

D．Negative.

【小题4】 What does the passage mainly discuss?

A．The present and past times.	B．Machinery and human beings.
C．Imaginations and inventions.	D．Modern technology and its influence.