Your friends might be in Australia or maybe just down the road, but they are all just a few clicks （点击）away. Life has changed for millions of young people across the world who now make friends online. Whether you use chat-rooms, QQ, MSN or ICQ, you are a member of this group.

“I don’t often talk with my parents or grandparents, but I talk a lot with my old friends on QQ, ”said Fox’s Shadow, the online name used by a girl student in China. “Most of my classmates use QQ after school. ”

QQ is the biggest messaging service in China. A record from Tencent, the company which developed QQ, shows that 4 million people used it one Saturday night in October.

And probably Fox’s Shadow was one of them. “I log in （登陆）on Friday nights, and Saturdays or Sundays when I feel everything around me boring. I usually spend about ten hours chatting （聊天）online every week, ”she said. “But I never talk with stranger, especially boys or men. ”

Even though she likes chatting, she is careful about making friends with stranger online. “You don’t know who you’re talking to. You should always be careful about whom you believe in online. ”

Many people would like to meet offline when they feel they have got to know someone very well. Fox’s Shadow once met one of her online friends face to face. It was a girl who was a football fan like herself and they went to a football match together. 

A 16-year-old Beijing boy, named Bart Simon online, dislikes QQ users. “I used to chat on QQ, but I found that most people were talking about foolish things, ”he said. Now he chats online in English, using MSN. “I only chat online because I’ve got friends in Japan, the US and Singapore, ”he said. “I want to learn more about foreign cultures（文化）. ”But he spends little time chatting on QQ as he sees it as a waste of time and money. 

“If you are really addicted to （上瘾）it, sometimes you can’t give your mind to your lessons, ”he said. “And friends in your real life are always more important than those so-called friends you meet online. ”   

1. People meet face to face offline when they think they ________.   

A. have known each other well　　   B. have the same interest　　

C. have enough free time　　　　    D. have nothing to do   

2. Fox’s Shadow thinks QQ is ________.　　 

A. the biggest messaging service in China　　  B. a good place to spend her boring time　　  C. a safe place to chat with strangers　　　　　　 D. the best place to make friends   

3. From the passage, we know “… they are all just a few clicks away” means “_______”.　　  A. it is wonderful to see your friends by clicking　　 

B. it is easy and fast to get in touch with your friends　　 

C. it is possible to live much closer to your friends　　 

D. it is popular to make friends online   

4. Which of the following sentence is TRUE according to the passage?　　 

A. All the people on QQ are talking about foolish things.　　 

B. Chatting online is a waste of time and money.　　 

C. We should be careful about boys or men online.　　 

D. We should think more of our friends in real life. 

 

Lions have been called the kings of the animal world. They can be _1_ in Africa and India. Lions in Africa can go without water for about one month. Lions are also one of the most _2_ animals in the zoo. Almost every zoo around the world has a few lions.

It is very easy for people to tell male（雄性的）and female lions from each other. A male lion has mane（鬃毛）and a large collar of hair around its __3. Females do not have mane. Male lions are also __4__ than females. A male lion usually _5_ about 200 kilograms. Both male and female lions have very strong mouths. They can break the backs of other animals 6_ one bite（一口）. One lion usually kills between ten and twenty large animals each year for food.

    It’s usually for lions to kill people. However, in 1898 two lions killed and ate over one hundred people in Kenya __7__ they were shot by a British man named P.J. Patterson. This _8_ became the subject of a 1996 Hollywood movie _9__ The Ghost and the Darkness. Now the Indian lions are _10_. It’s really necessary to educate the public to care for the animals, or we won’t see them again.

1A. used                           B. found                     C. told                        D. led

2 A. popular                     B. funny               C. confident                D. suitable

3A. mouth                  B. ears                       C. face                       D. nose

4A. larger                   B. smaller                   C. thinner                   D. shorter

5A. walks                   B. wears                     C. weighs                   D. shows

6A. about                          B. on                          C. with                       D. from

7A. before                  B. because                 C. after                       D. while

8A. newspapers         B. magic                     C. story                      D. job

9A. understood          B. called                     C. regarded                D. discussed

10 A. enormous                B. aggressive        C. active               D. endangered

　　In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business. But he was not good at drawing. So he invented a very simple（简单的）camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden. That was the first photo.

　　In 1837, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his office. He used a new kind of camera and a different way. In his pictures, you could see everything very clearly.

　　Soon, other people began to use Daguerre's way. They took photos of famous buildings, cities and mountains.

　　In about 1840, the way became better. They could take pictures of people and moving things. Butthe way was not simple. They had to carry lots of film and equipment（设备）.

　　Matthew Brady was one well-known American photographer（摄影师）. He took many photos of people. The photos were unusual because they were very life-like.

　　Brady was also the first person to take pictures of a war（战争）. His 1862 Civil War pictures showed dead soldiers and broken cities. They made the war seem more real and more terrible.

　　In the 1880s, new inventions began to change photography. Photographers could buy film ready-made in rolls（卷曲）. So they did not have to make the film themselves. They could bring it back to their offices and develop it later. They did not have to carry lots of equipment. And the invention of the small hand-held camera made photography less expensive.

　　With the small camera, anyone could be a photographer. They took pictures of their families, friends and favourite places. They called these pictures“fast-shots”. Photos became very popular in newspapers in the 1890s. Soon magazines and books also used photos. They were much more real than drawing.

　　Photography also turned into a form（形式）of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world. They showed ideas and feelings, like other art forms.

(1）The first photo was taken with ________.

[　　]

A．a small hand-held camera	B．a modern machine
C．new rolling film	D．a very simple camera

(2）The story of photography ________.

[　　]

A．began in the 18th century	B．began in France
C．is unknown	D．began in the United States

(3）Matthew Brady was well-known for ________.

[　　]

A．inventing the first camera

B．taking pictures of French cities

C．photos of people and the war

D．having been at war

(4）The new inventions in photography made it possible for ________.

[　　]

A．anyone to be a photographer

B．only rich people to take pictures

C．Brady to take pictures of the Civil War

D．us to carry lots of equipment

(5）Photography can also be a form of art because photographers can ________.

[　　]

A．take pictures to show the real world

B．show ideas and feelings in pictures

C．copy the pictures of old books

D．take pictures of moving things