Back those photos up

The images were striking. Homes on the East Coast were washed away by Superstorm Sandy. People were in tears, picking up faded photographs, among their only remaining possessions.

If that doesn’t move you to get serious about safekeeping your lifetime of memories, what will? The digital age offers tools never imaginable before—including one-click access to a lifetime of family photos.

Here is a brochure on how to back up (存) your photos and save them online, where they can live forever and be accessible in good times and bad.

Scanning

The first step for those old photos is to scan them and save them to a digital format. Most printers come with scanners these days, so that’s an easy but extremely time-consuming step.

Storing the photos

With your scans in place, import the photos into your computer, and back them up.

You could make multiple copies of the disks and spread them to loved ones. Or you could choose external(外接的) hard drives or USB thumb drive, and add your photo and video collection from your computer. 

Online backup

If you need lots of space, look at a pure online backup service, Caronite.     

Caronite backs up 300 million files daily. Once you sign up, it starts to pick up everything you have on your hard drive. But photo collection on your computer’s main hard drive charges for $59 a year.

Cloud Storage

For folks who don’t need automatic backup, but instead want to take a more active approach, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft’s SkyDrive let you store files online by yourself, share and instantly access them. All offer free options—2GB of free storage for Dropbox, 5GB for Google and 7GB for SkyDrive. But if you want more, you need to pay.

Bottom Line

The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and easiest. But drives can fail. Online services are more expensive, but more secure. With more of us switching back and forth between our computers, such services are the best way to get access to our data from wherever we are. 

1.Why does the author mention Superstorm Sandy?

A．To tell the background of the scanning photos.

B．To attract the readers’ interest in the backups.

C．describe a severe natural disaster.

D．To win the readers’ sympathy.

2.What can we know from the passage? 

A．Scanning photos takes little time but costs a lot.

B．Caronite charges for backing up photos from hard drive.

C．Google Drive offers unlimited free photo storage on line.

D．The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and safest.

3.Which of the following allows storing files automatically?

A．Caronite.          B．Dropbox.          C．SkyDrive.          D．Flash drive.

4.What’s the passage mainly about ?

A．tell real stories about storage services

B．introduce some of the storage services

C．describe the functions of storage services

D．argue about the advantage of storage services

 

 

We would like to wish all our readers a wonderful winter break. Our January magazine is now in the shops and available digitally. We’re looking forward to sharing more adventures and discoveries with you in 2014, including:

At a crossroads in the Atlantic

As the population of Ascension Island rises up to mark the 200th anniversary of British rule, Fred Pearce wonders what the future might have in store for this strange part of land.

Photostory: On the road again

A selection of images from an exhibition opening this month at the Royal Geographical Society go hand in hand with M Aurel Stein’s early 20th century photographs of the Silk Road.

Dossier: Going underground

Mark Rowe discusses the role that carbon storage can play in the global effort to reduce carbon dioxide emission (排放).

Net loss

Kit Gillet reports from the Gulf of Thailand, whose fisheries (渔场) have been almost destroyed by the commercialization of the Thai fishing industry.

And don’t forget…

…a round-up of the latest geographical and climate science news; a hot spot focus on Turkey; advice on taking photographs in Antarctica; an interview with Lucien Castaing-Taylor, professor of visual arts at Harvard; plus lots, lots more…

Buy your copy now, click here and save up to 35% or call +44 (0)1635 588 496. Geographical is also available in WHSmith and many independent news agents.

1.Who took photos of the Silk Road?

A. M Aurel Stein.      B. Fred Pearce.                  C. Mark Rowe.           D. Lucien Castaing-Taylor.

2.If you want to read something about global warming, you can read         .

A. At a crossroads in the Atlantic                         

B. Photostory: On the road again

C. Dossier: Going underground                  

D. Net loss

3. Which of the following statements is true?

A. Ascension Island has a bright future with more population.

B. Commercialization contributes to the loss of fishery in Thai.

C. The January edition of 2014 is to come out in the winter break.

D. The topics of this magazine focus on geography and interviews.

4.The passage is written to         .

A. share adventures and discoveries                           

B. give advice on taking photos

C. attract readers to buy the magazine               

D. introduce the content of the magazine

 

Christmas Eve was tomorrow. I hoped one of the packages that held a camera had already been placed under the Christmas tree. It was the only thing I wanted. I had been dropping hints to my parents. I love taking photos. My bedroom walls are covered with photos I had taken with my mom’s old camera. I’m always trying to capture (捕捉) those perfect moments in which you can hear the laughter or touch the beautiful scene, but my camera has always seemed to fall short.

I knew Mom had put a few presents under the tree this morning, so I went on a hunt in my mom’s room. I opened the door and found my Christmas present was lying unwrapped on the floor — a big pink cat. I felt so disappointed.

Mom seemed to notice that, and she tried to cheer me up. “Stacy, I got your present today. I am so excited to surprise you!” “I can’t wait,” I said.

The next day I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to tell her.

“Mom, may I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, dear. What do you need to talk about?” she asked.

And so it came — how upset I was that I was getting a cat.

“Stacy, that cat is for your sister Julia!” she said with a smile.

“Then what am I getting?” I asked.

She just smiled. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

Next morning, I happily got into the living room and sat next to the tree. I pulled out the box with my name on it and opened the wrapping paper to find ...

My camera! “Thank you!” I said to both Dad and Mom.

Dad picked up the camera and took a picture of Julia, Mom and me. It has become one of my favorite pictures. Just on that Christmas morning, I took lots of photos with my camera — my little sister making a face, my parents giving me a soft smile — and all of these photos have come to mean one thing to me: love.

1.The underlined phrase “dropping hints” in Para-graph 1 means _____.

A．talking often                           B．suggesting indirectly

C．sending presents                        D．taking pictures

2.Why did Stacy feel disappointed at first?

A．Her mother couldn’t understand her at all.

B．Her mother didn’t buy her any Christmas gift.

C．She mistook her sister’s Christmas gift for hers.

D．She didn’t find her present in her mom’s room.

3.We can learn from the passage that _____.

A．her mother bought Stacy a camera after discovering her disappointment

B．her mother knew what gift Stacy wanted for Christmas

C．Stacy thought it’s OK to have an old camera

D．Stacy finally got her gift on Christmas Eve

4.What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The family happiness captured by the camera.

B．The nice Christmas that Stacy spent.

C．The beautiful pictures that Stacy took.

D．The true love that Stacy got from her parents.

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．A Christmas gift as wished

B．Love is more important than gifts

C．A wonderful Christmas

D．Love can not be bought

 

Cellphone feels like a part of your body? A global survey has found that most people can’t live without their mobiles, never leave home without them and, if given a choice, would rather lose their wallet.[来源:学_科_网]
Calling mobile phones the “remote control” for life, market research firm Synovate’s poll said cell phones are so ubiquitous that by last year more humans owned one than did not.
Three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 countries said they take their phone with them everywhere, which Russians and Singaporeans the most attached.
More than a third also said they couldn’t live without their phone, topped by Taiwanese and again Singaporeans, while one in four would find it harder to replace the mobile than their purse.
Some two thirds of respondents go to bed with their phones nearby and can’t switch them off, even though they want to, because they’re afraid they’ll miss something.
Mobiles have changed the nature of relationships, with the survey finding a fifth of all respondents set up first dates via text and almost the same number use the same method to end a love affair.
Apart from the obvious calling and SMS-ing, the top three features people use regularly on their mobile phones globally are the alarm clock, the camera and the games.
As for email and Internet access, 17 percent of respondents said they checked their inboxes or surfed the Web on their phones, led by those in the United States and Britain.
One in 10 respondents log onto(注册) social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace regularly via mobile, again led by Britain and the United States.
Not everyone is tech savvy(科技通), however,37 percent of respondents said they don’t know how to use all the functions on their phone.
【小题1】How many people of all respondents end a love affair via text?

A．About 4,800.

B．About 3,600

C．About 2,400.

D．About 1,600.

【小题2】According to the survey,      like surfing the Internet with a cellphone most.

A．Singaporeans

B．Russians

C．Americans

D．Chinese

【小题3】Which of the following functions of cellphones is the least used?

A．Calling.

B．Playing games.

C．Taking photos.

D．Surfing the Internet.

【小题4】Which would be the best title of the passage?

A．People can live better without the cellphone.
B．People would rather lose their wallet than their cellphone.
C．Different uses of the cellphone.	D．New functions of the cellphone.