B

From E-mail to online shopping, you may think you’ve heard everything there to know about the electronic frontier （新领域）．But with hundreds of thousands of Web pages being added weekly, there are plenty of surprises out there．Here are some of the most intriguing （有迷惑力的）．

……

Put your kid on a greeting card．Here is how: simply take some pictures with a regular camera, and then ask the photo service to develop them digitally （数字化）．For a small fee, you’ll receive your photos on a desk．Put that into your computer and, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can view your photos on the screen．With a few more keystrokes, you can attach the photos to email and send them to friends and relatives worldwide．

　　Sign on to one or several greeting card’s Websites （http://www．cardcentral．net/ is an index of more than 1200 electronic card sites） and create an electronic birthday or holiday card．Using your digital photos, you can paste your grandchildren onto the cover．

　　If you don’t want to use your own photos, go to cards．amzon．com to browse （浏览） hundreds of images in over 30 categories…all of which you can attach to an electronic greeting card for free．For a nominal fee（很低的费用）you can choose from a library of 75,000 images at http://www．phontodisc．com/．

　　Call Australia for free．To have a telephone conversation over the Internet, the person you want to talk to no longer needs a computer．Now all you need to talk to someone in Sydney is one computer with speakers, a microphone, a sound card and some software （available at http://www．vocaltec．com/ or Mricrosoft．com）．Typically, you’ll pay a monthly fee （usually under $20） to a service provider, but after that, the calls themselves are local．Sound quality is the same as that of a cell phone．

　　Even if you don’t have a computer, you can still use the Web to reduce your long distance phone costs．Some companies offer a service that lets you use an ordinary phone to call another ordinary phone, but charge only a few cents per minute for US calls, because they send them through the Internet．

　　Today 48 percent of American homes have computers…a figure that is expected to climb to 60 percent by 2003．And by the end of the next decade, Americans will likely be spending more time shopping, banking, investing and learning on the Internet than in the real world．If you can’t do or find something on the Net today, you probably can tomorrow．

60．Over the Internet, you ________．

       A．can hear everything there

       B．will meet with plenty of surprises which come out every week．

       C．will hear the things about the electronic frontier

       D．can find some things are very interesting

61．From the passage we can infer that _________．

       A．fewer people will use the Internet in the following ten years

       B．more people will study in the regular school by the end of the next decade

       C．fewer people will go to the regular school in the following ten years

       D．more money will be needed for a long-distance call by the end of the next decade

62．If you want to attach to photo to your e-mail, you have to ________ it．

       A．digitalize　　  B．take　　　　   C．picture　　　　      D．send

63．Which of the following is NOT true?

       A．A telephone conversation over the Internet can be carried out without computers．

       B．Over the Internet, the receiver of the phone conversation doesn’t need a computer．

       C．The phone conversations over the Internet are much cheaper．

       D．The long-distance calls are local themselves．

C

With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That’s a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.

  Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr, Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

  It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

  This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

  The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

  “ The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available ( capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes, “ They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy ( having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

  “They are trying to do something that’s never been done, this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”

64. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to ______.

make efforts to clone the endangered pandas

save endangered animals from dying out

collect DNA of endangered animals to study

transfer the nuclear of name animal to another

According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of ______.

A. available panda eggs                B. host animals      

C. qualified researchers                D. enough money

66. The best title for the passage may be ______.

   A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning         B. The First Cloned Panda in the World

   C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas   D. China-- the Native Place of Pandas Forever

67. From the passage we know that ______.

   A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

   B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit

   C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

   D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

                                     D

To find out how the name Canada came about, we must go back to the 16th century. At that time, the French dreamed of discovering and controlling more land across the world. In 1535 Francois I, King of France, ordered a navigator (航海家) named Jacques Cartier to explore the New world and search for a passage to India.

Cartier first arrived at the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, which he wanted to explore. He did not know

what to expect but he hoped that this Gulf was just an arm of the ocean between two islands. If it

was, he would soon be on his way to the Far East. So he sailed upwards along the St. Lawrence

River. However, instead of reaching Asia he arrived at Quebec or Stadacona, as the Indians called

it. It was at this point that the term “Canada” entered the country’s history. Clearly the word

“Canada” came from an Indian word “Kanata”, which means village. Cartier first used it when he

referred to Stadacona or Quebec. What a huge “village” Canada is!

57. What was Cartier ordered to do?

A. To build a new country                  

B. To find the New World

C. To get in touch with the American Indians   

D. To know more about America and find a new way to Asia

58. When Cartier reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence he hoped ________.

A. he had got to the Far East             B. it was a water way to the New World

C. it was a water way to the Far East       D. he had sailed into the Pacific

59. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Quebec and Stadacona were tow islands.    

B. The Indian language for village is Stadacona.

C. Quebec and Stadacona were two villages in Canada. 

D. Stadacona was what the Indians called Quebec.

60. Canada was first used to refer to __________.

A. Asia     B. the New World       C. a village         D. Quebec

C

With a VISA card in your hand, the world opens up to you. With more than 24 million places across the world accepting VISA, you can use your VISA card instead of cash to pay for your everyday purchases—whether you are shopping at the grocery store, dining at a restaurant, filling your car with petrol or buying the perfect gift on your travels. You can even use it to get cash from more than one million ATMs around the world.

To avoid even that inconvenience, you can take the following basic precautions:When you get your card:

Sign the signature panel immediately;4BIf you have been given a PIN(personal identification number) to use at a cash machine or in shops, memorize it—never write it down;

If you choose your own PIN, or change the one you were given, avoid obvious choices such as your date of birth or telephone number;

Do not tell anyone your PIN;

At home

Keep your sales and cash machine receipts and check them against your card or bank statement;

If any amount is incorrect or you spot a transaction you did not make, call the bank or other organizations that issued your card immediately;

Keep a list of your card numbers, along with the telephone numbers you should call if they are lost or stolen.

In the shop

Check the sales slip to ensure the amount is correct and the total has been filled in before you sign;

Make sure the retailer gives the card back to you, along with your copy of the voucher(收据）；

Keep your card close to you—be ware of pickpockets(扒手);

Do not leave your card in your car’s glove compartment.

Telephone and mail order shopping:

When you place an order over the telephone or by mail, give your card number only if you are confident about the company’s reputation;

You might be asked for your VISA card security code—the three digits at the end of the card number printed on the signature panel. Give the seller that code but never give your PIN.

43.If you were asked for your VISA card security code, what would you do?

A.Never tell the card number to anybody

B.Check the card number and never give your PIN

C.Give your card number only if you are confident about the company

D.Call the bank or other organizations for help

44.What’s a VISA card?

A.It’s a card that you can use to pay for something.

B.It’s a card which includes a PIN, without that it is penniless.

C.It’s another form of money, which can buy anything around the world.

D.It’s something that you can place an order over the telephone or by mail.

45.What’s the title of the passage?

A.VISA Card Is Important            B.ATM’s Replacement—VISA Card

C.Inconvenient, Safe But Cheap       D.VISA Card—Another World Opens to You

46.Which of the following statements is right?

A.We can buy anything in the world with a VISA.

B.If your VISA card is stolen, you should tell the bank your card number.

C.In case of forgetting your PIN, you can tell your mother your PIN.

D.You can put your VISA card in your car if there’s nobody around you.

D

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．

67．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

68．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。

69．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．

70．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