Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological（病态的）relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.
1.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
A. advantage B. attraction C.adaption D. attempt
2.From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.
A. attract people to buy their products
B. provide the latest information
C. improve people’s quality of life
D. deal with cultural diseases
3.It can be inferred from this passage that people ______.
A. consider too much technology wonderful
B. have realized the harm of high-tech devices
C. can regain freedom without high-tech devices
D. may enjoy life better without overused technology
4.What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
A. Neutral.( 中立的） B. Doubtful
C. Disapproving.(不赞成） D. Sympathetic.（同情的）
Johnny the Explorer
Johnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time. Somebody left the garden gate open. Johnny wandered out, crossed some fields and, two hours later, arrived in the next village. He was just able to give his name and address.
By the time he was seven, Johnny used to disappear from home two to three times a year. Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot. Sometimes he got on a bus or even a train, and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket. Generally the police brought him home. “Why do you do it?” they used to ask. “I just like seeing places,” Johnny told them.
Johnny continued to “see places” although everyone tried to stop him. His parents used to watch him closely, and so did his teachers; but sooner or later Johnny managed to slip away. As he grew older, his favorite trick was to hide on a long distance truck. Sometimes he travelled hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him.
It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to board a plane. He was twelve at the time. It was a cargo plane and, a few hours later, Johnny found himself in Cairo. How did he get on board? No one knows! According to Johnny himself, it was easy: he just went into the airport, walked along some passages and got on board the nearest plane.
In spite of all this, Johnny did well at school. He enjoyed mathematics and languages and, perhaps not surprisingly, he was especially good at geography. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” his teachers asked him. “An explorer!” he answered. “But it’s difficult to become an explorer in this modern age,” they tried to tell him. But it was no use: Johnny knew what he wanted!
Just before he left school, Johnny saw a notice in a daily paper. A long journey was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon River. There were jobs for three young people “willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure”. Johnny applied, and two months later, he was on his way to Brazil.
1.At what age did Johnny board a plane for the first time?
A. Three B. Seven C. Twelve D. Not mentioned
2.Johnny frequently left home because ______.
A. he preferred to stay alone
B. he enjoyed seeing new places
C. he couldn’t do well at school
D. he didn’t get along well with his parents
3.People around Johnny ______.
A. tried to stop him from slipping away
B. kept following him to get him back
C. booked tickets for him if necessary
D. were clear about how he travelled abroad
4.From the passage, we can learn that ______.
A. Johnny worked for a daily paper
B. Johnny lacked a sense of adventure
C. Johnny went exploring along the Amazon River
D. Johnny went to Brazil two months after he finished school
There is a lot of talk these days about how kids should be interested in science. Here’s an area of science for everyone, and these cool new books might inspire you to discover your inner scientist.
Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled by Catherine Thimmesh, 58 pages, ages 9-12
Seeing a picture or a model of a dinosaur, do you wonder how anybody knows what they look like? After all, nobody has seen a living dinosaur. This book explains how scientists and artists work together to re-create dinosaurs. As scientific discoveries have been made, the models have changed. Scientific tests may one day expose what a dinosaur’s coloring was, but now artists have to use their imagination to determine how these huge creatures looked.
Beyond the Solar System by Mary Kay Carson, 128 pages, ages 10-13
This book takes readers back to the beginnings of space exploration—thousands of years ago, when people began star observation—and forward to today’s search for planets in distant parts of the Milky Way. Along with history lessons, readers get 21 activities, such as making a black hole and creating a model of Albert Einstein’s universe using a T-shirt. The activities are perfect for cold winter days.
Ultimate Bugopedia by Darlyne Murawski and Nancy Honovich, 272 pages, ages 7 and older
If you’re always on the lookout for butterflies, this book is for you. Hundreds of color photos of common and unusual insects fill this hardcover. There are fascinating stories related to the photos. For example, do you know an insect feeds on the tears of Asian cattle? There’s a question-and-answer section with an insect scientist and advice on how to help preserve endangered insects.
Journey Into the Invisible by Christine Schlitt, 80 pages, ages 9-12
If you use a magnifying（放大的）glass, you know a leaf looks quite different. This book explains what microscopes do and then shows what happens to things around the house when watched with this amazing scientific tool. The bacteria in your mouth, when magnified 20,000 times, look a bit like swimming pool noodles. Fascinating photos are paired with suggestions about how to learn about the world around you, just by looking a little closer.
1.Kids interested in pre-historical animals might read ______.
A. Ultimate Bugopedia
B. Beyond the Solar System
C. Journey Into the Invisible
D. Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled
2.Beyond the Solar System is mainly about ______.
A. space exploration
B. the Milky Way
C. history lessons
D. Albert Einstein’s universe
3.From the passage, we can learn that ______.
A. butterflies are fond of the tears of Asian cattle
B. scientists have discovered the dinosaur’s coloring
C. microscopes can present you with an amazing world
D. man has explored the black hole for thousands of years
4.The main purpose of the passage is to ______.
A. compare features of different books
B. inspire people to become scientists
C. teach children some knowledge of science
D. recommend new science books to children
Sharing Beauty
It was in October. I was aimlessly wandering down the street, heading into a most gloriously beautiful sunset. I had an urge to speak to someone on the street to share that beauty, but it seemed everyone was in a hurry.
I took the next-best action. Quickly I ducked into a department store and asked the lady behind the counter if she could come outside for just a minute. She looked at me as though I were from some other planet. She hesitated, and then seemingly against her better judgment, she moved toward the door.
When she got outside I said to her, “Just look at that sunset! Nobody out here was looking at it and I just had to share it with someone.”
For a few seconds we just looked. Then I said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.” I thanked her for coming out to see it; she went back inside and I left. It felt good to share the beauty.
Four years later my situation changed greatly. I came to the end of a twenty-year marriage. I was alone and on my own for the first time in my life. I lived in a trailer park which, at the time, I considered a real come-down, and I had to do my wash in the community laundry room.
One day, while my clothes were going around, I picked up a magazine and read an article about a woman who had been in similar circumstances. She had come to the end of a marriage, moved to a strange community, and the only job she could find was one she disliked: clothing sales in a department store.
Then something that happened to her changed everything. She said a woman came into her department store and asked her to step outside to look at a sunset. The stranger had said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world,” and she had realized the truth in that statement. From that moment on, she turned her life around.
1.The author asked the woman to go outside to ______.
A. admire the sunset B. cheer her up C. offer some help D. have a chat
2.Four years later, the author ______.
A. found her dream job
B. put an end to her marriage
C. worked in a laundry room
D. lived in the same community
3.After reading the article in the magazine, the author was probably______.
A. disappointed B. puzzled C. inspired D. overjoyed
The Little Angel
Sally jumped up the moment she saw the surgeon(外科医生） come out of the operating room. She asked, “How is my little boy?”
The surgeon said, “I’m ____. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t ____ it.”
Sally ____into the chair. The surgeon asked, “Would you like some time with your son before he was transported to the ____?” Sally nodded. While saying goodbye, she ran her fingers ____ through his thick curly hair. “Would you like a lock（一撮）of his hair?” the surgeon asked. Sally nodded yes. The surgeon cut a few hairs, and handed them to Sally. The mother said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to ____ his body to the university for study. He said it might ____ somebody else. “I said no at first, ____ Jimmy said, ‘Mom, I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.’”
“My Jimmy had a heart of ____, always thinking of someone else, always wanting to help others if he could.” she went on.
Sally walked out of the hospital. She put the bag with Jimmy’s ____ on the seat beside her in the car. The drive home was ____. It was even harder to enter the ____ house. She carried Jimmy’s belongings, and the lock of his hair to her son’s room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room ____ where he had always kept them. She lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, ____ herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally ____. Lying beside her on the bed was a letter. The letter said,
“Dear Mom,
I know you’re going to ____ me, and me too. I will always love you, Mom, even more ____ each passing day. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to ____a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s OK with me. He can have my room and old toys to play with.
Don’t be sad thinking about me. I don’t hurt any more. The cancer is all ____. I don’t have to stand that ____any more. The angels in Heaven are so tender. They say I’m a Special Angel! I love you, Mom.”
1.A. worried B. sorryC. happy D. grateful
2.A. make B. passC. winD. like
3.A. knocked B. lookedC. sank D. got
4.A. house B. church C. hospital D. university
5.A. anxiously B. lovinglyC. patientlyD. angrily
6.A. donateB. moveC. showD. lend
7.A. affect B. help C. protectD. impress
8.A. for B. and C. soD. but
9.A. gold B. stone C. wisdom D. bravery
10.A. toys B. clothes C. belongingsD. letters
11.A. long B. smoothC. difficult D. dangerous
12.A. emptyB. familiarC. bigD. old
13.A. roughly B. exactlyC. especiallyD. possibly
14.A. put B. sent C. cried D. buried
15.A. wrote B. spokeC. sleptD. awoke
16.A. understandB. forgiveC. leaveD. miss
17.A. withB. around C. onD. in
18.A. saveB. hostC. visitD. adopt
19.A. lost B. gone C. cured D. spotted
20.A. depression B. sadness C. pain D. stress
Take the note as a reminder_________ you forget to buy some sweets for the kids while shopping there.
A. so that B. even if C. in case D . as if
