“People are ruder today because they are rushed and more ‘time poor’ than ever before,” says Patsy Rowe, “Manners have fallen off the radar(雷达).” Due to our strong attraction to electronic equipment it is a wonder more people don’t wake up each morning and greet the singing birds with a complaint about the noise. Here are some examples of rudeness.
Some people prefer to do almost everything over the internet. To them, dealing with an actual human is like an evolutionary step backward. It feels very slow because humans don’t work at 4G speeds. When you have dinner with friends, you will often notice someone paying more attention to his mobile phone. We have programmed ourselves to think that every new message brings life-changing news, so taking calls and checking our texts are more important than talking to the people we are with. What is worse, some people even tend to send anonymous（匿名的） rude messages by email.
However, rudeness is never acceptable. Don’t assume it is OK to be rude if the person you’re in touch with won’t recognize you. If you have something awful to say, have the courage to face the person and say it, write a letter or email and sign it, or forget it. Upsetting people with unsigned messages is cruel and annoying.
We shouldn’t blame technology for our shortcomings. Technology is here to help us, but we should not allow it to take over our lives. An important step is admitting our shortcomings. People spend a lot of time pointing out bad manners but it would be even more helpful if we’d publicly recognize good manners when we see them.
1.What can be inferred from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1?
A. People can tell good from bad behavior.
B. Radar is able to observe human behavior.
C. People care little about their behavior.
D. Radar can be used to predict human behavior.
2.Some people are less willing to deal with humans because ________.
A. they are becoming less patient
B. they are growing too independent
C. they have to handle many important messages
D. they have to follow an evolutionary step backward
3.The author thinks sending unsigned awful messages is ________.
A. ridiculousB. hatefulC. acceptableD. reasonable
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. We should praise good behavior.
B. Technology can never be blamed.
C. We should keep pointing out mistakes.
D. Technology will take over our lives one day.
Public bookshelves are appearing across Germany on street corners，city squares and in suburban supermarkets. In these free-for-all libraries，people can grab whatever they want to read，and leave behind anything they want for others. There’s no need to register，no due date，and you can take or give as many as you want. “This project is aimed at everyone who likes to read .It is open for everybody，” Michael Aubermann，one of the organizers of the free book exchange said.
The western city’ s latest public shelf was put up next to Bayenturm. It is the fourth free shelf that Aubermann’ s group，the Cologne Citizen’s Foundation，has placed outside.“We set up our other outdoor shelves last year and it’s been working really well，” said Aubermann. The public bookshelves，which are usually financed by donations and cared for by local volunteer groups，have appeared independently of each other in many cities，suburbs and villages. Each shelf holds around 200 books and it takes about six weeks for a complete turnover，with all the old titles replaced by new ones.
Even commercial book stores and online book sellers seem to support the idea of free book exchanges.“We see this project rather as a sales promotion than as competition，”said Elmar Muether.“If books are present everywhere，it helps our business，too.”
So far，the Cologne book group has had few problems with damage or other problems. Aubermann said，“Propaganda (宣传) is the only kind of literature we do not allow here.”
At another bookshelf in the Bayenthal neighborhood，the lower shelves are reserved for children’s literature only.“It is important that we make it easy for everyone to participate in this ‘reading culture on the street’—from old readers to kids to immigrants，”Aubermann said.
While most of the shelves have so far been put up in upscale neighborhoods，Aubermann and the 20 volunteers who help look after the project are planning to put up future shelves in poor neighborhoods，where citizens often don’t have as much access to literature.
1.Which of the following is TRUE about the public bookshelves?
A. People can take the books and leave their books at will.
B. People can’ t borrow books unless they donate books.
C. People can borrow whatever they like after registering.
D. People have to return the books according to the required time.
2.According to Aubermann，the public bookshelves ________.
A. are financed by local volunteers
B. have been going well since their birth
C. were managed by the local government
D. will hold more books and take a shorter turnover
3.The underlined phrase “upscale neighborhoods” refers to ________.
A. communities that have many people
B. communities that have many tall buildings
C. communities that are free to live in
D. communities that are of high grade
4.Which might be the best title for the passage?
A. Public Reading Becomes Popular Worldwide
B. New Trends of Bookshelves in Germany
C. Public Bookshelves Spread Across Germany
D. Reading Culture on the Street in Europe
Are you an early riser or a night owl? Researchers from Aachen University in Germany believe that about 10 percent of people can be classified as “morning people”, who feel more active and function best in the morning．Around 20 percent are night owls—people who naturally tend to stay up late and are more tired during the day．And the rest of us fall somewhere in between, according to New Scientist.
Previous studies have suggested that early risers are more likely to be happy and healthy while night owls experience worse sleep as well as more depression and anxiety during the day.
For a long time, scientists have been trying to find out what causes the differences between the two．A new study suggests that it isn’t just people’s habits—early risers and night owls actually have different brain structures.
Led by Jessica Rosenberg at Aachen University, researchers scanned the brains of 16 early risers, 23 night owls and 20 people with intermediate sleeping hours．They found that the brains of night owls had less “white matter”—which speeds up the transmission(传输) of nerve signals — in brain areas associated with depression.
As you know, after people fly in an airplane from one time zone to another, they often suffer from a confused and tired feeling called “jet lag” because their body clocks are out of sync(不同步的) with the new time zone．It usually takes about a week for their bodies to adjust to the new time．But night owls always have difficulty syncing their bodies to the right time due to their brain structure．“It’s like they suffer from permanent jet lag,” said Rosenberg.
The good news is that it is possible for night owls to turn themselves into morning people．According to the researchers, night owls should try to spend as much time in the sunlight as possible and reduce their exposure to artificial light at night to force their body clocks to shift to a more normal rhythm.
1.What does the article mainly discuss?
A．How to turn early risers into night owls.
B．How our habits influence our sleep patterns.
C．What causes the differences between early risers and night owls.
D．Why early risers are happier and healthier than night owls.
2.We can learn from the article that night owls ________.
A．make up almost a third of the human population
B．have more white matter in their brains than other people
C．are more used to artificial night than sunlight
D．have body clocks that are not in agreement with the actual time
3.Jessica Rosenberg’s research suggests that ________.
A．previous studies about night owls are wrong
B．night owls are affected by jet lag more strongly than others
C．white matter helps our brains work more efficiently
D．brain structure might determine people’s chances of suffering from depression
Every year more people recognize that it is wrong to kill wildlife for “sport.” Progress in this direction is slow because shooting is not a sport for watching, and only those few who take part realize the cruelty and destruction.
The number of gunners, however, grows rapidly. Children too young to develop proper judgments through independent thought are led a long way away by their gunning parents. They are subjected to advertisements of gun producers who describe shooting as good for their health and guncarrying as a way of putting redder blood in the veins (血管). They are persuaded by gunner magazines with stories honoring the chase and the kill. In school they view motion pictures which are supposedly meant to teach them how to deal with arms safely but which are actually designed to stimulate (刺激) a desire to own a gun. Wildlife is disappearing because of shooting and because of the loss of wildland habitat (栖息地). Habitat loss will continue with our increasing population, but can we slow the loss of wildlife caused by shooting? There doesn’t seem to be any chance if the serious condition of our birds is not improved.
Wildlife belongs to everyone and not to the gunners alone. Although most people do not shoot, they seem to forgive shooting for sport because they know little or nothing about it. The only answer, then, is to bring the truth about sport shooting to the great majority of people.
Now, it is time to realize that animals have the same right to life as we do and that there is nothing fair or right about a person with a gun shooting the harmless and beautiful creatures. The gunners like to describe what they do as character-building, but we know that to wound an animal and watch it go through the agony of dying can make nobody happy. If, as they would have you believe, gun-carrying and killing improve human-character, then perhaps we should encourage war.
1.According to the text, most people do not seem to be against hunting because ________.
A. they have little knowledge of it
B. it helps to build human character
C. it is too costly to stop killing wildlife
D. they want to keep wildlife under control
2.The underlined word “agony” in the last paragraph probably means ________.
A. formB. conditionC. painD. sadness
3.According to the text, the films children watch at school actually ________.
A. teach them how to deal with guns safely
B. praise hunting as character-building
C. describe hunting as an exercise
D. encourage them to have guns of their own
4.It can be inferred from the text that the author seems to ________.
A. blame the majority of people
B. worry about the existence of wildlife
C. be in favour of war
D. be in support of character-building
面对繁重的学业负担，很多学生出现了不同程度的心理和身体方面的不适。假如你是校报编辑李华，代表校报向你的班主任Mr. Yan约稿，请他谈谈自己的看法。
稿件要求：1. 主题：How to relax ourselves；
2. 交稿截止时间为11月30日。
注意：1.词数100左右，可适当增加细节以使行文连贯。
2.文中不得出现真实姓名和班级等个人信息。
3.参考词汇：文章 essay 校报 the school newspaper
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词； 2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Consider how your first reaction is when you see a dwarf(侏儒) walking along the street. Do you think of him like an equal? Probable no. To the world, he is an "abnormal creature" belonged to a minority of people that include those who can't see, talk or hear. It may seem that they are born to be gossiped about and glare at. Always citizens are educated to take care and show respect for handicapped people. From the bottom of our hearts, do we sincerely treat they equally? Why do we still laugh when we watch unusually short clown in a circus show? The only reason is that, to us, they are funny and amusing. Then, we realize that the only result of education is that we learn it to hide our curiosity and our impolite towards those people.
