Speed-reading is a necessary skill in the Internet age. We skim over articles, e-mails and We Chat to try to grasp key words and the essential meaning of a certain text. Surrounded with information from our electronic devices, it would be impossible to cope if we read word by word, line by line. But a new trend calls on people to unplug and enjoy reading slowly, listing benefits beyond the intelligent stimulation.

A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a cafe and turn off their smart phones. They sink into comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour. Unlike traditional book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn't exchanging ideas about a certain book, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the Journal, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the old-fashioned way of reading before the Internet and smart phones.

Slow readers, such as The Atlantic's Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to sympathize(共鳴，同感). Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand other's mental states and beliefs, a fundamental skill in building relationships. Yet technology has made us less attentive readers. Screens have changed our reading patterns from the straight and information left-to-right sequence to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text punctuated(加標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào))with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says Patrick Kingsley from The Guardian. Because of the Internet, he says, we have become very good at collecting a wide range of interesting news, but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, reflect, and relate all these facts to each other.

Slow reading means a return to an uninterrupted, straight pattern, in a quiet environment free of distractions. Aim for 30 minutes a day, advises Kelly from The Atlantic. “You can squeeze in that half hour pretty easily if only during your free moments, you pick up a meaningful work of literature,” Kelly said. “Reach for your e-reader, if you like．Kindles make books like War and Peace less heavy, not less substantive, and also ensure you'll never lose your place.”

1. According to Patrick Kingsley, people are stupider partly because of_____________.

A. the straight, left-to-right screen

B. the lack of reflection

C. wide range of interesting news

D. a non-stop reading pattern

2.According to the passage, slow reading___________.

A. contributes to understanding among people

B. promotes the current technology advances

C. provides people with a quiet environment

D. cures the memory loss of elderly people

3.What's the best title for the passage?

A. Benefit of Reading Clubs

B. Reading of the Internet Age

C. Return of Slow Reading

D. Influence of Speed Reading

短文改錯(cuò)

假定英語(yǔ)課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請(qǐng)你修改你同桌寫(xiě)的以下作文。文中共有10處語(yǔ)言錯(cuò)誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯(cuò)誤僅涉及一個(gè)單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)（∧），并在其下面寫(xiě)出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線（\）劃掉。

修改：在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫(xiě)出修改后的詞。

注意：1. 每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2. 只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計(jì)分。

There is good news for you. Anyone visited Beijing will soon be able to visit the Forbidden City at night. The Palace Museum plans to extend their opening hours to make it more conveniently for tourists. Parts of the museum will stay open until night to allow more people experience China’s traditional culture before working hours. In addition, visitors will have an access to more area soon after the renovation (修繕) work is completed this year. Near 65% of the Palace Museum will then be open to visitors to mark the 90th anniversary of the museum. The Forbidden City, that was built at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, had undergone extensive (大量的) renovations over the past 10 years.

With China’s Singles’ Day approaching, shop owners offer large discounts ______ high sales volumes created by enthusiastic buyers.

A. in expectation of B. in regard to

C. in terms of D. in response to

The conflict between economic development and environmental protection, if not appropriately _________, can cause disastrous consequences in daily life settings.

A. being managed B. to manage

C. managed D. managing

— Do you regret paying 20,000 dollars for the second-hand car?

—Not a bit. I think it deserves ______.

A. as more than twice many

B. more than twice as much

C. more than as twice much

D. more than twice as many

Raising Money to Find a Cure, One Ribbon Barrette at a Time

How many times a day do we tell our kids that we’re proud of them? Probably not nearly enough. As a daughter of Chinese parents, it’s not in our culture’s nature to celebrate incredible accomplishments by announcing them to the world, but I’m going to break the rule and announce that I’m so proud of my 10-year-old daughter and all that she has done to raise money to support research to find a cure for Cystic Fibrosis(CF,囊腫性纖維化)

“Mommy, ” said Emily as we rushed around the house packing our things for another day at the pool last summer. “I’m going to bring my ribbon barrettes(絲帶發(fā)夾)to sell during adult swimming”

Emily’s best friend is one of the 30,000 children and adults living in the United States with Cystic Fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system. In the 1950s, very few children with CF lived to attend elementary school. Although great progress in understanding and treating CF has led to great improvements in the length and quality of life for those with CF, there still isn’t a cure.

Last spring, Emily donated $ 140 CFF’s Great Walk in honor of her best friend living with Cystic Fibrosis. She had no idea what the summer would bring for her CFF ribbon barrette fundraise when school ended for the year. Fortunately, every time I shared a photo of Emily’s ribbon barrettes on the Internet, we received orders that privately message me or email me with requests for barrettes in their favorites colors.

Three weeks into the summer, Emily had raised $ 297 and I was spending a lot of time running her to the craft store to restock her supplies for a very good cause while my husband was packing and shipping orders all over the country. My social media accounts have served as the most powerful tool for Emily to spread the word. People notice kids doing great things and want to help the girls who are raising money to help find a cure, one ribbon barrette at a time.

Emily and her best friend have named their activity Ribbon Barrettes for Research. They have business cards and a brand new shiny website developed on a free platform, to show that any kid can do what she has been doing.

To my daughter, each sale is a victory and each order that goes out is an opportunity to spread awareness about CF. The handwritten thank-you note included in each order further shows the importance of teaching kids and parents how much their purchase support research that we hope will one day find a cure for CF.

As a parent, I love that Emily has found the power in her own voice and she has inspired others to advocate causes they care about.

1.What is Emily’s attitude towards treating Cystic Fibrosis?

A. Unconcerned B. Pessimistic

C. Hopeful D. Unworried

2.According to the passage, Emily’s ribbon barrettes are sold mainly _______.

A. at their school B. in their home

C. in the CFF D. on the Internet

3.The underlined word “word” in Paragraph 6 refers to _______.

A. raising money to help find a cure for people with Cystic Fibrosis

B. shipping orders all over the country

C. the handwritten thank-you note

D. helping people with CF by making ribbon barrettes

任務(wù)型閱讀,請(qǐng)認(rèn)真閱讀下列短文，并根據(jù)所讀內(nèi)容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一個(gè)最恰當(dāng)?shù)膯卧~。

注意：每個(gè)空格只填1個(gè)單詞。請(qǐng)將答案寫(xiě)在答題紙上相應(yīng)題號(hào)的橫線上。

The Internet has become a way of life for many people around the world. So what would happen if one fine morning, you woke up to find the Internet has no existence? How would your life be changed? Well, your lifestyle might be impacted. If you were an Internet addict, you would find that your life has come to an end. With no online facilities, a considerable part of your time would be spent waiting in long lines at banks, post offices or government offices. You would be waiting for days or even weeks for your mail to arrive from another corner of the world. Suddenly, you would realize that your fast-paced life is running at a snail’s pace.

Without the Internet, your socializing would also be impacted. If you’d gotten very used to socializing online, you would now be clueless as to how you could share the pictures of your recent trip you went for with your friends across the globe. It would be difficult to interact with people living outside your locality. You might have to become a member of a club or a community in your neighborhood to make new friends. With no online social media, you would find yourself saying this very often: Let’s go and talk to them!

With no way to use emails, instant messaging, chat or social media, we would have to take advantage of the option of a telephone conversation, or sending snail mail. Communication via the internet is free, whereas the options available otherwise would cost you extra money and time. Your would have to write letters and buy stamps, as we used to do before the Internet became popular.

The Internet has become a huge sea of information and resources. No Internet would mean no instant and easy access to information at the click of a button. Your would have to walk down to your local library and actually search the whole place to get the information you’re looking for, with little chances that you’ll find what you seek instantly. The students who were accustomed to using the Internet for completing their assignments would have a tough time. There would be no way to get an education without actually going to a school or a college physically.

Without the Internet, things at your workplace would be turned upside down. If your work was largely Internet-based, your company might have to shut down. If your work involved only minor use of the Internet, for example, using online system to acquire statistics from the Internet, this simple task would now be a complicated and time-consuming process. Your desk would be full of documents and files, and you would have a nightmare searching or sorting them out by hand. In any case, life without the Internet would seem like nightmare! So enjoy living in the paradise we call the Internet and make wise use of it!

If Confucius(孔子) were alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

While many people in China remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

But that doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲學(xué)). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.

Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

As for the old thinker, he will not be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

1.The opening paragraph is mainly intended to _______.

A. attract the readers’ interest in the subject

B. provide some key facts about Confucius

C. show great respect for the ancient thinker

D. prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations

2.We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students _______.

A. take an active part in Chinese competitions

B. try to get high scores in Chinese exams

C. fight for a chance to learn Chinese

D. have a great passion in studying Chinese

3.What is the best title for this passage?

A. Forgotten Wisdom in America.

B. Huge Fans of the Chinese Language.

C. Old Thinker with a Big Future.

D. Chinese Culture for Westerners.

4.The passage is likely to appear in ______.

A.a biography B. a history paper

C. a newspaper D. a philosophy textbook

This is a complex operation. A team of nurses _____ the doctor in performing the operation.

A. trained B. assisted C. interviewed D. added

You’d better write down the name of the restaurant for further _______.

A. reference B. preference

C. progress D. memory