Switching telephone providers used to be the only way homeowners could save money on telephone bills. Now thanks to new technology, comsumers have another choice-making phone calls over the internet. And this can be completely free if you call another person with an internet phone set-up.
The technology is called voice over internet protocol (協(xié)議), or VoIP. In 2005, consumer demand for VoIP dramatically grew. In the US, where popularity has grown faster than here in the UK, 8.4 million are predicted to subscribe this year. For the past couple years, VoIP pioneers such as Skype have accounted for the majority of internet phone subscribers.
VoIP is attractive to consumers because it’s cheaper than traditional phone services. With the basic equipment of PC, microphone and headset, and VoIP software and broadband internet for optimum (最適宜的) voice quality, consumers can save a fortune chatting for free to other internet phone owners and save money calling regular landlines (通訊電纜). But, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Many of these services suffer from uncontinuous lapses (失效) in quality. While some users may tolerate echoes or a dropped call, improved quality is needed to attract more customers.
Computing has examined the benefits of using a PC as a telephone with VoIP in how easy they were to set up, how effective they were and the range of their features.
Skype(www. skype.com) came top for its bother-free approach, easy set-up and exceptional voice clarity. Sipgate (www. sipgate. co. uk), MSN(www. messenger. msn. co. uk) and Yahoo! Messenger (uk. messenger. yahoo. com) provide an audio “wizard” that improves sound levels. Google Talk (www. google. com/ talk) was less helpful and Babble. net (www. babble. net) was let down by its poor help files. Yahoo! Messenger provides some of the best features, including the option of landline calls, webcam chats, instant messaging, voice-mail and conference calls.
小題1:Which one of the following if you call others?
A．VolP,voice over internet protocol
B．Switching telephone
C．New technology
D．letters
小題2:The underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 implies that ______.
A．VoIP can save money but it has some disadvantages
B．whatever you buy is related to how much you pay
C．what you pay for will belong to you forever
D．what you buy is not always high in quality
小題3:Which of the following statement is true according to the passage?
A．Sipgate is less helpful.
B．Yahoo! Messenger offers some best features.
C．Skype is the best one in the new technology.
D．Google Talk provides very good audio “wizard”.

小題1:A
小題2:A
小題3:B
文章討論了幾種新型的網(wǎng)絡電話及其特點。
小題1:根據(jù)文章1,2兩段內(nèi)容可知我們現(xiàn)在打電話的時候，會用VolP，因為它便宜，舒適。
小題2:猜測句意題。根據(jù)下一句Many of these services suffer from uncontinuous lapses (失效) in quality. While some users may tolerate echoes or a dropped call,可知這種服務還有很多的欠缺之處。
小題3:細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章最后Yahoo! Messenger provides some of the best features, including the option of landline calls, webcam chats, instant messaging, voice-mail and conference calls. 可知B正確。
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The researchers suggested that the United States may have imported the disorder in bees from Australia. They say the bees may carry the virus but not be affected.
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And some researchers suspect that bee production in the United States is down mainly because of the weather. Honey bees gather nectar（花蜜） from flowers and trees. The sweet liquid gives them food and material to make honey. But cold weather this spring in the Midwest reduced the flow of nectar in many flowers. Many bees may have starved. Dry weather in areas of the country could also be playing a part.
Wayne Esaias is a NASA space agency scientist who keeps bees in his free time. He lives in central Maryland, where he has found that flowers are blooming a month earlier than they did in 1970, which may be partly responsible for the disorder. Wayne Esaias is organizing a group of beekeepers to document nectar flow around the country.
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A．American beekeeping industry has been strongly influenced by the bee disorder.
B．Studies are being carried out on the causes of the bee disorder, but questions remain.
C．How the causes of the bee disorder in U.S have been found.
D．The bee production in U.S is down because of Israeli acute paralysis virus.
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A．Three.B．Four.C．Five.D．Six.
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A．Israeli acute paralysis virus should be responsible for the disorder
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科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

Scientist Says ‘No’ to Human Cloning
“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.”
That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and a cat.
They just might succeed in cloning Missy soon — or perhaps not for another five years.
Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog's eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate（代孕的）mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted(流產(chǎn)，發(fā)育不全) fetuses（胎）may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.
Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin's phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. “A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right,” says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy's mysterious billionaire owner; he's put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M's research.
Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy's fine qualities after she does die. The prototype（原型；雛形）is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy's master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament（氣質(zhì)、性情）. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy.”
Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.
However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems~ “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we're not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?”
小題1:By “stupid endeavor”, Westhusin means to say that ________.
A．human cloning is a foolish undertaking
B．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is absolutely impractical
C．human cloning should be done selectively
D．a(chǎn)nimal cloning is not worth the effort at all
小題2:What does the first paragraph tell us about Westhusin's dog cloning project?
A．Its success is already in sight.
B．It is progressing smoothly.
C．It is doomed to utter failure.
D．Its outcome remains uncertain.
小題3:By cloning Missy, Mark Westhusin hopes to ________.
A．study the possibility of cloning humans
B．search for ways to modify its temperament
C．find out the differences between Missy and its clones
D．examine the reproductive system of the dog species
小題4:We learn from the passage that animal clones are likely to have ________.
A．a(chǎn) bad temper
B．defective（有缺陷的、有毛病的）organs
C．immune deficiency
D．a(chǎn)n abnormal shape

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