Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world. In rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something wonderful but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertiser, hoping to sell their products.
The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people’s lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item(商品) that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods bought in almost every family are not really needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the professionals, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.
It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in design and production help quicken the process Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The typical example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with case into a shop and buy one thing; no choice, no anxiety.
1. What does the author try to argue in Paragraph 1?
A. The exercise of rights is a luxury.
B. The practice of choice is difficult.
C. The right of choice is given but at a price.
D. Choice and right exist at the same time.
2. Why do more choices of goods give rise to anxiety?
A. Professionals find it hard to decide on a suitable product.
B. People are likely to find themselves overcome by business persuasion.
C. Shoppers may find themselves lost in the broad range of items.
D. Companies and advertisers are often misleading about the rage of choice.
3. By using computers as an example, the author wants to prove that .
A. advanced products meet the needs of people
B. products of the latest design fold the market
C. competitions are fierce in high-tech industry
D. everyday goods need to be replaced often
4. What is this passage mainly about?
A. The variety of choices in modern society.
B. The opinions on people’s right in different countries
C. The Problems about the availability of everyday goods.
D. The helplessness in purchasing decisions
科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:053
Google Works Miracles
GOOGLE (www. google. torn) is a daily miracle to millions of people. If the Internet had only this very fast search engine, it would have justified its existence many times over. It is the most popular search engine on the web with a 54% market share, ahead of Ya-hoo! You type almost anything, however un-clear, into the space provided and in a second it has come up with hundreds of references. If knowledge is power, then Google commands the gateway.
Yahoo Becomes Giant
YAHOO (www. yahoo, com) was the first wonder of the web, and in many re-spects, it still is. It started in January 1994 when two California graduate students, Jerry Yang and David Filo, started compiling (編 譯) a database of links, mainly for their per-sonal use. But well before the end of the year, it had become recognizable as Yahoo we know today. In the past seven years, Yahoo had grown rapidly, partly through a long string of buy. Yahoo now offers almost eve-rything you could want: e-mails, instant mes-sages, chats, clubs, photo albums and a lot more.
eBay Enables Everyone to Buy and Sell
eBAY (www. ebay. com), which deals with online trading and shopping services, is the most impressive large Internet company where people buy and sell goods and services worldwide. It has, for instance, opened up a global marketplace in which people from Bei-jing, San Francisco, or Moscow can bid (投 標(biāo)) against each other for products put up for sale by someone in London. The company's online service permits sellers to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest, and eBay users to browse (瀏覽) through listed items that is available online seven days a week.
Amazon Makes Buying a New Experience
Amazon (www. amazon. com) started out as an online bookstore, constantly putting up new book . titles it offered for sale. In the late 1990s, Amazon had more than four mil-lion titles after adding CDs, videos, DVDs and games. It continued to add new lines of busi-ness including toys, computer software, elec-tronics, like MP3 players, power tools, home improvement products and online sales. For regular users, Amazon has made itself the shortest possible path between wanting and buying.
(1) What is Google used mainly for?
[ ]
A.Commanding the gateway.
B.Searching for information.
C.Storing reference books.
D.Providing extra space.
(2) “Rome is not built in one day. ” but Yahoo is built in one________.
[ ]
(3) What goods did Amazon sell when it star-ted its business?
[ ]
A.Videos and games.
B.Different books.
C.Power tools.
D.MP3 players.
(4) Which of the following is true?
[ ]
A.Buying and selling can only be done through Amazon.
B.If you feed in something unclear, Google will refuse to do the searching.
C.Yahoo owns more market shares than any other company on the web.
D.eBay Company's online service is al-ways there for its users.
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
One day in September we were doing repair work on my parents’ old house to get it ready for my youngest daughter’s wedding. We had to 36 a great climbing plant that had grown 37 a roof beam(房梁),so that we could repair the roof and 38 the walls.
When my husband was taking the plant away, he found a 39 of a blackbird that had made its home in the leaves. He then 40 something 41 among that mass of earth and straw of the nest. He broke the earth around it into pieces with his finger tips and, to his 42 ,saw glittering gold. It was a child’s bracelet(手鐲). He ran into the house to 43 me.
“You won’t believe that the 44 blackbirds not only steal the best fruit we 45 to feed on,” he said,“but they also want their children to 46 in a cradle(搖擺)of gold!”
When my daughter came over on the eve of the 47 ,we told her about this 48 occurrence.
“Don’t you remember, Mother?” she said with a loud 49 .“When I was eight, you gave me a bracelet that I 50 a few days later while out playing in the yard? It was this one!”
As the bracelet no longer 51 its owner and was dirty, I decided to take it into my safekeeping.
In December of the following year, the young couple’s baby son was baptized(受洗禮).Among the 52 the newborn baby received, I placed his mother’s bracelet, now shining like 53 . I hope that if my grandson 54 loses it, one of the 55 that live in my backyard is somewhere nearby.
36.A.remove B.cover C.grow D.water
37.A.beyond B.over C.a(chǎn)cross D.through
38.A.build B.paint C.rescue D.print
39.A.nest B.baby C.body D.egg
40.A.moved B.got C.picked D.noticed
41.A.nice B.colorful C.shiny D.special
42.A.horror B.surprise C.delight D.disappointment
43.A.a(chǎn)sk B.tell C.show D.give
44.A.working B.cheating C.dreaming D.thieving
45.A.buy B.plant C.store D.collect
46.A.lie B.sing C.listen D.wait
47.A.party B.Christmas C.birthday D.wedding
48.A.important B.strange C.terrible D.funny
49.A.cry B.sigh C.laugh D.sound
50.A.hid B.threw C.lost D.broke
51.A.fitted B.satisfied C.matched D.interested
52.A.jewels B.toys C.clothes D.presents
53.A.a(chǎn)ttractive B.new C.modern D.golden
54.A.a(chǎn)lmost B.just C.even D.ever
55.A.blackbirds B.grandchildren C.neighbors D.mice
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科目:高中英語 來源:2010年廣東省東莞市高二下學(xué)期期末考試英語卷 題型:完型填空
閱讀下面短文, 掌握其大意, 然后從16 ~ 30各題所給的A、B、C和D項中,選出最佳選項, 并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
It was Christmas Eve, but I had to work in the clinic. The only thing that 16 my day was the beautiful Christmas tree in our waiting room and a 17 sent to me by my boyfriend — a dozen red roses.
As I was cleaning my desk, I was told that a 18 in the office urgently needed to speak with me. Stepping out, I 19 a tired-looking woman with a baby in her arms. 20 , she explained that her husband was my next 21 . The guards were to bring him to the office that afternoon. She wasn’t allowed to visit her husband in 22 , so he had never seen his son. She 23 me to let the boy’s father sit in the waiting room with her as 24 as possible before I called him for his appointment. I agreed.
A short time later, her husband arrived. The woman’s tired face 25 when her husband sat beside her. They laughed, cried and shared their child.
After almost an hour, I called the prisoner in. He seemed like a 26 and humble man. I 27 what he possibly could have done to be held under such conditions. I tried to make him comfortable.
Finally, I wished him a Merry Christmas—a(n) 28 thing to say to a man headed back to prison. He smiled and thanked me. He also said sadly that he couldn’t get his wife anything for Christmas. Hearing this, I was 29 with a wonderful idea.
I’ll never forget the 30 on both their faces as the prisoner gave his wife the beautiful roses.
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科目:高中英語 來源:2012-2013學(xué)年浙江省高三第一次月考英語試卷(解析版) 題型:閱讀理解
When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family. Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.
But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were visiting her, when she noticed that Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.
“I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl,” she told a wide-eyed Meagan. “I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you’d ever want to see.”
“She had an elegant, hand-painted face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints.”
GG’s voice dropped low, taking on an almost respectful tone. “My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, decorated with fine lace. … Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it. But how happy I was that morning!”
GG’s eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as she recalled that Christmas of long ago. “I played with my doll all morning long. And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down gently on the hall table. But as I went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash.”
“I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my precious doll. And it was. Her lace skirt had hung down from the table just enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in, there lay my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. She was gone forever.”
A few years later, GG’s baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia(肺炎). Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.
Silent for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, “Mom, I have a great idea! Let’s get GG a new doll for Christmas. Then she won’t cry when she thinks about it.”
My heart filled with pride as I listened to my sympathetic little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG’s fond memories?
Where there’s a will, as they say, there’s a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local doll-make. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown hair and a kidskin body to copy the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and Chris helped me make the doll’s outfit. Meagan wrote the story of the lost doll by giving examples.
Finally our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?
On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our happily packed gift to GG, where she sat surrounded by children, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. “It’s for you,” Meagan said, “but first you have to read the story that goes with it.”
GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off. Then it was time to open her present.
I’ll never forget the look on GG’s face as she lifted the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Holding the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over and over again, “She’s exactly like my old doll, exactly like her.”
And perhaps she wasn’t saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grandmother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.
1.GG moved in with her daughter because____.
A.she wanted to live with a large family
B.she was not able to live on her own due to her weakness
C.her husband passed away
D.she thought it was the children’s obligation to take care of her
2.Why did GG become very emotional on a December afternoon?
A.Because she saw her great granddaughter’s doll.
B.Because she recalled her dead parents.
C.Because she was surrounded by her offspring.
D.Because she felt lonely during the Christmas season.
3.What can we infer from Paragraph 5?
A.GG’s doll was important and was a symbol of many things.
B.GG showed great respect for his husband’s love.
C.GG missed the great old days she spent with her family.
D.GG was grateful for her long life.
4.What happened to GG’s baby sister?
A.She envied her sister all her life.
B.She felt guilty for breaking GG’s doll and decided to go.
C.She left home at a young age.
D.She died of some disease at a young age.
5.Why did Meagan’s mum feel proud of her daughter?
A.Because she was clever. B.Because she was loving.
C.Because she was sensitive. D.Because she was imaginative.
6.The main idea of the passage is that ____.
A.treating the elderly well is moral
B.it is impossible to copy the exact doll for the elderly
C.love, the permanent rhythm of life, will always remain in the elderly’s heart
D.physical comfort from children rather than psychological care is important
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科目:高中英語 來源:重慶市2010屆高三下學(xué)期第二次沖刺考試英語試卷 題型:閱讀理解
第三部分:閱讀理解(共20小題;每小題2分,滿分40分)
When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in basic training in New Jersey and not sure if I could make it home for the holidays. Only on the afternoon of December 23 was the list of men who would have three-day passes posted. I was one of the lucky soldiers. It was Christmas Eve when I arrived home, and a light snow had fallen. Mother opened the front door. I could see beyond her, into the corner of the living room where the tree had always stood. There were lights, all colors, and ornaments shining against the green of a pine. "Where did it come from?" I asked.
"I asked the Gates boy to cut it," my mother said. "I wouldn't have had one just for myself, but-such a rush! He just brought it in this afternoon…" The pine reached to the proper height, almost to the ceiling, and the Tree Top Krystal Star was its place. A few green branches reached about a little awkwardly at the side, I thought, and there was a bit of bare trunk showing in the middle. But the, tree filled the room with warm light and the whole house with the pleasant smell of Christmas. "It's not like the one you used to find." my mother went on. "Yours were always in good shape. I suppose the Gates boy didn't know where to look. But I couldn't be fussy(挑剔的)."
"Don't worry," I told her. "It's perfect." It wasn't, of course, but at the moment I realized something for the first time: all Christmas trees are perfect.
1. From para. 1, we can infer that .
A. the writer spent his first wartime Christmas at home
B. Not all the soldiers were allowed to go home for Christmas
C. all the soldiers would have three-day passes for Christmas
D. the writer could not go home for Christmas
2. When the writer got home, .
A. it was December 23
B. it was snowing heavily
C. he found a Christmas tree in the living room
D. the Gates boy was cutting a Christmas tree
3. "All Christmas trees are perfect", because they can remind you of .
A. the wartime B. the green of a pine
C. the pleasant moment D. the sweet home
4. The best title for this passage would be " ".
A. How to Choose a Christmas Tree
B. How Soldiers Spent Christmas
C. A Perfect Christmas Tree
D. A Christmas Without a Tree
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