It’s the place where smart people make smart machines work even smarter. It’s also in the heart of sunny California, a great place to start a family and raise kids. What could be better?

But something is happening to their children. Up until the age of two they develop normally. But then everything seems to go backwards. The children become lock into their own small world, unable to communicate at all.

They call it the “curse(詛咒) of Silicon Valley,” but the medical name for the condition is autism(自閉癥). It used to be thought that autism was a kind of mental illness. Now doctors are sure that it is a neurological disease transmitted genetically. It seems that the people leading the communications revolution are having children who cannot communicate at all.

But even the parents have trouble communicating. Asperger’s Syndrome is a mild version of autism. People who have it are highly intelligent and often brilliant with numbers or system but have no social skill. This very combination of symptoms makes Asperger’s sufferers into ideal computer professionals.

The Asperger’s sufferer has always been a well-known figure in popular culture. He or she was the eccentric but dedicated scholar or the strange uncle or auntie who never married. But the high numbers of such people in Silicon Valley mean that they can meet others who understand them and share their interests. And while they might not be personally attractive, they can earn truly attractive amounts of money. They can get married and have kids. Unfortunately, many of the children of two Asperger’s parents seem to be developing serious autism.

There is little anyone can do. It takes hours of work just to make autistic child realize that anyone else exists. And there is no cure in sight. Some argue that no cure should be found. “It may be that autistics are essentially different from normal people, but that these differences make them invaluable for the evolution of the human race,” says Dr. Kirk Whilhelmsen of the University of California. “To eliminate the genes for autism could be disastrous.

It seems that the children of Silicon Valley are paying the price of genius.

1.What does Dr Kirk Whilhelmsen think of autism?

A. It is disastrous to society.

B. It is not completely a bad thing.

C. It is a punishment to those working in Silicon Valley.

D. People with autism should never marry.

2.Why do people call autism “curse of Silicon Valley”？

A. Because autistic people live in Silicon Valley.

B. Because many people working in Silicon Valley have autism children.

C. Because people with autism will be driven out of Silicon Valley.

D. Because people with autism are not personally attractive and not liked by others.

3.What can we know about Asperger’s Syndrome according to the passage?

A. Asperger’s sufferers are ideal computer professionals.

B. Asperger’s sufferers never get married and have children.

C. Asperger’s sufferers are ashamed of themselves and locked into their own world.

D. Asperger’s sufferers can be beneficial to society if they are cured.

根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容，從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中有兩項為多余選項。

Life can be so difficult these days. It is the time that you all should admit need help in organizing your lives. Here are some tips that will help you.

Write everything down and do not rely on your memory. 1. If you want to remember things, put them in writing, or in a digital notebook. Keeping your to-do lists and other information written somewhere allows you to look back at them anytime, ever when you have hit your head and forgotten your own name.

2. Try this experiment before buying one thing, throw out something old or something you do not use. Or, if you are a really pack rat, just throw out one old thing a day until you can not find any more items to throw.

Recycle and donate. Is your closet full of unopened bags and clothes that still have their tags on? Is your bookshelf full of unread books? Chances are that if you have not read, worn, or used whatever they are, then you are probably not going to use them at all. 3.

Create daily, weekly and monthly timetables for cleaning. Organize your cleaning timetable.

4. Distribute tasks evenly, so for example, dish washing could be done daily; while vacuuming could be done weekly and cleaning the windows done monthly.

Whichever of these tasks you decide to do, remember that you can not completely organize your life in one go. 5. Just decide to get organized now, and then take baby steps. Soon enough, you will be making a habit out of it all.

A.Practice putting things away immediately

B.Throw one thing before buying something.

C.It is a long and never-ending process, so be patient.

D.Give them to a charity or sell on the internet.

E.It is extremely exhausting to clean everything all at once.

F.To keep up with tasks, you need to work with your family.

G.We all agree most of us have a tough time remembering things.

閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的四個選項(A、B、C和D)中，選出可以填人空白處的最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從1--20各題所給的四個選項(A、B、C和D)中選出最佳的選項，并在答題紙上將該選項標號涂黑。

Some people are just born to be failures. That’s the way some adults look at _________ kids. Maybe you've heard the saying, “A bird with a _________ wing will never fly as high.” I'm sure that T. J. Ware was made to _________ this way almost every day. At high school, T. J. was the best-known troublemaker in his town. He was a silent boy, didn’t answer questions and often _________ .

I met T. J. for the first time at an activity aimed at getting students more involved in community charity. When I _________ , the community leaders _________ me that T.J. had the longest arrest(拘留) record in the history of town. Actually, I wasn’t the first to hear about T.J.’s darker side as the first words of _________ .

At the start of the activity, T. J. was just _________ outside the circle of students, against the back wall, with a(n) _________ look on his face. He didn’t readily join the discussion groups, and didn’t seem to have much to say. But gradually, the interactive games _________ him in. T. J. shared his great thoughts on _________ . The other students_________ his ideas and were impressed with his passion for helping those in need. _________ , they elected T. J. co-chairman of the group.

After the activity, T. J. started showing up at school and being active in class, which none of his teachers expected. More _________ , two weeks later, T. J. led a group of 70 students in a drive to collect _________. They collected a school _________ : 2,854 cans of food in just two hours, (the shortest time in the history of town) enough to take care of _________ families in the area for 75 days.

T. J. reminds us that a bird with a broken wing only needs _________. Once it has _________, it can fly higher than the rest. Now T. J. is _________ quite nicely as a chairman of a nationwide charity organization.

1.A. failed B. troublesome C. annoyed D. worried

2.A. single B. faulty C. burden D. broken

3.A. think B. walk C. feel D. struggle

4.A. fought B. drove C. challenged D. laughed

5.A. looked up B. stood up C. finished up D. turned up

6.A. warned B. suggested C. reminded D. reached

7.A. explanation B. communication C. introduction D. instruction

8.A. standing B. laughing C. hiding D. wandering

9.A. worried B. interested C. indifferent D. puzzled

10.A. allowed B. showed C. drew D. put

11.A. games B. concerns C. school D. charity

12.A. ignored B. welcomed C. doubted D. misunderstood

13.A. However B. Besides C. Anyway D. Therefore

14.A. importantly B. surprisingly C. luckily D. popularly

15.A. money B. rubbish C. cans D. food

16.A. restaurant B. record C. yard D. term

17.A. needy B. lonely C. friendly D. likely

18.A. persuading B. mending C. observing D. teaching

19.A. healed B. noticed C. appeared D. changed

20.A. behaving B. growing C. flying D. achieving

閱讀下面短文，在空格處填入一個適當?shù)脑~或使用括號中詞語的正確形式填空(不多于3個單詞)，并將答案填寫在答題卡的相應(yīng)位置上。

After long hours of flying, we arrived at Beijing International Airport. I1. (impress) by its architecture. Then we took the bus to the hotel 2. (call) Golden Village.

Within the first two days of classes, I got 3. map of Beijing in English. That night, a couple of us sat down and 4. (combine) all the places that we wanted to visit including the ones that we researched about before we left the U.S. It would have been impossible for us to explore 5. the help of the local students. All the students were very 6. (help) in letting us ask questions and taking us around the city. Other than small 7. (difficult) in communication, the local students spoke English fairly well. In the beginning we were just classmates, 8. by the end of the trip, we were all friends.

After 9. (spend) three weeks there, I felt like I gained a great experience. I observed such a different perspective of China by 10. (actual) being in country rather just hearing about it through the media.

單句語法填空

1.__________ (not know) anything about the accident, he went to work as usual.

2.The next morning she found the man __________ (lie) in bed, dead.

3.—Good morning. Can I help you?

—I’d like to have this package __________ (weigh)

4.Most of the artists __________ to the party were from that university.

5.__________(give) more attention, the trees could have grown better.

用適當?shù)倪B接詞填空

1.Think about ________ you are good at and ________ you enjoy and build on those abilities.

2.Many of the creatures in Rowling's world are not real，and much of ________ happens is strange.

3.________ some teenagers don't realize is ________ difficult life can be after they get addicted to drugs.

4.There was a big argument among the children about ________ move to a new house.

5.________ sometimes keeps her awake at night ________ Tom is getting more and more quiet at home.

短文改錯

Last night I am getting ready for the coming examination when the noise from my neighbor interrupted (打擾) me. The noise went on and on. It was too loud that I could hardly pay attention to my study any longer. But I went to my neighbor’s house and say to him, “Excuse me, would you please turn down the TV? I’m preparing for tomorrow’s examination.” Hear these words, his face turned to red. And he said, “OK, I will. I’m very sorry to have made so much noise. Just now, the football game was very wonderfully. I was too exciting to control myself. I won’t do that again. Good lucky in your coming examination.” After that, I went on with his study.

書面表達

假定你是李華，上個月你在某國外購物網(wǎng)站訂購了一臺新款電子閱讀器，然而收到的產(chǎn)品并不是所訂購的。請你給該網(wǎng)站的負責人寫英語投訴信，要點如下：

1投訴內(nèi)容，閱讀器款式太舊，容量太小

2 解決辦法，更換閱讀器或退貨

3 希望問題盡快解決。

注意

1字數(shù)：100左右

2可以適當增加細節(jié)，以使行文連貫

3開頭語和結(jié)束語已給出，不計入總字數(shù)。

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a customer from China. I am writing to you because

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Looking forward to your early reply.

Yours,

Li Hua

閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項A、B、C和D中，選出最佳選項。

A news release is a tool of communication，through which information is passed to even the farthest end of the world.It keeps us well informed of the happenings of the world which would otherwise remain unknown.

When writing a news release，keep in mind that the media receive hundreds of releases every day.Try to follow these guidelines：Keep it short and professional.Come up with a catchy headline that will grasp someone's attention.Sometimes the title will take more time to come up with than writing the release.That's okay－the headline could be critical for getting an event covered!

Cover the 5 W's in your first paragraph.Those are who you are; what you are doing；where，when you are doing；why you are doing it，which help us understand the details about the event.Besides，any opinions in the news release should be put in quotations from your designated spokesperson.Include things that the media finds newsworthy，which is the most essential.

Make the time on your news release at least half an hour later than the time you have told activists to show up at an event.This will ensure that activists are prepared and in place by the time the media arrive.

Choose a spokesperson for the event who can be quoted in the release and will be available for calls at that number the day before the event.

Have someone proof the release for spelling，grammar and content(determine whether what you are trying to relay is clear and right)．Sometimes the person who writes the release may not notice mistakes that a fresh pair of eyes will catch.

Accuracy is the last but not least important in terms of your content and the location and time that you tell the media.If you do make a mistake，it is critical that you call and notify the media of the correction.

1.What's the main purpose of the passage?

A．To tell us the importance of the news release.

B．To tell us how to avoid mistakes in the news release.

C．To make us know how to make the news release.

D．To ask us to read news release on the latest events.

2.What does the underlined word “catchy” in Para 2 probably mean?

A．Tricky. B．Attractive.

C．Imaginary. D．Funny.

3.What is the most important for a news release according to the passage?

A．Make sure the 5 W's in your first paragraph.

B．Choose a proper spokesperson for the event.

C．Make the news release newsworthy and accuracy.

D．Ensure activists are prepared for the events in advance.

4.Which of the following is RIGHT according to the passage?

A．A news release is more important than any other medium.

B．Any opinions in the news release should have quotations.

C．The main task of the spokesperson is to correct the mistakes by the writer.

D．Lacking experience，the person who writes the release may make mistakes.

閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項A、B、C和D中，選出最佳選項。

The media provides us with the observations and experiences from which we build up our personal understanding of the world and how it works.Much of our view of reality is based on media messages.The media，to a great extent，gives us our sense of reality.

Freedom of the media carries with it certain responsibilities of honesty，fairness，accuracy and account-ability.The power of the media to create and destroy human values comes with great responsibility.

The media is powerful in the political system，having great influence on politics and on forming social change.The power is to decide who will communicate what to whom.Television can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of his or her image.

Professional journalists do have a code of ethics(道德標準)．Journalists make a judgment about what's safe and appropriate to report，which often involves difficult choices.German sociologist Max Weber distinguishes between“ethics of conviction”and“ethics of responsibility”．According to the latter(ethics of responsibility)，journalists must take into account the foreseeable consequences of their reporting，and the impact it will have on society.The former，on the other hand，asks journalists to tell the truth，regardless of the consequences.According to Weber，both ideas of ethics should be considered.

Without doubt，information is power，and the big owners of the mass media are very powerful people.Television and radio stations，newspapers，magazines，and websites are，largely，owned and controlled by profit-making businesses.It is not strange that their ideas will get promoted at times.

It is my view that such power and responsibility should never be left in the hands of a few.I believe it is our responsibility as concerned citizens to make sure we are not merely passive viewers，readers or listeners.Together we can have a huge influence on the media by making our views known.

1.What's the first paragraph mainly about?

A．Responsibilities of the media.

B．Influence of the media.

C．History of the media.

D．Problems of the media.

2.We can learn from the third paragraph that ________．

A．the media is more interested in politics than other fields

B．forming social change is the main duty of the media

C．the great power of the media is controlled by political figures

D．the media can affect politics by forming political figures' images

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The mass media should be owned by the government.

B．The media industry has developed into a new age in recent years.

C．In most cases，journalists are more powerful than the owners of the media.

D．The media tends to promote the ideas of their owners sometimes.