Back those photos up

The images were striking．Homes on the East Coast were washed away by Superstorm Sandy. People were in tears, picking up faded photographs, among their only remaining possessions．

If that doesn't move you to get serious about safekeeping your lifetime of memories, what will? The digital age offers tools never imaginable before—including one-click access to a lifetime of family photos．

Here is a brochure (手冊) on how to back up (存) your photos and save them online, where they can live forever and be accessible in good times and bad．

Scanning

The first step for those old photos is to scan them and save them to a digital format (格式)．Most，printers come with scanners these days, so that's an easy but extremely time-consuming step．

Storing the photos

With your scans in place, import the photos into your computer, and back them up．

You could make multiple copies of the disks and spread them to loved ones．Or you could choose external (外接的) hard drives or USB thumb drive, and add your photo and video collection from your computer．

Online backup

If you need lots of space, look at a pure online backup service, Caronite．

Caronite backs up 300 million files daily．Once you sign up, it starts to pick up everything you have on your hard drive．But photo collection on your computer's main hard drive charges for $ 59 a year．

Cloud Storage

For folks who don't need automatic backup, but instead want to take a more active approach, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft's SkyDrive let you store files online by yourself, share and instantly access them．All offer free options—2GB of free storage for Dropbox, 5GB for Google and 7GB for SkyDrive．But if you want more, you need to pay．

Bottom Line

The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and easiest．But drives can fail．Online services are more expensive, but more secure．With more of us switching back and forth between our computers, such services are the best way to get access to our data from wherever we are．

1.What can we know from the passage?

A．Scanning photos takes little time but costs a lot．

B．The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and safest．

C．Google Drive offers unlimited free photo storage on line．

D．Caronite charges for backing up photos from hard drive．

2.Which of the following allows storing files automatically?

A．Caronite．        B．Dropbox．        C．SkyDrive．        D．Flash drive.

3.The main purpose of the passage is to ______．

A．tell real stories about storage services

B．introduce some of the storage services

C．describe the functions of storage services

D．a(chǎn)rgue about the advantage of storage services

 

The Happiest Cities On Earth

If you’re looking for a cheery destination for your next vacation, consider these four spots and get ready to take notes on how to really live the good life.

Singapore

    With one of the highest population densities（密度）in the world and residents known for being workaholics, it’s hard to imagine the city-state of Singapore having one of the happiest populations on earth. And yet in a recent survey, 95% of them said they were either very happy or quite happy.

They give their city high marks for cleanliness and safety—subways are pristine (潔凈的) and unfailingly arrive on time, and police are seen as helpful and good at their jobs. What’s more, they feel they can count on their neighbours—all 5.1 million of them.

Arhus, Denmark

The residents of Arhus cheerfully part with 68% of their income in taxes, knowing that in return they will be guaranteed free healthcare, free daycare, and a top-notch (第一流的) education for their children.

An energetic city of 300,000 with a lively cultural scene and a diverse number of religions represented, the sense of equality (the range in incomes is narrow), as well as easy access to the nearby sea and surrounding countryside, make Arhus seem more like a small town.

San Luis Obispo, CA

According to a 2008 Gallup-Healthways study, people who live in San Luis Obispo are more likely than residents of other U.S. cities to smile and experience joy and are less likely to experience pain or depression. About 64,000 of the 260,000 people in the greater metropolitan area (都市區(qū)), located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, volunteer at over 11,000 non-profit organizations.

Few journeys to work are longer than 10 minutes (one reason its members rank in the upper third for job satisfaction), so “it’s easy to be involved,” resident Pierre Rademaker said. Business signs are unobtrusive (不顯眼的) by law, fewer than 11% of residents smoke—the lower rate in the U.S.—there are lots of bike lanes, and the city’s plaza draws crowds of people for free concerts on summer Fridays. What’s not to love?

Monterrey, Mexico

The people of Monterrey don’t enjoy high household incomes or access to good healthcare. Instead, there’s a profound sense of gratitude for the new political freedom enjoyed since the oppressive Institutional Revolutionary Party lost power in 2000—the first time in nearly a century—as well as an emphasis on social life over work.

Another reason Monterrey residents may be so happy is their faith in God and family, and their ability to tough it out through bad times.

“We laugh at sickness, poverty and even death,” says Basanez, a political scientist who lives in Monterrey. “We even have a holiday to celebrate death. November 2, the Day of the Dead, is one of the biggest holidays of the year.”

1.According to the passage, what do the residents in the four cities have in common?

A. All the residents can make great fortunes by working hard.

B. The residents there are mostly educators. 

C. All the residents enjoy enough material wealth.

D. The majority of the residents are satisfied with their current life.

2.According to the passage, we can infer that _______.

A. the people of Singapore expect their neighbours to come to their help when necessary

B. the people of Monterrey even observe one’s death on a special day of a year

C. the residents of Arhus happily pay 68% of their income for their children’s education fee

D. the people who live in San Luis Obispo have job satisfaction because they can enjoy good working conditions

3.According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. The people of Monterrey didn’t enjoy political freedom until 2000.

B. The residents in Singapore feel happy because of its low population density.

C. The people of San Luis Obispo can enjoy free concerts in summer.

D. Arhus is handy to the seaside and countryside.

4.What can we learn from the underlined part “the sense of equality”?

A. The residents of Arhus have no racial discrimination.

B. Arhus is considered as a family sharing everything with each other.

C. There is no wide gap between the rich and the poor in Arhus.

D. The residents of Arhus can depend on their neighbours to help.

 

Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

PARIS

1.Paris, the capital and the largest city of the country, is in north central France. The Paris metropolitan area contains nearly 20% of the nation’s population and is the economic, cultural, and political center of France. The French government has historically favored the city as the site for all decision making, thus powerfully attracting nearly all of the nation’s activities.

2.Paris has grown steadily since it was chosen as the national capital in the late 10^th century. With the introduction of the Industrial Revolution, a great number of people moved to the city from the country during the 19^th century. The migration was especially stimulated by the construction of railroads, which provided easy access to the capital. After World War II more and more immigrants arrived.

3.The city is the centralized control point of most national radio and television broadcasting. It is a place of publication of the most prestigious (有威望的) newspapers and magazines and an international book publishing center. With more than 100 museums, Paris has truly one of the greatest concentrations of art treasures in the world. The Louvre, opened as a museum in 1793, is one of the largest museums in the world.

4.In the late 1980s about 4.1 million pupils annually attended about 47,000 elementary schools. In addition, about 5.4 million students attended some 11,200 secondary schools. Approximately 1.2 million students were enrolled annually at universities and colleges in France in the late 1980s. French centers of learning have served as academic models throughout the world.

5.Paris is the leading industrial center of France, with about one quarter of the nation’s manufacturing concentrated in the metropolitan area. Industries of consumer goods have always been drawn to Paris by the enormous market of the big population; and modern, high-technology industries also have become numerous since World War II. Chief manufactures are machinery, automobiles, chemicals and electrical equipment.

 

The education of thousands of children with reading and sight trouble is being held back because of a lack of awareness of their legal rights, say campaigners.

They are calling for greater efforts to increase awareness of the rights of such children to have text books in design other than standard (標(biāo)準(zhǔn)) print. The campaign is being supported by five times Olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, who has reading trouble.

Pupils have the right to receive text in another way, and parents can take action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) if they feel their children are being treated in a different way through a lack of support. But new research suggests 89 per cent of print disabled pupils and their parents are unaware of software which changes standard print into other substitutes like combined text and audio files (音頻) which can be read or listened to.

Sir Steve has teamed up with software company Dolphin Computer Access to raise awareness of software turning tools. He said: "I recognize that schools have competing priorities (優(yōu)先權(quán)) for their resources (資源), but I would like to see a much greater effort on the part of the government and schools to raise awareness among parents that these additional solutions exist and that their children have a right to use them."

Mike Foster, Dolphin's local MP in Worcester, is backing the campaign. "There is clearly an issue to solve concerning software for special needs. I'll be asking ministers what steps can be taken to improve the situation", he said.

1.What is the best title of this text?

A．Awareness of legal rights among parents      B．Campaign started for disabled children

C．Problems of disabled children              D．Steve — Olympic gold medalist

2.Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “backing” in Paragraph 5?

A．holding back       B．objecting to        C．supporting         D．controlling

3.Most print disabled pupils and their parents ________.

A．don’t know anything about such software

B．must cooperate with the software company

C．prefer combined text and audio files more

D．must take action to receive text in another way

4.Sir Steve Redgrave suggests that ________.

A．government and schools raise awareness of disabled children’s legal rights

B．parents take greater efforts to ask the government and schools for help

C．parents should take action to raise awareness of software turning tools

D．software company work with him to make the products

5.What Mike Foster said in Paragraph 5 means ________.

A．the ministers should be responsible for improving the situation

B．the software for special needs has got well along

C．the problem about software for special needs is to be dealt with

D．how to use the software is a big problem

 

With the Indian economy predicted to grow by 7．5 percent this year, experts say it could be time for Western CEOs to learn some lessons from Indian CEOs．The key differences between Indian and Western bosses are:

       Social purpose

       One of the most important things is that Indian leaders lead with a sense of social purpose．Every leader in India gave a specific social purpose as being the goal of their business．Those purposes ranged from improving healthcare to getting cell phones to people who didn't have access to communication tools．Having a social purpose motivates workers．

       Invest in employees

      Indian firms invest an enormous amount in their employees' training and development．IT firms typically offer 60 days of formal training for newly hired workers and they even spend months training experienced workers．A study said that Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they quit．But Indian bosses believe that investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company．

       Take the long view

       Indian bosses stress far less on shareholders than it is typical at Western business．As a result they're more able to take a long-term view．Western companies can't just ignore their shareholders, but their CEOs can do more to protect their -employees from short-term financial pressures, letting them get on with their jobs．

       Work from their strengths

       Western companies often think about strategy in terms of chasing customers or pursuing market opportunities, but Indian firms will more often start by identifying their strengths and customers’ needs, and then try to meet those needs．

       Act as a role model

       Being a personal role model for their employees is an amazing thing for a CEO．If Western bosses could think of themselves as role models, it would have a real impact on their workers．

Indian CEOs use their sense of social purpose to _________．

       A．improve the workers' healthcare system

       B．provide cell phones to people in need

       C．motivate and encourage their employees

       D．promote the development of communication systems

Western firms have largely abandoned investing in employees’ training and development because _______．

       A．it takes too long to complete the formal training of newly hired workers

       B．they often hire experienced workers who don't need much training

       C．they are afraid of the losses brought about by the resignation of employees

       D．they don't care about the quality of the employees in their firms

Which of the following is TRUE about Western bosses?

       A．They stress on workers more than shareholders．

       B．They always act as role models for employees．

       C．They are good at identifying their own strengths．

       D．They pay closer attention to market opportunities．