“Just take a deep breath.” “Don’t think about it.” “You’re more likely to die in a car wreck on the way to the airport than you are in a plane crash.” These are just some words given to people with a fear of flying. But as Tom Cruise, playing Lt. Daniel Kaffee in the movie A Few Good Men, said, “I get sick when I fly because I’m afraid of crashing into a large mountain. I don’t think Daniel will help.”

But there’s a new application that just may. Today, the VALK Foundation, a Dutch group that’s a partnership between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and the University of Leiden, launches the app in the US. The VALK Foundation was one of the first centers for research and fear-of-flying treatment in the world and is the organizer of three world conferences on fear of flying.The foundation said the app, called Flight App VALK, is the first scientifically-developed, web-based treatment for people who suffer from mild to moderate fear of flying.

“The fear of flying application we have created aims to transfer all of the knowledge we have developed through our program into a mobile application that will help ease travelers’ fears,” said Dr. Lucas van Gerwen, director of the VALK Foundation. Dr. van Gerwen is also a psychologist and professional pilot with more than 30 years experience.

The foundation said up to 30% of adults are fearful fliers. The Flight App is designed to help relax passengers before and during flights by educating users about flight safety and turbulence. It explains the sounds and sensations they can expect during departure, flight and landing. And, if a passenger’s flight stress reaches a panic level, they press a special panic button which provides audio and written information to help decrease stress levels. Most importantly, the Flight App can be used during the flight in the airplane mode. Once downloaded, the program does not require Internet connection in the air.

1.By saying the words at the beginning of the passage, people are expected to ______.

A．decrease their fear of flying

B．get rid of their doubt about plane

C．have a good time on their flight journey

D．use some medicine to cure their fear of flying

2.Flight App VALK is aimed to ______.

A．help passengers experience the fear of flying

B．help relax passengers before and during flights

C．treat people who suffer from mild fear of flying

D．teach people the basic knowledge of taking flight

3.According to the passage, the VALK Foundation ______.

A．is a group focusing on psychology on the flight

B．was the first center to do research into fear of flying

C．organize the world conferences on fear of flying annually

D．focuses on researching and offering treatment on fear of flying

4.What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Many adults are suffering from fear of flying

B．It’s convenient for people to use the Flight App

C．Many planes will be installed with the Flight App.

D．The Flight App can decrease stress levels effectively

5.In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?

A．Culture           B．Entertainment      C．Technology        D．Education

 

Tired of living in the same location but don’t want to leave the house you love? That wouldn’t be a problem if architect Felipe Campolina had his way.

The Brazilian architect has designed a concept for a home tower consisting of portable, stackable (可疊起堆放的) apartment units, which he says opens up new possibilities for ways of living in the city.

His design would allow owners to take their home with them when they travel — whether for a weekend away or for longer periods, he said.

The mobile home tower project is at the concept stage, and it could be years before it is built, if ever at all.

But if it is realized, it would offer an eco-friendly solution to living in urban areas, Campolina said.

“We have enough technology to build with fewer materials and minimize (使減至最小) the impact on nature,” he said.

His vision would call for units with a green roof and walls and a system for recycling water.

The tower, whose first floor would be built nine meters above ground, would also make it possible to save space in thickly populated areas.

“It is designed to facilitate (使便利) its application in dense urban centers, where space is very limited,” he said.

Still just a concept, Campolina — who designed the building for architecture journal eVolo’s Skyscraper Competition — said with enough public interest, it just might become a reality one day.

1.We can learn from the first four paragraphs that the tower _____.

A．is now being built

B．is intended for people in the countryside

C．will be made up of mobile living units

D．was designed by a US architect

2.Which of the following is TRUE about the home tower?

A．All its walls will be painted blue.

B．It will have a waste paper recycling system.

C．It will be made of recycled rubbish.

D．It will do little harm to the environment.

3.The building’s first floor would be built high above ground _____.

A．to save space in crowded cities             B．to make the building attractive

C．to build the house solidly                 D．to fix its units more easily

 

Modern inventions have speeded up people's lives amazingly. Motor cars cover a hundred miles in light more than an hour, aircraft cross the world inside a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never ending. Every year motor cars are produced which go even faster and each new computer boasts(吹噓) of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

  All this saves time, but at a price.When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet lag；our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again, spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also                    , according to some scientists；too much use may put harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

  However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

  There was a time when some people's lives were devoted simply to the cultivation(耕耘) of the land or the care of cattle. No multi tasking there；their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to make tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

1.What's the passage mainly about?(within 10 words)

                                                                        

2.List the difficulties our ancestors met according to the text.(within 15 words)

①                                                                      

②                                                                       

③                                                                      

3.Fill in the blank in the 2nd paragraph with proper words or phrases.

                                                                        

4.Why do we make new products more and more time-saving according to Paragraph 1 of this passage?

                                                                        

5.Translate the underlined sentence in the 3rd paragraph into Chinese.

                                                                        

                                                                        

 

When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices（裝置）tell the time—which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007. 

But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others—apparently including some distinguished men of our time—are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to £250.000 for a piece.

This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions—but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?

If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world. 

Watches are now classified as“investments”(投資). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly £350, 000, while the 1960s Rolexes have gone from £15, 000 to £30, 000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It's a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up—they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that £350, 000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.

1.It seems ridiculous to the writer that_______________.

A．people dive 300 meters into the sea

B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

2.What can be learned about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

B．It targets rich people as its potential customers.

C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

3.Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Watches? Not for Me!                    B．My Childhood Timex

C．Timex or Rolex?                        D．Watches—a Valuable Collection

 

A sunflower is a sunflower. A mobile phone is a mobile phone. But can you combine the two to do something for your local environment? As early as next year it may well be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone, you will be able to bury it in a garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower.

A biodegradable (生物所能分解的) mobile phone was, this month, introduced by scientists. It is hoped that the new type of phone will encourage consumers to recycle.

Scientists have come up with a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other plastic and can be hard or soft, and is able to change shape. Over time it can also break down into the soil without giving out any poisonous chemicals. British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed. When this new type of cover turns into waste, it forms fertilizers. These feed the seed and help the flower grow.

Engineers have designed a small transparent (透明的) window to hold the seed. They have made sure it only grows when the phone is thrown away. “We’ve only put sunflower seeds into the covers so far. But we are working with plant experts to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time.” said one scientist.

As phone technology is developing so quickly, people are constantly throwing their mobiles away. This means manufacturers are under pressure to find ways of recycling them. Some 650 million mobile phones have been sold this year. Most of them will be thrown away within two years, adding plastic, heavy metal and chemical waste to the environment. A biodegradable cover can offer some relief for nature, according to the scientists.

“The seed comes out and the flower grows in the pot so you don’t have to concern yourself with the phone when you have finished using it.” said Kerry Kirwan. She leads the research team, which is based at the University of Warwick in Britain.

1.What is the purpose of this passage? _____

A．To tell the popularity of biodegradable cell phones.

B．To persuade the reader to buy the biodegradable cell phone.

C．To discuss the development of phone technology

D．To introduce an environment-friendly cell phone to readers.

2.People throw away their cell phones most probably because ____

A．there is something wrong with them

B．no sunflowers can grow out of them

C．they are out of fashion

D．they are becoming cheaper and cheaper

3.It could be learned from the passage that ____.

A．developing the new type of phone is mainly to protect the environment

B．phone-makers will benefit much more from the new type of phone

C．the new type of phone will certainly be popular with users all over the world.

D．the phones that can be recycled are available only in Britain now

4.What might be the most suitable title for this passage?

A．Sunflower and Phone                    B．Plant Your Phone

C．Protect Our Environment                 D．NO Worry about Phone