Perhaps you have heard a lot about the Internet, but what is it, do you know? The Internet is a network. It uses the telephone to join millions of computers together around the world.

Maybe that doesn’t sound very interesting. But when you’re connected (连接) to the Internet, there are a lot of things you can do. You can send e-mails to your friends, and they can get them in a few seconds. You can communicate with your friends through social software such as QQ, WeChat, and Facebook. You can also do with all kinds of information on the World Wide Web (WWW) .

There are many different types of computers now. They all can be linked to the Internet. Most of them are small machines sitting on people’s desks at home, but there are still many others in schools, offices or large companies. These computers are owned by people or companies, but no one really owns the Internet itself.

There are lots of places for you to surf the Internet. For example, your school may have the Internet. You can explore the Internet to search for useful information or knowledge in your classroom. However, in order to prevent yourself from playing with computer games, you should use it in limited time. Libraries often have computers joined to the Internet. You are welcome to use it at any time.

Thanks to the Internet, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is possible for you to work at home with a computer in front, receiving and sending the information you need. You can buy or sell whatever you want through the Internet. But do you know 98% of the information on the Internet is in English? So what will English be like tomorrow?

【小题1】What is the passage mainly about?

A．The Internet.	B．Information.
C．Computers.	D．English.

【小题2】According to the passage, you can do all the following things through the Internet except for_______.

A．sending and receiving e-mails	B．chatting with your friends
C．buying and producing things	D．dealing with information

【小题3】Who is the owner of the Internet?

A．The headmaster.	B．The government officer.
C．The user.	D．No one.

【小题4】What does the writer try to tell us in the last two sentences of the last paragraph?

A．The Internet is more and more popular.

B．English is important in using the Internet.

C．The information on the Internet is all in English.

D．Every computer must be joined to the Internet in English.

Your House Will Take Care of You in Old Age

Have you ever thought what your life would be like in old age?

Everyone talks about the “ageing” society with large numbers of elderly people needing home care. Now German researchers have set up a “smart” house, programmed to help the elderly live at home with dignity. Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Society say the house combines existing technology with future-riented technology.

For example, the “smart” bathroom has a touchscreen mirror that can remind people to take their medicine, wash their hands or brush their teeth. The hardware behind Fraunhofe’s electronic bathroom is not new, and the software runs on a regular personal computer.

When the medicine cabinet is opened, a display in the middle of the mirror tells the person how many pills to take. The mirror is linked to a care provider, who can remotely check whether a patient at home is actually taking medicine and brushing his or her teeth. As many elderly people have arthritic (关节炎的) conditions that make it difficult to operate water taps, the mirror also has displays that turn the water tap on or off or control the water temperature.

The bathroom is only the start. Kitchens, bedrooms and all other parts of the “intelligent” home will become “user-friendly” to meet all kinds of individual needs. Sensors in doors, toilets, taps, light switches and carpets detect every activity and record them electronically. Doctors or care staff can see from the computer records what personal hygiene (卫生) tasks have been completed, how often the elderly person visits the bathroom or uses the toilet. In case of an emergency, the computer automatically alerts the chosen contact person or calls the care centre.

【小题1】The underlined part “ them” in the last paragraph refers to __________ .

A．sensors

B．individual needs

C．doors, toilets, taps, light switches and carpets

D．every activity

【小题2】The house mentioned in the passage can be described as __________ .

A．intelligent and convenient

B．smart but expensive

C．advanced and environmentally friendly

D．fashionable and energy-saving

【小题3】How is the passage mainly developed?

A．By inferring.	B．By comparing.
C．By listing examples.	D．By introducing a practical method.

【小题4】What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To call on people to care for the old.

B．To encourage the old to live with dignity.

C．To stress the importance of developing technology.

D．To introduce a new intelligent house.

   The paperless office was first invented in 1975. Four decades later, we’re still chasing (追逐) the paperless office dream. Take the financial industry for example — it is one of the slowest industries to hug digital transformation. Many financial institutions today still send out trade confirmations (确认函) by mail. I can tell you from first-hand experience that going paperless is by no means impossible. The Centric Digital office is a paperless work environment where all the office operations go digital, which has amazed our business partners.

Actually, companies need to stress the benefits of a digital culture. Going paperless can save time and money. You could say goodbye to costly repairs, office supply orders, wasted employee time and so on. Besides, forbidding paper in the office forces information to be 100% digital, where you can make countless backups (备份), which easily increases transparency (透明). Not to mention, top talents want to work for digital companies.

You might think the secret to a paperless company is purely technology. Well, not really. Thanks to products like iPads, smartphones, and cloud services, the ability to go paperless is highly accessible. Yet, even with all this technology, companies continue to rely on paper. It’s not because they don’t have access to the technology, but because they’re lacking the policies, organizational structure, and strong desire to change. In order to go paperless, companies need to change the way they think and operate. The decision needs to be made and carried out, and everyone needs to work together to make it.

Yes, the paperless office has been a very long time in the making — but it no longer has to be. With plenty of software, services, apps, and technology available today, the only thing we need to do is make the decision to go paperless and see it through.

【小题1】The practice of going paperless in the financial industry is ________.

A．disappointing	B．encouraging
C．satisfying	D．disgusting

【小题2】A paperless company can _____________.

A．raise staff salary	B．attract talented staff.
C．promote product sales	D．increase time consumption

【小题3】What actually prevents people from going paperless?

A．The company’s management in some aspects.	B．Operational research .
C．The equipment available.	D．Technological limitations.

【小题4】The writer believes going paperless ____________.

A．still needs a long time to be prepared	B．offers people a lot more chances
C．should be put into practice right now	D．brings convenience and trouble as well

语法填空

Over the centuries, there have been a few people who plan the future of the world for a living and they 【小题1】 (call) futurologists.

Hundreds of futurologists will gather at Newcastle University to hold a seminar about the future. Many people will attend the seminar with dreams of starting new enterprises 【小题2】 (base) on the predictions they will hear. I clicked 【小题3】 the websites of a few futurologists and got several predictions.

【小题4】 (short), computers will become handier. Then all of us can use our voices to control computers such as downloading files 【小题5】 updating computers just by saying a few words. By 2015, garments will have been made of new materials that will remain stainless 【小题6】 you spill on them, and they will never get old and worn. By 2025, there will have been no 【小题7】 (starve), no people who have to live on welfare, no discrimination, no conflict and people 【小题8】 (live) in peace and equality. By 2030, tiny, insect-like robots may be sent around the cells of our bodies 【小题9】 (assess) our health , which will have made it possible for us to live for at least 150 years. By 2050, we will be linking our brains to the much 【小题10】 (smart) computers and a huge database₉ and a new type of electronic human might have developed!

语法填空

What will cars be like in the future? Maybe we can sit in a car that can drive all by 【小题1】（it） in a few years’ time. In fact, with the rapid development of modern science and technology, the self-driving car is becoming a 【小题2】（real） on busy streets.

According to a report by Google, the world-famous search engine, its self-driving cars 【小题3】（travel） more than 700,000 miles on roads in California so far. The first self-driving car 【小题4】（make） by Google came out in 2009. There are cameras on the top of the car, 【小题5】 allow the computer in the car to draw a 3-D map of the surroundings. In addition, Google says that its self-driving cars can discover hundreds of separate 【小题6】（object）at the same time, which might be an improvement on the human driver experience. As 【小题7】 result, there will be far 【小题8】（few） traffic accidents caused by careless driving.

However, self-driving cars are much too 【小题9】（expense） right now. Scientists across the world are doing their best to bring down the costs, 【小题10】 hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost that most people can afford.