When you get in your car, you reach for it. When you’re at work, you take a break to have a moment alone with it. When you get into a lift, you play with it.
Cigarettes? Cup of coffee? No, it’s the third most addictive（使人上瘾的） thing in modern life, the cell phone. And experts say it is becoming more difficult for many people to curb their wishes to hug it more tightly than most of their personal relationships.
With its shiny surface, its smooth and satisfying touch, the cell phone connects us to the world even as it disconnects us from people three feet away. It affects us in ways its inventors in the late 1940s never imagined.
Dr. Chris Knippers, an expert at the Betty Ford Center in Southern California, reports that the overuse of cell phones has become a social problem not much different from other harmful addictions: a barrier to one-on-one personal contact, and an escape from reality.
Sounds extreme, but we’ve all witnessed the evidence: the person at a restaurant who talks on the phone through an entire meal, ignoring his kids around the table; the woman who talks on the phone in the car, ignoring her husband; the teen who texts messages all the way home from school, avoiding contact with kids all around him. Is it just rude, or is it a kind of unhealthiness? And pardon me, but how is this improving the quality of life?
Jim Williams, an industrial sociologist based in Massachusetts, he points to a study by Duke University researchers that found one-quarter of Americans say they have no one to discuss their most important personal business with. Despite the growing use of phones, e-mail and instant messaging, in other words, Williams says studies show that we don’t have as many friends as our parents. “Just as more information has led to less wisdom, more acquaintances(熟人) through the Internet and cell phones have produced fewer friends,” he says.
If the cell phone has truly had these effects, it’s because it has become very widespread. In 1987, there were only 1 million cell phones in use. Today, almost 300 million Americans carry them. The number of cell phones is far more than that of wired phones in the United States.
【小题1】Which of the following could probably best explain the title of the passage?

A．Cell phone users smoke less than they used to.

B．More people use cell phones than smoke cigarettes.

C．Cell phones have become as addictive as cigarettes.

D．Using cell phone is just as cool as smoking cigarettes.

【小题2】The underlined word “curb” in Paragraph 2 means ________.

A．rescue

B．control

C．develop

D．ignore

【小题3】Which idea does the example of a woman talking on the phone in the car support?

A．Women use cell phones more often than men.

B．Talking on the phone while driving is dangerous.

C．Cell phones make one-on-one personal contact easy.

D．Cell phones do not necessarily bring people together.

【小题4】What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?

A．How to make people get closer.

B．The advantages of wired phones.

C．How to use cell phones properly.

D．Giving an example to prove the bad effects of cell phones.

语法填空

In recent years,American teens 【小题1】（earn） less than stellar（优秀的）scores on the national exam. A new analysis from the Center for American Progress argues for one simple step 【小题2】（help）raise these scores:Start school later in the day.

【小题3】（delay）start time by an hour across the country could improve students math scores up to eight 【小题4】（point）, the analysis says. That's almost one grade level of learning. The idea is that giving sleep-lacking teens more time to sleep 【小题5】 they hit the books will help them learn better.

In the previous study conducted in 2012 , middle school students 【小题6】 switched schedules to start school an hour later saw their test scores increase. And among them the low-performing students saw the 【小题7】（big）increase.

The Center for American Progress considered what would happen if those results 【小题8】（repeat） around the country.

“What we found is the impact 【小题9】 student achievement would be quite large,” Ulrich Boster, a senior fellow at the center, told The Huffington Post. “Starting school later could 【小题10】（significant）improve students' outcomes. ”

   New technology rules the whole world now. But I still remember when I was a child, I did not have a cell phone or a computer because it was not necessary at all in those days. The Internet was not popular and the touch screen technology was unknown.

At this time here in the US smartphones are really a need, especially for young and business people. There are many applications (应用软件) really useful like maps, dictionaries, e-mails and games.

For me, I use my smartphone to check the weather and to look for something on the Internet and of course to keep communicating through calls and texts. Besides, I like music applications, GPS and Facebook.

Many tests have discovered that cell phones cause damage to us because they send out radioactive (具有放射性的) waves to our bodies and this could cause cancer.

Psychologists say that these devices can affect behavior and I believe everyone knows it is harmful to the eyes if we are sitting for a long time in front of the computer. However, it seems to be difficult for us to give up, even if we know how bad it is for our health. The use of technology becomes more and more important in our lives.

I think the use of technology has brought us unimaginable things. If we use technology correctly, I am sure it would be possible to decrease the damage to our bodies.

Keep in mind that it is important not to focus only on technology, but to spend time with our families and people close to us.

【小题1】What can we know from the passage?

A．The author is a businessman working for a cell phone company.

B．The author has suffered a lot from the use of electrical devices.

C．The author knows little about the functions of modern cell phones.

D．The author is quite pleased with the various functions of cell phones.

【小题2】Which of the following does the author agree with?

A．It’s not necessary to add more applications to cell phones.

B．Cell phones have made our world a boring place to live in.

C．New technology has done people more harm than good.

D．New technology makes people separated from each other.

【小题3】What does the underlined word “decrease” in Paragraph 6 mean?

A．Keep.	B．Cause.
C．Reduce.	D．Add.

【小题4】What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?

A．The importance of the Internet.	B．The applications of cell phones.
C．The role of new technology in our lives.	D．The health problems brought by cell phones.

   One of the biggest challenges faced by brick- and-mortar retailers（实体零售店） in recent years has been the" showrooming". Driven by the desire to get the best prices, many shoppers are now visiting stores to check on products that interest them, only to leave and then buy the items online. The new trend is forcing retailers to find out new ways to keep consumers from leaving their stores for cheaper prices online.

Smart phones have pushed showrooming into the front. Shoppers no longer have to wait until they get home to see if they can find a cheaper price for the products they're considering buying. With smart phones, consumers can now compare online prices with those of brick-and-mortar stores while still inside a retail store. If they can find what they're seeking with less money online, the majority will seek the first exit. A recent study showed that 45 percent of consumers shopping at brick-and-mortar stores walk out and make their purchase online for a discount of as little as 2. 5 percent.

This puts pressure on retailers to provide both an in-store experience worth staying and an online presence that can attract shoppers who are showrooming in other businesses.

To cut down on showrooming, many retailers are adopting new methods to keep shoppers in their stores. Among the steps they're taking are price-matching guarantees that allow shoppers to pay a discounted price if they find it cheaper online. This ensures that even a showrooming shopper can make the purchase in the store regardless of whether he finds the cheaper price online.

Another popular method of fighting against showrooming is to give shoppers the ability to buy something online and pick it up at the store. This reduces shipping costs and gets customers in the store, where they may be encouraged to make an additional purchase.

It is also important for businesses to take into consideration what makes shoppers purchase something in a store rather than online, and meet those needs. Research has found that more than 8 in 10 Americans consider the most important aspects--being able to take the goods home immediately and the ability to touch and feel them when they are deciding to purchase in a store rather than online.

【小题1】According to the passage, what does a showrooming shopper tend to do?

A．Pay for everything online.

B．Purchase online for a lower price.

C．Rush to buy things in a store.

D．Have better bargaining skills.

【小题2】What contributes to growing popularity of showrooming?

A．The advertisement by online retail giants.

B．The competition among big stores.

C．The wide use of smart phones.

D．The decline of the brick-and-mortar stores.

【小题3】What does the underlined words "seek the first exit" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Search for lower prices.

B．Make a purchase at once.

C．Locate the nearest exit quickly.

D．Leave as soon as possible.

【小题4】What do the last three paragraphs mainly talk about?

A．Ways of increasing sales at stores.

B．Ways of promoting purchase online.

C．Ways of satisfying customers needs.

D．Ways of advising shoppers to buy more.

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

A new study has found that graduate students are six times more likely to show depression symptoms 【小题1】 the general population. Researchers led by Evans, a scientist, surveyed 2,279 students in 26 different 【小题2】 (country). Approximately 40% of the surveyed graduates scored middle 【小题3】 severe for anxiety. Nearly 40 percent of the surveyed graduates also showed signs of middle to severe depression. It’s not hard 【小题4】 (understand) why life as a master student can drive some people crazy. Long hours in researching, social loneliness and feelings of not being respected 【小题5】 (complete) can break even the most motivated persons among us. When this situation persists, the anxiety and depression can become part of their life. The relationship 【小题6】 their teachers is another aspect 【小题7】 can deeply influence a graduate student’s mental health. Among the graduates with anxiety or depression, only half agreed that their professional teachers 【小题8】 (provide) real help. These unbelievable high rates of anxiety and depression, when 【小题9】 (compare) to the general population, are alarming and should serve as 【小题10】 wakeup call for the academic world, expert Evans says.