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Forget Cyclists, Pedestrians are Real Danger
We are having a debate about this topic. Here are some letters from our readers.
■Yes, many cyclists behave dangerously. Many drivers are disrespectful of cyclists. But pedestrians are probably the worse offenders.
People of all ages happily walk along the pavement with eyes and hands glued to the mobile phone, quite unaware of what is going on around them. They may even do the same thing while crossing a road at a pedestrian crossing or elsewhere. The rest of us have to evade (避让) them or just stand still to wait for the unavoidable collision.
The real problem is that some pedestrians seem to be, at least for the moment, in worlds of their own that are, to them, much more important than the welfare of others.
——Michael Horan
■I love the letter from Bob Brooks about cyclists (Viewpoints, May 29). I am afraid they seem to think they own the roads.
I was walking across Altrincham Road one morning when a cyclist went round me and on being asked what he was doing he shouted at me.
The government built a cycle lane on the road but it is hardly used.
The police do nothing. What a laugh they are!
The cyclists should all have to be made to use the cycle lanes and wear helmets, fluorescent (发荧光的) jacket and lights at night and in the morning they should pay some sort of tax and be fined for not wearing them.
——Carol Harvey
■Cyclists jump on and off pavements (which are meant for pedestrians), ride at speed along the pavements, and think they have a special right to go through traffic lights when they are on red.
I was almost knocked down recently by a cyclist riding on the pavement when there was a cycle lane right next to him.
Other road users, including horse riders, manage to obey the rules so why not cyclists?
It's about time they had to be registered and insured, so when they do hit a pedestrian or a vehicle, or cause an accident, at least they can be treated and there might be an opportunity to claim.
——JML
Write to Viewpoints of the newspaper.
【小题1】Michael Horan wrote the letter mainly to show that _______.

A．drivers should be polite to cyclists

B．road accidents can actually be avoided

C．sine pedestrians are a threat to road safety

D．walking while using phones hurts one's eyes

【小题2】Carol Harvey suggests that cyclists should _______.

A．be provided with enough roads

B．be asked to ride on their own lanes

C．be made to pay less tax for cycling

D．be fined for laughing at policemen

【小题3】What is a complaint of JML?

A．Very few drivers are insured.

B．Cyclists ride fast on pavements.

C．Pedestrians go through red traffic lights.

D．Horse riders disrespect other road users.

【小题4】The underlined word "they" in the third letter refers to ______.

A．accidents	B．vehicles
C．pedestrians	D．cyclists

【小题5】The three letters present viewpoints on _______.

A．real source of road danger

B．ways to improve road facilities

C．measures to punish road offences

D．increased awareness of road rules

   “Can I get a light?”This question is the commonest among smokers. What if this question is to come from an unusual source? The National Health Promotion Foundation uploaded an anti-smoking advertisement onto YouTube. The anti-smoking ad has quickly been known as the“most powerful anti-smoking ad”.

The anti-smoking video, called the “Smoking Kid”, features children walking up to adult smokers asking for a light. The children in the ad are actors but the adults smoking are unsuspecting participants in the project.

The video begins with the statement “Adults know that smoking is harmful, but don’t remind themselves of this fact”. Once a “smoking kid” approaches the adults, every adult asked is shocked that the child with a cigarette in his hand is asking for a light. The first adult starts by saying “I’m not giving it to you” and the video goes on to state “every adult filmed said no and reminded the children that smoking is bad”.

Before going away, the kid hands each adult a booklet after being turned down for a light. The booklet says, “You worry about me, but why not about yourself?”Each adult looks around for the child as their faces are filled with confusion and discomfort.

The video shows that a few of the smokers quickly throw away their cigarettes or put their cigarettes away, showing that this experiment was effective at that moment.

The most influential element in the ad isn’t the use of children or the responses from the smoking adults. It comes down to something much simpler than that. Why is it that we worry about other people, forgetting to worry about ourselves?

【小题1】The underlined word “unsuspecting”（in Para. 2）probably means“________”.

A．uninformed	B．unwilling
C．unfortunate	D．unacceptable

【小题2】What was the adults reaction to the children asking for a light?

A．They paid no attention to the children's request.

B．They refused the children's request and educated them.

C．They looked around for the children's parents.

D．They quickly threw the children's cigarettes away.

【小题3】According to the last but one paragraph, the anti-smoking ad is ________.

A．unusual	B．shocking
C．influential	D．encouraging

【小题4】The best title of the text might be “________”.

A．Give up smoking, for your own sake

B．Keep away from smoking, adults.

C．Tell your children not to smoke

D．Refuse a child asking for a light

   Pop stars today enjoy what once only belonged to royalty. Wherever they go, people turn out in their thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of their smiling, or colorfully dressed idols. The stars are transported by Rolls- Royces, private helicopters or executive aeroplanes. They are surrounded by managers,press agents and bodyguards. Photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported. If they enjoy many of the privileges of royalty, they certainly share many of the inconveniences as well. They are no longer private individuals, but public property. The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be calculated, for their rates of pay are great.
And why not? Society has always rewarded its top entertainers generously. The great days of Hollywood have become legendary:famous stars enjoy fame, wealth and adulation(奉承). According to today's standards, the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so surprising. A single record nowadays may earn much more in royalties(版税) than the films of the past ever did. The competition for the title"Top of the Pops"is fierce, and the rewards are truly huge.
It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way. Don't the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the service they perform to their companies and their countries? Pop stars earn vast sums in foreign currency-often more than large industrial companies-and the taxman can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer(国库). So who would begrudge them their rewards?
It's all very well for people in boring jobs to complain about the successes and rewards of others. People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg. For every famous star, there are hundreds of people struggling to earn a living. A man working in a steady job and looking forward to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards. He has chosen security and peace of mind, so there will always be a limit to what he can earn. But a man who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks. He knows at the very beginning that only a handful of competitors can get to the very top. He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete failure. But he knows, too, that the rewards for success are very high indeed: they are the payback for the huge risks involved and once he makes it, he will certainly earn them. That's the essence of private enterprise.
【小题1】The underlined word "begrudge"in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to "________".

A．be jealous of	B．be satisfied with
C．be anxious about	D．be crazy about

【小题2】According to the passage, which of the following can match the view of the author?

A．He who laughs last laughs best.

B．Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

C．He who makes no mistakes makes nothing.

D．Success belongs to the persevering.

【小题3】The author holds a(n) ______ attitude towards the high income of pop stars.

A．critical	B．indifferent
C．optimistic	D．supportive

【小题4】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．People are blind in idolizing stars.

B．There is fierce competition in becoming pop stars.

C．The government taxes pop stars very little.

D．Pop stars' life is more luxurious than that of royalty.

假如你是李华，是一名高中生。随着科技的发展，iPad已成为中学生的新宠。请你用英语给某英语报社写一封信，谈谈中学生使用iPad的情况。信的内容必须包括以几点：
1. 使用iPad对学习的好处；
2. 对课堂纪律和学习可能产生的负面影响；
3. 提出自己的建议并说明理由。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Editor,

I’m a senior high school student named Li Hua. Now many students have iPads and think it’s a fashion to use them._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

   Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.

But when we asked our readers whether they would clone their beloved animals，the responses（反应）were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it，108 would clone their beloved animals，111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.

Clearly，from readers’responses，this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and eventual sadness of owning a pet. It also shows people’s widely different expectations over the developing scientific procedure.

Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original；many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side，however，held little hope that cloning could truly recreate a pet；many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.

Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned“the dog/cat in the world”.They thought of their pets as their“best friend”，“a member of the family”，“the light of their life”.They told moving stories of pets’ heroism，intelligence and selfless devotion.

Few wonder the loss is so disturbing（令人不安的）and the cloning so attractive.“People become very close to their animals，and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies，”says Gary A. Kowalski，author of Goodbye Friend：Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me，cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away... It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with it. It’s hard to accept.”

But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.

【小题1】While talking about the readers’ responses，the expression“eventual sadness of owning a pet”refers to _______.

A．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet

B．the high cost of owning a pet

C．the death of one’s pet

D．the dangers involved in the cloning of a pet

【小题2】What can we know from what Gary A Kowalski says?

A．He has never thought about the problem of cloning.

B．He is in favor of the idea of cloning pets.

C．He has lost his beloved pets.

D．He has doubts about the cloning of pets.

【小题3】What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets？

A．Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies？

B．Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning？

C．Does cloning go against the law of nature？

D．How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one's pet？