WHAT happens to a teenage kid when the world he thought he knew suddenly changes? Find out in Little Brother by American author Cory Doctorow. It is a fascinating book for a new generation of sci-fi readers. Marcus Yallow, 17, from San Francisco is much more comfortable in front of a computer than obeying the rules of society. Smart, fast and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's monitoring system.This way he and his friends get to head off to play a popular online game in real life. While they are playing, a bomb explodes on the Bay Bridge. Marcus stops a military vehicle to get help for his injured friend, but this simple act throws him into a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secret prison.There he is treated as a possible terrorist. He is eventually let go after four days, but his injured friend disappears. When he returns, Marcus discovers that there are many "security measures" in place and that now all citizens are treated like potential terrorists. While some consider this government action necessary for public safety, Marcus sees this as a complete _ of the rights he is supposed to have as a citizen. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him with only one thing to do: to take down the DHS himself. He helps organize a large network called Xnet to spread the truth, anonymously . The book presents a young man who is irresponsible, but learns about himself, and grows, in the course of the story. As part of this learning and growing he becomes aware of very serious issues about his society. At the end of the book, Marcus Yallow _ . A) is supposed to be more irresponsible B) becomes aware of very serious issues about his society C) presents a young man who is irresponsible D) plays a popular online game in real life
B
The future of written English will owe more to Hollywood films than Dickens or Shakespeare, if the findings of a study into children's writing are anything to go by. Researchers who looked at the entries to a national competition found they were increasingly using Americanisms such as garbage, trash can, sidewalk, candy, sneakers, soda, and flashlight. The stories, written by pupils aged 7 to 13, show how fairy cakes are referred to as cupcakes and a dinner jacket has become a tuxedo. "Smart" is now often used for "clever" and "cranky" for "irritable". Television also has a powerful influence on children's work, with Lady Gaga and Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi among the famous names from TV cropping up repeatedly. But pupils are let down by basic spelling, punctuation and grammar, according to the study by Oxford University Press (OUP), which looked at the entries to BBC Radio Two's "500 Words" competition. Children struggled to correctly spell simple words such as "does" and "clothes" and often failed to use the past tense correctly, frequently writing "rised" instead of "rose" or "thinked" instead of "thought". Researchers also found that punctuation was underused, especially semi-colons and speech marks. Some did not know how to use capital letters. However, exclamation marks were overused. Researchers found 35,171 examples in total, with some young writers using five at a time! Popular US fiction such as the Twilight novels and films is thought to be fueling the increasing use of American vocabulary and spelling. Meanwhile, fears that texting was spoiling children's written work were unfounded, they said, with youngsters only using text language when they were referring to a text message. Samantha Armstrong from OUP said: "Perhaps we are catching a glimpse of the language of the future." Chris Evans, whose radio show runs the competition, said the results were "fascinating", adding: "Who'd have thought that Messi and Gaga would be some of the most used names?" What can we infer from the passage? A) American movies and books are increasingly popular in Britain. B) The national writing competition is organised by Oxford University Press. C) Written English is more influenced by classical literature than popular US Culture. D) Lionel Messi is now the most famous footballer in Britain.
A
Q: Looking back on China's road to outer space, people can easily find it has not been very smooth. In the past years, Chinese people have made hard and determined efforts to realize the dream their ancestors had for thousands of years. After China's first satellite into the Earth's orbit in 1970 came four flights of unmanned Shenzhou missions from 1999 to 2002. The country carried out its first one-piloted space flight in October, 2003, making China the third country in the world to have independent human spaceflight ability after the Soviet Union and the United States. Then came another breakthrough on October 12, 2005, when Shenzhou 6, China's second human spaceflight, was launched, with a crew of two astronauts. What's more, the landmark spacewalk done by Zhai Zhigang, one of the three boarding Shenzhou 7, launched on Sept. 25, 2008, leads the country further in its space exploration. Meanwhile, China's moon exploration project, started in 2004, has also been progressing satisfactorily. Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world's first man-made satellite, China's first circumlunar satellite Chang'e 1 took off on Oct.24, 2007, which became another milestone in China's space achievements after the above-mentioned manned flights. Chang'e 1 was expected to fulfill four scientific goals, one of which was to probe mineral elements on the moon, especially those not existent on Earth. It's said that the lunar regolith is abundant in helium-3, a clean fuel that may support the Earth's energy demands for more than a century. Nearly 3 years later, Oct. 1, 2010 witnessed the blasting off of Chang'e 2, China's 2nd unmanned lunar probe, marking another step forward in moon exploration. This time the aim is to test the key techniques of Chang'e 3 and Chang'e 4, as a preparation for a soft lunar landing in the future. With great expectations, people all over the world are looking forward to China's greater space achievements. Altogether how many astronauts have made successful spaceflight by Shenzhou spaceship by now? A) 4 B) 5 C) 6 D) 7
A: C