Do you forget to turn off the lights and heaters when you go out of a room? In 2040 it will not matter. They will turn themselves off--and on again when you return. You will choose the temperature for each room, the lighting and the humidity. A sensor will find the presence of a human (and, with luck, ignore the dog!) and turn the systems on, and when the humans leave it will turn them off again. The sensors will work through the central home computer, and they will do much more than just turn the fires and lights on and off for you. They will find faulty electrical appliances, plugs or switches, separate them so that they cannot harm anyone, and then warn you that they need repair. They will detect fire and if you are out of the house, the computer will call the fire brigade. It will not be too difficult because the locks on the outside doors will be electronic. You will open them using your personal card--the one you use for shopping--maybe using a number known only to you. It will be impossible to lose the key, and a housebreaker will have to tamper with the lock or with a window. It is not very difficult to make such tampering send a signal to the computer. The computer will be more than a fireman-policeman-servant. It will be an entertainer, and most of your entertainment will come right into your home. It does now, of course, but by 2040 "entertainment" will mean much more. For one thing, you will be able to take part actively, rather than just watching. The best title for the passage might be _ . A) Sensors and Computers B) Life at Home in the Year 2040 C) The Development of Science and Technology D) Lights and Heaters in the Year 2040
B
Each year on the first Saturday in March, a group of middle-aged men and a few women gather at sunrise on a beach near prefix = st1 /St. Petersburg,Fla.Above the high-water line are more than 50 small boats. At exactly 7 a.m., Steve Isaac stands at the water's edge with his arm raised and yells: "Go!" Most of the boats are part of the Everglades Challenge. They head for a finish line many days and 300 miles to the south, at Key Largo. But this Saturday, for the first time, 10 of the brave mariners--including a journalist, whose progress will be available online--will compete in the world's toughest small boat race, called the Ultimate Florida Challenge. Instead of finishing at Key Largo, the 10 boaters will continue around the state, heading north past Miami, the Kennedy Space Center, and Jacksonville, then down the Suwannee River, eventually passing most of Florida before arriving back at the beach near St. Petersburg. It will be 1,200 miles of head winds and burning sun. But it will also take the challengers through some of the most impressive scenery in North America. The rules are no-nonsense: First one back to the beach wins. The voyage must be completed within a month. Human power or sails, only. No motors. No rides in cars or tows from power boats. No help from family or friends. And at least once a day, participants are required to acknowledge by cell phone or radio that they are still alive. The race will be a replay of the tale of the tortoise and the rabbit. The trick, if there is one, is to be a tortoise and just keep moving forward. But the one-month deadline means that being too much of a tortoise may result in failure. So challengers have to be a little bit of a rabbit, as well. This 1,200-mile race is unusual because _ . A) more people will take part B) only men will take part C) its rules are meaningless D) it will be more challenging
D
Q: Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water! This is just one of hundreds of tips you might get if you have the hiccups .Hiccups are so mysterious.We really don't know why they start and why they stop. Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups.Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well.Others eat a teaspoon of sugar.Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it. An American man named Jack O'Leary said he had hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years.He tried 60,000 cures, but none of them worked.At last he prayed to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately. It took a British plumber eight months to cure his hiccups.People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well.He tried them all, but the hiccups continued.Finally, he drank a "secret" mixture someone had sent him.By that evening his hiccups were gone. Why did these cures work for these two men? No one really knows.But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea--hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure. From this passage, we can learn _ . A) Saint Jude is an expert in curing the hiccups B) the reason why the hiccups start and why the hiccups stop C) some people think that a good scare is a cure for a case of hiccups D) the British plumber drank a "secret" mixture given by an experienced doctor and then became well
A: C
(Question)
A public high school in the rural town of Boonsboro,Maryland,offers a special program recently. Top students in the ninth and tenth grades can attend single-sex classes for math,science,English and social studies. The aim is to help teenagers keep their mind on their work by keeping males and females apart. Rebecca Brown chooses the students for what Boonsboro High School calls the Academy. "What we really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve here,so that they're prepared for college," she said. They need high marks and test scores and strong teacher recommendations. They also need to be involved in activities. Michael Bair has been at Boonsboro High School for twenty years and directs the Academy. His ninth-grade English class for boys centers on books that he believes boys find interesting. "The novels they're reading now,are very manly novels. They're novels that deal with the arrogance of man and the pride of man." One of those books,for example,is "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London. This classic story tells of a dog stolen from his home and sold to work as a sled dog in Canada's Klondike Gold Rush. On this day,the students are working in small groups. Vincent and Logan explain why they're drawing pictures that relate to the story. Vincent said,"The main character,Buck,gets abducted , and they send him off to the Yukon in a train. So I'm drawing part of the story where he's in the train. It gets you to _ the setting of the story and gets you to think more about what's going on in the story,the important events of the story."" Instead of just doing work sheets about it,this is a lot more fun," Logan added happily. Morgan Van Fleet likes being in the Academy. She says boys and girls act differently when they are together in a classroom. "To me,it almost seems like it's hindering your chances at developing yourself because you're more focused on 'Oh,I wish they'd shut up. Oh,what do they think of me?' instead of focusing on what's the homework... The text is probably taken from _ . A) a school's introduction B) a teacher's diary C) a headmaster's speech D) a news report
(Answer)
D