When e-mail first came into general use about twenty years ago, there was a lot of talk about the arrival of the paperless office.However, it seems that e-mail has yet to revolutionize office communication.According to communications analyst Richard Metcalf, some offices have actually seen an increase in paper as a result of e-mail."Information in the form of e-mal messages now floods our computer screens.These messages can be sent so quickly that memos tend to be distributed in the hundreds.For those secretaries whose bosses ask them to print out all their e-mails and leave them in their in-trays, this means using up a great deal of paper every month," Metcalf says. Metcalf has found that because some e-mails get lost in cyberspace, important documents are increasingly likely to be asked by clients and colleagues to send all important documents both by e-mail and by fax or "snail mail" - through the post.This highlights a further potential problem with e-mail in today's offices - it is taking up time rather than saving it."With e-mail, communication is much easier, but there is also more room for misunderstandings," says psychologist Dr David Lewis.Generally, much less care is taken with e-mails than with letters or faxes and the sender will probably print the document and reread it before putting it in an envelope or sending it by fax. More worrying is still the increasing misuse of e mail for sending "flame-mail" - abusive or inappropriate e-mail messages, Recent research in several companies suggests that aggressive communications like this are on the increase.E-mail has become the perfect medium for expressing workplace dissatisfaction because it is so instant. E-mail can also be a problem in other ways.Staffs all too often make the mistake of thinking that the contents fan e-mail, like things said over the phone, are private and not permanent.But it is not only possible for an employer to read all your e-mails, it is also perfectly legal.E-mail messages can be traced back to their origin for... Why has the promise of the paperless office not come true in many offices? A) People write more memos than they used to. B) Staff leave messages lying around their offices. C) Many managers prefer to read their messages on paper. D) Many secretaries keep paper copies of their bosses' e-mails.
D
(Question)
I have a younger brother. To me , he is a fourteen-year-old kid named Joe, with blond hair and blue eyes. To others, he is different. Where I see a kid who just needs a lot more attention, others see a mentally disabled boy, a kid who cannot walk or talk or think for himself. I see someone who just makes daily routine a bit less routine. Others see an annoyance, a bother. This is not to say that I have never felt resentful toward Joe. He is my brother, and with that comes responsibility. "Gina, could you stay in tonight and watch your brother?" "Gina, do me a favor and feed him dinner and change his diaper later, please?""Could you come home right after school today and get Joe off the bus?" These are phrases that I have heard since I was twelve. And sure, they have made me resent my brother to a certain extent. I would think: that's not fair! Everyone else can stay after and be a member of this club, or get extra help from that teacher. Or, all my friends are going out tonight, why can't I? And, how come I have to feed him? He is not my son! However, the small amount of resentment I feel toward my brother is erased a thousand times over by what I have learned from him. Besides making me responsible from a young age, and helping me be more accepting of all kinds of people, he has taught me to be thankful for what I have. I know that there are moment in my life that I should cherish and that Joe will never experience. He will never laugh so hard that he cries. He will never feel the glory of a straight-A report card. He will never comfort a best friend crying on his shoulder. And he will never know how much his family love him. Because he will never know, it is up to me to know, every second , how lucky I am. It is up to me to realize that life should be lived to its fullest, and that you should always, always be grateful that God, or whoever are the powers that be, gave you the ability to live your life the way you were meant to live it. The passage intends to tell us that we should _ . A) value the glory of success B) appreciate what life gives us C) comfort unfortunate people D) treasure meaningful moments
(Answer)
B
Ques: The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphone, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic skill. However, while today's educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful---both in school and in life. Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it's important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand. Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks---both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate. In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student's writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to know well they can write. "Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas." Berninger said. Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe "those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen," the study said. Seeing the words in the "mind's eye" helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct then over time. "In our computer age, some people believe that we don't have to teach spelling because we have spell checks," she said. "But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won't have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer." What conclusion could be drawn from the passage? A) Computers can help people with their choice of words. B) Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching. C) Handwriting still has a place in today's classrooms. D) Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.
Ans:
C