Second Life is a 3D online world in which computer users can create a new life and live a different life. Second Life is one of the most popular new online games. But unlike other games, Second Life is not about winning or losing. Second Life is technically a computer game. But people involved in it do not consider it a game because the players create everything. Second Life is more for socializing and creating communities. Users of Second Life are called residents( ). To take part, they must create an avatar, or an electronic image of themselves. Some avatars look like humans, while others look like animals or imaginary creatures. Inside the Second Life world, residents live in different versions of themselves. They build homes, run businesses, buy and sell things, work, play, and attend schools. They even have relationships and get married. Second Life was created in 2003 by Linden Lab in San Francisco, California. Linden Lab controls the website where the ever-changing world is being created. There are now about one million people around the world who are active to Second Life. The number has grown quickly since the beginning of the year when there were about one hundred thousand users. The average age of people involved with Second Life is about thirty. However, Linden Lab has recently created Teen Second Life for young users. Second Life has its own economy and its own money, called Linden dollars. Millions of dollars are made and spent each month in Second Life. Users can enter Second Life for free. But they must pay for a membership if they want to own land or buy and sell goods and services. Recently, several major companies have become involved with Second Life. They want to be part of the growing business world that exists within the made-up reality. Why do some big companies want to join in Second life? A) They want to experience life in the made-up reality. B) They want to promote their products more widely. C) They want to be a member of Second Life. D) They want to build agencies in Second life.
B
Every September in China, people love to talk about the overprotective parents following their children around everywhere during university enrollment. Now, with more than 420,000 youngsters in the UK starting their new college school year, what is their first day like? BBC's Sean Coughlan described it in a recent report. According to Coughlan, at the very beginning it is not hard to spot something familiar to Chinese-a stream of parents arriving with their sons and daughters at the student village. Mothers, fathers and a teenager-now most likely taller than they are - stand together like the three might have done on the first day of primary school. "The approach road to the student village is a long traffic jam of family cars, stuffed full with boxes, pillows and nervous families," he writes. "The door closes on a student's room and parents and children go their separate ways. For many families, if childhood has a final moment, this is it." But saying goodbye to parents is not the only similarity between college freshmen in the UK and China. In both cases, new arrivals most want to know about their Internet connections. "It's their most urgent concern," notes Coughlan. Even on their first day, university in the UK won't be an entirely lonely experience for some new students. "Before they arrive they have been using social networking to get to know their future roommates," writes Coughlan. Still, the first night is something no UK university student ever forgets. There are people they meet and then spend three years avoiding and people who become their friends for the rest of their lives. First week stories are all about over-partying, bad cooking and misguided clothing, Coughlan says. As he concludes: "These new students are entering their own soap opera of romance, friendship and ambition. It's a huge adventure that they've worked for years to achieve." What is the author's purpose in writing the article? A) To introduce how UK students prepare for college. B) To show different challenges that college freshmen face in the UK and China. C) To describe how UK colleges welcome newcomers. D) To inform us about what the first day of college is like in the UK.
D
Q: To be punctual is important for us because people rather expect us to be on time for appointments. But it seems not easy to be on time every time. Here are some useful methods to help you be punctual. Plan your route. If your destination is unfamiliar, go online the night before to map out your route and see how long it's going to take. Then you will know when you have to leave the house. Do as much as possible the night before. Make your mornings less stressful by doing what you can the night before to make your time enough. Get your clothes ready. Set the breakfast table. Make your lunch if you need to take it. Make a time table. You need to make a time table if you have lots of things to do in a day. For example, the time you get up, the time you leave the house, and the time you wait for the bus. You also need to estimate how long it takes. Give yourself a gift of being early. If you plan to get to your destination 15 minutes early, you'll probably never be late again. Being early seems a waste of time. But you can do something you love. Read the newspaper, read your favorite blogs and even call a friend. It really can be a gift. The writer gives us _ methods to help us be punctual. A) one B) two C) three D) four
A: D
Question: A Healthy Habits Survey shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice. 1.How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday? *Finding:A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day. *Step:Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes, at least twice a day. 2.How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday? *Finding:Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30%wash their hands only 4 times a day-half of the number doctors recommend. *Step:We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day-often inviting germs to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes.Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds. 3. How often do you think about fighting germs? *Finding:Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should. *Step:Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds. The text probably comes from _ . A) a guide book B) an official document C) a book review D) a popular magazine
Answer: D
Sometime in the next century, the familiar early-newspaper on the front porch will disappear. And instead of reading your newspaper, it will read to you. You'll get up and turn on the computer newspaper just like switching on the TV An electronic voice will distribute stories about the latest events, guided by a program that selects the type of news you want. You'll even get to choose the kind of voice you want to hear. Want more information on this brief story? A simple touch makes the entire text appear. Save it in your own personal computer if you like. These are among the predictions from communication experts working on the newspapers of the future. Pictured as part of broader home-based media and entertainment systems, computer newspapers will unite print and broadcast reporting, and offer news and analysis with video images of news events. Most of the technology is available now, but convincing more people that they don't need to read a newspaper is the next step. But resistance to computer newspapers may be stronger from within journalism. Since it is such a cultural change, it may be that the present generation of journalists and publishers will have to die off before the next generation realizes that the newspaper industry is no longer a newspaper industry. Technology is making the end of ' traditional newspapers unavoidable. Despite technological advances, it could take decades to replace newsprint with computer screens. It might take 30 t0 40 years to complete the changeover because people need to buy computers and because newspapers have established financial interests in the paper industry. What is the best title of the passage? A) Computer newspapers are well liked. B) Newspapers of the future will be on the computer. C) Newspapers are out of fashion. D) New communications technology.
B