Annual holidays have become a luxury and are no longer a staple of family life, according to government research．

A getaway of a week or more is no longer considered essential by many families and is often beyond their reach, said the analysis of what parents and children say they really need．Fashionable clothes for the children, expensive birthday parties and lots of toys are also on the list of luxuries families don’t have to have．Instead, recession-hit parents are thinking of the future, and the things they want for their children centre around learning to behave properly, good education and good health．

Their picture of what a family ought to have includes a space to eat together away from the television, plenty of fruit and vegetables, and bicycles so children can get exercise．

The breakdown of necessities and luxuries was prepared by researchers from the Department for Work and Pensions(DWP) who were trying to establish an up-to-date picture of what parents say they really need．

Their findings show how families have scaled down their expectations in the face of economic difficulties — how parents are now concentrating their attention and money firmly on the long-term interests of their children．Many believe that while it is vital for a family to do things together, day trips or weekend breaks are enough．

Spending on furniture or decorating the house was also considered luxurious, unless the state of the home was so bad it became difficult to invite visitors in.

Instead, researchers said: A family home should have an area where the family can eat together, not on their laps in front of a television．Families should be able to go on outings, overnight trips and possibly short holiday: the fact of being able to share these experiences is more important than the precise activity and its cost．

It can be inferred that ______________.

       A．a week or more holiday is considered beyond many families’ reach

       B．children hardly ever need fashionable clothes and lots of toys

       C．what a family should have is basic things that they must have

       D．annual holidays were once considered necessary and vital

In the opinion of most parents, _____________.

       A．families can watch TV together in order to keep up their relationship

       B．day trips or weekend breaks are enough for families to share experiences

       C．their expectations should be increased in the face of economic difficulties

       D．a week’s holiday is an essential minimum during the financial crisis

Which of the following is TRUE of the researchers from the DWP?

       A．They confirm many families still need at least a week away on holiday each year.

       B．They learn it is insignificant for a family to do things with each other regularly.

       C．They want to know what parents really need in the face of economic difficulties.

       D．They found spending on furniture or decorating the house was thought valuable.

We can conclude from the last paragraph____________.

       A．being able to share experiences is important for families

       B．a family needs at least a week away on holiday each year

       C．a family home should have a comfortable area to watch TV

       D．going on outings and overnight trips is wasting time for families

What does the author mainly discuss in the text?

       A．Cycling is very important for children’s health.

       B．Family holidays once a year have become a luxury.

       C．It is vital for parents to eat together with children.

       D．Parents are concerned with children’s future.

Technology is the application(應用) of knowledge to production. Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to increase greatly the efficiency of our work force. New machines and new methods have helped cut down time and expense while increasing overall output. This has meant more production and a higher standard of living. For most of us in America, modern technology is thought of as the reason why we can have cars and television sets. However, technology has also increased the amount of food available to us, by means of modern farming machinery and animal breeding techniques, and has extended our life span via(通過) medical technology.

Will mankind continue to live longer and have a higher quality of life? In large measure the answer depends on technology and our ability to use it widely. If we keep making progress as we have over the past fifty years, the answer is definitely yes. The advancement of technology depends upon research and development, and the latest statistics(統(tǒng)計) show that the United States is continuing to pump billions of dollars annually(每年) into such efforts. So while we are running out of some scarce resources(少的資源) we may well find technological substitutes(代用品)for many of them through our research programs.

Therefore, in the final analysis the three major factors of production(land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology. When we need new skills, on techniques in medicine, people will start developing new technology to meet those needs. As equipment proves to be slow or inefficient, new machines will be invented. Technology responds to our needs in helping us maintain our standard of living.

What is the best title for the passage?

A. The definition of technology           B. Modern technology

C. The application of technology          D. The development of technology

Which is the main idea of the passage?

A. Modern technology is the key to the improvement of standard of living.

B. The three major factors of production (land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology.

C. Technology is the response to our needs.

D. The United States is making great efforts to advance its technology.

According to the passage, people can live a long life with the help of _______.

A. higher quality of life                     B. medical technology

C. modern farming machinery             D. technological substitute

Many years ago in a small German town, a Jewish businessman had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the businessman’s beautiful daughter. So he proposed a bargain.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and he would forgo her father’s debt. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble-strewn path. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. The sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. No doubt she was caught in a dilemma.

What would you have done if you were the girl? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1.The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2.The girl should know that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.

3.The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral (橫向的)and logical thinking.

Read on…

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me!” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.” Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.

1.The underlined word “forgo” in paragraph 2 may mean ________.

A. pay off                              B. run out                             C. take over                                 D. give up

2.Which of the following indicates lateral thinking?

A. The girl refused to take a pebble and fled at once.

B. The girl exposed the cheat and found another way.

C. The girl picked one pebbles and made it disappear.

D. The girl picked a black pebble and accepted the result.

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path on purpose

B. The girl dropped the pebble onto the path by accident

C. The girl didn’t know there were two black pebbles in the bag                 

D. The girl replaced a black pebble in the bag

4.What lesson can we learn from the story?

A. Keeping calm when facing a difficult situation.

B. Thinking about a complicated problem in another way.

C. Thinking twice before making a final choice.

D. Coming up with a clever answer is easy.

Two more cases of H7N9 bird flu virus have been detected in Zhejiang province, including a man who died last week, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a 38-year-old patient surnamed Hong from Hangzhou, the provincial capital, who died in hospital on March 27, had the virus.

Hong was infected on March 7 while working in neighboring Jiangsu province. He returned home on March 18, according to the Zhejiang health department.

The other patient, surnamed Yang, is a 67-year-old man. He developed a cough and fever on March 25 and was admitted to hospital on Tuesday.

None of the people who came into close contact with the patients have developed symptoms of the flu, the health department said.

On Sunday, two men in Shanghai died from H7N9. A woman in Anhui province and four men in Jiangsu province remain in criticalcondition, which makes a large number of people scared to death.

All patients had fevers and coughs in the early stages before developing pneumonia(肺炎) and breathing difficulties, China's health authorities said.

Experts say genetic analysis shows that the H7N9 virus can be treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that may slow the spread of influenza（流感，家畜流行性感冒） in the body.

Wang Xianjun, head of the Shandong provincial center of disease control, said H7N9 is sensitive to neuraminidase-inhibiting medicine such as Tamiflu, Qilu Evening News reported on Wednesday.

There are no effective vaccines(疫苗) for H7N9 as yet, Wang said, but using Tamiflu may be effective in the early stages.

1.According to this passage, the most cases of H7N9 bird flu virus have been detected in ______.

A．Zhejiang province                       B．Anhui province

C．Shanghai                              D．Jiangsu province

2.From the whole passage we can learn that_______.

A．two men in Shanghai and a woman in Zhejiang province died from H7N9.

B．the H7N9 virus can be cured with an antiviral drug called Tamiflu.

C．all the patients infected with H7N9 had fevers and coughs in the early stages.

D．only one patient has died from H7N9 in Anhui.

3.The underlined word in the sentence “…four men in Jiangsu province remain in critical condition” may be close to ______ in meaning.

A．very serious and dangerous               B．extremely important

C．quite healthy                           D．not serious or dangerous

4.The passage is mainly about _____.

A．the medicine for H7N9

B．the spread of H7N9 and an antiviral drug

C．the number of patients who died from H7N9

D．people who came into close contact with the patients of H7N9

    Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting creatures,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative meaning.

    So it seems contradictory to talk about habits in the same context as innovation （創(chuàng)新）. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

    Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try, the more creative we become.

    But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

    “The first thing needed for innovation is attraction to wonder,”says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind.“But we are taught instead to ‘decide’, just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider’．”She adds, however, that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

    “All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,”she says. Researchers in the late 1960s discovered that humans are born with the ability to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, collaboratively （合作地） and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that ability, preserving only those ways of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

    The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us use our innovative and collaborative ways of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will…and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have preserved, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in.

Brain researchers have discovered that      .

    A．the forming of new habits can be guided

    B．the development of habits can be predicted

    C．the regulation of old habits can be transformed

    D．the track of new habits can be created unconsciously

The underlined word“ruts”in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to       .

    A．zones    B．connections  C．situations   D．tracks

Which of the following statements most probably agrees with Dawna Markova’s view?

    A．Decision makes no sense in choices.

    B．Curiosity makes creative minds active.

    C．Creative ideas are born of a relaxing mind.

    D．Formation of innovation comes from fantastic ideas.

The purpose of the author writing this article is to persuade us       .

    A．to give up our traditional habits deliberately

    B．to create and develop new habits consciously

    C．to resist the application of standardized testing

    D．to believe that old habits conflict with new habits