4. Passage Ten Nowadays， children heavily cling to digital devices such as computers and smart phones. Some spend up to six hours a day on their digital devices. They can be playing games online with people elsewhere， updating their status on social media， texting friends， or looking for the latest apps to download to their computers or smart phones. This worried Martin Strott. He is the headmaster of the Old Hall School in Wellington， England. He was so concerned that he challenged his students to take part in a week of 【 “digital】 【detox”】， a program to reduce their reliance on digital devices. Mr. Strott told the local newspaper， the Shropshire Star， that too much screen time would affect the development of their social skills. At another interview with a magazine， he mentioned that this over-reliance on digital devices “takes away family time and reduces their chances of face-to-face communication” . The parents are happy with the program. But what about the children? Nine-year-old Fred usually spends around two hours on his digital devices at home after school and around 12 hours on weekends. For him， the digital detox experience was “really hard” . He said that he had been engaged in many interesting outdoor activities organized by the headmaster， but still missed his phone and online games. The idea of keeping children away from their digital devices for a while to prevent too much dependence on them is not particularly new. There have been similar practices in the United States. But are they effective in the long run? According to Mr. Strott， even if kids go back to their digital devices， the hope is that at least they will think about how they will use their time. How did Fred feel about his “digital detox” experience?

37. We are looking forward (_____)_ a trip to your country.

A. 　 to take

B. 　 to taking

C. 　 to be taking

D. 　 to having taken

37. Doesn’t Alice show a great deal of anxiety (_____)_her exams?

A. 　 at

B. 　 to

C. 　 about

D. 　 in

40. Her dress was very short and she was a bit embarrassed (_____)_ it.

A. 　 about

B. 　 to

C. 　 on

D. 　 for

1. Passage Twenty-Six Today just as technology changed the face of industry， farmers have undergone an “agricultural revolution” . On the farm of today， machines provide all the power. One of the most important benefits will be the farm computer. A few forward-looking farmers are already using computers to help them run their farms more efficiently. The computers help them keep more accurate records， so they can make better decisions on what crops to plant， how much livestock to buy， when to sell their products， and how much profit they can expect. Many computer companies have been developing special computer programs just for farmers. Programs are being written for hog (猪) producers， grain farmers， potato farmers， and dairy farmers. In the future， farmers will be able to purchase computer programs made to their needs. Because of the growing importance of computers on the farm， students at agricultural colleges are required to take computer classes in addition to their normal agricultural courses. There can be no doubt that farmers will rely on computers even more in the future. While the old-time farm depended on horse power， and modern farms depend on machine power， farms of the future will depend on computer power. Another technological advance which is still in the experimental stage is the robot， a real “mechanized hired hand” that will be able to move and， in some ways， think like a human being. Agricultural engineers believe that computer-aided robots will make startling changes in farming before the end of the century. Unlike farmers of the present， farmers of the future will find that many day-to-day tasks will be done for them. Scientists are now developing robots that will be able to shear (修剪) sheep， drive tractors， and harvest fruit. Even complex jobs will be done by robots. For example， in order to milk their cows， farmers must first drive them into the special barn (畜棚)， then connect them to the milking machines， watch the machines， and disconnect them when they are finished. In the future， this will all be done by robots. In addition， when the milking is completed， the robots will automatically check to make sure that the milk is pure. The complete mobilization of the farm is far in the future， but engineers expect that some robots will be used before long. Which sentence is the main idea of the whole passage?

A. The first sentence of the first paragraph.

B. The first sentence of the second paragraph.

C. The first sentence of the third paragraph.

D. The last sentence of the second paragraph.

3. Passage Twenty-Four Social change is more likely to occur in societies where there is a mixture of different kinds of people than in societies where people are similar in many ways. The simple reason for this is that there are more different ways of looking at things present in the first kind of society. There are more ideas， more disagreements in interest， and more groups and organizations with different beliefs. In addition， there is usually a greater worldly interest and greater tolerance in mixed societies. All these factors tend to promote social change by opening more areas of life to decision. In a society where people are quite similar in many ways， there are fewer occasions for people to see the need or the opportunity for change because everything seems to be the same. And although conditions may not be satisfactory， they are at least customary and undisputed. Within a society， social changes is also likely to occur more frequently and more readily in the material aspects of the culture than in the non-material， for example， in technology rather than in values; in what has been learned later in life rather than what was learned early; in the less basic and less emotional aspects of society than in their opposites; in the simple elements rather than in the complex ones; in form rather than in substance; and in elements that are acceptable to the culture rather than in strange elements. Furthermore， social change is easier if it is gradual. For example， it comes more readily in human relations on a continuous scale rather than one with sharp dichotomies ( 一分为二). This is one reason why change has not come more quickly to Black American as compared to other American minorities， because of the sharp difference in “appearance between them and their white counterparts” .According to the passage， which of the following is NOT true?

A. Social change tends to meet with more difficulty in basic and emotional aspects of society.

B. Disagreement with an argument about conditions tend to slow down social change.

C. Social change is more likely to occur in the material aspect of society.

D. Social change is less likely to occur in what people learned when they were young.

36. My teacher was made (_____)_ his teaching because of poor health.

A. 　 giving up

B. 　 to give up

C. 　 given up

D. 　 give up

34. Details of the underground trade were (_____) by the local newspaper.

A. 　 revealed

B. 　 exposed

C. 　 discovered

D. 　 found

49. No one thought that Smith’s suggestion was worth (_____)_.

A. 　 considering

B. 　 to consider

C. 　 to being considered

D. 　 to be considered

45. You can eat food free in my restaurant (_____)_ you like.

A. 　whenever

B. 　 wherever

C. 　 whatever

D. 　 however

3. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. What do we learn about the older people and college students in the experiment?

A. College students skipped the unexpected words.

B. Older people should improve their reading speed.

C. College students did a better job than the older people.

D. Older people fully understood the meaning of the passage.