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

2. Passage Nineteen A 3-year-old boy who was lost in the woods for two days is now safe at home. But Casey Hathaway told his rescuers that he was not alone in the rainy， freezing cold woods. He said he was with a friend——abear. The child went missing on January 22 while playing with friends at his grandmother’s house in the southern state of North Carolina. When the other children returned to the house and Casey did not， the family searched the area for almost an hour before calling the police. Police formed a search and rescue team to look for the young boy in the nearby woods. But two days went by and still——no Casey. The woods of North Carolina are home to many black bears， like this one. It seems one of them helped a little boy while he was lost in the woods. Then on January 24， someone called the police saying they heard a child crying in the woods. Police followed up on the information and found Casey at about 9:30 that night. They pulled him out of some briar (荆棘). He was in good health. Police Officer Chip Hughes said that Casey did not say how he was able to survive in the woods for two days in the cloud， rainy weather， but that “he did say he had a friend in the woods that was a bear that was with him. ” Hundreds of people helped in the search and rescue efforts， including some 600 volunteers， federal police and members of the military. Hughes told reporters that at no point did he think Casey had been kidnapped (绑架). Doctors at Carolina East Medical Center treated Casey for minor injuries. He was then released to his family on January 25 .The woods are mentioned again and again to indicate that they ( ) .

A. provide good places for children to play in

B. are home to bears and thus dangerous to children

C. stand for good environment around Casey’s home

D. may be the cause of the rainy weather in the area

5. 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. What is the passage mainly about?

A. The functions of smart phones.

B. An introduction to digital devices.

C. The after-class activities for students.

D. A project to prevent over-reliance on digital devices.

43. What John said just now had little to do with the question (_____)_ discussion.

A. 　 on

B. 　 at

C. 　 in

D. 　 under

47. The best way to make friends is to start a conversation with someone and (_____)what your common interests are and go from there.

A. 　 lead to

B. 　 lay down

C. 　 keep on

D. 　 find out

33. Ever since the family moved to the suburbs last year, they (_____)_ better health.

A. 　 could have enjoyed

B. 　 had enjoyed

C. 　 have been enjoying

D. 　 are enjoying

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.

38. Nearly every time I picked up a newspaper, I found a reference (_____)_ the use of industrial gases.

A. 　 over

B. 　 on

C. 　 at

D. 　 to

45. After being tested in many ways, this newly-designed machine will (_____)in the near future.

A. 　 take place

B. 　 put into use

C. 　 come into use

D. 　 take action

2. Passage Nine Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food， furniture， books， bicycles and hundreds of others they need or want. When they work， they usually get paid in money. Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells. Shells were not the only things used as money. In China， cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands， rice was used as money. In some parts of Africa， cattle were one of the earliest kinds of money. Other animals were used as money， too. The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the center. People strung them together and carried them from place to place. Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. The first coins in England were made of tin. Sweden and Russia used copper to make their money. Later， other countries began to make coins of gold and silver. But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again， the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money. The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than paper money used today. Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today. Where were shells used as money in history?

A. In the Philippines.

B. In China.

C. In Africa.

D. We don’t know.

3. Passage Twenty-Seven Out of all the students who enroll in a massive open online course 【MOOC】， only about 5 percent complete the course and receive a certificate of accomplishment. This statistic is often cited as evidence that MOOCs are fatally flawed (有缺陷的) and offer little educational value to most students. Yet more than 80 percent of students who fill out a post-course survey say they met their primary objective. How do we look at these two facts? We’re used to focusing on completion rates in higher education， but they’re not the only—or even the most meaningful—indicator of engagement in open online courses. With no cost to enroll， no punishment for dropping out， and little reward for actually earning a certificate， MOOCs are fundamentally different from traditional classes—and students use them in fundamentally different ways. Data from more than 1.8 million students enrolled in 36 MOOCs offered by the University of Pennsylvania show that students treat MOOCs like a buffet (自助餐)， sampling the material according to their interests and career goals. Some are curious about the subject matter and just watch one or two video lectures; others use the discussion forums to connect with their intellectual peers around the world. Of all enrolled students， nearly 60 percent watch at least one video， complete at least one assignment， or post at least once in a forum. So focusing on the tiny fraction of students who complete a MOOC is misguided. The more important number is the 60 percent engagement rate. Students may not finish a MOOC with a certificate of accomplishment， but the courses nonetheless meet the educational goals of millions. According to Para. 3， students choose MOOCs for the following reasons EXCEPT

A. earning a certificate

B. improving job-related skills

C. meeting their interest in the subjects

D. exchanging ideas with students worldwide