I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed (不安).“Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn't quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied. "There's nothing wrong with it?" This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly." Compare it with the others. "
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well.
Why do we think that new options (选择) still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.
1. The shop assistant insisted that the writer should __ .
A. try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it
B. compare the camera he had chosen with the others
C. get more information about different companies
D. trust him and stop asking questions
2. What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"  (Paragraph 2) ?
A. He should get a 50% discount.
B. The price of the camera was unreasonably high.
C. The quality of the camera was not good.
D. The camera would soon fall in value.
3. The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he __ .
A. knew very little about it
B. didn't trust the shop assistant
C. wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best
D. had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers
4. It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer's opinion, __
A. people waste too much money on cameras
B. cameras have become an important part of our daily life
C. we don't actually need so many choices when buying a product
D. famous companies care more about profit than quality

A long time ago, in an Italian city, the people there built a tower which was admired by everyone passing through. A little further down the road, in a neighboring city, they had built a tower of similar beauty. The two towers were equally well known. The people of the second city, envious (妒忌的) and filled with pride, planned to destroy the neighboring tower so it wouldn’t take attention away from their own. One night, they came to the tower and began to quietly undermine its foundations(地基).
The next morning, the tower was leaning(倾斜) slightly ,but nobody noticed. The same happened for the following few days, until a little girl who was passing by pointed up at the tower and said: “ I think the tower is going to fall down.” And everyone around looked closely, and could see that she was right .Nervousness spread through the city. And they tried many methods to try to straighten the tower, but nothing seemed to work. That was, until one day when the same little girl was walking up again, and she put her arm on the side of the tower to rest. She felt the tower shaking slightly. When she took her hand off it, the movement stopped. And when she put it back on again, the same thing happened. The girl spent a while doing this, until she was completely certain of what she had discovered: “ The tower is ticklish ( 怕痒的) ！” She ran to get some plants, and she planted them right next to the tower. Now if the tower leant over any further it would be tickled by the leaves of those plants. Being a ticklish tower, it would then return to where it had been. In this way, the girl managed to make sure that the tower didn’t fall down, but still kept it leaning a little.
The fact that it was leaning made it even more famous, and this taught a fine lesson to the envious people of the neighboring city.
【小题1】Why did the people of the second city plan to destroy the neighboring tower?

B
The Internet has opened up a whole new on-line world for us to meet, chat and go where we’ve never been before.
But just as in face-to-face communication, there are some basic rules of behavior that should be followed when online. The basic rule is simple: treat others in the same way you would want to be treated. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in the other person’s shoes.
For anything you’re about to send: ask yourself, “Would I say this to the person’s face?” If the answer is no, rewrite and reread. Repeat the process till you feel sure that you’d feel comfortable saying the words to the person’s face.
If someone in the chat room is rude to you, your instinct (本能) is to fire back in the same way. But try not to do so. You should either ignore the person, or use your chat software to block their messages. If it was caused by a disagreement with another member, try to fix the situation by politely discussing it. Remember to respect the beliefs and opinions of others in the chat room.
Everyone was new to the network once. Offer advice when asked by newcomers, as they may not be sure what to do or how to communicate. When someone makes a mistake whether it’s a stupid question or an unnecessarily long answer ,you should be kind about it. If it’s a small mistake, you may not need to say anything. Even if you feel strongly about it, think twice before saying anything. Having good manners yourself doesn’t give you license to correct everyone else.
If you do decide to tell someone about a mistake, point it out politely. At the same time, if you find you are wrong, be sure to correct yourself and say sorry to those that you have offended （冒犯，得罪）.
It is not polite to ask others personal questions such as their age, sex, and marital status. Unless you know the person very well, and you are both comfortable with sharing personal information, don’t ask such questions.
4. When you send short messages to a person, you must_____.
A. make sure that they mean no harm
B. read them again and again
C. say something good to hear
D. repeat them later to the person’s face
5. If you are hurt in the chat room by others, you should ____.
A. fight back in the same way          B. take them seriously
C. pay no attention to it               D. be angry at them
6. This passage mainly tells us_____.
A. some rules of Internet communication
B. ways of sending messages
C. rules of the chat room
D. ways of making friends on the Internet

Open Letter to an Editor
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently---one who works for you. In fact, he's one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume (简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues (问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I'm sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you've given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he's doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That's what you want for him, too, isn't it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists---everyone--is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can't do it, they'll find someone who can.
1. What does the writer think of the reporter?
A. Optimistic.     B. Imaginative.   C. Ambitious.    D. Proud.
2. What does the reporter want most from his editors in their talks?
A. Finding the news value of his stories.   B. Giving him financial support.
C. Helping him to find issues.            D. Improving his good ideas.
3. Who probably wrote the letter?
A. An editor.      B. An artist.       C. A reporter.      D. A reader.
4. The letter aims to remind editors that they should __
A. keep their best reporters at all costs
B. give more freedom to their reporters
C. be aware of their reporters' professional development
D. appreciate their reporters' working styles and attitudes

However important we may regard school life to be, there is always the fact that children spend more time at home than in the classroom. Therefore, the teacher should realize that parents have a great influence on their children. Parents can become strong allies (助手) of the school or they can get in the way of the school education.
Experts have realized the need to keep parents informed of the newer methods used in schools. Many headmasters have conducted workshops explaining such matters as the reading readiness, program writing and mathematics to parents.
Moreover, the classroom teacher, with the permission of the supervisors(管理者), can also play an important part in giving more knowledge to reporting pupils progress, teachers can help parents a lot in educating their children and parents can give much help to teachers.
Suppose that a father has been drilling Junior arithmetic lessons night after night. In a friendly talk between the teacher and the father, the teacher can help the parent to make Junior interested in it. He might be persuaded to let Junior join in discussing the family budget, buying the food, using a ruler or measuring cup at home, setting the clock, calculating the distance of a trip and engaging in scores of other activities that have a mathematical basis.
If the father follows the advice, it is reasonable to say that he will soon realize that his son is making satisfactory progress in mathematics, and at the same time, enjoying the work.
Too often, however, teachers’ talks with parents are devoted to small accounts of children’s misdemeanors(不良行为). They talk about the laziness and poor work habits of the children.
What is needed is a more creative way in which the teacher, as an adviser, plants ideas in parents’ minds to make sure that the child spends the many hours out of the classroom learning something useful.
In this way the school and the home join forces in educating children.
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is that ____.