Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PC­based email exchanges.
In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and web­based email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.
Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal web­based email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.
In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email，causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.
【小題1】The earliest web-based email came into being probably _______.

A．in 1991B．in 1996C．in 1997D．in 2007
【小題2】The author mentions “fax” in the third paragraph in order to tell us that _______.
A．it is exactly as good as email
B．it is much better than email
C．it is less convenient than email
D．it is easier and faster than email
【小題3】The underlined word “compulsion” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.
A．strong desireB．common senseC．special curiosityD．general idea
【小題4】Which is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A．We should check email boxes frequently.
B．Lazy people like sending an email.
C．Email brings us great convenience.
D．Good inventions also cause problems.


【小題1】B
【小題2】C
【小題3】A
【小題4】D

解析試題分析：文章介紹了通信方式的發(fā)展變化。自從有了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，電子郵件快速發(fā)展，得到了廣泛的應(yīng)用。幾乎每個(gè)人都有一個(gè)電子郵件賬號(hào)。但是，發(fā)明給我們帶來(lái)便利的同時(shí)，也會(huì)附帶有一些問(wèn)題的出現(xiàn)。
【小題1】根據(jù)“In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and web­based email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996.”可知，基于網(wǎng)絡(luò)的最早的電子郵件出現(xiàn)在二十世紀(jì)九十年代中期，故選B。
【小題2】根據(jù)第三段“Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn’t as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.”可知，傳真沒(méi)有電子郵件安全，無(wú)法知道對(duì)方是否接收了傳真，或者把傳真的文件放丟了。傳真沒(méi)有電子郵件方便，故選C。
【小題3】根據(jù)最后一段“But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a compulsion to check it several times a day.”可知，有時(shí)候，人們與電子郵件的聯(lián)系過(guò)于密切，以至于有一種一天查收好幾次的欲望。故選A。
【小題4】根據(jù)最后一段“Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time.”可知，好的發(fā)明在帶來(lái)便利的同時(shí)，也會(huì)引起許多問(wèn)題。故選D。
考點(diǎn)：科技類短文閱讀

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U.S. Bottled Water Sales Are Booming Again Despite Opposition
Despite organized anti-bottled-water campaigns across the country and a noisy debate about bottled water’s environmental impact, Americans are buying more bottled water than ever.
Why do so many people seem to think they should have any input on what other American’s choose to buy or do?
If they want to buy bottled water, let them.
If they want to eat fast food, let them.
If they want to smoke pot, let them.
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People just get tired of paying for others’ bad behavior. If many people eat excessive fast food, you pay higher insurance premiums. If many people frequently buy bottled water, your trash bills go up and landfills fill up quickly.www.zxxk.com
It’s about personal responsibility, which really should be a cornerstone of libertarianism.
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So? This is the price you pay to live in a free society. You want to control the life of another just so you can save a few bucks? What would you say when someone do the same to you?
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Defend selfish pricks all you like; I’m just glad there are still people who still believe personal responsibility is a good and decent thing. We make your life cheaper and less bothersome.
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What a waste of money! It’s fine when you’re on the road and you need a cold drink, but people who buy cases of bottled water for home are completely crazy.
— Agmlauncher
I wish we all can find a way to improve things and benefit from this. The environment needs a lot of help but businesses will always work on what people would need and demand. Is this part of the balance? Hope we can find better ways.
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A．Americans are consuming more bottled water than tap.
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D．Some people worry about its bad effect on the environment.
【小題2】Who would agree with Barackalypse on this matter?
A．Bdbr. B．Norman619.C．Yoyo.D．Agmlauncher.
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A．partly supportive ofB．extremely against
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A．The environment is emphasized too much.
B．It’s impossible for people to find a better way.
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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源： 題型：閱讀理解

For thousands of years, mankind has produced plants and animals to create more desired and useful plants and animals. For example, modern com has been produced to such a large size that it is no longer able to reproduce without man’s assistance. Modern dairy cows produce too much milk and if they are not often emptied of milk, they could leak, burst, become infected, and possibly die. Besides, most dogs raised by people can not survive in the wild even with special training.
Since natural evolution is extremely slow and mankind’s selective production programs only take a few generations to produce a completely new species, natural evolution has already taken a back seat to mankind’s production programs. In addition, mankind has successfully killed off several species all together. For example, there are no more European wolves in existence and mammoths (猛犸象) probably died out because of mankind. Even certain diseases have been permanently got rid of from the planet, and dozens of other diseases will soon be too. Again, natural evolution did i»t cause most of the destruction during man’s rule of the world.
Currently, scientists are creating new species with desired characteristics in the lab significantly faster than natural evolution creates new species. In a single generation, new species can be created and destroyed by mankind, while natural evolution could take thousands of years to do the same but only accidentally. Scientists are even able to replace defective (有缺陷的) or damaged genes with different genes to attempt to cure genetic defects. This is something that natural evolution could possibly never correct.
Eventually scientists will even be able to improve the quality of people. For example, imagine not only correcting your eyesight with gene treatment, but also ensuring that all of your children do not receive your old genes of poor eyesight too. Scientists will one day be able to improve the memory and intelligence of your children, so that they will do better in school and achieve more in life. Doctors and scientists will be able to customize (訂制) babies before they are born just like picking options at a car store.
【小題1】According to the first paragraph,______ .
A. man-made evolution has improved all species
B. man-made evolution has weakened some species
C man-made evolution can make up for all natural losses
D. natural evolution won’t happen without man’s assistance
【小題2】What does the underlined part “taken a back seat to” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Become powerful assistance to.  
B. Become a huge barrier to.
C Speeded up the process of.   
D. Played a less important role than.
【小題3】What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Why natural evolution happens so slowly.
B．The way scientists adopt to have genetic defects repaired.
C．The advantages of man-made evolution over natural evolution.
D．How scientists make use of man-made evolution to create new species.
【小題4】What can we infer from the passage?
A．Near-sighted parents will be able to produce babies with good eyesight in the future.
B．Doctors and scientists will be responsible for mass production of babies in the future.
C．It is natural evolution that is to blame for the destruction of European wolves and mammoths.
D．Children can now have their memory and intelligence improved with the help of gene treatment.

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