Ding-Dong！

“Jason, honey? Can you answer the door?”

“I am busy, mom！” Jason shouted back at his mother. He had spent three hours so far working to this point in the game. He couldn′t stop now.

Ding-Dong！Mom′s footsteps approached the front door.

“ Jason, it′s your friend Todd.”Mom called from the doorway.

Todd, his best friend, stepped into the room. “ Jason！I need a partner for playing basketball.”He sounded excited.

Jason snorted. “No way, Todd. I′m playing a game here.”

Jason gave his friend a dirty look, and his character in the game almost got killed while he looked away, “ I almost died because of you！”

Todd looked at Jason′s mother. Jason′s mother looked back at him. They both looked at Jason. “Why don′t you play basketball with your friend?”Jason′s mother suggested.

“Tomorrow, maybe…” There were more levels to beat tomorrow, though. Maybe he had played tomorrow. He had to see what mood he was in. He thought he heard footsteps walking away, but he was too busy beating the next level to care.

An hour later , Jason′s father came home. It was dinner time after his father washed up and sat down. Jason didn′t even hear his name being called to the table. He didn′t hear his father walk at behind him and ask him to turn the game off, either.

When the screen suddenly went black and his father′s angry face loomed in front of him, Jason finally heard. “No more game for a month.” Jason′s father shouted at him.“You don′t play basketball, you don′t come to dinner, and you don′t do your chores. We′ll make something else done before you play any more.”

Jason nodded slowly. He knew better than to argue with his father, and when he thought about it, he had been palying quite a bit. It was fun, but he was letting down his friends, his family, and himself by paying too much.

He′d try harder in the future.

48. What was Jason doing when his mother asked him to answer the door?

A. Having dinner            B. Turning off the game 

C. Playing computer games    D. Arguing with his father.

49. What did Todd ask Jason to do?

A. Help him cook dinner           B. Beat more levels for him. 

C. Repair the computer for him      D. play basketball with him.

50. Why did Jason finally stop playing the game?

A. He won the game.                B. His mother got dinner ready. 

C. His father turned off the computer.   D. He decided to play basketball outside.

51. What did Jason learn in the end?

A. He thought that his father was too strict with him.

B. He found that playing computer games was quite interesting.

C. He realized it was an unhealthy habit to play games without dinner.

D. He couldn′t spend all day playing games, because he had other duties.

52. Which of the following is the best title of this passage?

A. Inside the game                B. Games or Supper. 

C. Jason′s Angry Father            D. Use of the Computer.

On the wall in my mother’s bedroom there was a photo, which showed a soldier with a gun. Below the photo was the word “Speaking”.

“Who’s that soldier called Speaking?” I asked one day.

“He was Harold.” She said. “He was my only brother. When the Second World War began, Harold was eighteen. I was twelve then, and my sisters were ten and nine”.

“Harold liked to play with us, and we often quarreled. When we quarreled, we said：We’re not speaking to you. But before long we were all happy again, and then we said: I’m speaking now. Are you speaking to me?”

“When the war broke out, Harold joined the army. A month later, he came to see us. He brought the gun to show us. Then he went miles away to the war. We didn’t see him for three years, three long, empty years. We didn’t often hear from him. But one day in May there was a loud bang（砰）on the front door…”

“I ran to open it. It was Harold! He was an old Harold, a thinner Harold. He looked at me with his two green eyes and smiled. That smile was just the same as before, then he said one word: ‘speaking’”.

“I didn’t…I couldn’t…answer. I just fell into his arms and he dropped his gun. He stayed with us for a month. We played all our old games again. Then he went back to the war, and never came back again. So I wrote the word on the photo.”

60. How old was the storyteller when Harold came back for the last time?

A. Thirty-five　 B. Eighteen. 　　　　　　　　 C. Fifteen. 　　　　　　　 D. Twenty-one.

61. Harold never came back again because　　　 .

A. he didn’t want to speak to his sister any more

　 B. he died in the war　

C. his sister had not answered him when he came back

　 D. he went far away to the war

62. Why did the mother hang the photo in her bedroom?

A. She wanted to keep a memory of her childhood.

　 B. It could awake her happy memories.

　 C. It could show that her brother was a great man.

　 D. She hung it there in memory of her brother.

The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.
We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.
The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?
The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.
But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention.
But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition.
In other words, we don’t have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.
A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.

【小題1】.
What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

A．It is a way to show that you don’t like the caller.

B．It is natural to tell lies about small things.

C．It is basically a good way to protect one’s privacy.

D．We should feel guilty when we can’t tell the truth.

【小題2】.
What is the meaning of the underlined word “devotees” in Paragraph 5?

A．people who enjoy something.	B．people who are bothered.
C．people who hate something.	D．people who are interrupted.

【小題3】.
. According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cellphones?

A．People are always thinking of the cellphone rings so that they fail to notice anything else.

B．Cellphones interrupt people’s private time.

C．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cellphones.

D．With cellphones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

【小題4】.
. What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention.

B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cellphone.

D．Never let cellphones disturb your life too much.

The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.

We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is in generally a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.

The concept of being unreachable is not new – we have “Do Not Disturb” signs on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?

The problem is that we come from a long-established tradition of difficulty with distance communication. Until the recent mass use of cellphones, it was easy to communicate with someone next to us or a few feet away, but difficult with someone across town, the country or the globe. We came to take it for granted.

But cellphones make long-distance communication common, and endanger our time by ourselves. Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phones away, or curse this invention.

But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. That we have the right to take back our private time is a general social recognition.

In other words, we don’t have to pay too much attention to the rings of our own phones. Given the ease of making and receiving cellphone calls, if we don’t talk to the caller right now, we surely will shortly later.

A cellphone call deserves no more importance than a word from the person next to us. Though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg–who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off, thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.

 

1..

What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

A. It is a way to show that you don’t like the caller.

B. It is natural to tell lies about small things.

C. It is basically a good way to protect one’s privacy.

D. We should feel guilty when we can’t tell the truth.

2..

What is the meaning of the underlined word “devotees” in Paragraph 5?

A. people who enjoy something.           B. people who are bothered.

C. people who hate something.                D. people who are interrupted.

3..

. According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cellphones?

A. People are always thinking of the cellphone rings so that they fail to notice anything else.

 B. Cellphones interrupt people’s private time.

C. People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cellphones.

D. With cellphones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

4..

. What does the last paragraph suggest?

A. A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention.

B. Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

C. You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cellphone.

D. Never let cellphones disturb your life too much.