These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板電腦) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.
And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.
And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."
I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.
Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend.
【小題1】When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.

These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板電腦) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.

And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.

And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."

I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.

Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend.

1.When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.

A. you are travelling through time            B. you are thought to be out of date

C. you will find everything wrong            D. you have got to buy a new one

2.Throwing away so much electronic rubbish makes the writer feel quite _____.

A. lost and upset    B. unbelievably fast

C. broken or lost     D. regularly wasteful

3.The example of the businessman implies that____.

A. the businessman mastered the latest technology   

B. mobile phones used to be quite big just years ago

C. the businessman was a very ridiculous person     

D. the writer failed to follow modern technology

4.The passage is organized in the pattern of ____.

A. time and events    B. comparison and contrast   

C. cause and effect      D. examples and analysis

5.Which of the following is conveyed in the passage?

A. The fast pace of change brings us no good.     

B. We have to keep up with new technology.

C. Household items should be upgraded quickly.   

D. We should hold on for new technology to last.

I didn’t choose any of the three offerings, because I found        of them satisfactory.

       A．neither                B．either                  C．all                      D．none

The Japanese believe that a person has two souls, each necessary. One is the “gentle” soul; the other is the “rough” soul. Sometimes the person uses his gentle soul; sometimes he must use his rough soul. He does not favor his “gentle” soul; neither does he fight his “rough” soul. Human nature in itself is good, Japanese philosophers insist, and a human being does not need to fight any part of himself. He has only to learn how to use each soul properly at the appropriate times. Virtue for the Japanese consists in fulfilling one’s obligations to others. Happy endings, either in life or in fiction, are neither necessary nor expected, since the fulfillment of duty provides the satisfying end, whatever the tragedy it inflicts (遭受，承受). And duty includes a person’s obligations to those who have conferred benefits upon him and to himself as an individual of honor. He develops through this double sense of duty a self-discipline which is at once permissive and rigid, depending on the area in which it is functioning.

The process of acquiring this self-discipline begins in childhood. A Japanese child is given his own identity very early! If I were to define in a word the attitude of the Japanese toward their children I would put it in one succinct (簡潔的) word – “respect”. Love? Yes, abundance of love, warmly expressed  from the moment he is put to his mother’s breast. For mother and child this nursing of her child is important psychologically.

Rewards are frequent, a bit of candy bestowed ( 給予) at the right moment, an inexpensive toy…As the time comes to enter school, however, discipline becomes firmer. To bring shame to the family is the greatest shame for the child.

What is the secret of the Japanese teaching of self-discipline? It lies, I think, in the fact that the aim of all teaching is the establishment of habit. Rules are repeated over, and continually practiced until obedience becomes instinctive. This repetition is enhanced by the expectation of the elders. They expect a child to obey and to learn through obedience. The demand is gentle at first and tempered to the child’s tender age. It is no less gentle as time goes on, but certainly it is increasingly inexorable （不可阻擋的）.

1. The main purpose of the passage is to discuss_________.

   A. the belief system of the Japanese people  B. Japanese view of happiness

   C. Japanese view of duty                 D. self-discipline of the Japanese people

2. What can be inferred according to the Japanese belief system?

   A. Some people have two different souls.

   B. Some people are born evil.                C. One should try to achieve the happy ending.

   D. Duty is central in Japanese view of virtue.

3. In the teaching of self-discipline the Japanese emphasize _________.

   A. obligations to one’s family and relations.

   B. early tolerant training combined with restrictive movement

   C. heavy external (外界的) control including strict punishment

   D. a permissive atmosphere almost until adulthood

4. How do the Japanese teach their children of self-discipline?

   A. They lie to their children about the benefit of self-discipline.

   B. They develop their children’s habit of obedience through various teachings.

   C. They rely on the important role of schools.

   D. They use rewards to set good samples of self-discipline.

5. What does the underlined word “It”in the last sentence refer to?

   A. The demand.   B. The age.   C. The obedience.   D. The establishment.         

These days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs. Very soon, there is no doubt that Apple's tablet (平板電腦) will seem as a vital tool of modern living to us as sewing machine did to our grandparents. At least, it will until someone produces an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet, which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months' time. Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as old as a tombstone. Why should you care if people laugh just because you use an old mobile phone? But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It's like walking into a pub and asking for an orange juice. You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveler from the 1970s. "Why not buy a new one?" you will get asked.
And so the mountain of electrical rubbish grows. An average British person was believed to get rid of quite a number of electronic goods in a lifetime. They weighed three tons, stood 7 feet high, and included five fridges, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, 35 mobile phones and so on. Even then, the calculation seemed to be conservative. Only 35 mobiles in a lifetime? The huge number of electronic items now regularly thrown away by British families is clearly one big problem. But this has other consequences. It contributes greatly to the uneasy feeling that modem technology is going by faster than we can keep up. By the time I've learnt how to use a tool it's already broken or lost. I've lost count of the number of TV remote-controls that I've bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.
And the technology changes so unbelievably fast. It was less than years ago that I spotted an energetic businessman friend pulling what seemed to be either a large container or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station. I asked. "What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?" "Neither," he replied, with the satisfied look of a man who knew he was keeping pace with the latest technology, no matter how ridiculous he looked. "This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It's called a mobile telephone."
I don't feel sorry for the pace of change. On the contrary, I'm amazed by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer and phone into a plastic box no bigger than a packet of cigarette. If those geniuses could also find a way to keep the underground trains running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for human beings. What I do regret, however, is that so many household items fall behind so soon. My parents bought a wooden wireless radio in 1947, the year they were married. In 1973, the year I went to university, it was still working. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some mornings. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes, I felt a real sense of loss.
Such is the over-excited change of 21st-century technology that there's no time to satisfy our emotional needs. Even if Apple's new products turn out to be the most significant tablets I very much doubt if they will resist this trend.

1. 1.

   When you try getting an old mobile phone repaired, ____.

   1. A.
      you are travelling through time
   2. B.
      you are thought to be out of date
   3. C.
      you will find everything wrong
   4. D.
      you have got to buy a new one
2. 2.

   Throwing away so much electronic rubbish makes the writer feel quite _____.

   1. A.
      lost and upset
   2. B.
      unbelievably fast
   3. C.
      broken or lost
   4. D.
      regularly wasteful
3. 3.

   The example of the businessman implies that____.

   1. A.
      the businessman mastered the latest technology
   2. B.
      mobile phones used to be quite big just years ago
   3. C.
      the businessman was a very ridiculous person
   4. D.
      the writer failed to follow modern technology
4. 4.

   The passage is organized in the pattern of ____.

   1. A.
      time and events
   2. B.
      comparison and contrast
   3. C.
      cause and effect
   4. D.
      examples and analysis
5. 5.

   Which of the following is conveyed in the passage?

   1. A.
      The fast pace of change brings us no good.
   2. B.
      We have to keep up with new technology.
   3. C.
      Household items should be upgraded quickly.
   4. D.
      We should hold on for new technology to last.