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A

London has a new magazine. But its not printed on paper. Everyone who has a television can receive it because it is on TV.

In order to read this magazine you have to have a decoder （譯碼器）. Each page of it is numbered， so you only have to dial the number to choose which subject you want to read about. Theres a wide choice—everything is included from cooking to the latest sports news.

If you want to read the news， the first thing you have to do is to turn to the index （索引） page which has an easy-to-remember page number， 100 for example. Then you start choosing what you want to read. If you want to go out in the afternoon， so you press 181， and a weather map appears on the screen. But the weather is terrible so you decide to go shopping and dial 162 for a list of the weeks best bargains. But should you drive or take the train？ To answer the question you only have to press 189 for the traffic report. Its very simple to use.

London has already had three services. One， transmitted by ITV， is called ORACLE， while the other two， on BBC， are called CEEFAX， because they let you see facts. Although ORACLE and CEEFAX have been operating for some time， they have not been well-known. BBC engineers do not think that their idea will replace books and newspapers because they can be taken with you everywhere. But many people agree that this is a breakthrough as great as the invention of printing， which could change not just our reading habits but our whole way of life.

1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to？

A. The decoder. B. The magazine.

C. The program. D. The subject.

2. We can learn from the passage that ___ .

A. everyone can read this magazine at any place

B. people can buy the magazine at local news agent

C. readers can get different kinds of information at home

D. most of the postmen in London will lose jobs someday

3. Which number should one press to know about the weather according to the passage？

A. P. 100. B. P. 181.

C. P. 162. D. P. 189.

4. Which of the following is TRUE about the magazine？

A. It is hard for you to use.

B. It is better than traditional ones.

C. It is very popular among young people.

D. It could change your reading habits and way of life.

B

Personal computers and Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.endprint

Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members， but the new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.

E?mail makes it easy to work at home， which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours arent necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if shed been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.

The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun—see a great movie perhaps and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one， you may tire of telling the story.

With e?mail， you just write one note about your experience， at your convenience， and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time， and read only as they want to. They can reply at their convenience， and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.

E?mail is also an inexpensive way to stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use e?mail to keep in touch， even daily touch， with their children at college.

We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They dont take the place of any of the ways.

5. Whats the purpose of this passage？

A. To explain how to use the Internet.

B. To tell the value and usefulness of the Internet.

C. To introduce basic knowledge about the Internet.

D. To describe the writers joy of keeping up with the Internet.

6. The use of e?mail has made it possible for the writer to ___ .

A. work at home on weekends

B. spend more time at the office

C. spend much less time working

D. have more free time with his child

7. According to the writer， the obvious advantage of email over the telephone is that it helps the user to ___ .

A. keep the communication as personal as possible

B. reach a group of people at one time conveniently

C. pass on much more information than the telephone

D. get in touch with the friends faster than the telephone

8. Whats the best title of this passage？

A. Computers： Have Made Life Easier

B. Computer： New Technological Advances

C. Internet： New Tool to Maintain Good Friendship

D. Internet： A Convenient Tool for Communicationendprint