C

Modern inventions have speeded up people’s lives amazingly. Motor-cars cover a hundred miles in little more than an hour. Aircraft cross the world a day, while computers operate at lightning speed. Indeed, this love of speed seems never-ending. Every year motor-cars are produced which go even faster each new computer boasts（吹嘘）of saving precious seconds in handling tasks.

All this saves time, but at a price. When we lose or gain half a day in speeding across the world in an airplane, our bodies tell us so. We get the uncomfortable feeling known as jet-lag; our bodies feel that they have been left behind in another time zone. Again spending too long at computers results in painful wrists and fingers. Mobile phones also have their dangers according to some scientists; too much use may transmit harmful radiation into our brains, a consequence we do not like to think about.

However, what do we do with the time we have saved? Certainly not relax, or so it seems. We are so accustomed to constant activity that we find it difficult to sit and do nothing, or even just one thing at a time. Perhaps the days are long gone when we might listen quietly to a story on the radio, letting imagination take us into another world.

There was a time when some people’s lives were devoted simply to the cultivation of the land or the care of cattle. No multi-tasking there; their lives went on at a much gentler pace, and in a familiar pattern. There is much that we might envy about a way of life like this. Yet before we do so, we must think of the hard tasks our ancestors faced: they farmed with bare hands, often lived close to hunger, and had to fashion tools from wood and stone. Modern machinery has freed people from that primitive existence.

39. The new products become more and more time-saving because       .

A. our love of speed seems never-ending B. time is limited

C. the prices are increasingly high D. the manufacturers boast a lot

40. What does “the days” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Imaginary life B. Simple life in the past

C. Times of inventions D. Time for constant activity

41. What is the author’s attitude towards the modem technology?

A. Critical B. Objective C. Optimistic D. Negative

42. What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. The present and past times B. Machinery and human beings

C. Imaginations and inventions D. Modern technology and its influence

D

A rainforest is an area covered by tall trees with the total high rainfall spreading quite equally through the year and the temperature rarely dipping below l6℃．Rainforests have a great effect on the world environment because they can take in heat from the sun and adjust the climate．Without the forest cover，these areas would reflect more heat into the atmosphere，warming the rest of the world. Losing the rainforests may also influence wind and rainfall patterns，potentially causing certain natural disasters all over the world．

In the past hundred years，humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources(资源)：land for crops，wood for paper and other products，land for raising farm animals．This action affects the environment as a whole．For example，a lot of carbon dioxide (二氧化碳)in the air comes from burning the rainforests．People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit.

There are two main reasons for this．Firstly，when people cut down trees，generally they can only use the land for a year or two．Secondly，cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now，but in the long run it actually reduces the world’s wood supply．

Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store．More than 25％ of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests．However，fewer than l％of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value．It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in the world’s shrinking rainforests．

43. Rainforests can help to adjust the climate because they                ．

A. reflect more heat into the atmosphere

B. bring about high rainfall throughout the world

C. rarely cause the temperature to drop lower than l6℃

D. reduce the effect of heat from the sun on the earth

44. What does the word “this” underlined in the third paragraph refer to?

A. We will lose much more than we can gain．

B. Humans have begun destroying rainforests．

C. People have a strong desire for resources．

D. Much carbon dioxide comes from burning rainforests．

45. It can be inferred from the text that     .    

A. we can get enough resources without rainforests

B. there is great medicine potential in rainforests

C. we will grow fewer kinds of crops in the gained land

D. the level of annual rainfall affects wind patterns

46. What might be the best title for the text?

A. How to Save Rainforests B. How to Protect Nature

C. Rainforests and the Environment D. Rainforests and Medical Development
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