52. What is the main idea of the passage?
(A) Multitasking has become a way of life.
(B) Multitasking often leads to efficiency decline.
(C) Multitasking exercises need to be improved.
(D) Multitasking enables people to remember things better.

48. For students going to London for the first time, which of the following provides the most reliable information? (A) University accommodation offices. (B) Loot and Renting (C) Noticeboards. (D) Family

49. The term “multitasking” originally referred to a computer’s ability to carry out several tasks at one time. For many people, multitasking has become a way of life and even a key to success. In fact, some excellent mental aerobic exercises (人脑训练) involve engaging the brain in two or more challenging activities at a time. Although checking e-mail while talking on a phone and reading the newspaper may be second nature for some people, many times multitasking can make us less productive, rather than more. And studies show that too much multitasking can lead to increased stress, anxiety and memory loss. In order to multitask, the brain uses an area known as the prefrontal cortex (前额叶脑皮层). Brian scans of volunteers performing multiple tasks together show that as they shift from task to task, this front part of the brain actually takes a moment of rest between tasks. You may have experienced a prefrontal cortex “moment of rest” yourself if you’ve ever dialed (拨电话) and the answering, your mind shifted to anther thought or task, and then look that “moment” to come back. Research has also shown that for many volunteers. Job efficiency (效率) declines while multitasking as compared to when they perform only one task at a time. Multitasking is easiest when at least one of the tasks in habitual, or requires little thought. Most people don’t find it difficult to eat and read the newspaper at the same time. However, when two or more attention –requiring tasks are attempted at one time, people sometimes make mistakes. We often don’t remember things as well when we’re trying to manage several details at the same time. Without mental focus, we may not pay enough attention to new information coming in, so it never makes it into our memory stores. That is one of the main reasons we forget people’s names---even sometimes right after they have introduced themselves. Multitasking can also affect our relationships. If someone checks their e-mail while on the phone with a friend, they may** off as absent-minded or disinterested. It can also cause that person to miss * overlook key information being passed on to them. Why are some mental aerobic exercises designed to engage people in multitasking? (A) To make them more productive. (B) To reduce their stress and anxiety. (C) To develop their communication skills. (D) To help them perform daily tasks more easily.

50. According to Paragraph 2, why may a person suddenly forget who has called? (A) He may leave his prefrontal cortex temporarily damaged. (B) He is probably interrupted by another task. (C) He is probably not very familiar with the person he has called. (D) He may need a rest between dialing and speaking.

51. People tend to make mistake when ____. (A) they perform several challenging tasks at a time. (B) new messages are processed one after another (C) their relationships with others are affected (D) the tasks require little thought

53.My family and I lived across the street from Southway Park since I was four years old. Then just last year they city put a chain link fence around the park and started bulldozing (用推土机推平) the trees and grass to make way for a new apartment complex. When I saw the fence and bulldozers, I asked myself, “Why don’t they just leave it alone?” Looking back, I think what sentenced the part to oblivion (别遗忘) was the drought (旱灾) we had about four years ago. Up until then, Southway Park was a nice green park with plenty of trees and a public swimming pool. My friends and I rollerskated on the sidewalks, climbed the tress, and swam in the pool all the years I was growing up. The park was almost like my own yard. Then the summer I was fifteen the drought came and things changed. There had been almost no rain at all that year. The city stopped watering the park grass. Within a few weeks I found myself living across the street from a huge brown desert. Leaves fell off the part tress, and pretty soon the trees started dying, too. Next, the part swimming pool was closed. The city cut down on the work force that kept the park, and pretty soon it just got too ugly and dirty to enjoy anymore. As the drought lasted into the fall, the part got worse every month. The rubbish piled up or blew across the brown grass. Soon the only people in the park were beggars and other people down on their luck. People said drugs were being sold or traded there now. The part had gotten scary, and my mother told us kids not to go there anymore. The drought finally ended and things seemed to get back to normal, that is, everything but the park. It had gotten into such bad shape that the city just let it stay that way. Then about six months ago I heard that the city was going to “redevelop” certain worn-out areas of the city. It turned out that the city had planned to get rid of the park, sell the land and let someone build rows of apartment buildings on it. The chain-link fencing and bulldozers did their work. Now we live across the street from six rows of apartment building. Each of them is three units high and stretches a block in each direction. The neighborhood has changed without the park. The streets I used to play in are jammed with cars now. Things will never be the same again. Sometimes I wonder, though, what changes another drought would make in the way things are today. How did the writer feel when he saw the fence and bulldozers? (A) Scared. (B) Confused. (C) Upset. (D) Curious.

54. Why was the writer told not to go to the park by his mother? (A) It was being rebuilt. (B) It was dangerous. (C) it because crowded. (D) it had turned into a desert.

55. According to the writer, what eventually brought about the disappearance of the park? (A) The drought. (B) The crime. (C) The beggars and the rubbish. (D) The decisions of the city.

56. the last sentence of the passage implies that if another drought came, ______. (A) the situation would be much worse (B) people would have to desert their homes (C) the city would be fully prepared in advance (D) the city would have to redevelop the neighborhood

57.I needed to buy a digital camera, one that was simply good at taking good snaps (快照), maybe occasionally for magazines. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy, I pointed at it and asked an assistant, “Can I have one of those?” He looked perturbed (不安). “Do you want to try it first?” he said, It didn’t quite sound like a question. “Do I need to?” I replied ,“There is nothing wrong with it？”This made him look a bit insulted and I started to feel bad, “No, no, but you should try it,” he said encouraging ,“compare it with the others.” I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop., it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model. But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these trups by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end , I agreed to try the model I had chose. The assistant seemed a sincere man . So I let him take out of my chosen camera from capboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers… and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well. Why do we think that new options(选择)still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imaging. The shop assistant insisted that the writer should (A) try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it. (B) compare the camera he had chosen with others. (C) get more information about different companies. (D) trust him and stop asking questions.

58. what does the writer man by “it would be worth half what I paid for it ”(paragraph 2) (A) He should get a 50% discount. (B) the price of the camera was unreasonably high. (C) the quality of the camera was not good. (D) the camera would soon fall in value.