Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

They’re still kids, and although there’s a lot that the experts don’t yet know about them, one thing they do agree on is that what kids use and expect from their world has changed rapidly. And it’s all because of technology.

To the psychologists, sociologists, and generational and media experts who study them, their digital gear sets this new group apart, even from their tech-savvy (懂技术的) Millennial elders. They want to be constantly connected and available in a way even their older siblings don’t quite get. These differences may appear slight, but they signal an all-encompassing sensibility that some say marks the dawning of a new generation.

The contrast between Millennials and this younger group was so evident to psychologist Larry Rosen of California State University that he has declared the birth of a new generation in a new book, Rewired: Understanding the ingeneration and the Way They Learn, out next month. Rosen says the tech-dominated life experience of those born since the early 1990s is so different from the Millennials he wrote about in his 2007 book, Me, MySpace and I: Parenting the Net Generation, that they warrant the distinction of a new generation, which he has dubbed the "ingeneration".

"The technology is the easiest way to see it, but it’s also a mind-set, and the mind-set goes with the little ‘i’, which I’m talking to stand for ’individualized’," Rosen says. "Everything is defined and individualized to ‘me’. My music choices are defined to ’ me’. What I watch on TV any instant is defined to ‘me’. " He says the iGeneration includes today’s teens and middle-school ers, but it’s too soon to tell about elementary-school ages and younger.

Rosen says the iGeneration believes anything is possible. "If they can think of it, somebody probably has or will invent it," he says. "They expect innovation."

They have high expectations that whatever they want or can use "will be able to be tailored to their own needs and wishes and desires."

Rosen says portability is key. They are inseparable from their wireless devices, which allow them to text as well as talk, so they can be constantly connected-even in class, where cell phones are supposedly banned.

Many researchers are trying t6 determine whether technology somehow causes the brains of young people to be wired differently. "They should be distracted and should perform more poorly than they do," Rosen says. "But findings show teens survive distractions much better than we would predict by their age and their brain development. "

Because these kids are more immersed and at younger ages, Rosen says, the educational system has to change significantly.

"The growth curve on the use of technology with children is exponential(指数的), and we run the risk of being out of step with this generation as far as how they learn and how they think," Rosen says.

"We have to give them options because they want their world individualized. "

56. Compared with their Millennial elders, the iGeneration kids

A.communicate with others by high-tech methods continually

B.prefer to live a virtual life than a real one

C.are equipped with more modem digital techniques

D.know more on technology than their elders

57. Why did Larry Rosen name the new generation as iGeneration?

A.Because this generation is featured by the use of personal high-tech devices.

B.Because this generation stresses on an individualized style of life.

C.Because it is the author himself who has discovered the new generation.

D.Because it’s a mind-set generation instead of an age-set one.

58. Which of the following is true about the iGeneration according to Rosen?

A.This generation is crazy about inventing and creating new things.

B.Everything must be adapted to the peculiar need of the generation.

C.This generation catches up with the development of technology.

D.High-tech such as wireless devices goes with the generation.

59. Rosen’s findings suggest that technology

A.has an obvious effect on the function of iGeneration’s brain development

B.has greatly affected the iGeneration’s behaviors and academic performance

C.has no significantly negative effect on iGeneration’s mental and intellectual development

D.has caused distraction problems on iGeneration which affect their daily performance

60. According to the passage, education has to __

A.adapt its system to the need of the new generation

B.use more technologies to cater for the iGeneration

C.risk its system to certain extent for the iGeneration

D.be conducted online for iGeneration’s individualized need

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

Small increases in temperature found to add power to storms in the Atlantic.

Hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean are expected to gain considerable strength as the global temperature continues to rise, a new study has found.

Using modeling data focused on the conditions in which hurricanes form, a group of international researchers based at Beijing Normal University found that for every 1.8°F ( 1℃ )rise of the Earth’s temperature, the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic that are as strong or stronger than Hurricane Katrina will increase twofold to sevenfold.

Hurricane strength is directly related to the heat of the water where the storm forms. More water vapor in the air from evaporating ocean water adds fuel to hurricanes that build strength and head toward land.

Hurricane Katrina is widely considered the measure for a destructive storm, holding the maximum Category 5 designation for a full 24 hours in late August 2005. It lost strength as it passed over the Florida peninsula, but gained destructive power fight before colliding with New Orleans, killing more than 200 people and causing $ 80 billion in damage.

The study points to a gradual increase of Katrina-like events. The warming experienced over the 20th century doubled the number of such debilitating(将人类摧垮的)storms. But the ongoing warming of the planet into the 21st century could increase the frequency of the worst kinds of storms by 700 percent, threatening coastlines along the Atlantic Ocean with muitiple Category 5 storms every year.

"Our results support the idea that changes in regional sea surface temperatures is the primary cause of hurricane variability," said Aslak Girnstead, a researcher with the Center for Ice and Climate at the University of Copenhagen. The large impact of small sea-surface temperature increases was more than Girustead and his colleagues had anticipated. The entire study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Global temperatures have steadily increased, making the past decade the warmest on record. Earlier this year, climate researchers reported that the Earth’s temperatures have risen faster in the last century than at any point since the last ice age, 11,300 years ago. The primary cause, a couseusus of scientists has said, is the rising emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.

Past hurricanes have supported the study’s finding that global temperature rise is linked to more destructive storms. According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, while the frequency of storms doesn’t appear to have increased, the percentage of strong ones has risen sharply over the past few decades. The trend may be similar further back in time, but comprehensive hurricane data doesn’t exist.

61. According to the team of international researchers based at Beijing Normal University, the rise of the Earth’s temperature is likely to cause

A.the coming of ice age

C.more Katrina-like or worse hurricanes

B.less intense hurricanes

D.more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

62. The ocean water in the region where the storm forms

A.is heating the hurricanes

B.evaporates and becomes fuel

C.heads toward land

D.turns into water vapor that makes hurricanes stronger

63. Which of the following statement is TRUE about Hurricane Katrina?

A.It did not lose its strength as it moved.

B.It claimed over 200 people’s lives.

C.It caused 80 billion dollars loss for Florida peninsula.

D.It lasted for full 24 hours.

64. What result can regional sea surface temperature changes produce?

A.Hurricane changes.

C.Global warming.

B.Increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

D.Destructive hurricanes.

65. It can be inferred from the passage that

A.there is no link between greenhouse gas emissions and destructive storms

B.reduction of greenhouse gas emissions may reduce destructive storms

C.the higher percentage of strong ones rose as more hurricanes appeared

D.past records on hurricanes included everything needed