Free Wi-Fi has disadvantages (P4-5)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
 What do you think is the most important criterion for selecting a hotel when you travel?
 Do you rely too much on Wi-Fi in your daily life? What do you do when you have access to Wi-Fi?

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
1. What is the author’s main purpose in writing this article?
A. To report on travelers’ new criteria when selecting a hotel.
B. To show the growing importance of free Wi-Fi in our daily lives.
C. To introduce people’s over-reliance on Wi-Fi when traveling and its disadvantages.
D. To predict what global travel will be like in the future.
2. According to the article, travelers attach a lot of importance to free Wi-Fi when selecting a hotel because ____.
A. they believe hotels with free Wi-Fi usually have better locations
B. they think hotels with free Wi-Fi are likely to provide better service
C. they depend on it to check social media and access websites
D. they think they can enjoy more profound pleasures when they use free Wi-Fi
3. The underlined word “unplug” in Paragraph 6 probably means ____.
A. cancel a plan or an activity
B. disconnect from an electrical device
C. remove what is blocking something 
D. accept something unpleasant
4. What is the lesson Anita Isalska learned from the isolated camp she attended in Greenland recently?
A. We should try to live life at a slower pace once in a while.
B. Our addiction to social media has had a bad effect on the quality of our travel.
C. Travelers should take more photos and videos during their journeys.
D. Remote hotels with no Internet are always a better choice for travelers than those with free Wi-Fi.

Key:
1. C。本文先讲到了人们现在旅游选择酒店时越来越看重免费Wifi，继而谈到了这种对因特网的迷恋对于咱们生活的影响，以Anita Isalska参加一个不能接入网络的野营的体会为例，使这一观点更有说服力，作者写这篇文章就是说明告诉我们这一现象以及这一现象的弊端，故选C。
2. C。根据第四段的“We rely on free Wi-Fi heavily when traveling – especially when it comes to checking social media, scouting out travel tips, and accessing websites.”可以得到答案C。。
3. B。上文提到Anita Isalska对于新技术的着迷，而参加的这个偏远的野营让她远离了网络，所以可知这里unplug表示“断开电源，断开连接” ，故选B。
4. B。根据倒数第二段Anita Isalska的话“somewhere, somehow, social media had changed into a reflex … but in reality my busy thumbs were preventing me from enjoying travel’s most profound pleasures. How fully can you appreciate a huge glacier or meadow of wildflowers when your brain is subconsciously selecting the right photo filter, or the perfect six seconds to film?”可推知B为正确答案。

III. After reading
Fill in the blanks with the proper form of the given words.
1. Free Wi-Fi has become ______ (incredible) important to us.
2. Many restaurants use free Wi-Fi ______ (attract) customers,
3. Our over-reliance on technology has come at a price, with travelers ______ (feel) unable to escape social media.
4. We rely on free Wi-Fi heavily when traveling – especially when it comes ______ (check) social media, scouting out travel tips, and accessing websites.
5. Anita Isalska was forced to unplug when she ______ (stick) in an isolated camp in Greenland recently.

Key:
1. incredibly  2. to attract 3. feeling 4. to checking   5. was stuck

Computers fight Ebola (P5)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
 The largest ever Ebola outbreak is underway in several countries in West Africa. What do you know about Ebola?
* Ebola is a disease more harmful to humans than perhaps any known virus on Earth, except rabies (狂犬病) and HIV-1, according to The New York Times.
* People can only get Ebola if they directly make contact with an infected person’s blood or other bodily fluids. The virus is not spread by coughing or sneezing.
* Two days to three weeks after contracting (感染) the virus, victims start to have a fever, headache and sore throat, then vomiting (呕吐) and diarrhea (腹泻). It then becomes more horrific, with some patients bleeding from their eyes.
* The virus has killed up to 90 percent of its victims. Doctors can only treat the symptoms to lower the death rate to about 60 percent.

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
1. According to the article, when volunteers download the software onto their computers or mobile devices, ____.
A. it will use up some of the devices’ capacity, which will slow down their other functions
B. it can perform its task even if the devices are turned off or not connected to Wi-Fi
C. it can access all files on the devices and might thus put the volunteers’ privacy in danger
D. it will do the assignment automatically and then send the answers back to the World Community Grid
2. Which of the following words best describes Erica Ollmann Saphire’s attitude toward grid computing?
A. Supportive.   B. Unfavorable.
C. Cautious.   D. Doubtful.
3. The author’s purpose in writing this article is to ____.
A. inform readers where Ebola research is going
B. urge people to donate some money to IBM’s new project
C. introduce readers to a creative way to help with Ebola research
D. explain the advantages and disadvantages of distributed computing

Key:
1. D。根据“While they are checking emails, reading news or taking a break, the software runs to do the assignment.”以及下文的“Later, volunteers’ devices send the answers back to the World Community Grid.”可以得此答案。根据“Litow said it’s designed to only use idle capacity when a device is connected to the Internet.”可得出A有误，根据“On mobile devices, the program only works when the device is charging and connected to Wi-Fi.”可知B有误，根据倒数第三段可知C有误。
2. A。在第四段中，Saphire说这项计划能让相关工作的时间从本来需要的几年缩减到几个月，再结合最后一段她说这种方式可以make a difference，所以她的态度是supportive。
3. C。作者在文中主要是介绍这种创新的方式，它利用志愿者的电脑和手机等设备做与埃博拉病毒相关的研究。

Read the article again and answer the following questions.
1. How does grid computing work for Ebola research?
The free software works on Windows or Mac computers and Android mobile devices. It’s designed to only use idle capacity when a device is connected to the Internet. Otherwise it isn’t in use, so it won’t slow down a computer’s other functions. On mobile devices, the program only works when the device is charging and connected to Wi-Fi. For the Ebola research, volunteers’ computers have the task of looking at millions of drug molecules to find out which ones can disable the Ebola virus. Later, volunteers’ devices send the answers back to the Grid.

2. What are the advantages of using grid computing to do Ebola research?
Grid computing helps a lot, especially when there isn’t much research funding. It could let us do in months what it would otherwise take years and years to do. Crowd funding and crowd science give people the opportunity to invest their idle computer hours, or a little money, and make a difference.

The wrong climb (P6)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
Do you like climbing mountains?  Why or why not?

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
1. The author’s friends were determined to climb the “High Peaks” Adirondack mountains because _____.
A. they wanted to climb the highest mountain in their area
B. they wanted to win a club’s special award
C. they had to do it in order to join a local club
D. they were eager to become famous worldwide
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the “High Peaks” Adirondack Mountains?
A. People can follow the marked trails to the summits of the 46 mountains.
B. People have to cut down a lot of trees to reach the top.
C. People can get lost in some of the mountains without a compass or a map.
D. The mountains are so hard to climb that few people have ever been there.
3. What happened to the author’s two friends when they climbed their 46th mountain?
A. They couldn’t find out how to get to the base of the chain of mountains.
B. They had to find their own way to climb the mountain without a map or compass.
C. They corrected their error as soon as they discovered they had gone in the wrong direction.
D. They felt so exhausted when halfway there that they decided to climb it four months later.
4. What message does the story convey?
A. We should put in a lot of effort to reach a goal.
B. Nothing is impossible for a determined heart.
C. It is important to know your life goals well.
D. Never forget to take a map and a compass along with you when going out.

Key:
1. B。从第2段“The Adirondack Mountain Club gives special recognition, and an award… My two friends decided to go for this award.”可知，作者朋友是为了获得俱乐部提供的奖项而决定去爬这46座山的。
2. C。从第3段最后一句“These mountains are really hard to climb because you have to “bushwhack” them using a compass and a map.”可知，如果没有已经开辟出来的路径的话，需要指南针或者地图的指引，可推断出否则会迷路的。
3. B。从第6段可知，作者朋友忘记携带指南针和地图了，但是从“they decided to bushwhack without the compass and map”可知，他们毅然决定继续前进。
4. C。从文章最后一段可知，作者要阐明的是人生道理，“Knowing your life purpose gives you a powerful personal “map” and “compass””即要明确目标。

III. After reading
Further thinking:
In the last paragraph, the author compares our life purpose to a “map” and “personal compass”. Do you agree with the author? What do you think a clear life purpose means?