PASSAGE 29
　　Live with Computer
　　After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend's Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes indecipherable after the clarity of his words on screen; a secretary's tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid - hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, and now just two ordinary days.
　　For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter. I submit articles and edit them via E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is computer-mediated.
　　If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard¹ of '96 on TV.
　　But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I've merged² with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It's like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents; worst nightmare.
　　What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance, a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.
　　At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter³ in the background, something that I'd never done previously⁴. The voices of the programs soothe⁵ me, but then I'm jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or compulsively needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline," "Frontline," "Nightline," CNN, New York 1, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work moves from foreground to background.
　　练习：
　　1. Compared to the clear words of her boyfriend on screen, his accent becomes
　　A) unidentifiable.
　　B) unbearable⁶.
　　C) unreal.
　　D) misleading.
　　2. The passage implies that the author and her boyfriend live in
　　A) different cities in England.
　　B) different countries.
　　C) the same city.
　　D) the same country.
　　3. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
　　A) she is so absorbed in the TV programs that she often forgets her work.
　　B) In order to keep up with the latest news and the weather, she watches TV a lot.
　　C) In order to get some comfort from TV programs she, sometimes, turns on the television.
　　D) Having worked on the computer for too long, she became a bit odd.
　　4. What is the author's attitude to the computer?
　　A) She dislikes it because TV is more attractive.
　　B) She dislikes it because it cuts off her relation with the outside world.
　　C) She has become bored with it.
　　D) She likes it because it is very convenient.
　　5. The phrase "coming back out of the cave" in the fifth paragraph means
　　A) coming back home.
　　B) going back home.
　　C) living a luxurious⁷ life.
　　D) restoring direct human contact.
　　Keys：ABCCD

PASSAGE 30
　　Knitting
　　My mother knew how to knit, but she never taught me. She assumed, as did many women of her generation, that knitting was no longer a skill worth passing down from mother to daughter. A combination of feminism, consumerism and household gadgetry⁸ made many women feel that such homely⁹ accomplishments¹⁰ were no obsolete¹¹. My grandmother still knitted, though, and every Christmas she made a pair of socks for my brother and me, of red wool. They were the ones we wore under our ice skates, when it was really important to have warm feet.
　　Knitting is a nervous habit that happens to be productive. It helped me quit smoking by giving my hands something else to do. It is wonderful for depression because no matter what else happens, you are creating something beautiful. Time spent in front of the television or just sitting is no longer time wasted.
　　I love breathing life into the patterns. It's true magic, finding a neglected, dog-eared old book with the perfect snowflake design, buying the same Germantown knitting worsted my grandmother used, in the exact blue to match my daughter's eyes, taking it on the train with me every day for two months, working feverishly¹² to get it done by Christmas, staying up late after the stocking are filled to sew in the sleeves and weave in the ends.
　　Knitting has taught me patience. I know that if I just keep going, even if it takes months, there will be a reward. When I make a mistake, I know that a temper tantrum will not fix it, that I just have to go back and take out the stitches between and start over again.
　　People often ask if I would do it for money, and the answer is always a definite no. In the first place, you could not pay me though for the hours I put into a sweater. But more important, this is an activity I keep separate from such considerations. I knit to cover my children and other people I love in warmth and color. I knit to give them something earthly that money could never buy.
　　Knitting gives me life an alternative rhythm to the daily deadline. By day I can write about Northern Ireland or the New York City Police Department and get paid for it, but on the train home, surrounded by people with laptops, I stage my little rebellion. I take out my old knitting bag and join the centuries of women who have knitted for love.
　　1. Which of the following reasons does NOT explain the fact that "Knitting was no longer a skill worth passing down from mother to daughter"?
　　A) The struggle of women for equal rights.
　　B) The belief that it is good to buy and use a lot of goods.
　　C) The plain feature of Knitting.
　　D) The introduction of domestic devices.
　　2.At what time did the author wear the stocks her grandmother had knitted for her?
　　A) In winter.
　　B) When she went skiing.
　　C) During the Christmas holiday.
　　D) When she needed to keep her feet warm for skating.
　　3."Knitting is nervous habit" means
　　A) knitting involves the work of one's nerves.
　　B) Knitting gets on one's nerves.
　　C) Knitting makes one nervous.
　　D) Knitting may act as a trigger for a nervous breakdown¹³.
　　4.Which of the following is false concerning knitting according the author?
　　A) It helps one give up one's bad habit.
　　B) It helps one get rid of one's bad mood.
　　C) It requires patience.
　　D) It is profit-making business.
　　5.What is NOT her purpose for knitting according to this passage?
　　A) It saves money.
　　B) It activate¹⁴ one's life.
　　C) It enriches one's life.
　　D) It is a pleasant pastime.
　　Keys: CDADA