Your friends might be in Australia or may be just down the road, but they are all just a few clicks
(点击) away. Life has changed for millions of young people across the world who now make friends
online. Whether you use chat-rooms, QQ, MSN or ICQ, you are a member of this group.
'I don't often talk with my parents or grand-parents, but I talk a lot with my old friends on QQ,' said
Fox's Shadow, the online name used by a girl student in China. 'Most of my classmates use QQ after
school.'
QQ is the biggest messaging service in China. A recorder from Tencent, the company which
developed QQ, shows that 4 million people used it one Saturday night in October. And probably Fox's
Shadow was one of them. 'I log in(登陆) on Friday nights, and Saturdays when I feel everything around
me boring. I usually spend about ten hours chatting on-line every week,' she said. 'But I never talk with
strangers, especially boys or men.'
Even though she likes chatting, she is careful about friends with strangers online. 'You don't
know who you're talking to. You should always be careful about whom you believe in online.' Many
people would like to meet offline when they feel they have got to know someone very well. Fox's
Shadow once met one of her online friends face to face. It was a girl who was a football fan like herself
and they went to a football match together.
A 16-year-old Beijing boy, named Bart Simon online, dislikes QQ uses. 'I used to chat on QQ, but
I found that most people were talking about foolish things,' he said. Now he chats online in English, using MSN. 'I only chat online because I've got friends in Japan, the US and Singapore,' he said. 'I want to
learn more about foreign cultures.' But he spends little time chatting on QQ as he sees it as a waste of
time and money.
'If you are really addicted to(沉溺于) it, sometimes you can't give your mind to your lessons,' he
said. 'And friends in your real life are always more important than those so-called friends you meet
online.'
1. People meet face to face offline when they think they _____.
A. have known each other well
B. have the same interest
C. have enough free time
D. have nothing to do
2. Fox's Shadow thinks QQ is ______.
A. the biggest messaging service in China
B. a good place to spend her time when bored
C. a safe place to chat with strangers
D. the best place to make friends
3. From the passage, we know 'they are all just a few clicks away' means ' ______'.
A. it is wonderful to see your friends by clicking
B. it is easy and fast to get in touch with your friends
C. it is possible to live much closer to your friends
D. it is popular to make friends
4. Which of the following sentence is TRUE according to the passage?
A. All the people on QQ are talking about foolish things.
B. Chatting online is a waste of time and money.
C. We should be careful about boys or men online.
D. We should think more of our friends on real life.
5. We can infer from the passage that_____
A. Chatting on line is a good way of learning about foreign cultures.
B. Tencent is also a big user of QQ in China.
C. It shows that 4 million people used QQ one Friday night in October.
D. Young people like communicating with others through QQ.