Despite bankruptcies,lay off and tighter comsumers spending,a few femaleled businesses in Japan are developing well.
Shizue Hamada,52,set up a business in 1991 with eight other housewives-to care for the elderly and the physically disabled.
It wasn’t long before the Tasukeai Yui(mutual -aid group) earned a reputation for its excellent service. It now employs 200 staff and has 300 million yuan(US $2.4million)in annual sales.
The woman said their business has been successful because they provide what customrs really want.
These entrepreneurs are making use of a revalized and healthy demand for everyday basic items.
Bread,for instance,is in high demand.Business woman Meiko Tanaka,26,started selling high-quality bread over the Internet in 2000.“Bread is cheap,”she said.“We migh as well eat the bread baked using the the highest-quality ingredients.”
Five women—former office workers in their late 20s—have started the“OL Food Bureau of Investigation”to review restaurants on the Internet.OL means young office lady. It’s a common nickname in Japan.
Business is increasing rapidly.Membership for their online magazine has reached 26,000. Their non-professional comments seem to carry a lot of weight with consumers.This month the five women will be appearing on Japanese TV.
What all these female entrepreneurs have in common is a strong belief in their likes and dislikes,and confidence is their own sensibilities.
They find gaps in the market and fill them with products and services that they like or want.
Japanese women headed nearly 6 percent of all businesses in Japan at the end of June—up from 4.5 per cent in 1999.
These female—led micro—businesses are playing an increasingly large role in the economy by plugging the gap between supply and demand.
1.When talking about the businesswomen in Japan,the writer
A.thinks little of them
B.thinks that they will take the place of men in future
C.sings the praises of their abilities
D.is not sure of their future development
2.The passage mainly discusses .
A.Japanese women B.female-led businesses in Japan
C.how to earn a reputation D.Japanese economic development
3.The five women will be appearing on Japanese TV because .
A.thier comments have great influences on consumers
B.they have set up the first online magazine
C.they have arranged handreds of jobs for laidoff workers
D.they used to work in offices and are fairly beautiful
4.If an old man in Japan can't live by himsilf,he should turn to for hehp.
A.Tasukeai Yui B.Meiko Tanaka C.OL Food Bureau of lnvestigation D.entrepreneurs
第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A,B,C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
Want to take an out-of-this-world trip? Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to make that possible. Beginning in 2009, people should have the opportunity to become space tourists, traveling at about 3,000 mph to heights about 75 miles above Earth. Branson has high hopes for his latest plans. "It is just the start of what we believe will be a new age in the history of mankind-one day making the affordable exploration of space by human beings a real possibility," he said.
At the start, though, the trip won't be cheap. Seats aboard Virgin's first craft-VSS Enterprise-will cost about $200,000. Prices could drop after the first hundred space flights. Despite the current ticket cost, more than 30,000 people-including celebrities(名人) Sigourney Weaver and Victoria Principal-have expressed interest in getting onboard.
People who don't have an extra $200,000 still have a chance to get a seat aboard the craft. A computer game contest and a reality television show are in the works. Those who can't afford a ticket will have an opportunity to win a seat.
Virgin is expected to be the first commercial spacecraft. It will hold six passengers and two pilots. Passengers will be able to see the Earth from many different viewpoints. The cabin will include 15 floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing for views that extend about 1,000 miles in any direction.
Passengers will have three days of preflight preparation. On the big day, the spacecraft will take off from the Mojave Spaceport in the California desert. The craft will rocket passengers into space at four times the speed of sound. The journey will last about 2 1.2 hours. Passengers will wear spacesuits and helmets(头盔). They will be able to float around the cabin and do somersaults(空翻) during the five minutes of weightlessness they will experience in zero gravity. At the end of the flight, the craft will land on a runway.
56. Virgin Galactic could be _____.
A. the engineer of the first commercial spacecraft B. the name of a series of spacecrafts
C. the company of the first commercial spacecraft D. a passenger aboard the first commercial spacecraft
57. The space passengers will do all the following except that _____.
A. they will receive a three-day training course B. they will wear spacesuits and helmets
C. they will take about $200,000 with themD. they will experience weightlessness
58. Which statement is true according to the passage?
A. More than 30,000 people have got to travel in spacecraft.
B. Many people signed up for space travel in spite of the high ticket cost.
C. Those without much money could also go space travel without occupying the seats.
D. The first commercial spacecraft will have six persons on board.
59. What is the text mainly about?
A. The exciting moment of the spacecraft's launching.
B. The living condition of space tourists in the craft.
C. Preparations for a space travel.
D. Plans for the first commercial space flight.
To be a good teacher, you need so
me of the gifts of a good actor; you must be able to hold the attention and interest of your audience; you must be a clear speaker, with a good, strong, pleasing voice which is fully under your control; and you must be able to act what you are teaching, in order to make its meaning clear.
Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class: he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings. Listen to him, and you will hear the loudness, the quality (音色) and the musical note of his voice always changing according to what he is talking about.
The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts of a good actor doesn’t mean that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important differences between the teacher’s work and the actor’s. The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand (预先). What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage.
A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience takes an active part in his play: they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don’t understand something, they say so. The teacher therefore has to meet the needs of his audience, which is his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along.
I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but were unable to take part in a stage-play because they could not keep strictly to what another had written.
51. What is the text about ?
A. How to become a good teacher.
B. What a good teacher should do outside the classroom.
C. What teachers and actors could learn from each other.
D. The similarities and differences between a teacher’s work and an actor’s.
52. The word “audience” in the fourth paragraph means ____ .
A. students B. people who watch a play
C. people who not on the stageD. people who listen to something
53. A good teacher ____ .
A. knows how to hold the interest of his students
B. must have a good voice
C. knows how to act on the stage
D. stands or sits still while teaching
54. In what way is a teacher’s work different from an actor’s ?
A. The teacher must learn everything by heart .
B. He knows how to control his voice better than an actor .
C. He has to deal with unexpected situations .
D. He has to use more facial expressions .
55. The main difference between students in class and a theatre audience is that ____.
A. students can move around in the classroom
B. students must keep silent while theatre audience needn’t
C. no memory work is needed for the students
D. the students must take part in their teachers’ plays
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice(惯例) in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not m
anage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine(常规). They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hot
el by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
46. The writer of this passage must be ______.
A. an American B. a Chinese C. a professor D. a student
47. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.
B. Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.
C. Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.
D. Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.
48. From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
A. warmly welcomed at the airport
B. offered a ride to his home
C. treated hospitably at his home
D. treated to dinner in a restaurant
49. The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
A. strict with time B. serious with time
C. careful with time D. willing to spend time
50. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
A. Friendships between Chinese
B. Friendships between Americans
C. Americans’ hospitality
D. Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships
第三部分:阅读理解
第一节(共18小题;每小题2分,满分36分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Christian Eijkman, a Dutch doctor, left the Netherlands for the island of Java. Many people on the island had a disease called Beri. He was going there to try and find a cure.
At first, Eijkman thought some kind of germ (细菌) caused Beri. He raised some chickens. He didn’t eat them, but made experiments on them. The local people were quite surprised at that. One day he noticed that his chickens became sick when they were fed the food most Javanese ate — refined white rice (精炼米). When he fed them with unrefined rice, also known as brown rice, they recovered. Eijkman realized that he had made an important discovery — that some things in food could prevent disease. These things were named vitamins (维生素). The Javanese were not getting enough vitamins because they had actually removed the part that contains vitamins. Later, other diseases were also found to be caused by the lack of vitamins in a person’s food.
Today many people know the importance of vitamins and they make sure they have enough vitamins from the food they eat. If they don’t, they can also take vitamin pills.
41. The underlined word “cure” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
A. a medical treatment B. a kind of vitamin
C. a kind of germ D. a kind of rice
42. Christian Eijkman went to the island of Java to ______.
A. spend his holiday
B. find ways to grow better crops
C. do some research about the island
D. help the Javanese with their illness
43. Why did Christian Eijkman raise some chickens?
A. To eat them. B. To carry out his experiments.
C. To give the Javanese a surprise. D. To make money by selling them.
44. If a person doesn’t get enough vitamins in his diet, he’d better ____.
A. eat more rice B. eat more meat
C. eat some chicken D. eat vitamin pills
45. We can learn from the passage that ______.
A. Beri was caused by chickens
B. the Javanese didn’t like vitamins
C. Christian Eijkman’s experiment was successful
D. the Javanese’s disease was caused by a kind of germ
Researchers are placing robotic dogs(机器狗)in the homes of lonely old people to determine whether they can improve the quality of life for humans. Alan Beck, an expert in human-animal relationship, and Nancy Edwards, a professor of nursing, are leading the animal-assisted study concerning the influence of robotic dogs on old people’s depression, physical activity, and life satisfaction. “No one will argue that an older person is better off being more active, challenged, or stimulated(刺激),”Edwards points out. “The problem is how we promote(使……成为现实)that, especially for those without friends or help. A robotic dog could be a solution.”
In the study, the robot, called AIBO, is placed for six weeks in the houses of some old people who live alone. Before placing AIBO in the home, researchers will collect baseline data for six weeks. These old people will keep a diary to note their feelings and activity before and after AIBO. Then, the researchers will review the data to determine if it has inspired any changes in the life of its owner.
“I talk to him all the time, and he responds to my voice,” says a seventy-year-old lady, “When I’m watching TV, he’ll stay in my arms until he wants down. He has a mind of his own.”
The AIBOs respond to certain orders. The researchers say they have some advantages over live dogs, especially for old people. Often the elderly are disabled and cannot care for an animal by walking it or playing with it. A robotic dog removes exercise and feeding concerns.
“At the beginning, it was believed that no one would relate to the robotic dog, because it was metal and not furry.” Beck says. “But it’s amazing how quickly we have given up that belief.”
“Hopefully, down the road, these robotic pets could become a more-valuable health helper. They will record their masters’ blood pressure, oxygen levels. Or heart rhythms. AIBOs may even one day have games that can help stimulate older people’s minds.”
47. The purpose of Beck and Edwards’ study is to .
A. understand human-animal relationship
B. makes lonely old people’s life better
C.find the causes of old people’s loneliness
D. promote the animal-assisted research
48. In the research, the old people are asked to .
note the activities of AIBOs
keep AIBOs at home for 12 weeks
C. record their feelings and activity
D. analyze the collected information
49. What is the advantage of AIBO over live dogs?
It is easier to keep at home.
B. It can help the disabled people.
C. It responds to all the human orders.
D. It can watch TV with its owner.
50. The author seems to suggest that the future robotic dogs may .
A. cure certain diseases B. keep old people active
C.change people’s beliefs D. look more like real gods