The meaning of the word “volunteer ” may be a little different in different countries, but it usually means “one who offers his or her services.” There are many different ways in which people can volunteer, such as taking care of sick people, working in homes for homeless children, and picking up garbage(垃圾) from beaches and parks. Volunteers may work within their own countries or in other countries. They are often people with a strong wish to help those who are less fortunate than themselves. Volunteers don’t expect any kind of pay.
At the root of volunteering is the idea that one person may have the ability to offer services that can help other people. Tracy, a good friend of mine, however, recently came back from India with a new idea of what being a volunteer means. She worked for two and a half weeks in one of Mother Teresa’s homes in Calcutta. The following is her story.
“I first heard about Mother Teresa in my high school, we watched a video(录像) about her work in India and all over the world. I was so moved by her spirit to help others and her endless love for every human being that after I graduated from high school, I too wanted to try her kind of work. So with two friends I flew to Calcutta for a few weeks.”
“I was asked to work in a home for sick people. I helped wash clothes and sheets, and pass out lunch. I also fed the people who were too weak to feed themselves and tried to cheer the up. I felt it was better to share with them than to think that I have helped them. To be honest, I don’t think I was helping very much. It was then that I realized that I had not really come to help, but to learn about and experience another culture(文化) that helped improve my own understanding of life and the world.”According to the text, a volunteer refers to a person who ______.
| A．is willing to help those in need without pay | B．can afford to travel to different places |
| C．has a strong wish to be successful | D．has made a big fortune in life |
Tracy started her work as a volunteer _______.
| A．after she met Mother Teresa |
| B．after she finished high school |
| C．when she was touring Calcutta |
| D．when she was working in a hospital |
Why did Tracy choose to be a volunteer?
| A．She liked to work with Mother Teresa. |
| B．She had already had some experience. |
| C．She was asked by Mother Teresa’s example. |
| D．She wanted to follow Mother Teresa’s example. |
What is Tracy’s “new idea” (Paragraph 2) of being a volunteer?
| A．Going abroad to help the sick. |
| B．Working in Mother Teresa’s home. |
| C．Doing simple things to help the poor. |
| D．Improving oneself through helping others. |
Watch out, Yahoo．There’s search engine out there with super speed and accuracy．It’s really cool．
Google is the Web’s largest search engine．In just two years it has gained a reputation for surprising speed and accuracy, delivering exactly what you’re looking for in a second．The site now does this 40 million times a day – a number achieved without spending a penny on a TV or newspaper ad．
Google doesn’t need them．In the past six months alone, the site has won a Webby （the online version of the Oscar） for technical excellence, set a new record for search engines by indexing a billion Web pages．
Yahoo still has 10 times the audience, but Google consistently ranks first in customer satisfaction: 97% of users find what they’re looking for most or all the time．“You see people smile when they use it, like they’ve found something no one else knows about,” says Danny Sullivan, editor of an online newsletter．
No one is smiling more than Larry Page, 27, and Sergey Brin, 26, who seem certain to become billionaires when the company goes public, probable sometime next year．They make a great comedy duo．When they first met as Ph． D．students, the pair say, they found each other horrible – “I still find him horrible,” adds Brin – but were driven together by a computer – science project aimed at coming up with better ways of searching the Web．
The idea behind Google is that traditional search engines are stupid．They think relevance is based on repetition; if you type in a request for Tiger Woods, say, you’ll get websites listed according to how many times those words appear．Not only is this no guarantee of quality, but it’s also open to abuse．If you own a Tiger fan site and want to lead more people to it, simply type his name thousands of times in the site’s source code．The first paragraph serves to ．
| A．compare two websites | B．bring out the topic |
| C．put blame on Yahoo | D．give the background of the topic |
What does the underlined word “then” in the third paragraph refer to?
| A．40 million times． | B．Achievements． |
| C．TV and newspaper ads． | D．Web pages． |
Which of the following wins greater customer satisfaction?
| A．Yahoo． | B．Google． | C．Page． | D．Brin． |
It can be inferred that Page and Brin ．
| A．work for Google | B．are Tiger fans |
| C．hated each other | D．work for Yahoo |
Speaking in his first National Day Rally speech on 15 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien said Singapore’s education system was set for more reforms in the years ahead, particularly for the primary and secondary education．Read the summary of his thoughts on education below．
For a start, the Government is prepared to send and additional 3,000 teachers to Singapore schools, cut the courses of study even further and change the way the mother tongue, especially Chinese, is taught．But, for the changes to be successful, parents need to help．
Singapore has a devoted group of teachers and principals and quite a few of them are outstanding, but the Republic’s schools can be even better．To help the schools make a jump in quality, the Government plans that within the next 6 years, it will send 1,000 more teachers to primary schools, 1,400 to secondary schools and 550 more to junior colleges．Each school would decide how to use its extra teachers．Some may want to make classes smaller so students get more individual attentions while others may have new teachers assist more senior teachers, but the overall goal is to give teachers the time and space to come up with ways to bring out the best in their students．
More teachers must not mean more homework, however．In fact, the Prime Minister wants to see the courses cut down so that there is less pressure on the students．Good grades are important but they should not be the only goal students have．PM Lee is convinced that “we must teach less so that our children can learn more．”
Another change will be in the teaching of the mother tongue so that students can become more fluent．The key is to teach Chinese as a living language not just an academic subject like Latin．Therefore, the focus should be on speaking and reading the language．To do this, there must be an environment outside the classroom that is contributing to strengthening the Chinese lessons．The text is mainly about in Singapore．
| A．the education reform | B．adding more teachers |
| C．the mother tongue | D．ways of teaching |
The general goal of using extra teachers is to ．
| A．make classes smaller | B．assist more senior teachers |
| C．teach more | D．help teachers improve teaching quality |
PM Lee holds that the students should ．
| A．do more homework | B．give up higher grades |
| C．study more courses | D．be given more time to learn more |
The key to teaching Chinese well is to ．
| A．make it academic | B．have a creative environment |
| C．give more Chinese lessons | D．encourage speaking and reading a lot |
His platinum albums such as “You Make Me Happy and Sad,” “Flowery Heart,” “Music Brings Us Together” and “Emil & Friends” have brought him numerous awards in Singapore, and China’s Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Jonathan Lee represents the creative spirit of the past 20 years in Taiwan and many renowned singers like Sarah Chan (Chen Shuhua), Sandy Lam (Lin Yilian), Emil Chau (Zhou Huajian) and Karen Mok (Mo Wenwei) draw great inspiration from Lee's works.
Jasmine Leong is a Malaysian singer who is very popular on the Taiwan music scene. Focusing on lyrical songs, Leong's Beijing performance will also tap into rock & roll music.
To remember Henrik Ibsen, with pianist Wolfgang Plagge, violinist Annar Folles and soprano Gao Xia, the Norwegian Ibsen Trio will present the classic works of the celebrated playwright.
The mi
x of musical treats for children in Beijing includes various kinds of art forms, including Western classical music and Chinese traditional music, as well as puppet plays, crosstalk shows, and highlights of Chinese local operas such as Peking Operas and Kunqu Operas.
| A．Commemorative show: To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, the founder of modern prose drama, a concert titled “Nora's Songs” will be given. Time: 7:30 pm, March 20 Place: Peking University Concert Hall Tel: 6275-2279, 6275-9637 |
| B．Feel the mood: Jonathan Lee will host his 2006 concert in Beijing. As the master of music in Taiwan, Lee is famous for his unique annotation of love, mood and life. Time: 7:30 pm, March 24, 25 Place: Capital Gymnasium, Baishiqiao Lu, Haidian District Tel: 6835-4020 |
| C．Chamber music: The chamber concert series of China Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra will greet audiences with a woodwind quintet, a string quartet plus Bach's piano concerto and suite. Time: 7:30 pm, March 25 Place: The Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music, 43 Baojiajie, Xicheng District Tel: 6641-4759, 6642-5744 |
| D．Pop star: Singer and composer Emil Chau, one of the most admired music idols in China and Southeast Asia, will perform a solo concert in Beijing. Chau was born in Hong Kong and attended college in Taiwan. He has released more than 30 albums in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. |
Time: 7:30 pm, March 31
Place: Capital Gymnasium, Baishiqiao Lu, Haidian District
Tel: 6833-5552
E. Music for children: Some 50 colourful music-related performances will be staged until August 28 in an "Open the Door to Music" series of concerts, in a move to foster Chinese children's taste for art. The concert series will be held in several venues, sponsored by the Forbidden City Concert Hall and supported by the Beijing Municipal Culture Bureau.
Tickets: 10-100 yuan (US$1-12)
Time/date: 2 pm or 7:30 pm, July 20-August 28
Location: mainly in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Zhongshan Park, some in Peking University Hall in Haidian District and in the China Puppet Art Theatre and Poly Theatre
Tel: 6506-5343, 6506-5345
F
. Beautiful timbre: Jasmine Leong will meet her Beijing fans next month. Singing with beautiful timbre, Leong will present a series of love stories to the audience. To highlight the theme of love, 200 sets of lover's tickets, valued at 1800 yuan will be presented.
Tickets: 180-980 yuan (US$22-121)
Time/date: 7:30 pm, September 9
Location: Workers' Gymnasium, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 6501-6655
Star hurdler Liu Xiang returned home last night after spending about three months in the United States for foot operation and recovery.
Liu and coach Sun Haiping were followed away by officials after arriving at Shanghai Pudong airport at around 6 : 30 p. m. , and said nothing to the waiting media.
Liu went straight to the Xinzhuang training base in Shanghai, where he will start on the comeback (恢复) through rehabilitation (复职) and training.
Feng Shuyong, vice-director of China's Athletics Administrative Center, said a group of experts is on standby at the training base to help with Liu's recovery.
"The experts will give Liu a full check-up tomorrow or the day after and advise regularly on rehabilitation in the coming months," Feng was quoted by qq. com as saying.
The foot injury forced defending champion Liu to quit from the 2008 Beijing Olympics last August after "he limped out of the Bird's Nest in the first round of the men's 110m hurdles, bitterly disappoint
ing adoring home fans.
The 25-year-old Athens Olympic and world champion had successful foot surgery in December at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, and had four calcium deposits (钙物质) removed from his right Achilles tendon (跟腱).
He spent the next three months in Houston for rehabilitation and basic training under the guidance of doctors there.
"His recovery is better than we expected. Doctors believe that after three months' rehabilitation and training, he has actually achieved the level of recovery that generally needs four months," Feng said.
Liu will, however, be absent from the ongoing annual Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meeting due to the recovery process. Feng said Liu is paying close attention to the meeting through the Internet, and closely following issues such as athletes' education and life after retirement.
It is the second time Liu has asked for leave from the annual session after being elected to the CPPCC: He did not attend last y
ear's meeting because he was at a key competition in Spain.The best title for the passage is _______.
| A．Fate and Challenge | B．Liu Xiang Returns after Operation Success |
| C．No Desire to Be a Representative of CPPCC | |
| D．Happiness and Hardships behind Success |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The experts will give Liu a full check-up and advise regularly on recovery in the coming months. |
| B．Liu and his coach were followed away by officials after arriving at Pudong airport at around 6:30. |
| C．Liu paid close attention to the meeting through the Internet, caring graduate's further education. |
| D．His foot operation was successful and four calcium deposits were removed from his right Achilles tendon. |
The underlined word "limped" most probably means _______.
| A．walked nervously | B．walked quickly | C．walked bitterly | D．walked lamely |
Liu Xiang was absent from CPPCC in the first time because of _______.
| A．recovery process | B．accepting the training | C．lecture abroad | D．a key competition |
This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we talked about the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.
Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.
The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. The many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be found on the Web at felts.org.
Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.
The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.
The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.
The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.
The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student and a test examiner.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, writt
en by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Barbara Klein.What does TOEFL stand for?
| A．The Voice of America | B．The International English Language Testing System |
| C．The Test of English as a Foreign Language | |
| D．The Test of English as a Native Language |
The International English Language Testing System commonly takes _______ in all.
| A．less than 160 minutes | B．more than 165 minutes |
| C．no more than 160 minutes | D．less than 166 minutes |
According to the passage, we can infer _______.
| A．IELTS is efficient and necessary if you want to go to English-speaking countries | |
| B．IELTS is completely different from TOEFL | |
| C．every American needs to accept TOEFL | D．IEITS isn't used more widely than TOEFL |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．How can the readers write papers to the VOA programme? |
| B．It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL. |
| C．It introduces IELTS. |
| D．How can the readers pass two kinds of tests? |