The word’s largest aircraft made its public debut last week at Europe’s biggest factory, a purpose built assembly line in Toulouse, souther, n France．The Airbus A380 will have 50 per cent more floor space than American rival Boeing’s 747 Jumbo, with room for duty-free shops, restaurants and even a sauna．This new arrival is expected to change the face of air travel．
The A380 will enter service in early 2006 with Singapore Airlines．
Airbus claims the A380 will burn less fuel, make less noise, create less pollution and cost 17 per cent less per seat than the 747．It will also reduce traffic problems in the skies．
The aircraft, which cost between ￡140 million(US$250m) and ￡157 million (US$280m) each compared with ￡84 million (US$150m) for Boeing’s new Dreamliner jet, is being built at 16 factories in Germany, France, Spain and the UK．
But activists have warned of more noise and pollution from the Superjumbo, while Boeing believes huge aircraft will not be in great demand over the next decade．
As a result, it is putting faith in the much smaller 7E7 Dreamliner．But Airbus is pinning its hopes on the “big is beautiful” theory, gambling on size being the key factor in the US-European battle for the skies．
Airbus said it was in talks with half a dozen global airlines about buying the A380. China Eastern Airlines, already an Airbus customer, is said to be targeted, while executives made it plain that they wanted to fight for the Japanese market, which had traditionally been controlled by Boeing．
Over the next 20 years, Airbus hopes to sell 750 of the new planes into a market worth ￡185billion (US$330bn)．The company already has129 firm orders for the A380, with 52 options．According to Airbus, which of the following is not the advantage of A380 compared to Boeing 747?
| A．Making less noise, causing less traffic problems |
| B．Using less fuel, costing less money |
| C．Creating less pollution, having less weight |
| D．Having more floor space, creating less pollution |
From the passage, we can infer that _________
| A．Airbus is not aiming at the Japanese market． |
| B．Boeing is not a rival of Airbus． |
| C．A380 hasn’t been used yet． |
| D．Boeing is better than Airbus． |
In the Airbus A380, passengers cannot find ___________．
| A．duty-free shops | B．restaurants | C．banks | D．a sauna |
According to the news, the prospect of A380 may be ___________．
| A．not so good | B．cheerful | C．undesirable | D．gloomy |
Researchers in Britain are driving the environmental movement to a new level. A team from the University of Warwick has built what it calls the world’s first completely environmentally friendly Formula Three racing car.
The car is made mainly of renewable materials, like plants and vegetables. The structure around the car is made from natural plant fibers and potatoes. The steering wheel(方向盘) is made from root vegetables like carrots. The engine uses bio-fuel made from vegetable oil and waste chocolate.
The new racing car is extremely fast. The car has a top speed of two hundred fifteen kilometers an hour. And it can go from zero to ninety-five kilometers an hour in just two and a half seconds. The racing car meets all of the Formula Three racing requirements except for its biodiesel(生物柴油) engine.
Automobile racing is one of the most widely watched sports in the world. But it is also considered one of the least friendly sports to the environment. Racing cars burn a lot of fuel, and create a lot of air pollution. In recent years, the racing industry has taken steps to protect the environment. More racing companies are now producing cars that use less energy. These cars produce less pollutio
n than cars that depend on traditional fuel, like gasoline.
Last month, the new racing car was set to run in its first competitive race at the Formula Three Championship Final at Brands Hatch. It would have been the first biodiesel-powered car to race at Formula Three. Current Formula Three rules let only gasoline-powered car to compete. Officials needed permission from all of the Formula Three racers for the biodiesel-powered car to compete. They were unable to contact one of the drivers, so the new racing car didn’t appear in the event. In test runs, the new racing car was the fifth fastest among the Formula Three race cars. Supporters are hoping to have the fuel problem solved in time to compete in the next season.. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．What materials the new racing car is made of. |
| B．Why researchers built the new racing car. |
| C．The characteristics of the new racing car. |
| D．The process of the new racing car being designed. |
.According to the passage, the _________ of the new racing car doesn’t meet the Formula Three racing
requirements.
| A．speed | B．appearance | C．weight | D．engine |
. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
| A．the new racing car is the first environmentally friendly car |
| B．automobile racing could be forbidden in the near future |
| C．many people like to watch automobile racing |
| D．the new racing car will be allowed to compete in the next season of Formula Three racing |
. In recent years, racing companies are producing cars that __________.
| A．burn more fuel | B．go more quickly |
| C．produce less pollution | D．cost less money |
.Why didn’t the new racing car compete at the Formula Three Championship Final last month?
| A．Because the new racing car still needs testing. |
| B．Because officials needed each racer’s permission but failed to contact one. |
| C．Because there’re some technical problems to be solved. |
| D．Because few drivers think it is fast enough. |
In a moment of personal crisis, how much help can you expect from a New York taxi driver? I began studying this question and found the answers interesting.
One morning I got into three different taxis and announced, “Well, it’s my first day back in New York in seven years. I’ve been in prison.” Not a single driver replied, so I tried again. “Yeah, I shot a man in Reno.” I explained, hoping the driver would ask me why, but nobody asked. The only response came from a Ghanaian driver, “Reno? That is in Nevada?”
Taxi drivers were uniformly sympathetic when I said I’d just been fired. “This is America,” a Haitian driver said. “One door is closed. Another is open.” He argued against my plan to burn down my boss’s house. A Pakistani driver even turned down a chance to profit from my loss of hope; he refused to take me to the middle of George Washington Bridge—a $20 trip. “Why you want to go there? Go home and relax. Don’t worry. Take a new job.”
One very hot weekday in July, while wearing a red ski mask and holding a stuffed pillowcase with the word “BANK” on it, I tried calling a taxi five times outside different banks. The driver picked me up every time. My ride with a Haitian driver was typical of the superb assistance I received.
“Let’s go across the park.” I said. “I just robbed the bank there. I got $25,000.”
“$25,000?” He asked.
“Yeah, you think it was wrong to take it?”
“No, man. I work 8 hours and I don’t make almost $70. If I can do that, I do it too.”
As we approached 86th and Lexington, I pointed to the Chemical Bank.
“Hey, there’s another bank,” I said, “Could you wait here a minute while I go inside?”
“No, I can’t wait. Pay me now.” His reluctance may have something to do with money—taxi drivers think the rate for waiting time is too low—but I think he wanted me to learn that even a bank robber can’t expect unconditional support.. From the Ghanaian driver’s response, we can infer that ____.
| A．he was indifferent to the killing | B．he was afraid of the author |
| C．he looked down upon the author | D．he thought the author was crazy |
. Why did the Pakistani driver refuse to take the author to the middle of the George Washington Bridge?
| A．Because he was able to help the author to find a new job. |
| B．Because he wanted to go home and relax. |
| C．Because it was far away from his home. |
| D．Because he thought that the author would commit suicide. |
.What is the author’s interpretation of the driver’s reluctance “to wait outside the Chemical bank”?
| A．The driver thought that the rate for waiting time was too low. |
| B．The driver thought it wrong to support a taxi rider unconditionally. |
C．The  driver was frightened and wanted to leave him as soon as possible. |
| D．The driver did not want to help a suspect to escape from a bank robbery. |
. Which of the following statements is true about New York taxi drivers?
| A．They are ready to help you do whatever you want to. |
| B．they often refuse to pick up those who would kill themselves. |
| C．They are sympathetic with those who are out of work. |
| D．They work only for money. |
. The passage mainly discusses ____.
| A．how to please taxi drivers. |
| B．how to deal with taxi drivers |
| C．the attitudes of taxi drivers towards riders in personal trouble |
| D．the attitudes of taxi drivers towards troublesome taxi riders |
How do you know if your home is an easy aim for thefts(偷窃)? Around the holidays, many families don’t consider taking prop
er measures to prevent their homes from suffering holiday thefts. With just a few simple steps, you can better make sure of the safety of your home during all of the holiday celebrations. Here are a few tips for making it difficult to tell you are away from home.
● Either have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail and newspapers, or tell your mailperson to hold your mail until you return. Nothing says “Hey, we are not home!” like when your postbox is filled with all kinds of mails and you have many different newspapers in your driveway.
● Set several different lights in your house on random timers (随机定时器)。Don’t leave your outdoor lights on all the time. Instead, put your outside lights on timers to be on during the nights. If an outdoor light remains on for days at a time, it means that nobody is home to turn it off.
● If you have pets that you are not taking with you on vacation, leave them with a friend, rather than having someone come into your house every day to take care of them. When thefts see a neighbor or friend entering your house every day, they will know you are not home.
● Close all your curtains when you leave town. This is effective to deter possible thefts, as no one can see what is in your house. If they don’t know what there is to take, then the risk is even greater for them to break in.
● This article just has suggested a few tips to help you keep your house safe while you are on holiday. Nothing can truly protect your home unless you have it monitored by a professional home security system.. What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．to tell us how to prevent the thefts around the holidays |
| B．to let the outdoor lights on all the time |
| C．to tell us many families suffering from the thefts while they are on holiday |
| D．to tell you to have your neighbor go to your house to take care of your pet. |
.If you are on holiday in other places, the lights in your house should________.
A. be lit in an irregular way B. be kept on all the night
C. be replaced by random timersD be turned on only once one day.To make your home is well protected, what does the writer advise you to do?
| A．Have all the curtains closed | B．Stop your mail service at once |
| C．Turn to your close neighbors or friends | D．Equip your home with security system |
. Most of the tips mentioned in the text seem to ______.
| A．be very popular with families | B．have no effect on preventing thefts |
| C．give a false impression on thefts. | D．be a little hard to be brought into effect. |
.The underlined word “deter ”probably means “___________ ”.
| A．discover | B．discourage | C．surprise | D．attract |
It is common to consider learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, even from birth and people continue to learn throughout their lives.
Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use their hands to use toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to learn about the sights,sounds,tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how to communicate with their parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world. When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics, They also continue to learn a great deal outside the classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to be punished. They learn social skills for communicating with other children. After they finish school, people must learn to deal with the many major changes that affect their lives, such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job.
Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make use of the principles of learning to affect the behavior of workers, voters, and consumers.
Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores knowledge, where this storage takes place and how the brain later outputs knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of a person’s experiences.
The author thinks “Learning” in the passage most refers to.
| A．life-long learning | B．family learning |
| C．learning after graduation | D．behavior learning |
The underlined “siblings” in the second paragraph probably means
| A．teachers | B．classmates | C．doctors | D．brothers or sisters |
Which period of children’s life do they begin to learn how to behave well according to the passage? .
| A．After they go into society | B．Before they enter school |
| C．When they are at school | D．Before they are born |
In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.
Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product-the television set.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners-meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.
The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by
| A．big | B．important | C．combined | D．separate |
In the past, Americans tended to .
| A．spend more time eating their food at dinner table | B．eat more food than they have today |
| C．spend more time talking about their day’s experiences at dinner table | |
| D．talk so much that they forgot to eat |
The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to .
| A．The TV programs | B．the pace of modern life |
| C．the wide use of electrical equipment | D．the popularity of fast food |
. The best title for this passage might be
| A．Talk at Dinner Table | B．TV Dinner | C．Pace of Modern Life | D．Problems Caused by TV |