China news, Beijing, Feb. 9 --- Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property developers and ordinary Chinese. To many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8,000 yuan per square meter, while in China, it is even higher than in the United States. This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate market, the International Finance News reported.
Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after converted to Renminbi, is about 8,000 yuan per square meter, the houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8,000 yuan per square meter. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, houses are sold at a price even higher than those in the US.
The high housing sales price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people's average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in US?
At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans and lands to property developers. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses through various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high housing prices can be lowered.
36．According to the passage, what is the average housing price per square meter in China?
A．8000 yuan B．10000 yuan C．7000 yuan D．It's not mentioned here
37．Which of the following does NOT support the idea that the average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States?
A．Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality,
environment and supporting facilities.
B．American people's average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese
people.
C．The houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property
developers do when they sell their houses.
D．There are more people who need houses in China.
38．What is the main idea of this passage?
A．The housing price in China is so high that the government should do something
useful to prevent it.
B．There are some bubbles in Chinese real estate market.
C．The average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States.
D．Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public.
39．How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high
housing prices?
A．Four B．Three C．Five D．Two
While I was in 9th grade, I built a circuit (电路装置) for the traffic system of our city. After getting the first prize. I got this valuable advice from my father; “Do whatever interests you, and don’t let the work challenge you, make sure you are challenging that work.”
I have always preferred the projects which are challenging and related to real life problems. I clearly remember building a shipping program several years ago. I divided the whole project into several small sections. When I understood it clearly, used my brainstorming skill on it, and gave some basic ideas. Then I asked my professor for help before jumping into coding (编码). At first, I did not know how to ask questions correctly and always asked the question “How do I do it?” As I kept working and discussed with my professor, I became more comfortable and those “how ”questions soon turned into “what if I do this and that” types of questions.
It took me four days to write the code. The desire to solve the problem kept me sleepless all nights brainstorming in even greater details. Every time I saw my program running smoothly, I exploded with joy. I st
ill remember the last day of my work. I was getting some problem and didn’t know what to do. At that moment, a man came in to clean. He has headphones, and he was dancing while cleaning the room. Seeing this, I burst out laughing. That moment calmed me. I regained energy and interest and started to work again, and soon I fixed the problem.
My success in the project proved that breaking up a large problem into small parts could help find a possible solution. Discussing the problem with others was also very beneficial. Now I have gained the confidence to attempt any kind of project.According to the passage, the writer was interested in .
| A．developing traffic systems | B．doing challenging projects |
| C．winning great prizes | D．writing different codes |
The writer a
sked the question “how do I do it” at first because .
| A．he had no clear idea about his program | B．he was too shy to express himself |
| C．he wanted to be understood easily | D．he preferred this kind of question |
We learn from the passage that the writer’s shipping program .
| A．would benefit people a lot | B．was done together with others |
| C．was difficult and needed patience | D．cost much money and energy |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Do It Yourself | B．No Pains, No Gains |
| C．Learning with interest | D．Practice Makes Perfect |
Depend on yourself. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.
There have been many great men in history. But many of them were very poor when they were young, and had no uncles, aunts or friends to help them. Schools were few and not very good.
They could not depend upon them for education. They saw how it was, and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way till they became well-known. One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils, “I cannot make worthy men of you, but I can help make men of yourselves.”
Some young men do not try their best to make themselves valuable to society. They can never gain achievements unless they see their weak points and keep improving themselves. They are nothing now and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of their parents and teachers, and depend on their own efforts.Which of the following titles fits this passage best?
| A．How to Become Famous | B．What Helps to Make a Good Teacher |
| C．Men Must Help Each Other | D．Depend on Your O wn Efforts |
Many great men succeeded because_________.
| A．they were anxious to become rich |
| B．they had received good education |
| C．they had made great efforts to learn and work |
| D．they wanted very much to become well-known |
If young people depend on their own efforts, _________.
| A．they are more likely to succeed in their lives |
| B．they are sure to be famous in the world |
| C．they will need no advice from their parents and teachers |
| D．they will be nothing as long as they live |
From this passage we can see that the writer_________.
| A．is a man with a strong will |
| B．shows great respect for teachers |
| C．is in favour of those who struggle for success |
| D．feels it important to accept the advice of others |
A Train Floating On Air
A train that floats on air? It's not magic―it's magnets (磁).And it's close to reality.
In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus.In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power.And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.
These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.
How does it work?
Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.
When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.
Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.This passage is about __________.
| A．maglev | B．magnets | C．levitation | D．electricity |
Which of the following is a repelling action?
| A． | B． | C． | D． |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train. |
| B．Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev. |
| C．Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnetwheels. |
| D．Electric currents decide the movements of a maglev train. |
What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?
A．A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary o ne can’t. |
| B．A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed. |
| C．Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one. |
| D．Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train. |
Not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep is not a disorder in itself but a sign of some other problems, often a physical one.
If you have trouble sleeping, the American Sleep Disorders Association suggests that, for a week or two, you put down the time you go to bed, get up, exercise, and drink coffee, tea or wine. The purpose is to find the habits that may affect your sleep.
Then:
a.Don’t drink coffee in the six hours before going to bed.
b.Stop smoking and drinking at bedtime.
c.Don’t sleep during the day.
d.Go to bed at the same time every night. Set your alarm clock for the same time every morning and get up at that time, whether or not you sleep well.
e.Use the bedroom only for sleep. Read, watch TV, eat and talk elsewhere.
f.Take sleeping pills according to your doctor’s directions and don’t take them for longer than three weeks at a time.
g.If you haven’t fallen asleep within 15 minutes of going to bed, don’t turn over worrying about it. Get up and read or watch TV until you are sleepy, then return to bed.
If you continue to have trouble sleeping, ask your doctor for help or go to a sleep-disorders center. According to the passage, there is probably if you are not able to fall
asleep or stay asleep.
| A．a bad way of sleeping | B．a disorder in sleep |
| C．a physical reason | D．a problem caused by the brain |
If you have trouble sleeping, you should try to ______.
| A．ask a doctor for help or go to a sleep-disorders center |
B．p ut down the time you do things every day |
| C．do more physical exercise |
| D．find out the cause first |
According to the passage, which of the following would be the best way to help you sleep well?
| A．Taking some sleeping pills every day. |
| B．Reading books before you go to bed. |
| C．Setting your alarm clock at night. |
| D．Forming good living habits. |
The author writes this article in order to ______.
| A．tell us not being able to fall asleep is a serious disease |
| B．provide us with some suggestions on sleep problem |
| C．persuade us not to go to see the doctors when we are ill |
| D．help the American Sleep Disorders Association to find the causes of not being able to fall sleep |
What does fizz (气泡) taste like? In Bubbly (多泡的)drinks such 
as sodas, tiny bubbles give the drink a lift--- and have a distinct taste, In a new study on mice, scientists have connected that fizzy-taste feeling to the ability to taste sourness, such as that of oranges or vinegar.
Scientists first thought the taste of bubbles came from the bubbles bursting on the tongue, but now ate starting to think differently. Charles Zuker, of Columbia University, and his team studied the nervous system of mice to understand how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide, which is the gas that makes up the bubbles.
Animals, including human beings, are able to detect different tastes by using taste buds(味蕾) which pick up tastes in the mouth, and then send them to the brain. In the experiment, different groups of mice were genetically engineered to be missing one of the senses involved in taste. “Genetically engineered” means the researchers were able to turn off the switches for certain senses by changing the genes responsible for taste. The mice in one group could not taste sweet; another, sour; the third, bitter, and the fourth, salt. When the scientists gave carbon dioxide to the mice, the nervous systems of all the mice responded to the gas, except those of the mice that could not taste sour.
This shows that the taste of the bubbles must be sour, and that by turning off the ability of the mice to taste sour, the scientists also turned off their ability to taste carbon dioxide. When they studied the cells that detect sourness, the researchers found a protein attached to the cells that is important to the process of tasting carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide comes into contact with this protein, the protein knocks off particles called protons. These protons(质子), in turn, travel to the brain, which says ,” Hey! That’s a taste!”
It may seem like a lot of work to get from a can of soda to a taste, but the science of the senses is anything but simple, “ Taste is a challenging system to study,” one researcher says. What is the most important function of the bubbles?
| A．To look interesting . | B．To make drinks taste good. |
| C．To make drinks funny. | D．To produce a lot of fizz. |
From the experiment the researchers learned that______.
| A．sourness has nothing to do with the taste of bubbles. |
| B．there is a connection between sourness and bubbles. |
| C．the taste of bubbles is better if it’s less sour. |
| D．most mice cannot taste carbon dioxide. |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．the taste of bubbles is produced by the bubbles bursting on the tongue. |
| B．the nervous systems of mice show how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide. |
| C．taste seems simple but is very complex to research. |
| D．nerve cells sending signals to the brain is the first step in tasting something. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Nervous Systems Understand How the Tongue Tastes. |
| B．The Process of Taste |
C．The taste of Bubbles. |
| D．Different Animals Detect Different Tastes. |