With the start of BBC World Service Television, millions of viewers in Asia and America can now watch the Corporation's news coverage, as well as listen to it.
And of course in Britain listeners and viewers can tune in to two BBC television channels, five BBC national radio services and dozens of local radio station. They are brought sport, comedy, drama, music, news and current affairs, education, religion, parliamentary coverage, children's programmes and films for an annual license fee of ￡83 per household.
It is a remarkable record, stretching back over 70 years - yet the BBC's future is now in doubt. The Corporation will survive as a publicly-funded broadcasting organization, at least for the time being, but its role, its size and its programmes are now the subject of a nation-wide debate in Britain.
The debate was launched by the Government, which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC - including ordinary listeners and viewers - to say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether they thought it was worth keeping. The reason for its inquiry is that the BBC's royal charter runs out in 1996 and it must decide whether to keep the organization as it is, or to make changes.
Defenders of the Corporation - of whom there are many - are fond of quoting the American slogan. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The BBC ain't broke, they say, by which they mean it is not broken (as distinct from the word broke, meaning having no money), so why bother to change it?
Yet the BBC will have to change, because the broadcasting world around it is changing. The commercial TV channels － ITV and Channel 4－ were required by the Thatcher Government's Broadcasting Act to become more commercial, competing with each other for advertisers, and cutting costs and jobs. But it is the arrival of new satellite channels - funded partly by advertising and partly by viewers' subscriptions - which will bring about the biggest changes in the long term.
56. The world famous BBC now faces ________.
A. the problem of new coverage B. an uncertain prospect
C. inquiries by the general public D. shrinkage of audience
57. In the passage, which of the following about the BBC is not mentioned as the key issue?
A. Extension of its TV service to Far East.
B. Programmes as the subject of a nation-wide debate.
C. Potentials for further international co-operations.
D. Its existence as a broadcasting organization.
58. The BBC's royal charter （line 4, paragraph 4） stands for ________.
A. the financial support from the royal family B. the privileges granted by the Queen
C. a contract with the Queen D. a unique relationship with the royal family
59. The foremost reason why the BBC has to readjust itself is no other than ________.
A. the emergence of commercial TV channels
B. the enforcement of Broadcasting Act by the government
C. the urgent necessity to reduce costs and jobs
D. the challenge of new satellite channels
It’s our hope that the calculator will promote action, awareness and empowerment by showing you that one person can make a difference and help stop global warming.
There are many simple things you can do in your daily life—what you eat, what you drive, how you build your home—that can have an effect on your immediate surroundings, and on places as far away as Antarctica. Here is a list of things that you can do to make a difference.
Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Save 300lbs (pounds) of carbon dioxide and $60 per year.
Use Recycled Paper
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5lbs of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
Take Shorter Showers
Showers account for 2/3 of all water heating costs. Save 350 lbs of carbon dioxide and $99 per year.
Buy Products Locally
Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your home.
Carpool When You Can
Own a big vehicle？Carpooling with friends and co-workers saves fuel. Save 790 lbs of carbon dioxide and hundreds of dollars per year.
Don’t Idle in Your Car
Idling wastes money and gas, and generates pollution and global warming causing emissions. Except when in traffic, turn your engine off in you must wait for more than 30 seconds.
Buy Organic food
The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.
Turn Off Your Computer
Shut off your computer when not in use, and save 200 lbs of carbon dioxide. Conserve energy by using your computer’s “sleep mode” instead of a screensaver.
With a Stop Global Warming calculator which costs you only $50 in hand, you will find what you do does count. The Stop Global Warming calculator can serve the following purposes EXCEPT __________.
| A．introducing the ways of saving carbon dioxide |
| B．Telling how to save money in your daily life |
| C．promoting action, awareness and empowerment and helping stop global warming |
| D．introducing how global warming is formed |
How many tips are related to cars?__________.
| A．1 | B．2 | C．3 | D．4 |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the list of tips? ___________.
| A．Using a screensaver instead of the computer’s “sleep mode” |
| B．Buying products in the neighborhood |
| C．Using recycled printer paper |
| D．Replacing frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs |
What does the underlined word “carpooling” mean according to the passage?____.
| A．Changing your big vehicle into a small one with your friends and co-workers to save fuel |
| B．Going to the pool with your friends and co-workers by car |
| C．Trying to share a big vehicle with your friends to save fuel |
| D．Washing the car in a pool by yourself instead of having it washed by your |
friends and co-workers What is the purpose of the author writing this passage?___________.
| A．Giving people tips on how to save money in life |
| B．Telling people how to be environment-friendly |
| C．Promoting the product “Stop Global Warming calculator” |
| D．Telling people how to prevent carbon dioxide from being released |
He lived his whole life as a poor man. His art and talent were recognized by almost no one. He suffered from a mental（精神的）illness that led him to cut off part of his left ear in 1888 and to shoot himself two years later. But after his death, he achieved world fame. Today, Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh is recognized as one of
the leading artists of all time.
Now, 150 years after his birth on March 30, 1853, Zundert, the town of his birth, has made 2003 “The van Gogh Year”in his honor. And the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, home to the biggest collection of his masterpieces, is marking the anniversary（周年纪念）with exhibitions throughout the year. The museum draws around 1.3 million visitors every year. Some people enjoy the art and then learn about his life. Others are first interested in his life, which then helps them understand his art.
Van Gogh was the son of a pastor（牧师）. He left school when he was just 15. By the age of 27, he had already tried many jobs including an art gallery（画廊）salesman and a French teacher. Finally in 1880, he decided to begin his studies in art.
Van Gogh is famed for his ability to put his own emotions into his paintings and show his feelings about a scene. His style is marked by short, broad brush strokes（笔画）.“Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more freely, in order to express myself more forcibly,” he wrote in a letter to his brother in 1888.
Van Gogh sold only one painting during his short life. He relied heavily on the support from his brother, an art dealer who lived in Paris. But now his works are sold for millions of dollars. His portrait of Dr. Gacher sold for $89.5 million in 1990. It is the highest price ever paid for a painting. “I think his paintings are powerful and the brilliant colors in them are attractive to people,” said a Van Gogh’s fan. All through his life, Van Gogh __________.
| A．depended on his brother | B．worked hard on art studies |
| C．was not recognized by people | D．expressed himself in paintings |
Van Gogh killed himself because of ___________.
| A．the poor life | B．his illness |
| C．his pain from left ear | D．the objections from the artists of his time |
One of the characteristics of Van Gogh’s paintings is ______________.
| A．the likeness between his paintings and the reality |
| B．the short time for him to complete a painting |
| C．the various styles mixed together |
| D．the special strokes he made |
The selling of his paintings is considered to be the most successful because ________.
| A．more and more people like his paintings |
| B．people can understand him through his paintings |
| C．1.3 million people visit his painting museum every year |
| D．Zundert has made 2003 “The Van Gogh Year” in his honor |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．his powerful art came from his poor life |
| B．his fellow townsmen regret treating him unfairly |
| C．all his paintings were drawn in the last 10 years of his life |
| D．most of his paintings are kept in the museum of his hometown |
Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.What does the author tell us in paragraph 1? _____________.
| A．how the Irish fought against the English |
| B．how Ireland gained independence |
| C．how English rulers tried to conquer Ireland |
| D．how two “Irelands” came into being |
We learn from the text that in Ireland________.
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about_________.
| A．the Irish character | B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
According to the author, all the following words can be used to describe the Irish EXCEPT ___________.
| A．brave | B．kind | C．pleasant | D．hard-working |
What can be the best title for the text?________
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A Very difficult history |
| C．Ireland, past and present | D．The independence of Ireland |
It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial (商业的) world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial (金钱的) considerations.
Helen Lee took a 70％cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few prospects (前景) of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.
The influence of a salary cut is probably less serious for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a medicine company before returning to university as a post doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual chances.
Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more important, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the change to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential (潜力) in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.” By “a one-way street” in Paragraph 1, the author means ______.
| A．university researchers know little about the commercial world |
| B．few university professors are willing to do industrial research |
| C．few industrial scientists would leave to work in a university |
| D．there is little exchange between industry and academia |
The underlined word “deterrent” most probably refers to “something that ______”.
| A．helps to move the traffic | B．attracts people’s attention |
| C．brings someone a financial burden | D．keeps someone from taking action |
What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?
| A．Less work hours. |
| B．More freedom to choose research fields. |
| C．Better prospects of a commercial return. |
| D．Her preference for the lifestyle on campus. |
What can industrial scientists do when they come to teach in a university?
| A．Make its research more practical. |
| B．Develop its students’ potential in research. |
| C．Help it to obtain financial support from industry. |
| D．Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market. |
Forget chip fat, sugar cane or rapeseed oil — the latest source of biofuel could be watermelons. Scientists have discovered that the fruit is a great source of sugar that can be readily distilled (蒸馏) into alcohol to power cars and farm machinery.
And sellers reject 360,000 tons of “substandard” fruit every year in America alone which could be used as an economical way to make fuel. The waste from US growers could produce nearly two million gallons (nine million litres) of biofuel per year.
In the study, researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture set out to determine the biofuel potential of juice from rejected watermelons —those not sold due to cosmetic imperfections, and currently ploughed back into the field. About a fifth of each yearly watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes (瑕疵) or because they are misshapen.
Dr. Wayne Fish, who led the team, found that 50 percent of the fruit was fermentable (可发酵的) into alcohol which could provide valuable fuel.
“We’ve shown that the juice of these watermelons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing an unexploited raw material for alcohol biofuel production,” he said.
The study, published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, discovered that watermelons could produce around 20 gallons of fuel per acre from fruit that otherwise would go to waste.
Production of biofuels has been targeted by Western governments as a way to support renewable energy targets.
The European Union has a target for 2010 that 5.75 percent of transport fuels should come from biological sources, but the target is unlikely to be met.
The British government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires five percent of the fuel sold at the pump by 2010 to be biofuel.The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．watermelon juice will be the largest source of renewable energy |
| B．the advantages of fuel made from watermelons |
| C．Western countries aim at producing biofuels |
| D．watermelons could be used to make fuel |
It can be learned from the text that ______.
| A．about two gallons of fuel could be made from rejected fruit per acre |
| B．sellers in the world throw away 360,000 tons of watermelons every year |
| C．half of the watermelons were fermentable into alcohol to provide energy |
| D．five percent of fuel is required to be biofuel from watermelons by 2010 in Britain |
The underlined word “cosmetic” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.
| A．fresh | B．sweet | C．surface | D．inside |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．it will cost a lot to make biofuel from watermelons |
| B．Western countries are engaged in biofuel study but still have a long way to go |
| C．watermelon juice has been used as a source of sugars to produce alcohol biofuel |
| D．the European Union is likely to meet its target of transport fuels from biological sources |