B
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
61.Parents in China, according to this passage, ____________.
A.are too strict with their children
B.are too rich to educate their children
C.have some problems in educating their children correctly
D.are too poor to educate their children
62.The writer of this passage does not seem to be satisfied with_______.
A. the parents’ ideas of educating their children
B. the education system
C. children’s skills
D. children’s hobbies
63.Doing some cooking at home helps children_________.
A. learn how to serve their parents
B. learn how to become strong and fat
C. benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future
D. make their parents believe that they are clever
Clothes can make phone calls, play music, dial your pal’s number, keep you warm during cold weather and operate your computer?
This is not a fantasy. A British company, called Electrotextiles, has created a wide range of clothes — clothes that have minds of their own! Scientists, working for the company, have invented a kind of fabric that can be blended(混合) with flexible electronic materials to create intelligent clothing. The result are electronic garments.
If you think the wearer has to be wired to different devices, think again. These designer clothes are wire-free, soft to touch and washable!! Like any electronic device, these high-tech clothes have to be powered. Currently, a tiny nine-volt battery serves the purpose. But the researchers hope that in the near future the clothes will generate electricity by using body heat. These clothes are 100 percent shock proof, they say.
The Electrotextiles team has also created the world’s first cloth keyboard. This keyboard can be sewn into your trousers or skirt. To use this device, you will have to sit down and tap on your lap! These ‘lap- tap’ gadgets(器具) are all set to take over laptop computers!
Another useful garment is the shirt-cum-mobile phone. This handy invention enables drivers to chat comfortably with others at the wheel! Other popular electronic wear include the denim(牛仔布) jacket with flexible earphones sewn into the hood(风帽) and the electronic ski jacket with a built-in heater. The ski jacket is also programmed to send signals to a satellite. This technology is known as global positioning system and can be used to track lost skiers and wandering kids.
Having completed the cloth keyboard, scientists have already started to work on a new project—a necktie that can be used as a computer mouse. What is the next? Do you have any idea?. The electronic garments are similar to other electronic devices in that ______.
| A．they feel smooth and soft |
| B．they use electricity as power |
| C．they can be washed in water |
| D．they are made from flexible materials |
. How will researchers improve these high-tech clothes?
| A．Body heat will be used as power. |
| B．The wearer will not get shocked. |
| C．A tiny nine-volt battery will work. |
| D．They will get charged automatically. |
What does the underlined phrase “This handy invention” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．The laptop computer. | B．The electronic ski jacket. |
| C．The shirt-cum-mobile phone. | D．The world’s first cloth keyboard. |
. If you are going on a ski adventure, which device do you need?
| A．The cloth keyboard. | B．The electronic ski jacket. |
| C．The necktie to be used as a mouse. | D．The denim jacket with earphones. |
. The main purpose of the text is ______.
| A．to advertise for an English company | B．to predict the future trend of science |
| C．to show how rapidly science develops | D．to introduce some intelligent clothing |
Men can be beautiful too, right?
CHINA is going to host the 18th World University Student Beauty Contest in Guangzhou this December. This year for the first time the contest will include a male section. Students from over 130 countries will compete for Mr. and Miss Beauty. The contest is one of the most respected beauty contests in the world. It was copied by the United Nations University (an international university belonging to the United Nations) in 1986.
Stick to studying
LI Yining, an economics professor at Peking University, said that he would not encourage students to try their luck in the stock market (股市). “They should stress study,” Li said, in his speech at Beijing Foreign Studies University. When asked, the professor said he expected house prices in Beijing to continue to rise. Li thinks the government should provide more affordable houses for low-level income people.
Campus cinema
Students at over 100 universities will have a digital cinema on campus after the National Day holiday. The 21st Century Digital Film on Campus Project was launched at the end of September. The ticket will cost 3-8 yuan, rather than 30-40 yuan at cinemas in town. Students often download movies online or watch DVDs. Now they can enjoy original films in the digital cinema. The digital cinema will show a variety of films other than Hollywood blockbusters (好莱坞大片).
Getting practical
All 12,000 graduates from vocational school in Shanxi Province have landed a job, according to the provincial government. In the past five years, it is estimated that over 95 percent of the professional school graduates have found jobs. However, the number for university graduates is 70 percent. Some employers said that they prefer professional school graduates who learned something more practical in school and expected lower salaries than university students. In the third part, the underlined word “launched” may mean ______.
| A．started | B．ended | C．told | D．mentioned |
Where can the material be chosen from?
| A．A novel. | B．A newspaper. | C．An advertisement. | D．A fashion magazine. |
. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．More than 130 countries will take part in the 18th World University Student Beauty Contest. |
| B．The ticket for digital film will cost 3-8 yuan. |
| C．In the past five years, over 95 percent of the university graduates have found jobs in Shanxi. |
| D．Over 100 universities took part in the 21st Century Digital Film on Campus Project. |
. Professor Li thinks that ______.
| A．the house prices in Beijing will keep going up. |
| B．the students should try their luck in the stock market. |
| C．the government can do nothing about housing problem. |
| D．the students should not only pay attention to study. |
. What can we infer from the passage?
| A． In Shanxi, the professional school graduates are less popular with employers than university graduates recently. |
| B．The digital cinema will only show Hollywood blockbusters. |
| C．The graduates from universities can put what they learned into practice more easily. |
| D．No men competed in the World University Students Beauty Contest before this year. |
“Oh please God, no, no!” Stephen Eldredge cried out when he saw his wife, Shelli, badly wounded on the side of the road. She had broken actually every long bone in her body, along with her pelvis, jaw, and cheekbones. He was terrified his bride would bleed to death.
Stephen and Shelli had married just six months before near their home in South Jordan, Utah. They were in Hawaii on a family vacation with two of their sons. The family had rented electric motors and headed towards a nature preserve near Waikiki. But Shelli had fallen behind and the family turned back to make sure she was okay.
Shelli lost so much blood that her heart couldn’t function properly and she went into shock at the hospital. Physicians were able to make her come to herself. On the first and second days there, she lived through half a dozen operations. On day three, the worst of Stephen’s fears came true. Shelli didn’t wake. She had shown heart failure and lung failure. “I thought every heartbeat would be her last,” Stephen says.
As days passed with no change, one doctor gently asked if it was time to let Shelli go. An MRI（核磁共振）showed her brain didn’t have much chance of supporting life. Stephen couldn’t bear the thought of trapping his wife’s beautiful spirit in a body that would never work. If he kept her alive, what kind of life would she have ? He called family, religious leaders, and physician friends in Utah for guidance.
And he decided there still was a chance.
The family moved Shelli to a Utah hospital closer to home. In the next few weeks she started opening her eyes, but it wasn’t entirely clear how conscious she was. Nearly seven weeks after the accident, Stephen was joking with his sister in the hospital room when he saw Shelli smile, a big toothy grin. “Did you understand that?” he asked. She smiled again. Stephen fell to his knees in thanks.
Shelli’s recovery has been slow but steady. Initially, she couldn’t remember much of the previous months, including her own wedding. Shelli has endured 17 operations so far and may require more surgery. She will definitely need more months of recovery. But she is able to walk. “She’s got her life back. She’s able to love and be loved, and be the person she was.” Elovie says.
When Shelli hears about each step in her recovery, she calls it “miracle after miracle”. As for his experience, Stephen says, “This is a story of fear that was slowly replaced by faith.” We learn from the first two paragraphs that .
| A．Stephen and Shelli left home to hold the wedding ceremony. |
| B．Shelli was mainly wounded in the back |
| C．the couple were in Hawaii when the accident happened |
| D．the accident happened on their way to Waikiki |
In the hospital room Shelli smiled for the first time after the accident because.
| A．she liked people telling jokes. |
| B．she had remembered all that had happened |
| C．she was excited that she got her life back |
| D．she understood the joke being talked about |
By saying “miracle after miracle”, Shelli means that .
| A．she suffered what a terrible accident |
| B．she appreciated the care of her husband so much |
| C．the love for her family got her life back |
| D．it really surprised her that she survived so many operations |
. After reading the passage, what impresses us most may be that.
| A．Stephen’s not giving up | B．the doctor’s skill and hard work |
| C．Shelli’s bravery and persistence | D．the couple’s faith |
Holiday Inns and McDonald’s. both saw unmatched growth in the 1960s. Their growth opened another direct business operation—franchising.
These operations have the same general pattern. The franchisor, the parent company, first establishes a successful retail business. As it expands, it sees a profit potential in offering others the right to open similar business under its name. The parent company’s methods and means of identification with consumers are included in this right. The parent company supplies skill, and may build and rent stores to franchisees. For these advantages the franchisee pays the franchisor a considerable fee. However, some of the advantages and disadvantages are different.
By extending a “proven” marketing method, a parent can profit in several ways. First, the franchisee’s purchase price gives the parent an immediate return on the plan. Then the sale of supplies to the franchisee provides a continuing source of profits. As new businesses are added and the company’s reputation spreads, the values of the franchise increases and sales of franchises become easier. The snowballing effect can be dramatic. Such growth, too, bring into play the economies of scale. Regional or national advertising that might be financially impossible for a franchisor with 20 franchises could be profitable for one with 40.
The parent, then, finds immediate gains from the opportunity to expand markets on the basis of reputation alone, without having to put up capital or take the risk of owning retail stores. Added to this advantage is a less obvious but material one, Skilled, responsible retail managers are rare. People who invest their capital in franchises, though, probably come closer to the ideal than do paid managers. In fact, the franchisee is an independent store operator working for the franchisor, but without an independent’s freedom to drop supplies at will. Of course the factory’s costs of selling supplies are less. But also certainly the franchisee buying goods that have had broad consumer acceptance will not casually change supplies, even when the contract permits. If the hamburger is not what the customer expected, they may not return. Having paid for the goodwill, the franchisee won’t thoughtlessly destroy it. Franchising refers to a business operation in which a successful parent company .
| A．sells name-brand goods to a private investor |
| B．rents proven ideas and techniques for investment |
| C．sells the right, the guidance to a business under its name |
| D．takes no advertising responsibility for individual investors |
. The advantages of franchising to the parent company are all the following EXCEPT.
| A．an immediate investment return |
| B．the profit from the sale of supplies |
| C．the ownership of additional retail stores |
| D．the possibility of profitable advertising |
The passage mainly tells the reader .
| A．the advantages and disadvantages of franchising |
| B．the benefits of franchising to the franchisor |
| C．the unmatched economic growth in the 1960’s |
| D．some regional and national business operation |
. What will the author probably discuss after the last paragraph?
| A．More advantages of franchising. |
| B．Negative aspects related to franchising. |
| C．The standard of consumer acceptance. |
| D．Risks of investment besides franchising |
We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, others, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it.
Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed — no examination is perfect — but to have no tests or examination would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in examinations or in any controls in schools or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency the values and the purpose of each teacher.
Without examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them — a form of favouritism will replace equality at the moment. The bright child from an ill-respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for a job, while the lack of certificate indicates the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well-respected school. This defense of excellence and opportunity would disappear if examinations were taken away, and the bright child from a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school’s reputation, unable to compete for employment with the child from the favoured school.
The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer. The word “favouritism” in paragraph 3 is used to describe the phenomenon that .
| A．bright children also need certificates to get satisfying jobs. |
| B．poor children with certificates are favoured in job markets. |
| C．children from well-respected schools tend to have good jobs. |
| D．children attending ordinary schools achieve great success. |
. What would happen if examinations were taken away according to the author?
| A．Schools for bright children would lose their reputation. |
| B．There would be more opportunities and excellence. |
| C．Children from poor families would be able to change their schools. |
| D．Children’s job opportunity would be affected by their school reputation. |
. The opponents of the examination system will agree that .
| A．jobs should not be assigned by systematic selection |
| B．computers should be selected to take over many jobs. |
| C．special classes are necessary to keep the school standards |
| D．schools with academic subjects should be done away with |
. The passage mainly focuses on .
| A．schools and certificates | B．examination and equality |
| C．opportunity and employment | D．standards and reputation |