.
If US software(软件) companies don’t pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye. Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry. Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top US quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.
Already, of the world’s 12 software houses that have earned the highest position in the world, seven are in India. That’s largely because they have used new methods American software specialists refused to use. For example, for years, quality specialists, W. Edwards Deming and J.M. Juran had tried to persuade US software companies to change their attitudes to quality. But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the US--but not in Japan. By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was taking its market share with better, cheaper products. They used Deming’s and Juran’s ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs. In US factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%. In software, it still is.
Watts S. Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance(保证). But his advice was seldom paid attention to. He retired from IBM in 1986. In 1987, he worked out a system for assessing(评估) and improving software quality. It has proved its value time and again. For example, in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60 % of total software production costs. It fell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10 %.
Like Deming and Juran, Humphrey seems to be winning more praises overseas than at home. The Indian government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai, India. Let’s hope that US lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.
64. Which country has the most first-class software companies in the world?
A. Germany. B. The USA. C. Brazil. D. India.
65. Which of the following statements about Humphrey is true?
A. He is now still an IBM employer.
B. He has worked for IBM for 37 years.
C. The US pays much attention to his quality advice.
D. India honors him highly.
66. By what means did Japan take its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?
A. Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.
B. Its advertising was most successful.
C. The US hardware industry was falling behind.
D. Japan hired a lot of Indian software specialists.
67. What is the writer worrying about?
A. Many US software specialists are working for Japan.
B. The quality problem has become a worldwide problem.
C. The US will lose its lead in software in the world.
D. India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US.
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-cure-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 |
It was blazing hot, just like most July days. I stepped into a tiny ice-cream shop to cool off with a
chocolate ice-cream. It was an old woman bent over a table near the door. Her back was so badly twisted that her face nearly touched the tabletop. I sat down facing her a couple of tables away.
“Poor woman,” I thought, “What does she get out of life? Why God let people live so long past their prime?”
As I thought, another aged lady entered the shop and sat down with her. Soon the two of them were talking about childhood days. They talked of how little the shop had changed in 70 years... In minutes, the two of them were trembling with laughter.
I looked again at the first woman, then in the mirror on a nearby wall, catching a picture of myself. I was wearing a dirty shirt. She was well dressed in white, her hands sparking with gold rings. I was sad. She was laughing, smiling. I was putting the pieces of my life together. She had millions of wonderful memories to recall. I sat alone. She was sharing the day with a good friend. I was secretly worried about getting old. She was old, but it wasn’t hurting her.
As I left the shop, I thought of my foolish question about God letting people live past their prime. Why, that woman was more alive, more sensitive to life than I was. Age has not bent her spirit.From the passage we know that the ice-shop _________.
| A．changed a lot in the past | B．had only a couple of tables |
| C．started its business 70 years ago. | D．had only women shoppers. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “prime” in this passage?
| A．miserable life |
| B．wonderful experience |
| C．long career |
| D．time of great strength, beauty, vigor(活力) |
The writer implies all of the following except that _________.
| A．the old lady had lived a full and satisfying life |
| B．the writer had more problems than the old lady |
| C．the old lady was very lonely and sad |
| D．the old lady had learned to enjoy the simple things in life |
Which of the following is the conclusion the writer made about the old lady?
| A．She was more alive and sensitive to life than the writer. |
| B．She considered the young man pitiable. |
| C．She was to be pitied for her old age. |
| D．People should not be allowed to live when they are too old. |
Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
| A．To tell us the life of old people |
| B．To show that old age does not mean being short of spirit. |
| C．To show the difference between the old and the young. |
| D．To make the reader have a pity on the old people. |
On Christmas morning, Linda wakes up, and tries to imagine the wide-eyed surprise of children in another household as they unwrap the presents she carefully chose for them. Linda has never met the children, but that’s all part of the joy of giving as secret Santas, she says.
"It's an amazing feeling to buy gifts on an anonymous (匿名的) basis," says Linda.
"It brings a whole new meaning to the holidays."
Linda and Tony are an American couple living in Toronto, Canada, and Linda did charitable work as a member of the American Women's Club of Toronto. As the name suggests, members are U.S. citizens living in Toronto, who join together for fellowship and community service.
To find her "adopted" family, Linda goes to the local schools and requests a wish list for a family that's struggling to survive. Last year she helped a single mother with three children. The mother works as a cleaning lady in a nursing home.
"The list is always heartbreaking. They have an opportunity to ask for anything and do just the opposite, asking for basic clothes or simple toys," she says. "We always buy the kids a new winter coat, hats, and gloves." She also buys gifts for the parents.
Last year Linda asked the mother for a second wish list--one that didn't include the basics. "Every child should have a Christmas that sticks with them for a lifetime." She purchased iPods for the two older children and a video game system for the youngest."I have learned a very valuable lesson in all of this," says Linda. "Pay attention to what's going on in your own backyard--no matter where you live."
The joy of giving as secret Santas is much sweeter when the gift is anonymous.What reaction does Linda imagine the children will have?
(No more than 5 words) (2 marks)Why did Linda join the American Women's Club of Toronto?
(No more than 10 words) (2 marks)Why did Linda ask for a second wish list?
(No more than 15 words) (3 marks)What kind of people does "secret Santas" in the passage refer to?
(No more than 12 words)(3 marks)
People from East Asia tend to have more difficulty than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions--and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why.
Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly(均匀的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.
"We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions," Jack said. "Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect (忽略) the mouth."
According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.
The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of. expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.
It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than did Westerners. "The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions," Jack said. "Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less."
In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation. The discovery shows that Westerners __
| A．pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth |
| B．consider facial expressions universally reliable |
| C．observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways |
| D．have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions |
What were the people asked to do in the study?
| A．To make a face at each other. | B．To get their faces impressive. |
| C．To classify some face pictures. | D．To observe the researchers' faces. |
What does the underlined word "they" in Paragraph 6 refer to?
| A．The participants in the study. | B．The researchers of the study. |
| C．The errors made during the study. | D．The data collected from the study. |
In comparison with Westerners, Easterners are likely to __
| A．do translation more successfully | B．study the mouth more frequently |
| C．examine the eyes more attentively | D．read facial expressions more correctly |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Eye as the Window to the Soul |
| B．Cultural Differences in Reading Emotions |
| C．Effective Methods to Develop Social Skills |
| D．How to Increase Cross-cultural Understanding |
When Mary Moore began her high school in 1951, her mother told her, "Be sure and take a typing course so when this show business thing doesn't work out, you'll have something to rely on." Mary responded in typical teenage fashion. From that moment on, "the very last thing I ever thought about doing was taking a typing course," she recalls.
The show business thing worked out, of course. In her career, Mary won many awards. Only recently, when she began to write Growing Up Again, did she regret ignoring her mom," I don't know how to use a computer," she admits.
Unlike her 1995 autobiography, After All, her second book is less about life as an award-winning actress and more about living with diabetes (糖尿病). All the money from the book is intended for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization she serves as international chairman. "I felt there was a need for a book like this," she says. "I didn't want to lecture, but I wanted other diabetics to know that things get better when we're self-controlled and do our part in managing the disease."
But she hasn't always practiced what she teaches. In her book, she describes that awful day, almost 40 years ago, when she received two pieces of life-changing news. First, she had lost the baby she was carrying, and second, tests showed that she had diabetes. In a childlike act, she left the hospital and treated herself to a box of doughnuts (甜甜圈). Years would pass before she realized she had to grow up--again---and take control of her diabetes, not let it control her. Only then did she kick her three-pack-a-day cigarette habit, overcome her addiction to alcohol, and begin to follow a balanced diet.
Although her disease has affected her eyesight and forced her to the sidelines of the dance floor, she refuses to fall into self-pity. "Everybody on earth can ask, 'why me?' about something or other," she insists. "It doesn't do any good. No one is immune (免疫的) to heartache, pain, and disappointments. Sometimes we can make things better by helping others. I've come to realize the importance of that as I've grown up this second time. I want to speak out and be as helpful as I can be."Why did Mary feel regretful?
| A．She didn't achieve her ambition. | B．She didn't take care of her mother. |
| C．She didn't complete her high school. | D．She didn't follow her mother's advice. |
We can know that before 1995 Mary 。
| A．had two books published | B．received many career awards |
| C．knew how to use a computer | D．supported the JDRF by writing |
Mary's second book Growing Up Again is mainly about her ________.
| A．living with diabetes | B．successful show business |
| C．service for an organization | D．remembrance of her mother |
When Mary received the life-changing news, she __.
| A．lost control of herself | B．began a balanced diet |
| C．tired to get a treatment | D．behaved in an adult way |
What can we know from the last paragraph?
| A．Mary feels pity for herself. |
| B．Mary has recovered from her disease. |
| C．Mary wants to help others as much as possible. |
| D．Mary determines to go back to the dance floor. |