The H1NI flu outbreak has resulted in the first death outside Mexico today -- a 23-month-old child in Texas.
Three more cases were confirmed in the UK, adding to the two previously disclosed in Scotland.
A 12-year-old girl is among five people in the UK to have contracted HIN1 flu after visiting Mexico, Gordon Brown told the Commons during prime minister's questions.
Two adults -- one from Birmingham and one from London -- are undergoing treatment.
More than 150 people are suspected to have died of the virus in Mexico and the illness has spread around the globe, but news of the first death outside the country where it originated will increase fears that a pandemic (流行病) could develop.
The infant's death from H1NI flu in the US was confirmed by Dr Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He gave no other details about the child.
America has confirmed 65 cases of HIN1 flu, most of them mild, but Besser said more deaths were likely.
"HIN1 Flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique so it' s hard to know what we' re going to be seeing, but given what we've seen in Mexico we have expected that we would see more severe infections and we would see deaths," he said.
It was unclear if the girl had contracted the illness in Mexico, or been infected in the US.
Confirmation that infected people in two countries are spreading the new disease to their families or contacts n a sustained way would meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) criteria (标准) for declaring a phase five alert on its scale of one to six. It raised the level from three to four on Monday as the virus moved to Europe.
The WHO spokesman Gregory Hard told reporters yesterday, "If we have a confirmation from the United States or Canada, we could move to phase five."
64. How many cases of HINI flu are there in the UK?
A. One. B. Two. C Three D. Five.
65. According to Dr Richard Besser, why is it hard to predict what things will be like?
A. Because more than 150 people have died of the virus in Mexico.
B. Because H1 N1 flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique.
C. Because the infections are severe and there will be more deaths.
D. Because the WHO has raised the alert level from three to four.
66. What's the main idea of the news?
A. More cases of H1NI flu were confirmed in the UK.
B. It's hard to deal with the HINI flu.
C. H1NI flu caused death outside Mexico.
D. "The WHO will raise the alert level.
As in the field of space travel, new technologies continue to appear in undersea exploration. They share a number of similarities with each other — as well as some important differences.
Manned submersibles (潜水器), like spaceships, must maintain living conditions in an unnatural environment. While a spaceship must simply be sealed against the vacuum space, a submersible must be able to bear extreme pressure if it is not to break up in deep water.
In exploring space, unmanned vehicles were employed before astronauts. In undersea exploration, on the other hand, men paved the way, and only recently have unmanned remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) been put to use.
One reason for this is that communicating with vehicles in orbit is much easier than talking to those underwater. A vacuum is an ideal medium for radio communications, but underwater communications are limited to much slower sound waves. Thus, most undersea vehicles — particularly ROVs — operate at the end of long ropes.(电缆终端)
For a similar reason, knowing where you are undersea is much more difficult than in space. A spaceship’s position can be located by following its radio signal, or by using telescopes and radar. For an undersea vehicle, however, a special network of sonar （声纳系统）devices must be laid out in advance on the ocean floor in the area of a dive to locate the vehicle’s position.
Though undersea exploration is more challenging than outer space in a number of respects, it has a distinct advantage: going to the ocean depths doesn’t require the power necessary to escape Earth’s gravity. Thus, it remains far less expensive. The purpose of the passage is ______.
| A．to persuade you to explore the depths of the ocean |
| B．to stress the importance of the undersea exploration |
| C．to make you believe that the undersea exploration is better |
| D．to tell some differences between two kinds of explorations |
By saying “men paved the way” in Paragraph 2 the author means that in undersea exploration ______.
| A．unmanned vehicles were used in the beginning |
| B．men covered the ocean floor with stones and bricks |
| C．manned vehicles were employed before unmanned ones |
| D．men invented unmanned remote-operated vehicles in the past |
The sonar devices must be placed ______.
| A．from time to time |
| B．after the undersea vehicles dive |
| C．before the undersea vehicles dive |
| D．when the undersea vehicles are diving |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Submersibles usually break up in deep water. |
| B．Undersea vehicles can receive signals immediately. |
| C．Going to space needs power to escape the gravity. |
| D．Radio communications are quite difficult in a vacuum. |
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The entire Pimsleur Approach is what language learning should be: quick, fun, and easy! Each lesson is the foundation for the next. You’ll keep building on what you’ve learned.What can prove Pimsleur courses to be successful ?
| A．Full 30-day money-back guarantee |
| B．Eight fluency-focused lessons on four audio CDs |
| C．25 million people have graduated with success . |
| D．30-minute lessons are perfect for your daily commuting, lunch break, or workout. |
According to the text, what does the course offer?
| A．Effective language instruction. |
| B．Language rules for you to recite. |
| C．Learning a new language by repeating many times |
| D．Opportunities to work with business professionals. |
According to the text, which of the following is NOT a reason for choosing the Pimsleur Approach?
| A．It will correct your accent. |
| B．It will build your confidence. |
| C．It will help you remember things easily. |
| D．It will teach you how to control your balance . |
It can be inferred that the text is a(n) __________.
| A．report on a new language learning method |
| B．ad of a language training organization |
| C．notice of the opening of a new course |
| D．comment on a language training organization |
Many people take it for granted that black is a color of bad things while white should always mean something good. This may be because, in their opinion, black is related to darkness and white to purity. However, that is not always the case. Did you know that the same one color may mean something differently in different places of the world?
In the English-speaking world, black is the color of mourning—people wear black at the funeral. Red is concerned with danger or bloodshed（伤亡）. Yellow is the word for fear. If you are afraid, you are yellow. Yet none of these sayings is true outside the English-speaking world. In China and Korea white is the color of mourning. In Russia, China and some other countries, red stands for beauty, life and excellence. In Italy and Germany, you are yellow with anger, not with fear.
Even within the English-speaking area, it is not difficult to find color contradictions（矛盾）.A redcap in the United States is a porter in a railway station. In Britain, however, a redcap is a military policeman. Both names are logical, because both men wear red caps. Similarly, the British term for an American white-collar worker is sometimes called a black-coated worker.
One does not have to cross an area to find color differences. Would you rather be red-blooded or a blue-blooded? If we go back to the origin, we find that both terms are logical as both names suggest. The expression “blueblood” comes from Spain, where some noble families proudly told the world that they had “blue blood”. Actually they meant that they had no Moorish or Jewish blood. But then why “blue” blood? Because they were fair-skinned, and it is only natural that their blood vessels (血管)stood out appearing blue. Yellow is concerned with anger in ________________.
| A．India | B．Britain |
| C．China | D．Italy |
Both Britain and America would probably agree that ________________.
| A．a redcap is a porter in a station |
| B．black is the color of mourning |
| C．red stands for beauty and excellence |
| D．a black-coated worker is employed in an office |
In Britain , a redcap is a
| A．porter | B．nobleman | C．clerk | D．military policeman |
The best title for this reading selection is ________________.
| A．The Origin of Blue Blood |
| B．Colors that Carry Bad Meanings |
| C．The Meaning Concerned with Certain Colors |
| D．The Development of the Symbolic Use of Colors |
If you intend using humor in your talk to make people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different.
If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses.
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses' convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by himself. "Who is that?" the new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that's God." came the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he's a doctor."
If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman's notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff(即兴的)remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don't succeed, give up" or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor.To make your humor work, you should ________.
| A．take advantage of different kinds of audience |
| B．make fun of the disorganized people. |
| C．address different problems to different people. |
| D．show sympathy for your listeners. |
The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are ________.
| A．impolite to new arrivals. |
| B．very conscious of their godlike role. |
| C．entitled to some privileges. |
| D．very busy even during lunch hours. |
It can be inferred from the text that public services ________.
| A．have benefited many people. |
| B．are the focus of public attention. |
| C．are an inappropriate subject for humor. |
| D．have often been the laughing stock. |
To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered ________.
| A．in well-worded language. | B．as awkwardly as possible. |
| C．in exaggerated statement. | D．as casually as possible. |
The best title for the text may be ________.
| A．Use Humor Effectively. | B．Various Kinds of Humor. |
| C．Add Humor to Speech. | D．Different Humor Strategies. |
When Charles Strattion was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P.T.Barnum, and thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles’ parents along with him, and they traveled around the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a new name, general Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act, and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall.
Tom’s act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty-five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a school teacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about two thousand guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding carriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon, just before going to live in Tom’s house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored “Tom Thumb” weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.“the talk of the town” means _________ .
| A．they were in the newspaper |
| B．people spread mean rumors about them |
| C．they were the most popular things happening |
| D．they were discussed in a city meeting |
What does the author think about Tom Thumb’s wedding?
| A．People gave it too much of their attention. |
| B．It helped people cheer up in a dark time. |
| C．It was funny and ridiculous. |
| D．Tom and Lavinia were stupid. |
Which of the following is the best clue to the fact that Tom was smart?
| A．He became a billionaire at twenty-five. |
| B．He learned how to sing, dance, and act at a very young age. |
| C．He met with President Lincoln during his honeymoon. |
| D．He married a school teacher. |
It was very funny when Tom danced on a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall because ________ .
| A．the wooden plate would make it sound as if Tom were tap dancing |
| B．it made Tom feel taller |
| C．the eight-foot-tall man was the only tall person Tom trusted |
| D．the difference between them would make Tom look even smaller |
What does the author imply in the last paragraph?
| A．Weddings always make people feel full of sunshine. |
| B．People are always disappointed during wartime. |
| C．Entertainment can serve an important purpose. |
| D．People should be married even if they are small. |