Beijing plans to build huge free or low-cost parking lots（停车场）beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways to the downtown area.
The plan is just one of the many measures the city plans to take to reduce its traffic jams. Low or no parking fees would be used as economic leverage（杠杆作用）to reduce growing parking demands from urban areas.
Car owners living in the suburbs（郊区）will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads and take buses or subways to the downtown area. Statistics show that nearly one quarter of the city’s traffic flow is concentrated in the 62-square-kilometre downtown area within the Second Ring Road, which makes up only 12 percent of the city’s total area.
The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau receives between 400 and 500 calls reporting traffic jams every day and more than 90 percent of the roads are filled to capacity during rush hour every morning and evening. Part of the problem is the lack of easy links between bus routes, subways and cars.
According to the communication commission, half of the city’s investment in transportation will go towards public transit（公共交通）construction in the next few years, making a jump from the current only 20 percent. Moreover, Beijing plans to change its layout（布局）by building new city centers, such as at Yizhuang, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Changping, in a bid to reduce the traffic flow to the downtown.
The current layout of Beijing-expanded ring roads around the same center of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams. The downtown area is crowded with three business centers and one financial centre, as well as nearly 400 government organs and institutions.
Traffic experts say building more urban centers around Beijing may reduce the number of residents living in the suburbs and traveling long distances to work downtown every day, thus reducing traffic flow.
1. In the coming years, if a man beyond the Fourth Ring Road goes to work in the downtown of Beijing, he is encouraged to ____.
A. take buses or subways B． take a taxi
C. drive the car quickly D． park his car in a place which asks for no fees
2. According to this passage, while more and more people drive to work in rush hour in Beijing, it is likely to ____.
A. save time B． cause traffic jams
C. cause traffic accidents D． reduce air pollution
3. The aim in building new city centers is to ____.
A. make it convenient for people to go shopping B． develop its local resources
C. reduce the traffic flow to the downtown D． solve the problem of more laid-off workers
4. The passage suggests the author ____.
A. is tired of driving to work
B. finds it costs less to take subways than to drive
C. is for the plan to reduce Beijing’s traffic congestion
D. has benefited a lot by driving to the downtown every day
A small town in southwest Britain is banning(禁止) plastic bags in an attempt to help the environment and cut waste—a step that environmentalists believe is a first for Europe.
Shopkeepers in Modbury population 1500,agreed to stop handing out disposable plastic bags to customers on Saturday.They said paper sacks and cloth carrier bags would be offered instead.
Last month,San Franciso became the first U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags.Internationally,laws to discourage the use of plastic bags have been passed in parts of South Africa and Ireland,where governments either tax shoppers who use them or fine companies that hand them out.Bangladesh already bans them,and so do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.
Modbury,about 225 miles southwest of London,has also declared a bag amnesty(宽限期),allowing local people to hand in plastic bags that have piled up at home.They will be sent for traveling.
The Modbury ban was the idea of Rebecca Hosking,who saw the effect of bags on marine life while working in the Pacific as a wildlife camerawoman.She said response(反应) in the town so far had been “really positive”.
“Modbury is quite an old-fashioned town and a lot of people have wicker baskets to go out shopping anyway,”Hosking told Sky News Television.
The Worldwatch Institute,an environmental research agency,states that 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away each year in the United States alone.More than 500 billion are used yearly around the world.What was Rebecca Hosking?
| A．A lawyer. | B．An environmentalist. |
| C．A sailor. | D．A photographer. |
The underlined word “disposable” in the passage probably means _______.
| A．acceptable | B．valuable |
| C．throw-away | D．long-lasting |
It can be inferred from the passage that _______.
| A．most of the people in Modbury continue to use plastic bags |
| B．fewer and fewer plastic bags will be used in the world |
| C．San Francisco is the first city to ban plastic bags in the world |
| D．most countries in the world have passed laws to ban plastic bags |
Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Environmental Protection |
| B．Big Cities Banning Plastic Bags |
| C．Effect of Plastic Bags on Sea Animals |
| D．British Town Banning Plastic Bags |
When I met him,I had a lot of anger inside of me.I’ve lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem,but in my neighborhood,there are shoot-ups all the time.I know kids who have been shot or beaten up.I have friends who ended up in prison.I could have ended up that way,too,but Mr.Clark wouldn’t let that happen.
Mr.Clark worked long hours,making sure I did my work.My grades rose.In fact,the scores of our whole class rose.One day,he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera,and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem.Before the show,he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full.We did not want to let him down.
Mr.Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year.He said he would draw three names out of a hat;those students would go with him to Los Angeles to get the award.But when the time came to draw names,Mr.Clark said,“You’re all going.”
On graduation day,there were a lot of tears.We didn’t want his class to end.In 2001,he moved to Atlanta,but he always kept in touch.He started giving lectures about education,and wrote a bestselling book based on his classroom rules,The Essential 55.In 2003,Mr.Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages(孤儿院).It was the most amazing experience of my life.It’s now my dream to one day start a group of women’s clubs,helping people from all backgrounds.Without Mr.Clark,the writer _______.
| A．might have been put into prison |
| B．might not have won the prize |
| C．might have joined a women’s club |
| D．might not have moved to Atlanta |
The Essential 55 is _______.
| A．a show | B．a speech |
| C．a classroom rule | D．a book |
How many students’ names were finally drawn out of a hat by Mr.Clark?
| A．None. | B．Three. | C．Fifty-five. | D．All. |
In the passage,the writer intends to tell us that _______.
| A．Mr.Clark went to South Africa because he liked traveling |
| B．Mr.Clark helped to set up a group of women’s clubs |
| C．a good teacher can help raise his or her students’ scores |
| D．a good teacher has a good influence on his or her students |
Meeting people from another culture can be difficult.From the beginning,people may send the wrong signal(信号).Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize(强调)the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree.For example,business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust.Even with people at work,it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk",usually over a glass of tea,before they do any job.In many European countries-like the UK or France-people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafés rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures.I once made a speech in Thailand.I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion;instead there was an uncomfortable silence.The people present just stared at me and smiled.After getting to know their ways better,I realized that they thought I was talking too much.In my own culture,we express meaning mainly through words,but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe,cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values;however,Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly.We think that they are rude.In fact,this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values,and sometimes these values are quite against each other.However,if we can understand them better,a multicultural environment(多元文化环境)will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.
| 1． |
In some countries,eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to.
|
| 2． |
The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that.
|
| 3． |
According to the text,how can people from different cultures understand each other better?
|
| 4． |
What would be the best title for the text?
|
The summer I was ten,my mother decided to bring us to the world of art.My brother and I were not very excited when we realized what my mother meant.What she meant was not that we could take drawing classes or painting classes but that we would have to spend one afternoon a week with her at the Fine Arts Museum.Before each visit to the museum,she made us read about artists and painting styles(风格).It was almost as bad as being in school.Who wants to spend the summer thinking about artists when you could be with your friends at the swimming pool?
First we had to read about ancient Egyptians(古埃及人)and their strange way of painting faces and then go to look at them at the museum.My 12-year-old brother thought this was so funny,but I was not interested.Later we had to learn about artists in the Middle Ages who painted people wearing strange long clothing.We had to look at pictures of fat babies with wings and curly(卷曲的)hair and with no clothes on flying around the edges of paintings.I certainly couldn’t see what was so great about art.
On our last visit to the museum,something happened when I saw a painting by a woman called Mary.In it,a woman was reading to a child.The colors were soft and gentle,and you could tell by the mother’s expression how happy she was just to be with the child.I couldn’t stop looking at this painting!I wanted to see every painting Mary had ever made!It was really worth looking at so many paintings to find a painter who could interest me so much.The aim of the mother’s plan was to ________.
| A．take them to visit the museum |
| B．introduce them to the world of art |
| C．ask them to read about artists |
| D．show them different painting styles |
What was the writer’s experience in the museum before the last visit?
| A．She came to feel her mother’s love. |
| B．She liked many paintings. |
| C．She hardly enjoyed herself. |
| D．She could understand the pictures of fat babies. |
What made the writer go through a change that summer?
| A．One of Mary’s paintings. |
| B．A strange way of painting. |
| C．Artists in the Middle Ages. |
| D．Her mother’s instruction. |
From the text,we can see________.
| A．the importance of curiosity |
| B．the effect of art |
| C．the value of learning |
| D．the power of family education |
As societies develop,their members start to see things not so much according to what they need,but according to what they want.When people have enough money,these wants become demands.
Now,it's important for the managers in a company to understand what their customers want if they are going to develop effective marketing strategies(策略).There are various ways of doing this.One way at supermarkets(超市),for example,is to interview(采访)customers while they're doing their shopping.They can be asked what they prefer to buy and then the results of the research can be studied.This provides information on which to base future marketing strategies.It's also quite normal for top managers from department stores to spend a day or two each month visiting stores and mixing freely with the public,as if they were ordinary customers,to get an idea of how customers act.
Another way to get information from customers is to give them something.For example,some fast food restaurants give away tickets in magazines or on the street that permit customers to get part of their meal for nothing.As well as being a good way of attracting customers into the restaurants to spend their money,it also allows the managers to get a feel for where to attract customers and which age-groups to attract.
Another strategy used at some well-known parks such as Disneyland is for top managers to spend at least one day in their work,touring the park dressed as Mickey Mouse or something like that.This provides them with a perfect chance to examine the scene and watch the customers without being noticed.
| 1． |
The text is designed for.
|
| 2． |
Which of the following can help managers get useful information?
|
| 3． |
What does the word"this"underlined in the last sentence refer to?
|
| 4． |
The main idea of the text is.
|