D
A German company was concerned about talks in Moscow trying to sell some 100 million dollars worth of equipment to a Russian State company. Talks went smoothly but differences remained. So Martin Bayer himself, the CEO of the German Company, decided to come to Moscow to head the talks. Besides caring about his business, the CEO wanted to go to Russia to hunt bears.
Martin Bayer was one of the greatest hunters of our time (and the Russians knew about it). He went to the Sahara more than hundred times and hunted lions, crocodiles; he hunted polar bears in the North Pole and tigers in the rain forests of India. But he had never hunted Russian bears.
So the Russians decided to organize a bear hunt for Mr. Bayer to sweeten the talks. This wasn't a simple task. Some people in the west still believe that bears may be found and seen everywhere in Russian cities just like squirrels may be seen in our back yards. This is not true. The closest place one may find bears in the wild is maybe 2,500 miles away from Moscow. However, a solution was quickly found. The Russian businessmen went to Moscow Circus(马戏团)and for $2,000 bought a very old bear. This bear used to amuse and amaze audiences in many countries for 30 years, but got and looked too old, and was retired.
“Be careful, the Russian bears are very dangerous, and frightening,” they told to Mr. Bayer. “If compared to the Russian bears, your African lions are nothing more than harmless cats.” The bear was brought to a forest 50 miles from Moscow and was left there. Mr. Bayer was told that bears were plentiful in that forest and that many cattle and even people had been eaten in the surrounding villages.
Meanwhile, an 18-year old female drove through the forest on a motorcycle and suddenly saw a bear (no bears had been seen in those places for 200 years). She was frightened, fell, left her helmet and her motorcycle and ran away.
Mr. Bayer was excited and ready to hunt. This could become the most successful part of his extraordinary hunting experience. The next moment Mr. Bayer saw a bear in a helmet driving on a motorcycle through the forest in front of him. The bear had a happy expression on his face, as he was doing something he had been doing in the circus for 30 years: circling on a motorcycle!
Mr. Bayer lives in a private mental institution near Hamburg happily ever after. The equipment was never sold to Russia. It was sold to Iraq instead.
68. Why did the Russians invite Mr. Bayer to hunt bears?
A. Russian bears are famous for their cruelty.
B. They managed to find a bear for hunting.
C. They expected the trade to be successful.
D. There was a bear in Moscow Circus.
69. Why did the Russians say “Be careful, the Russian bears are very dangerous, and frightening”?
A. To tell Mr. Bayer that many people had been killed by bears.
B. To make Mr. Bayer feel the hunting really challenging.
C. To warn Mr. Bayer to mind his safety while hunting.
D. To tell Mr. Bayer that the bear is really dangerous.
70. We can infer from the last paragraph that __________.
A. Mr. Bayer has gone mad
B. the bear injured him badly
C. he has worked in a mental institution since then
D. the trade has gone smoothly between Russian and Iraq
71. Which would be the best title of the passage?
A. Mr. Bayer, a Brave Hunter
B. Russian Bears, Dangerous Animals
C. Don’t Hunt in Russia
D. Don’t Deal with the Russians
In early 2007 I had bought tickets to a Christian concert for myself and two other family members, but later I decided to 36 my 4-year-old son along.
I couldn't find another ticket in the area we were sitting in, so I started 37 online for four tickets so we could all 38 . Imagine my surprise when the four 39 tickets I needed happened to be on the front row! Thinking it was a 40 , I tried again several times and each time the same tickets came up. I knew it had to be God, so after getting 41 the initial(最初的)shock I decided to 42 the front row tickets, which still left me 43 the three original tickets. Not knowing what to 44 with them, I asked around but did not have any 45 . Then my husband said two of his customers wanted to go to the same 46 but couldn't afford it.
We went to their house and they said they had a friend they wanted to take with them. 47 it turned out, this couple does a prison ministry and had been 48 this concert for quite a while, but even after offering to pay me I 49 and told them to continue working in the prisons teaching those men and women to become 50 people. This couple lost a 51 several years ago and listening to this music could 52 them in their healing process. The 53 of this particular concert was "Give It Away", and I thank God for the 54 to give this to them.
It turned out to be one of the best nights for all of us, and it was all 55 my 4-year-old boy wanted to hear the music as well.
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When next year’s crop of high-school graduates arrive at Oxford University in the fall, they will be joined by a new face: Andrew Hamilton, the 55-year-old provost (教务长) of Yale, who will become Oxford’s vice-chancellor –– a position equal to university president in America.
Hamilton isn’t the only educator crossing the Atlantic. Schools in France, Egypt, Singapore, etc. have also recently made top-level hires from abroad. Yet the talent flow isn’t universal. High-level personnel (人员) tend to head in only one direction: Outward from America.
The chief reason is that American schools don’t tend to seriously consider looking abroad. For example, when the board of the University of Colorado searched for a new president, it wanted a leader familiar with the state government, a major source of the university’s budget. “We didn’t do any global consideration,” says Patricia Hayes, the board’s chair. The board finally picked Bruce Benson, a 69-year-old Colorado businessman and political activist who is likely to do well in the main task of modern university presidents: fund-raising. Fund-raising is a particularly American thing, since U.S. schools rely heavily on donations. The fund-raising ability is largely a product of experience and necessity.
Many European universities, meanwhile, are still mostly dependent on government funding. But government support has failed to keep pace with rising student numbers. The decline in government support has made fund-raising an increasingly necessary ability among administrators (管理人员), and has made hiring committees hungry for Americans.
In the past few years, well-known schools around the world have joined the trend. In 2011, when Cambridge University appointed Alison Richard, another former Yale provost, as its vice-chancellor, the university publicly stressed that in her previous job she had overseen (监督) “ a major strengthening of Yale’s financial position” .
Of course, fund-raising isn’t the only skill outsiders offer. The globalization of education means more universities will be seeking heads with international experience of some kind to promote international programs and attract a global student body. Foreigners can offer a fresh perspective (视角) on established practices.What is the current trend in higher education discussed in the text?
A.Institutions worldwide are hiring administrators from the U.S. |
B.More international students are being admitted to American universities. |
C.University presidents are paying more attention to fund-raising. |
D.A lot of activists are being hired as administrators. |
What do we learn about European universities from the text?
A.The tuition they charge has been rising considerably. |
B.They are strengthening their position by globalization. |
C.Their operation is under strict government control. |
D.Most of their money comes from the government. |
In what way do top-level administrators from abroad contribute to university development?
A.They can improve the university’s image. |
B.They will bring with them more international personnel. |
C.They will view a lot of things from a new angle. |
D.They can set up new academic subjects. |
Which of the following would make the best title of the text?
A.High Education Globalization |
B.Global Headhunting in Higher Education |
C.Global Higher Education Cooperation |
D.Universal Higher Education Development |
Some students get so nervous before a test, and they do poorly even if they know the material. Sian Beilock has studied these highly anxious test-takers.
Sian Beilock: “They start worrying about the consequences. They might even start worrying about whether this exam is going to prevent them from getting into the college they want. And when we worry, it actually uses up attention and memory resources. I talk about it as your cognitive horsepower that you could otherwise be using to focus on the exam.”
Professor Beilock and another researcher, Gerardo Ramirez, have developed a possible solution. Just before an exam, highly anxious test-takers spend ten minutes writing about their worries about the test.
Sian Beilock: “what we think happens is when students put it down on paper , they think about the worst that could happen and they reassess the situation. They might realize it’s not as hard as they might think it was before and, in essence, it prevents these thoughts from popping up when they’re actually taking a test.”
The researchers tested the idea on a group of twenty anxious college students. They gave them two short math tests. After the first one, they asked the students to either sit quietly or write about their feelings about the upcoming second test.
The researchers added to the pressure. They told the students that those who did well on the second test would get money. They also told them that their performance would affect other students as part of a team effort.
Professor Beilock says those who sat quietly scored an average of twelve percent worse on the second test. But the students who had written about their fears improved their performance by an average of five percent.
Next, the researchers used younger students in a biology class. They told them before final exams either to write about their feelings or to think about things unrelated to the test.Prefessor Beilock says highly anxious students who did the writing got an average grade of B+, compared to a B- for those who did not.
Sian Beilock: “What we showed is that for students who are highly test-anxious, who’d done our writing intervention, all of a sudden there was no relationship between test anxiety and performance. Those students most likely to worry were performing just as well as their classmates who don’t normally get nervous in these testing situations.”
But what if students do not have a chance to write about their fears immediately before an exam or presentation? Professor Beilock says students can try it themselves at home or in the library and still improve their performance.What may happen if students have the problem of test anxiety?
A.Test anxiety can improve students’ performance to some degree. |
B.Students’ attention and memory resources run out when worried. |
C.Students may not be admitted into their favorite college if worried |
D.Test anxiety is sure to cause students to fail the test. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
A.The result in the math test agrees with that in the biology test. |
B.In the first math test, students who sat quietly performed better. |
C.In the second math test, students who wrote about their feelings did worse. |
D.Some college students are highly anxious test-takers while others are not.. |
What does the underlined phrase “popping up” mean?
A.Giving out | B.Fading away |
C.Becoming clear | D.Appearing suddenly |
What is the main idea of the passage?
A.It is a common practice for students to get worried before a test. |
B.Being worried before tests does harm to students’ performance. |
C.Anxious students overcome test anxiety by writing down fears. |
D.It is important for students to overcome test anxiety. |
Taiwanese fishing boats that sailed to the Diaoyu Islands to protest Japan's "purchase" of part of the islands completed their voyage Tuesday morning and have set sail for home.
Local media reported that the boats finished their protest at 9:15 a.m. and are expected to return to a port in northeast Taiwan's Yilan county at noon Wednesday.
Although the boats originally numbered 75,they were joined at sea by other boats from different parts of Taiwan, raising the total number to about 100 vessels. Organizers said the voyage was made to protect Taiwanese fishing rights in nearby waters and to protest Japan's "purchase" of part of the Diaoyu Islands.
The Japanese government announced a plan to "purchase" part of the islands earlier this month despite repeated protests from the Chinese government. The action aroused demonstrations across China as well as consumers' boycott of Japanese products in recent weeks. Local authorities in Taiwan have also protested the move.
"Japan's purchase and nationalization of China's Diaoyu Islands are putting China-Japan economic and trade ties at risk due to man-made factors." An official spokesman from Beijing warned .
China-Japan economic and trade relations was back on track in 1952 when the two countries signed their first non-governmental trade agreement. Currently, China has been Japan's largest trade partner since 2007 while Japan is China’s fourth largest trade partner, after the EU, U.S. and the ASEAN. Meanwhile, China is the biggest destination for Japanese exports and biggest source of imports. In the first half of 2012, Japan's exports to China totaled 73.54 billion U.S. dollars, down 6.2 percent from the same period last year, while its import from China was 91.29 billion U.S. dollars, up 7 percent from the same period last year.
Now, China-Japan economic and trade relations are at a crossroads. Negotiation could be the way out of the rift.Why are China-Japan economic and trade relations at a crossroads?
A.Because Taiwan fishing boats sailed to the island to protest Japan. |
B.Because Taiwanese are deprived of their fishing right. |
C.Because Japan is not China's largest trade partner. |
D.Because Japan announced to purchase China's Diaoyu Islands. |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
A.About 100 boats joined the original team later. |
B.Negotiation will bring both countries out of the conflict. |
C.Japan's “purchase”has cast a shadow on China-Japan export and import. |
D.Japan's exports to China totaled 78 billion U.S. dollars in 2011. |
What does the underlined word “rift” in the last paragraph mean?
A.gap | B.conflict | C.crash | D.quarrel |
What is the main idea of this passage?
A.Japan declared to purchase China's Diaoyu Islands. |
B.Japan's purchase of Diaoyu Islands aroused nationwide protest. |
C.The Diaoyu Islands belong to China! |
D.China plays an important part in Japan's economy development. |
Greg Woodburn, a student at the University of Southern California, spends a lot of time cleaning sneakers he collected.But soon the shoes will be sent to poor children in the United States and 20 other countries, thanks to Woodburn’s Share Our Soles (S.O.S.) charity.
A high school track star in the town of Ventura, California, Woodburn was treated in hospital for months with knee and hip injuries.
“I started thinking about the health benefits, the friendship and the confidence I got from running,” he says, “And I realized there are children who don’t even have shoes.”
Woodburn gathered up his old sneakers, then asked his friends to donate.His goal was to have 100 pairs by Christmas this year.When he collected more than 500 pairs, he decided to turn the shoe drive into a year-round endeavor.
Back then, the sneakers came from donation boxes at the YMCA and the local sporting goods store and from door-to-door pickups.Woodburn has now set up collection boxes at two high schools, city gym and recreation center.He has started accepting adult sizes and sandals.So far, S.O.S has collected and donated more than 3,000 pairs.
Woodburn has cleaned all the shoes.After sorting the shoes by size, Woodburn selects the good shoes for the washing machine and the worn-out ones for recycling.
To ship the footwear, Woodburn teamed with Sports Gift, a nonprofit organization that provides soccer and baseball equipment to children around the world.Keven Baxter, founder and president, says, “We’d send kids balls and shoes.I've heard that for many of these kids, these old sneakers are the only shoes they had.They wear them to school and to do sports.So Greg’s running shoes were a nice addition for us.”
For many recipients, the shoes represent opportunity.Two young boys in Southern California attended school on alternate days because they shared a pair of shoes.They were too big for one boy and too small for the other.Thanks to S.O.S., each brother received his own pair of shoes.The boys now attend school daily and enjoy their learning.When they graduate, they say, they will help a stranger, just as Woodburn helped them.What caused Greg Woodburn to donate old shoes for poor children?
A.The benefits from playing sports. |
B.News about some poor children. |
C.His reflection to school life. |
D.The medical treatment he received. |
When collecting more sneakers than expected, Woodburn decided to .
A.include adult sizes and sandals |
B.set up branches in different cities |
C.collect shoes throughout the year |
D.expand his endeavor in the whole city |
How did Woodburn manage to deliver the shoes collected?
A.By sending them by mail. |
B.By working with Sports Gift. |
C.By advertising for those in need. |
D.By offering them from door to door. |
What can we learn from Keven Baxter’s remarks?
A.Sports Gift is popular around the world. |
B.Many children need Greg’s old sneakers. |
C.Greg’s running shoes are the best gifts for children. |
D.International organization should provide more help. |