The unimaginable earthquake in Haiti has shocked the world. Thanks to modern communication technology, the world has seen the scale of destruction by the 7.0- magnitude quake. Images on TV and the Internet show the Haiti capital has been reduced to rubble and helpless survivors waiting for relief.
So far, at least 50,000 people are feared dead, and tens of thousands left injured or homeless in one of the poorest countries in the West. The number of dead is rising with each passing hour for a few days. Considering Haiti’s total population is only about 8.5 million, the extent of damage will reach every field of the country’s social structures.
Rescuers from countries such as China, the United States, France and Dominican Republic have already reached Haiti, carrying necessary things like food and medicines, life-detecting devices and other rescue equipment. Politicians，workers and Hollywood actors have opened their wallets and called for donations to help disaster relief. The whole world is ready to help them. The world is a village today where no one can remain indifferent when a neighbor falls in disaster.
The suffering of people anywhere in the world strikes the hearts of Chinese people. The death of eight Chinese peacekeepers in Haiti has little to do with it. Chinese people feel a special sympathy for Haitians because just less than 20 months ago they were struggling to rise from the earthquake.
Though Beijing and Port-au-Prince have no diplomatic relations, China was among the first nations to send a rescue team and to announce a donation. In the face of natural disasters, respect for human lives overtakes diplomacy and national boundaries. We share the pain of the Haitian people, and we believe China’s experience in rescue and operations and reconstructions will help reduce that pain.
The most pressing task after a quake is the golden-hour rescue operation. Many Haitians are buried under rubble, and relentless efforts must be made to save as many of them as possible. Yet there remains a question on how effectively the flows of aid from around the world be managed. It is here that the UN can play the leading role, for it should be responsible for common humanitarian efforts from across the globe to reach the benefits to the maximum number of people.
After the 2004 tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in Asia, some experts said the UN needed to build a well-equipped and trained force disaster rescue specialists and keep it on standby to help people after natural disasters such as the Haiti quake. It is time the UN gave the idea a serious thought, for a life-saving force could play as important as its peacekeeping soldiers.
60.According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A.The number of Haiti’s total population is about 8.5 billion
B.Rescuers from many countries have reached Haiti, carrying necessary things like food, water and medicines.
C.Chinese people feel a special sympathy for Haitians because we have the same experiences.
D.The flows of aid from the world has been managed well.
61.The word “indifferent” underlined in the third paragraph most probably means ______.
A.cruel B.friendly C.cold D.warm
62. We can infer that people around the world actively help the Haitians because ______.
A.people among countries have close relations
B.earthquake is a natural disaster, people respect human lives, and show common feelings to people in trouble
C.people should be responsible
D.people have ever been rescued by Haitians
63.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.The UN plays an important role
B.We are with you, Haiti
C.People share the pain with the Haitian people
D.Modern communication technology is used widely
It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor. On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues（同事）turned to me and said, “Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life.” At my request, he answered, “Because the students you have got to know have to leave.”
As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague’s words no longer existed. When I came across naughty students, I had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher. It obviously isn’t the money. Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change. He was working at Nintendo Corporation. His salary was higher than my present one, though I have more education and have worked for over 10 years. With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired, I thanked him, but refused his kind offer.
A few days before this graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student had slipped in with her homework. She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class – not about math, but about life – would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away. As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher.
Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with a deeper sense of satisfaction – I will always be grateful that I am a teacher.Hearing his colleague’s description of graduation for the first time, the author ______.
| A．quite agreed with his colleague | B．was very puzzled |
| C．thought it very funny | D．was very sad |
The computer science student called the author because he ______.
| A．wanted to inform the author of his present job |
| B．wanted the author to share his joy and satisfaction |
| C．tried to persuade the author to work with him |
| D．thought the author wasn’t fit to be a teacher |
The underlined phrase blue hats and gowns refers to ______.
| A．the new graduates | B．the university colleagues |
| C．life memories | D．decorations in the hall |
We can learn from the text that the author ______.
| A．was only a young professor |
| B．didn’t do well in his work |
| C．taught his students more about life than math |
| D．was content with the job as a teacher |
I don’t want to talk about being a woman scientist again. There was a time in my life when people asked constantly for stories about what it’s like to work in a field dominated (controlled) by men. I was never very good at telling those stories because truthfully I never found them interesting. What I do find interesting is the origin of the universe, the shape of space, time and the nature of black holes.
At 19, when I began studying astrophysics(天体物理学), it did not bother me in the least to be the only woman in the classroom. But while earning my Ph.D. at MIT and then as a post-doctor doing space research, the issue started to bother me. My every achievement—jobs, research papers, awards—was viewed through the lens (镜片) of gender (性别) politics. So were my failures. Sometimes, when I was pushed into an argument on left brain versus (相对于) right brain, or nature versus nurture (培育), I would instantly fight fiercely on my behalf and all womankind.
Then one day a few years ago, out of my mouth came a sentence that would eventually become my reply to any and all provocations (挑衅) : I don’t talk about that anymore. It took me 10 years to get back the confidence I had at 19 and to realize that I didn’t want to deal with gender issues. Why should curing sexism be yet another terrible burden on every female scientist? After all, I don’t study sociology or political theory.
Today I research and teach at Barnard, a women’s college in New York City. Recently, someone asked me how many of the 45 students in my class were women. You cannot imagine my satisfaction at being able to answer, 45. I know some of my students worry how they will manage their scientific research and a desire for children. And I don’t dismiss those concerns. Still, I don’t tell them “war” stories. Instead, I have given them this: the visual of their physics professor heavily pregnant doing physics experiments. And in turn they have given me the image of 45 women driven by a love of science. And that’s a sight worth talking about.Why doesn’t the author want to talk about being a woman scientist again?
| A．She is fed up with the issue of gender discrimination (歧视). |
| B．She feels unhappy working in male-dominated fields. |
| C．She is not good at telling stories of the kind. |
| D．She finds space research more important. |
From Paragraph 2, we can infer that people would attribute (把…归因于) the author’s failures to ________.
| A．the burden she bears in a male-dominated society |
| B．her involvement in gender politics |
| C．her over-confidence as a female astrophysicist |
| D．the very fact that she is a woman |
What did the author constantly fight against while doing her Ph.D. and post-doctoral research?
A. Lack of confidence in succeeding in space science.
B. Unfair accusations from both inside and outside her circle.
C. People’s fixed attitude toward female scientists.
D. Widespread misconceptions about nature and nurtured. What does the image the author presents to her students suggest?
| A．Women students needn’t have the concerns of her generation. |
| B．Women can balance a career in science and having a family. |
| C．Women have more barriers on their way to academic success. |
| D．Women now have fewer problems pursuing a science career. |
My daughter recently asked me what a Travel Agency does. There is one located on our street and it has just been completely rebuilt. I told her that they helped people book their trips and vacations. “Why haven’t we ever been in there?” she wanted to know. “Because we do everything ourselves online these days” I explained. “But why do it yourself if other people want to do it for you?” she wondered out loud.
The answer is that the travel agency makes a little bit of money on each ticket you book through them. If you book your ticket yourself, online, you save that money. Saving money sounds great except that when you think about it you typically spend three evenings comparing prices to end up saving $30 on a $300 trip. All those $30 discounts add up of course so I guess we should be happy with that.
Still, how bad is it really to pay someone $30 and trust them to buy you something decent? Wouldn’t you say your free evenings are worth more than $10 a piece?
Consider books for a moment. Buying your book at Amazon saves you maybe 30% to 40% on each book. Add to that the convenience of shopping from home and getting the package delivered to your home address. So far so good.
Unfortunately that does mean you spend way too much time browsing Amazon. com while you could do something fun instead. Like maybe reading an actual book?
Then the package arrives and you aren’t home and end up having to pick it up at the local post- office. All in all I wonder how much time I end up investing in the whole process.
Time sounds free, but to most of us, it is more valuable than money.
The Internet Economy promised to get rid of the middle-men and we loved it. Somehow, I’m starting to get the feeling that we ourselves ended up doing thework of that middle-men we were so eager to get rid of.
In any project you can always pick two of these: fast, cheap or good. We seem to have focused a lot on ‘cheap’ and ‘good’ but the extra time we need to invest to keep it ‘fast’ comes out of our own pockets.
You can always make more money but you can never make more time.What is the purpose of the first paragraph?
| A．It mainly shows the curiosity of the author’s daughter. |
| B．It indicates that the Internet has influenced our daily life. |
| C．It tells us the importance of a travel agency. |
| D．It shows why people need a travel agency. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the Internet Economy?
| A．The author thinks online shopping saves time and is a convenient way to buy products. |
| B．The author worries about sending personal information over the internet. |
| C．The author doesn’t think online shopping is satisfactory in every way. |
| D．The author likes the convenience but is concerned about the e-commerce environment. |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．The convenience of the Internet Economy. |
| B．How to save money in the Internet Economy. |
| C．The hidden cost of the Internet Economy. |
| D．How to save time in the Internet Economy. |
Celebrated in the city of Munich, Germany, the Oktoberfest, as it is popularly called, is a 3-week festival that takes place in the months of September and October. Also called the largest beer festival in the world, the Oktoberfest gathers about 6 million visitors worldwide every year. Seeing the popularity of the festival, many countries around the world have adapted to what they call their own version of the Oktoberfest. So if you are not able to make it to Germany, you can always enjoy the festival in the areas mentioned below. Don’t miss out on it!
Brazil: welcome to the German town of Blumenau in Brazil. Well, we are not talking about Germans living in the town, but the place was originally founded by immigrants from Germany in the year 1850. The town is built in a traditional German style and there are a fair number of people who still live the way it used to be in good old days. The Oktoberfest is celebrated in a small village called Parque Vila Germanica between the dates of October 1st to October 18th. Guests can enjoy the festival in addition to exploring the town and its sites which include a beer museum.
Vietnam: celebrated in Ho Chi Minh City since 1992, the Oktoberfest event over here is conducted between the 6th and the 11th of October and the decorations are like the original festival in Munich, with large wooden tables lined with beer.
The Philippines: unlike the original Oktoberfest which is celebrated in a certain area, the Oktoberfest in the Philippines is a recent addition to the already existing festival which takes place between the 4th of September and the 9th of October. Now the event is set to be celebrated in a total of 30 parties in various cities around the country.
Canada: over 700,000 guests (second highest after Munich) in and around Canada take part in the Oktoberfest celebrated in Ontario between the 9th and the 17th of October.In which place does the Oktoberfest take place from September to October?
| A．In Blumenau. | B．In Ontario. | C．In Ho Chi Minh City. | D．In Munich. |
From the first paragraph we can know that _______.
| A．the Oktoberfest in Germany is the biggest beer festival in the world. |
| B．every year about 600,000 people celebrated the Oktoberfest in Germany |
| C．the Oktoberfest lasts longer in Germany than in any other country |
| D．in Germany the name “beer festival” is better known than the Oktoberfest |
About the Germany town of Blumenau, we know that ______.
| A．only Germans live in the town |
| B．the town was first founded by Germans |
| C．people in the town all live in the old German way |
| D．the town has many beer festivals |
The author’s purpose in writing this passage is ______.
| A．to call on more people to travel abroad |
| B．to attract more tourists to the Oktoberfest in Munich |
| C．to introduce Oktoberfest celebrations in the world |
| D．to describe the development of the Oktoberfest |
A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher stressed the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.
One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be astonished. Gently shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, he said, “You don’t say!”“You don’t say!” I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not a proper topic. “Well, I’d better change the topic.” So I said to him, “Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?” “Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It was wonderful.” He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide. “The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it”. Soon I was interrupted again by his words：“You don’t say!” I couldn’t help asking, “Why do you ask me not to talk about it?” “Well, I didn’t request you to do so,” he answered, greatly surprised. I said, “Didn’t you say ‘you don’t say’?” Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, “‘You don’t say’ actually means ‘really?’ It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don’t pay attention to English idioms.” Only then did I know I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions.
Always remember: what the English teachers say is always right to us students.A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms because_______.
| A．I didn’t have the slightest interest in them |
| B．English idioms are not important |
| C．My teacher didn’t emphasize the importance of them |
| D．I was not careful with English idioms |
At first, on hearing “You don’t say,” I thought the foreigner meant_______.
| A．I had talked too much |
| B．he was not interested in the topic |
| C．he was only interested in the Great Wall |
| D．he had something to tell me |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The Englishman left China without seeing the Great Wall. |
| B．The Englishman wanted to see the Great Wall after I talked about it. |
| C．The Englishman wanted me to act as his guide. |
| D．The Englishman visited the Great Wall and thought it worth visiting. |
After the Englishman explained the idiom, _______.
| A．I felt very silly |
| B．the Englishman became a real fool |
| C．I thought he had made me a fool |
| D．I became more careful in everything |