"A survey was conducted in Shanghai where interviewees were asked if they wanted to be a factory worker．One percent of all people interviewed said “YES," Wang Hongjun, a technician, said, raising his voice for dramatic effect．"But I can tell you, only a small part of that 1 percent are telling the truth．"
I've met colorful people like Wang all over
China．They are cynical（玩世不恭的） yet warmhearted, plain spoken but smart．And many of them are confined（局限于）to work in factories．
Wang is a top technician but also represents manual fact
ory workers, who are China's most important natural resource．Their energy is powering China's economic boom, and their muscle is turning the wheel of the world's factory．
But does their unskilled labor give their life meaning? At school, did they tell their friends: "When I grow up I want to work in a factory making socks?" Did you?
Factory work has always been a stepping-stone from farm life to the city and a modern life．It's been happening for centuries, but today, with our space-age technology, it's outdated．Earning 1,200 yuan （$169） per month working in a factory is better than that on a farm, but as Wang points out, it's not a dream career．There should be better ways to earn your rice．
Many modern factories no longer have production line workers．Robots do the assembly（装配）．People just do the monitoring．In this age of technology, in which China is n
ow working smarter and not just harder, why are people still standing in production lines?
But life is cheap in China．So why not continue to exploit the low-cost labor situation and keep the economy growing fast, some entrepreneurs may ask．How many people surveyed really like to be factory workers?
| A．One percent |
B．Only a small part |
| C．Only a small part of that one percent |
| D．The writer didn’t mention it． |
Which is NOT the writer's opinion of factory workers?
| A．cynical | B．unimportant |
| C．warmhearted | D．plain spoken |
Wang Hongjun is a person who is ．
| A．difficult to get along with |
| B．humorous but serious |
| C．cynical but warmhearted, plain spoken but smart |
| D．full of energy but doesn't want to work hard |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Factory workers make contributions to China's economic boom． |
| B．Working in a factory is better than that on a farm． |
| C．Factory workers are satisfied with their living conditions． |
| D．Some entrepreneurs exploited the low-cost labor situation． |
The writer uses to begin the passage．
| A．a lot of figures | B．many examples |
| C．some dialogue | D．the result of a survey |
Recently, one of my best friends, whom I’ve shared just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me．Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we’ve both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other．
Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with．She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior．I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even stealing out to see this guy because they didn’t want her around him．No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn’t believe me．Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared．
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble．I felt like I was getting nowhere．I just couldn’t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend．
By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted by the experience．It had been so frustrating, I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship，but I didn’t．I put the power of friendship to the final test．We’d been friends for far too long．I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself．I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything．
A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend．I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face．It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my life．Never had I been so proud of a friend．In the writer’s opinion, her friend ________．
| A．was a girl with no self-respect |
| B．could find a better boyfriend |
| C．was brave enough to stick to her own choice |
| D．didn’t value the writer’s suggestion |
What did the writer worry about?
| A．She would lose the friendship with her． |
| B．Her friend’s parents would be worried about their daughter． |
| C．Her friend would get into great trouble with the boy． |
| D．Her friend’s boyfriend would be in great trouble． |
We may leam from Paragraph 3 that the writer ________．
| A．didn’t want to go anywhere else |
| B．hated her friend’s hanging with her boyfriend |
| C．couldn’t believe that her friend’s choice was acceptable |
| D．doubted that she could in any way help her friend |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．Friendship starting from childhood is not reliable． |
| B．Friendship is a cure for any injury in life． |
| C．Friendship should be everlasting once begun． |
| D．Friendship can have magical power in life． |
Federal regulators (管理者) Wednesday approved a plan to create a nationwide emergence alert (警报) system using text messages delivered to cell phones.
Text messages have exploded in popularity in recent years, particularly among young people. The wireless industry's trade association, CTIA, estimates（估计） more than 48 billion text messages are sent each month.
The plan comes from the Warning Alert and Response Network Act, a 2009 federal law that requires improvements to the nation's emergency alert system. The act tasked(派给…工作) the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with coming up with new ways to alert the public about emergencies.
"The ability to deliver accurate and timely warnings and alerts through cell phones and other mobile services is an importan
t next step in our efforts to help ensure that the American public has the information they need to take action to protect themselves and their families before, and during, disasters and other emergencies," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said following approval of the plan.
Participation in the alert system by carriers –telecommunications companies is voluntary, but it has received solid support from the wireless industry.
The program would be optional for cell phone users. They also may not be charged for receiving alerts.
There would be three different types of message
s, according to the rules.
The first would be a national alert from the president, likely involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The second would involve "approaching threats," which could include natural disasters like hurrica
nes or storms or even university shootings. The third would be reserved for child abduction (绑架) emergencies, or so-called Amber Alerts.
The service could be in place by 2012.What is the purpose of the approved plan?
| A．To warn people of emergencies through messages. |
| B．To popularize the use of cell phones. |
| C．To estimate the monthly number of messages. |
| D．To promote the wireless industry. |
The improvement to the present system is in the charge of ____.
| A．CTIA | B．the Warning Alert and Response Network | C．FCC | D．federal regulators |
The carriers’ participation in the system is determined by _____.
| A．the US federal government | B．mobile phone users |
| C．the carriers themselves | D．the law of the United States |
Which of the following is true of cell phone users?
| A．They must accept the alert service. | B．They may enjoy the alert service for free. |
| C．They must send the alerts to others | D．They may choose the types of messages |
An alert message will NOT be sent if _____
| A．a child loses his way. | B．a university shooting happens |
| C．a natural disaster happens | D．a terrorist attack occurs |
For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words whic
h were hard to understand in one of those romantic languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, operagoers also had a certain appearance in people’s mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to associate opera with the common people. That means no form
al suits, old-styled theatre or bank-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don’t or won’t come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such usual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera’s choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”, shortened versions of child-friendly operas. This summer’s production is Hansel & Gretel. By performing smaller versions o
f large prod
uctions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young
Artists’ Training Program.Which is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Opera is famous for its long history. |
| B．Opera is only performed for rich people. |
| C．Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive. |
| D．Young people are not interested in opera. |
The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means _________.
| A．breaking up the old rules | B．changing the dresses |
| C．making the audience at ease | D．advertising themselves |
Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because _________.
| A．they can be performed in public libraries |
| B．short versions are easy to perform |
| C．it is hard to find long versions |
| D．they can make people interested |
The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to _________.
A．celebra te its 75th anniversary |
| B．reduce the cost |
| C．attract young people |
| D．make Cinderella popular |
From the passage we can infer that _________.
| A．the tickets for opera are very expensive |
B．opera is performed in a di fficult language |
| C．opera is not so popular an art form today |
| D．students enjoy performing opera very much |
It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. “I’m going to col
lege, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘You should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.
But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest s
trength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive a
round and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’
t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” DeLuca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” DeLuca adds.
DeLuca ended up founding Subway Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.DeLuca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ____.
| A．support his family | B．pay for his college education |
| C．help his partner expand business | D．do some research |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
| A．He put money into the sandwich business. |
| B．He was a professor of business administration. |
| C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
| D．He rented a storefront for DeLuca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
| A．It stood at an unfavorable place. |
| B．It lowered the prices to promote sales. |
| C．It made no profits due to poor management |
| D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwiches |
They decided to open a second store because they ___.
| A．had enough money to do it. |
| B．had succeeded in their business |
| C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
| D．wanted to make people believe that they were successful |
What contribute most to their success according to the author?
| A．Learning by trial and error. | B．Making friends with suppliers. |
| C．Finding a good partner. | D．Opening chain stores. |
I’m glad to find this comment which has some sort of support in this quest（寻求）I have to eat raw（未煮熟的）foods. I’m an unhealt
hy 49 years old and have come to the conclusion that it’s now or never, so I a
m taking a dive into the raw eating lifestyle.
I have to cook for my family and 
prepare what they want to eat. I’m trying to plan out this better so I have some of these unusual foods ready for myself.
I’ve read several books written by Ann Wigmore and like her appr
oach to the living foods.
Last week I atte
mpted fasting（禁食）and failed. I lasted five days by having carrots, spinach, apples and other vegetarian diets I could get my hands on. I was doing fine until I drank some coffee. I kind of proved it in my mind to have the coffee but it only made me excited and then I couldn’t sleep well and felt hungry and weak. So I stopped and went back to the old way of eating with the family.
This week I started to make a drink called rejuvelac made of sprouted wheat（芽麦）. This is fairly new to do for me and the drink smelled sort of musty（发霉的）and tasted kind of like a musty lemon. The kids tasted it and almost t
hrew up but surprisingly it tasted good to me. It is supposed to help in digestion（消化）.
I’ve made some attempts to grow wheat grass. I think I have figured that out as long as I keep it away from birds and our horses. I have two habits to get rid of, drinking coffee and smoking. I quit smoking last month but something happened, so I started up again. I’m very frustrated(受挫的) with the
smoking and really have a desire to quit for good. Anyhow I will keep this updated on my progress.The author must have ________ before she wrote this article.
| A．hesitated at whether she should eat raw foods |
| B．never eaten raw foods |
| C．made up her mind to eat raw foods instead of cooked ones |
D．been discouraged by her  family from fasting |
The books written by Ann Wigmore which the author has read are probably about ________.
| A．fasting |
| B．losing weight |
| C．how to be on a diet |
| D．approaches to eating raw foods |
To the author, the drink made of sprouted wheat ________.
| A．might help in digestion |
| B．might make people who drank it throw up |
| C．tasted good to anybody |
| D．was welcomed by the whole family |
We can learn from the passage that ________ smoking.
| A．the author has given up |
| B．the author will never give up |
| C．it’s hard for the author to quit |
| D．it’s easy for the author to quit |
The author’s biggest worry at present is most probably ________.
| A．that she can’t eat with her family |
| B．that she can’t get rid of drinking coffee and smoking |
| C．how to get used to raw foods |
| D．that she doesn’t know whether she should eat raw foods |