China news, Beijing, Feb. 9 – Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property developers and ordinary Chinese. T
o many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8,000 yuan per square meter, while in China, it is even higher than in the United States. This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate market
, the International Finance News reported.
Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after converted to Renminbi, is about 8,000 yuan per square meter, the houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8,000 yuan per square meter. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, houses are sold at a price even higher than those in the US.
The high housing sales price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in US?
At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate(控制) the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans and lands to property developers. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses through various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high housing prices can be lowered. What is the average housing price per square meter in China?
| A．8000 yuan | B．10000 yuan | C．7000 yuan | D．It’s not mentioned here |
Which of the following does NOT support the idea that the average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States?
| A．Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality,environment and supporting facilities. |
| B．American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. |
| C．The houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. |
| D．There are more people who need houses in China. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
A．The hous ing price in China is so high that the government should do something useful to prevent it. |
| B．There are some bubbles in Chinese real estate market |
| C．The average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States |
D．Chinese governmen t issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. |
How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high housing prices?
| A．Four | B．Three | C．Five | D．Two |
Even as Americans have been gaining weight, they have cut their average fat intake from 36 to 34 percent of their total diets in the past 15 years. And indeed, cutting fat to control or lose weight makes sense. Fat has nine calories per gram. Protein and carbohydrates（碳水化合物） have just four. Moreover, the body uses fewer calories to metabolize fat than it does to metabolize other foods. Compared with protein and carbohydrates — which break down into amino acids and simple sugars, respectively, and can be used to strengthen and energize the body —— dietary fat is more easily converted to body fat. Therefore, it’s more likely to stay on buttocks, thighs and bellies.
But cutting fat from your diet doesn’t necessarily mean your body won’t store fat. For example, between nonfat and regular cookies, there’s trivial difference in calories because manufacturers make up for the loss of fat by adding sugar. Low-fat crackers, soups and dressings can also be just as high in calories as richer versions. No matter where the calories come from, overeating will still cause weight again. The calories from fat just do it a little quicker. A Wisconsin computer programmer who decided with a diet coach to eat only 40 grams of fat a day learned the lesson firsthand. He wasn’t losing weight. Then he showed his food diary to his coach and revealed he’d been eating half a pound of jelly beans a day. “They don’t have any fat,” he explains. But they had enough sugar to keep him from shedding an ounce.
Nonfat foods become add-on foods. When we add them to our diet, we actually increase the number of calories we eat per day and gain weight. That was borne out in a Pennsylvania State University study. For breakfast, Prof. Barbara Rolls gave two groups of women yogurt（酵母乳）that contained exactly the same amount of calories. One group’s yogurt label said “high fat”—the other, “low fat.” The “low fat” yogurt group ate significantly more calories later in the day than the other group. “People think they’ve saved fat and can indulge themselves later in the day with no adverse consequences,” says Richard Mattes, a nutrition researcher at Purdue University. “But when they do that, they don’t compensate very precisely, and they often end up overdoing it.”What lessons did the computer programme learn ?
| A．Overeating will cause weight gain |
| B．He can eat half a pound of jellybeans a day |
| C．He can’t didn’t eat any fat |
| D．His coach gave him a lecture |
Prof. Barbara’s ecperiement proved that _______________.
| A．two groups ate the same amount of calories |
| B．two groups ate the same wmount of yogurt |
| C．the “ low fat” yogurt group ate more calories later in the day than the other group |
| D．people increase the number of calories they eat per day and gain group |
According to the author ,________has less calories.
| A．fat |
| B．protein and carbohydrates |
| C．low-fat soups |
| D．sugar |
What can you infer from the text ?
| A．To keep from being overweight, people have to eat nofat food |
| B．The calories from fat just do it a little quicker than from protein and carbohydrates |
| C．People should avoid temptation |
| D．Americans realize that it is necessary to count calories before eating the food |
Everyone wants some degree of success. Many people believe that they deserve (值得)success simply because they believe that they deserve success. But there is a widespread belief that people who get on in life may be successful not because they deserve it, but because of influential (有影响的) friends or the right background. Sometimes it may just be a comforting and harmless belief, while at the other extreme it can be very destructive. I once met a brilliant young engineer who worked in a chemical plant. Because of her knowledge and experience, she should have been promoted（升职） to Production Manager. Instead, the job went to a man who was totally unsuited for the post. Everyone knew that he only got it because he was politically acceptable to his superiors (上司). This injustice discouraged the young engineer and many of her colleagues（同事）. It also meant that the factory was much less efficient than it could have been.
At the same, we should not be pessimistic (悲观的). More and more then modern world depends on having people who are in the job because they are good enough, not just because their faces fit. There is a story of a factory owner who sent for an engineer to see to a machine which would not go. He examined it, then took out a hammer and tapped, once. The machine started up immediately. When he presented his bill, the owner protested, “This can’t be right! $ 100 just for tapping（敲打） a machine with a hammer ?” The engineer wrote out a new bill: “For tapping a machine, $1; for knowing where to tap. $99.”The engineer at the chemical plant was not promoted because _____.
| A．it was politically less good for the boss to accept her than the man |
| B．her boss did not think she had the right qualifications for the job |
| C．the man who got the promotion was more experienced than she was |
| D．it is more difficult for a woman to get a promotion than for her male colleague |
The engineer who repaired the machine was right in charging $ 100 because____.
| A．he hit the machine to get it started again |
| B．the factory owner could not have repaired it himself |
| C．he was charging for his knowledge and expert skills |
| D．he was the only person who could find out what was wrong with it |
What can we learn about the author’s attitude toward the widespread belief that “people get on in life may be successful not because they deserve it”?
| A．He quite agrees with it. |
| B．He doesn’t express his opinion his opinion at it. |
| C．He completely disagrees with it. |
| D．He doesn’t quite agree with it. |
According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Having influential friends or right background seems helpful sometimes. |
| B．The engineer had good reason to overcharge the factory owner. |
| C．Not all those who are good in their jobs have the chance to be promoted. |
| D．Those who are good in their jobs are still largely needed by the modern society. |
Animals seem to have the sense to eat when they are hungry and they do not eat more than their bodies need．It has been demonstrated（证明）that rats will, when given a choice over a period of time, prefer water with vitamins to water without vitamins even though there is no difference in taste or smell between the two water bottles．When a fragrant（香的）flavor（作料）was added to the vitamin-enriched water, the rats did seem to prefer it and kept drinking it ,even after the vitamins were switched to the clear water．In time, however, they broke the habit and went back to where the necessary vitamins were．
In a classic experiment, babies of 6 to 12 months old were placed in a cafeteria（自助） feeding arrangement, with a wide selection of baby food before them．They were given whatever food they pointed to or appeared interested in．We are told that at first they showed some unusual eating patterns, but that over a period of time they managed to select well-balanced diet．
So, in selecting food, rats and babies do seem to know and act on what's best for them．Apparently, there is a kind of “body wisdom”, which humans soon lose．Most of us do not eat as wisely as we could．Many of our food preferences are culturally determined and influenced by long-established habits．Some people eat fox, dog and blackbirds, while we eat cows and pigs．So what people eat and how much they eat seems to be greatly influenced by what is going on around them．In the experiment on rats, a fragrant flavor was added to the rats’ drinking water to _____________ .
| A．encourage rats to drink vitamins-enriched water |
| B．find out rats’ preference in flavor |
| C．test whether rats know which drink is good for them |
| D．demonstrate the vitamins are tasteless |
According to the passage ,adults eating habits differ from those of babies because_________．
| A．adults know better than babies what kind of food are good for their health |
| B．adults usually cannot resist the temptation of various delicious foods |
| C．adults' eating habits are closely related to the social and cultural customs |
| D．adults have more choices of food than babies in eating patterns |
The author implied in the passage that most of us_________．
| A．eat a balanced diet |
| B．choose the food that is of nutrition |
| C．have the habits influenced by the surroundings |
| D．like to eat the food with a fragrant flavor． |
As far as their eating habits are concerned, babies and rats are similar in that_________．
| A．both have the wisdom to choose a balanced diet |
| B．both prefer flavored food and drink |
| C．both have the same eating patterns |
| D．both develop a taste for the same kinds of flavors |
To master a language one must be able to speak and understand the spoken language as well as to read
and write. Lenin and his wife Krupskaya translated a long English book into Russian. But when they
went to England in 1902, English people couldn't understand what was said to them. These days more and more foreigners are coming to China and more Chinese are going out to foreign countries to work or study. So the spoken language is becoming more and more important.
Speaking, of course, can't go without listening. If you want to pronounce a word correctly, first you must hear it correctly. The sounds of the Chinese and English languages are not exactly the same. If you don't listen carefully, you'll find it difficult or even impossible to understand the native speakers.
Well, what about writing? Like speaking, it's to exchange ideas. People generally use shorter words and shorter sentences in their writing. The important thing is to make your idea clear in your head and then to write it in clear lively language.
Chinese students read far too slowly. If you read fast, you understand better. If you read too slowly, by the time you have reached the end of a page you have forgotten what the beginning is about. When you meet with new words, don't look them up in the dictionary. Guess the meaning from the context(上下文). You may not guess quite correctly the first time, but as new words come up again and again in different contexts, their meaning will become clearer and clearer. If you look up every word, you'll never finish a book.
Students of a foreign language need a particular knowledge, the knowledge of the life, history and geography of the people whose language they are studying. They should study these subjects in the
foreign language, not only in translation. In this way one can kill two birds with one stone: learn a foreign language and get some knowledge of the foreign country at the same time. In the first paragraph, the writer told us _________.
| A．how to speak English well |
| B．how to read and write English |
| C．why spoken English is very important |
| D．why English people couldn't understand Lenin |
In order to study a foreign language, the writer thinks the best way is ______.
| A．to kill two birds with one stone |
| B．to learn two languages at a time |
| C．to study all the subjects in a foreign language |
| D．to get some knowledge of the foreign country as well as learn the language |
In the fourth paragraph the writer gave some advice on ____.
| A．how to imporve reading faster |
| B．how to guess the meaning from the context |
| C．how to look up new words in the dictionary |
| D．how to grasp the general meaning of a passage |
"To kill two birds with one stone" means ____.
| A．to get some particular knowledge |
| B．to get more than what one pays |
| C．the stone is too big |
| D．the birds are blind enough |
TYPING
This course is for those who want to learn to type, as well as those who want to improve their typing. The course is not common. You are tested in the first class and begin practicing at one of eight different skill levels. This allows you to learn at your own speed. Each program lasts 20 hours. Bring your own paper.
Course fee: $ 125 Materials: $25
Two hours each evening for two weeks. New classes begin every two weeks.
This course is taught by a number of qualified business education teachers who have successfully taught typing courses before.
UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS
This twelve-hour course is for people who do not know very much about computers, but who need to learn about them. You will learn what computers are, what they can and can’t do and how to use them.
Course fee: $75 Equipment fee: $ 10
Jan. 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, Wed. & Sat. 9—11:30 a.m.
Joseph Saunders is Professor of Computer Science at New Urban University. He has over twenty years of experience in the computer field.
STOP SMOKING
Do you want to stop smoking? Have you already tried to stop and failed? Now is the time to stop smoking using the latest methods. You can stop smoking, and this twelve-hour course will help you do it.
Course fee: $30
Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23 Mon. 2—5 p. m.
Dr John Good is a practicing psychologist who had helped hundreds of people stop smoking.If you choose the UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS course, you will have classes _______.
| A．from Monday to Sunday |
| B．from Monday to Friday |
| C．on Wednesday and Saturday |
| D．on Saturday and Sunday |
The STOP SMOKING course will last ______.
| A．for half a day |
| B．for three hours |
| C．for a week |
| D．for four weeks |
Mr. Black works every morning and evening, but he wants to take part in one of the three courses. The most probable course he will attend is ______.
| A．typing | B．understanding computers |
| C．stop smoking | D．all the courses |
If you want to learn computer and at the same time you want to improve your typing, you will pay _______.
| A．$ 75 | B．$ 15 | C．$ 115 | D．$ 235 |
The typical difference of “Typing” from the other two is ______.
| A．people with different skill levels may learn at different speed |
| B．you will take a test after the course |
| C．you will pay the fee before practicing |
| D．you will pay less money |