In the past ten years, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has grown increasingly dependent on the rest of the world to supply players.
When Michael Jordan and Larry Bird won gold in Barcelona in 1992, the Americans were praised for teaching the world how to play basketball. This season, however, 20 percent of NBA rosters（花名册） will be filled by non-Americans. NBA commissioner David Stem happily embraces the trend. On a visit to Paris in October, Stern outlined his vision for the future, which is likely to see Europe hosting NBA games by 2010.
The NBA is now planning to take China by storm.
“Our experience in China has been that it is going to be explosive in its growth,” said Stern. The strategy（战略，策略） in China is television. “We’ve made 14 deals in China with local and national networks on cable and satellite.” The success of Chinese centre Yao Ming has paved the way for the NBA marketing blitz in China. The NBA, which is broadcasted in more than 200 countries in 42 languages, will put that to the test in October 2004 when the Houston Rockets play two pre-season games against the Sacramento Kings in Beijing and Shanghai. The NBA knows that it needs a global market to compensate for tough times on home soil.
“It doesn’t matter where the players come from, all the NBA teams now know that they have to scout（寻找，觅得） internationally,” said Terry Lyons, the NBA’s vice-president of international public relations. “It has increased the level of competition here.” As Frenchman Tony Parker and Argentine Emanuel Ginobili showed in winning championship rings with the San Antonio Spurs last season, many people can earn the respect of their American peers. Others, such as the Houston Rockets’ Chinese centre Yao Ming — number one draft pick in 2002 — and the Detroit Pistons’ 18-year-old Serb Darko Milicic — number two overall in this year’s draft — are icons（偶像）in-waiting. It is the ultimate（最后的，根本的） revolution — the rest of the world teaching the US how to play basketball.
31. According to the report, .
A. Michael Jordan is still playing a very important role in NBA
B. the part played by the foreign players in NBA will be great
C. Yao Ming is to play two pre-season games in NBA
D. European countries will host the 2004 NBA games
32. The underlined phrase “take China by storm” has the meaning of _______ ___.
A. NBA intends to make China its “marketing center”
B. NBA is planning to set up some training centers in China
C. there’ll be a big storm when NBA comes to China to play against the Sacramento Kings
D. the NBA’s live basket games will be broadcasted on all the TVs in China
33. What seems to be the biggest change that is happening to NBA?
A. NBA is expecting more foreign players to join the league.
B. China’s rapid development in sports affects NBA.
C. Yao Ming has taken the place of Michael Jordan.
D. The NBA will stop teaching the world how to play basketball.
34. When the writer talked of “home soil”, he was referring to _ _.
A. farms in the States
B. native Americans
C. the NBA training center
D. the USA
35. Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?
A. The Non-American Basketball Players
B. NBA Is Coming to China
C. The Foreign Ties That Bind the NBA
D. NBA Is Making Big Progress
If you want a job of taking care of children, which ad will you answer?
| A．LOST AND FOUND | B．ROOMMATES | C．FOR SAIL | D．HELP WANTED |
You will call____ if you want to buy a radio.
| A．800---0436 | B．800—0739 | C．800—4661 | D．800—4964 |
If your aunt wants to rent a room from Feb.1st to Apri.1st, how much money should she pay?
| A．$160 | B．$ 129 | C．$ 209 | D．$418 |
Do your spirits soar (猛增) on a sunny day? Do you relax at the sound of flowing water?
Some scientists suggest that these contacts with nature are good for your health. In one study, hospital patients with a view of trees had shorter hospital stays and less need for pain medications. Another study indicated that prisoners with a view of the outdoors had fewer doctor visits.
“Why do we desire nature? Maybe we’re programmed to need it, since our ancestors’ survival was so dependent on their connection with nature,” suggests biologist E.O. Wilson.
Want to find out if contact with nature improves your outlook on life? Try a few of these ideas.
Hang out a bird feeder and watch the birds that visit it.
Sit down in the backyard or a nearby park. Close your eyes. What do you hear? Birds singing? The wind in the trees? Crickets (蟋蟀) chirping?
Find an anthill. Sit down and watch the ants work.
Take a walk right after a rainstorm. What looks different? Smells different?
Go barefoot on a sandy beach.
Open the curtains and the window, if the weather allows it.
On a windy day, watch the trees.
Go to a creek, river or park fountain. Listen to the sound of water in motion.
Camp out in the backyard or at a nearby state park. Use a tent or sleep on the ground.
Find a wide-open space to study the stars. Learn about the different constellations (星座).
Raise a garden. Or plant some seeds in a flowerpot.
Go hiking with your family. Talk about all of the colors you see in nature.
Take a camera and capture your nature experience.From Paragraph 2 we can learn that ______.
| A．prisoners don’t like to go to the doctor when ill | B．trees can be used as pain medications |
| C．prisoners should often get out of prison to come into contact with nature | |
| D．contacts with nature are very helpful for hospital patients |
According to E.O. Wilson, we desire nature probably because ______.
| A．it can help us feel relaxed |
| B．we have inherited (继承) from our ancestors who were dependent on nature |
| C．people have lived with nature for thousands of years |
| D．contacts with nature can improve a person’s outlook on life |
From the passage, we can learn that ______.
| A．studying the constellations is important to everyone | |
| B．you can know all the colors only by going hiking | |
| C．nature is quite important to us | D．walking in a rainstorm can be very helpful |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Go hiking with your family | B．Let nature nurture you. |
| C．Visit your doctor less. | D．Watch the trees more often. |
Long long ago, there was an old merchant who had three sons. “To which one shall I leave my fortune?” he wondered. “It must be to the cleverest son. But which one is the cleverest?”
He called his three sons to him. “Here is some money,” he told them, “you must each take one coin to buy something that will fill this room. Anyone who can do this shall have my fortune.”
“It is a big room,” said the eldest son.
“One coin will not buy very much,” said the second son.
But the youngest son said nothing. He stood and thought, and then he smiled, “Come, brothers,” he said, “let us go to the market.”
The eldest son bought straw with his coin. But one coin bought only a bit of straw. Even when he had spread it as much as he could, the straw covered only a corner of the room.
The second son bought sand with his coin. But one coin bought only a bit of sand. Even when he had spread it as much as he could, the sand covered only half of the floor.
“What did you buy?” the eldest son angrily asked the youngest son. “You don't have any straw.”
“Yes, what did you buy?” the second son asked angrily. “You don't have any sand.”
“I bought this,” said the youngest son.
“A candle！” cried his brothers. “What good is a candle?”
“Watch”, said the youngest son.
He lit the candle, and all at once the room was filled from wall to wall, from ceiling to floor. It was filled with light!
“Although you are the youngest, you are indeed the cleverest of my sons,” the old merchant said.
And that is how, the old merchant left his fortune to his youngest son, the one who could fill a room with light. Who would get father's fortune?
| A．The oldest son. | B．The richest son. |
| C．The cleverest son. | D．The silliest son. |
The merchant left his fortune to the son
| A．who would fill the room by using something which is worthy of one coin |
| B．who would take care of him when he became old |
| C．who wanted to get his fortune |
| D．who got married first |
How do you think of the youngest son?
| A．He is very clever. | B．He is very lazy. |
| C．He is very mean. | D．He is very diligent. |
The youngest son used _____ to fill the room.
| A．straw | B．candle | C．sand | D．water |
Bruce Alberts, the former President of the National Academies (USA), has now taken over as Editor-in Chief of Science. Judging by his editorial in this week’s issue Considering Science Education there could be some interesting times ahead in Science offices.
Here’s part of what Bruce has to say about science education…
I consider science education to be critically important to both science and the world, and I shall frequently deal with this topic on this page. Let’s start with a big-picture view. Science has greatly advanced our understanding of the natural world and has enabled the creation of countless medicines and useful devices. It has also led to behaviors that have improved lives. The public appreciates these practical benefits of science, and science and scientists are generally respected, even by those who are not familiar with how science works or what exactly it has discovered.
But society may less appreciate the advantage of having everyone acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that are central to practice of successful science: scientific habits of mind. These habits include a critical attitude toward established claims and a stro
ng desire for logic and evidence. As famous astronomer Carl Sagan put it, science is our best detector (检测器). Individuals and societies clearly need a means to logically test the constant clever attempts to operate our purchasing and political decisions. They also need to challenge what is unreasonable, including the intolerance that led to so many regional and global conflicts.
So how does this relate of science education? Might it be possible to encourage, across the world, scientific habits of mind, so as to create more rational (理性的) societies everywhere? In principle, a strong expansion of science education could provide the world with such an opportunity, but only if scientists, educators, and policy-makers redefine (重新定义) the goals of science education, beginning with college-level teaching. Rather than only conveying what science has discovered about the natural world, as is done now in most countrie
s, we should provide first all students with the knowledge and practice of how to think like a scientist. Which of the following is NOT included in the “scientific habits of mind”?
| A．A critical attitude toward established claims. | B．A strong desire for logic. |
| C．A clever and active mind. | D．A strong desire for evidence. |
What does the underlined phrase “such an opportunity” refer to in the last paragraph?
| A．To create more rational societies everywhere. |
| B．To relate decision-making to science education. |
| C．To encourage science education around the world. |
| D．To set right goals of science education. |
In Bruce Alberts’ opinion, which is the most important in science education?
| A．Offering all students enough practice to drill their mind. |
| B．Equipping all students with a thinking model of a scientist. |
| C．Telling students what science has discovered about the natural world. |
| D．Advising all students to challenge all established scientific achievements. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Bruce Alberts, a great science educator |
| B．Science education and world peace |
| C．The government and science education |
| D．Bruce Alberts’ opinion on science education |
It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver’s seat is another matter.
Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense. It takes the most cool – headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly n
od or a wa
ve of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and calm so necessary in modern traffic conditions. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers don’t even seem able torecognize politeness when they see it nowadays.
However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may not be able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to. It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies.
An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can’t even learn to drive, let alone master the roadman- ship. Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give – and – take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart. The passage mainly talks about _____.
A．road politeness  |
B．traffic jams |
| C．good manners | D．modern drivers |
Troubles on the road are often caused by _____ .
| A．traffic jams | B．the behavior of the drivers |
| C．great speed | D．terrible road conditions |
According to the writer, a good driver should _____.
| A．beat back when forced to face rude driving |
| B．be able to recognize politeness when he sees it |
| C．encourage old ladies to cross the roads whenever they want to |
| D．join in traffic stream quickly however other people feel |
The following statements are right EXCEPT that _____.
| A．some modern drivers are not good at driving |
| B．road politeness is good sense as well as good manners |
| C．it is all right to have a tiger in the driver’s seat |
| D．a friendly driver should nod or wave thanks in answer to an act of politeness |