The market is a concept. If you are growing tomatoes in your backyard for sale you are producing for the market. You might sell some to your neighbor and some to the local manager of the supermarket. But in either case, you are producing for the market. Your efforts are being directed by the market. If people stop buying tomatoes, you will stop producing them.
If you take care of a sick person to earn money, you are producing for the market. If your father is a steel worker or a truck driver or a doctor or a grocer, he is producing goods or service for the market.
When you spend your income, you are buying things from the market. You may spend money in stores, supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants. Still you are buying from the market. When the local grocer hires you to drive the delivery truck, he is buying your labor in the labor market.
The market may be something abstract (抽象的). But for each person or business that is making and selling something, it is very concrete. If nobody buys your tomatoes, it won’t be long before you get the message. The market is telling you something. It is telling you that you are using energies and resources in doing something the market doesn’t want you to do. Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Selling and Buying. | B．Everything you do is producing for the market. |
| C．What is the market? | D．What the market can do for you. |
All of the following acts are producing for the market except________.
| A．working in a bank | B．volunteering at a nursing home |
| C．driving a taxi | D．growing beans for sale |
You are buying from the market when you________.
| A．borrow a book from the library | B．drive to the seaside for a holiday |
| C．look after your children | D．dine at restaurant |
The word “concrete” in the last paragraph may most probably mean________.
| A．serious | B．important | C．necessary | D．real |
The area of child psychology is one of the most significant and well studied of all the branches of psychology. It aims to help with achieving a greater understanding of the behavior of children through an understanding of their minds. It deals with children who range from the prenatal(出生前的)stage right up to the stage of adolescence.
The psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) has been credited with making a major breakthrough in this area when he put forward his idea that children were not actually less intelligent than adults, rather they just thought in a different way. Preciously the development of children right from birth through to adulthood was an area that was almost completely neglected. In fact very little work was done in this area. However, interest in this field has now developed to the point of being one of the most debated of all the areas of psychology.
Despite popular belief that factors such as genetics or personal characteristics are the only determining factors that influence a youth’s behavior, this is not in fact the case. In reality, development actually includes many more factors than those contained within an individual. Factors such as environment, which can include social relationships and the surrounding culture, also play important roles. Relationships with both peers and adults will no doubt affect how children think and learn, and therefore develop. These relationships can include those that are found not only within families but also in schools and peer groups.
Culturally speaking, this factor will contribute greatly to how children develop their personality concerning the values they end up holding (perhaps for a lifetime) as well as how they view such things as traditions and customs.
Nowadays, psychologists have agreed that a child’s psychology is both unique and highly complex. However, there are debates on many different points in this field and many viewpoints exist.The word “neglected” underlined in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “______”.
| A．ignored | B．destroyed | C．developed | D．explored |
What does the third paragraph mainly tell us?
| A．Popular belief about child psychology. |
| B．The role families play in a child’s development. |
| C．Factors that affect a child’s development. |
| D．The importance of relationships to a child. |
The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.
| A．introduce an important psychologist. |
| B．give a brief introduction to child psychology. |
| C．compare some of the areas of psychology. |
| D．explain the development in psychology. |
Aquatic Adventures!
Help Us Get Ready for Showtime!
Trainer Program
What does it take to work with seals or sea lions? Find out with Atlantis Marine World’s Trainer Program and go behind the scenes with our Marine Mammal staff and:
﹒Learn how we train our animals and help train our sea lions to learn how to paint
﹒Go into the seal exhibit with trainers
﹒Join in a seal training period - and get to pet and feed one of our harbor seals
﹒Help prepare food for seals
﹒Attend our Sea Lion Show
﹒Get a kiss from sea lion, Java – and take home a photo
Summer Adventure Days – Camp! Atlantis Style!
Our camp program adds interactive excitement to your child’s summer vacation. Children ages 3 to 14 discover the wonders of the sea environment through age – appropriate activities.
Pirate Snorkel Adventure
Yo-ho-ho, this is a whole lot of fun! Join us this summer for our interactive Pirate Snorkel Adventure and help Captain Poseidon locate missing treasure. While searching our lake, don’t miss tropical fish from all around the world. When you’re done, you’ll walk away with some booty （战利品） of your own – a ＄2.00 game card and a pirate eye patch (海盗眼罩) featuring our very own Jolly Poseidon!
Smooth Sailing: Taste Long Island Wine Cruise Now Accepting Reservations!
Experience the magic of Taste Long Island, a Saturday evening wine and cheese cruise aboard the Atlantis Explorer Tour Boat. Featuring local wines, this adventure along the Peconic River is a relaxing way to enjoy both beautiful scenery and fine wines. Guests 21 and older only. Members and Green Key Cardholders enjoy 25％ off. If you attend Atlantis Marine World’s Trainer Program, you can _____.
| A．watch the performance of sea lions. | B．learn how to paint sea lions. |
| C．get a chance to kiss sea lions. | D．help prepare a seal exhibit. |
The activities in Summer Adventure Days are divided according to ____.
| A．children’s hobby. | B．children’s age. |
| C．the price. | D．the type of sea animals |
In which activity will you get something as a reward?
| A．Atlantis Marine World’s Trainer Program. | B．Summer Adventure Days. |
| C．Pirate Snorkel Adventure. | D．Smooth Sailing. |
What is special about Smooth Sailing?
| A．Guests under 21 cannot be accepted. |
| B．It provides famous wines from all over the world. |
| C．Guests usually get a discount. |
| D．It doesn’t accept bookings. |
In the United States you will find yourself being urged from every page of every newspaper and every television station to buy all kinds of goods.
Not only is there a wide range of prices for goods in America, there is also a wide range in the quality of goods offered for sale. Unlike some countries,
Americans generally pay the price of a product without question, instead of trying to get a lower price by bargaining. However, there are many “sales” in the United States, during which time stores will lower their normal prices. This may all be very confusing to visitors. How are you going to know how to “get your money’s worth” when you shop? Perhaps the best advice is: Don’t hurry. Visit various stores and determine the quality of goods. Read the advertisements so that you can compare prices.
There is a great variety of shops in the United States, ranging from very large stores called “department stores” to very small shops. There are “discount houses” offering goods at low prices, and “dime stores” specializing in a wide range of inexpensive items.
Most department stores in large cities carry better quality products at higher prices. However, they offer the shoppers great convenience since they contain such a wide variety of products.
If convenience isn’t as important to you as price, you may want to shop in discount houses. These stores have nearly as great a variety of goods as department stores, but offer lower prices. They can do so for several reasons. They don’t offer the same services to buyers that department stores do; there may be fewer sales people; and the store probably doesn’t deliver purchases.
Another popular shop is the “dime store”. No longer selling many things for five or ten cents, these stores got their name in the last century when it was decided that a small profit on a great quantity of goods would be better than a large profit on fewer sales. Dime stores specialize in a wide variety of inexpensive items and today, prices range from a quarter or 50 cents up to several dollars.The passage is mainly about______
| A．American hospitality. | B．the life of Americans. |
| C．American stores. | D．the business of Americans. |
Why can discount houses offer goods at lower prices compared with department stores?
a. They have fewer employees.
b. They have larger quantities of goods.
c. They offer fewer services.
d. They don’t provide delivery service.
| A．a b c | B．a b d | C．a c d | D．b c d |
What’s special about dime stores?
| A．They sell lots of goods at a small profit. |
| B．They make big profits by selling some goods. |
| C．They provide goods with a price lower than 50 cents. |
| D．They provide goods ranging from bargains to expensive ones. |
Where can we most probably read this passage?
| A．In a research paper. | B．In a science report. |
| C．In a geography book. | D．In a travel magazine. |
Anthony was sad. He was, as he put it, “not very bright” and couldn’t win the attention of his very wealthy parents, who preferred his “clever” older brother. At age 8, Anthony was sent away to a boarding school in his native England, even though he screamed and pleaded with（恳求）his parents year after year not to send
him. “The thought was ,it would be good for me,” he recalled.
It was not. Anthony did badly in his studies, had few friends and was bullied for five years. “My teachers couldn’t have had a lower opinion of me,” he said. “I wasn’t even smart enough to rebel. The one thing I remember from the very earliest age was the desire to write. When I was 10 years old, I remember asking my parents to get me a typewriter for my birthday because I wanted to be a writer.”
Now, at 55, Anthony is one of the world’s most successful children’s book authors. His Alex Rider series has sold more than 5 million copies，and the eighth book featuring the young spy, Crocodile Tears, has come out.
The Alex Rider books tell the adventures of 14-year-old Alex Rider, an agent for the British intelligence agency M16.
Anthony says he doesn’t try to write for kids; it just comes out that way.“ I have a feeling that it has something to do with purity and simplicity. I give as little information as is necessary to describe the room, the character in the room, and get on with the action,” he said.
The style has also made Anthony a successful writer of television shows for adults in Britain because, he says, writing books for kids is a lot like writing television for grown-ups: In both cases, it’s all about entertaining people with a good story.
Now, Anthony couldn’t be happier with his life. He sums up his success:“…you can be anything you want to be if you just believe in yourself. I do believe it completely.”Which of the following is true of Anthony?
| A．He was the beloved child of his family. |
| B．Although he is successful, he isn’t very happy. |
| C．He places more emphasis on the characters’ behavior in his stories. |
| D．Studying in a boarding school proved a good choice for him. |
At boarding school , Anthony’s teachers_____________.
| A．often criticized him. | B．showed great concern for him. |
| C．encouraged him to be a writer. | D．thought little of his ability. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Anthony’s popular books—Alex Rider series |
| B．Alex Rider, a popular character |
| C．Anthony, a successful children’s book author |
| D．Special writing style |
What advice does Anthony give to readers?
| A．Confidence is the key to success. | B．Hardship teaches valuable lessons. |
| C．Internet is the best teacher. | D．Failure is the mother of success. |
What will power your house in the future? Nuclear, wind, or solar power? According to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, it might be leaves –but artificial ones.
Natural leaves are able to change sunlight and water into energy. It is known as photosynthesis (光合作用). Now researchers have found a way to imitate this seemingly simple process.
The artificial leaf developed by Daniel Nocera and his colleagues at MIT can be seen as a special silicon chip (硅片) with catalysts (催化剂). Similar to natural leaves, it can split water into hydrogen and oxygen when put into a bucket of water. The hydrogen and oxygen gases are then stored in a fuel cell (电池), which uses those two materials to produce electricity, located either on top of a house or beside the house.
Though the leaf is only about the shape of a poker card, scientists claimed that it is promising to be an inexpensive source of electricity in developing countries. “One can imagine villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology,” said Docera at a conference of the American Chemical Society.
An artificial leaf is not a new idea. The first artificial leaf was invented in 1997 but was too expensive and unstable for practical use. The new leaf, by contrast, is made of cheap materials, easy to use and highly stable. In laboratory studies, Nocera showed that an artificial leaf prorotype (原型) could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.
The wonderful improvements come from Nocera’s recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts. These catalysts make the energy transformation (转换) inside the leaf more efficient with water and sunlight. Right now, the new leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural one. Besides, the device can run in whatever water is available; that is, it doesn’t need pure water. This is important for some countries that don’t have access to pure water.
With the goal to “make each home its own power station” and “giving energy to the poor”, scientists believe that the new application could be widely used in developing countries, especially in India and rural China.Which of the following order correctly shows how the artificial leaf is used to produce electricity?
a. artificial leaves split water into hydrogen and oxygen
b. the hydrogen and oxygen gases are stored in a fuel cell
c. the artificial leaves are put in water
d. the fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity
| A．cbad | B．cabd | C．bcad | D．cadb |
Which of the following statements about new artificial leaves is TRUE according to the article?
| A．They are inexpensive but unstable. |
| B．They are as efficient at carrying out photosynthesis as natural leaves. |
| C．They can work only in pure water. |
| D．They need several catalysts to help them work efficiently. |
The aim of the scientists at MIT in developing the new artificial leaves is to .
| A．build-up more power stations in the world |
| B．provide cheaper energy for developing countries |
| C．offer people in developing countries access to pure water |
| D．gain a deeper understanding of the photosynthesis process |
What is the main point of the article?
| A．Introduction to the history of artificial leaves. |
| B．An invention copying photosynthesis. |
| C．Giving energy to the poor. |
| D．A mixture of water power and solar energy. |