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. 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 |
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 |
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. 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 |
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 |
There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey. The author expected the train trip to be________.
| A．adventurous | B．pleasant | C．exciting | D．dull |
What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
| A．The friendly country people. | B．The mountains along the way. |
| C．The crowds of people in the streets. | D．The simple lunch served on the train. |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "relish" in the second paragraph?
| A．choose | B．enjoy | C．prepare for | D．carry on |
Where was the writer going?
| A．Johore Baru | B．The Causeway. | C．Butterworth | D．Singapore |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Comfort in traveling by train. | B．Pleasure of living in the country. |
| C．Reading gives people delight. | D．Smiles brighten people up. |
In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive(认知的) skills didn't get any smarter.
More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week. They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn't play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q test before and after the experiment.
Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn't do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.
"If you're (playing these games) because they're fun, that's absolutely fine," said Adrian Owen, the study's lead author. "But if you're expecting (these games) to improve your I.Q., our data suggests this isn't the case," he said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
One maker of brain games said the company's games have been proven to boost brain power.
"Their conclusion would be like saying, 'I cannot run a mile in under 4 minutes and therefore it is impossible to do so," Aldrich said in a statement.
"There is precious little evidence to suggest the skills used in these games transfer to the real world," said Art Kramer, who was not linked to the study and has no ties to any companies that make brain training games.
Instead of playing brain games, Kramer said people would be better off getting some exercise. He said physical activity can spark(激发) new connections between nerves and produce new brain cells. "Fitness changes the building blocks of the brain's structure," he said.. It can be inferred that the online brain games mentioned in the text are_____________.
| A．costly | B．unreliable | C．illegal | D．effective |
. Which of the following statements is true about the experiment in the second paragraph?
| A．The experiment lasted for a week. |
| B．Age didn’t affect the result of the research. |
| C．Every person played online brain games three times a day. |
| D．People who didn’t play online brain games did better in I.Q test |
. What can we learn from the text?
| A．Playing games which are fun can improve your I.Q. |
| B．There is a lot of evidence to suggest skills can transfer to the real world. |
| C．Do physical activity can boost your brain power. |
| D．Playing online games can spark new brain cells |
The underlined sentence suggests that ___________.
| A．The research was not linked to the study |
| B．Those playing the games can score higher in the test |
| C．playing the games can spark new connections between nerves |
| D．This isn’t the case that these games can improve your I.Q. |
In our life, we face situations where we are either asked to choose between trust and disbelief. Many of us would say we have to choose trust over disbelief. Actually we are given intellectual(智力的) power to choose what we want, and what we choose certainly need not be the one that sounds pleasing. That is, we can choose both trust and disbelief, but we have to know when to choose between these two.
We should all realize that we are living in a world which is unfortunately mixed with people of various types. We have been given the power of judging who we are working with and who we are partnering with. We cannot give an excuse for believing a scheming(诡计多端的)person, just because he looked or sounded nice, unless we consider ourselves mentally unskillful.
This world was there before us and it does not owe us a single thing. We are asked to take care of ourselves and our belongings. Trust, too, has to be saved for the deserving(值得的) people. When we give trust universally to all, we end up troubled by the undeserving common cheat. People say trust is life. True! But only wisely exercised trust is life.
When we start a conversation with someone, the first things that we usually notice would be their dress, behavior, style and their language. What sometimes we all forget to look at is the person’s intention. Now how to look at a person’s intention is a lesson everybody has to learn for themselves in their own way -- there is no single standard for it. But it is certainly possible to discover the purpose if we seek a little bit more.
Certainly a false offer of friendship or guidance cannot stand undiscovered for long; we are therefore called to exercise disbelief over trust at least momentarily till we find out that we certainly are in agreement with a mutual(相互的)good-willed person.
The world teaches you lots of lessons and if we are willing, we can learn all that we want.In the first paragraph, the author ________.
| A．concentrates on the reason why we make different choices |
| B．focuses on how to choose between trust and disbelief |
| C．suggests that trust should be wisely exercised |
| D．implies that people are forced to make the choice |
. We can infer from the passage that _________.
| A．people who we are working with are in fact those who we are partnering with |
| B．the first thing we notice tends to mislead our judgment |
| C．the mentally healthy people will not judge a person by his looks |
| D．the standards of looking at a person’s intention are not various |
. The underlined sentence means __________
| A．trust and disbelief go hand in hand with each other. |
| B．disbelief is necessary if you aren’t wise |
| C．trust is established if two people know each other |
| D．doubt may serve as the precondition for trust |
Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage?
| A．Trust or Disbelief? | B．Trust Is Life. |
| C．Trust over Disbelief? | D．Disbelief over Trust? |
| From: |
<joseph_yana@orange.net> |
| IP Address: |
193.252.22.118 (originates from France) |
| Date: |
Mon, 02-Feb-2011 09:37:04am |
| Attachment: |
(No attachment) |
| Subject: |
[G-Spam] PLEASE REPLY BACK. |
| Message: |
|
| CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL. FROM THE DESK OF: MR. JOSEPH YANA. AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (ADB) BURKINA-FASO. Dear Sir / Madam, I am the Bill and Exchange (assistant) Manager of the African Development Bank, MR. JOSEPH YANA. In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of USD$9.900.000 in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his wife and two children in July 2002 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin(近亲属) to come over and claim his money, but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him in the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I in my department now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as next of kin or relation since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The banking law and guidelines here says that if such money remains unclaimed after ten years, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of the foreigner in this transaction（办理） is necessary because our late customer was a foreigner. We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreigner partner, 5% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 65% would be for me, after which I shall visit your country for disbursement(开支) according to the percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank, and send your account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where the money will be sent. Upon receiving your reply, I will send to you by fax or e-mail the text of the application which you shall retype and fax to us. Trusting to receive your urgent reply through my alternative Email : jyana96 @ yahoo.com.id Best regards. MR. JOSEPH YANA. |
A foreigner who receives this letter should ________.
A．be a close relative of the dead. |
B．send hundreds of dollars to Africa |
C．go to African Development Bank for the wealth |
D．not take it seriously. |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．Many millionaires died in the plane crash. |
| B．Any money unclaimed will be given to a poor foreigner. |
| C．the division of the money seems quite reasonable. |
| D．AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK doesn’t exist at all. |
A person who believes “__________” will fall into it.
| A．Nothing ventured, nothing gained. | B．There's no such thing as a free lunch. |
| C．All rivers run into the sea | D．A short cut is often a wrong cut |
While surfing television channels over the weekend，a scene from a family classic of last year portraying the now-so-familiar sorry state of retired parents being ill-treated by their children and families caught my attention. I wondered why the description of this relationship had not changed much over the many years! Even though the same movies and soaps accurately capture several other social changes around us — from value systems to new found economic freedom to the importance of technology and the changing approach to consumerism(消费主义) — are these creative efforts far from the truth in telling us that an average retiree is still struggling?
Look around and you will agree that the post-retired lifestyle for an ex-salaried class people is often a pale shadow of their last working years. Even self employed people, who have handed over the responsibility to the next generation, are no exception. Did the average middle class not save enough through his working years?
Socially, we already know that the Indians are taught the benefits of start saving early on in life. Household savings data supports this social behavior — India has the highest rates of savings among various economies and is far ahead of the west. Yet, tragically, a lifetime of savings does not seem to provide enough for a comfortable retirement!
A closer look at the pattern of what we do with our financial savings may tell us a bit more. Over half of households’ financial savings is put into a “safe” deposit, followed by large portions in insurance, pension, provident funds（福利基金） and the rest in physical currency. Less than a tenth goes into “risky” assets(资产) like stocks. While there might be nothing, in particular, worrisome in this investment pool, one has to consider inflation(通货膨胀). The real value of savings, over a few decades, may actually be lower than the starting point. What had not changed much over the many years according to the passage?
| A．Value systems | B．The poor situation of retirees |
| C．Economic freedom | D．Approach to consumerism |
Which of the following statements about saving in India is right?
| A．the concept of saving has been well received by Indians. |
| B．the amount of the savings ranks number one across the world. |
| C．long-standing savings can help the retirees live a care-free life. |
| D．saving early can not benefit people at all. |
What can be inferred according to the last paragraph?
| A．Half of the financial savings in stocks can be accepted. |
| B．The real value of saving must be lowered in a few years. |
| C．A loss of savings may hardly be avoided. |
| D．Inflation can be avoided on condition that you consume instead of saving. |
What’s the best title of the text?
| A．Retirees being treated unfairly |
| B．Is saving enough |
| C．Saving in India |
| D．How to deal with saving |