Coupons to spend
“How did you spend your coupons?”
On their first day back to school, many students in Hangzhou greeted each other this way.
The coupons referred to the 100 yuan coupons each student received form the city government before the Spring Festival holidays. Over 260,000 primary school and middle school students were given coupons. They could use them in local stores and supermarkets, or to see movies and buy books.
The same coupons have also been given to low income families in Hangzhou. Other cities, including Chengdu and Nanjing, also gave coupons to their citizens. More cities are expected to follow their lead.
Why are local governments doing this?
These programmes are all part of a broader effort in China to increase domestic demand in the face of the global financial crisis.
The crisis has seriously affected China’s exports and investments (投资). Many factories in southern cities have been closed down. Some companies are laying off workers or reducing their pay. The stock market and real estate market have been falling.
In a time of financial crisis, people usually respond by saving money. They are uncertain about the future and are afraid that more difficult times may be ahead. Now many people are choosing not to spend money carelessly. Major chain stores have seen a sharp slowdown in sales, analysts say.
But spending keeps an economy healthy. If people don’t spend, there will be too many products in the market. Then shops will stop buying products from factories. When factories receive no orders, they close down. The workers there accordingly lose their jobs. Also, if people don’t spend, the service industry suffers. The total result is that the whole economy breaks down.
Issuing coupons is a practical and effective way to increase domestic demand in the current situation, said Jiang Zengwei, vice-minister of China’s Ministry of Commerce. Hangzhou reported a rise in customers in local markets during Spring Festival holiday.
However, issuing coupons is only a temporary measure. To increase consumers’ confidence, the government needs to establish a sound secure social system in the long term. When people don’t have to worry about education, health care and their pension, they will be more willing to spend instead of saving.Why are local governments issuing coupons?
| A．To increase domestic demand in the face of the global financial crisis. |
| B．To enable students to use them in local stores and supermarkets, or to see movies and buy books independently. |
| C．To help those low income families in the global financial crisis. |
| D．To show the government’s ability to solve economic problems |
What is NOT the influence that the global financial crisis has brought us?
| A．China’s exports and investments have been seriously affected. |
| B．People begin to spend money without a second thought. |
| C．Workers are faced with losing jobs and the reduction of the salaries. |
| D．The active stock market and real estate market have gone. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Issuing coupons is a practical and effective way to increase domestic demand in a long term. |
| B．The total result of saving money is that the whole economy breaks down. |
| C．The government may carry out new policies to encourage citizens to be willing to spend in the near future. |
| D．After issuing the coupons, the local markets have seen a rise in customers during Spring Festival holiday. |
If the government is to print a slogan on the coupons to restore consumers’ confidence, what might be used to promote the idea?
| A．Spend now, save later. |
| B．Spend money like there’s no tomorrow; come on! |
| C．Spend money like it’s going out of style; let’s do it! |
| D．Big spender, wise spender. |
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项A、B、C和D中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
“Help! Help! Help!” a resident screamed over the phone, “I am being eaten alive by mosquitoes!”
Recent rainfalls have produced an early hit of blood-seeking mosquitoes．Once flooded, eggs laid during the drought along water banks hatch（孵化）quickly, flying off to seek hosts such as people, birds, and other animals．
The flood mosquitoes are big and aggressive．They chase you down, drill into your skin and take your blood, causing pain and itchiness．“I have lost a pint of blood to those suckers,” a Spring Hill resident claimed．“Mosquitoes are killing my kids,” a Ridge Manor woman shouted．
Residents are urged to protect themselves when going out, especially during the hours of dusk and dawn．Long-sleeve shirts, long pants, socks and hats will help keep mosquitoes at bay．
Mosquito Control has already received hundreds of service requests this month．When calling in, residents need to provide their name, address, phone number and nature of the problem．Technicians will respond by investigating the problem and making proper treatment and notification to resident．
Mosquitoes grow in almost any kind or amount of water．Controlling mosquito larvae（幼虫） is vital to mosquito control．Confined in their water habitat, larvae are treated and eliminated before they mature and “take to wing．” Field technicians check their areas searching for mosquitoes breeding in lakes, ponds, drainage ditches and they treat the water with a host of larvicides（杀幼虫剂）．
It is important to understand that mosquito control is much more than sending a spray truck （airplane or helicopter in other counties） to kill adult mosquitoes．Night-time spraying is actually the last defense after all the above procedures have been done, but there are still mosquitoes present in the area．
56．The author writes the first paragraph in order to _________．
A．make the public take action at once
B．attract readers to read the following contents
C．show that the people bothered by mosquitoes are helpless
D．criticize the government has done nothing
57．When do the eggs hatch according to the passage?
A．When the flood hits． B．During the drought．
C．After the flood leaves． D．When spring comes．
58．When are mosquitoes most dangerous?
A．At dawn and dusk． B．At noon．
C．In the late morning． D．At midnight．
59．When calling Mosquito Control, people should provide the following EXCEPT _________．
A．their name and address B．phone number
C．nature of the problem D．marriage and possessions
How Much to Tip
You’re out to dinner．The food is delicious and the service is fine．You decide to leave a big fat tip．Why? The answer may not be as simple as you think．
Tipping, psychologists have found, is not just about service．Instead, studies have shown that tipping can be affected by psychological reactions to a series of different factors from the waiter’s choice of words, to how they carry themselves while taking orders, to the bill’s total．Even how much waiters remind customers of themselves can determine how much change they pocket by the end of the night．
“Studies before have shown that mimicry （模仿） brings into positive feelings for the mimicker,” wrote Rick van Baaren, a social psychology professor．“These studies show that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimics them．”
So Rick van Baaren divided 59 waiters into two groups．He requested that half serve with a phrase such as, “Coming up!” Those in the other half were instructed to repeat the orders and preferences back to the customers．Rick van Baaren then compared their take-home．The results were clear — it pays to mimic your customer．The copycat（模仿者） waiters earned almost double the amount of tips to the other group．
Leonard Green and Joel Myerson, psychologists at Washington University in St．Louis, found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by his bill．After research on the 1,000 tips left for waiters, cabdrivers, hair stylists, they found tip percentages in these three areas dropped as customers’ bills went up．In fact, tip percentages appear to plateau （达到稳定水平） when bills topped $100 and a bill for $200 made the worker gain no bigger percentage tip than a bill for $100．
“That’s also a point of tipping,” Green says．“You have to give a little extra to the cab driver for being there to pick you up and something to the waiter for being there to serve you．If they weren’t there, you’d never get any service．So part of the idea of a tip is for just being there．”
72．Apart from service, how many other factors affecting the customers’ tipping are mentioned in the passage?
A．1． B．2． C．3． D．4．
73．These studies show that _________．
A．tipping can be affected by physical reactions to many different waiter’s factors
B．people who are being mimicked usually tip less to the person who mimics them
C．the mimic waiters can get almost twice as much money as the other group
D．mimicry makes the mimicker feel bad
74．According to the passage, which of the following will be likely to show the right change of the tip percentages?
A B C D
75．We know from the passage that the writer seems to __________．
A．object to Mr Green’s idea about tipping
B．think part of Mr Green’s explanation is reasonable
C．give his generous tip to waiters very often
D．support the opinions of Mr Green and Rick van Baaren about tipping
For jet-setters, a new way to get a restful night
Many people hate the idea of having to sleep on a plane. But Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Dios thinks they can be persuaded otherwise and he has created a new kind of hotel to prove it.
Dios says it is the world’s first jumbo jet hostel, an actual jet-plane at’ Sweden’s main airport outside Stockholm which has been converted into a 25-robin guesthouse that sleeps as many as 72 people.
“I learned abo0t this plane that was-standing abandoned at Arlanda airport and I’ve been trying the concept of hostels in many different houses and buildings,” he told reporters. “I thought, ‘Why not a plane?’”
Jumbo Hostels opened for business on Thursday, giving customers the chance to check in and sleep in a room that can best be described as cozy.
“The most challenging part with this project is trying to build something inside a metal hull -- it’s just really, really tight.”
The jet, which was originally produced for Singapore Airlines, was taken out of service in 2002.
One thing the hostel has. going for it is price-a room starts al 35.0 Swedish crowns (about $4.1% which is a lot less than hotel rooms outside of major airports.
Another feature: customers can get married on the wing of the plane and reside in the plane’s more luxurious honeymoon room situated in the cockpit.
Instead of walking down the aisle, lovebirds can take what Jumbo Hotel calls the “wing walk,” where they can be joined in bliss at the wing tip. The hostel has someone ready to perform the ceremony.
But in some respects, this hostel remains a plane-most clients have to share the jet’s nine bathrooms and staff only wear air steward and stewardess outfits. The only room that has its own bathroom is the honeymoon suite.
68. Why does Oscar Dios make jet plane hotel?
A. Because he is fond of plane very much.
B. Because he is very curious
C. Because he wants to earn more money.
D. Because he likes trying the concept of hotel in many different things.
69. Which of the following statement is not true about the plane?
A. The plane was in service before 2002 .
B. Now the plane as hostel is at Arlanda airport.
C. The plane was first produced for Singapore Airline.
D. The metal of the plane is very hard.
70. For the customers who get married on the plane, _________.
A. they can live in the room situated in the cockpit.
B. They will have their own bathroom
C. They can walk down the aisle
D. The wedding ceremony will be performed by the person prepared by the hotel.
71. Which of the following is the disadvantage of the Jumbo Hotel?
A. It’s price is too high.
B. It hasn’t enough rooms.
C. Sleeping on it is not comfortable.
D. Most clients don’t have their own bathroom.
Some people worry about being the target of laughter. These people are frightened. They suffer from an emotional disorder called gelotophobia. That long name comes from the Greek language. The word Gelos means laugh, while photos means fear.
Victor Rubio is an expert on human behavior at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He says people laugh at others for many different reasons. He says being laughed at causes a fear response in the victim. That fear leads the victim to avoid social situations. Sadly, gelotophobia limits the way they lead their lives.
Victor Rubio was among researchers in a huge international study about laughter. The researchers wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another goal was to measure the fear of being laughed at within different cultures.
A team from the University of Zurich led ninety-three researchers from many countries in search of answers.
The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people. They used questions provided in forty-two languages. Their findings were reported in the scientific publication Humor.
Some of the people questioned said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations. But they hid their feelings. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before. People also admitted to differing levels of fear that they themselves were the targets of other people’s laughter. The researchers measured and compared all these reactions.
Fear of being laughed at, being made fun of, is a common emotion. But the researchers learned that these feelings differed from nation to nation.
For example, the study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia are likely to hide insecure (不安) feelings when they are around others’ laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan who feel they have been victims before may avoid such situations.
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Only eight and a half percent of Finns said they would – compared to eighty percent of those questioned in Thailand.
64. The passage is mainly about______________.
A. a common emotion B. laughter
C. shyness D. gelotophobia
65. In which country are people most likely to avoid social situations where they have been laughed at before?
A. Turkmenistan B. Iraq C. Finland D. Thailand
66. According to the text the following is true EXCEPT that ________.
A. people suffer from gelotophobia because they are shy
B. not all the people questioned hid their feelings in social situations
C. perhaps Humor is a magazine
D. people in Finland are the least likely to suffer from gelotophobia
67. A person who suffers from gelotophobia will probably ______.
A. be active in social activities B. be easily laughed at
C. like to laugh at others D. like to stay alone
A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television , the more likely they are to develop depression (抑郁)as young adults. But the extent to which TV may or may not be to blame is a question that the study leaves unanswered.
The researchers used a national long-term survey of adolescent health to investigate the relationship between media use and depression . They based their findings on more than four thousand adolescents who were not depressed when the survey began in 1995.
As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio.
Media use totaled an average of five and one-half hours a day. More than two hours of that was spent watching TV.
Seven years later, in 2002, more than seven percent of the young people had signs of depression. Their average age at that time was twenty-one.
Brian Primack at the Universtiy of Pittsburgh Medical School was the leading author of the new study . He said every extra hour of television meant an eight percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.
The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use.
Doctor Primack says the study did not explore if watching TV causes depression . But one possibility, like sports and socializing. It might also interfere with sleep, he says, and that could have an influence.
The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active, to read, to attend religious services and to vote.
60．The average age of the depressed young people should be when they began to receive the survey.
A．21 B．15 C．14 D．20
61．According to the passage, which of the following can possibly lead to depression?
A．Swimming
B．Attending a party
C．Attending religious services
D．Watching TV for a long time.
62．We can learn from the passage .
A．the survey lasted a short time
B．over 280 teenagers who received the survey became more or less depressed in 2002
C．men are more likely to become depressed than women
D．the study about the relationship between media use and depression was published in the journal Social Indicators Research
63．What is the best title for the passage?
A．Teens, television, depression
B．Depression—the common problem of teens
C．Problems of watching TV
D．Teens—a group enjoying watching TV