China news, Beijing, July. 29 – Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property (房产) developers and ordinary Chinese. To 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(房地产) 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(control) the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans (贷款) and lands to property developers. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses th
rough 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 hou
sing 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 a verage 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．The population who need houses in China is larger than in the United States. |
How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high housing prices?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Two. | D．One. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
A．The housing price in China is so high that the gover nment 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 government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. |
You are sending a text, watching the TV or listening to the radio ? You may want to stop and give this your full attention after you finish reading this article.
Multi-tasking shrinks the brain, research suggests.
A study found that men and women who frequently used several types of technology at the same time had less grey matter in a key part of the brain.
University of Sussex researchers said: “Simultaneously using mobile phones, laptops and other media devices could be changing the structure of our brains .”
Worryingly, the part of the brain that shrinks is involved in processing emotion. The finding follows research which has linked multi-tasking with a shortened attention span, depression, anxiety and lower grades at school.
The researchers began by asking 75 healthy men and women how often they divided their attention between different types of technology. This could mean sending a text message while listening to music and checking email, or speaking on the phone while watching TV and surfing the web.
The volunteers were then given brain scans which showed they had less grey matter in a region called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).
The findings held even when differences in personality were taken into account. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first to make a link between multi-tasking and the structure of the brain. Researcher Kep Kee Loh said: ‘Media multi-tasking is becoming more popular in our lives today and there is increasing concern about its impacts on our social-emotional well-being.’ He added that more research is needed to prove that multi-tasking shrinks the brain. This is because it is also possible that people with less grey matter in the ACC are more drawn to using lots of gadgets simultaneously.
Scientists have previously demonstrated brain structure can be altered on prolonged exposure to novel environments and experience.
Other studies have shown that training – such as learning to juggle or taxi drivers learning the map of London – can increase grey-matter densities in certain parts of the brain .Experts have also warned of the harmful effect technology can have on our memory and attention span.
The University of California team conducted a survey of more than 18,000 people aged between 18 and 99 and found 20 percent had problems with memory. Researchers were taken aback by the 14 per cent of 18 to 39-year-olds who also worried about their memories.
Multi-tasking with gadgets may shorten attention span, making it harder to focus and form memories, the researchers said, adding that youngsters may be particularly affected by stress.In writing the passage, the author intends to _____.
| A．tell people multi—tasking is becoming more and more popular in our life today |
| B．inform people of the findings that stress and other emotional problems are caused by using media devices |
| C．warn people of the possible damage to our brain by performing several tasks at the same time |
| D．prove the links between multi-tasking with the increase of grey matter in the brain |
What does the underlined word “held” in the eighth paragraph mean?
| A．contained | B．carried | C．owned | D．remained |
It can be inferred from the passage that __________
| A．Multi-tasking has a bad effect on men rather than on women |
| B．Multi-tasking could change the structure of the brains and shrink the brain |
| C．the part of the brain that shrinks is involved in language learning |
| D．the writer doubts that using mobile phones and other media devices at the same time could shrink the brain |
The reason why Kep Kee Loh thought more research would be needed to prove that multi-tasking shrinks the brain was that ____
| A．he doubted the findings of the research |
| B．it was also possible that people with less grey matter in the ACC are more drawn to using lots of gadgets simultaneously. |
| C．the study published in the journal PLOS ONE drew a different conclusion |
| D．he wanted to prove training can increase grey – matter densities |
The passage suggests that _____
| A．when watching TV or listening to the radio, people’s brain will shrink |
| B．no measures can be taken to increase grey – matter densities in people’s brains |
| C．people gradually realize the negative impact media multi—tasking could have on people’ s social-emotional well –being. |
| D．multi—tasking can’t affect the grey matter in our brain |
Chinese airline travellers might be permitted to use mobile phones with in-flight Wi-Fi in 2016, as long as they are in flight mode, although progress still falls behind the rest of the world, the Beijing Times reported.
Zhou Hong, an aviation communication expert, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has been exploring the possibility of air travelers using electronic devices at a height of more than 3,000 meters.
It's estimated that the result will come out in 2016, and it will likely be approved, he said.
China's major airlines and telecommunication companies have been preparing an alliance to conduct research into making phone calls during flights, said He Guili, head of China Telecom Technology Labs under the Ministry of Information and Industry Technology.
He said the main obstacle lies in the compatibility(兼容性)between mobile signals and aircraft electronic navigation systems, but that two solutions offered are already technically mature.
During a test on July 23, about 80 passengers were invited to use China's first onboard Wi-Fi service on a China Eastern Airlines flight between Shanghai and Beijing. They were only allowed to use iPads and laptops, however.
Compared to the boom of Wi-Fi service abroad, the service in China is still in the start-up stage, and has not yet been put into mass commercial use.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has just announced that airlines can now permit passengers to use electronic devices such as mobile phones during flights.It said electronic devices do not cause a safety risk, and that airlines can allow passengers to use mobile phones once they have conducted their own safety reviewsThe underlined word “boom” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to_________.
| A．discovery | B．prosperity |
| C．invention | D．advantage |
According to the passage, the following statements are wrong EXCEPT____
| A．According to the passage, Zhou Hong is head of China Telecom Technology Labs |
| B．About80 passengers were involved in a test conducted on a China Eastern Airlines flight between Beijing and Guangzhou. |
| C．The CAAC has been exploring the possibility of air travellers using electronic devices at a height of more than 3,000 meters nowadays |
| D．Chinese airline travellers have already been permitted to use mobile phones with in-flight Wi-Fi |
What’s the attitude of the EASA towards the use of phones during the flight ?
A.SupportiveB．Negative.
C Sceptical.D．DisapprovalWhat is the passage mainly about?
| A．China may permit air travellers to use phones freely during flight by 2015 |
| B．Air travellers may be allowed to use phones with in-flight Wi-Fi in flight mode by 2016 |
| C．China is catching up with developed countries in technology |
| D．Wi-Fi service has already been used commercially in China |
The passage is most likely a part of ____
| A．a science fiction | B．a guide book |
| C．a commercial ad | D．a news report |
All across California, honeybees are flying away from their hives and dying. Empty hives are causing a lot of worry about some important food crops.
Bees give us a lot more than delicious honey. They are pollinators （授 粉 者）—they enable plants to produce the fruits and nuts we enjoy by carrying pollen from one plant or flower to the next. The wind pollinates oats, corn, and wheat, but many other plants (like apple and cherry trees and melon vines) depend on insects, bats, and birds. In the U.S., millions and millions of bees kept by human beekeepers fly around doing a lot of this important work for food crops. “Bees are worth protecting because their work adds so much to our diet,” says Dr. Jeff Pettis of the Bee Research Laboratory.
California’s almond crop alone depends on about half the bees in the country. But now the almond crop and many others could be in trouble with so many bees dying.
Researchers at government and university labs all over the country are trying to figure out why so many bees are dying. However, bees are hard to study. Most die away from the hive, so researchers don’t have dead bodies to examine. And when researchers return to a hive after two weeks, about half the bees they studied on their first visit will be dead, replaced by new ones in the natural life cycle of bees. “It isn’t like studying a large animal like a cow that doesn’t move around much and is easy to find out in the cow field,” says Pettis.
Researchers have some ideas about what could be affecting bee health. They could be sick from poisons widely used to kill insects, or they might not be getting enough good food to stay strong. Also, tiny insects called mites feed on bees. “A virus or bacteria could also be doing the killing.” explains Pettis.What is the main idea of Paragraph 2?
| A．The ways of crops pollinating |
| B．The importance of bees to food crops. |
| C．The variety of food crops |
| D．The protection of honeybees |
The reason why bees are hard to study is that ____________.
| A．all the bees studied by researchers are often replaced by new bees by beekeepers |
| B．they never return to hives |
| C．they are too small to be seen |
| D．they fly around too much |
The almond crop and many others in California could be in trouble because ____
| A．many bees are dying |
| B．researchers have difficulty studying bees |
| C．there is no rain and the crops can’t be irrigated |
| D．all the pollinators such insects , birds and bats disappear |
According to the passage ,which of the following can’t affect bee health ?
| A．Poisons to kill birds. |
| B．Lack of good food |
| C．Large birds feeding on insects |
| D．Some virus. |
What can we learn from the article?
| A．A large number of bees have died in the hive. |
| B．Without bees, some foods would disappear from our diet. |
| C．Only researchers in California want to know what kills bees. |
| D．Large animals are easier to study than tiny insects. |
An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow perched on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this?”
The son replied, “It is a crow.”
After a few minutes, the father asked his son the 2nd time, “What is this?”
The son said, “Father, I have just now told you ‘It’s a crow’.”
After a little while, the old father again asked his son the 3rd time, “What is this?”
At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the son’s tone when he said to his father. “It’s a crow, a crow, a crow.”
After a while, the father again asked his son the 4th time, “What is this?”
This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?”
A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:
“Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated, I rather felt affection for my innocent child.”The underlined word “irritation” in the passage can be replaced by ___________.
| A．puzzlement | B．Patience |
| C．annoyance | D．excitement |
What was the father’s age when he wrote down this page in the diary?
| A．38 years old | B．35 years old |
| C．45 years old | D．80 years old |
Why did the old father keep asking his son the same question?
| A．Because he developed a kind of disease. |
| B．Because he was so boring that he wanted to play a joke on his son. |
| C．Because he wanted to know whether his son was as patient as he himself used to be. |
| D．Because his son loves playing this game with him. |
Why didn’t the father feel irritated when his son asked him the same question for 23 times ?
| A．he knew his son was foolish |
| B．the father loved his son so much that he never got tired of doing this again and again |
| C．because the father was deaf |
| D．the father had already got used to this kind of situation |
How would the son probably feel after reading the words in the diary?
| A．impatient | B．sad |
| C．grateful | D．ashamed |
A letter of reply is sometimes a most valuable thing． Here is a story telling about this common and natural human sentiment．
The busiest woman in Labrador during one bitter cold Christmas not very long ago, was an Australian nurse by the name of Kate Austen． But Nurse Austen was not too busy to acknowledge with a long, friendly letter every gift of food or clothing received for distribution to the natives in that cold and poor district of the north． Among the gifts was a box of knittings for children, knitted（编织）and sent by a woman in Toronto．
Nurse Austen was busy, exhausted and not feeling too well that winter．She could have written just ordinary routine notes of acknowledgement． But that was not her way． She sat down and wrote the woman in Toronto a real letter telling all about the village, and the names of the children who were wearing the knitted gloves and caps, and what they said, when they got them, and how they looked when they wore them．She wanted the woman who had knitted and sent all those lovely knittings "to see how much happiness and warmth she had created．" Not long after, she received the following answer from Canada．
Dear Miss Austen:
Your letter made me happy． I did not expect such a full return． I am eighty years old, and I am blind． There is little I can do except knit, and that is why I knit so many caps and sweaters and scarves．Of course I cannot write this, so my daughter-in-law is doing it for me．She also sewed the seams and made the button holes for the knitted things．
I know something of the work you are doing． At the age of nineteen I married a man who was going to China to be a missionary(传教士）． For forty years, with an occasional year at home in America, we Worked in China, and during that time our two sons and a daughter were born to us, of whom only one son survives．After forty years, my husband's health began to fail． We returned to the States where he took charge of a settlement house in Brooklyn, New York． A surprising number of the problems we faced there were similar to the problems we had met in China．When my husband died, I came to Toronto to live with my son and daughter-in-law． They are very good to me, and I pride myself that I am little trouble to them, though it is hard for a blind old lady to be sure of anything．
What I most want to say, my dear, is this． For sixty years I have been making up missionary packages of such clothing or food or medicine or books as I could collect． In various parts of the world and to various parts of the world I have sent them．Sometimes I have received a printed note of acknowledgement from the headquarters depot or mission board, sometimes nothing．Occasionally I have been informed that my contribution was planned for Syria or Armenia or the upper Yangtze．But never before in all that time have l had a personal letter picturing the village and telling me who is wearing the clothing and what they said．I did not suppose that ever in my lifetime I should receive a letter like that．
May God bless you．
Sincerely yours,
What did Nurse Austen do after receiving the gift?
| A．She wrote a letter telling all about her life. |
| B．She was too busy to write a note of acknowledgement. |
| C．She was not busy, exhausted or feeling too well that time. |
| D．She not only wrote a letter of thanks but told Laura more details. |
Which of the following is true_______________.
| A．Laura wrote the letter. |
| B．Laura made the button holes for the knitted things |
| C．Laura’s daughter-in-law sewed the seams and made the button holes for the knitted things． |
| D．Laura’s daughter-in-law knitted many caps and sweaters and scarves． |
We can learn from the passage EXCEPT that_____.
| A．For decades, Laura has been to many places of the world. |
| B．Laura sent contributions to people all over the world． |
| C．Laura was blind and brought trouble to her children. |
| D．Laura had never received such a personal letter as Miss Austen’s before. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Contributions make a big difference. |
| B．The Power of a sincere reply |
| C．The story of two women |
| D．Be grateful to others’ help |