AIDS’ Threat to Asia Grows
NEW DELHI----Just a few years ago, Mala was a typical middle-class Indian housewife. She cooked, cleaned and looked after her two small children.
Last year, her life took a tragic turn. Her husband died of AIDS; she was found out HIV-positive and her mother-in-law took her children away from her, saying they would get the disease. “When friends dropped for a visit, she would introduce me, saying, ‘She is my son’s widow. She has AIDS,’” said Mala. AIDS is now described as “explosive(炸药)” around the world. A study of a hospital in the port city of Durban in South Africa, where the world’s biggest and Africa’s second AIDS conference opened last Sunday, found that almost half the beds in medical wards (病房) were occupied by AIDS patients.
South Africa has one of the world’s fastest growing HIV infections, with 1,700 people infected daily, adding to the 4.3 million, or 10 percent of its population, living with HIV. Until now, Asia has been more successful in holding the AIDS virus than Africa, where the disease has killed about 12 million people.
AIDS is now threatening to surround many of Asia’s poverty-stricken countries. Countries in Asia, such as Cambodia, and Thailand, have HIV infection speeds over 1 percent. But the low speeds hide huge numbers of infected people, because of the population base.
In India, for example, 3.7 million are infected, more than in any other country except South Africa. In China, an estimated 860,000 people (the actual number may be a little larger), mainly drug users, live with HIV/AIDS. Gordon Alexander, a senior advisor for UN AIDS in India, estimates that the number hit by AIDS in Asia will climb about eight million over the next five years from about six million.
In many Asian countries, the battle against HIV is a social and cultural one against public discussion of sexual health put a nationwide media campaign into action to limit the speed of HIV through unsafe sex. Brenton Wong, an official for Singapore’s Action for AIDS, says the actual HIV incidence in the city state of 3.9 million people is at least eight times higher than official data. “Shame and deny is still very, very common so people are afraid to get tested and many times won’t even tell their families if they test positive,” said Wong. We can conclude from the underlined sentence in the last paragraph that ______.
A.The official data always tell lies and cheat people to hide the truth. |
B.3.9 million people in Singapore suffered from AIDS. |
C.Singapore has a population of 3.9 million |
D.The number of people infected with HIV is at least eight times larger than that of the AIDS patients in Singapore. |
It is judged that there are ______ people hit by AIDS in Asia or so.
A.4.3 million | B.6 million | C.8 million | D.3.7 million |
According to the passage, the main reasons that AIDS spread in Asia is through_______.
A.blood | B.unsafe sex | C.love | D.drugs |
Which of the following statements is not right?
A.The battle against Aids in many Asian countries is against their culture and social customs. |
B.Though the HIV infection in Asia develops with low speed, the infected number is still quite large compared to other continents. |
C.India has the second largest number of HIV infected people. |
D.Aids might affect the poverty-stricken countries more severely. |
For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They’re called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work and their bad condition has become a subject of concern(关心)。
Lynette Long was once the principal(校长)of an elementary school. Said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of the kids had chains around their necks with keys attached(附带)。 I was often telling them to put them inside their shirts. There were so many keys that it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the effect working couples and single parents had on their children Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared(害怕).Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed, in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it high volume.
It’s hard to get statistics(统计数字)on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.The main idea about “latchkey” children is that they ______.
A.tiredness | B.freedom | C.loneliness | D.fear |
The word “nightmare” in the third paragraph probably means______.
A.night suit | B.night habit |
C.terrible dream at night | D.staying up at night |
We may draw a conclusion that_______.
The following table shows some results of a survey (调查)in which 800 Japanese school pupils were asked to give their impressions(印象)of their classroom teachers. The pupils’ impressions were found to differ depending on whether the teacher was new (with less than three years’ experience), middle-standing(ten to twenty years), or veteran(有经验的)(twenty to thirty years). The numbers in the table show the percentage of the pupils who answered “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” for each question item (项目)
Question Items |
New |
Middle-standing |
Veteran |
1.Shows sense of humor in class 2.Explains clearly 3.Teaches in a relaxed(放松的)manner. 4. Writes neatly on the blackboard 5. Lets pupils ask questions in class 6. Makes checks in notebooks 7. Speaks loudly and clearly 8. Treats pupils equally 9. Cares about pupils opinions 10. Spends time with pupils between classes |
42 33 30 9 18 22 45 43 ![]() 25 |
56 58 46 43 30 30 85 58 43 10 |
70 68 65 56 47 43 54 42 17 6 |
In contrast(对比)to the new teachers, the middle-standing and veteran teachers seem to have made a remarkable(显著的)improvement in their ability to _______.
A.be fair to any pupil | B.evaluate pupils’ progress |
C.present materials clearly | D.understand and play with pupils |
Pupils seem to regard the new and the middle-standing teachers as being more_____.
A.relaxed in class than the veterans |
B.interested in pupils’ ideas than the veterans |
C.neat in appearance than the veterans |
D.skilful at explaining than the veterans |
Which of the following statements is true according to the table?
Over a hundred years ago people in London were surprised to see a very unusual boat come sailing up the Thames River. The boat was eighty feet long, flat-bottomed, with big wooden eyes on both sides in the front and was colorfully painted at the back.
People came to know that it was a sailing boat from Fuzhou in distant China. The boat had sailed round the Cape of Good Hope(好望角), up the western coast of Africa, and finally to England. It had covered(航行) fifteen thousand miles — more than half of the distance round the world.
Although it was unexpected, the Chinese were warmly welcomed. The boat carried goods such as silk and tea as well as a number of gifts from the Emperor of China for the Queen of England.
People had always mistakenly thought of the Chinese as a people not used to the sea. However, from centuries of trading and sailing in dangerous seas, the Chinese had learned how to build good boats and sail them well. The coming of this sailing boat to London proved once again that the Chinese could sail to distant countries in the world.
The Chinese sailing boat arrived in London .
A.before she sailed to Africa | B.in the nineteenth century |
C.hundreds of years ago | D.in the twentieth century |
The boat was considered unusual because .
A.it was a small wooden boat | B.it carried Chinese silk an![]() |
C.it had travelled fifteen thousand miles | D.it looked strange in several ways |
According to this article, which of the following is true?
A.The distance round the earth measures less than thirty thousand miles. |
B.The Chinese Emperor gave silk and tea to the English Queen as gifts. |
C.The Chinese boat came to London by accident. |
D.The Chinese people were not good at sailing in dangerous seas. |
The writer want
s to prove that a long time ago the Chinese .
A.carried silk, tea and other goods to England |
B.could reach many parts of the world by sea |
C.could sail along the Thames River |
D.surprised Londoners with an unusual boat |
In order to know a foreign language thoroughly(完全地), four things are necessary. First, we must understand the language when we hear it spoken. Secondly, we must be able to speak it ourselves, correctly with confidence(自信) and without hesitation(犹豫). Thirdly, we must be able to write it. We must be able to make sentences that are correct in grammar.
There is no short way to succeed in language learning. A good memory is a great help, but it is not enough only to memorize the rules from a grammar book. It is no much use learning by heart long lists of words and their meanings, studying the dictionary and so on. We must learn by using the language. If we are pleased with a few rules we have memorized, we are not really learning the language. We must “Learn through use”. Practice is important. We must practise speaking and writing the language whenever we can.The most important things to learn a foreign language are __________.
A.understanding and speaking | B.hearing, speaking, reading and writing |
C.writing and understanding | D.memorizing and listening |
Someone hears and writes English very well, but he speaks it very badly. This is because __________.
A.he doesn’t understand the language when he hears it spoken |
B.he doesn’t have a good memory |
C.he always remember lists of words and their meanings |
D.he often hesitates to practise speaking it |
One can never learn a foreign language well only by __________.
A.much practice | B.studying the dictionary |
C.learning through use | D.using the language |
Which of the following is the most important in learning a foreign language?
A.A good memory. | B.Spea![]() |
C.Practice. | D.Writing. |
“Learn t
hrough use” means __________.
A.we use a language in order to learn it | B.we learn a foreign language in order to use it |
C.we can learn a language well whi![]() |
D.both B and C |
A couple of years ago, I received a $ 600 insurance dividend (保险股息).Sitting at the kitchen table, my wife and I discussed what we might do with the money. I realized now that the refrigerator overheard our talk. The very next day it went wrong. The repairman told us we needed a new unit. Cost:$600. Not long after that, we got a refund(赔偿金)from the shop, enough to pay for a trip to Mexico. “I’ve something to tell you,” I said to my wife in a low voice. “How about the living-room?” she suggested. I remembered the color TV set was there. “No, not there. Let’s go out.” I showed her the check as we stood on the driveway. We held each other excitedly and hardly noticed the rain. My car was parked within5 meters. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. As I started for the airport the next day, the car began making strange sounds. Changing the engine cost about $ 1, 000.
Then I looked through our financial records. I discovered that during the last ten years we spent all our “found money” repairing a hot water heater, a television and a stove.
I never mention money in front of our mechanical equipment. But if this article is published and I am paid for, the word processor(文字信息处理机)is going to go for sure. It’ll know. What went wrong first as the writer’s?
A.The refrigerator | B.The stove |
C.The TV set | D.The engine of the car |
What has been repaired and still remains all right?
A.The car | B.The color TV set |
C.The stove | D.The hot water heater |
Which statement is wrong according to the passage?