With the growth of the European Union and increased globalisation, English is increasingly the lingua franc a（通用语） in European businesses, and those who speak it have become the elite （精英）of the workforce．
In the past, only a few specialists in a company were needed to communicate with foreign businesses．However, in these days of multinational companies, where workers are required to communicate with other employees from several countries, a common language is essential and English has become the logical choice．
Nowadays, even blue-collar workers in many companies are required to speak English．For example, just over three years ago, a Dutch company．United Pan-European Communications （UPC）, was contracted to build a TV studio in Amsterdam．The job involved many electricians—more than the company could find in the Netherlands．There were plenty of qualified electricians in nearby France and Belgium, but the American and Dutch executives of UPC wanted everyone on the job to speak and understand the same language．So, the UPC hired British electricians and flew them to Amsterdam every Monday, accommodating them in hotels all over the city, and flying them home on Friday evenings．
Increasingly, workers who can speak English earn salaries 25-35% higher than those who can' t．They are also eligible （有条件被选中的） for a wider range of high-level jobs．
The problem is that, while the ability to speak English is fast becoming essential for getting a good job, there is a shortage of people who can speak it．According to a recent European Commission report, only about 41% of continental Europeans can speak English, and only 29% speak it well enough to carry on a conversation．Many companies are solving this problem by setting up English language schools within the workplace．English language schools all over Europe are expanding at a huge rate, and governments are looking at ways to improve English tuition in schools．
One result of this modem urge to learn English is that a generation gap is appearing． According to a European Union study, 67% of Europeans between 15 and 24 say they can speak English while only 18% of those over 55 say they can．Increasingly, all over Europe, it is the children who are leading the parents．In European companies, workers who speak English ________．
| A．find it easy to carry on a conversation | B．have an advantage over other workers |
| C．must be white-collar workers | D．travel to many different countries |
Why did the UPC hire the British electricians?
| A．There were not enough electricians in nearby France and Belgium． |
| B．British electricians were more qualified than those in the Netherlands． |
| C．The UPC wanted all the employees to speak English． |
| D．The UPC meant to show they were rich enough to accommodate and fly them． |
What can you learn from the passage about European people?
| A．More young people can speak English well than older people. |
| B．67% Europeans can speak English very well． |
| C．18% of the people over 55 can't speak English． |
| D．Over half the people can speak English． |
John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1981. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Fortunately he had a strong—willed caring mother. John remembered that his mother told him many times, “Son, you can be anything you want really to be if you just believe.” She told him not to depend on others, including his mother. “You have to learn success” she said. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”
These words, came from a woman with less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15, to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for. John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words--as an editor of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.
While others discouraged him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” She also let him pawn（典当） her furniture to get the $ 500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural that difficulties and failures followed john closely until he become very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind:” Son, failure is not in your vocabulary!” Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America--worth $150 million. What does the story mainly want to show us?
| A．The key to success for blacks. |
| B．The mental support John’s mother gave him. |
| C．The importance of a good education. |
| D．How John H. Johnson became successful. |
Why did John’s mother decide to move to Chicago?
| A．Because his father died when John was very young. |
| B．Because life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown. |
| C．Because John needed more education badly. |
| D．Because there were no schools for Negroes in their hometown. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．John’s mother didn’t believe in or depend on others. |
| B．John’s mother believed one would succeed without working hard. |
| C．John’s mother thought one could be whatever one wanted to be. |
| D．John’s mother thought no one could succeed without working hard. |
What does the underlined sentence “Nothing beats a failure but a try.” in Passage 5 mean?
| A．No failure can be beaten unless you try. |
| B．If you try, you would succeed. |
| C．A try is always followed by a failure. |
| D．A failure is difficult to beat, even if you try. |
Whatever our differences as human beings are we all think we’re more like the rest of the animal world than we realize. It is said that we share 40 per cent of our genetic（遗传的）structure with the simple worm.
But that fact has helped Sir John Sulston win the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine. Sir John is the founder of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, which was set up in 1992 to get further understanding of the human genome（染色体组）.
To help them do this, they turned to the worm. The nematode（线虫类的）worm is one of the earliest creatures on planet earth. It is less than one millimeter long, completely transparent and spends its entire life digging holes through sand. But it still has lots to say about human life, and what can be done to make it better.
What the worm told Sir John and his colleagues was that each of the cells in the human body is programmed like a computer. They grow, develop and die according to a set of instructions that are coded in our genetic make-up.
Many of the diseases that humans suffer from happen when these instructions go wrong or are not obeyed. When the cell refuses to die but carries on growing instead, this leads to cancer. Heart attacks and diseases like AIDS cause more cell deaths than normal, increasing the damage they do to the body. Sir John was the first scientist to prove the existence of programmed cell death.Sir John Sulston got a Nobel Prize for Medicine because he has .
| A．found that human beings are similar to the worm |
| B．got the fact we share 40 per cent of our genetic structure with the simple worm |
| C．found the computer which controls each of the cells in the human body |
| D．proved that cell death is programmed |
People might be seriously ill if the cells in their body .
| A．grow without being instructed | B．die regularly |
| C．fail to follow people’s instructions | D．develop in the human body |
The underlined word“they”（paragraph 5）refers to .
| A．cell deaths | B．diseases | C．instructions | D．cells |
What is the subject discussed in the text?
| A．The theory of programmed cell deaths. | B．A great scientist—Sir John Sulston. |
| C．The programmed human life. | D．Dangerous diseases. |
The 12—year—old CEO（首席执行官）of a Web site design company will be one of 300 business and political leaders accompanying Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on a trade visit to China in March.
Keith Peiris, who founded Cyberteks Design in June 1999 and now has 25 clients （客户）in North America ,insisted in an interview that he is “just like any other kid.”
He and his father will spend nine days on the Team Canada trip to Beijing ,Shanghai and Hong Kong ,where Chretien aims to showcase the best of Canadian business in the most populous country in the world .
A glance at the complex ,elegant animations （动画）on his www.cybertecks.com site shows the extent of Peiris’ talent . “He doesn’t want to be No.2,”his father Deepal said proudly .
His father ,who is now vice president of operations at Cyberteks ,said , “I am teaching my son what I know .We make decisions together .I haven’t done anything my son disagreed with .He makes the final decision .”
The company has seven offices in the United States and five part—time employees who ,like the Peiris family ,work from their London homes .
Keith Peiris admitted some potential clients change their minds when they learn his age ,but the well—informed not—yet—teenager tries to ignore them .
“Suddenly ,I’ve been called a whiz kid or geek ,which I am not too happy about .A few people have asked if they should call me ‘mister’, but I stay casual , I am still a kid .That Keith Peiris insisted that he is “just like any other kid” shows he is .
| A．proud | B．modest | C．honest | D．excited |
Who makes the final decision on operations at Cyberteks Design?
A．Keith Peiris B．Deepal Peiris C．Jean Chretien D．Both A and B.According to the information in the passage ,which is the best and fastest way to know more about the Web giant ?
| A．We can go to Canada to pay him a visit . |
| B．We can make an international telephone call to him. |
| C．We’d better visit his web site—www.cyberteks.com. |
| D．We can write to his father for the kid’s information. |
Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
| A．Keith Peiris is a Canadian boy . |
| B．All the employees of the child’s company work at home . |
| C．The Canadian Prime Minister means to show off Keith’s success during his stay in China . |
| D．Keith always tries his best to be the best in the field of web site designing . |
New York’s streets were covered by people dressed in elephant costumes (服装) and others waving antiwar posters with pictures of US President George W. Bush on them last week. But this was no carnival (狂欢节) – it was the Republican Party’s National Convention (共和党全国大会), which attracted thousands of protestors (抗议者). It was the largest protest ever at a US political convention, with at least 120,000 people marching through Manhattan on August 29. They demanded that the US leave Iraq and a new president be chosen.
The Republicans say the opposition – Democrat Party (民主党) encouraged the people on to the streets. They believe it is a democratic move to help win presidential election, to be held on November 2. The election is described as “the decisive battle between donkey and elephant”. The two animals are the symbols of the two major political parties in the US. The elephant represents (象征) the Republicans, whose candidate (侯选人), President George W. Bush, is trying to defeat the donkey to win his second them. The donkey represents the democrats, whose candidate, John Kerry, is trying to kick the elephant out of the White House.
Republicans think the elephant is powerful and clever, but the Democrats argue it is stupid and conservative (守旧的). In return, the Republicans regard the donkey as stubborn (倔强的) and silly but the Democrats say it is humble, plain, smart and courageous.
The Republicans have been sending emails to Bush supporters and journalists with the heading, “An Elephant Never Forgets”, said party spokeswoman Heather Layman. Elephants are known for their long memories. The emails suggest that Bush will keep his promises, while Kerry will not stick to his words.
It is interesting that both symbols were created by a single person, Thomas Nast, a famous political cartoonist of the late 19th century. During the election in 1874, Nast drew a cartoon, in which a donkey in a lion’s skin frightened an elephant marked “Republican”.What does “kick the elephant out of the White House” mean?
| A．Drive the animal out of the White House. | B．Drive President Bush out of power. |
| C．Keep the elephant out of the White House. | D．Insist on Bush’s being elected. |
In the eyes of the Republicans, the donkey is considered as .
| A．clever | B．foolish | C．polite | D．brave |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The same artist created the two symbols. |
| B．The emails suggest Kerry will not carry out his promises. |
| C．“An Elephant Never Forgets” means that an elephant has a good memory. |
| D．John Kerry is a Democrat. |
Indonesia’s coral reefs(珊瑚礁) are in trouble. Coral mining, Industrial pollution and poisonous agricultural runoff all play a role in their destruction, but the fishermen have been the worst offenders. They not only bomb fish but also poison them with cyanide, an equally destructive practice. The fishermen are also among the biggest potential victims(受害者). Two thirds of Indonesia’s 7, 000 coastal villages are close to coral reefs and thus depend for their livelihood on the harvest of reef fish. The disappearing reefs are already leading to a dramatic decline in the productivity of coastal fisheries and to increasing fights among fishermen.
Indonesia’s reefs are vast – they cover 51, 000 square kilometers, surround 17, 500 islands and stretch 3,500 kilometers – but they are not infinite. Many foreign experts and Indonesians fear that the region’s entire marine environment could be seriously damaged if the reefs keep dying at their present rate. “The overall picture is depressing,” says Ian Dutton, Indonesian director of an environmental group.
Depressing, but not hopeless. Despite the destruction, environmentalists have in recent years made significant progress in changing the hearts and minds of the fishermen. Working closely with local Indonesian authorities in North Sulawesi and less populated eastern Indonesia, where most of the country’s reefs are located, they have succeeded in preventing destructive fishing practices and coral mining from overwhelming the reefs.
Increasing numbers of fishermen are waking up to the threat and protecting the life-sustaining coral before it’s too late. Nuhung, a 56-year-old fisherman, says, “I always knew blast fishing was harmful. Then I suddenly realized that by bombing the reefs I was destroying not only my own but my children’s future.”The fishermen are named “worst offenders” because .
| A．they defend their rights of mining the coral reefs too eagerly |
| B．they wake up too late to realize the terrible situation |
| C．they use the fishing ways, which destroy the coral reefs |
| D．they pretend to follow the government’s rules |
In the text the author .
| A．presents us some facts and people’s opinions as well |
| B．shows that he’s worried about the situation, but still feels a little hopeful |
| C．says he’s delighted and meanwhile, depressed |
| D．disagrees with what’s being done and gives suggestions |
The underlined word “infinite” in the 2nd paragraph most probably means .
| A．incomplete | B．short | C．unfit | D．limitless |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the text?
| A．But for the fishermen’s protection, the reefs would disappear soon. |
| B．More and more fishermen have realized their mistakes. |
| C．Without the coral reefs, the fishermen would have nothing for their livelihood. |
| D．Some practical measures have been taken to stop the situation worsening. |
This passage may be taken from______.
| A．a magazine | B．a novel | C．a newspaper | D．a storybook |