Why must we pay taxes? The answer is that the government needs money for many things, for example to pay its soldiers, sailors and airmen, to build roads, bridges, offices, schools, etc and to buy goods from abroad; and only the people of the country can supply the money．One of the most important taxes is income-tax which a person pays according to the amount of his income-tax．Whether he is a businessman, a doctor, a lawyer, a shopkeeper, a miner, or anything else．This is called a “direct” tax, because it is paid in money direct to the government．
Another tax is paid on goods such as watches, jewellery, new clothes, tobacco, wine, etc, when they are brought into a country, such a tax is paid as part of the price of these goods if they are later sold in shops．We call it “indirect” tax, because it is paid indirectly through the shopkeeper．
People usually complain about having to pay taxes, but they forget that the money is spent on the things that they and their families need．We need policemen to catch thieves, to see that men obey the laws, to direct traffic, etc, and they must be paid what they earn; children need education and there must be schools and teachers; we want our streets to be kept clean, and the wages of men who do this kind of work have to be paid．Above all, the country must always be ready to defend itself against attacking enemies, and we cannot have an army without paying for it．
Taxes, therefore, cannot be avoided．We buy our own food and clothes and pay for our own amusements, but there are several things that the State finds the money for, and that are necessary for us if our society is to continue．So we have no real cause to complain when we are asked to supply money to be spent for the good of ourselves and for our fellow-citizens．Indirect tax means _______．
| A．tax that one pays direct to the government |
| B．tax that is not paid directly to the government |
| C．tax that is paid as an extra amount added to the price of certain goods |
| D．Both B and C |
Which of the following is right?
| A．Taxes are paid to the sellers． |
| B．Income-tax is an indirect tax． |
| C．The tax on new clothes is paid in money direct to the government． |
| D．Tax is amount of money that you have to pay to the government so that it can pay for public services． |
People have no real reason to complain about having to pay taxes because _______．
| A．some shopkeepers are very rich |
| B．they need money to buy goods from abroad |
| C．their children need education |
| D．the money is spent on the things that they and their families need |
Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and the required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.
Like fine food, good writing is something we approach with pleasure and enjoy from the first taste to the last. And good writers，good cooks，do not suddenly appear full-blown. Quite the contrary, just as the cook has to undergo an intensive and hard-working training, mastering the skills of his trade, the writer must sit at his desk and devote long hours to achieving a style in his writing, whatever its purpose－schoolwork, matters of business,or purely social communication. You may be sure that the more painstaking the effort，the more effective the writing and the more rewarding.
There are still some remote places in the world where you might find a public scribe(抄写员) to do his / her business or social writing for a fee. There are a few managers who are lucky enough to have the service of that rare kind of secretary who can take care of all sorts of letter writing with no more than a quick note . But for most of us, if there is any writing to be done, we have to do it ourselves.
We have to write school papers, business papers or home papers. We are constantly called on to put words to paper. It would be difficult to count the number of such words，messages，letters，and reports put into the mails or delivered by hand，but the daily figure must be enormous. What is more，everyone who writes expects，or at least hopes, that his writing will be read. We want to arouse and hold the interest of the readers. We want whatever we write to be read， from first word to last, not just thrown into some "letters－to－be－read" file （档案）or into a wastepaper basket. This is the reason we make our efforts toward learning and practicing the skills of interesting, effective writing.
71. What is good writing compared to in this passage and why? ( No more than 10 words.)
_________________________________________________________.
72. Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “painstaking”.
_________________________________________________________.
73. According to the passage, why don’t some managers have to do any letter writing? ( No more than 15 words.)
__________________________________________________________.
74. According to the author, if your letter is thrown into some “ letter-to-be-read” file, what will be likely to happen? (No more than 6 words.)
__________________________________________________________.
75. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage? (No more than 15 words.)
_________________________________________________________.
In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.
According to a weather expert' s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere (北半球), possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food growing zones.
In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.
Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.
However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude , therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have gone beyond those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?
One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun. Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and "cold" spots (that is, the relatively less hot spots) on the sun. As the sun rotates (使旋转), every 27. 5 days, it presents hotter or "colder" faces to the earth, and different aspects to different parts of the earth. This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure, and consequently on wind circulation. The sun is also changeable over a long term: its heat output goes up and down in cycles, the latest trend being downward.
Scientists are now finding shared relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years, including the last Ice Age. The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not. One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia (惯性) of the earth's climate. If this is right, the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful opposed balance to the sun's fading heat .It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would_________.
| A．mean a warming-up in the Antarctic |
| B．raise the temperature of the earth' s surface |
| C．prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface |
| D．explain the cause of great changes in the climate in the northern hemisphere |
The article was written to explain ___________.
| A．the greenhouse effect |
| B．the solar effects on the earth |
| C．the causes affecting weather |
| D．the models of solar-weather interactions |
Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere, temperatures there seem to be falling. This is__________.
| A．mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising |
| B．partly due to changes in the output of solar energy |
| C．possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting |
| D．only due to the effect of the inertia of the earth' s climate |
On the basis of their models, scientists believe the opinion that__________.
| A．the climate of the world should be becoming cooler |
| B．the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect |
| C．the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects |
| D．it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect |
If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice age is correct, ____________.
| A．ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere |
| B．the greenhouse effect could work in favor of the earth |
| C．the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels |
| D．the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could warm up the earth even more quickly |
Remember how great exercise was when you were a little kid? Back then, racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours, you weren’t thinking fitness, you were thinking entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten, Rediscovering it will give you a total-body exercise you can find.
Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never gained widespread acceptance because of two fundamental reasons. First, most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular(心血管的)exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don’t think they’ll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes that it takes to achieve a beneficial physical outcome. Second, many view it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive not as something fun or enjoyable.
As a matter of fact, jumping rope can be great fun if you find a proper way to practice it. Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, people good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double-bounce, a skip, a knee-up, side swings, as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping.
Now researchers are learning that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning. It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform in parallel to each other. In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space, yet leading to a much healthier life.From the first paragraph we learn that_________.
| A．jumping rope has faded from people’s memories |
| B．people now have more advanced equipment |
| C．racing around the playground was preferred |
| D．people now like to have exercise in a gym |
Rope jumping has not spread widely because_________.
| A．it benefits the cardiovascular system |
| B．it is neither easy nor enjoyable |
| C．it is considered boring and repetitive |
| D．it requires little equipment, time and space |
The first sentence in the 3rd paragraph implies_________.
| A．there is only one proper way to follow |
| B．the usual way should not be used |
| C．the easiest way is always the best |
| D．there are many ways to follow |
According to the researchers, jumping rope_________.
| A．only prepares the brain for learning |
| B．is suitable for students only |
| C．helps both brain hemispheres work together |
| D．can be dangerous for old people |
What is the author’s attitude towards rope jumping?
| A．He is arguing against it |
| B．He is in favor of it |
| C．He is sitting on the fence of it |
| D．He is not clear about it |
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad, for it sets one person against another and it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit （追求） of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society.
Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth.
Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve （缓解） can we discover a new meaning in competition.The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to those who ______.
| A．are against competition most strongly. | B．are fond of competition very much. |
| C．are satisfied with competition. | D．are interested in competition |
According to the passage, why do some people support competition?
A．Because they think friendly relationship needs it. k+s-5#u |
| B．Because they think social progress and prosperity need it. |
| C．Because they think it can make us become cleverer. |
| D．Because they think it can deal with many personal problems. |
We can learn from the passage that __________.
| A．all the people have the same opinion about competition |
| B．Failure can make most people feel down |
| C．Both the true competitors and those with a desire to fail believe one’s worth lies in his performance compared with others |
| D．Competition can make every competitor successful |
The passage manly talks about different opinions about ________.
| A．competition | B．success | C．failure | D．friendship |
Do junk food ads make kids fat? Should they be banned? Based on the evidence, more and more experts say yes. The latest support comes from a group of New Zealand experts who say they've made a link between kids watching television and bad health.
Researchers from the University of Otago in Dunedin studied 1000 children from age 3 to 26．They found that those who watched television more than two hours a day had higher levels of obesity（肥胖）, blood cholesterol（胆固醇）and smoking — as well as lower levels of physical fitness — when they reached adulthood than kids who watched less than two hours a day. k+s-5#u
Why? Partly because while they are watching TV kids aren't getting out, exercising and playing with other kids, and burning off the calories. But more insidiously（不知不觉地）, while watching TV, they're being shown a lot of ads for drinks and foods of uncertain nutritional value, most of which are full of sugar and fat.
Across the globe, about 155 million kids are obese, according to the International Obesity Task Force. The dangerous thing is not just the well-being of these kids as they grow up, but hundreds of billions of dollars of health costs spent on adults with heart disease, diabetes（糖尿病）, and the disabilities these disease will cause.
In Australia, two thirds of children are overweight and one third are obese. Twenty years ago, only about ten per cent were obese. And Australia has the greatest amount of junk food ads per hour of television than any other country in the world, including the US and the UK. About 30 per cent of all ads in kids' viewing time are for food or drinks. Most of them are for junk food: burgers, chips, soft drinks and sweets —high in fat, salt or sugar.
Here in Australia, experts are also calling for a ban on TV advertising of junk food to kids. The Coalition on Food Advertising to Children （CFAC） wants to make changes to laws, hoping it can ban all food advertising on TV during the time of the day when children under 12 years old are watching. This includes early and afternoon time, and evening TV between 5 pm and 9 pm.From the passage, we can infer that the underlined word “obsess” probably means ______.
| A．very strong | B．very weak |
| C．very confident | D．very fat |
According to the passage, how many hours can kids watch TV a day if they want to be healthier in the future?
| A．more than 120 minutes a day | B．less than 120 minutes a day |
| C．180 minutes or so a day | D．240 minutes or so a day k+s-5#u |
______ has the greatest amount of junk food ads per hour of TV?
| A．Australia | B．Chinese | C．Canada | D．Germany |
In the author’s opinion, the junk food ads on TV are bad for kids’ health because _______.
| A．They are very expensive and harmful | B．They waste a lot of kids’ spare time |
| C．They persuade kids to eat junk food | D．They are more inviting and interesting |