Everybody hates it, but everybody does it. A recent report said that 40％of Americans hate tipping. In America alone, tipping is a $16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality. And also, tipping makes for closer relations. It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip.
But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function. The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak. Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service.
Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend. In America, the custom came into being a long time ago. It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least l5% could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers. Hairdressers can expect to get l5%-20%, and the man who delivers your fast food $2. In Europe, tipping is less common. In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all. Only a few have really taken to tipping.
According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers’ author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more. Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers. And Mr. Lynn says, “In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off.” This passage is mainly about ________.
| A．different kinds of tipping in different countries |
| B．the relationship between tipping and custom |
| C．the origin and present meaning of tipping |
| D．most American people hate tipping |
Which of the following best explains the underlined phrase “caught on” ?
| A．become popular. | B．been hated. |
| C．been stopped. | D．been permitted |
Among the following situations, in your opinion, who is likely to tip most?
| A．A Frenchman just quarreled with the barber who did his hair badly in New York. |
| B．An American just had a wonderful dinner in a well known restaurant in New York. |
| C．A Japanese businessman asked for a pizza delivery from a Pizza Hut in New York. |
| D．A Chinese student enjoyed his meal in a famous fast food restaurant in New York. |
We can infer from this passage that ________.
| A．tipping is no longer a good way to satisfy some customers themselves |
| B．tipping is especially popular in New York |
| C．tipping in America can make service better now |
| D．tipping has something to do with people’s character |
When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got to come up with some better ideas to help them.
I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer and he planed to produce a lot and sell them to the children in developing countries at a low price after he visited a school in Cambodia. The laptop will be covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be ab
le to surf the Internet. By improving children's education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.
Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others. In other words, we will be able to 'kill two birds with one 
stone’, and that is always a good thing.
It's an excellent idea to recycle old mobile phones because.
| A．it reduces waste and can help others |
| B．it prevents waste and can earn lots of money |
| C．it can send the waste produced by developed countries to other countries |
| D．it is good for the environment and very educative for phone users |
The author gives the example of Mr. Negroponte’s 
cheap computers.
| A．to show what high technology can bring us |
B．to show the kindness of  people in the developed countries |
| C．to show how to find business opportunities in developing countries |
| D．to give an example of how to help developing countries |
Where does this passage probably come from?.
A．A newspaper . |
B．A magazine. |
| C．A lecture. | D．An advertisement. |
Animation means making things which are lifeless come alive and move.
Since earliest times, people have always been astonished by movement. But not until last century had we managed to take control of movement, to record it, and in the case of animation, to retranslate it and recreate it. To do all this, we use a movie camera and a projector (放映机).
In the world of cartoon animation, nothing is impossible. You can make the characters do exactly what you want them to do.
A famous early cartoon character was Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan in America in the early nineteen twenties. Felix was a wonderful cat. He could do all sorts of things no natural cat could do like taking off his tail, using it as a handle and then putting it back.
Most of the great early animators lived and worked in America, the home of the moving picture industry. The famous Walt Disney cartoon characters came to life after 1928. Popeye the Sailor and his girl friend Olive Oyo were born at Max Flcischer in 1933.
But to be an animator, you don’t have to be a professional. It is possible for anyone to make a simple animated film without using a camera at all. All you have to do is to draw directly onto an empty film and then run the film through a projector.
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．Animal world | B．Movie camera | C．Cartoon making | D．Movement |
Which of the following statements is True?
| A．People were unable to recreate the movement or record it in the nineteenth century. |
| B．Pat Sullivan was a famous early cartoon character. |
C．It is impossible to make cartoon characters to do what they are designed to  do. |
| D．Only professional animators can make animated films. |
According to the passage, Felix the Cat _________.
| A．was created by the American cartoonist Felix. |
| B．was designed by Pat Sullivan in the early twentieth century. |
C．was unable to do what natural cats could not do.  |
| D．was created in the United States in the nineteenth century. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
| A．Walt Disney’s cartoon characters were born earlier than Pat Sullivan’s. |
| B．only professionals can create cartoon character |
| C．Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oyo were famous cartoonists. |
| D．the cartoon industry started in the United States. |
Western New Bridge Library Announcement
| Shortened Library Hours for Spring Break |
| Library Hours have been shortened to 7 hours a day (9:00 a.m. – 4:00p.m.) for Spring Break from March 24 to March 30. |
| Coming Events |
| lOn Monday, March 24, at 10:30 a.m., Scott Sutton, a children’s writer, will tell stories to kid over seven. Sutton’s attractive style will surely inspire everyone present! lAt 1:00 p.m., on March 26, the Geogetown Musicians will present an Irish Folk Concert, which will be entertaining for the entire family. Come for the music and stay to check out some relevant books for the rest of the week! lOn Thursday, March 27, at 2:00 p.m., the annual Children’s Gathering will take place in Room 201, the second-floor. Pick up an invitation in the Children’s Room and return your RSVP(回复) to reserve your seat at the table by 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25. Only children are allowed in the Gathering. lAt 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Marc  h 28, Enzo Monfre of the hit kid’s science show, Enzoology, will bring Fossils Live! Surely Enzo will take the audience back in time, deep beneath the surface of the earth, to uncover the mysteries of killer dinosaurs, and more. Enzo recently appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show—come and see him at the library! |
| Please note：In case of emergency, please call the Help Desk at 926-3736 and follow the procedures outlined on the voice message. The call-down service is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for emergencies. The Help Desk supplies service to you all the year around! For questions about all these, please contact hld@wnbl.corg. |
| Come for the great Fun; Stay for the relevant Books! |
To attend the annual Children’s Gathering, one has to _____.
| A．buy a ticket | B．apply in advance |
| C．make a reservation | D．contact the call-down service |
According to the passage, Enzo Monfre will ______.
| A．show the children around a zoo |
| B．tell stories to children over seven |
| C．be present at the science show in person |
| D．lead the children to the Ellen DeGeneres Show |
We can learn from the passage that children can ______.
| A．attend all the activities with their parents |
| B．borrow some relevant books for the activities. |
| C．participate in the activities form 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. |
| D．choose only one of the activities according to their interest |
Despite the fact that it has never been seen almost everyone is familiar with the legendary unicorn(独
角兽). Descriptions of unicorns have been found dating from ancient times. The great philosopher Aristotle theorized that there were two types of unicorn--- the so-called Indian Ass and the Oryx, a kind of antelope. Unicorns are often used in the logo of a noble family, town council or university as their special sign. Even Scotland is represented by a unicorn.
According to the legend, anyone attempting to catch a unicorn had to be extremely careful as it was very fierce and dangerous. A clever trick suggested by unicorn-trappers, in order to catch this amazing animal without being hurt by its horn, was for the hunter to stand in front of a tree and then to move quickly behind it as the unicorn dashed angrily. Hopefully, the creature could then be caught when its horn was stuck in the tree.
When hollowed out and used as a drinking-cup, the unicorn’s horn was said to have the power to offer protection against person. It was believed that nobody could be harmed-by drinking the contents of a unicorn’s horn. Right up until the French Revolution in 1789, the French court was said to have used cups made of “unicorn” horn in order to protect the king. In addition, the horn was said to have medicinal value, so much so that it could be sold for more than ten times the price of the same weight of gold. What, then, was “unicorn” horn? We know at times the rhino(犀牛) was confused with this legendary creature. A drinking-cup supposedly made of “unicorn” horn was discovered to be made of the horn of a rhino.
Which of the following is TRUE of the unicorn?
| A．It was not historically recorded |
| B．Its horn was first used in France |
| C．It was similar to the Indian Ass and the Oryx |
| D．It could be the symbol of a university |
To catch a unicorn, the unicorn-trappers had to try all of the following EXCEPT ____.
| A．attracting the unicorn to attack |
| B．making use of the tree as a defense |
| C．hiding quickly behind the unicorn |
| D．having the unicorn horn stuck in the tree |
The last paragraph is mainly about ____.
| A．the functions of the unicorn horn |
| B．the users of the unicorn horn |
| C．the price of the unicorn horn |
| D．the comparison between the unicorn horn and the rhino horn |
Several hundred strangers received “love letters” from a young man on the street. The letter was written and given out by Yang Yang, a student majoring in human resources at Chongqing University of Science and Technology，who hoped to show his disappointment with job hunting.
Yang’s story has caught media attention perhaps because it is similar to those of millions of recent graduates seeking jobs and struggling for survival in the country’s wealthiest cities. They have diplomas, rather than professional skills，and come to big cities in hopes of better lives, only to find low-paying jobs and poor living conditions.
They are China’s “ant tribe(蚁族)”, a term created by sociologist Lian Si from Peking University in his 2009 book, Ant Tribe. “They’re so similar to ants. They share small and narrow living areas. They’re intelligent and hard-working, yet nameless and underpaid.” The term also speaks to their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the jungle -- only the strongest survive.
A survey in Lian’s another book published this year, Ant Tribe II, found nearly 30 percent of “ants” are graduates of famous universities—almost three times last year’s percentage. Most had degrees in popular majors. In addition, 7.2 percent of "ants" have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009.
An “ant’s” average monthly salary is l, 904 yuan, with about 64 percent of them earning less than 2,000 yuan a month.
Another survey in the 2010 Annual Report on the Development of Chinese Talent found more than 1 million “ants” live in big cities.
“Most ants are from rural families or small towns, and their experiences in universities didn’t arm them well enough to fight with competitors in big cities’ employment markets.” Professor Zhang Ming at Renmin University of China said.
The “ant tribe’s” embarrassing living situations have become a serious social problem, and the government should develop smaller 
cities to attract more graduates from big cities, Zhang
believed.
However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them positive despite their situations.Yang’s story is introduced in order to_________.
| A．analyze graduates’ difficulties in finding jobs |
| B．lead to the topic of the article—“ant tribe” |
| C．tell readers a story about those big cities |
| D．show a clever way of dealing with pressure |
The “ants” fail to find high-paying jobs mainly because__________.
| A．they have no diplomas from good universities |
| B．their majors do not meet the needs of society |
| C．those from rural areas are not treated equally |
| D．they do not have necessary professional skills |
“Ant tribe” members are similar to ants in the following aspects EXCEPT that_________.
| A．they live in narrow and small places in groups |
| B．they work hard but earn little for survival |
| C．they are in a world judged by the jungle law |
| D．they are pleased with being nameless and underpaid |
Professor Zhang thought “ants” problems could be solved by__________.
| A．creating more jobs for graduates in big cities |
| B．developing smaller cities to attract graduates |
| C．sending graduates to rural areas and small towns |
| D．training graduates to improve their ability |