China has a growing love affair with the cars．This is clear at the Beijing Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange, where more and more people come to look and increasingly to buy．
Alice Wu is an editor at a Chinese Internet publication．She takes the subway to work, but she is certain she can cut her commute time if she drives herself．Wu says it takes her three hours to get to work now．If she had a car, she says, the same trip would only take her two hours．
The Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange is the biggest car dealership in Beijing．General manager Guo Yong says the business sells more than two thousand cars each week．Guo says it is much easier for Chinese consumers to buy a car now．In the past, it would take them several years to earn enough money to buy a new car．Now, he says, many people only need to save for one year．Also, the emergence of less expensive domestic brands like Chery and BYD means more Chinese can afford cars．
For decades, most Chinese city residents got about by bicycle or public buses and trains．Now, in many areas, the number of new cars is growing faster than the road system, leaving city streets jammed with traffic．Guo Liang has wanted to buy a car for a decade, and he will be the first in his family to own one．He is not deterred by Beijing's traffic jams．Guo says if the traffic is too bad, he will use the car for leisure or holidays with his family．Another customer, Zhang Menxin, works in Beijing, but is from Xi'an, more than 900 kilometers away．Zhang says it is very difficult to get a train ticket to return home for Chinese New Year．She adds that train is not convenient．If she had her own car, she says, she could go anytime she wanted to．
World Bank transportation specialist Shomik Mendhiratta says, “Getting a car makes people feel like they have arrived to the middle class, and it's got a huge status associated with it．It's a fantastic thing to have．”The underlined word "deterred" in the 4th paragraph probably means .
| A．encouraged | B．attracted | C．astonished | D．discouraged |
The reason why Zhang Menxin wants to buy a car is that .
| A．it is hard and inconvenient for her to go home in Xi'an by train． |
| B． she doesn't like to go to work by subway． |
| C．she wants to use the car for leisure or holidays with her family |
| D．the place where she works is far from her house |
The best title for the passage should be " "
| A．Cars made China a country on wheels |
| B．More Chinese Hitting the road in their own cars． |
| C．More cars sold by the Beijing Asian Games Village Automobile Exchange |
| D．China is developing rapidly in the past few years． |
According to what Shomik Mendhiratta in the last paragraph, the car is ____ for the person who owns it．
| A．of little value | B．a means of transportation |
| C．a status symbol | D．a heavy burden |
One of the worst feelings you have as a professional athlete is the feeling after losing a game to a team that you should have beaten. That happened last night against the lowly Boston Celtics. They had only won 13 games the whole year and were really struggling. We had just come off a very good win against the Orlando Magic on the road and were feeling good about ourselves.
The day did not start out good for us when we learned that T-Mac was going to miss the game with the flu. When you lose your best players (Yao, T-Mac) everyone must play a little harder and do a little bit more on the floor. We inserted Bonzi Wells into the lineup (he was the only one to have a good game for us), in place of T-Mac.
It was a nasty game. We are usually one of the best three point shooting teams in the NBA and we only made 1 of 22 three point shots! I have never seen that happen. Never! Rafer Alston, Luther Head, and me combined to shoot 5 of 33 from the field. Ouch! You aren't going to win too many games like that. Even as poorly as we shot the ball, we STILL had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter but failed to make the winning plays that you must make to leave the floor victorious.
In the locker room after the game, everybody felt terrible. When we play a bad game, we feel that we let our teammates down. There is a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach when you leave the gym and you just want to go home and not talk to anyone. It is a terrible feeling, but it is a feeling that makes you want to try harder and do better the next time.
I'll talk to you guys later.
Shane What is the passage mainly about?
| A．To blame the team for losing the game. |
| B．To tell the readers about the feeling after losing the game |
| C．To explain why they played poorly in the game. |
| D．To blame Yao Ming and T—Mac for being absent from the game. |
What can the readers learn from the text?
A. The Boston Celtics is one of the top teams in NBA.
B. The Boston Celtics had a big win over the writer’s team.
C. Every one of the team played poorly with no energy.
D. Bonzi Wells starts in the game with T-Mac out. How do you think the writer might describe his performance that night?
| A．Tough | B．Relaxing | C．Terrible | D．Efficient |
The text most probably comes from the writer’s _________ .
| A．blog | B．telephone message | C．note | D．interview |
When you consider what subject to study in college, chances are that you and your parents will think about what you can make out of it after graduation. You will likely ask the question: “Can I find a well-paid job or simply a job with a degree in this in the future?”
This consideration also influences students when they come to choose between studying science or humanities (人文学科) at college. People generally believe that the humanities, which include literature , history, cultural studies and philosophy, do not prepare students for a specific vocation (职业). Science subjects, however, are considered vocational courses that produce scientists, engineers and economists (经济学家).
“I've decided to take finance as my college major. My parents and I think this subject will help me get a good job or start a business,” said Huachen Yueru, 17, a science student at Wuxi No. 1 High School.
Even those who choose a liberal arts (文科) education often pick the humanities subject which they think will best help them later find a job.
“I'm going to study Spanish in college, which I believe will open doors to a high-paying job for me,” said Liu Chao, 18, a Senior 2 student at Dalian No 20 High School. He said few of his classmates show interest in subjects like philosophy and history, which are seen as “less promising” in job markets.
The popularity of liberal arts subjects among college students has also been decreasing in the United States. American scholars (学者) and universities are concerned that in the ongoing economic crisis (经济危机) liberal arts subjects will be hit hardest. As money tightens (紧缩), they worry that the humanities may become “a great luxury (奢侈品) that many cannot afford”, according to the New York Times. When you consider what to study in college, what does you and your parents usually think about ?
| A．whether you are interested in the subject. |
| B．if you can lead a happy life. |
| C．what you can make out of it after graduation. |
| D．How much you can learn in the college. |
Why do students show little interest in the subjects, like philosophy or history ?
| A．Because they are not interested in them. |
| B．Because they think these subjects are useless. |
| C．Because they see these subjects as less-promising in job market. |
| D．Because they like the science subjects. |
What can we infer from the passage ?
| A．Humanities are becoming less and less popular with the students. |
| B．Studying science subjects is sure to find a well-paid job. |
| C．The humanities in college should be cancelled. |
| D．The writer thinks those who choose the liberal arts education will choose their favorite subjects. |
What does the underlined word “it” refer to in the first paragraph ?
| A．the subject you study in college | B．science | C．humanities | D．liberal arts |
体裁：说明文词数：326难度系数：☆☆☆☆建议用时：8分钟
类别：细节理解+推理判断题+词义猜测题本文标题 ：…Arts in crisis…
While small may be beautiful, tall is just plain uncomfortable it seems, particularly when it comes to staying in hotels and eating in restaurants.
The Tall Persons Club Great Britain (TPCGB), which was formed six months ago to campaign for the needs of the tall, has turned its attention to hotels and restaurants. Beds that are too small, showe heads that are too low, and restaurant tables with hardly any leg-room all make life difficult for those of above average height, it says.
But it is not just the extra-tall whose needs are not being met. The average night of the population has been increasing ye the standard size of beds, doorways, and chairs has remained unchanged.]
“The bedding industry says a bed should be six inches larger than the person using it, so even a king-size bed at 6′6″(6 feet and 6 inches) is falling short for 25% of men, while the standard 6′3″ bed caters for less than half of the male population.” Said TPCGB president Phil Heinricy, “seven-foot beds would work fine.”
Sililarly, restaurant tables can cause no end of problems. Small tables, which mean the long-legged have to sit a foot or so away from them, are enough to make tall customers go elsewhere.
Some have already taken note, however. At Queens Moat Houses′Caledoman Hotl in Edinburgh, 6′6″beds are now put in as standard after requests for longer beds from taller visitors, particularly Americans.What is the purpose of the TPCGB campaign?
| A．To provide better services. |
| B．To rebuild hotels and restaurants. |
| C．To draw public attention to the needs of the tall. |
| D．To attract more people to become its members. |
Which of the following might be a bed of proper length according to Phil Heinricy?
| A．7′2″. | B．7′ | C．6′6″ | D．6′3″ |
What may happen to restaurants with small tables?
| A．They may lose some customers. |
| B．They may start businesses elsewhere. |
| C．They have to find easy chairs to match the tables. |
| D．They have to provide enough space for the long-legged. |
What change has already been made in a hotel in Edinburgh?
| A．Tall people pay more for larger beds. |
| B．6′6″beds have taken the place of 6′3″beds. |
| C．Special rooms are kept for Americans. |
| D．Guest rooms are standardized. |
People from East Asia tend to have more difficulty than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions — and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why.
Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly(均匀的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.
"We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions," Jack said. "Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect (忽略) the mouth."
According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.
The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of. expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.
It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than did Westerners. "The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions," Jack said. "Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less."
In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation. The discovery shows that Westerners .
| A．pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth |
| B．consider facial expressions universally reliable |
| C．observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways |
| D．have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions |
What were the people asked to do in the study?
| A．To make a face at each other. | B．To get their faces impressive. |
| C．To classify some face pictures. | D．To observe the researchers' faces. |
What does the underlined word "they" in Paragraph 6 refer to?
| A．The participants in the study. |
| B．The researchers of the study. |
| C．The errors made during the study. |
| D．The data collected from the study. |
In comparison with Westerners, Easterners are likely to .
| A．do translation more successfully |
| B．study the mouth more frequently |
| C．examine the eyes more attentively |
| D．read facial expressions more correctly |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Eye as the Window to the Soul |
| B．Cultural Differences in Reading Emotions |
| C．Effective Methods to Develop Social Skills |
| D．How to Increase Cross-cultural Understanding |
Every year 2.2 million tons of oil are spilled ( 散落，溅出 ) into the ocean. Actually, this only amounts to a small percentage of the total 1.6 billion tons of oil shipped around the world each year.However, this spilled oil has terrible effects on ocean life, including the coastlines where the off washes up onto shore. Some of the largest spills in history were caused by oil tankers running into each other or by an oil tanker sailing into shallow water and hitting the bottom of the ocean. After these spills, officials try to discover who or what was at fault to help prevent similar accidents in the future.
One of the worst oil spills in history occurred along the Alaskan coastline in 1989. In this accident, 42,000 tons of oil spilled from a tanker which resulted in terrible damage to this sensitive natural area. In this spill, the tanker's captain, who was tired from overwork and drinking alcohol, had gone to take a rest. He gave control of the ship to the third mate. The third mate was unfamiliar with the path the ship took, and he ran the ship onto Blighe Reef. Blighe Reef is a natural underwater rock wall near the Alaskan coast. Damaged by the reef, the ship leaked oil out into the ocean. More than 1,600 kilometers of coastline were affected by the oil spill. Some scientists who studied nature in the area guessed that 580,000 birds and 5,500 otters died when the oil from the spill covered their skin. As well, smaller shellfish and other sea creatures were later eaten by seals, whales, and other animals.
The most oil ever spilled was actually dumped on purpose as an act of ecological warfare. The term ecological warfare means to fight by doing harm to nature in the area under attack. In 1990, Iraq sent soldiers into Kuwait and set off the Persian Gulf War. As part of the Iraq war plan,900,000 tons of oil were let out into the Persian Gulf Way Iraq. This oil covered 1,500 square kilometers of water in the Persian Gulf. The oil also damaged 650 kilometers of the coastline of both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In some places, oil floating on the water was measured to be 43 centimeters thick. Water birds, water plants, and baby fish were all seriously affected by the oil. The long-term effects of this act on the food chain in the area are bound to cause problems tar into the future.Which cause of oil spills is described in the second paragraph?
| A．Dumping | B．War |
| C．Accidents | D．Throwing about carelessly |
The creatures affected by the oil spill near Alaska were_________.
| A．birds and otters | B．shellfish |
| C．seals and whales | D．all of the above |
The third mate ran the thanker agound (触礁) in this accident because_______.
| A．he was tired | B．he was drunk |
| C．he was talking on the phone | D．he did not know the sea |
________ was responsible for dumping oil into the Persian Gulf.
| A．The United States | B．Kuwait | C．Saudi Arabia | D．Iraq |