A painting by Chinese artist Qi Baishi set a record for modern art and calligraphy (书法) on the mainland when it sold for 425.5 million yuan at an auction (拍卖) on May 22. The sale was a milestone (里程碑) in the auction of modern and contemporary artworks.
The price meant its value had risen more than 2,000 per cent in six years . The work , Eagle standing on pine tree with four-character coupleti（对联）, measures about 2.6 metres by 1 metre . It was the second highest price paid for an artwork on the mainland . A Song dynasty work by Huang Tingjian was sold for 436.8 million yuan in 2010 . Qi’s painting was finished in 1946 when Qi was 86 , and was his largest work . With a starting price of 88 million yuan , it attracted nearly 50 bids（出价）in half an hour . Shanghai businessman Liu Yiqian said that the work had belonged to him and had cost less than 20 million yuan in 2005 . The auction company said the work was brought back to the mainland after being bought from a private owner in San Francisco six years ago .
China ranked first in global art sales last year , ahead of the United States and Britain . Four Chinese artists were among the top 10 in worldwide sales : Qi Baishi , Zhang Daqian , Xu Beihong and Fu Baoshi . Qi’s works ranked second in sales to Pablo Picasso’s last year . Qi was born into a peasant family in Hunan in 1864 . He taught himself to paint and focused on nature including plants , insects , birds and fish . He is mostly well-known for his paintings of shrimps . In 1953 , he was elected president of the Association of Chinese Artists . He died in Beijing in 1957 .What’s the best title of the text ?
| A．Qi Baishi’s Painting Was Discovered . |
| B．Qi Baishi’s Painting Was Brought Back . |
| C．Qi Baishi’s Painting Sets an Auction Record . |
| D．The Value of Qi Baishi’s Paintings Is on the Increase . |
Whose artwork sold for the highest price on the mainland ?
| A．Qi Baishi’s . | B．Huang Tingjian’s . |
| C．Xu Beihong’s . | D．Zhang Daqian’s . |
The auction price of Qi’s painting was million yuan higher than the starting price in the auction .
| A．337.5 . | B．348.8 . | C．50 . | D．11.3 . |
Which of the following is TRUE ?
| A．Qi finished the painting when he was young . |
| B．The painting was once stolen by an American . |
| C．The owner of this painting Liu Yiqian gained a lot of money . |
| D．Pablo Picasso’s works ranked second in sales to Qi’s last year . |
The text is most probably taken from a .
| A．computer book | B．library guide |
| C．technology magazine | D．newspaper report |
Since new technologies are ever growing, employers now have the chance to monitor （监控） their employees to make them spare more time to work when they use their phones, computer terminals, emails and even when an employee is using the Internet．
Recent surveys have shown that a majority of employers monitor their employees’ activities．It was found that three fourths of employers monitored the websites their employees visited in order to prevent improper surfing．The survey further indicated that 65% of employers used software to block connections to websites considered off limits to employees．One third of employers monitored their employees’ number of keystrokes and the amount of time spent on the keyboard and lastly just over half of the employers surveyed review and kept email messages．
Most of the time, email is not considered private if the email system is used at a company, the employer owns it and is allowed to review its contents．Email messages that are sent within the company, as well as those that are sent from the employee’s terminal to another company, or from another company to the employee are subject to monitoring．If an email is deleted out of the employee’s account, that doesn’t mean that they are totally deleted．The messages are kept in memory．Emails are often backed up along with other important data from the computer system．If an employer’s email policy specifically states that messages marked as “private” will be kept confidential （机密的）,however, there may also be some exceptions to that policy （政策）．
In order to know their employer’s email policy, employees should read over the employee handbook．If the handbook doesn’t address the issue of email monitoring, they should speak with their employer about their policy for emails and privacy．Currently there are very few laws that address workplace privacy; however, there are some organizations that are working to advocate for employees so that there will be a stronger government regulation of employee monitoring activities．According to the author, the employers’ monitoring ____．
| A．may be an efficient management method |
| B．should be performed secretly |
| C．has resulted from the development in computers |
| D．is quite common nowadays |
Employers probably think that monitoring the employees can help them ____．
| A．improve their work efficiency（有效） | B．use computers properly |
| C．develop a way of keeping office secrets | D．reduce their mental pressures |
It can be inferred from the passage that ____．
| A．employees should delete their own emails at once to keep them secret |
| B．an employer’s email policy may protect the employees’ privacy |
| C．nobody can help solve the problem of office privacy |
| D．an employee may feel troubled by being monitored in the office |
The underlined phrase “advocate for” in the last paragraph means “____”．
| A．tell the employees the truth |
| B．publicly support |
| C．ask the employees to be more attentive |
| D．remind the employees of the possible failure |
Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Most Chinese hotels often provide guests with things like disposable (一次性的) toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and slippers. Many guests like the idea because they don't have to bring their own. But, if you travel to Beijing, remember to bring your own things. Starting from June, some hotels in Beijing will no longer provide guests with these disposables. They want to ask people to use less disposable things.
Many disposable things are made of plastic. People throw them away after only using them once. It is a waste of natural resources and is very bad for the environment. Do you know, one Chinese person makes as much as 400kg of waste a year! Most of that waste comes from disposable things. In Beijing, people throw away about 19,000 tons of plastic bags and 1,320 tons of plastic lunch bowls every year! Plastic can take between 100 and 400 years to break down. So the less plastic we throw out, the better. So, wherever you travel, bring your own things and use them again and again.
Back at home and school, you can also do something to make our world a better place. Try to do these things in your daily life: Use cloth shopping bags, not plastic ones. After using a plastic bag, wash it out and let it dry. Then you can use it over and over again. Do not use paper cups. At your school canteen（食堂）, use your own bowl and chopsticks instead of disposable ones. Some Beijing hotels will no longer provide guests with ____.
| A．cheap food and drink | B．disposable things |
| C．good service | D．free TV programmes |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many disposable things are made of plastic. |
| B．Throwing disposable things away is a waste of natural resources. |
| C．Plastic is very bad for the environment. |
| D．Plastic breaks down easily. |
What can we do to make our world a better place at home and school?
| A．Use shopping bags made of plastic. | B．Do not throw away paper cups. |
| C．Use disposable plates, bowls and chopsticks. | |
| D．Do not forget to reuse daily necessities. |
We can tell from the story that ____.
| A．people don't like disposable things at all |
| B．we can't use paper or plastic bowls at school |
| C．we should use less plastic things and protect our environment |
| D．hotels won't provide disposable things because they want to save money |
Many Americans have been leaving their cars at home and riding to work on bicycles. Andy Clark is the leader of the League of American Bicyclists. His group supports bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation.
Clark says this is good news for the environment. He says riding a bicycle to work does not burn fossil fuel or creates dangerous pollutions. Experts say the effects are the most important on short trips. The Department of Transportation says fifty percent of Americans drive eight kilometers or fewer to work. Shorter car trips set out more pollution into the air for each kilometer drive. This is because the car engine will set out the harmful air when it warms up before it can work well.
James, a members of Congress (国会), is a strong supporter of bicycle use. He says cities, counties, state governments and state highway transportation agencies are planning the roadways of the future. They are creating roads and paths for bicycles in cities and between communities.
Last year, Portland, the Pacific Northwest city in the state of Oregon, had the highest percentage of bicycle users in the United States. Portland has been doing progressive city planning for many years to create special paths for bike riders. What happened in America now according to the news?
| A．Many Americans lost jobs now. |
| B．Many Americans prefer short trips. |
| C．There are more and more bicyclists now in America. |
| D．The pollution is getting worse and worse in America. |
Where is Portland?
A. One of the cities in the USA. B. One of the counties in the USA.
C. One of the states in the USA. D. A country in the northwest of the USA.What does the underlined word “harmful” mean in the second paragraph? The closest meaning is “_______”.
| A．polluted | B．dangerous | C．clean | D．foolish |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Many Americans like bike-riding for fun. |
| B．Short car trips can reduce pollution. |
| C．American government suggests people riding bicycles. |
| D．Many Americans ride bicycles to support environment protection. |
I once experienced an unforgettable trip to Gloucester to see some of the world's most beautiful and exciting animals in their own habitat(栖息地), the North Atlantic Ocean.
After a long trip by bus, we got on the ship. After a while, we stopped and everyone on the ship started to shout because we saw a humpback whale(座头鲸). It was wonderful. Sometimes, whales came so close to the ship that you thought you could easily touch them.
While we were watching the whales, a guide was giving us some information about them. She told us that we saw only two kinds of whales -- 50-foot humpback whales (singing whales) and 70-foot fin back whales (the second largest whales on earth). She also said we could easily recognize a whale by its tail because every whale has a different kind of tail just like people have different fingerprints.
They all have names, and on this trip, we saw "Salt" and "Pepper", two whales named by a biologist and a fisherman. They were swimming together all the time.
I took twenty-seven photos, but it was very hard to take them because the whales were quick and stayed on the surface(表面) of the ocean just for a short time. It was really something. It was one of the chances that a person hardly ever experiences in life, but I had that chance.This passage is mainly about ____.
| A．an unforgettable experience in the forest |
| B．an unforgettable trip to see some strange animals in the mountains |
| C．a long trip on the ship |
| D．an unforgettable trip to watch whales |
Everyone on the ship began to shout because ______.
| A．a whale came so close to the ship | B．they saw a singing whale |
| C．they saw a fin back whale | D．they could touch the whale |
When they were watching the whales, ____.
| A．some of them fed the whales |
| B．they found several kinds of whales |
| C．a guide told them something about the whales |
| D．some of them took many photos and touched the whales |
How can we recognize a whale?
| A．By its tail(认识). | B．By its head. |
| C．By its neck. | D．By its eyes. |
Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything -- tutors, cards, special learning centers -- in short, everything they could think of. Finally they took Tommy to a catholic(天主教的) school.
After the first day, little Tommy came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and paper were spread(铺开)out all over the room and little Tommy was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, little Tommy brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mother looked at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity(好奇心). She went to his room and asked, "son, what was it? Was it the nuns(修女)?"
Little Tommy looked at her and shook his head(摇动), "No."
"Well then," she asked again. "What was it?"
Little Tommy looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed(钉) to the plus sign(加号), I knew they weren't joking." Why did Tommy's parents send him to a catholic school?
| A．Because he could eat well there. |
| B．Because he could learn more about nuns. |
| C．Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math. |
| D．Because his parents didn't want him to learn math any more. |
Tommy's mother felt surprised that his son _____.
| A．was still the same |
| B．ate so much at dinner |
| C．kissed her hello after school |
| D．worked so hard but said too little |
The phrase "hit the books" means “_____” in Chinese.
| A．用功 | B．捶书 | C．发泄 | D．振作 |
The last sentence in the passage shows that ______.
| A．Tommy felt sorry for the man |
| B．Tommy didn't like the plus sign |
| C．Tommy was afraid of being nailed |
| D．Tommy liked playing jokes on others |