America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us develop more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending(延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality(好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!The writer of this passage must be ______.
| A．an American | B．a Chinese | C．a professor | D．a student |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| B．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| C．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| D．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
| A．warmly welcomed at the airport | B．offered a ride to his/her home |
| C．treated hospitably at his/her home | D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time | D．willing to spend time |
TOKYO— At first glance, Japanese cellphones are young people’s favorites, with elegant design and quick access to the Internet. However, despite years of competition in overseas markets, Japan’s cellphone makers have little presence beyond the country’s shores.
The only Japanese cellphone maker with any meaningful global share is Sony Ericsson, and that company is a London-based joint venture(合资企业)between a Japanese electronics maker and a Swedish telecommunications firm.
And Sony Ericsson has been hit by big losses. Its market share was just 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009, behind Nokia of Finland, Samsung Electronics and LG of South Korea, and Motorola of Illinois.
This year, Mr Natsuno, who developed a popular wireless Internet service called i-Mode, invited some of the best minds in the field to debate how Japanese cellphones could go global.
“The most amazing thing about Japan is that even the average person out there will have a very advanced phone, ”said Mr Natsuno. Japan has 100 million users of advanced third-generation smart phones, twice the number of the United States, a much larger market. Many Japanese rely on their phones, not a PC, for Internet access.
Indeed, Japanese cellphone makers thought they had positioned themselves to dominate（支配）the age of digital data. But they were a little too clever. In the 1990s, they set a standard for the second-generation network that was refused everywhere else. Then Japan quickly adopted a third-generation standard in 2001. However, it made Japanese phones too advanced for most markets.
Several Japanese companies are now considering a push into overseas markets, including NEC. Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba and Fujitsu are said to be planning similar moves.
“Japanese cellphone makers need to either look overseas, or exit the business”, said Kenshi Tazaki, a managing vice president at the consulting firm Gartner Japan.Through the first paragraph, the author intends to tell us that___________.
| A．Japanese cellphones are popular with young people |
| B．Japanese cellphones don’t sell well abroad |
| C．Japanese cellphones are very advanced |
| D．Japanese cellphones are specially designed for young people |
The cellphone company with the largest global market share is located in______.
| A．Japan | B．America | C．South Korea | D．Finland |
Why are Japanese cellphone makers a little too clever?
| A．Because their technical standards are too advanced to be accepted overseas. |
| B．Because they only produce advanced cellphones. |
| C．Because they used the second-generation network earlier than others. |
| D．Because their phones are more advanced than PCs. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Japanese cellphone companies are unsuccessful. |
| B．Japan has more cellphone users than the US. |
| C．Japanese cellphone industry intends to expand overseas markets. |
| D．Going global—a difficult task for Japanese companies. |
On the day of a big event, many people came to Big Bend Mountain to watch. John Henry and the salesman stood side by side. Even early in the day, the sun was burning hot.
The competition began. John Henry kissed his hammer and started working. At first, the steam-powered drill worked two times faster than he did. Then, he started working with a hammer in each hand. He worked faster and faster. In the mountain, the heat and dust were so thick that most men would have had trouble breathing. The crowd shouted as clouds of dust came from inside the mountain.
The salesman was afraid when he heard what sounded like the mountain breaking. However, it was only the sound of John Henry at work. Polly Ann and her son cheered when the machine was pulled from the tunnel of the mountain. It had broken down. Polly Ann urged John Henry to come out. But he kept working, faster and faster. He dug deep into the darkness, hitting the steel so hard that his body began to fail him. He became weak, and his heart burst.
John Henry fell to the ground. There was a terrible silence. Polly Ann did not move because she knew what had happened. John Henry’s blood spilled over the ground. But he still held one of the hammers. “I beat them,” he said. His wife cried out, “Don’t go, John Henry.”“Bring me a cool drink of water,”he said. Then he took his last breath.
His friends carried his body from the mountain. They buried him near the house where he was born. Crowds went there after they heard about John Henry’s death.
Soon, the steam drill and other machines replaced the steel-drivers. Many laborers left their families to look for work. They took the only jobs they could find. As they worked, some sang about John Henry.What does the big event mentioned in Paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．John Henry’s work on a machine. |
| B．A competition between John Henry and a salesman. |
| C．John Henry’s work with his hammer and the steel. |
| D．A competition between John Henry and a drill. |
The underlined word “tunnel ”in Paragraph 3 probably means “”.
| A．flat ground | B．big rock | C．underground passage | D．hard metal |
What happened to John Henry when he fell to the ground?
| A．He was tired and had to have a rest. |
| B．He had heart trouble and was dying. |
| C．He was thirsty and wanted to drink some water. |
| D．He was injured slightly and was bleeding. |
What do we know about John Henry?
| A．He won the competition finally. | B．He was buried under the mountain. |
| C．He loved his work very much. | D．He said nothing before his death. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Humans can never beat machines. | B．John Henry was regarded as a hero. |
| C．Laborers hated machines very much. | D．It was easy for laborers to find work. |
The TV shows a baby’s pram (婴儿车) rolling off a train platform as the mother makes a mad rush to save her son, but she is too late and it falls onto the rails in front of an incoming train. This heart-stopping scene happened yesterday at Ashburton station in Melbourne, Australia. But the story has a happy ending: the six-month-old baby survived with just a cut on his forehead, although the pram was dragged about 35 metres by the braking train. The nurse Jon Wright said the boy just “needed a feed and a sleep” and didn’t need to stay in hospital.
“Luckily, he was strapped (绑) into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life. I think the child is extremely lucky, ” Wright told the Herald Sun newspaper after the baby was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Fortunately the train was already slowing down to stop at the station so it stopped quickly when the driver put on the brakes as soon as he saw the pram fall in front of him. Rail firm Connex is to look into how the pram rolled off the platform. The accident came one day after Connex started a child safety awareness activity warning parents to keep babies strapped into their prams at all times while on platforms.
The accident happened at the same time as the “balloon boy ”story in the US, in which a six-year-old Colorado boy was reported to be trapped in a flyaway balloon. However, he was later found hiding in the family’s garage. Many people believe that it had all been a publicity stunt by the parents. No such doubts surround the baby on the train platform.In the accident, the baby .
| A．almost fell onto the rails |
| B．needed to stay in hospital |
| C．was badly injured by the train |
| D．was pulled a long distance in the pram by the train |
The child was not killed most probably because.
| A．the mother strapped him into his pram |
| B．the platform is not very high |
| C．he was well fed and asleep |
| D．the mother rushed to save him |
Why could the train stop quickly?
| A．Because it had just begun to move. |
| B．Because it was moving slowly at that time. |
| C．Because the mother took measures quickly. |
| D．Because the driver saw the pram fall. |
The underlined word “stunt” in the last paragraph probably means .
| A．something silly | B．something funny |
| C．something done to attract attention | D．something done to avoid bad luck |
The Red Panda isn’t much bigger than an average size house cat. At first you may think it’s a bear because of its name. They’re actually a member of the raccoon(浣熊) family which you can tell if you look at their appearance. The Red Panda has a long bushy tail that is useful in two ways. It helps them stay balanced when they are high up in the trees and it keeps them warm in cold weather. Their fur is thick and reddish brown, which may be why they’re known as the fire fox.
The Red Panda can be found in forested mountains. They’re originally from the forested mountain in the Himalayas in India, Nepal and Southern China. Bamboo is the most important part of their diet. They only eat the young leaves and shoots (嫩芽) of a bamboo plant. Red Pandas have a very low metabolic(新陈代谢的) rate in order to deal with their low energy diet and cool environmental temperatures.
They’re very shy and gentle and don’t hang around the wild too much during the day. If they feel endangered, they’ll stand on their back legs and make a hissing(嘶嘶) sound. Red Pandas are good climbers and spend most of their time living mainly in trees. Their claws are very strong and help them hold onto the branches. They sleep in an unusual way by curling up tightly and wrapping their tails around their heads while sitting on a branch. Sometimes they’ll sleep with their head beneath their chest and behind their back feet. This is the same position as an American raccoon sleeps.You can tell that the Red Panda is a member of the raccoon family from ____.
| A．its name | B．its appearance | C．its diet | D．its living place |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The Red Panda can only be found in India, Nepal and Southern China. |
| B．The Red Panda’s tail can help it stay balanced when it is high up in the trees. |
| C．The Red Panda eats the whole of the bamboo. |
| D．The Red Panda has high metabolic rate when the temperature is low. |
What will Red Pandas do when they are in trouble?
| A．They will hang around the wild during the day. |
| B．They will climb into the trees. |
| C．They will wrap their tails around their heads. |
| D．They will stand on their back legs and make a hissing sound. |
The Red Panda holds onto the branches with its ____.
| A．tail | B．fur | C．back legs | D．claws |
Against the assumption that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.
This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.
This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.
Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone（臭氧）levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.
“We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.According to the new findings, taking steps to prevent northern forest fires may _______.
| A．result in a warming climate |
| B．cause the forest fires to occur more frequently |
| C．lead to a longer fire season |
| D．protect the forests and the environment there |
Earlier studies about northern forest fires ________.
A．analyze  all aspects of how northern fires influence climate |
| B．indicate that forest fires will pollute the atmosphere |
| C．suggest that people should take measures to protect environment |
| D．suggest that the fires will speed up climate warming |
The underlined phrase “soaked up” in the last paragraph most probably means ________.
| A．released | B．absorbed | C．created | D．disturbed |
From the text we can draw a conclusion that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia may ______.
| A．warm the climate as the assumption goes |
| B．allow more snow to reflect more sunlight into space and thus cool the climate |
| C．destroy large areas of forests and pollute the far-off sea ice |
| D．help to gain more energy rather than release more energy . |