Imagine, one day, getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours, and then, after a full day of work, going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.
Sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic, with the development of China’s high-speed railway system. And that’s not all. China has an even greater high-speed railway plan— to connect the country with Southeast Asia, and eventually Eastern Europe.
China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years, eventually reaching London and Singapore.
China has proposed three such projects. The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly to Germany. The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.
If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward, people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days.
The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard. And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.
China’s bullet train (高速客车), the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou, already has the world’s fastest average speed. It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.
Of course, there are some technical challenges to overcome. There are so many issues that need to be settled, such as safety, rail gauge (轨距), maintenance of railway tracks. So, it’s important to pay attention to every detail.
But the key issue is really money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.
China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment. Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.
It’ll be a win-win project. For other countries, the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business, tourism and so on, not to mention the better communication among those countries.
For China, such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources, but would also help develop China’s far west. We foresee that in the coming decades, millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where the land is empty and resources unused. With high-speed trains, people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all. And they’ll trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because _______.
| A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions |
| B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways |
| C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries |
| D．the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation, business and tourism |
According to the passage, the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is _______.
| A．technical issues | B．safety of the system |
| C．financial problems | D．maintenance of railway tracks |
Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed railway plan?
| A．Critical. | B．Reserved. | C．Doubtful | D．Positive. |
The child of today owes much of its pleasant school life to the work of Maria Montessori and others who felt as she did．
Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in northern Italy．Both her parents were well educated．
While Maria was a student, she took great interest in the study of the particular nature of the child's mind． It came to her that small children should have freedom to learn．
Maria became a doctor and a professor at Rome University．In 1907, after working with backward students, she was given a chance to try out her ideas on children．There were sixty children, aged three to six, in the Children's House．The rooms were bright and colorful．Maria let the children make their own choice of what they wanted to do and work with their own speed． They became busy, peaceful and happy．
Maria Montessori was one of the world's great teachers．She traveled in Europe, America and Far East．She thought that true education, providing(提供) for the real needs of the child, would produce wise and happy grown-ups and therefore a peaceful world． Her original way of education has changed our whole idea of what childhood is．
Maria Montessori died in Holland at the age of eighty-two．The short passage is mainly about_________．
| A．the education of backward students |
| B．a new idea of education |
| C．the importance of proper education |
| D．the life of Maria Montessori |
Maria traveled a lot in the world to ________．．
| A．teach the backward students |
| B．enjoy her life in real nature |
| C．spread her ideas of teaching |
| D．study the situation of education |
In what way did Maria teach the children in the Children's House?
| A．She taught them the best way of learning well． |
| B．She let them learn in a very pleasant way． |
| C．She taught them by showing them how to do things． |
| D．She just let them choose the most interesting subjects． |
We learn from the passage that ________．
| A．Maria left her homeland in order to study abroad |
| B．Maria didn't get married |
| C．Maria's own parents were her teachers |
| D．Maria fully understood the child's mind |
Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed． When a person does a certain thing again, he is driven by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly, then a habit is formed． Once a habit is formed, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of．It is therefore very important that we should pay great attention to the formation of habits．Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as long as they live．Older persons also form bad habits lasting as long as they live, and sometimes become ruined by them．
There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help．Many successful men say that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty and so on．
Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on．These are all easily formed habits．Unfortunately older persons often form habits which could have been avoided ．
We should keep away from all these bad habits, and try to form such habits as will be good for ourselves and others．________ are formed little by little．
| A．Good habits |
| B．Bad habits |
| C．Both good habits and bad habits |
| D．Either good habits or bad habits |
The underlined word "them" in the first paragraph refers to ________．
| A．bad habits |
| B．good habits |
| C．children |
| D．other persons． |
Why should we pay much attention to the formation of habits?
| A．Because habits are of great help to every one of us． |
| B．Because a man can never get rid of a habit． |
| C．Because it's hard and sometimes even impossible to throw away bad habits． |
| D．Because we are forced to do them again and again． |
According to the passage, early rising ________．
| A．has something to do with success |
| B．is an easily formed habit |
| C．is such a habit as should have been avoided |
| D．is such a habit as will be kept |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
LT123 Workshops
‘I’m pleased to say that 2015 is our third year sponsoring the IATEFL information desk．This year, we are running three workshops covering some of the key areas of our wide-ranging special skills: testing, editing and vocabulary．We how to see you.’
—— Russell Whitehead Director
Vocabulary testing: why, what and how? By Felicity O’ Dell & Russell Whitehead
Saturday 11thApril 3:50-4:35 pm Charter 4
Should vocabulary be one of the language features that we test and, if so, why? What vocabulary - and what aspects of vocabulary - should we focus on in our tests? What methods can we use to test vocabulary?
We will discuss answers to these questions, considering the strengths and weaknesses of different types of vocabulary test for different teaching contexts.
There’s something missing from your project - the editor! By David Baker & Fiona MacKenzie
Sunday 12 April 10:25-11:10 am Charter 8
Big publishing companies no longer offer the single route to publication．Whether you are self-publishing, a teaching institution developing its own materials, or a digital start-up, in a highly competitive environment it isn’t enough to write something and just put it out there.
Quality still matters - you can’t afford to forget one of the key roles in successful publishing.
Vocabulary levels: which words are at which level? By Stephen Bullon
Monday 13thApril 1:35-2:20 pm Charter 8
While students develop their competence in the four skills and in their ability to master grammatical structures, they are together building their vocabulary.
We will try to establish the standards involved in selecting appropriate vocabulary at the various levels students pass through: frequency, teaching requirements, and register are all factors that need to be weighed in the balance.
LT123 is the new name for Language Testing 123, and we are proud sponsors of the 49thAnnual
International IATEFL Conference and Exhibition.
Manchester, April 2015.
To help improve vocabulary teaching and testing, the workshops will focus on ________．
| A．how to employ more scientific methods in vocabulary testing |
| B．how to test vocabulary as the most important language feature |
| C．what advanced standards to set for the students of different levels |
| D．what to be concentrated on rather than four basic language skills |
From this handout we can know that ________．
| A．the audience are editors in the field of language teaching |
| B．the director of LT123 will be talking in one of the workshops |
| C．some publishing companies will sponsor similar workshops soon |
| D．each workshop lasts 45 minutes in the same meeting room |
What is the purpose of this handout?
| A．To sell newly published books on language testing． |
| B．To get the audience informed of the events |
| C．To show the breakthrough in vocabulary teaching． |
| D．To attract the attention of the host of 2015 IATEFL. |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Friends and fellow citizens：I stand before you tonight under accusation of the unproven crime of having voted at the last presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote．It shall be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting, I not only committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights, guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National Constitution(宪法), beyond the power of any state to deny.
Our democratic-republican government is based on the idea of the natural right of every individual member to a voice and a vote in making and executing the laws．We declare the duty of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their unchallengeable right．We throw to the winds the belief that government can give right.
‘All men are created equal, and gifted by their Creator with certain undeniable rights．Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness．To secure these, governments are established among men, gaining their just powers from the agreement of the governed.’
Here is no shadow of government authority over rights, or exclusion of any class from their full and equal enjoyment．Here is pronounced the right of all men, and ‘therefore,’ as the Quaker minister said, ‘of all women,’ to a voice in the government．And here, in this first paragraph of the Declaration, is the declaration of the natural right of all to the vote; for how can ‘the agreement of the governed’ be given, if the right to vote be denied?
The introduction of the Federal(联邦的) Constitution says: ‘We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic peacefulness, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity(子嗣), do establish this Constitution for the United States of America.’
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union．And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people - women as well as men．And it is absolute ridicule to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government - the vote.The speaker was standing in front of the audience to ________.
| A．accuse the government of having denied treating her unfairly |
| B．fight for the legal right to vote in the United States as a woman |
| C．share a recent victory on voting for the president of the States |
| D．guarantee that they could better understand the National Constitution |
The expression ‘throw to the winds’ (Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to ‘________’.
| A．abandon |
| B．emphasize |
| C．shake |
| D．spread |
Which of the following statements is true according to the speech?
| A．The Quaker minister holds conflicting opinions on women’s right to vote． |
| B．Government authority has the right to bar some of the governed out of liberty. |
| C．The policy is undeniably adopted that all the governed in America have the equal rights． |
| D．There’s no way to the real agreement of the governed if women’s vote right is robbed. |
It can be inferred from the speech that ________.
| A．it’s more important to have liberty than have good wishes of it |
| B．the Federal Constitution comes from the National Constitution |
| C．it’s ridiculous that women enjoy liberty while their rights are not secured |
| D．racial and gender issues are among the major social problems of the USA |
Which of the following might be the best title of the speech?
| A．For the Sake of Liberty and Happiness |
| B．Vote on the Women’s Rights |
| C．In the Name of Equal Right to vote |
| D．Power of American Constitution |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Death is a serious theme worthy of great poets．For example, John Keats’s ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be’ and John Donne’s ‘Death, Be Not Proud’ both discuss death in reflective ways．However, the imagery(意象) in these poems shows that while Keats believes that death can only destroy, Donne believes that death can be overcome.
Keats is afraid of death, because to him death means the loss of those things that make his life worth living: ‘On the shore/ of the wide world I stand alone, and think/ Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.’ Earlier in the poem, Keats says that he hopes this ‘Love’ will be a ‘high romance’ with a ‘fair creature.’ He also says that he hopes the ‘Fame’ he seeks will be the result of the ‘high piled books’ produced by his ‘crowded brain.’ In other words, Keats’s fear is that death is a ‘nothingness’ that will arrive before he can finish his life’s work or find his true love.
Donne has a different attitude toward death, and so the imagery in his poem is different, too．To Donne, death should ‘be not proud,’ because it is not ‘mighty and dreadful.’ Unlike Keats, Donne sees death as weak and merely a ‘slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.’ He also says that death is like ‘rest and sleep’．Donne believes that we will all wake from the sleep of death to everlasting life, just as we wake from our normal sleep to our everyday lives．In fact, Donne believes that it is death itself that will die: ‘One short sleep past, we wake forever,/ And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.’
Keats and Donne both know that death is a prat of life, and both poets use powerful imagery to talk about that difficult theme．The differences in this imagery show two very different attitudes toward the subject, one of which is much more positive than the other．Which poet to believe is up to the reader to decide.
Not surprisingly, the readers’ own experiences may play a part in the way they respond to these poets’ approaches．Like the two poets and their beliefs, contemporary readers also may be divided on the subject．This may explain why Keats’s and Donne’s poetry remains fascinating years after their won deaths.According to the passage, ________ makes Keats’s life worth living.
| A．expressing his grand passion for poetry |
| B．walking on the shore with a pretty lady |
| C．defeating nothingness with his true love |
| D．pursuing the fame of being a romantic poet |
In Donne’s poems he believes that death is ________ .
| A．generally powerful and terrible |
| B．only a ceaseless sleep |
| C．merely the loss of work and love |
| D．hardly worth the fear |
Contemporary readers may view the two poets’ serious subject differently because ________.
| A．they are attracted to the two poets’ everlasting opposite beliefs |
| B．they are divided naturally by their positive or negative personalities |
| C．their own life experiences affect the understandings of the poems |
| D．their preferences for the poets’ strong imageries are various |
Which of the following best describes the main writing style of the passage?
| A．Analysis． |
| B．Argument． |
| C．Comparison． |
| D．Reasoning. |