It is "one of the few bright spots in the Chinese economy," says Zeng Ming． He is talking about e-commerce． Mr Zeng, the chief strategy officer for Alibaba, a giant Chinese Internet firm, predicts that digital transactions on his firm's platforms will top l trillion yuan （$159 billion） this year-more than Amazon's and eBay's combined． That is a bold claim, but consider what happened on Singles Sunday．
Invented a few years ago by students and seized upon by digital marketers, this festival for lonely hearts falls annually on the llth day of the llth month （since l is the loneliest number）．It is like St Valentine's Day, only worse． Singletons shower each other with tender gifts: a barrage of pearls; a storm of sweets．
This November llth they spent a surprising 19 billion yuan on Alibaba's online platforms-a fourfold increase on a year ago, and more than double what Americans spent online last Cyber Monday （the Monday after Thanksgiving, when retailers urge Americans to shop online）． About 100m purchases were logged, accounting for 80% of the packages shipped that day． Couriers（怏递员） were buried in parcels．
So life is good for China's e-tailers, then? Not exactly． The number of digital marketers is increasing and online sales are booming． Consumers are enjoying lower prices, better service and more variety． The problem? The pressure on profits in Chinese e-commerce is worse than in America, reckons Elinor Leung of CLSA, a broker． "Almost no one makes money," she says．
The fiercest battles are being fought between online retailers and their bricks-and-mortar（实体的） rivals．Dangdang, a firm． that resembles Amazon,．and 360buy, another online retailer, have cut prices fiercely． Tencent, a cash-rich online giant known for its instant-messaging software, is splashing out to win market share． 360buy has also just raised $400m from investors to do the same． But it is unclear how much longer such firms can burn through capital．What's the best title of this passage?
| A．The Ambition of Alibaba |
| B．Fierce Competition between Retailers |
| C．A Newly Sprung Festival for the Singles |
| D．Chinese Booming and Developing E-commerce |
According to Zeng Ming, this year Alibaba will ．
| A．outweigh Amazon and eBay in worldwide influence |
| B．rank top among all the Internet firms |
| C．have more than 159 billion dollars' sale |
| D．create another sales miracle just like the one on Singles Day |
How many packages were shipped on November ll th from Alibaba's online platforms?
| A．About 80 million． | B．About 100 million． |
| C．About 125 million． | D．About 180 million． |
What's the author's attitude towards online retailers in China?
| A．Optimistic． | B．Concerned． |
| C．Sympathetic． | D．Indifferent． |
BUKHANNON, West Virginia—Two rescue teams slowly moved along a two-mile path on Monday night to the site of a coal mine explosion that trapped 13 miners, who had not been heard from since the early morning accident．
Meanwhile, at a nearby church, more than 250 family members and friends gathered, waiting for updates（最新报道）on the rescuers’ progress．
The miners were trapped at about 6:30 and many families weren’t informed of the accident until about 10 a．m-more than three hours after it happened．“It’s very upsetting, but you’ve got to be patient, I guess,” said John Helms, whose brother, Terry, was trapped in the mine．
The trapped miners were about 260 feet underground and about 10,000 feet from the Sago Mine’s entrance, said
Roger Nicholson, general counsel from International Coal Group．
At a late night news conference, Nicholson said one team had advanced about 4, 800 feet in the four hours since entering the mine just before 6 p．m．Another team entered the mine about 30 minutes later．
He said the crew was very experienced, with some members having worked underground for 30 to 35 years．The miners were equipped with about one hour of breathable oxygen each．The company has not released the names of the miners．
The teams test the air about every 500 feet, and have to disconnect （remove
） the power to the phones they use to communicate with the surface before doing that．“ We don’t want to be energizing anything if it’s in an atmosphere with burnable gases,” Kips said．
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known．High levels of carbon monoxide were discovered shortly after the explosion, which delayed rescue efforts, but those levels have since subsided（减退）, authorities said．According to the passage, we can infer that ________．
| A．all the miners who were trapped underground were still alive |
| B．communication with the trapped miners was cut off |
| C．the two rescue teams entered the mine at the same time |
| D．the rescue started as soon as the accident happened |
If the first team advanced at an average speed, they could dig about _______ per hour．
| A．1,000 feet | B．2,400 feet | C．1,200feet | D．4,800feet |
Where can the passage be seen?
| A．In a magazine． | B．In a newspaper． |
| C．In a science book．． | D．On an advertisement． |
Which of the following shows the position where
the miners were trapped?
For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, opera goers also had a certain appearance in people's mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to make the opera closer to common people. Because young people don't or won't come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such unusual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera's choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas” shortened versions(剧本) of child-friendly operas. This summer's production is Hansel ＆ Gretel. By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Program. Which is the main idea of this passage？
| A． Opera is famous for its long history. |
| B． Opera is only performed for rich people. |
| C． Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive. |
| D． Young people are not interested in opera. |
The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means ______.
| A． breaking up the old rules | B． changing the dresses |
| C． making the audience at ease | D．advertising themselves |
Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because ______ .
| A． they can be performed in public libraries |
| B． short versions are easy to perform |
| C． it is hard to find long versions |
| D． they can make more people come to opera |
The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to ______.
| A． celebrate its 75th anniversary | B． reduce the cost |
| C． attract young people | D． make Cinderella popular |
Where have all the boys gone？You may be able to find them in the gym, at work or hanging out, but there’s one important place where boys are underrepresented, and the problem seems to be getting worse. These days, at high school graduation ceremonies, there are a lot more girls than boys.
In fact, every year, 10 percent more girls graduate from high school than boys. “I think that there’s a tendency to focus on boys as problems at this point, rather than recognize that boys have problems,” says Joanne Max, PhD. Experts say the problems start in grade school, where there’s often an emphasis on sports instead of reading, for example. “I think that with boys there’s some idea that it’s not masculine(男子汉的)to read,” says Rob Jenkins, 
an English professor.
There’s also a shortage of male teachers as role models. “I think boys need role models, so if you’re a boy and you don’t have a dad in your home and then you have one male teacher and it’s your athletic coach then I don’t think you have a message that education is very important,” says Carol Carter, another expert. In addition, classrooms often have too little activity
and too much passive listening, which is not conducive(有益的)to boys’learning.
Experts say parents can fight back in many ways. Read to your sons early and often; show by your actions that you value their education. Ask them about their schoolwork, offer help, drop by their classroom and finally, appeal to their competitive spirit: challenge them to do better and help them understand that their future depends on it.The underlined part “one important place” in Paragraph 1 refers to “______”.
| A．classrooms | B．factories |
| C．high school graduation ceremonies | D．gyms |
According to the passage，boys have the problem that they think ______.
| A．reading is more important than sports |
| B．it is shameful for boys to read |
| C．boys should not work as a teacher |
D．boys la ck the gift for reading |
Carol Carter’s words implied that ______.
| A．parents play an important role in education |
| B．athletic coaches contribute a lot to education |
| C．lack of male teachers affects boys’ attitudes to school work |
| D．classrooms lack enough activities that are suitable for boys |
According to experts，parents should do the following except ______.
| A．often read to their sons when they are young |
| B．keep an eye on their sons’ studies at school |
| C．encourage their sons to compete with others |
| D．prevent their sons from taking part in sports |
Some people argue that the pressures on international sportsmen and sportswomen kill the spirit of sport: the pursuit (追求) of personal excellence. Children kick a football around for fun. When they get older and play for local school teams, they become competitive but they still enjoy playing. The sportsman representing his country cannot afford to think about enjoying himself, he has to think only about winning. He is responsible for an entire nation’s hopes and dreams.
A good example is the football World Cup. Football is the world’s most important sport. It is even more important now that the United States is seriously taking it up. Winning the World Cup is perhaps eh greatest of international sporting success. Mention “ Argentina ” to someone and the chances are that he’ll think of football. In a sense, winning the World Cup “ put Argentina on the map ”.
Sports fans and supporters get quite irrational about the World Cup. People in England felt that their country was somehow important after they won the World Cup. Last year thousands of Scots sold their cars, and even their houses, and spent all their money traveling to Argentina, where the finals were played.
So am I arguing that international competitions kill the idea of sport? Certainly not! Do the Argentineans really believe that because eleven of their men proved the most skillful at football, their nation is better than all others? Not really. But it’s nice to know that you won, and that in one way at least your country is best.What is mainly discussed in this passage is _________.
| A．why international sport is necessary |
| B．what international sport is like |
| C．how international sport goes on |
| D．what disadvantages international sport has |
Those who are against international competitions think that ________.
| A．sport should not be so popular | B．sport should not be competitive |
| C．sport should be for personal purpose | D．sport should be made easier |
We can infer from the passage that the underlined word “ irrational ” means_________.
| A．against reasonable behavior | B．having much knowledge |
| C．unable to understand | D．eager to know |
What does the writer mean by saying that winning the World Cup “ put Argentina on t
he map”_____
| A．Argentina has the best football player |
| B．Argentina has become world-famous for football |
| C．Football is very popular in Argentina |
| D．Argentina has begun to pay much attention to football |
When I stepped out the plane from Miami into Charlotte, North Carolina, airport for a connecting flight home, I immediately knew something was wrong. Lots of desperate people crowded the terminal. I quickly learned that flights headed to the Northeast were called off because of a storm. The earliest they could get us out of Charlotte was Tuesday. It was Friday. A gate agent stood on the counter and shouted, “Don’t ask us for help! We cannot help you!”
I joined a crowd that ran from terminal to terminal in search of a flight out. Eventually, I found six strangers willing to rent a van with me. We drove through the night to Washington, where I took a train the rest of the way to Providence.
The real problem, of course, is that incidents like this happen every day, to everyone who flies, more and more often. It really gets to me, though, because for eight years I was on the other side, as a flight attendant for Trans-World Airlines (TWA).
I know the days are gone when attendants could be written up if we did not put the lines napkins with the TWA logo in the lower right-hand corner of the first-class diners’ trays. As are the days when there were three dinner options on flights from Boston to Los Angeles in economy class. When, once, stuck on a tarmac（机场停机坪）in Newark for four hours, a planeload of passengers got McDonald’s hamburgers and fries by thoughtfulness of the airline. I have experienced the decline of service along with the rest of the flying public. But I believe everything will change little by little, because I remember the days when to fly was to soar (翱翔). The airlines, and their employees, took pride in how their passengers were treated. And I think the days are sure to come back one day in the near future. Many people crowded the terminal because _______.
| A．they were ready to board on the planes |
| B．something was wrong with the terminal |
| C．the flights to the Northeast were canceled |
| D．the gate agent wouldn’t help the passengers |
How did the writer get to Providence at last?___
| A．by air | B．by van |
| C．by train | D．by underground |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?______
| A．Incidents happened to those who fly quite often. |
| B．The writer used to be a flight attendant for Trans-World Airlines. |
| C．Even a small mistake might cause complaints from passengers in the past. |
| D．McDonald’s hamburgers and fries were among regular dinner options. |
What can be implied from the passage?____
| A．The writer lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. |
| B．The writer thought the service was not as good as it used to be. |
| C．The writer with other passengers waited to be picked up patiently. |
| D．Passengers would feel proud of how they were treated on the plane. |