Poverty today is a major global issue．Although there are all kinds of definitions used to explain it, in simple words, it means the inability of a person to even get his basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, safe drinking water, health and education．Poverty can be found in each and every comer of the world, although the causes may differ from country to country．Given below are the main causes of poverty in the world today．
Overpopulation is one of the main causes behind the threatening of poverty on an individual level as well as a social level．This is simple math: If there are more mouths to feed and less income, definitely much will remain poor．
Another theory which is used as an explanation for poverty is lack of education．If you look at any of the underdeveloped countries, you will find that the level of education there is very low．Lack of education means lack of employment opportunities, thus leading to unemployment coupled with poverty in the future．
Moving away from one's own homeland to another city or country in search of employment leads to poverty too．It may take these people a lot of time to find jobs．Meanwhile they live in bad conditions．The cost of living in the city or country is most of the time too high for them．
There may be other causes of poverty like the change in business．For example, in America, a couple of decades ago, heavy industry flourished, which employed a lot of African-American people．But now, the focus is more on information technology and health care, both of which employ only skilled and trained people．This has led to unemployment among African-Americans．
Poverty has many ill effects on society．That's why steps should be taken to get rid of it!What's the meaning of the underlined word "flourished" in Paragraph 5?
（No more than 5 words）Why is overpopulation a cause of poverty today? （No more thanl2 words）
What's the situation of education m underdeveloped countries? （No more than 8 words）
What does the passage mainly talk about?（No more than 10 words）
In your opinion, what's the most significant cause of poverty today? Please give your reason．（No more than 25 words）
A guitarist was pleasantly surprised to hear from New York City police that his valuable guitar had been found. It disappeared almost a year ago when he got out of a taxi and forgot to take the guitar with him. Laurence Lennon, 44, said he was running late that day. He was talking to his manager on his cellphone when he rushed out of the taxi. He said that he gave the driver $60 and told him to keep the change. He walked through the front doors of the concert hall, still talking on the phone to his manager.
Upon discovering his loss, Lennon used his cellphone to call the police. The policewoman asked him for the name of the taxi company, the number of the taxi, and the name of the driver. He said that she must have been joking.
She told Lennon that he could apply for a missing item report online. Lennon asked for address. It was www.nypd.gov/toprotectandtoserve/haveaniceday. She told him that finding the guitar might take a couple of years for finding guitars was not as important as finding murderers and marijuana （大麻）smokers. Then she told him to have a nice day.
“This year has been depressing,” said Lennon. “I had to put off the recording of two new CDs. I’ve been using borrowed guitars. And I was losing hope of ever recovering my guitar.”
Lennon was reunited with his $100,000 guitar yesterday. The guitar had been discovered in the corner of a coffeehouse only two blocks from where Lennon had lost it. Lennon had offered a $10,000 reward for its return. He said he would give the reward to the coffeehouse owner, who had informed the police. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Careless guitarist surprised. |
| B．Valuable guitar found. |
| C．Coffeehouse owner rewarded. |
| D．Taxi driver still unknown. |
In the first paragraph, the author explained ________.
| A．how costly the guitar was |
| B．how important the concert was |
| C．why the guitarist was late |
| D．why the guitar was left behind |
By saying “she must have been joking” in Para 2, the guitarist probably means ________.
| A．it was impossible for him to answer her questions |
| B．there must have been something she felt funny |
| C．she didn’t believe at all that he had lost his guitar |
| D．she must have felt that his behavior was funny |
In the policewoman’s opinion, finding the lost guitar _________.
| A．was not important at all |
| B．wouldn’t be done online |
| C．could be a long time hunting |
| D．only depended on the driver |
I wasn’t surprised when I read that actress Helen Hunt recently stated that she would never allow her young daughter to become a child star. Ms. Hunt is the daughter of a Hollywood technical director, and grew up in Hollywood. Now in her late 40s, she started acting and modeling when she was eight and has probably seen a lot over those years in show business.
She has had a successful career. She earned four Golden Globes and four Emmys. She also attained the top honor of her profession when she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role in the 1992 movie, As Good As It Gets. Given those accolades, Ms. Hunt is successful. There is no doubt that her early experiences as a child star prepared her for what has been an outstanding adult career. Given those achievements, why would this star declare she’ll never allow her daughter, now at the age of six, to follow in her footsteps?
Everyone familiar with the entertainment scene is aware of the reasons for her attitude. Recent tabloid (小报) news headlines featuring the troubles of former child stars, among them Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and the late Gary Coleman, may answer the question. Although Ms. Hunt managed to become a successful grown-up star, she apparently believes she’s an exception.
What Ms. Hunt may be suggesting is that many very young stars go through unnatural childhoods on movie and TV sets. While they’re earning big incomes, they’re so pampered (纵容) by directors and praised by fans; they may get false impressions that their lives will always be that way. Then, within a few years, when faced with reality, they’re hurt and confused. After all the overwhelming affection, they find they can’t deal with the problems. That’s often when drugs and alcohol take over their lives.
Helen Hunt has some other reasons why she doesn’t want her daughter to be in the entertainment business. Many child stars can never make a successful transition to meaningful adulthood. However, as with many Hollywood movies, I believe there are both good and bad scenes about how it can be played out in real life. According to the passage, Ms. Hunt _________.
| A．started acting and modeling when she was a little girl |
| B．has been acting for about 30 years |
| C．is the daughter of a famous actor |
| D．started singing when she was eight |
27. The underlined word “accolades” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_________”.
| A．difficulties |
| B．awards |
| C．salaries |
| D．opinions |
The author thinks Helen Hunt’s success is mainly due to _________.
| A．her hard work |
| B．the help of a technical director |
| C．her experiences as a child star |
| D．her talent and good luck |
Helen Hunt wouldn’t allow her daughter to become a child star because she thinks _________.
| A．child stars often take drugs and alcohol |
| B．being a child star may ruin her future |
| C．child stars aren’t able to solve their problems |
| D．it is difficult to succeed as a child actor |
From the passage we can conclude that _________.
| A．few child stars will succeed in the future |
| B．there is no way to save the entertainment business |
| C．the author has a different opinion about child stars |
| D．meaningful adulthood only belongs to non-child stars |
Communicating with Gestures
When travelling, you may think that if you don't know the language, you can communicate using gestures. However, very few gestures are universally understood and interpreted. What is perfectly acceptable in this country may be rude in other cultures.
1. Pointing at something using the index finger. It is impolite to point with the index finger in the Middle and Far East. Use an open hand or your thumb in Indonesia.
2. Making a "V" sign. This means "victory" in most parts of Europe when you make the sign with your palm facing away from you. But if you face your palm in, the gesture is very rude.
3. Smiling. This facial expression is universally understood. However, cultures can provide different reasons for smiling. The Japanese may smile when they are confused or angry while in other parts of Asia people smile when they are embarrassed. People in some cultures only smile to friends. It is important not to judge people for not smiling, or for smiling at what we would consider "inappropriate" times.
4. Waving one's hand with the palm facing outward to greet someone. In parts of Europe, waving the hand back and forth can mean "No". To wave "goodbye", raise the palm outward and wave the fingers together; but this is rude in Nigeria if the hand is too close to another person's face.
5. Forming a circle with one's fingers to mean "OK". Although this means "OK" in the U. S. and many other countries, there are some notable exceptions. In Brazil and Germany the gesture is obscene(猥亵的), while in Japan it means "money". In France, it has the additional meaning of "zero" or "worthless".According to the text, when we travel to other countries________.
| A．many gestures are universally recognized |
| B．the same gesture can have different meanings |
| C．a smile always suggests friendliness |
| D．we can still communicate without knowing the languages |
What does the word "inappropriate" in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Unsuitable. |
| B．Impolite. |
| C．Uncomfortable. |
| D．Ordinary. |
When you talk to people from Brazil, you should remember not to ________.
| A．smile at them |
| B．make a "V"sign |
| C．point at objects around you |
| D．make the "OK" gesture |
The text is mainly to __________.
| A．show that gestures are universally accepted |
| B．warn readers of impolite gestures |
| C．show the different meanings of gestures in different countries |
| D．teach readers how to understand gestures in other countries |
Yawning is so contagious(具有传染性) that chimpanzees can “catch” it from cartoons, according to research.
Scientists from Emory University in Atlanta, US, have discovered that a cartoon of a yawning chimp will stimulate(刺激) real chimps to yawn. They describe in the Royal Society journal, Proceedings B, how this could assist in the future study of empathy(移情作用). The work could also help explain if and how computer games might cause children to imitate what they see on screen.
Previous studies have already shown contagious yawning in chimpanzees—stimulated by video-recorded footage of yawns.
“We wanted to expand on that, “explained Matthew Campbell, a researcher from Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center and lead author of the study. “We’re interested in using cartoon for presenting stimuli to animals, because we can control all the features of what we show them,” he continued.
Although Dr. Campbell doesn’t think the chips were “fooled” by the cartoons into thinking they were looking at real chimps, he explained that there was evidence that chimpanzees “process animated (动画的) faces the same way they process photographs of faces”.
He said: “It’s not a real chimpanzee, but it kind of looks like a chimpanzee, and they’re responding to that.”
He and his team, including Devyn Carter who designed the cartoons, showed the animals the yawning sequences.
“We also had the cartoons doing other movements with their mouths that the chimps often do,’’ he said. “The chimps showed a lot more yawning during the yawn video when the control videos were playing.”
He told BBC News that the only way he and his colleagues could explain the “very strong difference” they saw was that seeing the yawns was making the animals yawn. According to the passage, the scientists have found that________.
| A．yawning is a contagious facial expression among chimps |
| B．chimps will imitate a cartoon chimp who is yawning |
| C．chimps are able to understand cartoons very well |
| D．chimps like watching cartoons very much |
According to the passage we can learn that_______.
| A．yawning on both cartoon videos and pictures can make chimps yawn |
| B．Devyn Carte led the study about contagious yawning[ |
| C．children will also be stimulated to yawn by the videos of chimps |
| D．people can control all the features of animals through cartoon |
By studying the action of chimps, the scientists hope to ________.
| A．teach them more body language of human beings |
| B．learn how chimps use their brains to study |
| C．control the actions and behaviors of animals |
| D．create more charming cartoon characters |
The passage is mainly talking about________.
| A．a serious research about chimps’ body language |
| B．those contagious gestures of animals |
| C．why children imitate what they see on TV |
| D．a study about chimps’ ability of imitating |
October 15th is Global Handwashing Day. Activities are planned in more than twenty countries to get millions of people in the developing world to wash their hands with soap.
Experts say people around the world wash their hands but very few use soap at socalled critical moments. These include after using the toilet，after cleaning a baby and before touching food.
Global Handwashing Day is the idea of the Public Private Partnership for handwashing with soap. The goal，they say，is to create a culture of handwashing with soap. The organizers say all soaps are equally effective at removing diseasecausing germs (细菌)．They say the correct way to wash is to wet your hands with a small amount of water and cover them with soap. Rub it into all areas，including under the fingernails. Then，wash well under running water. Finally，dry your hands with a clean cloth.
The Partnership says soap is important because it increases the time that people spend washing. Soap also helps to break up the dirt that holds most of the germs. And it usually leaves a pleasant smell，which increases the chances that people will wash again.
It also says that washing hands with soap before eating and after using the toilet could save more lives than any medicine. It could help reduce cases of diarrhea (痢疾)，which is the second leading cause of child deaths，killing more than one and a half million children a year，by almost half. What does the author intend to tell us in the passage?
| A．To keep healthy by washing hands. |
| B．To wash hands with soap. |
| C．To take action to wash hands. |
| D．To wash hands often. |
Which of the following is the right way to wash hands?
a．Washing hands well under running water.
b．Covering hands with soap.
c．Drying hands.
d．Rubbing hands with soap.
e．Wetting hands.
| A．a－c－b－e－d | B．e－d－a－b－c |
| C．a－c－b－d－e | D．e－b－d－a－c |
Which fact can’t explain why soap is important?
| A．It gives people a longer handwashing time. |
| B．It helps to remove a lot of germs from hands. |
| C．It attracts people to do more handwashing. |
| D．It gets all people into the habit of washing hands. |
According to the last paragraph，diarrhea is a disease that________．
| A．kills half of the kids in the developing countries a year |
| B．causes the greatest number of child deaths |
| C．can be prevented to some degree by washing hands with soap |
| D．can’t be cured without washing hands |