Most mornings, the line begins to form at dawn: scores of silent women with babies on their backs, buckets balanced on their heads, and in each hand a bright-blue plastic jug. On good days, they will wait less than an hour before a water tanker goes across the dirt path that serves as a road in Kesum Purbahari, a slum on the southern edge of New Delhi. On bad days, when there is no electricity for the pumps, the tankers don’t come at all. “That water kills people,” a young mother named Shoba said one recent Saturday morning, pointing to a row of pails filled with thick, caramel (焦糖)-colored liquid. “Whoever drinks it will die.” The water was from a pipe shared by thousands of people in the poor neibourhood. Women often use it to wash clothes and bathe their children, but nobody is desperate enough to drink it.
There is no standard for how much water a person needs each day, but experts usually put the minimum at fifty litres. The government of India promises (but rarely provides) forty. Most people drink two or three litres—less than it takes to wash a toilet. The rest is typically used for cooking and bathing. Americans consume between four hundred and six hundred litres of water each day, more than any other people on earth. Most Europeans use less than half that. The women of Kesum Purbahari each hoped to drag away a hundred litres that day—two or three buckets’ worth. Shoba has a husband and five children, and that much water doesn’t go far in a family of seven, particularly when the temperature reaches a hundred and ten degrees before noon. She often makes up the difference with bottled water, which costs more than water delivered any other way. Sometimes she just buys milk; it’s cheaper. Like the poorest people everywhere, the people of New Delhi’s slums spend a far greater percentage of their incomes on water than anyone lucky enough to live in a house connected to a system of pipes.The underlined word “slum” most likely means ______.
| A．a village |
| B．a small town |
| C．the part of a town that lacks water badly |
| D．an area of a town with badly-built, over-crowded buildings |
Sometimes the water tanker doesn’t come because ______.
| A．there is no electricity | B．the weather is bad |
| C．there is no water | D．people don’t want the dirty water |
A person needs at least ________ litres of water a day.
| A．forty | B．four hundred | C．a hundred | D．fifty |
The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．how India government manages to solve the problem of water gets their water |
| B．how women in Kesum Purbahari |
| C．how much water a day a person deeds |
| D．that India lacks water badly |
His first fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the 82-year-old, former president, hosted his second AIDS-awareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted (收养) by the chief of his tribe (部族) and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination ( 种族歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country’s Racial Segregation Law (种族隔离法), colored and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition (反对) to the system Mandela was arrested (被捕) and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and become the president of the country after the first elections were held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer (拳击手) and fought in the ring when he was young.
“ Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one’s body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat (撤退),” he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skilful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.Nelson Mandela succeeded in doing the following except _____.
| A．winning the equal rights for the black people in South Africa |
| B．uniting South Africa |
| C．organizing a government in South Africa |
| D．controlling the spread of AIDS |
If Nelson Mandela hadn’t fought against racial discrimination, he _____.
| A．could easily have been the president of South Africa |
| B．could still have lived a happy life |
| C．could have been in a difficult situation |
| D．would have been an excellent boxer |
It can be inferred that Nelson Mandela _____.
| A．continues to help the black people with the political struggle |
| B．is taking a position in a music group |
| C．is taking on the world’s greatest fight against AIDS |
| D．is preparing for the next election of president |
Which statement can best describe the life of Nelson Mandela?
| A．Struggle is his life. |
| B．Sports make his fame. |
| C．Fight for equal rights. |
| D．Great fighter against government. |
Classified Ads（广告）
For direct classified service, call 800-0667 10 a.m.—4 p.m., Monday---Friday.
For Rent
Best on Campus
Excellent Room for girls, begins Jan. , 2, 4, or 8 months lease. Single, $ 105. $125. Double, $ 140. Call 800-1932.
Family Home, 3 bedrooms, large yard. $ 275. Call 800-4300.
For Sale
Sheepskin Coat, men’s size 42, 1year old. $ 85. After 6 p.m. call 800-5224.
Moving: Must sell. Color TV 21, $ 150; transistor radio, $ 15; recorder, $ 25. Call 800-0739.
Help Wanted
Babysitter—My home
If you could find a few hours during the day, some evenings and weekends to care for 2 school- age children, please call 800-1111.
Lost
A black bag with a pencil-box and some books left in the reading room. Will the finder please come to Class 3, Grade 1?
Found
A green jacket was left on the sports ground yesterday afternoon ( April 15th). Will the owner please ring 656-6688?If you wanted to place an ad. , what number would you call?
| A．800-0739 | B．800-1932 | C．800-5224 | D．800-0667 |
“ Classified Ads” may probably mean “________”.
| A．ads about everyone’s life |
| B．ads giving one some necessary information |
| C．ads divided into different groups according to a certain rules |
| D．ads for which you needn’t pay any money |
If you want to find a part-time job, you will look at________.
| A．For Rent | B．For Sale | C．Help Wanted | D．Lost |
Balzac was good at buying things at its lowest price. One day he wanted to buy a vase in a shop window that was much more expensive than he could offer. Not being able to make the shopkeeper cut down its price very much, he left without further talking. Collecting a half dozen of his friends, he explained his wish to them and they worked a plan. The first would enter the shop and make an offer, lower than the marked price. Not getting the vase at his price, he would walk out. Shortly after another would enter and ask for a price lower than the first. In this way, each of the others would offer a price lower than the one before, and the last of his friends made a great effort to attempt to get it at the lowest price. Before long Balzac himself would return, offer more than the last two or three persons made and trust to luck. The plan worked--- Balzac got the vase at his price!Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．vase in the window was placed much higher than Balzac could reach. |
| B．At first the price of the vase was much higher than Balzac could offer. |
| C．Balzac always wanted to buy a vase that was much more expensive than he could pay. |
| D．Balzac was very poor. He couldn’t buy the vase at a high price. |
How many friends did Balzac gather?
| A．Six | B．Twelve | C．Ten | D．Five |
Who asked for the lowest price?
| A．The first one. | B．The second one. |
| C．The last of his friends. | D．Balzac. |
What kind of person does the writer try to tell us about Balzac and his friends?
| A．Unkind | B．Dishonest | C．Selfish | D．Clever |
What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse of the same as now? What do you hope about the future?
Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a menu and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.
In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. In many places, agriculture is changing and they are growing fruit and vegetables to export. This uses a lot of water. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don’t act now.
In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell the drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. On the other hand, space planes will take people half way around the world in two hours. Nowadays, the United States Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angels to Tokyo in just two hours.
In the field of technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots — they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere — in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
In particular, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are electronic devices that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again and scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things — but should they?. What may happen in the field of entertainment in the future?
| A．The programme made by yourself may be sent to TV. |
| B．A computer may choose TV programmes for you. |
| C．You may choose the channels from the menu in a computer. |
| D．What to broadcast on TV is decided by yourself. |
. After reading Paragraph 3, we can know _______.
| A．we should take measures to save water from now on |
| B．fruits will be more and more expensive |
| C．people will be short of supplies of vegetables |
| D．planting will need much less water in the future |
. ________ is the main factor that makes driving much safe in the future
| A．Good traffic condition | B．A good knowledge of driving skill |
| C．The role played by computer | D．The use of new fuel in cars |
. The following statements are wrong EXCEPT ________ according to the text.
| A．The future world will be controlled by robots. |
| B．People won’t be blind or deaf in the future. |
| C．Fewer and fewer workers are needed in the future in factories. |
| D．Scientists have the right to clone people of different kinds. |
Every day Yang Hongwei takes the bus home from work, staring silently at the European-style villas(别墅), luxury cars and twinkling lights from the shopping center that he sees through the window.
Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.
Soon Yang squeezes his way off the bus to the reality of his life: his home—a 10-square-metre room that costs 550 yuan(81 US dollars) or about one-fifth of his salary in rent every month. It’s very cold inside the house as it has no central heating system. He has to stand the long and cold winter. Determined to achieve his dream, Yang says he has changed jobs “numerous” times in the past three years and is considering quitting his present job.
Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in crowded areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet unknown and underpaid. The term, sociologists have said, also reflects their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the concrete jungle—only the strongest survive.
A survey in Ant TribeⅡ found nearly 30 percent of the “ants” are graduates of famous key universities—almost three times the percentage of 2009. Most have degrees in popular majors, such as medicine, engineering, economics and management. In addition, 7.2 percent of the “ants” have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009. Most said the economic recovery did not really improve their financial situations, and 66 percent said their incomes fell short of their expectations, the survey also found.
For two years, Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, who has studied the phenomenon, led a team of more than 100 graduate students to follow the groups in university towns like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an. Lian evaluates the total population of the “ant community” in major cities at one million across China, with about 100,000 found in Beijing alone. Lian predicts that an increasingly challenging job market will see the ant tribe growing further in number. Another 6.3 million graduates are expected to join migrant workers and other job hunters in what promises to be a fierce labour competition.
The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations. As in the case of Yang, he is optimistic about getting a new job soon, having received eight interview offers in a week after sending out his resume. The prospect of landing a higher-paying job keeps him hopeful of moving out of the slum district(贫民区) soon. The sooner the better. . Yang has worked in Beijing since graduation from university ______.
| A．to live in a beautiful villa of European style |
| B．to have more opportunities to be promoted |
| C．to struggle for a better-off life in a big city |
| D．to enjoy a busy life in a software company |
. Which of the following best describes “ant tribe”?
| A．It refers to the group of low-income graduates living in embarrassing conditions. |
| B．It refers to the people who work hard like ants but are paid little. |
| C．It refers to the sociologists and scholars researching into some social phenomena. |
| D．It refers to some well-educated people who can’t survive in society. |
. What does the writer think of the phenomenon of “ant tribe”?
| A．“Ant tribe” has become too serious a social problem to solve. |
| B．It is the government’s duty to solve the problem of “ant tribe”. |
| C．Both the government and the graduates have the responsibility. |
| D．The existence of “ant tribe” has little influence on job markets. |
. The passage is mainly about ______.
| A．a new urban life style—“ant tribe” | B．a recent survey about the “ant tribe” |
| C．the “ant tribe’s” living conditions | D．the “ant tribe’s” dream and reality |