As a boy growing up in India, I had longed to travel abroad. I used to listen to the stories my father would tell me about his stay in Canada and tours to Europe in the 1970s, with great interest.
My big moment finally came in the summer of 1998 when I was able to accompany my parents to Europe, where my father was to attend a meeting. We planned to travel to Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany.
I have clear memories even today of going to Mumbai airport at night all excited about finally going abroad. I had heard several great things about Lufthansa till then but now I finally got to experience them first hand, during the flight to Frankfurt. We flew business class and even today I can remember the excellent service by the Lufthansa crew （工作人员）. The flight was really smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone like me, who is especially afraid of flying.
After spending almost two weeks in Europe, we took the Lufthansa airport express from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt airport, for our return flight. What a journey that was! All along the Rhine (莱茵河), it was simply an unforgettable experience. I had a sombre feeling on the flight back to Mumbai as it marked the end of a wonderful vacation, but the Lufthansa crew members were able to change it into a most enjoyable experience yet again, with the quality of their service.
Being the first airline to take me abroad, Lufthansa will always hold a special place in my heart. Even today，I continue to enjoy flights on Lufthansa and simply cannot dream of choosing any other airline. Flying, in general，for me，has always been a terrible and painful experience．Flying on Lufthansa，however, is something I always have and always will look forward to. Which country does the author live in now?
| A．India. | B．Canada. | C．Belgium. | D．Germany. |
What made the author so interested in traveling abroad?
| A．Growing up in India. |
| B．Once staying in Canada. |
| C．Once traveling to Canada with his father. |
| D．His father's stories about his traveling experiences. |
Which of the following is true about the author's trip to Europe in 1998?
| A．The author traveled with one of his parents. |
| B．Both their going and return were by air. |
| C．They traveled in spring that year. |
| D．They stayed in Europe for nearly two months. |
It can be inferred from the passage that Lufthansa is ________.
| A．a city in India | B．a city in Europe |
| C．an airline company | D．a travel agency |
The underlined word “somber” in the 4th paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．happy | B．sad | C．angry | D．enjoyable |
Telepathy: Mind-to-mind Contact
Telepathy is the ability to communicate without the use of the five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste). It’s an instinct (本能) which can be woken up in times of emergency or need. When we feel that something is happening or about to happen by instinct, we’re using resources within the unconscious mind. When the resources of two persons’ unconscious minds link together into the same frequency, we call it Telepathy.
We can either send or receive Telepathy. If you know who is calling before you answer the ringing phone, you are probably a good receiver. If you think of a person and he/she calls you, you are most likely to be better at sending.
You can easily put your abilities to the test. Think of somebody and will him or her to contact you. Be patient. The other person may not be a good receiver, but they should contact you much earlier than would normally be expected. Or whenever the phones rings, but try “feeling” who is contacting you. Don’t guess, but try to feel it with your mind. However, if neither of these work for you, that doesn’t mean that you have no ability of telepathy. As mentioned earlier, telepathy is most likely to turn up in case of emergency.
Telepathy dreams often contain telepathic messages. Two people may both dream of the other and find that their dreams had a clear connection. These people are probably linking to each other’s unconscious mind.
Telepathy & Relationships. The more people spend time together, the more likely they are to be able to link up to the other’s mind, especially when separated. There are two reasons for this. One is that they understand the other’s mind through time spent together; the other is that there is usually a strong desire to communicate. A mother will often sense that her child is in danger. This is due to the child’s eagerly wanting his or her mother, knowing that this person who would always want to be there for them, and the mother’s deep desire to protect her child from harm.Telepathy turns up when we ____.
| A．think of a stranger |
| B．use the five senses together |
| C．recall things from our memory |
| D．sense a close friend in danger |
You’re better at sending than receiving Telepathy if you ____.
| A．can tell who knocks at your door |
| B．can feel your mom is in danger |
| C．receive a friend’s call as you wish |
| D．dream of a friend dreaming of you |
Which is not the way to help people gain Telepathy?
| A．Help them have a strong desire to communicate. |
| B．Separate them all the time. |
| C．Help them link up their unconscious minds. |
| D．Let them spend much time together. |
Katharine Meyer Graham was once described as “the most powerful woman in America.” She was not a government official or elected representative. She owned and published The Washington Post. Under her leadership, it became one of the most important newspapers in the country.
Katharine Meyer was born in New York City in 1917. Her father was a successful investment banker and became an important financial official. Her family was very rich. Katharine grew up in large houses in New York and Washington. Her parents were often away from home, traveling and working, Katharine was often lonely. Katherine Meyer graduated from the University of Chicago in Illinois in 1938. In 1933, her father bought a failing newspaper, The Washington Post. It was the least successful one of five newspapers in Washington.
Katharine Graham returned to Washington and got a job editing letters to the editor of her father's newspaper. She married Philip Graham. He was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter but soon accepted a job at his wife's father's newspaper. Mr. Graham improved The Washington Post. He bought Newsweek and several television stations. He also established close ties with important political leaders. However, Mr. Graham treated his wife badly. He had an affair with a young reporter. For many years, Mr. Graham suffered from mental illness. He killed himself in 1963.
Katharine Graham had four children to raise and a newspaper to operate. At first, she was only concerned about finding a way to keep control of The Washington Post until her sons were old enough. She did not think she had the ability to do an important job. She had no training in business or experience in operating a large company. In those days, it was unusual for a woman to be the head of a business. Women were expected to look after their homes and children.
Katharine Graham met with officials of The Washington Post. She was elected president of The Washington Post Company. She had no idea about how to operate a newspaper. So she decided to learn. She began by hiring Benjamin C.Bradlee. He later became chief editor. Mr. Bradlee improved the newspaper. He hired excellent reporters and editors. They began doing important investigative reporting. In 1969, Mrs. Graham became publisher as well as president of The Washington Post Company. In the 1970s, The Washington Post became famous around the world because of two major successes.Katharine Graham is considered powerful because ____________.
| A．she was born of a very rich family |
| B．she had the most important newspaper |
| C．she was in charge of the The Washington Post |
| D．she gained much money from newspapers |
We can infer from the second paragraph that Katharine Graham _____________.
| A．was one of the top students at university |
| B．helped her father in purchasing the paper |
| C．didn’t take interest in managing a bank |
| D．lived a rich life when she was young |
After Katharine Graham got married ___________.
| A．her husband gave up his previous job |
| B．she got a job editing letters for the editor |
| C．she made The Washington Post improved |
| D．her husband wanted to be a political leader |
Faced with the death of Mr. Graham ____________.
| A．Katharine Graham had confidence to operate the newspaper well. |
| B．Katharine Graham made up her mind to raise the kids. |
| C．Katharine Graham thought more about gaining experience. |
| D．Katharine Graham seemed to be trapped in the dark world. |
What do you think of Benjamin C. Bradlee?
A. He was an expert when it came to earning money.
B. He brought The Washington Post back to life.
C. He intended to buy The Washington Post.
D. He should have given more help to Katharine Graham.
A newly-wedded couple on a four-month honeymoon were hit by six natural disasters, including the Australian floods, Christchurch earthquake and Japanese tsunami (海啸).
Stefan and Erika Svanstrom left Stockholm, Sweden, on December 6 and were immediately stuck in Munich, Germany, due to one of Europe's worst snowstorms.
Travelling with their baby daughter, they flew on to Cairns in Australia which was then struck by one of the most violent cyclones in the nation's history.
From there, the couple, in their 20s, were forced to shelter for 24 hours on the cement (水泥) floor of a shopping centre with 2,500 others.
“Trees were being knocked over and big branches were put down across the streets, ” Mr. Svanstrom told Sweden's Expressen newspaper. “We escaped by the skin of our teeth.”
Mr. Svanstrom said they then headed south to Brisbane but the city was experiencing massive flooding, so they crossed the country to Perth where they narrowly escaped burning bush fires.
The couple then flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, arriving just after a massive magnitude (震级) 6.3 earthquake attacked the city on February 22.
Mrs. Svanstrom said, “When we got there the whole town was like a war zone. We could not visit the city since it was completely blocked off, so instead we travelled around before going to Japan.”
But days after the Svanstroms arrived, Tokyo was rocked by Japan's largest earthquake since records began.
“The trembling was horrible and we saw roof tiles fly off the buildings,” Mr. Svanstrom said. “It was like the buildings were swaying back and forth.”
The family returned to Stockholm on March 29 after a much calmer visit to their last destination China.
But Mr. Svanstrom --- who also survived the destructive Boxing Day tsunami that hit southeast Asia in 2004 --- said the marriage was still going strong.
He added, “I know marriages have to experience some difficulties, but I think we have been through most of them. We've certainly experienced more than our fair share of disasters, but the most important thing is that we're together and happy.”In Svanstrom's opinion, a marriage .
| A．has to go peacefully and happily for all time |
| B．has to experience many disasters at the beginning |
| C．must always allow the couple be together and happy |
| D．should experience difficulties to make it steady |
Why were Stefan and Erika Svanstrom stopped in Munich?
| A．Christchurch earthquake stopped them. |
| B．Because of Europe's worst snowstorm. |
| C．The plane was damaged. |
| D．The trains broke down. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The family were stuck in a mall of Australia for twenty-four hours. |
| B．The family didn't experience any disaster in China. |
| C．During their stay in New Zealand, they also visited a war zone in the town. |
| D．The earthquake the family experienced in Tokyo was the largest one recorded in Japan. |
Educating Girls Is a Real Lifesaver
Clare Short knows it. Every developing economist knows it. The World Bank knows it. The education of girls is the surest way to reduce poverty.
The reason is simple. All the evidence shows that taking girls out of the fields and homes, and putting them behind desks, raises economic productivity, lowers infant and maternal(产妇) death rates, reduces birth rates, and improves environmental management.
Why, then, are 90 million primary school-age girls around the world not in school? For the same reason that when Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield 150 years ago girls were absent from the British education system: Men in power mostly prefer it that way, or are not interested enough in changing the situation to commit energy and money to doing so.
The countries with the poorest record for having women in positions of power or influence have the worst figures for girls’ education. High-profile intervention(介入) by organizations such as the World Bank has begun successfully with several countries, and more of the same will probably be needed to bring change in conservative, male-run states.
Even if there were no development payoff from gender equality in schools, the education of girls would still be a cause worth fighting for. Education is a human right, and the denial of it to girls is a scar on the community in the twenty-first century.
To be born a girl in a rural area in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Togo, or Sudan — half a dozen of the most shameful performers — means being condemned to a life without school, education, or clean water, marriage and babies coming too early, too many births, children who die of preventable diseases, backbreaking work in the fields, subordination(从属) to husband and his family, and an early death.
Every year, almost 12 million children under the age of five needlessly die of infectious diseases associated with poverty. But each additional year spent by their mothers in primary school lowers the risk of premature child deaths by about 8 percent. In Pakistan, an extra year of school for 1,000 girls could prevent sixty infant deaths.
With women and girls being the main farmers in Africa and southern Asia, their education offers a chance to develop more efficient farming practices, improve output, and raise awareness of the ecological needs of the land with tree planting and farming. Therefore, the world community cannot afford to ignore this avenue of change.Which is Not the reason why educating girls reduces poverty?
| A．It improves environmental management. |
| B．It raises economic productivity. |
| C．It creates more children. |
| D．It lowers maternal death rates. |
What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．The poor economy at that time. |
| B．Girls’ absence from school. |
| C．Energy and money. |
| D．The education of girls. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The countries where women have great influence and are in power always do worse in girls’ education. |
| B．Some organizations such as the World Bank haven’t taken the lead in girls’ education. |
| C．Some girls in Sudan and Indonesia are bound to live a life without education when they are born. |
| D．Each extra year of school for girls has nothing to do with the birthrate and maternal deaths. |
How many more infants will survive when 100 girls stay in school for another year?
| A．5 | B．6 | C．8 | D．12 |
What does the author think of girls’ education?
| A．essential | B．terrible |
| C．indifferent | D．helpless |
Beer and fried chicken — Thanks to a South Korean drama currently on air, Man From the Stars, this new mix-and-match junk food trend has become popular among young audiences, despite its unhealthy nature. Indeed, South Korean TV dramas, or K-drama for short, have been a major force in the South Korean pop-culture wave that has captured the hearts of young Chinese audiences. According to iQiyi, a video website that features Man From the Stars, by Feb 15, the number of views for the TV drama hit 370 million in China.
“It is interesting to explore what elements of those dramas appeal to audiences. It’s obviously more than just pretty faces,” says Yan Feng, a professor of Chinese literature at Fudan University. Reflected by audiences, culture critics and insiders of the industry, youth fantasy, creative storylines, cultural proximity in East Asia, and well-organized production all add up to K-drama’s success, along with, of course, those handsome and cute faces dressed in the latest fashion trends.
“Everyone fancies a perfect partner, handsome or beautiful,” says Zhou Ying, a professor at Chongqing Technology and Business University. “The South Korean TV industry is feeding this need.” After Lee Min-ho appeared on CCTV’s annual Spring Festival gala, he became the most famous South Korean in China. Only weeks later, Kim Soo-hyun, lead actor in Man From the Stars, swept the country. Apart from pretty faces, fashion is another highlight of the series. Each time actors from the series wear a new set of outfits, similar clothes experience a sales boom online, according to Xiao Yi, a Taobao store owner.
As is known, with love triangles, incurable diseases, and Cinderella tales, storylines in South Korean dramas may seem a bit commonplace. While The Man From the Stars challenges this by putting aliens and time travel into these existing stories, Peng Sanyuan, a screenwriter, says a focus on detail is a key factor in the success of these dramas. “In order to accurately target audiences and find emotional reflections with them, more and more female writers are working in the industry,” says Peng about her experience of exchanging ideas with South Korean colleagues. According to the experts, South Korean writers somehow make sense of these plots, no matter how unlikely it seems.Why has beer and fried chicken become so popular among Chinese young people at present?
| A．Because the food tastes very great. |
| B．Because they want to change the trend. |
| C．Because the food is good for their health. |
| D．Because they are deeply affected by the Korean TV drama. |
What makes Man From the Stars different from other K-dramas according to the last paragraph?
| A．Female writers | B．Creative stories |
| C．Pretty faces | D．Fashionable clothes |