President Coolidge’s statement, “The business of America is business,” still points to an important truth today—that business institutions have more prestige（威望）in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly（垄断）of power. In contrast to one all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers’ dollars, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, than democracy（民主）in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic（贵族的）idea of inherited privilege.The statement “The business of America is business” probably means ________.
| A．America is a great power in world business |
| B．Business is of primary concern to Americans |
| C．The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce |
| D．Business problems are of great importance to the American government |
Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only _______.
| A．by protecting their individual freedom |
| B．when given equality of opportunity |
| C．by way of competition |
| D．through doing business |
Who can benefit from business competition?
| A．People with ideals of equality and freedom. |
| B．Both business institutions and government. |
| C．Honest businessmen. |
| D．Both businessmen and their customers. |
Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by ________.
| A．its role in protecting basic American values |
| B．its absolute control of power |
| C．its democratic way of exercising leadership |
| D．its function in preserving personal freedom |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes ___________.
| A．in many countries success often depends on one’s social status |
| B．businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America |
| C．American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries |
| D．Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries |
A study of English learning problems was carried out among a total of 106 foreign students. It shows that most students considered understanding spoken English to be their biggest problem on arrival. This was followed by speaking. Writing increased as a problem as students discovered difficulties in writing papers that they were now expected to hand in. Reading remained as a significant(显著的) problem.
The information gained helped us in determining where special attention should be paid in our course. Although many students have chosen to join the course with a reasonable motivation(动机), we considered it important to note what seemed to encourage interest. Nearly all the students have experienced some kind of grammar-based English teaching in their own country. To use the same method would be self-defeating because it might reduce motivation, especially if it has failed in the past. Therefore a different method may help because it is different.
Variety of activity was also seen as a way of maintaining(保持) or increasing motivation. Several years ago we had one timetable that operated throughout, but we soon found that both the students and the teachers lost interest by about halfway through the ten weeks. This led us to a major re-think, so finally we brought it into line with the expressed language needs of the students.
10. What is the text mainly about?
A. Foreign students have more problems.
B. There are many ways to improve English.
C. Teaching should meet students’ needs.
D. English learning problems should be studied again.
11. Writing became a bigger problem when foreign students________.
A. had to write their papers
B. became better at speaking
C. became less interested in reading
D. had fewer problems with listening
12. We may infer from the last two paragraphs that ________.
A. different teaching methods should be used
B. grammar-based teaching seems to be encouraging
C. English courses are necessary for foreign students
D. teaching content should be changed halfway.
It is true that good writers rewrite and rewrite and then rewrite some more. But in order to work up the desire to rewrite, it is important to learn to like what you write at the early stage.
I am surprised at the number of famous writers I know who say that they so dislike reading their own writing later that they even hate to look over the publishers' opinions. One reason we may dislike reading our own work is that we're often disappointed that the rich ideas in our minds seem very thin and plain when first written down. Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker suggest that this fact may be a result of how our minds work.
Different from popular belief ,we do not usually think in the works and sentences of ordinary language but in symbols for ideas （known as "mentalese"）, and writing our ideas down is an act of translation from that symbolic language . But while mentalese contains our thoughts in the form of a complex tapestry （织锦），writing can only be composed one thread at a time . Therefore it should not be surprising that our first attempt at expressing ideas should look so simple. It is only by repeatedly rewriting that we produces new threads and connect them to get closer to the ideas formed in our minds.
When people write as if some strict critics （批评家） are looking over their shoulder , they are so worried about what this critic might say that they get stuck before they even start. Peter Elbow makes an excellent suggestion to deal with this problem. When writing we should have two different minds. At the first stage, we should see every idea, as well as the words we use to express it ,as wonderful and worth putting down . It is only during rewrites that we should examine what we excitedly wrote in the first stage and check for weaknesses.
| 1． |
What do we learn from the text about those famous writers?
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| 2． |
What do people generally believe about the way human minds work?
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| 3． |
What can we conclude from the text?
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A volcanic eruption in Iceland has sent ash across northern Europe. Airlines have stopped or changed the flights across the Atlantic Ocean, leaving hundreds of passengers stuck in airports.
Grirmsvom is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in Europe. What makes Grimsvom different is that it lies under a huge glacier（冰川） of ice up to 12 maters thick. The hot volcano heats up the ice above it, which then forms a layer（层）of water between the glacier and the volcano This layer of water puts pressure on the volcano, keeping it stable, As the water flows out from under the glacier, the pressure lifts. The lava（岩浆） from the volcano then comes up to the surface. This is exactly what happened today.
Now, airlines have to make changes to their flights so as not to fly through the clouds of volcanic ash. According to KLM. one of Europe's biggest airlines, airplanes cannot go under the cloud or over it. Going through the cloud can result in ash getting stuck in the airplane's engines, causing damage to the plane.
The eruption has also caused problems for animals in Iceland. The volcano left ash and sharp. Glass-like rocks all over the countryside. Farmers are keeping their animals inside to stop them from eating ash- covered grass to the sharp object.
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What makes Grimsvom different from other volcanoes?（）
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| 2． |
What keeps Grimsvotn still?（）
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| 3． |
Which of the following is the result of the volcanic eruption?（）
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| 4． |
This text is most probably taken from（）
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What is Bay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes- the list goes on and on
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child, At high school, be became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988, He worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started Bay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the website that he had to upgrade（升级） and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill. and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. . Even in the great. com crashes of the late 1990s,abay has gone from strength to strength ,. It is now one of the ten most visited online shopping websites on the Internet
eBay sells connections, not goods, putting buyer and seller into contact with each other. All you have to do is lake an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business: the world is your market place. Of course for each item （商品）sold eBay gets a percentage and that is great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold. We learn from the text that eBay provides people with__
| A．a way of buying and selling goods |
| B．a website for them to upgrade |
| C．a place to exhibit their own photos |
| D．a chance to buy things at low prices |
Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?
| A．For fun |
| B．To make money |
| C．For gathering the engineers |
| D．To fulfill a task of his company |
From “he has never looked back “in Paragraph 2 we learn that peter_
| A．did not feel lonely |
| B．was always hopeful |
| C．did not think about the past |
| D．became more and more successful |
How does eBay make money from its website7?
| A．By bringing callers together. |
| B．By charging for each sale |
| C．By listing items online |
| D．By making e-photos. |
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from china,
When India had not opened up its markers to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now,
Still ,her answer surprised me: "Green tea,"
As long as I can remember she didn't even drink Indian tea.
I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story. My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses
At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian, It was a strange country
How things change [And how soon]
Now every town of any size seems to have a "China Market". And everyone is talking about China
The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment（投资）and such a step would "work wonders as it did for China".
But it's a two-way street, I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Rangalore to train in software. Meanwhile, all the IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China,
No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to his about us$15 billion for last year and us$20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments,
No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian（中印）century as the two countries started on January I the Sino-Indian Friendship Year,
But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.
| 1． |
Why did the mother ask for Chinese green tea?
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| 2． |
What does the author mean by "it's a two-way street' in paragraph 10?
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| 3． |
hat do we know about the Indian IT industry?
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| 4． |
In the text the author expresses,
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