All around the world, shoppers flock to Wal-Mart to buy everything. In Texas, they come for another reason: to see the wind turbine（涡轮机）, which supplies 5% of the store’s electricity. It along with other facilities, such as exterior walls coated with heat-reflective paint, makes this Wal-Mart a green giant.
The laws of economics suggest that Wal-Mart, with 5, 200 stores worldwide, influences everything including the price of all kinds of goods. It throws its weight behind environmental responsibility, and the impact could be amazing. “One little change in product packaging could save 1, 500 trees,” says Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott．“If everybody saves 1, 500 trees or 50 barrels of oil, at the end of the day you have made a huge difference.”
Scott wants Wal-Mart to do its part too. He has promised to cut the existing greenhouse-gas emissions（排放）over the next few years and promised to construct new stores that are more efficient. He wants Wal-Mart’s fleet of more than 7, 000 trucks to get twice as many miles per gallon by 2015. Factories that show Wal-Mart they’re cutting air pollution will get preferential treatment in the supply chain. Wal-Mart says it’s working with consumer-product manufacturers to reduce their packaging and will reward them if they do so.
Some people may doubt it is a bid to attract attention from Wal-Mart’s controversial labor and health-insurance practices. But it’s not just window dressing, because Wal-Mart sees profits in going green. Scott says, “This is a business philosophy, not a social philosophy. We don’t go where we don’t think there’s a great interest in change.”
Like Bill Gates, who started his charitable foundation, Scott happens to be promoting Wal-Mart’s image at a time when his company’s reputation is declining. He acknowledges that he launched the plan partly to shield （保护）Wal-Mart from bad press about its contribution to global warming. “By doing what we’re doing today, we avoid the headline risks that are going to come for people who did not do anything,” he says. “At some point businesses will be held responsible for the action they take.” Meanwhile, should Wal-Mart succeed at shrinking its environmental footprint and lowering prices for green products, both the planet and the company will profit. We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．Lee Scott is Wal-Mart’s CEO |
| B．there are 5, 200 stores in the world |
| C．Wal-Mart has a great influence on the world market |
| D．Wal-Mart has more than 7, 000 trucks all over the world |
What does the underlined sentence “This is a business philosophy, not a social philosophy.” mean in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Wal-Mart predicts huge profits in its green activity. |
| B．Wal-Mart’s green activity is just window dressing. |
| C．Wal-Mart aims to solve its health-insurance practices. |
| D．Wal-Mart doesn’t have any social responsibility at all. |
What will Wal-Mart probably do in the future?
| A．Reduce air pollution in its present stores. |
| B．Give favorable treatment to its consumers. |
| C．Ask the factories to reduce their packaging. |
| D．Demand the fleet of trucks to use more fuel than before. |
What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．Provide the background of the green plan. |
| B．Stress the purpose of Wal-Mart’s green plan. |
| C．Present the risk that Wal-Mart is facing nowadays. |
| D．Analyze the similarity between Bill Gates and Scott. |
Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to forget the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |
They like using the Internet. They have lots of pocket money to spend. And they spend a higher proportion of it online than the rest of us. Teenagers are just the sort of people an online seller is interested in, and the things they want to buy－games, CDs and clothing－are easily sold on the Web.
But paying online is a troublesome business for consumers who are too young to own credit cards. Most have to use a parent’s card. They want a facility that allows them to spend money.
That may come sooner than they think: new ways to take pocket money into cyber (网络的) space are coming out rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. If successful, these products can stimulate online sales.
In general, teenagers spend huge amounts: $153bn (billion) in the US last year and ￡20bn annually in the UK. Most teenagers have access to the Internet at home or at school－88 percent in the US, 69 percent in the UK. According to the Jupiter Research, one in eight of those with Internet access has bought something online－mainly CDs and books.
In most cases, parents pay for these purchases with credit cards, an arrangement that is often unsatisfactory for them and their children. Pressing parents to spend online is less productive than pressing them to spend on the high street. They are more likely to ask “Why?” if you ask to spend some money online.
One way to help teenagers change notes and coins into cybercash is through prepaid cards such as InternetCash in the US and Smart cards in the UK. Similar to those for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones, they are sold in amounts such as￡20 or $50 with a concealed 14-digit number that can be used to load the cash into an online account.What does the word “They” in paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．Sellers. | B．Buyers. | C．Teenagers. | D．Parents. |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．More than half of the teenagers in the US and the UK have Internet access. |
| B．Teenagers pay for goods online with their own credit cards. |
| C．Most teenagers in the US and the UK have bought something online. |
| D．Teenagers found it easier to persuade parents to buy online than in a shop. |
New way to help teenagers shop online is to use ______.
| A．a new machine | B．special coins and notes |
| C．prepaid cards | D．pay-as-you-go mobile phones |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Online shopping traps. |
| B．Internet users in the US and the UK. |
| C．New credit cards for parents. |
| D．The arrival of cyber pocket money. |
Student Membership-----Cambridge Arts Cinema
Cambridge Arts Cinema is one of the art houses in Britain and home of the internationally celebrated Cambridge Film Festival. Since 1947 generations of students have discovered the wealth of world cinema. Now you too can make most of it and save money.
Which of the following is the most famous event held at Cambridge Arts Cinema?
| A．The Cambridge Film Festival. | B．Meetings with filmmakers. |
| C．The preview screening. | D．Monthly premieres. |
If you're a member of Cambridge Arts Cinema, you will enjoy free＿
| A．Darkroom Gallery shows | B．mailed programmes |
| C．special film events | D．film shows |
How long will the membership for Cambridge Arts Cinema last?
| A．Four months. | B．Eight months. |
| C．Nine months. | D．One year. |
For what purpose is the text written?
| A．Offering students cheaper tickets． |
| B．Announcing the opening of a premiere. |
| C．Telling the public of the cinema's address. |
| D．Increasing the cinema's membership. |
Twice in the past few days, I've witnessed families arguing to the point of having major 'falling outs' (when you get so angry with each other that there is threat of withdrawing love from a family member and/or abandoning the relationship). Last night, one of those situations occurred and a friend contacted me on QQ and asked my advice.
Their situation arose where a son-in-law had disagreements with his wife and then got into a quarrel with his mother-in-law and father-in-law. In the end, the son-in-law threatened to cut off all relationship with his in laws and also to deny his in laws a relationship with his own daughter, their granddaughter.
Not only did the son-in-law threaten his wife's parents, but he has followed through with his threat and hasn't allowed his wife or his child to have any contact with his wife's parents in almost a year.
The first question my friend asked me was, "Michael, what do you do when you get into a quarrel with your family?" I said, "I don't know." They said, "Well what about when you quarrel with your mother or one of your siblings (brother or sister)?" I said, "I don't know." He said, "Well, what would you do if you got into an argument with your in laws when you were married?" I said, "I don't know." He said, "What do you mean that you don't know?" I said, "Well, I never got into a quarrel with my in-laws, my mother or my siblings." He said, "Be serious, Michael. I need some help with this situation." I said, "I am serious. I never quarreled with mother, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law or brother-in-law. At least not in my adult life (since I turned 18 years old)." My friend found it hard to believe that I never did any of these things. I suppose (I really don't know; Ha!) that many people wouldn't believe that an entire family could maintain a such a level of peace, harmony, respect and love. The truth is, my family doesn't do those things.
You may wonder 'why' we don't do that. Well, I never really thought about 'why' we don't do that. But I do know, we don't. So, I did the most logical thing I could think of. I asked my mother 'why' we don't quarrel, argue, fight and have such situations. Some people believe that if you don't argue, quarrel and fight, then, you don't care enough. I would say that my family cares very deeply for each other and love each other and express our love to each other, very often. We don't believe that you have to quarrel, argue and fight in order to show that you care and that you love the other. Instead, we show that we love, care and respect each other by, well, loving, caring and respecting each other. What can we infer from the passage？
| A．The writer doesn’t care his family. |
| B．The writer has cultural differences with his friends. |
| C．The writer often quarrels with his family member. |
| D．The writer knows why their family don’t quarrel. |
How did the quarrel mentioned in the passage happen?
A.The son-in-law had disagreements with his wife.
BThe son-in-law had disagreements with his in laws.
C.The son-in-law had disagreements with his daughter.
D.The son-in-law threatened to cut off relationships with his in laws.How many questions did the friend ask the writer?
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
How do the members in the writer’s family live in harmonious？
| A．by quarrelling with each other. |
| B．by showing love, care and respect to each other. |
| C．by living together with each other. |
| D．by giving gifts to each other. |
Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease as people get older. Yet research seems to show that some training can improve such skills. A recently published study also appears to demonstrate that the good effects of training can last for many years after that training has ended.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills would last in older people who trained to keep them. The people were part of the ten-year research project. They were taught methods meant to improve their memory, thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks.
More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE - short for Advanced (Cognitive) Training for Independent and Vital Elderly. Most studied when they were more than 70 years old.
The volunteers took one of several short training classes meant to help them keep their mental abilities. One class trained participants in skills including how to remember word lists. Another group trained in reasoning. A third group received help with speed-of-processing - speed of receiving and understanding information. A fourth group - the control group did not get any training.
Earlier results had established that the training helped the participants for up to five years. Now, lead study writer George Rebok says, the research showed most of the training remained effective a full ten years later.
Professor Rebok and his team found that the people trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing did better on tests than the control group.
"We are wondering whether those effects which endured over time would still be there ten years following the training, and in fact, that's exactly what we found."
The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long. Still, the old people in any of the three classes generally reported less difficulty in performing daily activities than the control group. The total training time for the older people was between 10 and 15 hours. Which statement is true according to the text？
| A．This kind of training can only have effect on people for a few years。 |
| B．The people were trained during a period of ten years. |
| C．All the people who were studied were more than 70 years old. |
| D．The second group were trained how to remember word lists. |
What can be inferred from the passage？
| A．There were four groups being trained. |
| B．The old people trained can remember words better. |
| C．The second and third group improved their skills better than the first one. |
| D．The research showed that the effect of the training could absolutely last 10 years. |
What’s the main idea of the fourth paragragh?
| A．What was the meaning of the research? |
| B．How was the research conducted? |
| C．Why was the mental training effective? |
| D．How long did the research last? |
What is the best title of the passage？
| A．Mental Training Helped Elderly Stay Sharp for Years |
| B．How to improve our mental health |
| C．Four groups of old people were trained mentally. |
| D． The result of a ten-year research |