Malaria, the world's most widespread parasitic(寄生虫引起的) disease, kills as many as three million people every year—almost all of whom are under five, very poor, and African. In most years, more than five hundred million cases of illness result from the disease, although exact numbers are difficult to assess because many people don't (or can't) seek care. It is not unusual for a family earning less than two hundred dollars a year to spend a quarter of its income on malaria treatment, and what they often get no longer works. In countries like Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Gambia, no family, village, hospital, or workplace can remain unaffected for long.
Malaria starts suddenly, with violent chills, which are soon followed by an intense fever and, often, headaches. As the parasites multiply, they take over the entire body. Malaria parasites live by eating the red blood cells they infect. They can also attach themselves to blood vessels in the brain. If it doesn't kill you, malaria can happen again and again for years. The disease passed on to humans by female mosquitoes infected with one of four species of parasite. Together, the mosquito and the parasite are the most deadly couple in the history of the earth—and one of the most successful. Malaria has five thousand genes, and its ability to change rapidly to defend itself and resist new drugs has made it nearly impossible to control. Studies show that mosquitoes are passing on the virus more frequently, and there are more outbreaks in cities with large populations. Some of the disease's spread is due to global warming.
For decades, the first-choice treatment for malaria parasites in Africa has been chloroquine, a chemical which is very cheap and easy to make. Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, malaria parasites have become resistant to it. Successful alternatives that help prevent resistance are already available, but they have been in short supply and are very expensive. If these drugs should fail, nobody knows what would come next.According to paragraph 1, many people don't seek care because___.
| A．they can remain unaffected for long |
| B．it is unusual to seek care |
| C．they are too poor |
| D．there are too many people suffering from the disease |
People suffering from malaria___.
| A．have to kill female mosquitoes |
| B．have ability to defend parasites |
| C．have their red blood cells infected |
| D．have sudden fever, followed by chills |
Which of the following may be the reason for the wide spread of the disease?
| A．Its outbreaks in cities with large populations. |
| B．Its ability to pass on the virus frequently. |
| C．Its resistance to global warming. |
| D．Its ability to defend itself and resist new drugs. |
It can be inferred from the passage that___.
| A．no drugs have been found to treat the disease |
| B．the alternative treatment is not easily available to most people |
| C．malaria has developed its ability to resist parasites |
| D．nobody knows what will be the drug to treat the disease |
Which of the following questions has NOT been discussed in the passage?
| A．How can we know one is suffering from malaria? |
| B．How many people are killed by malaria each year? |
| C．Why are there so many people suffering from malaria? |
| D．What has been done to keep people unaffected for long? |
If you've ever seen a James Bond movie，you'll know that the hero gets around in a smart Aston Martin car. Even if you know full well that you could never afford such an expensive vehicle, you don't forget the name, or the car.
Why? You have been affected by product placement.
Companies pay a film to place their products in the movie. Product placement took off in the West in the 1980s and is now catching on in China. Two Hunan Satellite TV dramas are recent examples：Ugly Wudi and Let's Go Watch the Meteor Shower (《一起去看流星雨》).
Shampoo, mobile phones, cars and fitness centers–anything can be product-placed. Advertisers value the mass appeal of the movies, knowing that a successful film can showcase their goods to hundreds of thousands of viewers. But when product placement takes over, artistic considerations can take a back seat.
Cai Zhiyong has been product-placing for years. The Beijing-based advertiser admits there is a conflict between art and business. He explains the way one ad works. In If You are the One (《非诚勿扰》), the actress Shu Qi plays a flight attendant. The movie contains product placement for airline companies.
Cash-strapped filmmakers often have to give less consideration to the quality of their work because they need money from advertisers. In the original story for Meteor Shower, the heroine's mother owned an ice cream shop. But no ice cream company wanted to sponsor (赞助) the film. For this reason, the story was changed. In the film the man drinks 20 cups of milk tea instead of eating ice cream.
So you may see the power of business over the movies, since the script (剧本) was perhaps written so that a product could be placed-whether it was ice cream or milk tea.James Bond movies are mentioned in the first paragraph to show_________.
| A．how popular James Bond is | B．how great the Aston Martin car is |
| C．how to make a movie more artistic | D．how effectively product placement works |
Product placement can have a bad effect on the_________ of a movie.
| A．atmosphere | B．mass appeal | C．box-office success | D．artistic value |
What does the underlined word "cash-strapped" in Paragraph 6 probably mean?
| A．Short of money. | B．Wasting a lot of money. |
| C．having enough money. | D．Trying to save money. |
We can learn from the example of Meteor Shower that__________.
| A．business has a big say in the movie |
| B．the original story was not suitable for a movie |
| C．filmmakers are only concerned about making money |
| D．milk tea is more popular than ice cream |
Traffic TV
Avoid the jams — see where tailbacks are before you set off and while on the move. Traffic TV is free to use on your personal computer and only £4 per month (se
e below for other network charges) on your mobile.
How does it work?
Over 7,500 Trafficmaster cameras monitor traffic flow on over 8,000 miles of motorways and roads across the UK, keeping you up to date 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Traffic TV on your mobile
This downloadable application lets you see where jams are building up, the speed of vehicles at hotspots, and live pictures from thousands of roadside cameras.
Traffic TV is £4 a month for Orange mobile customers, after a 30 day free try-out. On other networks Traffic TV is £5 a month, after a 7 day free try-out.
Listen to live traffic news
Don’t want the download? Then simply dial the numbers below from your mobile to hear the latest traffic updates.
＊Orange mobile users call 177 (calls cost up to 55p a minute)
＊Other mobile users call 1740 (calls cost up to 59p a minute)
Help friends avoid jams
Simply enter your friend’s email address to send them a link to this service.How can users get live traffic information?
| A．By mobile phone or through Internet. | B．By watching a TV programme. |
| C．By listening to the radio report. | D．By using Trafficmaster cameras. |
How long may a customer use the service if his/her network is Orange and he/she pays £20?
| A．About 120 days. | B．About 127 days. | C．Five months. | D．Six months. |
What is the purpose of this advertisement?
| A．To provide readers with live traffic information. |
| B．To help Orange customers to avoid traffic jam. |
| C．To attract mobile users to buy Traffic TV service. |
| D．To explain how Traffic TV and live traffic news work. |
You may read this advertisement most probably ___________.
| A．in a travel guide | B．on a web page | C．on a road sign | D．in a newspaper |
We were on tour a few summers ago, driving through Chicago, when right outside of the city, we got pulled over. A middle-aged policeman came up to the car and was really being troublesome at first. Lecturing us, he said, “You were speeding. Where are you going in such a hurry?” Our guitarist, Tim, told him that we were on our way to Wisconsin to play a show. His way towards us totally changed. He asked, “Oh, so you boys are in a band（乐队）？” We told him that we were. He then asked all the usual band questions about the type of music we played, and how long we had been at it. Suddenly, he stopped and said, “Tim, you want to get out of this ticket, don’t you?” Tim said, “Yes.” So the officer asked him to step out of the car. The rest of us, inside the car, didn’t know what to think as we watched the policeman talk to Tim. Next thing we knew, the policeman was putting Tim in the back of the police car he had parked in front of us. With that, he threw the car into reverse（倒车），stopping a few feet in back of our car. Now we suddenly felt frightened. We didn’t know if we were all going to prison, or if the policeman was going to sell Tim on the black market or something. All of a sudden, the policeman’s voice came over his loudspeaker. He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, we have Tim here singing on Route 90.” Turns out, the policeman had told Tim that the only way he was getting out of the ticket was if he sang part of one of our songs over the loudspeaker in the police car. Seconds later, Tim started screaming into the receiver. The policeman enjoyed the performance, and sent us on our way without a ticket. The policeman stopped the boys to.
| A．put them into prison | B． give them a ticket |
| C．enjoy their performance | D．ask some band questions |
The policeman became friendly to the boys when he knew they.
| A．had long been at the band | B．played the music he loved |
| C．were driving for a show | D．promised him a performance |
The boys probably felt when they drove off.
| A．joyful | B．calm | C．nervous | D．frightened |
Some of the planet’s most precious animals and plants are disappearing, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The group, based in Switzerland, works with governments and experts to protect threatened species. On September 12, the IUCN released its Red List, a list of species at greatest risk of extinction.
The list includes 41,415 animals and plants. The IUCN says that habitat destruction, hunting and other causes threaten one in four mammals, one in eight birds and one in three amphibians(两栖动物).
Who is to blame?
Scientists believe that 99 percent of threatened species are at risk because of human activity. “We are losing animals and plants at a high rate,” says Julia Marton-LefEevre, director general of the IUCN. “We need to change our behavior.” Warmer oceans and over-fishing are changing sea life. This year for the first time corals(珊瑚) made their appearance on the list. The gharial, a crocodile living in India and Nepal, has lost almost 60 percent of its population in the last 10 years. It is a victim（受害者）of habitat destruction.
Still, the news is not all bad. Thanks to efforts made to protect it, the Mauritius echo parakeet, a bird once endangered, has seen an increase in its population. “This shows that protection methods can work,” says Marton-LefEevre. “That’s the message we want to send to young people.”
In China the new reserve（保护区）itself is part of green efforts that have seen more than 2,400 nature reserves of various kinds being set up, covering more than 15 percent of the 
nation's land area, official figures showed.
"The country's natural resources(资源) have benefited from conservation," said Lei Guangchun, director of the nature reserve department of Beijing Forestry University. "It is a big increase nowadays compared with other countries." Lei said.
The total areas of China’s natural reserves have covered 1.38 million km2, which accounts for 15.4% of China’s area, higher than both the world average（平均水平） of 11% and the rate in most developed countries.
Li Zhong, an official in charge of the nature reserves office with the State Forestry Administration, thought it was important to increase investment（投资） in such reserves at all levels. What do we know about the IUCN?
| A．A union for listing animals and plants on the earth |
| B．A group of volunteers who are interested in wildlife |
| C．An organization concerning the protection of rare species' survival |
| D．A government made up officials, scientists and experts |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．All the protection methods can’t work. |
| B．The IUCN does most of the protection. |
| C．The efforts China makes has paid off. |
| D．Enough is done in wildlife protection. |
Which of the following is not the cause of the disappearance of the animals?
| A．Bad weather | B．Over-hunting | C．Warmer oceans | D．Habitat destruction |
Which of the sentence is NOT true?
| A．China has been paying great attention to protecting the natural resources. |
| B．China has set up a lot of natural reserves. |
| C．The natural reserves in China cover more than 15 percent of the nation's land area. |
| D．The rate of China's natural reserves is lower than the average of the world. |
Try and see inside your mind a wide open blue sky and a wide green sea far away. Breathe in as you circle your hands high above your head, then bend back a little. Breathe out as you circle your arms back down to your sides..."
Following the yoga teacher's gentle instructions, Bai Yunuo,15, from the High School attached to Beijing Normal University tried to get each of her poses correct.
Bai's school offered 24 e
lective courses (选修课) for Senor 1 students this term and she chose two. It was her first yoga class.
"I'm happy that I can learn yoga at school. I love dancing but I had some injuries on my knees when I was a kid. So I decide to try something soft. Simply stretching into different poses makes me feel free and quiet. And the music is quite comforting. The class is relaxing after a whole day's work," Bai said.
Liu Zehao,15, found his interest was Junior Achievement (企业经营模拟). The course brought students into the real world of business. In their first class, Liu and his group members named their company "Vision". Liu was elected as CEO of the company.
"Here we learn to think like an adult. We have to make our company get more money. It's new and different from other courses," he said.
Liu and Bai take their elective courses twice a week with students from other classes who share the same interest. The students will get two credits (学分) from each course at the end of this term. They have to achieve eight credit points from electives to graduate from high school.
If you are interested in more about elective courses, please CLICK HERE to register for general elective courses. What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?
| A．Skills for imagination. | B．Learning tips. |
| C．Instruction for yoga students. | D．Breathing rules. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Bai does not like dancing. | B．Yoga is softer than dancing. |
| C．Students study hard for credits. | D．The elective courses are easy. |
Which of the sentence is NOT true about Liu Zehao?
| A．He was interested in Junior Achievement which brought him the real world of business. |
| B．He was elected as CEO of the company named "Vision". |
| C．He was an adult and he tried to make more money for his company. |
| D．He took their Junior Achievement twice a week. |
Where can you possibly find this passage?
| A．A textbook | B．A newspaper | C．A magazine | D．The internet |