They once seemed more at home on the busy streets of Asia like Delhi, Calcutta and Bangkok but cycle powered rickshaws (人力车) can now be seen taking people across town in many European cities. Many people believe that rickshaws are a good way of experiencing a city close-up, while also cutting down on traffic jams and pollution. In Berlin, one of the first cities to introduce this new model of transport, more than 200 bike-taxis go along at 15km per hour, past many tourist attractions and city parks.
“It is completely environmentally friendly; we have new models with an engine to help the driver up the hills but they use renewable energy.” said a spokesman for VELOTAXI, the leading rickshaw company which has carried a quarter of a million people this year.
While the city still has 7,000 motor-taxis, rickshaw company officials say their taxis’ green ideas, speed and safety make them more than just a tourist attraction. While now increasingly out of fashion in Delhi, Berlin people have eagerly accepted the new fleet since their launch in 1997.
“It’s better than a taxi, better than a bus, better than the train,” said ULF Lehman, 36, as he leapt out of a rickshaw near the world famous Brandenburg gate. “It feels so free.”
“This is something out of the ordinary, you feel you are on holiday in Bangkok instead of Berlin,” said another traveler.
In Amsterdam, driver Peter Jancso said people like to be driven around in his bright yellow rickshaw and pretend to be a queen in a golden carriage. “I like my passengers to feel important,” he said as he dropped off another passenger. Another visitor noted how cheap it was compared with a normal taxi.
Although increasingly popular in Europe, it is the opposite in India, where hand-pulled rickshaws are considered inhuman and a symbol of India’s backward past.
Nearly 500 bike-rickshaws are running in London and are not required to pay the city’s road tax but things may change as other taxi drivers complain of unfair treatment.Where are rickshaws becoming more popular?
| A．Delhi, Berlin, Paris. | B．Berlin, Amsterdam, London. |
| C．Athens, London, Berlin. | D．Amsterdam, Bangkok, Delhi. |
Why are rickshaws no longer as widely used in India as in the past?
| A．They have been banned because they are inefficient. |
| B．They are a reminder of a bad period in India’s history. |
| C．The streets of India are too crowded for them to move through easily. |
| D．Indians now prefer to travel by car because they are richer. |
What does the underlined sentence “This is something out of the ordinary, you feel you are on holiday in Bangkok instead of Berlin” suggest?
| A．The passenger didn’t like taking a rickshaw as it reminded him of Bangkok. |
| B．The passenger was impressed when taking a rickshaw and considered it unusual. |
| C．The passenger enjoyed being on holiday in Berlin more than in Bangkok. |
| D．The passenger disapproved of rickshaws because they were not original to |
Berlin.What is the author’s attitude towards rickshaws?
| A．He thinks they will reduce pollution |
| B．He believes they will be of no use. |
| C．He gives no personal opinion. |
| D．He thinks they are old-fashioned. |
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home! The writer of this passage must be ______.
| A．an American | B．a Chinese | C．a professor | D．a student |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
| A．warmly welcomed at the airport | B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．treated hospitably at his home | D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time | D．willing to spend time |
A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Friendships between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality |
| D．Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships |
Teaching materials for learning Chinese are provided here. There are sites where you may find interesting instructions suitable for you. Here are some sites to begin your surfing.
You may start with these pages from this website — just to get a little taste of it without working too hard.
● A Is For Love
Flash cards for learning a few Chinese words
● Listening to the sound of Chinese
Play a few words of Chinese on your computer.
● A few Chinese words
Each word is enlarged for easy study.
If you are studying Chinese, these tools can help.
● Zhongwen site
More than a dictionary!
● Clavis Sinica
Excellent program by Professor David Porter. It displays a whole document in Chinese [GB] or [BIG5], and gives individual word’s definition, pronunciation as well as much more information when you click on that word. If you are studying Chinese, this is a very useful tool.
● Chinese Character Visual Dictionary
If you like to know more, go to the following sites on the Internet.
● The Chinese Outpost
Pronunciation, Character and Grammar By Mark Andrew Baker. The best. A must-visit site.
● Learn Cantonese / Mandarin Online
● Internet Based Chinese Teaching and Learning
● Rainland Kids discover Chinese — Site is in Germany
If you want to have a better understanding of China, go to this one.
● Wanfang Data
As an affiliate (分支) of Chinese Ministry of Science && Technology, Wanfang Data has been the leading information provider in China since 1950s. With a wide range of database resources and value-added services, Wanfang Data has become a gateway to understanding Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, etc.The underlined lines are probably some ______.
| A．books | B．websites |
| C．tips for learning Chinese | D．dictionaries for learning Chinese |
This passage is most probably from ______.
| A．a TV programme | B．a teacher’s lecture |
| C．a newspaper | D．the Internet |
If you want to know each Chinese character’s definition, pronunciation and much more information, you’d better surf ______.
| A．Zhongwen site | B．A Is For Love |
| C．Clavis Sinica | D．A few Chinese words |
If you want to know China about its culture, medicine, business, science, you’d better surf ______.
| A．Learn Mandarin online | B．Wanfang Data |
| C．Rainland kids discover Chinese | D．The Chinese Outpost |
The underlined word “gateway” in the last paragraph probably refers to ______.
| A．an opening in a wall that can be closed by a gate |
| B．a place through which you can go to another place |
| C．the space when a door is open |
| D．a means of getting or achieving something |
Norm Pethrick, a 36-year-old man in Australia’s northern city Darwin, was praised on Thursday for jumping onto a crocodile’s back to save his wife Wendy at Litchfield National Park, a popular tourist spot southwest of Darwin, a local newspaper reported.
Ms Pethrick was standing on a river bank Wednesday afternoon when the saltwater crocodile lunged (扑), locking its jaws on both her legs as it tried to drag her underwater.
Norm Pethrick, who with his wife had been collecting water, immediately went to help her. He jumped onto the back, poked (戳) the eyes of the crocodile and finally got his wife free.
Ms Pethrick was later taken to Royal Darwin Hospital for a medical treatment. The doctors said she was suffering eight puncture wounds (伤口) in her right leg, a puncture wound in her left leg and a serious cut to one of her fingers.
“This could have been a fatal and tragic situation,” said the general manager of Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), Dr Len Notaras, according to a local report.
He said Ms Pethrick was saved by her husband’s “quick and diligent actions”.
Dr Notaras also said she would remain in hospital for three to four days and have an operation to clean the wounds, which are easy to get infected because of bacteria (细菌) on the teeth of the crocodile.This passage is most likely to be found in _____.
| A．a travel guide | B．a newspaper |
| C．a textbook | D．a novel |
The crocodile attacked Ms Pethrick when she was ______.
| A．swimming in the river | B．standing on the river bank |
| C．watching the crocodile | D．fishing in the water |
Which of the following statements is TRUE about Ms Pethrick?
| A．Her eyes were badly poked. |
| B．She had eight wounds altogether. |
| C．One of her fingers also got hurt. |
| D．One of the crocodile’s teeth was found in her leg. |
According to the passage, Norm Pethrick can be described as following EXCEPT ______.
| A．brave | B．diligent |
| C．quick | D．humorous |
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
| A．The husband should save the wife |
| B．A man saves wife’s life from crocodile’s jaws |
| C．A crocodile is not so dangerous as people imagine |
| D．Human beings can beat crocodiles sometimes |
Does style really sell? How can the appearance of a product be more important than what it does? The battle between form and function rose again when James Dyson, British inventor of the Dvson vacuum cleaner that has sold in millions around the world, resigned as chairman of London's Design Museum. It is widely believed that Mr. Dyson felt that the museum put too much stress on style at the expense of serious industrial design.
Mr. Dyson accused the museum of not keeping true to itself. He may be right, but these days, museums everywhere can no longer afford to be unique centers of scholarship and learning. Among competition for sponsorship, they must use exhibitions of populist culture, nice cafes and shops or, best of all, a new building by Frank Gehry to increase visitor numbers.
On the one hand, some producers can be too old-fashioned and too concerned with the importance of product engineering and the functionality of their goods. On the other hand, there are those who believe that how a product looks is more important. Design is indeed a broad term, involving both function and form. Typically, in any given product area, it changes from the former to the latter. Clothing is a good example. But surely you would have to be a very shallow person to think something's appearance is more important than what it does.
Today nearly all goods at any given price point do much the same job. So almost the only way producers can differentiate their products from those of their competitors is to create some sort of emotional connection with the consumer, which could be through the visual appeal of the product or its packaging, or the imagery(意象) created by advertising. And what of the Dyson vacuum cleaner? Mr. Dyson may believe that people buy these machines because of the graphs showing their superior suction, but most vacuum cleaners do a good job; the main reason people pay extra for a Dyson is that it is a vacuum cleaner with a fashionable brand. With its inside workings exposed, it is a bit like a Richard Rogers building with all its pipes shown in bright colors on the outside instead of being hidden inside. Functional it may be, but it is a bit of a trick, too.Mr. Dyson left the Design Museum because he thought the museum.
| A．didn't increase the number of visitors |
| B．couldn't provide scholarships for learners |
| C．wasn't loyal to its original purpose of learning |
| D．didn't have great appeal for serious industrial design |
What can we learn from Paragraph 4 ?
| A．A product with convenient packaging sells well. |
| B．The majority of consumers prefer to buy branded goods. |
| C．Most similarly priced products are of a comparable standard. |
| D．Emotion contributes much to the development of advertising industry. |
The author believes that people buy the Dyson vacuum cleaner because.
| A．it has very good suction | B．it is fashionable |
| C．it sells well around the world | D．it is invented by James Dyson |
What is the author's attitude towards the form of a product?
| A．Optimistic. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Objective. |
Melbourne, with a population of over 3.5 million, is the second largest city in Australia. It is clean, safe, dynamic and exciting, and well known internationally for its universities and other educational institutions. The city has well-planned tree-lined wide streets and many beautiful parks and gardens. It has a good transport system of roads, buses, trains, and trams. The La Trobe University campus is connected to the Central Business District by trams, express buses, and bus and train connections. Melbourne is a culturally rich city, and is home to large communities of people from all parts of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The city is famous for its restaurants, theatres, music, opera, ballet, art, culture, and shops, and a lively and dynamic nightlife. Melbourne people are fond of sports, and the city hosts many famous international sports events. Near Melbourne there are beautiful coastlines with excellent beaches, national parks, forests, wineries (葡萄酒厂), winter snowfields and summer resorts. The climate is temperate and comfortable, with warm summers and cool winters. In summer, maximum daytime temperatures range from 26°C to 36°C, and in winter from 12°C to 18°C. The weather in Melbourne can be variable from day to day. Melbourne was rated the world's best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Melbourne is well-known in the world for its _____.
| A．large population | B．educational institutions |
| C．transport system | D．beautiful parks and gardens |
According to the passage, Melbourne is a city where _____.
| A．rich people choose to live | B．the best wine is produced |
| C．various cultures exist | D．Asian food is popular |
The underlined word “temperate” most probably means _____.
| A．hot | B．mild | C．dry | D．cold |
The best title for the passage might be _____.
| A．An Ideal Place for Shopping | B．A City with the Best Climate |
| C．The World's Best City to Live in | D．The World's Most Beautiful City |