New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It's now a "global village" where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communication equipment is greatly improved by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modem businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support home business efforts.
Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks (管理层). The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being "out of sight and out of mind." He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company's plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to cope back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more popular.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communication devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn't generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country's official language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign partners over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset（资产）to the firm.What is the author's attitude toward high-tech communications equipment?
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Prejudiced. | D．discontented. |
With the increased use of high-tech communication equipment, business people ________.
| A．are eager to work overseas |
| B．have to get familiar with modem technology |
| C．are attaching more importance to their overseas businesses |
| D．are gaining more economic benefits from domestic businesses |
In paragraph 3, "out of sight and out of mind" (Line 2-3) probably means ________.
| A．leaving all care and worry behind |
| B．being totally out of touch with business at home |
| C．being unable to think properly for lack of insight |
| D．missing opportunities for promotion when abroad |
According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?
| A．Ability to speak the customer's language. |
| B．Connections with businesses over seas |
| C．Technical know-how. |
| D．Business experience. |
The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can _________.
| A．fast-forward their proposals to their bosses. |
| B．better control the whole negotiation process |
| C．easily make friends with business people abroad |
| D．easily find new approaches to meet market needs |
Why play games? Because they are fun, and a 1ot more besides. Following the rules…planning your next move...acting as a team member…these are all “game” ideas that you will come across throughout your life.
Think about some off the games you played as a young child, such as rope-jumping and hide-and-seek. Such games are entertaining and fun. But perhaps more importantly, they translate life into exciting dramas that teach children some of the basic rules they will be expected to follow the rest of their lives, such as taking turns and cooperating (合作) .
Many children’s games have a practical side Children around the world play games that prepare them for work they will do as grown-ups. For instance, some Saudi Arabian children play a game called bones. Which sharpens the hand-eye coordination（协调）needed in hunting.
Many sports encourage national or local pride. The most famous games of all, the Olympic Games, bring athletes from around the world together to take part in friendly competition. People who watch the event wave flags, knowing that a gold medal is a win for an entire country, not just the athlete who earned it. For countries experiencing natural disasters or war, an Olympic win can mean so much.
Sports are also an event that unites people. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People on all continents play it — some for fun and some for a living. Nicolette Iribarne, a Californian soccer player, has discovered a way to spread hope through soccer. He created a foundation to provide poor children with not only soccer balls but also a promising future.
Next time you play your favorite game or sport, think about why you enjoy it, what skills are needed, and whether these skills will help you in other aspects of your life. Through playing hide-and-seek, children are expected to learn to ________.
| A．be a team leader | B．obey the basic rules |
| C．act as a grown-up | D．predict possible danger |
The underlined part in Paragraph 2 most probably means that games can________.
| A．describe life in an exciting way |
| B．turn real-life experiences into a play |
| C．make learning life skills more interesting |
| D．change people’s views of sporting event s |
According to the passage, why is winning Olympic medals so encouraging?
| A．It inspires people’s deep love for the country. |
| B．It proves the exceptional skills of the winners. |
| C．It helps the country out of natural disasters. |
| D．It earns the winners fame and fortune. |
Iribarne’s goal of forming the foundation is to _______.
| A．bring fun to poor kids | B．provide soccer balls for children |
| C．give poor kids a chance for a better life | |
| D．appeal to soccer players to help poor kids |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Games benefit people all their lives. |
| B．Sports can get all athletes together. |
| C．People are advised to play games for fun. |
| D．Sports increase a country’s competitiveness. |
Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri (MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
“To provide enough power, we need certain methods with energy density (密度),” said Jae kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. “The radioisotope (放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries.”
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, recently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nano-electromechanical systems (M/NEWS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
“People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous,” he said. “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.”
His new idea is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor (半导体). Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
“The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure (晶格结构) of the solid semiconductor, ” Kwon said. “By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.”
Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwon said that the battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.Which of the following is true of Jae Kwon?
| A．He teaches chemistry at MU. |
| B．He developed a chemical battery. |
| C．He is working on a nuclear energy source. |
| D．He made a breakthrough in computer engineering. |
Jae Kwon gave examples in Paragraph 4 ________.
| A．to show chemical batteries are widely applied |
| B．to indicate nuclear batteries can be safely used |
| C．to describe a nuclear-powered system |
| D．to introduce various energy sources. |
Liquid semiconductor is used to ________ .
| A．get rid of the radioactive waste |
| B．test the power of nuclear batteries |
| C．decrease the size of nuclear batteries |
| D．reduce the damage to lattice structure |
According to Jae Kwon, his nuclear battery ________.
| A．uses a solid semiconductor | B．will soon replace the present ones |
| C．could be extremely thin | D．has passed the final test |
The text is most probably a ________.
| A．science news report | B．book review |
| C．newspaper ad | D．science fiction story |
Christopher Thomas, 27, was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes (糖尿病), Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin (胰岛素) three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance.
After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar, and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones — a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.
Jason Swencki’s son, Kody, was diagnosed with diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums(论坛) together most evenings. "Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. "They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone."
Kody is anything but alone: Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.
These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity（慈善机构）, Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people —225 to date— who can't afford a diabetic's huge expenses. Fight-it.org has raised about $23,000 — in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.
Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. "Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure," says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. "But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now." Which of the following is true of Christopher Thomas?
| A．He needs to go to the doctor every day. |
| B．He studies the leading cause of diabetes |
| C．He has a positive attitude to this disease. |
| D．He encourages diabetics by writing articles. |
Diabeitcrockstar.com was created for _________.
| A．diabetics to communicate | B．volunteers to find jobs |
| C．children to amuse themselves | D．rock stars to share resources. |
According to the text, Kody ______.
| A．feel lonely because of his illness |
| B．benefits from diabeticrockstar.com |
| C．helps create the online kid’s forums |
| D．writes children’s stories online |
What can we learn about Fight It?
| A．It helps the diabetics in financial difficulties. |
| B．It organizes parties for volunteer once a year. |
| C．It offers less expensive medicine to diabetics. |
| D．It owns a well-known medical website. |
The last paragraph suggests that Thomas ______.
| A．works full-time in a diabetes charity |
| B．employs 22 people for his website |
| C．helps diabetics in his own way |
| D．ties to find a cure for diabetes |
There were smiling children all the way. Charily they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave hack.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.The author expected the train trip to be ________.
| A．adventurous | B．pleasant | C．exciting | D．dull |
What did the author remember most fondly of her train trip?
| A．The friendly country people. | B．The mountains along the way. |
| C．The crowds of people in the streets. | D．The simple lunch served on the train. |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “relish” in the second paragraph?
| A．choose | B．enjoy | C．prepare for | D．carry on |
Where was the writer going?
| A．Johore Baru. | B．The Causeway. | C．Butterworth. | D．Singapore. |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Comfort in traveling by train. | B．Pleasure of living in the country. |
| C．Reading gives people delight. | D．Smiles brighten people up. |
I stepped into my hotel room to a pleasant surprise. Lots of room surrounded an inviting king-size bed, with armchairs nearby resting against sliding glass doors that opened onto a private yard. A small dining table sat next to a kitchen with a refrigerator and coffee machine. "Wow," I thought to myself. "Nice place."
I love hotels. I love to enter a clean room, hang my clothes and gaze out the window, walk out in the morning and when I return, someone else will have made the bed. I like in-room dining and the way they greet you so professionally. "Nice to have you with us again, Mr. Goldsborough." Very cool.
The problem is that unless Alison travels with me, I never sleep well in hotels. I miss my family, even though Linus and Camille, at ages 4 and almost 2, find a way to interrupt even the best night's sleep at home.
I'm deeply troubled by the number of parents who wake up too late with the realization:
"My children grew up too fast. In the busy career and corporate rat race（剧烈竞争）, I missed their childhood.” What they fail to say but too often think causes me even more pain: "...and I barely even know them."
A hundred years from now, no one will remember the size of your bank account, the car you drove or the size of your house. The world might differ greatly however, based on your impact in the life of a small child. If you pay attention to your significant others, make the choice to put them first.
Think of one specific action that you can take, and take it. Then think of another one and take that, too. Challenge yourself to find new ways to express your appreciation and love on a daily basis. It will pay off ten-fold（十倍）at home.We can infer from the passage that the author ____.
| A．often goes out on business | B．didn’t get along well with his/her family |
| C．has not grown into an adult | D．comes from a rich family |
According to the author, what is the most important for us is that ____.
| A．we should often miss our family | B．we should do what we can to benefit our family |
| C．we should often stay with our family | D．we must always be ready to face the rat race |
Through para.4 and para.5 what the author really means is that ____.
| A．he hates his parents’ constantly blaming him/her |
| B．his parents don’t care much about his/her growth |
| C．many parents worry about their children’s future |
| D．many parents can’t realize their children not preparing for the fierce social rat race |
Which of the fowling is the best title for this passage?
| A．East, west, home is the best | B．Different generations, different views |
| C．Value of a person at home | D．Nothing Beats Family |