XinhuaNewsAgency－TheInternatio-优题课

Have you come across much western children’s literature?
Most English speaking children grow up with the same delightful set of fictional (小说的) characters. The Winnie the Pooh stories involve a strange selections of animals such as a kangaroo, a pig, a donkey, a tiger, an owl and a bear, who live together in a wood, leading fairy ordinary lives. Far more exciting and dangerous events take place in The Wind in the Willows, the story of the foolish Mr. Toad and all his adventures.
Talking animals is also the main characters in The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories. In the latter we find lots of imaginative explanations as to why the world is like what it is.
Far more laughter comes from Roald Dahi’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Whillie Wonka is the perfect adult in the eyes of children with all his clever ideas and endless supply of sweets. Also much loved is Bilbo Baggins, the funny little rabbit, who ends up having adventures with wolves and dragons. Of course, the stories go on in the much more serious The Lord of the Rings, better read a few years later. A new star in the world of magic and children’s fiction is Harry Potter, the schoolboy who learns spells rather than maths. Adventures books remain popular, too. Although well over a century old now, Treasure Island is still an enthralling story with young Jim Hawkins dealing with secret maps and pirates. Such books make childhood a time of wonder and imagination.
Which of these is NOT mentioned as a character in The Winnie the Pooh stories?

A．

B．

C．

D．

In which book would you expect to find the chapter “How the tiger got his stripes?”

A．The Wind in the Willows.

B．Just So Stories.

C．Treasure Island.

D．The Lord of the Rings.

Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Treasure Island was written a long time ago.

B．Roald Dahi’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a light-hearted book.

C．The Lord of the Rings was published earlier than Harry Potter.

D．Jim Hawkins wrote Treasure Island.

The underlined word “enthralling” in paragraph 4 means___________.

A．disappointing

B．modern

C．interesting

D．frightening

“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish.
Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting. I was too thrilled to believe her. Her words could not convince me at all. So I did a research on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages containing “Long time no see.” This sentence has been widely used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible places. Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily. Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.
Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan likes to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius. “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrase in the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies.
Some scholars refer to America as a huge pot of stew. All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they change the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的成员) group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew! Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew.
You can have some other examples besides adoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, sushi from Japanese, and déjà vu from French etc. There is a long list! Americans do not just simply borrow something from others. They will modify it and make it their own, so you would not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in a restaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in a grocery store. Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and more nowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future. In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor.
The writer himself felt surprised at ______.

A．the Chinglish expression “Long time no see”

B．“Long time no see” used as standard American English

C．so many literal translation of the expressions used in America

D．finding out Americans use the expression every day

The word “stew” in the 4^th paragraph probably means ______.

A．mixture literature	B．Confucius’ words
C．a kind of cooked dish	D．American changing cultures

According to the passage, it can be inferred that ______.

A．detectives translate the phrase “Long time no see”

B．Hollywood made “Long time no see” popular

C．the huge pot of stew greatly affects all kinds of languages

D．cultures can be changed in the huge pot of stew

The main idea of the passage is that ______.

A．some Chinese expressions are introduced into English

B．you’ll not be surprised at a tofu in a restaurant in America

C．some American expressions can be used in China

D．American English keep being enriched from different cultures

According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?

A．Informal language sometimes doesn’t go with grammar and structure.

B．Languages are always ruled by grammar and structure.

C．Long time no see” has been used in at least four media mentioned in the passage.

D．There are four languages mentioned to be adopted in the American stew.

When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory, Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．Leading the following paragraphs.

B．Showing the main idea of the passage.

C．Introducing the background of the passage.

D．Giving a summary of the passage.

Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?

A．is weaker than	B．is stronger than
C．is better than	D．is worse than

What can we learn from the passage?

A．Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.

B．When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.

C．A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical.

D．Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other.

Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?

A．Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places.

B．Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants.

C．Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory.

D．Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own

What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A．How to decide whether an ant is dead or not.

B．Why ants have special chemicals on their bodies.

C．reasons for the removable behavior of ants.

D．How ants manage to keep their nests clean.

A jobless man applied for the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.
“You are employed,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start. ”
The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail. ”
“I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you do not exist. And who doesn’t exist cannot have the job. ”
The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do, with only ten dollars in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy 10kg tomatoes. He then sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home happily with 60 dollars.
The man realized that he can survive in this way, and started to go every day earlier, and return late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles. Five years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the US.
He started to plan his family’s future and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker and chose a protection plan.
When the conversation was concluded the broker asked him his e-mail. The man replied, “I don’t have an e-mail. ”
The broker answered curiously, “You don’t have an e-mail, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”
Why can’t the man have the job at Microsoft?

A．Because he was lazy.

B．Because he didn’t pass the test.

C．Because he didn’t have an e-mail.

D．Because he didn’t have a computer.

The underlined word “triple” can be replaced by ______.

A．become large

B．become 3 times

C．increase quickly

D．decrease quickly

According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A．The man is one of the biggest food retailers in the world.

B．The man didn’t give up though he failed the interview.

C．He started his career by selling tomatoes in the supermarket.

D．Those who have e-mails can work at Microsoft.

The man can be described as _______.

A．helpful and considerate

B．positive and generous

C．smart and hardworking

D．stubborn and unselfish

Which proverb can best describe the story?

A．Misfortune may be an actual blessing.

B．Where there is a will, there is a way.

C．Accidents will happen.

D．No pains , no gains.

When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices(装置)tell the time----which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.
This is ridiculous（荒唐的）. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all the other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions----but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.
Watches are now classified as “investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly $350,000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from $15,000 to $30,000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It’s a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up----they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that $350,000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.
The sales of watches to young people have fallen because they_______.

A．have other devices to tell the time

B．think watches too expensive

C．prefer to wear an iPod

D．have no sense of time

It seems ridiculous to the writer that _______.

A．people dive 300 metres into the sea

B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones

C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones

D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell

What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?

A．It targets rich people as its potential customers.

B．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors.

C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising.

D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches.

Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Timex or Rolex?

B．My Childhood Timex

C．Watches? Not for Me!

D．Watches----a Valuable Collection

A．Students from high schools.	B．Scholars from Canada.
C．Officials from governments.	D．Experts from companies.

A．Reducing cost.	B．Using wind energy.
C．Saving energy.	D．Developing new fuels.