ThePickupNadineGordimerThebook-优题课

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Chinese is spoken by more people than any other language in the world. The Chinese economy is the fastest growing economy in the world. China is developing so quickly that it may be the dominant economic power in the not so distant (遥远的) future.
Today, more and more people are seeing the benefits (好处) of learning the most widely spoken language in the world. Learning Chinese is not only fun and greatly satisfying, but also can create valuable opportunities for students and working professionals in today’s changing world. We offer Chinese language learners a chance to study one-on-one with experienced native Chinese teachers through the Internet, no matter what country they live in.
eChineseLearning provides Chinese language learners an effective (有效的) platform to help them reach their Chinese learning goals in an efficient (效率高的) manner. Our duty is to provide the best Chinese language education service worldwide at an affordable price. We always focus on (集中于) the needs of our customers. And offer them the best language learning experience.
Our management team is made up of members with rich experience in Chinese language instruction from world-famous universities such as Stanford University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Beijing Language and Culture University, all working together to create the best possible product and language learning experience.
60．The underlined word “dominant” in the first paragraph probably means “_________”.
A．most interesting B．most important
C．most useful D．most popular
61．eChineseLearning is probably_________.
A．an online Chinese language school B．an online Chinese language newspaper
C．an online Chinese advertising company D．an online Chinese trading company
62．All the management members of eChineseLearning are from_________.
A．Chinese universities B．American universities
C．world-famous universities D．world-famous companies
63．This passage mainly tells us_________.
A．how to learn Chinese from eChineseLearning
B．why we need to learn Chinese
C．the Chinese economy is growing fastest
D．eChineseLearning can provide good Chinese language training

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第三部分:阅读理解
What happens to old school buses when they can no longer safely carry kids to school? Most go to waste factories to be changed into pieces of metal. But a few of the old vehicles (车辆) find new lives in the center of Africa. Most of those buses end up on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Kinshasa buses are that yellow color, which makes them stand out (突出) in the city’s heavy traffic, but the buses don’t look at all as they did in the United States. In Kinshasa their taillights(尾灯) are almost all missing or broken. They don’t obey traffic rules and often race around the city very fast. The buses compete with motorcycles, cars, trucks, and other vehicles for space on the road. They make loud sounds when moving, and they are packed with people carrying loads of goods, such as fish, milk, beans and onions.
However, Kinshasa business people love the old, yellow buses, which they buy from American companies, because the vehicles are strong, reliable (可依靠的) and inexpensive. A used bus sells for about $2,000 in Congo. A new bus is more expensive. In the United States, a new school bus with all its lights working costs about $80,000.
The fare (票价) to travel across the city is usually about 30 US cents. “Transport is a big problem in Kinshasa,” says passenger Bruce Kingambo. “But the yellow buses help people here get around.”
56．The underlined sentence in the first paragraph means “In the center of Africa some old US school buses can be_________.”
A．useful B．expensive C．free D．new
57．Before the school buses leave America for Congo, they_________
A．have broken taillights
B．don’t obey the traffic rules and move at full speed
C．carry many people and goods
D．don’t compete with other vehicles
58．How many used buses can you buy in Congo for the price of a completely new school bus in the USA?
A．10. B．20. C．30. D．40.
59．The passage mainly tells us _________
A．how to use old school buses
B．about new lives for old school buses
C．to try to take old school buses
D．how to drive old school buses

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Tell the truth or just lie?
You’re busy filling out the application form for a position you really need; let’s assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isn’t it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University?
More and more people are turning to final trick like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars at most well known colleges say they deal with deceitful like these at the rate of about one per week.
Personnel officers do check up degrees listed on application forms, then. If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them “impostors(骗子)”；Another refers to them as “special cases” one well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by ”no such people.”
To avoid total lies, some job-seekers claim that they “attended” or “were associated with” a college or university. After carefully checking, a personal officer may discover that “attending” means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being associated with” a college means that the job seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claim says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century-that’s when they began keeping records, anyhow.
If you don’t want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a phony(假的) diploma. One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of nonexistent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from “Smoot State University.” The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of Purdue.” As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper.
72.The main idea of this passage is that______.
A. employers are checking more closely on applicants now
B. lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem
C. college degrees can now be purchased easily
D. employers are no longer interested in college degrees
73.According to the passage, “special cases” refers to cases where______.
A. students attend a school only part-time
B. students never attended a school they listed on their application
C. students buy false degrees from commercial firms
D. students attended a famous school
74.We can infer from the passage that______.
A. performance is a better judge of ability than a college degree
B. experience is the best teacher
C. past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do
D. a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job competition
75.This passage implies that______.
A. buying a false degree is not normal
B. personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools
C. most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school
D. society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications

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New economy online
People are talking about the “new economy”. It’s very different from the “old economy”.
In the old economy, people travel to walk. They buy things in stores. They use the post office, the fax and the telephone to send information. They see people face-to-face at their jobs or in stores. People get information from newspapers, radio, television, books and libraries.
In the new economy, people do business through the “net”, which is a connection of millions of computers everywhere in the world. In the new economy, workers often work at home. They can get information online. They can communicate with employers and co-workers by e-mail . Businesses have “virtual（虚拟的）stores”. They are websites on which customers can see the products. Business can sell to customers anywhere in the world.
In the new economy, people live a fast paced, convenient and colorful life. The whole world develops more quickly than before. But the new economy is double-edge sword(双刃剑).Its disadvantage is also obvious. For example, the Internet has led to a huge increase in credit care(信用卡)cheating. Some illegal websites offer some cheap or banned(禁止的) goods or services. Online shoppers who enter their credit card information may never receive the goods they want to buy and their card information could even be for sale in an illegal website. So people in the new economy should be smarter and knowledgeable.
68.The cause of the differences between the new economy and the old economy is ______.
A. the change of people’s idea B. the business people do
C. the use of the Internet D. the change of people’s life
69.In the old economy, people can do the following things EXCEPT______.
A. getting information from books
B. communicating with friends by telephone
C. meeting people face to face
D. shopping online
70.“But the new economy is a double-edge sword.” in the last passage means______.
A. the new economy is as sharp as a sword
B. the new economy has advantages and disadvantages
C. the new economy is better than the old economy
D. both the new economy and the old economy have disadvantages
71.Which of the following is NOT true?
A. People can get all kinds of information on the Internet.
B. Telephone, radio, television, newspapers and so on will disappear in the new economy.
C. People in the new economy should have high quality.
D. Life in the new economy is more comfortable than the one in the old economy.

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Valuing water
Human beings use a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet shortages and droughts(干旱) are causing starvation and poverty in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world’s population is expected to double in the next 51 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.
But that doesn’t have to be the result. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to value petrol more after the 1970s oil crisis, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic view. We can no longer afford to consider water a nearly free resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.
Instead, for all uses except the demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its real value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.
Governments should also protect this source by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation(灌溉) water in the dry places is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions(凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.
No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their ways to use water. Rather than control hundreds or even thousands of local, regional agencies that watch water use, countries should set up central authorities to manage water policy.
65. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?
A. Only half of the world’s water can be used.
B. The world population is increasing faster and faster.
C. Half of the world’s resources have been seriously polluted.
D. Human beings have not placed sufficient value on water resources.
66.We can conclude from the passage that the water problem______.
A. is already serious in certain parts of the world
B. has been exaggerated by some experts in the field
C. poses a challenge to the technology of building reservoirs
D. is underestimated by government organizations at different levels
67.According to the author, the water price should______.
A. be reduced to the minimum
B. stimulate domestic demand
C. equal its real value
D. take into account the occurrences of droughts.

A．Micheal White.	B．Adrian Vickers.
C．Atul Gawande.	D．Nadine Gordimer.