English is fast becoming the only language of a new generation of educated Arabs.
This isn't a good thing for the region or the rest of the world. The journalism school at the AUD(迪拜美国大学)is the only modern program in the Middle East that allows students to study in Arabic. Still, many students arrive with poorly written Arabic and the formal spoken language and require refresher Arabic language courses.
Literacy(识字能力) in the Gulf States is 98%, according to UNESCO. But that literacy is increasingly in English, not Arabic.
This English bias(偏爱) starts early, with children in private "model" schools in the United Arab Emirates studying all their subjects, including math and science, in English. But the trend appears to be taking hold regionwide. In Saudi Arabia, many upper-middle-class families speak English at home -- not just at work .
One Arabic official told me his own children do not speak Arabic fluently. He said he put them in English schools to help ensure they'd have great career prospects. But now he says he regrets that his children don't feel comfortable speaking the language of their forefathers.
Why is there the anxiety among these elites? I am continually told that what I've experienced anecdotally is true: The wealthier the family, the less likely its members speak Arabic at home. If people in the same country don't speak the same language, how can they work across class lines to solve the problems of high unemployment that affect even oil-rich Saudi Arabia?
For executives(行政主管) trying to build local businesses, the English bias is a challenge. The dean of the AUD's school of journalism, Ali Al Jaber, told me, "If you can't address your own people, then you can't be successful."
Sure, English is the world's business language. More Chinese are learning English right now than there are Americans in the U.S. But China has struck a bilingual balance. Its research universities teach some of the world's brightest minds in Chinese. Professor Wardeh finds much for Arab nations to admire in this model.The passage mainly tells us_____________.
| A．English is the world’s business language |
| B．the English bias in Saudi Arabia |
| C．the school education in Saudi Arabia |
| D．the bilingual balance in China |
Many Arabic parents prefer their children to speak English because__________.
| A．they think it’s a symbol of class |
| B．English is the world’s business language |
| C．they consider Arabic hard to learn |
| D．they believe it’s an advantage in their future careers |
The underlined phrase “this model” refers to__________
| A．the education system in China |
| B．the popularity of English in Saudi Arabia |
| C．to popularize English in upper-class families |
| D．to improve literacy in Arabic countries |
We can know from the passage that__________.
| A．the popularity of English in Saudi Arabia is a good thing |
| B．there is no problem of unemployment in Saudi Arabia |
| C．the poor in Saudi Arabia are more likely to speak Arabic |
| D．the English bias doesn’t affect the local business |
Artificial(假的) flowers are used for scientific as well as for decorative purposes. They are made from a variety of materials, such as wax and glass, so skillfully that they can scarcely be distinguished from natural flowers. In making such models, painstaking and artistry are called for, as well as thorough knowledge of plant structure. The collection of glass flowers in the Botanical Museum of Harvard University is the most famous in North America and is widely known throughout the scientific world. In all, there are several thousand models in colored glass, the work of two artist-naturalists, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph.
The intention was to have the collection represent at least one member of each flower family native to the United States. Although it was never completed. It contains more than seven hundred species representing 164 families of flowering plants, a group of fruits showing the effect of fungus diseases, and thousands of flower parts and magnified details. Every detail of these is accurately reproduced in color and structure. The models are kept in locked cases as they are too valuable and fragile for classroom use.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．An Extensive Collection of Glass Flowers |
| B．The Lives of Leopold and Rudolph |
| C．Flowers Native to the United States |
| D．Material Used for Artificial Flowers |
It can be inferred from the passage that the goal of Leopold and Rudolph was to _______.
| A．create a botanical garden where only exotic flowers grew |
| B．do a thorough study of plant structure |
| C．make a copy of one member of each United States flower family |
| D．show that glass are more realistic than wax flowers |
The underlined word “it” refers to _______.
| A．the intention | B．the collection |
| C．one member | D．each flower family |
The name “cowboy” conjures up many different images from movies, songs and TV. These imagined cowboys range from white-hat-wearing heroes to gun-shooting hooligans(流氓).But, cowboys are actually real people from US history.
When the US Civil War ended, many soldiers had no place to call home. So, they began to drift to the country's rural West. Ranchers(农场主) hired these men to take care of the cattle and work around the ranch. When the ranch owner wanted to sell the cattle, the cowboys would round up the herd from the open prairie(牧场) and drive the cattle miles to the market.
With the invention of barbed wire(铁丝网),the cowboy era(1865-1890) began to come to an end. But people in the East had always been curious about their lifestyle. Many country/western songs during this time tried to capture the true cowboy spirit. Newspapers published cowboy tales in serial form and adventure novels followed. The bigger the fiction, the better the sales. These novels often portrayed cowboys as cruel and violent men. Cowboys carried the bad reputation for many years afterwards.
When movies began to be popular in the 1920s,the cowboy image changed again. Now, a cowboy became the great white knight(骑士) that loved his horse more than the beautiful ladies he rescued. As the cowboy of the “Old West” spent more time with his horse than the ladies, this era's image was not entirely false.
Then, in the 50s,Hollywood began producing so-called “spaghetti westerns(意大利西部片)”.They earned the nickname because Italian companies financed the films and TV shows. This started the decade's “Cowboy Craze”.While this didn't last long, it made modern country/western music, fashion and dance extremely popular.
In recent years, with the help of musicians, radio stations and bars, cowboy nostalgia(怀旧情绪) has returned. Even though his image is still changing—somewhere between ballad singing country boy and barroom fighter—there's one thing for sure, you can't keep the cowboy down. During “the cowboy era” mentioned in the story, _______.
| A．the cowboy often came to the rescue of ladies in newspaper tales |
| B．the distant Wild West appealed to people in the East |
| C．cowboys were shown as cruel and violent men on the silver screen |
| D．country music started the cowboy craze which swept the whole country |
By saying “you can't keep the cowboy down”,the writer means that _______.
| A．cowboys are real people in history | B．cowboys still fascinate people |
| C．you can't make cowboys unhappy | D．you can't grasp the cowboy spirit |
Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?
| A．The cowboy has been presented in different lights in different eras. |
| B．Cowboys are gun-shooting hooligans, without doubt. |
| C．Cowboys have always been a passing phenomenon. |
| D．Cowboys enjoy Italian foods, for example, spaghetti. |
If you've been joining in chat room conversations, or trading e-mail with Web pals, you have become one of the millions who write in a peculiarly short form of English.
And you've got a sense of humor about short forms like SOHF(="sense" of humor failure) to describe Internet newcomers who don't understand you.
Across the globe, every night teenagers and their elders are “talking” online—many of them are talking at the same time.
It's fast: try talking to six people at once. It's brief: three or four words per exchange. It takes wit, concentration, and quick fingers.
And it requires tremendous linguistic economy. There's neither time nor space for explanations. Why consume precious key-strokes telling six friends you have to leave for a moment to take care of your little brother when BRB(="be" right back) will do? Want to enter a conversation? Just type PMFJI(="pardon" me for jumping in). Interested in whom you're talking to? Type A/S/L, the nearly universal request to know your pal's age, sex and location. You may get 15/M/NY as a response from your pal.
If something makes you laugh, say you're OTF(="on" the floor),or LOL(="laughing" out loud),or combine the two into ROTFL(="rolling" on the floor laughing).
And when it's time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG(="got" to go) or TTYL(talk to you later).
People want to write as fast as possible, and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can. Capital letters are left in the dust, except when expressing emotion, as it takes more time to hold down the “shift” key and capitals. Punctuation is going, too. In order to talk to several people at the same time on the Internet_______.
| A．you have to speak fast and fluently |
| B．you have to express your ideas in a brief way |
| C．you should speak with wit and humor |
| D．one should pay much attention to the accuracy of the words |
If you get 17/F/NY as an answer to your A/S/L, it means_______.
| A．the person on the other end is 17 from New York and he is fine |
| B．you are talking to a girl who is 17 and lives in New York |
| C．you are talking to 17 girls who are from New York |
| D．the person who are talking to you is a 1.7-foot tall New York girl |
To save time on the Internet_______.
| A．some people leave their letters in the dustbin |
| B．some people never use “shift” in their writing |
| C．many people leave the capital and punctuation |
| D．people seldom use capital letters or punctuation |
Methods of training animals have changed greatly in recent years. Zoo keepers have always had problems getting the animals to leave their cages in order for the cages to be cleaned, and also training them to move indoors when appropriate. Another problem was that many of the large animals became listless and bored. In the last twenty years, scientists have done research on dolphins and whales, training them to obey commands. The scientists found they could get animals to obey by rewarding them with food and affection when they responded correctly.
Proper training allows the animals to receive the care they need. It was very difficult to get untrained animals, especially the larger ones, to stay still when they needed medical attention. Now they can be trained, on command, to remain still and even to allow blood samples to be taken and shots administered. All this is accomplished through positive reinforcement, without the use of any force. Affection training, as this process is called, has been used with great success on a wide variety of zoo animals. Animal behavior experts have taught zoo keepers to train bears, tigers, monkeys, and many other species to behave in a way that provides for better animal-keeper interaction. This training also keeps the animals from becoming bored and inactive.
Although some people proclaim(谴责) that this training is inhumance and cruel to animals, results have shown that captive(猎获的)animals who previously were not doing well flourish under the new training procedures.The word “listless” means _______.
| A．countless | B．obedient |
| C．inactive | D．mysterious |
Which of the following is valid conclusion based on this passage?
| A．It is safe to pet any animal. |
| B．Many animals respond favorably to rewards and affection. |
| C．Animals in the wild can be trained. |
| D．Animals should not be kept in zoos. |
The writer's purpose is to _______.
| A．persuade people not to feed animals in the zoo |
| B．show how easy it is to train animals |
| C．explain method of training animals through rewards |
| D．criticize zoo keepers |
Which of the following is an opinion?
| A．Zoo keepers had problems in getting animals to leave their cages. |
| B．Training is cruel to animals. |
| C．Animals obey commands if they are trained to do so. |
| D．Many animals can be trained, on commands, to remain still. |
A weather map is an important tool for geographers. A succession of three or four maps presents a continuous picture of weather changes. Weather forecasters are able to determine the speed of air masses and fronts. They are also able to determine whether an air mass is retaining its original characteristics or taking on those of the surface over which it is moving. Thus, a most significant function of the map is to reveal an synoptic picture(气象图) of conditions in the atmosphere at a given time.
All students of geography should to interpret a weather map accurately. Weather maps contain an enormous amount of information about weather conditions existing at the time of observation over a large geographical area. They reveal in a few minutes what otherwise would take hours to describe. The United States Weather Bureau issues information about approaching storms, floods, frosts, droughts and all climate conditions in general. Twice a month it issues a 30-day “outlook” which is a rough guide to weather conditions likely to occur over broad areas of the United States. These outlooks are based on an analysis of the upper air levels.
With the use of electronic instruments and satellites, enormous gains have taken place recently in identifying and tracking storms over regions which have but few meteorological stations(气象站).Experiments are also in progress for weather modification studies, although few successful results such as artificial rainmaking have been achieved so far.Which is not mentioned in this passage in the following about one characteristic of weather?
| A．Fronts. | B．Temperature change. | C．Wind speed. | D．Frost. |
The observation of weather conditions by satellites is advantageous because
_______.
| A．it is modern and sophisticated |
| B．it used electronic instruments |
| C．it enables man to alter the weather |
| D．it gives the scientists information not obtained readily otherwise |
The word “interpret” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______
| A．explain | B．present | C．modify | D．illustrate |