In New York, Ma witnessed the Alibaba Group opening on the New York stock exchange with the largest initial public offering (IPO,新股发行) in American history. “Alibaba, the world’s largest Internet commerce company makes China equal to the US in the rapidly increasing global competition for technological innovation (创新) and economic transformation ” commented the South China Morning Post.
It has also made Ma China’s richest man with a fortune of around $25 billion (153 billion yuan), reported Reuters.
It’s reported that Ma’s rags-to-riches journey is just as spectacular as his Internet empire. Ma failed the national college entrance exams twice before he was finally in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt and failed in finding a suitable job several times. Aslo, Mr Ma is a big believer in perseverance, which was proved in his English study experience.
However, it was his vision and goals that launched his career.
During a short trip to the US as an interpreter in 1995, Ma first experienced the Internet. He believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese people did. He started Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment, with 17 friends and $60,000 of funds. At the time, when e-commerce was unheard of in China, “I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,” he once said, according to The Guardian. His unusual ideas earned him the nickname “Crazy Jack Ma” .
Indeed, Ma is different. Although he is very thin and about 160cm tall, “Ma is yet animated and forceful, said The Guardian. “He is funny, creative, and a compelling (引人注目的) speaker.
Ma told Time magazine that he was “old for the Internet”. He started to slow down and looked around. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ma “plans to open a tai chi club with the actor Jet Li, build an entrepreneur (企业家) university in Hangzhou and continue to work on several environmental projects.”What made him into e-commerce industry?
A.His English learning experience. |
B.His foresight and ambitions. |
C.His belief in perseverance. |
D.His 17 friends and $60,000 funds. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.Ma is a blind man riding on a blind tiger. |
B.Ma had no confidence in his business future. |
C.Ma knew little about e-commerce. |
D.Ma had not enough money at that time. |
What’s the personality of Ma Yun according to the passage?
A.Funny and competitive. |
B.Determined and creative. |
C.Rich and different. |
D.Attractive and believable. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
A.The Development of Alibaba Group |
B.Ma Yun’s Personal Life |
C.Ma Yun’s Crazy Success |
D.E-commerce in China |
Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English. What do we know about the ways pre-school children are usually taught?
A.More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored. |
B.Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print. |
C.The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers. |
D.Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures. |
What does Shayne Piasta suggest pre-school teachers should do in class?
A.Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean. |
B.Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters. |
C.Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills. |
D.Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the study on language skills of pre-school children?
A.Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children. |
B.Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading. |
C.Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom. |
D.Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching. |
Which section of a magazine does the passage probably come from?
A.Fashion. | B.Economy . | C.Entertainment. | D.Education. |
Online Money Earning
Yes you can earn money online without any investment or without anytime limit. I have many useful easy methods for earning easy money while we all spend our useful time on the Internet by surfing, chatting, downloading and other work. There is no need to stop any other work. We can earn with or without our daily routine. Here I tell you the complete method for online earning.
First Method
Earn money with “Bux. to”. You can earn money through “Bux.to” by clicking on ads on “Bux. to” site. First you need to open an account at “Bux. to”.
“Bux. To” is a new international and FREE English based service that allows advertisers to reach thousands of potential customers by displaying their ads on our “Surf Ads” page. An exact calculated percentage of all advertising income is paid to our members. “Bux. to” makes money through advertising.
How you make money
You view websites in 30 seconds through the “Surf Ads” page. Once the 30 seconds is up, you’ll either get a green tick(对号) sign or a red “x”. The green tick sign means you’ve earned $0.01and the “x” means you have not earned money for the visit. You’ll get red x’s when you have more than one websites from the “Surf Ads” page open. When this happens, you get no credit.
Earnings example
You click 10 ads per day =$0.10
20 referrals(转送) click 10 ads per day =$2.00
Your daily earnings =$2.10
Your weekly earnings =$14.70
Your monthly earnings =$63.00
How to get paid
If you have at least $10.00 accumulated, you can click on your account balance within your states area and it will meet your request. At present, it only makes payments through “AlertPay”. It will soon be using other methods of payment.
AlertPay is the payment processing solution that we use to pay members. Your AlertPay address is the e-mail address you use to register with AlertPay. You can get a free AlertPay account at http:// alertpay. com.
Method 2 will publish soon… What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
A.To tell an interesting story. |
B.To introduce a surprising way to earn money. |
C.To solve a puzzling problem. |
D.To present an exciting research. |
You can earn money by ________.
A.chatting online | B.advertising some products |
C.clicking on advertisement | D.choosing green ticks or x’s |
The underlined word “accumulated” can be replaced by “_________”.
A.wasted | B.spent | C.lost | D.gathered |
What can we know from the passage?
A.You’ll earn $0.10 if you click 1 ad. |
B.You’ll get many green ticks if you have many websites open. |
C.You can get your payments through AlertPay. |
D.Your AlertPay account is not for free. |
Recently, South Korean star PSY’s ‘Gangnam style” video has been popular on the Internet. It has become most people’s favorite music.
In fact, the song has set the Guinness World Record for the most popular video in the history of the Internet. More than two million people have said “like” since the song was on the Internet on July 15.
PSY”s special dance moves and funny horse riding style have attracted many people. Although many people do not understand the language, the video has become the talk of the Internet. The song has come to first place in the music charts(排行榜) in 31 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
“I just sang for my South Korean fans. I have never expected it to be popular in other countries,” PSY told the reporters on a concert. The song was so popular that a few of South Korean’s politicians showed PSY’s moves to attract supporters.
“The song came out in mid-July. It sings about the rich life of South Korea —especially Gangnam in Soeoul, where a lot of rich people live.
Millions of people have watched the video. Many stars, such as Katy Perry, Robbie Williams and Nelly Furtado said that they love the song. These stars performed part of the song at a recent concert.
Riding high on the success of “Gangnam Style”, PSY was signed by Scooter Braun to Braun’s Schoolboy Records, a label distributed by Universal Republic.
PSY has written many hit songs of varying styles for different singers. Prior to “Gangnam Style” his most famous composition perhaps was Lee Seung Gi’s debut(首次亮相) song “Because You Are My Woman”.What makes PSY’s “Gangnam Style” the famous music of millions of people?
A.The song has set the Guinness World Record. |
B.The song has come to first place in the music chart. |
C.They like the dance moves and the horse riding style. |
D.They don’t understand the words of the song. |
Why did some of South Korea’s politicians show PSY”s moves?
A.They wanted to tell people that they were also fond of music. |
B.They wanted people to support them. |
C.They were PSY’s fans. |
D.They liked PSY’s dancing style. |
What’s “Gangnam Style” about?
A.The way of horse riding. |
B.The rich life of people of Gangnam in Seoul. |
C.The Guinness World Record. |
D.The love of stars. |
What is the best title of the passage?
A.Life of the Music Star PSY |
B.“Gangnam Styly” —— Most people’s favorite Music |
C.PSY’s Famous Compositions |
D.Meaning of “Gangnam Style” |
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老)treated the poor message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.
Shades of that spirit spread over today’s conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, ”Oh boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it’s going to rain.”I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, for his smile.
Several months ago I was racing to catch a him As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Grey hound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile ,”Oh that bus left five minutes ago.”Dreams of head-cutting!
It’s not the news that makes someone angry. It’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s delivered. Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and winning professionals do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn’t get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.
Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you’re tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn’t ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter mainly told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.
Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warming .Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, ” Oh, that’s all right I’ll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news ,deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轰炸的)person is sure to have.In Paragraph 1,the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to ____.
A.make a comparison | B.describe a scene |
C.introduce a topic | D.offer an argument |
From “Dreams of head-cutting!”(Paragraph3),we learn that the writer___.
A.was mad at the sales agent |
B.was reminded of the cruel pharaoh |
C.wished that the sales agent would have had dreams |
D.dreamed of cutting the sales agent’s head that night. |
What is the main idea of the text?
A.Learning ancient traditions can be useful. |
B.Receiving bad news requires great courage. |
C.Helping others sincerely is the key to business success. |
D.Delivering bad news properly is important in communication. |
Most mornings, the line begins to form at dawn: scores of silent women with babies on their backs, buckets balanced on their heads, and in each hand a bright-blue plastic jug. On good days, they will wait less than an hour before a water tanker goes across the dirt path that serves as a road in Kesum Purbahari, a slum on the southern edge of New Delhi. On bad days, when there is no electricity for the pumps, the tankers don’t come at all. “That water kills people,” a young mother named Shoba said one recent Saturday morning, pointing to a row of pails filled with thick, caramel (焦糖)-colored liquid. “Whoever drinks it will die.” The water was from a pipe shared by thousands of people in the poor neibourhood. Women often use it to wash clothes and bathe their children, but nobody is desperate enough to drink it.
There is no standard for how much water a person needs each day, but experts usually put the minimum at fifty litres. The government of India promises (but rarely provides) forty. Most people drink two or three litres—less than it takes to wash a toilet. The rest is typically used for cooking and bathing. Americans consume between four hundred and six hundred litres of water each day, more than any other people on earth. Most Europeans use less than half that. The women of Kesum Purbahari each hoped to drag away a hundred litres that day—two or three buckets’ worth. Shoba has a husband and five children, and that much water doesn’t go far in a family of seven, particularly when the temperature reaches a hundred and ten degrees before noon. She often makes up the difference with bottled water, which costs more than water delivered any other way. Sometimes she just buys milk; it’s cheaper. Like the poorest people everywhere, the people of New Delhi’s slums spend a far greater percentage of their incomes on water than anyone lucky enough to live in a house connected to a system of pipes.The underlined word “slum” most likely means ______.
A.a village |
B.a small town |
C.the part of a town that lacks water badly |
D.an area of a town with badly-built, over-crowded buildings |
Sometimes the water tanker doesn’t come because ______.
A.there is no electricity | B.the weather is bad |
C.there is no water | D.people don’t want the dirty water |
A person needs at least ________ litres of water a day.
A.forty | B.four hundred | C.a hundred | D.fifty |
The passage mainly tells us ______.
A.how India government manages to solve the problem of water gets their water |
B.how women in Kesum Purbahari |
C.how much water a day a person deeds |
D.that India lacks water badly |