BEIJING, Feb. 26 (China Daily) -- As the smog orange warning continues, tourist attractions in Beijing are experiencing a significant decline (下降) in visitor number.
A new report launched by Beijing authorities on the morning of February 24 indicates that the concentration of PM 2.5 has risen, with no sign of decreasing, the orange warning will still be in effect, according to Xinhua News Agency.
According to data released by the Beijing Tourism Website, by 2:00 pm, February 24, popular tourist attractions including The Great Wall and Palace Museum had been affected by the smog in terms of tourist numbers.
As for the Palace Museum, the number of visitors was only 11,200 that day, far from the figure of 40,000, which is the daily average number of visitors it normally receives.
There were a few visitors in Beihai Park on the morning of February 24, and two visitors from Hebei province planned to end their morning tour earlier than scheduled because of the smog. One of them said, “The visibility is so poor that we can’t take good photos, or even see clearly. We’d better leave early.”
In response to worsening air conditions, travel agencies have also taken some measures to avoid a further decline in tourist numbers. An employee with China Youth Travel Service, Wang Tao, said the agency will inform tourists of the weather conditions at their destinations. A tour guide with China Travel Service also told the media that it was a tour guide’s duty to inform foreign visitors of the smog conditions in Beijing, and the agency will provide free face masks to those in need. But efforts to do so merely treat the symptom rather than the disease itself, because the root cause is air pollution. China will introduce various emergency responses and long-term measures against air pollution. Officials and experts called for combined efforts by governments, industries and the public to cooperate more efficiently and to jointly solve the problem.In the following statements, which one is NOT TRUE?
| A．The tourism in Beijing was influenced by the hazy weather. |
| B．Both the Great Wall and Palace Museum had been affected by the smog. |
| C．The concentration of PM 2.5 has risen, but it will decrease soon. |
| D．According to the data released by the Beijing Tourism Website, we can know the information. |
According to the passage, if the weather is fine, how many visitors will the Palace Museum receive in a week?
| A．About 11,200. | B．About 78,400. |
| C．About 40,000. | D．About 280,000. |
The most effective way to solve the problem of air pollution is to _______.
| A．take some measures of treating the symptom merely |
| B．unite the power of governments, industries and the public |
| C．provide free face masks to those in need |
| D．inform tourists of the weather conditions at their destinations |
What does the author most probably mean by saying “efforts to do so merely treat the
symptom rather than the disease itself” in the last paragraph?
| A．These efforts could treat the symptom and the disease. |
| B．Treating the symptom is more important than the disease. |
| C．These efforts are not enough to solve the problem thoroughly. |
| D．These efforts couldn’t treat the disease, so they are unnecessary. |
It's every student's dream to do well in the national college entrance examination and enter a good university. In the eyes of students and parents, a good university should have a high ranking, and the employment rate of its graduates should be high. But be careful! The employment rate they tell you might not always be true.
Recently, people created a Chinese phrase "bei jiuye", which has become popular on the Internet almost overnight across China. The word "bei" has a grammatical use in Chinese: it has a function similar to the passive voice in English. But now people often use it to express their doubts about something. Here, the phrase "bei jiuye" has the literal meaning of "to be hired", but people understand that it really means "to be hired without one's knowledge" or "be hired for jobs that may not exist at all".
The story of "bei jiuye" goes like this. Zhao Dongdong, a graduate of a university in Shanxi province, was surprised to find that he got a job from a company he never applied to, which he wasn't even sure was a real place. On his last day of graduation ceremonies, he was surprised to come across the employment contract.
"God! At that time, I had not landed a job yet, but they gave me an employment contract! I wondered who on earth signed the contract with the company." When Zhao made a phone call to the company to check it out, no one answered.
He was not the only one in his college who was "hired" for a job that did not exist. One of his classmates signed a contract with a company called Xi'an Beilin Industrial Corporation, which could not be found on the Internet either. In the end, it turned out that the college had faked the contract to make it seem like the employment rate for new graduates was higher than that. By doing this, the college could build up a "good" reputation that could help it attract new students.
"Bei jiuye" is just one of many hot "bei" words on the Internet. See some of them in "Bonus". The use of "bei" is a satirical (讽刺的) way for the public to express its helplessness and criticize abuses of power, some people say. People also use "bei" words to bring attention to social problems, hoping they will be noticed by authorities.
| Standards of students’ and parents’ 1.__________ |
Having a high ranking |
| Having a high 2.______________ |
|
| 3._______ of the phrase “ Bei jiuye” |
To be hired 4._________ |
| To be hired with no knowledge or for 5.__________ jobs |
|
| 6._________ of the appearance of the phrase “ Bei jiuye” |
Seemingly 7. __________ rate for new graduates |
| To 8.___________ |
|
| 9.__________ to the hot phrase “Bei jiuye”on the Internet |
A way of expressing helpless and 10.__________ A way of fixing attention to social problems and being noticed by authorities |
Fear can be a wonderful feeling in our lives, protecting us from dangerous situations and keeping us safe. But fear can also limit our lives significantly. While it may not be conscious, fear may make us think we are unacceptable or that what we have to offer isn’t valuable. Fear may make us feel that we are not safe being ourselves.
To avoid feeling fear, we may limit our lives greatly, living in tiny boxes. Living this way gives us the illusion(假象) of safety but leaves us with an unfulfilling life of no passion. If we shine a light on many of our fears, we see they have a very limited view of what is “safe” and how to “protect” us. Many of our fears are concerned only with protecting us from humiliation(羞辱) and failure. While these fears are doing their jobs incredibly well, they are doing so with faulty and outdated programming. Many fears we have as adults are trying to protect us as they protected us when we were children. Indeed, many of our current, automatic reactions to fear were actually formed when we were children.
Even so, it’s important not to judge ourselves for feeling these types of fears. If we judge ourselves, we will bury our fears or disguise them. By denying our fears, however, we also deny our energy, creativity and passion.
So what do we do with fear? We recognize the fear for what it is--- a feeling we’ve experienced many times in the past and a feeling we will experience many times in the future. We become very familiar with our own particular brand of fears and how we allow them to control our lives. It is especially beneficial for each of us to become aware of the particular behavior patterns we’ve adopted when we feel fear, so we can look at our reactions with a sense of humor and compassion. Then, if we wish, we can choose a different response, which can be a scary yet very exciting experience.According to the first paragraph, fear sometimes.
| A．protect us when we’ve made mistakes |
| B．makes sure our feelings are not hurt |
| C．brings great change to our everyday life |
| D．makes us lose confidence in ourselves |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author.
| A．thinks it difficult to control our fear |
| B．believes fears protect us negatively |
| C．thinks it’s good to criticize ourselves |
| D．values the advantages of feeling fear |
According to the author, the ways we react to fear .
| A．vary from person to person |
| B．have been formed since childhood |
| C．develop during our growth |
| D．will not change until we get old |
The last paragraph mainly tells us .
| A．what is the essence of fears |
| B．usual reactions we have when feeling fear |
| C．how to deal with fears reasonably |
| D．the importance of humor and compassion |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Is fear managing your life? |
| B．Be calm when feeling fear |
| C．What do you fear most? |
| D．Passion, chance and fear |
NEW YORK---One in five U.S. workers regularly attends after-work drinks with coworkers, where the most common mishaps range from badmouthing another worker to drinking too much, according to a study released on Tuesday.
Most workers attend so-called happy hours to bond with colleagues, although 15 percent go to hear the latest office gossip and 13 percent go because they feel necessary, said the survey conducted for CareerBuilder. com, an online job site. As to what happens when the after-work drinks flow, 16 percent reported bad-mouthing a colleague, 10 percent shared a secret about a colleague and 8 percent said they drank too much and acted unprofessionally. Five percent said they had shared a secret about the company, and 4 percent confessed to singing karaoke. While 21 percent of those who attended said happy hours were good for networking, 85 percent said attending had not helped them get closer to someone higher up or get a better position. An equal number of men and women said they attended happy hours with co-workers, with younger workers aged 25 to 34 most likely and workers over 55 least likely to attend. Overall, 21 percent of workers attend happy hours with co-workers and of those nearly a quarter go at least once a month.
The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder. Com among 6,987 full-time employees between February 11 and March 13. Harris Interactive said the results had a sampling error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.Harris Interactive made the survey to find out.
| A．how U.S. workers spend their after-work time |
| B．what U.S. workers do at after-work drinks |
| C．the relationships between U.S. workers |
| D．who are most likely to attend after-work drinks |
of workers who attend after-work drinks speak ill of a colleague.
| A．4 percent | B．8 percent | C．16 percent | D．10 percent |
According to the passage, most of those surveyed believed attending after-work drinks.
| A．benefited them a lot | B．could provide information |
| C．only made them relaxed | D．was of no help to them |
We can learn from the text that .
| A．workers over 55 don’t like to attend happy hours at all |
| B．about 75% of workers go more than once a month |
| C．10.5% of male workers attend happy hours with co-workers |
| D．about 700 workers surveyed shared a secret about a co-worker |
After the survey, it can be inferred that.
| A．all the workers oppose after-work drinks |
| B．the workers may change their attitudes towards after-work drinks |
| C．all the workers support after-work drinks |
| D．all the workers are suggested going to attend after-work drinks |
Senior citizens are permitted to travel cheaply on a bus if they have a special card. Women may get cards when they are sixty.
Mrs. Matthews lived in the country but she went into town once a week to buy food and other things for the house, and she usually went by bus. She always had to pay the full price for her ride.
Then she reached the age of sixty and got her senior citizen’s card, but when she used it for the first time on the bus, it made her feel very old.
The bus driver had often seen her traveling on the bus before, and he noticed that she was feeling unhappy, so after she had paid her money, he winked at her and whispered, “Don’t forget to give your mother’s card back to her when you see her again.”
Mrs. Matthews was very happy when she heard this.Senior citizens in the story refer to .
| A．those who have special cards |
| B．old people with special cards |
| C．people who hold high positions in the government |
| D．those who wanted to travel cheaply |
Women over sixty .
| A．don’t have to pay for taking buses |
| B．pay less for their ride if they have a special card |
| C．have to pay the full price for their ride |
| D．have to pay their special card |
Mrs. Matthews used to pay the full price for her ride because .
| A．she didn’t know the rule |
| B．she wasn’t old enough |
| C．she didn’t know where to get the card |
| D．she had reached sixty but had not got her senior citizen card |
Mrs. Matthews felt unhappy on the bus because .
| A．she still had to pay for the ride |
| B．the card wasn’t hers |
| C．she felt she was now an old woman |
| D．the driver found out she was not honest |
The driver whispered to her .
| A．in order to make her feel younger |
| B．because he thought that she shouldn’t have borrowed her mother’s card |
| C．because he wanted her to pay the full amount |
| D．because he knew her mother was still alive |
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most loved children’s books of all time, and many adults enjoy it as well. It tells the story of a young girl named Alice, who follows a rabbit entering a magical world called Wonderland. She has many experiences which seem to change the rules of reasoning or common sense. The popularity of the book comes from its imagination, interesting story, and art work.
The writer of the book is Lewis Carroll. In fact, Lewis Carroll was not the writer’s real name. His real name was Charles Dodgson. One day, he took a boat ride down the Thames River to have a picnic with three little girls who were friends of the family. To keep them entertained on the ride, he told them a story in which Alice, the middle child, was the main character. They enjoyed the story very much.
Charles later wrote the story down under the name Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and gave it to Alice as a Christmas present. Later, he gave a copy to his friend George MacDonald. George read it to his children and they loved it. George suggested to Charles that he make a book from his story. Charles then wrote more parts to the story until it was around 35,000 words. It was first printed in 1866, with art work by John Tenniel, under the name Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The book was an immediate success. One of its first fans was Queen Victoria. She immediately requested a collection of all of Lewis Carroll’s works. She was surprised to find that they included many works on math. In fact, Charles Dodgson was a highly respected mathematician. This can be seen in many puzzles and plays on reasoning that appear in his books and poems.
Since the story was first printed, it has kept selling up to the present day. It has been translated into over fifty languages and has had several movies based on it.The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．Charles’ family life |
| B．the birth of a book and its lasting influences |
| C．a magical world called Wonderland |
| D．a girl’s adventurous experiences |
Who first had the idea of making a book from the story “Alice Adventures Under Ground”?
| A．Alice | B．Charles | C．George | D．John |
Which of the following is the right order of the passage?
a. Charles gave his story to Alice as a Christmas present.
b. Charles had a picnic with three little girls on the Thames.
c. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was first printed in 1866.
d. More parts were added to the story by Charles.
e. The book won a large number of fans.
| A．c-b-a-d-e | B．c-a-b-e-d | C．b-a-d-c-e | D．b-a-c-e-d |