Alibaba started taking the lead in China by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商) with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to judge: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its market attracts 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year — and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets — not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is second to consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售) buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping — big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beijing, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how wide the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine.
Alibaba’s advantage mainly lies in .
| A．its low price |
| B．its big size |
| C．its not charging small sellers |
| D．its business-to-business service |
We know from the passage that Alibaba .
| A．will continue to develop. |
| B．charges all the sellers on its site a percentage of the sale. |
| C．acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers. |
| D．is of middle size among all the online sites. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail. |
| B．TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
| C．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
| D．The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Shopping online in China is TaoBao. |
| B．How the author purchases online in China. |
| C．Shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
| D．Alibaba influences people’s daily purchase in China. |
第三部分：阅读理解 (共两节，满分40分)
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
One night about nine o’clock, Dr. Eyck, a surgeon, had a phone call from Dr. Haydon at the hospital in Clens Falls. The surgeon was asked to go there at once to operate on a very sick boy who shot himself while playing with a gun.
The doctor was soon on his way to Clens Falls. It was 60 miles away. And it was snowing heavily in the city. The surgeon thought he could get there before 12 o’clock.
A few minutes later, the doctor was stopped by a man in an old black coat. Gun in hand, the man ordered the doctor to get out. Then the man drove the car down the road, leaving the doctor in the falling snow.
It was after 2 o’clock in the morning when the doctor arrived at the hospital in Clens Falls. Dr. Haydon told him that the boy had died an hour before.
The two doctors walked by the door of the hospital waiting room. There sat the man in the old black coat with his head in his hands.
“Mr. Cuninghan,” said Dr. Haydon to the man, “This is Dr. Eyck. He is the surgeon who walked all the way from Albany to save your boy.”
1.Dr. Haydon asked Dr. Eyck to come to Clens Falls because ________.
A.Dr. Eyck knew the boy was wounded by a shot
B.The boy needed the help of a surgeon
C.Dr. Eyck was the boy’s father
D.Dr. Eyck was Haydon’s friend
2.The surgeon was late because ________.
A . he was stopped by the police
B.the weather was rather terrible
C.Clens Falls was too far from Albany
D.his car was taken away
3.Choose the right order of the following events given in the story.
a.Dr. Eyck was asked to come to the hospital in Clens Falls.
b.Dr. Eyck arrived at the hospital.
c.The boy shot himself.
d.The boy died.
e.The man in an old coat reached the hospital.
f.Dr. Eyck was robbed of his car.
A. c,e,f,a,b,d B. a,c,f,d,b,e C. c,a,f,e,d,b D. a,c,f,e,d,b
4.The boy could have been saved if ________.
A .he had not been sent to the hospital
B. his father hadn’t arrived in time
C.Dr.Eyck had arrived earlier than the man
D.Dr. Eyck had arrived there two hours earlier
The Internet has led to a huge increase in credit-card fraud. Your card information could even be for sale in an illegal website. Websites offering cheap goods and services should be regarded with card. On line, shoppers who enter their credit-card information may never receive the goods they thought they bought. The thieves then go shopping with your card number—or sell the information over the Internet.
Computer hackers have broken down security system and that raises questions about the safety of card-holder information.
Several months ago, 25,000 customers of CD universe, an on-line music retailer (批发商), were not lucky. Their names, addresses and credit-card numbers were posted on a website after the retailer refused to pay US $157,828 to get back the information.
Credit-card firms are now fighting against online fraud. Master-card is working on plans for web-only credit-card, with a lower credit limit. The card could be used only for shopping online. However, there are a few simple steps you can take to keep from being cheated.
Ask about your credit-card firm’s online rules: Under British law, cardholders are responsible for the first US $ 78 of any cheating spending.
And shop only at secure sites: Send your credit-card information only if the website offers advanced secure system.
If the security is in place, a letter will appear in the bottom right-hand comer of your screen. The website address may also start https://—the extra "s" stands for secure. If in doubt, give your credit-card information over the telephone.
Keep your password safe: Most on-line sites require a user name and password before placing an order. Treat your password with care.
1. The underlined word “fraud” in the first paragraph probably means_____________.
A. cheating B. sale C. payment D. use
2. According to this passage most people worry about shopping on the Internet because___________.
A. many stolen credit-cards are sold on the Internet every day
B. fraud on the Internet happens very often
C. many websites break down every day
D. there are too many illegal websites on the Internet
3. Thieves usually get the information of the credit-card, ______.
A. because many customers lost their cards
B. by paying money for people working in the information companies
C. because the customers tell them their password
D. by stealing the information from websites
4. The best title for the passage might be________.
A. How to Beat Online Credit-card Thieves
B. How to Shop on the Internet
C. Never Use Credit Cards without an Advanced Computer
D. Why Thieves Steal Credit-card Information
The wheel was one of man’s first inventions and yet it has also proved one of the most useful. So wide and varied are the uses of the wheels, in machines and vehicles of all kinds, that it is difficult to imagine what the world would be like without them. It is surprising to hear it said, therefore, that the wheel’s importance will perhaps be greatly reduced by the end of the century by an invention so new as to be still unnamed.
The invention is a machine the floats above any surface on a cushion of air. The cushion is formed when air is blown into this saucer, the machine rises to a height that may vary from a few inches to a few feet.
Industry is already using one form of the inversion to deal with heavy loads. It can lift them. with ease and since there are no wheels, and therefore no friction , they can be put into motion with the touch of a finger.
The new invention, however , is having a great effect on transport, Not only does it make expensive road systems unnecessary, but it enables vehicles to travel well over land or water. This unique to reach most destinations has given rise to the prediction that wheeled vehicles may be uncommon at the end the century as aeroplanes were at the beginning.
1. The first paragraph tells us that______.
A. the wheel was man’s earliest invention.
B. the wheel’s usefulness has yet to be proved.
C. wide wheels have a variety of important uses.
D. a new invention may make wheels less important.
2. The phrase “with the touch of a finger” in the third paragraph means______.
A. without difficulty B. by electricity .
C. without frictionD. by hand.
3. The passage tells us that the new invention __________.
A. is more important for industry than for transport.
B. will one day be used instead of aeroplanes.
C. makes it possible to travel without using roads.
D. will replace wheeled vehicles using roads.
4. According to the passage, the new invention _______.
A. will soon get a name B. can go almost anywhere
C. is lighter than air D. was uncommon a century ago
III. PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION (24 points)
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A,B,C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a whole lot of antique (古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception (接待). I was quite wrong. Then man wouldn’t even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same , and the third and, the fourth-so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “ Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,” I said. “OK,” he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds. ” “It’s got a slightly broken leg,”I said. “Yes I saw that, it’s nothing.”
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.” “I’ll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean? You’ve just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry, I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.” “You must be crazy ,” he said Then , suddenly the penny dropped. “ I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair.” “ You’re right,” I said. “ And what would you have done if I had walked in and said, ‘Would you mend this chair for me’?” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t’ do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused (感到有趣) by the whole thing.
1. We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer_________.
A. was rather impolite B. was warmly received
C. asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair D. asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair
2. The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper_________.
A. changed his mind B. accepted the offer
C. saw the writer’s purpose D. decided to help the writer
3. How much did the writer pay?
A. £5. B. £7. C. £20. D. £27.
4. From the text, we can learn that the writer was_________.
A. honest B. careful C. smart D. funny
第二节摘录信息（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在文后第53至第57小题的空格里填上适当的单词或短语，并将答案转写到答题卡上。
注意：每空不超过3个单词。
Some beach creatures are wonderful -- like dolphins, but others are dangerous. Here are some examples of harmful beach creatures.
Puffer Fish
Puffer Fish, found in all Japanese seas, have very interesting features. They are very easy to catch but must not be eaten because their flesh and organs contain a poison. Anyone who does eat the flesh can become sick very quickly. They may even stop breathing.
The Blue Bottle
The Blue Bottle is found in most Caribbean waters. Blue Bottles float lightly on the surface of the water but their tentacles (触须) can be as long as 10 metres. Blue Bottles are much less dangerous than some other jellyfish but they can give a swimmer a bad sting (刺) if the swimmer accidentally touches them.
Stingrays
There are many different kinds of stingrays in Mauritius waters. They usually swim and feed on the bottom of the sea. Accidents can happen if people stand on them or try to pick them up. Stingrays have a sting on their tail. These stings have poison on them. If someone is stung the wound can easily become infected.
Title : 53
| Wildlife |
Where creatures live |
56 |
What effects on men |
Puffer Fish |
55 |
● easy to catch ● unfit to eat |
● become sick ● stop breathing |
54 |
most Caribbean waters |
●their tentacles being as long as 10 metres ● less dangerous |
give a sting |
| Stingrays |
Mauritius waters |
having a poisonous sting on their tail |
easily 57 by the sting |