阅读理解

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项．

　　China plans to make new rules to give more controls over the growing number of blogs and webcasts．

　　Nowadays, advanced network technologies, such as blogging and webcasting, are being improved to challenge the government's ability to watch over the Internet．

　　Chinese government is in the middle of making new rules over Internet publishing, and blogs and websites publishing webcasts will fall under these rules．Government officials hope the new rules will ensure(保证)a more healthy and active Internet environment and will fully respect and protect Chinese citizens' freedom of speech．Specific details on what kind of rules will be carried out are still unknown to the public．Despite the growing popularity, bloggers and webcasters have been unpopular with publication institutions．

　　In 2006, a series of cases involving bloggers who had dived into other people's privacy and written materials ruining other's fame urged the government to consider whether to require bloggers to use their real names when they login in．

　　Webcasting without copyright and illegally “copying” products from copyrighted materials have also led government officials to consider starting a nationwide check of online video broadcasting, and allow only qualified websites to continue offering webcasts．

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　　Helen Thomas, born on August 4, 1920, is a famous news reporter, a Hearst Newspapers columnist, and member of the White House Press Corps．She served for fifty-seven years as a correspondent and White House bureau chief for United Press International(UPI)．She is called “First Lady of the Press”．

　　Born in Kentucky, Helen Thomas was raised in Detroit, Michigan where she attended public schools and later graduated from Wayne State University．Upon leaving college, Helen served as a copy girl in an old company in Washington．In 1943, Ms．Thomas joined United Press International and the Washington Press Corps．Thomas served as president of the Women's National Press Club from 1959 to 1960．

　　In November, Helen began covering then President-elect John F．Kennedy, following him to the White House in January 1961 as a UPI correspondent．She later became White House Bureau Chief for UPI, where she was employed until her resignation on May 17, 2000．Thomas then became a White House correspondent and columnist．

　　Thomas was the only woman journalist traveling with then President Nixon to China in January, 1972．She has traveled around the world several times with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, during the course of which she covered every Economic Summit．The World Almanac has cited her as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in America．

　　On March 21, 2006, Thomas was called upon directly by President Bush for the first time in three years．Thomas asked Bush about Iraq．Helen Thomas has written four books and she is also a popular speaker at events nationwide．

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　　To many basketball fans in Taiwan, the William Jones Cup or the Basketball Association may be their sweetest memory．But if you ask them, “What's the hottest basketball event now?” There is the only answer：HBL, the High School Basketball League．

　　Founded in 1988, the HBLwas at first just a high school basketball tournament．After the Taipei School Sport Federation took charge in 1996 and renamed it HBL, everything changed．The Federation decided to co-operated with Nike, the well-known sportswear manufacturer, and use its experience in marketing to promote the game．

　　The HBL started with 129 teams; today there are more than 250．no longer just of interest to the players, it's now Taiwan's biggest basketball event．Fellow students, alumni(男毕业生，男校友), and sports fans all over Taiwan cheer for their favorite teams．At last year's finals, Taipei and Kaohsiung mayors came to cheer for their teams．

　　The HBL starts in September with qualifying and preliminary(预备的，初步的)rounds and continues through April of the following year, when the finals are held．Broadcasting the games on television has helped make the HBL a wildly popular event．It's become the place to spot young basketball talent．Today's HBL players are tomorrow's professionals．

　　Recent HBL tournaments have been very competitive, with no one school taking the advantage．This wide-open quality of the tournament makes it more exciting．Everyone wants to see how this year's games will come out．HBL fever just keeps getting hotter．

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　　There are two ways to save money traveling．The first way is to get the best deals on the specific things you want．There is a limitation to this type of approach(途径，方法)though．If you find the lowest price on the best hotel in Honolulu at the height of the season, you will save money, but still have a very expensive vacation．Trying to get exactly what you want will generally be an expensive proposition, in travel and in life．

　　The other approach is to be a true opportunist．This will be difficult for some of you, and entirely unacceptable to others．Nonetheless(尽管如此)，the travelers who get to travel the most, go to the widest variety of places, learn the most and do the most, are the opportunists．This will be true until you are so wealthy that you have no monetary(货币的；钱的)limits．

　　The first time I went to Ecuador, I went there because it was cheap．If it wasn't, I would have had a great time－somewhere else．The trip lasted a month, and cost ＄1045, which included airfare and even the ＄130 fee for a guide to take me to the top or glacier(冰川)covered Mount Chimborazo．

　　I cut the cost by taking a bus from my home in Michigan to Miami, and back again when I returned from Ecuador．The round-trip ticket cost ＄158．The round-trip flight to Quito from Miami was only ＄256, because it was a courier(信使，通讯员)flight, which meant I signed for some luggage(car parts), and could only take carry-on luggage．

　　Never did I feel deprived, or bored．I had a great time, eating wherever it was cheap and clean, doing all sorts of inexpensive, but interesting things, and traveling across the country to climb Chimborazo．I also met and fell in love with my wife Ana．

　　Being an opportunist means you'll have just as much variety, and probably almost everything you want－eventually．You just have to stop trying to get exactly what you want exactly when you want it．If the guide that took me up Chimborazo hadn't dropped his price from ＄200 to ＄130, I would have spent ＄2 for a bus and gone hiking on EI Altar, another great Andean mountain．That would have left me with enough money for several other minor adventures．

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阅读理解，阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

　　In the more and more competitive service industry, it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction．Today, customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share．

　　It is accepted in the marketing industry, and confirmed by a number of researchers, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people; those treated badly tell tales of worse to up to 20 people．Interestingly, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal．

　　New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet．For example, many companies now have to invest a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”-caused by delays in answering calls, being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods．

　　“Many people do not like talking to machines, ” says Dr, Storey, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School．“Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them．The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust them -the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager．”

　　Recommended ways of creating customer delight include：under-promising and over-delivering(saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours, but getting it done within two); replacing a faulty product immediately; throwing in a gift coupon as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers; and always returning calls, even when they are complaints．

　　Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care．Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather, unclaimed luggage and technical problems．

　　For British Airways staff, a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times．The Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service．

　　Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as “we do as we please”．On the other hand, the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment．

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阅读理解，阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Around 200 people who thought their only experience of the London 2012 Olympic Games would be minor heats of synchronized swimming(花样游泳)have received an unexpected change to the men's 100m final because of an embarrassing ticketing mistake．

　　The London 2012 Organizing Committee(Locog)confirmed on Wednesday that an error in its ticket selling had led to four synchronized swimming competitions being oversold by 10, 000 tickets．

　　Locog and its ticket agent spent the Christmas period contacting ticket holders and offering them alternatives that included the tickets they had applied for but unsuccessful．The changes need no additional cost．It has also offered to return any discrepancy(差额)if the new tickets cost less than the originals．Locog said the replacement tickets would come from a number of unsold seats across the Olympic Games and that it was doing all it could to make up the error to the fans who bought tickets．

　　Locog said the error occurred in the summer, between the first and second round of ticket sales, when a member of staff made a mistake, entering “20, 000” into the computer rather than the correct figure of 10, 000 remaining tickets．The error was discovered when Locog checked the number of tickets that had been sold against the final seating numbers, and began contacting ticket holders before Christmas．

　　Thousands of ticket holders have already struck lucky, changing to tickets for major events including swimming and athletics finals, and in around 200 cases the hottest of all, the men's 100m final．Locog said the decision to award 100m final tickets was made because one of the synchronized swimming competitions was on the same afternoon as the event, August 5．

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阅读理解，阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

　　I can't remember a winter being as cold as this in Pennsylvania, but I'm sure there were colder days．

　　Even though the daylight hours are growing longer minute by minute, it's easy to find an excuse not to go out unless you absolutely must, but then again I often have to push myself to accomplish things．

　　People I speak to have been in all kinds of nasty moods．They say they’re “under the weather, ” not feeling good about this time of year．

　　As I stood outside with my two dogs yesterday, it was so cold that my nose and face felt frozen and my ears were stinging．

　　Of course, that doesn't matter to Ricky and Lucy．They have a routine they must go through to find just the fighting spot no matter how cold or hot it is．

　　So I wait．

　　But this time it was different．As cold as it was, I suddenly was excited thinking about how wonderful this extreme cold really was．

　　Then the sun broke through the clouds and memories of summer's extremely hot days flashed through my mind．I could remember standing in the heat of the afternoon, with sweat pouring down my brow and the hot, burning sun against my face．I reminded myself then and there that in the cold of the winter I would wish I had this heat．

　　I was grateful for the extremes．Without the extremes in my life, I would never appreciate the days when things were just right．Without the extremes, life would be boring．

　　It's being pushed to one of the extremes that makes us appreciate the middle more．Health challenges remind us that we need to pay more attention to how we live．Financial extremes remind us that when things go smoothly it's also time to save for raining days．

　　I’ve come to the conclusion that all too often I find a reason not to be happy with where I am at that moment．

　　Whether it's hot or cold, good health or bad, in the money or out of it, I always want it to be different．

　　I'm tired of being “Under the Weather! ”

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阅读理解，阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

Cosmo Books Ltd．,　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　14, Woodman Road,

Hertford Estate, 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Two Bridges,

Rickmansworth, 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　West Sussex．

Middx．

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　25^th February

Sir,

　　Just over six months ago, I saw an advertisement in the Morning Mail for a set of the complete works of William Shakespeare．Your company, Cosmo books Ltd．, offered this set(eight books of plays and two books of poetry)at what was claimed to be a ‘remarkable’ price：fifteen pounds and fifty pence, including postage and packing．I had wanted a set of Shakespeare's plays and poems for some time, and these books, in red imitation leather, looked particularly attractive; so I sent for them．

　　Two weeks later, the books arrived, together with a set of the complete works of Charles Dickens which I had not ordered．So I returned the Dickens books to you, with a cheque for fifteen pounds and fifty pence for the works of Shakespeare．Two more weeks passed．Then there arrived on my door step a second set of the works of Shakespeare, the same set of novels by Dickens and a six book set of the plays of Moliere, in French．Since I do not read French, these were of no use to me at all．However, I could not afford to post all these books back to you, so I wrote to you at the end of August of last year, instructing you to come and collect all the books that I did not want, and asking you not to send any other books until further notice．

　　You did not reply to that letter．Instead you sent me a bill for forty two pounds, and a set of the plays of Schiller, in German．Since then, a new set of books has arrived every two weeks, the works of Goethe, the poems of Milton, the plays of Strindberg; I hardly know what I have．The books are still all in their boxes, in the garage, and my car has to stand in the rain outside．

　　I have no room for any more books, and even if I read from now until the Last Judgment, I should not finish reading all the books that you have sent me．

　　Please send no more books, send no more bills, send no more angry letters demanding payment．Just send one large lorry and take all the books away, leaving me only with the one set of the complete works of Shakespeare for which I have paid．

Yours faithfully,

SIMON WALKER

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阅读理解，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。

　　Scientists have discovered a real-life “moral compass” in the brain that controls how we judge other people's behavior．The region, which lies just behind the right ear, becomes more active when we think about other people's misdemeanor or good work．

　　In an experiment, researchers were able to use powerful magnets(磁铁)to disrupt(扰乱)this area of the brain and make people temporarily less moral．The study discovers that our sense of right and wrong isn't just based on upbringing, religion or philosophy-but also by the biology of our brains．

　　The researchers used a non-harmful technique to disrupt the area of the brain．The technique produce a magnetic field on a small part of the brain which creates weak electric currents in the brain．These currents interfere with nearby brain cells and prevent them from firing normally．

　　One story described a man who let his girlfriend walk over a bridge he knew was unsafe．The girl survived unharmed．Under normal conditions, most people rate the man's behavior as unacceptable．But after getting the magnetic pulse, the volunteers tended to see nothing wrong with his action-and judged his behavior purely on whether his girlfriend survived．

　　Another story described two girls visiting a chemical plant where one girl asks her friend to put sugar in her coffee．The friend uses powder from a jar marked toxic(有毒的)-but as the powder turns out to be sugar．Volunteers with a disrupted moral compass tended to rate the girl's behavior as permissible because her friend was not injured-even though she was aware the powder came from a jar labeled toxic．

　　Throughout the experiment, irresponsible or deliberate(故意的)actions that might have resulted in harm were seen as morally acceptable if the story had a “happy ending”．

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阅读理解，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。

　　The average temperature around the world is rising．People living in the US Midwest might find this fact hard to believe, though．Two new studies show that in America's heartland, summers are now cooler and wetter than they were in years past．The scientists suggest that the change in the Midwest climate may have happened because of farming．

　　The first study was led by David Changnon, a climatologist at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb．A climatologist studies the climate of an area, which includes measuring rainfall, temperature and wind．Climatologists want to know how these factors have changed in the past, and how they will change in the future．

　　Changnon and his team studied temperature records from Chicago and 13 other sites in the Midwest．“These two changes-lower temperatures and more rainfall-may be connected by humidity, ” Changnon says．Humidity is the measure of how much moisture is in the air．Humid air, which contains a lot of moisture, takes longer to heat up than dry air．

　　So where did the extra moisture in the air come from? Changnon points to farms in the region．As plants grow, they pull moisture from the ground and release it into the air．And among plants, soybean and corn plants release a lot of moisture．Midwestern farms now plant more soybeans and corn than in the past, with 97 percent of farmland today planted with these two crops．He also notes that the plants are planted closer together now than they used to be, so there are more plants per acre than in the past．

　　The second study was led by famous scientists from the US．The researchers studied a vast area of the United States that stretches from South Dakota to Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle．They found that in 1930, farmers in that region irrigated only about 1.8 million acres of farmland, an amount roughly half the size of Connecticut．In 1980, however, farmers irrigated nearly 15 million acres-more land than Vermont and New Hampshire combined．

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