New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly increased by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts.
Overseas assignments (指派) are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive (行政) ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to manage back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices (装置) with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight (洞察力) to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign customers over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset (有价值的人或物) to the firm.
【小题1】With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, businesspeople ________.

A．are eager to work overseas

B．have to get familiar with modern technology

C．are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations

D．are attaching more importance to their overseas business

【小题2】In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Line 3, Para. 3) probably means ________.

A．leaving all care and worry behind

B．being unable to think properly for lack of insight

C．being totally out of touch with business at home

D．missing opportunities for promotion when abroad

【小题3】According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?

A．Ability to speak the customer’s language.

B．Connections with businesses overseas.

C．Technical know-how.

D．Business experience.

【小题4】The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can ________.

A．fast-forward their proposals to headquarters

B．better control the whole negotiation process

C．easily make friends with businesspeople abroad

D．easily find new approaches to meet market needs

One hot night last July, when our new baby wouldn’t or couldn’t sleep, I tried everything I could think of : a warm bottle, songs gentle rocking. Nothing would settle him. Guessing that I had a long night ahead of me, I brought a portable TV into his room, figuring that watching the late movie was as good a way as any to kill of the hours till dawn. To my surprise, as soon as the TV lit up, the baby quieted right down, his little eyes focused brightly on the tube. Not to waste an opportunity for sleep, I then tiptoes out of the room, leaving him to watch the actors celebrate John Bellushi's forty-fifth birthday.
My wife and I heard none of the baby that night, and the next morning when I went into his room, I found him still watching TV himself.
I found in my baby's behavior a symbol of the new generation. My wife and I had given him some books to examine, but he merely spit upon them. When we read to him, he did not feel comfortable. And so it is in the schools. We find that our students don't read and they look down upon reading and scold those of us who teach it. All they want to do is watch TV. After this experience with the baby, however, I have reached a conclusion: “Let them watch it!” If television is that much more attractive to children than books, why should we fight about it? Let them watch it all they want!
【小题1】Why did the author bring a TV set into his son's room?

A．To make his son keep quiet.

B．To spend the night by watching TV programs.

C．In order not to let his son feel lonely.

D．To make his son go to sleep as soon as possible.

【小题2】The baby's reaction to the TV program was _______ .

A．unexpected

B．encouraging

C．exciting

D．nervous

【小题3】From this passage we know that the author is probably          .

A．a doctor

B．a reporter

C．an editor

D．a teacher

【小题4】According to the passage, which is true of the school children?

A．They prefer reading to watching TV.

B．They like watching TV after school.

C．They would rather watch TV than read books.

D．They like their teachers who teach them reading.

【小题5】What does the underlined phrase in the last paragraph mean according to the passage?

A．talk about

B．think about

C．quallel about

D．care about

Our particular parenting style reflects our own way of “looking”. Here’s a great piece of writing reflecting parent’s particular ways on the parenting style that have become known humorously as helicopter parenting and submarine parenting.
Helicopter parents hover over their children, managing every aspect of their child’s life. On the contrary, submarine parents remain “hidden” coming to the surface when guidance is needed.
While helicopter parents may have the best intentions, in reality, they are raising children with few problem solving skills. Children with hovering parents never get the chance to face disappointment and build up their ability to recover from misfortune.
Think about your typical submarine. Submarines usually remain underwater. In case of a need for emergency surfacing, submarines can rise so quickly. They are driven partially out of the water. Submarine parents also remain out of sight, yet able to appear in the case of an emergency.
I admit I’m a submarine mom. My job as a parent is to have fun with my daughters while letting them explore and learn natural consequences.

My older daughter found herself acting in commercials and making more than minimum wage as a teen. To give her a sense of the real world, I insisted she spend three weeks every summer, picking strawberries and earning $3.50 on a good day.
When my youngest daughter Sondra was six, she wanted a very expensive American Girl Doll. I cut the full color 18" picture out of the American Girl catalogue and had it laminated (压膜). “Here’s your American Girl Doll.” I said “When you turn nine, I’ll buy you the 3D doll on your birthday.” Sondra played with her flat doll for months, making clothes and furniture for her. She learned creativity. I saved $88.00.
【小题1】What is the text mainly about?

A．Various means of transportation.

B．Funny experiences of a mom.

C．Humorous stories about parents.

D．Different styles of parenting.

【小题2】The underlined phrase “hover over” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “_____”.

A．leave behind

B．fly around

C．watch over

D．set aside

【小题3】Which of the following can be learned about helicopter parents from the passage?

A．They give their children proper guidance.

B．They try to do everything for their children.

C．They teach their children how to face failures.

D．They help their children explore by themselves.

【小题4】The author supports her point of view mainly by _____.

A．stating facts and offering advice

B．using figures and giving evidence

C．analyzing data and drawing conclusions

D．making comparisons and giving examples

Who do you think breaks the law in our society? If you believe that only tough guys commit crimes, you may have to think again. Unlike in the movies, we can’t divide the world into bad guys and model citizens. Real life is much more complex. In the same way that diseases range from the common cold to fatal forms of cancer, crimes vary in degree. For example, smoking in an elevator will inconvenience people, but much less than threatening them with a gun.
In addition to breaking the law themselves, people tolerate various levels of crime. Why can we tolerate some crimes? It may be that, by seeing others do something, we accept it more easily. For instance, most people will find it easier to speed on a highway when everybody else is driving over the speed limit. When people celebrate a sports championship, if they see someone breaking store windows, they might start breaking windows themselves or even steal from the store. So the people around us influence how much law-breaking we can tolerate.
We must also wonder whether seeing violence on television or reading about it in the newspapers every day makes us tolerate crime more than we should. We become used to seeing blood on the news on television, or in full color in newspapers and magazines. Because we see thousands of dead people on TV, maybe we just try to ignore the situation behind the violence.
If so many citizens tolerate violence and crime, or even commit crimes themselves, it may simply be because of the human mind. Our minds may not care about specific laws. Instead, our minds may have a system of values that usually prevents us from hurting other people to improve our own lives. Yet, when it comes to respecting the rights of a mass of anonymous (不知名的) individuals, we might not be so responsible. While most people would not steal a wallet containing $50, they may not mind cheating on taxes, because cheating on taxes does not hurt any one person. It hurts society, but “society” remains an abstract idea that is not as real as a neighbor or a friend’s friend.
When we realize that so many people have misunderstandings of law-breaking, it is not surprising that so many people tolerate crimes, or even break laws, including me. But how could we improve the level of honesty in our society? Would strict laws help make our society better? Probably not. Honesty will have to come from social pressure: in the family, at school, on the job, each and every one of us can encourage honesty by showing which behavior is unacceptable. And teaching respect should become everyone’s responsibility.
【小题1】According to the author, “Real life is much more complex.” probably means       .

A．there is a wide range of people and crimes in the real life

B．smoking in an elevator goes against laws in the real life

C．there are much more crimes than diseases in the real life

D．some model citizens sometimes break laws in the real life

【小题2】What does the author think of the people who cheat on taxes?

A．They take no notice of the human mind.

B．They break the laws unaccepted in their minds.

C．They aren’t concerned about some particular laws.

D．They hurt other people to improve their own lives.

【小题3】People tolerate violence and crime because       .

A．their behavior is the same as that of most other people

B．they pay no attention to the truth behind the crimes

C．most unlawful acts are not harmful to the individual

D．they hold mistaken beliefs about law-breaking

【小题4】What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

A．To discuss whether laws are strict enough.

B．To remind people to behave with honesty.

C．To show people the importance of education.

D．To explain why many people have criminal records.

A Charlotte N.C. man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors (公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Absolutely, no question about it.
The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response, which was originally described by Walter Cannon，chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the automatic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to early humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.
The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is poisonous in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death.
By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in excitement or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead.
【小题1】What is Martin Samuels’ attitude to the possibility of being frightened to death?

A．Approval.

B．Disapproval.

C．Doubtful.

D．Indifferent.

【小题2】What can we learn about the fight-or-flight response according to the passage?

A．The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin Samuels.

B．It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.

C．The ancient humans had a better fight-or-flight response than modern ones.

D．The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.

【小题3】What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?

A．Winning an unexpected fortune.

B．Missing a dead family member.

C．Watching a horror movie.

D．Listening to a sweet song.

【小题4】The purpose of the passage is ______.

A．to explain why people will die of a heart attack

B．to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure

C．to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death

D．to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death

Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another. Some societies, such as America and Australia for example, are mobile and very open. People here change jobs and move house quite often. As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly. So it's normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal.
On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long-term relationships are more important. A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business. But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society.
To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first. On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it's no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don't want to answer.
Cross-cultural differences aren't just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them. All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place. This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with.
Some societies have 'universalist' cultures. These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way.
'Particularist' societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society's unwrinen ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person. So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person.
This difference can cause problems. A traveler from a particularist society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalist culture. The Indian traveler has too much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family. He expects that the check-in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him. The check-in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn't be fair to the other passengers. But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don't have his problem.
【小题1】Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americarts and Australians

A．like traveling better

B．easy to communicate with

C．difficult 1o make rcal friends

D．have a long-term relationship with their neighbors

【小题2】People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those

A．who will tell them everything of their own

B．who want to do business with them

C．they know quite well

D．who are good at talking

【小题3】A person from a less mobile society will feel it_____ when a stranger keeps talking to him or her, and asking him or her questions.

A．boring

B．friendly

C．normal

D．rough

【小题4】Which of the following is true about "particularist societies"?

A．There is no rule for people to obey.

B．People obey the society's rules completely.

C．No one obeys the society's ruies though they have.

D．The society's rules can be changed with different persons or situations.

【小题5】The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different__________.

A．interests	B．habits and customs
C．cultures	D．ways of life

The blue eyes that looked at him from outside the door were like the light through a maginifying glass (放大镜) when it is at its brightest and smallest, when paper and leaves begin to smoke.
"Hey . "  said the man in the door.  " Remember me? "
" Yes. "  the boy said. whispering.  "Rick. "
He felt so surprised to see Rick. All of Rick seemed to be shown in the eyes. With a strong feeling that ought to have hurt him.
" You knew me."  Rick said.  " You hadn't forgotten. "
" You're--just the same. " the boy said. and felt much thankful.
He seemed even to be wearing the same clothes, the same blue shirt and grey trousers. He was thin, but he was built to be lean; and he was still, or again. sunburnt. After everything, the slow white smile still showed the slight feeling of happiness.
" Let's look at you." Rick said, dropping into a chair. Then slowly he felt more at home, and he became once more just Rick as if nothing had happened. There were lines about his eyes. and deeper lines on his cheeks. but he looked like-just Rick, lined by sunfight and smiling.
" When I look at you." he said,  " You make me think about me, for we look like each other. "
" Yes, " said the boy, eagerly,  " they all think we both look like my grandfather. "
【小题1】On his return. Rick_______.

A．had not changed much

B．looked very old

C．was much thinner than before

D．was wearing different clothes

【小题2】Rick and the boy are probably________.

A．brothers	B．related
C．friends	D．neighbours

【小题3】You could describe Rick as________.

A．old and friendly	B．old and nervous
C．thin and nervous	D．thin and friendly

【小题4】From the passage we can tell that the boy_____.

A．was worried that Rick had forgotten him

B．was proud of what Rick had done

C．was pleased to see Rick

D．wondered where Rick had been

【小题5】Rick and the boy_______.

A．had similar personalities

B．cared about each other

C．had lived in the same house

D．felt their friendship had changed

Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer （零售商）. It's the world's largest company, which sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year.
Wal-Mart exercises its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and none of its 21,000 suppliers know is the high cost of those low prices. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bikes to jeans have had to close US plants in favor of obtaining products from abroad.
Indeed, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer constantly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices".
The giant retailer' s low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart' s pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? Of course, US companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as Thailand.
People ask, "How can it be bad for things to come into the US cheaply?" Sure, it's great to have bargains. But you can' t buy anything if you' re not employed.
There is no question that Wal-Mart's drive to squeeze out cost has benefited consumers. By now, it is accepted wisdom that Wal-Mart makes the companies it does business with more efficient and focused. Wal-Mart itself is known for continuous improvement in its ability to handle, move, and track goods. It is legendary （传奇） for forcing its suppliers to redesign everything from their packaging to their computer systems. It is also legendary for quite straightforwardly telling them what it will pay for their goods.
【小题1】How do suppliers meet the requirements of Wal-Mart?

A．To sell even more goods in three months.

B．To cut down the employment rate sharply.

C．To charge shoppers at a much higher price.

D．To run the business in a well-organized way.

【小题2】 Wal-Mart's low price policy results in ____.

A．more high-paying jobs

B．better designed packages

C．bigger profit of its partners

D．more jobless American workers

【小题3】What can we infer from the passage?

A．Still more quality goods will be provided.

B．The food you get at Wal-Mart costs least.

C．The value of Mal-Mart is over assessed.

D．Wal-Mart is a very demanding company.

【小题4】What's the best title for the passage?

A．The Fortune Wal-Mart Makes

B．The Wal-Mart you don't Know

C．The Biggest Retailer—Wal-Mart

D．The Money Saving Tip in Wal-Mart

In some parts of the United States, farming is easy. But farming has always been difficult in the northeastern corner of the country, which is called New England.
New England has many trees and thin, rocky soil. Anyone who has wanted to start a new farm there has had to work very hard. The first job has been cutting down the trees. The new job has been digging out the roots of the trees. Then the farmer has had the difficult job of removing stones from his land. This work of removing stones never really ends, because every winter more stones appear. They come up through the thin soil from the rocks below. Farmers have to keep removing stones from the fields. Even today, farms which have been worked on for two hundred years still keep producing more stones. That is why stone walls are used instead of fences (篱笆) in New England fields. The stone walls are not high and a man can easily climb over them. However, they keep the farmer’s cows from joining those of his neighbor’s.
【小题1】Where is New England?

A．In England.	B．In North America.
C．In South America.	D．In Australia.

【小题2】Why do stones keep appearing?

A．Because the farmers keep digging them out.

B．Because there are rocks below the soil and the soil is too thin.

C．Because there are no trees at all.

D．Because the wind keeps blowing.

【小题3】 Why do the farmers build stone walls instead of fences?
A. Because the stone walls are not high and a person can easily climb over them.
B. Because the stone walls can stop the cows from joining their neighbor’s.
C. Because there are too many stones.
D. Both A and B.
【小题4】Which of the following is NOT true?

A．There are almost no trees in New England.

B．Farming is difficult in New England.

C．It’s difficult for farmers to remove stones from the fields.

D．The stone walls in New England are not high.

Yawning sends out certain messages -either “Oh，this movie is so boring” or “I probably need to get some sleep”. But did you know that a yawn can also help your brain to cool down when it is overheated?
A new study, led by a research team at Princeton University, has indicated that yawning could be the brain’s natural way of regulating temperature. People yawn more often when the temperature outdoors is lower than their body temperature but are less likely to yawn when it is hotter outdoors, according to Sciencedaily. com.
The research team did an experiment on 160 people, 80 in summer and 80 in winter, to examine how often they yawned at different air temperatures. The study found that people yawned more often in winter than in summer. Scientists say that when the air temperature is lower outside the body, there is heat exchange between the overheated brain and the cool air. But when the air temperature is higher than or equal to the body, people are less likely to yawn because the hot air they breathe in will make the brain even hotter.
When people yawn, their jaw is also stretched，which increases blood flow and may also help cool the brain
The study showed that the amount someone yawned could be related to the amount of time they spent outside. The longer they spent outside in summer, the less they yawned. Nearly 40 percent of participants yawned within their first five minutes outside, but after that the percentage was reduced to less than 10 percent.
However, the result was the opposite in winter. The number of people who yawned increased when they spent more than five minutes outdoors. But the change was only slight compared to summertime.
According to Gallup, this is the first report to show that yawning frequencies change depending on season. This could help us to understand better the way our brains work. It may also help us understand the reason why frequent yawning can sometimes be a sign of brain disease.
【小题1】The purpose of the experiment is ______.

A．to find the frequency of people’s yawning

B．to indicate brain can regulate temperature naturally

C．to prove people yawn in winter and in summer equally

D．to show the real reason why people yawn

【小题2】The information we get from Paragraphs 5 and 6 is that ______.

A．longer outdoor summertime results in more yawns

B．yawning frequency increases with outdoor time

C．yawning frequency changes with outdoor time

D．longer outdoor wintertime leads to fewer yawns

【小题3】Acorrding to the text，people yawn more often ______.

A．when the air temperature is equal to the body

B．when the hot air breathed in makes the brain hotter

C．when the air temperature is higher than the body

D．when the air temperature is lower outside the body

【小题4】What could be the best title for the text?

A．Yawning Is A Sign of Brain Disease

B．Yawning Cools Your Brain

C．Yawning Benefits Your Body

D．Yawning Carries Some Information