As society advances and basic needs are most often being met, things that were not considered important in the past have taken priority(优先). In the past, people could easily get a job and progress pretty well, as long as they were hard-working; education was important but not as crucial(关系重大) as it is today.

Nowadays, just as clothes are important to first impressions, degree is important to a person’s first job interview or even a job with a good salary. Although experience is important to survive in any trade or profession, the first thing that companies look for is that piece of paper before looking at one’s experience.

A passport into the world of any profession is what having a degree means today, especially for professions that have need of certification and pay well, such as architects, doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

That piece of paper, the degree, is also a passport to jobs in top or middle management in any company, especially so for multi-national corporations(跨国公司). Having a degree opens up opportunities that one would not have had if one did not have any kind of degree. A degree simply proves that one has gone through the necessary training and understanding of how to carry out a job.

Although there are many that may say having a degree may not necessarily equal to success, it would most definitely help any person achieve success in shorter and easier steps. Success cannot simply be a result of hard work and/or depending on one’s experience or degree alone; it is the art and knowledge of how to work that determines one’s success. Therefore, it should not be for the sake to get a degree, but the quality of the degree and experiences that one can learn from that matter as well.

1. What would be the best title for this passage?

A. People used to be hard-working

B. How important is the degree?　　

C. How can we enter the top management?

D. Degree surely leads to success

2.Why does the author mention clothes in the second paragraph?

A. To prove the importance of the first impression.

B. To stress the importance of job interviews.　　

C. To show the importance of clothes.

D. To explain the importance of degree.

3.What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A. Having a degree

B. Success

C. Necessary training

D. Having an opportunity

 

The Official Theme for the 2005 World Exposition , Aichi，Japan is “Nature’s Wisdom”.

Name: The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan

Theme: “Nature’s Wisdom”

Site: Steo City, Nagakute Town, Toyata City, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Period: March 25 to September 25, 2005

Projected number of visitors: 15 million

Nature has provided humanity with a means to develop into complex societies based on this very basic relationship.

A vast network of knowledge and wisdom has evolved from this basic relationship between humans and nature. Nature's wisdom，her mysteries, inspiring beauty and power，have been unlocked by minds and scientific processes. Humans have become masters of this knowledge and have developed incredible technologies to employ energy and other resources.

In an increasingly overcrowded world, it is sometimes hard to focus beyond everyday life and onto the long term effects of our technological progress. Surely then，we must be reminded of the true wisdom found in a continuous relationship with nature. After all，we are in a world seeing an increasing amount of media coverage of international debates concerned about damage to the environment. It is commonly accepted that as far as the environment is concerned，it is a time to re-think our relationship with nature before it is too late.

Model Community

Continuous development is what the Eco-communities project at Expo 2005 is all about. The Eco-communities project has been expected to reuse energy and to reduce and make use of existing waste. As well, the entire Expo 2005 site--expected to host 25 million people over a six-month period--has been designed with the conservation(保持)of nature and the local environment as the top priority(优先考虑的事).

Finding answers for today' s world must be done in the background of technology. Thus，the idea of eco-communities was developed. Yet, an understanding of the socio-historical background is just as important in today’s richly multi-cultural world of economically various states and unions. And so the "Art of Life" Expo 2005 sub-theme was expected to be a model of human participation on a global scale. Expo 2005 offers to the people of the world an opportunity to come together and discuss many global issues that face humankind. It is a place to bring together the world's talent to create a model community for the future where humans can live in harmony with nature.

64.What is the period of Expo 2005 Japan?

A.May 1-October 31.            B.March 25-September 25.

C.May 1-October 30.          D.October 9-0ctober 21.

65. Which of the following themes is Expo 2005 Japan's?

A.Better City，Better Life

B.Interactions between Urban and Rural Areas

C.Nature’s Wisdom

D.Environment, Resource and Technique

66.According to paragraph 3, nature has many features except ______.

A. danger      B. power     C. beauty       D. wisdom

67. We can infer that______according the contents of the passage.

A.the relationship between nature and humans isn’t close

B.it is easier for us to find the true wisdom

C.it is important and necessary for human to protect environment

and nature

D.harmonious community and Art of life can’t realize

 

When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is viewed as entertainment, but certainly not an education priority(优先). This view is shortsighted. In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.

Music tells us who we are, because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their thinking and values, as well as the social environment it came from. Rock music represents a lifestyle just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity as a society.

Music provides a kind of perception (感知) that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotive (情感的) meaning of the same phenomenon. We need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.

The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings “talk” to each other. They are the language of civilization through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses.

Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.    

    So music education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.

1.According to Paragraph 1, students   ____  .

A. regard music as a way of entertainment 

B. disagree with their parents on education

C. view music as an overlooked subject   

D. prefer the arts to science

2.In Paragraph 2, the author uses jazz an example to_________ .

A. compare it with rock music           

B. show music identifies a society

C. introduce American musical traditions  

D. prove music influences people’s lifestyles

3.According to the passage, the arts and science__________.

A. approach the world from different angles

B. explore different phenomena of the world

C. express people’s feeling in different ways

D. explain what it means to be human

4.What is the main idea of the passage?   

A. Music education deserves more attention.    

B. Music should be of top education priority.

C. Music is an effective communication tool.

D. Music education makes students more imaginative.

 

Skinner Creek ESL Guest Ranch offers a unique outdoor adventure camp for inter- national students.

Students who come to Skinner Creek have the opportunity to learn English in an environment entirely different from a regular school setting. English classes are designed to meet the academic and spoken levels of each student. All English classes will be taught by instructors qualified in Teaching English as a Second Language. All levels of English are available.

After class, students can enjoy many outdoor activities in a controlled safe environment. Experienced managers and camp teachers will prepare each activity to the level appropriate for each student.

Students' safety is a priority (优先考虑的事) for the staff of Skinner Creek ESL Guest Ranch. Students are monitored at all times and supervisors are in the cabins with the students at night. An emergency clinic is nearby and accessible 24 hours.

English Classes:

Class hours are from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a. m.-- 2:00 p.m. with a one-hour break for lunch.

Students are challenged in reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary building and conversational English.

Vocabulary is specific to related outdoor activities in some classes.

Fun after-class outdoor and evening activities:

Great after-class activities on site include: horseback riding lesson, hiking, base ball, volleyball, badminton, mountain hiking, bonfires (篝火) and much more.

Time to watch videos and TV and play games.

Experience Canadian family life.

Weekends:

Special all-day and overnight weekend activities include: camping, days at the lake (fishing, swimming, boating), church and more.

Travel Information:

Students will be picked up in cars at Vancouver airport and dropped off again for their individual flights. Transportation to and from the ranch (农场) will be provided as well as overnight stays in Vancouver.

Please contact the ranch directly for prices: skinnercreek@telus, net.

1.If you attend Skinner Creek Summer Camp, you will ______.

A．study English in some regular schools.	B．learn how to deal with dangers in the wild
C．enjoy different sports activities after class	D．experience the traditional farmer lifestyle

2. How many hours of English classes do students have every week in Skinner Creek?

A．35 hours.

B．28 hours.

C．25 hours.

D．20 hours.

3.Skinner Creek ESL Guest Ranch is in ______.

A．Canada

B．America

C．England

D．Australia

4. How will most students travel to Skinner Creek if they want to attend the camp?

A．By air.

B．By car.

C．By boat.

D．By train

 

There is a famous story about British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was writing a poem when he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

This was an age before telephones. Someone was delivering a message. When Coleridge got back to his poem, he had lost his inspiration. His poetic mood had been broken by the knock on his door. His unfinished poem, which could otherwise have been a masterpiece, would now never be more than a fragment.

This story tells how unexpected communication can destroy an important thought, which bring us to the cellphone.

The most common complaint about cellphones is that people talk on them to the annoyance of people around them. But more damaging may be the cellphone’s interruption of our thoughts.

We have already entered a golden age of little white lies about our cellphones, and this is by and large（大体上）a healthy, protective development. “I didn’t hear it ring” or “I didn’t realize my phone had shut off” are among the lies we tell to give ourselves space where we’re beyond reach.

The notion of being unreachable is not a new concept—we have “Do Not Disturb” sign on the doors of hotel rooms. So why must we feel guilty when it comes to cellphones? Why must we apologize if we decide to shut off the phone for a while?

Now time alone, or a conversation with someone next to us which cannot be interrupted by a phone, is something to be cherished. Even cellphone devotees（信徒）, myself usually included, can’t help at times wanting to throw their phone away, or curse the day they were invented.

But we don’t and won’t, and there really is no need. All that’s required to take back our private time is a general social recognition that we have the right to it. In other words, we have to develop a healthy contempt(轻视) for the rings of our own phones.

A cellphone call deserves no greater priority(优先考虑的事) than a random(随机的) word from the person next to us，though the call on my cellphone may be the one-in-a-million from Steven Spielberg—who has finally read my novel and wants to make it his next movie. But most likely it is not, and I’m better off thinking about the idea I just had for a new story, or the slice of pizza I’ll eat for lunch.

1.What is the point of the anecdote about the poet Coleridge in the first three paragraphs?

A．To direct readers’ attention to the main topic.

B．To show how important inspiration is to a poet

C．To emphasize the disadvantage of not having a cellphone

D．To encourage readers to read the works of this poet.

2.What does the writer think about people telling “white lies” about their cellphones?

A．It is a way of signaling that you don’t like the caller.

B．It is natural to tell lies about small things

C．It is basically a good way to protect one’s privacy.

D．We should feel guilty when we can’t tell the truth.

3.According to the author, what is the most annoying problem caused by cellphones?

A．People get so obsessed(着迷) with the cellphone rings that they fail to notice anything else.

B．People feel guilty when they are not able to answer their cellphones.

C．Cellphones interrupt people’s private time.

D．With cellphones it is no longer possible to be unreachable.

4.What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．A person who calls us from afar deserves more of our attention

B．Steven Spielberg once called the author to talk about the author’s novel.

C．You should always finish your lunch before you answer a call on the cellphone.

D．Never let cellphones disturb your life too much.