The easy way out isn't always easiest. I learned that lesson when I decided to treat Doug, my husband of one month, to a special meal. I glanced through my cookbook and chose a menu(菜谱) which included homemade bread. Knowing the bread would take time , I started on it as soon as Doug left for work. As I was not experienced in cooking, I thought if a dozen was good, two dozens would be better, so I doubled（加倍）everything. As Doug loved oranges, I also opened a can of orange and poured it all into the bowl. Soon there was a sticky dough (面团) covered with ugly yellowish marks. Realizing I had been defeated, I put the dough in the rubbish bin outside so I wouldn't have to face Doug laughing at my work. I went on preparing the rest of the meal, and, when Doug got home , we sat down to eat Cornish chicken with rice. He tried to enjoy the meal but seemed disturbed. Twice he got up and went outside , saying he thought he heard a noise. The third time he left, I went to the windows to see what he was doing. Looking out, I saw Doug standing about three feet from the rubbish bin, holding the lid up with a stick and looking into the container. When I came out of the house, he dropped the stick and explained that there was something alive in our rubbish bin. Picking up the stick again, he held the lid up enough for me to see. I felt cold. But I stepped closer and looked harder. Without doubt it was my work. The hot sun had caused the dough to double in size and the fermenting yeast (酵母)made the surface shake and sigh as though it were breathing. It looked like some unknown being from outer space. I could see why Doug was so shaken. I had to admit what the “living thing” was and why it was there. I don't know who was more embarrassed(尴尬)by the whole thing -- Doug or me.

_The writer's purpose in writing this story is ___________

    A. to tell an interesting experience

B. to show the easiest way out of a difficulty

C. to describe the trouble facing a newly married woman

D. to explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books

_ Why did the woman's attempt at making the bread turn out to be unsuccessful?

A. The canned orange had gone bad.      B. She didn't use the right kind of flour.

C. The cookbook was hard to understand. D. She did not follow the directions closely.

_ Why did the woman put the dough in the rubbish bin?

A. She didn't see the use of keeping it         B. She meant to joke with her husband.

C. She didn't want her husband to see it .  D. She hoped it would soon dry in the sun.

_ What made the dough in the rubbish bin look frightening?

A. The rising and falling movement.    B. The strange-looking marks. 

C. Its shape.                     D. Its size.

_ When Doug went out the third time, the woman looked out of the window because she was ____.

A. surprised at his being interested in the bin  B. afraid that he would discover her secret

C. unhappy that he didn't enjoy the meal      D. curious to know what disturbed him

Is it time to kick Russia out of the BRICs （金砖四国）? If so, it may end up sounding like a famous ball-point pen maker-BIC. An argument is being made that Goldman Sach’s famous marketing device（策略）,the BRICs, should really be the BICs.

“Is Russia really worth the name BRICs?” asks Anders Aslund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in an article for Foreigh Policy. Aslund, who is also co-author with Andrew Kuchins of “The Russian Balance Sheet”, thinks the Russia of Putin and Medvedev is just not worthy of inclusion alongside Brazil, India and China in the list of future economic powerhouses. He writes:

“The country’s economic performance has fallen to such a weak level that one must ask whether it has any say at all on the global economy, compared with the other members of its group. I have just returned from Moscow, which is always dull around this season. For the last seven years, Russia has taken very few measures to improve its economy. Instead, the state has been living on oil and gas. ”

Economically, Aslund has the numbers on his side. The International Monetary Fund figures that the Russian economy will fall by 6.7 percent in 2009, while China will grow 8.5 percent and India 5.4 percent. There is less of a case for Brazil, with a fall of 0.7 percent, but it is still doing

far better than Russia.

But the BRICs are not just about economy. As is mentioned above, it is a marketing device to encourage investors to focus on the big promising players. From an investment standpoint, it could be argued that Russia is leading the BRICs. Its stock（股票）market is up 128 percent this year while around 80 percent is for the other three.

At very least, however, Russia’s economic underperformance and stock market outperfoumance does suggest it is indeed one of the group.

According to the passage, which country will enjoy the biggest increase in 2009?

       A．China.      B．Russia.     C．Brazil.      D．India.

According to Aslund, Russia shouldn’t be a BRIC partly because_______.

       A．Russia’s economic performance is far worse than the other three

       B．Russia’s leaders are not good at managing economy

       C．Russia has taken effective measures to improve its economy

       D．Russia will no longer attract investors from other countries

From the passage we know that ________.

      A．Anders Aslund is working for the Russian government

       B．Russia outperfoumed the other three countries in stock market

       C．most people disagree Russia is included in BRICs

       D．the BRICs would end up being the BICs sooner or later

The author seems to ________.

       A．suggest it’s time to kick Russia out of the BRICs?

       B．feel worried about the economy of the BRICs

       C．think Russia is worth being one of the group

       D．show disappointment to Russia’s economy

Brazil has become one. of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint ef??forts to reduce birth rates, Brazil had better results without re??ally trying, says George Martine at Harvard.

Brazil’s population growth rate dropped from 2. 99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1. 93% a year between 198 land 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2. 7 chil??dren on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.

Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in low??ering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest produc??ers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television net??work, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.

Although they have never really tried to work in a mes??sage towards the problems of reproduction, they describe mid??dle and upper class values: not many children, women work??ing, says Martine. They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious (有意识的) of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attrac??tive package.

Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. " This led to an enormous change in consumption (消费) patterns and consumption was incom??patible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Mar??tine.

according to the passage, Brazil has lowered its population growth ________.

A. by educating its citizens                 B. by careful family planning

C. by developing TV programmes                     D. by chance

according to the passage, many Third World countries

A. haven’t given much attention to birth control

B. would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate

C. haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population

D. haven’t realized the importance of TV plays in family planning

Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate be??cause ________.

A. they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B. they have gradually changed people’s way of life

C. people are drawn to their attractive package

D. they popularize birth control measures

What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?

A. The increase in birth rate will increase consumption.

B. The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.

C. Consumption goes with reproduction.

D. A country ‘s production is limited by its population growth.

阅读下列材料，从所给的六个选项 ( A、B、C、D、E和F ) 中，选出符合各小题要求的最佳选项。选项中有一项多余选项。

The following five young people are all searching for their universities. After the description of these people, there is some information about six universities A — F for you to choose the most suitable one for each of them. There is one extra paragraph about one university which you do not need to use.

Bobby is tired of working indoors and wouldn’t like to be too far away from his girlfriend who studies at Simmons. Also he considers gaining better chance for future career.

Maria wants to learn modern science and she prefers to stay neither by the ocean nor in the

northeast.

Andrew wishes to study business in a non-state-run university, which he thinks is of better

quality and if the employment status of its graduates is ideal, that’s better.

Lucy enjoys taking her further education in a women-only university with a variety major for her to choose.

Scott is in search for a university located in a nice place, with better living conditions. The most important is that he hopes to play the computer conveniently for fun.

A．SIMMONS  The College of Arts and Sciences and Modern Studies. Simmons educates women to achieve their work and life goals. More than 40 majors. Lies in the heart of Boston, US. News &World Report ranks Simmons among the top state universities in the North and among the best values.  617-521-2051  www.simmons.edu.

B．PAUL SMITH’S COLLEGE   The College of Nature. Experience a different kind of classroom: 15,300 acres of forests, lakes and streams, a hotel and a restaurant, 99% placement upon graduation. Two-and-four-year degree programs.  PO Box 265Paul Smith,  NY 12970800-421-2605

   www.paulsmith.edu.

C．ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY  Located in the mid-west of the U.S. Personal attention. Powerful programs. Experience the technology of today at our co-educational university. One Camino Santa Utah  78228-8503 800-FOR-STMU   www.stmarytx.edu.

D．NORTHERN UNIVERSITY  A famous private university with 3,200 students in the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Business and Engineering. Medicine and Law among the top ten by U.S. News & World Report Old Union  232 CA 94305-3005 650-723-2091  www.stanford.edu.

E．UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX   Adult education course. Earn an online degree with University of Phoenix today. 100% online, fast and convenient. Learn why most working professionals choose University of Phoenix Online.  www.Phoenixun.edu.

F．PETER’S COLLEGE   Experienced professors are available. Equipped with a lot of modern

 facilities, two students a dormitory, two computers, power never fails, PO.356 Peter. 16753800-333-12-2135   www.peterun.edu.

阅读短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image （形象）of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.

An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious（叛逆的）and selfish .but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation（商议）and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”

So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me," says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”

Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”

What is the popular image of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school.            

B. They dislike living with their parents.

C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles. 

D. They quarrel a lot with other family members.

The study shows that teenagers don’t want to__________ .

A. share family responsibility              B. cause trouble in their families

C. go boating with their family             D. make family decisions

Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents__________ .

A. go to clubs more often with their children  

B. are much stricter with their children

C. care less about their children’s life          

D. give their children more freedom

According to the author, teenage rebellion__________ .

A. may be a false belief                        B. is common nowadays

C. existed only in the 1960s                    D. resulted from changes in families

What is the passage mainly about?

A. Negotiation in family.                   B. Education in family.

C. Harmony in family.                        D.Teenage trouble in family.