E
If U．S．software companies don't pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye．Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry．Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top U．S．quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country．
Already, of the world's 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating in the world, seven are in India．That's largely because they have used new methods rejected by American software specialists．For example, for decades, quality specialists, W．Edwards Deming and J．M．Juran had urged U．S．software companies to change their attitudes to quality．But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the U．S -- but not in Japan．By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was grabbing market share with better, cheaper products．They used Deming's and Juran's ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs．In U．S．factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%．In software, it still is．
Watts S．Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance．But his advice was seldom paid attention to．He retired from IBM in 1986．In 1987, he worked out a system for assessing(evaluating) and improving software quality．It has proved its value time and again．For example, in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60% of total software production costs．It fell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10%．
Like Deming and Juran, Humphrey seems to be winning more praises overseas than at home．The Indian government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai, India．Let's hope that U．S．lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems．
72．What country has more highest-rating companies in the world than any other country has?
A．India．                 B．The US．            C．Brazil．                 D．Germany．
73．Which of the following statements about Humphrey is true?
A．He is now still an IBM employer．B．He has worked for IBM for 37 years．   
C．India honors him highly．
D．The US pays much attention to his quality advice．
74．By what means did Japan grab its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?    
A．Its advertising was most successful．
B．Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality．
C．The US hardware industry was lagging behind
D．Japan hired a lot of Indian software specialists．
75． What is the writer worrying about?
A．Many US software specialists are working for Japan．
B．The quality problem has become a worldwide problem．   
C．India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US．
D．The US will no longer be the first software player in the world

NEWS BRIEF

●Prime Minister Tony Blair new allegations(指控) on Thursday that he misled Parliament and the public in making the case for the war in Iraq after he disclosed his chief legal adviser’s written opinion raising questions about the legality(合法) of the war.

●U.S. Forest Service officials are reminding people to stay off Forest Service roads that are closed. The fine for disobeying the rule of road closures is a maximum of ＄5,000 fine and/ or six months in prison. Those who enter the area and cause road damage may also be required to pay for repairs.

●In a second study presented at the meeting, scientists from the UK and Denmark showed that even a few days of high temperatures can severely reduce production of crops such as wheat,  soybeans, rice and groundnuts, if it occurs when the plants are flowering.

●A bomb exploded in Thailand’s mainly Muslin south on Sunday, killing two policemen and wounding three others, a day after Thailand’s queen condemned those behind a 15-month wave of violence(暴力).

●Mechanicsburg 3, West York 1: Ken Stamper and Rusty Bowman had seven kills each, and Ryan Warfield had six to lead the Wildcats past the Bulldogs, 25-11, 25-15, 15-25, 25-23, in a non-league match.

The news brief covers _____________.     

   A．war, law, violence, culture and agriculture

   B．sports, war, violence, politics and climate

   C．politics, culture, violence, climate and sports

   D．violence, sports, politics, law and agriculture

From the news brief, we can learn that ____________.

A．the Bulldogs defeated the Wildcats by 3-1 in a non-league match

B．Forest Service roads are closed for repairs before they are opened again

C．quite a few violent accidents happened in Tailand before the latest one

D．the British people think the decision made by Blair about the war is of legaliry

According to the U.S. Forest Service officials, those who enter the area and damage the closed roads __________.

A．shall have to pay a $ 5,000 fine for the repairs to them

B．shall be fined or put in prison, and may pay for the repairs

C．shall be fined $ 5,000 and kept in prison for six months

D．shall pay a fine and repair the roads as a punishment

The study of the scientists from the UK and Denmark is about ____________.

A．the importance of climate and the growth of crops

B．the damage caused by high temperatures to some crops

C．the relationship between crops flowering and high temperatures

D．the effect of high temperatures on the production of some crops

Section B

Directions: Read the following four passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in  the passage you have just read.

(A)

       Matsushita, the world’s largest provider of consumer electronics, has decided to move in on Hollywood. Last weekend, Matsushita company leaders met with movies VIPs from MCA, Inc., the entertainment community that produced the movies as “Jaws” and “E.T. the Extra-terrestrial”. If the negotiations are successful, Matsushita will pay somewhere between $6 billion and $7.5 billion for MCA, by far the largest U.S. buying by a Japanese company.

       The deal is larger than last year’s $5 billion buying of Columbia Pictures by Matsushita’s competitor, Sony Corporation. The movement by the Japanese companies shows Tokyo’s growing interest in the entertainment world. It is surprising for both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Why does a disciplined, no-nonsense nation like Japan want to get into show business? The answer is quite simple: To make money. Japanese corporation leaders feel the global potential of the entertainment business and recognize that there is an increasing market for movies and television in the rapidly industrializing world.

1.    The movement of buying American entertainment companies by the Japanese shows       that____     _.

      A. American movies are better than Japanese

      B. Japan has growing interest in the entertainment world

      C. Japanese market is larger than American market

      D. Japanese people are richer

2.    A disciplined nation like Japan wants to get into show business because _____

      A. they want to make money

      B. they want to learn from American people

      C. they want to entertain their people

      D. they want to win in the competition

3.    Matsushita would pay ______ for MCA.

      A.$5 billion

      B.$6 billion

      C.$7.5 billion

      D. Somewhere between $6 billion to $7.5 billion

WASHINGTON---Think you’re savvy about food safety? That you wash your hands well, scrub away germs, cook your meat properly?

Guess again.

Scientists put cameras in the kitchens of 100 families in Logan, Utah. What was caught on tape in this middle-class, well-educated college town suggests why food poisoning hits so many Americans.

People skipped soap when hand-washing. Used the same towel to wipe up raw meat juice as to dry their hands. Made a salad without washing the lettuce. Undercooked the meat loaf. One even tasted the marinade in which bacteria-ridden raw fish had soaked.

Not to mention the mom who handled raw chicken and then fixed her infant a bottle without washing her hands.

Or another mom who merely rinsed(冲洗) her baby’s juice bottle after it fell into raw eggs---no soap against the salmonella(沙门氏菌) that can lurk(潜伏) in eggs.

“Shocking,” was Utah State University nutritionist Janet Anderson’s reaction.

Specialists call this typical of the average U.S. household: Everybody commits at least some safety sins(罪恶) when they are hurried, distracted by fussy children or ringing phones, simply not thinking about germs. Even Anderson made changes in her kitchen after watching the tapes.

The Food and Drug Administration funded Anderson’s $50,000 study to detect how cooks slip up. The goal is to improve consumers’ knowledge of how to protect themselves from the food poisoning that strikes 76 million Americans each year.

“One of the great barriers in getting people to change is they think they’re doing such a good job already,” said FDA consumer research chief Alan Levy.

Surveys show most Americans blame restaurants for food-borne illnesses. Asked if they follow basic bacteria-fighting tips---listed on the Internet at www.fightbac.org---most insist they’re careful in their kitchens.

Levy says most food poisonings probably occur at home. The videotapes suggest why. People have no idea that they’re messing up, Anderson said. “You just go in the kitchen, and it’s something you don’t think about.”

She described preliminary(初步的) study results at a food meeting last week. Having promised the families anonymity, she didn’t show the tapes.

For $50 and free groceries, families agreed to be filmed. Their kitchens looked clean and presumably(perhaps) they were on their best behavior, but they didn’t know it was a safety study. Hoping to see real-life hygiene, scientists called the experiment “market research” on how people cooked a special recipe.

Scientists bought ingredients for a salad plus either Mexican meat loaf, marinaded halibut or herb-breaded chicken breasts with mustard sauce---recipes designed to catch safety slip-ups.

Cameras started rolling as the cooks put away the groceries.

There was mistake No. 1: Only a quarter stored raw meat and seafood on the refrigerator’s bottom shelf so other foods don’t get contaminated(污染) by dripping juices.

Mistake No. 2: Before starting to cook, only 45 percent washed their hands. Of those, 16 percent didn’t use soap. You’re supposed to wash hands often while cooking, especially after handling raw meat. But on average, each cook skipped seven times that Anderson said they should have washed. Only a third consistently used soap---many just rinsed and wiped their hands on a dish towel. That dish towel became Anderson’s nightmare. Using paper towels to clean up raw meat juice is safest. But dozens wiped the countertop(台面板) with that cloth dish towel---further spreading germs the next time they dried their hands.

Thirty percent didn’t wash the lettuce; others placed salad ingredients on meat-contaminated counters.

Scientists checked the finished meal with thermometers, and Anderson found “alarming” results: 35 percent who made the meat loaf undercooked it, 42 percent undercooked the chicken and 17 percent undercooked the fish.

Must you use a thermometer? Anderson says just because the meat isn’t pink doesn’t always mean it got hot enough to kill bacteria.

Anderson’s study found gaps in food-safety campaigns. FDA’s “Fight Bac” antibacterial program doesn’t stress washing vegetables. Levy calls those dirty dish towels troubling; expect more advice stressing paper towels.

Anderson’s main message: “If people would simply wash their hands and clean food surfaces after handling raw meat, so many of the errors would be taken care of.”

1.Where did this article most likely come from?

A．The Internet.       B．A newspaper.       C．A Textbook.        D．A brochure.

2. What is the purpose of Paragraphs 4 through 6?

A．To present the author’s opinion about the study.

B．To explain how the study was conducted.

C．To state the reason for the food safety study.

D．To describe things observed in the study.

3. What prevents many Americans practicing better food safety in their kitchen?

A．They don’t trust the Food and Drug Administration.

B．They’ve followed basic bacteria-fighting tips on the Internet.

C．They think they are being careful enough already.

D．They believe they are well-informed and well-educated enough.

4. Which of the following would prevent most cases of food poisoning in the home?

A．Washing hands and cleaning surfaces after handling raw meat.

B．Strictly following recipes and cooking meat long enough.

C．Storing raw meat on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator.

D．Using paper towels t clean up raw meat juice.

5. What is the main purpose of this article?

A．To discourage people from cooking so much meat at home.

B．To criticize the families who participated in the study.

C．To introduce the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety campaigns.

D．To report the results of a study about the causes of food poisoning.

Directions： Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information for the passage.

Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.

The contemporary environmental movement is often said to have begun with the publication of Silent Spring by the zoologist and biologist Rachel Carson (1907–1964). This landmark work, which took Carson 4 years to complete, diligently detailed the relationship between animal death  and the use— now understood as the abuse—of man-made chemicals used as pesticides, especially DDT. One of the claims of the book that she tried to demonstrate was that DDT had the effect of softening the eggshells of birds as well as interfering with their reproduction, and that such effects would lead to their extinction if use of DDT were to continue. It would eventually create a springtime of silence when the songs of birds would not be heard. Her studies also found DDT to be a cause of human cancers.

Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson graduated from the Pennsylvania College for Women in Pittsburgh (now Chatham College), where she majored in English until her junior year, when a course in biology inspired her to switch to zoology as her field of concentration. She earned a master’s degree in this area from Johns Hopkins University and became a biologist at the Bureau of Fisheries in 1936. During this time, she wrote for various national magazines, and her first book, Under the Sea-Wind, was published. Carson had concerns as early as 1945 about pesticides being used more and more by the government. But her cautionary claims in Silent Spring were met with anger by the pesticide and chemical industries. Her authority as a scientist were challenged, and it was held that her findings were just the roars of a hysterical(歇斯底里的) woman. She was even accused of being a member of the Communist Party. Some go so far as to say that she told a lie .

But She is often celebrated as the founder of the contemporary U.S. environmental movement. Yet her work in Silent Spring, warning about the misuse of pesticides and other chemicals, has not as yet taken firm hold. Americans likely use twice as much the volume of pesticides that they did at the time she published her seminal work, and globally, their use is ever increasing. Powerful pesticides are sold over the counter, and their use is so widespread that many environmentalists are fearful that chemical runoff into streams and rivers is still popullting the animals that humans eat and the water that they drink.

In short, while the main purpose of Silent Spring was to warn the public of the dangers of the overuse of pesticides and chemicals, nonetheless the public hasn’t refused such use. Isn't it time that we firmly said no to pesticides?