Banker Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Muhammad Yunus and the bank he founded are honored for their work to help the world’s poor. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. They won the award for their efforts to help bring millions of people, especially women, out of poverty.

“Every single individual on earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life. Across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development,”the Nobel Committee said in its citation.

The Peace Prize is one of the biggest honors in the world. Yunus is the first Nobel Prize winner from Bangladesh, a nation of about 141 million people. In 1983, Yunnus and the Grameen Bank started a now worldwide system that lets people borrow small amounts of money to start businesses. Through these loans, called“microcredit”, the world’s poor have been able to buy much needed things like cows to start a dairy, chickens to run an egg business, or a cell phone in places where there is no other access to a phone.

Yunus said he would use part of the $ 1.4 million award money to create a company that will make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor. The rest of his share will go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh.“I am so, so happy, it’s really great news for the whole nation,”Yunus said after hearing of his win.

Since the bank began, it has lent $ 5.72 billion to more than 6 million Bangladeshis. About 97 percent of the borrowers are women.

56．Why does Nobel Peace Prize of 2006 come to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank?

　　A．Because they helped the rich to become richer.

　　B．Because they helped children to finish their education.

　　C．Because they helped millions of people, especially women, out of poverty.

　　D．Because they helped millions of people, especially men, out of poverty.

57．It can be inferred that microcredit system     .

　　A．has made all the people in Bangladesh start their own business

　　B．has a history of about 23 years

　　C．only loaned money to the people of Bangladesh

　　D．has spread all over the world for thirty years

58．Which statement is true according to the passage?

A．The award money will be used in setting up an eye hospital and a food company for the poor.

B．All the $ 1.4 million award money will be shared by the poor in Banladesh.

C．Muhammad Yunus will loan the money to the poor women in Bangladesh.

D．Muhammad Yunus will save the $1.4 million award money in Grameen Bank.

59．According to the passage, we can infer that the average amount of microcredit might be     .

A．140 dollars      B．95 dollars       C．970 dollars      D．572 dollars

People diet to look more attractive．Fish diet to avoid being beaten up，thrown out of their social group，and getting eaten as a result．That is the fascinating conclusion of the latest research into fish behavior by a team of Australian scientists．

　　The research team have discovered that subordinate(低一等的) fish voluntarily diet to avoid challenging their larger competitors．"In studying gobies we noticed that only the largest two individuals，a male and female，had breeding（繁殖）rights within the group，" explains Marian Wong．"All other group members are nonbreeding females，each being 5-10% smaller than its next largest competitor．We wanted to find out how they maintain this precise size separation．"

　　The reason for the size difference was easy to see．Once a subordinate fish grows to within 5-10% of the size of its larger competitor，it causes a fight which usually ends in the smaller goby being driven away from the group．More often than not，the evicted fish is then eaten up．

　　It appeared that the smaller fish were keeping themselves small in order to avoid challenging the boss fish．Whether they did so voluntarily，by restraining how much they ate，was not clear．The research team decided to do an experiment．They tried to fatten up some of the subordinate gobies to see what happened．To their surprise，the gobies simply refused the extra food they were offered，clearly preferring to remain small and avoid fights，over having a feast．

　　The discovery challenges the traditional scientific view of how boss individuals keep their position in a group．Previously it was thought that large individuals simply used their weight and size to threaten their subordinates and take more of the food for themselves，so keeping their competitors small．

　　While the habits of gobies may seem a little mysterious，Dr．Wong explains that understanding the relationships between boss and subordinate animals is important to understand how hierarchical（等级的）societies remain stable．

　　The research has proved the fact that voluntary dieting is a habit far from exclusive to humans．"As yet，we lack a complete understanding of how widespread the voluntary reduction of food intake is in nature，" the researchers comment．"Data on human dieting suggests that，while humans generally diet to improve health or increase attractiveness，rarely does it improve long-term health and males regularly prefer females that are fatter than the females' own ideal．"

1.When a goby grows to within 5-10% of the size of its larger competitor，it _________．

A．leaves the group itself         B．has breeding rights

C．eats its competitor       D．faces danger

2.The underlined words "the evicted fish" in Paragraph 3 refer to _________．

A．the fish beaten up      B．the fish driven away

C．the fish found out        D．the fish fattened up

3.The experiment showed that the smaller fish _________．

A．fought over a feast     B．preferred some extra food

C．challenged the boss fish      D．went on diet willingly

4.What is the text mainly about?

A．Fish dieting and human dieting．         B．Dieting and health．

C．Human dieting．          D．Fish dieting．

Tourism probably started in Roman times. Rich Romans visited friends and family who were working in another part of the Roman Empire. But when the empire broke down，this kind of tourism stopped.

　　In the early 17th century, the idea of the “Grand Tour” was born. Rich young English people sailed across the English Channel（英吉利海峡）.They visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time, including Paris in France, and Rome and Venice（威尼斯）in Italy. Their tours lasted for two to four years, and the tourists stayed a few weeks or months in each city. The “Grand Tour” was an important part of young people’s education—but only for the rich.

In the 18th century, tourism began to change. For example, people in the UK started to visit some towns, such as Bath to” take the waters”. They believed that the water there was good for their health. So large and expensive hotels were built in these towns.

　　In the 19th century, travel became much more popular and faster. When the first railways were built in the 1820s, it was easier for people to travel between towns, so they started to go for holidays by the sea. And some started to have holidays in the countryside as cities became larger, noisier and dirtier.

　　Traveling by sea also became faster and safer when the first steamships were built. People began to travel more to far away countries.

　　The 20th century saw cars become more and more popular among ordinary people. Planes were made larger, so ticket prices dropped and more people used them.

　　Thus tourism grew. In 1949, Russian journalist Vladimir Raitz started a company called Horizon Holidays. The company organizes everything—plane tickets, hotel rooms, even food—and tourists pay for it all before they leave home. The package tour and modern tourist industry was born.

　　The first travel agency in China was set up as early as 1949.But tourism did not take off until 1978.In 2002,the industry was worth 500 billion yuan and became an important part of China’s social development.

1.In the early times, the travelers ________.

2.________ played the most important role in the tourism development.

3.Modern tourism was born ________.

4.The underlined phrase “take off” means ________.

As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.

Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children." In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores," Lewis says. "And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is."

The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟，姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are that it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event(扫兴的事).”

1.The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to _________.

　　A. show the relationship between parents and children

　　B. teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table

　　C. report on the findings of a study

　　D. give information about family problems

2. Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because____.

　　A. they are busy serving food to their children

　　B. they are busy keeping order at the dinner table

　　C. they have to pay more attention to younger children

　　D. they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family

3.By saying “Middle children are invisible” in paragraph 3, Lewis means that middle children__________.

　　A. have to help their parents to serve dinner

　　B. get the least attention from the family

　　C. are often kept away from the dinner table

　　D. find it hard to keep up with other children

4.Lewis’ research provides an answer to the question_________.

　　A. why TV is important in family life

　　B. why parents should keep good order

　　C. why children in small families seem to be quieter

　　D. why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life

5.Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?

　　A. It is important to have the right food for children.

　　B. It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner.

　　C. Parents should talk to each of their children frequently.

　　D. Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner.

Macao(澳门) is only forty miles from Hong Kong and it is easy to reach. You can get there by sea. It is an interesting place and it had a long history. Macao is part of China and most people living there are Chinese.

　　The first Europeans to go to Macao came from Portugal(葡萄牙). More than four hundred years ago the Portuguese went there to trade with China. Some settled and made their homes there. They built strong forts(堡垒,炮台) to guard the city and the harbor. They also built churches, schools, hospitals and other places. Slowly the city grew. People from many countries came to live and work in Macao.

　　Today many people visit Macao. Some only go there to watch dog-racing or motor-racing or to gamble(赌博) with their money. But Macao is a quiet and peaceful place. It is pleasant just to walk around and look at old buildings and forts. You feel you are back in the old days. Of course, some of the buildings are now in ruins. The Church of St. Paul has only the front wall with many steps leading up to it. But it is still interesting to see.

　　When you are hot and tired, there are small cool gardens to rest in. when you are hungry, there are good restaurants with many kinds of food. Nearby there are some islands, which are also nice and are easy to get to. There is certainly a lot to do in Macao.

1.Macao is easy to get to because_________.

　　A. most people there are Chinese  

　　B. it is not far away from Hong Kong

　　C. it is very fast and cheap by sea                   

　　D. it is an interesting place

2.You feel in Macao you are back in the old days because_________.

　　A. most of the buildings are now in ruins

　　B. you can watch dog-racing or motor-racing

　　C. you can go about to see the old buildings and forts

　　D. it is a peaceful place

3.Where will you have a break when you feel tired?

　　A. In good restaurants.                 B. In small cool gardens.

　　C. On some islands.                 D. In beautiful parks.

4.The writer’s idea seems to be that_________.

　　A. people from many countries came to live and work in Macao

　　B. Portuguese were willing to do business in China

　　C. people in Macao serve good food

D. Macao is a quiet and peaceful place with a lot to see and to do