Ah, the time in life when one has to leave home. No one seems to have as hard a time with it as Pepito. Pepito is a little bird who needs to leave the nest, but the problems is, he’s afraid of heights. This makes flying away a bit of a problem, so like most people (or birds in this case) he avoids it, when he finds himself in a new situation, someone happens to give him some advice. A fox suggests he run to where he’s going (I got nervous when he came across a fox, but fortunately the food chain doesn’t apply here), a frog tells him to hop, a gopher to burrow(地洞). After his various attempts not to fly, he makes it to his brothers’ and sister’s new tree, and realizes that what he’s done is much harder than actually trying to fly. It’s a charming story with a good message―often facing up to our fears is much easier than running from them.

       The Stray Dog   By Marc Simont, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-06-028933-3, $15.95

As someone who has taken in his share of stray animals, I can totally relate to the family in The Stray Dog. While picnicking one day, they befriend a dog that wanders by. Everyone immediately falls in love, but they leave him behind, figuring he belongs to someone else. But as the week goes by, none of them can get the dog, which they’ve named Willy, off their mind. So naturally the next Saturday they go back to that same place to see if Willy’s still there. They find that not only does he not have an owner, but they’ve arrived just in time to prevent a catastrophe. Kids who love animals will definitely get caught up in the action, and even those who don’t will appreciate the quick thinking children who save the day.

45.Who are these two books written for?

A. One for children and the other for parents.               B. They are both for parents.

C. They are both for children.                                     D. They are for people who have pets.

46.The underlined sentence “but fortunately the food chain doesn’t apply here” means that   .

A. the fox has enough to eat                                      B. Pepito has enough to eat

C. the fox doesn’t intend to eat Pepito                     C. I am too full to eat anything

47.The underlined expression “get caught up” most probably   .

A. get completely interested in                B. get wholly included in

C. get disappointed in                            D. get surprised in

48.Which of the following statements in NOT true according to the text?

   A. Pepito the Brave is a storybook about a bird named Pepito.

   B. Pepito turns to brothers and sisters because a gopher is trying to catch him.

C.      In The Stray Dog there are some quick thinking children.

D.     Willy is the name of the stray dog that has to wander about.

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

The $586 billion economic stimulus(刺激)package that China announced on Sunday may not be quite as large as it seemed at first sight, but it shows just how seriously the authorities in Beijing take the threat of a slowdown following the international financial crisis. On the face of it, the package of tax cuts, higher public spending, and easier credit makes up the largest such stimulus in history.

The new policy gives President Hu Jintao something to show fellow world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Washington on Saturday as they seek ways out of the financial crisis.

“We must carry out the measures to ensure fast and stable economic development ,” Premier Wen Jiabao told government leaders on Monday. “They are not only for the needs of our own development but also our biggest contribution to the world.”

At first, stock markets(股市) jumped on news of the package, in the hope that if China’s economy continues to grow, it might help other nations go through the expected global decline in economy by offering a market for their exports.

The stimulus package is designed to reduce the effects of falling exports  on China’s own economy, encouraging investment （投资）and consumption （消费）at home. That, the government says, should keep the world’s fastest-growing economy on a “steady and relatively fast” growth track despite the depressing international climate.

The State Council（国务院），China’s cabinet， said it would target spending over the next two years on low-income housing, rural construction, water and electricity supplies, technological innovation(创新)，and recovery from disasters such as the May 12 earthquake. If the plan is carried out, its focus on projects benefiting China’s poorer citizens, rather than on traditional large-scale industrial development, will strengthen the government’s policy of building a “harmonious society” that bridges the present gap between the rich and the poor.

72. China’s economic stimulus package  ______ .

A. shows its serious attitude towards the international financial crisis

B. has stimulated the world’s economy greatly

C. mainly focuses on higher public spending

D. is as large as it seemed at first sight

73. According to Wen jiabao, China’s measures will ______.

A. make the world’s economy grow faster

B. ensure fast economic and cultural development in China

C. be only needed for China’s own development

D. be its biggest contribution to the world

74. How can the new policy reduce the effects of falling exports on China’s own economy? ______

A. By keeping China’s economy one of the world’s fastest growing ones.

B. By making China’s economy the fastest growing one in the world.

C. By encouraging investment and consumption at home.

D. By getting rid of the depressing international climate.

75. What’s the final aim of the new policy? ______

A. To build traditional large-scale industries.

B. To reconstruct the earthquake-hit area.

C. To build a harmonious society throughout China.

D. To provide housing for low-income people.

[1]Beijing—The $586 billion economic stimulus package that China announced Sunday may not be quite as large as it seemed at first sight, but it shows just how seriously the authorities in Beijing take the threat of a slowdown in the wake of the international financial crisis. On the face of it, the package of tax cuts, higher public spending, and other measures may be the largest stimulus in history.

[2]The new policy gives President Hu Jintao something to show fellow world leaders at the Group of 20 summit (最高级会议) in Washington Saturday as they seek ways out of the financial crisis. “We must carry out the measures to ensure fast and stable economic development，” Premier Wen Jiabao told government leaders on Monday. “They are not only the needs of our own development but also ______▲______.”

[3]Stock markets first jumped on news of the package, in the hope that if China's economy continues to grow, it might help other nations weather the expected global financial crisis by offering a market for their exports. The stimulus package is designed to make up the effects of falling exports and a property slump (缩水) on China's own economy, by boosting investment and consumption at home. That should keep the world's fastest?growing economy on a “steady and fast” growth track despite the gloomy international climate.

[4]The State Council, China's cabinet, said it would target spending over the next two years on low?income housing, rural construction, water and electricity supplies, technological innovation (创新), and recovery from disasters such as the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province.

[5]If the plan is performed, its focus on projects benefiting China's poorer citizens, rather than on traditional large?scale industrial development, would strengthen the government's policy of building a “harmonious society” that bridges the current gap between the rich and poor.

76．What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words.)

77．Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?

Though there is a global financial crisis at present, the $586 billion economic stimulus package would keep China's economy developing steadily and quickly.

78．Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words.)

79．List three fields on which the money will be spent. (Please answer within 8 words.)

80．Translate the last paragraph into Chinese.