Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting①for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday, and Shaquille O’Neal became the fifth player in league history to earn 13 consecutive②selections for the midseason showcase.
Yao and Tracy McGrady give the host Houston Rockets two starters in the Feb.19 game. They were joined on the Western Conference squad by Bryant, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and reigning MVP Steve Nash of Phoenix — who will be a first-time All-Star starter.
Yao edged Bryant by 71,107 votes for the top overall spot in the balloting, despite missing 21 games following surgery to clean out an infection③ in his left big toe. It’s the fourth All-Star trip for the 7-foot-6 center from China and the eighth for Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring and had an 81-point effort — the second-biggest night in NBA history — last month in the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over Toronto.
Yao finished with 2,342,738 votes; Bryant had 2,271,631 in the closest finish among the top two players in All-Star balloting since Vince Carter, then of Toronto, edged Miami’s Alonzo Mourning by 33,385 votes in 2000.
Notes:
① ballot vi. 投票
② consecutive adj. 连续的
③ infection n. 传染，感染Yao Ming’s got _______ Kobe Bryant in fan balloting for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday.
| A．the same votes as | B．more votes than |
| C．less votes than | D．no more than |
Yao Ming and _______ belong to the Houston Rockets.
| A．Kobe Bryant | B．Tracy McGrady |
| C．Shaquille O’Neal | D．Steve Nash |
Which of the following is not wrong according to this passage?
| A．Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting for the 54th NBA All-Star game. |
| B．Yao edged Tracy McGrady by 71,107 votes for the top overall spot in the balloting. |
| C．It’s the fourth All-Star trip for Yao Ming from China. |
| D．Yao finished with 2,271,631 votes; Bryant had2,342,738 in the closest finish among the top two players in All-Star balloting. |
If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker (贴画) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said.
Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That’s because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. Verbal praise, such as “Brilliant! You’re a great vegetable taster”, did not work as well.
The study found that when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a “tiny taste” of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables — either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas — in laboratory taste tests, the study said.
Researchers randomly assigned (分派) 173 families to one of these groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where Parents used no special vegetable-promoting methods, served as a “control”.
Parents in the reward groups offered their children a taste of the “target” vegetable every day for 12 days. Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables—and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround(转机) also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-disliked vegetable three months later.
Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children.The purpose of writing the passage is .
| A．to show the procedure of an experiment on children’s diet |
| B．to introduce a practical method of making children eat vegetables |
| C．to explain why children hate to eat vegetables |
| D．to present a proper way of verbal praise to parents |
The underlined word “backfire” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
| A．shoot from behind the back |
| B．make a fire in the backyard |
| C．produce an unexpected result |
| D．achieve what was planned |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Most children are born to dislike carrots or celery. |
| B．Children in the sticker group will never lose interest in eating vegetables. |
| C．Oral praise works quite well in encouraging children to eat vegetables. |
| D．It remains a question whether rewarding is a good way to get children to eat vegetables. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Children like rewards, not verbal praise. |
| B．Parents should give up verbal praise. |
| C．Children are difficult to inspire. |
| D．Parents should praise their children in a sincere tone. |
Italy is one country where beauty is prized more than any other virtue. That is, except in the small town of Piobbico, the self-declared World Capital of Ugly People. The road sign at the edge of the town even warns visitors that they are entering the ugly zone. People who consider themselves ugly have been gathering in Piobbico since the 1960s. That’s when Ugly Club president Telesforo Lacobelli established a dating agency for women who believed they were too ugly to attract husbands. Lacobelli believes that he is ugly himself because he has a short nose in a country where long or large noses have always been considered beautiful.
People from around the world travel to Piobbico to tell their sad stories of ugliness. During the annual Festival of the Ugly, which occurs on the first Sunday of every September, hundreds of people gather in Piobbico’s town square to elect the president of the Ugly Club. Lacobelli wins the election every year. The Ugly Club has over 20, 000 members. They carry ID cards that grade their ugliness from bearable to extreme. A prize is awarded to Ugly Club members who qualify as extremely ugly.
The Ugly Club president insists that ugliness is a virtue. Since beautiful people get a lot of attention for their beauty alone, they have to work hard to prove their other virtues. Ugly people, on the other hand, are genuine and do not have to prove anything to anybody, according to Lacobelli.
Lacobelli is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. He believes that the uglier one is, the better life can be. Though the club enjoys making fun of beauty, especially beauty contests, Lacobelli has a serious side as well. He believes that too many people suffer from financial and emotional pressures because they don’t meet society’s standards of beauty. The fact that beautiful people are more successful in the workforce is a problem that Lacobelli has attempted to bring forward to the Italian public and government.Piobbico is rather special in that .
| A．it is a very small town |
| B．it is home to ugly people |
| C．it receives no visitors |
| D．it is the capital of Italy |
Why is Lacobelli elected the president of the Ugly Club every year?
| A．Because he is the ugliest person in the whole world. |
| B．Because his ugliness is always graded as bearable. |
| C．Because he is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. |
| D．Because he has won the members’ trust and admiration. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Ugly people are most respected in Italy. |
| B．The Festival of the Ugly is held every two years. |
| C．Ugly people are unfairly treated in society. |
| D．The uglier one is, the better life he or she lives. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Ugly Capital of the World |
| B．The Ugliest Person of the World |
| C．Festival of the Ugly |
| D．Beauty Contests Should be Banned |
Woman Uses Daughter's Key to "Steal" Car
Charlie Vansant, a college student of Athens, Ohio, who reported that his car was stolen, got a surprise when he learned a woman had mistaken it for her daughter's car and taken it — using her key.
Kate Anderson became an accidental car thief when picking up her daughter's car near an Ohio University building last week. Anderson spotted the Toyota Camry（丰田凯美瑞）and used her daughter's key to unlock the car, start the engine and drive home — without realizing that the car wasn't her daughter's.
When Charlie Vansant left class a short time later, he found only an empty parking spot. He first assumed the car had been towed, but when the police couldn't find a record of it, they took a theft report.
The morning after Anderson took the car, her daughter discovered the Camry in the driveway wasn't hers. Anderson said she was able to find Vansant's name on paperwork in the glove compartment and look up his phone number on the website for the university.
When Anderson told Charlie the car was in her driveway, "It sounded really suspicious at first, as she wanted to hold the thing for ransom (赎金) , ” said Vansant. He eventually went to the house with a police officer, where he was reunited with his car. According to the police report, the case was closed "because of mistaken car identity", and Anderson wasn't charged.
Vansant seemed to blame the car company more than the "thief". "Her key fit not only my lock, but my ignition（点火装置）as well — so high-five for Toyota, I guess." he said.What does the underlined word "towed" mean in paragraph 3?
| A．removed. | B．damaged. | C．stolen. | D．sold. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson's daughter discovered the car her mother drove was not hers. |
| B．Mrs. Anderson stole Charlie's car at the request of her daughter. |
| C．Charlie had thought he had to give Anderson money to get his car back. |
| D．Mrs. Anderson used her daughter's key to unlock Charlie's car and drive home. |
What does Charlie mean by "high-five for Toyota"?
| A．He is blaming Toyota for the poor quality of car keys. |
| B．He should thank Toyota for returning his car. |
| C．He wants to celebrate with Toyota for getting his car back. |
| D．He thinks highly of Toyota for producing large quantities of cars. |
What is likely to happen next according to the passage?
| A．Mrs. Anderson was charged with stealing a car. |
| B．Charlie blamed Mrs. Anderson for mistakenly taking his car. |
| C．Charlie would ask the Toyota Company to give him an explanation. |
| D．The Toyota Company would give Charlie a new car as compensation. |
Online Money Earning
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How you make money
You view websites in 30 seconds through the “Surf Ads” page. Once the 30 seconds is up, you’ll either get a green tick sign or a red “x”. The green tick sign means you’ve earned $0.01 and the “x” means you have not earned money for the visit. You’ll get red x’s when you have more than one website from the “Surf Ads” page open. When this happens, you get no credit.
Earnings example
You click 10 ads per day = $0.10
20 referrals (转送) click 10 ads per day = $2.00
Your daily earnings = $2.10
Your weekly earnings = $14.70
How to get paid
At present, it only makes payments through “AlertPay”. AlertPay is the payment processing solution that we use to pay members. Your AlertPay address is the e-mail address you use to register with AlertPay. You can get a free AlertPay account at http:// alertpay. com.What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To tell an interesting story. |
| B．To introduce a surprising way to earn money. |
| C．To solve a puzzling problem. |
| D．To present an exciting research. |
You can earn money by ________.
| A．chatting online |
| B．advertising some products |
| C．clicking on advertisement |
| D．choosing green ticks or x’s |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．You’ll earn $0.10 if you click 1 ad. |
| B．You’ll get many green ticks if you have many websites open. |
| C．Your AlertPay account is not for free. |
| D．You can get your payments through AlertPay. |
Plans to expand wind energy into the most scenic parts of Germany are meeting increasing opposition across the country.
Anti-wind campaigners are angry that areas including the forests made famous by the tales of the Brothers Grimm are among the targets for new turbines (涡轮机). For the first time they have formed a national opposition group to thwart the expansion. They say the expansion will damage forests and tourism across the country.
Germany has started a massive expansion of renewable energy since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 in Japan. The government decided to reduce atomic plants and instead increase the opportunities for green power. As a result, solar farms, biogas plants and wind parks are booming. In 2013, 22% of Germany’s electricity was generated by renewable energy. Wind has played a major part in this change, making up half of the renewable energy in 2013, and the public has been generally supportive. To date, a majority of the 23,000 wind turbines in the country have been built in the flat northern and eastern parts of the country. But now the focus of expansion is on the areas of dark forest in the central and southern areas of Germany.
One such region is the Rheinhardswald in the northern part of the state of Hesse. This is the home of the magical tales of Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and others, made famous in the books of the Brothers Grimm. This scenic place is a magnet, attracting hundreds and thousands of tourists from all over the world. But now there are also plans to build up to 200 turbines in this scenic place!
Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg is a PhD student and an opponent of the plans. “It is not because this is the area of Sleeping Beauty,” she says, “I want the green movement, I want green technology, I don’t want nuclear power--- but they should be made in the right way and not by destroying the forests.”
The campaigners argue that putting wind turbines in this area makes no sense. The wind speeds are low and the area is home to some extremely rare birds including the endangered black stork. Campaigners say building turbines here would be disastrous for the birds.Which of the following does NOT belong to green power? _____.
| A．Solar energy | B．Wind energy |
| C．Bio-energy | D．Atomic energy |
What percentage of Germany’s electricity was generated by wind in 2013? _____.
| A．11% | B．22% | C．50% | D．60% |
What can be inferred from the passage? _____.
| A．The author is against building more wind turbines. |
| B．The public prefers wind energy to nuclear energy. |
| C．Most Germans object to building wind turbines all over Germany. |
| D．The central and southern areas of Germany are rich in wind energy. |
What is the main idea of the passage? _____.
| A．Wind parks are increasing rapidly all over Germany. |
| B．The Rheinhardswald is famous for the tales of Sleeping Beauty. |
| C．Expanding wind energy into the land of Sleeping Beauty causes controversy. |
| D．Building wind turbines in the land of Sleeping Beauty area makes no sense. |
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