Eat, drink and be merry. That’s what the Spring Festival is all about. But there are millions of people, too, who love to let happiness go up in smoke.
Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect to them. A cup of tea and cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China, especially during festive occasions such as the Lunar New Year.
No wonder, 40 percent of the people surveyed recently said they would smoke at least twice the usual number of cigarettes during the Spring Festival holiday because of all those gatherings and parties. Only 20 percent of the respondents said they would refuse a cigarette when offered one. Why can't the others do the same? Because they could be seen as being rude, said more than half of the respondents. Fifteen percent feared they could be taken as "someone who cannot get along well with others".
The Think-tank Research Center for Health Development and Sohu.com survey shows 61 percent Chinese think offering a cigarette is useful for socializing, and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others. The study polled 3,800 people, 64 percent of them men.
One-third of those polled were smokers, out of which 57 percent said they couldn't give up smoking because of the offering-and-accepting culture. "People have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends." research center director Wu Yiqun says.
China has more than 350 million smokers, catering to the tobacco market that is worth 500 billion yuan. "The survey shows we still have a lot of work to do," she says. "Since Beijing is trying to make the Olympic Games smoke-free, it is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately."
1．The passage is written with the purpose of .
A．telling us a custom about the Chinese Spring Festival
B．introducing a way to make friends with Chinese
C．stopping smoking during the Beijing Olympics
D．telling us that offering cigarettes is a bad habit
2．The third paragraph mainly tells us .
A．the fact that smokers are greatly increasing during the festival
B．the reason why refusing cigarettes is acceptable
C．the fact that many people have to smoke more cigarettes during the festival
D．it is rude to attend parties without smoking cigarettes
3．Which of the following may not be the reason that makes many people fail to refuse the offered cigarette?
A．It’s impolite to refuse. B．Smoking is harmful to non-smokers.
C．They want to be friendly. D．It’s a kind of social habit.
4．The writer mentions the 500 billion yuan tobacco market because .
A．the tobacco market is not developing smoothly
B．the writer thinks that smoking wasters a lot of money.
C．smoking is helpful to the tobacco market
D．the tobacco market attracts too many smokers
5．We can infer from the passage that .
A．people will be free to smoke during the Beijing Olympic Games.
B．only a few smokers still have the habit of offering cigarettes
C．offering cigarettes is the most effective way for socializing
D．some non-smokers will even accept the offered cigarettes
If you don’t have a college degree, you’re at greater risk of developing memory problems or even Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆). Education plays a key role in lifelong memory performance and risk for mental disorder, and it's well documented that those with a college degree possess a cognitive（认知的） advantage over their less educated counterparts in middle and old age.
Now, a large national study from Brandeis University published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry shows that those with less schooling can significantly make up for poorer education by frequently engaging in mental exercises such as word games, puzzles, reading, and lectures.
“The lifelong benefits of higher education for memory in later life are quite impressive, but we do not clearly understand how and why these effects last so long,” said lead author Margie Lachman, a psychologist. She suggested that higher education may encourage lifelong interest in cognitive efforts, while those with less education may not engage as frequently in mental exercises that help keep the memory agile (敏捷地).
But education early in adulthood does not appear to be the only route to maintain your memory. The study found that intellectual activities undertaken regularly made a difference. “Among individuals with low education, those who are engaged in reading, writing, attending lectures, doing word games or puzzles once a week or more had memory scores similar to people with more education,” said Lachman.
The study, called Midlife in the United States, assessed 3,343 men and women between the ages of 32 and 84 with a mean age of 56 years. Almost 40 percent of the participants had at least a 4-year college degree. The researchers evaluated how the participants performed in two cognitive areas, verbal memory and executive function --- brain processes involved in planning, abstract thinking and cognitive flexibility. Participants were given a battery of tests, including tests of verbal fluency, word recall, and backward counting.
As expected, those with higher education said they engaged in cognitive activities more often and also did better on the memory tests, but some with lower education also did well, explained Lachman.
“The findings are promising because they suggest there may be ways to level the playing field for those with lower educational achievement, and protect those at greatest risk for memory declines,” said Lachman. “Although we can not rule out the possibility that those who have better memories are the ones who take on more activities, the evidence is consistent with cognitive plasticity (可塑性), and suggests some degree of personal control over cognitive functioning in adulthood by adopting an intellectually active lifestyle.”
57. What is the text mainly about?
A. Higher education has a better cognitive advantage.
B. Better memories result from college degree.
C. Cognitive activity does a mind good.
D. Poor education has more risk of memory declines.
58. According to the result of Margie Lachman’s study, we can conclude that ________.
A. education is responsible for the lifelong memory performance and risk for mental disorder
B. education early in adulthood can be the only route to maintain your memory
C. those with higher education did better on the memory tests than those with lower education
D. an intellectually active lifestyle does help to maintain your memory
59. What do we know about the study called Midlife?
A. Participants each were given a battery to test their memory.
B. The average age of the participants are 56 years old.
C. Participants had to perform in one of the two cognitive areas.
D. One in four of the participants had a 4-year college degree.
60. Why are the findings of the Lachman’s study promising?
A. The lower educated may have the same opportunities to keep up memory.
B. We may have ways to cure the people who have memory declines.
C. Adopting a different lifestyle can control over cognitive functioning.
D. We can find out the possibility to have better memories.
“Pay has little to do with motivation in the workplace”. That’s the argument put forward by best-selling author Daniel Pink in his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. “Pay for performance is supposed to be a folk tale,” he says.
Daniel argues that, if employees receive a basic level of payment, three other factors matter more than money: a sense of independence, of mastery over one’s labor, and of serving a purpose larger than oneself. For example, in 2008 at the offices of Best Buy’s Richfield, salaried workers there were allowed to organize their own work day, putting in only as many hours as they felt necessary to get their jobs done. Productivity increased by 35% according to The Harvard Business Review.
But the managers at Goldman Sachs aren’t exactly making some efforts to adjust. Like others on Wall Street, the banking giant argues that fat bonuses (extra rewards) are essential to make its numbers. “That’s exactly the attitude that leads to the recent financial crisis in the United States,” responds Daniel, “as managers always focus on short-term rewards that encourage cheating, shortcuts, and dishonest behavior.”
Moreover, the 45-year-old author and former Al Gore speechwriter refers to social-science experiments and experiences at such workplaces as Google and 3M. In one 2005 experiment he describes, economists working for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston tested the power of incentives (激励) by offering cash rewards to those who did well in games that included reciting a series of numbers and throwing tennis balls at a target. The researchers’ finding: Over and over, higher incentives led to worse performance --- and those given the highest incentives did the poorest job.
From this and other cases, Daniel draws a conclusion that monetary incentives remove the element of play and creativity, transforming “an interesting task into a dull one.” It’s even possible, he adds, for oversized rewards to have dangerous side effects, like those of a drug dependency in which an addicted requires ever larger amounts. He refers to scientific testing that shows the promise of cash rewards increase a chemical in the brain similar to that brought on by cocaine or nicotine.
Daniel, however, is also aware that his company examples --- no GE, no IBM, no Microsoft --- hardly represent the commanding heights of the economy. But he thinks his approach will catch on, even in the biggest companies. “Managers tend to be realistic, and in time they will respond,” he says.
53. In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink is promoting the idea that _____.
A. it is a money-driven society B. all workers are not driven by money
C. money plays a key role in management D. pay has nothing to do with workplaces
54. In Daniel’s point of view, many Wall Street managers are _______.
A. dishonest B. considerate C. short-sighted D. ridiculous
55. In paragraph 5, the example of drug-taking is given to show _______.
A. money is as addictive as cocaine or nicotine
B. big rewards bring about dangerous side effect
C. nicotine and money bring the same chemical
D. workers do not need the incentives of money at all
56. We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
A. Daniel’s approach will be popular in a wider field
B. realistic managers will first consider Daniel’s approach
C. Daniel’s approach meets the demand of economic crisis
D. GE, IBM and Microsoft will join in Daniel’s approach next
A car that runs on coffee is unveiled（shown to the public for the first time）today but at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol, the invention won’t please any motor industry accountants.
Nicknamed the Car-puccino, it has been created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400 and it was chosen because it looked like the time-traveling DeLorean in the movie Back ToThe Future. The car will be driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules (颗粒). It has been built by a team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes The Theory and will go on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than traditional petrol can power vehicles.
The team calculates the Car-puccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee (咖啡粉) — about 56 cups of espressos (浓咖啡) per mile. The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey. In total, the trip will cost 11,760 espressos, and the team will have to take ‘coffee breaks’ roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules. They will also have to stop about every 60 miles to clean out the ‘coffee filters’ to rid them of the soot and tar which is also generated by the process. So despite a top speed of 60mph, the many stops mean the going will be slow, with the journey taking around ten hours.
Sadly, the inventors will still have to pay duty on their coffee fuel---even though tax collectors at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom haven’t yet worked out how much.
Nick Watson, producer of Bang Goes The Theory, said, “Coffee, like wood or coal, has some carbon content so you can use it as a fuel. The coffee needs to be very dry and in granules to allow the air to move through the pile of coffee as it burns. The brand doesn’t matter.” He said the same technology could be used to power a car on other unusual fuels, such as woodchips or nut shells, construction or agricultural waste.
49. Which is the right way to choose the coffee used as fuels to run the Car-puccino?
A. It should be very dry. B. The stronger, the better.
C. The smaller the granules are, the better. D. It should be of a certain brand.
50. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. All kinds of materials can be used as fuels.
B. The Car-puccino will be put into the market soon.
C. Nick W
atson is the designer of the Car-puccino
D. Much remains to be improved for the Car-puccino.
51. The Car-puccino has its disadvantages EXCEPT that ________.
A. it makes a lot of noise
B. it runs at a very high cost
C. it has to stop to be refueled very often.
D. it’s not good enough for long-distance journey
52. How much ground coffee will be used to cover a distance of 126 miles in this car?
A. About 70 kilos B. About 42 kilos. C. About 32 kilos D. About 30 kilos
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How many adverts are trying to be price competitive?
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第二部分：阅读理解（第一节20小题；第二节共5小题；每小题2分，满分50分）
第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。
In 1921, Lewis Lawes became the warden (监狱长) at Sing Sing Prison of New York State. No prison was tougher than Sing Sing during that time. But when Warden Lawes retired some 20 years later, that prison had become a humanitarian institution. Those who studied the system said credit for the change belonged to Lawes. But when he was asked about the transformation, here’s what he said, “I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried outside the prison walls.”
Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden. Everybody warned her from the beginning that she should never set foot inside the prison walls, but that didn’t stop Catherine!
When the first prison basketball game was held, she went into the gym with her three beautiful kids and she sat in the stands with the inmates. Her attitude was: “My husband and I are going to take care of these men and I believe they will take care of me! I don’t have to worry!” She insisted on getting acquainted with them and their records. She discovered one convicted murderer was blind so she paid him a visit. Holding his hand in hers she said, “Do you read Braille?” “What’s Braille?” he asked. Then she taught him how to read. Later, Catherine found a deaf-mute in prison. She went to school to learn how to use sign language.
Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus that came alive again in Sing Sing from 1921to 1937. Then, she was killed in a car accident. The next morning Lewis Lawes didn’t come to work, so the acting warden took his place. It seemed almost instantly that the prison knew something was wrong. The following day, her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison. As the acting warden took his early morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals gathered like a herd of animals at the main gate. He came closer and noted tears of grief and sadness. He knew how much they loved Catherine. He turned and faced the men.
“All right, men, you can go. Just be sure and check in tonight!” Then he opened the gate and a parade of criminals walked, without a guard, the three-quarters of a mile to stand in line to pay their final respects to Catherine Lawes. And every one of them checked back in. Every one!
41. Catherine was not afraid of getting inside the prison walls because she believed ______.
A. one good turn deserves another B. no pains, no gains
C. a new broom sweeps clean D. virtue never grows old
42. The underlined word in paragraph three most probably refers to ______.
A. basketball players B. prison guards
C. prisoners D. family of the prisoners
43. What made every one of the criminals check back in?
A. The acting warden’s requirement B. The strict rules of the prison
C. Their respect for Catherine D. The force of the guards
44. What is the best title of the passage?
A. A Tough Prison B. A Woman Bringing Changes
C. A warden Caring for Prisoners D. A Great Wife
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