C
Prince Charles yesterday pledged to reduce the royal impact on the environment through sweeping changes to his personal lifestyle and official schedule. The prince will replace carbon-heavy private jets and helicopters with scheduled flights and train services.
The move came as Prince Charles urged business leaders to publish the environmental pact of their activities.
He said, “Few accountants and business decision-makers ask, ‘How much of our critical natural resource is left? How many miles of polar ice cap has our business helped melt this year? By how many inches have we raised sea levels? How many species have we put at risk? How many homes will be flooded, how many people will die of thirst or starvation because of our activities? ’ These are not comfortable questions, but, by God, they need to be asked.”
He added, “At the moment these costs do not appear in anyone’s books… Yet they are real, they are incurred now and in a relatively short time, the damage being caused may be beyond remedy.” He said the world was “running up the biggest global credit card debt in history, but with little or no thought for how the bill will ever be paid”.
Flanked by the prime minister and business and community leaders at St James’s Palace, the prince said his new “accounting for sustainability” project would give consumers the power to choose products that caused less damage to the planet.
Duchy Originals, the prince’s food company, is taking steps to work out how much carbon dioxide and other green-house gas are emitted in growing, processing and distributing its products. The changes to the prince’s travel arrangements announced yesterday are part of a wider review of the carbon footprint associated with activities at all three of his residences. Clarence House in London, Highgrove and Birkhall on the Balmorals estate, as well as the activities of his 21 personal and 105 full-time staff. Measures include a review of electricity use, commuter and other staff travel and are intended to identify further reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. The review will report in June , when Clarence House will announce annual targets to reduce carbon emission.
47. One of the moves Prince Charles will take to reduce the royal impact on the environment is ______.
A. taking private jets that are not carbon-heavy
B. taking helicopters instead of private jets
C. taking trains instead of scheduled flights
D. taking scheduled flights instead of helicopters
48. How does Prince Charles feel about business leaders in terms of environmental protection?
A. Dissatisfied. B. Disappointed. C. Doubtful. D. Impatient.
49. In response to Prince Charles’ calls, Duchy Originals will ______.
A. make as much green food as possible B. cut down its cost.
C. figure out its greenhouse gas emission D. continue its greenhouse gas emission.
50. The underlined phrase “the biggest global credit card debt” in paragraph 3 probably refers to ______.
A. the great amount of waste produced by industry
B. the great damage caused to the environment
C. the great amount of debts of the royal family
D. the high cost of industry in their producing process
51. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Prince Charles Pledges Greener Royal Lifestyle
B. Better Late than Never
C. Prince Charles and His Concern for Environment
D. The Royal Family Has a Role to Play in Environment Protection
Silence is unnatural to man. He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness. In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else. Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence. If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox (喋喋不休的人). He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure (蜡塑人像).
The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito (蚊子). But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing with his neighbors.
Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people’s ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationistsAccording to the author, people make conversation to ______
| A．exchange ideas | B．prove their value |
| C．achieve success in life | D．overcome their fear of silence |
By "the buzzing of a fly" (Para. 1), the author means"________”
| A．the noise of an insect | B．a low whispering sound |
| C．meaningless talks | D．the voice of a chatterbox |
According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors ______.
| A．about whatever they have prepared |
| B．about whatever they want to |
| C．in the hope of learning something new |
| D．in the hope of getting on well |
What is the author's purpose in writing the passage? ________.
| A．To discuss why people like talking about weather. |
| B．To encourage people to join in conversations. |
| C．To persuade people to stop making noises. |
| D．To explain why people keep talking. |
Inside their one-store, metal-roofed house on Vancouver Island’s west coast，Janet Schwartz and her domesticated(驯养的) deer, Bimbo, are returning to their normal lives. The law-represented by men and women dressed in black uniforms and carrying guns — is no longer threatening to forcibly separate Schwartz and Bimbo，freeing the l0-year-old deer to the fates (命运) of the surrounding rainforest and its hungry wolves and black bears．
“We love each other，”said Schwartz who turned 70 on Saturday. “she’ll come up to me and she’ll kiss me right on the lips，like a man kisses a woman’’
For four days last week，Schwartz’ life turned as rocky as the rough logging road that connected her life to the outside world. Conservation officers had arrived with orders to loose Bimbo. Schwartz was told she wasn’t allowed to touch Bimbo any more. It seemed somebody had complained，said Environment Minister Terry Lake earlier in the week, noting it’s illegal to keep wild animals as pets.
During those tense days，sleepless nights were made even more restless by nightmares，said Schwartz. There were news stories and Facebook pages which supported Schwartz and by Friday，the government had changed its mind. Schwartz could keep her pet with the help of a veterinarian and conservation officers.
“It makes me feel good，”said Schwartz of the announcement．“She is my life．and I’ve had her since the day she’s been born.”
The relationship began when a friend found the orphaned fawn (幼鹿) along a nearby logging road，more than a kilometer away from her current home，said Schwartz. The friend brought the fawn over because she knew Schwartz had raised a deer before.
Schwartz named the fawn(小鹿) Bimbo，based on a Gene Autry song that was playing inside her home at the time，and began feeding the animal goat’s milk. Days turned into months and years, and now Bimbo is a part of the family.According to Paragraph 1 , Janet Schwartz’s life is returning to normal because
| A．no one disturbs her life again | B．she can continue to keep the deer |
| C．she has married again | D．Bimbo has returned to the forest |
Why didn’t Schwartz want to loose the deer?
| A．It was the only companion in her house |
| B．She wanted to study the lifestyle of the deer． |
| C．The deer had become part of her life． |
| D．She had a veterinarian to help her． |
Conservation officers ordered Janet to loose Bimbo because
| A．the deer was not properly taken care of |
| B．the deer brought harm to the neighborhood |
| C．it was against the law to keep the deer as a pet |
| D．the deer made too much noise |
What made the government change its mind?
| A．Schwartz’s love for the deer. |
| B．The threat to the deer in the wild. |
| C．The change of the law. |
| D．The influence from the press and the Web. |
Anyone who doubts if children are born with a healthy amount of ambition need spend only a few minutes with a baby eagerly learning to walk. No matter how many times the little ones stumble in their first efforts, most keep on trying, determined to master their amazing new skill. It is only several years later, many psychologists and teachers agree, that a good number of kids seem to lose their natural drive to succeed. For the parents of such kids, whose own ambition is often tied to their children's success, it can be a painful experience.
Figuring out why the fire went out is the first step. Assuming that a kid doesn't suffer from a learning disability, or isn't involved in some family crisis(危机) at home, many educators attribute a sudden lack of motivation to a fear of failure or classmate pressure.“Everything is within the kids' control；their intelligence is changeable,”says Lisa Blackwell, a research scientist at Columbia University. More than any teacher or workshop, Blackwell says,“Parents can play a key role in conveying this message to their children by praising their effort and progress rather than emphasizing their “smartness” or praising high performance alone. Most of all, parents should let their kids know that mistakes are a part of learning.”
Some experts say our education system, with its strong emphasis on testing and separation of students into different levels of ability, also bears blame for the disappearance of drive in some kids.“These programs shut down the motivation of all kids who aren't considered gifted and talented. They destroy their confidence,” says Jeff Howard, a social psychologist. Howard and other educators say it's important to expose kids to a world beyond homework and tests, through volunteer work, sports, hobbies and other extracurricular activities.
“The problem of the issue is that many students experience education as irrelevant to their life goals and ambition,”says Michael Nakkual, a Harvard education professor. The key to getting kids to aim higher at school is to free them of the idea that class work is irrelevant, and to show them how doing well at school can actually help them fulfill their dreams beyond it. They need to understand that you have to learn to walk before you can run.According to the passage, the parents of kids with no ambition ________.
| A．don't do a very good job on teaching them to walk |
| B．are to blame if the kids do poorly in school |
| C．feel pain because their own ambition is connected to their kids' success |
| D．should take part in extracurricular activities with kids |
The underlined part “the fire went out” probably means ________.
| A．the motivation was suddenly lost |
| B．the fear of failure was suddenly gone |
| C．the learning disability was suddenly lost |
| D．the fire was suddenly gone |
All the following can contribute to a sudden lack of ambition EXCEPT ________.
| A．learning disability | B．classmate pressure |
| C．emphasis on testing | D．extracurricular activities |
What is the most important thing for parents in motivating their kids?
| A．Punishing kids who don't display ambition. |
| B．Emphasizing smartness and high performance. |
| C．Telling kids that mistakes are a part of learning. |
| D．Praising the effort and progress they have made. |
The China Daily newspaper group is looking for Englishlanguage senior business editors, senior copy editors, copy editors and graphic designers to strengthen its international team. We offer a competitive salary package, free accommodation with utilities paid for,90 per cent medical reimbursement, a sevenday paid leave, elevenday public holidays and a return ticket to the country of residence.
Senior Business Editor
You must：
assist the business editor in setting goals and working on achieving them； be an excellent team person who can generate ideas and think creatively and be able to rewrite totally if needed and mentor junior staff； ideally have been working or have worked in a position of responsibility and understand what leadership entails； have had at least five years' editing experience working on editing the Business Desk and be familiar with industry software.
Senior Copy Editor
You must：
work on shifts in the Business Desk and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print； edit or rewrite copy and give snappy headlines and captions； have had at least two years' editing experience working on editing desks and be familiar with industry software.
Copy Editor
You must：
be good at editing or rewriting copy and writing snappy headlines and captions； be able to work on shifts for different pages, and usually have the last word before the page is sent to print; have two years of editing experience working on copy desks, and be familiar with industry software.
Graphic Designer
You must：
have excellent skills in information graphics；
be good at illustrations and freehand drawings；
be experienced in newspaper or magazine layouts；
have a good sense of typography；
have good news judgment；
be wellversed with Macintosh software, including InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop；
be fluent in English.
For enquiries or to apply, write to job @ chinadaily.com.cn.What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To describe the positions of the China Daily newspaper group. |
| B．To describe the working conditions of the China Daily newspaper group. |
| C．To advertise for recruiting some good employees. |
| D．To tell you how to become part of this group. |
What is not required about Graphic Designer?
| A．Be wellversed with Photoshop. |
| B．Have excellent skills in information graphics. |
| C．Having a good sense of typography |
| D．Writing snappy headlines and captions. |
How many positions need editing experience?
| A．2. | B．1. | C．3. | D．4. |
Which can be the title of the advertisement?
| A．China Daily：New Employees Wanted |
| B．China Daily：Newspaper |
| C．China Daily：An International Team |
| D．China Daily：The Best Working Condition |
How I Turned to Be Optimistic
I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt's house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times”.
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule：almost all common troubles eventually go away！Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little！I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.How did the author get to know America?
| A．From her relatives. | B．From her mother. |
| C．From books and pictures. | D．From radio programs. |
Upon leaving for America the author felt ________.
| A．confused | B．excited | C．worried | D．amazed |
For the first two years in New York, the author ________.
| A．often lost her way | B．did not think about her future |
| C．studied in three different schools | D．got on well with her stepfather |
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