Ever wondered why some businesses fail and others seem to go from strength to strength（越来越兴旺发达）? One of the major reasons for success or failure in any business is the choice of location. The ABS can be of great help in choosing the most likely place to set up your business. Whether it’s simple or a complex business.
Case study one
A Sydney doctor specializing pediatrics(小儿科) was hoping to set up a practice outside the metropolitan area, probably on the northern coast of New South Wales. He was unsure of the best place in this region and came to the ABS for help. The ABS was able to put together a report containing details of the proportion of the children in particular areas, along with information on regions with the highest birth rates. This enabled the doctor to work out where future demand for his services would be.
Case study two
A suburban retailer（零售商）in Perth owned a shoe store which stocked a wide range of shoes for men, women and children. There had been an increase in the number of similar shoe stores in the suburban shopping center and the owner wanted to assess the possibility of switching to selling imported shoes and handbags for women only. In order to ensure whether there was a market for these products, the retailer needed to obtain details of income by age, sex, and occupation for all the women in the city of Perth. Using information from the 1996 Census(普查)of Population and Housing, the ABS was able to provide this type of information in a detailed report. With the information, the retailer was able to believe that there were enough professional working women in the area with middle to high incomes, which makes his business possible.
1. What information did the Sydney doctor get from the ABS about the northern coast of New South Wales?
A. The number of medical practices there.
B. The detailed information about the children.
C. Its present and future economic situations.
D. The ideal place to start a practice there.
2. The retailer wanted to switch to selling imported shoes and handbags for women because________.
A. there were more and more working women
B. he wanted to enlarge the original store
C. there were more and more shoe stores
D. imported products were popular
3. What does the ABS do for its customers?
A. Doing research work in the fields.
B. Suggesting the most potential market.
C. Providing considerable amounts of data.
D. Predicting the possible consumer goods.
4. This passage is most probably a(n) _____________.
A. handout for management B. income report
C. advertisement D. plan for a project
Honestly, since my son was born, I have thought a lot about how to raise a child. I once heard a story that told about when a baby was born. The story said that when a baby was born, a new master was born. The parents of that baby wo
uld become the servants. The question is: Why? Based on my observation, this phenomenon is true. Most parents who don't pay much attention to their kids have difficulties with their kids' attitude.
I'll make a comparison of how two families raise their children. The first one is a family with three children. Both mother and father never say "No" to their children's demands. As a result, all of their children became stubborn and won't listen to their parents’ words, "We can't."
The second family educated their children strictly from one year old to high school. The parents never approved or agreed directly to give their children what they wanted. They always postponed one or two days, even if they could afford it. Due to the way their parents educated them, these children understood that if they wanted something, they had to wait or they had to make an effort first. As a result, all the kids from the second famil
y successfully graduated from university on time.
In my opinion, if we want to be successful parents and raise our children well, we have to start disciplining them when they are toddlers but not wait until they become tee
nagers.Why did the writer give two different stories in this passage?
| A．To help prove his opinion about raising a child. |
| B．To list different ways that parents may take. |
| C．To criticize some parents’ foolish action. |
| D．To prove that his way of education is right. |
What does the underlined word “postponed” in the third paragraph mean?
| A．Carried out at once. | B．Gave up. |
| C．Put off. | D．Made a decision. |
In the writer’s opinion, which of the following about raising a child is TRUE?
| A．Children should be respected once they were born. |
| B．Parents should educate their children as early as possible. |
| C．It is right time to educate their children when they are teenagers. |
| D．Children should be helped whenever they make mistakes. |
What do you think is the best title of this passage?
| A．Make a comparison of how two families raise their children |
| B．To be successful parents |
| C．How to raise children well |
| D．Educate children strictly from one year old to high school |
Just the mention of the TOEFL, GRE and GAMT exams brings a thought of long hours of dull paper work. But that idea is becoming increasingly out of date. As planned, computerized tests will begin next year which will bring a series of changes 
from test psychology to scoring techniques.
From computer - equipped rooms, examinees will answer the questions on a computer. If they are sure about their choices, they can pass to the next question by pressing the entry (条目) “next”. Then another question will be randomly (任意地) selected from a vast test item bank and appear on the screen. After answering all the questions, examinees can choose the entry “quit” if they are not satisfied with their performance, or “score” if they want to see the result. Scores will be calculated immediately and appear on the screen. By that point, student's marks are official--there is no going back.
Since they greatly shorten the painful waiting process-which used to be two or three months, computerized tests have won worldwide popularity. Besides, there will be no rushing to the registration offices (登记处) for these exams. Computerized tests will be given every workday in an exam center with all three kinds of tests being held in the same room. All test ta
kers need to do is to call the exam center and book their seats for a particular day.
In addition it will become technically possible to apply new testing procedures. In the past, each examinee had the same set of test items despite differences in their ability. Under a computerized system, however, if the computer judges an answer is right, a question of a relatively difficult nature will follow. But if an examinee continues to give wrong answers and is judged as un-qualified by the computer system, he will be automatically denied the chance to go further in the test. Computerized tests allow the examinee to know their scores ______.
| A．immediately on a central computer for scoring test papers |
| B．a few minutes after the exam with the help of a test center worker |
| C．on the next day after they have taken the exam |
| D．immediately after the exam by means of the same computer |
If an examinee is not satisfied with his performance ______.
| A．he can admit defeat and give it up | B．he can ask the computer to give some advice |
| C．he can ask another chance within a few days | D．he is allowed to do it once again |
Under a computerized system, all of the following would be possible except that ______.
| A．different exams can be taken in the same room |
| B．one doesn’t need to rush to the registration officer for taking an exam |
| C．it will be much easier to pass an examination |
| D．one can take an exam almost at any time of the year |
The word denied in the last sentence most probably means ______.
| A．refused | B．allowed | C．lost | D．passed |
Some people believe that international sports creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: that international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourages international brotherhood. Not only was there the tragic incident involving the murder of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.
One country received its second-place medal with visible indignation after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, the losers objecting to the final decisions. They were convinced that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in a rage when he said: “This wasn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension of the team for at least three years.
The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable end to their contest. The game had ended in disturbance. It was thought at first that the United States had won, by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the USA had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals, or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义).According to the author, the recent Olympic Games have ______.
A．created goodwill between n ations |
| B．bred only false national pride |
| C．barely showed any international friendship |
| D．led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred |
What would the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
A．His team would no longer take p art in international games. |
| B．Hockey and the Federation are both ruined by the unfair decisions. |
| C．There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
| D．The Federation should be dissolved. |
The basketball example implied that ______.
| A．too much patriotism was displayed in the incident |
| B．the announcement to prolong the match was wrong |
| C．the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision |
| D．the American team was right in rejecting the silver medals |
What conclusion can be drawn from the passage?
| A．The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved. |
B．Athletes should compete as individuals in the O lympic Games. |
| C．Sports should be played competitively rather than for the love of the game. |
| D．International contests are liable for misunderstanding between nations. |
Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. A recent research shows people tend to tell more lies in phone conversations than they are in emails. The fact that emails are automatically recorded and can come back to haunt you appears to be the key to the finding.
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 percent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 percent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 of phone calls.
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment（非直接接触）of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to be more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication.
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. “People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account,” he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone.
“People are also more likely to lie in real time in an instant message or phone call than if they have time to think of a response,” say Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous responses to an unexpected demand, such as, “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email.Hancock’s study focuses on ______.
| A．the consequences of lying in various communications media |
| B．the success of communications technologies in conveying ideas |
| C．people are less likely to lie in instant messages |
| D．people’s honesty levels across a range of communications media |
Hancock’s research finding surprised those who believed that ______.
| A．people are less likely to lie in instant messages |
| B．people are unlikely to lie in face-to-face interactions |
| C．people are most likely to lie in email communication |
| D．people are twice as likely to lie in phone conversations |
According to the passage, why are people more likely to tell the truth through certain media of communication?
| A．They are afraid of leaving behind traces of their lies. |
| B．They believe that honesty is the best policy. |
| C．They tend to be relaxed when using those media. |
| D．They are most practiced at those forms of communication. |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
| A．honesty should be encouraged in interpersonal communications |
| B．more employers will use emails to communicate with their employees |
| C．suitable media should be chosen for different communication purposes |
| D．email is now the dominant medium of communication within a company |
Just put your special clothes on in the morning and you could jump 3 meters into the air and even carry more than 60 kilograms without getting tired. The walk to school would be very , very easy. Such supercharged clothing is one of the products that could be created using “wearable robotics” technology.
Designed to improve a person’s senses and skills, the device could be as simple as a hearing aid. Or it could be a full-body suit that senses what you’re going to do, then helps you do it better.
“A superman suit would be the final result in wearable robotics,” said Francois Pin, head of robotics and energy systems at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory（橡树林国家实验室）, US. While these suits are at least ten years away, in some areas the technology is already in use.
Researchers are developing artificial arms and legs that allow old, disabled or injured people to move freely. Thus US Army is interested in using wearable robot legs to help soldiers run faster, carry more equipment and be stronger in battle. Jobs that involve lifting heavy loads or saving lives from the rubble of an earthquake could also become much easier.
A robot is a device that responds to a command. You’re probably with simple robots, such as toy cars or airplanes that respond to buttons you push on a remote control.
Wearable robotics goes further. Instead of just receiving information through a wire or remote control, the robotic device can send information back to its controller.
Suppose you wore a sleeve that has sensors where your joints are. Every time you move your arm, the sleeve senses your movements and sends the information to a robot, which then moves its arm just as you did. When the robot hits or touches something, it sends a signal back to the sleeve and you sense the action.
In this way, scientists are working to wrap the robot around the person. Their goal is to make the sleeve, shoe or suit help you do what you want to do.Which of the following can replace the underlined word “ supercharged” in Paragraph one?
| A．expensive | B．overcharged | C．advanced | D．full of electricity |
Products resulting from this wearable robotics technology do not include ___________.
| A．remote controls | B．hearing aids |
| C．wearable robot legs | D．superman suits |
From the passage, we can infer that_______________.
| A．it will be ten years before robotic devices are in use |
| B．the wearable robotics technology has been employed in some areas |
| C．the robots in the robotic devices will do whatever you want to do |
| D．people must become lazier and less healthier in the future |
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