English nowadays is widely used in science, business, the media and popular culture. For example, 80% of e-mails on the internet are in English. But where will English be at the end of the 21st century?
One view is that English is going to become even more important as a global language, being most widely used in trade and media while some other languages will become less important or just disappear. Another view is that English is already breaking up into several separate languages. There are already dictionaries of the “New Englishes”, such as Australian English, full of words that a British English speaker would not recognize.
Hopefully, neither of these things will happen. Although different varieties of English will continue to develop around the world, standard English will survive for international communication. However, it is impossible for one language to totally control the world. Already, other languages are fighting back against the control of English on the net. Governments around the world are also starting to protect smaller languages and recognize the importance of keeping a variety of cultures and languages. English will probably stay in control for a long time, but it certainly won’t become the only language in the world. According to the situation, how many people do you think speak English now?
| A．200 million | B．300 million | C．500 million | D．a billion |
At present, what is the most important language in the world?
| A．Chinese | B．English | C．French | D．German |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The Change of English | B．Different Varieties of English |
| C．The Future of English | D．The Cause of English Change |
It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their ears, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries (食品杂货) saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that，several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity (人性) as a whole. And it has influenced (影响) us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.Why was the bike so important to the couple?
| A．The man’s job was bike racing. | B．It was their only possession. |
| C．It was a nice Kona 18 speed. | D．They used it for work and daily life |
We can infer from the text that ________
| A．The couple worked 60 hours a week | B．people were busy before Christmas |
| C．the stranger brought over the bike | D．life was hard for the young family |
How did people get to know the couple’s problem?
| A．From radio broadcasts. | B．From a newspaper. |
| C．From TV news. | D．From a stranger. |
What does the couple learn from their experience?
| A．Strangers are usually of little help. | B．One should take care of their bike. |
| C．News reports make people famous. | D．An act of kindness can mean a lot. |
Ad. 1
April fool’s party
On Friday, April 1, Inner Affair goes back to the days of funk! Classic Tunes from the 70’s and 80’s by DJs Den & Sion. 9pm till late.
Tickets: Free entrance for those in costume, otherwise 50 yuan (US$6)
Time/date: 9 pm, April 1
Place: Inner Affair, 1/F Qiankun Dasha, 6 Sanlitun Xiliujie, Chaoyang District
Tel: 8454 0321
Ad. 2
Language in use
Enjoy free inhouse coffee, tea and beer as well as music and dancing. Practice your Chinese, make friends and have fun.
Time/date: 7 to 9 pm, March 25 
Place: Language In Use Club, 2/F, Science Fortune Center, 8 Xueqing Lu, north of Xueyuan Lu, Haidian District
Ad. 3
The "worst" party
Organized by ozone productions, the party is set to be "the worst ever", with the lamest music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Special prizes will be awarded to the worst dressed or for bad fashion sense.
Tickets: Free entrance
Time/date: 9 pm, April 1
Place: Pula Pula, Tianze Lu, Oriental Seven Colours Plaza, Chaoyang District
Tel: 64668575
Ad. 4
La Nuit Francaise
Again on the 2nd Thursday of the month La Nuit Francaise will be held at Le Rendezvous. The monthly event is an opportunity for all French people and everyone interested in France or speaking French to gather together.
The evening features th
ree glasses of wine and canapes for participants and a special exhibition.
Time/date: 7 to 10 pm, April 14
Place: Le Rendezvous, 3 Gongti Beilu, accross from the Pacifi
c Century Plaza, Chaoyang District Tel: 64629110
Ad. 5
Marco V
Dutch DJ Marco V drops by Banana for a gig which is supported by Hong Kong’s DJ Spark.
Marco V has been around for many years, as an inventive, styleblending deejay and a successful and devoted producer. His spinning is energetic, crowdpleasing and never sees an empty dance floor. He was ranked No. 15 in this year’s international DJ MAG DJ Top100.
Tickets: 40 yuan (US$4.80) in advance, 50 yuan (US$6) at the door, both include a free drink
Time/date: 10 pm to 4 am, March 31, April 1
Place: Banana, in the lobby of the Scitech Hotel, 22 Jianwai Dajie, Chaoyang District
Tel: 65283636
Which of th
e following is NOT true of Ad. 1 and Ad. 3?
| A．The two parties will be held on the same day. |
| B．The two parties will be held at the same time. |
| C．The entrance fees of the two parties will not be charged. |
| D．Some old music will be played at the parties. |
Which of the following is intended for the Chinese learners?
| A．Marco V. | B．La Nuit Francaise. |
| C．Language in use. | D．The "worst" party. |
We can infer that______.
| A．Marco V is a newlyestablished band |
B．La Nuit Francaise may be French word s |
| C．the "worst" party will attract a lot of college students |
| D．you will enjoy free drink at April fool’s party |
In the USA Forbes magazine has published its annual list of the richest people in the world. Bill Gates of Microsoft is the richest man again for the eleventh successive year with a fortune of fortyfour billion dollars.
There are a record 691 dollar billionaires according to Forbes magazine. Between them they have a fortune of two point two trillion dollars. The highest concentration of the ultra-rich is in New York followed by Moscow and San Frans
isco and then London and Los Angeles. But in total the very wealthy live in fortyseven different countries with Iceland KazakstanUkraine and Poland entering the list for the first time this year.
Laksmi
Mittal, an Indian born steel tycoon （巨头）enjoyed the biggest increase in personal fortune. His net worth has quadrupled （变成四倍）to thirteen billion dollars making him the world’s third richest man. Ingvar Kamprad founder of the Swedish furniture chain Ikea also saw a big increase in wealth taking him to the sixth place. Developing countries make more of a showing than in past years — there are for example three Russians and four Indians in the top sixty richest people, though surprisingly perhaps none from China excluding Hong Kong. Asian wealth is probably underrepresented as its usually spread among families whereas Forbes looks at individuals. Relatively few women feature in the list — among them is JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels ranked 620th with a fortune of 519 million dollars. New entrants to the list include the founders of the Internet search group Google Sergie Brin and Larry Page each worth more than seven billion dollars after their company’s recent stock market debut. The richest Italian is the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi ranked number 25 in the global wealth league.Which of the following persons has the largest fortune according to this year’s Forbes magazine?
| A．Laksmi Mittal. | B．Ingvar Kamprad. |
| C．JK Rowling. | D．Silvio Berlusconi. |
There are about _____ persons with a fortune between 100 million dollars and 519 million dollars in the world.
| A．300 | B．180 | C．70 | D．150 |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．No Chinese has entered the top sixty richest people in the world. |
| B．Russia is a developing country. |
| C．This is the first time that Sergie Brin and Larry Page has been included in the list. |
| D．There are more billionaires（亿万富翁） in New York than any other city in the world. |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．There are more billionaires in London than in Moscow. |
| B．Ukraine is a very rich country in the world. |
| C．JK Rowling’s novels have sold very well. |
| D．The IT industry is a profit making industry. |
Modern man has cleared the forests for farmland and for wood, and has also carelessly burned them. More than that, though, he has also interfered （干涉） with the invisible bonds between the living things in the forests. There are many examples of this kind of destruction. The harmfulness of man’s interference can be seen in what happened many years ago in the forest of the Kaibab plateau （凯亚巴布高原） of northern Arizona. Man tried to improve on the natural web of forest life and destroyed it instead.
The Kaibab had a storybook forest of large sized pine, Douglas fir, white fir, blue and Engelmann spruce. In 1882 a visitor noted, "We, who ... have wandered through its forests and parks, have come to regard it as the most enchanting region it has ever been our privilege （特权） to visit.”This was also the living place of the Rocky Mountain mule deer. Indians hunted there every autumn to gather meat and skins. The forest also had mountain lions, timber wolves and bobcats that kept the deer from multiplying too rapidly.
Then, in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made the Kaibab a national game preserve. Deer hunting was forbidden. Government hunters started killing off the deer’s enemies. In 25 years’ time, 6,250 mountain lions, wolves and bobcats were killed. Before the program, there were about 4,000 deer in the Kaibab, by 1924, there were about 100,000.
The deer ate every leaf and twig they could reach. But there was not nearly enough food. Hunting of deer was permitted again. This caused a slight decrease in the deer herd （鹿群），but a far greater loss resulted from starvation （饥饿） and disease. Some 60 percent of the deer herd died in two winters. By 1930 the herd had dropped to 20,000 animals. By 1942 it was down to 8,000.The destruction of the environment of the Kaibab resulted from .
| A．turning the forest into cultivated land |
| B．interfering with natural cycle of forest life |
| C．forest fires caused by man’s carelessness |
| D．cutting the trees for building materials |
"Engelmann spruce"（Para. 2） is most likely the name of .
| A．a tree | B．an animal | C．a mountain | D．a game |
The number of the deer in the Kaibab had increased enormously in years’ time.
| A．25 | B．6 | C．18 | D．12 |
Years later, large numbers of deer in the Kaibab died mainly because of .
A． the cold |
B．the organized kill |
| C．the shortage of food | D．the poor management |
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” Fill up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"
The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it’s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless （鲁莽的） or daring, the ride can be as thrilling （惊心动魄的） as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the rightor the lefthand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you’ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the armrests even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?
| A．Buses on the road. | B．Films on television. |
| C．Advertisements on the billboards. | D．Gas stations. |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To give the writer’s opinion about long bus trips. |
| B．To persuade you to take a long bus trip. |
| C．To explain how bus trips and television shows differ. |
| D．To describe the billboards along the road. |
The writer of this passage would probably favor .
| A．bus drivers who aren’t reckless | B．driving alone |
| C．a television set on the bus | D．no billboards along the road |
The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because .
A．the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun |
| B．they both have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with commercials in between |
| C．the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses |
| D．both traveling and watching TV are not exciting. |
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are .
| A．exciting | B．comfortable | C．tiring | D．boring |
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