A story from the Bible tells of old Babylon, where the men decided to build a tower that would touch the sky．But God was unhappy, and he made them speak different languages．They couldn’t understand each other, so their dream never came true．
Yet the dream remains alive: if all men speak the same language, they can do anything．L．L．Zamenhof from Poland was among the men who pursue this dream．He developed Esperanto（世界语）between 1877 and 1885．
As the most successful man-made world language, it is spoken by over two million people around the world．Last month, the World Esperanto Congress（大会）, dealing with language rights, ended in Sweden．The 2004 conference will be held in Beijing．Most Esperanto speakers are in Central and Eastern Europe and in East Asia, particularly Chinese mainland．
Esperanto has two advantages．First, it’s easy．Each letter has exactly one sound and there are just 16 basic grammar rules．The second advantage is that it belongs to no one country．But Esperanto has only reached a small number of people compared with natural languages widely used around the world-such as English or Chinese．While these languages are deeply connected with their nations and cultures, Esperanto doesn’t have this background．
Will Esperanto really become a global language? It remains a question．The writer tells us a story at the beginning to ．
| A．explain why men have been making the effort to create a language shared by all |
| B．explain why men now speak different languages |
| C．show the relationship between man and God |
| D．prove that language is very important |
What does the underlined word “pursue” in the second paragraph mean?
| A．“Realize”． | B．“Work for”． | C．“Be against”． | D．“Follow”． |
What is the basic difference between Esperanto and English?
| A．More people speak English than Esperanto． |
| B．Esperanto words are easier to spell． |
| C．Esperanto has fewer grammar rules． |
| D．Esperanto is not supported by any country or culture． |
What does the story mainly talk about?
| A．Advantages and disadvantages of Esperanto． |
| B．Men’s dream of sharing the same language． |
| C．The most successful planned language-Esperanto． |
| D．Comparison of Esperanto and other languages like English and Chinese． |
Forget chip fat, sugar cane or rapeseed oil — the latest source of biofuel could be watermelons. Scientists have discovered that the fruit is a great source of sugar that can be readily distilled (蒸馏) into alcohol to power cars and farm machinery.
And sellers reject 360,000 tons of “substandard” fruit every year in America alone which could be used as an economical way to make fuel. The waste from US growers could produce nearly two million gallons (nine million litres) of biofuel per year.
In the study, researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture set out to determine the biofuel potential of juice from rejected watermelons —those not sold due to cosmetic imperfections, and currently ploughed back into the field. About a fifth of each yearly watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes (瑕疵) or because they are misshapen.
Dr. Wayne Fish, who led the team, found that 50 percent of the fruit was fermentable (可发酵的) into alcohol which could provide valuable fuel.
“We’ve shown that the juice of these watermelons is a source of readily fermentable sugars, representing an unexploited raw material for alcohol biofuel production,” he said.
The study, published in the journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, discovered that watermelons could produce around 20 gallons of fuel per acre from fruit that otherwise would go to waste.
Production of biofuels has been targeted by Western governments as a way to support renewable energy targets.
The European Union has a target for 2010 that 5.75 percent of transport fuels should come from biological sources, but the target is unlikely to be met.
The British government’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires five percent of the fuel sold at the pump by 2010 to be biofuel.The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．watermelon juice will be the largest source of renewable energy |
| B．the advantages of fuel made from watermelons |
| C．Western countries aim at producing biofuels |
| D．watermelons could be used to make fuel |
It can be learned from the text that ______.
| A．about two gallons of fuel could be made from rejected fruit per acre |
| B．sellers in the world throw away 360,000 tons of watermelons every year |
| C．half of the watermelons were fermentable into alcohol to provide energy |
| D．five percent of fuel is required to be biofuel from watermelons by 2010 in Britain |
The underlined word “cosmetic” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.
| A．fresh | B．sweet | C．surface | D．inside |
We can infer from the passage that ______.
| A．it will cost a lot to make biofuel from watermelons |
| B．Western countries are engaged in biofuel study but still have a long way to go |
| C．watermelon juice has been used as a source of sugars to produce alcohol biofuel |
| D．the European Union is likely to meet its target of transport fuels from biological sources |
What’s On Stage
An acrobatic show: To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the China Acrobatic Troupe (剧团) will present “The Soul of China”, where the seemingly impossible is made real. Chills will run down your spine(脊柱) as you watch breathlessly as performers take their art and their bodies to the edge.
Time: 7:30 p.m., September 13-19
Place: Capital Theatre, 22 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District
Exhibitions
Joint Show: A group ink painting exhibition is running at the Huangshicheng Art Gallery in Beijing. About 50 works by 25 young artists including Ge Yun and Yu Yang are on display.
Time: 9:00 a. m.-5:00 p.m. until September 10
Place: Huangshicheng Art Gallery, 136 Nanchizi Dajie, Dongcheng District
Oil paintings: The Wanfung Art Gallery will host a joint show of oil painting by 10 young and middle-aged artists. On display are more than 30 of their latest works, which capture the wondrous variety of life in unique styles.
Time: 9:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m. until September 15
Place: 136 Nanchizi Street, Dongcheng District
Literature museum: The National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature offers an in-depth study of the evolution of Chinese contemporary literature from 1919 to 1949.
Time: 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., daily
Place: 45 Anyuan Donglu, Chaoyang District (Shaoyaoju area)
Concerts
Beijing rocks: “The Fashion Night of Chinese Rock” is set to bring rock fans out by the thousands next month. Nine Chinese rock bands will perform at the concert, including older generation bands, middle generation and some recent arrivals. The audience will be given a chance to decide what songs they want to hear, which is sure to bring a storm.
Time: September 16
Place: The Olympic Center
Belgium orchestra：La Petite Bande, the Baroque Orehestra of Belgium, will perform in Beijing at the Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities as part of activities across the world in memory of the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death.
Time: 7:30 p.m. September 11-14
Place: Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities What do you think of the acrobatic show mentioned above?
| A．When you watch it, you will certainly feel cold. |
| B．Unexpected things will make you excited and surprised. |
| C．Something strange will puzzle everyone, including scientists. |
| D．Even the bravest ones will be too frightened to go on watching. |
The most characteristic thing about the Fashion Night of Chinese Rock is that ______.
| A．it will certainly cause a rock storm throughout China |
| B．it is to bring thousands of rock fans out of their homes |
| C．it is to be held in memory of one of the greatest musicians |
| D．it will let the audience choose the performers and the music |
Suppose it is September 14 today, how many activities can people choose to attend?
| A．2. | B．3. | C．4. | D．5. |
On the whole, we can conclude ______.
| A．we can enjoy a large variety of cultural activities in Beijing |
| B．people in Beijing prefer modern culture to something traditional |
| C．most of the cultural activities in Beijing are for foreign visitors only |
| D．there are usually more cultural activities in September than in any other month |
Slow parenting means parenting children in the contact of nature without any interference (干预) of materialistic influence. We can also term it as “self-raising”. In slow parenting children are allowed to do what they think proper and parents just keep a watch over the child. Curiosity of the child leads to exploring and discovering things. Parents provide little help only when it’s too necessary, otherwise keep themselves away from the child and just have a look on him/her: This brings about a feeling of self-dependency and they are encouraged to solve their problems.
This is a natural way of learning. When a child is left to learn in a natural environment, the child’s natural development takes place. Influence of any materialistic way doesn’t let the mind develop naturally. Watching TV, playing video games or joining classes of dance, swimming or any other sports will not let the mind develop naturally.
Here creativity of their mind is developed. They explore ideas. The logic behind this is that the kids of animals learn by nature, so can our kids. So let our children play in the garden, to watch flowers, plants, birds, butterflies and other gifts of nature. In the classes of dance, swimming etc. their creativity is influenced and their natural creativity is suppressed (压制). In these classes they are overburdened and can’t train their creativity. So let them play in the open air or garden without any burden instead of joining classes.
Generally parents give toys to their children and explain how to operate them. But those parents who believe in slow parenting give toys and observe how the children are managing them. Their skill to learn and understand comes out. Maybe the process is slow, but it will be their exploration, which will make them self-dependent, and self-capable to learn.In slow parenting, parents ______.
| A．set limits to what their children do |
| B．keep a close watch over their children |
| C．give the whole directions to what their children do |
| D．give their children freedom to do what they think proper |
What is the main advantage of slow parenting according to the passage?
| A．Arousing children’s curiosity. |
| B．Helping children to be independent. |
| C．Making children interested in exploring nature. |
| D．Keeping children away from materialistic influence. |
We can infer from the third paragraph that______.
| A．children should join some classes |
| B．slow parenting should be done in a logical way |
| C．exploring nature is a good way of slow parenting |
| D．children can’t learn by nature like the kids of animals |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Slow parenting and its advantages. | B．Different parenting styles. |
| C．The requirements of slow parenting. | D．The author’s opinion on slow parenting. |
Dr Asim Syed, 32, has performed more than 100 operations at London’s Hammersmith Hospital in the country’s busiest transplant unit, but never imagined that he would one day become a donor himself.
He stepped forward when was told his 64-year-old mother might be dead within months unless she got a new kidney (肾). The worried surgeon brought her to London to be cared for at his hospital. However, it was not all plain sailing. Tests showed Dr Syed was the wrong blood group, so the only way was to go through a special blood-washing process. He consulted colleagues about that, but they didn’t agree, because the risk of rejection is still too high. Dr Syed and his mother were then advised to consider a new way of donating and receiving, called an organ-paired. That is, Dr Syed donated his kidney to an unknown person and another donor in the chain was a successful match for his mother. The chain of three transplants took place at the same time on July 31 with Dr Syed’s kidney going to a recipient in the Midlands and Mrs. Syed receiving her kidney from a person in the south of England.
Just hours after donating his own kidney, Dr Syed found himself recovering in bed next to his mother. Mrs Syed said, “When I came round from my operation Asim was in the next bed and the first thing he said was, ‘Mum now all your worries are over.’ Tears fell down.”
Now mother and son are recovering well with Dr Syed already back at work. Mrs. Syed is staying with him for several months while the hospital monitors her progress.
He said, “I did what anyone would do when they see a relative suffering disease. Although I wasn’t able to help mum directly, by agreeing to be part of a chain, I was also very happy.” Why isn’t it a plain sailing?
| A．No one can treat his mother well. |
| B．Dr Syed was the wrong blood group. |
| C．They didn’t have money to be in hospital. |
| D．Mrs. Syed was unwilling to receive the operation. |
Why didn’t his colleagues agree to the method of blood-washing?
| A．It is very dangerous. | B．It costs too much. |
| C．They didn’t know how to do it at all. | D．They didn’t have the relative equipment. |
What can we learn about Mrs. Syed?
| A．She was touched by his son’s deed. |
| B．She has already recovered completely. |
| C．After operation, she went her own home. |
| D．She was in hospital in London for many years. |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．The hospital still needs improving. |
| B．Dr Syed has love and devotion to his parents. |
| C．The expense in the hospital is too high to afford. |
| D．Dr Syed donated his kidney to his mother directly. |
Many psychologists in the early twentieth century believed that humans use only 10 percent of their brains, and even the great Albert Einstein once wrote that most people use only a small portion of the grey matter between their ears. It’s a theory that has often been put forward in television documentaries; magazines, advertisements and books over the past century.
But nearly all scientists now agree the 10 percent theory is completely unfounded. In fact, they question how this figure was ever arrived at in the first place and what areas of the brain are supposed to be unneeded. The theory supposes that if 90 percent of the brain were removed, a person would Still be able to function normally, while in reality it is known that damage to even a small area of the brain can result in extremely serious physical injury different activities and that many areas of the brain are used at the same time for some complex activities or thought processes.
Throughout the course of one day, most .areas of the brain are active at some time, even during sleep. The 10 percent theory suggests that certain areas o’ the brain are not used, but scans slow activities throughout the entire brain and not in any separate part. The final argument against the 10 percent theory is the fact that doctors carefully map the brain before removing brain cancers so that they don’t affect other essential areas.
From an evolutionary point of view, it’s highly unlikely butt our comparatively larger brains would have evolved from our ancestors if the extra areas were not needed. In fact, there is absolutely no evidence support the 10 percent theory.How did the 10 percent theory get such widespread popularity?
| A．It was promoted in various types of copular media. |
| B．Albert Einstein argued strongly in support. |
| C．It was proven in scientific research. |
| D．Few people could prove it wrong. |
The underlined word "unfounded" is chest in meaning to _________.
| A．undiscovered | B．unproven | C．unknown | D．unnecessary |
Which of the following is true according to the writer?
| A．We use less than 10% of our brains. |
| B．Most brain disorders affect the same part of the brain. |
| C．The brain is less active during times of sleep. |
| D．The 10 percent theory does not make evolutionary sense. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．People today use more of their brain than in the past. |
| B．Scientific opinion about the topic of brain use is equally divided. |
| C．Our understanding of the brain has changed greatly in the past decades. |
| D．Modern scientists have a complete picture of how the brain works. |
What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To present two sides of brain theory. |
| B．To criticize the 10 percent theory. |
| C．To explain how brain works. |
| D．To describe the history of brain research. |
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