They are among the 250, 000 people under the age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that makes up 40 percent of
the nation’s unemployed．A storm of anger boils up at the government-sponsored （政府资助的） youth center, even among those who ar
e continuing their studies．
“We study for jobs that don’t exist,” Nicollets Steggerda, 23, said．
After thirty years of prosperity, unemployment among 10 member nations of the European Community has reached as much as 11 percent, affecting a total of 12．3 million people, and the number is climbing．
The bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the Continent．The title of a rock song “No Future” can now be seen written on the brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France．
One form of protest（抗议） tends to put the responsibility for a country’s economic troubles on the large numbers of “guest workers” from Third World nations, people welcomed in Western Europe in the years of prosperity．
Young Europeans, brought up in an extended period of economic success and general stability, seem to be similar to Americans more than they do their own parents．Material enjoyment has given them a sense of expectation, even the right to a standard of living that they see around them．
“And so we pass the days at the discos, or meet people at the café, and sit and stare,” said Isabella Cault．"There is usually not much conversation．You look for happiness．Sometimes you even find it．”Unemployment in the Netherlands has affected _______
| A．one million people | B．250,000 people |
| C．1ess than half of the population | D．about 0.6 million people |
What Nicollete Steggerda said （Para．2） means that ________．
| A．the students cannot get work after graduation |
| B．what the students learn is more than necessary |
| C．the students’ aim in study is not clear |
| D．school education is not sufficient |
The underlined word ‘‘it” in the last paragraph most probably refers to ________．
| A．material enjoyment | B．a sense of expectation |
| C．happiness | D．a job |
It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit (追寻) of the dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him, “Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral（葬礼） is Wednesday.” Memories flashed（闪现）through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
“Jack, did you hear me?”
“Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. it’s been so long since I thought of him. I’m sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago,” Jack said.
“Well, he didn’t forget you. Every time I saw him he’d ask how you were doing. He’d reminisce (回忆) about the many days you spent over ‘his side of the fence’ as he put it, ” Mom told him.
“I loved that old house he lived in,” Jack said.
“You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man’s influence (影响) in your life,” she said.
“He’s the one who taught me carpentry. I wouldn’t be in this business if it weren’t for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things that he thought were important. Mom, I’ll be there for the funeral.” Jack said.
Busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time, which was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture … Jack stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” his Mom asked.
“The box is gone,” he said.
“What box?” Mom asked.
“There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he’d ever tell me was ‘the thing I value most’,” Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.
“Now I’ll never know what was so valuable to him,” Jack said sadly.
Returning to his office the next day, he found a package on his desk. The return address caught his attention.
“Mr. Harold Belser” it read.
Jack tore （撕）open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope（信封）. Jack’s hands shook as he read the note inside,
“Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bernett. It’s the thing I valued most in my life.” A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, and tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the fine cover, he opened it.
Inside he found these words carved: “Jack. Thanks for your time! Harold Belser.”
“Oh. My God! This is the thing he valued most …”
Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his assistant and cleared his appointments for the next two days. “Why?” his assistant asked.
“I need some time to spend with my son,” he said.Why did Belser send Jack his gold watch?
| A．Because he had no children or relatives. |
| B．Because he was grateful for Jack’s time with him. |
| C．Because he thought he had to keep his word. |
| D．Because Jack had always wanted it during his childhood. |
Why did Jack say he needed some time to spend with his son?
| A．He was very tired of his work and wanted to have a good rest. |
| B．He had promised to spare more time to stay with his son. |
| C．He had missed his son and his family for days. |
| D．He came to realize the importance of the time with his family. |
Why did Jack think Mr. Belser died years ago?
| A．College and career prevented him from remembering Mr. Belser. |
| B．Jack was too busy with his business and family to think about Mr. Belser. |
| C．Jack was too busy realizing his dreams to think about Mr. Belser. |
| D．His present busy life washed away his children memories. |
Jack’s mother told him on the phone about Mr. Belser EXCEPT that _________.
| A．Mr. Belser often asked how Jack was doing |
| B．Mr. Belser’s funeral would take place on Wednesday |
| C．Mr. Belser had asked for Jack’s mailing address |
| D．Mr. Belser had pleasant memories of their time together |
Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．The Good Old Times |
| B．The Lost Childhood Days |
| C．An Old Gold Watch |
| D．What He Valued Most |
Of course, the main difference on the Chinese dinner table is chopsticks instead of knife and fork, but that’s only superficial. Besides, in decent restaurants, you can always ask for a pair of knife and fork, if you find the chopsticks not helpful enough. The real difference is that in the West, you have your own plate of food, while in China the dishes are placed on the table and everyone shares. If you are being treated to a formal dinner and particularly if the host thinks you’re in the country for the first time, he will do the best to give you a taste of many different types of dishes.
The meal usually begins with a set of at least four cold dishes, to be followed by the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes. Soup then will be served (unless in Guangdong style restaurants) to be followed by staple food ranging from rice, noodles to dumplings. If you wish to have your rice to go with other dishes, you should say so in good time, for most of the Chinese choose to have the staple food at last or have none of them at all.
Perhaps one of the things that surprise a western visitor most is that some of the Chinese hosts like to put food into the plates of their guests. In formal dinners, there are always “public” chopsticks and spoons for this purpose, but some hosts may use their own chopsticks. This is a sign of genuine friendship and politeness. It is always polite to eat the food. If you do not eat it, just leave the food in the plate.
People in China tend to over-order food, for they will find it embarrassing if all the food is consumed. When you have had enough, just say so. Or you will always overeat!What’s the main difference on dinner table between China and West is ___________.
| A．On Chinese dinner table, chopsticks replace knife and fork. |
| B．The host will do the best to give you a taste of many different types of dishes. |
| C．You’re treated to a formal dinner for the first time. |
| D．You have your own plate of food in West while in China everyone shares the dishes. |
If you have a dinner in a Chinese home, in which order will the food be served in China?
a. a set of four cold dishes.
b. staple food such as rice, noodle or dumplings.
c. the main courses of hot meat and vegetable dishes.
d. serving soup.
| A．acbd | B．cabd | C．acdb | D．cadb |
According to the passage, we can infer that ___________.
| A．Chinese all think it impolite for guests to ask for a pair of knife and fork. |
| B．Chinese think it impolite for guests to leave food in the plate. |
| C．People in China tend to over-order food, for they will find it embarrassing if all the food is consumed. |
| D．Chinese think it polite to put food into the plated of the guests with their own chopsticks. |
The sentence, in passage 2, “you should say so in good time” means ______________.
| A．you should say so happily |
| B．you’d better say so |
| C．you should say so early |
| D．you should say so kindly. |
The “public chopsticks and spoons” are used to ______.
| A．show the politeness to the guests. |
| B．put food into the plates of their guests |
| C．share the food together |
| D．show the genuine friendship and politeness |
For over one hundred and fifty years, Americans of all social classes have worn blue jeans. Whether they are worn for work or for fashion today, Strauss’ invention continues to be popular not only among Americans but also among people around the world.
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829. He grew up in Kentucky before moving to New York in 1847. Before becoming an American citizen and moving to the West in 1853, Strauss worked in his brother’s dry goods business. This gave him a chance to produce his famous invention. After the gold rush of 1849, Strauss decided to move to the West to seek his fortune.
Strauss did not want to be a person who searched an area for minerals. Instead, he knew he could make a good living by selling supplies to the miners. At first, he planned to sell sewing supplies and cloth. When he heard miners complaining that their clothes were easily broken or they usually tore their pockets during mining, he decided to use a special fabric to make pants for the miners. These pants proved so popular that he quickly ran out of materials to make more.
In 1873, Strauss received a letter from a Jewish tailor named Jacob Davis who had invented a process of connecting pockets with copper rivets(铆钉). This made the pants last a long time. Because Davis did not have the money to patent his idea, he offered to share it with Strauss if Strauss would agree to pay for the patent.
By the time Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion.
The business has been growing ever since and Levi Strauss' company is now one of the largest clothing companies in the world.
| A．As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States. |
| B．Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable. |
| C．He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since. |
| D．However, he did not get much business for those products. |
E. He also made a great contribution to America's clothing industry.
F. Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have become a symbol of American consumer culture.
G. As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it.
Food safety will become the food industry’s key target as the nation tries to adopt international food standards. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Standardization Administration of China, the Ministry of Agriculture and six other departments announced their 2004-05 development programme for national food standards over the weekend.
China is conducting a rectification (整顿) within two years. Inspectors will search for all known banned materials in food production. To reduce trading barriers, China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry to 55 percent from today’s 23 percent. “Safety is the first consideration for anything entering people’s mouth followed by its nutritious value,” said Hao Yu, secretary-general of the National Food Industry Standardization Technique Committee. He added the usage of food addictives (添加剂) will be a major field for consideration in setting the new standards. On-the-spot checks during the past two years have shown the abuse (滥用) or misuse of addictives in food production and processing has become the biggest threat to food safety. In one case, talcum (滑石粉) powder was found in flour products, which is outlawed according to national food standards.
“At present there are no methods or standards to test the content of talcum powder in flour,” said Shang Yan’e, an official with the national watchdog on grain and oil inspections. Under the guidelines, all banned addictives will be recorded as inspections increase, Relevant departments have allocated (分配) funds to conduct risk evaluations on current food addictives to fix the limits of their usage. China will adopt international advanced techniques and standards so as to find out the harmful materials in food within a shortest period.China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry by _____.
| A．55% | B．32% | C．23% | D．78% |
_________ is the second consideration for anything people eat according to the passage.
| A．Safety | B．Value | C．Nutrition | D．Addictives |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Addictives are dangerous to people’s health. |
| B．Chinese food will be as safe as foreign food. |
| C．New food safety standards are to be fixed. |
| D．Food safety is a major concern in present China. |
Far from the land of Antarctica (南极洲), a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean. At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod.
For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish. How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secret. The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow. Now it seems we have an answer.
Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish. Scientists studied the fish’s blood and measured its freezing point.
The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of -1.88℃ and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it. The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to -2.05℃. That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice-salt mixture.
The scientists’ next research job was clear: Find out what in the fish’s blood kept it from freezing. Their search led to some really strange thing made up of a protein (蛋白质) never before seen in the blood of a fish. When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature. When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point.
Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein. It has many small sugar molecules (分子) held in special positions within each big protein molecule. Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein. So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein, or AFGP. What is the text mainly about?
| A．The terrible conditions in the Antarctic. |
| B．A special fish living in freezing waters. |
| C．The ice shelf around Antarctica. |
| D．Protection of the Antarctic cod. |
Why can the Antarctic cod live at the freezing temperature?
| A．The seawater has a temperature of - l.88℃ |
| B．It loves to live in the ice-salt mixture. |
| C．A special protein keeps it from freezing. |
| D．Its blood has a temperature lower than -2.05℃ |
What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．A type of ice-salt mixture. | B．A newly found protein |
| C．Fish blood. | D．Sugar molecule. |
What does “glyco-” in the underlined word “glycoprotein” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．sugar | B．ice | C．blood | D．molecule |
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