Transportation and communication networks bring people together. Yet sometimes people themselves create barriers to transportation and communication. In some countries, laws stop people from moving freely from place to place.
Over the centuries, many groups of people have been denied the freedom to travel because of their race, religion, or nationality. In the Middle Ages, for example, Jews were often forbidden to move about freely within certain cities. South Africa's government used to require black Africans to carry passes when they travel within the country. Some governments require all citizens to carry identification papers and to report to government officials whenever they move.
Countries set up Customs posts at their borders. Foreign travellers must go through a Customs inspection before they are allowed to travel in the country. Usually travellers have to carry special papers such as passports and visas(签证). Some countries even limit the number of visitors to their country each year. Others allow tourists to visit only certain areas of the country, or they may require that travellers be with an official guide at all times during their stay.
Many of those barriers to travel also act as barriers to communication. When two governments disagree with each other on important matters, they usually do not want their citizens to exchange news or ideas freely. Countries often try to keep military or industrial information secret.
Today, people have the ability to travel, to communicate, and to transport goods more quickly and easily than ever before. Natural barriers that were difficult or dangerous to cross a hundred years ago can now be crossed easily. The barriers that people themselves make are not so easy to overcome. But in spite of all the different kinds of barriers, people continue to enjoy travel and the exchange of goods and ideas.The examples in paragraph 2 are used to tell the readers that _______
| A．Customs posts are necessary at the borders of the countries |
| B．people have been allowed to travel freely within the country |
| C．people have not been permitted to travel freely for various reasons |
| D．travellers have to carry special papers such as passports and visas |
Some governments limit the freedom of communication because___
| A．they think such freedom will lead to wars |
| B．they more often than not agree with each other on important matters |
| C．they intend to keep their national secrets unknown to others |
| D．they want to show their authority over communication |
We may learn from the passage that _______
| A．people do not care about the removal of barriers between countries. |
| B．people can not remove the obstacles made by themselves |
| C．barriers should be taken for granted as they always exist |
| D．man-made barriers are sometimes harder to overcome than natural ones |
Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage?
| A．Functions of Communication | B．Barriers Made by People |
| C．Restrictions on Transportation | D．Progress of Human Society |
When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching (紧握) at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said. “We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods. While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on the top of other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said “You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. “Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too.”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence (善行) is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?
| A．To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado. |
| B．To call on unconcerned people to donate for the poor families. |
| C．To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper. |
| D．To make known what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family. |
Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?
| A．They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother. |
| B．Meghan’s decision inspired them to donate their favorite things. |
| C．They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things. |
| D．Meghan’s gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones. |
By “swallowing hard”, the writer means that ______.
| A．she was deeply puzzled by what the little girl did |
| B．she had trouble persuading Meghan not to give away Lucy |
| C．she was greatly moved by Meghan’s unexpected decision |
| D．she was uncertain what results Meghan’s action would bring about |
It is suggested in the sentence “the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart” that ______.
| A．sincere donation means offering help to others whole-heartedly |
| B．true giving means giving others what you treasure most |
| C．true generosity means helping others at the cost of your own benefit |
| D．honest benevolence means devoting yourself to the career of donation |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．The Greatest Love | B．A Beautiful Heart |
| C．True Generosity | D．A Precious Gift |
High-quality customer service is preached (宣扬) by many, but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.
Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store, but instead will warn their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers—and anyone who will listen.
Store managers are often the last to hear complaints, and often find out only when their regular customers decide to frequent their competitors, according to a study jointly conducted by Verde Group and Wharton School.
“Storytelling hurts retailers and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, President of the Verde Group. “The store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”
On average, every unhappy customer will complain to at least four others, and will no longer visit the specific store. For every dissatisfied customer, a store will lose up to three more due to negative review. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.
According to the research, shoppers who purchased clothing experienced the most problems. Ranked second and third were grocery and electronics customers.
The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered (塞满了的) shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude salespeople.
During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved parking problems by getting moonlighting (业余兼职的) local police to work as parking attendants(服务员). Some hired flag wavers to direct customers to empty parking spaces. This guidance rid the need for customers to circle the parking lot endlessly, and avoided conflict between those eyeing the same parking space.
Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store layouts(布局), pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.
Most importantly, salespeople should be diplomatic(外交手腕的) and polite with angry customers.
“Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly,” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as simple as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”
Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world. Retailers are hard-pressed to improve when they have no idea what is wrong.Why are store managers often the last to hear complaints?
| A．Most customers won’t take the trouble to complain even if they have had unhappy experiences. |
| B．Customers would rather tell their unhappy experiences to people around them. |
| C．Few customers believe the service will be improved. |
| D．It’s difficult for customers to get in touch with store managers. |
What does Paula Courtney imply by saying “…the shopper must also find a replacement” (Para. 4)
| A．New customers must replace old ones. |
| B．It is not likely the shopper can find the same products in other stores. |
| C．Most stores provide the same kind of service. |
| D．Not complaining to the manager causes the shopper some trouble too. |
Shop owners often hire moonlighting police as parking attendants so that shoppers________.
| A．can stay longer buying goods in the store |
| B．can park their cars without trouble |
| C．won’t have any worries about safety |
| D．can find their cars easily after shopping |
What contributes most to smoothing over issues with customers?
| A．Manners of the salespeople. |
| B．Hiring of efficient employees. |
| C．Huge supply of goods for sale. |
| D．Design of store layout. |
To achieve better shopping experiences, customers are advised to ________.
| A．put pressure on stores to improve their service |
| B．settle their arguments with stores in a diplomatic way |
| C．voice their dissatisfaction to store managers directly |
| D．shop around and make comparisons between stores |
About five years ago, an American electrical engineer named Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie came up with the idea of putting solar panels (控制板) on the ground rather than the roof. Then they began to develop the Solar Roadway. The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun while providing safer driving conditions, along with power and data delivery. They predict that the Solar Roadway will pay for itself through the generation of electricity along with other forms of income and that the same money that is being used to build and resurface current roads can be used to build the Solar Roadways.
Each Solar Road Panel measures roughly 4 meters by 4 meters and contains a microprocessor (微处理器) that monitors and controls the panel, while communicating with neighboring panels and the vehicles traveling overhead. The inventors suggest that this provides a communications device every 4 meters on every road which could be used for example to warn drivers of cars which are moving across a centre line and various other speed control problems. The top of the Solar Road panels is made of super-strong glass that would offer vehicles the tractions (抓地力) they need.
According to the inventors, the Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and therefore electric vehicles can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop, or at any business that has paved Solar Road Panels in their parking lots.
The inventors say their Solar Roadway has many functions and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths, sidewalks and runways. The Federal Highway Administration has given Brusaw ＄100,000 to develop the invention and Brusaw hopes to build a smart-road parking lot in the coming spring .In the inventors’ opinion, the Solar Roadway .
| A．is too expensive to build at present |
| B．costs no more money than current roads |
| C．can provide as many data as present computers |
| D．will bring them a large sum of money |
The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refers to .
| A．the panels | B．the inventors | C．the researchers | D．the vehicles |
The Solar Roadway includes all the following advantages except .
| A．providing safer driving conditions |
| B．helping drivers communicate with each other while driving |
| C．creating and carrying clean renewable electricity |
| D．warning drivers of various speed control problems |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．the Solar Roadway has already been put into use |
| B．＄100,000 is only enough to build a smart-road parking lot |
| C．the Solar Roadway is not available for gas-powered cars |
| D．future electric vehicles can be charged anytime and anywhere |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Solar-powered smart road of the future |
| B．The great changes on the roadway |
| C．The influence the Solar Roadway has on people |
| D．The Solar Road—a much faster road |
A person, like a commodity (商品), needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration(夸张), however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantages. To show personal attractiveness in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A skilled packager knows how to add art to nature without any signs of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is not a commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.
A young person, especially a female, shining with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted. Youth, however, comes and goes in a flash. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to hide the marks made by years. If you still enjoy life enough to keep self-confidence and work at pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your attractiveness and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life, which now arrives at a self - satisfied stage of quietness and calmness with no interest in fame or wealth. There is no need to make use of hair dyeing. The snow-capped mountain itself is a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old in step with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the company of the elderly is like reading a thick book of good edition, which attracts one so much that one is unwilling to part with it. As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity sets up its brand by the right packaging.The underlined word in the first paragraph is closest to the word ______ in meaning.
| A．decoration | B．clarification |
| C．movement | D．recognition |
It can be concluded from the text that ______.
| A．people should be packaged at all ages |
| B．people should be packaged in a special way |
| C．elderly people also care about packaging |
| D．proper packaging makes people attractive |
For the middle-aged, attractiveness ______ .
| A．hardly exists | B．is the strongest |
| C．comes from the inside | D．comes from the appearance |
According to the author, if you want to keep in harmony with nature, you should ______.
| A．dye your hair | B．make up at a young age |
| C．follow the ageing process | D．give up fame and wealth |
The underlined sentence means that elderly people ______.
| A．are usually packaged like a finely-made book |
| B．experience a lot and have rich knowledge of life |
| C．do a lot of traveling and can give you much information |
| D．enjoy reading thick books about beautiful nature and fairyland |
A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That’s the finding of a study of Dutch men in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce of salt water fish per day compared to those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific support to the long held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000 deaths occurring from heart attacks each year. But researchers previously have noticed that the incidence (发生率) of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption averages more than 3 ounces.
For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish.
At the start of the study, average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.
During the next two decades, 78 of the men died from heart disease. The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese or Eskimos. This relationship was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol（胆固醇）levels. The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．the high incidence of heart disease in some countries |
| B．the changes in people’s diet |
| C．the effect of fish eating on people’s health |
| D．the daily fish consumption of people in different cultures |
We can infer from the passage that there are fewer heart disease deaths ________.
| A．in the countries with high consumption of fish |
| B．in highly-developed countries |
| C．in countries of the yellow-skin race |
| D．in the countries with good production of fish |
The phrase “this relationship” in paragraph 6 refers to the connection between ______ and the incidence of heart disease.
| A．the amount of fish eaten | B．regular fish-eating |
| C．the kind of fish eaten | D．people of different areas |
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