Europe’s deadly outbreak of a rare form of E. coli bacteria (大肠杆菌) has brought new attention to food safety issues. One of the problems when people get sick from food is that the simplest question is often difficult or even impossible to answer. Just what did the people eat that made them sick?
Of course, one way to avoid these medical mysteries is to keep dangerous organisms out of the food supply. This is easier said than done, but scientists keep looking for new ways.
Scientists in the United States have developed an experimental system that uses a high-tech optical scanner. The system is designed to identify the presence of contaminants(致污物) like soil or animal waste on fresh produce. These can be sources of E. coli. E. coli bacteria naturally live in the intestines(肠) of humans and many animals. Most kinds of E. coli are harmless but some can make people sick.
The new scanner can also show damage and imperfections that might make the produce unappealing to shoppers.
Scientists designed the system at a Department of Agriculture research center in Beltsville, Maryland. Moon Kim of the Agricultural Research Service led the team.
MOON KIM: “We were requested, we were asked, to develop a method to detect contamination in produce. So we started with the apple as the model sample.”
The scanner uses a high-speed camera placed over the conveyer belt that moves the produce along. As the apples move along the belt, the scanner captures images of each piece of fruit.
Moon Kim says the team hopes the system will be available before long.
MOON KIM: “We are targeting for development in commercial plants for the next several years.”
The scanner can direct a sorting machine to separate the bad apples from the good ones. The system is currently able to show the surface of only half the apple as it speeds by. The inventers hope to improve the process so it can show the whole surface.What is the main topic of the text?
| A．Bacteria. | B．A high-tech scanner. |
| C．A camera | D．Food safety. |
E. coli bacteria ______.
| A．broke out all over the world | B．comes from soil or animal waste |
| C．is extremely harmful to health | D．does not cause illness |
The high-tech scanner ______.
| A．can help to sort out different fruits |
| B．make the produce appeal to shoppers |
| C．can only capture images of the whole apple |
| D．can identify the presence of contaminants |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．The scanner needs to be improved. |
| B．The scanner will be available in the next several years. |
| C．Moon Kim is unwilling to develop the scanner. |
| D．The scanner is connected to a sorting machine. |
I have only once been in trouble with the law．The whole process of being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now． What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary （随意的） circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent （随后的） fate in court．
It happened in February about twelve years ago．I had left school a couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the following October．I was still living at home at the time．
One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I lived．I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some money to go traveling．As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me．It must have been this obvious ainilessness that led to my downfall．
It was about half past eleven when it happened．I was just walking out of the local library, having unsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across the road with the obvious intention of talking to me．I thought he was going to ask me the time．Instead, he said he was a police officer and he was arresting me．At first I thought it was some kind of joke．
But then another policeman appeared, this time in uniform, and I was left in no doubt．
'But what for?" I asked．
‘Wandering with intent to commit an arrestable offence,' he said．
‘What offence?' I asked．
'Theft,' he said．
'Theft of what?' I asked．
'Milk bottles,' he said, and with a perfectly straight face too!
'Oh,' I said．
It turned out there had been a lot of petty thefts in the area, particularly that of stealing milk bottles from doorsteps．
Then I made my big mistake．At the time I was nineteen, had long untidy hair, and regarded myself as pan of the sixties' 'youth counterculture'．As a result, I wanted to appear cool and unconcerned with the incident, so I said, 'How long have you been following me? in the most casual and conversational tone I could manage．I thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with this sort of situation, and it confirmed them in their belief that I was a thoroughly disreputable （品行不端的） character．
A few minutes later a police car arrived．
'Get in the back,' they said．'Put your hands on the back of the front seat and don't move them．'
They got in on either side of me．It wasn't funny any more．
At the police station they questioned me for several hours．I continued to try to look worldly and familiar with the situation．When they asked me what I had been doing, I told them I'd been looking for a job．'Aha,' I could see them thinking, 'unemployed'．
Eventually, I was officially charged and told to report to Richmond Magistrates' Court the following Monday．Then they let me go．
I wanted to conduct my own defense in court, but as soon as my father found out what had happened, he hired a very good solicitor （律师） ．We went along that Monday armed with all kinds of witnesses, including my English teacher from school as a character witness．But he was never called on to give evidence．My 'trial' didn't get that far．The magistrate （法官） dismissed the case after fifteen minutes．1 was free．The poor police had never stood a chance．The solicitor even succeeded in getting costs awarded against the police．
And so I do not have a criminal record．But what was most shocking at the time was the things my release from the charge so clearly depended on．I had the 'right' accent, respectable middle-class parents in court, reliable witnesses, and I could obviously afford a very good solicitor．Given the obscure nature of the charge．I feel sure that if I had come from a different background, and had really been unemployed, there is every chance that I would have been found guilty．While asking for costs to be awarded, my solicitor's case quite obviously revolved （回转） around the fact that I had a 'brilliant academic record'．
Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of the policemen who had arrested me was gloomily complaining to my mother that another youngster had been turned against the police． 'You could have been a bit more helpful when we arrested you,' he said to me reproachfully （责备地） ．
What did he mean? Probably that I should have looked outraged （暴怒）and said something like, 'Look here, do you know who you're talking to? I am a highly successful student with a brilliant academic record．How dare you arrest me!' Then they, probably, would have apologized perhaps even taken off their caps, and let me on my way．Judging from the first paragraph, the writer's attitude towards his story is _______．
| A．angry | B．sad |
| C．amused | D．more than just one of the above |
The first man who came up to him was ______．
| A．a uniformed policeman | B．a policeman in plainclothes |
| C．not a policeman | D．a good joker |
The court never asked the author's English teacher to give evidence because _______．
| A．the time for the trial was limited to fifteen minutes only |
| B．the author wanted to conduct his own defense in court |
| C．the case was dismissed before the trial reached that stage |
| D．he was found to be unqualified as a character witness |
The author believes that he would most probably have been declared guilty if _______．
| A．the magistrate had been less gentle |
| B．he had really been out of work |
| C．he had been born in a lower—class family |
| D．both B and C |
In the opinion of one of the policeman who had arrested the author, the whole thing might not have occurred if ______．
| A．he had protested strongly at the time |
| B．he had begged to be allowed to go home |
| C．he hadn't wandered aimlessly |
| D．he had tried to look cool |
We can see from the passage that the author ______．
| A．has broken the law only once |
| B．has never broken the law |
| C．has broken the law on more than one occasion |
| D．once broke the law without knowing it |
McDonald's is the world single biggest food provider with annual sales of around $12.4bn. And the company's symbol Ronald McDonald is now （or so the company claims） the word's most recognized person after Santa Claus.
The first McDonald's restaurant was opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1948 by brothers Mac and Richard “Dick” McDonald. Mac ran the restaurant side; Dick was the marketing genius. He had already invented the drive-in laundry and had been the first person to use neon lights in advertising. Now he spotted the gap in the post-war, baby-boom market for cheap, family-orientated restaurants with simple menus, standardized food and efficient service.
After a slow start, business began to boom. By 1954, the brothers were joined by another entrepreneur, a kitchen equipment salesman called Ray A Kroc who owned the franchise to the Multimixer, milk shake maker used throughout the McDonald's chain. A year later, Kroc had bought the McDonald brothers' chain of 25 franchises for the equivalent of around $70m（￡44m）. Dick remained with the company until the Seventies, when he and Kroc fell out over Kroc's claim that the chain was his creation.
Today, an almost Stalinist cult of personality surrounds Kroc （who died in 1984） at McDonald's, while the brothers who gave the company its name have all but been written out of its history. But though Kroc did not found McDonald's, he was certainly responsible for the empire-building philosophy which led to its world domination. He ushered in such essential contributions to international cuisine as the Big Mac （1968） and the Egg McMuffin （1973）; and helped launch Ronald McDonald —— “in any language he means fun” —— on to television in 1963.
Every three hours, a new McDonald's franchise opens somewhere in the world; it can be found in more than 100 countries including India （vegetarian-only to avoid offending the non-beef-eating populace） and Israel （non kosher, despite fierce local objection）. McDonald's chain embodied the thrusting, can-do spirit of Fifties America with staff mottoes such as “If you've got time to lean, you've go time to clean.” McDonald's was founded _____.
| A．by a kitchen equipment salesman |
| B．in California. |
| C．by a marketing genius called Dick McDonald. |
| D．after the first World War. |
What do we know about McDonald's brothers?
| A．They were not McDonald's founders although they named the restaurant. |
| B．Their business was still in depression after several years. |
| C．They had clear job separation on business. |
| D．They sold their restaurant to a salesman in 1954. |
Which is not Kroc's contribution to McDonald's ?
| A．He launched the restaurant image Ronald McDonald on to television. |
| B．Under his lead, international cuisine as the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin earned worldwide fame |
| C．He spotted the gap in postwar market for cheap, family-orientated restaurants. |
| D．He built McDonald's empire with a philosophy which led to its world domination. |
Which statement is true according to the passage?
| A．The single biggest food provider was however, not named after its founder |
| B．The international cuisine as the Big Mac, a beef hamburger, is provided every chain restaurant in the world. |
| C．Employees in McDonald's have no time to lean. |
| D．The symbol Ronald McDonald, means fun in any language, is said to the word most recognized person after Santa Claus. |
The economic growth that many nations in Asia and increasingly Africa have experienced over the past couple of decades has transformed hundreds of millions of lives – almost entirely for the better. But there’s a byproduct to that growth, one that’s evident – or sometimes less than evident – in the smoggy, smelly skies above cities like Beijing, New Delhi and Jakarta. Thanks to new cars and power plants, air pollution is bad and getting worse in much of the world, and it’s taking a major toll (伤亡人数，代价) on global health.
How big? According to a new analysis published in the Lancet, more than 3.2 million people suffered deaths from air pollution in 2010, the largest number on record. That’s up from 800,000 in 2000. And it’s a regional problem: 65% of those deaths occurred in Asia, where the air is choked by diesel soot (内燃发动机烟雾) from cars and trucks, as well as the song from power plants and the dust from endless urban construction. In East Asia and China, 1.2 million people died, as well as another 712,000 in South Asia, including India. For the first time ever, air pollution is on the world’s top – 10 list of killers, and it’s moving up the ranks faster than any other factor.
So how can air pollution be so damaging? It is the very finest soot – so small that it roots deep within the lungs and from the enters the bloodstream – that contributes to most of the public – health toll of air pollution including death. Diesel soot, which can also cause cancer, is a major problem because it is concentrated in cities along transportation zones affecting overpopulated areas. It is thought to contribute to half the deaths from air pollution in urban centers. Fro example, 1 in 6 people in the U.S. live near a diesel – pollution hot spot like a rail yard, port terminal or freeway.
We also know that air pollution may be linked to other non – deadly diseases. Fortunately in the U.S. and other developed nations, urban air is for the most part cleaner than it was 30 or 40 years ago, thanks to regulations and new technologies like the catalytic converters (催化式排气净化器) that reduce automobile emissions. Governments are also pushing to make air cleaner – see the White House’s move last week to further tighten soot standards. It’s not perfect, but we’ve had much more success dealing with air pollution than climate change.
Will developing nations like India eventually catch up? Hopefully – though the problem may get worse before it gets better. The good news is that it doesn’t take a major technological advance to improve urban air. Switching from diesel fuel to unleaded (无铅燃油) helps, as do newer and cleaner cars which are less likely to send out pollutants. Power plants – even ones that burn mineral fuels like coal – can be fitted with pollution – control equipment that, at a price, will greatly reduce smog and other pollutants.
But the best solutions may involve urban design. In the Guardian, John Vidal notes that Delhi now has 200 cars per 1,000 people, far more than much richer Asian cities like Hong Kong and Singapore. Developing cities will almost certainly see an increase in care ownership as residents become wealthier – and that doesn’t have to mean deadly air pollution. Higher incomes should also lead to tougher environmental regulations, witch is exactly what happened in the West. We can only hope it happens before the death toll from bad air gets even higher. What tends to give rise to the highest death toll according to the passage?
| A．The lack of tight environmental protection standards. |
| B．The increasing numbers of the diesel cars and trucks. |
| C．The frighteningly high death rate from deadly cancer. |
| D．The world’s serious air pollution such as soot and dust. |
The “byproduct” (Paragraph 1) most probably refers to .
| A．consequence | B．solution | C．reform | D．design |
The basic reason why so many people die from air pollution is that .
| A．the diesel soot is too small to be seen |
| B．the diesel soot is much too poisonous to breathe |
| C．the diesel soot roots in lungs and gets into blood |
| D．the diesel soot can also contribute to deadly cancer |
According to the passage, the writer actually wants to convince the readers that .
| A．the global economic growth is mainly to blame for air pollution and climate change |
| B．the developing countries are repeating the same mistakes as the developed ones made |
| C．the ecological situation and air pollution in India are becoming worse and worse |
| D．the unbeatable air is increasingly becoming a major killer throughout the world |
By describing urban design as “the best solution” in the last paragraph, the writer means that .
| A．the making of tougher environmental regulations alone is of little use |
| B．more sever regulations should be made to handle air pollution |
| C．the urban construction in western developed countries is the best choice |
| D．the pace of development has to be slowed down to reduce air pollution |
Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around for individuals who would be my first investors. “Angel money” it was called. But when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help, I found the number got small.
With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And if you struggled, they could drop you cold.
As I was searching for “angel money”, I started to build a team who trusted me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet.
Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major technology “guy” in-house.
Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him.
We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night, my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good business at the time.
Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no guarantees of success.
She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000.
I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven.
“I have confidence in your plan,” she said. “You' 11 do well. You're going to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company.”
Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She left and I just stood there, completely humbled and completely committed.For a newly-established business, bum rate refers to___________.
| A．the salary it pays to its staff |
| B．the interest it pays to the bank |
| C．the way in which it raises capital |
| D．the speed at which it spends money |
By "Angel money", the author refers to__________.
| A．the money borrowed from banks |
| B．the money spent to promote sales |
| C．the money raised from close friends |
| D．the money needed to start a business |
To get help from a venture-capital company, you may have to__________.
| A．put up with unfair terms | B．change your business line |
| C．enlarge your business scope | D．let them operate your business |
The author easily built a team for his company because__________.
| A．they were underpaid at their previous jobs |
| B．they were turned down by other companies |
| C．they were confident of the author and his business |
| D．they were satisfied with the salaries in his company |
Louise decided to lend money to the author because__________.
| A．she wanted to join his company |
| B．she knew he would build a team |
| C．she knew his plan would succeed |
| D．she wanted to help promote his sales |
In the more and more competitive service industry, it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today, customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry, and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people; those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people, and 80 percent of the people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal.
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet. For example, many companies now have to invest a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls, being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.
“Many people do not like talking to machines,” says Dr. Storey Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. “Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them. The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust— the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.”
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours, but getting it done within two); replacing a faulty product immediately; throwing in a gift voucher (购物礼卷) as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers; and always returning calls, even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well, but if services do not reach the high level promised, disappointment or worse will be the result. This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, “I know how you must feel”), and possible solutions (replacement, compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care. Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather, unclaimed luggage and technical problems .
For British Airways staff, a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly, with their name, job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as "we do as we please”. On the other hand, the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment.We can learn from Paragraph 2 that .
| A．complaining customers are hard to satisfy |
| B．unsatisfied customers receive better service |
| C．Satisfied customers catch more attention |
| D．well-treated customers promote business |
The writer mentions “phone rage” (Paragraph 3) to show that________.
| A．customers often use phones to express their anger |
| B．people still prefer to buy goods online |
| C．customer care becomes more demanding |
| D．customers rely on their phones to obtain services |
What does the writer recommend to create delight?
| A．Calling customers regularly | B．Giving a “thank you” note. |
| C．Delivering a quicker service | D．Promising more gifts. |
If a manager should show his empathy (Paragraph 6), what would he probably say?
| A．“I know how upset you must be.” | B．“I appreciate your understanding.” |
| C．“I’m sorry for the delay.” | D．“I know it’s our fault.” |
Customer delight is important for airlines because________.
| A．their telephone style remains unchanged |
| B．they are more likely to meet with complaints |
| C．the services cost them a lot of money |
| D．the policies can be applied to their staff |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号