American teenager Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his sophomore year at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Mandarin class, he quickly changed his mind. “I thought it (Mandarin) would be more beneficial than Latin,” said Cheatham, who is now in his second year of studying the language.
He speaks Mandarin to order food at Chinese restaurants and can read Face book posts from his Chinese-speaking friends.
While it’a difficult language to master, the high school junior, who plans to study computer engineering, thinks it will be a valuable thing in his career.
“Chinese is a good language to know, especially with China becoming a growing power,” he said.
Many experts agree that proficiency in a language spoken by a billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy.
“People are looking at China as our next economic competitor, and interest in Mandarin is growing,'' said Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. ''We're seeing it in all parts of the country.”
The number of students studying Mandarin in public schools nationwide in grades 7 through 12 grew from 20,000 in 2004-2005 to 60,000 three years later, according to the council’s most recent survey.
Abbott estimates that as many as 100,000 students are now studying Mandarin, in public and private schools, throughout the nation.
She said the US government has considered Mandarin to be an “important needs” language and provides professional development programs for teachers.
“Our government wants to increase our language ability for national security and economic competitiveness,” Abbott said.
At the same time, the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes established in many states.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas, founded in 2007, opens Confucius Classrooms at 11 local public and private schools where more than 700 students are learning Mandarin.Why does the writer mention Thomas in the passage?
| A．To tell us how changeable he is. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| C．To introduce his college life. |
| D．To tell us Latin is less popular now. |
Many experts in America agree that _______.
| A．Mandarin is becoming more beneficial than Latin |
| B．Mandarin is very difficult to learn for most American students |
| C．Mandarin will be of some help to American students in the global economy |
| D．China is a competitor of America in culture |
Why does Mandarin become so popular in America?
| A．Because Mandarin is more interesting than Latin. |
| B．Because there are many good teachers in the Confucius Institutes. |
| C．Because Mandarin is very helpful in the global economy. |
| D．Because the Chinese government has tried his best. |
From the passage we know that the Confucius Institutes _______.
| A．have trained 100,000 students to learn Mandarin in America |
| B．provide professional development programs for teachers |
| C．have been established in many states in America |
| D．were founded in 2007 |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．An increasing number of students in America are learning Mandarin. |
| B．Confucius Institutes have been established in many states in America. |
| C．Latin is less popular in America now. |
| D．China now is becoming a growing power. |
Let’s pretend we’re sailing down the Rhine River on a pleasure boat. The Rhine is one of the main waterways of Germany, and the river traffic is heavy. It’s interesting to watch the many boats going up and down the river. But the river traffic is not nearly so interesting as the beautiful scenery along the banks and hillsides. The boat is passing many old castles. We can see people working in the vineyards (葡萄园) on the hillsides. There are vineyards as far as the eye can see. Wine from the Rhine Valley is famous all over the world.
Suddenly our boat slows down and begins to turn a little. We are coming to a sharp bend in the river. On our right we can see a rocky cliff over 400 feet high. At first it looks quite ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about it. There are many stories, poems, and songs about the cliff. We are looking at the Lorelei. Then someone on the boat begins to sing in German, the song of the Lorelei. It is a song about a beautiful siren (妖妇) who has lured(引诱) many sailors to their deaths.
The siren is supposed to sit on the rock combing her long golden hair and singing. The sailors who hear her forget to steer（掌舵）, and the current of river hurls (掀翻) their boats on the rocks and dashes（猛撞）them to pieces.
Soon other people on the boat begin to sing. The beautiful song adds to special magic to the moment, and you begin to realize why so many people have made this trip down the Rhine to see the rock of the Lorelei.The most interesting thing to those who are sailing down the Rhine River on a pleasure boat is .
| A．to watch many boats going up and down the river |
| B．to see the beautiful scene along the banks and hillsides |
| C．to hear a song about beautiful siren |
| D．to see a beautiful siren combing her golden hair |
Which of the following is famous all over the world?
| A．The Rhine River. | B．The River Traffic. |
| C．Wine from the Rhine Valley. | D．The Lorelei. |
We can see a rocky cliff over 400 feet high .
| A．on our right when coming to a sharp bend | B．on the Rhine hillsides |
| C．from the Rhine Valley | D．on the boat |
The song of the Lorelei is about .
| A．The Rhine wine |
| B．a rocky cliff |
| C．the beautiful scenery along the Rhine River |
| D．a beautiful and dangerous siren |
Gene technology to benefit people
Among all the fast growing science and technology, the research of human genes, or biological engineering as people call it, is drawing more and more attention now. Sometimes it is a hot topic discussed by people.
The greatest thing that gene technology can do is to cure serious diseases that doctors at present can almost do nothing with, such as cancer and heart disease. Every year, millions of people are murdered by these two killers. And to date, doctors have not found an effective way to cure them. But if the gene technology is applied, not only these two diseases can be cured completely, bringing happiness and more living days to the patients, but also the great amount of money people spend on curing their diseases can be saved, therefore it benefits the economy as well. In addition, human life span(寿命) can be prolonged.
Gene technology can help people to give birth to more healthy and clever children. Some families, with the English imperial(皇室) family being a good example, have hereditary(遗传的) diseases. This means their children will for sure have the family disease, which is a great trouble for these families. In the past, doctors could do nothing about hereditary diseases. But gene technology can solve this problem perfectly. The scientist just need to find the wrong gene and correct it and a healthy child will be born.
Some people are worrying that the gene research can be used to manufacture human beings in large quantities. In the past few years, scientists have succeeded in cloning a sheep; therefore these people predict that human babies would soon be cloned. But I believe cloned babies will not come out in large quantities, for most couples in the world can have babies in very normal way. Of course, the governments must take care to control gene technology. What does "these two killers" in the second paragraph refer to?
| A．Gene technology and another treatment of the two diseases. |
| B．The two murderers who killed the cloned baby |
| C．The two diseases of cancer and heart disease |
| D．Hereditary diseases and cancer |
What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
| A．How gene technology can be applied in the field of treating hereditary diseases. |
| B．Gene technology can be used to clone human babies. |
| C．Gene technology can help people to give birth of a baby. |
| D．Gene technology can help the English imperial family out |
In what way gene technology can help to treat hereditary diseases?
| A．Using gene technology, people with hereditary diseases can have more living days. |
| B．Using gene technology, scientist finds the wrong gene and corrects it. |
| C．Using gene technology, human babies can be cloned. |
| D．Doctors can cure cancer and heart disease with the help of gene technology. |
What is the main purpose of writing this passage?
| A．Expressing the writer’s idea that gene technology will benefit people |
| B．Telling people the advantages of gene technology |
| C．Telling the readers that gene technology will not benefit people |
| D．Explaining that gene technology will also do harm to the humanity |
In the West, advertisements are the fuel that makes mass media (大众传媒) work. Many TV stations, newspapers, magazines, radio stations are privately owned. The government does not give them money. So where does the money come from? From advertisements. Without advertisements, there would not be these private businesses.
Have you ever asked yourself what advertising is? Through the years, people have given different answers to the question. For some time it was felt that advertising was a means of “keeping your name before the public”. And some people thought that advertising was “truth well told”. Now more and more people consider it in this way: Advertising is the paid, non-personal, and usually persuasive presentation of goods, services and ideas by some certain sponsors (赞助商) through various media.
First, advertising is usually paid for. Various sponsors pay for the advertisements we see, read, and hear over the various media. Second, advertising is non-personal. It is not face-to-face communication. Although you may feel that a message in a certain advertisement is aimed directly at you, in fact, it is directed at large groups of people. Third, advertising is usually persuasive. Directly or indirectly it asks people to do something. All advertisements try to make people believe that the product, idea, or service advertised can benefit them. Fourth, the sponsors of the advertisement must show their names. From the advertisement, we can see if the sponsor is a company, or a single person. Fifth, advertising reaches us through old and modern mass media. Included in the old media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and films. Modern media include emails, matchbox covers, and boards on top of buildings.The existence of the privately owned mass media depends on the support of ________.
| A．the government | B．their owners families |
| C．advertisements | D．the TV stations |
The passage seems to say that different ideas about what advertising is are given due to ________.
| A．the change of time | B．the subject of the advertisements |
| C．people’s age difference | D．people’s different opinions |
Which of the following is considered modern mass media? ________.
| A．Newspapers | B．Emails | C．Magazines | D．Films |
According to the passage, which of the following statements about advertisements is NOT true?
| A．The sponsors are always mentioned. |
| B．Advertising must be honest and humorous. |
| C．There is the description of things advertised. |
| D．Advertising is directed at large groups of people. |
Most students hate their endless homework. The students from Class 2, Senior 2 of the High School Affiliated to Peking University certainly did before they published their own collection of English novels at home.
Their small book contains stories about a holy (神圣的) war, the happy life of a self-taught artist and the story of a laid-off worker who devoted his last breath to playing his beloved accordion (手风琴). The book becomes an instant hit on campus. About 3,000 copies have been sold and the class is already working on the second volume.
"We’re up to our ears in homework. Exercises and exams make us out of breath. But to do something creative and full of imagination is such a great achievement," said Yu Xiaoxiao, 16.
"I took the writing as an ordinary homework at the beginning, but after I finished the first part of my story, I could not help but let it flow," said Wang An, who wrote "Accordion".
Inspired by "Lord of the Rings", Jiang Lu wrote his story about magic wars between angels from the light and the dark side. "The main message of the story was to look at the balance of the world. Both dark and light angels fight with love as their weapons. I want to tell people that selfish love might bring hate," Jiang said.
"I was shocked by their work and felt so proud to be the editor of my students’ book," said Nathaniel Timmermann, the oral English teacher at the school. Liu Xiuqin, an English teacher, started the project by asking students to write whatever was in their mind every week. "They have performed beyond expectation," Liu said. "They wrote interesting stories and their English has improved after they started to express their real minds."
"We never imagined that our homework would be so popular and profitable (盈利的). We sell the novels at five yuan, but many teachers pay more to encourage us," said Yuan Mengyao. After Wang An finished the first part of his story, he _________.
| A．couldn’t go on | B．had to put it aside |
| C．just wanted to express it freely | D．lost it |
What was not the outcome of the students’ homework of writing whatever was in their mind?
| A．Being popular. | B．Being profitable. |
| C．Improving their English. | D．Winning prize. |
What is the reason for the students’ liking to write interesting stories?
| A．It is creative and imaginative. |
| B．It is profitable. |
| C．Interesting stories are sure to be popular. |
| D．Interesting stories can be well sold. |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Creative homework leads to a popular book |
| B．Writing interesting stories |
| C．Students’ new book |
| D．A popular book |
Without proper planning，tourism can cause problems．For example，too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of the country．If tourists create too much traffic，the inhabitants become annoyed and unhappy．They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely．They forget how much tourism can help the country’s economy．It is important to think about the people of a destination (旅行目的地) country and how tourism affects them．Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists．Tourism should also advance the wealth and happiness of local inhabitants．
Too much tourism can be a problem．If tourism grows too quickly，people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry．This means that other parts of the country’s economy can suffer．
On the other hand，if there is not enough tourism，people can lose jobs．Businesses can also lose money．It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels．Airports，first-class roads，and other support facilities (配套设施) needed by tourist attractions．For example，a major international class tourism hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build．If this room is not used most of the time，the owners of the hotel will lose money．
Building a hotel is just a beginning．There must be many other support facilities as well，including roads to get to the hotel，electricity，sewers (下水道) to handle waste，and water．All of these support facilities cost money．If they are not used because there are not enough tourists，jobs and money are lost．Which of the following do you think has been discussed in the part before this selection?
| A．It is extremely important to develop tourism． |
| B．Building roads and hotels is important． |
| C．Support facilities are highly necessary． |
| D．Planning is of great importance to tourism． |
The underlined word “inhabitants” (in Paragraph 1) probably means ______．
| A．citizens | B．passengers | C．population | D．tourists |
Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT _______．
| A．a bad effect on other industries | B．a change of tourists’ customs |
| C．over-crowdedness of places of interest | D．pressure on traffic |
It can be inferred from the text that _______．
| A．the author doesn’t like tourism developing so fast. |
| B．local people will benefit from tourist attraction. |
| C．people will lose jobs because of the development of tourism. |
| D．we shouldn’t build support facilities needed by tourist attractions . |
The author thinks it is good for local people to know that tourism will _____．
| A．waste a lot of money | B．weaken their economy |
| C．help establish (确立) their customs | D．help improve their life |
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