Below are some interesting columns from a website:
| Girl’s Crazy Historical Costumes Stella Ehrhart, a US third-grader, dresses up as a different historical figure every day before school—yes, you heard right! The 8-year-old has been coming to class in a different persona (人物) daily since the second day of second grade, when she showed up as American author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Stella gets ideas for what to wear from the book 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century. However, in the past years she has also dressed up as fictional characters including Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. The eager student managed to get through the entire second grade without repeating herself, but now she is running out of ideas. The girl’s parents, who are both theater professionals, say they support their daughter’s “creativity”. Her mother told UK news website The Huffington Post, “She goes into her closet and just picks out what she wants each day.” Learning Soars How do you get a child’s early education off the ground? A head teacher in the Georgian city of Rustavi has found a unique way of creating an exciting learning environment. He has transformed a plane into a kindergarten. Gari Chapidze bought an old but functional Yakovlev Yak-42 from Georgian Airways and filled it with education equipment, games and toys, but left the cockpit (驾驶舱) untouched so it could be used as a play area. “The idea was to create a kindergarten where children go |
with joy,” Chapidze, who runs the kindergarten, told AFP. “The children come in to the kindergarten with pleasure and cry when they have to go home. They are happy here,” he added. Taxi Driver Gets Lucky in Las Vegas Bright lights and big wins—this is what Las Vegas is known for, and even the taxi drivers here get lucky. Well, at least recently one did. Adam Woldemarim, 42, discovered $ 221,510 in the back of his van after a long day at work. The money was in a laptop case left between the seats of the Virgin Valley cab. What did Woldemarim do with the cash? He turned it in. The Ethiopian driver soon got a call from the case’s owner who, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had “won big” and was on his way to the airport when he realized he had forgotten his winnings. Woldemarim was given a $ 2,000 reward. But it was reported that the driver’s fellow taxi drivers thought he should have got a lot more. Eat Crickets (蟋蟀) and Worms at a Museum The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia is putting on a night for meat eaters who want to try some unusual foods. It is hosting a cocktail party on Oct 27 called Cuisine from the Collections. The food on the menu is inspired by the exhibited specimen (标本) at the museum. The event is for adults only. Let’s hope they don’t get a stomach bug from all the insects! |
Stella Ehrhart gets ideas on how to dress up every day before school from ________.
| A．Laura Ingalls Wilder | B．a book |
| C．Hermione Granger | D．her parents |
Which of the following is the biggest problem Stella Ehrhart is facing?
| A．She has to get through the entire second grade dressing up as others. |
| B．She finds her parents no longer offer her as much support as before. |
| C．She finds it hard to think of enough new figures to dress up. |
| D．She has difficulty dressing up without falling behind in study. |
Yakovlev Yak-42 is a certain kind of ________.
| A．school | B．company | C．toy | D．plane |
According to the passage, the van driver ________.
| A．was lucky to win a laptop case after a long day at work |
| B．was on his way to the airport when he saw the money |
| C．was given a reward but not quite satisfied with the sum |
| D．discovered the money but didn’t keep it for himself |
BEIJING changed the office hours of many institutions starting April 12 in the hope of reducing traffic jams during rush hour.
The new policy asked 800,000 employees to replace their former working schedule of 8:30 am to 5:30 pm with the new working hours of 9 am to 6 pm.
This is just one part of the Beijing municipal government’s plan to fight traffic jams. Starting April 1, daytime parking fees in 13 downtown areas were raised to encourage less driving. On April 2, the government announced limitations launched after the Beijing Olympics would be extended until April 2012. These ban Beijing’s 5.8 million drivers from driving one workday each week. The ban is based on the last number of the car license plate.
A multi-billion yuan fund has also been set up to build more underground ring roads in heavily populated areas. Major roads above ground will also be expanded.
According to Beijing’s traffic authorities, key projects include repairing major ring roads and expanding the subway network. The city will also create more taxi stops and bike rental stations, probably under the hundreds of overpasses (天桥) citywide.
Beijing’s fight against traffic jams is 
a smaller example of what is happening all around China. The central government is now supporting new ideas that will change the future of Chinese roads.
Bus rapid transit (BRT,快速公交系统) is one such idea. Special bus lanes carry almost as many passengers as a subway system. They cost less and are becoming popular in many big cities. Now Beijing has five BRT lines
Shanghai is dealing with traffic problems by charging higher fees for license plates（牌照）. The city is also controlling the total number of plates sold. Now, it is considering a plan to charge cars for entering the central business district, as London does.
Meanwhile, there are signs that Chinese are more aware of the serious problem of traffic. For example, there has been a sharp increase in the number of posts looking for carpooling (拼车) partners on major websites.
By the end of March, 2010, China had 192 million cars, according to the Ministry of Public Security. The article is mainly about___________.
| A．the fight against traffic jams all around the world |
| B．the increase of daytime parking fees in 13 downtown areas in Beijing |
| C．the Beijing municipal government’s measures to reduce traffic jams |
| D．news ideas that are likely to change the future of Chinese roads |
According to the new policy, workday office hours in Beijing will be___________.
| A．from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm | B．from 9 am to 6 pm |
| C．from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm | D．from 7:30 am to 4: 30 pm |
The plans made by the Beijing municipal government to fight traffic jam
s include all the following except ____________
| A．adjustments to office hours | B．increases in daytime parking fees |
| C．the extension of the limitations launched after the Beijing Olympics | |
| D．charging higher fees for license plates |
The article tells us that____________.
| A．the BRT system will become common China’s rural areas |
| B．the Chinese government is aiming at changing the future of Chinese roads |
| C．the Shanghai government has charged cars for entering the central business district |
| D．here are enough ways to deal with traffic jams in Beijing |
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night.The morning after the storm,though, was beautiful:blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently. My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him.I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast,but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape.After all,it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea.As we got on board,we noticed two big humps (脊背) in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it ——there aren’t any whales along the coast here.The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badlly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale——actually as big as our boat——was obviously stuck and could not move.The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves. “She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,”my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappared under water.Then it swam up right beside its mum.They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction.We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Showly, they let us lead them, some-times rising from the water right beside us to breathe——and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement, it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea. The author says “I’m so glad I did ” because __________.
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
| D．he spent the weekend with his family |
The harbour survived the storm because of ____________.
| A．the shape of the harbour | B．the arms of the bay |
| C．the still water in the channel | D．the long coast line |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because__________.
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough |
| C．she had no other whales around to turn to for help |
| D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness. |
| B．Fishing provides excitement for children. |
| C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals. |
| D．It’s vital to protect the environment. |
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| A．like eating in restaurants | B．have little time |
| C．prefer home-cooked meals | D．want to save money |
What information CAN'T we get from the advertisement about Ouickeats?
| A．Different kinds． | B．High quality． | C．Exact prices． | D．Good taste |
Which of the following can be cooled in a refrigerator before eating according to the ads?
| A．Pasta Salad | B．Dried Fruit． | C．Noodles． | D．Nuts． |
The underlined word “hectic” in the passage means ____________.
| A．full of freedom | B．comfortable | C．full of activities | D．flexible |
CHICAGO （Reuters） - Smoking not only can wrinkle （起皱纹） the face and tarn it yellow—it can do the same to the whole body, researchers reported on Monday．
The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, shows that smoking affects the skin all over the body—even skin protected from the sun．
"We examined non - facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced," Dr．Yolanda Helfrich of the University of Michigan, who led the study, said in a statement．
"In p
articipants older than 65 years, smokers had significantly more fine wrinkling than nonsmokers．Similar findings were seen in participants aged 45 to 65 years," Helfrich "s team added in their report．
The researchers tested 82 people, smokers and nonsmokers, taking pictures of the inner right arms． They ranged, in age from 22 to 91 and half were smokers．Independent judges decided how wrinkled each person' s skin was．
When skin is exposed to sunlight, notably the face, it becomes coarse, wrinkled and discolored with a pale yellow tint, Helfrich ' s team wrote．
Several previous studies have found that cigarette smoking contributes to premature（过早的）skin aging as measured by facial wrinkles, the study said, but little has been done to measure the aging of skin not exposed to light．
The report did not discuss die mechanism involved but previous research has found that cigarette smoke, among other things, causes blood vessels （血管） beneath the skin to constrict （紧缩）, reducing blood supply to the skin．
Smoking can also damage the connective tissue that supports both die skin and the internal organs,．When your skin is exposed to sunlight long, it-becomes all of the following but _____．
| A．flexible | B．coarse | C．rough | D．discolored |
How wrinkled a person's skin is doesn't relate to _____．
| A．the number of cigarettes a person smokes． |
| B．the kind and characteristics of skin |
| C．how long a person smokes |
| D．how long skin is under sunlight |
From the passage smoking results in skin aging mainly because _____.
| A．it will lower blood supply to skin |
| B．it can make you feel tired |
| C．it can make skin come off |
| D．it can make blood run faster |
The main purpose of the passage is to _____．
| A．inform people about the result of the study |
| B．advise people how to protect skin |
| C．warn people not to smoke again |
| D．introduce a new way of avoid skin aging |
I once had my Chinese MBA students brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”. I separated them into six groups and gave them an example: a restaurant chain. The more original their idea, the better, I said. Finally, five of the six groups presented plans for restaurant chains. The sixth proposed a catering(餐饮) service. Though I admitted the time limit had been difficult, I expressed my disappointment.
My students were middle managers, financial analysts and financiers from state-owned enterprises and global companies. They were not without talent or opinions, but they had been shaped by an educational system that rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness. The scene I just described came in different forms during my two years’ teaching at the school. Papers were often copied from the Web and the Harvard Business Review. Case study debates were written up and just memorized. Students frequently said that copying is a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.
In China, every product you can imagine has been made and sold. But so few well-developed marketing and management minds have been raised that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.
With this problem in mind, partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established. And then there’s the “thousand-talent scheme”: this new government program is intended to improve technological modernization by attracting top foreign-trained scientists to the mainland with big money. But there are worries about China’s research environment. It's hardly known for producing independent thinking and openness, and even big salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.
At last, for China, becoming a major world creator is not just about setting up partnerships with top Western universities. Nor is it about gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s about establishing a rich learning environment for young minds. It’s not that simple.Which of the following scenes is NOT considered as lack of creation?
| A．Papers were often downloaded from the Internet. |
| B．Students often said that copying is a preferable business strategy. |
| C．Case study debates were written up as well as recited. |
| D．Students combine knowledge and critical thoughts to solve a problem. |
The underlined word “scheme” in the forth paragraph means .
| A．timetable | B．theme | C．project | D．policy |
We can infer from the passage that ___________.
| A．China can make and sell any product all over the world |
| B．high pay may not solve the problem of China’s research environment |
| C．cooperation with institutions has been set up to make a Chinese brand |
| D．the new government program are aimed at encouraging imagination |
Which is the best title of the passage?
| A．Look for a New Way of Learning | B．Reward Creative Thinking |
| C．How to Become a Creator | D．Establish a Technical Environment |
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