The cost of rice is expected to go up in the coming months，as an improving global economy raises demand，and drought (旱灾) cuts production in countries such as India. Some economists say prices for rice，the Precision Casting staple food for much of the world's population, could be returning to levels that sparked inflation (通货膨胀)fears in much of Asia last year.
Charuk Singhapreecha is dean of the faculty (系)of economics at Thailand's Kasetsart University. He says prices—especially for Thai rice are being pushed higher by new customers coming into the market after the economic slowdown of the past year. "They expect that the world demand will increase and Cast steel we expect that the price of rice will increase next year," Charuk said. "There are many new markets for the Thai rice and also we still have for our old customer —China，some Arab countries—they will increase the demand."
Prices on the global market could again near the record above $1,000 a ton set in the middle of 2008. This month, export prices for Southeast Asian rice have jumped from about $550 a ton or less to more than $650.
Vichai Sriprasert, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association ，says further weakness in the US dollar and concerns over drought add to pressure on prices. Market experts say next year India is likely to try to import three million tons of rice—entering the world market for the first time in 21 years—because of a drought.
Vichai also warns that increasing demand for bio-fuels (生物燃料)from grain could reduce food crops，forcing the price of food grains higher. "This is very serious. That's why the price of rice will not go back to the level that we used to see," Vichai said. "It will have to be elevated at a higher level, but I don't know where."
The Philippines this week said it is cutting rice imports because of high prices, even though the country lost more than a million tons of grain to typhoons this year. Officials from Vietnam, a leading export competitor with Thailand，predict prices will reach about $800 a ton by the middle of 2010. This week the Philippines' National Food Authority offered almost $ 665 a ton for 600，000 tons of Vietnamese rice.
Economists say higher food prices will only increase the problems faced by the region's poor, who are highly dependent on rice as a staple food.
(VOA News 16 December,2009) Which of the following is NOT true according to Paragraph 1?
| A．Drought reduces production of rice in India. |
| B．Prices for rice were lower all the time in 2008. |
| C．Rice is a major food for the world's population. |
| D．The improving global economy increases the need for rice. |
How many reasons did Vichai mention about rice price's going up?
| A．1. | B．2. | C．3. | D．4. |
Why does the Philippines plan to cut rice imports?
| A．Because of high prices. | B．Because of typhoons. |
| C．Because of civil war. | D．Because of drought. |
What's the best title of the passage?
| A．Higher food prices will increase problems. |
| B．There are many new markets for the Thai rice. |
| C．The global economy is improving. |
| D．Prices for rice are expected to rise. |
“Confidence” is probably one of the most noticeable traits (品质) in the Americans. They show confidence in the way they talk, the way they smile, the way they dress and the way they walk. Living and competing with all these confident American students, I find it extremely important to be confident as an international student and instructor. As a student, being confident means you should never hesitate to raise your hand whenever a question or a point comes to your mind. Don't mind if it sounds simple or silly. Otherwise you will never get a chance to speak in class at all. What's worse, the professors may think you are not prepared for the discussion or you do not have your own opinion on the issue—this is the last comment any graduate would like to receive.
Being confident for me as a foreign instructor means calmly asking the student to repeat what he or she has said if I did not get it. Pretending to understand what you actually did not may just bring yourself embarrassment or even disgrace. But the time I most need to be confident is when my students come to my office and bargain about the grades I have given for their speeches. (The course I'm teaching here is Public speaking). Modesty is a trait highly valued in China, but it won't be of much help here if you want to survive and succeed in a good American graduate program.To compete with American students it's very important to .
| A．be quite confident |
| B．be polite and friendly |
| C．have more discussions with them |
| D．understand what they think about |
A professor will have the worst opinion of a student who .
| A．gives a silly or simple answer |
| B．tries to seize any chance to speak in class |
| C．shows no interest in the course |
| D．is considered to have no opinion of his own |
The author is most likely to feel embarrassed if .
| A．he asks a student to repeat what he has said |
| B．the students bargain with him |
| C．he pretends to know what he doesn't |
| D．he has to give a speech |
We learn from the second paragraph that .
| A．we should also remain modest in America |
| B．modesty doesn't help you much in America |
| C．Americans also like modest people |
| D．modesty can help you through an American graduate program |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．American students are ready to accept the grades from the teacher. |
| B．The writer teaches in Europe for a living. |
| C．Students are encouraged to present simple questions. |
| D．One’s ignorance will give away in time. |
A cancer-stricken British teenage girl said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online “Bucket List” of things she wanted to do before dying.
Alice Pyne, l5, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. “ I've been fighting cancer for almost four years and now l know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one,” she wrote.
For her list, the teenager took inspiration from the 2007 film “The Bucket List”, in which two terminally ill (患绝症的) men, played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, draw up a list of things they wish to do before they die.
On her list, at the site www. alicepyne. blogspot. com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor (骨髓捐赠者), swimming with sharks, meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer.
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter.
“Oh dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!” she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. “Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me.”
Pyne, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, revealed (透露) the management of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register. What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her“Bucket List”?
| A．The media called on people to help her. |
| B．People sent gifts to her from all over the world. |
| C．A lot of people offered to donate bone marrow to her. |
| D．People around the world sent messages to support her. |
Alice Pyne wrote her “Bucket List” to .
| A．express her last few wishes |
| B．say goodbye to a few friends |
| C．give comfort to two terminally ill men |
| D．catch people's attention |
It can be inferred from the second paragraph that Alice Pyne .
| A．is unaware of her own conditions |
| B．is calm to know that death is approaching |
| C．is very sad to know that she will die |
| D．is still quite confident in fighting against cancer |
Which of the following is NOT on Alice Pyne's “Bucket List”?
| A．To meet a boy. |
| B．To get a cool computer. |
| C．To swim with sharks. |
| D．To ask people to donate bone marrow. |
Take That will arrange to .
| A．invite Pyne to join the band |
| B．help Pyne in any possible way |
| C．donate money to Pyne |
| D．meet Pyne in person |
When Boris left school, he could not find a job. He tried hard and pestered (纠缠) his relatives, but they had problems of their own. He answered advertisements until he could not afford to buy any more stamps. Boris grew annoyed, then depressed, then a little hardened. Still he went on trying and still he failed. He began to think that he had no future at all.
“Why don't you start your own business?” one of his uncles told him. “The world is a money-locker. You'd better find a way of opening it.”
“But what can I do?”
“Get out and have a look round.” advised his uncle in a vague sort of way. “See what people want; then give it to them, and they will pay for it.”
Boris began to cycle around the town and found a suitable piece of a waste ground in the end. Then he set up his business as a cycle repairer. He worked hard, made friends with his customers and gradually managed to build up his goodwill and profit. A few months later, he found that he had more work than he could deal with by himself. He found a number of empty shops but they were all no good: in the wrong position, too expensive or with some other snag(障碍). But at long last, he managed to find an empty shop on a new estate where there were plenty of customers but no competition.
Boris and his assistant taught themselves how to repair scooters and motor-cycles. Slowly but surely the profits increased and the business developed. At last, Boris had managed to open the money-locker and found bank notes and gold coins inside.Which of the following best describes Boris' job hunting experience?
| A．Surprising. | B．Encouraging. | C．Boring. | D．Disappointing. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Goodwill is the key to success |
| B．The world is a money-locker |
| C．No education, no future |
| D．Difficulty of starting a small business |
Boris started his career by .
| A．repairing cycles | B．developing a waste ground |
| C．cycling around the town | D．buying empty shops |
Boris finally chose an empty shop on a new estate because .
| A．it was not so expensive |
| B．he had a lot of old customers there |
| C．there were good opportunities there |
| D．he could make good use of his skills there |
We can infer from the last paragraph that Boris .
| A．still couldn't make good profits |
| B．found a lot of gold coins by accident |
| C．set off in a successful career |
| D．had great difficulty running his business |
In the summer of 1978 an English farmer was driving his tractor through a field of wheat when he discovered that some of his wheat was lying flat on the ground. The fattened (压平的) wheat formed a circle about six meters across. Around this circle were four smaller circles of flattened wheat. The five circles were in a formation like five dots. During the following years, farmers in England found the strange circles in their fields more and more often.
The circles are called “crop circles” because they appear in the fields of grain - usually wheat or corn. The grain in the circles lies flat on the ground but never broken; it continues to grow, and farmers can later harvest it. Farmers always discover the crop circles in the morning, so the circles probably form at night. They appear only in the months from May to September.
At first, people thought that the circles were a hoax. Probably young people were making them as a joke, or farmers were making them to attract tourists. To prove that the circles were a hoax, people tried to make circles exactly like the ones that farmer had found. They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t enter a field of grain without leaving tracks(痕迹), and they couldn’t flatten the grain without breaking it.
Many people believe that beings from outer space are making the circle to communicate with us from far away and that the crop circles are messages from them.
Scientists who have studied the crop circles suggested several possibilities. Some scientists say that a downward rush of wind leads to the formation of the circles - the same downward rush of air that sometimes causes an airplane to crash. Other scientists say that forces within the earth cause the circles to appear. There is one problem with all these scientific explanations: crop circles often appear in formations, like the five-dot formation. It is hard to believe that any natural force could form those.In the summer of 1978, an English farmer discovered in his field that __________.
| A．some of his wheat had been damaged |
| B．his grain was growing up in circles. |
| C．his grain was moved into several circles |
| D．some of his wheat had fallen onto the ground. |
According to the text, the underlined part “hoax” (in the 3rd paragraph) probably means __________.
| A．an attempt made to fool people |
| B．a special way to plant crops |
| C．a research on the force of winds |
| D．an experiment for the protection of crops. |
Which of the following may prove that the crop circles are not made by man?
| A．The farmer couldn’t step out of the field. |
| B．The farmers couldn’t make the circles round. |
| C．The farmers couldn’t leave without footprints. |
| D．The farmers couldn’t keep the wheat straight up. |
A proper title for this passage is ___________.
| A．An Unsolved Mystery |
| B．Strange Flying Objects |
| C．The Power of Natural Forces |
| D．The discovery of Strange Circles |
Howling(吼叫) is a behavior commonly observed among a wolf pack(狼群). As pack animals, wolves work together to hunt and rely on howling as an important means of communication among each other. There’re different explanations of a wolf’s howl and it appears that there may be more to discover．
One theory is that wolves howl to bond better together. It’s almost as if howling together helps the pack stay together. Perhaps something similar to people feeling a sense of involvement with each other when singing a song together. But this theory may be wrong, explains Fred H. Harrington, a professor who studies wolf behavior.
Indeed, there have been times when wolves have been seen one moment howling in a chorus(合唱), and the next, quarreling among each other. It appears that usually the lowest-ranking members of the pack may actually be “punished” for joining in the chorus at times. So is howling a way to strengthen a social bond or just a way to reconfirm status (地位) among its members? Why do wolves howl for sure?
What is clear, however, is that howling is often used among pack mates to locate each other. Hunting grounds are distant and it happens that wolves may separate from one another at times. When this happens, howling appears to be an excellent means of gathering.
Howling, interestingly, is a contagious behavior. When one wolf starts to howl, very likely others will follow. This is often seen to occur in the morning, as if wolves were doing some sort of “roll call” where wolves all howl together to report theirWhat is the possible similarity between wolves’ howling together and human’s singing in chorus?
| A．The act of calling each other． |
| B．The sense of accomplishment． |
| C．The act of hunting for something． |
| D．The sense of belonging to a group． |
Why does Harrington think the “social bond” theory may be wrong?
| A．Wolves separate from each other after howling． |
| B．Wolves tend to protect their hunting grounds． |
| C．Wolves sometimes have quarrels after howling together． |
| D．Wolves of low rank are encouraged to join in the chorus． |
Researchers are sure that wolves often howl to______．
| A．show their ranks | B．find their companions |
| C．report the missing ones | D．express their loneliness |
“Howling… is a contagious behaviour”（in the last paragraph）means_______．
| A．howling is a signal for hunting |
| B．howling is a way of communication |
| C．howling often occurs in the morning |
| D．howling spreads from one to another |
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