Experts have put forward detailed plans for a tunnel to join Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.
The shortest proposed route would be 126 kilometers—more than twice the length of the English Channel Tunnel.And the longest proposed route would be 207 kilometers.
A recent conference in Xiamen，Fujian Province brought together more than 70 experts.The event was co-sponsored（共同发起） by universities from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
Fujian is the province where both proposed routes would begin.
There is no direct passenger access between the mainland and Taiwan by air or sea at the moment.
Experts say that it is better to start research sooner rather than later，although there is a lack of government funding.There are no technical problems to build a Taiwan tunnel.But it will require an improved political relationship across the Straits（海峡）.
A professor of Tsinghua University said，“A special feature of huge projects is that the period of preparation is longer than the period of construction.”
For example，he said，the English Channel Tunnel took 14 years of planning and had been discussed for two centuries.And preparations for the huge Three Gorges（三峡） dam on the Yangtze River began in the 1950s.
The Xiamen conference focused on the longest southern route，which would use the Taiwan-controlled islands of Jinmen and Penghu as stepping stones.
The first stage of the new project could be a bridge to cross the five kilometres between Xiamen and Jinmen.This would mean that travelling from Xiamen to Jinmen by car would only take five minutes.
The longest tunnel now being planned anywhere in the world is the 54-kilometre land tunnel to link Lyon in France with Turin in Italy.The tunnel will not be completed until 2015-2020.Which is the longest tunnel in the world at present？
| A．The English Channel Tunnel. |
| B．The tunnel between Lyon and Turin. |
| C．The Taiwan Straits tunnel. |
| D．The passage doesn’t mention it. |
The example of the English Channel Tunnel shows
.
| A．it’s not easy to complete a huge project |
| B．there are many problems to be solved before doing something |
| C．discussions among countries usually take a lot of time |
| D．the preparation takes longer time than the construction |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Universities both at home and abroad have sponsored the plan. |
| B．If the project is completed，the world’s longest tunnel will appear. |
| C．You can’t reach Taiwan from the mainland directly at present. |
| D．The starting point of the proposed tunnel is in Fujian. |
What is the possible difficulty in carrying out the plan？
| A．The lack of money for the project from the government. |
| B．Improving the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland. |
| C．The detailed plans for the tunnel. |
| D．The technical problems with the tunnel. |
How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年痴呆症）.
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, could be understood as “the beginning of the end.” “That’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.The first paragraph is meant to__________.
| A．ask some questions |
| B．introduce the topic |
| C．satisfy readers’ curiosity |
| D．describe an academic fact |
Which of the following is true of James Watson？
| A．He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests. |
| B．He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. |
| C．He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease. |
| D．He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease. |
According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.
| A．advisable not to let him know |
| B．impossible to hide his disease |
| C．better to inform him immediately |
| D．necessary to remove his anxiety |
The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.
| A．break down | B．drop out |
| C．leave off | D．turn away |
The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.
| A．prefer to hear good news |
| B．tend to find out the truth |
| C．can accept some bad news |
| D．have the right to be informed |
I never thought I would have a life-changing experience at Wal-Mart.
Although my thoughts were only on speed, the checkout line I was standing in wasn't moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier.
There stood a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he's an old guy!
For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before scanning the items. Sure, his words were the usual, “How's it going?” But he did something different—he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and engage them in brief conversation.
I thought it was odd. I have grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of robotic conversational habit. After a while, you don't give any thought to the question and just mumble something back. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live,” and someone would reply, “Have a great day!”
But that wasn't the end.
He gave them the change, walked around the counter, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship. He looked at the customers in the eyes. “I sure want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.”
The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. There were smiles and some sheepish grins. All had been touched by his simple gesture---and in a place they never expected. They would gather their things and walk out, smiling.
Of course, he did the same to me and I got to know his name, Marty.
Who was that guy? It was as if Sam Walton had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy’s body.
I had never walked away from that shop feeling like that.The checkout line the writer was standing in moved slower than expected because_______ .
| A．the cashier couldn’t work as fast as others |
| B．there were some big purchases |
| C．the cashier did more than scanning the items |
| D．the writer was not patient enough |
According to the writer, when common people ask you “How’s it going?”
| A．they don’t really care what you may answer |
| B．they are just practicing their conversation ability |
| C．they are inquiring about your private information |
| D．they don’t expect to hear any negative answers |
What was most customers’ reaction to Marty’s behaviors?
| A．They thought it priceless. | B．They were in some way moved. |
| C．They thought it awful and odd. | D．They felt somewhat offended. |
What can we infer about Sam Walton?
| A．He might be Marty’s father or grandfather. |
| B．He might be friendly and devoted to Wal-Mart. |
| C．He might have died while working in the market. |
| D．He might have come back from the dead once before. |
What does the writer intend to express through the text?
| A．Our everyday life is always full of surprises. |
| B．Most customers enjoy being treated this way. |
| C．Being different is a good way of doing business. |
| D．A little positive action can make a big difference. |
When a child is told he is “uncool”, it can be very painful. He may say he doesn’t care, and even act in ways that are opposite of cool on purpose. But these are simple ways to handle sadness by pretending it’s not there.
Helping a child feel better in school had to be careful. If you say, “Why are you worried about what other children think about you? It doesn’t matter!” Children know that it does matter. Instead, an active way may be best. You could say, “I’m going to do a couple of things for you to help you feel better in school.”
If a boy is having trouble making friends, the teacher can help him. The teacher can arrange things so that he has chances to use his abilities to contribute to class projects. This is how the other children learn how to value his good qualities and to like him. A teacher can also raise a child’s popularity in the group by showing that he values that child. It even helps to put him in a seat next to a very popular child, or let him be a partner with that child in activities, etc.
There are things that parents can do at home, too. Be friendly when your child brings others home to play. Encourage him to invite friends to meals and then serve the dishes they consider “super” .When you plan trips, picnics, movies, and other shows, invite another child with whom your child wants to be friends.
What you can do is to give him a chance to join a group that may be shutting him out. Then, if he has good qualities, he can start to build real friendship of his own.A child who has been informed of being “ uncool” may .
| A．care nothing about it | B．do something uncool on purpose |
| C．develop a sense of anger | D．pretend to get hurt very much |
A teacher can help an unpopular child by .
| A．seeing the child as the teacher’s favorite |
| B．asking the child to do something for partners |
| C．forcing other children to make friends with the child |
| D．offering the child chances to show his good qualities |
How can parents help their child fit in better?
| A．By cooking delicious food for him. |
| B．By being kind to his schoolmates. |
| C．By forcing him to invite friends home. |
| D．By taking him to have picnics in the park. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Children don’t care others’ comments on them. |
| B．It’s only teacher’s work to make children popular. |
| C．Parents should take their children out for picnic and shows more often. |
| D．Inviting children’s friends to family activities is good for them to make friends. |
Which is the best title of the text?
| A．How an Unpopular Child can be Helped |
| B．Why Some Children are Unpopular |
| C．What Good Qualities Unpopular Children Have |
| D．Who Care about Unpopular Children |
When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish it like it’s the most precious thing in the world. Because in some ways, it is.
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves.
And that’s only natural: most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, that we should try to avoid mistakes. We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home, school and work. Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction.
Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow. If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world: they make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible.
By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly.
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, make works of genius possible.
Think about how we learn: we don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it. You don’t just read about painting, or writing, or computer programming, or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away. Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from observing, then you make mistakes and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something. That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults. Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do. You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey. Most of the journey was made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey.
So if you value learning, if you value growing and improving, then you should value mistakes. They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible.Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?
| A．Because mistakes make us suffer a lot. |
| B．Because it’s a natural part in our life. |
| C．Because we’ve been taught so from a young age. |
| D．Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers. |
According to the passage, what is the right attitude to mistakes?
| A．We should try to avoid making mistakes. |
| B．We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes. |
| C．We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn. |
| D．We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction. |
The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph 6 probably means .
| A．a small child learning to walk |
| B．a kindergarten child learning to draw |
| C．a primary pupil learning to read |
| D．a school teenager learning to write |
We can learn from the passage that .
| A．most of us can really grow from success |
| B．growing and improving are based on mistakes |
| C．we learn to make mistakes by trial and error |
| D．we read about something and know how to do it right away |
Guide to Stockholm University Library
Our library offers different types of studying places and provides a good studying environment.
Zones
The library is divided into different zones. The upper floor is a quiet zone with over a thousand places for silent reading, and places where you can sit and work with your own computer. The reading places consist mostly of tables and chairs. The ground floor is the zone where you can talk. Here you can find sofas and armchairs for group work.
Computers
You can use your own computer to connect to the wi-fi specially prepared for notebook computers, you can also use library computers, which contain the most commonly used applications, such as Microsoft Office. They are situated in the area known as the Experimental Field on the ground floor.
Group-study places
If you want to discuss freely without disturbing others, you can book a study room or sit at a table on the ground floor. Some study rooms are for 2-3 people and others can hold up to 6-8 people. All rooms are marked on the library maps.
There are 40 group-study rooms that must be booked via the website. To book, you need an active University account and a valid University card. You can use a room three hours per day, nine hours at most per week.
Storage of Study Material
The library has lockers for students to store course literature. When you have obtained at least 40 credits(学分), you may rent a locker and pay 400 SEK for a year’s rental period.
Rules to be Followed
Mobile phone conversations are not permitted anywhere in the library. Keep your phone on silent as if you were in a lecture and exit the library if you need to receive calls.
Please note that food and fruit are forbidden in the library, but you are allowed to have drinks and sweets with you.The library’s upper floor is mainly for students to .
| A．read in a quiet place |
| B．have group discussions |
| C．take comfortable seats |
| D．get their computers fixed |
Library computers on the ground floor __________.
| A．help students with their field experiments |
| B．are for those who want to access the wi-fi |
| C．contain software necessary for schoolwork |
| D．are mostly used for filling out application forms |
What condition should be met to book a group-study room?
| A．Group must consist of 8 people. |
| B．One should have an active University account. |
| C．Three-hour use per day is the minimum. |
| D．Applicants must mark the room on the map. |
A student can rent a locker in the library if he ____________.
| A．has earned the required credits |
| B．attends certain course |
| C．has nowhere to put his books |
| D．can afford the rental fee |
What should NOT be brought into the library?
| A．Mobile phones. | B．Orange juice. |
| C．Candy. | D．Sandwiches. |
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