Informal conversation is an important part of any business relationship. Before you start a discussion, however, make sure you understand which topics are suitable and which are considered taboos(禁忌) in a particular culture. Latin Americans enjoy sharing information about their local history, art, and customs. They expect questions about their family and are sure to show pictures of their children. Yon may feel free to ask similar questions of your Latin American friends. The French think of conversation as an art form, and they enjoy the value of lively discussions as well as disagreements. For them, arguments can be interesting — and they can cover pretty much or any topic — as long as they occur in a respectful and intelligent(智慧的) manner.

In the United States, business people like to discuss a wide range of topics, including opinions about work, family, hobbies, and politics. In Japan, China, and Korea, however, people are much more private. They do not share much about their thoughts, feelings, or emotions because they feel that doing so might take away from the harmonious(和諧的) business relationship they’re trying to build. Middle Easterners are also private about their personal lives and family matters. It is considered rude, for example, to ask a businessman from Saudi Arabia about his wife or children.

As general rule, it’s best not to talk about politics or religion(宗教) with your business friends. This can get you into trouble, even in the United States, where people hold different views. In addition, discussing one’s salary is usually considered unsuitable. Sports is typically a friendly subject in most parts of the world, although be careful not to criticize a national sport. Instead, be friendly and praise your host’s team.

1. The author considers politics and religion ________.

A. cheerful topics                        B. taboos

C. rude topics                             D. topics that can never be talked about

2. Which is typically a friendly topic in most places according to the author?

A. Sports.                                   B. Children.   

C. Personal feelings.                  D. Families.

3. Why are people from Asia more private in their conversation with others?

A. They don’t want to talk with others much.

B. They don’t want to have their good relationship with others harmed by informal conversation.

C. They are afraid to argue with their colleagues.

D. They want to keep their feelings to themselves.

4. What shouldn’t you do when talking about sports with colleagues from another country?

A. Praising your own country’s sports.

B. Criticizing your own country’s sports.

C. Praising the sports of your colleagues’ country.

D. Criticizing the sports of your colleagues’ country.

“The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato. Self-control is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses (沖動) and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral (道德上的) freedom.

A single angry word has lost many a friend. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” “Keep cool”, says George Herbert, “for fierceness (狂怒) makes error a fault.”

To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. “Anger,” says Pythagoras, “brings with folly(愚蠢) and ends with regret.” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him.

Self-control is man’s last greatest victory.

If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also.

1. What does the reader learn from the first paragraph?

A. The greatest victory for a man is to conquer everything except himself.

B. One’s moral freedom is based on the control of himself.

C. To control oneself is the most difficult in one’s life.

D. If a person is too stubborn, he will feel most shameful.

2. What is the correct interpretation of “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” ?

A. If the gods want to kill you, they make you crazy first.

B. If you always lose your temper, you will soon be finished.

C. If you cannot control yourself, you will become crazy.

D. If you are mad, you will be punished by the gods.

3. If a man lacks self-control, he lacks all of the following EXCEPT _______.

A. the very backbone and nerve of character 

B. the patience and power to control himself

C. strong feelings

D. self-confidence

4. The author’s main purpose in writing this article is to _______.

A. explain that self-control is the key to success

B. teach people how to control everything in order to make a great success

C. distinguish all kinds of self-control and suggest ways for keeping it

D. advise people not to lose temper so as to make and keep more friends

The U.S. Department of Labor statistics(統(tǒng)計) show that there is an oversupply of college trained workers and that this oversupply is increasing. Already there have been more than enough teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts, and other specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly trained people to compete for jobs that aren’t there. The result is that graduates cannot enter the professions for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which do not require a college degree.

On the other hand, there is a great need for skilled workers of all sorts: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, TV repairmen. These people have more work than they can deal with, and their annual incomes are often higher than those of college graduates. The old gap that white —collar workers make a better living than blue collar workers no longer holds true. The law of supply and demand now favors the skilled workmen.

The reason for this situation is the traditional myth that college degree is a passport to a prosperous future. A large part of American society matches success in life equally with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating(灌輸) their children with this myth before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn’t matter. Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college enrollments(入學(xué)) go up and up, and more and more graduates are overeducated for the kinds of jobs available to them.

One result of this emphasis on a college education is that many people go to college who do not belong there. Of the sixty percent of high school graduates who enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up.

1. It’s implied but not stated in the passage that _______.

    A. many other countries are facing the same problem

    B. white-collar workers in the US used to make more money than blue-collar workers

    C. fewer students will prefer to go to college in the future

    D. the law of supply and demand has a strong effect on American higher education

2. Which of the following is NOT a reason why college enrollments go up every year？   

    A. Many people believe that the only way to success is a college education.

    B. Many parents want their children to go to college.

    C. High school teachers urge their students to go to college.

    D. Every young man and woman wants to go to college.

3. By saying that “many people go to college who do not belong there”, the author means that _______.

    A. many people who are not fit for college education go to college

    B. many people who do not have enough money go to college

    C. many people who go to college drop out within the first year

    D. many people who go to college have their hopes destroyed

4. We can infer from the passage that the author believes that _______.

    A. every young man and woman should go to college

    B. college education is a bad thing

    C. people with a college education should receive higher pay

    D. fewer people should go to college while more should be trained for skilled jobs

Scientists are uncovering the secrets of two port cities lost under the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a researcher said yesterday.

Herakleion and Menouthis were rich and proud cities until something reduced them to rubble (碎石) and buried them in the mud beneath 30 feet of sea water, French underwater explorer Franck Goddio said at the American Geophysical Union conference.

“This is a mystery that is ongoing,” said Goddio, a founder of the European Institute of Marine Archeology, a Paris-based underwater research organization backed by the wealthy Hilti Foundation of Liechtenstein(列支敦士登基金會).

The destruction of the twin port cities has haunted Goddio ever since he happened upon the site about 15 miles from Alexandria while exploring sunken ships from Napoleon’s fleet.

Goddio and his group of expert divers, marine archeologists(海洋考古學(xué)家) and others, are using high powered vacuums, satellite navigation systems and sophisticated sonar(聲納) to excavate(挖掘) the sunken cities from underneath a carpet of silt about one meter (three feet) high.

Walls of shops, remains of streets and gold artifacts have been found and recovered.

Some experts believe that the port cities were destroyed by a series of massive earthquakes, much like the quakes scientists believe felled Troy(特洛伊城), Jericho and other ancient cities. The uniform direction of the collapsed columns and walls suggest an earthquake, Goddio said, but no fault lines have been found nearby.

Other researchers believe a massive wave, caused by either an offshore earthquake or a distant underwater landslide, could explain the catastrophe. Still others think rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities.

“The argument, as you can see, continues,” Goddio said.

1. The reason why the two port cities disappeared under the waters of Mediterranean Sea is that ______.

A. the two port cities were destroyed by huge earthquakes

B. the disappearance of the two port cities was caused by underwater landslide

C. rising seas and a shift in the Nile River outlet doomed the cities

D. the story didn’t tell us at all

2. From the story we can draw a conclusion that _______.

A. the two port cities were famous for their wealth and the mystery

B. the two cities belonged to France

C. some mysterious creatures from other planets destroyed the two cities

D. the American Geophysical Union conference was once held in one of the two cities

3. This article is probably from _______.

A. a scientific magazine

B. a report to the government

C. a school text book

D. a scientific report in a newspaper

(1—3 DBD)

The Abominable Snowman 喜馬拉雅雪人

He has been called the “missing link.” Half-man, half-beast. He is supposed to live in the highest mountain in the world-Mount Everest.

He is known as the Abominable Snowman. The   1   of the Snowman has been around for    __2  . Climbers in the 1920s reported finding marks like those of human feet high up on the side of Mound Everest. The native people said they   3   this creature and called it the “Yeti,”and they said that they had   4   caught Yetis on two occasions   5   none has ever been produced an evidence（證據(jù)）.

Over the years, the story of the Yetis has   6   . In 1951, Eric Shipton took photographs of a set of tracks in the snow of Everest. Shipton believed that they were not   7   the tracks of a monkey or bear and   8   that the Abominable Snowman might really   9  .

Further efforts have been made to find out about Yetis. But the only things people have ever found were   10   footprints. Most believe the footprints are nothing more than   11   animal tracks, which had been made   12    as the melted（融化）and refroze in the snow.   13  , in 1964, a Russian scientist said that the Abominable Snowman was   14   and was a remaining link with the prehistoric humans. But,   15  . no evidence has ever   16   been produced.

These days, only a few people continue to take the story of the Abominable Snowman   __17  . But if they ever   18   catching one, they may face a real   19  : Would they put it in a   20   or give it a room in a hotel?

1. A. event          B. story       C. adventure      D. description

2. A. centuries     B. too long     C. some time     D. many years

3. A. heard from    B. cared for    C. knew of        D. read about

4. A. even               B. hardly     C. certainly        D. probably

5. A. as           B. though           C. when         D. until

6. A. developed      B. changed     C. occurred        D. continued

7. A. entirely      B. naturally    C. clearly              D. simply

8. A. found         B. declared     C. felt            D. doubled

9. A. exist               B. escape     C. disappear       D. return

10. A. clearer      B. more       C. possible         D. rare

11. A. huge         B. recent     C. ordinary        D. frightening

12. A. strange     B. large       C. deep          D. rough

13. A. In the end    B. Therefore   C. After all        D. However

14. A. imagined     B. real         C. special              D. familiar

15. A. so         B. besides       C. again         D. instead

16. A. rightly      B. actually      C. normally       D. particularly

17. A. lightly      B. jokingly     C. seriously       D. properly

18. A. succeed in    B. insist on     C. depend on     D. join in

19. A. decision           B. situation     C. subject              D. problem

20. A. zoo          B. mountain    C. museum        D. Laboratory

The first question was difficult , but ___ were quite easy.

A. the second  B. the other  C. another   D. the rest

China has thousands of islands, the largest ___ is Taiwan.

A. in which B. which C.in that D. of which

About one million years ago,the Ice Age began.The Ice Age was a long period of time in which four great glaciers(冰川) pushed southward to cover almost all the upper half of North America,and then melted away.Each glacier was a thick sheet of ice and snow that spread out from a center near what is now Hudson Bay in Canada.The winters were long,and the cool summers were too short to melt much of the ice and snow.The ever?growing sheet built up to a thickness of two miles at its center.

As all glaciers do,these great glaciers slid(滑動). They pushed down giant trees in their paths and scraped(刮削)the earth bare(光禿禿)of soil.Many animals moved farther south to escape.Others stayed and were destroyed.

When winters of little snow came,the summer suns into the edges to the ice sheets.As the glaciers melted,rocks,soil and other things that had mixed with the ice and snow were left.New hills,lakes and rivers were formed.

The last of the great glaciers began its melting about 11 000 years ago.Itsmelting formed the Great Lakes.These lakes are today little changed from their early sizes the glaciers.This is the Mississippi Missouri Ohio system.These rivers were miles wide at first.Through the years they settle into their present channels.

The main idea of this passage is  ________ .

A.the Ice Age was a long period of time        

B.great glaciers covered North America many years ago        

C.changes in climate helped to melt the glaciers        

D.how glaciers changed North America       

2.The author states that all glaciers ________.

A.are two miles thick           B.form frozen lakes        

C.are a million years old      D.move and slide   

3.From the information in this passage we know that  ________.

A.glaciers are destructive        

B.all glaciers in the world move southward        

C.the Mississippi Missouri Ohio systems is larger than it was before the Ice Age        

D.the Great Lakes are now smaller than they were before the Ice Age

4.The Ice Age lasted almost ____.

A.1 000 years      B.100 years      C.1 000 000 years      D.11 000 years  

5.In the last sentence,the word “their” refers to  ________ .

A.lakes            B.rivers         C.glaciers             D.systems

Britain's oldest man made his first visit to London yesterday at the age of 110. Mr John Evans had never found the time or the money—to make the trip from his home near Swansea. But, when British Rail offered him an all expenses paid birthday trip to the capital, he just could not refuse.

Until yesterday he had never been far from home, except for one trip to Aberdeen. Mr Evans, who spent 60 years working as a miner in South Wales, almost made the journey to London once before, at the turn of the century.“There was a trip to the White City but it was ten shillings (1 shilling=1/20 pound) return from Swansea—too much I thought. All my money went to the family then，” he said.

During the next two days Mr Evans will be taken on a whistle stop tour of London to see the sights. Top of his list is a visit to the Houses of Parliament(國會).

The only arrangement he does not care for is the wheelchair provided to move

him about if he gets tired.“I don't like the chair business—people will so think I am getting old，” he said.

His secret for a long and healthy life has been well publicized—no alcohol, no cigarette and no anger. Before setting off from Swansea with his 76-year-old son, Amwel, he quipped, “I'm glad to see they've given me a return ticket.”

1.It was reported that Mr Evans's healthy long life was to a certain extent due to his________ .

A. wine drinking         B. proper smoking

C. mild temper           D. sense of humor 

2.Which of the following statements is true?

A.A single trip from Mr Evans's home to the White City used to be ten shillings.

B.The first place for Mr Evans to visit is the Houses of Parliament.

C.He appreciated people's arrangement of a wheelchair during his visit.

D.Mr Evans once made the journey to London at the turn of the century. 

3.The word “quip” in the last sentence most probably means  ________.

A. to make a witty remark          B. to express a happy message

C. to make a wish                 D. to tell a joke 

4.What might be the best title for this passage?

A. 110-Year-Old Tourist           B. Secret for Long and Healthy Life

C. Free Return Ticket             D. Sightseeing in London 

If you want to borrow a football after school, your student card ___ here.

A. has to leave   B. must leave   C. has to be left   D. must be left