The Friday after the American holiday of Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. It’s said that it’s the day that store ledgers(分類賬)move into the black and companies become profitable. On that day, retailers slash prices to get consumers to buy.  It is also a time when many Americans start their Christmas shopping. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee tells us how the economy may affect consumers on that bargain day.

 “It’s just the deals, the sales and everything you can get for a lesser price,” said Sandy Thomas, a shopper. But it’s a nightmare for others. “I think it’s crazy. I’ve done all of my shopping throughout the week so I don’t have to go out on Friday,” she said. It’s called Black Friday, the start of the traditional Christmas shopping season in the United States. Every year it’s the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. Stores open before sunrise and there are deep discounts everywhere you look.

While the lead up to Christmas is known as the season of giving, Black Friday can get ugly.

Last year a crowd of bargain-hunters killed a Wal-mart worker in a New York suburb. This year, many stores are increasing security while they slash prices. “This is a huge time for the retail stores,” said Fred Joutz from George Washington University. “This is when they begin making their profits for the year.”

Economics professor Fred Joutz says how Americans spend the weekend after Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future.

With the unemployment rate above 10 percent, Joutz says Americans are saving more and spending less. “Credit is still strictly controlled whether through credit cards or through borrowing from banks,” he said. Some retailers are attracting consumers by opening on Thanksgiving Day, when shops are traditionally closed.  Other stores open their doors anywhere from midnight to four in the morning.

And shoppers will be lining up in front of the doors in order to be one of the first ones to walk through and get a big discount. Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually the first items to go. Sandy Thomas says it’s an annual family tradition and well worth it. “I just save maybe half of what I would have spent on a regular, you know, shopping trip,” she said.

Economists say U.S. consumers will spend money this Black Friday, but they will spend it more carefully.     

59. The underlined word “slash” in the first paragraph probably means _________.

A. reduce         B. raise         C. increase        D. change

60. The sentence “This day should be a shopper’s dream.” should be placed between ________.

A. paragraph two and paragraph three        B. paragraph one and paragraph twoC. paragraph three and paragraph four              D. paragraph five and paragraph six

61. Why are many stores increasing security according to the passage?

A. Because there are too many people saving more and spending less.

B. Because it’s a time when they begin making their profits for the year.

C. Because last year a crowd of bargain-hunters caused an accident.

D. Because many stores open their doors from midnight to four a.m.

62.What can we learn from the passage?

A. Christmas shopping is traditional time and this year it is no exception.

B. Electronics like flat screen TVs are usually least discounted.

C. The economy only affects consumers on that bargain day.

D. Thanksgiving is a good indication of how consumers feel about the future.

           “Four Tigers” Ceremony of the Tu Minority

Heigouding Village, Ledu County in the west of Qinghai province is a place where many people of the Tu minority have lived for centuries. As the little village is comparatively closed to the outside world, a custom called “Four Tigers” was created 200 years ago to protect its inhabitants(棲息地) from sickness and bad luck.

Every year the ceremony is held on the eve of January 15th according to the Chinese lunar calendar to frighten off ghosts and evil souls, and to pray for peace.

Normally four local villagers are selected to be the “tigers” in the ceremony. At first, they gathered with village elders at the mountain-god temple to offer sacrifices of wine, food and incense, and to ask the god to help the tigers. Then the tigers were adorned with herbs, candles and two batches of incense to serve as the tiger’s ears. Two red ribbons held in their mouths represented the tiger’s tongue. The “Tigers” drank wine, knelt and kowtowed to the mountain god before they received Hada, a kind of white silk scarf representing respects and good luck, from the village head with firecrackers crackling.

As night fell, the candles on the tigers’ bodies were lit and the tigers began their visits to one household after another. Villagers followed, shouting “Tigers are coming!” The elder from each household welcomed the tigers at the gate, while the rest of the family knelt down in the courtyard. Firecrackers were set off, a toast made and candies, meat and wine were presented to the villagers following the tigers. After twirling (快速轉(zhuǎn)動)in three circles in the courtyard while those present kowtowed and prayed, the tigers went through every corner of every room to drive away any hiding ghosts. If there was a sick person in the house, the tigers jumped around him or her, scratched their body and said lucky words to drive away diseases and ghosts. After the ceremony, the family would present wine and food to the tigers. Then, shouting “The tigers are leaving!” the whole family saw them off.

After visiting all 30 or 40 households, the herbs were removed from the tigers and burned, to indicate that all the ghosts had been conquered. Then the villagers knelt and kowtowed with the sound of firecrackers, marking the end of the ceremony.

The tiger image exists in other minority groups, also. In ancient times, people entrusted their happiness to gods. The “four tigers” ceremony is vividly held in memory of ancient times and a living fossil for academics studying the lives of ancient people. As it is not popular nowadays, this cultural heritage is on the edge of extinction and needs to be rescued.

When a group of children politely stop a conversation with you, saying: “We have to go to work now,” you’re left feeling surprised and certainly uneasy. After all, this is the 1990s and the idea of children working is just unthinkable. That is, until you are told that they are all pupils of stage schools, and that the “work” they go off to is to go the stage in a theatre.

Stage schools often act as agencies(代理機構(gòu)) to supply children for stage and television work. More worthy of the name “stage school” are those few places where children attend full time, with a training for the theatre and a general education.

A visit to such schools will leave you in no doubt that the children enjoy themselves. After all, what lively children wouldn’t settle for spending only half the day doing ordinary school work, and acting, singing, or dancing their way through the other half of the day?

Then of course there are times for the children to make a name and make a little money in some big shows. Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age. But the law is very tight on the amount they can do. Those under13 are limited to 40 days in the year; those over 13 do 80 days.

The schools themselves admit that not all children will be successful in the profession for which they are being trained. So what happens to those who don’t make it? While all the leading schools say they place great importance on children getting good study results, the facts seem to suggest this is not always the case.

63. People would stop feeling uneasy when realizing that the children they’re talking to ________.

attend a stage school

are going to the theatre

have got some work to do

love singing and dancing

64. In the writer’s opinion, a good stage school should ________.

produce star performers

help pupils improve their study skills

train pupils in language and performing arts

provide a general education and stage training

65. “Professional work” as used in the text means ________.

 ordinary school work

money-making performances

stage training at school

acting, singing or dancing after class

66. Which of the following best describes how the writer feels about stage school?

He thinks highly of what they have to offer.

He favors an early start in the training of performing arts.

He feels uncomfortable about children putting on night shows.

He doubts the standard of ordinary education they have reached.

Go to church, then have a big lunch, then go out to play while mum does the housework. That was a typical (典型的) British Sunday in the 1960s. But things now could not be more different.

Some British sociologists（社會學家）recently studied the typical（典型的）British Sunday. They found that people get up later and do less housework than they did 40 years ago. They are far more likely to be out shopping or enjoying themselves than cooking Sunday lunch.

Sunday mornings were busy 40 years ago. Most women caught up on their weekly housework and cooked a nice lunch. They seldom allowed themselves any “leisure” until afternoon, after the dishes were cleaned. Then there would be another rush to the table between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm for tea.

But now, Britons can have brunch (早午餐) at the restaurant. Fewer people bother to cook themselves.

“You only have two free days a week. You don’t want to have to waste one because there is nothing to do but watch boring TV,” said Elizabeth Biggs, 25, a producer in London.

“On Saturday you are recovering from the week,” Biggs added. “Sundays are the last chance for the weekend — you want to get as much as you can out of the day before you have to go back to work.”

In the past, British women usually did their shopping during the week, while the husband was at work. “Now men seem to do that as much as women,” said Jonathan Gershuny, a professor who took part in the study.

Men also do more housework now on Sundays. Back in the 1960s, men were far more likely to spend Sundays out of the house — at the pub or playing football — before lunch.

71. Many Britons have brunch at the restaurant because _______.

A. They have no time to cook at home.      B. They get up too late.

C. They won’t bother to cook themselves.    D. They will go to church.

72. Which of the following is NOT true?

A. Britons used to go to church on Sundays.

B. Britons usually had a big lunch at home.

C. British women did their shopping on Sundays in the past.

D. British men did little housework at home in the past.

73. The underlined word “ leisure” in Para 3 means ___________.

A. housework         B. shopping          C. lunch        D. free time

74. The text mainly tells us ________.

A. what Britons did on Sundays       

B. why Britons go shopping on Sundays

C. How Britons spend their holidays

D. the changes of the ways the Britons spend their Sundays

75. What can we infer (推斷) from the passage?

A. Men do more housework on Sundays.

B. Sundays in Britain might be very boring in the past.

C. No people go to church on Sundays now.

D. Britons all go out on Sundays.

Many people think that the BBC news programs are better than those on other channels because the BBC is not a commercial company. It pays for its programs from the television license money which everyone must pay if they have a television.

The BBC, which is often known as “Auntie”, is the biggest news collecting operation in the world. It has the world’s largest network of foreign correspondents (記者). Ten percent of the BBC’s annual budget(年度預算) is spent on news collecting, reporting and presenting. More than 1,700 people work for the BBC news service.

The BBC produces more than 214 hours of news and current affairs programs for radio and television each week. Each television news program costs about £78,000 per hour and each radio news program costs about £4,800 per hour. In the UK, about 19 million people ― almost 35% of the total population watch the BBC television news programs every day.

Developments in technology are improving news collection and presentation every year. The BBC now uses special cameras in the TV news studios to film the news presenters, and captions― the words and sentences at the bottom of the screen, are now produced automatically by computer.

56. According to the first paragraph, we can learn that __________.

A. the BBC news programs are better than other programs

B. many people are more content with the BBC than with other channels

C. if we have a television, we don’t need to pay the television license money

D. the BBC news programs are better thought of than the news programs on other channels 

57. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A. The BBC has the largest network of foreign correspondents in the world.

B. The BBC is now the only company to use special cameras to film the news presenters.

C. The number of the people working for the BBC news service is the largest in the world.

D. The percentage of the BBC’s budget spent on news collecting is the largest in the world.

58. We can infer from the passage that the UK has a population of about __________.

A. 19 million                      B. 54 million                      C. 5.4 million              D. 6.6 million

What’s the best title for the passage?

A. The BBC News Service           

B. The BBC Is Not Commercial

C. The Biggest Operation in The World

D. Developments in Technology Are Improving News Collection

After successfully serving their term for 4 years, military service men and women are given the choice to stay in the military or return to civilian（平民）life.

For some, having to readjust to civilian life is one of the most challenging assignments our returning soldiers and marines（水兵）will ever have to undertake. While people may think readjusting should be simple, they must take into consideration all the physical and mental stress our servicemen went through.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder（創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)急障礙）,　or PTSD, is a mental disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat（打仗）.

Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. In the military, the marines are given a two-week course on how to return to civilian life.

Unfortunately, some will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD.

People who suffer from PTSD have difficulty sleeping because they are often reliving the experience through nightmares（夢魘）and flashbacks, and feel deserted or often stand off, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly damage the person’s daily life.

Fullerton College, like most colleges, has its own Veteran’s（老兵）Office. Ray Bustos has been running the office for 3 years. Bustos acts as a liaison（聯(lián)絡(luò)） for the school and the veteran students. He makes sure the veterans returning to school get the right benefits. There are various types of financial aid for soldiers and marines. He strongly encourages the use of the Veterans Affairs website.

The website is very informative and extremely helpful for veterans as well as for friends and relatives of veterans who want to learn more.

64. One purpose of the writer in writing the passage is ________________.

A. to introduce some methods to cure PTSD             

B. to instruct PTSD patients to return to civilian life

C. to recommend a website for veterans and people concerned

D. to give military service men and women advice on civilian life

65. What problems will some returning soldiers and marines meet with?

A. How to readjust to civilian life.                     B. How to get rid of mental diseases

C. How to get along with PTSD patients           D. How to return to school for benefits.

66. Which of the following is true about Ray Bustos?

A. He’s a veteran who has just come back from a military combat.

B. He runs Fullerton College with a veteran office.

C. He’s in charge of an office dealing with veteran affairs.

D. He provides a lot of financial aid for soldiers and marines.

67. The best title for the passage is __________.

A. PTSD: Killer of A Civilian Life.               B. The Last Assignment For All Military Persons

C. How to Overcome PTSD.                    D. Ready for a Civilian Life?

In Victorian times, certain flowers expressed meanings because the flower selection was limited. Therefore, flower as a gift was an effective tool in social communication. With so many choices today, we have no rules in flower choosing. However, people tend to give a certain flower their own personal meaning--- maybe it can remind them of some particular friends or events. Here I would introduce the traditional meanings of some gift flowers as a reference for your flower choosing.

Carnation（康乃馨） is a good gift for your female teacher or mother, but not all kinds of carnations mean respect and love. Different colours have different meanings. Generally, carnation means “fascination and woman love”. Specifically, pink carnation means “I’ll never forget you” and red carnation says “I admire you”. But some carnations have very negative meanings. If you want to say goodbye to your girlfriend, you can send her a bunch of striped carnations or yellow ones, because it means “Sorry I can’t be with you. You disappointed me.”

Rose is no doubt the best gift for girls in love. Basically, it relates to the love between men and women, but roses with different colours stand for different stages of love. Red rose is man’s best friend when he wants to show his love to a girl. In the peak of his love, pink rose is more suitable because it means “perfect happiness and please believe me”. While the love gets into trouble, yellow rose seems to be the best symbol. It means “the decrease of love and jealousy”.

Though you are free to choose any kind of flower as long as it is beautiful, I think this brief introduction can help you avoid making mistakes. Besides, the receivers must be happier if he or she gets to know the good will you convey in flowers.

64. Why do we choose certain flowers as gifts?

   A. Because they are the best gifts for you.  B. Because flowers all look beautiful

C. Because different flowers smell good.  

D. Because they can express specific meanings.

65. In different stages of love, ________.

   A. roses of different colours show love to a girl.

B. you can choose red rose at any occasion

C. yellow rose is the best symbol for your love

D. pink rose implies that your love comes to maturity(成熟).

66. What does the passage mainly talk about?
   A. Carnation is better than rose    B. Like the carnation, like the rose

C. Different flowers have different meanings  D. Flowers of different colours

After successfully serving their term for 4 years, military service men and women are given the choice to stay in the military or return to civilian（平民）life.

For some, having to readjust to civilian life is one of the most challenging assignments our returning soldiers and marines（水兵）will ever have to undertake. While people may think readjusting should be simple, they must take into consideration all the physical and mental stress our servicemen went through.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder（創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)急障礙）,　or PTSD, is a mental disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat（打仗）.

Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. In the military, the marines are given a two-week course on how to return to civilian life.

Unfortunately, some will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD.

People who suffer from PTSD have difficulty sleeping because they are often reliving the experience through nightmares（夢魘）and flashbacks, and feel deserted or often stand off, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly damage the person’s daily life.

Fullerton College, like most colleges, has its own Veteran’s（老兵）Office. Ray Bustos has been running the office for 3 years. Bustos acts as a liaison（聯(lián)絡(luò)） for the school and the veteran students. He makes sure the veterans returning to school get the right benefits. There are various types of financial aid for soldiers and marines. He strongly encourages the use of the Veterans Affairs website.

The website is very informative and extremely helpful for veterans as well as for friends and relatives of veterans who want to learn more.

64. One purpose of the writer in writing the passage is ________________.

A. to introduce some methods to cure PTSD             

B. to instruct PTSD patients to return to civilian life

C. to recommend a website for veterans and people concerned

D. to give military service men and women advice on civilian life

65. What problems will some returning soldiers and marines meet with?

A. How to readjust to civilian life.                     B. How to get rid of mental diseases

C. How to get along with PTSD patients           D. How to return to school for benefits.

66. Which of the following is true about Ray Bustos?

A. He’s a veteran who has just come back from a military combat.

B. He runs Fullerton College with a veteran office.

C. He’s in charge of an office dealing with veteran affairs.

D. He provides a lot of financial aid for soldiers and marines.

67. The best title for the passage is __________.

A. PTSD: Killer of A Civilian Life.               B. The Last Assignment For All Military Persons

C. How to Overcome PTSD.                    D. Ready for a Civilian Life?

One of the main challenges facing many countries is how to maintain their identity in the face of globalization and the growing multi-language trend. “One of the main reasons for economic failure in many African countries is the fact that, with a few important exceptions, mother-tongue education is not practiced in any of the independent African states.” said Neville Alexander, Director of the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa at the University of Cape Town.

In response to the spread of English and the increased multi-language trends arising from immigration, many countries have introduced language laws in the last decade. In some, the use of languages other than the national language is banned in public spaces such as advertising posters. One of the first such legal provisions was the 1994 “Toubon law” in France, and the idea has been copied in many countries since then. Such efforts to govern language use are often considered as futile by language experts, who are well aware of the difficulty in controlling fashions in speech and know from research that language switching among bilinguals is a natural process.

It is especially difficult for native speakers of English to understand the desire to maintain the “purity” of a language by law. Since the time of Shakespeare, English has continually absorbed foreign words into its own language. English is one of the most mixed and rapidly changing languages in the world. But that has not been a barrier to acquiring superiority and power. Another reason for the failure of many native English speakers to understand the role of state regulation is that it has never been the Anglo-Saxon way of doing things. English has never had a state-controlled authority for the language, similar, for example, to the Academic Francaise in France.

The need to protect national languages is, for most western Europeans, a recent phenomenon- especially the need to ensure that English does not unnecessarily take over too many fields. Public communication, education and new ways of communication promoted by technology, may be key fields to defend.

67. Neville Alexander believes that lack of mother-tongue education can lead to          .

A. the independence of African states          B. economic failure

C. globalization                                        D. multi-language trends

68. The underlined word “futile” in paragraph 2 most probably means          .

A. useless                     B. practical                   C. workable                  D. unnecessary

69. Why do many English-speaking countries not support the language protection efforts?

A. They think language protection laws are ineffective.

　B. They want their language to spread to other countries.

　C. They have a long history of taking words from other languages.

　D. It reduces economic development of the countries in Europe.

70. The best title for the passage is “                 ”.

A. Fighting against the rule of English

B. Globalization and multi-language trends

C. Protecting local languages and identities

D. Ensuring the change of language by law

China supports international efforts to secure cyberspace but believes each nation’s “Internet sovereignty（主權(quán)）” must be respected, a top Chinese official said at a cyber security conference on Tuesday.

“China, like many other countries, is very concerned about cyber security,” said Liu Zhengrong, deputy director general of the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office.

“China faces severe cyber security threats,” Liu told participants here at the Worldwide Cyber Security Summit, a gathering of government and business leaders from 40 countries hosted by the EastWest Institute think tank.

“International cooperation is much needed to safeguard international cyberspace,” Liu said.

But “Internet sovereignty of each country needs to be respected,” the Chinese official added. “Different national and cultural conditions” should be taken into account.

Liu declined to answer repeated questions about cyber attacks last year on Google which the Internet giant said originated in China and led to the California company’s decision to reroute its searches through Hong Kong.

“The Chinese government firmly opposes cyber attacks in any form and Chinese law clearly states that any hackers will be held responsible for their actions,” he said.

Liu said China itself is a “a major victim of cyber attacks and network viruses” and has laws in place to deal with hackers.

“Internet-related crimes (in China) are showing a steady upward trend,” Liu said. “We suffer big economic losses from hacking networks and viruses - around $1 billion dollars (6.8 billion yuan) a year.”

In 2009, Chinese law enforcement authorities investigated about 48,000 cases, a 37 percent increase over 2008, he said.

While China has a dynamic Internet population of more than 400 million users and millions of bloggers, there is no “absolute freedom” on the Web, Liu said.

“I don’t think there is absolute freedom in this world,” he said. “When you are speaking via the Internet you must obey laws and respect others’ lawful rights.”

Last Thursday, Wang Chen, minister of the State Council Information Office, said China has been actively promoting a real-name registration system for Internet and cell phone users to better manage Internet information and services.

China needs laws that will step up monitoring for “harmful information” and block “overseas hostile forces from infiltrating（滲透）through the Internet,” Wang said.

Last week, China tightened its State Secrets law, holding Internet and mobile phone operators responsible for customers who try to leak State secrets.

Some 400 government officials, business leaders and cyber security experts are attending the summit, which features three days of discussions on ways to protect the world’s digital infrastructure from electronic threats.(427)

63. What was the top issue of Worldwide Cyber Security Summit?

   A. To fight against Internet-related crimes.

   B. To protect digital infrastructure in the world.

   C. To respect Internet sovereignty of each country.

   D. To make more laws to deal with hackers.

64. To respect a nation’s Internet sovereignty, _____________ must be considered.

   A. different national and cultural conditions

   B. attending Worldwide Cyber Security Summit

   C. stopping the leaking of State secrets

   D. safeguarding international cyberspace

65. According to paragraph 6, Internet giant refers to _________.

   A. Hong Kong              B. hackers             C. Google   D. Liu Zhengrong

66. Which of the following is NOT the measure that China has taken to guarantee better Internet information and service management?

   A. Promoting real-name registration for Internet use.

   B. Promoting real-name registration for cell phone use.

   C. Tightening State Secrets law to stop leaking State secrets.

D. Monitoring for harmful information and blocking overseas hostile forces.