—Have you received Jack’s plan?

—Yes, but I don’t think his plan is _______.

A. worth being considered 　　　　　　 B. worthy to be considered

C. worthy of considering D. worth to be considered

 —They are quiet, aren’t they?

—Yes. They are accustomed ______ at meals.

A. to talk    B. to not talk      C. to talking      D. to not talking

Surfing—the art of riding a wave on a pointed board—is the wildest, fastest natural water sport known to man. In recent years, it has developed into a major sport around the world, from Australia to South Africa. Australians brave(挑戰(zhàn)) men-eating sharks to ride the green waves Down Under, Hawaiian experts risk their lives on huge, thirty-foot swells(浪濤) against the wind of Oahu; Californians of all ages go out the year-round. In the winter, surf-riders put on life-suits to ride grave waves so cold that their flesh turns blue.

Surfing is no sport for weak persons. Swimming a quarter of a mile or more, and pushing a surfboard out to where the swells are just right for riding, can be real work. Then, at exactly the right moment, you climb up the wave and go fast across the face of a powerful swell with the white water jumping at your feet. The huge wave bites at your shoulder, threatening(威脅) at any moment to smash you flat. In the next several seconds, a cool head and lightning-quick action back to the pressure of the attacking wave will bring your board under control for that great ride down the back of the great, green mountain of water. Once on the beach, you know why surfing is growing in popularity as an international sport, and you’re glad to be a member of this new water world.

48. The first paragraph mainly tells us ______.

A. the definition of the sport

B. people around the world go surfing

C. how to surf in the sea

D. where to surf around the world

49. The author believes that surfing _______.

A. can be done by anyone                   B. does not require courage

C. should be done by everyone            D. is not an easy sport

50. In order to experience what real surfing is, _______.

A. you must first swim a quarter of a mile to warm your body

B. you will first ride on a board to reach the swells

C. you must first put on your life-suits before doing surfing

D. you must first swim to the swells with your board

COLUMBIA City, Indiana — For Robin Smith, the hard plastics company where she works has become a worker’s paradise since the work week was cut from 40 to 30 hours last May with no pay cut.

“I love it. I like spending more time with my family and less time at work and getting paid for it,” said the mother of three.

Hard Plastics is part of a growing number of US companies that are experimenting with the so-called “30/40” plan to replace the 40-hour working week.

Unlike in Europe, where cutting the working week is seen as a way to reduce unemployment, US companies see the 30/40 program mainly as a tool to increase productivity.

At the Hard Plastics plant, some 150 women employees work 6-hour daily for a 30-hour working week. And if they show up every day on time, they receive a 10-hour bonus for the week.

“But if you’re even one minute late, sorry Charlie, no bonus,” said Ronald Ronald Richey, the company’s president.

“We’re in a very low unemployment market here, 2.5 percent for the town—Whitley,” said Ronald Richey. “The idea was to draw more quality applicants.”

With 30/40, the company, which employs 325 people at two plants in Indiana and has yearly sales of US $30 million, has greatly broadened its applicant pool. Some 40 people apply every week, among them many with long years of work experience or even college degrees.

The idea was first put forward by industrial psychologist Ron Healey. He said more and more companies were expressing interest in his program and were even testing it.

61. According to the text, what is the “30/40”program?

A. An employee works 30 hours a week with 40 hours’ pay.

B. An employee works for 10 hours extra every week and gets paid.

C. A woman employee with a family has the right to work 30 hours a week.

D. A woman employee gets paid even if she stays at home during work hours.

62. A “30/40 plan” is being tested in Hard Plastics with an aim to _________.

A. let working women enjoy their family life             B. improve employees’ working conditions

C. reduce unemployment in Whitley                    D. raise the company’s productivity

63. We can learn from the text that with 30/40, the company is able to _______.

A. employ more women workers                   B. employ more college graduates

C. choose their employees from among more applicants

D. help the town in its effort to reduce unemployment

64. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Hard Plastics: a worker’s paradise       B. Ron Healey: his contribution to industrial psychology

C. 30/40 program: a better way to reduce unemployment D. US: shorter week produces more

Welcome to my Message Board!

Subject: Slimming down（縮編）classics?

Mr. Handsome

2008-5-12

6: 34 AM

Orion Books, which decides there is a market in creating cut-down classics（經(jīng)典著作）, is slimming down some novels by such great writers as L. Tolstoy, M. Mitchell and C. Bronte. Now, each of them has been cut down to about 400 pages by cutting 30 to 40 pages percent of original, with words, sentences, paragraphs and, in a few cases, chapters removed. The first six shortened editions, all priced at ￡6.99 and advertised as great reads “in half the time”, will go on sale next month, with plans for 50 to 100 more to follow. The publishing house believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions.

Mr. Edwards

2008-5-12

9: 40 AM

Well, I’m publisher of Orion Group. Thanks for your attention, Mr. Handsome.

I must say, the idea developed from a game of “shame” in my office. Each of us was required to confess（承認(rèn)）to the most embarrassing blanks in his or her reading. I admitted that I had never read Anna Karenina and tried but failed to get through Gone with the Wind several times. One of my colleagues acknowledged skipping（跳讀）Jane Eyre. We realized that life is too short to read all the books you want to and we never were going to read these ones.

As a leading publishing house, we are trying to make classics convenient for readers but it’s not as if we’re withdrawing the original versions. They are still there if you want to read them.

Ms. Weir

2008-5-12

11:35 AM

I’m director of the online book club www.lovereading.co.uk.

Mr. Edwards, I think your shortened edition is a breath of fresh air. I’m guilty of never having read Anna Karenina, because it’s just so long. I’d much rather read two 300-page books than one 600-page book. I am looking forward to more shortened classics!

Mr. Crockatt

2008-5-12

4:38 PM

I’m from the London independent bookshop Corckatt & Powell.

In my opinion, the practice is completely ridiculous. How can you edit the classics? I’m afraid reading some of these books is hard work, and that is why you have to develop as a reader. If people don’t have time to read Anna Karenina, then fine. But don’t read a shortened version and kid yourself it’s the real thing.

61. According to the message board, Orion Books        .

A. opposes the reading of original classics

B. is embarrassed for cutting down classics

C. thinks cut-down classics have a bright future

D. is cautions in its decision to cut down classics

62. In Mr. Edwards’ opinion, Orion Group is shortening classics to        .

A. meet a large demand in the market             B. make them easier to read

C. increase the sales of literary books             D. compete with their original versions

63. By describing the shortened classics as “a breath of fresh air”, Ms. Weir        .

A. speaks highly of the cut-down classics   B. shows her love for original classics

C. feels guilty of not reading the classics          D. disapprove of shortening the classics

64. Mr. Crockatt seems to imply that        .

A. reading the classic works is a confusing attempt

B. shortening the classics does harm to the original

C. publishing the cut-down classics is a difficult job

D. editing the classic works satisfies children’s needs

65. How many classics are involved in the massage board?

A. Two.         B. Five.          C. Four.         D. Three.

  

    Over the past ten years, we have made some big steps forward in our common struggle for development, security and human rights. Aid and debt relief have increased, making the world economy somewhat fairer. At last, the world is taking action against HIV/AIDS. There are fewer wars between countries than there used to be; and many civil wars have ended. More Governments are elected by, and responsible for, the people whom they govern. And all States protect people from war crimes, racial cleansing and crimes against humanity.

But there is so much that still needs doing. The gap between rich and poor continues to grow. Many people still face serious crime, discrimination, and racial conflict. Nuclear weapons require urgent attention. Terrorism, and the reaction to it, is spreading fear and suspicion. It seems that we don't even agree which threats are most important. Those who live on small islands may see global warming as the biggest danger. Those who live in a city that has suffered terrorist attacks, like New York, or Mumbai, or Istanbul, may feel that fighting against terrorism is more urgent. Others again may cite poverty, disease, or genocide. The truth is, these are all global threats. All of us should be concerned about all of them. Otherwise, we may" not succeed in dealing with any of them.

     At this time of all times, we cannot afford to be divided. I know that you, the peoples of the world, understand this. Thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given me throughout these ten difficult but exciting years.

     Please urge your leaders to work with my successor, and make the United Nations ever stronger and more effective.

     Long live our planet and its peoples. Long live the United Nations!

57. The first paragraph mainly describes______________.

   A. the fact that the United Nations has become stronger

   B. the achievements that the United Nations has made

   C. the threats that the United Nations has come across

   D. the steps that have been taken to help developing countries

58. From the second paragraph we learn___________________.

   A. which problems are the most important

   B. the task to improve our world is not so difficult

   C. we still have a long way to go to achieve world peace

   D. the future of the world is not certain

59. According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Islanders care more about terrorism than global warming.

  B. More leaders are voted for by the people for. whom they are responsible, whom they govern.

  C. The speaker has spent almost all his professional life working for the United Nations

  D. People around the world don't agree which threats are most important,

60. The speech must have been made by the_________________.

  A. prime minister of the UK           B. president of the US

C. president of the PRC               D. Secretary-General of the UN

 

“I sat-in at a restaurant for six months, and when they finally agreed to serve me, they didn’t have what I wanted”---so went a famous line. In reality, the sit-in movement was not a joke. It began in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 4:30 P.M., on the afternoon of February 1, 1960. On that day, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil, David Richmond, and Franklin McClain entered an F.W. Woolworth store. They sat down at a segregated（分開(kāi)的） lunch counter, ordered coffee, and then refused to leave when told, ‘We don’t serve Negroes.”

　 The four young men had expected not to be served. What no one had expected, however, was that they would sit there and politely, but firmly, refuse to leave. This was 1960, and throughout the South black people were not allowed to sit at the same lunch counters with whites, swim at the same beaches, use the same water fountains, or worship at the same churches. Segregation was the law, and it meant separation of the races in every way.

　 The next day, the four returned to Woolworth’s---this time accompanied by sixteen other students. Again they sat at the lunch counter and requested service. Again they were refused. And again, they declined to leave. On Wednesday, February 3, seventy students filled the Woolworth’s store. This time, the group included white students as well as black. Many brought school books and studied while they waited. By this time, their protest had become known nationwide as a “sit-in”.

　 On Thursday, there was trouble. An angry group of white teenagers began shoving and cursing them but were quickly removed by the police. By February 10, the sit-in movement had spread to five other states.

By September 1961, more than 70,000 people, both black and white, had participated in sit-ins at segregated restaurants and lunch counters, kneel-ins（祈禱示威） at segregated churches, read-ins at segregated libraries, and swim-ins at segregated pools and beaches. Over 3,600 people had been arrested, and more than 100 students had been expelled. But they were getting results. On June 10, 1964, the U.S Senate passed a major civil rights bill outlawing racial discrimination in all public places. President Lyndon Johnson signed it on July 2, and it became law. But the highest credit still goes to the four brave students from North Carolina who first sat-in and waited it out.

61. In this passage, “ sit-in” refers to _________.

A. an activity where people sit together and drink coffee freely

B. a bill which outlaws racial discrimination in all public places

C. a form in which people peacefully sit and decline to leave

D. a polite behavior that everyone enjoys

62. Which statement can be concluded from the fifth paragraph in the passage?

A. The sit-in movement was not successful.

B. The sit-in movement had a positive result.

C. Only black people participated in sit-ins.

D. A lot of protesters were arrested, with some students expelled from school

63. Based on the information in the passage, you can infer that at a swim-in, people______.

A. refuse to swim at a segregated swimming pool

B. refuse to go to a segregated swimming pool

C. refuse to let others swim at a segregated swimming pool

D. refuse to leave a segregated swimming pool

64. What was the purpose of the civil rights bill passed in 1964?

A. The highest credit went to the four brave students.

B. It declared that segregation was a law.

C. The students were allowed to participate in sit-ins.

D. It made racial segregation against the law in all public places.

65. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Segregation was the law in the South.

B. The first sit-in was in 1960.

C. The sit-ins helped to end segregation.

D. The civil rights bill was passed in 1964 by the U.S. Senate.

How would you like to sleep with one half your brain asleep and the other half awake? Dolphins sleep this way. Recently , scientists at Indiana State University have discovered that ducks sleep this way too. They found that ducks sleep half awake so they can rest and watch for danger at the same time.

After putting their ducks in a row and videotaping them, some researchers found ducks on the end of each row spent more time asleep with one eye open ,apparently looking for predators.

“The more the ducks felt threatened ,the more they slept with one eye open,” said lead author Niels C. Rattenborg ,a graduate student at Indiana State University ,Terre Haute .”the unique aspect is not that they do it ,but that they control it . When they sleep at the edge of a group ,they tend to realize greater danger ,so they spend more time sleeping with one half of their brain.” Ducks with one eye open were still awake enough to detect predators ,said the authors of the study ,which appears today in the journal Nature.

 The researchers studied four groups of four ducks held in plastic boxes ,which were arranged in a row .Ducks on the end were found to sleep with one eye open 31.8 per cent of the time, compared to 12.4 percent of the time for ducks in the central position.

Also ,ducks in the central position did not open one eye more than the others, while ducks on each end kept the eye facing away from the group open 86.2 per cent of the time. Brain wave readings of the ducks showed that the half of the brain receiving signals from the closed eye indicated that half of the brain was sleeping. Signals from the half of the brain receiving signals from the open eye showed a state between fully awake and asleep.

71．It was discovered that      .

       A．most people would like to be half asleep

       B．ducks can sleep half awake

       C．dolphins sleep on their way

       D．ducks have different sleeping habits from each other

72．A predator is most likely to be       .

       A．a(chǎn)n animal that hunts ,kills and eats other animals

       B．a(chǎn) human being who looks after and feeds ducks

       C．a(chǎn) scientist who does research work on animals

       D．a(chǎn)n animal that is likely to be friends with ducks

73．Ducks at the end of each row sleep with one eye open because    .

       A．they are looking for food                     

       B．they want to enjoy the scenery

       C．they are watching out for danger          

       D．they are unique in their sleeping habit

74．How many ducks were used in the experiment?

       A．Four.                  B．Eight.                  C．Twelve.               D．Sixteen.

75．Which of the following is true according to the passage?

       A．Ducks on the northern end of a row would keep their eye facing the south open.

       B．Ducks with less sense of duty usually choose to stay in the center of a row.

       C．Ducks with one eye open at the edge can still enjoy a certain degree of sleep.

       D．A video tape recorder was the only electronic device used in the experiment.

  

Scientist Says ‘No’ to Human Cloning

“I’ve never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A&M University. “It’s a stupid endeavor.”

That’s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and a cat.

They just might succeed in cloning Missy soon — or perhaps not for another five years.

Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog's eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate（代孕的）mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses（胎）may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. "Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous," he says.

Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin's phone has been ringing with people calling in hopes of duplicating their cats and dogs, cattle and horses. "A lot of people want to clone pets, especially if the price is right," says Westhusin. Cost is no obstacle for Missy's mysterious billionaire owner; he's put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M's research.

Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy's fine qualities after she does die. The prototype（原型；雛形）is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy's master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament（氣質(zhì)、性情）. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are "both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy."

Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.

However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems~ "Why would you ever want to clone humans," Westhusin asks, "when we're not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?"

71. By "stupid endeavor", Westhusin means to say that ________.

A. animal cloning is not worth the effort at all

B. animal cloning is absolutely impractical

C. human cloning should be done selectively

D. human cloning is a foolish undertaking

72. What does the first paragraph tell us about Westhusin's dog cloning project?

A. Its success is already in sight.                B. Its outcome remains uncertain.

C. It is doomed to utter failure.                  D. It is progressing smoothly.

73. By cloning Missy, Mark Westhusin hopes to ________.

A. study the possibility of cloning humans

B. search for ways to modify its temperament

C. examine the reproductive system of the dog species

D. find out the differences between Missy and its clones

74. We learn from the passage that animal clones are likely to have ________.

A. a bad temper                                                      B. immune deficiency

C. defective（有缺陷的、有毛病的）organs           D. an abnormal shape

75. It can be seen that present cloning techniques ________.

A. still have a long way to go before reaching maturity

B. have been widely used in saving endangered species

C. provide insight into the question of nature vs. nurture

D. have proved quite adequate for the cloning of humans

   

An apple a day may poison children.

Children who eat an apple or a pear a day may be exceeding（超過(guò)）the pesticide（殺蟲(chóng)劑）safety limit because of remains on the fruit, according to research.

Using data of the British Department of Environment on pesticides on fruit collected from supermarkets，scientists thought that each day some children would get a poisonous level of pesticides.

The research, published on Sunday, says the government repeatedly claims that the levels of pesticide are safe because, instead of measuring individual apples, researchers buy 10, crush them and take an average reading to see if they are safe. This is the internationally agreed method of checking remains.

But government figures show that the pesticide is not averagely spread across the batch（一批）, and one or two apples could contain 90% or more of the pesticide in the batch.

It used mathematical modeling to measure exposure to pesticides for children aged between 18 months and four years old. The pesticides involved can destroy children’s hormones and some are suspected of causing cancer.

The good news for British fruit growers is that samples（抽樣）grown in this country had lower residue level than imported fruit, so buying home-produced fruit will reduce the danger, said Emily Diaman, one of the Earth’s senior food researchers and one of the authors of the report.

69. The reason why “An apple a day may poison children” is that __________.

A. there are some harmful insects or worms in the apple

B. children would get a poisonous level of pesticides because of the remains on the apple

C. there are always more pesticides on the apples　produced in Britain

D. the apple is too hard for children to eat

70. According to the passage, the internationally agreed method of checking remains __________.

A. tells exactly the pesticide level of each apple

B. works well only with British fruits

C. can’t tell whether a specific apple is safe to eat or not

D. used mathematical modeling to measure exposure to pesticides for children.

71. The underlined word “residue” can be replaced by  __________.

A. remains          B. pesticide       C. poison          D. medicine

72. Which of the following is NOT true？

A. The remains of the pesticides can do harm to the children’s health.

B. The remains of the pesticides can do harm to the children’s hormones.

C. Some remains of the pesticides are suspected of causing cancer.

D. For safety, we’d better not eat apples from Britain.