Passage One
Care for Our Mother Earth
(Dr. McKinley of Awareness Magazine interviews a group of experts on environmental issues.)
Dr. McKinley: What do you think is the biggest threat to the environment today? Aman Motwane: The biggest threat to our environment today is the way we, as human beings, see our environment. How we see our environment shapes our whole world.
Most of us see everything as independent from one another. But the reality is that everything is part of one interconnected, interrelated whole. For example, a tree may appear isolated, but in fact it affects and is affected by everything in its environment — sunshine, rain, wind, birds, minerals, other plants and trees, you, me. The tree shapes the wind that blows around it; it is also shaped by that wind. Look at the relationship between the tree and its environment and you will see the future of the tree.
Most of us are blind to this interconnectedness of everything. This is why we don't see the consequences of our actions. It is time for each of us to open our eyes and see the world as it really is — one complete whole where every cause has an effect.
Dr. McKinley: Hello Dr. Semkiw. In your research, what environmental issues do you find most pressing?
Walter Semkiw: Two environmental issues that we find most pressing are deforesting and global warming. Mankind has now cut down half of the trees that existed 10,000 years ago. The loss of trees upsets the ecosystem as trees are necessary to build topsoil, maintain rainfall in dry climates, purify underground water and to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. Trees bring water up from the ground, allowing water to evaporate into the atmosphere. The evaporated water
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then returns as rain, which is vital to areas that are naturally dry. Areas downwind of deforested lands lose this source of rainfall and transform into deserts.
Global warming results from the burning of fossil fuels, such as petroleum products, resulting in the release of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses then resulting in the trap heat, resulting in warming of our atmosphere.
Dr. McKinley: Mr. Nacson, thanks for participating all the way from Australia! What do you suggest the readers of Awareness Magazine can do to help the environmental problem?
Leon Nacson: The simplest way to help the environment is not to impact on it. Tread as lightly as you can, taking as little as possible, and putting back as much as you can.
Dr. McKinley: What is your specific area of concern regarding the current and future state of the environment?
Leon Nacson: Air and water pollution are our Number One priorities. It is hard to understand that we are polluting the air we breathe and the water we drink. These are two elements that are not inexhaustible, and we must realize that once we reach the point of no return, there will be nothing left for future generations. Dr. McKinley: Mr. Desai, what an honor it is to have this opportunity to interview you. Can you please share your wisdom with our readers and tell us where you see the environmental crisis heading?
Amrit Desai: We are not separate from the problem. We are the problem. We live divided lives. On one hand, we ask industries to support our greed for more and more conveniences, comfort and possessions. We have become addicted
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consumers, which causes industrial waste. At the same time, we ignore our connection between our demands and the exploitation of Mother Earth. When we are greedy for more than what we need for our well being, we always abuse the resources of our body and the earth.
We are nurtured by the healthy condition of Mother Earth. In humans, if the mother is ailing, the child suffers. We are the cause of the ailing planet and we are the victims.
Dr. McKinley: In closing, I thank all of the participants. I have learned a great deal about what I can do as an individual to help the environment.
I hope these interviews encourage the readers of Awareness Magazine to take action and develop your own strategy. Too many of us just sit back and say \the experts deal with it.\interview is to show how one person can make a difference. Thanks to all for offering your wisdom.
Choose the best answer to each question based on the information you obtain from the passage.
1. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A) fossils fuel are the only cause of global warming
B) trees play an important role in avoiding global warming C) the interview is held in Australia
D) experts do not have a solution to the environmental crisis
2. By saying that \environment\
A) everything in the ecosystem is part of one complete whole
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B) most people hold a wrong view on the environment C) everything affects and is affected by its environment D) people are indifferent to the environment protection
3. In Leon Nacson's view, air and water pollution are our Number One priorities because ______.
A) he cannot understand why people are polluting air and water B) there will be nothing left for future generations
C) we would run out of air and water if we didn't stop polluting them
D) air and water pollution are the current and future state of the environment
4. TWhich of the following best explains Amrit Desai's words \
A) We pollute Mother Earth in pursuing a better life, which, consequently, hurts ourselves. B) We are never satisfied with what we have, and we do not make good use of natural resources.
C) If Mother Earth is ill, we, as her children, only enjoy part of our life.
D) Though we have created the environmental problem, we try to separate ourselves from it.
5. According to Dr. McKinley, what is the root cause of the environmental problem?
A) Deforesting and global warming. B) The abuse of natural resources. C) Air and water pollution. D) The attitude of human beings.
阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Two
Frog Story
A couple of odd things have happened lately.
I have a log cabin in those same woods of Northern Wisconsin. I built it by hand and also added a greenhouse to the front of it. It is a joy to live in. In fact, I work out of my home doing audio production and environmental work. As a tool of that trade I have a computer and a studio.
I also have a tree frog that has taken up residence in my studio.
How odd, I thought, last November when I first noticed him sitting atop my sound board over my computer. I figured that he (and I say he, though I really don't have a clue if she is a he or vice versa) would be more comfortable in the greenhouse. So I put him in the greenhouse. Back he came. And stayed. After a while I got quite used to the fact that as I would check my morning email and on-line news, he would be there with me surveying the world.
Then, last week, as he was climbing around looking like a small gray/green human, I started to wonder about him.
So, there I was, working in my studio and my computer was humming along. I had
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to stop when Tree Frog went across my view. He stopped and turned around and just sat there looking at me. Well, I sat back and looked at him. For five months now he had been riding there with me and I was suddenly overtaken by an urge to know why he was there and not in the greenhouse, where I figured he'd live a happier frog life.
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As I looked at him, dead on, his eyes looked directly at me and I heard a tone. The tone seemed to hit me right in the center of my mind. It sounded very nearly like the same one as my computer. In that tone I could hear him \I want you to understand\weird. \jumped in. Then, after a moment of feeling this communication, I felt I understood why he was there. I came to understand that frogs simply want to hear other frogs and to communicate. Possibly the tone of my computer sounded to him like other tree frogs. Interesting.
I kept working. I was working on a story about global climate change and had just received a fax from a friend. The fax said that the earth is warming at 1.9 degrees each decade. At that rate I knew that the maple trees that I love to tap each spring for syrup would not survive for my children. My beautiful Wisconsin would become a prairie by the next generation.
At that moment Tree Frog leaped across my foot and sat on the floor in front of my computer. He then reached up his hand to his left ear and cupped it there. He sat before the computer and reached up his right hand to his other ear. He turned his head this way and that listening to that tone. Very focused. He then began to turn a very subtle, but brilliant shade of green and leaped full force onto the computer. And then I remembered the story about the frogs that I had heard last year on public radio. It said frogs were dying around the world. It said that because frog's
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skin is like a lung turned inside out their skin was being affected by pollution and global climate change. It said that frogs were being found whose skin was like paper. All dried up. It said that frogs are an \indicator species\first because of the sensitivity. Then, I understood.
The frogs have a message for us and it is the same message that some sober folks have had for us. \must be the adults for the planet, for the sake of the future generations of human and for frogs.
Because we are related.
Then I understood that there are no boundaries, that there is no more time. That we, for the sake of our relatives must act now.
And then I understood, not only why the frog was there, but, also why I am here.
Choose the best answer to each question with the information from the passage. 1. What is the author's purpose in writing the story?
A) He wants to tell the story of an extraordinary frog. B) He wants to tell readers the characteristics of frogs. C) He wants to show that frogs and humans can live together. D) He wants to encourage readers to fight against pollution.
2. Finally the author realized that the frog preferred staying in the studio rather than in the greenhouse because ______.
A) he wanted to remind the author that it's time to take actions against pollution
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B) he enjoyed being there surveying the world through a computer with the author C) he loved the tone of the computer which sounded like other frogs D) he was afraid the pollution outside might affect his skin
3. Frogs are called an \
A) their lungs are turned inside out B) their skin is dried up like paper
C) their skin is sensitive to environmental pollution and global climate change D) frogs can warn people of environmental pollution by killing themselves
4. What does \
A) People who are aware of the environmental problem. B) Adults not addicted to alcohol. C) People who lead a simple life. D) Adults on the planet.
5. By saying \______.
A) human beings have no more choices but act now B) human beings and frogs are connected in the ecosystem C) frogs can communicate with human beings in a certain way D) the fight against pollution is endless
阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Three
Einstein's Compass
Young Albert was a quiet boy. \Einstein. He spoke hardly at all until age 3. They might have thought him slow, but there was something else evident. When he did speak, he'd say the most unusual things. At age 2, Pauline promised him a surprise. Albert was excited, thinking she was bringing him some new fascinating toy. But when his mother presented him with his new baby sister Maja, all Albert could do is stare with questioning eyes. Finally he responded, \
When Albert was 5 years old and sick in bed, Hermann Einstein brought Albert a device that did stir his intellect. It was the first time he had seen a compass. He lay there shaking and twisting the odd thing, certain he could fool it into pointing off in a new direction. But try as he might, the compass needle would always find its way back to pointing in the direction of north. \invisible force that guided the compass needle was evidence to Albert that there was more to our world that meets the eye. There was \deeply hidden.\
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So began Albert Einstein's journey down a road of exploration that he would follow the rest of his life. \curious.\
Albert Einstein was more than just curious though. He had the patience and determination that kept him at things longer than most others. Other children would build houses of card up to 4 stories tall before the cards would lose balance and the whole structure would come falling down. Maja watched in wonder as her brother Albert methodically built his card buildings to 14 stories. Later he would say, \
One advantage Albert Einstein's developing mind enjoyed was the opportunity to communicate with adults in an intellectual way. His uncle, an engineer, would come to the house, and Albert would join in the discussions. His thinking was also stimulated by a medical student who came over once a week for dinner and lively chats.
At age 12, Albert Einstein came upon a set of ideas that impressed him as \holy.\was a little book on Euclidean plane geometry. The concept that one could prove theorems of angles and lines that were in no way obvious made an \impression%use to pursue his curiosity and prove what he would discover about the behavior of the universe.
He was convinced that beauty lies in the simplistic. Perhaps this insight was the real power of his genius. Albert Einstein looked for the beauty of simplicity in the apparently complex nature and saw truths that escaped others. While the
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expression of his mathematics might be accessible to only a few sharp minds in the science, Albert could condense the essence of his thoughts so anyone could understand.
For instance, his theories of relativity revolutionized science and unseated the laws of Newton that were believed to be a complete description of nature for hundreds of years. Yet when pressed for an example that people could relate to, he came up with this: \stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. THAT's relativity.\
Albert Einstein's wealth of new ideas peaked while he was still a young man of 26. In 1905 he wrote 3 fundamental papers on the nature of light, a proof of atoms, the special theory of relativity and the famous equation of atomic power: E=mc2. For the next 20 years, the curiosity that was sparked by wanting to know what controlled the compass needle and his persistence to keep pushing for the simple answers led him to connect space and time and find a new state of matter.
What was his ultimate quest?
\created this world.... I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.\
Choose the best answer to each question based on the information you obtain from the passage.
1. The compass Einstein got at the age of five is especially worth mentioning, because it ______.
A) started his research on relativity B) gave him the insight of its structure
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C) sparked his curiosity in exploring the universe D) helped him recover soon from the disease
2. We can safely conclude that Einstein's achievements are mainly due to his ______.
A) curiosity, humor and passion B) patience, humor and determination C) determination, patience and passion D) persistence, determination and curiosity
3. In the course of Einstein's intellectual development, he benefited much from ______.
A) communicating intellectually with adults B) playing with other children C) dining with medical students D) building houses of cards
4. Einstein's ability to explain profound theories in simple words shows that ______.
A) he was good at condensing the essence of his thoughts B) he had a good command of communication skills C) he believed that beauty exists in simple things D) he was an expert in organizing ideas
5. Mathematics performed a very important function in Einstein's scientific career in that ______.
A) it helped him to stay with problems longer B) it helped uncover the mysteries of the universe C) it greatly enriched his childhood
D) it enabled him to prove the laws of Newton 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Four
The Wake-up Call from Stockholm
\Swedish caller told Caltech professor Ahmed Zewail at 5:40 a.m. on October 12.
Soon the world would hear of Zewail's award — the 1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry — and Zewail would hear from the world. Two thousand e-mails would zoom his way within a few days and three phone lines would start ringing with eager requests for interviews from the national and Egyptian press and with congratulations from friends and colleagues. But first, the 53-year-old man would share the news with his family.
He kissed his wife, Dema, and young sons, Nabeel and Hani. His mother, whom Zewail reached in his native Egypt, cried and cried. His daughters, Maha and Amani, \
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\He said, 'Good.'\
six-year-old said, \going to see the king?\
The Royal Swedish Academy honored Zewail for his groundbreaking work in viewing and studying chemical reactions at the atomic level as they occur. He has shown \laser technique to see how atoms in a molecule move during a chemical reaction.\
Zewail had brought the most powerful tools from the field of physics into the chemistry lab to create a revolution, and the field of femto-chemistry was born. It was \Swedes announced, \investigation allows us to understand and predict important reactions,\probe nature at its most fundamental level.
Zewail is the 27th Caltech faculty member or alumnus to receive the Nobel Prize, and the third faculty member to be so honored in this decade.
\tumultuous week, \fields or bring in new ideas and tools, you find what you don't expect. You open new windows.\
Zewail's path to the forefront of the international science arena has been elegant and swift, like the atoms he observes performing molecular dances. With a wealth of experience in home chemistry projects as a boy in Egypt, he sailed to the top of his class at Alexandria University. The classical science education he received there prepared him for a promised tenure-track position in the field of his choice: math,
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physics, chemistry, or geology, but he decided to get his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania — to \but to this young Egyptian, \institute\prestigious than \As it turned out, Penn provided the \transition from classical science studies to the postdoctoral work he did at UC Berkeley.
He stayed at Berkeley for postdoctoral work for two reasons: to think more about research rather than about getting a PhD and \— I wanted to buy a big American car to take back to Egypt with me.\papers \handful of American universities.
\I was well received by the staff, administration, and faculty.\make his own way specializing in dynamics in a department strong on structure. And the Mediterranean climate didn't hurt. That was 1976.
Zewail was off and running, earning tenure in a year and a half, making full professorship by 1982, seated in the Pauling Chair by 1990. Now with a Nobel Prize under his belt, what's next? \retiring,\going to Hollywood.\
In the coming years, Zewail looks forward to more breakthroughs. He will remain active in research and in publishing papers, which he considers to be his babies (363 to date ). Tracking the progress of two papers within a week of receiving the prize, he reached a surprised editor who said, \
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thought you'd be out wining and dining.\what is possible.
Choose the best answer to each question with the information from the passage. 1. Nabeel's reaction disappointed his father; the possible explanation of it might be ______.
A) he had little idea of the importance of the Nobel Prize B) he took it for granted that his father should be the winner C) he was more interested in the king than the Prize D) he was afraid his friends would look down upon him
2. Zewail has pioneered in the field of femto-chemistry, which can be regarded as a revolution in ______.
A) chemistry and physics
B) chemical reaction and atomic structure C) laser technology and molecule research D) chemistry and other sciences related
3. Zewail attended several universities; they are, in order of time, ______.
A) the Alexandria University, the University of Pennsylvania, Caltech
B) the Alexandria University, the University of Pennsylvania and UC Berkeley C) the University of Pennsylvania, Caltech and UC Berkeley D) the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley and Caltech
4. Zewail chose Caltech over the other top American universities mainly because ______.
A) there were already 26 Nobel Prize winners among the faculty members B) he appreciated the hearty welcome presented by the people there C) he found it a better place to specialize in dynamics D) the Mediterranean climate of California was agreeable
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5. The editor thought it incredible to hear Zewail on the phone within the week of his receiving the Nobel Prize, because he thought ______.
A) Zewail would go and visit to Hollywood
B) Zewail might be busy handling calls and e-mails C) Zewail should be occupied with dinner parties D) Zewail would have no time to do any papers 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Five
Bathtub Battleships from Ivorydale
American mothers have long believed that when it comes to washing out the mouths of naughty children, nothing beats Ivory Soap (a registered trademark of the Proctor & Gamble Company). This is because its reputation for being safe, mild, and pure is as solid and spotless as the marble of the Lincoln Memorial. It doesn't
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even taste all that bad. And should you drop it into a tubful of cloudy, child-colored water, not to worry — it floats.
Ivory Soap is an American institution, about as widely recognized as the
Washington Monument and far more well respected than Congress. It had already attained this noble status when Theodore Roosevelt was still a rough-riding cowboy in North Dakota. Introduced in 1879 as an inexpensive white soap intended to rival the quality of imported soaps, it was mass marketed by means of one of the first nationwide advertising campaigns. People were told that Ivory was \floats,\notion took hold. As a result, at least half a dozen generations of Americans have gotten themselves clean with Ivory.
So many hands, faces, and baby bottoms have been washed with Ivory that their numbers beat the imagination. Not even Proctor & Gamble knows how many billions of bars of Ivory have been sold. The company keeps a precise count, however, of the billions of dollars it earns. Annual sales of Ivory Soap, Ivory Snow, Crest toothpaste, Folger's coffee, and the hundreds of other products now marketed under the Proctor & Gamble umbrella exceed thirty billion dollars.
The company has grown a bit since it was founded in 1837 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by a pair of immigrants named William Proctor and James Gamble, each of whom pledged $3,596.47 to the enterprise. For decades Proctor & Gamble manufactured candles and soap in relatively modest quantities. It took more than twenty years for sales to top one million dollars, which they did shortly before the Civil War . The company's big break came with the introduction of its floating soap and the realization that an elaborate advertising campaign could turn a simple, though high-quality, product into a phenomenon. The soap's brand name was lifted from \
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product and the marketing effort that placed it in the hands of nearly every American that the company soon built an enormous new factory in a place called Ivorydale.
Proctor & Gamble never forgot the advertising lessons it learned with Ivory. For instance, it was among the first manufacturers to use radio to reach consumers nationwide. In 1933 Proctor & Gamble's Oxydol soap powder sponsored a radio serial called Ma Perkins, and daytime dramas were forever after known as \operas.\Prell shampoo, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and the ever-present Tide, \improved\Gamble backbone product.
Ivory remains a favorite among consumers, too, and no wonder. With a bar of Ivory Soap in your hand, you are holding a chunk of American history. If you like, you can even wash your hands and face with it and be assured that it is \forty-four-one-hundredths percent pure.\
The latter quality of Ivory Soap is especially attractive to children. Generations of little boys armed with toothpicks, miniature flags, or leftover parts from model ships - there are always a few - have converted bars of Ivory Soap into bathtub battleships. A note of warning for any small boys who may be reading this: Mothers tend to frown on the practice.
Choose the best answer to each question based on the information you obtain from the passage.
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1. We may infer from the passage that ______.
A) Proctor & Gamble was not impressively successful in its first 20 years.
B) the sales of Ivory Soap reach as high as more than thirty billion dollars per year C) the factory of Proctor & Gamble is located in Ivorydale, hence the name of the soap D) Proctor & Gamble was founded by two immigrants shortly before the Civil War
2. The most important reason for the great success of Ivory Soap lies in ______.
A) its brand name which was lifted from the Bible B) its successful nationwide advertising campaign C) its feature of being 99.44/100 percent pure D) its mass production and low cost
3. By saying that \
A) Ivory Soap is a brand name of Proctor & Gamble's products in America B) Ivory Soap is an organization for providing washing powder C) Ivory Soap is well-known to Americans D) Ivory Soap is a landmark building in America
4. Proctor & Gamble introduced Ivory Soap in order to ______.
A) compete with high-quality soaps coming from foreign countries B) arouse children's interest so that they would become loyal consumers C) satisfy American mothers' need of washing out the mouths of their children D) bring a big break to the company and reach one million dollars in sales
5. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A) Ivory Soap is as solid and spotless as the marble of the Lincoln Memorial. B) Soap operas became known as a result of a P&G sponsored radio serial.
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C) Ivory Soap is eatable and doesn't even taste all that bad.
D) Proctor & Gamble keeps a precise count of the bars of Ivory Soap having been sold. 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Six
Haier Seeks Cool U.S. Image
NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) — For most American shoppers, \still suggest cheap toys, but China's largest household appliance maker has
ambitious plans to change that with its sales of a growing range of sleek minibars. Haier Group Co., which according to some industry estimates is the world's second-biggest maker of refrigerators, is seeking to outflank America's three major appliance makers by competing on image rather than price, and by targeting students in the hope that they will remain loyal as they get older.
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And so far the strategy, which may signal the way for future campaign in the U.S. market by other Chinese consumer products companies, may be working — at least according to two arms of the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
\spokeswoman for Wal-Mart's Sam's Club, whose last holiday season catalog featured a black Haier cooler with smoked glass doors that is big enough to chill 30 bottles of wine.
\luxury machine, sold along with the more ordinary Haier chest freezer that costs about $160.
Wal-Mart's main discount operation in April began selling the chest freezers in half of its 2,600 stores, while most of its stores sell at least one of two versions of compact refrigerators made by Haier.
\spokesman Rob Phillips, who added that the Haier 4.6 cubic feet and 5 cubic feet freezers cost about the same as General Electric Co.'s comparable products, selling for around $169.
COLLEGE TOEHOLD
GE, Whirlpool Corp. and Maytag Corp. currently dominate the U.S. marketplace for household appliances but they tend to focus most of their attention on mainstream areas such as large refrigerators and freezers.
Haier, which says it currently sells $200 million worth of appliances in the U.S. annually, now claims more than a 35 percent share of the U.S. market for
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refrigerators 4 cubic feet and smaller — the minibars found in hotels and college dormitories.
\kids using our little refrigerators grow up and marry, we want them to be thinking of us for their first fridge,\president, who was Haier's first U.S. distributor before setting up the unit in 1999.
Haier may need to depend less on the Chinese market because it is likely to face an increasing challenge on its own turf. China's entry into the World Trade
Organization will open up Chinese manufacturers to greater foreign competition at home.
Haier, which had global revenues of $5 billion last year, spent $30 million setting up a plant late last year in Camden, South Carolina that will make large Haier brand refrigerators. Company officials say they hope initiatives like that will grow U.S. sales to $1 billion by 2004.
\curve in the U.S., and then picking up niche markets,\Administration at the University of Virginia and the author of a new book, Inside Chinese Business.
BROADWAY HEADQUARTERS
The company, whose Chief Executive Zhang Ruimin is famous in China for being filmed smashing sub-standard products with a hammer, last week bought a historical bank building on Broadway in Manhattan for $14 million.
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\Jemal. \have.\
In the third quarter of 2002, for example, the company plans to launch stainless steel Internet-linked appliances with Flash Gordon stylings, such as a home clothes washing machine that can be started via the Internet, he said.
To grow its brand in the U.S., the company has taken out ad space on a
case-by-case basis on trolley cars at JFK International Airport in New York and on billboards in Miami and Chicago, but has not yet contracted with any of the big advertising firms. And Haier America is not only battling rival appliance makers in the U.S. — it is also manufacturing for some of them. Haier America does about 20 to 25 percent of its manufacturing on a contract basis for other companies, including big U.S. competitors, who sell its products under their own brand names.
Choose the best answer to each question with the information from the passage. 1. What is the main idea of the passage?
A) Haier refrigerators and freezers are becoming more and more popular with American college students.
B) The old idea that Chinese products in America are mainly cheap toys no longer exists because of Haier's efforts.
C) Using its own strategies, Haier is gradually building its brand name in the American market.
D) Haier's successful strategy signals the way other Chinese companies should take for their future campaigns in the U.S. market.
2. Which of the following best explains the subtitle of the second part - \
A) Haier aims at U.S. college students in the hope that they will become its future employees.
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B) Haier takes advantage of the strong purchasing power of U.S. college students to strive for more U.S. market.
C) Haier wants to learn the advanced technology and administration from U.S. colleges. D) Haier focuses on U.S. college students for the purpose of keeping them as future customers.
3. Jemal's statement that \make us\
A) tthey are not going to make money from that building B) buying that building is not for showing their strength C) Haier won't succeed only by the purchase of that building D) buying that building won't put them in difficulty
4. Ming-Jer Chen's comment \picking up niche markets\
A) Haier finds a suitable position in the U.S. market through exploration B) Haier provides its employees training courses on marketing
C) Haier has set up a plant in Camden that will make large Haier brand refrigerators D) Haier plans to launch Internet-linked appliances with Flash Gordon styling
5. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A) with the help of some big advertising firms, Haier is growing quickly B) a refrigerator with an American brand may be a product of Haier's
C) refrigerators made by Haier are much cheaper than those by America's companies D) Haier is the second-biggest manufacturer of refrigerators in the U.S. 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Seven
Not Now, Dr. Miracle
Severino Antinori is a rich Italian doctor with a string of private fertility clinics to his name. He likes watching football and claims the Catholic faith. Yet the Vatican is no fan of his science.
In his clinics, Antinori already offers every IVF treatment under the sun, but still there are couples he cannot help. So now the man Italians call Dr Miracle is offering to clone his patients to create the babies they so desperately want.
And of course it's created quite a stir, with other scientists rounding on Antinori as religious leaders line up to attack his cloning plan as an insult to human dignity. Yet it's an ambition Antinori has expressed many times before. What's new is that finally it seems to be building a head of steam. Like-minded scientists from the US have joined Antinori in his cloning adventure. At a conference in Rome last week they claimed hundreds of couples have already volunteered for the experiments.
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Antinori shot to fame seven years ago helping grandmothers give birth using donor eggs. Later he pioneered the use of mice to nurture the sperm of men with poor fertility. He is clearly no ordinary scientist but a showman who thrives on controversy and pushing reproductive biology to the limits. And that of course is one reason why he's seen as being so dangerous.
However, his idea of using cloning to combat infertility is not as mad as it sounds. Many people have a hard job seeing the point of reproductive cloning. But for some couples, cloning represents the only hope of having a child carrying their genes, and scientists like Antinori are probably right to say that much of our opposition to cloning as a fertility treatment is irrational. In future we may want to change our minds and allow it in special circumstances.
But only when the science is ready. And that's the real problem. Five years on from Dolly, the science of cloning is still stuck in the dark ages. The failure rate is a shocking 97 per cent and deformed babies all too common. Even when cloning works, nobody understands why. So forget the complex moral arguments. To begin cloning people now, before even the most basic questions have been answered, is simply a waste of time and energy.
This is not to say that Antinori will fail, only that if he succeeds it is likely to be at an unacceptably high price. Hundreds of eggs and embryos will be wasted and lots of women will go through difficult pregnancies resulting in miscarriages or abortions. A few years from now techniques will have improved and the wasteful loss won't be as excessive. But right now there seems to be little anyone can do to keep the cloners at bay.
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And it's not just Antinori and his team who are eager to go. A religious group called the Raelians believes cloning is the key to achieving immortality, and it, too, claims to have the necessary egg donors and volunteers willing to be implanted with cloned embryos.
So what about tougher laws? Implanting cloned human embryos is already illegal in many countries but it will never be prohibited everywhere. In any case, the prohibition of cloning is more likely to drive it underground than stamp it out. Secrecy is already a problem. Antinori and his team are refusing to name the country they'll be using as their base. Like it or not, the research is going ahead. Sooner or later we are going to have to decide whether regulation is safer than prohibition.
Antinori would go for regulation, of course. He believes it is only a matter of time before we lose our hang-ups about reproductive cloning and accept it as just another IVF technique. Once the first baby is born and it cries, he said last week, the world will embrace it.
But the world will never embrace the first cloned baby if it is unhealthy or deformed or the sole survivor of hundreds of pregnancies. In jumping the gun, Dr Miracle and his colleagues are taking one hell of a risk. If their instincts are wrong, the backlash against cloning — and indeed science as a whole — could be catastrophic.
Choose the best answer to each question based on the information you obtain from the passage.
1. The author's purpose in writing the passage is to tell us that ______.
A) the research on cloning humans should be carried out to help infertile couples
B) regulations should be made to direct the science of cloning humans into the right track
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C) the research on cloning humans should not be conducted so recklessly D) Antinori is a great scientist who pushes reproductive biology to the limits
2. By saying \
A) Vatican has no interest in medical science B) Vatican is against Antinori's cloning plan C) Vatican refuses to accept Antinori as a Catholic D) Vatican is in favor of IVF treatment
3. The phrase \
A) supporting B) surrounding C) criticizing D) thinking of
4. In the author's view, the real problem of cloning humans is that ______.
A) secret experiments on cloning are being carried on B) it leads to complex moral arguments
C) even the scientific community can not reach an agreement D) cloning science is not advanced enough
5. Severino Antinori is thought of as being dangerous probably because ______.
A) he tries to challenge the biological limits to combat infertility B) he refuses to say anything about their research base C) he offers to help the couples who cannot have a baby D) he claims the Catholic faith, but behaves against it 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Eight
I Have His Genes But Not His Genius
It's Christmas Eve 2040, and I'm the only bartender still working that afternoon, and the house is practically empty. I see this guy down at the end of the bar, sitting by himself. I bring him a fresh drink, and wish him greetings of the season. He looks at me, sort of funny, and says: \ I admit I don't.
\wallet. An old portrait, really old, like centuries old. It's a young man in profile: sharp nose, weak chin, definite resemblance to my friend here. At the bottom, there's a caption: \W. A. Mozart.\
Now it's my turn to look at him funny. Then it hits me like a brick. \guy,\
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\In the flesh. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I have his brain, his heart, his DNA. He's my father and my mother and my brother. He's my identical twin, except I was born 247 years later.\
So he starts talking. It takes him a long time to explain, and I didn't get it all, but I got a lot.
In 2001, Congress passed a ban on cloning humans, but of course mad scientists went ahead with secret cloning.
And then, there was this software billionaire who was nuts about Mozart, and was especially nuts about Mozart's Requiem. He set up a secret institute in Switzerland and hired some top biologists and told them they'd get $1 million each for every baby they cloned from Mozart's DNA.
In 2003, the institute managed to bring four babies to term. Two died shortly after birth. Two survived. But then this software billionaire died, and his company collapsed, and so did his cloning institute. One baby Mozart was put up for adoption anonymously. No one knows what happened to that one. The other baby was adopted by one of the scientists, who was a big Mozart fan herself.
\
His mother, of course, didn't tell him or anyone else who he was, but she told the boy how special he was, how he was a genius, what a great composer he could be, trying to push her little Mozart toward music.
But the 2010s weren't the 1760s. The boy may have had talent, but he also had his
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own priorities, and they didn't include violin sonatas. He liked rock music and he liked it loud, and then as he got older he liked beer and girls. The harder his mother pushed him to be a great composer, the less he wanted to be one. After a while his mother gave up. By the time he was 20, he had a decent job working in a frame shop. And that's when the roof fell in.
Some reporter got wind of the institute and the cloning experiment and tracked him down. But no one could prove he was a clone of Mozart without digging up the original, so the media treated him as a joke. It just crushed him. He tried running away. He joined a Buddhist monastery in Japan. One day, while he was there, he heard the Requiem. Not for the first time, but this time it was different.
\just felt it somehow: It rang inside of me. I'd finish it, or die trying.\if he could finish the Requiem, he'd be famous for real, a genius instead of a fool. He immersed himself in Mozart's music. Nights, weekends, all the time, he drove himself, working on the Requiem. \
\Mozart died when he was 35. I should have finished the Requiem two years ago.\ \
He looks at me for a while and shakes his head, \genes but not his genius.\
And with that he drops a tip on the bar and is gone. I never saw him again. If the Requiem was ever finished, I never heard about it.
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Fill in the blanks with the information you've obtained from the passage. Don't refer back to it until you have finished.
W. A. Mozart was a great 1) living in the 18th century. He died young, leaving his
of the 21st century, a billionaire who institute and hired some top biologists to
masterpiece Requiem unfinished. At the 2) was crazy about the Requiem set up a 3) 4) babies from Mozart's DNA. The institute succeeded in producing four babies but
by a woman, who was also among the research . However, the boy only two survived. One was 5) group. She had been trying to push the little Mozart toward 6) had his own priorities, and all the mother's efforts turned out fruitless; the boy grew up into an 7) person. Then something happened, and totally changed his life. A reporter
heard about the institute and the experiment, and found the young man. As he couldn't 8)
that he himself was the copy of Mozart, the media treated him as a 9) It was a great blow to him. He swore to finish the Requiem to show to the whole world. He immersed himself in the Requiem day and night. Fifteen years passed, and he achieved nothing. Eventually he realized that he only had Mozart's genes but not his 10) 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Nine
Tongue-tied
Several weeks ago I was riding in a cab when the driver's eyes caught mine in the rear view mirror and he said, \
As any hard-bitten city dweller knows, the correct answer to a question like \you help me?\chirped, \ \slip of yellow paper into the back seat. I stared at the paper, wondering. Was this a joke? A threat? Hand-printed on the paper in tiny block letters was this: proverb peculiar idiomatic
\
I stared at the words in the distressed way you might stare at party guests whose faces you've seen somewhere before but whose names have escaped your mind. Proverb? Peculiar? Idiomatic? How on earth should I know? It's one thing to use a word, it's another to explain it. I resorted to shifting the topic.
\
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The driver explained that he was Pakistani. He listened to the radio as he drove and often jotted down unfamiliar, fascinating words whose meanings and spellings he then sought from his passengers.
\Peculiar,\
I could manage that one. \hint of something suspicious.\
\idiomatic?\
I cleared my throat. \language.\
I thought my use of peculiar was kind of clever. He looked confused, a reminder that clever's not clever if it doesn't communicate.
%used in, say, a particular part of the country or by a particular group of people. People who aren't part of that group aren't likely to use it and might not understand it.\
Watching his puzzled look, I did what a person often does when at a loss for the right words: I went on talking, as if a thousand vague words would add up to one accurate definition.
\
I racked my brains. \Gapers block,\Chicago phrase.
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But did it really qualify as idiomatic? I had no idea because the longer I thought about idioms the less sure I was what they were. \proverb?\
I should have told the poor man right then that I might be misleading him down the proverbial path, whatever that really means, but instead I said, \is kind of like an aphorism. But not quite.\ \
\ \
The meter clicked off a full 20 cents while I searched madly through my mind. \Haste makes waste?\whimpered.
But was that a proverb? Wait. Weren't proverbs actually stories, not just phrases? While I was convincing myself they were, he said, \ I could answer that. Just not right now, now when it mattered, now when the fate of a curious, intelligent immigrant hung on the answers he assumed would fall from a native speaker's tongue as naturally as leaves from an October tree. So I retreated.
\ \
Until that moment, I'd been so inspired by the driver's determination to learn English, so enthralled by the chance to indulge my curiosity about words with another curious soul, that I didn't fully grasp the potential for linguistic fraud
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committed in this man's cab. Now I could barely allow myself to imagine what kind of deformed English he was being fed by cowards like me who couldn't simply say, \
I can only trust that someone as curious as he is also owns a dictionary. And that he figures out that, no matter what his passengers may say, haste doesn't always make waste at the gapers block.
Choose the best answer to each question based on the information you obtain from the passage.
1. What does the author imply about the hard-bitten city dwellers?
A) They are not confident about themselves. B) They are not so willing to help others. C) They are friendly to strangers. D) They are not very knowledgeable.
2. What can we infer from the passage?
A) The author is unwilling to help the driver. B) English is not the author's native language. C) The driver was slow to understand the author. D) It is easier to use a word than to explain it.
3. What did the author realize when she found that the driver couldn't understand her?
A) She wasn't as curious as the driver.
B) She didn't really know a lot of her own language.
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C) She should feel regretted having agreed to help. D) She was trapped by the driver for more fare.
4. Why did the author mention \
A) To use it as an example to explain a proverb. B) To remind the driver to drive slowly. C) To advise that learning should take time. D) To tell a story beginning with a saying.
5. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A) The author herself is not a native speaker of English. B) The author herself is not a native speaker of English.
C) The driver impressed the author with his eagerness to learn English. D) The author thought her explanations were very clever. 阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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Passage Ten
Returning to College
If I thought I'd live to be a hundred, I'd go back to college next fall. I was drafted into the Army at the end of my junior year and, after four years in the service, had no inclination to return to finish. By then, it seemed, I knew everything.
Well, as it turns out, I don't know everything, and I'm ready to spend some time learning. I wouldn't want to pick up where I left off. I'd like to start all over again as a freshman. You see, it isn't just the education that appeals to me. I've visited a dozen colleges in the last two years, and college life looks extraordinarily pleasant.
The young people on campus are all gung ho to get out and get at life. They don't seem to understand they're having one of its best parts. Here they are with no responsibility to anyone but themselves, a hundred or a thousand ready-made friends, teachers trying to help them, families at home waiting for them to return for Christmas to tell all about their triumphs, three meals a day — so it isn't gourmet food — but you can't have everything.
Too many students don't really have much patience with the process of being educated. They think half the teachers are idiots, and I wouldn't deny this. They think the system stinks sometimes. I wouldn't deny that. They think there aren't any nice girls/boys around. I'd deny that. They just won't know what an idyllic time of life college can be until it's over.
The students are anxious to acquire the knowledge they think they need to make a buck, but they aren't really interested in education for education's sake. That's where they're wrong, and that's why I'd like to go back to college. I know now what
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a joy knowledge can be, independent of anything you do with it.
I'd take several courses in philosophy. I like the thinking process that goes with it. Philosophers are fairer than is absolutely necessary, but I like them, even the ones that I think are wrong. Too much of what I know of the great philosophers comes secondhand or from condensations. I'd like to take a course in which I actually had to read Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Spinoza, Locke, John Dewey and the other great thinkers.
I'd like to take some calculus, too. I have absolutely no ability in that direction and not much interest, either, but there's something going on in mathematics that I don't understand, and I'd like to find out what it is. My report cards won't be mailed to my father and mother, so I won't have to worry about marks. I bet I'l1 do better than when they were mailed.
There are some literary classics I ought to read and I never will, unless I'm forced to by a good professor, so I'll take a few courses in English literature. I took a course that featured George Gordon Byron, usually referred to now as \Lord Byron,\actually read all of Don Juan and have never gotten over how great it was. I know I could get an A in that if I took it over. I'd like to have a few easy courses. My history is very weak, and I'd want several history courses. I'm not going to break my back over them, but I'd like to be refreshed about the broad outline of history. When someone says sixteenth century to me, I'd like to be able to it with some names and events. This is just a little conversational conceit, but that's life. If I can find a good teacher, I'd certainly want to go back over English grammar and usage. He'd have to be good, because you might not think so sometimes, but I
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know a lot about using the language. Still, there are times when I'm stumped. I was wondering the other day what part of speech the word \\
I've been asked to speak at several college graduation ceremonies. Maybe if I graduate, they'll ask me to speak at my own.
Choose the best answer to each question with the information from the passage.
1. What does the author think of the students on campus?
A) They lack a sense of responsibility. B) They are too willing to make friends. C) They make their families worry about them. D) They fail to realize that college life is precious.
2. What do you think is a ready-made friend, as mentioned in paragraph 3?
A) A friend who offers you help when you are in real need. B) A friend who is always ready to help you. C) A friend who is easily and immediately available. D) A friend who will make everything ready for you.
3. The author thinks that the college students' attitude towards college education is ________.
A) realistic B) pessimistic C) unfair D) objective
4. What is the reason that has made the author return to college?
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A) He wants to make some ready-made friends.
B) He intends to acquire knowledge to make more money. C) He wants to live an independent life. D) He finds it is a joy to get better educated.
5. The author wants to take calculus because ________.
A) he has a special talent for it B) he is curious about mathematics C) he can bring home a good report D) he is interested in it
阅读完这篇文章,你都学到哪些词汇和短语了呢?总结一下吧:
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