Which of the following is true accordi...

Passage One

It may look like just another playgroup, but a unique educational center in Manhattan is really giving babies something to talk about. "It’s a school to teach languages to babies and young children with games, songs--some of the classes also have arts and crafts," said Francois Thibaut, the founder of the Language Workshop for Children, a place where babies become bilingual.
Children as young as few months are exposed to French and Spanish before many of them can even speak English. Educators use special songs and visual (视觉的) aids to ensure that when a child is ready to talk, the languages will not be so foreign. "Children have a unique capacity to learn many languages at the same time," said Thibaut. "Already at nine months, a child can tell the differences between the sounds he or she has heard since birth and the sounds he or she has never heard yet." Thibaut says the best time to expose children to language is from birth to 3 years old. For the last 30 years, the school has been using what it caus the Thibarut Technique, a system that combines language lessons with child’s play.
"I always wanted to learn Spanish, but by the time I got to high school it was too late to pick it up and speak fluently," said Marc Lazare, who enrolled his son at the school. "I figured at this age, two, it’s a perfect time for him to learn."
Aside from learning a language, the kids also gain a tremendous sense of confidence. One young student boasted that aside from French, she can speak five languages (though that included "monkey" and "lion"). The school gives children the tools to communicate, and sometimes that gives them an advantage over their parents. "I think they sometimes speak French when they think ! won’t understand them," said parent Foster Gibbons.
Depending on the age group, classes run from 45 minute up to 2 hours. Even when students are not in class, the program is designed to make sure the learning continues at home. Tapes and books are included so kids can practice on their own.
The word "bilingual" in the first paragraph probably means ______.

A．capable of using two languages
B．both clever and confident
C．aware of their own limitations and strengths
D．independent of their parents

单项选择题

Passage Two

When I was home in Britain on holiday last summer, I spent an evening looking at photos my father had taken when he stayed with us in Beijing in the spring of 1966. Of all these interesting scenes of the past, the one I exclaimed at was a photo of Chang An Jie at Tiananmen. The photo showed one car and two bicycles!
This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months’ salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there’s decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there’s little you cannot buy.
What is the principal purpose for the author to write this article

A．To make a comparison between the past and the present.
B．To honor her father.
C．To criticize the past.
D．To criticize the present.

单项选择题

Passage One

It may look like just another playgroup, but a unique educational center in Manhattan is really giving babies something to talk about. "It’s a school to teach languages to babies and young children with games, songs--some of the classes also have arts and crafts," said Francois Thibaut, the founder of the Language Workshop for Children, a place where babies become bilingual.
Children as young as few months are exposed to French and Spanish before many of them can even speak English. Educators use special songs and visual (视觉的) aids to ensure that when a child is ready to talk, the languages will not be so foreign. "Children have a unique capacity to learn many languages at the same time," said Thibaut. "Already at nine months, a child can tell the differences between the sounds he or she has heard since birth and the sounds he or she has never heard yet." Thibaut says the best time to expose children to language is from birth to 3 years old. For the last 30 years, the school has been using what it caus the Thibarut Technique, a system that combines language lessons with child’s play.
"I always wanted to learn Spanish, but by the time I got to high school it was too late to pick it up and speak fluently," said Marc Lazare, who enrolled his son at the school. "I figured at this age, two, it’s a perfect time for him to learn."
Aside from learning a language, the kids also gain a tremendous sense of confidence. One young student boasted that aside from French, she can speak five languages (though that included "monkey" and "lion"). The school gives children the tools to communicate, and sometimes that gives them an advantage over their parents. "I think they sometimes speak French when they think ! won’t understand them," said parent Foster Gibbons.
Depending on the age group, classes run from 45 minute up to 2 hours. Even when students are not in class, the program is designed to make sure the learning continues at home. Tapes and books are included so kids can practice on their own.
The passage tells us that the best time for a child to learn languages is ______.

A．before seven years old
B．from birth to three years old
C．in his childhood
D．in his teens

单项选择题

Passage Two

When I was home in Britain on holiday last summer, I spent an evening looking at photos my father had taken when he stayed with us in Beijing in the spring of 1966. Of all these interesting scenes of the past, the one I exclaimed at was a photo of Chang An Jie at Tiananmen. The photo showed one car and two bicycles!
This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months’ salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there’s decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there’s little you cannot buy.
What is the author’s attitude towards the change

A．She was indifferent to the changes.
B．She preferred the past to the present.
C．She was amazed at the changes.
D．She believed that the changes were good.

单项选择题

Passage Two

When I was home in Britain on holiday last summer, I spent an evening looking at photos my father had taken when he stayed with us in Beijing in the spring of 1966. Of all these interesting scenes of the past, the one I exclaimed at was a photo of Chang An Jie at Tiananmen. The photo showed one car and two bicycles!
This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months’ salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there’s decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there’s little you cannot buy.
What did the author mainly do in China

A．She was a teacher.
B．She was a visiting farmer.
C．She was a journalist writing articles about China.
D．She was a business woman helping her father with his business.

单项选择题

Passage One

It may look like just another playgroup, but a unique educational center in Manhattan is really giving babies something to talk about. "It’s a school to teach languages to babies and young children with games, songs--some of the classes also have arts and crafts," said Francois Thibaut, the founder of the Language Workshop for Children, a place where babies become bilingual.
Children as young as few months are exposed to French and Spanish before many of them can even speak English. Educators use special songs and visual (视觉的) aids to ensure that when a child is ready to talk, the languages will not be so foreign. "Children have a unique capacity to learn many languages at the same time," said Thibaut. "Already at nine months, a child can tell the differences between the sounds he or she has heard since birth and the sounds he or she has never heard yet." Thibaut says the best time to expose children to language is from birth to 3 years old. For the last 30 years, the school has been using what it caus the Thibarut Technique, a system that combines language lessons with child’s play.
"I always wanted to learn Spanish, but by the time I got to high school it was too late to pick it up and speak fluently," said Marc Lazare, who enrolled his son at the school. "I figured at this age, two, it’s a perfect time for him to learn."
Aside from learning a language, the kids also gain a tremendous sense of confidence. One young student boasted that aside from French, she can speak five languages (though that included "monkey" and "lion"). The school gives children the tools to communicate, and sometimes that gives them an advantage over their parents. "I think they sometimes speak French when they think ! won’t understand them," said parent Foster Gibbons.
Depending on the age group, classes run from 45 minute up to 2 hours. Even when students are not in class, the program is designed to make sure the learning continues at home. Tapes and books are included so kids can practice on their own.
According to Thibaut, it is possible ______.

A．for children to take advantage of their parents by using a foreign language
B．to expose children to a foreign language after they can speak English
C．to combine language lessons with sports games
D．for children to learn several languages at the same time

单项选择题

Passage Three

The wandering ship was a dramatic symbol for a problem plaguing our age. In 1987, the ship, loaded with thousands of tons of New York garbage, spent weeks wandering from one port to another in search of a dump before finally returning home, mission unaccomplished.
New York, like other communities throughout the world is running out of space to put its trash. As throwaway societies, the US and other industrialized countries expect their garbage to be picked up by trucks that magically transported the refuse to some out-of-sight incinerator
(焚化炉) or dump. But in the developing counties of Asia, Africa and Latin America, thousands of tons of trash collected daily are thrown into open dumps, where it feeds huge populations of rats that swarm through poor neighborhoods.
"The world is literally swimming in garbage," says a scientist. "Communities worldwide are being forced to confront the problem." Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence adds, "The crisis in garbage stems in part from the fact that we’ve ignored long-term disposal problem in favor of cheap quick fixes."
The garbage glut (过剩) has inspired many communities in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe to start recycling programs. Once considered a curious counter culture activity recycling has moved firmly into the mainstream.
Recycling involves separating usable products from trash, processing them so they can be substituted for more expensive raw materials and returning them to the marketplace as parts of new products. Many countries now have mandatory recycling programs, and others plan to follow the trend soon. Most notably, Japan has stood out as a model and leader of the waste management trend, recycling an estimated 65 percent of its waste. "That’s what we should do, to the garbage crisis", says David Antonioli, a staff member with the New York Public Interest Research Corp. "The earth is not a dump!"
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE

A．The American ship eventually found a port and dumped its garbage before it returned home.
B．Throwaway societies don’t need to transport their refuse and garbage to incinerator because they have a lot of space to put them.
C．The wandering ship with garbage reflected the fact that garbage problem became very serious.
D．The huge populations of rats swarm through poor neighborhood in many Western European countries because the garbage is thrown into the open dumps.

单项选择题

Passage One

It may look like just another playgroup, but a unique educational center in Manhattan is really giving babies something to talk about. "It’s a school to teach languages to babies and young children with games, songs--some of the classes also have arts and crafts," said Francois Thibaut, the founder of the Language Workshop for Children, a place where babies become bilingual.
Children as young as few months are exposed to French and Spanish before many of them can even speak English. Educators use special songs and visual (视觉的) aids to ensure that when a child is ready to talk, the languages will not be so foreign. "Children have a unique capacity to learn many languages at the same time," said Thibaut. "Already at nine months, a child can tell the differences between the sounds he or she has heard since birth and the sounds he or she has never heard yet." Thibaut says the best time to expose children to language is from birth to 3 years old. For the last 30 years, the school has been using what it caus the Thibarut Technique, a system that combines language lessons with child’s play.
"I always wanted to learn Spanish, but by the time I got to high school it was too late to pick it up and speak fluently," said Marc Lazare, who enrolled his son at the school. "I figured at this age, two, it’s a perfect time for him to learn."
Aside from learning a language, the kids also gain a tremendous sense of confidence. One young student boasted that aside from French, she can speak five languages (though that included "monkey" and "lion"). The school gives children the tools to communicate, and sometimes that gives them an advantage over their parents. "I think they sometimes speak French when they think ! won’t understand them," said parent Foster Gibbons.
Depending on the age group, classes run from 45 minute up to 2 hours. Even when students are not in class, the program is designed to make sure the learning continues at home. Tapes and books are included so kids can practice on their own.
The school teaches language by ______.

A．exposing children to the new environment
B．using modern facilities and equipment
C．combining language lessons with games
D．giving children confidence

单项选择题

Passage Two

When I was home in Britain on holiday last summer, I spent an evening looking at photos my father had taken when he stayed with us in Beijing in the spring of 1966. Of all these interesting scenes of the past, the one I exclaimed at was a photo of Chang An Jie at Tiananmen. The photo showed one car and two bicycles!
This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months’ salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there’s decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there’s little you cannot buy.
What can be inferred about the 1960s according to the passage

A．The bikes were more expensive than it is today.
B．People’s salary was very low.
C．Most people could afford a bike.
D．People lived in courtyard houses with very good equipment.

单项选择题

Passage Three

The wandering ship was a dramatic symbol for a problem plaguing our age. In 1987, the ship, loaded with thousands of tons of New York garbage, spent weeks wandering from one port to another in search of a dump before finally returning home, mission unaccomplished.
New York, like other communities throughout the world is running out of space to put its trash. As throwaway societies, the US and other industrialized countries expect their garbage to be picked up by trucks that magically transported the refuse to some out-of-sight incinerator
(焚化炉) or dump. But in the developing counties of Asia, Africa and Latin America, thousands of tons of trash collected daily are thrown into open dumps, where it feeds huge populations of rats that swarm through poor neighborhoods.
"The world is literally swimming in garbage," says a scientist. "Communities worldwide are being forced to confront the problem." Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence adds, "The crisis in garbage stems in part from the fact that we’ve ignored long-term disposal problem in favor of cheap quick fixes."
The garbage glut (过剩) has inspired many communities in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe to start recycling programs. Once considered a curious counter culture activity recycling has moved firmly into the mainstream.
Recycling involves separating usable products from trash, processing them so they can be substituted for more expensive raw materials and returning them to the marketplace as parts of new products. Many countries now have mandatory recycling programs, and others plan to follow the trend soon. Most notably, Japan has stood out as a model and leader of the waste management trend, recycling an estimated 65 percent of its waste. "That’s what we should do, to the garbage crisis", says David Antonioli, a staff member with the New York Public Interest Research Corp. "The earth is not a dump!"
According to Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence, the crisis in garbage stem in part from ______.

A．the fact that we produce too much garbage
B．the fact that we’ve ignored long-term effect of disposal problems
C．the fact that the world is actually swimming in the garbage
D．the fact that we spend a lot of money disposing the garbage

单项选择题

Passage Four

Birds are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single- hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lockout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds’ dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer Unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山) ". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
A new study on birds’ sleep has revealed that ______.

A．half-brain sleep is found in all kinds of birds
B．half-brain sleep is characterized by accelerated brain waves
C．birds can control their half-brain sleep consciously
D．birds always sleep with the whole of their brain at rest

单项选择题

Passage Five

One of the most strikingly apparent instances of extrasensory perception is the precognitive experience, when a person has a compelling perception of a coming disaster, news of death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, and the predicted event then happens. Many who have had such experiences report that the emotional intensity of the precognition and its subsequent verification provide an overpowering sense of contact with another realm of reality. I have had such an experience myself. Many years ago, I awoke in the middle of night in a cold sweat, with a certain knowledge that a close relative had suddenly died. I was so gripped with the haunting intensity of the experience that I was afraid to place a long-distance phone call, (for fear that the relative would trip over the telephone cord or something and make the experience a self-fulfilling prediction). In fact, the relative is alive and well, and whatever psychological roots the experience may have, it was not a reflection of an imminent event in the real world.
However, suppose the relative had in fact died that night. You would have had a difficult time convincing me that it was merely coincidence. But it is easy to calculate that if each American has such a premonitory experience a few times in his lifetime, the actual statistics alone will produce a few apparent precognitive events somewhere in America each year. We can calculate that this must occur fairly frequently, but to the rare person who dreams of disaster, followed rapidly by its realization, it is uncanny and awesome. Such a coincidence must happen to someone every few months. But those who experience a correct precognition understandably resist its explanation by coincidence.
After my experience I did not write a letter to an institute of psychology relating a compelling predictive dream that was not borne out by reality. That is not a memorable letter. But had the death I dreamt actually occurred, such a letter would have been marked down as evidence for precognition. The hits are recorded; the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such events.
"Precognitive experience" most probably means ______.

A．some kind of disaster a person experienced in his childhood
B．a vague sense that something will happen and it does happen later
C．the prediction of the death of a close friend
D．uncertainty about an impending accident

单项选择题

Passage One

It may look like just another playgroup, but a unique educational center in Manhattan is really giving babies something to talk about. "It’s a school to teach languages to babies and young children with games, songs--some of the classes also have arts and crafts," said Francois Thibaut, the founder of the Language Workshop for Children, a place where babies become bilingual.
Children as young as few months are exposed to French and Spanish before many of them can even speak English. Educators use special songs and visual (视觉的) aids to ensure that when a child is ready to talk, the languages will not be so foreign. "Children have a unique capacity to learn many languages at the same time," said Thibaut. "Already at nine months, a child can tell the differences between the sounds he or she has heard since birth and the sounds he or she has never heard yet." Thibaut says the best time to expose children to language is from birth to 3 years old. For the last 30 years, the school has been using what it caus the Thibarut Technique, a system that combines language lessons with child’s play.
"I always wanted to learn Spanish, but by the time I got to high school it was too late to pick it up and speak fluently," said Marc Lazare, who enrolled his son at the school. "I figured at this age, two, it’s a perfect time for him to learn."
Aside from learning a language, the kids also gain a tremendous sense of confidence. One young student boasted that aside from French, she can speak five languages (though that included "monkey" and "lion"). The school gives children the tools to communicate, and sometimes that gives them an advantage over their parents. "I think they sometimes speak French when they think ! won’t understand them," said parent Foster Gibbons.
Depending on the age group, classes run from 45 minute up to 2 hours. Even when students are not in class, the program is designed to make sure the learning continues at home. Tapes and books are included so kids can practice on their own.
The best title for this text is ______.

A．A Unique Language School for Children
B．The Foreign Language for Children to Learn
C．Special Songs and Visual Aids in Learning
D．The Best Way to Learn a Foreign Language

单项选择题

Passage Three

The wandering ship was a dramatic symbol for a problem plaguing our age. In 1987, the ship, loaded with thousands of tons of New York garbage, spent weeks wandering from one port to another in search of a dump before finally returning home, mission unaccomplished.
New York, like other communities throughout the world is running out of space to put its trash. As throwaway societies, the US and other industrialized countries expect their garbage to be picked up by trucks that magically transported the refuse to some out-of-sight incinerator
(焚化炉) or dump. But in the developing counties of Asia, Africa and Latin America, thousands of tons of trash collected daily are thrown into open dumps, where it feeds huge populations of rats that swarm through poor neighborhoods.
"The world is literally swimming in garbage," says a scientist. "Communities worldwide are being forced to confront the problem." Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence adds, "The crisis in garbage stems in part from the fact that we’ve ignored long-term disposal problem in favor of cheap quick fixes."
The garbage glut (过剩) has inspired many communities in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe to start recycling programs. Once considered a curious counter culture activity recycling has moved firmly into the mainstream.
Recycling involves separating usable products from trash, processing them so they can be substituted for more expensive raw materials and returning them to the marketplace as parts of new products. Many countries now have mandatory recycling programs, and others plan to follow the trend soon. Most notably, Japan has stood out as a model and leader of the waste management trend, recycling an estimated 65 percent of its waste. "That’s what we should do, to the garbage crisis", says David Antonioli, a staff member with the New York Public Interest Research Corp. "The earth is not a dump!"
Which of the following statements is NOT true

A．The world has to face the fact that it is running out of space to put its trash.
B．Having no space to dump the garbage forces some countries to begin recycling programs.
C．Recycling was once unfavorably considered as a counter culture activity.
D．We have to admit that recycling of the garbage will never move into the mainstream.

单项选择题

Passage Two

When I was home in Britain on holiday last summer, I spent an evening looking at photos my father had taken when he stayed with us in Beijing in the spring of 1966. Of all these interesting scenes of the past, the one I exclaimed at was a photo of Chang An Jie at Tiananmen. The photo showed one car and two bicycles!
This made me reflect on the changes that have transformed Beijing since I came to the city 37 years ago. In those days, the bicycle was king. What sheer joy it was to cycle along with the hundreds (not thousands) of fellow pedallers (骑车人), never in fear of life and limb as one is now. I bought my first bike in 1963. It cost me 150 yuan-in those days three or four months’ salary for the average city dweller.
Such changes! Good or bad Today, cycling is hazardous but bikes are easily affordable. Gone are the old wooden houses I remember in south Beijing and fast disappearing are the small, overcrowded courtyard houses lacking running water, central heating and bathroom. Very many Beijingers now live in more convenient, better-equipped flats in high-rises. But these very high-rises are swallowing up the unique character of the old city of narrow hutongs, age-old siheyuan and close-knit communities.
I loved years ago to cycle to Beihai to visit my friends (I then taught at China Foreign Affairs University). In spring I rode through the blue-green wheat fields, in summer through fields of tall maize (玉米). Further west; beyond Beijing Foreign Studies University there were the vegetable fields of the Evergreen Commune (四季青公社) and the rice paddies glistening in the summer sun. But now, as Beijing stretches out further and further, west, east, north, south, there’s decent housing for families, busy offices for employment and large department stores and supermarkets where, if you have the money, there’s little you cannot buy.
Which of the following statements is NOT true according the passage

A．The author has worked in China for 37 years.
B．Cycling is not as safe as it was in the 1960s.
C．The unique character of the old Beijing is disappearing.
D．You cannot buy anything you like though you have money.

单项选择题

Passage Four

Birds are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single- hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lockout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds’ dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer Unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山) ". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
According to the passage, birds often half sleep because ______.

A．they have to watch out for possible attacks
B．their brain hemispheres take turns to rest
C．the two halves of their brain are differently structured
D．they have to constantly keep an eye on their companions

单项选择题

Passage Five

One of the most strikingly apparent instances of extrasensory perception is the precognitive experience, when a person has a compelling perception of a coming disaster, news of death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, and the predicted event then happens. Many who have had such experiences report that the emotional intensity of the precognition and its subsequent verification provide an overpowering sense of contact with another realm of reality. I have had such an experience myself. Many years ago, I awoke in the middle of night in a cold sweat, with a certain knowledge that a close relative had suddenly died. I was so gripped with the haunting intensity of the experience that I was afraid to place a long-distance phone call, (for fear that the relative would trip over the telephone cord or something and make the experience a self-fulfilling prediction). In fact, the relative is alive and well, and whatever psychological roots the experience may have, it was not a reflection of an imminent event in the real world.
However, suppose the relative had in fact died that night. You would have had a difficult time convincing me that it was merely coincidence. But it is easy to calculate that if each American has such a premonitory experience a few times in his lifetime, the actual statistics alone will produce a few apparent precognitive events somewhere in America each year. We can calculate that this must occur fairly frequently, but to the rare person who dreams of disaster, followed rapidly by its realization, it is uncanny and awesome. Such a coincidence must happen to someone every few months. But those who experience a correct precognition understandably resist its explanation by coincidence.
After my experience I did not write a letter to an institute of psychology relating a compelling predictive dream that was not borne out by reality. That is not a memorable letter. But had the death I dreamt actually occurred, such a letter would have been marked down as evidence for precognition. The hits are recorded; the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such events.
The author’s case shows precognitive experience ______.

A．often coincides with reality
B．often turns out to be unnecessary worries
C．arises from troubled mind
D．expresses a person’s secret wishes

单项选择题

Passage Three

The wandering ship was a dramatic symbol for a problem plaguing our age. In 1987, the ship, loaded with thousands of tons of New York garbage, spent weeks wandering from one port to another in search of a dump before finally returning home, mission unaccomplished.
New York, like other communities throughout the world is running out of space to put its trash. As throwaway societies, the US and other industrialized countries expect their garbage to be picked up by trucks that magically transported the refuse to some out-of-sight incinerator
(焚化炉) or dump. But in the developing counties of Asia, Africa and Latin America, thousands of tons of trash collected daily are thrown into open dumps, where it feeds huge populations of rats that swarm through poor neighborhoods.
"The world is literally swimming in garbage," says a scientist. "Communities worldwide are being forced to confront the problem." Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence adds, "The crisis in garbage stems in part from the fact that we’ve ignored long-term disposal problem in favor of cheap quick fixes."
The garbage glut (过剩) has inspired many communities in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe to start recycling programs. Once considered a curious counter culture activity recycling has moved firmly into the mainstream.
Recycling involves separating usable products from trash, processing them so they can be substituted for more expensive raw materials and returning them to the marketplace as parts of new products. Many countries now have mandatory recycling programs, and others plan to follow the trend soon. Most notably, Japan has stood out as a model and leader of the waste management trend, recycling an estimated 65 percent of its waste. "That’s what we should do, to the garbage crisis", says David Antonioli, a staff member with the New York Public Interest Research Corp. "The earth is not a dump!"
According to the passage, which procedure is NOT involved in garbage recycling

A．Separating usable products from trash.
B．Processing them so that they can be used to replace more expensive materials.
C．Returning them to markets as new products.
D．Splitting them into three categories: hazardous items, combustible waste and non-combustible waste.

单项选择题

Passage Four

Birds are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single- hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lockout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds’ dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer Unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山) ". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
The example of a bird sleeping in front of a mirror indicates that ______.

A．the phenomenon of birds dozing in pairs is widespread
B．birds prefer to sleep in pairs for the sake of security
C．even an imagined companion gives the bird a sense of security
D．a single pet bird enjoys seeing its own reflection in the mirror

单项选择题

Passage Three

The wandering ship was a dramatic symbol for a problem plaguing our age. In 1987, the ship, loaded with thousands of tons of New York garbage, spent weeks wandering from one port to another in search of a dump before finally returning home, mission unaccomplished.
New York, like other communities throughout the world is running out of space to put its trash. As throwaway societies, the US and other industrialized countries expect their garbage to be picked up by trucks that magically transported the refuse to some out-of-sight incinerator
(焚化炉) or dump. But in the developing counties of Asia, Africa and Latin America, thousands of tons of trash collected daily are thrown into open dumps, where it feeds huge populations of rats that swarm through poor neighborhoods.
"The world is literally swimming in garbage," says a scientist. "Communities worldwide are being forced to confront the problem." Green Peace spokesman Bryan Bence adds, "The crisis in garbage stems in part from the fact that we’ve ignored long-term disposal problem in favor of cheap quick fixes."
The garbage glut (过剩) has inspired many communities in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe to start recycling programs. Once considered a curious counter culture activity recycling has moved firmly into the mainstream.
Recycling involves separating usable products from trash, processing them so they can be substituted for more expensive raw materials and returning them to the marketplace as parts of new products. Many countries now have mandatory recycling programs, and others plan to follow the trend soon. Most notably, Japan has stood out as a model and leader of the waste management trend, recycling an estimated 65 percent of its waste. "That’s what we should do, to the garbage crisis", says David Antonioli, a staff member with the New York Public Interest Research Corp. "The earth is not a dump!"
Which country is most successful in garbage management

A．Japan.
B．America.
C．India.
D．Bangladesh.

单项选择题

Passage Five

One of the most strikingly apparent instances of extrasensory perception is the precognitive experience, when a person has a compelling perception of a coming disaster, news of death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, and the predicted event then happens. Many who have had such experiences report that the emotional intensity of the precognition and its subsequent verification provide an overpowering sense of contact with another realm of reality. I have had such an experience myself. Many years ago, I awoke in the middle of night in a cold sweat, with a certain knowledge that a close relative had suddenly died. I was so gripped with the haunting intensity of the experience that I was afraid to place a long-distance phone call, (for fear that the relative would trip over the telephone cord or something and make the experience a self-fulfilling prediction). In fact, the relative is alive and well, and whatever psychological roots the experience may have, it was not a reflection of an imminent event in the real world.
However, suppose the relative had in fact died that night. You would have had a difficult time convincing me that it was merely coincidence. But it is easy to calculate that if each American has such a premonitory experience a few times in his lifetime, the actual statistics alone will produce a few apparent precognitive events somewhere in America each year. We can calculate that this must occur fairly frequently, but to the rare person who dreams of disaster, followed rapidly by its realization, it is uncanny and awesome. Such a coincidence must happen to someone every few months. But those who experience a correct precognition understandably resist its explanation by coincidence.
After my experience I did not write a letter to an institute of psychology relating a compelling predictive dream that was not borne out by reality. That is not a memorable letter. But had the death I dreamt actually occurred, such a letter would have been marked down as evidence for precognition. The hits are recorded; the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such events.
Which of the following is true according to the passage

A．Precognitive experiences people have had can often be confirmed.
B．Precognitive experience is more a reality than fantasy.
C．People usually pay greater attention to the confirmed precognitive experiences.
D．Precognitive experiences make people better prepared for disasters.

单项选择题

Passage Four

Birds are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single- hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lockout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds’ dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer Unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山) ". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
While sleeping, some water mammals tend to keep half-awake in order to ______.

A．alert themselves to the approaching enemy
B．emerge from water now and then to breathe
C．be sensitive to the ever-changing environment
D．avoid being swept away by rapid currents

单项选择题

Passage Four

Birds are literally half-asleep-with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping, according to a new study of sleeping ducks.
Earlier studies have documented half-brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere’s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once.
Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction.
Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single-hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four-duck row, the researchers found outer birds half-asleep during 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots.
"We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say.
The results provide the best evidence for a long-standing supposition that single- hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lockout side could be widespread, he predicts. He’s seen it in a pair of birds’ dozing side-by-side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror-side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open.
Useful as half-sleeping might be, it’s only been found in birds and such water mammals(哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning.
Studies of birds may offer Unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds’ half-brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山) ". He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.
By "just the tip of the iceberg" (Para. 8), Siegel suggests that ______.

A．half-brain sleep has something to do with icy weather
B．the mystery of half-brain sleep is close to being solved
C．most birds living in cold regions tend to be half sleepers
D．half-brain sleep is a phenomenon that could exist among other species

单项选择题

Passage Five

One of the most strikingly apparent instances of extrasensory perception is the precognitive experience, when a person has a compelling perception of a coming disaster, news of death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, and the predicted event then happens. Many who have had such experiences report that the emotional intensity of the precognition and its subsequent verification provide an overpowering sense of contact with another realm of reality. I have had such an experience myself. Many years ago, I awoke in the middle of night in a cold sweat, with a certain knowledge that a close relative had suddenly died. I was so gripped with the haunting intensity of the experience that I was afraid to place a long-distance phone call, (for fear that the relative would trip over the telephone cord or something and make the experience a self-fulfilling prediction). In fact, the relative is alive and well, and whatever psychological roots the experience may have, it was not a reflection of an imminent event in the real world.
However, suppose the relative had in fact died that night. You would have had a difficult time convincing me that it was merely coincidence. But it is easy to calculate that if each American has such a premonitory experience a few times in his lifetime, the actual statistics alone will produce a few apparent precognitive events somewhere in America each year. We can calculate that this must occur fairly frequently, but to the rare person who dreams of disaster, followed rapidly by its realization, it is uncanny and awesome. Such a coincidence must happen to someone every few months. But those who experience a correct precognition understandably resist its explanation by coincidence.
After my experience I did not write a letter to an institute of psychology relating a compelling predictive dream that was not borne out by reality. That is not a memorable letter. But had the death I dreamt actually occurred, such a letter would have been marked down as evidence for precognition. The hits are recorded; the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such events.
Why didn’t the author write to the institute of psychology about his dream

A．Because what happened in his/her dream was not verified by reality.
B．Because the institute would overreact to this letter.
C．Because the author was afraid his dream would come true if he wrote the letter.
D．Because the author believed such a dream was indeed rather ridiculous.

单项选择题

Passage Five

One of the most strikingly apparent instances of extrasensory perception is the precognitive experience, when a person has a compelling perception of a coming disaster, news of death of a loved one, or a communication from a long-lost friend, and the predicted event then happens. Many who have had such experiences report that the emotional intensity of the precognition and its subsequent verification provide an overpowering sense of contact with another realm of reality. I have had such an experience myself. Many years ago, I awoke in the middle of night in a cold sweat, with a certain knowledge that a close relative had suddenly died. I was so gripped with the haunting intensity of the experience that I was afraid to place a long-distance phone call, (for fear that the relative would trip over the telephone cord or something and make the experience a self-fulfilling prediction). In fact, the relative is alive and well, and whatever psychological roots the experience may have, it was not a reflection of an imminent event in the real world.
However, suppose the relative had in fact died that night. You would have had a difficult time convincing me that it was merely coincidence. But it is easy to calculate that if each American has such a premonitory experience a few times in his lifetime, the actual statistics alone will produce a few apparent precognitive events somewhere in America each year. We can calculate that this must occur fairly frequently, but to the rare person who dreams of disaster, followed rapidly by its realization, it is uncanny and awesome. Such a coincidence must happen to someone every few months. But those who experience a correct precognition understandably resist its explanation by coincidence.
After my experience I did not write a letter to an institute of psychology relating a compelling predictive dream that was not borne out by reality. That is not a memorable letter. But had the death I dreamt actually occurred, such a letter would have been marked down as evidence for precognition. The hits are recorded; the misses are not. Thus human nature unconsciously conspires to produce a biased reporting of the frequency of such events.
The author ______.

A．tries to criticize the false belief in precognitive experiences
B．is puzzled by the mysteriousness of precognitive experiences
C．provides proof for precognitive experiences
D．is haunted by precognitive experiences

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