Some nations think they must have more and more babies, more and more people, if they are to remain strong and free.
Actually, this is not so. Very often in history, small nations have conquered large ones. It’s not so much the size of the army as its organization and the technical level of its weapons. Thus, Greece took over Persia in the 300s B.C., Great Britain took over India in the 1700s, even though Persia and India had far bigger population than Greece and Great Britain.
If a nation wishes to avoid being dominated by its neighbors, its best chance is to raise its standard of living and its level of technology.This can be done best by not allowing its population to grow to such a point that it is sunk in misery and poverty. In fact, the worst way in which a nation can try to avoid being dominated by its neighbor is to increase its population to the point of misery and poverty.
If every nation tries to compete with its neighbors by raising its population, then the whole world will be sunk in misery and poverty. The nations will become weak in a disaster that will leave nothing behind that is worth dominating. No one will have gained anything. Everyone will have lost everything.
Once all this is understood, and people generally agree that population growth must not be allowed to continue, they must also come to understand how that growth can be stopped. Population grows because more people are being born than are dying. There are two ways, then, in which the growth can be stopped. You can increase the number of people who die until it matches the number of people who are being born. Or else you can decrease the number of people who are born until it matches the number of people who are dying.
The first method—increasing the death rate—is the usual way in which population is controlled in all species of living things other than ourselves, but we don’t want that, for disaster lies that way. The intelligent way is to reduce the birth rate. But how can the birth rate be reduced?
1. In paragraph 3, the word “This” refers to ______.
A．avoidance of poverty B．improvement of life and technology
C．growth of population D．enhancement of living standard and competition
2. It can be inferred from the passage that if a country had fewer people, ______.
A．it could still remain strong B．it would be defeated by a strong neighbour
C．its standard of living could be high D．its people would live misery
3. What might the author be further discussing after the passage?
A．Needs to balance population. B．Problems involved in birth control.
C．Methods of decreasing population. D．Opposition from some nations.
4. The passage mainly focuses on ______.
A．why we must control population B．where we can find a solution
C．how to stop population growth D．how to become a strong nation
The modern Olympic Games, founded in 1896, began as contests between individuals, rather than among nations, with the hope of promoting world peace through sportsmanship. In the beginning, the games were open only to amateurs. An amateur is a person whose involvement in an activity---from sports to science or the arts---is purely for pleasure. Amateurs, whatever their contributions to a field, expect to receive no form of compensation ; professionals, in contrast, perform their work in order to earn a living.
From the perspective of many athletes, however, the Olympic playing field has been far from level. Restricting the Olympics to amateurs has precluded（妨碍） the participation of many who could not afford to be unpaid. Countries have always desired to send their best athletes, not their wealthiest ones, to the Olympic Games.
A slender and imprecise line separates what we call “financial support” from “earning money.” Do athletes “earn money” if they are reimbursed（补偿） for travel expenses? What if they are paid for time lost at work or if they accept free clothing from a manufacturer or if they teach sports for a living? The runner Eric Liddell was the son of poor missionaries; in 1924 the British Olympic Committee financed his trip to the Olympics, where he won a gold and a bronze medal. College scholarships and support from the United States Olympic Committee made it possible for American track stars Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph and speed skater Dan Jansen to train and compete. When the Soviet Union and its allies joined the games in 1952, the definition of amateur became still muddier. Their athletes did not have to balance jobs and training because as citizens in communist regimes, their government financial support was not considered payment for jobs.
In 1971 the International Olympic Committee(IOC) removed the word amateur from the rules, making it easier for athletes to find the support necessary to train and compete. In 1986 the IOC allowed professional athletes into the games.
There are those who regret the disappearance of amateurism from the Olympic Games. For them the games lost something special when they became just another way for athletes to earn money. Others say that the designation of amateurism was always questionable; they argue that all competitors receive so much financial support as to make them paid professionals. Most agree, however, that the debate over what constitutes an “amateur” will continue for a long time.
1. One might infer that _______________________.
A．developing Olympic-level skills in athletes is costly
B．professional athletes are mostly interested in financial rewards
C．amateurs does not expect to earn money at the sport that is played
D．amateurs have a better attitude than professionals do
2. The statement “the Olympic playing field has been far from level” means that__________.
A．the ground the athletes played on was in bad condition
B．the poorer players were given some advantages
C．the rules did not work the same way for everyone
D．amateurs were inferior to the professionals in many ways
3. The financial support given to athletes by the Soviet government can best be compared to ________________.
A．a gift received on a special occasion, such as a birthday
B．money received from a winning lottery ticket
C．an allowance paid to a child
D．money from charity organization
4. One can conclude that the Olympic Organizing Committee _________________.
A．has held firm to its original vision of the Olympic games
B．has struggled with the definition of amateur over the years
C．regards itself as an organization for professional athletes only
D．did nothing but stop allowing communists to participate
I once had my Chinese MBA students brainstorming on “two-hour business plans”. I separated them into six groups and gave them an example: a restaurant chain. The more original their idea, the better, I said. Finally, five of the six groups presented plans for restaurant chains. The sixth proposed a catering service. Though I admitted the time limit had been difficult, I expressed my disappointment.
My students were middle managers, financial analysts and financiers from state owned enterprises and global companies. They were not without talent or opinions, but they had been shaped by an educational system that rarely stressed or rewarded critical thinking or inventiveness. The scene I just described came in different forms during my two years’ teaching at the school. Papers were often copied from the Web and the Harvard Business Review. Case study debates were written up and just memorized. Students frequently said that copying is a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.
In China, every product you can imagine has been made and sold. But so few well developed marketing and management minds have been raised that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand.
With this problem in mind, partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established. And then there’s the “thousand talent scheme”: this new government program is intended to improve technological modernization by attracting top foreign trained scientists to the mainland with big money. But there are worries about China’s research environment. It’s hardly known for producing independent thinking and openness, and even big salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.
At last, for China, becoming a major world creator is not just about setting up partnerships with top Western universities. Nor is it about gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It’s about establishing a rich learning environment for young minds. It’s not that simple.
1. Why does the author feel disappointed at his students?
A．Because there is one group presenting a catering service.
B．Because the six groups made projects for restaurant chains.
C．Because all the students copied a case for the difficult topic.
D．Because the students’ ideas were lacking in creativeness.
2. We can infer from the passage that ________.
A．China can make and sell any product all over the world
B．high pay may not solve the problem of China’s research environment
C．cooperation with institutions has been set up to make a Chinese brand
D．the new government program are aimed at encouraging imagination
3. Which is the best title of the passage?
A．Look for a New Way of Learning. B．Reward Creative Thinking.
C．How to Become a Creator. D．Establish a technical Environment.
Directions: For each blank in the passage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Many years ago I was on a bicycle trip through some exceedingly picturesque (如画的) countryside. Suddenly, dark clouds piled up overhead and rain began to fall, but strange to ___50___, several hundred yards ahead of me the sun shone brilliantly. Riding, however, as rapidly as I could, I found it ___51___ to get into the clear. The clouds with their rain kept advancing faster than I could race forward. I continued this unequal contest for an exhausting half hour, ___52___ realizing that I could not win my way to the bright area ahead of me.
Then it dawned upon me that I was wasting my strength in unimportant hurry, while paying no attention whatsoever to the landscape ___53___ which I was making the trip. The storm could not last forever and the discomfort was not unendurable. Indeed, there was much to look at which might ___54___ have escaped me. As I gazed about with sharpened ___55___, I saw colours and lines and shapes that would have appeared differently under brilliant light. The rain mists (薄雾) which now ___56___ the wooded hills and the fresh clearness of the different greens were entrancing (迷人的). My annoyance at the rain was gone and my eagerness to ___57___ it disappeared. It had provided me with a new view and helped me understand that the ___58___ of beauty and satisfaction may be found close at hand within the ___59___ of one’s own sensibilities.
It made me think, then and later, about other matters to which this incident was related. It helped me realize that there is no sense in my ___60___ ever to flee from circumstances and conditions which cannot be avoided but which I might bravely ___61___ and frequently mend and often turn to good account. I know that half the battle is won if I can face trouble with courage, __62__ with spirit, and triumph with humility. It has become ever clearer to me that danger is far from disaster, that defeat may be the forerunner of final ___63___, and that, in the last analysis, all achievement is dangerously weak ___64___ based on enduring principles of moral conduct.
1. A．ask B．relate C．understand D．call
2. A．easy B．likely C．impossible D．comfortable
3. A．before B．after C．as D．while
4. A．in front of B．on account of
C．for the sake of D．atthe convenience of
5. A．therefore B．consequently C．accordingly D．otherwise
6. A．puzzle B．appreciation C．wisdom D．shock
7. A．crowned B．covered C．swept D．floated
8. A．enjoy B．embrace C．surround D．escape
9. A．resources B．sources C．causes D．courses
10. A．distance B．help C．range D．comprehension
11. A．requesting B．waiting C．attempting D．expecting
12. A．meet B．avoid C．decline D．change
13. A．happiness B．joy C．disappointment D．surprise
14. A．failure B．victory C．relief D．decision
15. A．if B．though C．until D．unless
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.
A. comprehending B. industry C. range D. enhance AB. adopted
AC. pronounce AD. flooding BC. valued BD. operating CD. tend
The speeches of US President Barack Obama have become the favorite way for Japanese to study the English language. Japanese publishers have been ____1. ____ the market with over a dozen language-learning titles. Companies are trying to tap into a foreign-language teaching ____2. ____ that the Yano Research Institute said was ____3. ____ at 767 billion yen ($8.6 billion) in 2008.
Why is there such a massive Japanese market for recordings and books of Obama's speeches? Japanese say that listening to Obama speak is a sure-fire way to ____4. ____ their English-speaking skills.
Most Japanese, including those studying English, would have difficulty ____5. ____ a speech given by a native English speaker. But “Obama's English is easy to understand because he can ____6. ____ words clearly and speaks at a relatively slow clip,” said Professor Tadaharu Nikaido, a communication specialist. “Movies ____7. ____ to be the most difficult for Japanese, especially when actors mumble their words.” Obama sets his ____8. ____ of vocabulary wide enough to accommodate all levels of English speakers, Nikaido added, and at the lower end, it sometimes comes within the range of non-native speakers' comprehension.
The Obama speech phenomenon has given way to more books and magazines that focus on how Obama's communication skills might be ____9. ____ in Japan for business and political purposes. At least half a dozen books and magazine covers of this kind have appeared in the past several months in Japan.
She has bought herself ______ dress
A．a cotton purple expensive B．an expensive purple cotton
C．a purple expensive cotton D．a cotton expensive purple
