阅读理解。 President Barack Obama"s speeches are proving a best-seller in Japan -
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| 阅读理解。 |
President Barack Obama"s speeches are proving a best-seller in Japan -- as an aid to learning English.
An English-language textbook, "The Speeches of Barack Obama," has sold more than 400,000 copies
in two months, a big hit in a country where few hit novels sell more than a million copies a year.
Japanese have a love for learning English and many bookstores have a corner especially for dozens of
journals in the language, many of them now featuring(给……以显要位置) the new U.S. leader"s face.
"Speeches by presidents and presidential candidates(候选人) are excellent as listening tools to learn
English, because their contents are good and their words are easy to catch," said Yuzo Yamamoto of
Asahi Press, which produced the best-selling text book.
"Obama"s is especially so. His speeches are so moving, and he also uses words such as "yes, we
can," "change" and "hope" that even Japanese people can memorize," he said.
"Speeches by George W. Bush and former nominee (被提名者) John Kerry"s four years ago did not
have the same attraction, however, and nor do those made by Japanese politicians, Yamamoto said.
The 95-page book features Obama"s speeches in English from the 2004 Democratic National
Convention and during the Democratic Party primaries, in which he defeated Hillary Clinton. They are
accompanied by Japanese translations.
The 1,050 yen ($12) book, which includes a CD of the speeches, tops the bestseller list on bookseller Amazon"s Japanese Website.
"Readers have sent in postcards saying that when they heard the speeches, they were so moved and
ried even though they don"t understand English very well," Yamamoto said.
Following Obama"s inauguration ( 就职典礼) on Tuesday, Asahi Press plans to issue a sequel (续集)
that includes his inaugural address, as well as President John F. Kennedy"s 1961 inaugural speech. It will
also feature a reading of President Abraham Lincoln"s Gettysburg address of 1863. |
| 1. Why are Obama"s speeches chosen as listening materials? |
A. They"re easy to understand.
B. They"re cheap to buy.
C. They"re best-sellers.
D. They"re official. |
| 2. Which of the following is NOT true about "The Speeches of Barack Obama"? |
A. It is published in English with Japanese translations.
B. More than 400,000 copies have been sold in a month.
C. It is sold with a CD of the speeches.
D. It is a best-selling textbook published by Asahi Press. |
| 3. It can be inferred fro the passage that _____. |
A. Japanese care little about US presidents" speeches
B. the best-seller includes Obama"s inaugural speech
C. speeches by Japanese politicians have the same attraction
D. many readers are benefiting from the best-seller |
| 4. The best title for the passage might be _____. |
A. Obama helps Japanese learn English
B. Obama: from promise to power
C. Japanese learn English from Obama"s speeches
D. Obama and English learning |
答案
| 1-4: ABDC |
举一反三
| 阅读理解。 |
The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits
exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid
down (though these have already been raised; and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more
than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems,
and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As a Norwegian
politician said last week, "We will soon be changed beyond all recognition."
Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a programme of development in the area
north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this programme has had a great deal of success:
Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But
the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern
policy could be in ruins.
The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent
employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist
industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear
altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.
The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not
make up most of the population, but they are an important part of it, because Norwegians see in them
many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the
fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the
countryside and to the sea. |
| 1. The Norwegian Government would prefer the oil industry to . |
A. provide more jobs for foreign workers
B. slow down the rate of its development
C. sell the oil it is producing abroad
D. develop more quickly than at present |
| 2. The Norwegian Government has tried to . |
A. encourage the oil companies to discover new oil sources
B. prevent oil companies employing people from northern Norway
C. help the oil companies solve many of their problems
D. keep the oil industry to something near its present size |
| 3. According to the passage, the oil industry might lead northern Norway to . |
A. the development of industry
B. a growth in population
C. the failure of the development programme
D. the development of new towns |
| 4. In the south, one effect of the development of the oil industry might be . |
A. a large reduction on unemployment
B. a growth in the tourist industry
C. a reduction in the number of existing industries
D. the development of a number of service industries |
| 5. Norwegian farmers and fishermen have an important influence because . |
A. they form such a large part of Norwegian population
B. their lives and values represent the Norwegian ideal
C. their work is so useful to the rest of Norwegian society
D. they regard oil as a threat to the Norwegian way of fife. |
| 阅读理解。 |
Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed
a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug
Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of
smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn"t completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
"As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily
smoker, a constant smoker? No." Obama said at a news conference.
"I don" t do it in front of my lads.I don ?t do it in front of my family.I would say that I am 95% cured,
but there are times when I mess up, " he said.
"Once you go down this path, it" s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the
law is so important.The new law is not about me, it" s about the next generation of kids coming up.What
we don " t want is kids going down that path," he said.
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United
States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases. |
| 1. The new law makes life difficult for . |
A. Obama
B. tobacco industry
C. White House
D. US Food and Drug Administration |
| 2. What do we know about Obama? |
A. He no longer smokes.
B. He still smokes as usual.
C. He began to smoke at eighteen.
D. He is trying hard to give up smoking. |
| 3. According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about . |
A. children
B. officials
C. his family
D. businessmen |
| 阅读理解。 |
At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad
for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they"re bad. Yet the consensus among
most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy.
Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and
leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between
the perception of immigrants" impact on the economy and the reality?
There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by
an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the strain that undocumented immigrants place on public
services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners
add to the nation"s fears and insecurities. There"s some truth to all these explanations, but they aren"t quite
sufficient.
To get a better understanding of what"s going on, consider the way immigration"s impact is felt. Though
its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notes that the ones who profit most directly from immigrants" low-cost labor are businesses and employers - meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, or agricultural businesses in California.
Granted, these producers" savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal
immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of
foreign labor. According to a study by George Borjas, a Harvard economist, immigration reduced the wages of American high-school dropouts by 9% between 1980-2000.
Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with
both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in
other words, was the fiscal (财政的)burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another
finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that fiscal burden decreased, as occurred with
welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants" access to certain benefits.
The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect (净效应) of immigration is minimal. Even
for those most acutely affected - say, low-skilled workers, or California residents - the impact isn"t all that dramatic. "The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions," says Daniel Tichenor, a
political science professor at the University of Oregon. "But when all those factors are put together and
the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one." Too bad most
people don"t realize it. |
| 1. What can we learn from the first paragraph? |
A. Whether immigrants are good or bad for the economy has been puzzling economists.
B. The American economy used to thrive on immigration but now it"s a different story.
C. The consensus among economists is that immigration should not be encouraged.
D. The general public thinks differently from most economists on the impact of immigration. |
| 2. In what way does the author think ordinary Americans benefit from immigration? |
A. They can access all kinds of public services.
B. They can get consumer goods at lower prices.
C. They can mix with people of different cultures.
D. They can avoid doing much of the manual labor. |
| 3. Which of the following words has the closest meaning to "curb" in paragraph four? |
A. strengthen
B. deny
C. encourage
D. limit |
| 4. What is the irony about the debate over immigration? |
A. People care too much about something of small impact.
B. Those who are opposed to it turn out to benefit most from it.
C. Even economists can"t reach a consensus about its impact.
D. There is no essential difference between seemingly opposite opinions. |
| 阅读理解。 |
London started its first major bike hire scheme (方案) on July 30th. Transport For London (TFL),
the agency responsible for moving people around England"s capital, put 5,000 bicycles in 400 different
locations around the city.
The idea is to cut traffic, reduce pollution and provide a greener way of getting around London"s
streets. The scheme had a few small problems on its first day as people could not lock the bikes properly
once they had finished riding them. As a gesture of goodwill, London Mayor Boris Johnson announced
all rentals (租金) on the first day would be free of charge. The bikes are available for free for the first 30 minutes but costs go up sharply since then. Renters have to pay $1.60 for the first hour and $78 for 24
hours. The bikes are clearly designed for very short trips.
TFL says it sees a "cycle revolution" happening in London. It predicts there will be around 40,000
new cycle journeys every day on the rental bikes. Mr. Johnson says he wants to see a return to the turn
of the 20th century, when 20 per cent of journeys in London were made by bicycle. The scheme has
received a lot of positive feedback (反馈) in the first two days.
Many Londoners believe it is a great alternative (替代品) to London"s overcrowded and overpriced
trains and buses. One person, Andy Clark, told the Reuters news agency, "It"s a great idea. I"ve seen it
operating in Paris and Barcelona and thought why don"t we have one?" The Londonist Blog said the
bikes were very strong and were "designed to bear a beating from both careless cyclists and drunken
people". |
| 1. What"s the main idea of the passage? |
A. London starts a new bike hire scheme.
B. London needs better measures to cut traffic.
C. London encourages people to buy bikes.
D. London decides to protect the environment. |
| 2. At the beginning of the scheme, there was some difficulty with the ____. |
A. rental
B. time
C. distance
D. lock |
| 3. Which of the following is NOT the purpose of the bike rental scheme? |
A. To reduce traffic pressure.
B. To protect nature.
C. To decrease pollution.
D. To beautify the city. |
| 4. It can be learned from the passage that ____. |
A. the bikes are designed for long journeys in London
B. it costs nearly $80 to rent one of the bikes for a day
C. London is the first city to start the bike rental scheme
D. All Londoners approve of the scheme |
| 阅读理解。 |
During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been
trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be
designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻击) by terrorists?
Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo
and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero
as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task
of formulating (构思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so
in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.
"Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World
Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage," said M. Bruneau, Ph.D. "Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain
standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married
to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,"
he added.
Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade
Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but
was badly damaged. "This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see
a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building," explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. "The column
became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor."
The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor
framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons
of falling debris (残砾) to survive. "Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for
blast resistance," he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the
event that a load-bearing column fails. "We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse," said A. Whittaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict
it."
A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that "earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past.
Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant
design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist
at present." |
| 1.The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ . |
A. that was asked by structural engineers a month ago
B. that is too difficult for structural engineers a month ago
C. that was never thought of before the terrorist attack
D. that terrorists are eager to find a solution to |
| 2. The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker _____ . |
A. was part of the building close to the World Trade Center
B. was part of the World Trade Center
C. was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center
D. damaged many buildings near the World Trade Center |
| 3. A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that _____. |
A. floors in the faraway buildings remained undamaged
B. some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion
C. complex floor framing systems are more blast resistant
D. floors in one of the buildings were pierced by tons of debris |
| 4. What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that _____. |
A. blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design
B. blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design
C. solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design
D. blast engineering emerges as a totally new branch of science |
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