阅读理解PASSAGE THREE In the cause of equal rights, feminists have had much to complain about

阅读理解Task 4 Directions:This task (No.61 to No.65)is the same as Task l.  Facial expressions carry meanings that are partly determined by culture.For example, many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do,so teachers in the United States sometimes have trouble knowing whether their Japanese students understand and enjoy their lessons.Another example is the smile.As a common facial expression,it may show affection, convey politeness, or disguise(掩饰) true feelings. But in different cultures. smiles have different meanings. Many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even a suspicious behavior. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places,for American culture a smile is typically an expression of pleasure.Therefore some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don' t smile enough. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover emotional pain or embarrassment.Vietnamese people may tell the sad story of how they had to leave their country but end the story with a smile.The best title for this passage is_______ .

阅读理解Questions 21 to 30 are based on the following passage

阅读理解 It must feel good to be back on top—and this time, almost liked. Twenty years ago Microsoft was considered an evil empire, scheming for domination and involved in a fierce antitrust battle with America's Justice Department. Five years ago, having dozed through the rise of social media and smartphones, it was derided as a doddery has-been. Now, after several quarters—this month it reported revenue of $33.7bn, up by 12% year on year—Microsoft is once again the world's most valuable listed company, worth over $1trn. How did Satya Nadella, the boss since 2014, pull off this comeback? And what can the other tech giants learn from Microsoft's experience? First, be prepared to look beyond the golden goose. Microsoft missed social networks and smartphones because of its obsession with Windows, the operating system that was its main money-spinner. One of Mr. Nadella's most important acts after taking the helm was to deprioritize Windows. More important, he also bet big on the 'cloud'—just as firms started getting comfortable with renting computing power. In the past quarter revenues at Azure, Microsoft's cloud division, grew by 68% year on year, and it now has nearly half the market share of Amazon Web Services, the industry leader. Second, work with regulators rather than try to outwit or overwhelm them. From the start Microsoft designed Azure in such a way that it could accommodate local data-protection laws. Its president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, has been the source of many policy proposals, such as a 'Digital Geneva Convention' to protect people from cyber-attacks by nation-states. He is also behind Microsoft's comparatively cautious use of artificial intelligence, and calls for oversight of facial recognition. The firm has been relatively untouched by the current backlash against tech firms, and is less vulnerable to new regulation. True, missing the boat on social media means thorny matters such as content moderation pose greater difficulties for Facebook and Google. Still, others would do well to follow Microsoft's lead. Apple has championed its customers' privacy, but its treatment of competitors' services in its app store may soon land it in antitrust trouble. Facebook and Google have started to recognize that with great power comes great responsibility, but each has yet to find its equivalent of Azure, a new business model beyond its original golden goose. Amazon, in its ambition and culture, most resembles the old Microsoft. Even a reformed monopolist demands scrutiny. It should not be forgotten that Microsoft got where it is today in part through rapacity. Critics argue that in its battle with Slack, a corporate-messaging service which competes with a Microsoft product, it is up to some of its old tricks. A growing number of women at the firm are complaining about sexual harassment and discrimination. The new Microsoft is far from perfect. But it has learned some lessons that other tech giants should heed.

阅读理解Passage 2 In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the childs acquisition of each new skill-the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writing

阅读理解Here is the story about how the American civil rights movement started in the 1950s. Tired (1) she was, Mrs. Parks walked past the first few—mostly empty—rows of seats (2) Whites Only. Black people were allowed to sit in these seats (3) no white person was standing. (4) the fact that Rosa Parks hated segregation laws, she had never done anything against the law. She (5) for civil rights for more than 10 years, but always legally. However, that day she did something that was (6) . She found and sat in a(n) (7) seat in the back of the bus. The bus continued along its (8) The driver noticed that all the seats in the Whites Only section were already (9) . And more white people had just climbed (10) . He ordered the people in Mrs. Parks (11) to move to the back, (12) there were no open seats and people had to stand. No one moved at first, but when the driver (13) at the black passengers a second time, they did what they were told. They all moved to the back — (14) Rosa Parks. She (15) in the prohibited seat. (16) , trouble occured. Ms. Parks was thrown in jail for (17) the law. This (18) inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott (联合抵制) of 1955-1956． It also (19) the 20th-century civil rights movement. Mrs. Parks quickly became the (20) of that day. She has been remembered as a brave fighter in the civil rights movement.

阅读理解Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage

阅读理解Passage Four Scientists have devised a way to determine roughly where a person has lived using a strand of hair, a technique that could help track the movements of criminal suspects or unidentified murder victims

阅读理解Directions: There are three passages in (his section. Eachpassage is followed by some questions or unfinishedstatements. For each of them there are four choices markedA, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice andthen blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.Passage ThreeAlong with red letterboxes and telephone booths, London’ s black taxis are touted as symbolic of the city. Fully 25, 600 drivers trundle around the capital’ s streets. They are privileged: unlike minicabs, they can pick up passengers hailing in the street and run on a pricey meter system rather than a fixed fee. Nationally the average fare is 5. 77 ($9. 56) for two miles; in London it is 7. 20. All cabbies are required to pass the “knowledge” , a test of all the roads within a six-mile radius of central London. If they take a daft route to their destination it is usually deliberate.But becoming a taxi driver is ever harder. In the 1970s the knowledge took around 23months to complete. Last year it took 50 months. “You can get a PhD in the same time. ” complains Malcolm Paice of City Fleet, a radio-taxi firm. Between 2009 and 2012, the number of taxi drivers increased by only 4% in London. Faced with such a high barrier to entry, more people are taking a shorter course that only allows them to drive black cabs in suburban areas, says Tom Moody Of Transport for London (TfL) .But in the same period the number of minicab drivers in London jumped by 19% to 67, 000,The scorn they receive from black-taxi drivers is little deserved. Liana Griffin, the boss of Addison Lee, a large minicab firm, says minicabs have become more comparable to black cabs since 2004, when regulations and criminal- record checks were introduced. All of the company s drivers take a six week course and rely on satellite navigation system__ as do some black-taxi drivers. Their fares are around a third cheaper, Mr. Griffin says.Technology is further bulldozing the distinction between black taxis and minicabs. Fully 14, 000 London taxis have signed up with Hailo, an app for ordering cabs that was introduced to London in 2011. Ron Zeghibe, Hailo’ s chairman, says that some drivers shun taxi ranks or “street work” in favor of punters who order through his service. Minicab companies have their own, similar, apps. One, from Greentomatocars, helped the firm nearly double in revenue in a year.Yet the separation between the two kinds of taxis looks likely to stay. In April the Law Commission, an independent body, will release a report on the taxi trade. Many of its recommendations will boost minicabs outside London. Larger firms Such as Addison Lee will find it easier to expand as licensing rules are simplified. But London’ s black cabs look likely to be protected. They will still be regulated by TfL; barriers to entry will remain high. Instead of nurturing a dwindling trade, this could have the opposite effect. Black cabs might soon become as quaintly archaic as telephone booths.

阅读理解Passage Four Insurance is the sharing of risks

阅读理解PASSAGE TWO Berkeley seems like a fitting place to find the godfather of the openinnovation movement basking in glory

阅读理解Questions 41 to 50 are based on the following passage

阅读理解 For decades a titan has towered over America's shopping landscape. Walmart is not just the world's biggest retailer but the biggest private employer and, by sales, the biggest company. Last year its tills rang up takings of $482 billion, about twice Apple's revenue. But now the beast of Bentonville must cope with an unfamiliar sensation. After ruling as the undisputed disrupter of American retailing, Walmart finds itself being disrupted. The source of the commotion is online shopping, specifically online shopping at Amazon. E-commerce accounted for $1 in every $10 that American shoppers spent last year, up by 15% from 2014. Amazon's North American sales grew at about twice that rate. Walmart's share of America's retail sales, which stands at 10.6%, is still more than twice Amazon's, but it peaked in 2009 at nearly 12%. In January Walmart said it would close 154 American stores. It may need to shut more. Walmart's 'supercentres' once offered an unmatched combination of squeezed prices and expansive choice, but this formula is losing its magic. Discounters and other competitors are rivalling Walmart's low prices at the same time as Amazon's warehouses can beat its range. Amazon is also offering something different. Whereas Walmart has strived to help Americans save money, Amazon is obsessed with helping them save time. Amazon has become a new kind of big-box retailer, with warehouses placed strategically around America to speed deliveries to customers. Innovations such as Dash, which let you press a button in your kitchen to order soap or coffee, could turn Amazon from an online store into something like a utility. Walmart is fighting back. It is spending billions in the hope of growing even larger. It is offering more goods to more customers, in stores and online. With its legendary attention to detail, it is making its operations even more efficient. For instance, it will save more than 35 truckloads of buttercream icing this year, after spotting that its bakers were leaving too much icing in the bottom of their tubs. By using 27 different boxes rather than i2 to deliver online goods, the firm reckons it can save 7.2m cubic feet of cardboard boxes a year. Last month sunny results sent up its share price by 10%. Yet far from offering comfort to other retailers hoping to knit together physical and online businesses, Walmart's fightback shows how hard it will be for them to repel Amazon.

阅读理解Passage 2 Dr

阅读理解Questions 91 to 100 are based on the following passage

阅读理解To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is liable, no superhuman genius is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all errors, but from silly errors. 　　If the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. He did not do so because he thought he knew. Thinking that you know when in fact you don''t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all liable. 　　Many matters, however, are less easily brought to the test of experience. If, like most of mankind, you have strong convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own prejudice. If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you subconsciously are aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If someone maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence justifies. 　　For those who have enough psychological imagination, it is a good plan to imagine an argument with a person having a different opinion. This has one advantage, and only one, ascompared with actual conversation with opponents; this one advantage is that the method is not subject to the same limitations of time and space. Mahatma Gandhi (圣雄甘地) considered it unfortunate to have railways and steamboats and machinery; he would have liked to undo the whole of the industrial revolution. You may never have an opportunity of actually meeting anyone who holds this opinion, because in Western countries most people take the advantage of modern technology for granted. But if you want to make sure that you are right in agreeing with the prevailing opinion, you will find it a good plan to test the arguments that occur to you by considering what Gandhi might have said in refutation of them. I have sometimes been led actually to change my mind as a result of this kind of imaginary dialogue. Furthermore, I have frequently found myself growing more agreeable through realizing the possible reasonableness of a hypothetical opponent.

阅读理解Without reservation, I applaud the freer patterns of today, although I believe that its been difficult for some families to handle the changes

阅读理解The last part of the passage is mainly about ________.

阅读理解We might marvel at the progress made in every field of study, but the methods of testing a persons knowledge and ability remain as primitive as ever they were. It really is extraordinary that, after all these years, educationists have still failed to device anything more efficient and reliable than examinations. For all the pious claim that examinations text what you know, it is common knowledge that they more often do the exact opposite. They may be a good means of testing memory, or the knack of working rapidly under extreme pressure, but they can tell you nothing about a persons true ability and aptitude.As anxiety-makers, examinations are second to none. That is because so much depends on them. They are the mark of success of failure in our society. Your whole future may be decided in one fateful day. It doesnt matter that you werent feeling very well, or that your mother died. Little things like that dont count: the exam goes on. No one can give of his best when he is in mortal terror, or after a sleepless night, yet this is precisely what the examination system expects him to do. The moment a child begins school, he enters a world of vicious competition where success and failure are clearly defined and measured. Can we wonder at the increasing number of drop-outs: young people who are written off as utter failures before they have even embarked on a career? Can we be surprised at the suicide rate among students?A good education should, among other things, train you to think for yourself. The examination system does anything but that. What has to be learnt is rigidly laid down by a syllabus, so the student is encouraged to memorize. Examinations do not motivate a student to read widely, but to restrict his reading; they do not enable him to seek more and more knowledge, but induce cramming. They lower the standards of teaching, for they deprive the teacher of all freedoms. Teachers themselves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques which they despise. The most successful candidates are not always the best educated; they are the best trained in the technique of working under duress.The results on which so much depends are often nothing more than a subjective assessment by some anonymous examiner. Examiners are only human. They get tired and hungry; they make mistakes. Yet they have to mark stacks of hastily scrawled scripts in a limited amount of time. They work under the same sort of pressure as the candidates. And their word carries weight. After a judges decision you have the right of appeal, but not after an examiners. There must surely be many simpler and more effective ways of assessing a persons true abilities. Is it cynical to suggest that examinations are merely a profitable business for the institutions that run them? This is what it boils down to in the last analysis. The best comment on the system is this illiterate message recently scrawled on a wall: I were a teenage drop-out and now I are a teenage millionaire.”

阅读理解Passage One Computing clouds essentially digital-service factories一are the first truly global utility, accessible from all corners of the planet