阅读理解 Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study to compare honesty across a range of communications media has found that emails are automatically recorded — and can come back to haunt (困扰) you — appears to be the key to the finding. Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca. New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent of phone calls. His results, to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected entailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication. But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communica?tion could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone. People are also more likely to lie in real time — in an instant message or phone call, say — than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous(脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as : "Do you like my dress?" Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But given his results, work assessment, where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email. Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study to compare honesty across a range of communications media has found that emails are automatically recorded — and can come back to haunt (困扰) you — appears to be the key to the finding. Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca. New York, asked 30 students to keep a communications diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent of phone calls. His results, to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected entailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication. But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communica?tion could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone. People are also more likely to lie in real time — in an instant message or phone call, say — than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous(脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as : "Do you like my dress?" Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But given his results, work assessment, where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email. 文章大意：说明文。本文比较了各种媒介交流时说谎话的几率，并分析了原因。文章思路为：研究方式及结果——与研究结果不同的观点——论证研究结果——研究结果的利用价值。Para．1-Para．2为研究结果：各种交流媒介中，人们在打电话时说谎的几率最高，发电子邮件时说谎话的几率最低(第二段前半段介绍了研究方式)。Para．3为与研究结果不同的意见：部分心理学家的看法与该研究结果恰好相反。Para．4-Para．5为研究者对研究结果予以论证。Para．6为研究结果可能的利用价值：帮助公司为员工找出最好的交流方式。

阅读理解The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain. As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (承担的义务) , self-improvement. Ask a bachelor (单身汉) why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night''s sleep or a three-day vacation. I don''t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couple who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild. Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having 8o much fun actually may not be happy at all.

阅读理解I was 13 when Benji came into our lives. With his deep brown eyes, floppy ears and cheerful disposition, he was my constant companion throughout my teenage years. We would play together in the garden, and take long walks over the hills behind the house and being a dog, he seemed to have a sympathy for my problems that went deeper than words could express. He was my best friend. Benji left us about 15 years ago for that great kennel in the sky. But recently I''ve been thinking about him a lot. Was he really conscious? Could any animal have consciousness like we do? Does it matter whether animals are conscious or not? For many, it is a matter of life and death. On the one hand, animal research has helped prevent some of the most pressing human diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, "mad cow" disease, malaria, cystic fibrosis and emphysema. On the other hand, this research is performed largely on chimps, our closest nonhuman relatives, with whom we share 98.4% of our genetic material, and great apes, with whom we are similarly biologically close. Some people feel this connection is strong enough to warrant special treatment. An international group called the Great Ape Project is lobbying the United Nations to adopt a declaration on the rights of great apes modeled on the UN declaration On the Rights of Man. The group believes that apes are "conscious" and so deserve legal protection of their right to life and freedom from imprisonment and torture. If great apes were shown to have consciousness or something like our own, I would consider it among the scientific discoveries of the century. I would then agree with the Australian philosopher and founder of the animal rights movement, Peter Singer, that per forming medical experiments on chimps would be like experimenting on orphan children. That''s a pretty chilling thought, and no amount of'' human suffering saved could justify such an action. But before we close down the laboratories and stop searching for a vaccine against AIDS, we had better take a long hard look at the evidence for ape consciousness.

阅读理解Passage One Living in an urban area with green spaces has a long-lasting positive impact on people s mental wellbeing, a study has suggested

阅读理解Tourism Tourism holidaymaking and travel are these days more significant social phenomena than most commentators have considered. On the face of it there could not be a more trivial subject for a book. And indeed since social scientists have had considerable difficulty explaining weightier topics, such as work or politics, it might be thought that they would have great difficulties in accounting for more trivial phenomena such as holidaymaking. However, there are interesting parallels with the study of deviance (偏差). This involves the investigation of bizarre and idiosyncratic (异常) social practices which happen to be defined as deviant in some societies but not necessarily in others. The assumption is that the investigation of deviance can reveal interesting and significant aspects of "normal" societies. It could be said that a similar analysis can be applied to tourism. Tourism is a leisure activity which presupposes its opposite, namely regulated and organized work. It is one manifestation of how work and leisure are organized as separate and regulated spheres of social practice in "modern" societies. Tourist relationships arise from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various destinations. This necessarily involves some movement, that is the journey, and a period of stay in a new place or places. The journey and the stay are by definition outside the normal places of residence and work and are of a short-term and temporary nature and there is a clear intention to return ''home'' within a relatively short period of time. A substantial proportion of the population of modern societies engages in such tourist practices; new socialized forms of provision have developed in order to cope with the mass character of the gazes of tourists, as opposed to the individual character of travel. Places are chosen to be visited and be gazed upon because there is an anticipation, especially through daydreaming and fantasy, of intense pleasures, either on a different scale or involving different senses from those customarily encountered. Such anticipation is constructed and sustained through a variety of non-tourist practices, such as films, TV, literature, magazines, records and videos which construct and reinforce this daydreaming. Tourists tend to visit features of landscape and townscape which separate them off from everyday experience. Such aspects are viewed because they are taken to be in some sense out of the ordinary. People linger over these sights in a way that they would not normally do in their home environment and the vision is objectified or captured through photographs, postcards, films and so on which enable the memory to the endlessly reproduced and recaptured. One of the earliest studies on the subject of tourism is Boorstin''s analysis of the "pseudo-event" (1964) where he argues that contemporary Americans cannot experience ''reality'' directly but thrive on "pseudo-events." Isolated from the host environment and the local people, the mass tourist travels in guided groups and finds pleasure in man-made attractions, stupidly enjoying the pseudo-events and disregarding the real world outside. Over time the images generated by different tourist sights come to constitute a close self-perpetuating system of illusions which provide the tourist with the basis for selecting and evaluating potential places to visit. Such visits are made, says Boorstin, within the "environmental bubble" of the familiar American-style hotel which insulates the tourist from the strangeness of the host environment. To service the burgeoning tourist industry, an array of professionals has developed who attempt to reproduce ever-new objects for the tourist to look at. These objects or places are located in a complex and changing hierarchy. This depends upon the interplay (相互影响) between, on the one hand, competition between interests involved in the provision of such objects and, on the other hand, changing class, gender, and generational distinctions of taste within the potential population of visitors. It has been said that to be a tourist is one of the characteristics of the "modern experience". Not to "go away" is like not possessing a car or a nice house, travel is a marker of status in modem societies and is also thought to be necessary for good health. The role of the professional, therefore, is to cater for the needs and tastes of the tourists in accordance with their class and overall expectations.

阅读理解What can we learn from the findings of the two new studies?

阅读理解When they advise your kids to "get an education" if you want to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower for your society, but not too much that you prove an embarrassment to your society. Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you are occupationally dead, unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison and you can successfully drop out in grade school. Get a college degree, if possible. With a B.A., you are on the launching pad (发射台). But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master''s degree, make sure it is an M. B. A. , and only from a first-rate university. Beyond this, the famous law of diminishing returns (报酬递减律) begins to take effect. Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more a year than full professors? Yes, the average 1977 salary for those truckers was $24,000, while the full professors managed to average just $ 23,930. A Ph. D. is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, you are facing a dim future. There are more Ph. Ds unemployed or underemployed in this country than in any other part of the world by far. If you become a doctor of philosophy in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or—worst of all—in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands. Thousands of Ph. D.s are selling shoes, driving cabs, waiting on tables and filling out fruitless applications month after month. And then maybe taking a job in some high school or backwater college that pays much less than the janitor (看门人) earns. You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.

阅读理解Paradise Lost, one of the greatest poems in the English language, was first published in 1667. Milton had long cherished the (47)______ to write the definitive English epic, to do for the English language what Homer and Virgil had done for Greek and Latin, and what Dante had done for Italian. He had (48)______ planned to base his epic on the Arthurian (亚瑟王的)(49)______, which were the foundational myths for English (50)______ , but later turned his attention to more (51)______ questions. He decided to focus on the foundational myth of (52)______ itself, the Genesis (?圣经?之?创世纪?) account of creation and fall. It was an ambitious project, for Milton was determined to attempt "things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhyme,''" and his success is indicated by the esteem in which the poem is held to this day. Milton''s epic poem received mixed reactions in the seventeenth century, and, over the years, has continued to arouse both praise and (53)______. Yet, its admirers have always been more (54)______ that its detractors. The poem has influenced many authors and artists, from John Dryden to William Blake, Mary Shelley to Philip K. Dick, C.S. Lewis to Gene Roddenberry. Aside from the sheer beauty of its language and the power of its (55)______, the subject matter of the poem has continued to absorb readers of every generation. Milton does not hesitate to ask the most difficult of questions: if the world was created by a good, just, and loving God, why is there little evidence of goodness and justice in the world? What does it mean for humankind to be created in the image of that God, and how does humanity endure in a fallen world? It is this aspect of the poem which will continue to enthrall (迷醉) readers, as they continue to ask the same difficult questions and turn for answers to Milton''s (56)______ of one of the foundational myths of Western culture. Word Bank A) universal B) humanity C) specific D) blame E) exploration F) ambition G) mystery H) numerous I) generalize J) legends K) characterization L) nationalism M) contrast N) originally O) completely

阅读理解The Art of Resist Dyeing Chinese textiles are globally popular nowadays. But do you know anything about the traditional Chinese dyeing techniques which have been used for centuries to create intriguing patterns and designs on fabrics? Dating back as far as 2,000 years ago, the traditional Chinese dyeing techniques have been fashion-able off and on in different times. They centered on three basic types of resist dyeing, including tie - dyeing (jiaoxie or zharan) , batik (laxie or laran) , and clamp - resist dyeing (jiaxie or jiaran). In the language of dyeing, a resist is just what the word implies, a substance or process that stops dye from dyeing the fabric in certain places. Tie-dyeing The concept behind tie-dyeing is to restrict the dye from reaching certain areas of the cloth, this is achieved through the use of knots, threads, rocks, sticks and rubber bands. The color of the parts the dye reaches changes but the restricted parts stay untouched, giving a pleasant color contrast. This method appeared in the 3rd to 4th century in China and is still used today. Bright colors, an unlimited variety of patterns and color combinations, and the simplicity of the techniques contribute to its enduring appeal. Tie-dyeing is a time-honored handicraft of the Bai ethnic group, who mainly inhabit southwest China''s Yunnan Province. To make the dye, woad (菘蓝) leaves are collected and fermented in a pit until they are indigo (靛蓝) in color. White cloth is tied and sewn into various patterns by hand and then dyed. After the cloth is dried and rinsed, designs of bees, butterflies, plum blossoms, fish, or insects appear with an artistic effect that cannot be achieved by painting. Different kinds of dyes are available in stores and tie - dying is a simple process which is a lot of fun to do. All you need is a piece of fabric, dye, and fasteners to keep the dye from penetrating and to create patterns. Why not have a go following these easy steps? Wash the material to remove any chemicals that may be in the fabric; Dry the material completely before dyeing; Tie it with patterns you like using fasteners; Add the dye. Be sure to use enough dye to fully saturate the material; Allow the fabric to dry completely before removing the fasteners; Remove the fasteners and admire your artwork; Wash the material thoroughly in cold water. Batik If you go to southwest China''s Guizhou Province, known as the home of batik, batik clothes are likely to be the first things to catch your eye. The history of batik can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD24 ). It used to be popular in both central and southwest China. Somehow, the technique was lost in central China, but it has been handed down from generation to generation among the ethnic people in Guizhou. Batik, also known as wax-resist dyeing, is a form of dyeing or printing folk art made by applying beeswax(蜜蜡) to create different shapes. Some of the designs on these batiks are bold, while others are fine and delicate. Wherever it appears on garments, scarves, bags, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains, and other decorative items, the style is always simple and elegant. A folktale about batik''s origin goes like this: Long, long ago, there was a girl living in a stone village called Anshun, now a city in Guizhou Province. She was fond of dyeing white cloth blue and purple. One day, while she was working, a bee happened to land on her cloth. After it flew away, she found a white dot left on the cloth, which looked very pretty. This discovery is said to have led to the use of wax in dyeing. Batik cloth made in Guizhou goes through four processes: waxing, painting, de-waxing and rinsing. First a piece of white cloth is placed on a plain board or tabletop. Wax is put into a pottery bowl or metal pot and heated with charcoal until it melts. The wax won''t dissolve in water unless the temperature is very high. The painting tool is a specially designed knife. It''s slightly hollow in the middle with an offset angle edge to hold the melted wax. Different patterns require different shaped knifes, for example semicircular, triangular and axe shaped. Painting the cloth is the most delightful part. A basic outline is drawn before the various patterns are painted on. They range from flowers, birds, fishes, paper cutout patterns, to folklore tales and assorted geometric shapes. Each ethnic group has its own style. Then the wax - covered cloth is dipped in the indigo vat for about 45 minutes. In the past, this dying process took five to six days. The wax on the cloth often cracks after it hardens. The cloth is then dyed and the dyes seep into the cracks making fine lines, called "ice veins(冰纹) ". These "ice veins" distinguish genuine batik cloth from imitations. The cloth is then removed from the dye and put into boiling water to remove the wax. In the final stage, the cloth is rinsed with clean water and beautiful blue and white patterns appear on the cloth. Sometimes, people want light and deep blue colors in the same piece of cloth. How is this done? Well, it''s quite easy, just re - wax the part you need to deepen, and dip the whole cloth into the dye once again. Waxberry juice is usually used to produce a red color, and yellow gardenia to make yellow. Genuine batik can''t be made entirely by machines and most of the work is done by hand. These days, batik is no longer just for everyday clothes and is gradually developing into an art form as modern artists add more cultural factors and techniques to their creations. Clamp-resist dyeing Like the ties used in tie - dyeing and wax in batik, woodblocks engraved with various patterns are the most important tools in clamp-resist dyeing. Two symmetrical carved concave blocks are used to clamp the folded cloth and dip it into a dye vat with the help of a large lever. The result is cloth with the same pattern dyed onto two sides. After dyeing, the cloth is removed from the woodblock clamps and rinsed. This practice saw its apogee in the Tang dynasty (618 -907) when it was used to produce a variety of multi -colored silk products. The sculptures (雕刻) of Bodhisattvas in the Dunhuang Grottoes, in northwest China''s Gansu Province, are often depicted in jiaxie (clamp -resist dyed) silk dresses. The technique went into decline after the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) when multi - colored designs were gradually replaced by simple indigoes and white. Clamp - resist dyeing is not completely extinct, although today it''s believed to be on the verge of disappearing. In the 1950s and 60s, jiaxie quilts, whose covers were decorated with clamp -resist dyed patterns, were still an essential part of nuptial celebrations in Wenzhou, east China''s Zhejiang Province. When a young local girl got engaged, her family would be busy preparing the jiaxie quilts for her. The patterns on the local traditional quilt covers in Wenzhou usually featured four horizontal and four vertical lines, making a grid pattern of 16 blocks. These blocks usually had designs depicting "100 sons," "double happiness" and "dragon and phoenix", which had nuptial connotations. However, nowadays only a few people carry on the traditional clamp -resist dyeing technique. Xue Xunlang, from Cangnan County of Wenzhou, accidentally became a reviver of clamp - resist dyeing and was the last person to run a workshop in the local area to produce jiaxie cloth. In 1988, Xue got to know an elderly Japanese lady who ran the Lan Lan Chinese Flowery Cloth Store in Shanghai. At her request, Xue brought her some bolts of old cloth from the Chinese countryside including a piece of jiaxie cloth. The Japanese woman told Xue that historians believed this handicraft technique had been lost in China. Xue explained that such cloth was very common in Wenzhou. He said although it had not been manufactured for about 20 years, it wouldn''t be difficult to resume production. Xue met the Dai family in Cangnan, who used to own the most famous dyehouse in the area. The Dais recommended Chen Kangsuan, one of their ex-workers, to Xue. Chen was already 66 years old when he met Xue in 1989 and hadn''t made any jiaxie cloth for over 30 years but he gladly agreed to try. The resumption of jiaxie - cloth production attracted attention from experts and media. However, despite their help, Xue''s workshop finally closed down after about ten years of production due to financial difficulties.

阅读理解Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to "think and concentrate." Spilich put young non-smokers, active smokers and smokers deprived (被剥夺) of cigarettes through a series of tests. In the first test, each subject (试验对象) sat before a computer screen and pressed a key as soon as he or she recognized a target letter among a grouping of 96. In this simple test, smokers, deprived smokers and non-smokers performed equally well. The next test was more complex, requiring all to scan sequences of 20 identical letters and respond the instant one of the letters transformed into a different one. Non-smokers were faster, but under the stimulation of nicotine (尼古丁), active smokers were faster than deprived smokers. In the third test of short-term memory, non-smokers made the fewest errors, but deprived smokers committed fewer errors than active smokers. The fourth test required people to read a passage, then answer questions about it. Non-smokers remembered 19 percent more of the most important information than active smokers, and deprived smokers bested those who had smoked a cigarette just before testing. Active smokers tended not only to have poorer memories but also had trouble separating important information from insignificant details. "As our tests became more complex, '' Sums up Spilich, "non-smokers performed better than smokers by wider and wider margins." He predicts, "smokers might perform adequately at many jobs -- until they got complicated. A smoking airline pilot could fly adequately if no problems arose, but ff something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity. "

阅读理解What do we learn from the last paragraph?

阅读理解Quick News Review of the Week; May 8-14 Sino-Japanese talks Beijing and Tokyo have agreed to hold talks later this month on natural gas exploration in the East China Sea. The two sides will soon set up a meeting between their foreign ministers in an attempt to thaw icy relations. The agreement was reached last Tuesday, the third and final day of a Sino-Japanese strategic dialogue in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China''s Guizhou Province. Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and his Japanese counterpart, Yachi Shotaro, headed the two delegations. Retail growth The Ministry of Commerce said last week that the country''s retail sales rose by 16 per cent year-on -year over the May Day holiday week, with larger retailers primarily driving growth. Retail sales of consumer goods hit 278 billion yuan (US $34. 7 billion) over the holiday period. The figure accounted for nearly half of the country''s average monthly retail sales in the first quarter of this year. Big chain enterprises used their larger sales networks and brand power to play a leading role in the "Golden Week" market, the ministry said. Pyramid schemes Chinese authorities have uncovered more than 1 billion yuan (US $ 125 million) in illegal pyramid scheme sales over the past 12 months, the Ministry of Public Security said last week. Figures from the ministry reveal 516 cases involving 1,147 direct sales organizations. A total of 3, 408 suspects were arrested. Gao Feng, deputy director of the ministry''s Economic Crime Investigation Bureau, said pyramid schemes had become a serious economic crime in China. New fund Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, the first fund launched by mainland enterprises to directly invest in other companies, will begin operations next month, Tianjin Mayor Dai Xianglong said last week. "The fund''s senior management team has been determined, so it''s ready to start in June," Dai said. The creation of the fund could lead to the establishment of similar organizations in China, which is welcome news for companies short on capital, analysts said. Airport development The central government said last week that China will spend more on airport development in the next five years than it has in the previous 15, opening up huge investment opportunities for overseas and domestic investors. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) , the industry regulator, said 140 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion) has been earmarked(制定款项等用途) for airport development from 2006 to 2010. Only 120 billion yuan (US $ 15 billion) was invested in the country''s airports between 1990 and 2005. Spending will now focus on the development of 42 new airports, in addition to upgrades to existing infrastructure. Dam completion Construction of the giant Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is scheduled to finish by May 20, marking the completion of the biggest part of the Three Gorges Hydropower Project. Cao Guangjing, deputy general manager of China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corp, said last week the dam would be completed nine months ahead of schedule. The dam, which is 2,309 metres long, 185 metres high and 15 metres wide, will be the world''s largest. Approximately 16. 1 million cubic metres of reinforced concrete has been used on the project. Port expansion China''s port and shipping facilities will be expanded to include two major new regions, the Ministry of Communications said last week. Five new "port clusters" will be prioritized as part of a new development plan that will complement existing ports in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjin. Communications Minister Li Shenglin said some of the new port groups would be located on the mainland side of the Taiwan Straits, in East China''s Fujian Province, and in South China''s Hainan and Guangdong Provinces. Growth forecast The World Bank raised its economic growth forecast for China this year to 9.5 per cent from 9.2 per cent last Wednesday, following surprisingly strong growth in the first quarter. The Chinese economy grew 10.2 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 9.9 per cent over the course of last year. The World Bank also urged the Chinese Government to continue to rein in the current credit and investment boom. The forecast was in line with comments made two weeks ago by China''s Vice-Minister of Finance Li Yong. Li predicted the country''s economy could grow by up to 9. 5 per cent this year. Mobile charges The Ministry of Information Industry made a surprise move last week by giving telecoms operators the go-ahead to slash mobile phone charges in Beijing. This will primarily affect the current system of charging users high fees for making and receiving calls. The move is a milestone in the reform of charging schemes for telecoms voice services. The significant price cuts will be implemented later this month, said Wang Lijian, a ministry spokesman. Ban lifted China lifted a one-year ban on share sales last week, giving publicly traded companies more funding options to expand in an economy that grew 10. 2 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Companies must meet 34 criteria to be eligible to sell stock, including three successive years of profit and dividend payments equal to at least 20 per cent of their income, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Initial public offerings are still prohibited, the commission said. The end of the ban will widen access to capital as interest rates rise, and generate underwriting fees for securities firms. Agricultural assistance Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu called on agricultural departments across the country last week to help farmers with this year''s summer harvest. Hui said local agricultural departments should support and implement the State''s preferential polices, such as stabilizing prices for grain and fertilizer, and providing subsidies for farmers who grow grain crops and purchase agricultural equipment. Local governments were also urged to fully prepare for possible floods this summer, in order to minimize the impact on agriculture.

阅读理解Although your Chinese host will not expect you to know everything about proper banquet behavior, he will greatly appreciate it when you are displaying some knowledge of the subject, because it shows that you have respect for Chinese culture, manners and traditions. Banquets are usually held in restaurants in private rooms that have been reserved for the purpose. You will be met at the door and guided to the banquet room. Traditionally, the head of your delegation should enter the room first. Do not be surprised if your hosts greet you with a loud round of applause. The proper response is to applaud back. Seating arrangements, which are based on rank, are stricter than in the West. Guests should never assume that they may sit where they please and should wait for hosts to guide them to their places. Traditionally, the Chinese regard the right side as the superior and the left side as the inferior. Therefore on formal occasions, including meetings and banquets, the host invariably arranges for the main guests to sit on his right side. At very formal banquets, people do not begin to eat until the principal host served a portion to the principal guest. Or, the host may simply raise his chopsticks and announce that eating has begun. After this point, one may serve oneself any food in any amount. Remember to go slow on eating. Don''t fill yourself up when five courses are left to go. To stop eating in the middle of a banquet is rude, and your host may incorrectly think that something has been done to offend you. Drinking takes an important place in Chinese banquets. Toasting is necessary, and the drinking of spirits begins only after the host has made a toast at the beginning of the meal. When he says the words gan bei, which means bottoms up, all present should drain their glasses. After this initial toast, drinking and toasting are open to all. Subsequent toasts can be made from person to person or to the group as a whole. No words are needed to make a toast, and it is not necessary to drain your glass, although to do so is more respectful.

阅读理解On November 19th, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much (47) _________ of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of courtesy. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very (48) _________everywhere. It is said that Lincoln (49) _______ his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked (50)________ on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a (51) _________ example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little (52) _________to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little (53) _________. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked, "I have failed again." On the train back to Washington he (54) _______ sadly, "That speech was a flat failure, and the people are (55) _________." Some newspapers at first criticized the speech. But little by little, as people read the speech, they began to understand better. They began to (56) ________ its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made. Today, every American school child learns Lincoln''s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest orations ever given in American history. WORD BANK A) disappointed B) briefly C) appreciate D) criticism E) change F) attention G) persists H) perfect I) component J) commented K) prepared L) responsible M) success N) popular O) applause

阅读理解Until the 1980s, the American homeless population (47)______ mainly older males. Today, homelessness strikes much younger part of society. In fact, a 25-city (48)______ by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1987 found that families with children make up the fastest growing part of the homeless (49)______. Many homeless children gather in inner cities; this transient (变化无常的) and frequently frightened student population creates (50)______ problems — both legal and educational — for already overburdened urban school administrators and teachers. Estimates of the number of homeless Americans (51)______ from 350,000 to three million. Likewise, estimates of the number of homeless school children (52)______ radically. A U.S. Department of Education report, based on state estimates, states that there are 220, 000 homeless school-age children, about a third of whom do not (53)______ school on a regular (54)______. But the National Coalition for the Homeless estimates that there are at least two times as many homeless children, and that less than half of them attend school regularly. One part of the homeless population that is particularly difficult to count consists of the "throwaway" youths who have been cast of their homes. The Elementary School Center in New York City estimates that there are 1.5 million of them, many of whom are not (55)______ as children because they do not stay in family (56)______ and tend to live by themselves on the streets. Word Bank A) basis B) experiment C) population D) drop out E) comprised F) range G) attitude H) vary I) attend J) counted K) recent L) survey M) shelters N) potential O) additional

阅读理解First Impressions Count Traditionally uniforms were-and for some industries still are-manufactured to protect the worker. When they were first designed, it is also likely that all uniforms made symbolic sense-those for the military, for example, were originally intended to impress and even terrify the enemy; other uniforms denoted a hierarchy-chefs wore white because they worked with flour, but the main chef wore a black hat to show he supervised. The last 30 years, however, have seen an increasing emphasis on their role in projecting the image of an organization and in uniting the workforce into a homogeneous unit-particularly in ''customer facing'' industries, and especially in financial services and retailing. From uniforms and workwear has emerged '' corporate clothing''. "The people you employ are your ambassadors," says Peter Griffin, managing director of a major retailer in the UK. "What they say, how they look, and how they behave is terribly important." The result is a new way of looking at corporate workwear. From being a simple means of identifying who is a member of staff, the uniform is emerging as a new channel of marketing communication. Truly effective marketing through visual cues such as uniforms is a subtle art, however. Wittingly or unwittingly, how we look sends all sorts of powerful subliminal messages to other people. Dark colours give an aura of authority while lighter pastel shades suggest approachability. Certain dress style creates a sense of conservatism, others a sense of openness to new ideas. Neatness can suggest efficiency but, if it is overdone, it can spill over and indicate an obsession with power. "If the company is selling quality, then it must have quality uniforms. If it is selling style, its uniforms must be stylish. If it wants to appear innovative, everybody can''t look exactly the same. Subliminally we see all these things," says Lynn Elvy, a director of image consultants House of Colour. But translating corporate philosophies into the right mix of colour, style, degree of branding and uniformity can be a fraught process. And it is Not always successful. According to Company Clothing magazine, there are 1000 companies supplying the workwear and corporate clothing market. Of these, 22 account for 85% of total sales—￡ 380 million in 1994. A successful uniform needs to balance two key sets of needs. On the one hand. No uniform will work if staff feels uncomfortable or ugly. Giving the wearers a choice has become a key element in the way corporate clothing is introduced and managed. On the other, it is pointless if the look doesn''t express the business''s marketing strategy. The greatest challenge in this respect is time. When it comes to human perceptions, first impressions count. Customers will size up the way staff look in just a few second, and that few seconds will colour their attitudes from then on. Those few seconds can be so important that big companies are prepared to invest years, and millions of pounds, getting them right. In addition, some uniform companies also offer rental services. "There will be an increasing specialization in the marketplace," predicts Mr. Blyth, Customer Services Manager of a large UK bank. The past two or three years have seen consolidation. Increasingly, the big suppliers are becoming "managing agents", which means they offer a total service to put together the whole complex operation of a company''s corporate clothing package-which includes reliable sourcing, managing the inventory, budget control and distribution to either central locations or to each staff member individually. Huge investments have been made in new systems, information technology and amassing quality assurance accreditations. Corporate clothing does have potential for further growth. Some banks have yet to introduce a full corporate look; police forces are researching a complete new look for the 21st century. And many employees now welcome a company wardrobe. A recent survey of staff found that 90 per cent welcomed having clothing which reflected the corporate identity.

阅读理解In recent years, Israeli consumers have grown more demanding as they''ve become wealthier and more worldly-wise. Foreign travel is a national passion; this summer alone, one in ten citizens will go abroad. Exposed to higher standards of service elsewhere, Israelis are returning home expecting the same. American firms have also begun arriving in large numbers. Chains such as KFC, McDonald''s and Pizza Hut are setting a new standard of customer service, using strict employee training and constant monitoring to ensure the friendliness of frontline staff. Even the American habit of telling departing customers to "Have a nice day" has caught on all over Israel. "Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, "Let''s be nicer," says Itsik Cohen, director of a consulting firm. "Nothing happens without competition." Privatization, or the threat of it, is a motivation as well. Monopolies (垄断者) that until recently have been free to take their customers for granted now fear what Michael Perry, a marketing professor, calls "the revengeful (报复的) consumer." When the government opened up competition with Bezaq, the phone company, its international branch lost 40% of its market share, even while offering competitive rates. Says Perry, "People wanted revenge for all the years of bad service." The electric company, whose monopoly may be short-lived, has suddenly stopped requiring users to wait half a day for a repairman. Now, appointments are scheduled to the half-hour. The graceless El A1 Airlines, which is already at auction (拍卖), has retrained its employees to emphasize service and is boasting about the results in an ad campaign with the slogan, "You can feel the change in the air." For the first time, praise outnumbers complaints on customer survey sheets.

阅读理解Egyptian society had a strictly organized class structure. The majority of people consisted of farmers and craftsmen who were led by the land-owning elite (精英) of officials and priests. Everyone belonged to a group and worked in a team, usually in huge workshops, or "Storehouses", which were controlled by the king and the temples. The organization of society was based on the master-servant principle: just as the king was the servant of the gods and was himself the master of his people, so was every Egyptian the master of one and the servant of another. At the top of this social ladder were the high officials, the intellectuals or "Scribes", and on the lowest rungs were those who did the simple but heavy work, such as kitchen staff and farm laborers. The heaviest work was done by prisoners-of-war and criminals. A working week lasted nine days and was followed by one day of rest There was no work for almost half of the year, since nobody worked on festival days to honor the gods (and there were a lot of those in Egypt), or other special occasions. Barter, rather than circulated money, was the means of payment. A basket cost so much grain, a stone coffin so many cows or other goods. Taxes were paid in products and grain, but also in work, such as compulsory work for the king. Economic depressions, often caused by famine, could result in social unrest and even strikes. Marriage was held in high regard. Usually couples could enter marriage quite freely, although members of the court and the elite also had arranged marriages. A marriage was a social contract between a man and a woman, and did not involve priests. Legal agreements were made about possessions and inheritances. Because the property rights of a woman were very well organized, divorce was unusual. It was simply too expensive to divorce! The aim of marriage was to create a community and to protect the continued existence of the family. Most Egyptians lived in villages situated near the places where they worked—the huge domains of the palaces and temples, with their store houses, workshops and agricultural areas. There were only a few residential centers that we would call cities. Best known were the capitals Memphis, Thebes and Piramesse, where the government buildings and most important temples were situated. The capital of a province was actually a large settlement around the temple of the local god. Such provincial centers were surrounded by heavily populated villages.

阅读理解Panasonic NV-F55MC operating Instructions Ⅰ. Installation (Ⅰ) Connection to a TV set 1. Connect the external aerial (天线) to the RF Input Socket (插座) on the VTR (Videotape Recorder). 2. Connect the aerial terminal on your TV set to the RF Output Socket on the VTR with the supplied DIN-DIN Coaxial Cable. ?In places with higher temperature and high humidity (湿度), people with sensitive skin may feel some electricity. In this case, use the Separate Transformer Adaptor. 3. Connect the AC Mains Lead to the AC Mains Socket of the VTR to the mains outlet. 4. If the TV set is equipped with separate video and audio input sockets, it is recommended to connect the VTR to the TV set with separate video and audio cables. (Ⅱ) Connection to a Stereo Amplifier 1. Connect the Audio Input Sockets on the VTR to the REC OUT Sockets on the Stereo Amplifier. 2. Connect the Audio Output Sockets on the VTR to the PLAYBACK Sockets on the Stereo Amplifier. Ⅱ. Tuning the TV Set to the Video Playback Channel (Ⅰ) Video Playback Channel Adjustor 1. Turn the TV set on and select the AV program position or another program position that is not occupied by another TV station. 2. Press the VTR ON/OFF Switch to turn the VTR on. ?The corresponding indicator lights up. 3. Set the Karaoke Switch to "1" or "2". 4. Tune the selected program position of the TV set to UHF approx, channel C25 ( PAL D) or E38 (PAL I/SECAM D. K. ). Confirm on your TV set that the blue screen appears. ( C25: China channel 25; E38: Europe standard channel 38) ?If UHF channel E38 (C25) is already occupied by a TV station in your area, the video playback channel can be changed between channel 32 to 40 (24 to 27) on the back of the VTR by using a small screwdriver. 5. Set the Karaoke Switch to "NORMAL". Your TV is now ready to receive the RF output signal from the VTR. 6. To check, playback a pre-recorded tape and confirm that the picture quality is satisfactory. (Ⅱ) RF Selector Use the RF Selector to select the color TV system used by the TV set to be connected. (Ⅲ) PAL/MESECAM Selector This selector should be set according to the color TV system used during recording and play back. When the MESECAM Indicator is lit, the MESECAM is selected. Ⅲ. The Video Cassette (Ⅰ) Inserting a Video Cassette 1. Insert the video cassette as shown. The VTR will be turned on automatically and the cassette will be automatically drawn into the VTR. 2. When a video cassette is inserted, the "" mark will appear. ?When a video cassette with broken erasure (擦除) prevention tab (for example a pre recorded tape) is inserted, playback will start immediately. ?Use the VHS video cassette tapes only. ?We recommend the "Panasonic Hi-Fi" high grade video cassette tapes for improved picture and sound quality. (Ⅱ) Removing a Video Cassette Press the Eject (弹出) Button. Simply press the Eject button, the VTR turns itself on, ejects the cassette and turns itself off again. Ⅳ. Karaoke Playback (Ⅰ) Preparation 1. Make sure that the Timer Record Function is set to "OFF". 2. Insert a Karaoke video cassette. 3. Turn the TV set on and select the video playback channel. 4. Set the Noise Filter/Edit Selector to "OFF". 5. Connect a microphone to the Microphone Socket on the VTR. 6. Set Karaoke Switch to "1" or "2". 7. Select a desired tune. (Ⅱ) Singing along with a video cassette 1. Press the Play Button to begin the playback. 2. Adjust the sound volume of the Microphone to the proper volume with the Microphone Mixing Level Control while singing. ?If the volume is too high, the sound from the speaker may become distorted (扭曲). ?If acoustic (声音的) feedback occurs, turn the microphone volume down, use the microphone farther away from the speakers, hold the microphone so that it is not pointed toward the speakers, or turn the volume of the TV set down. 3. Adjust the echo effect to your taste with the Echo Control while singing. ?It is possible to apply the echo effect to the sound from both Microphone 1 and 2 at the same time. 4. Press the Stop Button to stop the playback. Ⅴ. Making Karaoke Tapes (Ⅰ) Preparation 1. Make the necessary connections as shown in the connection diagram. 2. Press the Input Signal Selector on the Remote Controller to select the "Al" program position (or select with the Channel Up or Down Button on the VTR). 3. Set the VTR System Selector to "PAL/MESECAM", "4.43" or "3.58" according to the color TV system of the video source. 4. Connect the VTR to a TV set equipped with separate video and audio input sockets and using the same color TV system as the video source. (Ⅱ) Cautions for Making Karaoke Tapes When making Karaoke tapes, be sure to adhere to the following points. 1. Select the SP mode on the VTR for recording. 2. Make sure that the length of the intervals between tunes ( soundless parts) is more than 6 seconds. ?Make sure that the noise level of these parts is kept to an absolute minimum. 3. Record only tunes with a length of more than 40 seconds. 4. When making Karaoke tapes, use the Pause/Still Button for editing. ?This minimizes noise at the points where successive recordings are joined. Ⅵ. Recording from a TV Broadcast Signal (Ⅰ) Preparation 1. Make sure that the Timer Record Function is set to "OFF". 2. Insert a video cassette with tile erasure prevention tab intact. 3. Set the Tape Speed Selector to "SP" or "LP". 4. Adjust the audio recording level as shown. (Ⅱ) Tape Speed Selector (SP/LP) For recording, either of two tape speeds can be selected. During playback, the VTR will automatically select the correct speed. ?SP Mode: For better picture quality. ?LP Mode: For longer recording time. The picture quality in the LP mode is not as good as that in the SP mode. (Ⅲ) Recording 1. Select on the VTR, the program position (channel) to be recorded. In order to confirm proper reception, turn on the TV set and select the video playback channel 2. Press the Record Button. 3. To finish the recording, press the Stop Button. Note: If the Karaoke Switch is not set to "NORMAL", recording is not possible. Confirm that the VTR System Selector is set to "PAL/MESECAM".

阅读理解Reaching new peaks of popularity in North America is Iceberg Water which is harvested from icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Arthur von Wiesenberger, who carries the title Water Master, is one of the few water critics in North America. As a boy, he spent time in the larger cities of Italy, France and Switzerland where bottled water is consumed daily. Even then, he kept a water journal, noting the brands he liked best. "My dog could tell the difference between bottled and tap water," he says. But is plain tap water all that bad? Not at all. In fact, New York''s municipal water for more than a century was called the champagne of tap water and until recently considered among the best in the world in terms of both taste and purity. Similarly, a magazine in England found that tap water from the Thames River tasted better than several leading brands of bottled water that were 400 times more expensive. Nevertheless, soft-drink companies view bottled water as the next battle-ground for market share — this despite the fact that over 25 percent of bottled water comes from tap water: PepsiCo''s Aquafina and Coca-Cola''s Dasani are both purified tap water rather than spring water. As diners thirst for leading brands, bottlers and restaurateurs salivate (垂涎) over the profits. A restaurant''s typical mark-up on wine is 100 to 150 percent, whereas on bottled water it''s often 300 to 500 percent. But since water is much cheaper than wine, and many of the fancier brands aren''t available in stores, most diners don''t notice or care. As a result, some restaurants are turning up the pressure to sell bottled water. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, some of the more shameless tactics include placing attractive bottles on the table for a visual sell, listing brands on the menu without prices, and pouring bottled water without even asking the diners if they want it. Regardless of how it''s sold, the popularity of bottled water taps into our desire for better health, our wish to appear cultivated, and even a longing for lost purity.