阅读理解what is the main of the passage ?

阅读理解New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It''s new a "global village" where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly enhanced by foreign language skills. Deeply involved with this new technology is a breed of modem businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modem markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts. Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being "out of sight and out of mind." He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company''s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad, if an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to come back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and prevalent (普遍的). Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets. English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn''t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal. The employee posted abroad who speaks the country''s principal language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign clients over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.

阅读理解To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains. But actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against rain. Its first use was as a shade against the sun. Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times. Probably the first to use it were the Chinese, was back in the eleventh century B.C. We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honor and authority. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by royalty or by those in high offices. In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was in common use in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against rain were the ancient Romans. During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And against it was considered a symbol of power and authority. Byl680, the umbrella appeared in France and later on in England. By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe. Umbrellas have not changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn''t until the twentieth century that women''s umbrellas began to be made in a whole variety of colors.

阅读理解So long as teachers fail to distinguish between teaching and learning, they will continue to undertake to do for children that which only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing reading on to them. It is certainly not endless hours spent in activities about reading. Douglas insists that "reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible." Teaching and learning are two entirely different processes. They differ in kind and function. The function of teaching is to create the conditions and the climate that will make it possible for children to devise the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also a public activity: It can be seen and observed. Learning to read involves all that each individual does to make sense of the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public scrutiny. If teacher and learner roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done through teaching that will aid the child in the quest(探索)for knowledge? Smith has one principal rule for all teaching instructions. "Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful, enjoyable and frequent experience for children." When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner fulfill them appropriately, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is eliminated. Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are given the opportunity to solve the problem of learning to read by reading.

阅读理解There are great careers in which the increasing emphasis is on specialization. You find these careers in engineering, in production, in statistical work, and in teaching. But there is an increasing demand for people who are able to take in a great area at a glance, people who perhaps know too much about any one field. There is, in other words, a demand for people who are capable of seeing the forest rather than the trees, of making general judgments. And these "generalists" are particularly needed for positions in administration, where it is their job to see that other people do the work, where they have to plan for other people, to organize other people'' s work, to begin it and judge it. The specialist understands one field; his concern is with technique and tools. He is a "trained" man; and his educational background is properly technical or professional. The generalist—and especially the administrator—deals with people; his concern is with leadership, with planning, and with direction giving. He is an "educated" man; and the humanities are his strongest foundation. Very rarely is a specialist capable of being an administrator. And very rarely is a good generalist also a good specialist in a particular field. Any organizations need them in different proportions. It is your task to find out, during your training period, into which of the two kinds of jobs you fit, and to plan your career accordingly. Your first job may turn out to be the right job for you—but this is a pure accident. Certainly you should not change jobs constantly or people will become suspicious of your ability to hold any job. At the same time you must not look upon the first job as the final job; it is primarily a training job, an opportunity to understand yourself and your fitness for being an employee.

阅读理解These days a green building means more than just the color of the paint. Green buildings can also refer to environmentally friendly houses, factories, and offices. Buildings account for 65 percent of total U.S. electricity use. But green buildings can reduce energy and water use. Also, the buildings are often located near public transportation such as buses and subways, so that people can drive their cars less. That could be good for the environment, because cars use lots of natural resources such as gasoline, and give off pollution. Green buildings are often built on previously developed land, so that the buildings don''t destroy forests or other wild habitats (栖息地). Marty Dettling is project manager for a building that puts these ideas into action. The Solaire has been called the country''s first green residential high-rise building. According to Dettling, "We''ve reduced our energy consumption by one-third and our water by 50 percent." Not everyone is leaping to move into a green building, however. Some people think that features such as solar panels cost more money than more traditional energy sources. Despite this, Dettling hopes that green buildings will become common in the future. "It''s going to be big," she said.

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." Spihch 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 nonsmokers 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 if something went wrong, smoking might damage his mental capacity."

阅读理解The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, painfree 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 couples 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 so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

阅读理解The purpose of the author in writing this article is to _____________.

阅读理解Why are mobiles so popular? Because people love to talk to each other. And it is easier with a mobile phone. In countries like Russia and China, people use mobile phones in places where there is no ordinary telephone. Business people use mobiles when they''re traveling. In some countries, like Japan, many people use their mobile phones to send e-mail messages and access the Internet. They use a new kind of mobile phone called "i-mode". You can even use a mobile phone to listen to music. Mobile phones are very fashionable with teenagers. Parents buy mobile phones for their children. They can call home if they are in trouble and need help. So they feel safer. But teenagers mostly use them to keep in touch with their friends or play simple computer games. It''s cool to be the owner of a small expensive mobile. Research shows that teenage owners of mobile phones smoke less. Parents and schools are happy that teenagers are safer and smoke less. But many people dislike them. They hate it when the businessman opposite them on the train has a loud conversation on his phone, or when mobile phones ring in a cafe or restaurant. But there is a much more serious problem. It''s possible that mobiles can heat up the brain because we hold the phone so close to our head. Scientists fear that mobiles can perhaps be bad for your memory and even give you cancer.

阅读理解Brazil has become one of the developing world''s great successes at reducing population growth—but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Brazil''s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧，肥皂剧) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world''s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil''s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was in compatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.

阅读理解I have an infatuation (迷恋) with autumn. The colors of the season, and the smells, have always thrilled me. I have always found joy in this time of year. The last few autumns of my life, however, I recollect in shades of gray rather than cheerful oranges and yellows. When I became a single mother, every aspect of life took on new meaning. Since I was used to carrying out most of the parental duties without much help during my marriage, I truly did not foresee how different parenting would become after the marriage was over. But suddenly I realized I was a statistic. The daily routine was not changed so much; it was the angle at which I had begun to look at life. I believed my ex-husband''s lawyer was tracking every grade the children made, and I was under a microscope in this new town where the children and I moved our "broken home." I feared having to eventually establish my family with each new teacher and each new term as a single-parent family. I just wanted to be us again, without the stigma (特征) of the label that put on us. During those few gray years, I would reassure myself that soon things would be better, and that I would someday be able to feel whole again. There is no mathematical equation of adults proportioned to children to equal a stable, loving family. Every family has its strengths. In fact, studies show that in families who read together, eat together and communicate openly, children are likely to succeed academically, as well as socially and emotionally. I am sure these habits are just as effective when practiced in single-parent families. I realize now that I am not a statistic. We are an active, vital family in this charming community, where we are not marked by any stigma of any statistics of any focus groups. We are given opportunity, all of us. We are surrounded by beauty and immersed in possibility. There is joy to be found here, in what we see around us and in creating our own rendition of how we want to be seen. There is strength and grace in our own willingness to break free from conformity without falling behind the barriers of self-imposed limitations or preconceived notions of where we should fit in this world according to research.

阅读理解Thirty-one million Americans are over 60 years of age, and twenty-nine million of them are healthy, busy, productive citizens. By the year 2030, one in every five people in the United States will be over 60. people are members of the fastest-growing minority in this country. Many call this the "graying of America". In 1973, a group called the "Gray Panthers" was organized. This group is made up of young and old citizens. They are trying to deal with the special problems of growing old in America. The Gray Panthers know that many elderly people have health problems; some cannot walk well, others cannot see or hear well. Some have financial problems; prices are going up so fast that the elderly can''t afford the food, clothing, and housing they need. Some old people are afraid and have safety problems. Others have emotional problems. Many elderly are lonely because of the death of a husband or a wife. The Gray Panthers know another fact, too. Elderly people want to be as independent as possible. So, the Gray Panthers are looking for ways to solve the special problems of the elderly. The president of the Gray Panthers is Maggie Kuhn, an active woman in her late 70s. She travels across the United States, educating both young and old about the concerns of elders. One of the problems she talks about is where and how elders live. She says that Americans do not encourage elders to live with younger people. As far as Maggie Kuhn is concerned, only elders who need constant medical care should be in nursing homes. Maggie Kuhn knows that elders need education, too. She spends lots of time talking to groups of older Americans. She encourages them to continue to live in their own houses if it is possible. She also tells them that it is important to live with younger people and to have children around them. This helps elders to stay young at heart.

阅读理解It is suggested in the last paragraph that _______ in the old world.

阅读理解Faces with the evidence against him , Capralos _____

阅读理解The view over a valley of a tiny village with thatched (草盖的) roof around a church; a drive through a narrow village street lined with thatched cottages painted pink or white; the sight over the rolling hills of a pretty collection of thatched farm buildings—these are still common sights in parts of England. Most people will agree that the thatched roof is an essential part of the attraction of the English countryside. Thatching is in fact the oldest of all the building crafts practiced in the British Isles (英伦诸岛). Although thatch has always been used for cottage and farm buildings, it was once used for castles and churches, too. Thatching is a solitary (独自的 ) craft, which often runs in families. The craft of thatching as it is practiced today has changed very little since the Middle Ages. Over 800 full-time thatchers are employed in England and Wales today, maintaining and renewing the old rods as well as thatching newer houses. Many property owners choose thatch not only for its beauty but became they know it will keep them cool in summer and warm in winter. In fact, if we look at developing countries, over half the world lives under thatch, but they all do it in different ways. People in developing countries are often reluctant to go back to traditional materials and would prefer modern buildings. However, they may lack the money to allow them to import the necessary materials. Their temporary mud huts with thatched roofs of wild grasses often only last six months. Thatch which has been done the British way lasts from twenty to sixty years, and is an effective defence against the heat.

阅读理解This passage is mainly about ______.

阅读理解While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states, at least in getting people off welfare. It''s estimated that more than 2 million people have left the rolls since 1994. In the past four years, welfare rolls in Athens County have been cut in half. But 70 percent of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $6 an hour. The result: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent—twice the national average. For advocates (代言人) for the poor, that''s an indication much more needs to be done. "More people are getting jobs, but it''s not making their lives any better," says Kathy Lairn, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. A center analysis of US Census data nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed households were earning money on their own, but that average income for these households actually went down. But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory. "Welfare was a poison. It was a toxin (毒素) that was poisoning the family," says Robert Rector, a welfare-reform policy analyst. "The reform is changing the moral climate in low-income communities. It''s beginning to rebuild the work ethic (道德观), which is much more important." Mr. Rector and others argued that once "the habit of dependency is cracked", then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards.

阅读理解Elephants who paint aren''t new. Paintings by Ruby, an Asian elephant who lived at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, sold for up to $5,000 in the late 1980s, said Dick George, a consultant with the zoo. "Ruby was about seven months old when she first came to the zoo," said George. "She lived with a goat and some chickens, but she didn''t have an elephant companion for a number of years. She spent a lot of time drawing in the dirt with a stick to make her days more stimulating. Her keeper bought her some art supplies." George said, "Ruby was excited about painting right from the beginning." The elephants at the art academies in Southeast Asia are taught to hold a paintbrush with the tip of their trunks. Initially, the keeper guides the elephant''s trunk over the canvas (画布) and offers rewards for good performance. "It only takes a few hours to a day to teach them," said Mia Fine man, an art historian whose book "When Elephants Paint" is an illustrated history of the Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project.

阅读理解Which of the following statements about the real poet is NOT true?