In times of economic downturn, many people start to look for ways to reduce their household budget
and save extra cash. Living a thrifty (節(jié)儉的) lifestyle does not have to mean doing nothing.   1   Here are some tips.
     Track your spending for at least two weeks. You won't really know how to live a thriftier lifestyle until
you know where your money is going. Write down every time you spend money and take a look at it at
the end of the month.   2  
     Search the Internet when you have to make purchases. Because of the easy access to information,
you can compare prices from more stores in less time.   3  Combining producers' coupons (優(yōu)惠劵) with
store discounts can lead to major savings.
     Turn off the lights and other electronics in your home when you are not using  them.   4   Leaving
electronics on can use a tremendous amount of extra energy, costing you money.
  5   When you do have to go out, look for available deals and discounts. If you are a frequent restaurant
diner, consider purchasing a guide book for local restaurants, which will help you save money.
A. Eat at home as often as possible.
B. You probably don't really need 500 Chanels.
C. If you really can't live without it, call the company.
D. Open a window and let in the natural light instead.
E. In this way, you will see obvious ways to reduce the small daily expenses.
F. So check your local stores as well as online providers to find the best price.
G. Instead, making small changes will allow you to save money and still enjoy yourself.

     The United States is already one year into a depression That was the news this week from the
Na-tional Bureau of Economic Research. The downturn is the longest since a depression that began in
1981and lasted sixteen months.
     Economists generally wait for production to shrink for six months in a row before they declare a
re-cession. But the bureau, a private group, uses a wider set of information to measure the economy.
Thenews only confirmed what many people already knew: that the world's largest economy is weak and
maynot recover soon.
     Worsening conclitions have led to a big drop in spending, especially on costly products like new cars.
Even Japanese automaker Toyota saw its sales fall thirty - four percent in the United States in November
from a year ago.
     The heads of Chrysler, Ford and General Motors retumed to Congress this week to again ask for
federal aid.  Congressional leaders denounced (指責(zé)) them two weeks ago after they came in private
jets with no clear plans for saving their industry. This time, the chiefs drove to Washington in fuel- saving
hybrid vehicles. And their companies presented detailed restructuring plans. The reguest for aid has risen
from twenty-five billion dollars two weeks ago to thirty-four billion in loans and credit lines.
     G.M. wants almost half of that, and says it needs four billion dollars this month. It warned that without
support it cannot continue to operate.
     Ford is in a better position, But the sharing of suppliers means it could be affected if G.M. or
     Chrysler fails. Ford is asking for a nine billion dollar credit line in case it needs it.
     Chrysler is the smallest and most trouble of America's Big Three. It says it needs a seven billion dollar
loan by the end of the month.
     Two days of congressional hearings began Thursday in the Senate Banking Committee. The chairman, Democrat Chris Dodd, said he would support helping the automakers for the good of the economy.
     But the committee's top Republican, Richard Shelby, continued to express opposition to a bailout
(賄政援助).
     A main root of the world financial crisis is the weak housing market in the United States. The
Trea-sury Department has been under pressure to help troubled homeowners. Now comes news that the
depart-ment is developing a plan aimed at reducing interest rates on mortgage loans (汽車貸款) for
some buyers of homes. That could be good for homeowners trying to sell.

1. From the first two paragraphs, we know        .

A. the United States is expected to recover soon
B. the depression has lasted more than 16 months
C. the depression is much more severe than expected
D. the depression will last no more than 6 months

2. Why were the automakers refused for federal aid two weeks ago?

A. Because the government had no extra money to help.
B. Because they didn't have a ciear plan to save their industry.
C. Because they had wasted too much on costly new cars.
D. Because they had enough money to save their industry.

3. Which of the following is asking for the largest federal aide

A. G.M.            
B. Toyota.            
C. Chrysler.            
D. Ford.

4. From the passage we may know Richard Shelby         tile automakers' request for federal aid?

A. was for      
B. was against      
C. didn't care about    
D. took no notice of

5. Which of the following statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The hearings on Thursday agreed on a federal aid to the automakers.
B. The main cause of the crisis is weak housing market in the U.S..
C. The government is taking measures to save t he housing market.
D. The Treasury Department had to help the troubled homeowners.

     In times of economic downturn, many people start to look for ways to reduce their household budget
and save extra cash. Living a thrifty(節(jié)儉的)lifestyle does not have to mean doing nothing.   1   Here are
some tips.
     Track your spending for at least two weeks. You won't really know how to live a thriftier lifestyle until
you know where your money is going. Write down every time you spend money and take a look at it at
the end of the month.   2  
     Search the Internet when you have to make purchases. Because of the easy access to information,
you can compare prices from more stores in less time.  3 Combining producers' coupons (優(yōu)惠劵) with
store discounts can lead to major savings.
     Turn off the lights and other electronics in your home when you are not using  them.   4   Leaving
electronics on can use a tremendous amount of extra energy, costing you money.
       5   When you do have to go out, look for available deals and discounts. If you are a frequent
restaurant diner, consider purchasing a guide book for local restaurants, which will help you save money.
A. Eat at home as often as possible.
B. You probably don't really need 500 Chanels.
C. If you really can't live without it, call the company.
D. Open a window and let in the natural light instead.
E. In this way, you will see obvious ways to reduce the small daily expenses.
F. So check your local stores as well as online providers to find the best price.
     Instead, making small changes will allow you to save money and still enjoy yourself.

     President Barack Obama's speeches are proving a best-seller in Japan -- as an aid to learning English.
An English-language textbook, "The Speeches of Barack Obama," has sold more than 400,000 copies
in two months, a big hit in a country where few hit novels sell more than a million copies a year.
Japanese have a love for learning English and many bookstores have a corner especially for dozens of
journals in the language, many of them now featuring(給……以顯要位置) the new U.S. leader's face.
     "Speeches by presidents and presidential candidates(候選人) are excellent as listening tools to learn
English, because their contents are good and their words are easy to catch," said Yuzo Yamamoto of
Asahi Press, which produced the best-selling text book.
     "Obama's is especially so. His speeches are so moving, and he also uses words such as 'yes, we
can,' 'change' and 'hope' that even Japanese people can memorize," he said.
     "Speeches by George W. Bush and former nominee (被提名者) John Kerry's four years ago did not
have the same attraction, however, and nor do those made by Japanese politicians, Yamamoto said.
     The 95-page book features Obama's speeches in English from the 2004 Democratic National
Convention and during the Democratic Party primaries, in which he defeated Hillary Clinton. They are
accompanied by Japanese translations.
     The 1,050 yen ($12) book, which includes a CD of the speeches, tops the bestseller list on bookseller Amazon's Japanese Website.
     "Readers have sent in postcards saying that when they heard the speeches, they were so moved and
ried even though they don't understand English very well," Yamamoto said.
     Following Obama's inauguration ( 就職典禮) on Tuesday, Asahi Press plans to issue a sequel (續(xù)集)
that includes his inaugural address, as well as President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural speech. It will
also feature a reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address of 1863.

1. Why are Obama's speeches chosen as listening materials?

A. They're easy to understand. 
B. They're cheap to buy.
C. They're best-sellers. 
D. They're official.

2. Which of the following is NOT true about "The Speeches of Barack Obama"? 

A. It is published in English with Japanese translations. 
B. More than 400,000 copies have been sold in a month. 
C. It is sold with a CD of the speeches. 
D. It is a best-selling textbook published by Asahi Press.

3. It can be inferred fro the passage that _____. 

A. Japanese care little about US presidents' speeches 
B. the best-seller includes Obama's inaugural speech
C. speeches by Japanese politicians have the same attraction 
D. many readers are benefiting from the best-seller

4. The best title for the passage might be _____.  

A. Obama helps Japanese learn English 
B. Obama: from promise to power 
C. Japanese learn English from Obama's speeches 
D. Obama and English learning

     The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits
exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid
down (though these have already been raised; and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more
than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems,
and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As a Norwegian
politician said last week, "We will soon be changed beyond all recognition."
    Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a programme of development in the area
north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this programme has had a great deal of success:
Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But
the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern
policy could be in ruins.
    The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent
employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist
industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear
altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.
    The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not
make up most of the population, but they are an important part of it, because Norwegians see in them
many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the
fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the
countryside and to the sea.

1. The Norwegian Government would prefer the oil industry to         .

A. provide more jobs for foreign workers
B. slow down the rate of its development
C. sell the oil it is producing abroad
D. develop more quickly than at present

2. The Norwegian Government has tried to       .

A. encourage the oil companies to discover new oil sources
B. prevent oil companies employing people from northern Norway
C. help the oil companies solve many of their problems
D. keep the oil industry to something near its present size

3. According to the passage, the oil industry might lead northern Norway to       .

A. the development of industry
B. a growth in population
C. the failure of the development programme
D. the development of new towns

4. In the south, one effect of the development of the oil industry might be       .

A. a large reduction on unemployment
B. a growth in the tourist industry
C. a reduction in the number of existing industries
D. the development of a number of service industries

5. Norwegian farmers and fishermen have an important influence because       .

A. they form such a large part of Norwegian population
B. their lives and values represent the Norwegian ideal
C. their work is so useful to the rest of Norwegian society
D. they regard oil as a threat to the Norwegian way of fife.

                                               Obama Still Smokes in Secret
     US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed
a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug
Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products.
     At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of
smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday.
     Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn't completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret.
     "As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily
smoker, a constant smoker? No." Obama said at a news conference.
     "I don' t do it in front of my lads.I don ?t do it in front of my family.I would say that I am 95% cured,
but there are times when I mess up, " he said.
     "Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the
law is so important.The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up.What
we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said.
     Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United
States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases.

1. The new law makes life difficult for              .

A. Obama            
B. tobacco industry
C. White House      
D. US Food and Drug Administration

2. What do we know about Obama?

A. He no longer smokes.
B. He still smokes as usual.      
C. He began to smoke at eighteen.
D. He is trying hard to give up smoking.

3. According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about           .

A. children      
B. officials        
C. his family      
D. businessmen

     London started its first major bike hire scheme (方案) on July 30th. Transport For London (TFL),
the agency responsible for moving people around England's capital, put 5,000 bicycles in 400 different
locations around the city.
     The idea is to cut traffic, reduce pollution and provide a greener way of getting around London's
streets. The scheme had a few small problems on its first day as people could not lock the bikes properly
once they had finished riding them. As a gesture of goodwill, London Mayor Boris Johnson announced
all rentals (租金) on the first day would be free of charge. The bikes are available for free for the first 30 minutes but costs go up sharply since then. Renters have to pay $1.60 for the first hour and $78 for 24
hours. The bikes are clearly designed for very short trips.
     TFL says it sees a "cycle revolution" happening in London. It predicts there will be around 40,000
new cycle journeys every day on the rental bikes. Mr. Johnson says he wants to see a return to the turn
of the 20th century, when 20 per cent of journeys in London were made by bicycle. The scheme has
received a lot of positive feedback (反饋) in the first two days.
     Many Londoners believe it is a great alternative (替代品) to London's overcrowded and overpriced
trains and buses. One person, Andy Clark, told the Reuters news agency, "It's a great idea. I've seen it
operating in Paris and Barcelona and thought why don't we have one?" The Londonist Blog said the
bikes were very strong and were "designed to bear a beating from both careless cyclists and drunken
people".

1. What's the main idea of the passage?

A. London starts a new bike hire scheme.
B. London needs better measures to cut traffic.
C. London encourages people to buy bikes.
D. London decides to protect the environment.

2. At the beginning of the scheme, there was some difficulty with the ____.

A. rental  
B. time      
C. distance    
D. lock

3. Which of the following is NOT the purpose of the bike rental scheme?

A. To reduce traffic pressure.      
B. To protect nature.
C. To decrease pollution.          
D. To beautify the city.

4. It can be learned from the passage that ____.

A. the bikes are designed for long journeys in London
B. it costs nearly $80 to rent one of the bikes for a day
C. London is the first city to start the bike rental scheme
D. All Londoners approve of the scheme

     During the years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers have been
trying hard to solve a question that would otherwise have been completely unthinkable: Can building be
designed to stand catastrophic blasts (攻擊) by terrorists?
     Soon after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo
and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) traveled to ground zero
as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. They spent two days beginning the task
of formulating (構(gòu)思) ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so
in buildings that were damaged, but still are standing.
     "Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World
Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage," said M. Bruneau, Ph.D. "Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain
standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married
to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks,"
he added.
     Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate the monumental damage to the World Trade
Center towers and buildings nearby. One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but
was badly damaged. "This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see
a column (柱子) there that used to be part of that building," explained A. Whittaker, Ph.D. "The column
became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor."
     The visit to the area also brought some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor
framing (框架) system in one of the buildings was quite strong , allowing floors that were pierced by tons
of falling debris (殘礫) to survive. "Good framing systems may provide a simple, but reliable strategy for
blast resistance," he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the
event that a load-bearing column fails. "We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse," said A. Whittaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict
it."
     A. Reinhorn, Ph.D. noted that "earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of buildings in the past.
Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant
design. Part of our mission now is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist
at present."

1.The question raised in the first paragraph is one _____ .

A. that was asked by structural engineers a month ago
B. that is too difficult for structural engineers a month ago
C. that was never thought of before the terrorist attack
D. that terrorists are eager to find a solution to

2. The column mentioned by Dr. Whittaker _____ .

A. was part of the building close to the World Trade Center
B. was part of the World Trade Center
C. was shot through the window and the floor of the World Trade Center
D. damaged many buildings near the World Trade Center

3. A surprising discovery made by the investigators during their visit to ground zero is that _____.

A. floors in the faraway buildings remained undamaged
B. some floor framing systems demonstrate resistance to explosion
C. complex floor framing systems are more blast resistant
D. floors in one of the buildings were pierced by tons of debris

4. What Dr. Reinhorn said in the last paragraph may imply all the following EXCEPT that _____.

A. blast engineers should develop new solutions for terror-resistant design
B. blast engineering can borrow technologies developed for terror-resistant design
C. solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may apply to terrorist-resistant design
D. blast engineering emerges as a totally new branch of science

    The farm economy of the United States has changed a lot in the last seventy years. In the 1930s,
twenty-five percent of the nation's population lived on farms. Today less than one percent of Americans
do.
       Farm incomes have changed over the years, too. For example,in 1933,people living and working on
farms had much less money to spend than other Americans. At that time,farm families had about one-third
the income of non- farmers after all necessary expenses had been paid. By the late  1970s, however, that  difference  had  almost disappeared. In 2004,farmers had their best year ever. The average farm family
earned about eighty-one thousand dollars. That was more than the average American family, which
earned about sixty thousand dollars.
   The Department of Labor measures the pay of industrial workers differently. It measures the average
hourly and weekly pay for industrial workers. This is because factory workers are generally paid by the
hour unlike farmers who earn income from their farm businesses. Generally, the average hourly pay for
all
industrial workers is about sixteen dollars. And the average weekly pay,about five hundred fifty dollars.
     Industrial workers were about twenty-three percent of the labor force in the 1970s. But that number
has been decreasing. Most Americans have jobs that provide services. Professional,technical and other
services employ about eighty-six percent of the labor force.

     The African ancestors of today's black Americans were brought
to the US as slaves in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
century, They worked on farms, especially the large farms in the
southern states. Slowly they became a necessary part of the economic
system (經(jīng)濟(jì)體系) of the South.
      Slaves did not have the right of people;according tO the law,
they were a" thing" which belonged to the person who bought them.
They had to obey the orders of their owners without question. They
were not allowed to learn to read ; their owners feared the educated
slaves would begin to think about the injustice of the system and
would learn to struggle for their freedom. Slaves had to work long
hours in very unhealthy conditions. Their owners had complete power
over them. They could be bought and sold like animals. At the
slave markets, black children were separated from their parents and
never saw them again. Slave owners had the right to punish the
slave who broke the rule or was against the system. Slaves were often
beaten by their owners or killed. After the Civil War, one free
slave reported that his owner killed an older slave who was teaching
him to read. In theory, an owner who treated a slave badly could be
punished. In practice, however, the taw meant nothing.
      The opposition to slavery began very early in the history of the
US-in 1671-but little progress was made until the beginning of
the nineteenth century. By 1804, slavery was illegal in the northern
states. But it continued and even grew, in the southern states, which
depended on cotton for their economic health. Slavery ended in the
South only after the Civil War. For blacks,however,the end of slavery
was only a beginning, the beginning of a long and difficult struggle for
true justice.

1. What is the main topic of this passage?    

A. African ancestors of today's black Americans.
B. The opposition to slavery in the United States.
C. Slavery in the United States.
D. The right of black Americans.

2. According to the writer,why couldn't slaves learn to read?   

A. Because reading was not something which they needed for their work.
B. Because their owners were afraid that books would give them advanced ideas.
C. Because they did not have enough time to read.
D. Because they were so poor that they could not go to school.

3. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?  

A. Many people from other countries became US citizens in the 1700s.
B. The US government paid much attention to freedom.
C. There were some laws that successfully protected the rights of slaves.
D. The opposition to slavery in the United States began in the seventeenth century.