Shoppers throughout the West, wary(警惕的) of a double-dip recession（經(jīng)濟衰退）, are still pinching their pennies. However, Chinese consumers are opening their wallets—big time. According to McKinsey, shop sales in China have grown by 25 percent annually from 2007 to 2009. Consumer confidence is now at its highest point since 2007 and female shoppers are leading the way.
Chinese women saved just 24 percent of their income, compared with 55 percent in 2006, according to a recent study in Women of China Magazine. What’s more, three quarters of Chinese women say that they’re the ones who control the family purse strings .That means the nation’s 650 million women are an “emerging powerhouse within the powerhouse” of China.
In the 1950s women contributed just 20 percent of household income. That rose to about 40 percent in the 1990s and then reached 50 percent last year.
In a recent study of Chinese consumer behavior, McKinsey found that women tend to shop more frequently than men, and spend more on personal-care products and food. Men, by contrast, tend to spend more of their income on gadgets(小玩意) , drinks and alcohol, dining out, and socializing. They also tend to save for the bigger-ticket items, like cars and houses.
Chinese women make up an ever-growing small part of the market—up from 20 percent a decade ago to 50 percent last year. It’s estimated that in the next five years women will account for 55 percent of the $9 billion market. “The future is female,” concludes a January HSBC(匯豐銀行) report on luxury goods(奢侈品) in China.
The Chinese Market Research Group recently found that women younger than 35 are the most optimistic segment(群體) in China. A very large 80 percent of the 3,500 women surveyed saying they’ll spend more in the second half of 2010 than they did in the first half. With trends like these, Chinese women may bring new meaning to the term “the power of the purse.”
【小題1】According to the passage, Chinese women _________.

A．save more of their income than before

B．save less of their income than before

C．make as much money as men in the 1990s

D．spend half of their income on luxury goods

【小題2】The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that _________.

A．women go shopping more frequently than men

B．women spent more on personal care products than men

C．men tend to save for the bigger-ticket items than women

D．Chinese women and men have different consuming behavior

【小題3】The underlined phrase in the first paragraph probably means_________.

A．making more money in a careful way

B．wasting their money without hesitation

C．spending their money in a careful way

D．recovering the economy at a fast speed

【小題4】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Chinese Men Go Socializing	B．Chinese Women Go shopping
C．The Future Is Female	D．The Purse Is Powerful

As we have seen, the focus of medical care in our society has been shifting from curing disease to preventing disease—especially in terms of changing our many unhealthy behaviors, such as poor eating habits, smoking, and failure to exercise. The line of thought involved in this shift can be pursued further. Imagine a person who is about the right weight, but does not eat very nutritious foods, who feels OK but exercises only occasionally, who goes to work every day, but is not an outstanding worker, who drinks a few beers at home most nights but does not drive while drunk, and who has no chest pains or abnormal blood counts, but sleeps a lot and often feels tired. This person is not ill. He may not even be at risk for any particular disease. But we can imagine that this person could be a lot healthier.
The field of medicine has not traditionally distinguished between someone who is merely “not ill” and someone who is in excellent health and pays attention to the body's special needs. Both types have simply been called “well.” In recent years, however, some health specialists have begun to apply the terms “well” and “wellness” only to those who are actively striving to maintain and improve their health. People who are well are concerned with nutrition and exercise, and they make a point of monitoring their body's condition. Most important, perhaps, people who are well take active responsibility for all matters related to their health. Even people who have a physical disease or handicap may be “well,” in this new sense, if they make an effort to maintain the best possible health they can in the face of their physical limitations. “Wellness” may perhaps best be viewed not as a state that people can achieve, but as an ideal that people can strive for. People who are well are likely to be better able to resist disease and to fight disease when it strikes. And by focusing attention on healthy ways of living the concept of wellness can have a beneficial impact on the ways in which people face the challenges of daily life.
【小題1】In the first paragraph, people are reminded that ____.

A．good health is more than not being ill

B．drinking, even if not to excess, could be harmful

C．regular health checks are essential to keeping fit

D．prevention is more difficult than cure

【小題2】The underlined word “handicap” in the second paragraph probably means.

A．disability

B．a(chǎn)dvantage

C．difficulty

D．benefit

【小題3】According to the author, the true meaning of “wellness” is for people ____.

A．to best satisfy their body's special needs

B．to strive to maintain the best possible health

C．to meet the strictest standards of bodily health

D．to keep a proper balance between work and leisure

【小題4】According to what the author, which of the following groups of people would be inferred healthy?

A．People who have strong muscles as well as slim figures.

B．People who are not presently experiencing any symptoms of disease.

C．People who try to be as healthy as possible, regardless of their limitations.

D．People who can recover from illness even without seeking medical care.

Street art can be found on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and even trash cans from Tokyo to Paris to New York City. This special kind of art can take the form of paintings, sculptures, cloth or even stickers. Street art has become part of a global visual culture. Now, even art museums and galleries are collecting the work of street artists. 
It is not easy to provide an exact history of the street art movement. This kind of art has developed in many kinds of ways in places all over the world. Also, because it is illegal to paint public and private property without permission, street artists usually work secretly. This secretive nature of street art and its countless forms make it hard to define exactly. And people have different opinions about the movement. Some think street art is a crime and destroys property. But others see this art as a rich form of non-traditional cultural expression.  Many experts say the movement began in New York City in the nineteen sixties. Young adults would use paint in special cans to spray their TAG on walls and train cars around the city. This tag was a name they created to identify themselves and their artwork. This colorful style of writing is also called graffiti. It is visually exciting and energetic. 
Graffiti also became a separate movement expressing the street culture of young people living in big cities. Graffiti art represented social and political rebellion. These artists could travel around areas of the city making creative paintings for everyone to see. Sometimes this street art created a dispute between artists and city officials. Graffiti artists created their images and city officials quickly painted over them. During the 1980s, two famous New York painters—Keith Haring and Jean Michel began showing their work in art galleries and museums. This is when street art started to become part of the more general popular culture.
【小題1】What can we infer from the first paragraph?

A．Street art has become popular and is accepted as a kind of culture.

B．Street art is very special compared with other forms of popular art.

C．Many people are beginning to learn street art.

D．Street art is better developed in big cities than in rural areas.

【小題2】Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．TAG was a word created by people to distinguish street artists and the other artists.

B．There are three reasons to explain why it is hard to define the history of street art.

C．The movement of street art began in the 1980s in New York City.

D．Not all the people think that the street art is a rich form of cultural expression.

【小題3】The city officials used to do away with graffiti probably because       .

A．they caused arguments between people

B．they were ugly in someone’s eyes

C．they were not painted under proper guidance

D．they didn‘t express good traditional culture.

【小題4】They best title of the passage is       .

A．The way to become a street artist.

B．What does Graffiti art stand for?

C．The history of an art movement.

D．The work of street artists.

Recently, South Korean star PSY’s ‘Gangnam style” video has been popular on the Internet. It has become most people’s favorite music.
In fact, the song has set the Guinness World Record for the most popular video in the history of the Internet. More than two million people have said “l(fā)ike” since the song was on the Internet on July 15.
PSY”s special dance moves and funny horse riding style have attracted many people. Although many people do not understand the language, the video has become the talk of the Internet. The song has come to first place in the music charts(排行榜) in 31 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
“I just sang for my South Korean fans. I have never expected it to be popular in other countries,” PSY told the reporters on a concert. The song was so popular that a few of South Korean’s politicians showed PSY’s moves to attract supporters.
“The song came out in mid-July. It sings about the rich life of South Korea —especially Gangnam in Soeoul, where a lot of rich people live.
Millions of people have watched the video. Many stars, such as Katy Perry, Robbie Williams and Nelly Furtado said that they love the song. These stars performed part of the song at a recent concert.
Riding high on the success of “Gangnam Style”, PSY was signed by Scooter Braun to Braun’s Schoolboy Records, a label distributed by Universal Republic.
PSY has written many hit songs of varying styles for different singers. Prior to “Gangnam Style” his most famous composition perhaps was Lee Seung Gi’s debut(首次亮相) song “Because You Are My Woman”.
【小題1】What makes PSY’s “Gangnam Style” the famous music of millions of people?

A．The song has set the Guinness World Record.

B．The song has come to first place in the music chart.

C．They like the dance moves and the horse riding style.

D．They don’t understand the words of the song.

【小題2】Why did some of South Korea’s politicians show PSY”s moves?

A．They wanted to tell people that they were also fond of music.

B．They wanted people to support them.

C．They were PSY’s fans.

D．They liked PSY’s dancing style.

【小題3】 What’s “Gangnam Style” about?

A．The way of horse riding.

B．The rich life of people of Gangnam in Seoul.

C．The Guinness World Record.

D．The love of stars.

【小題4】What is the best title of the passage?

A．Life of the Music Star PSY

B．“Gangnam Styly” —— Most people’s favorite Music

C．PSY’s Famous Compositions

D．Meaning of “Gangnam Style”

“Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen hade been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(螢火蟲). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安裝) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “l(fā)ittle problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a(chǎn) bug’ in his invented record player.”
【小題1】 We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.

A．Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug

B．George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug

C．the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century

D．both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century

【小題2】 What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Explanation.

B．Finding.

C．Origin.

D．Fault.

【小題3】The passage is mainly concerned with__________________.

A．the misunderstanding of the word bug

B．the development of the word bug

C．the public views of the word bug

D．the special characteristics of the word bug

Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the greatest resources of the English Language．Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal employment of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand! There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare uses it．Such a study is well worth the effort, even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’s day．
However, it is surprising that we should know comparatively little about the life of the greatest English author．We know that Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, and that he died there in 1616．He almost certainly attended the Grammar School in the town, but of this we cannot be sure．We know he was married there in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and that he had three children．We know that he spent much of his life in London writing his masterpieces．But this is almost all that we do know．
However, what is important about Shakespeare’s life is not its incidental details but its products, the plays and the poems．For many years scholars have been trying to add a few facts about Shakespeare’s life to the small number we already possess and for an equally long time critics have been theorizing about the plays．Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear under the great mass of comment that has been written upon it．
Fortunately this is not likely to happen．Shakespeare’s people have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere, and will continue to do so after the scholars and critics and all their works have been forgotten．
【小題1】This passage is about         ．

A．the great length of each chapter

B．the great varieties in writing styles

C．the richness of the content in Shakespeare’s works

D．the rich English language used by Shakespeare in his works

【小題2】 According to the writer, which of the following remains uncertain about Shakespeare?

A．His date of birth

B．His marriage

C．His life in the Grammar School

D．His date of death

【小題3】It can be inferred from Para 3 that           

A．not all the comments on Shakespeare’s works have produced good effects

B．scholars have successfully collected facts about Shakespeare’s life

C．critics are more interested in Shakespeare’s play than his poetry

D．the details of Shakespeare’s life are more important than his literary works

【小題4】 What does the last sentence in Para 3 mean ?

A．People don’t think the poetry of Shakespeare good any more．

B．People pay more attention to the comment than the poetry of Shakespeare．

C．People can’t see the poetry of Shakespeare any more．

D．The comment is printed on the poetry of Shakespeare．

(The Guardian)More UK universities should be profiting from ideas
　　A repeated criticism of the UK's university sector is its noticeable weakness in translating new knowledge into new products and services.
　　Recently, the UK National Stem Cell Network warned the UK could lose its place among the world leaders in stem cell research unless adequate funding and legislation could be assured, despite an annual £40m spent by the Department of Health on all kinds of research.
　　However, we do have to challenge the unthinking complaint that the sector does not do enough in taking ideas to market. The most recent comparative data on the performance of universities and research institutions in Australia, Canada, USA and UK shows that, from a relatively weak starting position, the UK now leads on many indicators of commercialization activity.
　　When viewed at the national level, the policy interventions (interference) of the past decade have helped transformed the performances of UK universities. Evidence suggests the UK's position is much stronger than in the recent past and is still showing improvement. But national data masks the very large variation in the performance of individual universities. The evidence shows that a large number of universities have fallen off the back of the pack, a few perform strongly and the rest chase the leaders.
　　This type of uneven distribution is not strange to the UK and is mirrored across other economies. In the UK, research is concentrated: less than 25% of universities are receiving 75% of the research funding. These same universities are also the institutions producing the greatest share of PhD graduates, science citations, patents and license income. The effect of policies generating long-term resource concentration has also created a distinctive set of universities which are research-led and commercially active. It seems clear that the concentration of research and commercialization work creates differences between universities.
　　The core objective for universities which are research-led must be to maximize the impact of their research efforts. Their purpose is not to generate funds to add to the bottom line of the university or to substitute other income streams. Rather, these universities should be generating the widest range of social, economic and environmental benefits. In return for the scale of investment, they should share their expertise (expert knowledge or skill) in order to build greater confidence in the sector.
　　Part of the economic recovery of the UK will be driven by the next generation of research commercialization spilling out of our universities. On the evidence presented in my report, there are three dozen universities in the UK which are actively engaged in advanced research training and commercialization work.
　　If there was a greater coordination（協(xié)調(diào)）of technology transfer offices within regions and a simultaneous (happening at the same time) investment in the scale and functions of our graduate schools, universities could, and should, play a key role in positioning the UK for the next growth cycle.
【小題1】What does the author think of UK universities in terms of commercialization?

A．They have lost their leading position in many ways.

B．They still have a place among the world leaders.

C．They do not regard it as their responsibility.

D．They fail to change knowledge into money.

【小題2】What does the author say about the national data on UK universities’ performance in
commercialization?

A．It masks the fatal weaknesses of government policy.

B．It indicates their ineffective use of government resources.

C．It does not rank UK universities in a scientific way.

D．It does not reflect the differences among universities.

【小題3】We can infer from Paragraph 5 that “policy interventions (in Paragraph 4)” refers to _____.

A．concentration of resources in a limited number of universities

B．compulsory cooperation between universities and industries

C．government aid to non-research-oriented universities

D．fair distribution of funding for universities and research institutions

【小題4】What dose the author suggest research-led universities do?

A．Fully use their research to benefit all sectors of society.

B．Generously share their facilities with those short of funds.

C．Advertise their research to win international recognition.

D．Spread their influence among top research institutions.

The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed “the Garden City”, almost certainly the source of Howard’s name for his later building plan of towns. Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs.
The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities. At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression (蕭條) and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life. Howard’s idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city. Howard’s idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside, far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price.
Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries. They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions. As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit--- Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away. Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide range of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city.
【小題1】How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?

A．Through his observation of the country life.

B．Through the combination of different ideas.

C．By taking other people’s advice.

D．By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago.

【小題2】According to Howard, garden cities should be built _____.

A．a(chǎn)s far as possible from existing cities.

B．in the countryside where the land was cheap.

C．in the countryside where agriculture was developed.

D．near cities where employment opportunities already existed.

【小題3】What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?

A．Their number would continue to rise.

B．Each one would continue to become larger

C．People would live and work in the same place.

D．Each one would contain a certain type of business.

【小題4】What could be the best title for the passage?

A．City and Countryside

B．The Invention of the Garden City

C．A New City in Chicago

D．A Famous Garden City in England

It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.
I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said “I’ll pencil it in my diary”, but my friend said “You can ink it in”, meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!
Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we live without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.
Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite—coming from “favorite pages”, so the verb comes from an adjective not a noun. 
Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven’t heard that verb yet, but I’m sure I will soon. Perhaps I’ ll start using it myself! 　
【小題1】“I’ll pencil it in my diary” in the second paragraph probably means “____________”.

A．it was a firm arrangement

B．he prefers a pencil to a pen

C．the arrangement should be written as a diary

D．it was an uncertain arrangement

【小題2】A website address can be easily found if it has been ____________.

A．favorited

B．messaged

C．emailed

D．texted

【小題3】 Which of the following has not been used as a verb yet?

A．message

B．mobile

C．email

D．fax

【小題4】 The best title for this passage is____________.

A．How to use verbs

B．Development of the English language

C．Origins of verbs

D．New Verbs from Nouns

America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect （影響） American society in many ways — education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying of America has made us a very different society— one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior（行為）is suitable （合適）at various ages. A person's age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There's no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school ,get a job, or stop working isn't as strong as it used to be. It doesn't surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the firs time. Public ideas are changing. Many people say, 'I am much younger than my mother - or my father - was at my age.' No one says ‘Act your age’ anymore. We've stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
【小題1】It can be learnt from the text that the aging of the population in America_________  .

A．has made people feel younger

B．has changed people's social position

C．has changed people's understanding of age

D．has slowed down the country's social development

【小題2】The underlined word ‘one’ refers to_________.

A．a(chǎn) society

B．America

C．a(chǎn) place

D．population

【小題3】‘Act your age’ means people should_________.

A．be active when they are old

B．do the right thing at the right age

C．show respect for their parents young or old

D．take more physical exercise suitable to their age

【小題4】If a 25-year-old man becomes general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it ______.

A．normal

B．wonderful

C．unbelievable

D．unreasonable