Tokyo - Drivers in China are no longer in a hurry to own Toyota Motor Corp's cars.
Neil Hu, a sales manager at a Toyota dealership in Beijing, said he has stopped charging a 5,000 yuan ($732) premium to customers who want to skip the waiting list for RAV4 sport- utility vehicles. He took the initiative after the Japanese carmaker recalled 75,552 of the SUVs in China last month to fix gas pedals that may stick.
"I heard the situation in the US is pretty bad for Toyota," Hu said. "The recall has impacted us as well."
Toyota, which grew more slowly than competitors in China in 2009, will likely lose more market share and see a decline in local profit margin this year, analysts say. The carmaker has relied on a reputation for quality and safety to sell high margin, mid- to large-size models even as the world's biggest auto market shifts to cheaper, smaller cars, encouraged by government incentives.
With Toyota's brand damaged by global recalls of millions of vehicles, profit margins for its SUVs and Camry and Crown sedans may shrink, said Ashvin Chotai, London-based managing director of Intelligence Automotive Asia Ltd, an industry consultant.
"With this recall saga, Toyota's premium pricing power in China is gone," Chotai said. "Toyota's cars don't have enough good value for money."
Toyota has lost $24.5 billion in market capitalization this year as it recalled over 8 million cars globally to fix defects linked to unintended acceleration. The company faces at least 118 class actions in the US and at least 36 individual lawsuits claiming deaths and injuries caused by sudden acceleration of Toyota or Lexus vehicles.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda flew directly to Beijing on March 2 to apologize for the vehicle defects, after attending US Congressional hearings about the recalls in Washington. He skipped Europe's Geneva auto show, underscoring the growing importance of the Chinese market.
Toyota rose for a fifth straight day in Tokyo, advancing 0.9 percent to 3,580 yen as of 9:44 am local time. The carmaker's shares have fallen 7.7 percent this year.
The company's February China sales rose 30 percent to 45,400 vehicles, underperforming the overall passenger-car.
【小題1】According to the passage, why did Toyota carmaker recall their cars in China last month? _____________

In April,2009，President Hu inspected the warships in Qingdao，________ the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PLA Navy.

A．marking?? ????????????? B．marked

C．having marked?? ????????????? D．being marked

The National Outline for Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development (2010 - 20) was released over the weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

Four – percent effort

The government says spending on education will be 4 percent of GDP by 2012. globally, average spending on education is about 4.5% of GDP. China spend 3,33% in 2008. according to Hu Angang, of Tsinghua University’s Center for China Studies, even if China reaches that goal, it will only rank about 100 th out of 188 countries.

Administrative rank

Administrative rankings for school leaders are to be phased out to tackle the bureaucracy (官僚機(jī)構(gòu)) problem that limits educational development, according to Cheng Fangping, of the national Institute for Educational Research. Areas like teaching programs, scientific research, and technological development will be more independent.

Vocational Education

The system will be free of charge. According to Wu Yan, of Beijing Institute of Educational Sciences, this will be key to developing China’s production capacity and will improve poor people’s lives dramatically.

Entering college

    Universities could eventually have the freedom to choose some of their own high school applicants. Normally, students are accepted based on the uniform national exam scores. Also, students who agree to go to a remote area could be admitted to university under special circumstances. The most likely change could come on the college entrance English test, which might be modeled on the IELTS or TOEFL. Students will be able to take it several times and pick their best score.

56．Which of the following is true in the future according to the passage?

      A．Applicants could take the IELTS or TOEFL instead of the college entrance English test.

       B．Colleges will be given the right to choose all of their own applicants.

       C．Vocational education will be party free to make people’s lives better.

       D．Applicants could sit for the college entrance English test more than once.

57．Which of the following words is closest in meaning to “uniform” in the last paragraph?

       A．formal      B．official     C．same D．united

58．We can learn from the passage even though our country spends 4% of GDP on education in 2012,          .

       A．there will still be 188 countries ahead of China in this aspect

       B．China will certainly overtake the global average spending on education

       C．there might be nearly 100 countries ahead of China in this aspect

       D．China will be the 100 th country to spend over the global average on education

59．From the third paragraph, we can infer that         .

      A．school leaders will have more freedom to manage the school

       B．schools will have more limits from the government

       C．School administrative rankings are to be strengthened to solve the bureaucracy problem

       D．schools and research centers will be fully independent from the government

Are the lives of city kids the same as those in villages? In lots of ways, they are very different. But what are those differences?

      Hu Peng from Wuhan and four of his friends decided to find out. Earlier this month, they went to live for a week in Caidian, a village near Wuhan. Hu and his Junior l classmates went door to door in Caidian and asked kids lots of questions. They want to learn more about village kids' everyday lives, so they asked questions like this: Do your parents teach you how to do the housework? How much money do you usually spend on dinner? What would you do if a thief came into your house? They also asked 150 city kids the same questions.

      On April 12, the team gave a report to their class. They told about many differences between children's lives in cities and those of children in villages. The biggest difference is about independence. Hu's team found that 60 percent of city kids can't do much housework, but 90 percent of village kids can care for themselves.

      City kids told Hu they care about schoolwork a lot, and they have no time for washing clothes or making their beds. Village kids said they help their parents a lot : cooking, cleaning the houses and feeding pigs. Hu's team  also found that village kids have less pocket money. Many have never used computers. They like playing in rivers or on mountains. Some don't even like to make new friends.

      Hu and his friends said their trip gave them more self- confidence (自信) because they have done something by themselves. But it also worried them a bit because they found they still have a lot to learn. "When we grow up, our parents can't take care of us," Hu said. "We have to learn to take care of ourselves. "  Shen Guanquan, one of Hu's friends said, "When people learn to care for themselves, they learn to do lots of difficult things. "

How many city kids went to learn about village kids' everyday lives?

      A. Three.         B. Four.      C. Five.       D. Six.

Their report showed that most city kids ＿＿.

     A. help their parents a lot         B. have less pocket money  

     C. can take care of themselves     D. still have a lot to learn

The underlined word "it" in the last paragraph means ＿＿.

     A. their trip      B. their report    C. a  village kid    D. a city kid

Hu Peng and his friends finished their report by ＿＿. 

     A. visiting schools in the village

     B. questioning village and city kids from door to door  

C. watching village and city kids' everyday lives

     D. questioning village and city kids' parents

XIANGNING, Shanxi - The number of people trapped underground after a coal mine flooding in north China's Shanxi Province was revised -- for a second time -- to 153 from 123, rescuers said late Sunday night.
Investigations showed that 261 workers were in the pit of Wangjialing Coal Mine under construction when underground water gushed in at about 1:40 pm. Of them, 108 were lifted safely to the ground while 153 others trapped in the shaft, according to the rescue headquarters.
Most of the trapped are migrant workers from Shanxi, Hebei, Hunan and Guizhou provinces," a rescuer said.
The exact number of people trapped is still being checked.
Soon after the accident happened, the Shanxi Provincial Work Safety Administration and the Shanxi Provincial Emergency Affairs Office said 152 people were trapped underground, but officials later changed the figure to 123.
Rescuers are struggling to save the trapped people, and local authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered local authorities to spare no effort to save the trapped while guarding against secondary accidents.
Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang rushed to the site late Sunday to oversee the search and rescue operation.
The mine, sitting astride Xiangning County of Linfen City and Hejin City of Yuncheng City, covers about 180 square kilometers.
The mining zone boasts more than 2.3 billion tonnes of coal reserves, including nearly 1.04 billion tonnes of proved reserves, according to the company's official website.It is now under infrastructure construction and is expected to produce 6 million tonnes of coal annually once put into operation.
The mine, affiliated to the state-owned Huajin Coking Coal Co. Ltd., is a major project approved by the provincial government.
【小題1】At least how many people were trapped underground according to the latest report?