阅读理解

(A)

Every object tells a story. Even the most ordinary objects can present to us powerful images. Sometimes it is the ordinary nature of these objects that actually makes them so extraordinary. Such is the case with an old leather shoe in a museum in Alaska. At first glance it does not look like much. It is a woman’s shoe of a style popular in the 1890s. But what is unique(独特的) about this shoe is where it was found. It was discovered on the Checkout Pass, the famous trail used by the people seeking gold in Alaska. Who it belonged to or why it was left there is not known. Was it perhaps dropped by accident as the woman climbed up the 1500 stairs carved outface? Or did she throw away goods that she didn’t need in order to travel lighter?

Over 100, 000 people with “gold fever” made this trip hoping to become millionaires. Few of them understood that on their way they would have to cross a harsh wildness. Unprepared for such a dangerous journey, many died of starvation and exposure to the cold weather.

The Canadian government finally started requiring the gold seekers to bring one ton of supplies with them. This was thought to be enough for a person to survive for one year. They would carry their supplies in backpacks(背包) each weighing up to fifty pounds; it usually took at least 40 trips to get everything to the top and over the pass. Whoever dropped the shoe must have been a brave and determined woman. Perhaps she was successful and made it to Alaska. Perhaps she had to turn back in defeat. No one will ever know for sure, but what we do know is that she took part in one of the greatest adventures in the 19th century.

1. The ordinary woman’s leather shoe is considered unusual because _______. 

A. it was an important clue to life in the past B. it was found on a famous trail

C. it at one time belonged to a VIP             D. it was a fashionable shoe at that time

2. According to this passage, many people who went to Alaska _______. 

A. eventually became millionaires              B. brought with them many shoes

C. had conflicts with the Eskimos               D. were not properly equipped

3. The Canadian government made gold seekers bring one year’s supplies with them so that _______.

A. they would not die of hunger and cold

B. the army would have enough food for fighting a war

C. they would change these goods with the Eskimos

D. the supplies would make Alaska rich

4. No matter what happened to the woman who owned the shoe, _______. 

A. she must have lived a happy life

B. she certainly dropped the shoe on purpose

C. her adventurous spirit is definitely admired

D. her other shoes were equally fashionable

(B)

Listen carefully, working people, we would like to tell you something that could save your precious time and money! Best of all, it is free!

It’s “no”.

What do you ask? We’ll say it again: “No”.

Sweet and simple “no”.

Say “no” at your office and see how quickly that pile of work on your desk disappears.

“Saying ‘no’ to others means you are saying ‘yes’ to yourself, ” said Leslie Charles, a professional speaker from East Lansing, Michigan.

“Time is precious. People are spending money buying time. And yet we are willing to give up our time because we can’t say ‘no’.”

Susie Watson, a famous writer, said people who always say “yes” need to say “no” without guilt(内疚)or fear of punishment. “I would rather have someone give me a loving ‘no’ than an obligated(强制的) ‘yes’, ” she said.

Susie Watson says she feels “no” obligation to give an explanation when she says “no” either socially or professionally. Does she feel guilty about it? “Not at all, ” said Watson, who is director of advertising and public relations at Timex Corp in Middlebury, Conneticut. “Most people are afraid of saying ‘no’… My advice is to say ‘yes’ only if you don’t mean ‘no’.”

Watson said “no” is the most effective weapon against wasting time. “Every year there are more demands on your time… Other people are happy to use up your time, ” Watson said. Time saving appears to be “no’s” greatest friend.

“No” can be your new friend, a powerful tool to take back your life. “No” may even take you further in the business world than “yes”.

“No” is power and strength. “No” now seems completely correct. “Saying ‘no’ isn’t easy. But finally it’s greatly liberating,” Charles said. But, he added, a “no” project needs to be worked on every day because it is hard to change long-term habit.

But, he also warns: “Don’t go to extremes. Don’t find yourself saying ‘no’ to everything. In return you should learn to hear ‘no’.”

5. The sentence “Saying ‘yes’ to yourself” means _______.

A. you can have more time to play with others

B. you needn’t care about other’s feeling if you are happy

C. you are selfish and treat others rudely

D. you can deal with your business as you have planned

6. When you say “no” to others you should say it in a _______.

A. secret way　　　B. polite way

C. proud way　　　　　D. guilty way

7. In Watson’s opinion, people can save much time on condition that _______.

A. they say “no” at a suitable time

B. they say “no” as much as possible

C. they are afraid of saying “no”    

D. they make others angry at them

8. If a person says “no” to everything, the result he or she receive may be that he or she _______.

A. enjoys a wonderful life     B. makes a lot of money

C. faces difficulty in life　　D. forgets to say “yes” in the end

(C)

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man — the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort.

    This attitude toward manual(体力的) labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously (豪华地) furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.   

9. From paragraph 1, we can know that in America _________.

A. people tend to have a high opinion of the self-made man

B. people can always rise to the top through their won efforts

C. college professors win great respect from common workers

D. people feel painful to mention their fathers as labors.

10. According to the passage, the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because _________.

A. servants in American are hard to get

B. she takes pride in what she can do herself

C. she can hardly afford servants

D. It is easy to prepare a meal with canned food

11. The expression “ wait on table” in the second paragraph means “_________”.

A. work in a furniture shop         B. keep accounts for a bar

C. wait to lay the table                D. serve customers in a restaurant

12. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?

A. A Respectable Self-made Family       B. American Attitude toward Manual Labor

C. Characteristics of American Culture      D. The Development of Manual Labor

(D)

TODAY, Friday, November 12

JAZZ with the Mike Thomas Jazz Band at The Derby Arms. Upper Richmond Road West, Sheen.

DISCO Satin Sounds Disco. Free at The Lord Napier, Mort lake High St., from 8a. m. to 8p. m. Tel: 682—1158.

SATURDAY, November 13

JAZZ Lysis at The Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 60p.

MUSICAL HALL at The Star and Garter, Lower Richmond Road, Putney, provided by the Aba Daba Music Hall company. Good food and entertainment fair price. Tel: 789—6749.

FAMILY night out? Join the sing-along at The Black Horse. Sheen Road, Richmond.

JAZZ The John Bennett Big Band at The Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 80p.

THE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion(手风琴). Tel: 789—4536

SUNDAY, November 14

DISCO Satin Sounds Disco, free at The Lord Napier, Mort Lake High Street, from 8 a. m. to 8 p. m.

FOLK MUSIC at The Derby Arms. The Short Stuff and residents the Norman Chop Trio. Non-remembers 70p. Tel: 688—4626.

HEAVY MUSIC with Tony Simon at The Bull, Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen.

THE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion.

13. Where and when can you hear the Mike Thomas Jazz Band?

A. At the Derby Arms on Friday.

B. At the Black Horse on Friday.

C. At the Star and Garter on Saturday.

D. At the Derby Arms on Sunday.

14. You want to enjoy the electric accordion on Saturday. Which telephone number do you have to ring to find out what time it starts?

A. 789—6749.             B. 789—4536.            C. 682—1158.  D. 688—4626.

15. You want to spend the Saturday by joining the entertainment with your family. Where should you go?

A. Disco at The Lord Napier.

B. The sing-along at The Black Horse.

C. The electric accordion at The Derby Arms.

D. Jazz at The Bull’s Head.

16. You want to spend the same day at two different places and don’t want to cross any street. Which of the following is your best choice?

A. The sing-along at the Black Horse and Jazz at The Bull’s Head.

B. The sing-along at The Black Horse and Folk Music at The Derby Arms.

C. Folk Music at The Derby Arms and Heavy Music with Tony Simon at The Bull.

D. Musical Hal lat The Star ＆Garter and Disco at The Lord Napier.

(E)

With only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone(克隆) the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That’s a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.

Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

It is estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”

17. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to _______.

A. make efforts to clone the endangered pandas

B. save endangered animals from dying out

C. collect DNA of endangered animals to study

D. transfer the nuclear of one animal to another

18. According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of _______.

A. available panda eggs         B. host animals

C. qualified researchers            D. enough money

19. The best title for the passage may be _______.

A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning                                 

B. The First Cloned Panda in the World

C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

D. China —the Native Place of Pandas Forever

20. From the passage we know that _______.

A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit

C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century

Bonus（奖金） culture has become the subject of many studies nowadays. Many people have been angered by the way some bankers and high officials seem to have been rewarded for failure. Others find the idea of offering many-million-dollar bonuses morally disgusting.

But few have asked whether performance-related bonuses really do improve performance. The answer seems so obvious that even to ask the question can appear ridiculous. Indeed, in spite of all the complaints about them, financial encouragements continue to be introduced in more and more areas, from healthcare and public services to teaching and universities.

So it may come as a shock to many to learn that paying for results can actually make people perform badly in many circumstances, and that the more you pay, the worse they perform.

No one is arguing that bonuses can help companies and institutions attract and keep the best staff. Nor does anyone argue against the idea that you can encourage people to do specific tasks by linking payments to those tasks. Rather, the point is about how to get the best out of people. Do employees really perform better if you promise to pay them more for getting results?

There are some obvious reasons why such payments can fail. It has been argued, for instance, that cash bonuses contributed to the financial crash, because traders had little enthusiasm to make sure that their companies enjoyed long-term survival.

Most bonus projects are poorly designed, says Professor Malcolm Higgs. He thinks the reason is that organizations try to keep bonus arrangements simple. Nevertheless, he thinks bonus projects can work as long as they link the interests of individual employees with the long-term goals of a business.

Bonuses can also encourage cheating. “Once you start making people’s rewards dependent on outcomes rather than behaviors, the evidence is people will do whatever they can to get those outcomes,” says Professor Edward Deci. “In many cases the high officials simply lied and cheated to make the stock (股票) price go up so they got huge bonuses.”

But the work of Deci and others suggests the problem with bonuses runs far deeper than poor design or cheating. In 1971, he asked students to solve puzzles, with some receiving cash prizes for doing well and others getting nothing. Deci found those offered cash were less likely to keep working on puzzles after they had done enough to get paid.

These studies suggest that offering rewards can stop people doing things for the pure joy of it. This was the basis for a series of books by Kohn in which he argues that rewarding children, students and workers with grades, scholarships and other “bribes” (贿赂) leads to low-quality work in the long run.

Those who believe in the power of bonuses fail to distinguish between inner drive and outside pressure — wanting to do something because you like it for itself in contrast to doing something because you want the reward, Kohn says. “It’s not just that these two are different, it’s often that the more you reward people for doing something, the more their inner drive tends to decline.”

A “do this and get that” approach might improve performance in the short term, but over longer periods it will always fail, Kohn says. People who receive bonus will naturally play safe, become less creative, cooperate less and feel less valued, he adds. What’s more, the studies also suggest that offering rewards can also stop people taking responsibility.

71. The effect of performance-related bonuses has not been well studied because people _______.

A. take the function of bonuses for granted

B. see that bonus offering is done everywhere

C. think financial encouragement is disgusting

D. are shocked by the practice of rewarding for failures

72. According to Malcolm Higgs, designs that _________ are the good ones.

A. drive people to finish short-term tasks

B. help to attract and keep good employees

C. link financial rewards with the quality of the outcomes

D. connect individual interests with long-term business goals

73. If a person plays safe to get a bonus, he is probably being ________.

A. more enthusiastic                   B. more risk-taking

C. less daring                              D. less responsible

74. Which of the following do you think the author would most probably agree with?

A. Companies should make their bonus projects simple.

B. The benefit of bonus helps to get the best out of people.

C. The biggest problem with bonus is it creates cheating.

D. Bonus offering can stop people doing things for pure joy.

75. Which do you think is the best title of the passage?

A. What Is Bonus?                           B. Does Bonus Work?

C. Why Bonus Offered?                   D. How Bonus Works?