A new report says the number of foreign students at colleges and universities in the United States increased by three percent last year. This has been the first obvious increase since 2001.
American schools last fall had 583,000 foreign students. The record is 586,000. That was set in 2002 after many years of gains. But after that the numbers fell. The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 led to more visa (签证) requirements. Now stronger efforts are being made to get more foreign students to study in the United States.
China remained in second place in front of South Korea but behind India, which sent almost 84,000 students last fall. The number of Japanese fell sharply by nine percent, although it remained in fourth place.
There were three percent drops from Indonesia and Kenya, the only African country in the top twenty last year. But there were obvious increases from Saudi Arabia, Nepal and Vietnam. The number of Saudi students more than doubled, rising to nearly eight thousand.
For a sixth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles had the most foreign students. Columbia University in New York was second. Other schools in the top five were New York University, the University of Illinois and Purdue University.
Unlike American students in other countries, who often choose history and language study, the leading area of study in the USA was business and management. Second was engineering.
The new report also says more than 220,000 Americans studied in other countries. That was during the 2005-2006 school year. It was a record number, and an increase of eight and a half percent from the year before. But only five percent of them stayed for a full year.
【小题1】After 2002, the number of foreign students in the USA fell mainly because ____ .

A.Americans were worried that foreign students might attack them
B.few American universities welcomed students from abroad
C.their own countries could offer them a better education
D.it was harder for foreign students to get permission to study in the USA
【小题2】Which of the following Asian countries has the largest number of students studying in the USA?
A.China.B.Japan.C.South Korea.D.India.
【小题3】Which subject is the most attractive to foreign students in the USA?
A.Business and management.B.History.
C.Engineering.D.Language.
【小题4】We can learn from the passage that ____ .
A.Kenya is the only African country that has students in the USA
B.now foreign students are encouraged to study in the USA
C.the number of students studying in America always increases
D.the number of foreign students in the USA will keep increasing in the future
【小题5】In which section of a newspaper could you most probably read this passage?
A.Culture.B.Science.C.Education.D.Business.

LONDON --- A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake(假冒的) bomb detectors(探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn't cared about potentially deadly consequences.

It is believed that James McCormick got about $77.8 million from the sales of his detectors - which were based on a kind of golf ball finder - to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.

McCormick, 57, was convicted(判罪) of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.

"Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people," Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. "you have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt."

The detectors, sold for up to $42,000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they "lacked any grounding in science" and were of no use.

McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.

"I never had any bad results from customers," he said.

1.Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?

A. He sold bombs.               B. He caused death of people.

C. He made detectors.            D. He cheated in business

2.According to the judge, what McCormick had done _______.

A. increased the cost of safeguarding

B. lowered people's guard against danger

C. changed people's idea of social security

D. caused innocent people to commit crimes

3.Which of the following is true of the detectors?

A. They have not been sold to Africa.

B. They have caused many serious problems.

C. They can find dangerous objects in water.

D. They don't function on the basis of science.

4.It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick _______.

A. sold the equipment at a low price

B. was well-known in most countries

C. did not think he had committed the crime

D. had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text

 

In 1977, a dead author of detective stories saved the life of a 19-month-old baby in a most unusual way. The author was Agatha Christie, one of the most successful writers of detective stories in the world.

In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Qatar, near Saudi Arabia. Doctors were unable to find out the cause of her illness with confidence, so she was sent to Hammersmith Hospital in London. She was then only semi-conscious and on the "Dangerously Ill" list. A team of doctors hurried to examine the baby only to discover that they, too, were confused by the very unusual symptoms (症状). While they were discussing the baby's case, a nurse asked to speak to them. "Excuse me," said Nurse Marsha Maitlan, "but I think the baby is suffering from thallium (铊) poisoning."

"What makes you think that?" Dr. Brown asked. "Thallium poisoning is extremely rare."

"A few days ago, I was reading a novel called A Pale Horse by Agatha Christie," Nurse Maitlan explained. "In the book, somebody uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are described. They're exactly the same as the baby's."

"You're very thoughtful and you may be right," another doctor said. "We'll carry out some tests and find out whether it's thallium or not."

Tests showed that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium, a rare metallic substance used in making special glass. Once they knew the cause of the illness, the doctors were able to give the baby the correct treatment. She soon recovered and was sent back to Qatar. Later it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide (杀虫剂) used in Qatar.

1.The one who first suggested the correct cause of the baby's illness was _____.

A.a doctor in Qatar

B.Dr. Brown

C.Nurse Maitlan

D.Agatha Christie

2.As far as we can tell from the passage, Agatha Christie _____.

A.had spent a long time studying the baby's case

B.visited the baby in the hospital at Hammersmith

C.had never met this baby

D.gave Nurse Maitlan some advice on the phone

3.It seems likely from the passage that the baby's illness had something to do with _____.

A.a harmful substance used to kill insects

B.a dangerous pair of glasses

C.the water in Qatar

D.a dead writer

 

The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world’s supply of water. With 97% of the world’s water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world’s agricultural industries experience constant water shortages.

Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution (重新分配) are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.

This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation. In Texas, farmers’ overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.

Saudi Arabia’s attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.

1..

. From the first two paragraphs we learn that __________.

A. much of the world’s water is available for use

B. people in high rainfall countries feel lucky

C. water can be easily carried through pipes across the world

D. the costs of water redistribution should be considered

2..

. Which of the following is true?

A. The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years.

B. Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages.

C. The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%.

D. Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley.

3..

 The text is mainly about __________.

A. water supply and increasing population

B. water redistribution and wildlife protection

C. water use management and agriculture

D. water shortages and environmental protection

4..

. What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?

A. Approaches to handling the pressure on water supply.

B. Ways to reduce the costs of building dams.

C. Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages.

D. Steps to improving water use management.

 

Barbie(芭比娃娃),believe it or not,is 50 this year and she's still as popular as ever.A doll is a doll,but Barbie illustrates how,over the last five decades,women have become a standard for judging what freedom really means. How women are treated in different countries tells you a lot about the politics and culture of where they live.

The doll that every little girl wants enables young children to test their possibilities in role playing,giving them a glimpse of what they might be when they grow up,whether to be frivolous or serious (or both).

But in many countries that's not an option. In Saudi Arabia,where woman can't drive or go out publicly unless covered,Barbie is banned. They think Barbie dolls are offensive to Islam(伊斯兰教) and a threat to morality.

In America,she represents the swiftly changing roles of women. Barbie is fun to tease but she's as American as miniskirts_and_pantsuits in her flexible identities and her “growth” from model to astronaut.

Barbie inspired a doll­revolution movement. When a Teen Talk Barbie was programmed electronically to say “Math class is tough”,she was criticized by a national women's group and was regarded as a bad stereotype. Some of her critics also say she's a bad influence because she's too thin and encourages anorexia,that she has run through too many stereotypes(固定模式),and that she lends too much significance to the fantasy stages of child's play.

In some Muslim countries, substitute Barbie dolls have been developed that promote traditional values,with their modest clothing and pro­family backgrounds. They are widely seen as an effort to resist the American dolls that have flooded the market.

Toy seller Masoumeh Rahimi welcomed the dolls,saying Barbie was “foreign to Muslim culture” because some of the dolls have little clothing. She said young girls who play with Barbie,could grow into women who reject Muslim values. “I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile,”Ms. Rahimi said.

1.The writer mentioned “miniskirts and pantsuits”(in Paragraph 4) to imply that ________.

A.these are the only clothes a doll should wear

B.these are very traditional American clothes for women

C.there are a range of different life options available for women

D.readers should wear these clothes more often

2.The underlined word “anorexia” (in Paragraph 5) most probably means“________”.

A.an illness of refusing to eat

B.giving up math study

C.the wearing of inappropriate clothes

D.a decrease in people's imagination

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A.children who like Barbie dolls won't be so serious when they grow up

B.Muslim Barbies are the same as American Barbies

C.Muslim societies are generally more conservative than western societies

D.Americans have no worry about Barbie's influence on children

 

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