Beijing’s markets will soon be flooded with more and cheaper colorful fruit such as orange, mangos and green durian(榴莲)all year round.

Thanks to a new free trade agreement signed last Monday between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN),more and more tropical Southeast Asian fruit will enter the country.

The agreement means that from July 1,2005, China and ASEAN countries will begin to cut tariffs. There are about 7,000 products included in the cuts. As global communication develops, countries are trading more and more goods with each other. When products are sold across national borders, countries put a tax on them. This type of tax is called a tariff. Just like removing an obstacle from the path of these goods, the reduction of tariffs will encourage trade between China and ASEAN countries. It means more products and lower prices.

The agreement will bring real benefits for Chinese customers, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman. “In the Beijing markets you will easily find more tropical fruit like durian, which used to very, very, very expensive. Now they will be cheaper.” The current tariff rate on durian is 22 per cent but will fall to zero in 2005.

In the first 10 months of this year China did US$84.6 billion of trade with ASEAN countries. Experts believe this may reach US$100 billion next year. Founded in 1967, ASEAN now includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.

1.A tariff is money paid ________ .

A.when buying goods

B.to sell or buy products of foreign brand names

C.to sell or buy goods across the border of the country

D.to go through the customs

2.Which of the following statements about the agreement is NOT true?

A.It will result in an increase in trade between China and ASEAN countries.

B.In might cause the prices of ASEAN products to fall.

C.It may greatly benefit the Chinese customers.

D.It won’t bring any benefits to producers of ASEAN countries.

3.We can infer from the story that ________ .

A.China lacks fruit

B.tariffs are an important factor in foreign trade

C.tropical countries have cheaper fruit

D.China prefers to trade with ASEAN countries

Not so long ago, a sailor sailing across the cold waters of the northern Pacific Ocean might have had every chance of being confronted by a sea cow. This cow would have measured 10 meters long, and weighed between five and ten tones. And it would spend most of its day cruising the seas, eating grass growing underwater. The cow in question was known as Steller’s sea cow, which is now extinct.

Today, many people are unaware that such an extraordinary creature once existed, or don’t know its incredible story. But scientists have discovered many fundamental facts about this mystical animal.

Surprisingly, the first recorded sighting of a Steller’s sea cow didn’t happen until 1741, when a sailing expedition was stuck on an uninhabited island, later named Bering Island. The sailor survived by hunting and eating the huge sea cow. Like its modern relatives, the sea cow lived in herds. That and its slow-moving behaviour made it easy to be caught.

Those sailors that escaped Bering Island spread word of the bounty(大量) of meat to be found off its shores. As a result, more and more expeditions came to hunt the animals. One report stated that one sea cow could feed 33 men for a month.

Incredibly, just 27 years after the island and species had been discovered by modern man, the last sea cow was reported killed. That makes the Steller’s sea cow one of the few truly large mammals known to have been driven extinct in the modern age.

1.Which of the following words can be used to describe the Steller’s sea cow?

A. Huge.B. Fierce.C. Aggressive.D. Mild.

2.The underlined word “That” refers to the fact that ________.

A. the sailor escaped Bering Island

B. the sea cow was a kind of social animal

C. more expeditions came to hunt the sea cow

D. one sea cow could feed 33 men for a month

3.In which year did the Steller’s sea cow become extinct?

A. In 1741.B. In 1768.C. In 1785.D. In 1876.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Why did expeditions hunt the Steller’s sea cow?

B. When did the Steller’s sea cow become extinct?

C. How did the Steller’s sea cow become extinct?

D. What do we know about the Steller’s sea cow?

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