A growing number of consumers, especially young people , are adopting more Western habits when it comes to spending money—by favoring credit cards over savings.

A survey of 11,500 people in 18 cities by The Nielson Company found the credit card market had witnessed a major change in recent years.

    “Today’s consumer is clearly not interested in saving for a rainy day, as may have been the case in the past,” Bega Ng, director of financial services research with the company said. “Consumers have been adopting Western habits and attitudes in almost every way—including saving and spending habits. Consumers in their 20s spend tomorrow’s cash to fund today’s needs.”

      The report found consumers aged 18 to 24 were the most eager credit card users.

      Although the report did not give the amounts credit card users in each of the 18 cities spent, it mentioned the example of Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian Province, where consumers put an average of 50 percent of their monthly incomes into their credit card accounts to indulge(沉湎于) in cashless shopping.

    Included in the survey for the first time, Xiamen is reported to have a fast growing penetration rate(渗透率) for credit cards, with four out of ten consumers now owning at least one card. With more than half of cardholders in Xiamen owning two or more cards, it is catching up with key “tier one” cities, the report said. The report did not make known the figures in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

      Last year, the same Nielson survey showed Shanghai had the biggest population of credit card holders, with citizens owning 1.8 credit cards on average. Half of them use credit cards at least once a week, the survey said.

Yunfei, 30, from Beijing, said she spent at least 2,000 yuan a month by credit cards, most of which went on daily necessities and dining out.

Which of the following best shows the young urbanites’ idea of consumption?

A. Using credit cards in every way.

B. Spending tomorrow’s cash for today’s needs.

C. Owning more cards for cashless shopping.

D. Saving money for future use.

How is the situation of credit card use in Xjamen?

A. Forty percent of the consumers own at least one card.

B. Credit card users use up most of their monthly income.

C. The number of credit card users is larger than that in Guangzhou.

D. Over half of the consumers use two or more cards.

Which city had the largest number of credit card users according to a previous survey?

A. Xiamen.         B. Beijing.          C. Shanghai.          D. Guangzhou.

What is the main idea of the survey reported by Nielson Company?

A. Most credit card users are young people aged 18 to 24.

B. Western habits have a big influence on the Chinese people.

C. The number of credit card users is growing rapidly in Chinese cities.

D. Chinese consumers are no more interested in saving money.


D
Far from the land of Antarctica(南极洲), a huge shelf of ice meets the ocean. At the underside of the shelf there lives a small fish, the Antarctic cod.
For forty years scientists have been curious about that fish. How does it live where most fish would freeze to death? It must have some secret. The Antarctic is not a comfortable place to work and research has been slow. Now it seems we have an answer.
Research was begun by cutting holes in the ice and catching the fish. Scientists studied the fish’s blood and measured its freezing point.
The fish were taken from seawater that had a temperature of -1.88℃ and many tiny pieces of ice floating in it. The blood of the fish did not begin to freeze until its temperature was lowered to -2.05℃. That small difference is enough for the fish to live at the freezing temperature of the ice-salt mixture.
The scientists’ next research job was clear: Find out what in the fish’s blood kept it from freezing. Their search led to some really strange thing made up of a protein(蛋白质) never before seen in the blood of a fish. When it was removed, the blood froze at seawater temperature. When it was put back, the blood again had its antifreeze quality and a lowered freezing point.
Study showed that it is an unusual kind of protein. It has many small sugar molecules(分子) held in special positions within each big protein molecule. Because of its sugar content, it is called a glycoprotein. So it has come to be called the antifreeze fish glycoprotein, or AFGP.
68. What is the text mainly about?
A. The terrible conditions in the Antarctic.
B. A special fish living in freezing waters.
C. The ice shelf around Antarctica.
D. Protection of the Antarctic cod.
69. Why can the Antarctic cod live at the freezing temperature?
A. The seawater has a temperature of -1.88℃.
B. It loves to live in the ice-salt mixture.
C. A special protein keeps it from freezing.
D. Its blood has a temperature lower than -2.05℃.
70. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to?
A. A type of ice-salt mixture.         B. A newly found protein.
C. Fish blood.                               D. Sugar molecule.
71. What does “glycol-” in the underlined word “glycoprotein” in the last paragraph mean?
A. sugar                  B. ice                    C. blood                D. Molecule


The common cold is the world’s most widespread illness, which is plagues(疫病) that people receive.
The most widespread fallacy(谬误) of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses(病毒) passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches(战壕), cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds. In the Second World War prisoners at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp(奥斯维辛集中营), naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet(湿透)in drafty(通风的)room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains-taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other time, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors(止痛片) such as aspirin, but all they do is relieve the symptoms.
【小题1】The writer offered _______ examples to support his argument.

A.4B.5C.6D.3
【小题2】Arctic explorers may catch colds when _______.
A.they are working in the isolated arctic regions
B.they are writing reports in terribly cold weather
C.they are free from work in the isolated arctic regions
D.they are coming into touch again with the outside world
【小题3】Volunteers taking part in the experiments in the Common Cold Research Unit probably _______.
A.suffered a lotB.never caught colds
C.often caught coldsD.became very strong
【小题4】The passage mainly discusses _______.
A.the experiments on the common cold
B.the fallacy about the common cold
C.the reason and the way people catch colds
D.the continued spread of common colds

She is widely seen as proof that good looks can last forever. But, at nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa.
The health of the famous picture, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1505, is getting worse by the year, according to the Louvre museum(卢浮宫博物馆)where it is housed.
“The thin, wooden panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted in oil has changed shape since experts checked it two years ago,” the museum said. Visitors have noticed the changes but repairing the world’s most famous painting is not easy. Experts are not sure about the materials the Italian artist used and their current chemical state.
Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. “It is very interesting that when you’re not looking at her, she seems to be smiling, and then you look at her and she stops,” said Professor Margaret Livingstone of Harvard University. “It’s because direct vision(视觉)is excellent at picking up detail, but less suited to looking at shadows. Da Vinci painted the smile in shadows.”
However, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as mysterious as the smile. Da Vinci himself loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was eventually sold to France’s King Francis I in 1519.
In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, who took it out of the museum hidden under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. The painting was sent back to France two years later.
During World War II, French hid the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.
Like many old ladies, the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories to tell.
【小题1】The underlined sentence in the first paragraph means the Mona Lisa ________.

A.is losing its value
B.is being damaged after so many years
C.is getting more valuable with years passing
D.will rot away
【小题2】Experts haven’t any repairs on the Mona Lisa because______.
A.it is now in a poor chemical state
B.they don’t know how to replace the wooden panel
C.they don’t have the materials Da Vinci used
D.they are afraid it will be done further damage.
【小题3】The smile of the Mona Lisa can only be seen_______.
A.by indirect vision
B.at a distance
C.by direct vision
D.in shadows
【小题4】From the last paragraph, we can infer that______.
A.many interesting stories have been written about the Mona Lisa
B.people are interested in the stories about the Mona Lisa.
C.some mysteries still remain to be solved about the Mona Lisa.
D.Many more stories will be told about the Mona Lisa.

The story begins with fishing.
Once a boy and his father went fishing before bass (a kind of special fish) season opened. They were fishing early in the evening, catching other fish with worms. Then the boy tied on a small silver lure (鱼饵) and put it into the lake. Suddenly he felt that something very big pulling on the lure. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully brought the fish beside the bank. Finally he lifted the tired fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass(the special fish).
The boy and his father looked at the big fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 pm – two hours before the bass season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. “You’ll have to put it back, son,” he said.
“Dad!” cried the boy, “There will be other fish,” said his father. “Not as big as this one,” cried the boy. He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were in sight in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.
Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he had caught the fish, the boy could tell from his father’s voice that the decision couldn’t be changed. He threw the huge bass into the black water. The big fish disappeared. The boy thought that he would never again see such a big fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He often takes his own son and daughters to fish at the same place.
And he was right. He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he got that night long ago. But he does see that same fish … again and again … every time he has an ethical decision to make. For, as his father had taught him, ethics (伦理道德)are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.
【小题1】 What happened when the big fish turned out to be a bass?

A.The boy threw the bass back into the water willingly.
B.The boy and his father discussed what to do with the big fish.
C.The father lit a match in order to check the time.
D.They worried other fishermen may discover what they had done.
【小题2】From the text we know that the father _____.
A.disliked the huge fishB.was firm and stubborn
C.didn’t love his sonD.always disagreed with his son
【小题3】The successful architect went fishing with his children at the same place because _____.
A.they might catch a big fish there
B.he was taught a moral lesson there
C.it was a most popular fishing spot
D.their children enjoyed fishing there
【小题4】What does the story imply?
A.An ethical decision is always easy to make.
B.It is easy to say something, but difficult to do.
C.It’s hard to tell right from wrong sometimes
D.Fishing can help one to make right decisions
【小题5】What kind of the person the father is?
A.kindB.honestC.optimisticD.satisfied

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