We are not who we think we are.

The American self-image is spread with the golden glow of opportunity.We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility,not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable—a place where brains,energy and ambition are what counts,not the circumstances of one's birth.

The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research led by Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Here is the finding: "The 'rags to riches' story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street. Only 6 percent of children born to parents with family income at the very bottom move to the top.

That is right, just 6 percent of children born to parents who ranked in the bottom of the study sample, in terms of income, were able to bootstrap their way into the top. Meanwhile, an incredible 42 percent of children born into that lowest are still stuck at the bottom,having been unable to climb a single rung of the income ladder.

It is noted that even in Britain---a nation we think of as burdened with a hidebound class system-children who are born poor have a better chance of moving up. When the studies were released,most reporters focused on the finding that African-Americans born to middle-class or upper middle-class families are earning slightly less,in inflation-adjusted dollars,than did their parents.

One of the studies indicates,in fact,that most of the financial gains white families have made in the past three decades can be attributed to the entry of white women into the labor force.This is much less true for African-Americans.

The picture that emerges from all the quintiles,correlations and percentages is of a nation in which,overall,"the current generation of adults is better off than the previous one",as one of the studies notes.

The median income of the families in the sample group was $55,600 in the late 1960s; their children's median family income was measured at $71,900.However,this rising tide has not lifted all boats equally.The rich have seen far greater income gains than have the poor.

Even more troubling is that our nation of America as the land of opportunity gets little support from the data.Americans move fairly easily up and down the middle rungs of the ladder,but there is "stickiness at the ends" —four out of ten children who are born poor will remain poor,and four out of ten who are born rich will stay rich.

1.What did the Economic Mobility Project find in its research?

A. Children from low-income families are unable to bootstrap their way to the top.

B. Hollywood actors and actresses are upwardly mobile from rags to riches.

C. The rags to riches story is more fiction than reality.

D. The rags to riches story is only true for a small minority of whites.

2.It can be inferred from the undertone of the writer that America,as a classless society,should ________.

A. perfect its self-image as a land of opportunity

B. have a higher level of upward mobility than Britain

C. enable African-Americans to have exclusive access to well-paid employment

D. encourage the current generation to work as hard as the previous generation

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. The US is a land where brains,energy and ambition are what counts.

B. Inequality persists between whites and blacks in financial gains.

C. Middle-class families earn slightly less with inflation considered.

D. Children in lowest-income families manage to climb a single rung of the ladder.

4.What might be the best title for this passage?

A. Social Upward Mobility.

B. Incredible Income Gains.

C. Inequality in Wealth.

D. America Not Land of Opportunity.

Tiny transmitters(发射机) fixed on the backs of the blue-green bees have allowed scientists to follow the insects as they fly for miles in search of rare flowers.

Working in Panama,scientists caught 17 bees of the common species and fixed a 300 milligram radio light onto the back of each.The signals they sent out were used to follow their movements in and around the forest where they lived.

Professor Martin,from Princeton University,US,and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany,said,“By following the radio signals,we discovered that male bees spent most of their time in small centre areas,but could take off and visit areas farther away.One male even crossed over the shipping lanes in the Panama Canal,flying at least 5km,and returned a few days later.”

Researchers have struggled to follow the movements of bees before,following bees marked with paint or using radar which doesn’t work well in forests.

“Carrying the transmitter could reduce the distance that the bees travel,but even if the flight distances we record are the shortest distances that these bees can fly,they are impressive,long-distance movements,” said Dr.Roland Kays,from New York State Museum,a co-author of the research published today in the on-line journal.“This result helps to explain how these bees’ pollination(授粉) can be so rare.” Pollination by bees and other insects is the key to the diversity and continued growth of flowers and trees in some forests.

The new study is the first to use radio transmitters to follow bees in a forest.Similar research may now be carried in temperate forests,where bees also play a vital role.

1.The main purpose of the passage is to___

A. call on people to protect the bees for the environment

B. explain why the bees fly far away in search of flowers

C. introduce a modern way to follow the bees to readers

D. encourage the public to support the scientists' research

2.What was the problem when researchers tried to follow the bees in the past?

A. It was quite difficult to mark the bees

B. The radar itself didn't work very well

C. The bees weren't easy to be recognized

D. Environmental limits were hard to solve

3.What Dr.Roland Kays said implied that____

A. he didn't expect bees could fly so long a distance

B. The transmitter didn't have any effects on bees at all

C. He wanted to know how far bees could travel badly

D. The record was in fact as exact as he had thought

4.Researchers follow the movements of bees mainly to___

A. learn how far they can fly at most

B. discover how they affect the plants

C. correct some wrong ideas about bees

D. get to know where they enjoy living

完形填空。

There are many brands of chocolate.If you love it,you can’t forget DOVE --the most famous chocolate brand.But do you know what the meaning of DOVE is?

Dove chocolate is born because of.One day in 1919 Princess Bazaar of Luxembourg's royal family first met the royal kitchen helper Leon.Many nights Leon slipped into the kitchen and various ice creams for Bazaar.They soon fell in love.Unfortunately owing to their quite different social ,both of them had to the deep feelings in heart.

Afterwards Bazaar was made to an arranged royal marriage against her wishes.For many days Leon could not see Bazaar,and he was burning with .Finally Bazaar turned up at the table a month later.While serving desserts,Leon the letters "DOVE" which is an abbreviation of DO YOU LOVE ME with hot chocolate on Bazaar's ice cream.Leon that Bazaar could understand his feeling.

A few days later,Bazaar got.Leon,broken-hearted,could not the mental suffering and left for America,where he and his own family a candy store years later but lived unhappily.

Many years later,they met again before Bazaar’s death.Bazaar that she did eat the ice cream that afternoon but didn't see the letters and also didn't receive any promise from Leon and she had to to her fate and missed him all her lifetime.

Hearing this,Leon broke down in tears.If that chocolate had been,those letters would never have melted and he would not have lost his last.Leon decided to create a solid chocolate which can a long time.

After lots of research,he succeeded and each piece of chocolate was engraved(刻) with the letters –DOVE.It is a of the love between Leon and Bazaar.

Now more and more people fall in love with this chocolate.Giving someone DOVE means sending the of love DO YOU LOVE ME?

1.A. anger B. sorrow C. love D. envy

2.A. served B. made C. drew D. heated

3.A. opinion B. view C. attitude D. status

4.A. discover B. forget C. bury D. struggle

5.A. know B. accept C. try D. practise

6.A. sympathy B. impatience C. joy D. humor

7.A. mixed B. sent C. wrote D. pressed

8.A. allowed B. promised C. declared D. expected

9.A. married B. sick C. bored D. changed

10.A. repeat B. bear C. reduce D. keep

11.A. supported B. found C. ran D. sold

12.A. learned B. recalled C. heard D. believed

13.A. annoying B. confusing C. interesting D. melting

14.A. give in B. give up C. give out D. give away

15.A. powerful B. liquid C. solid D. frozen

16.A. belief B. promise C. courage D. chance

17.A. eat B. preserve C. miss D. sell

18.A. quickly B. happily C. firmly D. lightly

19.A. symbol B. sign C. survey D. study

20.A. story B. secret C. rumor D. whisper

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

1.People traveled in search of food and shelter or in order to flee from their enemies. Sometimes they were looking for gold or silver in order to become rich. On other occasions they were searching for rich farmland.

This is not to say that no one ever traveled just for fun. Even in ancient times, some pleasure travel occurred. During a typical season,700,000 tourists would crowd into the ancient city of Rome, where animals performed and magicians entertained them.2.__

3.International tourist arrivals alone reached as many as 546 million in 1994 and are forecast to rise to 937 million in 2010,according to the World Trade Organization.

4.Probably the most common reason for traveling is related to our physical wellbeing. Actually, traveling to sports events is one of the fastest growing types of travel. In our fast developing society where stress has become part of people's life, people can rest and relax by having a change of environment and activities.

5.No one seems to doubt that travel broadens the mind. In 18th century Europe, young men would go on a Grand Tour to various countries in order to complete their education. Today the desire to travel to different countries is encouraged by modern mass media. People who travel to other countries can at the same time learn more about their own country and culture.

A. Throughout history, most travel was not for pleasure.

B. But why do people like traveling so much?

C. So they travel to a lake for a swim or a park for a bike.

D. The improvement in transportation has also encouraged people to travel.

E. Wealthy Romans made trips to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games.

F. The growth of tourism has become a modern phenomenon experienced by all countries in the world.

G. Another important reason for traveling is to satisfy our curiosity about different places and cultures.

完形填空

阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Paul, a colleague of mine, received a car from his brother as a Christmas gift. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a boy was walking around the shiny new car, ________ it.

“Is this your car, Mister?” he said.

Paul nodded and said “my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was ________. “You mean your brother bought it for you and it didn’t cost you anything? Boy, I wish” He ________.

Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. But what the boy said ________ Paul all the way down to his heels.

“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a ________ like that.”

Paul looked at the boy , and then impulsively(冲动地) he added. “Would you like to take a ________ in my car?”

“Oh yes, I’d love that.”

After a moment, the boy turned with his ________ shining, saying, “Mister, would you mind driving me to the front of my house?”

Paul ________ a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his________ that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was ________ again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.

He ran up the steps. After a while Paul saw him coming back. He was ________ his little lame brother. He ________ sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of ________up against him and pointed to the car.

“There he is, Tony, just like I ________ you upstairs. His brother bought it for him for Christmas. And some day I’ll give you one just like it and then you can see ________ yourself all the pretty things in the ________ windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”

Paul got out and ________the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining eyed older brother ________ in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.

That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what________ meant when he said: “It is more ________to give.”

1.A. admiring B. cleaning C. glancing D. touching

2.A. happy B. sad C. disappointed D. astonished

3.A. agreed B. promised C. hesitated D. sighed

4.A. made B. comforted C. pushed D. shocked

5.A. boy B. brother C. boss D. star

6.A. look B. walk C. ride D. rest

7.A. eyes B. forehead C. face D. hands

8.A. smiled B. cared C. choked D. feared

9.A. classmates B. neighbors C. colleagues D. parents

10.A. afraid B. confused C. wrong D. hopeless

11.A. carrying B. raising C. dragging D. pulling

12.A. abruptly B. firmly C. hurriedly D. carefully

13.A. got B. squeezed C. put D. tried

14.A. asked B. answered C. told D. showed

15.A. by B. for C. of D. to

16.A. shop B. home C. car D. Christmas

17.A. guided B. lifted C. sent D. threw

18.A. walked B. ran C. climbed D. broke

19.A. Jesus B. Father C. Brother D. Tony

20.A. pleased B. blessed C. important D. valuable

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