Jamie Oliver has been invited by Gordon Brown to prepare a banquet at No.10 for President Barack Obama and other leaders of the G20，offering a cut-price menu to reflect times when trade and industry are far from prosperous and the rate of employment is decreasing．
Downing Street sources say Oliver, the well-known chef, will cook using“honest high—street products”and avoid expensive or“fancy”ingredients(材料).
The prime minister is trying to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment last year when he sat down to an 18-course banquet at a Japanese summit to discuss world food shortages．
Obama，President Nicolas Sarkozy of France，Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders will be served by apprentices(学徒)from Fifteen，the London restaurant Oliver founded to help train young people in poverty in order to make a living by mastering a skill.
Brown wants the dinner to reflect the emphasis of the London summit，which he hopes will lead to an agreement to lift the world out of depression．“To be invited to cook for such an important group of people，who are trying to solve some of the world’s major problems, is really a privilege,”said Oliver，“I’m hoping the menu I'm working on will show British food and produce is some of the best in the world，but also show we have pioneered a high-quality apprentice scheme at Fifteen London that is giving young people a skill to be proud of．”
The chef has not yet finalized the menu，but is expected to draw inspiration from his latest book, Jamie's Ministry of Food，which has budget recipes for beef and ale stew(啤酒炖菜)and “impressive” chocolate fudge cake.
56. What can we learn about Oliver from the text?
A．He is a well-known American cook．
B．He is invited to attend the G20 summit．
C．He has founded the Fifteen London．
D.  He is one of the apprentices serving leaders of the G20.
57．The menu of the banquet for the leaders of the G20 is supposed to        .
A．include all delicious British food
B．use inexpensive produce with special characteristics
C．be rich，varied and of high quality
D．imitate the menu of last Japanese summit
58．Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A．Oliver is honored to be invited to cook for the G20 leaders.
B.  Altogether three presidents are mentioned in the text.
C．President Barak Obama offers the cut-price menu.
D．The menu for the G20 dinner banquet has been decided.
59．What is the Fifteen London?
A．an apartment in London                 B．a luxurious restaurant in London
C．a restaurant as well as a training center    D．a famous avenue

The rise of multinational corporations （跨国公司）, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR．
　　Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, America’s relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned． In 1991, only one was． The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative． A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate （公司的） planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies．It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR．
　　Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? Firstly, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs． Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country． Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts （相对应的人） in knowing a second language． Less than 5 percent of Burson—Marshall’s U．S．employees know two languages． Ogilvy and Mather have about the same percentage． Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language． Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs． In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal． Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country．
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN （Cable News Network）． Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news
broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign．
【小题1】Compared with the American PR personnel, what is/are an advantage (s) of the non-Americans involved in PR?
A． They tend to be more internationally minded
B． They speak more and better foreign languages．
C． They usually pay more attention to global financial situation．
D． Both A and B．
【小题2】What is the immediate cause of the downfall of America’s public relations?

Nicknames for Los Angeles
A nickname is a shortened form of a person's name. A nickname can also be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. Many American cities have nicknames. These can help establish an identity, spread pride among citizens and build unity. Nicknames can also be funny.
Los Angeles, California is the second largest city in population, after New York City. Los Angeles has several nicknames. One is simply the city’s initials, L.A. It is also called the City of Angels because Los Angeles means “the angels” in Spanish.
Los Angeles often has warm, sunny weather. So another nickname is City of Flowers and Sunshine. New York is called The Big Apple. So Los Angeles is sometimes called The Big Orange because of the fruit that grows in that city’s warm climate.
The American motion picture and television industries are based in Los Angeles. So it is not surprising that it is called The Entertainment Capital of the World. Many films are made in the area of Los Angeles called Hollywood. Millions of people visit the area. No trip to Los Angeles is complete without seeing the word "Hollywood" spelled out in huge letters on a hillside.
Many movie stars live in Los Angeles. The city is sometimes called Tinseltown. This nickname comes from the shiny, bright and often unreal nature of Hollywood and the movie industry.
Another nickname for Los Angeles is La-La Land, using the first letters of Los and Angeles. This means a place that is fun and not serious, and maybe even out of touch with reality.
The city of Los Angeles is part of Los Angeles County. There are many smaller cities in the county. Beverly Hills, with its rich people, is one of them. So is Pasadena, with its Rose Parade each New Year's Day. So are the coastal cities of Santa Monica and Malibu, where people like to ride surfboards on the Pacific Ocean waves.
A good place for watching unusual-looking people is Venice, an area on the west side of Los Angeles. A system of waterways designed after the Italian city of Venice has been built there.
Many people love Los Angeles for its warm sunny weather, beautiful mountains and beaches, and movie stars. That includes Randy Newman, who sings about his hometown.
【小题1】A nickname of a place can have the following functions except ___________.

If Barack Obama's wife and kids thought they'd be getting his undivided attention during their long-awaited summer holiday, perhaps they should think again.
The US President kicked off his vacation by revealing that, in addition to endless games of tennis and golf, he plans to spend the week ploughing through five books, weighing in at an astonishing 2,300 pages. His summer reading list, unveiled(透露) by the White House, contains two heavyweight works of non–fiction and three novels.
On top of the president’s table is Hot, Flat and Crowded, by New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman. Subtitled "why we need a green revolution", it makes a leftish（左倾的） call to arms regarding the future of the planet.
Mr Obama's second choice is historian David McCullough's biography of John Adams, the often under-rated second US president, who was the subject of an award-winning HBO docu-drama（纪实剧）last year.
The novels include two crime thrillers: Richard Price's Lush Life, and The Way Home, a novel by George Pelecanos set in Washington, DC – which, much like Obama's best-selling autobiography（自传）, explores the relationship between a father and his son.
Completing the set is the novel Plainsong, by a little-known writer called Kent Haruf. Set in a small town on the Colorado plains, its existence on the reading list may reassure voters that Middle America has not been ignored by their commander-in-chief.
Publishers are keeping an eye on whether the famous "Obama bounce" – which has helped sales at the first family's favourite clothes stores, such as J Crew – will continue to apply to their troubled industry. The President's endorsement（认可） is said to have lifted sales of Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland about cricket in Holland and New York last year.
Given that President Obama has already spent a portion of his week so far playing golf, beating Michelle at tennis, and visiting friends, questions will inevitably(不可避免地) be asked about his ability to put any dent（挫伤） at all in the ambitious reading list.
To finish all five books, he would have to manage more than 300 pages every day – quite an "ask" when a small portion of his time must also be spent running the country.
57. What’s the function of the first paragraph?

One of the biggest challenges facing students and their families is what career they should enter and what is the best path for them to take.
I was talking to someone the other day who told me he first studied accounting because that was what everyone was studying several years ago. It was and some say still is a reliable career. However, then he told me that he was now studying financial investment because again--- that’s what everyone was studying now and it was needed if he wanted to get ahead in the company.
And I asked him what he was actually interested in and then— well the conversation kind of died. So I asked why he had bothered studying accounting in the first place and he explained that it was his parents’ idea. Finally I asked what his passion was and he wasn’t too sure because he never thought about it.
And so it is— lifelong learning— or the continual need to make ourselves marketable in a world that appears to be more competitive as time goes by. Is there a secret to help us so we can live a life of quality?
Regardless or not at this stage in world history with increasing connection between people,
ideas and markets — the ability to match the needs and desires of the day with your own skills and products is a tremendous and vigorous challenge.
Many have gone into English or foreign language study because it was encouraged at the time when China was entering the WTO. Or maybe they were interested in international affairs or working abroad. Upon graduation they then faced the reality that there was a limit to how many jobs they could apply for.
Perhaps some then studied further doing courses for work such as a tour guide or translator/ interpreter. Many may have decided that going into teaching was more rewarding or stable. Others would have gone into media or advertising or conference management and acquired new skills along the way.
This constant quest to remain ahead of the game makes many upset and exhausted. Some futurists who examine technology have even predicted that people should expect to change careers six or seven times during their lifetime!
So if you are concerned by the nature of change, why not start spending more time looking at the most modern leading economies, institutions and their publications. A whole lot of changes are starting to happen yet there is no reason why this cannot be enjoyable, exciting and also rewarding. Our attitude, approach and willingness to continually learn and update our skills must remain strong.
My tip is to track the work that our government is setting about to achieve. In particular, look at the people who have been chosen as the key support team and try to read behind the light surface news and look at their career development and examine the recent reports that they are now recommending the government move towards. Key industry development, new ways of dealing with information and new demands are creating opportunities for the students and workers of tomorrow — if we stay prepared.
【小题1】Who is this article intended for?