A few days ago I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven’t seen for a very long time. The topic, which was about all the good old times that we had changed to a touching story when he started talking about his father.
His father’s declining health made him stay at the hospital. Because of his illness, his father suffered from insomnia (失眠) and often talked to himself. My friend, who had not been able to sleep for a few days as he had to keep watching his father’s condition, became annoyed and told his father to keep silent and try to get some sleep. His father said that he really wanted to sleep well because he was very tired and told my friend to leave him alone in the hospital if he did not want to keep him company.
After his father finished talking, he fell unconscious (失去知觉). My friend was very sorry for speaking the ill words towards his father. My friend, whom I knew as a tough person, cried as a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on, he prayed every day, asking God to let his father wake up from his coma. He promised himself that whatever words came out from his father’s mouth after he regained his consciousness, he would gladly take them. His only hope for God was to give him a chance to rectify his past mistake.
Often, we complain when we have to accompany or watch over our parents for years, months, days, hours or even minutes. But do we realize that our parents keep us company and watch over us for as long as we (or they) live? From the day we were born to our adulthood, and even when deaths come to us, they are always at our side.
Imagine how sad our parents will be when they hear a seemingly innocent （天真无邪的）word of “no” come out from our mouths. We can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no more complaints that come out from our mouths when we have to watch over or accompany our parents. No more complaints come out from our mouths when we feel that our parents have treated us like little children. There are so many unlucky ones who have neither fathers nor mothers. They long to have the things that we most complain about, but never have them.
Actually, it takes only a second to think and light the lamp that will bring us to a place where peace is dwelling.
【小题1】Which of the following word can be used to describe the writer’s friend?

A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure. Dr. Thomas Houston, a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that researched how pre-recorded videos of hypertension (高血压) patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months.
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine. They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier. Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state. Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies(疗法) have been relatively ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements.
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 230 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate. Next, they divided their study population into two groups. One received three interactive DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension. The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic. The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure.
While the study did not address how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston doubts that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension. They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelated videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect.
【小题1】 We can learn from the text that the pre-recorded videos _________.

D
When companies do business overseas, they come in contact with people from different cultures.  These individuals often speak a different language and have their own particular custom and manners.  These differences can create problems.
For example, in France, business meetings begin immediately at the scheduled time and everyone is expected to be there.   Foreign business people who are slow in acting are often left outside to cool their heels as a means of letting them know the importance of promptness（准时）. Unless one is aware of such expected behaviors he may end up insulting the people with whom he hopes to establish trade relations.
A second traditional problem is that of monetary conversions(货币兑换).  For example, if a trade is conducted with Russia, payment may be made in rubles.  Of course, this particular type of money used in Russia is of little value to the American firm.  It is, therefore, necessary to exchange the foreign money to American dollars.  How much are these Russian rubles worth in terms of dollars?  This exchange rate is determined by every market, where the money of countries are bought and sold.   Thus there is an established rate, although it is often different from day to day.  For example, the ruble may be worth 0.75 on Monday and 0.72 on Tuesday because of an announced wheat shortage in Russia.  In addition, there is the problem associated with exchange at 0.72.  Some financial institutions may be unwilling to pay this price, feeling that the ruble will sink much lower over the next week.   As a result, exchange may finally come at 0.69.   These "losses" must be accepted by the company as one of the costs of doing business overseas.
A third unique problem is trade barriers.  For one reason or another, all countries impose trade barriers on certain goods crossing their borders.  Some trade barriers are directly related to exports.  For example, the United States permits strategic military material to be shipped abroad only after government permission has been obtained.  Most trade barriers, however, are designed to restrict import.  Two of the most common import barriers are quotas and tariffs.
76. The best title for the passage would be ___.
A. How to Succeed in International Trade
B. Monetary Conversion
C. Trade Barriers
D. Unique Problems in International Trade
77. In France, slow business people ___.
A. are often insulted
B. often suffer from coldness
C. are often left outdoors waiting
D. are often asked to polish their shoes
78. According to the passage, exchange rates ___.
A. seldom change
B. are determined by financial institutions
C. are agreed upon by two trading countries
D. vary from day to day
79. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. Misunderstanding may occur because of the culture differences.
B. Exchange rate can bring losses when doing international trade.
C. Most trade barriers are designed to restrict import.
D. All the exports must get the permission of the government.   .

A few days ago I got a call from my old college friend whom I haven’t seen for a very long time. The topic, which was about all the good old times that we had changed to a touching story when he started talking about his father.　　
His father’s declining health made him stay at the hospital. Because of his illness, his father suffered from insomnia (失眠) and often talked to himself. My friend, who had not been able to sleep for a few days as he had to keep watching his father’s condition, became irritated and told his father to keep silent and try to get some sleep. His father said that he really wanted to sleep well because he was very tired and told my friend to leave him alone in the hospital if he did not want to keep him company.　　
After his father finished talking, he fell unconscious (失去知觉). My friend was very sorry for speaking the ill words towards his father. My friend, whom I knew as a tough person, cried as a baby on the other end of the telephone. He said that from that moment on, he prayed every day, asking God to let his father wake up from his coma. He promised himself that whatever words came out from his father’s mouth after he regained his consciousness, he would gladly take them. His only hope for God was to give him a chance to rectify his past mistake.　　
Often, we complain when we have to accompany or watch over our parents for years, months, days, hours or even minutes. But do we realize that our parents keep us company and watch over us for as long as we (or they) live? From the day we were born to our adulthood, and even when deaths come to us, they are always at our side.
Imagine how sad our parents will be when they hear a seemingly innocent word of “no” come out from our mouths. We can make promises to ourselves that from now on there will be no more complaints that come out from our mouths when we have to watch over or accompany our parents. No more complaints come out from our mouths when we feel that our parents have treated us like little children. There are so many unlucky ones who have neither fathers nor mothers. They long to have the things that we most complain about, but never have them.
Actually, it takes only a second to think and light the lamp that will bring us to a place where peace is dwelling.
【小题1】Which of the following word can be used to describe the writer’s friend?

A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure．Dr．Thomas Houston, a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that investigated how pre-recorded videos of hypertension （高血压） patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months．
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine．They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier．Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state．Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies（疗法） have been relatively ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements．
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 230 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate．Next, they divided their study population into two groups．One received three interactive （互动） DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension．The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic．The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure．
While the study did not address how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston suspects that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension．They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelated videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect．
【小题1】We can learn from the text that the pre-recorded videos _________．

A．hypertension is really difficult to control

B．communication has some medical effects

C．medical treatments have no effect at all

D．people don't follow the medical requirements

A．The scientists chose 230 patients from a hospital．

B．Both the groups used the same videos about health topic．

C．The two groups lowered blood pressure in different degrees．

D．The story-tellers were hypertension patients as well．