Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) can cut highway crashes.

Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. But stripes, called chevrons(人字形), painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.

Now the American Automobile Association Foundation(基金会) for Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes.

Excessive (too great) speed plays a major role in as much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed-related hazards (danger) are the greatest curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges.

Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.

Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.

1. The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. a new way of highway speed control

B. a new pattern for painting highways

C. a new way of training drivers

D. a new type of optical illusion

2. On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that ________.

A. they should avoid speed-related hazards

B. they are driving in the wrong lane

C. they should slow down their speed

D. they are coming near to the speed limit

3. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former ________.

A. can keep drivers awake     B. can cut road accidents in half

C. will look more attractive   D. will have a longer effect on drivers

4. The American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety plans to ________.

A. try out the Japanese method in certain areas

B. change the road signs across the country

C. replace straight, horizontal bars with chevrons

D. repeat the Japanese road patterns

5. What does the author say about straight, horizontal bars painted across roads?

A. They are suitable only on broad roads.   

B. They are falling out of use in the United States.

C. They are ignored in a long period of time.

D. They cannot be used successfully to traffic circles.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has recovered his spot at the top of the US money heap, taking the place of investor Warren Buffett as America's richest person, Forbes magazine's latest list reveals.

With 57 billion dollars net worth Gates again leads the list of 400 richest individuals in the world's wealthiest country. He displaced Buffett who briefly held the position this year but who has seen his Berkshire Hathaway investment group's shares slip 15 percent since February and is now worth 50 billion.

According to Forbes, whose list was published late Wednesday, the golden 400 have 1.3 billion dollars net worth or more. However, their combined net worth rose only 30 billion dollars, or two percent, to 1.57 trillion dollars.

Forbes said that rising oil and dizzy art prices fuelled the entry of 31 new members into the ultra-rich club and the return of eight previous members.

A notable arrival was Mark Zuckerberg, 24, founder of the social networking site Facebook（脸谱网）. Forbes estimates his worth at 1.5 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, turmoil（动荡）on the stock and housing markets saw 33 others drop off the list, including the former head of the troubled insurance giant AIG, Maurice Greenberg, and a former head of the online auction site eBay, Margaret Whitman.

Biggest gainers were led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who took eighth place with 20 billion dollars worth after a transaction（交易）put a new value on his Bloomberg media and financial data network.

The biggest loser was casino（赌场，娱乐场）tycoon Sheldon Adelson, whose fortune fell 13 billion dollars over 12 months -- the equivalent to 1.5 million dollars an hour -- although he still has 15 billion dollars and occupies 15th place.

About two thirds of the list are self-made billionaires and just over 10 percent are women, led by television star Oprah Winfrey whose fortune rose 200 million dollars to 2.7 billion dollars.

According to Forbes, Warren Buffet is worth _____.

  A. 57 billion dollars  B. 50 billion dollars  C. 1.5 billion dollars  D. 20 billion dollars

31 new members entered the ultra-rich club as a result of _____.

  A. turmoil on the stock and housing market  

B. media and financial data network

  C. rising oil and dizzy art prices            

D. investment

The purpose of the author using the television star Oprah Winfrey as an example is to _____.

  A. tell the readers that television stars make money easily

  B. prove that a millionaire can become a billionaire

  C. women can also be billionaires

  D. tell the readers that most of the billionaires are self-made

It can be inferred from the story that _____.

  A. one earns much and also loses much

  B. stability of markets has much effect upon people’s wealth

  C. the computer industry makes more billionaires

  D. young people can also be billionaires

What is the best title of the passage?

  A. Bill Gates Leading World’s Richest People Again

  B. What Made Billionaires

  C. Self-Made Billionaires

  D. Biggest Gainer and Biggest Loser

James Stallman Rockefeller, the oldest-known U．S．Olympic medal winner and the former head of the bank that became Citigroup, died Tuesday．He was 102．Records of the U．S．Olympic Committee show that Rockefeller was the oldest American medal winner．He was the captain of Yale University's eight-man rowing team with coxswain that won gold at the 1924 Paris Olympics - beating the Canadian team by less than 16 seconds．The oars from the winning race and the gold medal were prominently displayed in Rockefeller's house．"I think he was really proud of that - probably more than the bank career," said his grandson.

Rockefeller suffered a stroke on Thursday, said his grandson, who lived with him at his Greenwich home for two years, attributed his long life to a regimented（严密组织的） lifestyle: breakfast at eight a．m．, lunch at 1 p．m．, cocktails at 6 p．m．and dinner promptly at 7 p.m.. He liked plain food, without sauces or cheese, and plenty of fresh vegetables, including those grown in the garden of his estate．Rockefeller was in good health until shortly before he died．He drove his car up until last year and would review documents from the various charities and businesses he helped lead．

Rockefeller, born on June 8, 1902, was a grandson of William Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil with his brother, John D．Rockefeller．He graduated from Yale in 1924 and served in the Airborne Command during World War II．He started at the bank, and then called the National City Bank, in 1930, following his uncle and grandfather, who were leaders of the bank． He became president in 1952, chairman in 1959 and retired in 1967．In 1955, under Rockefeller's leadership, the bank merged with the First National Bank of New York to form Citigroup．Rockefeller also was a director of numerous companies, including Pan American Airways, Northern Pacific Railroad, NCR and Monsanto, and served on the boards of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the American Museum of Natural History．

Rockefeller and his wife．Nancy Carnegie Rockefeller, had four children．His wife died in 1994．

1.Rockefeller lost his wife when he was____    ___．

    A．at the age of 91                     B．in his eighties               

    C．in his early nineties                D．in his 1994

2.We can learn from the passage that ____    ___．

    A．the American rowing team beat the Canadian team in less than 16 seconds in 1924．

    B．Rockefeller was the first American medal winner．

    C．James Stallman Rockefeller founded the National City Bank and was the first president．

    D．His grandson thought Rockefeller had long life because of a regimented lifestyle．

3.What we can infer from the passage is that ______．

    A．James Stallman Rockefeller is a great Olympic medal winner．

    B．James Stallman Rockefeller was in good health until he died．

    C．James Stallman Rockefeller was very active in American society．

    D．James Stallman Rockefeller was the only grandson of William Rockefeller．

The former (先前的) secretary was not equal to the job. But to my annoyance (恼火), the new secretary is _______ qualified (胜任的) for the job than her. 

Harvard University named historian Drew Gilpin Faust as its first female president on Sunday, ending a lengthy and secretive search to find a successor（接任者）to Lawrence Summers .
The seven-member Harvard Corporation elected Faust, a noted scholar on History of the American South and dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as the university’s 28th president.
“This is a great day, and a historic day for Harvard,” James R. Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee, said in a statement. “Drew Faust is an inspiring and accomplished leader, a superb scholar, a dedicated  teacher, and a wonderful human being.”
Her selection is noteworthy given the heated debates over Summers’ comments that genetic differences between the sexes might help explain the lack of women in top science jobs.
Faust has been dean of Radcliffe since 2001, two years after the former women’s college was combined into the university as a research center with a mission to study gender issues.
Some professors have quietly groused that the 371-year-old university is appointing a fifth president who is not a scientist. No scientist has had the top job since James Bryant Conant retired in 1953; its last four have come from the fields of classics, law, literature and economics.