E
Now that the recession（经济衰退）is most likely over, it’s time to start looking at which companies, institutions, and individuals developed well during this unpleasant period. In the downturn that began in December 2007, the recession ruined the wealthiest cconsumer markets—the united States, Europe, Japan—there were very few safe shelters. But some countries, such as Peru, managed to grow right through the global recession. And some companies arranged their business so that they resisted the contraction and benefited from the trends affecting their industry. Some even managed to bring more business.
Chief among the Great Recession’s winners is McDonald’s. McDonald’s sales growth in 2008 was greater than in 2006 and 2007. while many restaurants reduced their business operation, it opened nearly 600 stores in 2008. and the chain has achieved same-store sales growth in each of 2009’s first seven months.
In 2008, after a decade of severely trading up to higher quality consumer goods and services, Americans began to trade down with a vengeance（报复）. McDonald’s, which has 44 percent of its 32,000 stores in the United States, was set up to profit from trading down in two ways. Fist, in a recession, people eat out less and at home more frequently. And when they eat out, they eat at cheaper places. McDonald’s is so cheap, efficient, and convenient that it was a practical alternative to casual restaurants like Ruby Tuesday.
In the United States, McDonald’s may be a cheap source of calories in food. In other parts of the world, McDonald’s is an appealing brand, identified with middle-class, westernized consumerism. Much of the world, such as China, India, is still not developed for the Golden Arches. Coincidentally, these are the right places where its business has continued to grow during the global recession. While it faces operational challenges in markets, McDonald’s has benefited form a weakening dollar and rising incomes in Asia.
The question now for investors（投资者）is whether McDonald’s can survive the recovery.
When people feel better-off, will they still stop by? The growth in same-store sales in the United States has come down a little in recent months. And there’s a rising amount of the population that has grown accustomed to eating healthier and better. Going forward, McDonald’s may face larger cultural barriers in the United States than in China.
72．From the passage we can infer that__________in the recession.
A．the developing countries grew wealthier
B．the rich countries became unable to recover
C．the Western companies suffered a great loss
D．the opportunities were brought as well as challenges
73．McDonald’s managed to remain popular in the recession mainly because of       .
A．its good operation              B．the American food culture
C．its low price and convenience  D．the weak value of dollars
74．The underlined word “contraction” in Paragraph I means         .
A．formal written agreement       B．influence on industry
C．disappointing management      D．process of reduced trade
75．What can be the best title for this passage?
A．Who Won the Recession
B．Who Traded down in the Recession
C．How Western Business Survived the Recession
D．How McDonald’s Kept Growing after the Recession

Recently, university students around the world were asked to volunteer in a global experiment called Unplugged. It was designed to see how young people would react if they were asked to observe a total media ban by unplugging all forms of media devices for 24 hours．

Unplugged is being run by Dr. Roman Gerodimos, a lecturer in Communication and Journalism at Bournemouth University．During the experiment, Dr. Gerodimos said there were already signs of how much the exercise affected volunteers．He said：“They’re reporting withdrawal symptoms, overeating, feeling nervous, isolated and disconnected．”

During their 24-hour test, three of the experiment’s participants were followed around by a BBC reporter plus cameraman．They were asked to write down 100 lines about their day offline, but of course, they all waited until the next day when they had access to their laptops．

Elliot Day wrote：“Today, my whole morning routine was thrown up into the air．Despite being aware of the social importance of the media, I was surprised by how empty my life felt without the radio or newspapers．”

From Caroline Scott, we read：“I didn’t expect it, but being deprived of the media for 24 hours resulted in my day-to-day activities becoming so much harder to carry out than usual…I didn’t break out in a cold sweat like our lecturer expected us all to, but It’s not something I would like to do again！”

And Charlotte Gay wrote：“I have to say the most difficult item for me to be without has been  my mobile；not only is it a social device, it’s my main access point of communication．”

Earlier in the year, a UK government study found that in the UK we spend about half our waking hours using the media, often plugged into several things at once．So, with technology continuing to develop at an alarming rate, how much time will you set aside for sleep in the future?

1.What can we learn about the volunteers?

A．Volunteers didn’t write down about their day offline．

B．Volunteers weren’t allowed to use any media for 24 hours．

C．Volunteers were followed around by Dr Roman Gerodimos．

D．Only volunteers in the UK took part in Unplugged experiment．

2.Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the participants’ feelings？

A．Anxious．         B．Lonely            C．Bored．          D．Despaired．

3.Which of the following is true of Caroline Scott？

A．The media ban affected his temperature．

B．His work went on smoothly without the media．

C．His work was carried on hard without the media．

D．His life was empty without the radio or newspapers．

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．People should use the media devices reasonably．

B．People can easily survive the media devices addict．

C．People can spend more time sleeping in the future．

D．People spend about half the time using the media devices．

5.The text is most probably a         ．

A．newspaper ad      B．book review       C．news report        D．science fiction story

The damming of river systems in the northwestern United States has had damaging effects on salmon(鲑鱼). In the spring young salmon, called smolts, drift into rivers from smaller streams. They swim with the current downstream heading for the Pacific Ocean. Before the large-scale constructions of dams(水坝), the young salmon used the strong flow from melting snows to get to the sea in between six and twenty days. It is necessary to do this because during these days the smolts’ bodies undergo the physiological changes for adaptation to salt water.

Unfortunately, the current has become very slow due to the construction of numerous dams. Companies operating the dams also intentionally slow the current. They store the water from the melting snow until the winter, when more electric power is needed. The net result is that many of the young fish do not survive the now sixty-day trip to the sea. Consequently, there are fewer adult salmon to migrate(回游) back up the rivers for breeding. When the time comes for the salmon to return, they again face the problem of dams. As fewer adult salmon are able to get back to their cool upstream water, they fail to produce a sufficiently new generation of salmon.  This cycle could eventually lead to the extinction of the fish.

Attempts are being made to transport the young salmon down river by boats. However, many scientists think that this artificial method of getting the fish to the sea kills more than it saves. Another suggestion, recently proposed by environmentalists, is to increase the rate of water flow. This would be a partial（部分的） solution to the declining salmon numbers. One method of doing this would call for releasing water from upstream dam. This would speed up the downstream movement of the smolts.

Another method would be to reduce the water level in the dams for a period in the spring when the smolts are migrating downstream. This would also increase the flow rate temporarily without requiring large amounts of water and, thus, enable the young salmon to move downstream faster. Unfortunately, both of these proposals have met with criticism from the power companies, which strongly suggests the uncertain fate of the salmon in the region.

76. What’s the main topic of the passage?

A. The failure of adult salmon to reproduce.

B. The importance of smolts returning upstream.

C. The need for smolts to reach salt water quickly.

D. The harm caused to salmon by river damming.

77. The passage discusses all of the following methods of dealing with salmon issue EXCEPT _____.

A. carrying the fish in boats

B. allowing water to be released from upstream dams

C. dropping water levels in dams

D. breeding salmon

78. In paragraph 3, what does the author mean by the statement that many scientists think that this artificial method of getting the fish to the sea kills more than it saves?

A. Saving fish is artificial.

B. More fish die when transported than would die otherwise

C. Artificial methods of transportation give salmon the chance to get adapted to salt water.

D. The sea kills more fish than are saved by transportation.

79. Which of the following statements would the author most probably agree with?

A. The salmon problem is likely to continue.

B. A solution to the salmon problem will be found in the near future.

C. Salmon will be extinct very quickly. 

D. The government should step in and provide a way out.

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently. My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.

On the road to the harbor we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbor itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it — there aren’t any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale — actually as big as our boat — was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and waves. “She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, some-times rising from the water right beside us to breathe — and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

The author says “I’m so glad I did.” (in Para.2) because __________.

A. he spent the weekend with his family

B. be witnessed the whole process of fishing

C. he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea

D. he experienced the rescue of the whales

The harbor survived the storm owing to __________.

A. the long coast line                         B. the shape of the harbor    

C. the arms of the bay                         D. the still water in the channel

The mother whale failed to help her baby because __________.

A. the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction

B. she had stayed in the polluted water for too long

C. the whirlpools she had made were not big enough

D. she had no other whales around to turn to for help

What is the theme of the story?

A. It’s vital to protect the environment

B. Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness

C. Fishing provides excitement for children

D. It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals

Since people first sent rockets into space in the 1950s, we have been leaving behind all sorts of things. Some of them, like the camera, were lost by astronauts while they did work outside their spaceship. But much of the space junk is made up of little pieces of things that were once bigger objects, until they struck each other and broke apart.
Some things we send into space fall back toward the earth and burn up in the atmosphere. But larger pieces sometimes survive the extreme heat and hit the ground or the ocean at great speeds. So there is always concern that something may fall from the sky and do some harm.
But space junk falling on housetops (屋顶) is not the biggest worry. Scientists are concerned about what happens when an empty rocket strikes another while orbiting (绕轨道飞行) the earth. Two big things become many smaller things. They then hit other things. The pieces get smaller and smaller until they form a cloud of junk that blocks the path of future space vehicles.
So what can be done to clean up the space around our planet? Marco Castronuovo, an Italian researcher, talks about sending a satellite into space that would get very close to some of the larger pieces of space junk. The satellite would connect a small rocket to the useless object. When the rocket explodes, it pushes the junk into a lower and slower orbit, nearer the earth. After a time, the junk burns up in the atmosphere.
Mr. Castronuovo has proposed (提议) using a number of small satellites with robotic arms. One arm would catch the space junk, and another arm would connect the rocket. He imagines that each satellite would jump from one large piece of junk to another. He thinks this method could destroy about ten large objects each year.
Scientists have been concerned about space junk for many years. Right now, the costs of the clean-up have been too great. Mr. Castronuovo says his system could be put in place for a much more reasonable amount of money.
【小题1】Much of the space junk _____.