_______ is expected, according to the online survey, that housing prices can’t go up any more.

A. As          B. Which   C. What     D. It

Driving in a foreign country is always different in at least some ways from driving in your own country. Here are some general points regarding driving in New Zealand.
l Visitors wishing to drive in New Zealand do not require an international driver’s license but are required to carry their local driver’s license whenever driving.
l Vehicles drive on the left-hand side of the road as they do in Britain, Australia, and Japan. Most rental vehicles will have a sticker reminding you of this important fact.
l When the traffic light is red, you must stop. There is no left turn rule as in North America.
l New Zealand road rules follow international standards but please note that in New Zealand vehicles turning left must give way to traffic turning right.
l In general, if you are turning left (where there are give-way signs or no signs), give way to vehicles that not turning. In all other situations, give way to vehicles crossing or coming from your right.
l Seat belts must be worn at all times while driving in New Zealand. This stands for the driver and passengers. The driver is responsible for ensuring all passengers are wearing their seatbelts.
l Do not drink alcohol before driving in New Zealand—drinking and driving laws are strictly enforced.
l Speed limits are in kilometres per hour (kph), not miles per hour (mph).
Speed conversion: 1 kph equals 0.621 mph; 1 mph equals 1.61 kph.
l The speed limit on the open road is 100km/h. In towns and cities the speed limit is 50km/h. Be sure to obey all school crossing speed reductions as speed cameras operate regularly throughout New Zealand.
For further information and up to date road conditions visit: http://www.transit.govt.nz
【小题1】What can be learned from the passage?

From bankers to factory staff, employees in the west face the bleak prospect (暗淡的前景) of losing their jobs as a global recession (衰退) starts to bite. For colleagues in the East the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut.

Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to keep jobs in difficult times, which will stop unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.

The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting Western shift to Eastern flexibility.

“In the Confucian (儒家的) attitude, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There is the sense of collective responsibility whereas (然而) in the West, it’s more about the individual survival,” said Michael Benotlel, associated professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University.

Steven Pang, Asian Regional Director for Aquent, a headhunting firm, said in many East Asian companies there was a responsibility “ to take care of the members of the family and go through the pain together” even if that meant causing losses.

US firms from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand. But at the Asian units of Western multinationals, job cuts will probably be less severe.

Japan’s jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong’s was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January.

Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals (对手) from abroad.

(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)

1.What caused the different practices of Asian and Western firms facing the global recession?

2.Why is it easier for the East Asian firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn?

3.Firms in the west would lay off workers when facing a bleak prospect because of ______.

4.______ will make the differences in East and West less noticeable.

About five states in Nigeria will experience a total eclipse (日蚀) of the sun on March 29, 2006, according to a forecast by the Ministry of Science and Technology this week.

An eclipse occurs in one of two ways: when the moon passes between the earth and the sun so that all or part of the sun cannot be seen for a time, or when the earth passes between the moon and the sun so that you cannot see all or part of the moon for a time. The first case is a solar eclipse or eclipse of the sun, which occurs as the earth enters the shadow of the moon. The second describes a lunar eclipse or eclipse of the moon, which happens when the moon enters the shadow of the earth.

More than 60 percent of Nigerians are uneducated, and eclipses in some parts of the country in the past have caused commotions in which people have been killed and property destroyed. Some Nigerians believe an eclipse is punishment from the gods for evil doing.

The March 29th eclipse would be the fifth in Nigeria’s history, and it is expected to last for 30 minutes -- 9:15AM to 9:45AM, according to the official prediction. Nigeria witnessed eclipses in 1898, 1947, 1959, and 2001.

The shadows in an eclipse have a central dark part called umbra, and a less dark external section called penumbra. In the umbra, all the sun’s light is cut off, and this is called total eclipse; while in the penumbra, only a part of the light from the sun is cut off from the moon, and it is called partial eclipse.

Five Nigerian states -- Oyo, Kwara, Niger, Zamfara, and Katsina -- are expected to have total eclipse, while other parts of the country will experience partial eclipse.

43. This passage is mainly written to ________.

A. predict a eclipse of the sun in Nigeria

B. compare a eclipse of the sun with a eclipse of the moon

C. provide information on a coming eclipse of the sun in Nigeria

D. show that people in Nigeria receive little education

44. If this passage is taken from a newspaper, which section is the passage probably from?

A. Entertainment.          B. Economy.          C. Education.         D. Science.

45. The best title for this passage is ________.

A. What Is an Eclipse

B. How Foolish People in Nigeria Are

C. Nigeria Expects Solar Eclipse

D. Solar Eclipse Happens on March 29, 2006

China launched its fifth Beidou orbiter into space on Sunday morning, moving it one step closer to its goal of building a navigation(导航) and positioning satellite network.
The Beidou, or Compass, system is being built to rival the US-developed GPS, the European Union's Galileo and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System. It can allow travelers, drivers and military officials to know their locations.
The fifth orbiter was launched on top of a Long March 3A carrier rocket at 5:30 am on Sunday from Xichang of Southwest China's Sichuan province.
It is the third Compass satellite launched this year, following launches on Jan 17 and June 2.
The short interval of less than two months since the last launch demonstrated that "the country is stepping into a busy period of launching the Compass satellites", an unnamed official in charge of the project said last month.
The first two orbiters were launched in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
Sun Jiadong, the Beidou program's chief designer, said on June 21 in a TV interview that China would launch 13 to 15 Beidou navigation satellites into orbit by 2012 to form a network that provides regional service covering the neighboring areas.
And in about 10 years, the network would be expanded to include more than 30 satellites covering the globe, he said.
The system is a crucial part of the country's space infrastructure for providing navigation and positioning services in transportation, meteorology, petroleum prospecting, forest fire monitoring, disaster forecasting, telecommunications and public security.
In addition, a global positioning system is crucial to any country's national security and defense, said Ran Chengqi, an official in charge of the program, referring to the fact that the US initially built its GPS system for military purposes.
It is unimaginable for China to go without such a system, he said.
Earlier reports cited（引用） Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military expert, as saying that 90 percent of the world's current weapons systems need a global positioning system.
【小题1】This news report was probably released           .