London, April 28---The Man Group, a British hedge fund, is betting that investors will want to read more than the latest how-to- get –rich-quick business book.

In a five-year deal worth roughly $3.6 million announced last week, Man has agreed to sponsor(主办)the Booker Prize for Fiction, which will be renamed the Man Booker Prize. Since creating the award in 1969, Booker P.L.G., a British food group, in June 2000, executives began considering attracting outside sponsors. Man will be the first of these. Bill Grimsey, the chief of the Big Food Group, saw little business sense in a link between a food supplier and a literary prize, explained Dotti Irving, a spokeswoman for the Booker Prize foundation.

Such dissimilarities (差异) have not reduced Man’s enthusiasm for the prize which is expected to be open for the first time to American authors. David Browne, a spokesman for Man, said most of the firm’s investors are high-net-worth individuals who appreciate literature. “The people who buy hedge funds,” Mr. Browne said, “also read.”

Under the new agreement, authors will get more money. The winner of the annual prize, to be awarded in October, will receive $73,000 , up from $30,000 the Australian writer Peter Carey won last year for his novel “True History of the Kelley Gang.”

The six short-listed authors will each receive $3,600, up from $1,500. Having a hedge fund as a backer apparently has its perks.(福利).

1.The article is mainly about ____.

2. This article is most probably seen in a(n) ____.

3.What can be inferred from the article?

4.Who is the spokesman for Man?

Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing's dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮）.

Since Beijing's first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe, In recent years ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can't really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.

Beijing's skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital's suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people, According to Mr, Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government Offices.

The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.

    The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4m to set up. And, as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others hash in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.

What does this text mainly talk about?

    A. Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars.

    B. Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time.

    C. Things to be considered when starting a ski resort.

    D. A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing.

Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?

    A. To visit more ski areas.             . To ski on natural snow.

    C. For a large collection of ski suits.  D. For better services and equipment.

The underlined words "leisure industry" in Paragraph 3 refer to -

     A. transport to ski resorts              B. production of family cars

     C. business of providing spare time enjoyments

     D part-time work for people living in the suburbs

 What is the main problem in running a ski resort?

     A. Difficulty in hiring land.      B. Lack of business experience.

     C. Price wars with other ski resorts.  D. Shortage of water and electricity,

   Which of the following is right?

         A. People always worry that Bejing’s dry wather seldom produces snow.

         B. Beijing’s ski resort was opened in recent years.

         C. Private cars are partly the reason for Beijing’s skiing craze.

         D. Starting ski resorts dosen’t requires quite a lot of money.

As Apple tries to maintain its growth and success in China, the world's largest smart-phone market is becoming even more critical. Apple's shares(股份) fell sharply as the company's earnings for the holiday quarter through December disappointed investors.

The sales of the iPhone, which include both the iPhone 5 and older models, came in at the low end of analysts' expectations, while the company's income plan for the second quarter was below analysts' forecasts, though Apple is known to give conservative (保守的) forecasts.

Some analysts have said that for Apple to regain its growth, the company needs a more aggressive strategy(进攻型策略) for markets, or more specifically for China, where the market for smart phones has been expanding more rapidly than anywhere else. In China, demand is particularly great for inexpensive phones that run on Android(安卓) operating system, sold by many Chinese phone makers as well as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.

But Apple says it's already enjoying strong growth in China. "We saw big growth in iPhones," Chief Executive Tim Cook said. He said that the company has been quickly expanding its sales channels in China, including the number of Apple stores. "This isn't nearly what we need, we're not even close to that, but we're making great progress.” he said.

In China, a big missing piece for Apple is China Mobile Ltd. , the biggest local telecom carrier that doesn't yet sell the iPhone. Earlier this month, Mr. Cook met China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua in Beijing and discussed cooperation, stirring hopes that the world's largest mobile carrier may soon start offering the iPhone.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is working on a lower-end iPhone that could launch as early as this year. But one possible challenge for Apple in China is that low-priced Android-based phones are getting better in terms of quality. A report from CLSA in late November showed that many smart-phones sold at about1,000 yuan ($160) came with higher- resolution screens, better cameras and more powerful processors than phones at that price did a year earlier.

1.Apple's shares dropped sharply because in December______________.

A．the iPhone wasn't popular in China

B．its product quality was widely criticized

C．the earnings for the holiday quarter was disappointing

D．the investors were not satisfied with Apple's management

2.What can we learn from the passage?

A．Apple tends to offer a lower sales forecast.

B．China Mobile Ltd began to team up with Apple.

C．Cook is pessimistic about what Apple did in China.

D．Apple didn't take measures to develop Chinese market.

3.The author uses the report from CLSA to prove         _____.

A．their prices are actually lower than a year earlier

B．Apple in China has ability to deal with any problem

C．low-ended Android-based phones are progressing fast

D．the promotion of lower-end iPhone will face a challenge

4.The main purpose of the passage is to show the readers ______________.

A．Apple's high popularity in China

B．the challenge Apple faces in China

C．the approaching failure Apple will suffer in China

D．Apple's aggressive strategy in its market expansion

信息匹配（每小题2分，共10分）

阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。首先，请阅读以下世界古代奇观的简介：

A. The Great Wall was begun more than two thousand years ago. It was built to keep out invaders. It extends about six thousand seven hundred kilometers across northern China. Today, the Chinese government is working to repair parts of the wall and protect as much of it as possible. The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building projects ever attempted. It is also the only object built by people that can be seen from space.

B. The Coliseum in Rome, Italy was built almost two thousand years ago. The ancient Roman sports center could hold fifty thousand people who gathered there to watch public events. Experts say it is one of the finest examples of Roman design and engineering.

C. The city of Machu Picchu in Peru includes some of the best stone work ever built. The ancient Inca people built Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains, northwest of the city of Cuzco. Machu Picchu is about thirteen square kilometers. Historians say it might have been one of the last places of safety for the Incas who were fleeing invaders from Spain.

D. India is famous for its temples and buildings. The most famous is the Taj Mahal, considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever built. The fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, ordered it built in Agra in sixteen thirty-one. He built it as a burial place in memory of his wife. The Taj Mahal has tiny colorful stones inlaid in white marble. The structure seems to change color during different times of the day and night.

E. Abu Simbel was built more than three thousand years ago. It is about 280 kilometers south of Aswan on the western bank of the Nile River. It took an army of workmen and artists more than thirty years to cut the huge temple into the face of a rock mountain. In front of the main temple are four huge statues of Ramses the Second. Each statue is about twenty meters high.

F. Stonehenge also belongs on a list of ancient wonders. It is a circle of huge stones in southeastern England. Experts believe work began on Stonehenge about five thousand years ago. We know very little about Stonehenge. We do not even know how these huge stones were moved to the area. Much has been written about Stonehenge, but experts say they still are not sure what it was used for.

以下是旅行者信息，请匹配他们计划参观的世界奇观。

Mr. Smith, who comes from Rome, Italy, plans to visit Asia. He hears about a beautiful building which tells a moving story about the love between an ancient ruler and his wife.

Li Hua, who has been to the Great Wall several times, plans to visit an ancient wonder in Europe which has as long a history as the Great Wall.

Cindy, who comes from India, plans to visit an ancient temple on the bank of a famous river in Africa. The temple, in front of which there were some huge statues, is one of the greatest stone works ever built.

Jack will visit one of the oldest stone work ever built by people. It was made up of huge stones, but how ancient people moved the stones and why they built it remain a mystery.

A scientist will be sent into space. He hopes he can see an object built by human beings when he looks at our earth with his bare eyes.

信息匹配（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分)

    阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡上将该顼涂黑，选E请同时涂AB，选基请同时涂CD。

    以下是儿童读物的信息： 

以下是购买者或小读者的信息，请匹配购买者或小读者的信息与他们对应的读物。

Mrs. Green is a nurse in a hospital in London. She has a lovely daughter. She

    often says to her, "Hey, Baby! Look at you,. looking at me, looking at you looking

    at me." She is going to send her daughter to Grade 1 this September and buy a

    book with 40 pages for her.

Joe enjoys reading picture books about animals.He often buys some new ones.

    Last Saturday he bought a new book. There is such a sentence on the first page:

    "In a heart-warming twist on the ‘I-can-do-anything-you-can-do-better' theme,

    Little Nutbrown Hare goes through a series of declarations regarding the breadth

    of his love for Big Nutbrown Hare."

Tong Tong is five years and two months old now. Her father bought him a story

book for his birthday on July 2. Now he is reading "But as the boy grew older

he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave..."

Mr. Smith lives in New York City. He has a two-year-old grandson; who likes to

    listen to some stories about animals and read picture books with a hide-and-seek

    adventure and lots of pop-up surprises on every page!

Susan's mother bought her a new book today. In this book, there are many good

bedtime activities---a reappearing little mouse is particularly pesky: By the

end of the little rabbit's goodnight poem, the story has quieted to a whisper,

and the drawings have darkened with nightfall. As you turn the last page, you

can expect a sleepy smile and at least a yawn or two.