The central government will pour billions of yuan into special projects to help meet the country’s energy-saving targets. Local officials are also about to come under increased pressure to toe the government line to meet the targets, otherwise their political futures could be in jeopardy. A top official from the National Development and Reform Commission reaffirmed China’s commitment to cutting energy use and emissions when making a report to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress yesterday.

   “We’re facing a very vital situation to cut energy use,” Ma Kai, the NDRC minister said. “If we don’t fasten our pace, it will be difficult to meet the targets this year.”

   Ma said the central government would also issue compulsory energy consumption standards for 22 products such as steel, cement, caustic soda and thermal power by the end of the year. NDRC figures show that the country’s energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 2.78 percent in the first six months from the same period a year earlier. However, the government has set the target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, about an annual fall of 4 percent. But it fell only 1.33 percent last year from 2005. In addition, official figures also show that SO₂ emissions dropped 0.88 percent to 12.63 million tons in the first half of the year.

   The minister blamed some local officials for dragging the rest of the country down in not meeting the targets. He said the assessment of officials in many places still focused too much on their performance in economic growth, and many cities and counties still lacked concrete plans to cut energy consumption. Ma said we had paid too much to economic growth and serious consequences are revealing themselves.

1. The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means “________________”.

   A. their families would be healthy                 B. their futures would be bright

   C. their futures would be in danger               D. their jobs would be necessary

2. The Chinese government will pour billions of yuan into special projects to _______________.

A. help reduce energy use and emissions             

B. enlarge investment

C. improve the living conditions            

D. balance the income between the poor and the rich

3. The underlined word in paragraph 2 means “__________”.

   A. useless        B. strange      C. helpful       D. important

4. From the passage, we can infer that _______________.

   A. the government only focused on the economic growth

   B. some local officials could have done more for cutting energy use and emissions

   C. some local officials would not focus on the economic growth

   D. SO₂ emissions increased in the first half of the year

5. What caused the government to face a very vital situation to cut energy use?

   A. The assessment of officials.

   B. The central government would not issue energy consumption standards.

   C. Many cities and counties still lacked concrete plans to cut energy consumption.

   D. A and C.

Group buying is one of the fastest growing trends in South Africa today. Industry leaders are confident the growth potential remains strong since group buying is location-specific. Start-up costs are low and profit room remains high, so many sites continue to receive invested money despite widespread criticism and Facebook’s decision to phase out of deal business due to privacy concerns.

In the early stages of all industries, some companied fail because they cannot compete with stronger companies in difficult economic conditions. To deal with difficult conditions, an alarming number of businesses are developing group buying websites in places like China and India, so the increase of group buying in South Africa is nothing more than a natural progression into the international mainstream.

The group buying concept is fairly new and consumers have accepted this concept because they can now make full use of the rich information available on the Internet. Group buying is convenient and easy so it works. Anyone can view a site, join a mailing list, subscribe to RSS or print out a coupon(优惠券). The current group buying structure offered by the industry leaders works although there are still challenges to overcome.

Perhaps, the future of group buying is tied to the joining together of social media and mobile devices. Mobile devices are with us wherever we go and almost everyone is using some type of social media site like Facebook or Twitter to stay informed. Using GPS and social media technology to provide real time location-specific promotions would be beneficial to every consumer looking for the best deals in town.

Pause for a moment and think about it! What is better than signing on to your phone while having fun in town and you receive a real time information that your favorite shop across the street is offering a killer dial?

The future of the group buying in South Africa is bright and we can expect to see more advanced approaches to this concept in the future. In addition to the technological advances consumers will see the range of promotions expand to include new products and services.

1.What does the underlined phrase “phase out of” mean in the passage?

2.The author sets China and India as examples to show that      .

3. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

4.The author’s attitude towards the future of group buying is     .

5.What does the passage mainly tell us?

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句最多有两处，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\） 划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;

2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Once upon a time there was a rich man. He had a lot of money, but he felt unhappy all the times. Finally, the rich man left for home to look for  happiness. He visited many places and met many rich men. All of them said they were not happy, too. On his way home, the rich man saw a farmer work in the field. He went up to the farmer and asked, “Could you tell me if you felt happy?” “Yes, I’m quite happier. I always feel satisfying about everything in my life,” the farmer answered. “Please tell me how you find happiness,” asked the rich man. The farmer answered with smile on his face. “It’s very easy of me to answer the question. If you work hardly, have three meals a day and go to bed early without worries, you’ll be the happiest man in the world.”

The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates(种植园). The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to 90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.

Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing(加工) tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.

       Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill .There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required .For black tea ,the young green leaves are first spread out o shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this ,the leaves are passed through heavy rollers .This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its colour and taste .Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment （发酵）under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea .The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves .The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.

68．In the first paragraph ,the word “pruning” means       .

       A．regular cutting of the plants

       B．frequent watering

       C．regular use of chemicals

       D．growing the plants high in the mountain

69．One of the reasons why women are employed to do the picking is that        .

       A．they work harder than men do in the picking

       B．they can throw their pickings more easily into the baskets

       C．their fingers fit them better for the job.

       D．they can more easily find the twin leaves.

70．How many processing steps are mentioned in the last paragraph?

       A．Three.                 B．Four.                   C．Five.                   D．Six.

71．What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

       A．To introduce various methods of tea processing.

       B．To persuade readers to buy tea from Sri Lanka.

       C．To tell a story that had happened in the tea gardens.

       D．To inform readers of tea growing ,picking and processing.