A MENTORING (导师制) program is giving life changing opportunities to Banbury youth.

Young Inspirations was founded two years ago to provide mentoring sessions for students and unemployed young adults aged 11 to 21.

Alex Goldberg, the program's founder, said; "We set up Young Inspirations because we wanted to give young people experiences which will potentially be life changing and broaden their outlook.

"We try to create work experience opportunities that will really make a difference to our youth. For example, we've secured internships (实习) with world-famous firms such as Honda.

"At a time of funding cutbacks where schools are finding it more and more difficult to offer this kind of mentoring, it is extremely important that these opportunities are available both to help youth with their school work and grades and to give them opportunities which may help shape their futures. " Kieran Hepburn, 14, is one of a group of Banbury youth who has benefited from the program so far. In October the Banbury School pupil was accompanied by Young Inspirations staff to Paris where he was an observer at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) International Youth Forum (论坛).

The event was held for young people from around the world, to seek their views on how the future of youth and education should look. Kieran joined several hundred observers mostly in their 20s and was the only UK school pupil to attend the event. Kieran thinks the trip was a life changing experience. " Before we left I didn't quite know what to make of it but when we got there we didn't stop, it was amazing," he said, " We went to three or four hours of debates each day and then did something cultural each afternoon. "

The main theme of the forum was how youth can drive change in political and public life. It dealt with issues (问题) such as drug abuse, violence and unemployment.

Kieran said: " It has really helped me to improve my confidence and social skills as well as my school grades and I was voted most improved pupil at school in August. "

The Young Inspirations mentoring sessions take place each Friday in Banbury. For details visit www.younginspirations.com.

1.The Young Inspirations mentoring program aims to _____.

A．train staff for world-famous firms           B．offer job opportunities to young adults

C．provide youth with unique experiences      D．equip the unemployed with different skills

2.According to Alex Goldberg, it is difficult for schools to offer the mentoring due to _____.

A．the lack of support from firms              B．the cultural differences

C．the effect of unemployment               D．the shortage of money

3.According to the passage, the forum focused on how youth can ____.

A．build up their confidence at school          B．find work experience opportunities

C．improve their social skills for the future      D．play an active role in the change of society

4.We can learn from the passage that _____.

A． the visit to the United Kingdom was amazing

B． Kieran has made great progress in many aspects

C． the youth have found a way to solve their problems

D． the mentoring sessions are held every day except Friday

5.What would be the best tide for the passage?

A． Alex Goldberg, Founder of Young Inspirations

B． Young People Find a World of Opportunity

C． Kieran, Banbury School Pupil to Paris

D． Debates Help Youth with Their Grades

Whatever we may need to buy，we can use our credit cards．This is a change from the older days when we had to first check whether cards were accepted．Today，everybody, from retailers（零售商) to lenders，accepts credit cards．Attitudes towards credit cards have also changed a lot．People used to be
very careful of using their cards；but this is no longer the case. People today prefer to take out their cards as soon as they get to the cash counter．A swipe (刷卡) and a sign are all it takes，and you can walk home with the bill and all the things you buy．
The credit card is much easier to carry than cash and it is not at all surprising that the former becomes the most preferred way of payment．A credit card takes up very little space in our wallets，and yet，it holds the power of a large sum of cash．Paying by credit cards is also a good way of keeping bills on where all of our money goes．  
Moreover，it has become much easier to get credit cards these days．I constantly have cold callers calling up to offer me “great new credit card deals”．Salesmen occasionally walk into our office offering discounts if a group of people decide to sign up a certain kind of credit card plan at the same time．However，this can also cause a problem．Nowadays，we always run the
risk of getting some kinds of wastes．When the terms seem too good to be true，we should make sure that we always read the printed items carefully．Before signing for a creditcard，it is necessary to know its advantages and disadvantages．The only way to deal with this is to do our homework, before we go credit card hunting．   
【小题1】We learn from Paragraph 1 that      ．   

(B)

Last week, while visiting my dad with my daughter, we went to a restaurant for dinner. When we were seated, my dad asked the waitress if there were any soldiers eating at the restaurant. Then waitress said there was a soldier having dinner with his friend. My dad told the waitress to tell the soldier and his friend that their dinner was paid for! He also said that he did not want to be known as the benefactor(施主).

Then waitress later commented on my dad’s thoughtful behavior saying that she had never seen anything like this before. At a local college, she had studied opera and so she used this to thank my dad by performing a piece from The Pearl Fisherman. Her voice brought me to tears because it sounded perfect!

After a while, the soldier appeared at our table (I don’t know how he knew my dad paid the bill for him.) and said that he would be sent to the front the next morning and that he could not leave this country without saying “thanks” to my dad. My dad replied that it was he who wanted to say “thanks”. They shook hands as the soldier left.

Before we left, the waitress came by again. She did a magic show as another way to show her “thanks” to my dad. Her show was really great. My dad left her a note with email address asking for her next performance time in addition to a $ 50 tip.

Everyone witnessed something exemplary in the human spirit that night. I can only hope to see more of this in the future.

46. My dad offered help to the soldier and his friend in the restaurant probably because________.

A. he wanted to thank them for all they had done

B. he wanted to know more about then

C. he wanted the waitress to thank him

D. he wanted the soldiers to know his kindness

47. The waitress performed The Pearl Fisherman in the restaurant because____.

A. she was asked to perform to the guests

B. she wanted to show off her wonderful skills

C. she wanted to show her respect and thanks to the author’s dad

D. she wanted to attract more and more guests

48. What did the soldier do in response to the author’s father’s kindness?

A. He gave something to author’s dad.

B. He gave a big tip to the waitress.

C. He said thanks to the author’s dad in person.

D. He did a magic show for the author and her father.

49. The author considered her father’s action to be ____.

A. funny        B. understandable         C. worthless            D. honorable

50. The passage mainly tells us that we should ____.

A. learn to be grateful to others      B. find ways to thank others

C. try to learn from each other               D. respect soldiers and waitresses

China’s Tianhe-1 has a computing speed of 2,507 trillion（万亿）calculations a second, making it the fastest computer in the world. It is also 40 percent faster than the world’s second fastest supercomputer, Cray XT5 Jaguar, in the US, kept at a national laboratory in Tennessee, according to the New York Times. Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist, told NYT that the Chinese supercomputer is faster than the existing Number One machine.

Building the fastest supercomputer has become a source of national pride, as these machines are valued for their ability to solve problems in areas like defense, energy and science. These problems are related to national interests. Supercomputing technology is also found in business. Oil and gas companies use supercomputers to find oil and gas.

Obviously, research centers with large supercomputers attract top scientific talents. This adds extra importance to the machines—they’re more than just huge computers.

China’s new supercomputer will be used to speed up greatly scientific calculations, such as hurricane and tsunami modeling, cancer research, car design and even studying stars.

In 2008, two US scientists put together a step-by-step guide on how to build a supercomputer using PlayStation 3 video-game consoles（控制台）. Modern supercomputers are built by combining thousands of small computer servers（服务器）and using software to turn them into one large computer. Really, any organization with enough material and technology can create a fast machine.

The Chinese system follows that model by linking thousands upon thousands of computer servers. But the secret behind the system—and the technological achievement—is China’s own networking technology. “That technology was built by them,” Dongarra said. “They are taking supercomputing very seriously and using a lot of time and money.”

“China is still a developing country,” said Sha Chaoqun, manager at Dawning Company which is the leading supercomputer maker in China. “Maybe one day, China’s total computing power can be greater than that of the US, but there is still a long way to go before we get there.”

In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They found out that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like “serious illness of a family member” were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not show how you deal with stress—it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you deal with these events has a great effect on your chances of staying healthy.

By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women's magazines ran headlines like “Stress causes illnesses”.If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy, the articles said, avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. even if stressful events are dangerous, many—like the death of a loved one—are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription(处方) for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move.?
The idea that all stress makes you sick also takes no notice of what we know about people. It is supposed that we're all weak and passive in the face of difficulty. But many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental strength than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental damage.
【小题1】The result of Holmes-Rahe’s medical research tells us _______.?