Daily at this time we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.

February 24,1942

　　Those words were from the Voice of America’s first broadcast during World War Ⅱ. Today more than 80 million listeners tune in every day. The broadcast network is the largest in the world and reaches millions of listeners in Africa, in English, French, Hausa, Portuguese, and Swahili. The program is broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese for Central and South America. The Middle East receives its news in Arabic and Parsi, South Asia picks up signals in Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu. The Russian-language service is on 14 hours a day.

　　All of the broadcasts come from the Voice of America headquarters（总部）in Washington D．C．. Visitors can push a red button outside any of the twenty-five glass-walled studios and listen to the broadcasts, in Hindi, that Indian citizens are listening to at that very moment in India.

　　In addition to news broadcasts, the Voice of America sends out interviews and a wide variety of programs. For example, special broadcasts in easy English are written for students of English as a foreign language. Among the most popular features（特色）of the Voice of America are the musical programs which offer every kind of music from Bach to Rock.

The Voice of America is the official voice of the United States government, but it presents opposing opinions as well. To give an objective analysis（客观分析）of the news, the station gets advice from newspapers, news services, reporters, and correspondents（通讯员）from all over the world.

(1) According to the text, the Voice of America broadcast ________ during World War Ⅱ.

[　　]

A．only good news

B．only bad news

C．the real news

D．uncertain news

(2) It can be inferred that South Asian people speak ________.

[　　]

A．Arabic and Chinese

B．Swahili and Spanish

C．Hindi and Parsi

D．Hindi, Urdu and Bengali

(3) If the visitors want to listen to the broadcast in Hindi, they ________.

[　　]

A．need to understand 25 languages

B．need to push a button

C．have to learn English

D．have to be Indian Citizens

(4) From the text we know that _________.

[　　]

A．the Voice of America presents different kinds of opinions

B．it was not during the World War Ⅱ that the Voice of America started broadcasting

C．not only newspapers but also news services ask the Voice of America for help

D．the most popular program presented by the Voice of America is the English course

　　Daily at this time we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.

February 24,1942

　　Those words were from the Voice of America’s first broadcast during World War Ⅱ. Today more than 80 million listeners tune in every day. The broadcast network is the largest in the world and reaches millions of listeners in Africa, in English, French, Hausa, Portuguese, and Swahili. The program is broadcast in Spanish and Portuguese for Central and South America. The Middle East receives its news in Arabic and Parsi, South Asia picks up signals in Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu. The Russian-language service is on 14 hours a day.

　　All of the broadcasts come from the Voice of America headquarters（总部）in Washington D．C．. Visitors can push a red button outside any of the twenty-five glass-walled studios and listen to the broadcasts, in Hindi, that Indian citizens are listening to at that very moment in India.

　　In addition to news broadcasts, the Voice of America sends out interviews and a wide variety of programs. For example, special broadcasts in easy English are written for students of English as a foreign language. Among the most popular features（特色）of the Voice of America are the musical programs which offer every kind of music from Bach to Rock.

The Voice of America is the official voice of the United States government, but it presents opposing opinions as well. To give an objective analysis（客观分析）of the news, the station gets advice from newspapers, news services, reporters, and correspondents（通讯员）from all over the world.

(1) According to the text, the Voice of America broadcast ________ during World War Ⅱ.

[　　]

A．only good news

B．only bad news

C．the real news

D．uncertain news

(2) It can be inferred that South Asian people speak ________.

[　　]

A．Arabic and Chinese

B．Swahili and Spanish

C．Hindi and Parsi

D．Hindi, Urdu and Bengali

(3) If the visitors want to listen to the broadcast in Hindi, they ________.

[　　]

A．need to understand 25 languages

B．need to push a button

C．have to learn English

D．have to be Indian Citizens

(4) From the text we know that _________.

[　　]

A．the Voice of America presents different kinds of opinions

B．it was not during the World War Ⅱ that the Voice of America started broadcasting

C．not only newspapers but also news services ask the Voice of America for help

D．the most popular program presented by the Voice of America is the English course

English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage of native English speakers is declining globally while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.

　　 However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导) by the middle of this century to rank, after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. “The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn’t rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken,” he says.

　　 In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil, and Malay, spoken in south and Southeast Asia.

　　 David Crystal, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about 1.5 billion of the world’s six billion people speak it as a second tongue compared to the 400 million native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the future of its dominance. “Nobody quite knows what’s going to happen because no language has been in this position before. But all the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster,” he said.

71. In David Graddol’s opinion, English will _______.

　　 A. remain widespread and important　

B. be more important than any other language

　　 C. lose its dominant position　　　　　　

D. die away in the near future

72. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that ______.

　　 A. snowballs will roll down faster than language balls

　　 B. the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past

　　 C. English language will soon drop in dominance

　　 D. more and more language users will choose English

73. How many experts does the passage mention who express their ideas about the future of English?

　　 A. 2.　　 　 　　 　B. 3.　 　　　　 C. 4.　　 　　　　 D. 5.

74. According to David Graddol, which of the following will possibly be one of the languages that will be most widely spoken?

　　 A. Malay. 　　 B. Arabic. 　　 C. Urdu.　　 　　 D. German.

75. What should be the best title for the passage?

　　 A. English Remaining the Dominant Position

　　 B. The Future of English? Who Knows?

　　 C. Opinions from Different Experts

　　 D. The English Language Snowball Rolling Down

B

　　Chinese children will be able to get a taste of adult working life in a theme park planned for Hang-zhou city,East China's Zhejiang Province.The Kids City,the first of its kind in China,will allow children aged five to ten to try out jobs of their choice after it opens in October 2008.

　　Located in eastern Hangzhou,the indoor entertainment and educaion park,similar to "Kidzania" in Mexico and Japan,offers more than 50 professions,including pilot,doctor,police officer and lawyer,according to Hangzhou Youth Activity Center(HYAC),the organizer of the park,The park will be a 7:10 scale (比例尺) city with streets,hospitals,museums,supermarkets, schools,airport and other facilities.Construction has begun on the indoor section.

　　Inside the 7,000-square-meter city,every kid would get a bank account holding special money that they can only spend in the park.They could earn more money by working in different booths or workshops.One job would take about half an half an hour and the whole tour would usually last five to six hours."The interactive(交互式) experience will help kids to learn about the adult life,which is good for their future career planning.They will have a lot of fun here,"said Huang Jianming,chief of HYAC.Parents are not allowed to enter the city,but they can take pictures from outside the huge glass house.

　　The ticket price has not been decided yet.But HYACsaid it might be lower than Kidzania Tokyo's and around several hundren yuan.With the majority of investment(投资) coming from the government,the project also needs financial support from companies and organizations,according to HYAC.

　　The world's first Kidzania was opened in Mexico City in 1999.It has turned out to be a huge success receiving about 800,000 visitors every year.In 2006,Kidzania opened its Tokyopark in Japan,which also became an attraction to kids."We are confident that the Chinese version(版本) wll be very successful."said Huang.

　　60.The theme park is aimed at letting the kids_______.

　　　A.work with adults B.experience adult careers

　　　C.imitate adults looking after a family D.watch adults work

　　61.The Kids City will________.

　　　A.be more than half the size of Hangzhou City

　　　B.consist of two parts,one larger than the other

　　　C.contain buildings smaller than those we use

　　　D.have lower buildings than Kidzania Tokyo's

　　62.A visitor to the Kids City ______.

　　　A.has nothing in his bank unless he's worked

　　　B.always leaves his tour with much money in his bank

　　　C.learns to earn money as well as to use it

　　　D.can try out all the professions on one tour

　　63.How many of such theme parks are open to visitors at present in the world?

　　　A.Only one B.Two C.Three D.None

根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。

A.　Goods for auction (拍卖) sales

　　B.　Definition of bidding

　　C.　Way to sell more goods by auction

　　D.　Auction sales in history

　　E.　Brief introduction to auctions

　　F.　Making a larger profit as an auctioneer

1.______

Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction-room to make offers, or “bids”, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down” the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands.

2. ______

The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning “increasing”. The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth centuries, goods were often sold “by the candle”: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.

3. ______

Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art.

4. ______

An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers: he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in.

5. ______

The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other.