Parking has long been a major headache for drivers in Shanghai. The Transportation Department is mapping out a new plan for the city’s parking system. There are one million cars on the road in Shanghai but only enough public parking space to provide room for 15 percent of these vehicles. It is no wonder that local drivers get so worried trying to find a place to park.
The city is seeing a rise in private car owners. In March, the city sent out 2,000 private car licenses, the highest number of licenses ever sent out in a month. And prices rose to 14,600 yuan, 500 more than in February. Industry experts say this suggests that local people have a strong, active interest in buying cars.
By the year 2020, the number of automobiles in Shanghai will probably reach two million. If one parking lot is for each car, then a lot of parking space should be built for these vehicles.
Downtown Shanghai is most short of parking space. However, experts point out that simply building more parking lots in downtown areas is not practical and doesn’t provide an ideal solution. The idea of “ Park & Ride” system has been suggested. This means that drivers can leave their vehicles in car parks nearby subway or bus stations and ride public transport to go downtown. Based on this idea, the city will limit the number of parking lots in downtown areas and demand higher parking fees but build more parking areas near main subway and bus stops.
72.The underlined phrase “ mapping out ” in the first paragraph means __________.
A. making     B. arguing       C. controlling       D. inspiring
73. About __________ drivers can find places to park their cars in Shanghai now.
A. 850,000     B. 1,000,000      C. 150,000       D. 2,000,000
74. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us ?
A. The city sent out more private licenses in February.
B. Less and less people bought cars in March.
C. The city sent out less private licenses in March.
D. More and more people are going to buy cars.
75. According to the idea of a “ Park & Ride ” system, the city will __________.
A. send out more private car licenses
B. build more parking lots near bus stops
C. encourage people to buy more cars
D. build more parking areas in downtown

Once in a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay – at – home athers. I made the point that one reason why we’re seeing more stay – at – homw dads may be hat it’s no longer definite that a man makes more money than his wife. Many families now ake earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home.
At that point, one of the male crew members pointed out, almost to himself but loud nough for my benefit, “It should be the better parent who stays home.” A lot of guys say hings like that. Usually it’s a code for “My wife, or any woman is the better parent.”
I was a stay – at – home father for 8 years, so his words made me excited. It implied that our family’s choice could only have been correct if I was a “better” parent than my wife.
I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the “better” parent if she spent more time with Jack. She would be able to read him wetter and calm him more quickly. But as the more employable one, my wife went out to work and I looked after our son.
because of the increased time I spent with Jack. I soon knew him well, understood that he needed and could look after him more or less as well as my wife could. Actually, he experience helped me unlock one of the world’s great secrets; Women are good at booking after children because they do it. It is not because of any innate (先天的) female talent. It is because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job.
Woman obviously get a biological head starting from giving birth and nursing, but ever the long term experience is more important. When I got the experience myself. I was people are able to look after them as well besides their moms.
【小题1】The first paragraph implies          .

A．A man can take better care of children than his wife.

B．A man with experience can take good care of children.

C．A child prefers to stay with his or her mother.

D．A child prefers to stay with his or her father.

When I entered Berkeley, I hoped to earn a scholarship. Having been a Straight-A student(优等生), I believed I could  1   tough（=hard） subjects and really learn something. One such course was World Literature given by Professor Jayne. I was extremely interested in the ideas he  2 in class.
When I took the first exam, I was  3   to find a 77, C-plus, on my test paper,  4   English was my best subject. I went to reason with Professor Jayne, who listened to my arguments but remained 5  .
I decided to try harder, although I didn't know what that  6   because school had always been easy for me. I read the books more carefully, but got another 77. Again, I  7    with Professor Jayne. Again, he listened patiently but wouldn't change his  8   .
One more test before the final exam. One more  9  to improve my grade. So I redoubled my efforts(加倍努力) and, for the first time,  10  the meaning of the word "thorough"（彻底的）.But my  11  did no good and everything  12  as before.
The last hurdle（障碍）was the final. No matter what  13 I got, it wouldn't cancel three C-pluses. I might as well kiss the  14  goodbye.
I stopped working hard. I felt I knew the course material as well as I ever would. The night before the final, I even  15  myself to a movie. The next day I decided for once I'd have  16  with a test.
A week later, I was surprised to find I got an A. I hurried into Professor Jayne's office. He  17  to be expecting me. "If I gave you the As you  18  , you wouldn't continue to work as hard."
I stared at him,  19  that his analysis and strategy（策略）were correct. I had worked my head  20  , as I had never done before.
I was speechless when my course grade arrived: A-plus. It was the only A-plus given. The next year I received my scholarship. I've always remembered Professor Jayne's lesson: you alone must set your own standard of excellence.

Computer programmer David Jones makes 35,000 pounds a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a credit card (信用卡). Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.
The 16-year-old boy works for a small firm in Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David’s firm puts two new games on the home market each month.
But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. In spite of his salary, made by inventing new programs within a quite short period of time, the bonus payments and profit-sharing (奖金和分红), he cannot drive a car, get some money from a bank to buy a house, or get credit cards.
He lives with his parents in their house in Liverpool, where his father is a bus driver. His firm has to pay ￡150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.
David got his job with the firm a year after leaving school with six 0-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs,” he said.
“I suppose 35,000 pounds sounds a lot but actually that’s not good enough. I hope it will come to more than that this year.” He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother 20 pounds a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school,” he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I know what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway.”
David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement (退休) is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.”
36. Why is David different from other young people of his age?
A. He earns a very high salary.
B. He has not a job.
C. He does not go out much.
D. He lives at home with his parents.
37. David’s greatest problem is ____________.
A. making the banks treat him as a grown-up
B. inventing computer games
C. spending his salary
D. learning to drive
38. He was hired by the firm because ____________.
A. he had worked in a computer shop
B. he had written some computer programs
C. he worked very hard
D. he had learned to use computers at school
39. He left school after taking six 0-levels because ____________.
A. he did not enjoy school
B. he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him
C. he was afraid of getting too old to start computing
D. he wanted to earn a lot of money
40. Why does David think he might retire early?
A. One has to be young to write computer programs.   
B. He wants to stop working when he is a millionaire.
C. He thinks computer games might not always sell so well.
D. He thinks his firm might go bad.

You’ve just come home, after living abroad for a few years. Since you’ve been away, has this country changed for the better—or for the worse?
If you’ve just arrived back in the UK after a fortnight’s holiday, small changes have probably surprised you—anything from a local greengrocer suddenly being replaced by a mobile-phone shop to someone in your street moving house.
So how have things changed to people coming back to Britain after seven, ten or even 15 years living abroad? What changes in society can they see that the rest of us have hardly noticed—or now take for granted? To find out, we asked some people who recently returned.
Debi: When we left, Cheltenham, my home town, was a town of white, middle-class families—all very conservative (保守的). The town is now home to many eastern Europeans and lots of Australians, who come here mainly to work in hotels and tourism. There are even several shops only for foreigners.
Having been an immigrant (移民) myself, I admire people who go overseas to find a job. Maybe if I lived in an inner city where unemployment was high, I’d think differently, but I believe foreign settlers have improved this country because they’re more open-minded and often work harder than the natives.
Christine: As we flew home over Britain, both of us remarked how green everything looked. But the differences between the place we’d left behind and the one we returned to were brought sharply into focus as soon as we landed.
To see policemen with guns in the airport for the first time was frightening—in Cyprus, they’re very relaxed—and I got pulled over by customs officers just for taking a woolen sweater with some metal-made buttons out of my case in the arrivals hall. Everyone seemed to be on guard. Even the airport car-hire firm wanted a credit card rather than cash because they said their vehicles had been used by bank robbers.
But anyway, this is still a green, beautiful country. I just wish more people would appreciate what they’ve got. 
【小题1】After a short overseas holiday, people tend to _______.