While still in its early stages, welfare reform has already been judged a great success in many states-at least in getting people off welfare. It’s estimated that more than 2 million people have left the rolls since 1994.

In the past four years, welfare rolls in Athens County have been cut in half. But 15 percents of the people who left in the past two years took jobs that paid less than $6 an hour. The resuit: The Athens County poverty rate still remains at more than 30 percent-twice the national average.

 For advocates (代言人) for the poor, that’s an indication that much more needs to be done.

“More people are getting jobs, but it’s not making their lives any better,” says Kathy Lairn,a policy analyst at the Center on Budget and policy Priorities in Washington.

A center analysis of US Census data nationwide found that between 1995 and 1996, a greater percentage of single, female-headed households were earning money on their own, but that average income for these households actually went down.

But for many, the fact that poor people are able to support themselves almost as well without government aid as they did with it is in itself a huge victory.  

“Welfare was a poison. It was a toxin(毒素) that was poisoning the family,” says Robert Rector, a welfare?reform policy analyst. “The reform is changing the moral climate in low?income communities. It’s beginning to rebuild the work ethic(道德观), which is much more important.”

Mr. Rector and others argued that once “the habit of dependency is cracked, ”then the country can make other policy changes aimed at improving living standards.

13.From the passage, it can be seen that the auther .      

A.believes the reform has reduced the government’s burden

B.insists that welfare reform is doing little good for the poor

C.is overenthusiastic about the success of welfare reform

D.considers welfare reform to be fundamentally successful

14.Why aren’t people enjoying better lives when they have jobs?

A.Because many families are divorced.        B.Because government aid is now rare.

C.Because their wages are low.               D.Because the cost of living is rising.

15.What is worth noting from the example of Athens County is that .      

A.greater efforts should be made to improve people’s living standards

B.15 percent of the people there have been employed for two years

C.50 percent of the population no longer relies on welfare

D.the living standards of most people are going down

16.From the passage we know that welfare reform aims at_______ .

A.saving welfare funds                       B.rebuilding the work ethics(观念)

C.providing more jobs                        D.cutting government expenses

Electric current can be transmitted from the power station to where _______.

1. A.
   needed
2. B.
   is needed
3. C.
   needs it
4. D.
   it is needing

An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.

James Harrison has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.

Mr. Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations. When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special that his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.

He was also nicknamed the “man with the golden arm” or the “man in two million”. He said: “I've never thought about stopping. Never.” He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood. “I was in hospital for three months,” he said. “The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.”

Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood. At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition. The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.

His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D. After his blood type was discovered, Mr. Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine. “They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,” he said. “I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.”

Mr. Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood. It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women. It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.

It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far. Mr. Harrison is still donating every few weeks now.

How old is James Harrison？

A. 56           B. 70           C. 74           D. 78

What does the underlined phrase “two million” refer to?

A. babies           B. mothers      C. dollars          D. all of the above

   Why did James decide to donate his blood? Because _____.

    A. his daughter asked him to help her son

    B. he has a golden arm worth a million dollars

    C. a vaccine called Anti-D is to be developed

    D. someone else’s blood saved his life

The sentence “The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood” (underlined in Paragraph 5) suggests that _____.

    A. babies suffer permanent brain damage before born

    B. the mother and the baby have different types of blood

    C. Rhesus disease contributes to permanent brain damage

    D. all the patients have a rare antibody in their blood

   What can we infer from the sixth paragraph?

    A. Some of the tests to develop the vaccine are dangerous.

    B. His wife Barbara needed to be taken care of badly then.

    C. Mr. Harrison was glad to help develop a new vaccine.

    D. His blood type was accidentally discovered after tests.

Growing trees in the concrete jungle of Los Angels brings neighbors benefits beyond beauty.

    As the  36  of TreePeople, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1973, Andy, now 54, has inspired hundreds of thousands of volunteers to  37  plant more than two million trees throughout Southern California.

       Tree People 38 tools, blueprints, planting demonstrations, and tree-care supervisors free to all the participants,  39  me. “You will need their support,” Andy said, referring to my neighbors. “ 40 

the community behind you, the trees you plant will die in five years.” So I started knocking on doors, hoping to share  41  I’d learnt in Tree People’s seminar(培训班) about the critical role of trees in removing smog from the  42  , cooling our homes and preventing water runoff.

       Strange  43  it may seem, some people are afraid of trees. “The roots destroy sidewalks,” one neighbor said, “  44  will ruin my pipes. And I don’t want leaves.”  45   told me.

       When I called Andy about the  46  I was getting from my neighbors, he encouraged me to keep trying. So my son and my wife delivered cookies while I went door to door. It  47  us half a year to sign permission forms from 16 neighbors for 21 trees.

       When the big day arrived, I was excited and  48  . What if I threw a planting tree and  49  else came? But as I set out shovels(铁铲), my son and wife made cakes and doughnuts,  50  started to gather. Friends brought friends. Neighbors came with cousins and grandchildren. A local middle school even  51  with half the seventh grade. More than 300 people joined us.

       Then Andy led us in a  52  : welcoming each tree into the world and  53  it name. After the ceremony, as I shook hands with volunteers and my neighbors, I  54 help but feel we’d accomplished  55  great. After all, trees need people, and people need trees.

A. friend                    B. interviewer            C. president           D. volunteer

A. bravely               B. actively                 C. anxiously          D. generously

A. supports             B. affords                         C. shows               D. provides

A. including            B. considering            C. containing         D. reminding

A. For                    B. Without                    C. With                 D. Except

A. what                         B. which                   C. that                   D. how

A. cloud                    B. wind                        C. sky                   D. air

A. while                    B. if                          C. however            D. as

A. You                    B. I                              C. They                 D. It

A. The other            B. Another                    C. Other                D. Others

A. resistance            B. acceptance             C. agreement         D. praise

A. spent                     B. paid                         C. took                  D. covered

A. moved                B. disappointed          C. surprised           D. nervous

A. everybody             B. nobody                 C. somebody          D. anybody

A. volunteers              B. journalists             C. friends                     D. neighbors

A. made up             B. took up                 C. showed up         D. cheered up

A. ceremony                  B. march                   C. activity             D. celebration

A. calling                B. leaving                     C. making             D. giving

A. wouldn’t            B. shouldn’t                  C. couldn’t            D. needn’t

A. anything             B. something             C. nothing             D. everything