Holiday Inns and McDonald’s. both saw unmatched growth in the 1960s. Their growth opened another direct business operation—franchising.

These operations have the same general pattern. The franchisor, the parent company, first establishes a successful retail business. As it expands, it sees a profit potential in offering others the right to open similar business under its name. The parent company’s methods and means of identification with consumers are included in this right. The parent company supplies skill, and may build and rent stores to franchisees. For these advantages the franchisee pays the franchisor a considerable fee. However, some of the advantages and disadvantages are different.

By extending a “proven” marketing method, a parent can profit in several ways. First, the franchisee’s purchase price gives the parent an immediate return on the plan. Then the sale of supplies to the franchisee provides a continuing source of profits. As new businesses are added and the company’s reputation spreads, the values of the franchise increases and sales of franchises become easier. The snowballing effect can be dramatic. Such growth, too, bring into play the economies of scale. Regional or national advertising that might be financially impossible for a franchisor with 20 franchises could be profitable for one with 40.

The parent, then, finds immediate gains from the opportunity to expand markets on the basis of reputation alone, without having to put up capital or take the risk of owning retail stores. Added to this advantage is a less obvious but material one, Skilled, responsible retail managers are rare. People who invest their capital in franchises, though, probably come closer to the ideal than do paid managers. In fact, the franchisee is an independent store operator working for the franchisor, but without an independent’s freedom to drop supplies at will. Of course the factory’s costs of selling supplies are less. But also certainly the franchisee buying goods that have had broad consumer acceptance will not casually change supplies, even when the contract permits. If the hamburger is not what the customer expected, they may not return. Having paid for the goodwill, the franchisee won’t thoughtlessly destroy it.

1. Franchising refers to a business operation in which a successful parent company          .

2.. The advantages of franchising to the parent company are all the following EXCEPT      .

3. The passage mainly tells the reader          .

4.. What will the author probably discuss after the last paragraph?

In South America, the rich soil of the Amazon River basin（流域）in Brazil is known as “black gold”. Scientists found that the secret of this rich soil was charcoal（木炭）. Local people made it from animal bones and tree branches. They mixed the charcoal with the soil about 1.500 years ago.

Now, scientists in the United States have done a modern demonstration. They say charcoal fertilization offers a revolutionary way to improve soil quality for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Mingxin Guo and his team at Delavare State University heated tree leaves, corn stalks（茎）, small pieces of wood and poultry waste into “biochar”（生物碳）. They reported their findings at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans.

Biochar could be good news for farmers with poor soil and hungry populations to feed. Professor Guo says it could even help against global warming. Intensive（集约的） farming and overuse of chemical fertilizer give out carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Biochar does the opposite, he says. It traps carbon in the ground.

The researchers planted winter wheat in containers of soil in a greenhouse — some with biochar, some without. Professor Guo says the wheat grows much better in the pots with biochar. The soil was added two percent charcoal to. But he says even a one percent treatment will increase productivity.

The results demonstrated that biochar can increase organic matter in soil. Loss of nutrients in soil is an increasing problem worldwide as farmers try to grow more food for growing populations.

Next, the team will carry out a five-year study of biochar with spinach（菠菜）, green peppers and tomatoes.

Mingxin Guo says he learns about the “black gold” in Brazil from a magazine story. He explains that it was discovered in the jungle, in the area where waters flow to the Amazon, in the 1960’s. But it was not until recent years that scientists began to bring public attention to it.

1.According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．The researchers will go on proving their theory.

B．The leading researcher learns the theory from the magazine.

C．Charcoal was discovered 1,500 years ago.

D．Common farming can produce more carbon dioxide.

2.Biochar has the following advantages EXCEPT that ________.

A．it can improve the condition of the soil       

B．it can be used as a kind of energy

C．it can help against global warming 

D．it can increase productivity of the corn

3.According to the research, the biochar can help against global warming because it can ________.

A．reduce the carbon dioxide

B．keep the carbon in the soil

C．reduce the loss of nutrients in the soil

D．absorb the carbon dioxide

4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Using Charcoal to Make soil into “Black Gold”

B．Using Charcoal to Reduce the Carbon Dioxide

C．How Amazon River Basin Produces “Golden Black”

D．Guo’s Research on Producing Biochar

阅读理解

　　Tim Berners-Lee is the man who wrote the software program that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web. Britain played an important part in developing the first generation of computers. The parents of Tim Berners-Lee both worked on one of the earliest commercial(商业)computers and talked about their work at home. As a child he would build models of computers from packaging material. After graduating from Oxford University he went on to the real thing. In the 1980's scientists were already communicating using a primitive version of e-mail. While working at a lab in Switzerland Tim Berners-Lee wrote a program, which let him store these messages. This gave him another idea that he was going to write a program that would let academics(学术界人士)from across the world share information on a single site. In 1990 he wrote the HTTP and HTML programs, which formed the basis of the World Wide Web.

　　The next year his programs were placed on to the Internet. Everyone was welcome to use them and improve them if they could. Programs used his codas to work with different operating systems. New things like web browsers and search engines were developed. Between 1991 and 1994 the number of web pages rose from 10 to 100,000.

　　In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee formed the newly World Wide Web consortium(协会), or W3C. More than 200 leading companies and labs are represented by W3C. Together they make sure that everyone can participate equally on the Web.“The Web can help people to understand the way that others live and work. It helps us understand the humanity of people”he says.

(1)From the passage we can infer that Tim Berners-Lee is most probably ________.

[　　]

A．British　　　　B．American

C．Swiss　　　　D．French

(2)The main idea of the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．when the internet came into being

B．how Tim Burners-Lee formed W3C

C．why computers develop so rapidly

D．how the World Wide Web started

(3)Scientists began to communicate using e-mail ________.

[　　]

A．in 1980　　　　    B．after the 1980's

C．before 1990　　　　D．in the 1960's

(4)He made up his mind to write a program that would let people from across the world share information on a single site when ________.

[　　]

A．he was a child

B．he studied on Oxford University

C．he formed W3C

D．he worked at a lab in Switzerland

He started to work dilligently _____ he came up with the idea of hybrid rice for the first time in the 1960’s.

A. at once      B. the moment      C. for the moment    D. in no time

Holiday Inns and Mc Donald’s, both saw unmatched growth in the 1960s. Their growth opened another direct business operation—franchising(特许经营).

    These operations have the same general pattern. The franchisor, the parent company, first establishes a successful retail(零售)business. As it expands, it sees a profit potential in offering others the right to open similar business under its name. The parent company’s methods and means of identification with consumers are included in this right. The parent company supplies skill, and may build and rent stores to franchisees. For these advantages the franchisee pays the franchisor a considerable fee. However, some of the advantages and disadvantages are different.

    By extending a “proven” marketing method, a parent can profit in several ways. First, the franchisee’s purchase price gives the parent an immediate return on the plan. Then the sale of supplies to the franchisee provides a continuing source of profits. As new businesses are added and the company’s reputation spreads, the value of the franchise increases and sales of franchises become easier. The snowballing effect can be dramatic. Such growth, too, brings into play the economies of scale (规模经济). Regional or national advertising that might be financially impossible for a franchisor with 20 franchises could be profitable for one with 40.

    The parent, then, finds immediate gains from the opportunity to expand markets on the basis of reputation alone, without having to put up capital or take the risk of owning retail stores. Added to this advantage is a less obvious but material one. Skilled, responsible retail managers are rare. People who invest their capital in franchises, though, probably come closer to the ideal than do paid managers. In fact, the franchisee is an independent store operator working for the franchisor, but without an independent’s freedom to drop supplies at will. Of course the factory’s costs of selling supplies are less. But also certainly the franchisee buying goods that have had broad consumer acceptance will not casually change supplies, even when the contract permits. If the hamburger is not what the customer expected, they may not return. Having paid for the goodwill, the franchisee won’t thoughtlessly destroy it.

   Franchising may give you the idea that as a franchisor, you need only relax in the rocking chair. Franchising, however, has problems to be solved.

Franchising refers to a business operation in which a successful parent company_________.

         A. sells name-brand goods to a private investor

         B. rents proven ideas and techniques for investment

C. sells the right, the guidance to a business under its name

         D. takes no advertising responsibility for individual investors

The advantages of franchising to the parent company are all the following EXCEPT________.

         A. an immediate investment return

B. the ownership of additional retail stores

         C. the profit from the sale of supplies

         D. the possibility of profitable advertising

The passage mainly tells the reader_________.

         A. the advantages and disadvantages of franchising

B. the benefits of franchising to the franchisor

         C. the unmatched economic growth in the 1960’s

         D. some regional and national business operation

What will the author probably discuss after the last paragraph?

         A. More advantages of franchising.

         B. Risks of investment besides franchising.

         C. The standard of consumer acceptance.

         D. Negative aspects related to franchising