New Beijing, Great Olympics

The 2008 Olympic Games has been the most cheerful and anticipated（预先的） event throughout Beijing ever since Beijing was rewarded the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, yet the focus should be shifted from making a promise to carrying out the promise made.

　 In my point of view, to bridge the gap between the promise and reality, Beijing still has a long way to go. To begin with, basic-structure construction should be the primary concern. Such basic-structures as communications and transportation system and facilities ought to draw our constant attention. For example, traffic jam has been an age-old headache in Beijing. The scene of long queues of vehicles worming their way inch by inch will surely cause great disorder, and impair the image of the city meanwhile. Next, to add charm to convenience, overall city planning is quite necessary. Time permitting, a redesign of city plan and adjustment of architectural style would provide a better environment for cultivating the characteristic, mixing oriental elegance(东方的雅致) with international greatness, will tower aloft(在高处) among surrounding architectures. To achieve such effect, Beijing shall seek opinions from first-rate architects and make an overall plan. Thirdly, quality of the population should be improved. To make an international metropolis, both “hardware” and “software” are important.

　 However, Rome was not built in a day. To carry out the promise of “New Beijing, Great Olympics”, deeds speak louder than words.

What does the underlined word “metropolis” in paragraph 2 mean ?

A . suburb     B. small city    C. capital city   D. town  

Which sentence is not true according to the author’s opinion in the passage?

A. Beijing has a crowded traffic since a long time ago.

B. Experts in architecture are also important to the city’s construction.

C. In order to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has preparations to make in many ways.

D. Hardware” refers to quality of people in Beijing.

How many aspects does the author mention to prepare for the Olympics in Beijing?

A. two: basic-structure construction and people’s quality

B. three: basic-structure construction, traffic problem and overall city planning.

C. two: basic-structure construction and overall city planning

D. three: basic-structure construction, overall city planning and people’s quality.

What can be inferred from the text?

A. Beijing is going to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

B. To carry out the promise of “New Beijing, Great Olympics”is a long-term work.

C. Traffic jams will cause a lot of trouble and make people feel sick..

D. An overall city plan is to make Beijing a city with eastern and western cultures mixed together.

The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic(赞同的) audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.

My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.

　　My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.

　　The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.

Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived(察觉) as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’s         young people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language.

1. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____.

2. In the author’s opinion, the speaker ______.

3.The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ______.

4.It can be concluded from the passage that ______.

5.In the passage the author argues that ______.

　More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving（旺盛的）. As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline（衰退）in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce（离婚）rate needs to be taken in this pro- marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.

　　What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty- five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses （配偶）．

　　Thus, one can find every type of tamely arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with “full - time” children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full- time”children from the present marriage and“ part- time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half- brothers and half - sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

　By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.

　　A. Americans are more traditional than Europeans

　　B. Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

　　C. there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe

　　D. more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

Divorced Americans ________ .

　　A. prefer the way they live

　　B. will most likely remarry

　　C. have lost interest in marriage

　　D. are the majority of people in the society

Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？

　　A. Which types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable.

　　B. A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife.

　　C. Americans prefer to have more kids than before.

　　D. There are no nuclear families any more.