The term paper was due to December 1, but hard as he tried, he was unable to meet the _____ for it.

British potato farmers were taking to the streets to call for the expression "couch potato" to be taken away from the dictionary on the grounds that it harms the vegetable's image.

The British Potato Council wants the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to replace the expression with the term "couch slouch", with protests planned outside parliament in London and the offices of Oxford University Press. Kathryn Race, head of marketing at the Council, which represents some 4,000 growers and processors, said the group had complained in writing to the OED but had yet to receive a response.

"We are trying to get rid of the image that potatoes are bad to you," she said Monday.

"The potato has had its knocks in the past. Of course it is not the Oxford English Dictionary's fault but we want to use another term than couch potato because potatoes are naturally healthy."

The OED says "couch potato" originated as American slang, meaning "a person who spends leisure time passively or idly sitting around, especially watching television or video tapes."

John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said the dictionary first included the term “couch potato” in 1993 and said "dictionaries just reflect the words that society uses."

Simpson said words were never taken out of the full-length dictionary, which includes some 650,000 words contained in 20 volumes. But little-used words can be removed from the smaller dictionaries to make way for newer ones.

“If society stops using words, then they are taken out of the smaller dictionaries”, he added. “The first known recorded use of the expression ‘couch potato’ was in a 1979 Log Angeles Times article,” Simpson said.

Nigel Evans, a member of parliament for the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, has made a motion in support of the campaign, highlighting the nutritional value of the British potato.

1．British potato farmers were taking to the streets _____.

A．to advertise their production

B．to call for a higher price for t heir potatoes

C．to remove the expression “couch potato” from the dictionary

D．to let people know how important the potato is in people’s lives

2．The farmers think that_________.

A．potatoes have had a bad imagine       

B．potatoes are good for people by nature

C．potatoes sometimes do harm to people

D．it's the dictionary's fault to use the expression "couch potato"

3．John Simpson thinks that _________.

A．the expression can be taken out of every kind of dictionary

B．dictionaries do not necessarily reflect the words the society uses

C．little used words can remain in the smaller dictionaries

D．it is impossible to take the word out of the dictionary

4．What is wrong with the expression "couch potato"?

A．It is connected with unfavorable meaning．

B．Potato should be used in the expression． 

C．It is borrowed from American English．

D．It refers to a kind of person．

At a laboratory in Germany ,volunteers slide into a machine and perform simple tasks, such as deciding whether to add or subtract two numbers , or choosing which of two buttons to press.

They have no idea that scientists in the next room are trying to read their minds-using a brain scan to figure out their intention before it is turned into action.

In the past ,scientists had been able to detect decisions about making physical movements before those movements appeared .But researchers at Berlin's Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience claim they have now , for the first time ,identified people's decisions about how they would later do a high-level mental activity-in this case ,adding versus subtracting.

While still in its initial stages ,the techniques may eventually have wide-ranging implications for everything from criminal questioning to airline security checks.

The research,which began in July 2005,has been of limited scope:only 21 people have been tested so far.And the 71 percent accuracy rate is only about 20 percent more successful than random selection.

Still ,the research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig ,about 150 kilometers southwest of Berlin ,has been generating strong interest in the scientific community.

In one study ,participants were told to decide whether to add or subtract two numbers a few seconds before the numbers were flashed on a screen . Meanwhile ,a computer captured images of their brain waves to predict the subject's decision-with one pattern suggesting addition, and another subtraction.

The team ,headed by Haynes ,began its research by trying to identify which part of the mind was storing intentions. They discovered it was found in the prefrontal cortex region by scanning the brain to look for bursts of activity when subjects were given choices.

Then they went about studying which type of patterns were associated with different intentions.

"If you knew which thought signatures to look for ,you could theoretically predict in more detail what people were going to do in the future," said Haynes.

75.Which of the following is true about the experiment at the laboratory?

A.The volunteers are asked to perform very complicated tasks.

B.Everything was explained to the volunteers before the experiment.

C.The volunteers cannot see the scientists while performing the tasks.

D.The volunteers started the experiment by pressing one of the two buttons.

76.Which of the following demonstrates the major breakthrough made by the German scientists?

A.By studying the subjects' brain waves , they know what physical movements they'll make.

B.By studying the subjects' brain waves, they know what mental task they'll perform.

C.By studying criminals' brain waves ,they can help find out whether they are lying or not.

D.By studying passengers' brain waves ,they can help find out who intends to make trouble.

77.In the research which began in July 2005 only______subjects' brains were scanned and the accuracy rate was______.

A.21; 20%      B.71;20%       C.21;71%       D.20;71%

78.The group of scientists in Leiqzig were doing______what the group in Berlin were doing.

A.similar research to                  B.better research than

C.completely different things from        D.a less satisfactory job than

79.The term thought signatures in the last paragraph refers to______.

A.the subjects' intentions       B.the subjects' physical movements

C.parts of the human brain    D.the human brain wave patterns

80.From the information in the passage, it can be concluded that in the future______.

A.the intentions of people can be predicted accurately

B.it's impossible to predict accurately the intentions of people

C.no one in the world will dare to tell lies to other people

D.everyone will easily know what others are thinking about

Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The people willingly act as part-time workers, enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the job, for example, they each receive 50 percent of the job’s wages, its holidays and its other benefits.

Job sharing differs from conventional(常规的) part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas, which require higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment.

Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing, which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job, thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing by contrast, is not designed to address the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing, by contrast, is not designed to address unemployment problems; its focus, rather is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities.

As would be expected, most job sharers are women. A survey carried out in 1988 by Britain’s Equal Opportunities Commission showed that 78 per cent of sharers were female, the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children, but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status. Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence.

The necessity of close cooperation when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs. However, to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed, each person needs to know the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover, there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum, for a position to be job-shared well, the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals.

1.In what way is work sharing different from job sharing?

2.According to paragraph4, young mothers preferred job sharing to conventional part-time work mainly because______.

3.In job sharing the partners should ______.

You may have heard the term “the American Dream”．In 1848, James W．Marshall found gold in California and people began having golden dreams.That 19th century “American Dream" motivated(激发) the Gold Rush and gave California its nickname of the "Golden State".

   The American Dream drove not only 1800s gold-rush prospectors（采矿者）but also waves of immigrants throughout that century and the next．People from Europe, and a large number of Chinese, arrived in the US in the 19th century hoping that in America they would find gold in the streets．But most．instead, worked as railroad laborers．They created the oldest Chinatown, in San Francisco, and gave the city a Chinese name "the old gold hill"．

In the 20th century, some critics said that it was no longer possible to become prosperous through determination and hard work． Unfair education for students from poor families and racial discrimination almost made the American Dream a nightmare(噩梦).

Then, in the 1990s, California saw a new wave of dreamers in Silicon Valley．People poured their energy into the Internet． This new chapter of the American Dream attracted many business people and young talents from China and India to form start-ups and seek fortune in America.

Better pay, a nice house, and a rising standard of living will always be attractive．However, the new American Dream .is no longer just about money．It encourages Americans to consume wisely to protect the environment, improve the quality of life, and promote social justice（正义，公正）.

   The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger has become the model of the new American Dream．After years of hard work, he grew from a poor young man from Austria into a super movie star and then a governor． Many people hope his story can save the American Dream and give California a brighter future.

It can be inferred that_____________.

   A．America' s golden dream could never be realized

   B．America's golden dream had bought great fortune to Chinese immigrants

   C．different times have different themes of the American dream

   D．determination and hard work are the best way to realize the American dream

Why did most of the early immigrants work as railroad laborers?

   A．Because they could earn more money as railroad laborers?

    B．Because they had to make a living by working as railroad laborers．

    C．Because they thought railroad was the first step to find gold.

    D．Because railroad laborers were greatly honored at that time.

The underlined sentence “his story can save the American Dream” (in the last paragraph) indicates that_____________．

    A．the dream of seeking fortunate in America is easy to realize

    B．most of the immigrants to America don’t reach their previous goals

    C．the success of Arnold Schwarzenegger is among the common examples of the immigrants

    D．the immigrants have made great contributions to California

What’s the best title of the passage?

    A．Wave of Immigrants to America

    B．Make Fortunes Abroad

    C．Hard Work Leads to Success

    D．Changes of America’s Golden Dream