题目内容
This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A few weeks ago, we talked about the Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL. A listener in Cambodia named Thida asks if American colleges and universities also accept the IELTS exam. IELTS is the International English Language Testing System. It was developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL examiners.
Cambridge ESOL says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration or employment. The IELTS tests listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. It uses a mixture of accents and spellings, including British English and American English.
The test is used by government agencies, schools and professional organizations in one hundred and twenty countries. And, yes, that includes the United States. The many American schools that accepted the IELTS can be found on the Web at felts.org.
Some schools accept both the TOEFL and the IELTS, but the graduate school at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, for example, says it prefers the IEITS.
The listening and speaking parts are the same for everyone who takes the IELTS, but people have a choice of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.
The listening test takes thirty minutes. There are forty questions based on a recording. The reading test takes sixty minutes. Students answer forty questions based on three written passages.
The writing test also takes sixty minutes. Students have to write two essays. One essay has to be at least one hundred and fifty words long and the other at least two hundred and fifty words. The shorter one is description of something; the longer one has to support and argument.
The speaking test takes less than fifteen minutes. The score is based on a recorded talk between the student and a test examiner.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. If you have a general question for our series, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Barbara Klein.
What does TOEFL stand for?
A. The Voice of America B. The International English Language Testing System
C. The Test of English as a Foreign Language
D. The Test of English as a Native Language
The International English Language Testing System commonly takes _______ in all.
A. less than 160 minutes B. more than 165 minutes
C. no more than 160 minutes D. less than 166 minutes
According to the passage, we can infer _______.
A. IELTS is efficient and necessary if you want to go to English-speaking countries
B. IELTS is completely different from TOEFL
C. every American needs to accept TOEFL D. IEITS isn't used more widely than TOEFL
What is the main idea of the passage?
A. How can the readers write papers to the VOA programme?
B. It talks about some ways to pass TOEFL.
C. It introduces IELTS.
D. How can the readers pass two kinds of tests?
July 21st, 2007 was a typical English summer’s day — it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded. Our house bad never been flooded but, as I opened the front door, a wave of water greeted me. Thank God the kids weren’t with me, because the house was 5 feet deep in water. We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls, ceilings pulled down.
At first we tried to push on through. We didn’t want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community（社区）.We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours, and I’d never thought how much I’d miss that.
Although-our situation was very bad, it’s difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what’s happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , “We didn’t have a straw hut（茅草房）that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We’re lucky .”
We moved back home in August. With December coming, there’s reconstruction work to be done, so it’s difficult to prepare for Christmas. But I can’t wait — I’m going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support. This year , I won’t need any gifts — living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things, there’s really no rush — we have our home back, and that’s the main thing.
What does the underlined word “amiss” in the first paragraph mean?
A. Wrong. B. Missing. C. Right. D. Found.
It can be inferred from the text that the author .
A. was sick of staying upstairs
B. cared much about her children
C. could not stand living a wooden house
D. did not deal well with her family affairs during the flood
Why does author say that they were lucky in the third paragraph?
A. Because her situation was not serious.
B. Because many other places were flooded.
C. Because she had been to Northern India.
D. Because some others suffered even more.
What does the author mainly want to express by telling her story?
A. She valued human feelings more than before.
B. She realized she almost didn’t need possessions.
C. She found Christmas gifts no longer badly needed.
D. She thought her own home was the most important.
---The terrible flood brought about $10 million in losses to this islandcountry,
---_____.
A.Quite OK B.Certainly C. That's the case D.I agree
Why not try your luck downtown, Bob? That’s ________ the best jobs are.
A．where
B．what
C．when
D．why
On March 23, 2010, Google Inc took a major step in withdrawing(收回) its search-engine services from Beijing to Hong Kong. Google acknowledged that it failed to make progress in talks with the Chinese government for permission to let Google stop censoring(审查) its search results.
Since posting the announcement on its website, Google’s stock(股票) price has fallen from $595 to about $567, while Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has seen its stock price rise by 50%. A potential foreign beneficiary(受益者) is Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine. And while Bing may not exactly have got the keys to a very rich kingdom, its managing group understand their good fortune and have not been shy about sticking the knife into Google. Craig Mundie, a chief officer of Bing, told China Daily that “we feel good enough now,” adding, “but it’s a 20-year journey, and not just three years. And Microsoft is here to stay.”
Several other Chinese Internet companies are no doubt moving swiftly to take advantage of this situation. Both Sohu. com—a Yahoo-like website in China— and a hugely successful instant-messaging company called Tencent(腾讯) are already trying to hire Google China staff. Analysts believe that of the two, Tencent is in the better position. Nearly 70% of China’s 400 million Internet users use instant-messaging, and of those, 80% use Tencent’s system, known as QQ. That’s the major reason why Tencent’s potential market is bigger than Baidu’s, and an insider at the company acknowledges that the search business is full of opportunities.
All the competitors of Google do what the Chinese government requires: censor their search results. If Microsoft and the others intend to be in China “to stay,” as Craig Mundie put it, there is no chance that the censoring principle will change for them.
As to the Google’s exit, one of its investors made the comment recently, “There’re still a lot of us who believe that they’ve made the wise choice. But Google is apparently out and I guess we just get to accept.” However, some Chinese netizens regretted the loss of its professional services on google. cn, such as maps, videos, music and translations.
73.Google.cn stops its business in China because _____.
A. too many companies enter the market B. its stock price has fallen sharply
C. Chinese companies hire its workers D. it refuses to censor the search results
74.How many Chinese beneficiaries are mentioned in the passage?
A. Two. B. Three C. Four. D. Five.
75.When Google withdraws, _______.
A. Chinese netizens won’t have any professional service
B. only Chinese companies will provide search service
C. China’s attitude towards censoring won’t be changed
D. the Google managing group will regret its decision
76.A suggested title for this news would be ______.
A. When Google Withdraws From China B. Who Wins in China’s Search Business
C. Who Will Profit When Google Exits D. Why Google Loses to Other Competitors
