This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

 China has recently been faced with serious issues of product safety. Some cases have brought attention internationally to the increased use of imported ingredients to make food and medicine.

In Panama, medicine made with a poisonous chemical killed or sickened more than one hundred people. A Chinese company had identified it as diethylamide glycol （ [化]乙二醇）, a low – cost substitute commonly used in automobile antifreeze（防冻剂）.

Some countries have banned Chinese-made toothpaste containing diethylamide glycol. China has now told companies to discontinue its use, even though it says the toothpaste is safe. Another industrial chemical, melamine（三聚氰胺）, was found in wheat flour used to make pet food in North America. Thousands of dogs and cats became sick.

The United States has restricted some imports of Chinese seafood because they contained banned substance. And questions have been raised about other products, including children’s toys covered with lead paint.

Chinese officials promised to provide the European Union, the biggest trading partner, with detailed reports on enforcement efforts against unsafe goods.

Meglena Kuneva, commissioner (理事) for consumer protection of the European Union said China should have kept its promise.

China recently closed three companies linked to the Panama and the pet food scare. And it dismissed the former head of its food and drug administration. He was found guilty of corruption (腐败) for approving unsafe drugs. This week, a conference of the State Council approved a proposed special measure on the supervision of food safety. The Xinhua News Agency said it calls for stronger controls over producers, greater responsibilities for government and more serious punishment for illegal activities.

But Chinese officials have accused some foreign media of overstating problems with goods made in China. They say food imports from the United States also fail inspection sometimes. Next Week, American and Chinese food safety officials are planning to hold 5 days of meetings in Beijing to discuss cooperation.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

How many cases with safety problems are mentioned in the passage?

    A．Six      B．Five      C．Four       D．Three

How was Panama case dealt with afterwards?

  A．Three companies linked to it were closed down.

  B．The former head of food and drug administration was removed from his position.

  C．More serious punishment was conducted for leaders linked to it.

  D. Both A and B.

It can be inferred but not clearly stated that ________.

  A．Chinese- made toothpaste is safe          

B．the safety of “made in China” is doubted

  C．there are safety problems with one more Chinese products.

  D．stronger control over Chinese products is in need

The passage is mainly about ________.

  A．China is facing product safety problems

  B．more controls are taken of Chinese goods

  C．overstated problems with Chinese goods

  D．China is losing its trade partners

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn’t master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.

When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn’t find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn’t escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying no the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.

“What does hell look like?”

“Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.

What does the underlined word “master” in the first paragraph mean?

  A. Miss.      B. Finish.          C. Follow.          D. Learn well.

Why did the bird hide herself when other birds were learning flying skills?

  A. Because she was lazy.

  B. Because she didn’t like learning flying skills.

  C. Because she thought she could go to hell by doing this.

  D. Because she thought she didn’t have to learn flying skills.

According to the passage, the bird at last found that      .

A. hell was a place full of water.          B. hell was a place full of burning fire

C. there was no hell                        D. hell was a small well-decorated cage

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分 30分）

阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C、和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑

   Once upon a time there lived an old man in a nice cottage with a large garden. The old man was seen   36   his flowers all the time. They were so well-tended that every passer-by could not but   37   for a glance.

   One day a young man went by the garden. He gazed at the splendid garden,   38   in admiration at the beauty of these sceneries. Then, suddenly he   39   the old gardener was blind.40   , the young man asked, “Why are you busy tending these flowers every day which you can’t  41  in fact?” The old man smiled and answered that “ I can tell you  42   reasons. First I was a   43  when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can’t see these flowers, yet I can   44  them. Third，I can smell sweetness of them. As to the last one, that’s  45  .

   “Me? But you don’t know me,” responded the young man   46   .

   “Yeah, it’s   47  that I don’t know you. But I know everyone knows flowers and would never   48   them down. I know the beauty of my garden will get many people into a good  49   . In the meantime, it also   50  a chance to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

    The old man’s  51  astonished me. The blind man grows flowers and  52  them as a link of minds so as to make   53   enjoy the sunshine in spring. Isn’t it one kind of happiness？

   I believe every flower has   54  with which they can see the kindness of the man’s heart. The blind man grows flowers in his heart. Though   55  to see the beauty of blossoming, he surely can hear the voice of it, I suppose.

A. loving        B. watering         C. tending          D. planting

A. stop     　　 B. stay             C. live         D. run

A. kept          B. dropped          C. fallen       D. lost

A. realized           B. noticed          C. felt         D. thought

A. Excited       B. Frightened       C. Shocked      D. Satisfied

A. feel            B. see              C. hear         D. eat

A. one            B. two              C. three            D. four

A. gardener        B. teacher          C. farmer       D. painter

A. taste              B. plant            C. touch        D. appreciate

A. it              B. me               C. them        D. you

A. with pleasure      B. in surprise          C. with hope    D. in anger

A. true               B. possible         C. a pity       D. a shame

A. put                B. turn             C. get         D. knock

A. mind            B. life             C. future       D. mood

A. introduces          B. offers           C. stands      D. leaves

A. words           B. behavior         C. story        D. attitudes

A. treats             B. acts             C. works        D. serves

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

A. ears               B. soul             C. eyes        D. heart

A. refusing       B. trying          C. pretending   D. Failing

Tom Hopper got his work _____ in the filming industry for his film had been crowned best picture at the Oscars.

A. to recognize     B. recognizing    C. recognize     D. recognized

完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）

In the doorway of my home, I looked closely at my 23-year-old son, Daniel．In a few hours he would be flying to France to   26   a different life．It was a transitional（过渡的） time in Daniel’s life．I wanted to   27   him some words of significance．But nothing came from my lips, and this was not the   28   time I had let such moments pass．

    When Daniel was five, I took him to the bus stop on his first day of kindergarten．He asked, “What is it going to be like, Dad? Can I do it?” Then he walked     29     the steps of the bus and disappeared inside．The bus drove away and I said nothing．A decade later, a similar   30   played itself out．I drove him to college．As I started to leave, I tried to think of something to say to give him  31    and confidence as he started this new stage of life．Again, words   32   me．

    Now, as I stood before him, I thought of those    33   opportunities．How many times have I let such moments   34   ? I don't find a quiet moment to tell him what they have   35   to me．Or what he might want to face in the years   36  ．Maybe I thought it was not necessary to say anything．

    What does it matter in the course of a lifetime if a father never tells a son what he really thinks of him?   37   as I stood before Daniel, I knew that it did matter．My father and I loved each other．Yet, I always   38   never hearing him put his    39   into words．Now I could feel my palms sweat and my throat tighten．Why is it so   40   to tell a son something from the heart?

    My mouth turned dry, and I knew I would be able to get out only a few words clearly．“Daniel,” I said, “If I could have picked, I would have picked you．” That's all I could say．He hugged me．For a moment, the world   41   , and there were just Daniel and me．He was saying something, but tears misted my eyes, and I couldn't understand what he was saying．All I was   42   of was the stubble（短须） on his chin as his face pressed    43    mine．What I had said to Daniel was   44   ．It was nothing．And yet, it was    45     ．

A．experience     B．spend        C．enjoy    D．shape

A．show        B．give         C．leave   D．instruct

A．last       B．first    C．very     D．next

A．upward          B．into         C．down    D．up

A．sign            B．scene            C．scenery      D．sight

A．interest        B．instruction          C．courage      D．direction

A．failed          B．discouraged     C．struck       D．troubled

A．future     B．embarrassing    C．obvious      D．lost

A．last       B．fly         C．pass         D．remain

A．counted    B．meant        C．valued       D．eared

A．forward    B．before      C．ago          D．ahead

A．But         B．And              C．Instead     D．So

A．wondered   B．regretted    C．minded       D．tried

A．views       B．actions          C．feelings         D．attitudes

A．important   B．essential        C．complex      D．hard

A．disappeared B．changed          C．progressed       D．advanced

A．sensitive       B．convinced        C．aware        D．tired

A．by          B．against         C．on       D．with

A．clumsy     B．gentle       C．amusing      D．moving

A．none            B．all     C．anything         D．everything

Was it in 1996 _____ the American astronaut succeeded _____ landing on the moon?

   A. that; in       B. when; on        C. what; on        D. when; in

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mum, you must come and see the daffodils （水仙花）before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Lake Arrowhead. “I will go next Tuesday,” I promised, a little unwillingly, on her third call.

    The next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, “Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible （看不见的）in the cloud and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see!”

    My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this weather all the time, Mum. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

    After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read “Daffodil Garden”.

    We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most beautiful sight! There were five acres of flowers! “But who has done this?” I asked Carolyn. “It’s just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “That’s her home,” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio （庭院）, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking” was the headline.

    The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs （鳞茎）,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

    I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than fifty years before, had begun -- one bulb at a time -- to bring the beauty and joy to the mountain top.

The author didn’t go to see the daffodils at first because _________.

    A. she was not interested in them

    B. they were growing on the mountain top

    C. the weather was not good enough

    D. it was not easy for her to drive there

What do we know about the woman living in the A-frame house?

    A. She must be out of mind.

    B. She acted as a gardener there.

    C. It took her great determination to grow the daffodils.

    D. She was poor and made her living by selling daffodils.

What could the author probably learn from this experience?

    A. Nothing is too difficult if you put your heart into it.

    B. We must put the interests of others above our own.

    C. We can change the world by growing flowers.

    D. It’s never too late to learn.

What would be the best title for the passage?

    A. An Unforgettable Experience.         B. Beautiful Daffodils.

C. One Bulb at a Time.                 D. I Love Daffodils.

How can you find out what is going on inside a person’s body without opening the patient’s body up? Regular X rays can show a lot. CAT scans can show even more. They can give a complete view of body organs.

What is a CAT scan? CAT stands for a kind of machine. It is a special X-ray machine that gets a 360-degree picture of a small area of a patient’s body.

Doctors use X rays to study and determine diseases and injuries within the body, X rays can find a foreign object inside the body or take pictures of some inside organs to be X-rayed.

A CAT scanner, however, uses a group of X rays to give a cross-sectional（横截面）view of a specific part of the body. A fine group of X rays is scanned across the body and around the patient from many different directions. A computer studies the information from each direction and produces a clear cross-sectional picture on a screen. This picture is then photographed for later use. Several cross sections, taken one after another, can give clear “photos” of the entire body or of any body organs. The latest CAT scanners can even give clear pictures of active, moving organs, just as a fast-action camera can “stop the action”, giving clear pictures of what appears unclear to the eye. And because of the 360-degree pictures, CAT scans show clear and complete views of organs in a manner that was once only shown during operation or examination of a dead patient.

Frequent appearance before X rays can cause skin burns, cancer or other damage to the body. Yet CAT scans actually don’t cause the patient to more radiation than regular X rays do. CAT scans can also be done without getting something harmful into the patient, so they are less risky than regular X rays.

CAT scans provide exact, detailed information. They can quickly find such a thing as bleeding inside the brain. They are helping to save lives.

What is NOT true of a CAT scan?

A．It is safer than regular X rays.

B．It makes use of computer techniques.

C．It can stop the action of an organ for a short time.

D．It gives clear pictures of active, moving body parts.

The underlined words “a foreign object”（Para 3）most probably refer to      .

A．a badly injured part inside the body

B．a new thing that is unknown to the doctor

C．a strange organ that has grown in the body

D．an object that gets inside the body by chance

What is the special use of the latest CAT scanners?

A．It provides clear photos of moving organs.

B．It can take 3-dimension（三维）pictures of inside organs.

C．It won’t cause serious skin burns, cancer or other damage to the body.

D．It helps to find out what is going on inside a person’s body without opening it up.

We can infer from this passage that      .

A．patients in front of CAT may suffer from a bit of radiation

B．doctors need no opening-up of the body with CAT scanners

C．CAT scanners are more expensive than regular X-ray machines

D．CAT scanners can take photos of either the whole body or a part of it

The best title of this passage might be        .

A．the Newest Medical Invention

B．New X-ray Machine to Save Lives

C．How to Avoid the Damage of X Rays

D．Advantages and Disadvantages of CAT Scanners

We are having a class get-together. It’s been twenty years        we graduated from high school.

A．before   B．since           C．after          D．when

Don’t ask me to prepare the picnic lunch, I’m not ______ a cook.

A. much of            B. better than       

C. good at             D. much as