CARDIFF, Wales Poets, singers and musicians from across the globe gathered in Wales to celebrate the tradition(传统) of storytelling.

“It might seem strange that people still want to listen in age of watching television, but this is an unusual art form whose time has come again,” said David Ambrose, director of Beyond the Border, an international storytelling festival(节) in Wales.

    “Some of the tales, like those the Inuit from Canada, are thousands years old. So our storytellers have come from distant lands to connect us with the distance of time,” he said early this month.

Two Inuit women, both in their mid 60s, are among the few remaining who can do Kntadjait, or throat singing, which has few words and much sound. Their art is governed by the cold of their surroundings, forcing them to say little but listen attentively.

    Ambrose started the festival in 1993, after several years of working with those reviving (coming back into use or existence) storytelling in Wales.

    “It came out of a group of people who wanted to reconnect with traditions. and as all the Welsh are storytellers, it was in good hands here.” Ambrose said.

1. Ambrose believes that the art of storytelling _______.

A. will be more popular than TV

B. will be popular again

C. started in Wales

D. are in the hands of some old people

2. From the tales told by the Inuit, people can learn _______.

A. about their life as early as thousands of years ago

B. why they tell the stories in a throat-singing way

C. how cold it has been where the Inuit live

D. how difficult it is to understand the Inuit

3. According to the writer, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Storytelling once stopped in Wales.

B. Storytelling has a long history in Wales.

C. Storytelling is always well received in Wales.

D. Storytelling did not come back until 1993 in Wales.

4. The underlined phrase in good hands means _______.

A. controlled by rich people         B. grasped by good storytellers

C. taken good care of                   D. protected by kind people

New York: when the first jet struck, World Trade Center at 8:48 am on Tuesday, the People in 2 World Trade Center with a view of the instant damage across the divide had the clearest sense of what they, too, must do: get out fast.

Katherine Hachinski, who had been knocked off her chair by the blast of heat exploding from the neighboring tower, was one of those. Despite her 70 years of age, Ms Hachinski, an architect working on the 91st floor of 2 World Trade Centre, the south tower, went for the stairs. Twelve floors above her, Judy Wein, an executive (经理), screamed and set off too.

But others up and down the 110 floors, many without clear views of the damage across the way and thus unclear about what was happening, were not so sure. And the 18 minutes before the next plane would hit were ticking off.

Amid the uncertainty about what was the best thing to do, formal announcements inside the sound tower instructed people to stay put, assuring them that the building was sound and the threat was limited to the other tower.

Some left, others stayed. Some began to climb down and, when met with more announcements and other cautions(警告) to stop or return, went hack up. The decisions made in those instants proved to be of great importance, because many who chose to stay were doomed(注定死亡) when the second jet crashed into the south tower, killing many and stranding(使某物留在) many more in the floors above where the jet hit.

One of those caught in indecision was the executive at Fuji Bank UAS.

Richard Jacobs of Fuji Bank left the 79th floor with the other office workers, but on the 48th floor they heard the announcement that the situation was under control. Several got in the lifts and went back up, two minutes or so before the plane crashed-into their floor.

“I just don’t know what happened to them,” Mr. Jacobs said.

1. From the passage, we know that the south tower was hit by the plane_______.

A. at 8: 30                   

B. 18 minutes earlier than the north tower

C. at around 9:06

D. at 8:48

2. The underlined words “stay put” means_______.

A. stay in the building                        B. leave at once

C. put everything back and then leave   D. keep silent

3. Which floor was hit by the second jet?

A. the 91st floor                                 B. the 103rd floor

C. the 60th floor                                D. the 79th floor

4. Fewer people would have died if_______.

A. more announcement had been made

B. people hadn’t used the lifts

C. the incident had happened on a weekend

D. the people had obeyed the office rules

Listen carefully, working people, we would like to tell you something that could save your precious time and money! Best of all, it is free!

It’s “no”.

What do you ask? We’ll say it again: “No”.

Sweet and simple “no”.

Say “no” at your office and see how quickly that pile of work on your desk disappears.

“Saying ‘no’ to others means you are saying ‘yes’ to yourself, ” said Leslie Charles, a professional speaker from East Lansing, Michigan.

“Time is precious. People are spending money buying time. And yet we are willing to give up our time because we can’t say ‘no’.”

Susie Watson, a famous writer, said people who always say “yes” need to say “no” without guilt(内疚)or fear of punishment. “I would rather have someone give me a loving ‘no’ than an obligated(强制的) ‘yes’, ” she said.

Susie Watson says she feels “no” obligation to give an explanation when she says “no” either socially or professionally. Does she feel guilty about it? “Not at all, ” said Watson, who is director of advertising and public relations at Timex Corp in Middlebury, Conneticut. “Most people are afraid of saying ‘no’… My advice is to say ‘yes’ only if you don’t mean ‘no’.”

Watson said “no” is the most effective weapon against wasting time. “Every year there are more demands on your time… Other people are happy to use up your time, ” Watson said. Time saving appears to be “no’s” greatest friend.

“No” can be your new friend, a powerful tool to take back your life. “No” may even take you further in the business world than “yes”.

“No” is power and strength. “No” now seems completely correct. “Saying ‘no’ isn’t easy. But finally it’s greatly liberating,” Charles said. But, he added, a “no” project needs to be worked on every day because it is hard to change long-term habit.

But, he also warns: “Don’t go to extremes. Don’t find yourself saying ‘no’ to everything. In return you should learn to hear ‘no’.”

1. The sentence “Saying ‘yes’ to yourself” means _______.

A. you can have more time to play with others

B. you needn’t care about other’s feeling if you are happy

C. you are selfish and treat others rudely

D. you can deal with your business as you have planned

2. When you say “no” to others you should say it in a _______.

A. secret way   B. polite way

C. proud way     D. guilty way

3. In Watson’s opinion, people can save much time on condition that _______.

A. they say “no” at a suitable time

B. they say “no” as much as possible

C. they are afraid of saying “no”

D. they make others angry at them

4. If a person says “no” to everything, the result he or she receive may be that he or she _______.

A. enjoys a wonderful life     B. makes a lot of money

C. faces difficulty in life  D. forgets to say “yes” in the end

With only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone(克隆) the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That’s similar to what Texas A&M University researchers have been undertaking(负责) for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.

Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen(氮). If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M’S College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.

It is estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.

The entire procedure(过程) could take from three to five years to complete.

“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy(having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”

1. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to_______. 

A. make effort to clone the endangered pandas

B. save endangered animals from dying out

C. collect DNA of endangered animals to study

D. transfer the nuclear of one animal to another

2. According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of _______. 

A. available panda eggs                             B. host animals

C. qualified researchers                             D. enough money

3. The best title for the passage may be _______. 

A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning

B. The First Cloned Panda in the World

C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

D. China — the Native Place of Pandas Forever

4. From the passage we know that _______. 

A. Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a cat

B. scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a tiger

C. Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D. about two thousand of species will probably die out in about a century

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