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Passage One⑴None of the much flaunted appeals of cigarette advertisers, such as superior taste and mildness, induces us to become smokers or to choose one brand in preference to another. Despite the emphasis put on such qualities by advertisers, they are minor considerations. This is one of the first facts we discovered when we asked several hundred people from all walks of life, why they liked to smoke cigarettes. Smoking is as much a psychological pleasure as it is a physiological satisfaction.What is the nature of this psychological pleasure? It can be traced to the universal desire for self-expression. (2) None of us ever completely outgrows our childhood. We are constantly hunting for the carefree enjoyment we knew as children. As we grew older, we had to subordinate our pleasures to work and to the necessity for unceasing effort. Smoking, for many of us, then, became a substitute for our early habit of following the whims of the moment; it becomes a legitimate excuse for interrupting work and snatching a moment of pleasure.Most of us are hungry for rewards. We want to be patted on the back. A cigarette is a reward that we can give ourselves as often as we wish. When we have done anything well, for instance, we can congratulate ourselves with a cigarette, which certifies, in effect, that we have been “good boys.”Passage Two(3) There is increasing media coverage surrounding carbon footprints. Businesses are facing mounting stakeholder pressure to show their commitment to measuring and reducing carbon emissions. As awareness amongst consumers is growing, organizations are being asked to report on the activities they are undertaking to reduce their carbon footprint. Until recently, most carbon offsets were commonly done by planting trees.Yet how effective are new trees in offsetting the carbon footprint? A new study suggests that the location of the new trees is an important factor when considering such carbon offset projects. (4) Planting and preserving forests in the tropics is more likely to slow down global warming. But the study concludes that planting new trees in certain parts of the planet may actually warm the Earth. The new study, which combines climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation in a fully interactive three-dimensional climate-carbon model, confirms that planting more tropical rainforests could help slow global warming worldwide.The research, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory atmospheric scientist Govindasamy Bala, appears in the April 9-13 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.According to the study, new forests in mid-to high-latitude locations could actually create a net warming. Specifically, more trees in mid-latitude locations like the United States and most of Europe would only create marginal benefits from a climate perspective. But those extra trees in the boreal forests of Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia could actually be counterproductive, Bala said.Forests affect climate in three different ways: they absorb the greenhouse gas ― carbon dioxide — from the atmosphere and help keep the planet cool; they evaporate water to the atmosphere and increase cloudiness, which also helps keep the planet cool; and they are dark and absorb sunlight (the albedo effect), warming the Earth. Previous climate change mitigation strategies that promote planting trees have taken only the first effect into account.“Our study shows that only tropical rainforests are strongly beneficial in helping slow down global warming,” Bala said. “It is a win-win situation in the tropics because trees in the tropics, in addition to absorbing carbon dioxide, promote convective clouds that help to cool the planet. In other locations, the warming from the albedo effect either cancels or exceeds the net cooling from the other two effects.”The study concludes that by the year 2100, forests in mid-and high-latitudes will make some places up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than would have occurred if the forests did not exist.(5) The authors caution that the cooling from deforestation outside the tropics should not be viewed as a strategy for mitigating climate change. “Preservation of ecosystems is a primary goal of preventing global warming, and the destruction of ecosystems to prevent global warming would be a counterproductive and perverse strategy.” Said Ken Caldeira, from the Carnegie Institution and a co-author of this report.

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When bread prices rose, Vladkhleb, a bakery, asked the krai and city for help in holding down prices. Here is a letter it wrote, published in the Vladivostok Times Sept. 9, 2007Dear Residents of Vladivostok:The staff and Board of Directors of Vladkhleb can’t keep silent in the current wild situation when prices for all existing products are skyrocketing unbelievably. And while we somewhat indifferently watch enormous figures on price tags for delicacy products, every kopeck of extra charge for the staples causes a real panic. We perfectly realize that, and that’s why we have kept bread prices affordable for all this time. Even after the rise of prices we have tried to keep the past prices for as long as possible.At the moment all our reserves are exhausted. Stocks of bread-baking ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter and the like are running out. To buy what we need at reasonable prices is virtually impossible today.However, we cannot temporize. We all need bread every day, which means we will be forced to buy everything we need at much higher prices. What this means perhaps doesn’t need to be explained.The cost of bread closely depends on ingredients. Another financial crisis has led to a 50%-300% increase of prices for butler, vegetable oil, all types of margarine, yeast and other as of September 1. All these prices continue to grow every hour.Because of this, Vladkhleb came to the critical point where it is necessary to raise prices of its products. Otherwise, we will just destroy a most powerful bread enterprise. Should Vladkhleb shut down, the bread price will get out of hand.Our economists projected the situation for the near future considering the growing flour cost. With the cost of flour at 2.18 rubles per kilogram at the start of September, the retail bread price was to be 4.36 rubles. With an increase of flour cost to 4 rubles per kilogram, bread price will grow to 6.17 rubles. Further growth will be possible.So it turns out that bread may rank with delicacy products. Is there another way out? Yes. It is already put into practice by leaders of other cities and regions. For example, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov used the press in the very first days of the crisis to tell the residents that he had decided to subsidize the bread industry so that not to allow prices for this type of food to rise. There were no objections. So did Khabarovsk ― there they pay subsidies for bread baking ingredients.Incidentally, the city and krai administrations already have the experience of supporting our plants. Rather than artificially holding back prices, they employed loans and waivers and the like. At this point all the city and krai offices of authority as well as deputies at all levels could consider our propositions such as:Granting waivers on taxes to krai and city budgets;Establishing lower prices for electric and thermal energy for a program of bread production;Facilitating in reception of customs duty and tax waivers from the federal government for imported grain;Recovery of Pacific Fleet’s debts in the amount of 6 million rubles (calculated as of August 2007) for supplied products;Lowering rent for premises and plots.Any of these possible measures will help Vladkhleb contain the growth of prices for its products. Despite of our SOS signal, no measures have been taken as yet. We have found ourselves in the same situation as any of you. We see the situation changing steadily for the worse. We will not cope with that alone.We see one recourse: Raise the bread price minimally and cancel our free plastic bag service. But what is next? This is the concern of all the 700 employees and the board of Vladkhleb.Every extra kopeck in the cost of bread upsets you and us very much. Making our sincere apologies for a forced increase of the bread price, we hope for your understanding and support. Today and tomorrow we are with you, as usual.The Staff and Board of Vladkhleb1.In this open letter Vladkhleb explains to the people of Vladivostok that ( ).2.A possible solution to the crisis, Vladkhleb suggests is ( ).3.“So it turns out that bread may rank with delicacy products,” means ( ).4.Vladkhleb has decided not to shut down because, they say, ( ).5.One of Vladkhleb propositions to the local authorities “Recovery of Pacific Fleet’s debts in the amount of 6 million rubles (calculated as of August 2007) for supplied products.” Means ( ).

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The Planning Commission asserts that the needed reduction in acute care hospital beds can best be accomplished by closing the smaller hospitals, mainly voluntary and proprietary. This strategy follows from the argument that closing entire institutions saves more money than closing the equivalent number of beds scattered throughout the health system.The issue is not the simple. Larger hospitals generally are designed to provide more complex care. Routine care at large hospitals costs more than the same care given at smaller hospitals. Therefore, closure of all the small hospitals would commit the city to paying considerably more for inpatient care delivered at acute care hospitals than would be the case with a mixture of large and small institutions. Since reimbursement rates at the large hospitals are now based on total costs, paying the large institutions a lower rate for routine care would simply raise the rates for complex care by a comparable amount. Such a reimbursement rate adjustment might make the charges for each individual case more accurately reflect the actual costs, but there would be no reduction in the total costs.There is some evidence that giant hospitals are not the most efficient. Service organizations —and medical care remains largely a service industry ― frequently find that savings of scale have an upper limit. Similarly, the quality of routine care in the very largest hospitals appears to be less than optimum. Also, the concentration of all hospital beds in a few locations may affect the access to care.Thus simply closing the smaller hospitals will not necessarily save money or improve the quality of care.Since the fact remains that there are too many acute care hospital beds in the city, the problem is to devise a proper strategy for selecting and urging the closure of the excess beds, however many it may turn out to be.The closing of whole buildings within large medical centers had many of the cost advantages of closing the whole of small institutions, because the fixed costs can also be reduced in such cases. Unfortunately, many of the separate buildings at medical centers are special use facilities, the relocation of which is extremely costly. Still, a search should be made for such opportunities.The current lack of adequate ambulatory care facilities raises another possibility. Some floors or other large compact areas of hospitals could be transferred from inpatient to ambulatory uses. Reimbursement of ambulatory services is chaotic, but the problem is being addressed. The overhead associated with the entire hospital should not be charged even prorate to the ambulatory facilities. Even if it were, the total cost would probably be less than that of building of a new facility. Many other issues would also need study, especially the potential over-centralization of ambulatory services.The Planning Commission language seems to imply that one reason for closing smaller hospitals is that they are “mainly voluntary and proprietary”, thus, preserving the public hospital system by making the rest of the hospital system absorb the needed cuts. It is important to preserve the public hospital system for many reasons, but the issue should be faced directly and not hidden behind arguments about hospital size if indeed that was the meaning.1.The best title for the passage would be ( ).2.The Planning Commission is accused by the author of being ( ).3.The author’s purpose in discussing ambulatory care is to ( ).4.With which of the following is the author least likely to agree?5.How does the author feel that his suggestions for closing inpatient beds could impact on the ambulatory care system?

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Well, no gain without pain, they say. But what about pain without gain? Everywhere you go in America, you hear tales of corporate revival. What is harder to establish is whether the productivity revolution that businessmen assume they presiding over is for real.The official statistics are mildly discouraging. They show that, if you lump manufacturing and services together, productivity has grown on average by 1.2% since 1997. That is somewhat faster than the average during the previous decade. And since 2001, productivity has increased by 2% a year, which is more than twice the 1988-1997 average. The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due to the usual rebound that occurs at this point in a business cycle, and so is not conclusive evidence of a revival in the underlying trend. There is, as the treasury secretary says, a “disjunction” between the mass of business anecdote that points to a leap in productivity and the picture reflected by the statistics.Some of this can be easily explained. New ways of organizing the workplace — all that re-engineering and downsizing — are only one contribution to the overall productivity of an economy, which is driven by many other factors such as joint investment in equipment and machinery, new technology, and investment in education and training. Moreover, most of the changes that companies make are intended to keep them profitable, and this need not always mean increasing productivity: switching to new markets or improving quality can matter just as much.Two other explanations are more speculative. First, some of the business restructuring of recent years may have been ineptly done. Second, even if it was well done, it may have spread much less widely than people suppose.Leonard Schlesinger, a Harvard academic and former chief executive of Au Bon Pain, a rapidly growing chain of bakery cafes, says that much “re-engineering” has been crude. In many cases, lie believes, the loss of revenue has been greater than the reductions in cost. His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability. BBDO’s Allen Rosenshine is blunter. He dismisses a lot of the work of re-engineering consultants as mere rubbish — “the worst sort of ambulance-chasing.”81.According to the author, the American economic situation is ( ).82.The official statistics on productivity growth ( ).83.The author raises the question “What about pain without gain?” because ( ).84.What does the word “blunter” (para.5, line 6) mean?85.Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

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Imagine eating everything delicious you want ― with none of the fat. That would be great, wouldn’t it?New “fake fat” products appeared on store shelves in the United States recently, but not everyone is happy about it. Makers of the products, which contain a compound called olestra, say food manufacturers can now eliminate fat from certain foods. Critics, however, say the new compound can rob the body of essential vitamins and nutrients and can also cause unpleasant side effects in some people. So it’s up to consumers to decide whether the new fat-free products taste good enough to keep eating.Chemists discovered olestra in the late 1960s, when they were searching for a fat that could be digested by infants more easily. Instead of finding the desired fat, the researchers created a fat than can’t be digested at all.Normally, special chemicals in the intestines “grab” molecules of regular fat and break them down so they can be used by the body. A molecule of regular fat is made up of three molecules of substances called fatty acids.The fatty acids are absorbed by the intestines and bring with them the essential vitamins A, D, E and K. When fat molecules are present in the intestines with any of those vitamins, the vitamins attach to the molecules and are carried into the bloodstream.Olestra, which is made from six to eight molecules of fatty acids, is too large for the intestines to absorb. It just slides through the intestines without being broken down. Manufacturers say it’s that ability to slide unchanged through the intestines that makes olestra so valuable as a fat substitute. It provides consumers with the taste of regular fat without any bad effects on the body. But critics say olestra can prevent vitamins A, D, E, and K from being absorbed. It can also prevent the absorption of carotenoids, compounds that may reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, etc.Manufacturers are adding vitamins A, D, E, and K as well as carotenoids to their products now. Even so, some nutritionists are still concerned that people might eat unlimited amounts of food made with the fat substitute without worrying about how many calories they are consuming.1.We learn from the passage that olestra is a substance that ( ).2.The result of the search for an easily digestible fat turned out to be ( ).3.Olestra is different from ordinary fats in that ( ).4.What is a possible negative effect of olestra according to some critics?5.Why are nutritionists concerned about adding vitamins to olestra?

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The livelihood of each species in the vast and intricate assemblage of living things depends on the existence of other organisms. This interdependence is sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious. Perhaps the most straightforward dependence of one species on another occurs with parasites, organisms that live on or in other living things and derive nutrients directly from them. The parasitic way of life is widespread. A multitude of microorganisms (including viruses and bacteria) and an army of invertebrates — or creatures lacking a spinal column (including crustaceans, insects, and many different types of worms) — make their livings directly at the expense of other creatures. In the face of this onslaught, living things have evolved a variety of defense mechanisms for protecting their bodies from invasion by other organisms.Certain fungi and even some kinds of bacteria secrete substances known as antibiotics into their external environment. These substances are capable of killing or inhibiting the growth of various kinds of bacteria that also occupy the area, thereby eliminating or reducing the competition for nutrients. The same principle is used in defense against invaders in other groups of organisms. For example, when attacked by disease-causing fungi or bacteria, many kinds of plants produce chemicals that help to ward off their invaders.Members of the animal kingdom have developed a variety of defense mechanisms for dealing with parasites. Although these mechanisms vary considerably, all major groups of animals are capable of detecting and reacting to the presence of foreign cells. In fact, through the animal kingdom, from sponges to certain types of worms, shellfish, and all vertebrates (creatures possessing a spinal column), there is evidence that transplants of cells or fragments of tissues into an animal are accepted only if they come from genetically compatible or closely related individuals.The ability to distinguish between “sel” and “nonself”, while present in all animals, is most efficient among vertebrates, which have developed an immune system as their defense mechanism. The immune system recognizes and takes action against foreign invaders and transplanted tissues that are treated as foreign cells.1.What does the passage mainly discuss?2.The word “intricate” in Line One is closest in meaning to ( ).3.According to the passage, some organisms produce antibiotics in order to ( ).4.According to the passage, a transplant of tissue between genetically incompatible organisms will result in the transplanted tissue ( ).5.According to the passage, the ability to distinguish between “self” and “nonself” enables vertebrates to ( ).

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As with any subject, people learn faster when concentration is high and we’re actively interested in learning. Being interested and relaxed helps too. In intensely verbal courses the teachers are most effective when they act as a facilitator. Their prime task is to grab attention, help make sure that the activities are interesting and provide background information, which helps students to actively participate in the lesson and plan and implement effective, complementary home study programs. The student is responsible for keeping himself or herself “Under Pressure” in the ways mentioned above. Of course this requires that students understand the types of pressure they should take upon themselves and when to back off. Imposed pressure is different in quality to self-imposed pressure, and it is the latter which is appropriate for adult learners, and children too, I suspect.In the typical actively verbal language class, understanding of the processes needed for effective language acquisition is necessarily inferred by the students. Communicating clearly with everyone in the class is difficult enough, so talking about why an activity is useful is quite likely to confuse and bemuse rather than enlighten students in a language course. For this reason transparent, open-ended activities with clear task goals form the foundation of any intensely verbal course. In other words, short demonstrations are followed by pair and group work doing the demonstrated activity and it is up to the students to make sure they involve themselves while the teacher is trying to target the activities so they are appropriate, allowing the students to discover for themselves ways in which the activity helps achieve their language target. Making activities appropriate is the key, meaning that students should be able to quickly realize that they can vary and extend what they are doing — that the example is a starting point, not a prescriptive pattern but a working start point which points them in a direction of exploration.1.What do you think the author has most probably talked about previously, according to the passage?2.When teachers are mentioned to act as a facilitator, they should be acting ( ).3.Which of the following statements do you think that the writer will agree to?4.Which of the following statements is true according to the writer of this passage?5.What does the word “transparent” (Para. 2, line 4) mean?

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Rocks which have solidified directly from molten materials are called igneous rocks. Igneous rocks are commonly referred to as primary rocks because they are the original source of material found in sedimentaries and metamorphics. Igneous rocks compose the greater part of the earth’s crust, but they are generally covered at the surface by a relatively thin layer of sedimentary or metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks are distinguished by the following characteristics: (1) they contain no fossils; (2) they have no regular arrangement of layers and (3) they are nearly always made up of crystals.Sedimentary rocks are composed largely of minute fragments derived from the disintegration of existing rocks and in some instances from the remains of animals. As sediments are transported, individual fragments are assorted according to size. Distinct layers of such sediments as gravel, sand, and clay build up, as they are deposited by water and occasionally wind. These sediments vary in size with the material and the power of the eroding agent. Sedimentary materials are laid down in layers called strata.When sediments harden into sedimentary rocks, the names applied to them change to indicate the change in physical state. Thus, small stones and gravel cemented together are known as conglomerates; cemented sand becomes sandstone; and hardened clay becomes shale. In addition to these, other sedimentary rocks such as limestone frequently result from the deposition of dissolved material. The ingredient parts are normally precipitated by organic substances, such as shells of clams or hard skeletons of other marine life.Both igneous and sedimentary rocks may be changed by pressure, heat, solution, or cementing action. When individual grains from existing rocks tend to deform and interlock, they are called metamorphic rocks. For example, granite, an igneous rock, may be metamorphosed into a gneiss or a schist. Limestone, a sedimentary rock, when subjected to heat and pressure may become marble, a metamorphic rock. Shale under pressure becomes slate.1.The primary purpose of the passage is to ( ).2.All of the following are sedimentary rocks EXCEPT ( ).3.The passage would be most likely to appear in a ( ).4.The relationship between igneous and sedimentary rocks may best be compared to the relationship between ( ).5.The author’s tone in the passage can be best described as ( ). 

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A transformation is occurring that should greatly(1)living standards in the developing world. Places that(2)recently were deaf and dumb are rapidly acquiring up-to-date telecommunications that will let them(3)both internal and foreign investment. It may take a decade for many developing countries to improve transportation, power supplies, and other(4). Yet a single(5)fiber with a(6)of less than half a/an(7)can carry more information than a large cable made of copper wires. Many developing countries are planning to invest vast sum of money(8)their telecommunications networks to allow them to compete,(9)the transfer of information, with developed countries. How fast these nations should push ahead is a matter of debate.China is making one of the boldest leaps(10)carefully weighing costs and choosing(11)technologies. Over the next decade, it plans to pour some $100 billion into telecommunications equipment.(12)China’s backwardness is an advantage, because the expansion occurs(13)new technologies are becoming cheaper than copper wire systems. By the end of 1995, each of China’s(14)capitals except for Tibet will have digital(15)and other latest wireless transmission system. This means that major cities are getting the basic(16)to become major parts of the information superhighway, allowing people to(17)on to the most advanced services available.Telecommunications is also a key(18)Shanghai’s ambition of becoming a top financial center. To offer peak performance in providing the electronic data and paperless trading, Shanghai plans to be as electronically advanced (19)the City of New York.Some experts fear(20)that some developing countries are trying to do(21)too soon. Vietnam,(22)particular,(23)being extremely underdeveloped and lacking enough telephones of any type, is determined to contribute more money to the most expensive, newest technologies to keep(24)with anyone in Asia.Thailand is also turning to wireless, as a way to allow Thais to make better use of all the time they spend(25)in traffic. Mobile phones have become the(26)among businesspeople, who can remain in contact despite the traffic jams.For countries that have lagged behind for so long, the temptation to move ahead in one jump is hard to(27). And (28)the mistakes they’ll make, they’ll persist —(29)one day they can cruise alongside Americans and Western Europeans(30)the information super highway.

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