It is not a good idea to stop the actor Richard Griffiths in the middle of a play.During the past year he has stopped performances many times at the National Theatre when mobile phones rang, and he threw out one member of the audience because she failed to turn off her phone. So when a mobile rang out for the third time during his performance in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, he spoke angrily to the theatergoer , "I am not going to compete with these electronic devices ." Griffiths' actions led to a debate in the UK theatre world over whether phones should be forbidden by law from British theatres, too.Actors have already asked the government to legalise the use of an electronic device that stops mobile phone signals in theatres. Technology companies have "stopping" devices that send out a high-powered signal on the same frequency as a mobile phone, stopping the mobile phone signal. However, these are forbidden in many countries because they might stop emergency calls from being made. Rosemary Squire, president of the Society of West End Theatre, said, "Phones are one of the biggest problems theatres face.We should look at equipment that could stop phones or make a London-wide theatre rule." Nick Allott, the managing director of Sir Cameron Mackintosh's theatre group, said, "We would all welcome some ways of stopping ringing phones but doctors and emergency workers need to be connected in a theatre and we mustn't stop that." What can we do to solve the problem? According to the passage, "stopping" devices _ . A) have the same functions as mobile phones B) cause the biggest problem theatres have to face C) prevent the mobile phones signals from being received D) help doctors or emergency workers receive emergency calls
C
(Question)
Imagine, one day,getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours,and then,after a full day of work,going back home to Beijing and having dinner there. Sounds unusual,doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic,with the development of China's high-speed railway system.And that's not all.China has an even greater high-speed railway plan -- to connect the country with Southeast Asia,and eventually Eastern Europe. China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years,eventually reaching London and Singapore. China has proposed three such projects.The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia.Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,and possibly to Germany.The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe. If China's plan for the high-speed railway goes forward,people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days. The new system would still follow China's high-speed railway standard.And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour. China's bullet train ,the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou,already has the World's fastest average speed.It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours. Of course,there are some technical challenges to overcome.There are so many issues that need to be settled,such as safety,rail gauge ,maintenance of railway tracks.So,it's important to pay attention to every detail. But the key issue is really money.China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion. China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment.Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development. It'll be a win-win project. For other countries,the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business,tourism and so on,not to mention the better communication among those countries. For... Which of the following might be the best title for the passage? A) New Railway Standards. B) Big Railway Dreams. C) High-speed Bullet Trains. D) International Railway Network
(Answer)
B
Ques: The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world's supply of water. With 97% of the world's water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world's agricultural industries experience constant water shortages. Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements. This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation . In Texas, farmers' overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed. Saudi Arabia's attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry. Which of the following is TRUE? A) The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%. B) Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages. C) The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years. D) Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley.
Ans: C
Question: The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take. Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper's print edition will receive full access to the site. But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income. NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge--and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result. The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns--a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs for moving cautiously. "There's no prize for getting it quick," said Janet L. Robinson, the company's president and chief executive. "There's more of a prize for getting it right." What is the main idea about the passage? A) The Times to offer free access to its web site. B) The Times to increase audience to its web site. C) The Times to attract advertisement to its web site D) The Times to charge for frequent access to its web site.
Answer:
D