BEIJING - China's railway rates for freight and passenger transport will continue to be set by the government, announced a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, on Friday. Cao Changqing, head of the NDRC's department of price, said that the country will continue to implement government-set or government-guided prices for the railway sector after the China Railway Corporation (CRC), a State-owned company that takes over the commercial functions of the former Ministry of Railways (MOR), went into business on March 17. Cao said the railway sector, constituting China's main public transport facilities, is a key basic industry. Its pricing scheme is concerned with both the sector's normal operation and development, as well as the daily traveling and vital interests of the general public. The state will be very cautious in making any price adjustment in the railway sector, taking into account various factors including operation, construction, public acceptance and coordinated development with other modes of transport, according to the NDRC official. Under Chinese law and regulations, hearings will be held before adjustments in the basic passenger train ticket fare, Cao said. In China's latest railway reform, endorsed at the just-concluded annual session of the country's top legislature, the former MOR was dismantled into two parts, with the newly created CRC carrying out business functions and a state railways administration fulfilling administrative functions. What does Cao mean according to the passage? A) There will be adjustment in the basic passenger train ticket B) China's railway rate for passenger will not be changed forever C) Hearing will be held before adjustment of railway price D) The price adjustment are being considered
C
(Question)
Last month the first baby-boomers turned 60. The enormous generation born between 1946 and 1964 is heading towards retirement. The coming "demographic cliff" will see vast numbers of skilled workers disappear from the labor force. The workforce is ageing across the rich world. Within the EU the number of workers aged between 50 and 64 will increase by 25% over the next two decades, while those aged 20 -29 will decrease by 20%. Given that most societies have a tendency to retirement at around 65, companies have a problem of knowledge management, of making sure that the boomers do not leave before they have handed over their expertise along with the office keys and their e-mail address. If you look hard enough, you can find companies that have begun to adapt the workplace to older workers. The tools they use to achieve are flexible working, telecommuting, and so forth. Some companies spend "a lot of time" on the ergonomics its factories, making jobs there less tiring. Likewise, for more than a decade, prefix = st1 /Toyota, has been unusually keen to employ older workers. IBM uses its alumni network to recruit retired people for particular projects. But such examples are unusual. A survey in America last month by Ernst & Young found that "although America foresees a significant workforce shortage as boomers retire, it is not dealing with the issue . " Why are firms not working harder to keep old employees? Mostly they are not hanging on to older workers the only way to cope with a falling supply of labor. The participation of developing countries in the world economy has increased the overall supply--whatever the local effect of demographics in the rich countries. The following are all the measures that companies have adopted to cope with the ageing workforce EXCEPT _ . A) encouraging former employees to work overseas B) using alumni networks to hire retired former employees C) offering more convenience in working hours to older workers D) making places of work accommodate the needs of older workers
(Answer)
A
Ques: A young couple that had received many valuable wedding presents built their house in a suburb. One morning they received in the post two tickets for a popular show in the city, with a single line: "Guess who sent them." The couple had much amusement in trying to find out the kind person who gave them the tickets, but failed in the effort. They attended the theatre, and had a pleasant time. On their returning home late at night, still trying to guess who in the world had sent them the tickets, they found their house rid of everything valuable. And on the table in the kitchen was a piece of paper on which was written in the same hand as the note with the tickets. "Now you know!" The couple went to the show _ . A) early in the morning that day B) to look for the person who sent them the tickets C) to enjoy themselves in the evening D) and found the person who sent them the tickets also attended the show.
Ans: C
Ques: As thousands of communities in the USA -- especially in the South -- became booming gateways for immigrant families from Central and South America during the 1990s and the early years of the new century, public schools struggled with the unfamiliar task of serving the large numbers of English learners arriving in their classrooms. Education programs needed _ . "We had no teaching resources suitable for English learners here before. We had to develop them all ourselves," a Texas principal said. Throughout the country, districts had to train their own teachers to teach English to non-native speakers or recruit teachers from elsewhere. School staff members had to figure out how to communicate with parents who spoke no English. But even as immigration has slowed or stopped in many places, and instructional programs for English-learners have matured, serving immigrant families and their children remains a work in progress in many public schools, especially those in communities that are skeptical, or sometimes unwelcoming, to the newcomers. One of the biggest challenges educators face, is communicating effectively with parents who don't speak English -- an issue that, in part, has contributed to recent complaints of discrimination by Latino students in some cities. "The parents' role is very important for the success of these students, but it's also one of the most difficult things we've had to tackle ," said Jim D. Rollins, the president of the Springdale school district, where the 19,000-student school system has gone from having no English-learners 15 years ago to more than 7,500 now. "You have to make it a priority and work on it, work on it, and work on it." Aside from the practical challenges, such as finding bilingual staff members, guiding districts through such dramatic changes requires school leaders to bridge difficult political and cultural divides. For school leaders in the South, especially in the last few years, this difficult job has been made harder still by the negative attitudes of some locals... What do we know about the immigrant parents? A) Many of them cannot speak English. B) Most of them think education is not important. C) Some of them feel skeptical about the local community. D) Few of them have attended American schools.
Ans:
A