Last Friday, after doing all the family shopping in town I wanted a rest before catching the train, so I bought a newspaper and some chocolate and went into the station coffee shop. It was a cheap self-service place with long table to keep a place and went to get a cup of coffee. When I came back with the coffee, there was someone in the next seat. It was one of those wild-looking boys, with dark glasses and old clothes, and his hair was colored bright red at the front. What did surprise me was that he'd started to eat my chocolate. I was rather uneasy about him, but I didn't want to make more trouble. I just looked down at the front page of the newspaper, tasted my coffee and took a bit of chocolate. The boy looked at me closely. Then he took a second piece of chocolate. I could hardly believe it. Still I didn't say anything to him. When he took a third piece, I felt angrier. I thought, well, I shall have the last piece. "And I got it." The boy gave me a strange look, and then stood up. As he left he shouted out, "There is something wrong with the woman," Everybody looked at me, but it was worse then I finished my coffee and got ready to leave. My face turned red when I knew I'd made a mistake. I wasn't my chocolate that I had eaten. There was mine, just under my newspaper. The writer went into the station coffee shop to _ . A) buy a newspaper B) meet a boy with dark glasses C) put her heavy bag D) take a short rest
D
(Question)
The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, "city of the sun", and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia. It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians' idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn't get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix! Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in _ . Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains. What does the phoenix probably mean in the logo of a fire insurance company? A) Our company can protect you from being harmed by fire. B) If your property is destroyed by fire, we will help you build it up again. C) Our company will always be energetic and wealthy. D) If needed, we will save you at the risk of losing lives.
(Answer)
B
Ques: "There are no real friends or enemies in the business world". This saying may have been on the minds of bosses at China's main online video providers, Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd, when the one-time rivals agreed to merge on March 12. The deal will create the country's largest company in the online video industry, Youku Tudou Inc. Three months ago, the two companies were involved in a copyright dispute. On December 12, Tudou charged Youku.com with illegally airing the entertainment series,Kangxi is coming. Tudou was the only company which had rights to the series. In response, Youku filed a lawsuit against Tudou, claiming the company was broadcasting more than 50 Youku-owned TV series. According to analysts, the deal came out of the market battle between the two companies. Each spent so much money buying licensed content that they ended up _ last year. "Funding pressures are the main reason for the deal," said Shi Jialong, a Hong Kong-based analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. "After the merger, there might be a fall in copyright purchase prices, which is good for the industry in the short term." The new company will face competition from Web portals providing similar services. Youku owned 21.8 percent of Chin's online video market in the last quarter of last year and Tudou 13.7 percent, but Sohu.com followed close on the heels with 13.3 percent, according to domestic research company Analysys International. Some analysts do not feel the deal will secure the market for Youku Tudou. Shi Yu, CEO of media company KU6, said the merger was unlikely to have a "one plus one more than two" effect. In his opinion, video-hosting sites need to find new ways of generation profit to succeed in the market. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? A) The merge will benefit the online video industry to some degree. B) The two companies spent lots of money building video-hosting sites. C) Youku Tudou Inc currently controls half of the online video market in China. D) The new company has taken charged of all the entertainment series.
Ans: A
"Image is everything." An entire industry has been built upon the concept that image is everything, but an appealing image isn't enough when there's no substance behind it. First of all, one should consider how important image is in selling products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. But if the product or service doesn't live up to it, customers will be very dissatisfied. The recent scandal about the Arthur Andersen accounting firm showed that behind that image, it had unfair business practices under the table. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to its downfall. Similarly, personal consultants can build up a very positive public image for politicians and movie stars in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind it, failure is close. To conclude, it's clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the "selling" of a person. But image is only half of the equation . What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself -- the person or product must live up to that image or there's little chance for long-term success. Some famous people fall from grace because _ . A) their images were not well built up B) they failed to live up to their images C) they felt much pressure from the public D) they paid little attention to fame and fortune
B