Ques: Just a few hours ago,the Italian ship Andrea Doria was sailing through thick fog toward the city of New York. Captain Piero Calamai kept watch. He knew that many other ships were nearby. He should have slowed down because of the fog but he decided not to. He wanted to arrive on time the next morning. At about 11:00 PM,another ship,the Stockholm,suddenly hit the Andrea Doria. It made a huge hole in the Italian ship. Some people were badly hurt. Others fell into the sea. But one girl was saved by the Stockholm. Linda Morgan was fourteen. She lived in Spain with her mother and her little sister. She was going to visit her father in New York. She was excited about seeing her father. Linda had loved the trip. She wanted to have dinner with the captain on the last night at sea. The captain did not sit at his table that night,though. He was busy guiding the ship through the fog. Linda did not get to talk to him. When Linda went to bed,everything seemed fine. Her mother turned off the lights. Linda talked to her little sister. She thought about seeing her father the next morning. What happened next was a terrible surprise. Linda woke up not knowing where she was. She was not in her bed. When she called to her family,no one answered. Both her knees were broken. Linda had been saved by an amazing accident. When the Stockholm made a hole in the side of the Andrea Doria,it lifted Linda out of her bed. She landed on the deck of the Stockholm instead of falling into the ocean. A sailor heard her cries and found her. Right now,the girl is in the hospital. She is expected to get better. Her father is at her side,glad that his little girl was saved. The Andrea Doria lies under the waves at the bottom of the sea. What can we learn from the text? A) Linda hated the trip very much. B) Linda was saved by the Stockholm. C) Linda lived with her father in Spain. D) The Andrea Doria wasn't badly damaged.
Ans: B

Ques: From bankers to factory staff, employees in the West face a cold _ of losing their jobs as a global recession starts to bite. For colleagues in the East, the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut. Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian companies try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will prevent unemployment and may help Asian economies survive at a time of slowing exports. The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for companies to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, but build up a more loyal and devoted group. "In the Confucian mindset, the right thing to do is to share the burden, which is the sense of collective responsibility. While in the West, it's more about individual survival," said Michael Benoliel, associate professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University (SMU). In contrast, local Western companies from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand, but at the Asian units of Western multinationals or western units of Asian groups, job cuts will probably be less severe. Japan's jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong's was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January. Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals from abroad. According to Michael Benoliel, the Confucian mindset focuses on _ . A) human rights B) sharing responsibility C) personal profits D) individual survival
Ans: B

Ques: Sharing cars to work is not unusual.But what about sharing time to raise children together? In Ningbo city of Zhejiang province in East China, young mothers in the same neighborhood pool their children together, and share the responsibility of being parents. Spending every day together, but not families - in this coastal city of East China, three mothers are trying a new way of raising their kids, by pooling them together. Among the mothers are both office workers and housewives.They say they do so not just because of the tight schedule. Jiujiu's mother said, "By kids pooling, we mean to create an opportunity for the kids to spend time together so that we can observe our kids, learn more about them.And then we can discuss how to better bring them up." The three families have been doing so for two years, in school days and holidays.Their children have grown used to each other's company, Chichi's mother said, "My son was a bit shy.We've been talking him to be more active, but he hardly changed.After joining the kids pool, suddenly we found him willing to communicate with others now.When we are not there, he has to rely on himself to get along with his pals." Generally, mothers speak highly about the pooling.The mothers describe the pooling as bringing the running water into a closed pond.It opens a window to a different world for both kids and parents.But there are moments when opinions differ.Xiaoxiao's mother said, "Sex education for example.Kids will be curious about it when they reach a certain age.Personally I want to talk with my child about it, frankly and sincerely.But the other two moms think it better not to bring it up." Xiaoxiao's mother says her solution is to share some parenting guidebooks with other mothers and let them make the decision. The headmaster of the kindergarten believes such pooling activities test not only children, but also the parents.Jin Hongqing, kindergarten headmaster said, "Parents need to be tolerant and patient.They shouldn't play the blame game when kids fight with each... What's the writer's attitude towards kids pooling? A) Favorable. B) Negative. C) Unclear. D) Doubtful.
Ans: C

Ques: Some dances gain more popularity than others because they can be performed to different kinds of music and the steps change accordingly. One such dance is waltz . There is a basic form for waltz, which you can see in this drawing of a dancing couple. The man places one arm around the woman's waist and she places her opposite hand on his shoulder. Then, they stretch their other arms out from their bodies and clasp hand. If someone tries to teach you a formal kind of dancing, chances are your teacher will start with the waltz. Have you ever tried to dance like this? There are lots of different kinds of waltz, all performed to different types of waltz music. The music might be fast or slow but what they all have is a regular one-two-three, one-two-three rhythm. The traditional form is the old-school waltz in which dancers turn all the time with a hopping , springy step. This waltz has a slow, smooth, gliding step. There's also the Mexican waltz, which moves much faster. Listen to this Mexican waltz music and you can imagine how fast the dancers had to move. Formal dancing has even become a profession, with people entering competitions. Have you ever seen a formal dance competition? Today, ballroom dancing is almost considered a competitive sport; professionals perform different dances, each with strict rules. Everything from where the dancers place their hands to how they move is judged. In the glide waltz, dancers are judged by how smoothly they move. " I can dance with a glass of water on my head," is a well known sentence used by skilled dancers in the old days. In the past, some people learned how to dance by reading books, while others studied with a teacher called the "dancing master." How do people learn to dance today? If one says " I can dance with a glass of water on my head," we know that _ . A) he is a good dancer B) he is a beginner C) he is practising dancing D) he is tired of dancing
Ans:
A