If Confucius were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out. While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes. But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China. In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy . Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers. So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well. Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West. As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is. What is the best title for the passge? A) Forgotten Wisdom in America B) Huge Fans of the Chinese Language C) Chinese Culture for Westerners D) Old Thinker with a Big Future
D
(Question)
Recently Chinese society has seen a flowering of a new vocabulary. Perhaps the most interesting has been the division of people into tribes (zu in Chinese). The pains of the yi zu, or the ant tribe, have been well-known --- recent graduates from outside the main cities who move to urban areas, live cheaply and work hard, often in low-paid jobs. Perhaps less well-known are the ken lao zu, the bite-the-old tribe, those between 25 and 35 who are out of work, still at home and depending completely on Mum and Dad. Many of the tribes, inevitably , are made up of people looking for love. There is the jia wan zu, the marry-the-bowl tribe. These are young women searching for the most stable husbands, the ones who hold government jobs. The shan hun zu, or lightening-marriage tribe, marry fast and sometimes separate faster. They should not be confused with the yin hun zu, the hidden-marriage tribe. These are women in their 20s who hide the fact that they are married. And if you can only afford a postage stamp of an apartment, you're probably a member of the wo ju zu, the snail-house tribe. You can belong to more than one tribe. Most members of the ant tribe also belong to the ben ben zu, the rush-rush tribe, to which, in fact, most urban Chinese belong. All that rushing around can create a lot of anger, leading to the nie nie zu, the crush-crush tribe, so named because they go into supermarkets and take out their anger by standing in the passages crushing packets of instant noodles. Another famous one is the yue guang zu, or moonlight tribe, so named because the Chinese characters for "moonlight" sound the same as the phrase "spend all your monthly salary". Their parents save every coin, but life for these young people is just to spend, spend and spend. What's the best title for the passage? A) Chinese recent society B) China's most famous tribe C) China's new tribes D) The young people in cities
(Answer)
C
Ques: I passed my driving test at the fourth attempt. You might think that means I'm not as safe as someone who passed on their first attempt. But would you feel safer with no driver at all? Maybe not, and that's why automotive firms have included driverassist functions in their driverless cars. This allows the human driver to take over if there is a problem. Google is one producer that has prototype driverless cars. These cars have been newly equipped with autosteering wheels and conventional controls to allow normal driving. But this is just a stage -- the vision is to have fully automated cars very soon. The director of Google's selfdrive project, Chris Urmson, hopes his 11yearold son will never have to take a driving test. To achieve that, the cars need to be on the roads in five years. He says driverless cars will greatly reduce accidents and traffic jams. According to Chris, about 1.2 million people are killed on the roads around the world each year. That number is equivalent to a jet falling out of the sky every day. He thinks gradual changes to existing car designs are not enough to deal with the problems. "If we are really going to make changes to our cities, get rid of parking lots, we need selfdrive cars," he says. Google's prototypes have covered over a million kilometers on the road. They have also had to deal with unexpected situations, such as a child driving a toy car in the road, and a woman in an electric wheelchair chasing a duck. In each case, the car reacted safely. Some are not convinced. Sven Beiker of Stanford University thinks driverless cars will still need human input in extreme circumstances. What can we learn from the text? A) Google's prototypes will be tested on the roads soon. B) Selfdrive cars are not designed for children or women. C) Concerns remain about the reliability of selfdrive cars. D) Driving tests will be easier to pass in the near future.
Ans: C
Ques:You heard about the sign posted on a farm fence? Inside there was a big and mean bull. The sign read, "Don't attempt to cross this field unless you can do it in 9.9 seconds. The bull can do it in 10!" Don't try to cross that field unless you are prepared! And isn't that the way it is in life? We have to be ready when the opportunity arises or else we will have little chance of success. Sixth-grade teacher Ms. Shelton believed in readiness. When she walked into the classroom on the first day and began writing words of an eighth-grade level on the blackboard, the students immediately said that the words were not at their level and they couldn't learn them. Their teacher insisted that they could and would learn these words. She said that she would never teach down to them. Ms. Shelton ended by saying that one of the students in the classroom could go on to greatness, maybe even be president someday, and she wanted them to prepare for that day. Ms. Shelton said those words many years ago. Little did she know that someday one of her students--Jesse Jackson--would take them seriously. She believed that if they were well prepared, they could achieve high goals. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "People only see what they are prepared to see." If that's true, then it is also true that they only become what they are prepared to become. And a lot of life is just about getting ready. Think of today as a chance to prepare yourself for the exciting future you are looking for. Today is not wasted. If you desire more from life, you can use today as training. For you will experience only what you are prepared to experience. Something wonderful can happen. And you can use today to get ready for tomorrow. What can be the best title of the passage? A) Get Ready for Tomorrow B) Don't Waste Time C) Challenge Yourself D) Ms. Shelton, a Famous Teacher

Ans:
A