The United Nations says more than 900 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat.Officials
say 100 million more could go hungry this year because of the food and financial crises.
     To deal with the situation, the UN World Food Program has started a project to help small farmers.
These farmers are mainly women.Many cannot produce enough food even to feed and support their own
families.
     The new effort is called Purchase for Progress, or P4P.It aims to connect local farmers with
dependable markets.That way, they could get a chance to sell their surplus (剩余) at competitive prices.
P4P will be tested in as many as 21 countries during the next five years.
     The biggest contributor to the project is Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Another donor (捐款者) is the Howard Buffett Foundation, led by a son of the American investor
Warren Buffett.The government of Belgium is also supporting the project in a former colony (殖民地),
now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
     Together these donors have provided more than 76 million dollars for projects in Africa and Central
America.
     Purchase for Progress will work with United Nations agencies, governments and nongovernmental
organizations to help increase crop production.The World Bank Group and other partners are to help
train farmers in better crop management and marketing skills.
     The World Food Program says it expects to buy 40,000 tons of food in the first year using methods
carried out by the project.That will be enough to feed 250,000 people.
P4P is expected to develop food cooperatives and longterm agreements for buying corn, wheat and other
food crops.About 350,000 farmers could be assisted.
     Officials say the project will change the way the World Food Program buys food in developing
countries.Executive Director Josette Sheeran says this is the first time her agency will buy a large amount 
 of food from small farmers.The agency has traditionally bought most of its food from developing
countries, but through larger trading organizations.

1. From the passage, we know that________.

A. in all 900 million people worldwide lack food
B. a project has been started to help women farmers
C. there are only two donors to help the project
D. some farmers still cannot support their families

2. According to the passage, ________will work hard to deal with the situation.

A. the United Nations
B. the combined efforts
C. some governments
D. some nongovernmental organizations

3. Which of the following will NOT be done to help small farmers?

A. To donate money.
B. To reform the way of food purchase.
C. To provide them with food.
D. To buy a large amount of food from them.

4. What's the best title for this passage?

A. Project to Help Small Farmers
B. Contribution to Small Farmers
C. Food Problems
D. P4P Is Being Carried Out

     Is there a nationwide shortage of nurses? It's hard to say. However, some characteristic symptoms
often indicate that there is indeed a shortage.
     One symptom is the vacancy rate, or the percentage of budgeted positions that are unfilled. New
England's hospitals currently report that an average of 7 to 12 percent of their registered nurse positions
are vacant, the highest level since the last shortage in the late 1980s. Vermont has a relatively low
vacancy rate, at 7.8 percent. But its vacancies were at 1.2 percent just five years ago.
     Another symptom is the increased use of stopgap measures to fill empty positions. For instance, many
nurses report an upswing in how frequently they are asked to stay past their shifts. According to Murphy, working in the St. Elizabeth's Hospital, "The shortage has definitely created a lot of opportunities of
overtime for our nurses, whether they want them or not." Similarly, a national survey of registered nurses
shows that in an average week, nurses in the U.S. work 2.4 more hours than they are scheduled to.
Much of this extra time is voluntary, as nurses earn overtime pay when they stay to fill in blanks in the
schedule.
     When they can't fill open positions by more traditional means, health care providers hire temporary
staff to tide them over. Travelling workers are the largest part of the temporary health care workforce,
hired for thirteen-week reduction at health care facilities facing short-term lack of workers. Temporary
workers, mainly nurses, cost hospitals $ 7.2 billion in 2000.
     "Any successful solution to the shortage depends on convincing more people to become nurses, and
that is not an easy goal to reach. To achieve it," says Buerhaus, "society needs to place more value on
nursing. Legislation (法規(guī)) can't do that - it should come from people." And if this continues, we might
have to learn to care for ourselves in the hospital.

1.The temporary staff hired by a hospital _______.

A. cost a large part of the hospital's budget
B. meet the need for nurses in the hospital for a short time
C. should work on a weekly basis and on a scheduled timetable  
D. ought to work passively for thirty continuous weeks

2. According to Buerhaus, what is a successful solution to the nurse shortage?  

A. To convince people of the benefits of being a nurse.
B. To ask the government for help to work out specific legislation.
C. To publicize the past achievements of nurses.
D. To make people aware of the importance of being a nurse.

3. What's the probable meaning of the underlined word "upswing" in Paragraph 3?

A. Symptom    
B. Decrease        
C. Increase      
D. Figure

4. What's the author's attitude towards nurse shortage?

A. Worried    
B. Indifferent        
C. Doubtful          
D. Optimistic

     So much to do, so little time. So much information, so little time to read it. In this age there is more
information than ever before. There is not enough time to read everything we want to read. However, you can consume more information in shorter time through speed-reading. This article will not make you read. 3,000 words per minute, but it will show you how to increase your speed significantly. You will also learn
the basic techniques of speed-reading, along with the dos and don'ts of speed-reading.
     When you first learned to read, you would say the word out loud and sound it out. Then you might
whisper the word because people can become annoyed when you read aloud. The stage you are now at is saying the word in your head. Most people tend to read this way. Saying the word in your head will cut
your reading speed tremendously (極大地).
     How do you calculate your reading speed? The speed is measured by how many words per minute you can read. Get some reading material, preferably a book. Find out how many words are on the page. Time yourself for one minute. Start your timer and start reading. When the timer beeps, stop. If you counted 500 words on the page and you read half of the page, and then you are probably reading at 250 words per
minute.
     The first thing about speed-reading is looking at the word and recognizing it. Don't say the word in your mind, just look at it and recognize its importance. Later you will recognize clumps of four words or more to increase your speed. This is the first and most important step in speed-reading.
     The next step is technique. As with any other skill, speed-reading requires technique. You should first
be sitting up straight with your book flat on a horizontal (水平的) surface, such as a table or desk. Next,
you should be able to see the entire page. This is necessary if you want to recognize clumps of words. Lastly, you should be focused. It's hard to read with a lot of noise. Find a quiet place to read. This will help
your understanding of the text.
     You need something to guide your eyes while reading. That's right, you should use your hand.
Remember when you were little, you would read using your finger. That is a great technique, only now
you're using your hand to underline each line. Move your finger smoothly across the page. No need to go
rush, start out slow. Keep your eyes focused on the words as you recognize them while using your hand
as a guide. This will increase your speed.
     The third step is practice. Practice makes perfect. Set time interval (間歇) .Read using different
techniques, but make sure you understand what you're reading.

1. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

A. Now there is limited information than ever before.
B. Now conditions ask people to use less time to know more information.
C. Now people can read what they like.
D. The less you read, the more time you will spend.

2. What is the subject discussed in the text?

A. What speed-reading is.
B. Why we need speed-reading.
C. Now it is much information time.
D. People should practice speed-reading in different kinds of ways.

3. Which of the following shows the right way for the speed-reading from the text?
a. Ask for some techniques.      
b. Look at many words and recognize them.
c. Practice more.

A. c, a, b
B. c, b, a  
C. b, a, c
D. a, c, b

4. The underlined sentence "you should be focused" in the fifth paragraph means that ______.

A. a person should devote his attention to it while reading
B. your feelings will be hurt while reading
C. a person should smooth away difficulties while he reads
D. you should pay attention to your faults while you are reading

5. To speed up your reading, you should ______.

A. sit up straight with your book flat and use something to guide your eyes
B. say every word out loud and sound it out
C. know it is necessary to read quickly
D. underline some important words while you say them