A growing number of consumers, especially young people , are adopting more Western habits when it comes to spending money—by favoring credit cards over savings.
A survey of 11,500 people in 18 cities by The Nielson Company found the credit card market had witnessed a major change in recent years.
“Today’s consumer is clearly not interested in saving for a rainy day, as may have been the case in the past,” Bega Ng, director of financial services research with the company said. “Consumers have been adopting Western habits and attitudes in almost every way—including saving and spending habits. Consumers in their 20s spend tomorrow’s cash to fund today’s needs.”
The report found consumers aged 18 to 24 were the most eager credit card users.
Although the report did not give the amounts credit card users in each of the 18 cities spent, it mentioned the example of Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian Province, where consumers put an average of 50 percent of their monthly incomes into their credit card accounts to indulge(沉湎于) in cashless shopping.
Included in the survey for the first time, Xiamen is reported to have a fast growing penetration rate(滲透率) for credit cards, with four out of ten consumers now owning at least one card. With more than half of cardholders in Xiamen owning two or more cards, it is catching up with key “tier one” cities, the report said. The report did not make known the figures in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Last year, the same Nielson survey showed Shanghai had the biggest population of credit card holders, with citizens owning 1.8 credit cards on average. Half of them use credit cards at least once a week, the survey said.
Yunfei, 30, from Beijing, said she spent at least 2,000 yuan a month by credit cards, most of which went on daily necessities and dining out.
【小題1】Which of the following best shows the young urbanites’ idea of consumption?

The following table shows some results of a survey （調(diào)查）in which 800 Japanese school pupils were asked to give their impressions（印象）of their classroom teachers. The pupils’ impressions were found to differ depending on whether the teacher was new (with less than three years’ experience), middle-standing(ten to twenty years), or veteran（有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的）（twenty to thirty years）. The numbers in the table show the percentage of the pupils who answered “very satisfied” or “extremely satisfied” for each question item （項(xiàng)目）

Question Items	New	Middle-standing	Veteran
1.Shows sense of humor in class 2.Explains clearly 3.Teaches in a relaxed（放松的）manner. 4. Writes neatly on the blackboard 5. Lets pupils ask questions in class 6. Makes checks in notebooks 7. Speaks loudly and clearly 8. Treats pupils equally 9. Cares about pupils opinions 10. Spends time with pupils between classes	42 33 30 9 18 22 45 43 47 25	56 58 46 43 30 30 85 58 43 10	70 68 65 56 47 43 54 42 17 6

1. In the new teachers’ classes, pupils seem to ask questions more freely.
2. Pupils seem to be quite satisfied with the amount（量）of time their teachers spend with them between classes.
3. The evaluation of the middle-standing teachers is lower than that of the veterans in seven items.
4. Though veterans do not play games with pupils during breaks, their teaching is rated highly.

Would you eat a ready meal from the fridge rather than cook from scratch? Have you been doing internet shopping rather than going to the stores? What can't you be bothered to do?
A study into how lazy British people are has found more than half of adults are so lazy they'd catch the lift rather than climb two flights of stairs．
Just over 2000 people were quizzed by independent researchers at Nuffield Health, Britain's largest health charity．The results were astonishing．
About one in six people surveyed said if their remote control was broken, they would continue watching the same channel rather than get up．
More than one third of those questioned said they would not run to catch a bus．Worryingly, of the 654 respondents with children, 64% said they were often too tired to play with them．
This led the report to conclude that it's no wonder that one in six children in the UK are classified as obese （very fat） before they start school．
Dr Sarah Dauncey, medical director of Nuffield Health, said: "People need to get fitter, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of their families, friends and evidently their pets too．
"If we don't start to take control of this problem, a whole generation will become too unfit to perform even the most rudimentary of tasks．"
And Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, was shamed as the most inactive city in the UK, with 75% surveyed admitting they do not get enough exercise, followed closely by Birmingham and Southampton, both with 67%．
The results cause serious challenges for the National Health Service, where obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease and cancer have been on a steady increase for the past 40 years and are costing billions of pounds every year．
【小題1】What causes children in the UK to be obese?

"A survey was conducted in Shanghai where interviewees were asked if they wanted to be a factory worker．One percent of all people interviewed said “YES," Wang Hongjun, a technician, said, raising his voice for dramatic effect．"But I can tell you, only a small part of that 1 percent are telling the truth．"
I've met colorful people like Wang all over China．They are cynical（玩世不恭的） yet warmhearted, plain spoken but smart．And many of them are confined（局限于）to work in factories．
Wang is a top technician but also represents manual factory workers, who are China's most important natural resource．Their energy is powering China's economic boom, and their muscle is turning the wheel of the world's factory．
But does their unskilled labor give their life meaning? At school, did they tell their friends: "When I grow up I want to work in a factory making socks?" Did you?
Factory work has always been a stepping-stone from farm life to the city and a modern life．It's been happening for centuries, but today, with our space-age technology, it's outdated．Earning 1,200 yuan （$169） per month working in a factory is better than that on a farm, but as Wang points out, it's not a dream career．There should be better ways to earn your rice．
Many modern factories no longer have production line workers．Robots do the assembly（裝配）．People just do the monitoring．In this age of technology, in which China is now working smarter and not just harder, why are people still standing in production lines?
But life is cheap in China．So why not continue to exploit the low-cost labor situation and keep the economy growing fast, some entrepreneurs may ask．
【小題1】How many people surveyed really like to be factory workers?

A．One percent

B．Only a small part

C．Only a small part of that one percent

D．The writer didn’t mention it．

Modern zoos are different from those built fifty years ago. Those zoos were places where people could go to see animals from many parts of the world. The animals lived in cages with iron bars. Although the zoo keepers took good care of them, many of the animals did not feel comfortable, and they often felt ill.
In modern zoos, people can see animals in more natural conditions. The animals are given more freedom in nature. Even the appearance of zoos has changed. Trees and grass grow in cages, and water flows through the places the animal live in.  there are few bars; instead, there is often a deep ditch, filled with water, which surrounds a space where several sorts of animals live together as they world naturally. In an American zoo, the visitor can walk through a huge special cage that is filled with trees, some small animals and many birds, and large enough for birds to live naturally. In a zoo in New York, with the us of special night, people can observe certain animals that are active only at night, when most zoos are closed. Some zoos have special places for visitors to watch animals that live in the desert or under water.
Modern zoos not only show animals to visitors, but also keep and save rare animals. For this reason, fifty years from now, the grandchildren of today’s visitors will still be able to enjoy watching these animals
【小題1】It seems that ______ is something most important for animals.
A  eating good food                B. living in cages
C. living with other animals           D. living in natural conditions
【小題2】In modern zoos __________.

A．different kinds of animals are kept separately.

B．Animals are no longer taken good care of.

C．Animals have more freedom

D．visitors can walk where they live

Thousands of villages in the developing world have no telephones. They have no money to build telephone systems. A new kind of technology may help change this situation. I t reduces the cost of building and using telephone systems.
Traditional systems use wires to carry electrical signals from one telephone to another. The wires often cost much more than telephones. The new system is based on radio communication. Each telephone sends and receives signals through the air, but not through the wires. This reduces the cost greatly. The radio telephone gets their power from the sun.
Each is connected to a solar equipment that changes the sun’s energy into electricity. A battery stores the electricity until someone needs to make or receive a call. The telephone turns off by itself if the level of power in the battery falls too low. This prevents damage to the system. Each radio telephone is connected to a computer microprocessor. It rewards how many calls are sent and received. It controls the power supply.
The technology needs more study, but its new use of radio equipment sun power and computers may help start telephone ringing in the other parts of the world.
68. The radio telephone gets their power from_____.
A. the sun 　　　B. electricity 　　　C. battery 　　　D. a special equipment
69. Each telephone is connected to_____.
A. a solar equipment 　　　　　　　B. a radio machine
C. a computer microprocessor 　　　D. Both A and C
70. From the passage we can infer that_____.
A. the new telephone system costs less than before
B. we can not use the radio as before
C. the new telephone system will take the place of the old one
D. it will be much easier to radio from now on
71. The main idea of the passage is_____.
A. a simple telephone system has been invented and costs less money
B. thousands of villages will use the new telephone system very soon
C. traditional telephone system will become useless
D. the new system will be too good to use

Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified by the Bug-eyed Monster, embodying every feature that most people find unpleasant. This is unfortunate because it degrades a worthwhile literary endeavor. Instead, the basic interest of science fiction lies in the relation between man and his technology and between man and the universe. Science fiction is a literature of change and a literature of the future, and the aspects of human life that it considers make it well worth reading and studying for no other literary form does quite the same things. What is science fiction? To begin, the following definition should be helpful: science fiction is a literary subgenre which postulates(以…為前提) a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follows the implications of these changes to a conclusion.?
The first point that science fiction is a literary subgenre is a very important one, but one which is often overlooked. Specifically, science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few dramas which could be called science fiction; the body of poetry that might be labeled science fiction is only slightly larger. To say that science fiction is a subgenre of prose fiction(小說) is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic functions in much the same way as prose fiction in general, that is, it shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories.
Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short story or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, characters, setting, and language. The themes of science fiction are concerned with interpreting man’s nature and experience around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result to a particular combination of a narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading and enjoying science fiction, and the ways of studying and analyzing it, are basically the same as they would be for any other story or novel.?
51.From the first paragraph, we can infer that science fiction has been most popular in the 20th century because ____.?
A with the growth of literacy, the size of the reading public has increased?
B competition from television has created a demand for more exciting fiction?
C science fiction is easier to understand than other kinds of fiction?
D the increased importance of technology has given science fiction an increased relevance
52.According to the definition in the passage, a fictional work that places human beings in a prehistoric world inhabited by dinosaurs____.?
A cannot be called science fiction because it does not deal with the future?
B cannot be called science fiction because it doesn’t deal with technology?
C can be called science fiction because it deals with man’s relation with the world?
D can be called science fiction because it places people in an environment different from the one we know?
53. Science fiction is called a literary subgenre because____.?
A it is not important enough to be a literary genre?
B it cannot be made into a dramatic presentation?
C it shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction?
D it has its limits?
54.One implication of the final sentence in the passage is that____.?
A the reader should turn next to commentaries on general fiction?
B there is no reason for any reader not to like science fiction?
C the reader should compare other novels and stories to science fiction?
D those who can appreciate prose fiction can appreciate science fiction?
55.An appropriate title for this passage would be____.?
A Man and the Universe?
B Toward a Definition of Science Fiction?
C A Type of Prose Fiction?
D The Bug-Eyed Monster??

A classic series of experiments to determine the effects of overpopulation on communities of rats was conducted by a psychologist，John Calhoun．In each experiment，an equal number of male and female adult rats were placed in an enclosure（場地）．The rat populations were allowed to increase．Calhoun knew from experience approximately how many rats could live in the enclosures without experiencing stress due to overcrowding．He allowed the population to increase to approximately twice this number Then he fixed the population by removing the children that were not dependent on their mothers．At the end of the experiments，Calhoun was able to conclude that overcrowding causes a breakdown in the normal social relationships among rats，a kind of social disease．The rats in the experiments did not follow the same patterns of behavior as rats would in a community without overcrowding．
The females in the rat population were the most seriously affected by the high population density（密度）．For example，mothers sometimes deserted their children，and，without their mothers’care，the children died．The experiments showed that in overpopulated communities，mother rats do not behave normally．Their behavior may be considered diseased and pathological（病理學(xué)的）．
The leading males in the rat population were the least affected by over population．Each of these strong males claimed an area of the enclosure as his own．Therefore，these individuals did not  experience the overcrowding in the same way as the other rats did．．However leading males did behave pathologically at times．Their antisocial（反社會(huì)）behavior consisted of attacks on weaker male，female，and immature rats．This unusual behavior showed that even though the leading males had enough living space，they too were affected by the general overcrowding．
Non-leading males in the experimental rat communities also exhibited unusual social behavior．Some withdrew（縮回） completely ,avoiding contact with other rats．Other non-leading males were too active，chasing other rats and fighting each other．
The behavior of the rat population has similarity in human behavior．People in densely（密） populated areas exhibit unusual behavior similar to that of the rats in Calhoun’s experiments．In large urban areas，such as New York City，London，and Cairo，there are deserted children．There are cruel，powerful individuals，both men and women．There are also people who withdraw and people who become too active．Is the major cause of these disorders（混亂）overpopulation?
Calhoun’s experiments suggest that it might be．In any case，social scientists and city planners have been influenced by the results of this series of experiments．
【小題1】Which of the following inferences（推斷）can NOT be made from the first paragraph?

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(當(dāng)代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (療養(yǎng)的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.
【小題1】The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.

閱讀文章后，從第50至54題所給A、B、C、D四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，選出最佳答案。
We all hate speed cameras，don’t we？They’re not there to slow drivers down and lower the road accidents；they just make money for the government．They trick us，cost us cold hard cash，disturb us from driving properly and are unfair．
Well，here’s a surprising thing：what if there were facts that the boring cameras actually saved lives？It’s a conclusion difficult to ignore when you look at what’s happening in France，a country with a historically poor record of road safety．
There were 16,617 road deaths in 1972 in France for example，but that dropped to 8412 by 1995 following rules such as compulsory（強(qiáng)迫的）seat belt wearing in 1990 and a lowering of the blood alcohol limit to 0.05 in 1995．
Last year, the road deaths dropped below 5,000 for the first time，or 4.9 percent less than2004．Comparing road deaths to populating in 2005，that’s about 817 per million people compared with Australia’s 806．
And guess what？Last year the number of speed cameras on French roads reached 1,000 and the government plans to double that within the next three years．
Okey, you know the arguments on the increased traffic safety and cameras. for-inco me, but in seems in France there’s been a major cultural change brought on by radars and other laws. A theer-hour, wine-soaked lunch with a quick rush back to the office is no longer on.
Traveling on the highways，it is rare to see anyone breaking the 130km/h speed limit when one few traveled below it. The speed cameras are clearly signed so drivers know when they are coming There’s even all official web site listing fixed and mobile camera locations and it is updated regularly
Maybe it is because of such transparency by government，rather than the secrecy too often used by authorities in many other countries that more French can enjoy their life thanks to speed cameras
【小題1】We can learn from the first paragraph that     ．

A．speed cameras cost us our lives

B．speed cameras help HS drive properly

C．most people think speed cameras are good for slowing drivers down

D．most people think speed cameras are used to make money for the government