Imagine，one day，getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours，and then，after a full day of work，going back home to Beijing and having dinner there．

Sounds unusual，doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic，with the development of China’s high—speed railway system．And that’s not a11．China has an even greater high—speed railway plan—to connect the country with Southeast Asia，and eventually Eastern Europe．

China is negotiating to extend its own high·-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 1 0 to 15 years，eventually reaching London and Singapore．

China has proposed three such projects．The first would possibly connect Kunming with

Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia．Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan，and possibly to Germany．The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe．

If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward，people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days．

The new system would still follow China’s high—speed railway standard．And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour，almost as fast as some airplanes．

    China’s bullet train(高速客車)，the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou，already has the

 World’s fastest average speed．It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours．

Of course，there are some technical challenges to overcome．There are so many issues that need to be settled，such as safety，rail gauge(軌距)，maintenance of railway tracks．So，it’s important to pay attention to every detail．

But the key issue is really money．China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on

domestic railway expansion．

China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital

investment．Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development．

It’11 be a win-win project. For other countries，the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business，tourism and so on，not to mention the better communication among those countries．

For China，such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources，but would also help develop China’s far west．We foresee that in the coming decades，millions of people will migrate to the western regions，where the land is empty and resources unused．With high-speed trains，people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for a11．And they’11 trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries．

1.China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because      ．

  A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions

  B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways

  C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries

  D．the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation，business and tourism

2.According to the passage，the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is      ．

  A．technical issues                     

B．safety of the system  C．financial problems                   

D．maintenance of railway tracks

3.Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed

   railway plan?

  A．Critical．        B．Reserved．      C．Doubtful         D. Positive．

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

  A．New Railway Standards               

B．Big Railway Dreams

  C．High—speed Bullet Trains             

D．International Railway Network

 

 

Imagine，one day，getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours，and then，after a full day of work，going back home to Beijing and having dinner there．

Sounds unusual，doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic，with the development of China’s high—speed railway system．And that’s not a11．China has an even greater high—speed railway plan—to connect the country with Southeast Asia，and eventually Eastern Europe．

China is negotiating to extend its own high·-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 1 0 to 15 years，eventually reaching London and Singapore．

China has proposed three such projects．The first would possibly connect Kunming withSingapore via Vietnam and Malaysia．Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan，and possibly

to Germany．The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe．

If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward，people could zip over from London to Beiling in under two days．

The new system would still follow China’s high—speed railway standard．And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour，almost as fast as some airplanes．

    China’s bullet train(高速客車)，the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou，already has the

 World’s fastest average speed．It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours．

Of course，there are some technical challenges to overcome．There are so many issues that need to be settled，such as safety，rail gauge(軌距)，maintenance of railway tracks．So，it’s important to pay attention to every detail．

But the key issue is really money．China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on

domestic railway expansion．

China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital

investment．Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development．

It’11 be a win-win project. For other countries，the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business，tourism and so on，not to mention the better communication among those countnes．

For China，such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources，but would also help develop China’s far west．We foresee that in the coming decades，millions of people will migrate to the western regions，where the land is empty and resources unused．With high-speed trains，people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for a11．And they’11 trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries．

1．China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because ____________．

  A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions

  B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways

  C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries

  D． the foreign countries involved will develop their railway transportation，business and tourism

2．According to the passage，the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is____________．

  A．technical issues    B．safety of the system

  C．financial problems  D．maintenance of railway tracks

3.Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed

  railway plan?

  A．Critical．    B．Reserved．    C．Doubtful     D. Positive．

4．Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

  A．New Railway Standards    B．Big Railway Dreams

  C．High—speed Bullet Trains D．International Railway Network

 

A small man with a fat stomach got on the train at the last station before the frontier (邊境). He carried a paper bag. And four feet ducks could be seen under the cover. The man found an empty seat, put the bag in the middle of the floor, took out a newspaper and began to read. Then a policeman came in. Of course he saw the bag with ducks' legs at once and said, "Whose is that bag?" Nobody answered. The policeman repeated the question, and said, "I'll have to take it away from the owner. Food mustn't be taken out of the country." "Well, then," said the small man with a fat stomach. "Hurry up and take it. We want to go home." The policeman took the bag and went on to the next carriage.

At the next station, when they were safely across the frontier, the small man got up, smiled at the other passengers and said, "I hope they'll enjoy the ducks' feet. The rest of the bag had nothing but rubbish in it." Then he opened his coat and pointed to another bag he was carrying under it. It was tied tightly (緊緊地) over the stomach, which was not really fat. "I have the rest of the two ducks here," he said. With these words, he got off the train. But while he was happily walking to the exit with the bag in his hands, a policeman came up to him, saying, "Hey, man! Foreign food mustn't be brought in."

1. The small man put the bag in the middle of the floor ___ .

A. so that he could make more room for himself

B. so that the policeman could find it easily

C. because the other passengers didn't like it

D. because there was not an empty seat in the carriage

2. The first policeman took the paper bag away because ___ .

A. he wanted to find the owner of the bag

B. he enjoyed the ducks feet in the bag

C. the bag was put in a wrong place in the carriage

D. food can't be taken abroad

3. The bag the policeman took away had nothing in it except ___ .

A. two ducks               B. rubbish

C. the ducks' feet and rubbish  D. the ducks' feet

4. In the end the small man ___ .

A. failed to take his food home

B. crossed the frontier with two paper bags

C. took the ducks safely home

D. hid his ducks under his coat again

 

Mr. Brown worked in a factory of a small town. He had been there for twenty years before one day he was sent to the capital for important business. He was quite excited because he had never been there before. Before he set off, he asked his wife and three daughters if they wanted him to buy something for them in Lon-don. Mrs. Brown began to think it over and then she said she wished her husband would be able to buy a nice umbrella for her, and so did their three daughters. As he was afraid he would forget it, he drew an umbrella on his hand. To his regret, he lost it at the station.

On the train Mr. Brown sat opposite to an old woman. The woman’s umbrella was so nice that he carefully looked at it and said to himself not to forget to buy a few umbrellas like it. When the train arrived at the station in London, he said good-bye to the old woman, took his bag and her umbrella and was going to get off.

“Wait a minute, sir,” shouted the old woman. “That’s my umbrella!”

Now Mr. Brown noticed that he had taken her umbrella. His face turned red at once and said in a hurry, “Oh, I’m very sorry, Madam! I didn’t mean it!”

Seven days later Mr. Brown left the capital. To his surprise, he met the old woman and sat opposite to her again. Looking at the four umbrellas, the old woman was satisfied with herself. “It seems that I had a better result than the other four women.” She thought.

1.We can learn from the passage that Mr. Brown was ______.

A．a(chǎn) conductor       B．a(chǎn) worker          C．a(chǎn) thief            D．a(chǎn)n umbrella maker

2.The underlined word “it” in the first paragraph refers to ______.

A．his ticket          B．his bag            C．his drawing        D．his umbrella

3.Why did Mr. Brown take the woman’s umbrella?

A．Because he was lost in thought.

B．Because it was much like his own umbrella.

C．Because he thought the woman would not notice it.

D．Because the woman misplaced it beside Mr. Brown.

4.When looking at Mr. Brown with four umbrellas, the woman felt ______.

A．surprised          B．a(chǎn)ngry             C．fortunate          D．sad

5.How did Mr. Brown get the four umbrellas?

A．He picked them on the train.               B．He brought them from his small town.

C．He bought them in London.                D．He stole them from four women.

 

Imagine, one day，getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours，and then，after a full day of work，going back home to Beijing and having dinner there．
Sounds unusual，doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic，with the development of China’s high-speed railway system．And that’s not all．China has an even greater high-speed railway plan — to connect the country with Southeast Asia，and eventually Eastern Europe．
China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years，eventually reaching London and Singapore．
China has proposed three such projects．The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia．Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan，and possibly to Germany．The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe．
If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward，people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days．
The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard．And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour.
China’s bullet train（高速客車），the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou，already has the World’s fastest average speed．It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours．
Of course，there are some technical challenges to overcome．There are so many issues that need to be settled，such as safety，rail gauge（軌距），maintenance of railway tracks．So，it’s important to pay attention to every detail．
But the key issue is really money．China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion．
China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment．Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development．
It’ll be a win-win project． For other countries，the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business，tourism and so on，not to mention the better communication among those countries．
For China，such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources，but would also help develop China’s far west．We foresee that in the coming decades，millions of people will migrate to the western regions，where the land is empty and resources unused．With high-speed trains，people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all．And they’ll trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries．
【小題1】China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because ________.

A．China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions

B．China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways

C．China will develop its railway system and communication with other countries

D．The foreign countries involved will develop their business and tourism

【小題2】According to the passage，the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is ________.

A．technical issues	B．safety of the system
C．financial problems	D．maintenance of railway tracks

【小題3】Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed railway plan?

A．Critical．

B．Reserved．

C．Doubtful．

D．Positive．

【小題4】Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．New Railway Standards.	B．Big Railway Dreams.
C．High-speed Bullet Trains.	D．International Railway Network