On the 1st of January, new regulations will come into effect which 1____ an annual leave bonus for people who put off marrying until the age of 23 for women, and 25 for men, the South China Morning Post reports. The holiday bonus was designed to encourage young people to delay getting married 2____ China’s one child policy. But with that policy now being 3____, this holiday 4____ is no longer necessary, the government says.In Shanghai, a young couple at a marriage registration office told the paper that they decided to register their marriage as soon as possible to take advantage of the 5____ policy, because an extra holiday was a big deal for them. In Beijing, one registration office had about 300 couples 6____ to get married the day after the changes were announced, rather than the usual number of between 70 and 80. But one lawyer tells the paper that the changes still have to be 7____ by local governments and these 8____ take time, so people who are rushing to register for marriage can relax.

BSport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents' and coaches' criticisms to heart and find a flaw（缺陷）in themselves.Coaches and parents should also be cautious that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today's youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters' performances. Positive reinforcement should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.An effective way to prevent the burnout of young athletes is.A.to reduce their mental stressB.to increase their sense of successC.to make sports less competitiveD.to make sports more challengingAccording to the passage sport is positive for young people in that.A.it can help them learn more about societyB.it enables them to find flaws in themselvesC.it can provide them with valuable experiencesD.it teaches them how to set realistic goals for themselvesMany coaches and parents are in the habit of criticizing young athletes.A.believing that criticism is beneficial for their early developmentB.without realizing criticism may destroy their self confidenceC.in order to make them remember life's lessonsD.so as to put more pressure on themThe author's purpose in writing the passage is.A.to teach young athletes how to avoid burnoutB.to persuade young children not to worry about criticismC.to stress the importance of positive reinforcement to childrenD.to discuss the skill of combining criticism with encouragement.

Young people from around the United States gathered in Pasadena, California recently to talk about businesses they created. The businesses are completely virtual. Their products and services are not real. And only virtual money is exchanged. One thousand three hundred students attended the conference, which was organized by Virtual Enterprises International.The New York City-based group says it helps high school students learn modern business skills, including problem solving, communication and technology. The group says it is influenced by the European tradition of apprenticeships in which students learn from people already working in a business or trade.The Pasadena event seemed like a trade show with many virtual businesses offering products such as communications technology or food.Students from Miguel Contreras Business and Tourism School in Los Angeles tried to get customers for their business, Big City Tours. Their business is special, they say, because it provides virtual tours to different parts of Los Angeles. Customers can learn about the city's ethnic heritage, see high-end fashion or visit stores.Students from Century High School in Santa Ana, California were trying to sell a translation device for use by travelers. Students start with a business plan. They are named to leadership positions and learn to "work together, having a common goal in a potentially successful business."Nick Chapman is president and national program director for Virtual Enterprises International. He says students quickly realize that operating a business is a lot of work."They're running meetings, they're networking, they're meeting with professionals, and they're working with mentors, all of the things that are really going to set them apart when they get into college and then move on into their careers."Chapman says 13,000 students go through Virtual Enterprises International's program each year. Miguel Santin, a student from Century High School, said he now understands the pressure of running a company. He works in a virtual company called Taste of the World. He has overseen employment and digital media for the virtual company. "You really need to be hands-on with your employees and make sure you guys have strong communication. Otherwise the company just won't prosper as much as you would expect."1. What can students learn from virtual businesses?A) They learn how to exchange virtual money.B) They learn how to make products and provide service.C) They learn how to master modern business skills.D) They learn how to be a qualified employer in a business.2. Which of the following is a product offered by the virtual businesses at the Pasadena event?A) Communications technology.B) Virtual money.C) Virtual professors.D) High-end fashion stores.3. What were the business plans of students from Miguel Contreras Business and Tourism School?A) They provided customers with virtual tours to different parts of Los Angeles.B) They tried to sell a translation device for use by travelers.C) They offered a lot of virtual technology and food.D) They displayed their virtual products to the travelers.4. What does the underlined expression "set … apart" mean?A) Make somebody B) Make somebodyisolated outstandingC) Make somebody D) Make somebodystrange stronger5. What does Miguel Santin learn from his experience of working in a virtual company?A) He understands it is not easy to run a company.B) He learns how to manage digital media for a company.C) He understands that he needs to work hand in hand with employees.D) He knows that it's important to make sure employers keep silent while working.

By original usage, a river is flowing water in a channel with defined banks. Modern usage includes rivers that are multichanneled, intermittent, or transient in flow and channels that are practically bankless. The concept of channeled surface flow, however, remains central to the definition. Rivers are nourished by precipitation, by direct overland runoff, through springs and seepages (渗流), or from meltwater at the edges of snowfields and glaciers. The contribution of direct precipitation on the water surface is usually minute, except where much of a catchment area is occupied by lakes. River water losses result from seepage into shallow or deep aquifers (沙石含水层) and particularly from evaporation. The difference between the water input and loss sustains surface discharge or streamflow. The amount of water in river system at any time is but a tiny fraction of the Earth’s total water; 97 percent of all water is contained in the oceans and about three-quarters of fresh water is stored as land ice; nearly all the remainder occurs as groundwater. Lakes hold less than 0.5 percent Of all fresh water, soil moisture accounts for about 0.05 percent, and water in river channels for roughly half as much, 0.025 percent, which represents only about one four-thousandth of the Earth’s total fresh water. Water is constantly cycled through the systems of land ice, soil, lakes, groundwater, and river channels, however. The discharge of rivers to the oceans delivers to these systems the equivalent of the water vapor that is blown overland and then consequently precipitated as rain or snow ― i.e., some 7 percent of mean annual precipitation on the globe and 30 percent of precipitation on land areas. The historical record includes marked shifts in the appreciation of rivers, numerous conflicts in use demand, and an intensification of use that has rapidly accelerated during the 20th century. External freight trade became concentrated in estuarine ports rather than in inland ports when oceangoing vessels increased in size. Demand on open-channel water increases as population and per capita water use increase and as underground water supplies fall short. Irrigation use constitutes a comparatively large percentage of the total supply. Present-day demands on rivers as power sources range from the floating of timber, through the use of water for cooling, to hydroelectric generation. Logging in forests relies primarily on notation during the season of melt-water high flow. Large power plants other industrial facilities are often located along .rivers, which supply the enormous quantities of water needed for cooling purposes. Manufacturers of petrochemicals, steel, and woolen cloth also make large demands. Hydroelectric power generation was introduced more than 100 years ago, but the majority of the existing installations have been built since 1950. The ever-increasing exploitation of rivers has given rise to a variety of problems. Extensive commercial navigation of rivers has resulted in much artificial improvement of natural channels, including increasing the depth of the channels to permit passage of larger vessels. In some cases, this lowering of the fiver bottom has caused the water table of the surrounding area to drop, which has adversely affected agriculture. Also, canalization, with its extensive system of locks and navigation dams, often seriously disrupts river in ecosystems. An even more far-reaching problem is that of water pollution. Pesticides and herbicides are now employed in large quantities throughout much of the word. The widespread use of such biocides and the universal nature of water make it inevitable that the toxic chemicals would appear as stream pollutants. Biocides can contaminate water, especially of slow-flowing rivers, and are responsible for a number of fish kills each year. In agricultural areas the extensive use of phosphates (磷酸盐) and nitrates (硝酸盐) as fertilizers may resulting other problems. Entering rivers via rainwater runoff and groundwater seepage, these chemicals can cause eutrophication (超营养作用). This process involves a sharp increase in the concentration of phosphorus, nitrogen, and other plant nutrients that promotes the rapid growth of algae in sluggish rivers and a consequent depletion of oxygen in the water. Under normal conditions, algae contribute to the oxygen balance in rivers and also serve as food for fish, but in excessive amounts they crowd out populations of other organisms, overgrow and finally die due to the exhaustion of available nutrients and autointoxication. Various species of bacteria then begin to decay and putrefy the dead algal bodies, the oxidation of which sharply reduces the amount of oxygen in the river water. The water may develop a bad taste and is unfit for human consumption unless filtered and specially treated. Urban centers located along rivers contribute significantly to the pollution problem as well. In spite of the availability of advanced waste-purification technology, a surprisingly large percentage of the sewage from cities and towns is released into waterways untreated. In effect, rivers are used as open sewers for municipal wastes, which results not only in the direct degradation of water quality but also in eutrophication. Still another major source of pollutants is industry. Untreated industrial chemical wastes can alter the normal biological activity of rivers, and many of the chemicals react with water to raise the acidity of rivers to a point where the water becomes corrosive enough to destroy living organisms. An example of this is the formation of sulfuric acid from the sulfur laden residue of coalmining operations. Although upper limits for concentrations of unquestionably toxic chemicals have been established for drinking water, no general rules exist for the treatment of industrial wastes because of the wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds involved. Moreover, even in cases where a government-imposed ban checks the further discharge of certain dangerous substances into waterways, the chemicals may persist in the environment for years. Such is the case with PCBs (多氯化联苯). Since PCBs cannot be broken down by conventional waste treatment methods and are degraded by natural processes very slowly, scientists fear that these compounds will continue to pose a serious hazard for decades to come. PCBs have been found in high concentrations in the fatty tissues of fish, which can be passed up the food chain to humans. An accumulation of PCBs in the human body is known to induce cancer and other severe disorders. As noted above, many industrial facilities, including nuclear power plants, steel mills, chemical-processing facilities, and oil refineries, use large quantities of water for cooling and return it at elevated temperatures. Such heated water can alter the existing ecology, sometimes sufficiently to drive out or kill desirable species of fish. It also may cause rapid depletion of the oxygen supply by promoting algal blooms.Algae under normal conditions in rivers ______ . A．consume the available nutrientsB．make the oxygen balanceC．force other organisms out of riversD．overgrow and die

9)They re working with the university to establish scholarships that recognize students who_in their fields of study.A. expectB. expressC. excelD. expose

Anne Whitney，a sophomore at Colorado State University，first had a problem taking tests when she began college．"I was always well prepared for my tests．Sometimes I studied for weeks before a test．Yet I would go in to take the test，only to find I could not answer the questions correctly．I would blank out because of nervousness and fear．I couldn't think of the answer．My low grades on the tests did not show what I knew to the teacher．"Another student in microbiology had similar experiences．He said，"My first chemistry test was very difficult．Then，on the second test，I sat down to take it，but I was so nervous that I was shaking．My hands were moving up and down so quickly that it was hard to hold my pencil．I knew the material and I knew the answers．Yet I couldn't even write them down!"These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety．Because a student worries and he is uneasy about a test，his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does．The student can't write or think clearly because of the extreme tension and nervousness．Although poor grades are often a result of poor study habits，sometimes test anxiety causes the low grades．Recently，test anxiety has been recognized as a real problem，not just an excuse or a false explanation of lazy students．Special university counseling courses try to help students．In these courses，counselors try to help students by teaching them how to manage test anxiety．At some universities，students take tests to measure their anxiety．If the tests show their anxiety is high，the students can take short courses to help them deal with their tension．These courses teach students how to relax their bodies．Students are trained to become calm in very tense situations．By controlling their nervousness，they can let their minds work at ease．Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test．An expert at the University of California explains．"With almost all students，relaxation and less stress are felt after taking our program．Most of them experience better control during their tests．Almost all have some improvement．With some，the improvement is very great．"50．To"blank out"in the first paragraph is probably ____ ．A．to be like a blanketB．to be unsure of an answerC．to show wrong knowledge to the teacherD．to be unable to think clearly51．Poor grades are usually the result of ____ ．A．poor hygienic habits　 B．lazinessC．lack of sleep　 D．inability to form good study habits52．To deal with this problem，students say they want to ____ ．A．take a short course on anxietyB．read about anxiety and know how to deal with itC．be able to manage or understand their anxietyD．take tests to prove they are not anxious53．What can be inferred from the passage？ ____ A．all students could overcome the anxiety after taking a special test anxietyprogramB．most of the students felt relaxed after taking a University of Californiacounseling courseC．students found it difficult to improve even if they had taken a special testanxiety courseD．students found it easy to relax as soon as they entered a counseling course．

When you leave your office, it is not necessary to switch your computer off, but you'd better log _ 28 _ all your accounts.

11. They're working with the university to establish scholarships that recognize students who___in their fields of study.A. expectB. excelC. exposeD. express

Virginia Beekeeper Billy Davis has been keeping bees since the 1960s. He has followed the sharp drop in the number of honeybees across the country. Two years ago, he set up a non-profit group called the Sustainable Honeybee Program. It develops stronger bees and is teaching beekeepers how to strengthen their bee colonies.Experts say more than one-third of the honeybees are disappearing. Their disappearance could have resulted from things like climate change, parasites and chemicals used in agriculture. The Sustainable Honeybee Program operates a farm with more than 50 bee colonies. Alex McLellan is the group’s chief operations officer. He said, “Americans are trying different ways to fight the loss of bees. They include using less chemicals and pesticides. More people are planting bushes and flowers that bees prefer. The ultimate goal here is to generate bees that are able to take care of themselves better. And we proved by not using chemicals here for the last seven or eight years, that it is possible to keep bees and to have them survive without the use of chemical intervention. And that’s important.”One tactic to help bee populations stay healthy is “hygienic behavior”, or the ability to identify and remove diseased bees from the colony. Alex McLellan says the group has breeding programs for producing queen bees and sharing them with local beekeepers. He says these ‘hygienic honeybees’ will be able to recognize threats to the colony, and take corrective action. Prior to this year, survivability reached over 90 percent, which is far higher than the average nationally.1.What do we know about the Sustainable Honeybee Program?A) It was founded in the 1960s.B) It aims to make profits for beekeepers.C) It advocates the environmental protection.D) It teaches beekeepers useful skills.2.Which of the following is one of the reasons for bees’ disappearance?A) Lack of bushes and flowers.B) Unqualified beekeepers.C) Chemicals used in agriculture.D) Diverse diseases.3.What did Americans do to battle with bee disappearance according to the passage?A) Train more professional beekeepers.B) Increase reproduction of bee colonies.C) Use less chemicals and pesticides.D) Develop better treatment of diseased bees.4.What tactic do beekeepers use to keep bee populations staying healthy?A) Developing bees’ ability to identify diseases and warn beekeepers.B) Producing hygienic honeybees that can recognize threats to the colony.C) Teaching bees healthy living habits to keep them stay healthy.D) Training bees to discover and remove dead bees out of the colony.