Dear Economist, My newly-wedded wife and I are deeply in love. There is, however, one issue that threatens the happiness of our marriage. I absolutely insist on shopping at Walmart. My wife, meanwhile, would rather avoid Walmart at all costs. I have recently tried to convince her that not only does Walmart offer the lowest prices known to man, but that the chain is also a force for good―lower prices mean better standards of living for all consumers, increased global trade means a tighter-knit（紧密团结的) international community, and efficient operations translate into higher productivity growth for the economy. My wife complains about poor labour policies, the “fact” that Walmart squeezes suppliers, and that it puts local shops out of business. Who is right？ Will our marriage survive？ Brian Gee Dear Brian, I have to agree with you about Walmart. Jason Furman, then an economist at New York University, now an adviser to President Obama, famously argued in 2005 that Walmart was unwittingly （不知不觉地) a progressive success story. The chain’s prices don’t much affect me （I prefer Whole Foods) but Furman estimated that they benefited low-and-middle-income Americans to the sum of around $250 billion a year. Walmart does not pay much, so it may depress wages. Then again, it may increase wages by offering jobs to the otherwise-unemployed. Either way, the benefits of low prices to Walmart shoppers far outweigh any seemingly reasonable costs to Walmart employees. And while it is true that Walmart employees tend to be poor, the same is true of Walmart shoppers. Armed with this information you can face your wife with confidence. You are sure to win the conversation. The divorce is likely to be more argued. Economist
What concerns Brian Gee so much that he wrote the letter？A. His wife refuses to shop at Walmart. B. They are faced with a divorce. C. They can’t afford the costs of shopping at Walmart. D. They are in conflict about shopping at Walmart.
Brian Gee’s wife tends to hold the opinion that _____.A. it is wrong for Walmart to depress its employees’ wages B. consumers’ lives have improved thanks to Walmart C. Walmart’s business operation increases productivity in economy D. Walmart’s business increases global trade
What can be inferred from the reply letter？A. Some employees accept the low pay to keep the job. B. Walmart appeals to only poor consumers and poor employees. C. Employees suffer from Walmart’s low prices more than consumers. D. Jason Furman, a New York University economist, spoke highly of Walmart.
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The summer beach season is prime time for shark attacks. It seems like sharks are attacking all the time. But that is something of an illusion. The number of attacks is very small. How does a shark hunt？ Muscles and fins give the shark its speed and maneuverability in the water. A shark’s front fins act like the wings of a plane and let it “fly” through the water. The tail acts like a high-power propeller But the big thing that gives the shark its edge in the ocean is its sensory package. The package includes the shark’s eyes, ears, skin, nose and mouth, as weir as electric sensing. A shark’s nose is probably its most important sense. If you were to put a single drop of blood in a swimming pool, a great white shark could smell that. And they can tell the direction that the smell is coming from. Sharks handle their electric sensing using cell located in the head. Whenever something moves using its muscles, a shark can detect the electrical impulses flowing to those muscles. A shark can electrically “see” anything that has muscles even if it is hiding or the water is not clear. Sharks even have vibration sensors in their skin. Even something moves near the shark, tubes pick up the pressure changes and hairs inside the tubes send signals to the brain. This extra sense allows a shark to turn quickly and attack again. When you put all these different senses together , it makes the shark a nearly ideal hunter. A shark can detect prey from miles away and then use eyes, electrosensing and movement sensing to home in. Strangely, sharks do not seem to use these senses to home in on people. The very low number of sharks tells us that sharks do not hunt people in a regular basis. On the other hand, people love to hunt sharks, Millions of sharks die every year. Without protection, extinction is a definite possibility. 68.From the text, we can know that_________. A. it is true that sharks are attacking all the time B. a shark can see anything that has muscles even if it is hiding. C. sharks deal with their electric sensing using cell located in the skin D. what gives the shark its speed and maneuverability is fins and muscles 69.What gives the shark its edge in the ocean according to the text？ A. Its muscle. B. Its nose. C. Its sensory package. D. Its fins
The underlined phrase home in on means_______.A. swim B. move C. hunt D. smell 71.In this text, the writer implies that______. A.there ara many shark attacks B. humans beings should protect sharks C. human beings dislike hunting shark D. sharks’ nose is very important
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完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
Picture this situation. It is late afternoon and you are 36 . You have an important dinner engagement that evening so you 37 to take an hour nap. Instead of setting your alarm you ask a friend who is visiting to wake you in an hour. He 38 .
Two hours later, your friend wakes you. You ask, “Why didn’t you wake me after one hour？” He 39 that he thought you asked him to wake you in two hours and that is what he said. You then have to run around and get ready 40 , muttering to yourself about how you 41 have set the alarm rather than asking your friend to wake you. Had you done that, you would not have been so 42 to get ready.
Your conclusion is correct. Your 43 of what happened looked at the system you used. Your friend’s 44 to wake you resulted from a miscommunication. 45 he didn’t hear you correctly or you misspoke.
46 at the situation from the point of view of being personally responsible is always better than blaming yourself or another. So how do you best be “responsible” in this situation？ The answer is 47 in systems thinking.
Dr. W. Edward Deming is the American statistician who is credited with 48 the quality practices to Japan. 49 his arrival in that country in 1950, the label “made in Japan” was synonymous with inferior（劣等的) quality. Now the same “made in Japan” label is synonymous（等同) with 50 quality.
So what did Dr. Deming teach the Japanese that made such a 51 to the quality of their products？ The answer is quite simple, yet profound. 52 on years of statistical analysis, Deming was able to validate（证明) that 94 % of all failures are not because people don’t want to do a good job. The fact is that 53 people want to do a good job.
What, then, is the 54 if it’s not the people？
It’s the system. The system failed in 94% of the 55 , not the people.
A. relaxed B. puzzled C. concerned D. tired
A. try B. decide C. promise D. expect
A. agrees B. admits C. accepts D. adopts
A. wonders B. doubts C. replies D. requests
A. carelessly B. quickly C. angrily D. suddenly
A. should B. could C. might D. would
A. slow B. rushed C. uncertain D. satisfied
A. understanding B. presentation C. description D. analysis
A. forgetfulness B. unwillingness C. failure D. fault
A. Either B. Neither C. Both D. Whether
A. Glaring B. Staring C. Glancing D. Looking
A. left B. found C. received D. completed
A. bringing B. turning C. fetching D. leading
A. Until B. After C. Before D. Since
A. different B. poor C. best D. high
A. difference B. destruction C. decoration D. distinction
A. Based B. Relied C. Focused D. Counted
A. few B. fewer C. more D. most
A. reason B. cause C. effect D. result
A. incidents B. accidents C. cases D. actions -
完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
A. works out B. breaks out C. comes out D. turns outA. wiser B. busier C. weaker D. olderA. remember B. enjoy C. mind D. regretA. Truthfully B. Fortunately C. Naturally D. ObviouslyA. only B. last C. once D. firstA. melt B. break C. strike D. buildA. complaint B. promise C. move D. impressionA. strength B. ideas C. words D. attentionA. sigh B. silence C. voice D. cryA. refused B. shouted C. replied D. explainedA. touched B. frightened C. shocked D. annoyedA. excitedly B. nervously C. willingly D. sadlyA. continued B. checked C. concluded D. interruptedA. accepted B. expected C. learned D. heardA. quiet B. difficult C. special D. differentA. level B. idea C. world D. endA. managed B. escaped C. avoided D. facedA. then B. ago C. before D. sinceA. realized B. found C. doubted D. wonderedA. challenged B. experienced C. survived D. received
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项A、B、C和D中，选出空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
If your father never says to you “I love you” when you are a child, it 36 to be more and more difficult for him to say the words as he grows 37 .
I do not 38 hearing the words from my father when I was growing up. 39 , I could not recall（回忆) when I had 40 said those words to him either.
One day, I decided to 41 the ice and make the first 42 . So in our next phone conversation I gathered all my 43 and let out the words in a low voice, “Dad… I love you!”
There was a 44 at the other end and he awkwardly 45 , “Well, same back at ya!”
I was unexpectedly 46 and my voice was raised, “Dad, I know you love me, and I know when you are ready, you will say what you want to say.”
Fifteen minutes later my mother called and 47 asked, “Paul, is everything okay？”
A few weeks later, Dad 48 our phone conversation with the words, “Paul, I love you.” I was so moved that tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “ 49 ” the love. As I sat there in tears I realized that this 50 moment had taken our father-and-son relationship to a new 51 .Shortly afterwards, my father narrowly 52 death following heart surgery（外科手术）. Many times 53 , I have 54 if I had not taken the first step and Dad not 55 the surgery, I would have never “heard” the love. -
D The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean？ It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway. This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all？ Had they changed their minds？ Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them？ So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk （汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day. According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor. Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice. Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home. But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them. It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated （世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little. Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay. Like everything was going to be all right, after all. Yeah. With my luck, probably not. I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
Why did the author go to New York？A. She intended to go sightseeing there. B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family. C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt. D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.
According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.A. she was given a boy’s name in French B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport
The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _____.A. have an effect on B. play tricks on C. put pressure on D. throw doubt on
From the passage, we can know that _____.A. the author left home without informing her mother B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life
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Recently, one of my best friends, whom I’ve shared just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we’ve both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other. Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior. I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even stealing out to see this guy because they didn’t want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn’t believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared. I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I just couldn’t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend. By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted by the experience. It had been so frustrating, I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship，but I didn’t. I put the power of friendship to the final test. We’d been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything. A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.
In the writer’s opinion, her friend ________.A. was a girl with no self-respect B. could find a better boyfriend C. was brave enough to stick to her own choice D. didn’t value the writer’s suggestion
What did the writer worry about？A. She would lose the friendship with her. B. Her friend’s parents would be worried about their daughter. C. Her friend would get into great trouble with the boy. D. Her friend’s boyfriend would be in great trouble.
We may leam from Paragraph 3 that the writer ________.A. didn’t want to go anywhere else B. hated her friend’s hanging with her boyfriend C. couldn’t believe that her friend’s choice was acceptable D. doubted that she could in any way help her friend
What can be concluded from the passage？A. Friendship starting from childhood is not reliable. B. Friendship is a cure for any injury in life. C. Friendship should be everlasting once begun. D. Friendship can have magical power in life.