Making an advertisement for television often costs more than a movie. For example, a two – hour movie costs ＄6 million to make. A TV commercial can cost more than ＄6 000 a second. And that does not include cost of paying for air time. Which is more valuable, the program or the ad? In terms of money – and making money is what television is all about – the commercial is by far the more important.
Research, market testing, talent, time and money —— all come together to make us want to buy a product.
No matter how bad we think a commercial is, it works. The sales of Charm went up once the ads began. TV commercials actually buy their way into our head. We, in turn, buy the product.
And the ads work because so much time and attention are given to them. Here are some rules of commercial ad making. If you want to get the low middle – class buyer, make sure the announcer has a though, manly voice. Put some people in the ad who work with their hands. If you want to sell to upper – class audience, make sure that the house,  the furniture, and the hair style are the types that the group identifies  with. If you want the buyer feel superior to the character selling the product, then make that person so stupid or silly that everyone will feel great about himself or herself.
We laugh at commercials. We don’t think we pay that much attention to them. But evidence shows we are kidding ourselves. The making of a commercial that costs so much money is not kid stuff. It’s big, big business. And it’s telling us what to think , what we need, and what to buy. To put simply, the TV commercial is a form of brainwashing.
小題1:TV commercials are more important than other programs to television because      .

A．they bring in great profits	B．they require a lot of money to make
C．they are not difficult to produce	D．they attract more viewers than other programs

小題2:The purpose of all the efforts made in turning out TV commercials is         .`

A．to persuade people to buy the product

B．to show how valuable the product is

C．to test the market value of the product

D．to make them as interesting as TV movies

小題3:From the rules set for making commercial ads, we can see that         .

A．the lower – middle – class buyer likes to work with his hand

B．the more stupid the characters, the more buyers of the product

C．a(chǎn)d designers attract different people with different skills

D．a(chǎn)n upper – class buyer is only interested in houses and furniture

小題4:It is believed by the writer that         .

A．few people like to watch TV commercials

B．TV commercials are a good guide to buyers

C．TV commercials often make people laugh

D．people do not think highly of TV commercials

小題5:What does the author actually mean in the last paragraph?

A．He asks TV viewers never to laugh at the TV commercial ads.

B．Commercials are used to show the true value of a product to be sold.

C．TV commercials cost much and they do influence us in one way or another.

D．Brainwashing must be introduced to sell something on TV.

Only three local students won Chinese Blog Competition. And 15 of the 18 awards went to students from China.
170 students’ task: to get a fully-designed blog up and running, complete with many postings based on a theme of choice—all written in Chinese.
Themes ranged from local opinions－such as the usage of Singlish, education and whether Singapore can be a cultural centre－to food blogs.
The entries were judged on Language proficiency（熟練程度）and the quality of writing, as well as the design and level of exchanging ideas with readers.
Academics(學(xué)者) from the National University of Singapore and the SIM University IT experts, and a journalist from Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao in Singapore made up the judges.
In the end, only three Singaporean students made it to the award list—the rest of the awards were swept up by students from China.
“No surprise, ” said Mr. Chow Yaw Long, 37, teachers in charge from Innova Junior College, which organized the event. “Although the topics were local subjects, the foreign students were generally better in terms of the content of the posts and their grasp of the Chinese language. ”
One of the three local students winning the first prize in the Best Language Award was blogger Christina Gao 19, from the Saint Andrew’s Junior College, who spared no effort in researching for and writing her blog. Each entry took her between five and seven days to produce, complete with pictures and even podcasts
Her advice for bloggers is: Be responsible
“Some bloggers out there only seek to blame the authorities and other bloggers.” Said Miss Gao. “I think they lack responsibilities and there is no value to their posts.”
小題1:The competition was organized by ___________.

A．the National University of Singapore	B．Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao
C．the Saint Andrew’s Junior College	D．Innova Junior College

小題2:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Not all the themes were about local subjects.

B．Chinese students won most of the awards.

C．The blogs could be written in Chinese or Singlish.

D．The judges were from universities in Singapore and China.

小題3:What Miss Gao said suggests that    ___________.

A．she likes to blame the authorities	B．she thinks highly of the others’ blogs
C．she has a sense of responsibility	D．she loves to read valuable posts

小題4:The passage is mainly about   ___________.

A．how Chinese students won the awards in the competition

B．why bloggers should take responsibility for their blogs

C．what the result of the competition was

D．how Miss Gao won the first prize in the competition

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Smoking not only can wrinkle(起皺紋) the face and turn it yellow -- it can do the same to the whole body, researchers reported on Monday.
The study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, shows that smoking affects the skin all over the body -- even skin protected from the sun.
"We examined non-facial skin that was protected from the sun, and found that the total number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced," Dr. Yolanda Helfrich of the University of Michigan, who led the study, said in a statement.
"In participants older than 65 years, smokers had significantly more fine wrinkling than nonsmokers. Similar findings were seen in participants aged 45 to 65 years," Helfrich's team added in their report.
The researchers tested 82 people, smokers and nonsmokers, taking pictures of the inner right arms. They ranged in age from 22 to 91 and half were smokers. Independent judges decided how wrinkled each person's skin was.
When skin is exposed to sunlight, notably（尤其）the face, it becomes coarse, wrinkled and discolored with a pale yellow tint, Helfrich's team wrote.
Several previous studies have found that cigarette smoking contributes to premature（過早的）skin aging as measured by facial wrinkles, the study said, but little has been done to measure the aging of skin not exposed to light.
The report did not discuss the mechanism involved but previous research has found that cigarette smoke, among other things, causes blood vessels（血管）beneath the skin to constrict（緊縮）, reducing blood supply to the skin.
Smoking can also damage the connective tissue (組織)that supports both the skin and the internal organs.
小題1:The best title for this passage would be_______.

A．The danger of smoking	B．Smoking causes skin aging
C．Quit smoking for health	D．A survey of smokers

小題2:It can be inferred from the study _______ .

A．smoking won’t make skin protected from the sun

B．smoking will do damage to skin rather than other organs

C．smokers over 65 usually won’t worry about their skin

D．the age of smokers is not connected with the result of the test

小題3: From the passage smoking results in skin aging mainly because_____.

A．it will lower blood supply to skin	B．it can make you feel tired
C．it can make skin come off	D．it can make blood run faster

小題4:The main purpose of the passage is to ______.

A．inform people about the result of the study

B．a(chǎn)dvise people how to protect skin

C．warn people not to smoke again

D．introduce a new way of avoiding skin aging

Everyone has got two personalities(性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control your behavior(行為), but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, people frequently change their position. The important position is the one that you sleep in.
If you go to sleep on your back , you’re a very open person . You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by fashion or new ideas . You don’t like to upset people , so you never express your real feelings . You are quite shy and you aren’t very confident .
If you sleep on your stomach, you are a rather secretive (不坦率的) person. You worry a lot and you're always easily upset. You're very stubborn(頑固), but you aren't very ambitious(抱負(fù)的). You usually live for today not for tomorrow. This means that you enjoy having a good time.
If you sleep curled up (卷曲), you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and so you're often defensive (防御性的). You're shy and you don't normally like meeting people. You prefer to be on your own. You're easily hurt.
If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel anxious, but you don't often get depressed. You always say what you think even if it annoys people.
小題1:Point out which sentence is used to show the personality of a person who is used to sleeping on his or her stomach?

A．He or she is careful not to make others angry.

B．He or she doesn't want to stick to his or her opinion.

C．He or she can't be successful in any business.

D．He or she likes to bring others happiness.

小題2:Maybe you don't want to make friends with a person who sleeps curled up. Why?

A．He or she would rather be alone than communicate with you.

B．He or she is rarely ready to help you.

C．He or she prefers going out to staying at home.

D．He or she wouldn't like to get help from you.

小題3:It appears that the writer is possible to think highly of the person who sleeps on one side because _______.

A．he or she always shows sympathy (同情) for people

B．he or she is confident, but not stubborn

C．he or she has more strengths than weaknesses

D．he or she often considers annoying (使煩惱) people

A group of eight public high school students  in Massachusetts, aged l5 to l7，designed and ran their own school within a school. They named their practice the Independent Project. They represented the usual range: two were close to dropping out before they started the project，while others were honors students.
Their guidance teacher was their adviser, consulting with them when the group encountered difficulties. Though they sought advice from English，math and science teachers， they were responsible for monitoring one another’s work and giving one another feedback. There were no grades, but at the end of the term，the students wrote evaluations of their classmates.
The students also designed their own course. In addition to some  regular courses，they each took on an ‘individual project’，learning to play the piano or to cook，writing a novel or making a video about domestic(國內(nèi)的) violence. At the end of the term，they performed their new skills in front of the entire school. The last part of their self - designed course was to do a ‘collective project’ that had social significance. Because they felt the whole experience had been so life – changing，they ended up making a film showing how other students could start and run their own schools.
The project was a success. After returning to their traditional study，the students have high motivation and are doing well. One student who had failed all of his previous math courses spent three weeks teaching the others about probability. The lesson learned here is that if students are given the opportunity to take control or contribute significantly to their own learning they will become more accomplished，more engaged and more knowledgeable.
The students in the project are remarkable because they demonstrate the kinds of learning and  personal growth that are possible when teenagers feel ownership of their high school experience，learn things that matter to them and learn together.
小題1:Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Some students might drop out of high school.

B．The teachers monitored the students’ homework.

C．The students themselves solved all their problems.

D．The teachers evaluate the students’ performances.

小題2:The students involved in the Independent Project             .

A．didn’t need to learn common lessons

B．tended to escape from the whole society

C．were unwilling to share their experiences

D．focused on self-study and working together

小題3:According Paragraph 4，we know that             .

A．the traditional study is better than the project

B．a(chǎn)ll the students had failed their math courses

C．the students have freedom to design their lessons

D．the project was mainly concerned with math courses

小題4:The project made the students outstanding because             .

A．they are unusually talented

B．they have better backgrounds

C．they have supportive teachers

D．they are owners of their education

小題5:What would be the best title of the text?

A．Structure the kids’ days to the minute

B．Let kids rule their own school within a school

C．Offer students few opportunities to do anything

D．Provide traditional education to the students

Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true non-believers?
Once upon a time—July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (騙局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “best” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is that the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (獵狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (紀(jì)念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
小題1:We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.

A．moon landings were invented

B．U.S. technology was the best

C．moon landing ended successfully

D．the Mojave Desert was the launching base

小題2:According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?

A．NASA’s publicity campaign.	B．The Fox television program.
C．Buzz Aldrin.	D．James E. Oberg.

小題3:The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.

A．proof to hide the truth

B．stupid and unnecessary

C．needed to convince the non-believers

D．important to develop space technology

小題4:What is implied in the last paragraph?

A．NASA should not bother with the non-believers.

B．Armstrong was a very private and determined person.

C．Armstrong should be as outspoken as Buzz Aldrin.

D．NASA should send more astronauts to outer space.

Food safety will become the food industry’s key target as the nation tries to adopt international food standards. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Standardization Administration of China, the Ministry of Agriculture and six other departments announced their 2004-05 development programme for national food standards over the weekend.
China is conducting a rectification (整頓) within two years. Inspectors will search for all known banned materials in food production. To reduce trading barriers, China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry to 55 percent from today’s 23 percent. “Safety is the first consideration for anything entering people’s mouth followed by its nutritious value,” said Hao Yu, secretary-general of the National Food Industry Standardization Technique Committee. He added the usage of food addictives (添加劑) will be a major field for consideration in setting the new standards. On-the-spot checks during the past two years have shown the abuse (濫用) or misuse of addictives in food production and processing has become the biggest threat to food safety. In one case, talcum (滑石粉) powder was found in flour products, which is outlawed according to national food standards.
“At present there are no methods or standards to test the content of talcum powder in flour,” said Shang Yan’e, an official with the national watchdog on grain and oil inspections. Under the guidelines, all banned addictives will be recorded as inspections increase, Relevant departments have allocated (分配) funds to conduct risk evaluations on current food addictives to fix the limits of their usage. China will adopt international advanced techniques and standards so as to find out the harmful materials in food within a shortest period.
小題1:China will raise the ratio of adopting international standards in the food industry by _____.

A．55%

B．32%

C．23%

D．78%

小題2:_________ is the second consideration for anything people eat according to the passage.

A．Safety

B．Value

C．Nutrition

D．Addictives

小題3:What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Addictives are dangerous to people’s health.

B．Chinese food will be as safe as foreign food.

C．New food safety standards are to be fixed.

D．Food safety is a major concern in present China.

They leap from helicopters or speeding boats, bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy’s popular beaches.
Hundreds of specially trained dogs from Italy’s corps of canine(犬類的) lifeguards set out each summer to help swimmers in need of rescue.
These "life dogs" wear a harness that victims can grab to be dragged back to shore, and unlike human lifeguards, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to reach swimmers in trouble.
With millions flocking to Italy’s crowded beaches each summer, the Italian Coast Guard says it rescues about 3,000 people every year —and their canine helpers have saved several lives.
It takes three years for the canines to reach expert rescue status, and currently 300 dogs are fully trained for duty, said Roberto Gasbarri, who directs the Italian School of Canine Lifeguards program.
"Dogs are of good physical strength. They can increase the speed at which victims are rescued," Gasbarri said.
"The dog becomes a sort of intelligent lifebuoy(救生圈). It is a buoy that goes by itself to a person in need of help, and comes back to the shore also by himself, choosing the best landing point and swimming through the safest currents," he said.
The school will train any breed, as long as they weigh at least 30 kilograms, but New found lands and golden retrievers are most commonly used because they are good at swimming. Each dog works together with a human lifeguard, who also acts as the animal’s trainer.
"Being retrievers, they set out to pick up anything we tell them, be it a human being, an object, or a fish, and they bring it back to the shore," said lifeguard Monia Luciani. "They do not associate it with a physical activity, but it is rather a game for them."
小題1:The dogs wear a harness so that __________.
小題2:The dogs are helpful to _________.
小題3:Why does the school usually choose to train the New found lands and golden retrievers?
___________________________________.
小題4:How do the dogs regard the pickup training?
____________________________________.

Which is sillier: denying we ever went to the moon or trying to convince the true nonbelievers?
Once upon a time – July 20, 1969, to be specific – two men got out of their little spaceship and wandered around on the moon for a while. Ten more men walked on the moon over the next three and a half years. The end.
Unfortunately, not quite. A fair number of Americans think that this whole business of moon landings really is a fairy tale. They believe that the landings were a big hoax (騙局) staged in the Mojave Desert, to convince everyone that U.S. technology was the “bestest” in the whole wide world.
Which is the harder thing to do: Send men to the moon or make believe we did? The fact is the physics behind sending people to the moon is simple. You can do it with computers whose entire memory capacities can now fit on chips the size of postage stamps and that cost about as much as, well, a postage stamp. I know you can because we did.
However, last fall NASA considered spending $15,000 on a public-relations campaign to convince the unimpressed that Americans had in fact gone to the moon. That idea was mostly a reaction to a Fox television program, first aired in February 2001, that claimed to expose the hoax. The show’s creator is a publicity hound (獵狗) who has lived up to the name in more ways than one by hounding Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. Mr. X (as I will call him, thereby denying him the joyous sight of his name in print) recently followed Buzz Aldrin around and called him “a thief, liar and coward” until the 72-year-old astronaut finally lost it and hit the 37-year-old Mr. X in the face.
Anyway, NASA’s publicity campaign began to slow down. The nonbelievers took the campaign as NASA’s effort to hide something while the believers said that $15,000 to convince people that the world was round — I mean, that we had gone to the moon — was simply a waste of money. (Actually, the $15,000 was supposed to pay for an article by James E. Oberg, an astronomy writer who, with Aldrin, has contributed to Scientific American.)
If NASA’s not paying Oberg, perhaps it could put the money to good use by hiring two big guys to drag Neil Armstrong out of the house. Armstrong is an extremely private man, but he is also the first man on the moon, so maybe he has a duty to be a bit more outspoken about the experience. Or NASA could just buy Aldrin a commemorate plaque (紀(jì)念匾) for his recent touch on the face of Mr. X.
小題1:We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that some Americans believe _______.

A．moon landings were invented

B．U.S. technology was the best

C．moon landing ended successfully

D．the Mojave Desert was the launching base

小題2:According to the writer, which of the following is to blame for the story about the hoax?

A．NASA’s publicity campaign.	B．The Fox television program.
C．Buzz Aldrin.	D．James E. Oberg.

小題3:According to the writer, Mr. X _______.

A．told a faithful story	B．was not treated properly
C．was a talented creator	D．had a bad reputation

小題4:The believers think that NASA’s publicity campaign is ________.

A．proof to hide the truth

B．stupid and unnecessary

C．needed to convince the non-believers

D．important to develop space technology

小題5:The tone of the article is _______.

A．a(chǎn)ngry

B．conversational

C．humorous

D．matter-of-fact

At 10 years old, Flynn Mc Garry became sick of the meals his mother cooked for him. So the Los Angeles native took matters into his own hands and started making his own dinners. One of his specialties? Trout with braised leeks(韭蔥燉鮭魚).
Now 13, the young chef is being praised as a “food prodigy(神童)”. He will spend his summer apprenticing with some of the best chefs at LA’s famous restaurants, MSNBC Nightly New reports.
Mc Garry began making a name for himself in the culinary(烹飪) world when John Sedlar, owner of the trendy Playa Restaurant, let Mc Garry take over the kitchen for a special nine-course meal. The meal sold out almost instantly.
“Flynn is a very unusual young man, and he’s very, very passionate,” owner John Sedlar told MSNBC.
By usual teenage boy standards, it’s true. So strong is his passion for cooking that the young man has turned his bedroom into an experimental kitchen laboratory.
Instead of video game consoles, baseball trophies and movie posters, Mc Garry’s room is lined with mixers, pots and pans, cutting boards and a stainless steel worktable. It’s where Mc Garry cooks his monthly pop-up dinners, which are served from his family’s dining room, a monthly supper club he calls Eureka.
Mc Garry is deft(靈巧的) and confident in the kitchen, with skills he’s been practicing since he was a child. What started out as a means of self-preservation from his mom’s unsatisfactory cooking has turned into a passion that the teen hopes to develop into a career.
“My goal? Michelin three stars, a restaurant in the top 50 list,” he told MSNBC. “Hopefully the top five.” Meanwhile, Mc Garry’s 13-year-old resume is already richer and more impressive than most cooks many times his age.
Mc Garry isn’t the only talented young prodigy to surprise experts in his field in recent years. At just 17 years old, physicist Taylor Wilson is already teaching graduate-level courses in physics and has built a functioning nuclear reactor.
小題1:Mc Garry first started cooking ___________.

A．for himself	B．a(chǎn)s an experiment
C．in his own bedroom	D．with a teacher’s guidance

小題2:Compared with many adult chefs, Mc Garry ________.

A．has the best cooking equipment in his kitchen

B．is inventive and has many new specialties to his name

C．has much and impressive cooking experience for his young age

D．wants to open his own Michelin three-star restaurant

小題3:The author mentions Taylor Wilson in the last paragraph to ______.

A．prove that Flynn’s success is not a rare case

B．compare his talent to that of Flynn Mc Garry

C．introduce a young talent in a different field

D．suggest experts should be trained at a young age

小題4:Where does this text probably come from?

A．A recipe book	B．A restaurant introduction
C．A career guide	D．A news report