Passage 3

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:

Unlike their American or European counterparts, car salesmen in Japan work hard to get a buyer. Instead of lying lazily around showrooms waiting for customers to drop by, many Japanese car salesmen still go out to get them. They walk wearily along the streets cars door-to-door. New customers are hunted with fruit and cakes on their birthdays. But life is getting tough, and not just because new-car sales are falling.

With more Japanese women (who often control the household budget) going out to work, the salesmen increasingly find nobody at home when they call. That means another visit in the evening or the weekend. Then they face an extra problem: more people, especially the young, prefer to choose a new car from a showroom where they can compare different models.

Even as late as the mid-1980s some 90% of new cars were sold door-to-door. In some rural areas most new cars are still sold this way. But in the big cities more than half the new cars are now sold from showrooms.

Although investing in showrooms is expensive because of the high cost of Japanese land, dealers have little choice. A labor shortage and higher among Japan’s workforce are making it difficult to hire door-to-door salesmen. Most of a Japanese car salesman’s working day is spent doing favors for customers, like arranging insurance or picking up vehicles for servicing, rather than actually selling.

Japan’s doorstep car salesmen are not about to vanish. The personal service they provide is so deep-rooted in Japan that they are likely to operate alongside the glittering new showrooms. The two systems even complement each other. What increasingly happens is that the showroom attracts the interest of a potential buyer, giving the footsore salesmen a firm lead to follow up with a home visit.

11. Japanese car sales usually do not wait at showrooms for customers to drop by; instead, .

A. they sell cars door-to-door

B. they buy presents for their customers

C. they enjoy themselves in recreation centers

D. they go out to do market researches

12. Implied but stated: the competition in car market is .

A. light B. moderate C. fierce D. unfair

13. Young people like to buy a new car .

A. at home B. from a showroom

C. made in the U.S.A. D. made in Japan

14. The squadron of Japanese car salesmen is reducing because of .

A. a labor shortage

B. higher expectations among Japan’s workforce

C. high cost land

D. both A and B

15. Japanese car salesmen to their customers many favors such as .

A. showing them around in an exhibition

B. arranging insurance

C. paying them a visit on weekends

D. selling ole cars for them

Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals. Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year. The sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much.

Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population.

No one yet has seriously suggested that “planktonburgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists.

One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the giant blue whale, the largest animal ever to inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily.

Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes miles wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as a solid reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. A pound of these crustaceans contains about 460 calories—about the same as shrimp or lobster, to which they are related.

If the krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be contenders as new food source for humans.

1.Which of the following best portrays the organization of the passage?

A.The author presents the advantages and disadvantages of plankton as a food source.

B.The author quotes public opinion to support the argument for farming plankton.

C.The author classifies the different food sources according to amount of carbohydrate.

D.The author makes a general statement about plankton as a food source and then moves to a specific example.

2.According to the passage, why is plankton regarded to be more valuable than land grasses?

A.It is easier to cultivate.

B.It produces more carbohydrates.

C.It does not require soil.

D.It is more palatable.

3.Why does the author mention “planktonburgers”?

A.To describe the appearance of one type of plankton.

B.To illustrate how much plankton a whale consumes.

C.To suggest plankton as a possible food sources.

D.To compare the food values of beef and plankton.

4.What is mentioned as one conspicuous feature of krill?

A.They are the smallest marine animals.

B.They are pink in color.

C.They are similar in size to lobsters.

D.They have grass like bodies.

5.The author mentions all of the following as reasons why plankton could be considered a human food source except that it is ___.

A.high in food value.

B.in abundant supply in the oceans.

C.an appropriate food for other animals.

D.free of chemicals and pollutants.

Advertisements are aimed at people suffering from mild complaints because________.

翻译训练：大学生创业

近年来大学生创业(entrepreneurship)问题越来越受到社会的关注,因为受过多年教育的大学生属于高级知识分子,他们背负着社会的种种期望。在社会经济繁荣发展的同时,大学生创业也成为新气象。现代大学生有创新精神,有对传统观念和传统行业挑战的信心和欲望,而这种创新精神也成为大学生创业的动力源泉,成为成功创业的信心基础。大学生怀揣创业梦想,努力打拼,实现自己的理想,证明自己的价值。

翻译：

As the source of aluminum is almost inexhaustible, we can expect that more and more uses will be found for this versatile metal. (Passage Two)