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This summer"s World Cup competition will see teams competing to play the world"s best football. But the football they play will not all be of the same kind. The fans expect different styles of play from Brazil, Germany, or Italy.What makes Brazilian football Brazilian Our style of playing football contrasts with the Europeans because of a combination of qualities of surprise, accuracy and good judgment. This style has won Brazil five world cups. Yet many Brazilian fans only count four of these Victories. In 1994, the team abandoned this style for modern, scientific training and tactics. The team won the cup, but in a boring way.The Italians think differently. "To many Italians, the score 0:0 has a glorious quality, suggesting perfection," says the British football writer Simon Kuper. In the Italian culture, the idea of face is very important. This is why Italian teams are traditionally built around strong defenses. The Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff once said that Italian teams never exactly beat you. It"s just that you often lose to them.In Holland, there is a tradition of decision making through argument and discussion. It is a society where everybody is expected to have a point of view. "Every Dutch player wants to control the game," says Arnold Muhren. "You play football with your brains and not your feet.""A Dutch player argues," says Simon Kuper. "An English player obeys his superior. He is a soldier." The qualities valued in English football are military-strength, aggression and courage. This can make for exciting football. But it also means that the English find it difficult to use skillful players. David Beckham is usually criticized for his failure to defend—despite the fact that he is an attacker.If the English like to fight, the Germans like to win. In recent years, Germany has tried to change its image as a country of ruthless efficiency and a desire for victory at all costs. But Germans are quite happy for these qualities to remain in their national football team. "Football is a simple game," Gary Lineker once said. "You kick a ball about for ninety minutes and in the end the Germans win."It"s difficult to predict who will win this year"s World Cup. There is no strong favorite. But a look at the track record of previous winners shows that it is the nations with the strongest national characteristics in the football that perform best. It seems that you need to know where you come from if you want to get to the top. What is one expected to do in Holland

A. To play football.
B. To express his or her opinion freely.
C. To make a fuss about nothing.
D. To beat his or her opponents ruthlessly.

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Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 countries are members, have shown that 1 percent of reptile species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out.European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr. Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and nature resources division of the Council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the Council"s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right.No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as tourist attraction, he went on. The short view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future."We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends," Dr. Baum went on, "We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass." Although it is difficult nowadays to convince the public of the importance of nature reserves, Dr. Baum felt that ______.

A. people would support moves to create more environment areas
B. people would carry on supporting those national parks in existence
C. existing national parks would need to be more independent to survive
D. certain areas of countryside should be left undisturbed by man

This summer"s World Cup competition will see teams competing to play the world"s best football. But the football they play will not all be of the same kind. The fans expect different styles of play from Brazil, Germany, or Italy.What makes Brazilian football Brazilian Our style of playing football contrasts with the Europeans because of a combination of qualities of surprise, accuracy and good judgment. This style has won Brazil five world cups. Yet many Brazilian fans only count four of these Victories. In 1994, the team abandoned this style for modern, scientific training and tactics. The team won the cup, but in a boring way.The Italians think differently. "To many Italians, the score 0:0 has a glorious quality, suggesting perfection," says the British football writer Simon Kuper. In the Italian culture, the idea of face is very important. This is why Italian teams are traditionally built around strong defenses. The Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff once said that Italian teams never exactly beat you. It"s just that you often lose to them.In Holland, there is a tradition of decision making through argument and discussion. It is a society where everybody is expected to have a point of view. "Every Dutch player wants to control the game," says Arnold Muhren. "You play football with your brains and not your feet.""A Dutch player argues," says Simon Kuper. "An English player obeys his superior. He is a soldier." The qualities valued in English football are military-strength, aggression and courage. This can make for exciting football. But it also means that the English find it difficult to use skillful players. David Beckham is usually criticized for his failure to defend—despite the fact that he is an attacker.If the English like to fight, the Germans like to win. In recent years, Germany has tried to change its image as a country of ruthless efficiency and a desire for victory at all costs. But Germans are quite happy for these qualities to remain in their national football team. "Football is a simple game," Gary Lineker once said. "You kick a ball about for ninety minutes and in the end the Germans win."It"s difficult to predict who will win this year"s World Cup. There is no strong favorite. But a look at the track record of previous winners shows that it is the nations with the strongest national characteristics in the football that perform best. It seems that you need to know where you come from if you want to get to the top. Why do many Italians think that the score 0:0 has a glorious quality

A. Because it makes no one lose face.
Because the Italian team is not very strong.
C. Because Italians are nice people.
D. Because that score is what their team could obtain.

Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 countries are members, have shown that 1 percent of reptile species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out.European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr. Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and nature resources division of the Council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the Council"s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right.No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as tourist attraction, he went on. The short view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future."We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends," Dr. Baum went on, "We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass." Dr. Baum, a representative of the Council, visited one particular British national park because ______.

A. he was presenting the park with a diploma for its achievements
B. he was concerned about how the park was being run
C. it was the only national park of its kind in Europe
D. it was the only park which had ever received a diploma from the Council

The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the US leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world"s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of US companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race Firstly, Americans as a whole tend to be fairlyprovincialand take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, American lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall"s US employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read theWall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read theJournalas well as theFinancial Timesof London andThe Economist, publications not often read in this country.Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign. According to the passage, US leadership in public relations is being threatened because of ______.

A. shrinking cultural differences and new communication technologies
B. increased efforts of other countries in public relations
C. an unparalleled increase in the number of public relations companies
D. the decreasing number of multinational corporations technologies

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