Do you remember the Millennium (千禧年) Goals When world leaders celebrated the year 2000 with a serious promise to reduce poverty (贫穷) and hunger, check the spread of AIDS, get boys and girls into school, and improve public health, all by 2015Well, three years down the road, and the UNDP’s yearly collection of facts and figures already shows that if we carry on as we are, the only goal likely to be met is that for reducing poverty by a half, and that is entirely due to the success of one country--China. It is so vast that the fast-growing economy in China lifts millions of people above the poverty line, even though in Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union, people have actually been getting poorer.Otherwise, progress is good only in parts. East Asia should meet its goal of reducing hunger by a half by 2015, and Latin America and the Caribbean are not far behind, but at the present speed of progress, Africa and South Asia won’t get there for another hundred years.The good news is that it can be done--there are success stories. Ghana--an economic basket case in the eighties and early nineties--has managed to find a way out of its difficulties and it’s now comfortably in the middle range of countries, way ahead of the much more naturally wealthy Nigeria. For Congo, Cambodia or Iraq, ruined by war, or every southern African country damaged by AIDS, there is a Mauritius or a South Korea steadily working its way up the league table towards a better life for its people. Which country is mentioned as an example of successful development in the text ?()
A. Conto.
B. Nigeria.
Cambodia.
D. Mauritius.
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I was in my third year of teaching writing at Ralph High School in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence (缺席) from class the day before:"Dear Mr. McCort, Mikey’s grandmother, who is eighty years of age, fell down the stairs from too much coffee and I kept Mikey at home to take care of her and his baby sister so I could go to my job. Please excuse Mikey and he’ll do his best in the future. P.S. His grandmother is OK. "I had seen Mikey writing the note at his desk. I said nothing. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull : "Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off. "The students always said it was bard putting 200 words together on any subject, but when they produced excuse notes, they were excellent. So I decided to type out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, "They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey" The students looked at me nervously."Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note -the first class, ever, to practice writing them. " Everyone smiled as I went on, "Today I’d like you to write An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ’ An Excuse Note from Eve to God’. " Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so immersed (专心的) in their writing, they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. But suddenly I saw the headmaster at the door. He entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, "I’d like you to see me in my office. " My heart sank.When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, "I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you. \ We can infer that when Mikey missed the class, he was ().
A. out enjoying himself
B. taking care of his baby sister
C. looking after his grandmother
D. studying the art of the excuse note
4()
A. really
B. just
C. hardly
D. indeed
11()
A. protected
B. shocked
C. delighted
D. determined
Different countries have different cultures. A same gesture may have distinct meanings in different countries. For instance, in Africa, people knock at the table with their fingers to call waiters which is considered as impolite in China. In western countries, if you make a circle with your thumb and the index finger (食指), and then raise the other three fingers, you are suggesting "OK". The same gesture, however, means "money" in Japan while makes Brazilian people feel insulted (受侮辱的). With that in mind, you’d better learn about their custom before travelling to foreign countries.Greeting is an important part of communication between people. When greeting someone, Americans tend to hold out their hands and look directly into his/her eyes and then smile. However, sometimes such behavior might bring nothing but misunderstanding in other countries. A handshake might not be accepted and looking others right in the eye can have different meanings.Asian people regard physical contact as embarrassing; therefore, they do not shake hands. They have their own ways of greeting people. For Japanese, a slight bow of the head is enough. In Korea, women do not shake hands or hug with people; while men might shake hands accompanied by nodding the head once. In western Asia, Muslims do not make body contacts with women yet hug is generally accepted among men. Same thing happens on eye contact. In many countries, people avoid direct eye contact to show respect. This can cause misunderstanding, too. In fact, some Asian students have been regarded as lacking respect for their American teachers exactly because they failed to make eye contacts with their teachers.Though different cultures seem to have different ways of greeting, smiling is taken as the universal gesture of friendliness. Smiling indicates happiness or agreement (同意) and it can also be used to mean "Excuse me" or "Please". So when you are not sure what to do, just smile. If an American makes an "OK" gesture to a Japanese, then the Japanese probably think that ().
A. they have agreed on something
B. the American feels happy
C. the American insults him
D. the American wants money