Ann: What will you buy your dad as a birthday present?
John: I haven"t decided yet. You"ve got to help me!
Ann: What does he like to do best?
John: Of course! Why didn"t I think of that? He loves to go fishing!
Ann: ______
John: I can buy him a set of fishing tackle!
Ann: Good. That represents an auspicious New Year greeting. You will be a special well-wisher.

A Here you are.

B You bet.

C There you go.

D There it is.

Harry: I hear you are going to get married soon.
Ron: That"s right, next June. June 21st. Can you come to the wedding?
Harry: Oh! ______ That"s when we"re away on vacation.
Ron: Never mind, we"ll send you some wedding cake.

A That"s great!

B What a pity !

C You have my deepest sympathy.

D You certainly can.

Julio: ______
Officer: Well, first, you write and get an application form. Then, you send it in with a copy of your school records. And after that, you ask your teachers for some letters of recommendation.
Julio: Are foreign students allowed to work in the States?
Officer: They"ll only let you work in the summer. And you"ll need to get permission from the U.S. Officer of Immigration to do that. During the school year you"re not allowed to work unless the work experience is part of your school program.

A I"d like to get some information on how to get into an American university.

B Is it all right to apply to several universities at the same time?

C When can I apply for that?

D I"d like to get some information on how to get a tTavel card.

Nancy: I"d like to withdraw some money, but I"ve never used a bank machine.
Roger: OK. ______
Nancy: Thanks. That would be nice.
Roger: First, you put your card in here. Next ...

A Remember to turn to the policeman.

B Let me show you how it works.

C Why don"t you borrow some money?

D Do you mind me taking you to the bank?

Bob: What are you reading, Frank?
Tom: It"s this week"s New Scientist, why?
Bob: I was just wondering--______, but I"ve never actually read it myself. Is it aimed at real scientists or can ordinary people like me understand it?

A it"s for anyone really

B where I can buy it

C it seems very expensive

D it looks interesting

Advance notice is often referred to in America as "lead time," an expression which is significant in a culture where schedules are important. While it is learned informally, most of us are familiar with how it works in our own culture, even though we cannot state the rules technically. The rules for lead time in other cultures, however, have rarely been analyzed. At the most they are known by experience to those who lived abroad for some time. Yet think how important it is to know how much time is required to prepare people, or for things to come. Sometimes lead time would seem to be very extended. At other times, in the Middle East, any period longer than a week may be too long.
How troublesome differing ways of handling time can be is well illustrated by the case of an American agriculturalist assigned to duty as an attachê of our embassy in a Latin country， After what seemed to him a suitable period he let it be known that he would like to call on the minister who was his counterpart. For various reasons, the suggested time was not suitable; all sorts of cues came back to the effect that the time was not yet ripe to visit the minister. Our friend, however, persisted and forced an appointment, which was reluctantly granted. Arriving a little before the hour (the American respect pattern), he waited. The hour came and passed; five minutes--ten minutes--fifteen minutes. At this point he suggested to the secretary that perhaps the minister did not know he was waiting in the outer office. This gave him the feeling he had done something concrete and also helped to overcome the great anxiety that was stirring inside him. Twenty minutes--twenty-five minutes--thirty minutes--forty-five minutes (the insult period)!
He jumped up and told the secretary that he had been "cooling his heels" in an outer office for forty-five minutes and he was "damned sick and tired" of this type of treatment. This message was relayed to the minister, who said, in effect, "let him cool his heels." The attachê stay in the country was not a happy one.
The principal source of misunderstanding lay in the fact that in the country in question the five-minute delay interval was not significant. Forty-five minutes, on the other hand, instead of being at the tail end of the waiting scale, was just barely at the beginning. To suggest to an American"s secretary that perhaps her boss didn"t know you were there after waiting sixty seconds would seem absurd, as would raising a storm about "cooling your heels" for five minutes. Yet this is precisely the way the minister registered the complaints of the American in his outer office! He felt, as usual, that Americans were being totally unreasonably.
Throughout this unfortunate episode the attach6 was acting according to the way he had been brought up. At home in the United States his response would have been normal ones and his behavior correct. Yet even if he had been told before he left home that this sort of thing would happen, he would have had difficulty not feeling insulted after he had been kept waiting for forty-five minutes. If, on the other hand, he had been taught the details of the local time system just as he should have been taught the local spoken language, it would have been possible for him to adjust himself accordingly.

1. 
Lead time is an important concept of a person"s culture that is ______.

A learned casually and without planning

B vague because its rules have not been stated technically

C not taught formally in the classroom

D only learned through experience

2. 
For an American, having to wait 15 minutes for an interview is ______.

A annoying

B frustrating

C tolerable

D unacceptable

3. 
Which of the following has the same meaning as "cooling his heels"?

A Standing.

B Waiting.

C Sitting.

D Relaxing.

4. 
In that particular Latin American country, letting people wait for 45 minutes is considered ______.

A unreasonable

B impolite

C objectionable

D quite normal

5. 
The American diplomat felt insulted because he ______.

A was unaware of the local time system

B did not adjust himself to the local life style

C was not familiar with local tradition

D did not speak the local language

Scientists say there has been a severe decrease in the amount of water in Lake Chad in northern Africa in the last thirty years. They reported that nature and humans share equal blame for this loss.
In 1963, the fresh-water lake covered 25,000 square kilometers. Now the lake is only about five percent of that size. It measures only about 1,300 square kilometers in the dry season.
Four nations surround Lake Chad. People in Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon use it for water, fish and plant life.
Michael Coe and Jonathan Foley, water experts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, reported on Lake Chad in a science journal. They say the area has suffered from a lack of heavy rain for more than thirty years. This has forced people to build systems to carry water to dry land. These irrigation systems further decrease the amount of lake water.
Mr. Coe says Lake Chad will be only a small body of water in the future. He says people still can get water from the lake to drink and for crops. But he says the lake will no longer provide a healthy environment for fish and plant life.
The researchers used a computer to study what caused the water loss. Their computer study estimated the climate and amount of water in the area. The estimate started with written records from the early 1960s. Then the researchers compared the estimates with the area"s recorded climate and water supply for the same period.
The computer study showed results similar to the recorded ones for the first twenty years. But there was a big change in the 1980s. At the time, the lake got smaller much faster than the computer research had estimated.
The researchers say that major irrigation systems were built in the 1980s. The systems took water from two rivers that flow into Lake Chad. The Chari and Logone rivers carry most of the water that enters the lake. Climate changes also were responsible for the reduction. The flow of the two rivers was reduced by almost seventy-five percent.
Scientists say the problem is expected to worsen in the coming years as the population and demand for water continued to increase.

1. 
The amount of water in Lake Chad is ______。

2. 
The change in the size of Lake Chad is caused by the climate, ______ and ______.

3. 
The water from Lake Chad is no longer environmental appropriate for ______.

4. 
When did the scientists find that Lake Chad got smaller much faster?

5. 
The water that the Chari and Logone rivers carry is now ______ percent of the flow of the past.

Although one might not think so from some of the criticism of it, advertising is essential to the kind of society in which people in the United Kingdom, and a very large part of the world at large, live. Advertising is necessary as a means of communicating with others. It is also a way of telling people about the goods and services that are offered. If it were not for advertising, some goods information would never reach the ears of many people. Advertising helps a great deal to raise the people"s standard of living.
In talking about advertising, one should not think only in terms of commercial on television, or an advertisement in the newspapers or periodicals. In its widest sense, advertising includes many other activities such as packaging, shop displays and even the spoken word of the salesman. After all, the roots of advertising are to be found in the market place.
For many years it was thought that it was enough to produce goods and supply services. It is only more recently that it has become increasingly understood that the production of goods is a waste of resources unless those goods can be sold at a fair price within a reasonable time span. In the competitive society in which we live, it is essential that we go out and sell what we have to offer, and advertising plays an important role in this respect, whether selling at home or in export markets.
About 2 percent of the U.K. gross national product is spent on advertising. But it must not be thought that this advertising tries to sell goods to consumers who do not want them. Of course, advertising does try to attract the interest of the potential consumer, but if the article purchased does not match up to the standards that the advertising suggests that it will, it is obviously unlikely that the article will sell well.

1. 
______ Talking about advertising, one should not merely associate with commercials on the TV and advertisements in the newspaper and magazines.

2. 
______ All advertisements are trying to push goods to consumers who want them and who don"t want them.

3. 
______ As a means of communications, advertising tells people the products and services being offered.

4. 
______ Well-designed packaging is not a form of advertising.

5. 
______ Advertising is essential for goods to be sold in foreign country.

6. 
______ An article will sell well as long as it has just-so-so quality and good advertisement.

7. 
______ Without advertisements, people still can have the information of products through other forms of media.

Directions: Here is part of a letter from an English friend:
Guess what? My parents have given me some money for passing my exam, so I can splash out on something really special. I can"t choose between buying a new computer game or saving up a bit more and getting some clothes. Which do you think would be better? And can you suggest What exactly I should get?
Write a suitable reply to your friend. (120 words)