Walking—like swimming, bicycling and running—is an aerobic exercise, 1 builds the capacity for energy output and physical endurance by increasing the supply of oxygen to skin and muscles. Such exercises may be a primary factor in the 2 of heart and circulatory disease.
As probably the least strenuous, safest aerobic activity, walking is the 3 acceptable exercise for the largest number of people. Walking 4 comfortable speed improves the efficiency of the cardiorespiratory system 5 stimulating the lungs and heart, but at a more gradual rate 6 most other forms of exercise.
In one test, a group of men 40 to 57 years of age, 7 at a fast pace for 40 minutes four days a week, showed improvement 8 to men the same age on a 30 minute, three-day-a-week jogging program in the same period. Their resting heart rate and body fat decreased 9 . These changes suggest 10 of the important—even vital—benefits walking can 11 about.
Walking 12 burns calories. It takes 3,500 calories to gain or 13 one pound. Since a one-hour walk at a moderate pace will 14 up 300 to 360 calories. By walking one hour every other day, you can burn up a pound-and-a-half monthly, or 18 pounds 15 providing there is no change in your intake of food. To 16 weight faster, walk an hour every day and burn up 3 pounds a month, or 36 pounds a year.
17 your age, right now is the time to give your physical well being as much thought as you 18 to pensions or insurance. Walking is a vital defense 19 the ravages of degenerative diseases and aging. It is nature"s 20 of giving you a tuneup.

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

From China to America, political leaders are wondering how to handle with the newly-elected Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. The 47-year-old leader has not yet to reveal details of his foreign-policy vision, but this is much clear. He wants Russia to stand tall—or at least, taller—in the world. "It would be unreasonable to be afraid of a strong Russia, but one should reckon with it, "he declared in an "open letter" to voters shortly after they elected him on March 26. "One can insult us only at one"s own peril."
The important point is whether Putin"s efforts to build new respect for Russia will lead to confrontation with the West. For now, Putin seems hopeful of putting Russian—Western relations on a better standing— despite U.S. and European criticism of the Chechen War. Putin is the one taking the initiative, media say, for a tete-a-tete with U. S. President Bill Clinton. The pair discussed a possible meeting when Clinton called Putin on March 27 to congratulate him. They hope to meet before the July Group of Eight meetimg in Okinawa. "Putin wants it to be constructive," says Robert Legvold, a Russia watcher at Columbia University.
The new president, Putin seems willing to negotiate arms control and security issues with Washington. Clinton wants Russia"s agreement to revise the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty so that the U. S. can build a limited national missile defense. Putin would want something in return—perhaps the right to sell its missile-defense technology to potential customers such as South Korea. Putin is also looking for a deal from the Paris Club of creditor governments on reducing $40 billion in Soviet debt. Encouraged by Putin"s promises to enforce the rule of law, the creditors are likely to give him a break.
Any sober calculation of Russia"s global status suggests that Russia needs the West more than the West needs Russia. And whatever is generally thought, Russia has more to gain from America and Europe than it does from China. That"s why the West should be unafraid of laying down rules for Putin—and brace for a time of testing. Putin is often described as both an opportunist and a cynic, but there is no doubt one attribute that he respects: power.

1. 
What does the sentence "one can insult us only at one"s own peril" mean in the first paragraph?

A One can insult us only when one is in peril.

B Anyone who offends us will be in danger.

C Anyone who is in peril can insult us.

D We"ll never offend those who are in danger.

2. 
According to the passage, which of the statements is NOT true?

A Putin was elected on March 26.

B Clinton called Putin on March 27 to congratulate him.

C Clinton wants Putin to maintain the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty.

D Putin wants the fight to sell its missile-defence technology to will-be customers.

3. 
Which of the following statements about Putin is true?

A He was born in 1950.

B He is often considered as the one who takes advantage of any opportunity to gain power or money.

C He has shown details of his foreign-policy attitude.

D He is very powerful.

4. 
What does the last paragraph imply?

A China is vital to Russia.

B Russia is a threat to China.

C Russia needs the West in some aspects.

D Russia is a threat to the West.

5. 
In the last sentence of the last paragraph the word "cynic" is closest in meaning to

A "a fault-finding critic".

B "a peace-loving man".

C "an outgoing man".

D "a favorite companion".

Paul Straussmann, retired vice president of Xerox,, indicates in his book Information Pay-off that" almost half of the U. S. information workers are in executive, managerial, administrative and professional positions. " He further states that "managers and professionals spend more than half of their time in communicating with each other. "
In other words ,people are a corporation"s most expensive resource. For a typical office, over 90 percent of the operating budget is for salaries, benefits and over head. With this investment, is it any wonder that managers are focusing more and more attention on employee productivity? They realize that the paper jungle cannot be tamed simply by hiring more people. To receive a return on their investment, wise corporate executive officers are realizing what industrialists and agriculturists learned long ago--efficient tools are essential for increased productivity.
A direct relationship exists between efficient flow of information and the quality and speed of the output of the end product. For those companies using technology, the per document cost of information processing is only a fraction of what it was a few years ago. The decreasing cost of computers and peripherals( equipment tied to the computer) will continue to make technology a cost-effective tool in the future. An example of this type of saving is illustrated in the case of the Western Division of General Telephone and Electronics Company(GTE). By making a one-time investment of $10 million to automate its facilities, management estimates an annual saving of $ 8.5 million for the company. This savings is gained mainly through the elimination of support people once needed for proposal projects. Through a telecommunications network that supports 150 computer terminals with good graphics capabilities, the engineers who conceptualize the projects are now direct participants. They use the graphics capacities of the computer rather than rely on drafters to prepare drawings, they enter their own text rather than employ typists, and they use the network to track project progress rather than conducting meetings.

1. 
In the first paragraph,the author quotes Straussmann"s words in order to make clear

A the importance of communicative capability in business

B the need for people of higher positions in a company

C the importance of assigning people to proper positions

D the necessity for people in higher positions to know information science

2. 
Today"s corporate executive officers resemble the industrialists and agriculturists in the past in their realization of______.

A the essential roles of the workers in turning out more products

B the importance of information to a company"s development

C the importance of technology leading to high employee productivity

D the necessity of providing employees with a comfortable environment

3. 
Which of the following might be the result from the use of efficient technology in corporations?

A The quantity of products will be considerably increased.

B The cost of computers will be decreased.

C The per document cost of information processing will be reduced.

D The newest information will be easier to obtain.

4. 
The GTE"s example shows that ______.

A efficient technology is cost-effective

B many meetings in a company are unnecessary

C many positions like that of a typist can be done away with

D it doesn"t cost much to automate the facilities of a company

5. 
According to this passage,what is the most expensive resource in a corporation?

A Product.

B Human resource.

C Raw materials.

D Clients of the corporation.

Painting your house is like adding something to a huge communal picture in which the rest of the painting is done either by nature or by other people. The picture is not static; it changes as we move about, with the time of day, with the seasons, with new planting, new buildings and with alterations to old ones. Any individual house is just a fragment of this picture, nevertheless it has the power to make or mark the overall scene. In the past people used their creative talents in painting their homes, with great imagination and in varied but always subtly blending colors. The last vestiges of this great tradition can still be seen in the towns of the extreme west of Ireland. It has never been recognized as an art form, partly because of the physical difficulty of hanging a street in a gallery and partly because it is always changing, as paint fades and is renewed. Also it is a communal art which cannot be identified with any person, except in those many cases where great artists of the past found inspiration in ordinary street scenes and recorded them in paint.
Following the principles of decoration that were so successful in the past, you should first take a long look at the house and its surroundings and consider possible limitations. The first concerns the amount of color and intensity in the daylight in Britain. Colors that look perfectly in keeping with the sunny, clear skies of the Mediterranean would look too harsh in the grayer light of the north. Since bright light is uncomfortable for the eyes, colors must be strong in order to be seen clearly. Viewed in a dimmer light they appear too bright. It is easy to see this if you look at a brick house while the sun is alternately shining and then going behind a cloud. The brick work colors look much more intense when the sun is hidden.
The second limitation is the colors of the surroundings: the colors which go best with Cotswold stone and a rolling green countryside will be different from those that look best by the sea or in a red--brick/ blue--slate industrial town. In every area there are always colors that at once look in keeping.
In many areas there are distinctive traditions in the use of color that may be a useful guide. The eastern countries of England and Scotland, particularly those with a local tradition of rendering of plastering, use colors applied solidly over the wall. Usually only the window frames and doors are picked out in another color, often white or pale grey. Typical wall colors are the pink associated with Suffolk and pate buffs. Much stronger colors such as deep earth red, orange, blue and green are also common. In the coastal villages of Essex, as well as inland in Hertfordshire, the house--fronts of overlapping boards are traditionally painted black originally tarred like ships with windows and doors outlined in white. In Kent these weather boarded houses are usually white. In stone areas of Yorkshire and farther north, color is rare. the houses are usually left in their natural color, though many are painted white as they probably all were once.

1. 
According to the passage, "painting your house" in the first sentence refers to ______.

A making a picture of your house using paint

B putting paint on the outside of your house

C painting pictures in your house

D painting your rooms

2. 
The passage suggests that as any individual home is just a fragment of a huge communal picture when you paint your house ______.

A you should have your own unique way so as to avoid repetition

B you should take into account the fading of colors

C you should take general appearance of the area into consideration

D you should keep your house in harmony with what have already been painted in the picture

3. 
Which of the following statements is not the reason why the painting of houses has never been recognized as an art form?

A It is a communal piece of work which cannot be identified with any one person.

B It is impossible to display it to the gallery--going public.

C It is not static.

D People tend to think that communal picture is only a street scene that has no artistic value.

4. 
The writer mentions the sunny, clear skies of the Mediterranean to show us that ______.

A the climate of Britain is a long cry from that of the Mediterranean

B the bright colours chosen to paint a house in Mediterranean fit in well with the grayer light of Britain

C the different quality of light in Britain and in the Mediterranean results in different selection of colors

D the more intense the light is, the more beautiful the picture becomes

5. 
The writer has the opinion that when you paint your house, you will most likely choose

A the characteristic local colors

B your favorite colors

C the colors to your artistic taste

D the colors that fit in well with furniture

It was a moment most business executives would pause to savor: late last year, German sporting goods pioneer Adidas learned that after years of declining market share, the company had sprinted past U. S. Reebok International to take second place behind Nike in the race for worldwide sales. But Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the rumpled Frenchman who now runs Adidas, didn"t even stop for one of his trademark Havana cigars in celebration, worried that the company would grow complacent. Instead, he and a group of friends bought French soccer club Olympique de Marseille "Now that"s something I have dreamed about since I was a kid, " Louis-Dreyfus says with an adolescent grin.
1
With sales in the first three quarters of 1996 at $2.5 billion, up a blistering 30.7% over 1995, it"s hard to recall the dismal shape Adidas was in when Louis-Dreyfus took over as chairman in April 1993. Founded in 1920 by Adi Dassler, the inventor of the first shoes de- signed especially for sports, the company enjoyed a near monopoly in athletic shoes until an upstart called Nike appeared in the 1970s and rode the running fad to riches. By the early 1990s Adidas had come under the control of French businessman Bernard Tapie, who was later jailed for bribing three French soccer players. Although the company tried to spruce up its staid image with a team of American designers, Adidas lost more than $100 million in 1992, prompting the French banks that had acquired control of the company from Tapie to begin a desperate search for a new owner.
2
The poker-loving Louis-Dreyfus knew he had been dealt a winning hand. Following the lead set by Nike in the 1970s, he moved production to low-wage factories in China, Indonesia and Thailand and sold Adidas" European factories for a token one Deutsche mark apiece. He hired Peter Moore, a former product designer at Nike, as creative director, and set up studios in Germany for the European market and in Portland, Oregon, for the U. S. He then risked everything by doubling his advertising budget. "We went from a manufacturing company to a marketing company, " says Louis-Dreyfus. "It didn"t take a genius--you just had to look at what Nike and Reebok were doing. It was easier for someone coming from the outside, with no baggage, to do it, than for somebody from inside the company. "
3
"The marketing at Adidas is very, very good right now, " says Eugenio Di Maria, editor of Sporting Good Intelligence, an industry newsletter perceives Adidas as a very young brand. The company is particularly strong in apparel, much stronger than Nike and Reebok.
Although 90% of Adidas products for wear on the street instead of sports fields, LouisDreyfus felt the previous management had lost sight of Adidas" roots as a sporting goods company. After all, Adi Dassler invented the screw-in stud for the soccer shoe and shod American champion Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. So he sold off or folded other noncore brands that Adidas had developed, including Le Coq Sportif, Arena and Pony. Europe is still the company"s largest market because Adidas dominates the apparel industry and thanks to soccer"s massive popularity there. Louis-Dreyfus is quick to share credit for the turnaround with a small group of friends who bought the company with him in 1993. One of those fellow investors is a former IMS colleague, Christian Tourres, now sales director at Adidas. "We" re pretty complementary because I"m a bit of a dreamer, so it"s good to have somebody knocking on your head to remind you there"s a budget, " says Louis-Dreyfus.
Commuting to the firm"s headquarters in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach from his lakeside house outside Zurich, Louis-Dreyfus also transformed Adidas from a stodgy German company into a business with a global outlook. Appalled on his first day at work that the chief executive had to sign a salesman"s travel voucher for $ 300, he slashed the company"s bureaucracy, adopted American accounting rules and brought in international management talent. The company"s chief financial officer is Australian and the international marketing manager is a Swede. English is the official language of the head office and no Germans remain on the managing board of the company, now whittled down to just himself and a few trusted aides. "It was clear we needed decentralization and financial controls, "recalls LouisDreyfus. "With German accounting rules, I never knew if I was making money or losing. "
4
"He gives you a lot of freedom, " says Michael Michalsky, a 29-year-old German who heads the company"s apparel design team. "He has never interfered with a decision and never complained. He"s incredibly easy to work for. "
5
The challenge for Louis-Dreyfus is to keep sales growing in a notoriously trend-driven business. In contrast to the boom at Adidas, for example, Reebok reported a 3% line in sales in the third quarter. Last fall Adidas rolled out a new line of shoes called "Feet You Wear" which are supposed to fit more comfortably than conventional sneakers by matching the natural contour of the foot. The first 500, 000 sold out. Adidas is an official sponsor of the World Cup, to be held next June in France, which the company hopes to turn to a marketing bonanza that will build on the strength of soccer worldwide. But Reebok also has introduced a new line called DMX Series 2000 and competition is expected to be tough come spring.
A. Just as the transition was taking place, Adidas had a run of good luck. The fickle fashion trendsetters decided in early 1993 that they wanted the "retro look, " and the three stripes Adidas logo, which had been overtaken by Nike swoop, was suddenly hot again. Models such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer and a score of rock idols sported Adidas gear on television, in films and music videos, giving the company a free publicity bonanza. Demand for Adidas products soared.
B. Louis-Dreyfus, scion of a prominent French trading dynasty with an M. B. A. from Harvard, earned a reputation as a doctor to sick companies after turning around Londonbased market research firm IMS--a feat that brought him more than $10 million when the company was eventually sold. He later served as chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, then the world"s largest ad agency, which called him in when rapid growth sent profits into a tailspin. With no other company or entrepreneur willing to gamble on Adidas, Louis-Dreyfus got an incredible bargain from the banks: he and a group of friends from his days at IMS contributed just $10, 000 each in cash and signed up for $100 million in loans for 15% of the company, with an option to buy the remainder at a fixed price 18 months later.
C. In another break with the traditional German workplace, Louis-Dreyfus made corporate life almost gratingly informal, employees ostentatiously called him "Rowbear" as he strides down the corridors, and bankers are still amazed when counterparts from Adidas show up for negotiations wearing sweatshirts and sneakers.
D. The company"s payroll, which had reached a high of 14, 600 in 1986, was pared back to just 4, 600 in 1994. It has since grown to over 6, 000.
E. A sports addict who claims he hasn"t missed attending a soccer World Cup final since the 1970s or the Olympic Games since 1968, the 50-year-old Louis-Dreyfus now is eminently well placed to live out many of his boyhood fantasies. Not only has he turned Adidas into a global company with market capitalization of $ 4 billion (he owns stock worth $ 250 million), but he also has endorsement contracts with a host of sports heroes from tennis great Steffi Graf to track" s Donovan Bailey, and considers it part of the job to watch his star athletes perform on the field, "There are very few chances in life to haw: such fun, " he says.
F. After reducing losses in 1993, Adidas turned a profit in 1994 and has continued to surge: net income for the first three quarters in 1996 was a record $ 214 million, up 29% from the previous year. Louis-Dreyfus and his friends made vast personal fortunes when the company went public in 1995. The original investors still own 26% of the stock, which sold for $ 46 a share when trading has doubled to $ 90.

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Australian Parliament and Government. The Australian Parliament bas two chambers: The House of Representatives ( the Lower House) and the Senate (the Upper House).
A system of Cabinet or "responsible" government along British lines is practised. The party or coalition of parties commanding a majority in the Lower House becomes the Government and provides the Minsitry (including the Prime Minister). All members of the Ministry must, in general, be members of Parliament. The Ministry remains collectively responsible to the Parliament (and through it to the electors) for Government actions.
The Constitution requires membership of the Australian House of Representatives to be as nearly as practicable twice that of the Senate. The House has 125 members: 43 from New South Wales, 33 from Victoria, 19 from Queensland, 11 from South Australia, 11 from Western Australia, five from Tasmania, two from the Australian Capital Territory and one from the Northern Territory. Elections for the House of Representatives are held at least every three years.
The House of Representatives parallels the British House of Commons and has traditionally been the more important chamber of the Australian Parliament. The Prime Minister is normally drawn from its membership. If a Ministry ceases to command a House of Representatives majority, it has to resign. A Government need not command a majority in the Senate.
The Senate is modelled on its American namesake and has an equal number of members (at present 10) from each state and two senators each from the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Normally, senators serve a six-year term, with half the Senate retiring every three years. Senators elected to represent the Territories serve a maximum of three years and their terms coincide with those of members of the House of Representatives. In Senate elections, the people of each State and Territory vote as a single electorate.
The Houses of Parliament in Britain
The Houses of Parliament have had a long and violent history. Guy Fawkes tried to blow them up, Hitler destroyed large parts of them, and they were burnt to the ground in 1834 because someone stuffed too many government forms into the stove that heated them. So the building you see today by the river Thames isn"t really very old. Only a few parts of it date back much more than a hundred years. But it still remains, with St. Paul"s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, one of the most famous buildings in London and, indeed, the world.
The proper name for the Houses Of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster and, in fact, there has been a royal palace on that site ever since the days of Edward the Confessor, The last king actually to live there was Henry V~ who left the Palace of Westminster after a bad fire in 1529. The Houses of Parliament are still a royal palace and were controlled by the Lord Great Chamberlain himself until 1965. There are records of a keeper of the palace since 1150, and he was paid 7 dollars a day for the job from that day until 1884, when the position was abolished. And if you think that is funny, remember that even today all the M. P. s" cloakroom pegs have a little loop of red tape hanging from them--to hold their swords[ The oldest part of the Houses of Parliament is Westminster Hall. Parts of this were built by William Rufus who succeeded William the Conqueror. But most of it was built by a famous architect called Henry Yevele between 1394 and 1399. When William Rufus first built Westminster Hall it was called the New Hall to stop it being confused with the Old Hall built by Edward the Confessor. From that day to this the courtyard in front of it has been known as "New Palace Yard."
Westminster Hall was the scene of many famous trials and Sir Thomas More, Charles I, and Guy Fawkes were all tried and condemned to death there.
The President and the Congress
The President of the USA has more power than any other president in the democraitc world except the French President. It is he who formulates foreign policy and prepares laws for the home front. He is leader of the nation and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. He represents the USA and, since the USA is a super power, the eyes of the whole world are on him. The fate of the world is in his hands, or so the world believes, and one careless, ill-prepared speech could precipitate a crisis.
Actually, a great deal of the President"s power is controlled by Congress, the American name for "parliament." It is Congress that declares war, not the President. Unlike the Prime Minister of Great Britain, or of Germany, he can make a treaty with a foreign power. But this treaty must be debated and agreed by Congress before it comes into force. The same control applies to laws at home. Congress has on several occasions refused to ratify treaties or give approval to laws proposed by the President. The USA is the only democracy, apart from France, where a president can rule with a parliament, the majority of whose members do not belong to his own political party.
Some Americans have the feeling that idealism has gone out of politics and that personal ambition and money have taken its place. The election campaign for the Presidency is unique in the amount of money poured into it. The wooing of voters lasts for months.
But before the campaign for the election of the President can begin, each political party has to choose its candidate for the Presidency. This can lead to some very close contests. Men aspiring to be elected as the party candidate employ top public relations and advertising men, who invent clever catch phrases and set about "selling" their man. There are whistle stop tours by train, by plane, by car. The candidate delivers countless speeches and shakes countless hands. This razzamatazz typifies American enthusiasm and extravagance.
Big money is necessary to support a presidential candidate"s campaign and the candidate himself must be rich enough to pay his share. An attractive wife is an advantage, too. Money is also needed to become the Governor of a State, or a successful Senator, or member of the House of Representatives. Yet from this small group many excellent men have become President, and the same is true of members of Congress.
It is very unlikely that the President could ever become a dictator. Congress, the press and the people between them rule out such a possibility.
A=Australian Parliament and Government
B=The Houses of Parliament in Britain
C=The President and the Congress in the U. S.
Which political organization...
Has a long and violent history 1
Is modeled on its American namesake and has an equalnumber of
members from each state 2
Refused to ratify treaties of giving approval to laws proposed
by the President 3
Has to choose its candidate for the Presidency 4
Has 125 members 5
Need not command a majority in the senate 6
Is also named the Palace of Westminster 7
Controlled a great deal of the presidents power 8
Is one where senators serve a six-year term 9
Is one where the President could not become a dictator 10

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

It is often said that the subjects taught in schools are too academic in orientation and that it would be more useful for children to learn about practical matters such as home management, work and interpersonal skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
You should write no less than 250 words. Write your article on ANSWE R SHEET 2.