Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton' s foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's home town of Sevier, Tennessee.“I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library .com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. “We didn’t want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books-reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members-included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I’ve never heard of .”
The Richters spend about ＄400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”
1. What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?
| A．His health problem. | B．His love for teaching. |
| C．The influence of his wife. | D．The news from the Web. |
| A．Give out brochures. | B．Do something similar. |
| C．Write books for children | D．Retire from being a teacher. |
| A．a well-known surgeon | B．a mother of a four-year-old |
| C．a singer born in Tennessee | D．a computer programmer |
| A．To avoid signing up online. |
| B．To meet Dollywood board members. |
| C．To make sure the books were the newest. |
| D．To see if the books were of good quality. |
| A．He needs more money to help the children. |
| B．He wonders why some people are so busy. |
| C．He tries to save those waiting to die. |
| D．He considers his efforts worthwhile. |
The key to their success: 20 tablet computers(平板电脑) dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a U.S. group called One Laptop Per Child.
The goal is to find out whether kids using today’s new technology can teach themselves to read in places where no schools or teachers exist. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers analyzing the project data say they’re already amazed. “What I think has already happened is that the kids have already learned more than they would have in one year of kindergarten,” said Matt Keller, who runs the Ethiopia program.
The fastest learner—and the first to turn on one of the tablets—is 8-year-old Kelbesa Negusse. The device’s camera was disabled to save memory, yet within weeks Kelbesa had figured out its workings and made the camera work. He called himself a lion, a marker of accompli
shment in Ethiopia.With his tablet, Kelbasa rearranged the letters HSROE into one of the many English animal names he knows. Then he spelled words on his own. “Seven months ago he didn’t know any English. That’s unbelievable,” said Keller.
The project aims to get kids to a stage called “deep reading,” where they can read to learn. It won’t be in Amharic, Ethiopia’s first language, but in English, which is widely seen as the ticket to higher paying jobs.
1. How does the Ethiopia program benefit the kids in the village?
| A．It trains teachers for them. |
| B．It contributes to their self-study. |
| C．It helps raise their living standards. |
| D．It provides funds for building schools. |
| A．They need more time to analyze data. |
| B．More children are needed for the research. |
| C．He is confident about the future of the project. |
| D．The research should be carried out in kindergartens. |
| A．learn English words quickly. |
| B．draw pictures of animals. |
| C．write letters to researchers. |
| D．make phone calls to his friends. |
| A．To offer Ethiopians higher paying jobs. |
| B．To make Amharic widely used in the world. |
| C．To help Ethiopian kids read to learn in English. |
| D．To assist Ethiopians in learning their first language. |
3 . “In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”
“Two full inches in the first three days!”
These are the kinds of statements used in magazine，newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to add to beauty or desirability.
Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoters. The results they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.
To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary to understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA(Food and Drug Administration)can require proof under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that is safe and effective before it is put on the market. But if the product is a device, FDA has no authority to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the market is a danger to health, FDA can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the market voluntarily, or it can take legal action, including seizure(查封)of the product.
One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, which had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the body through contact pads. FDA took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the device on the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.
Obviously, most of the devices on the market have never been the subject of court proceedings(法律诉讼)，and new devices appear continually. Before buying, it is up to the consumer to judge the safety or effectiveness of such items.
1. It can be inferred that the ads mentioned in the text are . .| A．objective | B．costly | C．unreliable | D．illegal |
| A．The court is in charge of removing dangerous products. |
| B．New products are more likely to be questionable. |
| C．The production of a device must be approved by FDA. |
| D．The promoters usually just care about profits. |
| A．if it is a drug |
| B．if it is a device |
| C．if its consumers make complaints |
| D．if its distributors challenge FDA’s authority |
| A．a product which was designed to produce electricity |
| B．a product whose distributor was involved in a legal case |
| C．a successful advertisement of a beauty product |
| D．an example of a quality beauty product |
| A．make consumers aware of the promoters’ false promises |
| B．show the weakness of the law on product safety |
| C．give advice on how to keep young and beautiful |
| D．introduce the organization of FDA |
