1 .

I used to think ants knew what they were doing. The ones marching across my kitchen counter looked so confident; I just figured they had a plan, knew where they were going and what needed to be done. How else could ants organize highways, build elaborate nests, launch impressive attacks, and do all the other things ants do?

Turns out I was wrong. Ants aren’t clever little engineers, architects, or soldiers after all --- at least not as individuals. When it comes to deciding what to do next, most ants don’t have a clue. “If you watch an ant try to accomplish something, you’ll be impressed by how awkward it is,” says Deborah M. Gordon, a biologist at Stanford University.

“Ants aren’t smart,” Gordon says. “Ant colonies are.” A colony can solve problems unthinkable for individual ants, such as finding the shortest path to the best food source, assigning workers to different tasks, or defending a territory from neighbors. As individuals, ants might be tiny dummies, but as colonies they respond quickly and effectively to their environment. They do it with something called collective intelligence.

Where this intelligence comes from raises an essential question in nature: How do the simple actions of individual ants add up to the complex behavior of a group? How do hundreds of honey-bees make a critical decision about their hive (蜂巢)if many of them disagree? The collective abilities of such animals --- one of which grasps the big picture, but each of which contributes to the group’s success --- seem miraculous even to the biologists who know them best. Yet during the past few decades, researchers have come up with fascinating insights.

1. The author’s former false impression about ants is that he thought them to be _______.

A．smart

B．awkward

C．elaborate

D．creative

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Ants will function as a single body once a decision is made by the commander.

B．Ants are the only species which developed collective intelligence.

C．The ant queen plays a role in managing ant workers besides laying eggs.

D．An individual ant can’t comprehend the whole process of a big movement.

3. The paragraph following the passage will most probably deal with _______.

A．where we can observe such fantastic behavior of ants

B．which is the leading ant in charge of the action

C．how the collective intelligence works

D．what inspiration can be drawn from the collective abilities

2 . The message you intend to convey through words may be the exact opposite of ______ others actually understand.

A．why

B．that

C．which

D．what

3 . There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can’t help putting on weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:

I’ll never lose weight--I come from a fat family

Wrong! While we can't change the body type we are born with, we can't blame our genes for making us fat. There's plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habit of eating too much and exercise too little.

I am fat because I burn calories slowly

Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism(新陈代谢).In fact, although fat people consume more energy than slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake mom accurately.

Exercise is boring

Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it repetitively. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program that's fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different mute. If you do yoga, try a Tai chi class. If you like swiping, set yourself a distance or time challenge.

No pain, no gain

Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is you body telling you something's wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but this is your body adapting to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If they don't, rest and seek medical advice.

1. What does the author think about being fat?

A．It is the family genes that make people fat.

B．People are fat because they consume too little energy.

C．A diary of exercise can prevent people from becoming fat.

D．It is the consequence of people's unbalanced lifestyle.

2. According to the author, how can we make exercise mom interesting?

A．By taking varied exercise.	B．By choosing simple exercise.
C．By doing regular exercise.	D．By sticking to outdoor exercise.

3. What is the author's opinion about "No pain, no gain" in exercising?

A．Keeping lit is essentially a painful experience.

B．Exercise should be stopped if continuous pain is felt.

C．Pain in exercise is a precondition for reaching your goal.

D．Getting used to pain leads to positive changes in your body.

4. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To declare the importance of keeping lit.

B．To clarify some misconceptions about fatness and exercise.

C．To confirm what has long been believed about keeping fit.

D．To explain some medical facts about being fat and doing exercise.

4 . 短文填空
Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. access B. alternatives C. assigned D. confirmed E. conflicting F. elements G. function H. innovative I. prospective J. separate K. supporting

Considering how much time people spend in effects, it is important that with A be well designed. Well-designed office spaces help create a corporation’s image. They motivate workers and they make an impression on people who visit and might be potential, or , customers. They make business work better, and they are a part of the corporate culture to live in.
As we move away from an industrial-based economy to a knowledge-based one, office designers come up with to the traditional work environments of the past. The design industry has moved away from a fixed office setup and created more flexible “strategic management environments.” These solutions are meant to support better organizational performance.
As employee hierarchies (等级制度) have flattened or decreased, office designers’ response to this change has been to move open-plan areas to more desirable locations within the office and create fewer formal private offices. The need for increased flexibility has also been by changes in workstation design. Office and work spaces often are not to a given person on a permanent basis. Because of changes to methods of working, new design allow for expansion or movement of desks, storage, and equipment within the workplace. Another important design goal is communication, which designers have improved by breaking the walls that workstations. Designers have also created informal gathering places and upgraded employees’ to heavily trafficked areas such as copy and coffee rooms.
Corporate and institutional office designers often struggle to resolve a number of competing and often demands, including budgetary limits, employees hierarchies and technological innovation (especially in relation to computerization). These demands must also be balanced with the need to create interiors (内饰) that in some way enhance, establish or possess a company’s image and will enable employees to and their best.
All these of office design are related. The most successful office designs are like good marriage — the well-designed office and the employees that occupy it are seemingly made for each other.

5 . Holiday Inns and McDonald’s. both saw unmatched growth in the 1960s. Their growth opened another direct business operation—franchising.
These operations have the same general pattern. The franchisor, the parent company, first establishes a successful retail business. As it expands, it sees a profit potential in offering others the right to open similar business under its name. The parent company’s methods and means of identification with consumers are included in this right. The parent company supplies skill, and may build and rent stores to franchisees. For these advantages the franchisee pays the franchisor a considerable fee. However, some of the advantages and disadvantages are different.
By extending a “proven” marketing method, a parent can profit in several ways. First, the franchisee’s purchase price gives the parent an immediate return on the plan. Then the sale of supplies to the franchisee provides a continuing source of profits. As new businesses are added and the company’s reputation spreads, the values of the franchise increases and sales of franchises become easier. The snowballing effect can be dramatic. Such growth, too, bring into play the economies of scale. Regional or national advertising that might be financially impossible for a franchisor with 20 franchises could be profitable for one with 40.
The parent, then, finds immediate gains from the opportunity to expand markets on the basis of reputation alone, without having to put up capital or take the risk of owning retail stores. Added to this advantage is a less obvious but material one, Skilled, responsible retail managers are rare. People who invest their capital in franchises, though, probably come closer to the ideal than do paid managers. In fact, the franchisee is an independent store operator working for the franchisor, but without an independent’s freedom to drop supplies at will. Of course the factory’s costs of selling supplies are less. But also certainly the franchisee buying goods that have had broad consumer acceptance will not casually change supplies, even when the contract permits. If the hamburger is not what the customer expected, they may not return. Having paid for the goodwill, the franchisee won’t thoughtlessly destroy it.
1. Franchising refers to a business operation in which a successful parent company          .

A．sells name-brand goods to a private investor

B．rents proven ideas and techniques for investment

C．sells the right, the guidance to a business under its name

D．takes no advertising responsibility for individual investors

2. . The advantages of franchising to the parent company are all the following EXCEPT      .

A．an immediate investment return

B．the profit from the sale of supplies

C．the ownership of additional retail stores

D．the possibility of profitable advertising

3. The passage mainly tells the reader          .

A．the advantages and disadvantages of franchising

B．the benefits of franchising to the franchisor

C．the unmatched economic growth in the 1960’s

D．some regional and national business operation

4. . What will the author probably discuss after the last paragraph?

A．More advantages of franchising.

B．Negative aspects related to franchising.

C．The standard of consumer acceptance.

D．Risks of investment besides franchising