Although Thomas Edison created the technologies behind three major 21st century industries  electrical power，recorded music and movies—his greatest invention may have been the modern method of inventing．He basically came up with the modern system of research and development．Edison was not the only scientist doing research in his garage but someone who gathered around him a team of creative scientific minds．Edison’s 1aboratories were the forerunners（先驅(qū)）of Apple，Google and Microsoft．
Yet for a11 his scientific gifts，he was no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates．He once said，“Anything that won’ t sell，I don’ t want to invent．” But Edison，unlike Jobs or Gates，had no real sense of what the public wanted or how to change his discoveries into products that might sell．It took him years to understand that the phonograph（留聲機(jī)）was not a business tool but an entertainment invention．He helped create movies but resisted the idea that people might want to go into a theater to watch one．
We chose Edison this year because we need his example now more than ever．Though we live in a time of great reformation，the U．S．is in danger of losing its advantage in science and technology．American investment（投資）in research and development has not increased as a percentage of GDP since the mid一1980s，while the government’ s share has been dropping．And this is at a time when China is rapidly increasing its money on research and development．The U．S．was once among the 1eading nations．Now it ranks near the bottom of the 23 nations that collect such data．We hope that Edison’ s story might not only encourage reformation but also inspire more
young Americans to study science and engineering．
【小題1】The first paragraph is mainly about        .

   LONDON ( Reuters)-- Ecotourism ( 生態(tài)旅游) is causing a lot of damage to wildlife and may be endangering the survival(生存) of the very animals people are flocking to see, according to researchers.
Biologists and conservationists ( 自然環(huán)境保護(hù)論者) are worried because polar bears, dolphins, penguins and other creatures are getting stressed and losing weight and some are dying.
"Evidence is growing that many animals do not react well to tourists in their backyard,” New Scientist magazine said.
The immediate effects researchers have noticed are changes in behavior, heart rates, or stress hormone levels but they fear it could get much worse and over the long term "could endanger the survival of the very wildlife they want to see".
Although money produced through ecotourism, which has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year, has major benefits for poor countries and people living in rural areas, the Swiss-based World Conservation Union and some governments fear not all projects are audited (審計(jì)) and based on environmentally friendly policies, according to the magazine,
"The transmission(傳播) of disease to wildlife, or small changes to wildlife health through disturbance of daily life or increased stress levels, while not obvious to the casual observer, may translate to lower survival and breeding ,"said Philip Seddon, of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Scientists have noticed that bottleneck dolphins along the northeastern coast of New Zealand become nervously excited when tourist boats arrive. Similar changes in behavior have been observed in polar bears and yellow-eyed penguins in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
Conservationists are now calling for more research into the effect of ecotourism on animals and say the industry must be developed carefully. They also want studies done before new ecotourism projects are started.
“The animals’ welfare should be very important because without them there will be no ecotourism,”said Rochelle Constantine of the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
72. What's the text mainly about?
A. Many animals are dying because of lack of money.
B. There will be no ecotourism without animals.
C. Ecotourism could endanger the survival of the wildlife people want to see.
D. More research should be done on ecotourism.
73. We may learn from the text that __
A. ecotourism must be developed properly
B. polar bears are losing weight without enough food
C. all the poor countries have stopped ecotourism
D. money produced through ecotourism should be spent on wildlife
74. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the text?
A. Many animals do not react well in their backyard..
B. Polar bears in areas visited by ecotourists are producing smaller babies.
C. Ecotourism has been growing at about 10--30 percent a year.
D. Studies should be done before new  ecotourism projects are started.
75. What Rochelle Constantine said in the last paragraph implies that __
A. if people want to get high income, they must develop ecotourism
B. animals have rights to live their own life
C. animals are people’s good friends
D. people should take good care of wildlife

In Japan many workers who work in large corporations have a guarantee of lifetime employment. During their employment, they will not be laid off during recessions(經(jīng)濟(jì)蕭條) or when the tasks they perform are taken over by robots. To some observers, this is what they call capitalism at its best, because workers are treated as people not things. Others see it as necessarily inefficient and they also believe it cannot continue if Japan is to remain competitive with foreign corporations by being more concerned about profits and less concerned about people.
　　Defenders of the system argue that those who call it inefficient do not understand how it really works. In the first place not every Japanese worker has the guarantee of a lifetime job. The lifetime employment system includes only “regular employees”. Many employees are not included in this category, including all women. All businesses have many part-time and temporary employees. These workers are hired and laid off during the course of the business cycle just as employees in the United States are. These “irregular workers” make up about 10 percent of the non-agricultural work force. Additionally, Japanese firms keep some flexibility through the large-scale use of subcontractors（轉(zhuǎn)承包者）. This practice is much more common in Japan than in the United States.
　　The use of both subcontractors and temporary workers has increased remarkably in Japan since the 1974-1975 recessions. All this leads some people to argue that the Japanese system is not all that different from the American system. During recessions Japanese corporations lay off temporary workers and give less business to subcontractors. In the United States, corporations lay off those workers with the least seniority(資歷). The difference then is probably less than the term “l(fā)ifetime employment” suggests, but there still is a difference. And this difference cannot be understood without looking at the values of Japanese society. The relationship between employer and employee cannot be explained in purely contractual(合同的) terms. Firms hold on to the employees and employees stay with one firm. There are also practical reasons for not jumping from job to job. Most retirement benefits come from the employer. Changing jobs means losing these benefits. Also, teamwork is an essential part of Japanese production. Moving to a new firm means adapting to a different team and at least temporarily, possessing lower productivity and lower pay.
61.It is stated in the second paragraph that ____.
　　A. defenders themselves do not appreciate the system
　　B. about 90% of “irregular workers” are employed in agriculture
　　C. the business cycle occurs more often in Japan and in the U.S.
　　D. not all employees can benefit from the policy
62. During recessions those who are to be fired first in the U.S. corporations are ____.
　　A. regular employees                   B. part-time workers
C. junior employees                     D. temporary workers
63. According to the passage, Japanese firms are remarkably different from American firms in that the former ____.
　　A. use subcontractors in larger amount
　　B. are less flexible in terms of lifetime employment
　　C. hold on to the values of society
　　D. are more efficient in competition than the latter
64. Which of the following does NOT account for the fact that a Japanese worker is unwilling to change his job?
　　A. He will probably be low-paid.
　　B. He will not be able to possess some job benefits.
　　C. He has got used to the teamwork.
　　D. He will be looked down upon by his prospective employer.
65. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A. The guarantee of employment in Japan
B. The consequence of the Japanese system
C. The advantages of lifetime employment in Japan
D. The expectations of capitalism

At 50 I was the first woman to travel alone to the North Pole. But what should I do to celebrate my 60th birthday? What else, but a journey at the opposite end of the world, Antarctica. I began my almost 400-mile journey on November 1st, 1997,a few days before my birthday. I walked and skied alone. My dog team were not with me to pull my sled. Another journey of challenge and danger was about to begin.
The first days the weather was very good. The wind was icy but not very strong and there was bright sunshine 24 hours a day. But changes were just around the corner. On the third day I was struggling through stormy weather and during the nest week the wind grew stronger and I found myself spending a whole day in my tent.
I had traveled only two hours one day when the winds increased so much that I had to put my tent up before the winds became too strong. Within a few minutes the winds increased to a howling storm that threatened to blow me and the tent away, but none of that happened.
【小題1】from the text we know the writer was born on ___.

A．the trip to the North Pole must be the same hard as that to the South Pole.

B．The trip to the Antarctica may be more dangerous than that to the Arctic

C．There was no danger though the trip to the South Pole was hard.

D．During the trip to the Antarctica, the weather, most of the time, was not so bad.

Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self-respect? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized as “honor” help you create this life of good feelings.
Here’s an example to show how honorably actions create happiness.
Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk’s mistake, we would drive home with a sense of sneaky excitement. Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune. One the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.
Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness?
In the first case, where we don’t tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also demonstrate that we cannot be trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends. We damage our own reputations by telling others. In contrast, bringing the error to the clerk’s attention causes different things to happen. Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased. Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.
There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it’s easy to think and act honorably again when we’re happy. While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it’s started, it’s easy to continue. Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.
【小題1】According to the passage, the positive action in the example contributes to our__________.