SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONSIn this section there are four passages followed by fourteen multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.PASSAGE ONE(1) Once upon a time, the emblematic jazz singer was an African-American woman, serenading a smoke-filled room. Think Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Today, a talented crop of cosmopolitan young singers are creating a new breed of jazz vocalist: the globalized chanteuse. They come from multicultural backgrounds, live all over the world, and are infusing the traditional American sound with new energy. Take today"s rising star, 26-year-old Sophie Milman. Born in Russia, she fled with her family to Israel at the age of 7, then settled in Canada at 16. Now she sells out the Blue Note jazz club in Tokyo. Her roots and her reach are global. In looks and language, she couldn"t be further from the pioneers who came more than a half century before.(2) Yet Milman and others like her are redefining jazz by drawing on the American songbook. In his book The Jazz Singers, Scott Yanow argues that among 21st-century jazz vocalists, only "a few manage to reinvent standards in new ways," which is exactly what this new class is doing so well. Milman—who"s fluent in French, English, Russian, and Hebrew—sings Cole Porter"s "Love for Sale" in a clear, valiant alto that booms down low and reaches effortlessly up high. Elisabeth Kontomanou, who is Greek and Guinean, insists on knowing the African-American roots of the music she plays. "Jazz is innovation, but with all the culture and the understanding of what has already been done," she says. "If you don"t look at that, you get a tasteless, odorless, and colorless music." On her last CD,Brewin" the Blues, she follows her own rules by revisiting less famous songs by jazz icons, such as Billie Holiday"s "Tell Me More and More (and Then Some)."(3) Language has proved no barrier to these women; all sing in English. Virginie Teychené comes from the south of France but learned English with her father, who used to show American Marines the French way of life. "French doesn"t lend itself to jazz," she says. "Words can often fall flat, as it is hard to sing in French on rhythm." Teychené, who was named a "new revelation" at France"s Juan-les-Pins jazz festival last year, covers songs like "Take the A Train" in her pure, low voice. Born and raised in Turin, the Italian chanteuse Roberta Gambarini recorded Swedish folk songs early in her career but has lately turned to the romantic era of American jazz. Her new record,So in Love, revolves around sweet renditions of tunes like "That Old Black Magic"—a song Sarah Vaughan made famous in the "40s. "The bulk of good songs that allow you to improvise happen to largely be part of the Great American Songbook," she says.(4) That"s not to say that these vocalists aren"t pushing boundaries. Esperanza Spalding, who was born to a Welsh-Hispanic-Native American mother and a black father and raised in the States, sings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. When recording the 1930s standard "Body and Soul," she renamed it "Cuerpo y Alma," and pulled off a fiery Spanish rendition. "You always create something new even when you use vocabulary from the past," she says.(5) Ultimately, this return to the roots of jazz has to do with authenticity and accessibility. "I like when people come see me at the end of a concert, surprised that this is actually jazz and that they can enjoy it without really knowing the culture," says Teychené. Yet if asked where the winding road of fame starts, these singers give a traditional answer. "If you live deep in the heart of China and you want to be a jazz musician, you still have to go to New York or New Orleans and play jazz," says Kontomanou. Then you move to another country and share it with the world.PASSAGE TWO(1) It"s your first hike on Mars, and so far things seem to be going well. A robot scout in a nearby canyon sent pictures of what looks remarkably like a mat of microbes. Eager to make scientific history, you suit up and head to the canyon rim with your fellow astronauts. To get a closer look, you start rappelling down the canyon wall. The sky is a beautiful shade of peach. Life is good.(2) And then there is a strange rush, a low pop. A hidden pocket of water shoots out, freezing into crystals as it sprays you. "You"re covered with ice. That"s bad," says John Rummel, NASA"s senior scientist for astrobiology, who offers this cautionary scenario. Ice can shut down a spacesuit"s cooling system. "It may be dirty ice that came with rocks," Rummel adds. They could crack open your faceplate, causing your suit to lose pressure. "You slip and fall in mud, and you can"t get up. And if there"s something alive on Mars, you"re covered with it." No one said going to Mars would be a vacation.(3) It might, however, be a full-time job, if all goes according to plan. In 2004, President Bush announced a new space exploration policy, a key goal of which is to extend human presence across the solar system by sending astronauts to Mars. Though a first step will be to gain experience with a lunar base, the red planet will pose challenges to astronauts unlike those anywhere else. Mars is 250 million miles from Earth at the farthest point in the planets" orbits. Sheer distance makes unpredictable weather, unexpected illness and even homesickness potentially deadly problems. Residents of the future Mars base won"t be able to count on a rescue mission.(4) Just getting to Mars will require a grueling five-month trip, under the best-case orbital scenario. After weathering cosmic radiation, cabin fever and potential bone loss, the astronauts will have to land safely in an environment that, despite robotic rovers, we still don"t fully understand. Mars has a thin atmosphere, made up mainly of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, but satellites have offered only crude estimates of its density. "How do you know when to deploy a parachute when the density of the atmosphere is only partially known" asks David Beaty, NASA"s Mars program science manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.(5) And many other crucial details—such as the velocities of winds that gust along various layers of the atmosphere—are still a mystery. Dust storms can cloak nearly the entire planet, and can last for three months. "They tend to happen at the same time each year," Beaty says, "but they don"t always turn into enormous storms. We don"t understand why and we can"t predict it."(6) The ideal landing site will be a place where astronauts can learn a lot about the planet while putting themselves at the least possible risk—in other words, a location that"s flat, safe and geologically interesting. Some areas around the future base might be designated for human exploration and others for rovers only—not just to protect astronauts from Mars but to protect Mars from astronauts, as well.(7) Each explorer will carry trillions of microbes belonging to a thousand different species, and could spread them across the Martian landscape. This would jeopardize one of the chief goals of the entire mission: to look for signs of life. Mars started out as a much warmer, wetter planet that may have had an abundant supply of organisms. But as the Martian environment became harsher, any life on Mars must have either become extinct or retreated to refuges such as underground hydrothermal systems. "You wouldn"t want to introduce Earth life into those spots," Rummel says. "When you envision people going to Mars, you don"t want them to contaminate things they"re supposed to study." Rovers can have microbes "baked out" in an oven before setting forth. Humans can"t—and, Rummel says, "The best spacesuits we have are fairly leaky."(8) Mars will pose hazards to the health of astronauts far beyond those encountered on any previous mission. Even the dust on Mars is more dangerous than that found on the moon. Scientists suspect it contains particularly nasty compounds—arsenic and hexavalent chromium—that could bum skin and eyes on contact.(9) And though the thin atmosphere on Mars blocks much of the radiation from space, which means that a solar flare won"t be as much of a concern there as on the moon, it blocks less radiation than Earth"s atmosphere. "A person who goes there for 18 months could have somewhere between a 1 and 2 percent chance of dying early from cancer," says Frank Cucinotta, the radiation health officer at NASA"s Johnson Space Center. And he adds, "We"re worried about the error of that estimate. It could be as much as four times higher."(10) The crew"s flight surgeon will need to keep tabs on astronauts to catch medical problems as early as possible. Rather than drawing blood, he or she might be able to take a tiny sample of each crew member"s cells and measure the activity of genes inside them, looking for changes in the genetic pathways associated with pathogens and with general fitness.PASSAGE THREE(1) Does a healthy global economy need periodic financial crises(2) This may be a touchy question to ask, with Wall Street firms grimly toting up the cost of their bad subprime bets and the US housing market nowhere near bottom. Still, we"ve seen five major financial disruptions over the past 20 years, starting with the October, 1987, stock market crash. Each event, when it happened, seemed potentially destructive.(3) Yet the damage in each case, while deep, was relatively limited in scope. Central banks and regulators responded vigorously, the financial markets did not collapse, and the world economy kept expanding.(4) Since 1987, global growth has averaged a 3.7% annual gain, with no down years. Over the same stretch, the US has experienced two relatively mild and short recessions.(5) The latest financial crisis—and what likely will be the biggest nationwide home-price decline since the Great Depression—could cut US growth to 2% or less, with some chance of a mild downturn. But the stock market hit new highs on Oct. 9, employment is still rising, and the subprime mess seems more like a bump than a disaster for the rest of the world. "If nothing worse happens, it shouldn"t really have any substantial impact on world GDP," says Farid Abolfathi, an international economist at Global Insight Inc.(6) In fact, these financial disruptions, rather than being signs of instability, may serve as critical safety valves for the global economy. At least so far, the periodic bouts of volatility have scared investors and borrowers out of excess exuberance without causing any lasting major damage to growth. The implication: If the global markets are functioning well, we should expect a financial crisis every few years. Indeed, the bigger danger may be that the gap between crises gets too wide, so the excesses have a chance to build up.(7) Consider this: Global growth today is being driven, in part, by the free flow of capital. It"s increasingly easy for people and companies around the world to raise money through any of a number of credit channels. The exact form is not important—the funds could come via private equity, or junk bonds, or subprime mortgages, or venture capital, or bank loans, or direct investments by corporations in emerging markets, or exotic derivatives.(8) Access to relatively cheap credit fuels spending and growth across the board—but it also opens up the possibility of dangerous lending and borrowing sprees. Central banks do what they can to keep a lid on excess. But in today"s complex and globally integrated financial markets, it"s almost impossible for regulators to plug every hole.(9) Instead, fear is what keeps borrowing from racing out of control. Lenders and borrowers have to be worried enough about losing their shirts that they exercise some caution.(10) In that way, a financial crisis every five or so years becomes part of the self-equilibrating mechanism of the global economy. One credit channel gets wiped out for a time and scares the heck out of market participants. But the rest of the financial system keeps functioning, especially if central banks react quickly enough and pump money into the markets. For example, when banks stopped lending to businesses from 1990 through 1993, the bond market took up the slack, providing corporations with plenty of funds. Today, banks are returning the favor, boosting commercial and industrial loans by $84, billion in August and September, the biggest two-month increase on record, as commercial paper markets froze.(11) This is not to minimize the real damage to individuals, many of them low-income, who are directly hit by a major financial disruption. Today, for example, many subprime borrowers could either lose their homes or find themselves stuck with staggering mortgage payments. Looking a decade back, the 1997-98 emerging market crisis sent countries such as South Korea and Russia into deep recessions. Unemployment in Korea, for example, skyrocketed from 2.1% in 1997 to a painful 8% by the end of 1998. Nevertheless, both of these countries have subsequently prospered, and now have a bigger share of the global economy than they did before the crisis.(12) There"s also no guarantee that the next crisis won"t spread and turn into the Big One, which undermines the whole financial system. That"s the great fear of central bankers and economists. "The different components of the financial system are quite tightly linked to each other," says Barry Eichengreen, an international finance expert at University of California at Berkeley. "You don"t really have a spare tire."(13) Raghuram G. Rajan, who served as chief economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2006, worries that financial disruptions by themselves don"t create enough deterrence for imprudent behavior. Because central banks are worried about recessions and spreading damage to the financial system, they step in before borrowers and lenders have been hit hard enough. "I think there"s a limit of tolerance of collateral damage," says Rajan, who is now at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. As a result, "the market cannot punish enough."PASSAGE FOUR(1) How many Justices sit on the US Supreme Court A 34-year-old man on the Fox network"s hit game showAre You Smarter Than a 5th Grader squirms over a possible answer, and host Jeff Foxworthy moves in for the quip: "You"re looking about as confident as a guppy in a shark tank right now," he says, and the audience collapses into giggles.(2) Foxworthy, 48, has spent 20 years peddling his twangy "You might be a redneck if ... " jokes to a mostly red-state fan base. He hawks a line of caps, beer cozies and greeting cards that netted him $2.5 million last year. But until now he has been a flop as a TV series star, a role that paid off hugely for such comics as Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano.(3) Now Foxworthy, still wielding his deep southern accent and cowboy boots, finally has a TV hit. The quiz show premiered in February and drew 26 million viewers, the biggest debut on any network in eight years. The ratings held up even after Fox moved the show from its cushy slot right afterAmerican Idolto Thursday nights. "In one week I went from being the guy at Home Depot who has people say, "Hey, you might be a redneck," to the guy every single person tells, "Hey, are you smarter than a fifth grader" I quickly tell them I"m not."(4) An Atlanta native and Georgia Tech dropout, Foxworthy was an IBM technician in 1984 when he entered an amateur stand-up contest at a comedy club. He won and quit IBM a few months later to pursue stand-up full-time. In 1989 he published his first book,You Might be a Redneck If..., followed by a CD, which sold 3.5 million copies, the bestselling comedy release ever.(5) In 1995 Foxworthy got his first shot at a TV series when ABC gave him his own sitcom, paying him a cheap $32,500 per episode. But instead of exploiting his southern shtick, the network subdued it, setting the show in Indiana and banning him from the writing room. "It was like trying to make a shoebox seaworthy," he says. ABC canceled it after a single season; then NBC picked it up—and scrapped it again. Humbled, Foxworthy left Hollywood and repaired home to Georgia. By 1999 he was hosting a country music radio show for Clear Channel and had expanded his redneck line. It now includes 22 Foxworthy books, which have sold a total 8 million copies, and 11 CDs, which have sold 14 million discs. In 2000 he signed with American Greetings for a line of redneck-themed cards, which became Wal-Mart"s second-bestselling card line.(6) More money flowed in after Foxworthy formed a touring quartet of southern comics in 2000, inspired by the Original Kings of Comedy, a group of four black comics who toured together. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour, slated for ten shows, ended up running for three years, grossing almost $100 million in tours and DVD sales (most of it from DVDs). Over the last five years Foxworthy has pocketed $30 million from tours and DVDs, much of it from Blue Collar.(7) Then TV came calling again. In February reality show king Mark Burnett asked him to host a prime-time game show for Fox. Bruised by his last brush with broadcast television, Foxworthy instantly demurred. Burnett pressed: "You are so American!" the British-born producer later told his country cousin.(8) Foxworthy laid out a litany of demands. The entire season had to be taped in two weeks to let him quickly return home to his family. He wanted $150,000 a show, higher than other freshmen game show hosts. And he wanted to be himself, in all his good-old-boy glory. Burnett agreed and Foxworthy even gets a small stake in the show"s profits.(9) Longtime fans can see subtle changes in Foxworthy"s presentation on TV: He wears a sports jacket and dress shirt and a pair of professorial steel-rimmed glasses. Rednecks barely rate a mention. But the TV hit now helps him boost business on other fronts.(10) SinceAre You Smarter Than a 5th Graderstarted, Clear Channel has added 30 more stations to Foxworthy"s lineup, which now totals 265 markets. The Blue Collar quartet has landed a gig at, of all places, London"s Royal Albert Hall for a three-night sweep in the spring of 2008. Foxworthy & Co. plan to erect a studio to create content for their own Web site. And his stand-up rate, already at $150,000 a night, is on the rise.(11) "I"m making as much per night as I"ve ever made, and working fewer days," he notes. Beat. "It"s a nice thing."
A．It seems that the changing of time for the quiz show has little influence on its popularity.B．Fox"s redneck jokes have a great fun base in all kinds of American people.C．During the past eight years, no program is as successful as Fox"s program.D．It seems that if a program is right after American Idol, it can easily become popular.
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