Do you have a spare room in your house? Do you like to share your driveway in front of your garage with others? 1. Many people are benefiting from this new business of renting．
Perhaps the best-known example of a company in this field is Airbnb—an American web business which allows you to rent out your spare room to holidaymakers．It says it operates in34，000 cities and it has 800，000 listings of rooms and apartments．2.
A British company is doing something with parking spaces．JustPark’s founder，Anthony Eskinazi，says，“when I had the original idea．I spotted a driveway close to a spots stadium．It would have been so convenient if I could have just parked in that driveway rather than in a commercial car park．” 3. Around 20，000 people have advertised their spaces on the website，and he says around half a million drivers use it．
4. They are people who run things like traditional hotels and commercial car parks．They are afraid of ending up losing money．
5. Regulations for these new businesses are unclear．How will renting out your driveway affect your neighbour? Because this is a new business world，those rules aren’t there yet．
A．They seem to have occupied the majority of the market．
B．Both of these can help you make money．
C．And there is another problem．
D．And his great idea has proved a success．
E．But the new business of renting has its competitors．
F．There are many ways to earn money．
G．A commercial ear park is inconvenient．
The poaching，or illegal killing，of rhinos(犀牛) in South Africa is growing worse each year．The government recently reported that a record number of rhinos were poached in 2014，a year which had more rhino killings in South Africa than ever before．
The World Wildlife Fund，or WWF，says about 20，000 rhinos live in South Africa．That is more than 80 percent of the rhinos in the world．Edna Molewa，South Africa’s environmental issues minister，says，“During 2014，we are sad to say this，1，215 rhinos were killed．This is a rise in the number of poached rhinos from 1004 in 2013 and indeed very worrying．”
The animals are hunted for their horns(犀牛角)．Many people in Asia believe the horn has curing power，which drives poachers，at all costs，mad for more horns．But there is no scientific evidence for this belief．The horn is made of keratin．That is the same thing as human hair， fingernails and toenails．
Ms．Mo1ewa said 386 suspected poachers were arrested last year，an increase from the year before．But rhino protection workers say poachers often go unpunished after arrest．South Africa’s legal system is ineffective．Ms．Molewa said more needs to be done and South Africa is taking strong measures to protect rhinos．The efforts include moving some of the animals to secret places in neighboring countries．“Now approximately 100 rhinos have been moved to neighboring states in the SADC region during 2014 and 200 more rhinos will be moved this year”Molewa said．
Jo Shaw，the rhino program manager at the WWF，said，“we’re talking about a loss of a hundred rhinos a month．Or more than three a day．We really need to see effective action not just at a national level but internationally．”She says officials should find the criminal groups responsible for the poaching and punish them．Government officials are to meet in Botswana in March at the Inter-governmental Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade．
1.What do we know about rhinos?
A．Half of the rhinos live in South Africa．
B．Less than 1，000 rhinos were killed in 2013．
C．The killing reached the highest point in 2014．
D．There are only 20，000 rhinos left in the world．
2.What is the main reason for people to hunt rhinos?
A．To get more keratin．
B．To protect the farmland．
C．To use them for decoration．
D．To make money from horns．
3.Jo Shaw thinks that_________．
A．many criminal groups are well organized
B．new laws are needed to punish the killers
C．rhino protection needs international cooperation
D．conferences about protecting rhinos are to be held every year
4.What can we infer from the text?
A．Rhino protection has a long way to go．
B．No one would like to buy horns in the future．
C．The illegal killing of rhinos will soon disappear．
D．Rhinos living in South Africa will move to other countries．
Can you imagine a world without chocolate? It's not something I'd 1ike to do．so I was relieved to read that there’s a university with a program me to safeguard the future of chocolate!
The University of Reading，in England，has just opened a new clearing house for all the world’s new cocoa varieties．They must be quarantined(隔离检疫)before they can be grown．Why? Cocoa production hit a record high of 4．4 million tons last year but about 30％of the precious crop is regularly lost to pests and diseases．Now we don’t want that，do we?
Demand for chocolate has been increasing faster than the world supply of cocoa and researchers think that new varieties are key to solving this problem．
The University of Reading has been protecting the quality of the new crops since 1985，after it took over the task from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew，London．And it has improved its facilities．The leader of the institution’s cocoa project，Professor Paul Hadley，says，“One of the main issues concerning cocoa improvement is the supply of reliably clean，healthy，interesting cocoa material．”
The cocoa centre has a collection of 400 plant varieties and their greenhouse uses a lot of energy to keep them in tropical conditions．After up to two years in quarantine，clean and safe seeds are sent to some 20 countries，including several in West Africa．That’s where 75％of the cocoa used for chocolate worldwide comes from．The crop is extremely important for the local economy：it employs about two million people.
Professor Hadley says he works with a small team of skilled technicians who look after the collection．And more of us seem to count on them now．
The scientist says，“there is some concern within the industry that demand is increasing constantly，particularly in countries like China，where the standard of living is increasing and people are getting a taste for different chocolates．”
1.What is the text mainly about?
A．Safeguarding cocoa seeds．
B．Planting cocoa worldwide．
C．Keeping cocoa in greenhouse．
D．Finding the new market for cocoa．
2.The institution’s cocoa project is to_______．
A．have cocoa skin removed
B．offer more jobs to people
C．ensure the quality of cocoa
D．supply cocoa for two million people
3.What does the last paragraph tell us?
A．The taste of chocolates is changing．
B．Demand for cocoa is increasing fast．
C．People are concerned about cocoa varieties．
D．Chinese have a long history of eating chocolates．
4.What’s the purpose of the text?
A．To educate． B．To advertise．
C．To warn． D．To inform．
For decades，the San Francisco Bay area has been the heart of the computer technology industry．Many of the biggest technology companies have their headquarters in the area called Silicon Valley．But the area has not always been associated with charity(慈善)．
Now，a new generation of entrepreneurs(企业家)appears to be changing Silicon Valley．One example is Marc Benioff，a donor(捐赠者)，who has called on wealthy donors to give more to their communities．He also is the founder of Salesforce．com，a computer services company in San Francisco who has helped build a children’s hospital and given millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in the city．
Money from the technology industry has also started to change the face of charity．Benjamin Soskis writes about the history and ideas behind charity in America．His articles have appeared in The Atlantic magazine and a number of major publications．He says，traditionally，donors have given after they spent much of their lives building up wealth．Usually donors are in their 70s．But an increasing number of people appearing on the list of top donors are younger than 40 years of age．Benjamin Soskis says that is something new．“There’s a whole new model that’s appearing in which people give and accumulate at the same time．”
Some of the young donors on this year's top 50 list have started to change in the way people see charity．That is especially the case in the San Francisco area，where giving money and making money appear to be coming together．“I think it's fair to say that charity is now a part of the Silicon Valley identity．”
1.What is true of Marc Benioff?
A．He joined a non-profit organization．
B．He advised donors to build hospitals．
C．He made San Francisco a city of charity．
D．He set up the company of Salesforce．com．
2.What is special about the donors of Silicon Valley?
A．They prefer to give rather than make money．
B．They give after accumulating a lot of wealth．
C．They are much younger than the usual donors．
D．They donate more money to their communities．
3.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A．The age of charity
B．The changing faces of charity
C．In search of new faces
D．From computer base to charity centre
Shake Shack is a new kind of restaurant becoming more popular in the U S．The restaurants are not“fast food．”They are known as“fast casual．”
Observers say Americans want more choices and fresh food when choosing where and what to eat．This trend is one reason why the fast food restaurant McDonald’s has struggled financially．In the last quarter of 2014，McDonald’s net income dropped by about$300 million．The January earnings report brought more bad news．Worldwide sales dropped for the eighth month in a row and even more than expected．While McDonald’s is struggling to get their customers back，Shake Shack，is doing well in making money．The New York-based burger chain had a very successful IPO，or initial public offering，of shares at the end of January．On its first day of trading，Shake Shack went from$21 a share to just under$46 a share．Being part of the“fast casual”trend has helped Shake Shack．Other fast casual restaurants in the U．S．include Chipotle and Panera．
Bonnie Riggs，a restaurant expert with NPD has studied Americans’restaurant habits for almost 30 years．She says one reason why Americans like fast casual food is that it’s new．It is creative，it is something different and people like to try new things．Her study shows Americans made 61 billion visits to restaurants last year．Three out of four visits were to fast food restaurants，like McDonald’s．Fast casual is still a small percentage of restaurant visits，but it has developed fast．Just as Ms．Riggs says，“It’s growing by leaps and bounds，because they meet consumers’needs．They know it's being prepared while they wait，it’s fresh，quality food，good tasting food at what they say are reasonable and affordable prices．”
Many Americans still like their fast food．They just are not going as often．They are finding other ways to have a meal．
1.What is the trouble with McDonald’s?
A．Its share goes down to$21．
B．Shake Shack has taken its place．
C．It’s not popular with Americans．
D．Its sales and income have dropped．
2.We can learn from Bonnie Riggs that Americans____________．
A．1ike to try something new
B．care only about the quality
C．don’t like fast food any more
D．pay more restaurant visits to fast casual
3.What does the underlined phrase“by leaps and bounds”in Paragraph 3 mean?
A．Steadily． B．Rapidly．
C．Slowly． D．Normally．
4.Which of the following best describes fast casual?
A．Fresh-made and tasty．
B．High-quality and expensive．
C．Farm-to-table and traditional．
D．Time-consuming and special．
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