Families separated by the Florida Straits were overjoyed Tuesday and Miami-based charter companies rushed to add seats and flights to their Havana routes after the Obama administration decided to let more Americans visit Cuba as often as they want, and spend as much as they like.
The policy changes are sure to put more money into Cuba’s dying economy, and many would-be travelers are already call for still more barriers to fall. Even Fidel Castro (菲德尔·卡斯特罗) , who had belittled the changes Monday, yielded Tuesday that they were "positive, although minimal".
The United States still doesn’t let most Americans without ties to Cuba visit the island or send in money. But the change, announced Monday by the Obama administration, was among the most significant openings in the half-century of hostilities between the two countries.
During the Bush administration, Americans with immediate family members on the island could visit once every three years and send up to $100 a month to their families.
Now, there are no limits to travel or expense, and the definition of family is expanded to include relatives as distant as second cousins, as well as anyone else who lives as "family" in the home of the authorized traveler.

How long have Cuba and the United States maintained a "hostile" relationship（　）

A:About 20 years. B:About 30 years. C:About 40 years. D:About 50 years.

United States customs law defines an antique (古董) as an object that is more than 100 years old. It is understood, however, that an object must be more than just 20 years old in order to be called an antique. Properly, an antique must also be distinguished by some degree of aesthetic(美学的) or historic merit. An antique is usually both beautiful and decorative. It may also have additional interest and value because of its relationship to a historical period or to some well-known person. George Washington’s teapot and dining room chairs, for example, are more valuable as antiques than those that belonged to most other 18th century Americans,
Antiques of all kinds are highly valued for their intrinsic(内在的) beauty, craftsmanship, and quality of design. They may be made of rare materials such as gold or silver, but they may also be made of ordinary materials such as wood or paper. Most antiques are things that were originally used as household furnishings. These include furniture, silver, glass, ceramics(陶制品), rugs, embroideries, and various kinds of metalware. In museums these objects represent the decorative arts. They are studied and exhibited in ways that are different from the ways in which the fine arts (paintings, prints, and sculpture, for example) are studied and presented.
Antiques are studied by cultural and social historians, who see them as direct clues to a people’s way of life. Such scholars are less concerned with the beauty o[ a piece than with its typicality, craftsmanship, and role’ in the economic and social life of its owners. Washington’s teapot and dining room chairs are studied as examples of 18th century pottery and furniture making. They are also studied for their roles in daily life at Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. Such material culture studies have benefited private collectors greatly because the results have enhanced the associative or relic value of certain objects.

In practice, which of the following is the most important feature that makes an object an antique（）

A:It has to be 100 years old. B:It has to be at least 20 years old. C:It has to be beautiful and decorative. D:It has to have aesthetic or historic valu

Passage Five
After Man has dreamed about flying for a long time. Michael Moshier is a dreamer. He invented the Solo Trek.
The Solo Trek had a 120 horsepower engine with twin fans. Only one person flies. As you fly above the roofs, you lean a little forward. You can see everything under you. You are flying like Superman.
Michael Moshier looked at the jet belt and the rocket belt that was developed 20, 30 years ago. Nothing ever came from them. People still can’t fly.
Inventors have tried to make it easy for people to fly. Paul Moiler has been working on his flying car for 30 years. He now says it is ready for tests. It would take off and land vertically, go 600 miles an hour, and deliver 20 miles to the gallon. A computer would do the actual flying. He says it could be sold next year for about a million dollars.
NASA is working with Moshier to help develop his flying machine. The first users are likely to be military.
It’s been 50-years since Robert Fulton invented his airphibian, a flying car. It flew, and is now in the Smithsonian Museum.
Getting dreams to fly is never easy.

Jet belts and rocket belts were developed （）

A:20-30 years ago B:50 years ago C:recently D:30 years ago

{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}

The new age concept was developed out of the notion of

A:"future years". B:"average years". C:"past years". D:"school years".

第二篇 Forty May Be the New 30 As Scientists Redefine Age 　　Is 40 really the new 30? In many ways people today act younger than their parents did at the same age. 　　Scientists have defined a new age concept and believe it could explain why populations are aging, but at the same time seem to be getting younger. 　　Instead of measuring aging by how long people have lived, the scientists have factored in how many more years people can probably still look forward to. 　　"Using that measure, the average person can get younger in the sense that he or she can have even more years to live as time goes on," said Warren Sanderson of the University of New York in Stony Brook. 　　He and Sergei Scherbov of the Vienna lnstitute of Demography （人口统计学） at the Austrian （奥地利的） Academy of Sciences， have used their method to estimate how the proportion of elderly people in Germany， Japan and the United States will change in the future. 　　The average German was 39.9 years old in 2000 and could plan to live for another 39.2 years, according to research reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday. 　　However, by 2050 the average German will be 51.9 years old and will be expected to live another 37.1 years. So middle age in 2050 would occur at around 52 years instead of 40 years as in 2000. 　　"As people have more and more years to live they have to save more and plan more and they effectively are behaving as if they were younger," said Sanderson. 　　Five years ago, the average American was 35.3 years old and could plan for 43.5 more years of life. By 2050, the researchers estimate it will increase to 41.7 years and 45.8 future years. 　　"A lot of our ski/Is, our education, our savings and the way we dear with our health care depend a great deal on how many years we have to live," said Sanderson. 　　This dimension of how many years people have to live has been completely ignored in the discussion of aging so far. The new age concept was developed out of the notion of

A:"future years". B:"average years". C:"past years". D:"school years".

Rising China
The China boom is by now a well-documented phenomenon. Who hasn’t heard of the Middle Kingdom’s astounding economic growth (8 percent annually), its mesmerizing(令人目瞪口呆的) (51) market (1.2 billion people), the investment ardor of foreign suitors( $ 40 billion in foreign direct investment last year (52) ) China is an economic juggernaut(主宰). (53) Nicholas Lardy of the Brookings Institution, a Washington D. C.-based think tank, "No country has expanded its foreign trade as fast as China over the last 20 years. Japan doubled its foreign trade over (54) ; (55) foreign trade as quintupled. They’re become the preeminent producer of labor-intensive manufacturing goods in the world". But there’s been (56) from the dazzling China growth story—namely, the Chinese multinational. No major Chinese companies have (57) established themselves, or their brands, on the global stage. But as Haler shows, that is starting to change. (58) 100 years of poverty and chaos, of being overshadowed by foreign countries and multinationals, Chinese industrial companies are starting to (59) on the world.
A new generation of large and credible firms (60) in China in the electronics, appliance and even high-tech sectors. Some have reached critical mass on the main land and (61) new outlets for their production—through exports and by building Chinese factories abroad, chiefly in Southeast Asia. One example: China’s investment in Malaysia soared from $ 8 million in 2000 to $ 766 million in the first half of this year. (62) China’s export prowess(杰出的才能 ), it will be years (63) Chinese firms achieve the managerial and operational expertise of Western and Japanese multinationals. For one thing, many of its best companies are still at least partially state-owned. (64) , China has a shortage of managerial talent and little notion of marketing and brand-building. Its companies are also (65) by the country’s tong tradition of central planning, inefficient use of capital and antiquated distribution system, which makes building national companies a challenge.

54（　）.

A:20-year B:a 20-year period C:20-years D:a 20 years

阅读下面的短文，文中有15处空白，每处空白给出了4个选项，请根据短文的内容从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。

A:20-year B:a 20-year period C:20-years D:a 20 years