高三英语阅读专练ANew technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly increased by foreign language skills.Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts.Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to manage back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.English is still the international language of business. But there is anever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign customers over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.56. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment,businesspeople ________.A. are eager to work overseasB. have to get familiar with modern technologyC. are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operationsD. are attaching more importance to their overseas business57. In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Line 3, Para. 3) probablymeans ________.A. leaving all care and worry behindB. being unable to think properly for lack of insightC. being totally out of touch with business at homeD. missing opportunities for promotion when abroad58. According to the passage, what is an important consideration ofinternational corporations in employing people today?A. Ability to speak the customer’s language.B. Connections with businesses overseas.C. Technical know-how.D. Business experience.59. The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can________.A. fast-forward their proposals to headquartersB. better control the whole negotiation processC. easily make friends with businesspeople abroadD. easily find new approaches to meet market needsBWhen an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.To test his theory, Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chem ical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.60. What is the function of the first paragraph?A. Leading the following paragraphs.B. Showing the main idea of the passage.C. Introducing the background of the passage.D. Giving a summary of the passage.61. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word“overrides” in the fourth paragraph?A. is weaker thanB. is stronger thanC. is better thanD. is worse than62. What can we learn from the passage?A. Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.B. When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.C. A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical.D. Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other.63. Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?A. Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places.B. Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants.C. Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then didsome tests to prove his theory.D. Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own。