C
A survey by China’s tourism academy shows that among the city dwellers (居民)who bought vacation packages for the Chinese New Year, 40 percent are travelling abroad, 30 percent are going somewhere within the Chinese mainland, and the rest are travelling to Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan. Our reporter Hu Chao breaks down the numbers.
China’s Tourism Academy declares that tourists during Spring Festival this year numbered up to over 225 million. Tourism profits totaled up to around 130 billion yuan.
In Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, travel agencies say people have entirely changed their travel plans for the country's most important holiday.
“Since last year, more families have chosen to go travelling during Spring Festival. They also travel earlier, choosing the first days of Spring Festival to go on trips, instead of later in the holiday.” Yu Zirong, Deputy General Manager of China Int’l Travel Service, Shanxi, said.
Yu Zirong also said the volume of individual and small group travel during Spring Festival has risen by about 30% over last year.
“We’ve launched special promotions for Spring Festival. Many customers have chosen to spend the holiday in Britain, where special activities for the Chinese New Year will be held. Others choose to go to southern cities in China, such as Lijiang and Xiamen. ” Said Zhao Dayang, E-commerce Manager of China Int’l Travel Service, Shanxi.
Many local travel agencies said the price of travelling during Spring Festival is usually 20% to 70% higher than the rest of the year.
Experts say the Spring Festival travel trend reflects the increase in Chinese residents' income.
“Spring Festival travel is very common now in our country. It’s fun to spend the Spring Festival outside home.”
According to China Tourism Academy, South East Asia and North America are among the most popular destinations for outbound trips, while southern and northeast provinces top the list for domestic (國內的)trips.
But with Chinese increasingly opting for international destinations, the number of domestic travellers dropped by 2.5 % in 2013.
59. According to travel agencies in Taiyuan, tourists used to ______.
A. choose the first days of the Spring Festival to travel 
B. travel later in the Spring Festival
C. change their travel plans consistently
D. travel before the Spring Festival
60. Many people go to Britain to spend the Spring Festival because ______.
A. it is more convenient to go there
B. British people celebrate the festival in the same way as Chinese
C. the expense to Britain is cheaper than that to other countries
D. special celebrations are held for Chinese
61. So many people tend to travel during the Spring Festival because _____.
A. the price of traveling during the Spring Festival is lower
B. Chinese residents’ income has increased
C. there is a long holiday
D. it’s no fun spending the Spring Festival outside home
62. The underlined phrase in the last paragraph means _____.
A. purchasing B. settling in C. choosing D. departing

D
New York City education officials are developing more than a dozen new standardized tests, but in a sign of the times； their main purpose will be to grade teachers, not the students who take them.
The exams, which would begin rolling out as early as next academic year, are being created as part of a statewide overhaul (徹底檢査)of how teachers are evaluated. Under a law passed last year that helped the state win $ 700 million in a federal grant competition, known as Race to the Top, each school district must find a way to evaluate teachers on a scale from “ineffective” to “highly effective”, with teachers facing potential firing if they are rated ineffective for two years in a row (連續(xù)地).
Under the law, 40 percent of a teacher’s grade will be based on standardized tests or other “rigorous (嚴密的),comparable” measures of student performance. Half of that should be based on state tests, and half on measures selected by local districts. The remaining 60 percent is to be based on more subjective measures, including principal observations.
Most districts will not create their own standardized tests, an expensive process that requires considerable expertise. The state does not require them to do so, instead permitting districts to set academic goals for teachers, broadly defined (解釋).
But New York City, which has made standardized tests a focus of its school reform efforts, is pushing ahead. City officials want their tests to be different from the mostly multiple choice tests the state uses. A proposal given to testing companies for bids in April asks that the exams be based around tasks, like asking students to progress through a multistep math problem, modify a science experiment to get a different result, or write a persuasive essay. They should also reflect the more rigorous Common Core academic standards that New York and other states have adopted.
“How do you create an additional assessment that is actually going to strengthen instructional practice, rather than divert time away from instruction?” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the city’s chief academic officer. “That is what we set out to solve. ”
Despite the city’s optimism, the prospect of more tests, particularly ones that will have a direct influence on teachers, is causing disappointment among those who believe that students already spend too much time preparing for exams and not enough on the broader goals of education, like social and emotional development.
63. Teachers are likely to be fired under the circumstance that _______.
A. their students' overall performance is the worst
B. they are valued ineffective for two years
C. they always express dissatisfaction with their school
D. their classes are popular with the fewest students
64. What may the author think of the grades used to evaluate teachers?
A. Most of them are unreal.
B. They are mainly based on standardized tests.
C. They are mostly from government observations.
D. Most of them are subjective.
65. According to Shael Polakow-Suransky, New York needs another assessment to _____.
A. help students set up broader goals of education
B. ensure students have enough time to prepare for tests
C. boost students' social and emotional development
D. make teachers practice more instruction
66. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. The reason why teachers are likely to be fired.
B. Teacher's instructional practice needs strengthening.
C. More student tests are created to evaluate teachers in New York.
D. The importance of more tests for students.
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