单选题Passage 1Khalida's father says she's 9 or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money.I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,says Shah.The family's heartbreak began when Shah borrowed S2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest,a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family's little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah's entire two and a half acres of poppies. Unable to meet his debt, Shah fled with his family to Jalalabad, the capital of neighboring Nangarhar province. The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-olddrugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible.It's my fate,the child says.Afghans disparagingly call them loan brides-daughters given in marriage by fathers who have no other way out of debt. The practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to S8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No.I opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation-but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation:I cal on the people [ not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages.All the same, local farmers say a man can get killed for failing to repay a loan. No one knows how many debt weddings take place in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's heroin and other opiates originate. But Afghans say the number of loan brides keeps rising as poppy-eradication efforts push more farmers into default.This will be our darkest year since 2000,says Baz Mohammad,65,a white-bearded former opium farmer in Nangarhar.Even more daughters will be sold this year.The old man lives with the anguish of selling his own 13-year-old daughter in 2000, after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned poppy growing.Lenders never show any mercy,the old man says. Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.Efforts to promote other crops have failed. Wheat or corn brings $250 an acre at best, while poppy growers can expect 10 times that much. Besides, poppies are more dependable: hardier than either wheat or corn and more tolerant of drought and extreme heat and cold. And in a country with practically no govermment-funded credit for small farmers, opium growers can easily get advances on their crops. The borrower merely agrees to repay the cash with so many kilos of opium, at a price stipulated by the lender-often 40 percent or more below market value. Islam forbids charging interest on a loan, but moneylenders in poppy country elude the ban by packaging the deal as a crop-futures transaction-and never mind that the rate of return is tantamount to usury.The farmers like to grow poppies in their countries not because________.Atraffickers can make great money from the poppiesBpoppies are more reliable and suitable to grow in this placeCno government funded credit was offered for small farmersDgrowing poppies can earn more money than other crops
单选题
Passage 1Khalida's father says she's 9 or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money.I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,says Shah.The family's heartbreak began when Shah borrowed S2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest,a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family's little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah's entire two and a half acres of poppies. Unable to meet his debt, Shah fled with his family to Jalalabad, the capital of neighboring Nangarhar province. The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-olddrugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible.It's my fate,the child says.Afghans disparagingly call them loan brides-daughters given in marriage by fathers who have no other way out of debt. The practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to S8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No.I opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation-but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation:I cal on the people [ not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages.All the same, local farmers say a man can get killed for failing to repay a loan. No one knows how many debt weddings take place in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's heroin and other opiates originate. But Afghans say the number of loan brides keeps rising as poppy-eradication efforts push more farmers into default.This will be our darkest year since 2000,says Baz Mohammad,65,a white-bearded former opium farmer in Nangarhar.Even more daughters will be sold this year.The old man lives with the anguish of selling his own 13-year-old daughter in 2000, after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned poppy growing.Lenders never show any mercy,the old man says. Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.Efforts to promote other crops have failed. Wheat or corn brings $250 an acre at best, while poppy growers can expect 10 times that much. Besides, poppies are more dependable: hardier than either wheat or corn and more tolerant of drought and extreme heat and cold. And in a country with practically no govermment-funded credit for small farmers, opium growers can easily get advances on their crops. The borrower merely agrees to repay the cash with so many kilos of opium, at a price stipulated by the lender-often 40 percent or more below market value. Islam forbids charging interest on a loan, but moneylenders in poppy country elude the ban by packaging the deal as a crop-futures transaction-and never mind that the rate of return is tantamount to usury.The farmers like to grow poppies in their countries not because________.
A
traffickers can make great money from the poppies
B
poppies are more reliable and suitable to grow in this place
C
no government funded credit was offered for small farmers
D
growing poppies can earn more money than other crops
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–I am worried about my son’s eyesight so much.–() A、He always takes books so close to his eyes.B、You think too much.C、There’s nothing special.D、Maybe you can take him to have a check.
Anna is our only daughter. My wife and I have two sons, and Anna is the youngest in the family, but she's twenty-five now. Anna was not well when she was little. It was a very worrying time and she stayed at home a lot. She was seen first by the local doctors, and then she was sent to a specialist in Cardiff where she was diagnosed as diabetic. It was my wife who mainly took care of her then. I am not very good at looking after little children. I suppose I am a bit traditional in that way. But when she grew up a bit, we spent a lot of time together. We loved walking and talking and discussing life. We still love it today. We get on very well. Although she looks like me (tall, dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin), she takes after her mother: she is artistic and musical, and like her mother she's attractive. She loves looking after animals - she has two dogs, three cats and a goat. She lives in a little house in the country. I like animals too. I like riding and hunting, but Anna hates hunting. She thinks it's cruel. We discuss it a lot. She is quiet and a bit shy with strangers. I am more outgoing and I love meeting new people. But she's not boring - actually, she's very funny. She always has lots of stories of her life in the country. She's an art and music teacher in a little village school. She is very good-natured. Anna says we brought her up well, and she's going to bring her children up to be honest and loyal. But I think she was easy to bring up. I don't remember ever telling her off.1.According to the passage, when Anna was a child, she ().2. It can be inferred from the passage the author thinks looking after little children is ().3. What does 'take after' mean in the first sentence of Para. 2?4. My daughter and I have little in common in terms of ().5. From the passage, we can see the author's description of his daughter is ().(1).A、got an illnessB、was very queerC、didn't look like the author(2).A、his advantageB、mainly a woman's responsibilityC、really enjoyable(3).A、look afterB、be different fromC、look like(4).A、loving walking and talkingB、characterC、loving animals(5).A、affectionateB、humorousC、critical
Section B (10 marks)Directions: Read the following passage, Answer the questions according to theinformation given in the passage.Secret SantasOn Christmas morning, Linda wakes up, and tries to imagine the wide-eyed surprise of children in another household as they unwrap the presents she carefully chose for them. Linda has never met the children, but that’s all part of the joy of giving as secret Santas, she says."It's an amazing feeling to buy gifts on an anonymous (匿名的) basis," says Linda."It brings a whole new meaning to the holidays."Linda and Tony are an American couple living in Toronto, Canada, and Linda did charitable work as a member of the American Women's Club of Toronto. As the name suggests, members are U.S. citizens living in Toronto, who join together for fellowship and community service.To find her "adopted" family, Linda goes to the local schools and requests a wish list for a family that's struggling to survive. Last year she helped a single mother with three children. The mother works as a cleaning lady in a nursing home."The list is always heartbreaking. They have an opportunity to ask for anything and do just the opposite, asking for basic clothes or simple toys," she says. "We always buy the kids a new winter coat, hats, and gloves." She also buys gifts for the parents.Last year Linda asked the mother for a second wish list--one that didn't include the basics. "Every child should have a Christmas that sticks with them for a lifetime." She purchased iPods for the two older children and a video game system for the youngest."I have learned a very valuable lesson in all of this," says Linda. "Pay attention to what's going on in your own backyard--no matter where you live."The joy of giving as secret Santas is much sweeter when the gift is anonymous.81. What reaction does Linda imagine the children will have?(No more than 5 words) (2 marks)
Passage FiveDanny was just tired about the way things were going. His mom came to the school and went on and on talking about Rick Jackson. It seemed that she would never stop talking. "Somebody's got to stop that boy!" she was shouting, "Rick's troubling everybody in the neighborhood. And he loves to pick on little boys like Danny."Mrs. Green, Danny's teacher, was concerned a lot. "I didn't know that Danny was being picked on," she nswered. "He's never said anything about this to me!" Mrs. Green looked at Danny. "How long has this been going on?" She asked. Danny could only shake his head and look at the floor. He knew if he said a word about this, he would have trouble after school.Danny hadn't said anything about the problem because he wanted to play with the boys in the neighborhood. After all, most of them were nice to him. He hated to leave the gang just because of Rick. Maybe the time had come to find new friends. He felt it hard to make up his mind.52. We learn from the reading that______.A. Danny was not a good studentB. Danny's mother talked too much about the schoolC. Danny's teacher knew something about Danny's problem beforeD. Danny wanted to get away from Rick
-I’m trying to call Marie, but there’s no answer.-(). A、Really? Maybe she’s outB、Here is a message for herC、I’m really sorry about itD、I didn’t realize that
Jim and Ronald are ( ). A、my father's and mother’s friendsB、friends of mine father and motherC、my father and mother's friendsD、my father and mother friends
10. The beef is __________dear. Let-s not buy .A. much too ,too muchB. much too ,much tooC. too much ,too muchD. too much ,much too
This is a girl. She’s (11) English girl. Her name's Becky.She's twelve. She’s in (12) 0f No.l Middle School in Beijing. She studies(学习) (13) in it. Mr Liu is .her Chinese teacher.(14 ) name is Liu Yong. He-s a good teacher.He reaches(教)her Chinese very well. Her home .(15) number is(010)65268559. He loves his students very much.Becky's father and mother (16) teachers. Her father is (17) Green.(18) works(l作) in Beijing now. He teaches us English. He (19) to work(20) his bike. He's our good English teacher and good friend.( )11.A.aB.anC.theD./
Andrew,my father’s younger brother,will not be at the picnic,( )to the family's disappointment.A.muchB.moreC.too muchD.much more
共用题干Sport or Spectacle?Muhammad Aui is probably the most famous sports figure on earth:he is recognized on every continent and by all generations. The__________(51)of his illness as Parkinson's disease after his retirement fuelled the debate about the dangers of boxing and criticism__________(52)the sport. That,plus his outspoken opposition___________(53)women's boxing,made people wonder how he would react when one of his daugh- ters decided to____________(54)up the sport.His presence at Laila's first professional fight,however,seemed to broadcast a father's support.Of course Muhammad Aui wanted to___________(55)his daughter fight.The ring announcer introduced him as the"the greatest"and as he sat down at the ringside the crowd chanted.Twenty-one-year-old Laila's debut fight(首次亮相)was a huge success and there was as much publicity for the___________(56)as her father's fights once attracted Laila's opponent was much weaker than she was and__________(57)the fight lasted just 31 seconds.Since then, Laila has won most of her fights by knoc-king out her opponent"She knows ______ (58)she's doing,"said one referee about her."She knowsabout moving well.You can see some of her dad's moves."Laila Ali would rather not_________ (59)herself to her father. She prefers to make. __________(60). Her father supports her decision to enter the sport but he has not spared her the details of what can happen. Laila__________(61)that her father wants her to understand the worst possible scenario to see_________(62) she still wants to go forward with it.She knows she's going to get hit hard at times,that she may get a broken nose or a swollen(肿胀的)face , but at least she is prepared for it.Laila's decision to start boxing despite her father's__________(63)with the symptoms of Parkinson's disease has of course sparked a mixture of praise and__________(64).But Laila is a determined individual and it is her famous last name that has made her a magnet for worldwide media attention.Of course,the ___________(65)on the boxing scene of a woman with her family history attracts even more questions about whether women's boxing is sport or spectacle._________(53)A:inB:onC:toD:by
A young woman rode with her new husband in a wagon(四轮马车).They came to a log cabin(小木屋).The man shouted and a little boy came running out of the cabin.Sarah,the young woman,got down from the wagon,opened wide her arms and heldthe boy close."Hello,Abe Lincoln,"she said."I think we′ll be good friends."The new mother with the smiling face went to work at once.She washed Abe and hissister and tidied(弄整齐)their hair.And that night she threw away the boy′s mattress(床垫)of leaves and gave him a soft mattress and enough blankets to keephim warm at night.Sarah wove cloth and made new shirts for Abe.She made him new deerskin trousers and even deerskin shoes.Maybe,if she hadn′t come to the cabin,he wouldn′t have lived to be a man.When Abe′s father told him not to go to school any more and help on the farm,Sarah took Abe′s part against his father.Abe would rather read than eat,and when hisfather told him to stop,Sarah said,"Let the boy read."In 1830 the day came when Abe would leave home to work in New Salem.For the last time she had taken Abe′s part against his father.For the last time she had kept the cabin quiet so that Abe could read.More than twenty years later,when Abe,who had then become famous,was going to make a speech in a nearby town,Sarah went there just to watch him.In the crowd she tried to make herself small,but he saw her,and in front of everybody,got out of his carriage and went overand put his arms around her and kissed her.Yes,that was her Abe."Heloved me truly,"she said later.If Sarah hadn′t come to the cabin,A.Abe's father wouldn't have told him not to go to schoolB.Abe wouldn't have helped his father on the farmC.Abe wouldn't have had so much time to readD.Abe's father wouldn't have told him to stop reading
A young woman rode with her new husband in a wagon(四轮马车).They came to a log cabin(小木屋).The man shouted and a little boy came running out of the cabin.Sarah,the young woman,got down from the wagon,opened wide her arms and heldthe boy close."Hello,Abe Lincoln,"she said."I think we′ll be good friends."The new mother with the smiling face went to work at once.She washed Abe and hissister and tidied(弄整齐)their hair.And that night she threw away the boy′s mattress(床垫)of leaves and gave him a soft mattress and enough blankets to keephim warm at night.Sarah wove cloth and made new shirts for Abe.She made him new deerskin trousers and even deerskin shoes.Maybe,if she hadn′t come to the cabin,he wouldn′t have lived to be a man.When Abe′s father told him not to go to school any more and help on the farm,Sarah took Abe′s part against his father.Abe would rather read than eat,and when hisfather told him to stop,Sarah said,"Let the boy read."In 1830 the day came when Abe would leave home to work in New Salem.For the last time she had taken Abe′s part against his father.For the last time she had kept the cabin quiet so that Abe could read.More than twenty years later,when Abe,who had then become famous,was going to make a speech in a nearby town,Sarah went there just to watch him.In the crowd she tried to make herself small,but he saw her,and in front of everybody,got out of his carriage and went overand put his arms around her and kissed her.Yes,that was her Abe."Heloved me truly,"she said later.Which of the following is not true?A.The young woman in the wagon was Abe's new mother.B.The man in the wagon was Abe's new father.C.The little boy was the young woman's new son.D.The little boy running out of the cabin was Abe.
How is your father today? () thanks.AHe is over fortyBHe's a doctorCHe's much betterDHe's Brown
单选题Why did she take up journalism?ABecause of her family background.BBecause of her father’s support.CBecause of her love of books.
单选题— I'm trying to call Marie, but there's no answer. —()AI didn’t realize thatBHere is a message for herCI’m really sorry about itDReally? Maybe she’s out
单选题Maggie’s father died ______.Awhen she finished high schoolBbefore she was bornCwhen she was very youngDafter she got married
单选题1 immediately______Luke's father from the crowd because they two looked like each other so much.AresearchedBrecognizedCreportedDreduced
单选题Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?ADancy drove his father home.BThe reporter was really a hero.CShine sent Dancy’s father to hospital.DDancy saved his father with his something skills.
单选题According to the passage, _____ may NOT be the character of the author’s father.AdemandingBpracticalCstubbornDliberal
单选题How is your father today? () thanks.AHe is over fortyBHe's a doctorCHe's much betterDHe's Brown
单选题Passage 1Khalida's father says she's 9 or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money.I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,says Shah.The family's heartbreak began when Shah borrowed S2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest,a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family's little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah's entire two and a half acres of poppies. Unable to meet his debt, Shah fled with his family to Jalalabad, the capital of neighboring Nangarhar province. The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-olddrugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible.It's my fate,the child says.Afghans disparagingly call them loan brides-daughters given in marriage by fathers who have no other way out of debt. The practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to S8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No.I opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation-but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation:I cal on the people [ not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages.All the same, local farmers say a man can get killed for failing to repay a loan. No one knows how many debt weddings take place in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's heroin and other opiates originate. But Afghans say the number of loan brides keeps rising as poppy-eradication efforts push more farmers into default.This will be our darkest year since 2000,says Baz Mohammad,65,a white-bearded former opium farmer in Nangarhar.Even more daughters will be sold this year.The old man lives with the anguish of selling his own 13-year-old daughter in 2000, after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned poppy growing.Lenders never show any mercy,the old man says. Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.Efforts to promote other crops have failed. Wheat or corn brings $250 an acre at best, while poppy growers can expect 10 times that much. Besides, poppies are more dependable: hardier than either wheat or corn and more tolerant of drought and extreme heat and cold. And in a country with practically no govermment-funded credit for small farmers, opium growers can easily get advances on their crops. The borrower merely agrees to repay the cash with so many kilos of opium, at a price stipulated by the lender-often 40 percent or more below market value. Islam forbids charging interest on a loan, but moneylenders in poppy country elude the ban by packaging the deal as a crop-futures transaction-and never mind that the rate of return is tantamount to usury.What does the underlined word“elude”mean in last paragraph?ABypass.BFollow.CViolate.DBreak.
单选题Passage 1Khalida's father says she's 9 or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money.I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,says Shah.The family's heartbreak began when Shah borrowed S2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest,a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family's little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah's entire two and a half acres of poppies. Unable to meet his debt, Shah fled with his family to Jalalabad, the capital of neighboring Nangarhar province. The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-olddrugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible.It's my fate,the child says.Afghans disparagingly call them loan brides-daughters given in marriage by fathers who have no other way out of debt. The practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to S8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No.I opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation-but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation:I cal on the people [ not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages.All the same, local farmers say a man can get killed for failing to repay a loan. No one knows how many debt weddings take place in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's heroin and other opiates originate. But Afghans say the number of loan brides keeps rising as poppy-eradication efforts push more farmers into default.This will be our darkest year since 2000,says Baz Mohammad,65,a white-bearded former opium farmer in Nangarhar.Even more daughters will be sold this year.The old man lives with the anguish of selling his own 13-year-old daughter in 2000, after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned poppy growing.Lenders never show any mercy,the old man says. Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.Efforts to promote other crops have failed. Wheat or corn brings $250 an acre at best, while poppy growers can expect 10 times that much. Besides, poppies are more dependable: hardier than either wheat or corn and more tolerant of drought and extreme heat and cold. And in a country with practically no govermment-funded credit for small farmers, opium growers can easily get advances on their crops. The borrower merely agrees to repay the cash with so many kilos of opium, at a price stipulated by the lender-often 40 percent or more below market value. Islam forbids charging interest on a loan, but moneylenders in poppy country elude the ban by packaging the deal as a crop-futures transaction-and never mind that the rate of return is tantamount to usury.Which of the following is not true about debt marriagein the third paragraph?AIt forces the girls to marry old men.BIt enables the girls to pay off their debts.CThe girl's family can get much money from it.DIt is a shame for the girls and their family.
单选题Maggie's father died______.Awhen she finished high schoolBbefore she was bornCwhen she was very youngDafter she got married
单选题From the passage, we can infer (推断) ______.AAnne was born in GermanyBAnne was a JewCAnne’s father collected the diariesDAnne was a Nazi
单选题Passage 1Khalida's father says she's 9 or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money.I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,says Shah.The family's heartbreak began when Shah borrowed S2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest,a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family's little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah's entire two and a half acres of poppies. Unable to meet his debt, Shah fled with his family to Jalalabad, the capital of neighboring Nangarhar province. The trafficker found them anyway and demanded his opium. So Shah took his case before a tribal council in Laghman and begged for leniency. Instead, the elders unanimously ruled that Shah would have to reimburse the trafficker by giving Khalida to him in marriage. Now the family can only wait for the 45-year-olddrugrunner to come back for his prize. Khalida wanted to be a teacher someday, but that has become impossible.It's my fate,the child says.Afghans disparagingly call them loan brides-daughters given in marriage by fathers who have no other way out of debt. The practice began with the dowry a bridegroom's family traditionally pays to the bride's father in tribal Pashtun society. These days the amount ranges from $3,000 or so in poorer places like Laghman and Nangarhar to S8,000 or more in Helmand, Afghanistan's No.I opium-growing province. For a desperate farmer, that bride price can be salvation-but at a cruel cost. Among the Pashtun, debt marriage puts a lasting stain on the honor of the bride and her family. It brings shame on the country, too. President Hamid Karzai recently told the nation:I cal on the people [ not to] give their daughters for money; they shouldn't give them to old men, and they shouldn't give them in forced marriages.All the same, local farmers say a man can get killed for failing to repay a loan. No one knows how many debt weddings take place in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's heroin and other opiates originate. But Afghans say the number of loan brides keeps rising as poppy-eradication efforts push more farmers into default.This will be our darkest year since 2000,says Baz Mohammad,65,a white-bearded former opium farmer in Nangarhar.Even more daughters will be sold this year.The old man lives with the anguish of selling his own 13-year-old daughter in 2000, after Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar banned poppy growing.Lenders never show any mercy,the old man says. Local farmers say more than one debtor has been bound hand and foot, then locked into a small windowless room with a smoldering fire, slowly choking to death.Efforts to promote other crops have failed. Wheat or corn brings $250 an acre at best, while poppy growers can expect 10 times that much. Besides, poppies are more dependable: hardier than either wheat or corn and more tolerant of drought and extreme heat and cold. And in a country with practically no govermment-funded credit for small farmers, opium growers can easily get advances on their crops. The borrower merely agrees to repay the cash with so many kilos of opium, at a price stipulated by the lender-often 40 percent or more below market value. Islam forbids charging interest on a loan, but moneylenders in poppy country elude the ban by packaging the deal as a crop-futures transaction-and never mind that the rate of return is tantamount to usury.What is mainly discussed in this passage?AThe Afghan farmers.BBest place for heroin.CLoan marriage.DMan is born with greedy nature.