“There is no real border between Israel and Palestine,“ says Muhammad Hamudi, an olive farmer and olive oil producer from Asira al-Shamaliya, near Nablus in the West Bank. He has been working with the ongoing USAID-funded project Olive Oil Without Borders (OOWB) since its start in 2011. Hamudi is in his mid-50s, with smiling eyes and palms so big that an olive looks tiny in them. “Today the border is here, tomorrow it will be there. The olive oil market has no borders as well. The bridge to the global market is the same bridge for everyone.“ OOWB is a collaborative economic initiative among 34 olive oil farming communities in Israel and the West Bank. It is spearheaded by the Near East Foundation (NEF), a 100-year-old nongovernmental organization working on economic development among poverty-stricken communities throughout Africa and the Middle East. The initiative is funded by USAID, which provides financial and operative assistance to foreign nations and regions in need. The program has been successful enough that USAID has just granted OOWB its second US$1.2 million round of funding, expected to serve some 2,000 Palestinians and Israelis working in the olive oil business over the course of three years. Hamudi, one of the project’s success stories, points out Salah Abu-Eisheh, NEF country director for the Palestinian authority. “During the three-year run, he has tripled his production, improved significantly the quality and purity of his olive oil, and increased his income.“ Hamudi smiles when he hears Abu-Eisheh say this. “NEF helped me achieve a sustained level of productivity,“ Hamudi says. “No more bad years and good years; now I am in control of the yield.“ This success is due in large part to direct grants farmers like Hamudi received for purchasing modern equipment, renovating facilities (such as mills), and planting new varieties of olive trees. The rest of the USAID funding goes to conducting seminars and hands-on workshops led by industry consultants, from agriculture and olive oil production to business management and marketing. Yet Palestinian farmers are only half of the OOWB equation: Israeli farmers and producers provide the necessary cross-border collaboration for this innovative and seemingly conflict-free program. When I ask Hamudi about his experience collaborating with his Israeli-Jewish counterparts, his answer is pragmatic. “I see it as an exchange. We have things to teach, and they have things to teach. They use modern techniques, we have experience and knowledge. The benefits are for both sides. We have no other choices.“ But for a region stuck in political conflict, collaborating is a choice — and quite an unusual one. Ayala Noy, a 40-year-old farmer and producer from the Israeli side, approaches the project from a different perspective: “It was a very important and empowering experience. Sitting down with a Palestinian farmer who tells me, with tears in his eyes, that his orchard was burned to the ground the previous night by Israeli settlers was very emotional for me. ’How do you sleep at night?’ he asked me. I told him not very well. That was the biggest challenge for me — being a representative of Israel, dealing with the hard feelings they have toward us.“ Although one of OOWB’s stated goals is to “leverage economic cooperation to promote peace and reconciliation,“ according to NEF President Charlie Benjamin, the organization approaches its work from “a completely depoliticized perspective.“ The focus is on “building economic relationships. We don’t touch the border issue.“ At the same time, Benjamin does acknowledge the growing trust, communication, and interaction outside the program. Noy agrees that the project has strengthened more than economic ties. “We brought Palestinians to our house, we showed them our mill, and we try to keep in touch by phone,“ she says. “I think it gave them a chance to see ’other’ Israelis. Many of them told me that was their first time to meet an Israeli who is not a soldier, or a settler.“

What information about OOWB is released from the passage?

A．It was founded in the early 1980s.

B．It receives financial support from US AID.

C．It only supports olive farmers in Palestine.

D．It is a political organization for seeking peace talks.

According to Paragraph 2, which of the following statements is NOT true of NEF?

A．It is a part of the Israeli government.

B．It has a history of 100 years.

C．It aims at reducing poverty.

D．It produces great results.

Besides providing direct grants to farmers, the US AID funding is also earmarked for______.

A．running training courses

B．building business schools

C．purchasing industrial equipment

D．consulting with legal departments

What role do Israeli farmers’ play in OOWB?

A．They try their best to stay out of it.

B．They monitor it cautiously.

C．They lend it a helping hand whenever needed.

D．They turn a blind eye to its development.

What is the biggest challenge for Ayala Noy?

A．He lacks modern equipment.

B．He faces resentment from the Palestinians.

C．He operates on the technical request.

D．He tries to receive adequate funding for the region.

The main topic of Paragraph 8 is that OOWB______.

A．acts as an ambassador between the two countries

B．gets involved in economic activities only

C．exerts political influence on the border tension

D．ignores the border between the two countries

The new accessibility of land around almost every major city______an explosion of real estate development and fueled what we know as urbanization. incited followed claimed sparked

Japan’s______in the field of electronics would have to withstand much stronger challenge from competitors in the globalized economy. subordination supremacy submission subjection

After the 1870s, a number of important authors began to reject the Romanticism that had ______immediately following the civil war. appeared recurred surfaced prevailed

Studies reveal that obesity could, to a large extent, be attributed to the increasing popularity of the______lifestyle. sedentary secretive seclusive solitary

When ancient artifacts have been______to these processes, their origin is usually impossible to trace. subordinated subdivided subjected submitted

Fire ants make use of an alarm pheromone to______workers to an emergency, and their scouts lay down a trail as a guide during mass migrations. alert allot alternate adapt

One of the best-known examples of mass extinction occurred 65 million years ago with the______of the dinosaurs and many other forms of life. demolition demise diffusion decline

When water is scarce, lizards may reduce their movements and remain in that condition for______periods of time. pronounced programmed projected prolonged

Because the droplets or ice crystals in clouds are exceedingly small, the effect of gravity on them is minute. second mere tiny quick

This century, the work of cognitive psychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. implied ascribed denoted clarmed

The disclosure of sensitive information related to national security was reportedly inadvertent. reluctant irrational consequent unintentional

Many ice researchers believe that the melting Greenland, if it continues, will add at least three feet to global sea levels by 2100. melted Greenland melting Greenland Greenland’s melting Greenland melted

Irrespective on its disadvantages, however, genetic engineering has proliferated swiftly. with to of from

The impossible high demands you make of yourself will invite only disappointment and widespread unhappiness. highly impossible demands impossibly high demands demands impossibly high demands highly impossible

Opponents of genetic engineering claim that scientists are tampering with matters that they know little and essentially committing a crime against nature. that they know about little that they know little about they know about that little about that they know little

They are intelligent animals and can see work together as they hunt schools of small fish. can be seen working to be seen working can be seeing work to be seeing work

In the store, famous perfumes are displayed and guard against works of art in the nearby Louvre Museum. guarded like guard for guarded by guard with

Researchers hypothesize that sharks sometimes confuse humans for another type of animals they usually consume, different from seals or fish. the other type another types other type the other types

To fetch water before breakfast seemed, to the villagers, a rule never have broken. never being broken never to be broken never to break never breaking

At the end of a recent feast at Restaurant Revolution in New Orleans, I ordered a cup of hot tea and was presented with an elegant silver kettle filled with an intoxicatingly aromatic lemon brew. Another notable meal enjoyed not long ago at Fixe in Austin began with their house-iced tea, a black tea and fruit blend customized for them by a local “tea guru.“ Tea has been a cherished beverage in the eastern hemisphere since the third millennium B.C., but didn’t make its way to the UK until late in the 17th century, where it enjoyed immediate popularity. Another two centuries later, southerners in the United States began drinking their sweet and iced tea, but not until recently has tea appreciation started to spread throughout the rest of North America. These days, it’s not uncommon to find Earl Grey in your cocktail or learn that your fried chicken was cooked in the stuff. “I believe tea is still in its infancy in our country,“ says Zhena Muzyka, owner of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, a Fair Trade Certified^TM organic tea company, now in its 13th year. “It’s the second-most-consumed beverage in the world, but the sixth-most-consumed in the U.S.“ But like a newborn, the U.S. tea industry is growing fast. Since 1990, Americans have quadrupled their tea consumption, bringing it to a US$10-billion industry in 2014, according to the Tea Association of the U.S. Tea imports to the U.S. have grown by 70 percent in the last two decades alone. Starbucks, which started selling more than two dozen varieties of loose-leaf tea at their first location in Seattle, bought high-end tea-shop chain Teavana in 2012. The concurrent artisanal food and beverage trend means that as more Americans )earn to appreciate a cup of tea, they’re also more interested in the source of the leaves, making “Fair Trade“ tea particularly attractive. Fair Trade U.S. calculates that just between 2012 and 2013, Fair Trade Certified tea — produced by cooperatives and farms — imports jumped by 26 percent. Fair Trade certification ensures that farmers are guaranteed safe working conditions as well as a sustainable wage and fair capital, determined by the prices they set for their products. All workers also receive a Fair Trade premium, which they may choose to invest back into their farm or community. “I believe that Americans love Fair Trade — they’ve backed it and bought it even when the economy was trashed,“ Muzyka says, recalling when tea first joined coffee, bananas, and cocoa on the short list of available Fair Trade Certified products. Muzyka has visited Sri Lanka, India and China many times, growing closer with each visit to the families who grow and harvest the tea she uses for her blends. On conventional farms, a tea worker’s daily quota is 17.6 pounds of tea per day, or about 16,000 individual plucks of leaves, she says. This strenuous work is usually done on steep hillsides at altitudes of 5,000 feet or higher, and workers collect leaves into large baskets on their backs, which are held in place by a forehead strap. Back when she was starting her company, Muzyka spent several years educating consumers and buyers at major grocery stores to choose Fair Trade suppliers over those without the certification. “I showed them the photos I’d taken in the conventional fields, and explained that the workers were being paid US$1.35 a day and unable to feed their families,“ she says.

What information about OOWB is released from the passage?

The word “collaborative“ underlined in Paragraph 2 is synonymous to______.

According to Paragraph 2, which of the following statements is NOT true of NEF?

From Paragraph 3, we learn that Hamudi’s olive production before he received support from NEF could only be described as______.

Besides providing direct grants to farmers, the US AID funding is also earmarked for______.

What role do Israeli farmers’ play in OOWB?

The word “pragmatic“ underlined in Paragraph 6 is synonymous to______.

What is the biggest challenge for Ayala Noy?

The main topic of Paragraph 8 is that OOWB______.

The Israeli-Palestinian collaboration in the project could be described as______.