大学英语六级 阅读理解107篇.txt

2011年大学英语六级 阅读理解107篇 本文由dddsssrq贡献 1 We can begin our discussion of “population as global issue” with what most persons mean when they discuss “the population problem”: too many people on earth and a too rapid increase in the number added each year. The facts are not in dispute, It was quite right to employ the analogy that likened demographic growth to “a long, thin powder fuse that burns steadily and haltingly until it finally reaches the charge and explodes.” To understand the current situation, which is characterized by rapid increases in population, it is necessary to understand the history of population trends. Rapid growth is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Looking back at the 8,000 years of demographic history, we find that populations have been virtually stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. There was high fertility in most places, but this was usually balanced by high mortality. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, while infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birthrates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race. This pattern is important to notice. Not only does it put the current problems of demographic growth into a historical perspective, but it suggests that the cause of rapid increase in population in recent years is not a sudden enthusiasm for more children, but an improvement in the conditions that traditionally have caused high mortality. Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8,000 BC.till approximately AD. 1650. In the first period of some 9600 years, the population increased from some 8 million to 500 million in 1650. Between 1650 and the present, the population has increased from 500 million to more than 4 billion. And it is estimated that by the year 2000 there will be 6.2 billion people throughout the world. One way to appreciate this dramatic difference in such abstract numbers is to reduce the time frame to something that is more manageable. Between 8000BC and 1650, an average of only 50,000 persons was being added annually to the world’s population each year. At present, this number is added every six hours. The increase is about 80,000,000 persons annually. 1.Which of the following demographic growth pattern is most suitable for the long thin powder fuse analogy? A.A virtually stable or slightly decreasing period and then a sudden explosion of population. B.A slow growth for a long time and then a period of rapid, dramatic increase. C.Too many people on earth and a few rapid increase in the number added each year. D.A long period when death rates exceeds birthrates and then a short period with higher fertility and lower mortality. 2.During the first period of demographic history, societies were often in danger of extinction because___. A.only one in ten persons could live past 40. B.there was higher mortality than fertility in most places. C.it was too dangerous to have babies due to the poor conditions. D.our ancestors had little enthusiasm for more children. 3.Which statement is true about population increase? A.There might be an increase of 2.2 billion persons from now to the year 2000. 答案：ABADA B.About 50,000 babies are born every six hours at present. C.Between 8000 BC and the present, the population increase is about 80,000,000 persons each year. D.The population increased faster between 8000BC and 1650 than between 1650 and the present. 4.The author of the passage intends to___. A.warn people against the population explosion in the near future. B.compare the demographic growth pattern in the past with that after 1650. C.find out the cause for rapid increase in population in recent years. D.present us a clear and complete picture of the demographic growth. 5.The word “demographic” in the first paragraph means___. A.statistics of human. B.surroundings study. C.accumulation of human. D.development of human. 2 Most of us are taught to pay attention to what is said—the words. Words do provide us with some information, but meanings are derived from so many other sources that it would hinder our effectiveness as a partner to a relationship to rely too heavily on words alone. Words are used to describe only a small part of the many ideas we associate with any given message. Sometimes we can gain insight into some of those associations if we listen for more than words. We don’t always say what we mean or mean what we say. Sometimes our words don’t mean anything except “ I’m letting off some steam. I don’t really want you to pay close attention to what I’m saying. Just pay attention to what I’m feeling.” Mostly we mean several things at once. A person wanting to purchase a house says to the current owner, “This step has to be fixed before I’ll buy.” The owner says, “ It’s been like that for years.” Actually, the step hasn’t been like that for years, but the unspoken message is: “ I don’t want to fix it. We put up with it. Why can’t you?” The search for a more expansive view of meaning can be developed of examining a message in terms of who said it, when it occurred, the related conditions or situation, and how it was said. When a message occurs can also reveal associated meaning. Let us assume two couples do exactly the same amount of kissing and arguing. But one couple always kisses after an argument and the other couple always argues after a kiss. The ordering of the behaviors may mean a great deal more than the frequency of the behavior. A friend’s unusually docile behavior may only be understood by noting that it was preceded by situations that required an abnormal amount of assertiveness. Some responses may be directly linked to a deve loping pattern of responses and defy logic. For example, a person who says “No!” to a serials of charges like “You’re dumb,” “You’re lazy,” and “You’re dishonest,” may also say “No!” and try to justify his or her response if the next statement is “And you’re good looking.” We would do well to listen for how messages are presented. The words, “If sure has been nice to have you over,” can be said with emphasis and excitement or ritualistically. The phrase can be said once or repeated several times. And the meanings we associate with the phrase will change accordingly. Sometimes if we say something infrequently it assumes more importance; sometimes the more we say something the less importance it assumes. 1.Effective communication is rendered possible between two conversing partners, if ___. A.they use proper words to carry their ideas. B.they both speak truly of their own feelings. C.they try to understand each other’s ideas beyond words. D.they are capable of associating meaning with their words. 2.“I’m letting off some steam” in paragraph 1 means___. A.I’m just calling your attention. B.I’m just kidding. C.I’m just saying the opposite. D.I’m just giving off some sound. 3.The house-owner’s example shows that he actually means___. A.the step has been like that for years. B.he doesn’t think it necessary to fix the step. 答案：DBABC C.the condition of the step is only a minor fault. D.the cost involved in the fixing should be shared. 4.Some responses and behaviors may appear very illogical, but are justifiable if___. A.linked to an abnormal amount of assertiveness. B.seen as one’s habitual pattern of behavior. C.taken as part of an ordering sequence. D.expressed to a series of charges. 5.The word “ritualistically” in the last paragraph equals something done___. A.without true intention. B.light-heartedly. C.in a way of ceremony. D.with less emphasis. 3 A controversy erupted in the scientific community in early 1998 over the use of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid ) fingerprinting in criminal investigations. DNA fingerprinting was introduced in 1987 as a method to identify individuals based on a pattern seen in their DNA, the molecule of which genes are made. DNA is present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. DNA fingerprinting has been used successfully in various ways, such as to determine paternity where it is not clear who the father of a particular child is. However, it is in the area of criminal investigations that DNA fingerprinting has potentially powerful and controversial uses. DNA fingerprinting and other DNA analysis techniques have revolutionized criminal investigations by giving investigators powerful new tools in the attempt to trove guilt, not just establish innocence. When used in criminal investigations, a DNA fingerprint pattern from a suspect is compared with a DNA fingerprint pattern obtained from such material as hairs or blood found at the scene of a crime . A match between the two DNA samples can be used as evidence to convict a suspect. The controversy in 1998 stemmed form a report published in December 1991 by population geneticists Richard C. Lewontin of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., and Daniel L. Hartl called into question the methods to calculate how likely it is that a match between two DNA fingerprints might occur by chance alone. In particular, they argued that the current method cannot properly determine the likelihood that two DNA samples will match because they came from the same individual rather than simply from two different individuals who are members of the same ethnic group. Lewontin and Hartl called for better surveys of DNA patterns methods are adequate. In response to their criticisms, population geneticists Ranajit Chakraborty of the University of Texas in Dallas and Kenneth K.Kidd of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., argued that enough data are already available to show that the methods currently being used are adequate. In January 1998, however, the federal Bureau of Investigation and laboratories that conduct DNA tests announced that they would collect additional DNA samples form various ethnic groups in an attempt to resolve some of these questions. And, in April, a National Academy of Sciences called for strict standards and system of accreditation for DNA testing laboratories. 1.Before DNA fingerprinting is used, suspects____. A.would have to leave their fingerprints for further investigations B.would have to submit evidence for their innocence C.could easily escape conviction of guilt D.cold be convicted of guilt as well 2.DNA fingerprinting can be unreliable when ____. A.the methods used for blood- cell calculation are not accurate B.two different individuals of the same ethnic group may have the same DNA fingerprinting pattern C.a match is by chance left with fingerprints that happen to belong to two different individuals D.two different individuals leave two DNA samples. 3.To geneticists like Lewontin and Hartl, the current method ____. A.is not so convincing as to exclude the likelihood that two DNA samples can never come from two individuals B.is arguable because two individuals of the same ethnic group are likely to have the same DNA pattern. C.Is not based on adequate scientific theory of genetics D.Is theoretically contradictory to what they have been studying 4.The attitude of the Federal Bereau of Investigation shows that ____. A.enough data are yet to be collected form various ethnic groups to confirm the unlikelihood of two DNA samples 答案：CBABB coming from two individual members B.enough data of DNA samples should be collected to confirm that only DNA samples form the same person can match C.enough data are yet to be collected from various ethnic groups to determine the likelihood of two different DNA samples coming form the same person D.additional samples from various ethnic groups should be collected to determine that two DNA sample s are unlikely to come from the same person 5.National Academy of Sciences holds the stance that ____. A.DNA testing should be systematized B.Only authorized laboratories can conduct DNA testing C.The academy only is authorized to work out standards for testing D.The academy has the right to accredit laboratories for DNA testing 4 Racket, din clamor, noise, whatever you want to call it, unwanted sound is America’s most widespread nuisance. But noise is more than just a nuisance. It constitutes a real and present danger to people’s health. Day and night, at home, at work, and at play, noise can produce serious physical and psychological stress. No one is immune to this stress. Though we seem to adjust to noise by ignoring it, the ear, in fact, never closes and the body still responds—sometimes with extreme tension, as to a strange sound in the night. The annoyance we feel when faced with noise is the most common outward symptom of the stress building up inside us. Indeed, because irritability is so apparent, legislators have made public annoyance the basis of many noise abatement programs. The more subtle and more serious health hazards associated with stress caused by noise traditionally have been given much less attention. Nevertheless, when we are annoyed or made irritable by noise, we should consider these symptoms fair warning that other thing may be happening to us, some of which may be damaging to our health. Of many health hazards to noise, hearing loss is the most clearly observable and measurable by health professionals. The other hazards are harder to pin down. For many of us, there may be a risk that exposure to the stress of noise increases susceptibility to disease and infection. The more susceptible among us may experience noise as a complicating factor in heart problems and other diseases. Noise that causes annoyance and irritability in health persons may have serious consequences for these already ill in mind or body. Noise affects us throughout our lives. For example, there are indications of effects on the unborn child when mothers are exposed to industrial and environmental noise. During infancy and childhood, youngsters exposed to high noise levels may have trouble falling asleep and obtaining necessary amounts of rest. Why, then, is there not greater alarm about these dangers? Perhaps it is because the link between noise and many disabilities or diseases has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. Perhaps it is because we tend to dismiss annoyance as a price to pay for living in the modern world. It may also be because we still think of hearing loss as only an occupational hazard. 1.In Paragraph 1, the phrase “immune to” are used to mean ___. A.unaffected by B.hurt by C.unlikely to be seen by D.unknown by 2.The author’s attitude toward noise would best be described as ___. A.unrealistic B.traditional C.concerned D.hysterical 3.Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage? A.Noise is a major pro blem; most people recognize its importance. B.Although noise can be annoying, it is not a major problem. C.Noise is a major problem and has not yet been recognized as such. D.Noise is a major problem about which nothing can be done. 4.The author condemns noise essentially because it ___. A.is against the law B.can make some people irritable C.is a nuisance D.in a ganger to people’s health 5.The author would probably consider research about the effects noise has on people to be ___. A.unimportant B.impossible. C.a waste of money D.essential 答案：ACCDD 5 Is language, like food, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick I in the thirteenth century, it may be hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent. All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected. Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed. Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes bowel – like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to commect the sight and feel of, say, a toy – bear with the sound pattern “toy – bear”. And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyse, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways. But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals ,. Sensitivity to the child’s non – verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language. 1.The purpose of Frederick I’s experiment was ____. A.to prove that children are born with ability to speak B.to discover what language a child would speak without hearing any human speak C.to find out what role careful nursing would play in teaching a child to speak D.to prove that a child could be damaged without learning a language 2.The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that ____. A.they are incapable of learning language rapidly B.they are exposed to too much language at once C.their mothers respond inadequately to their attempts to speak D.their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them 答案：BCCDD 6 Everyone has a moment in history, which belongs particularly to him. It is the moment when his emotions achieve their most powerful sway over him, and afterward when you say to this person “the world today” or “life” or “reality” he will assume that you mean this moment, even if it is fifty years past. The world, through his unleashed （释放的） emotions, imprinted itself upon him, and he carries the stamp of that passing moment forever. For me, this moment—four years in a moment in history—was the war. The war was and is reality for me. I still instinctively live and think in its atmosphere. These are some of its characteristics: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the president of the United States, and he always has been. The other two eternal world leaders are Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. America is not, never has been, and never will be what the song and poems call it, a land of plenty. Nylon, meat, gasoline, and steel are rare. There are too many jobs and not enough workers. Money is very easy to earn but rather hard to spend, because there isn’t very much to buy. Trains are always late and always crowded with “service men”. The war will always be fought very far from America, and it will never end. Nothing in America stands still for very long, including the people who are always either leaving or on leave. People in America cry often. Sixteen is the key and crucial and natural age for a human being to be, and people of all other ages are ranged in an orderly manner ahead of and behind you as a harmonious setting for the sixteen-year-olds of the world. When you are sixteen, adults are slightly impressed and almost intimidated by you. This is a puzzle finally solved by the realization that they foresee your military future: fighting for them. You do not foresee it. To waste anything in America is immoral. String and tinfoil are treasures. Newspapers are always crowed with strange maps and names 3.What is particularly remarkable about a child is that ____. A.he is born with the capacity to speak B.he has a brain more complex than an animal’s C.he can produce his own sentences D.he owes his speech ability to good nursing 4.Which of the following can be inferre d from the passage? A.The faculty of speech is inborn in man. B.The child’s brain is highly selective. C.Most children learn their language in definite stages. D.All the above 5.If a child starts to speak later than others, he will ____in future. A.have a high IQ B.be less intelligent C.be insensitive to verbal signals D.not necessarily be backward of towns, and every few months the earth seems to lurch（突然倾斜）from its path when you see something in the newspapers, such as the time Mussolini, who almost seemed one of the eternal leaders, is photographed hanging upside down on a meat hook. 1.Which statement best depicts the main idea of the first paragraph? A.Reality is what you make of it. B.Time is like a river. C.Emotions are powerful. D.Every person has a special moment. 2.Why does the author still clearly remember the war? A.Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President. B.It was his personal reality and part of his life. C.There was not much to buy. D.The war would never end. 3.Which statement best describes the author’s feelings about the war? A.It was ever real for him, yet he was not actively involved. 答案：DBADA B.It was real for him because he was a soldier at that time. C.It was very unreal to him. D.The war was very disruptive to the people at home. 4.Why does the author think that adults are impressed with sixteen-year-olds? A.Adults would like to be young. B.Sixteen-year-olds do not waste things. C.Sixteen-year-olds read newspapers. D.They will be fighting soon for adults. 5.Why does the author say that string and tinfoil are treasures? A.The war has made them scarce. B.They are useful to sixteen-year-olds. C.He liked them when he was sixteen. D.People are very wasteful. 7 In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic(官僚主义的) management in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, Nell-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and “human – relations” experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management. The worker and employee are anxious, not only because they might find themselves out of a job; they are anxious also because they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction of interesting life. They live an die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings. Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their firs t job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the right mixture of submissiveness and independence. From the moment on they are tested again and again – by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one’s fellow – competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness. Am I suggesting that we should return to the preidustrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century “free enterprise “ capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system form a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities – those of all love and of reason – are the aims of social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man. 1.By “ a well-oiled cog in the machinery “ the author intends to deliver the idea that man is ____. A.a necessary part of the society though each individual’s function is negligible B.working in complete harmony with the rest of the society C.an unimportant part in comparison with the rest of the society D.a humble component of the society, especially when working smoothly 2.The real cause of the anxiety of the workers and employees is that ____. A.they are likely to lose their hobs B.they have no genuine satisfaction or interest in life C.they are faced with the fundamental realities of human existence D.they are deprived of their individuality and independence 3.From the passage we can conclude that real happiness of life belongs to those _____. A.who are at the bottom of the society B.who are higher up in their social status C.who prove better than their fellow – competitors D.who could dip far away from this competitive world 4.To solve the present social problems the author puts foruard a suggestion that we should ______. A.resort to the production mode of our ancestors B.offer higher wages to the workers and employees C.enable man to fully develop his potentialities D.take the fundamental realities for granted 5.The author’s attitude towards industrialism might best be summarized as one of ______. 答案：CDDCB A.approval C.suspicion B.dissatisfaction D.susceptibility 8 Western airliner manufacturers seem to be tripping over themselves in their eagerness to sign collaborative agreements with Asian partners as a low-cost route to developing new airliners. Their potential Asian partners seem to be tripping over themselves to sign such agreements, as a low-cost route to acquiring new airliner technology. If they are not careful the two sides will end up tripping over each other: the one by selling its birth-right for short-term gain, the other by trying to break into a market which isn’t big enough to sustain it. Technology transfer works in a growing market, where the aspirations of the new entrant receiving that technology can be met through expansion. The airliner market is not such a device. Even the most optimistic projections of airliner sales for the next 20 years show that airliner manufacture can only be profitable if a small number of aircraft builders share the available sales. It follows that if new manufacturers come into the market and take sales, their sales must come from substitution, not expansion. Given the complexity of today’s airliners, it is unlikely that any new entrant will have both the financial and technical resources to come into the market without the involvement of an established manufacturer. In the short term, such involvement may not be to the exclusive benefit of the new entrant: most of the established manufacturers are searching for ways to reduce costs of manufacture. In the short term,, it can be of benefit to an established Western manufacturer to have either components of complete air – frames made or assembled in lower-wage economics such a China, Taiwan or Korea, while retaining the design, development and marketing of aircraft for itself. It would be a very unwise Western manufacturer which did not heed the fact that these developing economies are acquiring skills ( like computing ) at least as quickly as they are acquiring skills in metallbashing. The danger comes when the new entrant no longer needs the established Western partner because it has acquired the technical and intellectual ability to design and build its own aircraft. An Asian partner may well find itself in the happy position of having the low-cost labour base, the high-cost technology base and the vital financial base to build a new airliner. 1.The author’s attitude towards Western/eastern collaboration can be depicted as ________. A.positive B.progressive C.conservative D.negative 2.”The airliner market is not such a device “ means that the airliner market _______. A.does not encourage technology transfer B.is too limited to offer chances of success C.requires hi-tech rather than unaccepted devices D.is full of competitions even for new entrants 3.Established manufacturers search for partners in order to A.save the cost of the airframe B.improve some aircraft components C.save the cost of labour D.develop new technology 答案：CDADA 4.According to the author, a wise established manufacturer should ______. A.try to benefit from both financial and technical resources B.break up his partnership with the East once profits are made C:keep a tight told over hi-tech development and marketing of airliners D.collaborate with Asian partners for a short time 5.The word “base” in the last paragraph represents_______. A.a production place B.the initial operation of building aircraft C.a research institute D.a position where to start building 9 The government-run command post in Tunis is staffed around the clock by military personnel, meteorologists and civilians. On the wall are maps, crisscrossed with brightly colors arrows that painstakingly track the fearsome path of the enemy. What kind of invader gives rise to such high-level monitoring? Not man, not beast, but the lowly desert locust.（蝗虫） In recent months, billions of the 3-inch-long winged warriors have descended on Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, blackening the sky and eating up crops and vegetation. The insect invasion, the worst in 30 years, is already creating great destruction in the Middle East and is now treating southern Europe. The current crisis began in late 1985 near the Red Sea. Unusually rainy weather moistened the sands of the Sudan, making them ideal breeding grounds for the locust, which lays its eggs in the earth. The insect onslaught threatens to create yet another African famine. Each locust can eat its weight (not quite a tenth of an ounce) in vegetation every 24 hours. A good-size swarm of 50 billion insects eats up 100,000 tons of grass, trees and crops in a single night. All ﹩150 million may be needed this year. The U.S. has provided two spraying planes and about 50,000 gal. of pesticide. The European Community has donated ﹩3.8 million in aid and the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan and China have provided chemical-spraying aircraft to help wipe out the pests. But relief efforts are hampered by the relative mildness of approved pesticides, which quickly lose their deadly punch and require frequent replications. The most effective locust killer dieldrin has been linked to cancer and is banned by many Western countries and some of the affected African nations. More then 5 million acres have been dusted with locust-killing chemicals; another 5 million will be treated by the end of June. On May 30, representatives of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Mauritania will meet in Algiers to discuss tactics to wipe out the ravenous swarms. The move is an important step, but whatever plan is devised, the locust plague promised to get worse before the insects can be brought under control. 1.The main idea of the first sentence in the passage is that __ A.the command post is stationed with people all the time. B.the command post is crowed with people all the time. C.there are clocks around the command post. D.the clock in the command post is taken care of by the staff. 2.The favorable breeding ground for the locust is ___. A.rich soil. B.wet land C.paces covered crops and vegetation D.the Red Sea 3.People are alert at the threat of the locust because ___. A.the insects are likely to create another African famine. B.the insects may blacked the sky. C.the number of the insects increases drastically. D.the insects are gathering and moving in great speed. 答案：BBADA 4.Which of the following is true? A.Once the pesticides are used, locust will die immediately. B.Relief efforts are prove d most fruitful due to the effectiveness of certain pesticides. C.Dieldrin, the most effective locust killer, has been widely accepted in many countries. D.Over 10 million acres of affected area will have been treated with locust-killing chemicals by the end of June. 5.The purpose for affected nations to meet in Algiers on May 30 is ___. A.to devise antilocust plans. B.to wipe out the swarms in two years. C.to call out for additional financial aid from other nations. D.to bring the insects under control before the plague gets worse. 10 Improbable as it may seem, an increasing number of Germans are giving up their elegant Mercedeses, sleek BMWs and ferociously fast Porsches and getting behind the wheels of imported American models – fro plush Cadillacs to more prosaic Fords. Unlike the cars produced by Detroit’s European subsidiaries, these cars are as American as apple pie and watery beer. And thanks to a favorable exchange rate, they are more affordable than ever Last year Germans bought 12 477 new U.S. –built cars; sales are expected to double this year. Like blue jeans, this buy – America fad appeals to Germans from all walks of life. Once regarded as faulty, flashy, gas – guzzling Goliaths, American autos are – thanks in large measure to foreign competition –more stylish and reliable than in years past. Tugged, off- road vehicles like the four-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee are now the hot wheels to drive among Germany’s thirty- something set. Owners and Aficionados of American – made care also boast their cars are cheaper to maintain. But that’s not the main reason German motorists are choosing U.S. imports – It’s their price. Even after the cost of overseas shipping is included, American – made cars offer more value – and deluxe features – for less money than German models. A Chrysler LeBaron convertible sells for 35 000 marks; a BMW 320i convertible, by comparison, commands 10 000 marks more. And U.S. autos come with standard equipment – electric windows, automatic locks and sun roofs – that’s available only as expensive options on German models. Owning an American car in Germany is not for everybody. But the worst headaches come form the German bureaucracy. Johann Erben, a Greiburg dental lab technician, purchased a LeBaron convertible during a U.S. trip in November – and has yet to drive it one kilometer. First, he waited months for the proper registration documents to arrive; then he spent more than 1 000 marks to have it comply with German regulations. Even so, safety inspectors refused to approve it until he changed the headlights and windows to European Community standards. “There I was with my supermodern, $ 20,000 car and unable to get it through inspection,” Erben recalled. 1.Detroit’s European subsidiaries _______. A.produce the same models as Detroit supplies in the U.S. market B.provide cars of European styles C.produce cars that are thought to be un-American by Germans D.could hardly mee t the demand for American cars last year 2.The buy-American fad that appeals to Germans most seems to be _______. A.blue jeans B.apple pie C.U.S.-made cars D.watery beer 3.As for Germans, American cars not only are cheaper but __ A.endures wear and tear B.are adaptable to road conditions C.provides greater space D.offers more deluxe features 4.Which of the following statements is true? A.American cars used to consume a lot of oil. B.Japanese cars still lead the German market. C.The U.S. motor industry is now confident to cope with recession. D.German cars are going to provide the same standard equipment as American-made cars. 5.European Community standards probably are _______. A.a law to control the amount of imported goods from other continents B.a set of standards to inspect imported cars C.a system to regulate measures of manufactured goods D.a set of standards to control product quality 答案：CADAC 11 For four lonely years, Evelyn Jones of Rockford, Illinois, lived friendless and forgotten in one room of a cheap hotel. “I wasn’t sick, but I was acting sick,” the 78-year-old widow says. “Every day was the same—I would just lie on my bed and maybe cook up some soup.” Then, six months ago, she was invited to “The Brighter Side”—Rockford’s day care center for the elderly. Every weekday morning since then, she has left her home to meet nine other old people in a church for a rich program of charity work, trips, games, and—most important of all—friendly companionship. Just a few years ago, there were few choices for the elderly between a normal life in their own homes and being totally confined in nursing homes. Many of them were sent to rest homes long before they needed full-time care. Others like Mrs. Jones, were left to take care of themselves. But in 1971, the White House Conference on Aging called for the development of alternatives to care in nursing homes for old people, and since then, government-supported day-care programs like The Brighter Side have been developed in most big American cities. “This represents a real alternative to the feared institution and makes old people believe they have not left the world of living,” says Alice Brophy, 64, director of New York City’s Office for the Aging. “They do well at the centers, and I hate it when people describe us as elderly playpens.” New York’s 138 centers encourage continuing contact for the aged with the community’s life. The centers serve more than 15,000 members, and volunteer workers are always looking for new ones. If someone doesn’t show up at the center for several days in a row, a worker at the center calls to make sure all is well. And although participation in the center is free, those who want to can pay for their lunches. No normal studies have been made of these centers for the elderly, but government officials are enthusiastic. In the future, the Public Health Service will do a study to decide if the programs can receive federal Medicare money. And the old people themselves are very happy with the programs. “There is no way,” says Evelyn Jones, smiling at her new companions at the Brighter Side, “that I will ever go back to spending my day with all those loses at the hotel.” 1.What is the main idea of the article? A.Day care centers may be able to receive federal Medicare money. B.Day care centers can make life better for elderly people. C.Many old people in the United States are lonely. D.Old people have no place in their society. 2.According to Para 2, why did many old people have to go to nursing homes? A.They need full-time care. B.They wanted to go there. C.They were sent there. D.They were volunteers there. 3.According to Alice Brophy (in Paragraph 3)___. A.the centers are like elderly playpens. B.the old people do well at the day care centers. 答案：BCBCA C.old people like nursing institutions. D.outside the Brighter side they don’t work for the old. 4.“This represents a real alternative to the feared institution.” (in Paragraph 3) In the sentence “this” means ___. A.most big American cities. B.rest homes. C.day care programs. D.the White House Conference on aging. 5.How does the writer of the article seem to feel about day care centers for the elderly? A.The writer approves of them. B.The writer disapproves of them. C.The writer thinks nursing homes are better. D.He doesn’t say anything about it. 12 Fresh water life itself, has never come easy in the Middle East. Ever since the Old Testament(旧约圣经) God punished man with 40 days and 40 nights of rain, water supplies here have been dwindling. The rainfall only comes in winter, Inshallah ----Good willing –and drains quickly through the semiarid land, leaving the soil to bake and to thirst for next November. The region’s accelerating population, expanding agriculture, industrialization, and higher living standards demand more fresh water. Drought and pollution limit its availability. War and mismanagement squander it. Says Joyce Starr of the Global Water Summit Initiative, based in Washington, D.C.” Nations like Israel and Jordan are swiftly sliding into that zone where they are suing all the water resources available to them. They have only 15 to 20 years left before their agriculture, and ultimately their food security, is threatened.” I came here to examine this crisis in the making, to investigate fears that “water wars “are imminent, that water has replaced oil as the region’s most contentious commodity. For more than two months I traveled through three river valleys and seven nations -----from southern Turkey down the Euphrates River Syria, Iraq, and on to Kuwait; to Israel and Jordan, neighbors across the valley of the Jordan; to the timeless Egyptian Nile. Even amid the scarcity there are haves and have – notes. Compared with the United States, which in 1990 had a freshwater potential of 10000 cubic meters(2.6 million galloons) a year for each citizen, Iraq had 5 500, Turkey had 4 000, and Syria had more than 2 800. Egypt’s potential was only 1 100. Israel had 460, Jordan a meager 260. But these are not firm figures, because upstream use of river water can dramatically alter the potential downstream. Scarcity is only one element of the crisis. Inefficiency is another, as is the reluctance of some water – poor nations to change priorities from agriculture to less water – intensive enterprises. Some experts suggest that if nations would share both water technology and resources, they could satisfy the region’s population, currently 159 million. But in this patchwork of ethnic and religious rivalries, water seldom stands alone as an issue. It is entangled in the politics that keep people from trusting and seeking help from one another. Here, where water, like truth, is precious, each nation tends to find its own water and supply its own truth. As Israeli hydrology professor Uri Shamir told me :” If there is political will for peace, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will not e a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities.” 1.Why “for next November” (para.1)? Because________. A.according to the Ole Testament fresh water is available only in November B.rainfall comes only in winter starting form November C.running water systems will not be ready until next November D.it is a custom in that region that irrigation to crops is done only in November 2.What is the cause for the imminent water war? A.Lack of water resources B.Lack of rainfall C.Inefficient use of water D.All the above 3.One way for the region to use water efficiently is to 答案：BDACB _______ A.develop other enterprises that cost less water B.draw a plan of irrigation for the various nations C.import water from water – rich nations D.stop wars of any sort for good and all 4.Uri Shamir’s viewpoint is that ________. A.nations in that region are just fighting for water B.people there are thirsty for peace instead of water C.water is no problem as long as there is peace D.those nations have every reason to fight for water 5.The author’s tone in the article can be described as ______-. A.depressing B.urgent C.joking D.mocking 13 The British psychoanalyst John Bowlby maintains that separation from the parents during the sensitive “attachment” period from birth to three may scar a child’s personality and predispose to emotional problems in later life. Some people have drawn the conclusion from Bowlby’s work that children should not be subjected to day care before the age of three because of the parental separation it entails, and many people do believe this. But there are also arguments against such a strong conclusion. Firstly, anthropologists point out that the insulated love affair between children and parents found in modern societies does not usually exist in traditional societies. For example, we saw earlier that among the Ngoni the father and mother of a child did not rear their infant alone--far from it. Secondly, common sense tells us that day care would not so widespread today if parents, caretakers found children had problems with it. Statistical studies of this kind have not yet been carried out, and even if they were, the results would be certain to be complicated and controversial. Thirdly, in the last decade, there have been a number of careful American studies of children in day care, and they have uniformly reported that day care had a neutral or slightly positive effect on children’s development. But tests that have had to be used to measure this development are not widely enough accepted to settle the issue. But Bowlby’s analysis raises the possibility that early day care has delayed effects. The possibility that such care might lead to, say, more mental illness or crime 15 or 20 years later can only be explored by the use of statistics. Whatever the long-term effects, parents sometimes find the immediate effects difficult to deal with. Children under three are likely to protest at leaving their parents and show unhappiness. At the age of three or three and a half almost all children find the transition to nursery easy, and this is undoubtedly why more and more parents make use of child care at this time. The matter, then, is far from clear-cut, though experience and available evidence indicate that early care is reasonable for infants. 1.This passage primarily argues that ___. A.infants under the age of three should not be sent to nursery schools. B.whether children under the age of three should be sent to nursery schools. C.there is not negative long-term effect on infants who are sent to school before they are three. D.there is some negative effect on children when they are sent to school after the age of three. 2.The phrase “predispose to” (Para. 1, line 3) most probably means ___. A.lead toB.dispose to C.get into D.tend to suffer 3.According to Bowlby’s analysis, it is quite possible that ___. A.children’s personalities will be changed to some extent through separation from their parents. B.early day care can delay the occurrence of mental illness in children. C.children will be exposed to many negative effects from early day care later on. D.some long-term effects can hardly be reduced from children’s development. 4.It is implied but not stated in the second paragraph that ___. A.traditional societies separate the child from the parent at an early age. B.Children in modern societies cause more troubles than those in traditional societies. C.A child did not live together with his parents among the Ngoni. D.Children in some societies did not have emotional problems when separated from the parents. 5.The writer concludes that ___. A.it is difficult to make clear what is the right age for nursery school. B.It is not settled now whether early care is reasonable for 答案：BDCAD children. C.It is not beneficial for children to be sent to nursery school. D.It is reasonable to subject a child above three to nursery school. 14 The life story of the human species goes back a million years, and there is no doubt that man came only recently to the western hemisphere. None of the thousands of sites of aboriginal (土著的) habitation uncovered in North and South America has antiquity comparable to that of old World sites. Man’s occupation of the New World may date several tens of thousands of years, but no one rationally argues that he has been here even 100,000 years. Speculation as to how man found his way to America was lively at the outset, and the proposed routes boxed the compass. With one or two notable exceptions, however, students of American anthropology soon settled for the plausible idea that the first immigrants came b way of a land bridge that had connected the northeast comer of Asia to the northwest corner of North America across the Bering Strait. Mariners were able to supply the reassuring information that the strait is not only narrow – it is 56 miles wide – but also shallow, a lowering of the sea level there by 100 feet or so would transform the strait into an isthmus (地峡). With little eels in the way of evidence to sustain the Bering Strait land bridge, anthropologists (人类学家) embraced the idea that man walked dryshod (不湿鞋的) from Asia to America. Toward the end of the last century, however, it became apparent that the Western Hemisphere was the New World not only for man but also for a host of animals and plants. Zoologists and botanists showed that numerous subjects of their respective kingdoms must have originated in Asia and spread to America. These findings were neither astonishing nor wholly unexpected. Such spread of populations is not to be envisioned as an exodus or mass migration, even in the case of animals. It is, rather, a spilling into new territory that accompanies increase in numbers, with movement in the direction of least population pressure and most favorable ecological conditions. But the immense traffic in plant and animal’s forms placed a heavy burden on the Bering Strait land bridge as the anthropologists ahead envisioned it. Whereas purposeful men could make their way across a narrow bridge, the slow diffusion of plant and animals would require an avenue as a continent and available for ages at a stretch. 1.The movement of plants and animals form Asia to America indicates ______. A.that they could not have traveled across the Bering Strait B.that Asia and the Western hemisphere were connected by a large land mass C.that the Bering Sea was an isthmus at one time D.that migration was in the one direction only 2.The author is refuting the notion that _____. A.life arose in America independently of life in Europe B.the first settlers in America came during the sixteenth century C.a large continent once existed which has disappeared D.man was a host to animals and plants 3.By using the words “boxed the compass “(in Line 7) the auth or implies that _____. A.the migration of mankind was from West to East 答案：BCCCD B.the migration of mankind was from East to West C.mankind traveled in all directions D.mankind walked from Asia to America 4.One reason for the migration not mentioned by the author is _____. A.overcrowding B.favorable environmental conditions C.famine D.the existence of a land bridge 5.We may assume that in the paragraph that follows this passage the author argues about______. A.the contributions of anthropologist B.the contributions of zoologists and botanists C.the contributions made by the American Indians D.the existence of a large land mass between Asia and North America 15 There was on shop in the town of Mufulira, which was notorious for its color bar. It was a drugstore. While Europeans were served at the counter, a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but, when their turn came to be served, were rudely treated by the shop assistants. One day I was determined to make a public protest against this kind of thing, and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store and waited outside to see what would happen when I went in. I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand he shouted at me in a bastard language that is only used by an employed when speaking to his servants. I stood at the counter and politely requested in English that I should be served. The manager became exasperated and said to me in English, “If you stand there till Christmas I will never serve you.” I went to the District commissioner’s office. Fortunately the District Commissioner was out, for he was one of the old school; however, I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine. He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that if ever I wanted anything more from the drugstore all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me. I protested that that was not good enough. I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager. This he did, and I well remember him saying to the manager, “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant.” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said, “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was, then, of course I should have given him proper service.” I had to explain once again that he had missed my point. Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend? I want to prove that any man of any color, whatever his position, should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted. 1.“Color bar” in the first paragraph comes closest in meaning to ___. A.a bar which is painted in different colors. B.the fact that white and black customers are served separately. C.a bar of chocolate having different colors. D.a counter where people of different colors are served with beer. 2.The writer was, at the time of the story, ___. A.a black school teacher B.an African servant C.a black, but a friend of Europeans D.a rich black 3.The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in a bastard language because ___. A.he hadn’t learned to speak polite English. B.he thought the writer wouldn’t understand English. C.that was the usual language used by Europeans when 答案：BACAD speaking to Africans. D.that was the only language he could speak when he was angry. 4.In the third paragraph, “he was one of the old school” means ___. A.he believed in the age-old practice of racial discrimination. B.he was a very old man. C.he graduated from an old, conservative school. D.he was in charge of an old school. 5.Why didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other black African? A.Because he thought he was educated and should be treated differently. B.Because he thought, being an important person, he should not be kept waiting. C.Because he thought his white friends would help him out. D.Because he wanted to protest against racial discrimination. 16 Jogging has become the most popular individual sport in America. Many theories, even some mystical ones, have been advanced to explain the popularity of jogging. The plain truth is that jogging is a cheap, quick and efficient way to maintain (or achieve )physical fitness. The most useful sort of exercise is exercise that develops the heart, lungs, and circulatory systems. If these systems are fit, the body is ready for almost any sport and for almost any sudden demand made by work or emergencies. One can train more specifically, as by developing strength for weight lifting or the ability to run straight ahead for short distances with great power s in football, but running trains your heart and lungs to deliver oxygen more efficiently to all parts of your body. It is worth noting that this sort of exercise is the only kind that can reduce heart disease, the number one cause of death in America. Only one sort of equipment is needed – a good pair of shoes. Physicians advise beginning joggers not to run in a tennis or gym shoe. Many design advances have been made in only the last several years that make an excellent running shoe in dispensable if a runner wishes to develop as quickly as possible, with as little chance of injury as possible. A good running shoe will have a soft pad for absorbing shock, as well as a slightly built-up heel and a full heelcup that will give the knee and ankle more stability. A wise investment in good shoes will prevent bilisters and the foot, ankle and knee injures and will also enable the wearer to run on paved or soft surfaces. No other special equipment is needed; you can jog in any clothing you desire, even your street clothes. Many joggers wear expensive, flashy w arm –up suits, but just as many wear a simple pair of gym shoes and T-shirt; in fact, many people just jog in last year’s clothes. In cold weather, several layers of clothing are better than one heavy sweater or coat. If joggers are wearing several layers of clothing, they can add or subtract layers as conditions change. It takes surprisingly little time to develop the ability to run. The American Jogging Association has a twelve – week program designed to move form a fifteen-minute walk (which almost anyone can manage who is in reasonable health) to a thirty-minute run. A measure of common sense, a physical examination, and a planned schedule are all it takes. 1.They main purpose of this passage is to _____. A.discuss jogging as a physical fitness program B.describe the type of clothing needed for jogging C.provide scientific evidence of the benefits of jogging D.distinguish between jogging as a “common sense “fitness program and a cult (崇拜) movement 2.The most useful kind of exercise is exercise that ______. A.trains the body for weigh lifting B.enables a person to run straight ahead for short distances with great power C.is both beneficial and inexpensive D.develops the heart, lungs, and circulatory systems 3.We can conclude from this passage that ______. A.because of jogging, heart disease is no longer an American problem B.jogging can be harmful if the runner is not properly prepared C.warm-up suits are preferable to gym shoes and T-shirts D.jogging is bad for the ankles and knees 4.The author’s tone ______. 答案：ADBCC A.skeptical y objective B.aggressive C.approving D.purel 5.As used in this passage, the word “mystical “ means ________. A.awesome B.horrifying C.a spirtual discipline D.vicious 17 There are spectacular differences between financial markets on the Continent of Europe on the one hand, and in Britain on the other hand. In Britain, the market is really the City of London. It is a free market, and it controls most of the flow of savings to investment. On the Continent, either a few banks or government officials direct the flow of funds to suit their economic plans. In Germany the flow is directed by all-powerful banks. In Britain there is more free interplay of market forces and far fewer regulations, rules and “red tape”. A French banker summed it up this way: “On the Continent you can’t do anything unless you’re been told you can; in England on the other hand you can do everything as long as you haven’t been told not to.” There are many basic reasons for these differences. One is that Continental savers tend to prefer gold, cash or short-term assets. They invest only 10% of their savings in institutions like pension funds or insurance companies. But in Britain 50% of savings goes to them, and they, in turn, invest directly in equity market. A far lower proportion of savings is put in the banks in the form of liquid assets than on the Continent. Continental governments intervene direc tly or through the banks to collect savings together and transform them into medium or long-term loans for investment. The equity market is largely bypassed. On the Continent economic planning tends to be far more centralized than in Britain. In Britain it is possible to influence decisions affecting the country’s economy from within the City. It attracts a skilled and highly qualified work force. In France, on the other hand, an intelligent young man who wants a career in finance would probably find the civil service more attractive. In Britain the market, or more accurately, money tends to be regarded as an end in itself. On the Continent it is regarded as a means to an end: investment in the economy. To British eyes continental systems with possible exception of the Dutch seem slow and inefficient. But there is one outstanding fact the City should not overlook. Britain’s growth rates and levels of investment over the last ten years have been much lower than on the Continent. There are many reasons for this, but the City must take part of the blame. If it is accepted that the basic function of a financial market is to supply industry and commerce with finance in order to achieve desired rates of growth, it can be said that by concentrating on the market for its own sake the City has tended to forget that basic function. 1.What is the best title of the passage? A.Savings and the Growth Rate. B.Banking and Finance: Two Different Realities. C.Monetary Policy in Britain. D.The European Continent and Britain. 2.What seems to be the most fundamental reason for this difference? A.The British tend to regard money as an end, whereas Continental European consider it a means to an end. B.The British invest only 10% of their savings in pension funds. C.On the Continent you can’t do anything unless you have been told you can. D.Intelligent young men who want a career tend to go to civil service on the Continent. 3.According to the passage, the Dutch way of finance and banking ___. 答案：BACCA 18 The gift of being able to describe a face accurately is a rare one, as every experienced police officer knows to his cost. As the Lancet put it recently:” When we try to describe faces precisely words fail us, and we resort to identikit (拼脸型图) procedures.” Yet, according to one authority on the subject, we can each probably recognise more than 1,000 faces, the majority of which differ in fine details. This, when one comes to think of it, is a tremendous feat, though, curiously enough, relatively little attention has been devoted to the fundamental problems of how and why we acquire this gift for recognizing and remembering faces. Is it an inborn property of our brains, or an acquired one? As so often happens, the experts tend to differ. A.is similar to that of the French. B.makes no difference whatever system it is compared to. C.is perhaps resembling that of the British. D.has a low efficiency. 4.The word “outstanding” in Line 4, Para 3___ A.beating B.surplus C.noticeable D.seemingly 5.In what way does the continental system seem better? A.The Continent maintains a higher growth rate and levels of investment. B.It has less proportion of savings in the form of liquid assets. C.It attracts intelligent young men. D.In functions properly despite the fact that the British discount it. Thus, some argue that it is inborn, and that there are “special characteristics about the brain’s ability to distinguish faces”. In support of this these they note how much better we are at recognizing a face after a single encounter than we are, for example, in recognizing an individual horse. On the other hand, there are those, and they are probably in the majority, who claim that the gift is an acquired one. The arguments in favour of this latter view, it must be confessed, are impressive. It is a habit that is acquired soon after birth. Watch, for instance, how a quite young baby recognises his member by sight. Granted that his other senses help – the sound other voice, his sense of smell, the distinctive way she handles him. But of all these, sight is predominant. Formed at the very beginning of life, the ability to recognize faces quickly becomes an established habit, and one that is, essential for daily living, if not necessarily for survival. How essential and valuable it is we probably do not appreciate until we encounter people who have been deprived of the faculty. This unfortunate inability to recognize familiar faces is known to all, but such people can often recognize individuals by their voices, their walking manners or their spectacles. With typical human ingenuity many of these unfortunate people overcome their handicap by recognizing other characteristic features. 1.It is stated in the passage that ______. A.it is unusual for a person to be able to identify a face satisfactorily B.the ability to recognize faces unhesitatingly is an unusual gift C.quit a few people can visualize faces they have seen D.few people can give exact details of the appearance of a face 2.What the author feels strange about is that _______. A.people have the tremendous ability to recognize more than 1,000 faces B.people don’t think much of the problem of how and why we acquire the ability to recognize and remember faces C.people don’t realize how essential and valuable it is for them to have the ability to recognize faces D.people have been arguing much over the way people recognize and remember faces 3.What is the first suggested explanation of the origin of the ability? 答案：DBCBA A.It is one of the characteristics peculiar to human beings. B.It is acquired soon after birth. C.It is something we can do from the very moment we are born. D.It is learned from our environment and experiences. 4.According to the passage, how important is the ability to recognize faces? A.It is useful in daily life but is not necessarily essential. B.It is absence would make normal everyday life impossible. C.Under c ertain circumstances we could not exist without it. D.Normal social life would be difficult without it. 5.This passage seems to emphasize that ______. A.the ability to recognize individuals is dependent on other senses as well as sight B.sight is indispensable to recognizing individuals C.the ability to recognise faces is a special inborn ability of the brain D.the importance of the ability of recognize faces in fully appreciated by people. 19 Scattered through the seas of the world are billions of tons of small plants and animals called plankton. Most of these plants and animals are too small for the human eye to see. They drift about lazily with the currents, providing a basic food for many larger animals. Plankton has been described as the equivalent of the grasses that grow on the dry land continents, and the comparison is an appropriate one. In potential food value however, plankton far outweighs that of the land grasses. One scientist has estimated that while grasses of the world produce about 49 billion tons of valuable carbohydrates each year. The sea’s plankton generates more than twice as much. Despite its enormous food potential, little effort was made until recently to farm plankton as we farm grasses on land. Now marine scientists have at last begun to study this possibility, especially as the sea’s resources loom even more important as a means of feeding an expanding world population. No one yet has seriously suggested that “planktonburgers” may soon become popular around the world. As a possible farmed supplementary food source, however, plankton is gaining considerable interest among marine scientists. One type of plankton that seems to have great harvest possibilities is a tiny shrimplike creature called krill. Growing to two or three inches long, krill provide the major food for the giant blue whale, the largest animal ever to inhabit the Earth. Realizing that this whale may grow 100 feet and weigh 150 tons at maturity, it is not surprising that each one devours more than one ton of krill daily. Krill swim about just below the surface in huge schools sometimes miles wide, mainly in the cold Antarctic. Because of their pink color, they often appear as a solid reddish mass when viewed from a ship or from the air. Krill are very high in food value. A pound of these crustaceans contains about 460 calories—about the same as shrimp or lobster, to which they are related. If the krill can feed such huge creatures as whales, many scientists reason, they must certainly be contenders as new food source for humans. 1.Which of the following best portrays the organization of the passage? A.The author presents the advantages and disadvantages of plankton as a food source. B.The author quotes public opinion to support the argument for farming plankton. C.The author classifies the different food sources according to amount of carbohydrate. D.The author makes a general statement about plankton as a food source and then moves to a spe cific example. 2.According to the passage, why is plankton regarded to be more valuable than land grasses? A.It is easier to cultivate. B.It produces more carbohydrates. C.It does not require soil. D.It is more palatable. 3.Why does the author mention “planktonburgers”? A.To describe the appearance of one type of plankton. 答案：DBCBD B.To illustrate how much plankton a whale consumes. C.To suggest plankton as a possible food sources. D.To compare the food values of beef and plankton. 4.What is mentioned as one conspicuous feature of krill? A.They are the smallest marine animals. B.They are pink in color. C.They are similar in size to lobsters. D.They have grass like bodies. 5.The author mentions all of the following as reasons why plankton could be considered a human food source except that it is ___. A.high in food value. B.in abundant supply in the oceans. C.an appropriate food for other animals. D.free of chemicals and pollutants. 20 In the last 12 years total employment in the United States grew faster than at any time in the peacetime history of any country – from 82 to 110 million between 1973 and 1985 – that is, by a full one third. The entire growth, however, was in manufacturing, and especially in no – blue-collar jobs… This trend is the same in all developed countries, and is, indeed, even more pronounced in Japan. It is therefore highly probable that in 25 years developed countries such as the United States and Japan will employ no larger a proportion of the labor force I n manufacturing than developed countries now employ in farming – at most, 10 percent. Today the United States employs around 18 million people in blue-collar jobs in manufacturing industries. By 2010, the number is likely to be no more than 12 million. In some major industries the drop will be even sharper. It is quite unrealistic, for instance, to expect that the American automobile industry will employ more than one –third of its present blue-collar force 25 years hence, even though production might be 50 percent higher. If a company, an industry or a country does not in the next quarter century sharply increase manufacturing production and at the same time sharply reduce the blue-collar work force, it cannot hope to remain competitive – or even to remain “developed.” The attempt to preserve such blue – collar jobs is actually a prescription for unemployment… This is not a conclusion that American politicians, labor leaders or indeed the general public can easily understand or accept. What confuses the issue even more it that the United States is experiencing several separate and different shifts in the manufacturing economy. One is the acceleration of the substitution of knowledge and capital for manual labor. Where we spoke of mechanization a few decades ago, we now speak of “robotization “ or “automation.” This is actually more a change in terminology than a change in reality. When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line in 1909, he cut the number of man – hours required to produce a motor car by some 80 percent in two or three years –far more than anyone expects to result from even the most complete robotization. But there is no doubt that we are facing a new, sharp acceleration in the replacement of manual workers by machines –that is, by the products of knowledge. 1.According to the author, the shrinkage in the manufacturing labor force demonstrates______. A.the degree to which a country’s production is robotized B.a reduction in a country’s manufacturing industries C.a worsening relationship between labor and management D.the difference between a developed country and a developing country 2.According to the author, in coming 25years, a developed country or industry, in order t remain competitive, ought to ______. A.reduce the percentage of the blue-collar work force B.preserve blue – collar jobs for international competition C.accelerate motor – can manufacturing in Henry Ford’s style D.solve the problem of unemployment 3.American politicians and labor leaders tend to dislike_____. 答案：AADCD A.confusion in manufacturing economy B.an increase in blue – collar work force C.internal competition in manufacturing production D.a drop in the blue – collar job opportunities 4.The word “prescription” in “a prescription unemployment” may be the equivalent to ______ A.something recommended as medical treatment B.a way suggested to overcome some difficulty C.some measures taken in advance D.a device to dire 5.This passage may have been excepted from ________ A.a magazine about capital investment B.an article on automation C.a motor-car magazine D.an article on global economy for 21 What does the future hold for the problem of housing? A good deal depends, of course, on the meaning of “future”. If one is thinking in terms of science fiction and the space age, it is at least possible to assume that man will have solved such trivial and earthly problems as housing. Writers of science fiction, from H.G. Wells onwards, have had little to say on the subject. They have conveyed the suggestion that men will live in great comfort, with every conceivable apparatus to make life smooth, healthy and easy, if not happy. But they have not said what his house will be made of. Perhaps some new building material, as yet unimagined, will have been discovered or invented at least. One may be certain that bricks and mortar(泥灰， 灰浆) will long have gone out of fashion. But the problems of the next generation or two can more readily be imagined. Scientists have already pointed out that unless something is done either to restrict the world’s rapid growth in population or to discover and develop new sources of food (or both), millions of people will be dying of starvation or at the best suffering from underfeeding before this century is out. But nobody has yet worked out any plan for housing these growing populations. Admittedly the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world, where housing can be light structure or in backward areas where standards are traditionally low. But even the minimum shelter requires materials of some kind and in the teeming, bulging towns the low-standard “housing” of flattened petrol cans and dirty canvas is far more wasteful of ground space than can be tolerated. Since the war, Hong Kong has suffered the kind of crisis which is likely to arise in many other places during the next generation. Literally millions of refugees arrived to swell the already growing population and emergency steps had to be taken rapidly to prevent squalor 肮脏） disease and the spread crime. The city is tackling the situation energetically and enormous （ and blocks of tenements（贫民住宅）are rising at an astonishing aped. But Hong Kong is only one small part of what will certainly become a vast problem and not merely a housing problem, because when population grows at this rate there are accompanying problems of education, transport, hospital services, drainage, water supply and so on. Not every area may give the same resources as Hong Kong to draw upon and the search for quicker and cheaper methods of construction must never cease. 1.What is the author’s opinion of housing problems in the first paragraph? A.They may be completely solved at sometime in the future. B.They are unimportant and easily dealt with. C.They will not be solved until a new building material has been discovered. D.They have been dealt with in specific detail in books describing the future. 2.The writer is sure that in the distant future ___. A.bricks and mortar will be replaced by some other building material. B.a new building material will have been invented. C.bricks and mortar will not be used by people who want their house to be fashionable. D.a new way of using bricks and mortar will have been discovered. 3.The writer believes that the biggest problem likely to confront the world before the end of the century ___. A.is difficult to foresee. B.will be how to feed the ever growing population. C.will be how to provide enough houses in the hottest parts 答案：AABDD of the world. D.is the question of finding enough ground space. 4.When the writer says that the worst situations will occur in the hottest parts of the world or in backward areas, he is referring to the fact that in these parts ___. A.standards of building are low. B.only minimum shelter will be possible. C.there is not enough ground space. D.the population growth will be the greatest. 5.Which of the following sentences best summarizes Paragraph 3? A.Hong Kong has faced a serious crisis caused by millions of refugees. B.Hong Kong has successfully dealt with the emergency caused by millions of refugees. C.Hong Kong’s crisis was not only a matter of housing but included a number of other problems of population growth. D.Many parts of the world may have to face the kind of problems encountered by Hong Kong and may find it much harder to deal with them. 22 It is a curious paradox that we think of the physical sciences as “hard”, the social sciences as “soft,” and the biological sciences as somewhere in between. This is interpreted to mean that our knowledge of physical system is more certain than our knowledge of biological systems, and these in turn are more certain than our knowledge of social systems. In terms of our capacity of sample the relevant universes, however, and the probability that our images of these universes are at least approximately correct, one suspects that a reverse order is more reasonable. We are able to sample earth’s social systems with some degree of confidence that we have a reasonable sample of the total universe being investigated. Our knowledge of social systems, therefore, while it is in many ways extremely inaccurate, is not likely to be seriously overturned by new discoveries. Even the folk knowledge in social systems on which ordinary life is based in earning, spending, organizing, marrying, taking part in political activities, fighting and so on, is not very dissimilar from the more sophisticated images of the social system derived form the social sciences, even though it is built upon the very imperfect samples of personal experience. In contrast, our image of the astronomical universe, or even if earth’s geological history, ca easily be subject to revolutionary changes as new data come in and new theories are worked out. If we define the “security” of our image of various parts of the total system as the probability of their suffering significant changes, then we would reverse the order for hardness and as the most secure, the physical sciences as the least secure, and again the biological sciences as somewhere in between. Our image of the astronomical universe is the least secure of all simply because we observe such a fantastically small sample of it and its record-keeping is trivial records of biological systems. Records of the astronomical universe, despite the fact that we learnt things as they were long age, are limited in the extreme. Even in regard to such a close neighbor as the moon, which we have actually visited, theories about its origin and history are extremely different, contradictory, and hard to choose among. Our knowledge of physical evolution is incomplete and insecure. 1.The word “paradox” (Line 1, Para. 1) means “_____”. A.implication B.contradiction C.interpretation D.confusion 2.Accroding to the author, we should reverse our classification of the physical sciences as “hard” and the social sciences as “soft” because _______. A.a reverse ordering will help promote the development of the physical sciences B.our knowledge of physical systems is more reliable than that of social systems C.our understanding of the social systems is approximately correct D.we are better able to investigate social phenomena than physical phenomena 3.The author believes that our knowledg e of social systems is more secure than that of physical systems because______. 答案：ACDAD A.it is not based on personal experience B.new discoveries are less likely to occur in social sciences C.it is based on a fairly representative quantity of data D.the records of social systems are more reliable 4.The chances of the physical sciences being subject to great changes are the biggest because _____. A.contradictory theories keep emerging all the time B.new information is constantly coming in C.the direction of their development is difficult to predict D.our knowledge of the physical world is inaccurate 5.We know less about the astronomical universe than we don about any social system because ______. A.theories of its origin and history are varied B.our knowledge of it is highly insecure C.only a very small sample of it has been observed D.few scientists are involved in the study of astronomy 23 What most people don’t realize is that wealth isn’t the same as income. If you make $ 1 million a year and spend $ 1 million, you’re not getting wealthier, you’re just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend. The most successful accumulators of wealth spend far less than they can afford on houses, cars, vacations and entertainment. Why? Because these things offer little or no return. The wealthy would rather put their money into investments or their businesses. It’s an attitude. Millionaires understand that when you buy a luxury house, you buy a luxury life –style too. Your property taxes skyrocket, along with the cost of utilities and insurance, and the prices of nearby services, such as grocery stores, tend to be higher. The rich man’s attitude can also be seen in his car. Many drive old unpretentious sedans. Sam Walton, billionaire founder of the Wal – Mart Store, Inc., drove a pickup truck. Most millionaires measure success by net worth, not income. Instead of taking their money home, they plow as much as they can into their businesses, stock portfolios and other assets. Why? Because the government doesn’t tax wealth; it taxes income you bring home for consumption, the more the government taxes. The person who piles up net worth fastest tends to put every dollar he can into investments, not consumption. All the while, of course, he’s reinvesting his earnings from investments and watching his net worth soar. That’s the attitude as well. The best wealth-builders pay careful attention to their money and seek professional advice. Those who spend heavily on cars, boats and buses, I’ve found, tend to skimp on investment advice. Those who skimp on the luxuries are usually more willing to pay top dollar for good legal and financial advice. The self-made rich develop clear goals for their money. They may wish to retire early, or they may want to leave an estate to their children. The goals vary, but two things are consistent: they have a dollar figure in mind-the amount they want to save by age 50, perhaps – and they work unceasingly toward that goal. One thing may surprise you. If you make wealth – not just income – your goal, the luxury house you’ve been dreaming about won’t seem so alluring. You’ll have the attitude. 1.Which of the following statements is true? A.Wealth is judged according to the life style one has. B.Inheritance builds an important part in one’s wealth. C.High income may make one live high and get rich t the same time. D.Wealth is more of what one has made than anything else. 2.By the author’s opinion, those who spend money on luxury houses and cars_____. A.will not be taxed by the government B.have accumulated wealth in another sense C.live high and have little saved D.can show that they are among the rich 3.The rich put their money into business because_____. A.they can get much in return to build their wealth B.they are not interested in luxury houses and cars C.their goal is to develop their company D.that is the only way to spend money yet not to be taxed by the government 4.The U.S. government doesn’t tax what you spend money on _____. A.cars Bhouses C.stock D.boats 答案：DCACB 5.To become wealthy, one should______. A.seek as much income as he can B.work hard unceasingly C.stick to the way he lives D.save up his earnings 24 It being not only possible but even easy to predict which ten-year-old boys are at greatest risk of growing up to be persistent offenders, what are we doing with the information? Just about the last thing that we should do is to wait until their troubles have escalated in adolescence and then attack them with the provisions of the new Criminal Justice Bill. If this bill becomes law, magistrates will have the power to impose residential care orders. More young people will be drawn into institutional life when all the evidence shows that this worsens rather than improves their prospects. The introduction of short sharp shocks in detention centers will simply give more young people a taste of something else they don’t need; the whole regime of detention centers is one of toughening delinquents, and if you want to train someone to be anti-establishment, “I can’t think of a better way to do it,” says the writer of this report. The Cambridge Institute of Criminology comes up with five key factors that are likely to make for delinquency: a low income family a large family, parents deemed by social workers to be bad at raising children, parents who themselves have a criminal record, and low intelligence in the child. Not surprisingly, the factors tend to overlap. Of the 63 boys in the sample who had at least three of them when they were ten, half became juvenile delinquents—compared with only a fifth of the sample as a whole. Three more factors make the prediction more accurate: being judged troublesome by teachers at the age of ten, having a father with at least two criminal convictions and having another member of the family with a criminal record. Of the 35 men who had at le ast two of these factors in their background 18 became persistent delinquents and 8 more were in trouble with the law. Among those key factors, far and away the most important was having a parent with a criminal record, even if that had been acquired in the distant past, even though very few parents did other than condemn delinquent behavior in their children. The role of the schools emerges as extremely important. The most reliable prediction of all on the futures of boys came from teachers’ ratings of how troublesome they were at the age of ten. If the information is there in the classroom there must be a response that brings more attention to those troublesome children: a search for things to give them credit for other than academic achievement, a refusal to allow them to go on playing truant, and a fostering of ambition and opportunity which should start early in their school careers. 1.According to the author, delinquency should be tackled ___. A.before adolescence B.during institutional treatment C.during adolescence D.when the problem becomes acute 2.The number of young offenders could be reduced by the way of ___. A.new legal measures B.better residential care C.brief periods of harsh punishment D.examination of their backgrounds 3.What is the outcome result of putting young offenders into detention centers? A.They become more violent 答案：ADDCB B.They receive useful training C.They become used to institutions D.They turn against society 4.Ten-year-old children likely to become offenders are usually___. A.spoilt children from small families. B.bright children in a poor family. C.dull children with many brothers and sisters. D.children whose parents have acquired wealth dishonestly. 5.The writer concludes that potential offenders could be helped by ___. A.spending more time at school B.more encouragement at school C.more activities outside school D.stricter treatment from teachers 25 The word religion is derived from the Latin noun religio, which denotes both earnest observance of ritual obligations and an inward spirit of reverence. In modern usage, religion covers a wide spectrum of meaning that reflects the enormous variety of ways the term can be interpreted. At one extreme, many committed believers recognize only their own tradition as a religion, understanding expressions such as worship and prayer to refer exclusively to the practices of their tradition. Although many believers stop short of claiming an exclusive status for their tradition, they may nevertheless use vague or idealizing terms in defining religion for example, true love of God, or the path of enlightenment. At the other extreme, religion may be equated with ignorance, fanaticism, or wishful thinking. By defining religion as a sacred engagement with what is taken to be a spiritual reality, it is possible to consider the importance of religion in human life without making claims about what it really is or ought to be. Religion is not an object with a single, fi xed meaning, or even a zone with clear boundaries. It is an aspect of human experience that may intersect, incorporate, or transcend other aspects of life and society. Such a definition avoid the drawbacks of limiting the investigation of religion to Western or biblical categories such as monotheism (belief in one god only) or to church structure, which are not universal. For example, in tribal societies, religion unlike the Christian church usually is not a separate institution but pervades the whole of public and private life. In Buddhism, gods are not as central as the idea of a Buddha. In many traditional cultures, the idea of a sacred cosmic order is the most prominent religious belief. Because of this variety, some scholars prefer to use a general term such as the sacred to designate the common foundation of religious life. Religion in this understanding includes a complex of activities that cannot be reduced to any single aspect of human experience. It is a part of individual life but also of group dynamics. Religion includes patterns of behavior but also patterns of language and thought. It is sometimes a highly organized institution that sets itself apart from a culture, and it is sometimes an integral part of a culture. Religious experience may be expressed in visual symbols, dance and performance, elaborate philosophical systems, legendary and imaginative stories, formal ceremonies, and detailed rules of ethical conduct and law. Each of these elements assumes innumerable cultural forms. In some ways there are as many forms of religious expression as there are human cultural environments. 1.What is the passage mainly concerned about? A.Religion has a variety of interpretation. B.Religion is a reflection of ignorance. C.Religion is not only confined to the Christian categories. D.Religion includes all kinds of activities. 2.What does the word “observance” probably convey in Para. 1? A.notice B.watching C.conformity D.experience 3.According to the passage what people generally consider religion to be? A.Fantastic observance B.Spiritual practice C.Individual observance of tradition 答案：ACBDB D.A complex of activities 4.Which of the following is not true? A.It is believed by some that religion should be what it ought to be. B.“The path of enlightenment” is a definition that the author doesn’t agree to. C.According to the author, the committed believers define religion improperly. D.The author doesn’t speak in favor of the definition of “the sacred”. 5.Which of the following is religion according to the passage? A.Performance of human beings. B.Buddha, monotheism and some tribal tradition. C.Practice separated from culture. D.All the above. 26 You stare at waterfall for a minute or two, and then shift your gaze to its surroundings. What you now see appears to drift upward. These optical illusions occur because the brain is constantly matching its model of reality to signals from the body’s sensors and interpreting wha t must be happening—that your brain must have moved, not the other; that downward motions is now normal, so a change from it must now be perceived as upward motion. The sensors that make this magic are of two kinds. Each eye contains about 120 million rods, which provide somewhat blurry black and white vision. These are the windows of night vision; once adapted to the dark, they can detect a candle burning ten miles away. Color vision in each eye comes from six to seven million structures called cones. Under ideal conditions, every cone can “see” the entire rainbow spectrum of visible colors, but one type of cone is most sensitive to red, another to green, a third to blue. Rods and cones send their messages pulsing an average 20 to 25 times per second along the optic nerve. We see an image for a fraction of a second longer than it actually appears. In movies, reels of still photographs are projected onto screens at 24 frames per second, tricking our eyes into seeing a continuous moving picture. Like apparent motion, color vision is also subject to unusual effects. When day gives way to night, twilight brings what the poet T.S. Eliot called “the violet hour.” A light levels fall, the rods become progressively less responsive. Rods are most sensitive to the shorter wavelengths of blue and green, and they impart a strange vividness to the garden’s blue flowers. However, look at a white shirt during the reddish light of sunset, and you’ll still see it in its “true” color—white, not red. Our eyes are constantly comparing an object against its surroundings. They therefore observe the effect of a shift in the color of illuminating on both, and adjust accordingly. The eyes can distinguish several million graduations of light and shade of color. Each waking second they flash tens of millions of pieces of information to the brain, which weaves them incessantly into a picture of the world around us. Yet all this is done at the back of each eye by a fabric of sensors, called the retina, about as wide and as thick as a postage stamp. As the Renaissance inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci wrote in wonder, “Who would believe that so small a space could contain the images of all the universe?” 1.Visual illusions often take place when the image of reality is ___. A.matched to six to seven million structures called cones. B.confused in the body’s sensors of both rods and cones. C.interpreted in the brain as what must be the case. D.signaled by about 120 million rods in the eye. 2.The visual sensor that is capable of distinguishing shades of color is called ___. A.cones B.color vision C.rods D.spectrum 3.The retina send pulses to the brain ___. A.in short wavelengths B.as color pictures 答案：CADAB C.by a ganglion cell D.along the optic nerve. 4.Twenty-four still photographs are made into a continuous moving picture just because ___. A.the image we see usually stays longer than it actually appears. B.we see an object in comparison w ith its surroundings. C.the eyes catch million pieces of information continuously. D.rods and cones send messages 20 to 25 times a second. 5.The author’s purpose in writing the passage lies in ___. A.showing that we sometimes are deceived by our own eyes. B.informing us about the different functions of the eye organs. C.regretting that we are too slow in the study of eyes. D.marveling at the great work done by the retina. 27 Art is considered by many people to be little more than a decorative means of giving pleasure. This is not always the case, however; at times, art may be seen to have a purely functional side as well. Such could be said of the sandpaintings of the Navaho Indians of the American Southwest; these have a medicinal as well as an artistic purpose. According to Navaho traditions, one who suffers from either a mental or a physical illness has in come way disturbed or come in contact with the supernatural—perhaps a certain animal, a ghost, or the dead. To counteract this evil contact, the ill person or one of his relatives will employ a medicine man called a “singer” to perform a healing ceremony which will attract a powerful supernatural being. During the ceremony, which may last from 2 to 9 days, the “singer” will produce a sandpainting on the floor of the Navaho hogan. On the last day of the ceremony, the patient will sit on this sandpainting and the “singer” will rub the ailing parts of the patient’s body with sand from a specific figure in the sandpainting. In this way the patient absorbs the power of that particular supernatural being and becomes strong like it. After the ceremony, the sandpainting is then destroyed and disposed of so its power will not harm anyone. The art of sandpainting is handed down from old “singer” to their students. The material used are easily found in the areas the Navaho inhabit; brown, red, yellow, and white sandstone, which is pulverized by being crushed between 2 stones much as corns is ground into flour. The “singer” holds a small amount of this sand in his hand and lets it flow between his thumb and fore-finger onto a clean, flat surface on the floor. With a steady hand and great patience, he is thus able to create designs of stylized people, snakes and other creatures that have power in the Navaho belief system. The traditional Navaho does not allow reproduction of sandpaintings, since he believes the supernatural powers that taught him the craft have forbidden this; however, such reproductions can in fact be purchased today in tourist shops in Arizona and New Mexico. These are done by either Navaho Indians or by other people who wish to preserve this craft. 1.The purpose of the passage is to ___. A.discuss the medical uses of sandpaintings in medieval Europe. B.study the ways Navaho Indians handed down their painting art. C.consider how Navaho “singer” treat their ailments with sandpaintings. D.tell how Navaho Indians apply sandpainting for medical purposes. 2.Th e purpose of a healing ceremony lies in ___. A.pleasing the ghosts B.attracting supernatural powers C.attracting the ghosts D.creating a sandpainting 3.The “singer” rubs sand on the patient because ___. A.the patient receives strength from the sand B.it has pharmaceutical value C.it decorates the patient D.none of the above 4.What is used to produce a sandpainting? A.Paint B.Beach sand C.Crushed sandstone D.Flour 5.Which of the following titles will be best suit the passage? A.A New Direction for Medical Research B.The Navaho Indians’ Sandpainting C.The Process of Sandpainting Creation D.The Navaho Indians’ Medical History 答案：DBACB 28 Federal Reserve System, central banking system of the United States, popularly called the Fed. A central bank serves as the banker to both the banking community and the government; it also issues the national currency, conducts monetary policy, and plays a major role in the supervision and regulation of banks and bank holding companies. In the U.S. these function are the responsibilities of key officials of the Federal Reserve System: the Board of Governors, located in Washington, D.C., and the top officers of 12 district Federal Reserve banks, located throughout the nation. The Fed’s actions, described below, generally have a significant effect on U.S. interest rates and, subsequently, on stock, bond, and other financial markets. The Federal Reserve’s basic powers are concentrated in the Board of Governors, which is paramount in all policy issues concerning bank regulation and supervision and in most aspects of monetary control. The board enunciates the Fed’s policies on both monetary and banking matter. Because the board is not an operating agency, most of the day-to day implementation of policy decisions is left to the district Federal Reserve banks, stock in which is owned by the commercial banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Ownership in this instance, however, does not imply control; the Board of Governors and the heads of the Reserve banks orient their policies to the public interest rather than to the benefit of the private banking system. The U.S. banking system’s regulatory apparatus is complex; the authority of the Federal Reserve is shared in some instances for example, in mergers or the examination of banks with other Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In the critical area of regulating the nation’s money supply in accordance with national economic goals, however, the Federal Reserve is independent within the government, Income and expenditures of the Federal Reserve banks and of the board of governors are not subject to the congressional appropriation process; the Federal Reserve is self-financing. Its income ($20.2 billion in 1992) comes mainly from Reserve bank holdings of income-earning securities, primarily those of the U.S. government. Outlays ($1.5 billion in 1992) are mostly for operational expenses in providing services to the government an d for expenditures connected with regulation and monetary policy. In 1992 the Federal Reserve returned 416.8 billion in earnings to the U.S. treasury. 1.The Fed of the United States ___. A.function as China Bank B.is the counterpart of People’s Bank of China C.is subjected to the banking community and government D.has 13 top officers who can influence the American financial market 2.The fact that stock in the Fed belongs to commercial banks ___. A.doesn’t mean the latter is in control B.means the latter is in control C.means the latter is subjected to the Reserve banks D.means the Reserve banks orient the latter’s policies 3.Which of the following statements is not true according to the passage? A.The fed is a very big, complex and significant system which comprises many local banks. 答案：BACBD B.All the commercial banks are not the components of Federal Reserve System. C.Board of governors is the supreme policy-makers of America. D.District Reserve banks rather than Board of governors perform the day-to-day policies. 4.The authority of the federal Reserve ___. A.has to be shared with other establishments. B.is exclusive at other times C.isn’t limited by comptroller of the Currency and FDIC D.is limited by Board of governors 5.Income of the Board of governors ___. A.is borrowed from the U.S. treasury B.is used by the government to make various policies C.comes from the U.S. Treasury D.is not granted by the government 29 The food irradiation process is a simple one. The new U.S. plant, Vindicator of Florida Incorporated in Mulberry, Fla., uses a material called cobalt 60 to irradiate food. Cobalt 60 is radioactive isotope (form) of the metallic element cobalt. Cobalt 60, which gives off radiation in the form of gamma rays, is also used for radiation therapy for cancer patients and for sterilizing hospital equipment. The radioactive isotope is created by bombarding cobalt with subatomic particles in a nuclear reactor. However, irradiation plants do not themselves contain nuclear reactors. In the irradiation plant, food is exposed to thin rods of cobalt 60. The rods give off gamma rays, which disrupt chemical processes in contaminating organisms. The disruption breaks down the cell walls of organisms or destroys their genetic material. The dose, set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is enough to kill organisms on food, but not enough to produce significant changes in the food itself. Although irradiation slightly decreases the nutritive value of foods, the loss is less than that produced by some other methods of food preservation. Canning, for example, results in a much greater loss of nutrients. Those who object to irradiation say that the process may create substances not found in nonirradiated food. Since the 1960’s researchers have studied irradiated food at microscopic levels to try to find such substances, called unique radiolytic products. After reviewing these studies, the FDA determined that compounds formed dur ing irradiation are similar to substance found in nonirradiated foods and are not dangerous to consume. Destruction of microorganisms that cause illness is an important goal of irradiation. About 250 million cases of food poisoning or 1 per person—occur every year in the U.S., according to FDA estimates. Food poisoning can cause vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache—and, occasionally, death. Because of the apparent safety of food irradiation, and the problems presented by contaminated food, scientific groups—including the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations food and Agriculture Association—have voiced nearly universal support for the process. Worldwide, 38 nations have approved irradiation for 355 products. Like microwave ovens, food irradiation has aroused apprehension and misunderstanding. Yet it has been scrutinized more thoroughly than other methods of food treatment that we have come to regard as safe, and it appears to be a method whose time has come. 1.Cobalt 60, besides irradiating food, is also employed to ___. A.detect metallic flaws B.run a nuclear reactor C.cure cancer patients D.strengthen concrete walls 2.Gamma rays used to irradiate food ___. A.are generally not strong enough to destroy contaminating organisms B.do not bring about significant changes in the food itself C.may destroy some of the nutrients in the food D.should be submitted to FDA for approval 3.Irradiated food ___. A.certainly loses its nutritive value B.maintains its nutritive value no different from the 答案：CBCCD nonirradiated C.keeps its nutritive value better than canned food D.is recommended as the best of all preserved foods 4.With cases of food poisoning increasing, ___. A.food irradiation should be carried out with care B.it is more urgent to irradiate foods C.medical researches into treatment of the diseased should be strengthened D.Americans are beginning to accept food irradiation 5.The passage may be taken from ___. A.a news report B.a textbook of food processing C.a book of popular science D.a manual of food irradiation 30 Until recently, women in advertisements wore one of three things—an apron, a glamorous dress or a frown. Although that is now changing, many women still feel angry enough to deface offending advertisements with stickers protesting, “This ad degrades women.” Why does this sort of advertising exist? How can advertisers and ad agencies produce, sometimes, after months of research, advertising that offends the consumer? The Advertising Standards Authority (the body which deals with complaints about print media) is carrying out research into how women feel about the way they are portrayed in advertisements. Its conclusions are likely to be what the advertising industry already knows: although women often irritated by the way they are seen in ads, few feel strongly enough to complain. Women are not the only victims of poor and boring stereotypes—in many TV commercials men are seen either as useless, childish oafs who are unable to perform the simplest household tasks, or as in considerate boors, permanently on the lookout for an escape to the pub. But it is women who seem to bear the brunt of the industry’s apparent inability to put people into an authentic present-day context. Yet according to Emma Bennett, executive creative director of a London advertising agency, women are not infuriated by stereotypes and sexist advertising. It tends to wash over them, they are not militant or angry—they just find it annoying or tiresome. They reluctantly accept outdated stereotypes, but heave a sigh of relief when an advertisement really gets it right. She says that it is not advertising’s use of the housewife role that bothers women, but the way in which it is handles. “Researchers have often asked the wrong questions. The most important thing is the advertisement’s tone of voice. Women hate being patronized, flattered or given desperately down-to-earth commonsense advice.” In the end, the responsibility for good advertising must be shared between the advertiser, the advertising agency and the consumer. Advertising does not set trends but it reflects them. It is up to the consumer to tell advertisers where they fail, and until people on the receiving end take the business seriously and make their feelings known, the process of change will remain laboriously slow. 1.Despite recent changes in attitudes, some advertisements still fail to ___. A.change women’s opinions of themselves B.show any understanding of people’s feelings C.persuade the public to buy certain products D.meet the needs of the advertising industry 2.According to the writer, the commonest fault of present day advertising is to ___. A.condemn the role of the housewife B.ignore protests about advertisements C.present a misleading image of women D.misrepresent the activities of men 3.Research suggests that the reaction of women towards misrepresentation by advertisement is ___. A.apathy B.hostility C.approbation D.unbelief 4.Emma Bennett suggests that advertisement ought to ___. A.give further emphasis to practical advice B.change their style rather than their content C.use male images instead of female ones 答案：BCABC D.pay more compliments to women than before 5.Ultimately the advertising industry should ___. A.take its job more earnestly B.do more pioneering work C.take notice of the public opinion D.concentrate on the products advertised. 31 Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language; but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill—one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this, and by his whole attitude to the subject should get the student feel that there is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place. Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique. It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted. 1.What does the writer actually say about pronouncing foreign languages? A.Only a few people are really proficient. B.No one is really an expert in the skill. C.There aren’t many people who are even fairly good. D.There are even some people who are moderately proficient. 2.The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong ways ___. A.an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctly B.a fundamental consequence of not speaking well C.a consequence of not grasping the problem correctly D.not an obvious cause of speaking poorly 3.The best way of learning to speak a foreign language, he suggests, is by ___. A.picking it up naturally as a child 答案：CCDCB B.learning from a native speaker C.not concentrating on pronunciation much D.undertaking systematic work 4.The value the student puts on correct speech habits depends upon ___. A.how closely he attends to the matter B.whether it is English that is being taught C.his teacher’s approach to pronunciation D.the importance normally given to grammar and spelling 5.How might the teacher find himself wasting lesson time? A.By spending lesson time on pronunciation. B.By making ill-informed comments upon pronunciation. C.By not using books on phonetics in the classroom. D.By not giving students a clear mental picture of the different between sounds. 32 Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early Protestant immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude, the Protestant work ethic, still influences America today. Work is not only important for economic benefits, the salary, but also for social and psychological needs, the feeling of doing something for the good of the society. Americans spend most of their lives working, being productive. For most Americans, their work defines them; they are what they do. What happens, then when a person can no longer work? Most Americans stop working at age sixty-five or seventy and retire. Because work is such an important part of life in this culture, retirement can be very difficult. Retirees often feel that they are useless and unproductive. Of course, some people are happy to retire; but leaving one’s job, whatever it is a difficult change, even for those who look forward to retiring. Many retirees do not know how to use their time or they feel lost without jobs. Retirement can also bring financial problems. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. Senior citizens, those over sixty-five, have to have savings in the bank or other retirement plans to make ends meet. The rate of inflation is forcing prices higher each year; Social Security checks alone cannot cover Medicare (health care) and welfare (general assistance) but many senior citizens have to change their lifestyles after retirement. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to but food, fuel, and other necessities. Of course, many senior citizens are happy with retirement. They have time to spend with their families or to enjoy their hobbies. Some continue to work part time; others do volunteer work. Some, like those in the Retired Business Executives Association, even help young people to get started in new business. Many retired citizens also belong to “Golden Age” groups. These organizations plan trips and social events. There are many opportunities for retirees. Americans society is only beginning to be concerned about the special physical and emotional needs of its senior citizens. The government is taking steps to ease the problem of limited income. They are building new housing, offering discounts in stores and museums and on buses, and providing other services, such as free courses, food service, and help with housework. Retired citizens are a rapidly growing percentage of the population. This part of the population is very important and we must respond to their needs. After all, every citizen will be a senior citizen some day. 1.The early immigrants considered work ___. A.too hard B .important C.pleasant D.dull 2.Why do Americans like working? Because working ___. A.doesn’t only mean money but it is also psychological B.can make life more comfortable C.can prove people to be independent D.gives people funny 3.We can safely put forward that retirees who ___. A.have no financial problems still want to earn more money B.have financial problems still feel lost C.have no financial problems still feel lost D.have no financial problems feels it’s hard to make ends 答案：BACCD meet 4.According to the passage the government ___. A.hadn’t paid attention to the retirees’ problems B.has already solved a lot of retirees’ problems C.has just begun to pay attention to the retirees’ problems D.won’t pay attention to the retirees’ problems 5.Which of the following is not steps taken for the benefit of senior citizens by the government? A.New housing has been built. B.The old are offered discounts in stores. C.Senior citizens are provided free courses, food service. D.None. 33 If we look at education in our own society, we see two sharply different factors. First of all, there is the overwhelming majority of teachers, principals, curriculum planners, school superintendents, who are devoted to passing on the knowledge that children need in order to live in our industrialized society. Their chief concern is with efficiency, that is, with implanting the greatest number of facts into the greatest possible number of children, with a minimum of time, expense, and effort. Classroom learning often has as its unspoken goal the reward of pleasing the teacher. Children in the usual classroom learn very quickly that creativity is punished, while repeating a memorized response is rewarded, and concentrate on what the teacher wants them to say, rather than understanding the problem. The difference between the intrinsic and the extrinsic aspects of a college education is illustrated by the following story about Upton Sinclair. When Sinclair was a young man, he found that he was unable to raise the tuition money needed to attend college. Upon careful reading of the college catalogue, however, he found that if a student failed a course, he received no credit for the course, but was obliged to take another course in its place. The college did not charge the student for the second course, reasoning that he had already paid once for his credit. Sinclair took advantage of this policy and not a free education by deliberately failing all his courses. In the ideal college, there would be no credits, no degrees, and no required courses. A person would learn what he wanted to learn. A friend and I attempted to put this ideal into action by starting a serials of seminars at Brandeis called “Freshman Seminars Introduction to the Intellectual Life.” In the ideal college, intrinsic education would be available to anyone who wanted it—since anyone can improve and learn. The student body might include creative, intelligent children as well as adult s; morons as well as geniuses (for even morons can learn emotionally and spiritually). The college would be ubiquitous—that is, not restricted to particular buildings at particular times, and teachers would be any human beings who had something that they wanted to share with others. The college would be lifelong, for learning can take place all through life. Even dying can be a philosophically illuminating, highly educative experience. The ideal college would be a kind of education retreat in which you could try to find yourself; find out what you like and want; what you are and are not good at. The chief goals of the ideal college, in other words, would be the discovery of identity, and with it, the discovery of vocation. 1.In the author’s opinion, the majority of education workers A.emphasize independent thought rather than well-memorized responses B.tend to reward children with better understanding rather than with a goal for credits C.implant children with a lot of facts at the expense of understanding the problem D.are imaginative, creative and efficient in keeping up with our industrialized society 2.Children in the usual classroom learn very quickly when ___. A.they are required to repeat what teacher has said B.they read books that are not assigned by the teacher C.they know how to behave themselves in face of the teacher D.they can memorize the greatest number of facts in the shortest period of time 3.An extrinsically oriented education is one that ___. A.focuses on oriented education B.takes students’ need into account C.lays emphases on “earning a degree” 答案：CACCA D.emphasizes learning through discussion 4.To enter the author’s ideal college, a student ___. A.has to pass an enrollment exam B.should be very intelligent C.needn’t worry about homework D.can be best stimulated for creative work 5.The author’s purpose of writing the article is ___. A.to advocate his views B.to criticize college students C.to stress self-teaching attitude D.to put technological education to a later stage 34 The establishment of the Third Reich influence events in American history by starting a chain of event, which culminated in war between Germany and the United states. The complete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jew, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially, the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler’s atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo（禁 运）in wars between nations at his discretion. American opinion began to change somewhat after president Roosevelt’s “quarantine the aggressor” speech at Chicago (1937) in which he se verely criticized Hitler’s policies. Germany’s seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August 1939 came the shock of Nazi-Soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland, the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted “cash and carry” exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military service. A Lend Lease Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August 1941, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter that proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. 1.One item occurring before 1937 that the author does not mention in his list of actions that alienated the American public was ___. A.Nazi barbarism B.The pacts with Italy C.German plans for conquest D.The burning of the Reichstag 2.The Neutrality Act of 1939 ___. A.restated America’s isolationist policies B.proclaimed American neutrality C.permitted the selling of arms to belligerent nations D.was a cause of our entrance into World War Ⅱ 3.An event that did not occur in 1939 was the ___. A.invasion of Poland 答案：DCDAA B.invasion of Czechoslovakia C.passing of the Neutrality Act D.establishment of the University of Leipzig in Germany 4.The Lend Lease Act was blueprinted to ___. A.strengthen our national defense B.provide battleships to the Allies C.help the British D.promote the Atlantic Charter 5.The Neutrality Act of 1939 favored Great Britain because ___. A.the British had command of the sea B.the law permitted us to trade only with the Allies C.it antagonized Japan D.it led to the Lend Lease Act 35 Computers have been taught to play not only checkers, but also championship chess, which is a fairly accurate yardstick for measuring the computer’s progress in the ability to learn from experience. Because the game requires logical reasoning, chess would seem to be perfectly suited to the computer .all a programmer has to do is give the computer a program evaluating the consequences of every possible response to every possible move, and the computer will win every time. In theory this is a sensible approach; in practice it is impossible. Today, a powerful computer can analyze 40 000 moves a second. That is an impressive speed. But there are an astronomical number of possible moves in chess—literally trillions. Even if such a program were written (and in theory it could be ,given enough people and enough time), there is no computer capable of holding that much data. Therefore, if the computer is to compete at championship levels, it must be programmed to function with less than complete data. It must be able to learn from experience, to modify its own programm, to deal with a relatively unstructured situation—in a word, to “think” for itself . In fact, this can be done. Chess-playing computers have yet to defeat world champion chess players, but several have beaten human players of only slightly lower ranks. The computers have had programs to carry them through the early, mechanical stages of their chess games. But they have gone on from there to reason and learn, and sometimes to win the game. There are other proofs that computers can be programmed to learn, but this example is sufficient to demonstrate the point. Granted , winning a game of chess is not an earthshaking event even when a computer does it . But there are many serious human problems which ban be fruitfully approached as games. The Defense Department uses computers to play war games and work out strategies for dealing with international tensions. Other problems—international and interpersonal relations , ecology and economics , and the ever-increasing threat of world famine—can perhaps be solved by the joint efforts of human beings and truly intelligent computers . 1 The purpose of creating chess-playing computers is __________ A to win the world chess champion B to pave the way for further intelligent computers C to work out strategies for international wars D to find an accurate yardstick for measuring computer progress 2 Today , a chess-playing computer can be programmed to ________ A give trillions of reponses in a second to each possible move and win the game B function with complete data and beat the best players C learn from chess-playing in the early stage and go on to win the game D evaluate every possible move but may fail to give the right response each time 3 For a computer to “think” , it is necessary to ________ A mange to process as much data as possible in a second B program it so that it can learn from its experiences C prepare it for chess-playing first D enable it to deal with unstructured situations 4 The author’s attitude towards the Defense Department is____ A critical B unconcerned C positive D negative 5 In the author’s opinion,______ A winning a chess game is an unimportant event B serious human problems shouldn’t be regarded as playing a game C ecological problems are more urgent to be solved D there is hope for more intelligent computers 答案 B C B C D 36 Women’s Positions in the 17th Century Social circumstances in Early Modern England mostly served to repress women’ s voices. Patriarchal culture and institutions constructed them as chaste, silent, obedient, and subordinate. At the beginning of the 17th century, the ideology of patriarchy, political absolutism, and gender hierarchy were reaffirmed powerfully by King James in The Trew Law of Free Monarchie and the Basilikon Doron; by that ideology the absolute power of God the supreme patriarch was seen to be imaged in the absolute monarch of the state and in the husband and father of a family. Accordingly, a woman’s subjection, first to her father and then to her husband, imaged the subjection of English people to their monarch, and of all Christians to God. Also, the period saw an outpouring of repressive or overtly misogynist sermons, tracts, and plays, detailing women’s physical and mental defects, spiritual evils, rebelliousness, shrewish ness, and natural inferiority to men. Yet some social and cultural conditions served to empower women. During the Elizabethan era (1558—1603) the culture was dominated by a powerful Queen, who provided an impressive female example though she left scant cultural space for other women. Elizabethan women writers began to produce original texts but were occupied chiefly with translation. In the 17th century, however, various circumstances enabled women to write original texts in some numbers. For one thing, some counterweight to patriarchy was provided by female communities—mothers and daughters, extended kinship networks, close female friends, the separate court of Queen Anne (King James’ consort) and her often oppositional masques and political activities. For another, most of these women had a reasonably good education (modern languages, history, literature, religion, music, occasionally Latin) and some apparently found in romances and histories more expansive terms for imagining women’s lives. Also, representation of vigorous and rebellious female characters in literature and especially on the stage no doubt helped to undermine any monolithic social construct of women’s mature and role. Most important, perhaps, was the radical potential inherent in the Protestant insistence on every Christian’s immediate relationship with God and primary responsibility to follow his or her individual conscience. There is plenty of support in St Paul’s epistles and elsewhere in the Bible for patriarchy and a wife’s subjection to her husband, but some texts (notably Galatians 3:28) inscribe a very different politics, promoting women’s spiritual equality: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Jesus Christ.” Such texts encouraged some women to claim the support of God the supreme patriarch against the various earthly patriarchs who claimed to stand toward them in his stead. There is also the gap or slippage between ideology and common experience. English women throughout the 17th century exercised a good deal of accrual power: as ma nagers of estates in their husbands’ absences at court or on military and diplomatic missions; as members of guilds; as wives and mothers who apex during the English Civil War and Interregnum (1640-60) as the execution of the King and the attendant disruption of social hierarchies led many women to seize new roles—as preachers, as prophetesses, as deputies for exiled royalist husbands, as writers of religious and political tracts. 1. What is the best title for this passage? [A]. Women’s Position in the 17th Century. [B]. Women’s Subjection to Patriarchy. [C]. Social Circumstances in the 17th Century. [D]. Women’s objection in the 17th Century. 2. What did the Queen Elizabeth do for the women in culture? [A]. She set an impressive female example to follow. [B]. She dominated the culture. [C]. She did little. [D]. She allowed women to translate something. 3. Which of the following is Not mention as a reason to enable women to original texts? [A].Female communities provided some counterweight to patriarchy. [B]. Queen Anne’s political activities. [C]. Most women had a good education. [D]. Queen Elizabeth’s political activities. 4. What did the religion so for the women? [A]. It did nothing. [B]. It too asked women to be obedient except some texts. [C]. It supported women. [D]. It appealed to the God. 答案 ACDB 37 The only way to travel is on foot The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled by anthropologists. Descriptions like ‘ Palaeolithic Man’, ‘Neolithic Man’, etc., neatly sum up whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label ‘Legless Man’. Histories of the time will go something like this: ‘in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth dwellers of that time because of miles each day. But the surprising thing is that they didn’t use their legs even when they went on holiday. They built cable railways, ski-lifts and roads to the top of every huge mountain. All the beauty spots on earth were marred by the presence of large car parks. ’ The future history books might also record that we were deprived of the use of our eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world – or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. Car drivers, in particular, are forever obsessed with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop. Is it the lure of the great motorways, or what? And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: ‘I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.’ The typical twentieth-century traveler is the man who always says ‘I’ve been there. ’ You mention the remotest, most evocative place-names in the world like El Dorado, Kabul, Irkutsk and someone is bound to say ‘I’ve been there’ – meaning, ‘I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else. ’ When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceases to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound. Satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travellers. 1、Anthorpologists label nowaday’s men ‘Legless’ because A people forget how to use his legs. B people prefer cars, buses and trains. C lifts and escalators prevent people from walking. D there are a lot of transportation devices. 2、Travelling at high speed means A people’s focus on the future. B a pleasure. C satisfying drivers’ great thrill. D a necessity of life. 3、Why does the author say ‘we are deprived of the use of our eyes’ ? A People won’t use their eyes. B In traveling at high speed, eyes become useless. C People can’t see anything on his way of travel. D People want to sleep during travelling. 4、What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage? A Legs become weaker. B Modern means of transportation make the world a small place. C There is no need to use eyes. D The best way to travel is on foot. 5. What does ‘a bird’s-eye view’ mean? A See view with bird’s eyes. B A bird looks at a beautiful view. C It is a general view from a high position looking down. D A scenic place. 答案 AACDC 38 Photography and Art The earliest controversies about the relationship between photography and art centered on whether photograph’s fidelity to appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be a fine art as distinct from merely a practical art. Throughout the nineteenth century, the defence of photography was identical with the struggle to establish it as a fine art. Against the charge that photography was a soulless, mechanical copying of reality, photographers asserted that it was instead a privileged way of seeing, a revolt against commonplace vision, and no less worthy an art than painting. Ironically, now that photography is securely established as a fine art, many photographers find it pretentious or irrelevant to label it as suc h. Serious photographers variously claim to be finding, recording, impartially observing, witnessing events, exploring themselves—anything but making works of art. They are no longer willing to debate whether photography is or is not a fine art, except to proclaim that their own work is not involved with art. It shows the extent to which they simply take for granted the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism: the better the art, the more subversive it is of the traditional aims of art. Photographers’ disclaimers of any interest in making art tell us more about the harried status of the contemporary notion of art than about whether photography is or is not art. For example, those photographers who suppose that, by taking pictures, they are getting away from the pretensions of art as exemplified by painting remind us of those Abstract Expressionist painters who imagined they were getting away from the intellectual austerity of classical Modernist painting by concentrating on the physical act of painting. Much of photography’s prestige today derives from the convergence of its aims with those of recent art, particularly with the dismissal of abstract art implicit in the phenomenon of Pop painting during the 1960’s. Appreciating photographs is a relief to sensibilities tired of the mental exertions demanded by abstract art. Classical Modernist painting—that is, abstract art as developed in different ways by Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse—presupposes highly developed skills of looking and a familiarity with other paintings and the history of art. Photography, like Pop painting, reassures viewers that art is not hard; photography seems to be more about its subjects than about art. Photography, however, has developed all the anxieties and self-consciousness of a classic Modernist art. Many professionals privately have begun to worry that the promotion of photography as an activity subversive of the traditional pretensions of art has gone so far that the public will forget that photography is a distinctive and exalted activity—in short, an art. 1. What is the author mainly concerned with? The author is concerned with [A]. defining the Modernist attitude toward art. [B]. explaining how photography emerged as a fine art. [C]. explaining the attitude of serious contemporary photographers toward photography as art and placing those attitudes in their historical context. [D]. defining the various approaches that serious contemporary photographers take toward their art and assessing the value of each of those approaches. 2. Which of the following adjectives best describes “the concept of art imposed by the triumph of Modernism” as the author represents it in lines 12—13? [A]. Objective [B]. Mechanical. [C]. Superficial. [D]. Paradoxical. 3. Why does the author introduce Abstract Expressionist painter? [A]. He wants to provide an example of artists who, like serious contemporary photographers, disavowed traditionally accepted ai ms of modern art. [B]. He wants to set forth an analogy between the Abstract Expressionist painters and classical Modernist painters. [C]. He wants to provide a contrast to Pop artist and others. [D]. He wants to provide an explanation of why serious photography, like other contemporary visual forms, is not and should not pretend to be an art. 4. How did the nineteenth-century defenders of photography stress the photography? [A]. They stressed photography was a means of making people happy. [B]. It was art for recording the world. [C]. It was a device for observing the world impartially. [D]. It was an art comparable to painting. 答案 CDAD 39 The Continuity of the Religious Struggle in Britain Though England was on the whole prosperous and hopeful, though by comparison with her neighbors she enjoyed internal peace, she could not evade the fact that the world of which she formed a part was torn by hatred and strife as fierce as any in human history. Men were still for from recognizing that two religions could exist side by side in the same society; they believed that the toleration of another religion different from their own. And hence necessarily false, must inevitably destroy such a society and bring the souls of all its members into danger of hell. So the struggle went on with increasing fury within each nation to impose a single creed upon every subject, and within the general society of Christendom to impose it upon every nation. In England the Reformers, or Protestants, aided by the power of the Crown, had at this stage triumphed, but over Europe as a whole Rome was beginning to recover some of the ground it had lost after Martin Luther’s revolt in the earlier part of the century. It did this in two ways, by the activities of its missionaries, as in parts of Germany, or by the military might of the Catholic Powers, as in the Low Countries, where the Dutch provinces were sometimes near their last extremity under the pressure of Spanish arms. Against England, the most important of all the Protestant nations to reconquer, military might was not yet possible because the Catholic Powers were too occupied and divided: and so, in the 1570’s Rome bent her efforts, as she had done a thousand years before in the days of Saint Augustine, to win England back by means of her missionaries. These were young Englishmen who had either never given up the old faith, or having done so, had returned to it and felt called to become priests. There being, of course, no Catholic seminaries left in England, they went abroad, at first quite easily, later with difficulty and danger, to study in the English colleges at Douai or Rome: the former established for the training of ordinary or secular clergy, the other for the member of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as Jesuits, a new Order established by St, Ignatius Loyola same thirty years before. The seculars came first; they achieved a success which even the most eager could hardly have expected. Cool-mind ed and well-informed men, like Cecil, had long surmised that the conversion of the English people to Protestantism was for from complete; many—Cecil thought even the majority—had conformed out of fear, self-interest or—possibly the commonest reason of all—sheer bewilderment at the rapid changes in doctrine and forms of worship imposed on them in so short a time. Thus it happened that the missionaries found a welcome, not only with the families who had secretly offered them hospitality if they came, but with many others whom their first hosts invited to meet them or passed them on to. They would land at the ports in disguise, as merchants, courtiers or what not, professing some plausible business in the country, and make by devious may for their first house of refuge. There they would administer the Sacraments and preach to the house holds and to such of the neighbors as their hosts trusted and presently go on to some other locality to which they were directed or from which they received a call. 1. The main idea of this passage is [A]. The continuity of the religious struggle in Britain in new ways. [B]. The conversion of religion in Britain. [C]. The victory of the New religion in Britain. [D]. England became prosperous. 2. What was Martin Luther’s religions? [A]. Buddhism. [B]. Protestantism. [C]. Catholicism. [D]. Orthodox. 3. Through what way did the Rome recover some of the lost land? [A]. Civil and military ways. [B]. Propaganda and attack.[C]. Persuasion and criticism. [D]. Religious and military ways. 4. What did the second paragraph mainly describe? [A]. The activities of missionaries in Britain. [B]. The conversion of English people to Protestantism was far from complete. [C]. The young in Britain began to convert to Catholicism [D]. Most families offered hospitality to missionaries. 答案 ABDA 40 Wakefield Master’s Realism Moreover, insofar as any interpretation of its author can be made from the five or six plays attributed to him, the Wake field Master is uniformly considered to be a man of sharp contemporary observation. He was, formally, perhaps clerically educated, as his Latin and music, his Biblical and patristic lore indicate. He is, still, celebrated mainly for his quick sympathy for the oppressed and forgotten man, his sharp eye for character, a ready ear for colloquial vernacular turns of speech and a humor alternately rude and boisterous, coarse and happy. Hence despite his conscious artistry as manifest in his feeling for intricate metrical and stanza forms, he is looked upon as a kind of medieval Steinbeck, indignantly angry at, uncompromisingly and even brutally realistic in presenting the plight of the agricultural poor. Thus taking the play and the author together, it is mow fairly conventional to regard the former as a kind of ultimate point in the secularization of the medieval drama. Hence much emphasis on it as depicting realistically humble manners and pastoral life in the bleak hills of the West Ridin g of Yorkshire on a typically cold bight of December 24th. After what are often regarded as almost “documentaries” given in the three successive monologues of the three shepherds, critics go on to affirm that the realism is then intensified into a burlesque mock-treatment of the Nativity. Finally as a sort of epilogue or after-thought in deference to the Biblical origins of the materials, the play slides back into an atavistic mood of early innocent reverence. Actually, as we shall see, the final scene is not only the culminating scene but perhaps the raison d’etre of introductory “realism.” There is much on the surface of the present play to support the conventional view of its mood of secular realism. All the same, the “realism” of the Wakefield Master is of a paradoxical turn. His wide knowledge of people, as well as books indicates no cloistered contemplative but one in close relation to his times. Still, that life was after all a predominantly religious one, a time which never neglected the belief that man was a rebellious and sinful creature in need of redemption, So deeply (one can hardly say “naively” of so sophisticated a writer) and implicitly religious is the Master that he is less able (or less willing) to present actual history realistically than is the author of the Brome “Abraham and Isaac”. His historical sense is even less realistic than that of Chaucer who just a few years before had done for his own time costume romances, such as The Knight’s Tale, Troilus and Cressida, etc. Moreover Chaucer had the excuse of highly romantic materials for taking liberties with history. 1. Which of the following statements about the Wakefield Master is NOT True? [A]. He was Chaucer’s contemporary. [B]. He is remembered as the author of five or six realistic plays. [C]. He write like John Steinbeck. [D]. HE was an accomplished artist. 2. By “patristic”, the author means [A]. realistic. [B]. patriotic [C]. superstitious. [C]. pertaining to the Christian Fathers. 3. The statement about the “secularization of the medieval drama” refers to the [A]. introduction of mundane matters in religious plays. [B]. presentation of erudite material. [C]. use of contemporary introduction of religious themes in the early days. 4. In subsequent paragraphs, we may expect the writer of this passage to [A]. justify his comparison with Steinbeck. [B]. present a point of view which attack the thought of the second paragraph. [C]. point out the anachronisms in the play. [D]. discuss the works of Chaucer. 答案 CDAB 41 Forecasting of Statistics Nearly two thousand years have passed since a census decreed by Caesar Augustus become part of the greatest story ever told. Many things have changed in the intervening years. The hotel industry worries more about overbuilding than overcrowding, and if they had to meet an unexpected influx, few inns would have a manager to accommodate the weary guests. Now it is the census taker that does the tr aveling in the fond hope that a highly mobile population will stay long enough to get a good sampling. Methods of gathering, recording, and evaluating information have presumably been improved a great deal. And where then it was the modest purpose of Rome to obtain a simple head count as an adequate basis for levying taxes, now batteries of complicated statistical series furnished by governmental agencies and private organizations are eagerly scanned and interpreted by sages and seers to get a clue to future events. The Bible does not tell us how the Roman census takers made out, and as regards our more immediate concern, the reliability of present day economic forecasting, there are considerable differences of opinion. They were aired at the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the American Statistical Association. There was the thought that business forecasting might well be on its way from an art to a science, and some speakers talked about newfangled computers and high-falutin mathematical system in terms of excitement and endearment which we, at least in our younger years when these things mattered, would have associated more readily with the description of a fair maiden. But others pointed to the deplorable record of highly esteemed forecasts and forecasters with a batting average below that of the Mets, and the President-elect of the Association cautioned that “high powered statistical methods are usually in order where the facts are crude and inadequate, the exact contrary of what crude and inadequate statisticians assume.” We left his birthday party somewhere between hope and despair and with the conviction, not really newly acquired, that proper statistical methods applied to ascertainable facts have their merits in economic forecasting as long as neither forecaster nor public is deluded into mistaking the delineation of probabilities and trends for a prediction of certainties of mathematical exactitude. 1. Taxation in Roman days apparently was based on [A]. wealth. [B]. mobility. [C]. population. [D]. census takers. 2. The American Statistical Association [A]. is converting statistical study from an art to a science. [B]. has an excellent record in business forecasting. [C]. is neither hopeful nor pessimistic. [D]. speaks with mathematical exactitude. 3. The message the author wishes the reader to get is [A]. statisticians have not advanced since the days of the Roman. [B]. statistics is not as yet a science. [C]. statisticians love their machine. [D].computer is hopeful. 4. The “greatest story ever told” referred to in the passage is the story of [A]. Christmas. [B]. The Mets. [C]. Moses. [D]. Roman Census Takers. 答案 CABA 42 The Present Is the Most Important Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights ’ Entertainments. If we respected only what is inevitable and has a right to be , music and poetry would resound along the streets. When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, --that petty fears and petty pleasure are but the shadow of reality. This is always exhilarating and sublime. By closing the eyes and slumbering, by consenting to be deceived by shows, men establish and confirm their daily life of routine and habit everywhere, which still is built on purely illusory foundation. Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations more clearly than men, who fail to live worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure. I have read in a Hindoo book, that “there was a king’s son, who, being expelled in infancy from his native city, was brought up by a forester, and, growing up to maturity in that state, imagined himself to belong to the barbarous race with which be lived. One of his father’s ministers having discovered him, revealed to him what he was, and the misconception of his character was removed, and he knew himself to be a prince. So soul, from the circumstances in which it is placed, mistakes its own character, until the truth is revealed to it by some holy teacher, and then it knows itself to be Brahme.” We think that that is which appears to be. If a man should give us an account of the realities he beheld, we should not recognize the place in his description. Look at a meeting-house, or a court-house, or a jail, or a shop. Or a dwelling-house, and say what that thing really is before a true gaze, and they would all go to pieces in your account of them. Men esteem truth remote, in the outskirts of the system, behind the farthest star, before Adam and after the last man. In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment, and will never be more divine in the lapse of all ages. And we are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us. The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us. Let us spend our lives in conceiving then. The poet or the artist never yet had as fair and noble a design but some of his posterity at least could accomplish it. 1. The writer’s attitude toward the arts is one of [A]. admiration. [B]. indifference. [C]. suspicion. [D]. repulsion 2. The author believes that a child. [A]. should practice what the Hindoos preach. [B]. frequently faces vital problems better than grownups do. [C]. hardly ever knows his true origin. [D]. is incapable of appreciating the arts. 3. The author is primarily concerned with urging the reader to [A]. look to the future for enlightenment. [B]. appraise the present for its true value. [C]. h onor the wisdom of the past ages. [D]. spend more time in leisure activities. 4. The passage is primarily concerned with problem of [A]. history and economics. [B]. society and population. [C]. biology and physics. [D]. theology and philosophy. 答案 ABBD 43 The statistics I’ve cited and the living examples are all too familiar to you. But what may not be so familiar will be the increasing number of women who are looking actively for advancement of for a new job in your offices. This woman may be equipped with professional skills and perhaps valuable experience, She will not be content to be Executive Assistant to Mr. Seldom Seen of the Assistant Vice President’s Girl Friday, who is the only one who comes in on Saturday. She is the symbol of what I call the Second Wave of Feminism. She is the modern woman who is determined to be. Her forerunner was the radical feminist who interpreted her trapped position as a female as oppression by the master class of men. Men, she believed, had created a domestic, servile role for women in order that men could have the career and the opportunity to participate in making the great decisions of society. Thus the radical feminist held that women through history had been oppressed and dehumanized, mainly because man chose to exploit his wife and the mother of his children. Sometimes it was deliberate exploitation and sometimes it was the innocence of never looking beneath the pretensions of life. The radical feminists found strength in banding together. Coming to recognize each other for the first time, they could explore their own identities, realize their own power, and view the male and his system as the common enemy. The first phases of feminism in the last five years often took on this militant, class-warfare tone. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer, and many others hammered home their ideas with a persistence that aroused and intrigued many of the brightest and most able women in the country. Consciousness-raising groups allowed women to explore both their identities and their dreams—and the two were often found in direct conflict. What is the stereotyped role of American women? Marriage. A son. Two daughters. Breakfast. Ironing. Lunch. Bowling, maybe a garden club of for the very daring, non-credit courses in ceramics. Perhaps an occasional cocktail party. Dinner. Football or baseball on TV. Each day the same. Never any growth in expectations—unless it is growth because the husband has succeeded. The inevitable question: “Is that all there is to life?” The rapid growth of many feminist organizations attests to the fact that these radical feminists had touched some vital nerves. The magazine “ Ms. ” was born in the year of the death of the magazine “ Life. ” But too often the consciousness-raising sessions became ends in themselves. Too often sexism reversed itself and man-hating was encouraged. Many had been with the male chauvinist. It is not difficult, therefore, to detect a trend toward moderation. Consciousness-raising increasingly is regarded as a means to independence and fulfillment, rather than a ceremony of fulfillment itself. Genuine independence can be realized through competence, through finding a career, through the use of education. Remember that for many decades the education of women was not supposed to be useful. 1. What was the main idea of this passage? [A]. The Second Wave of Feminist. [B]. Women’s Independent Spirits. [C]. The Unity of Women. [D]. The Action of Union. 2. What was the author’s attitude toward the radical? [A]. He supported it wholeheartedly. [B]. He opposed it strongly. [C]. He disapproved to some extent. [D]. He ignored it completely. 3. What does the word “militant” mean? [A]. Aggressive. [B]. Ambitions. [C]. Progressive. [D]. Independent. 4, What was the radical feminist’s view point about the male? [A]. Women were exploited by the male. [B]. Women were independent of the male. [C]. Women’s lives were deprived by the male. [D]. The male were their common enemy. 答案 ACAD 44 New and bizarre crimes have come into being with the advent of computer technology. Organized crime to has been directly involved; the new technology offers it unlimited opportunities, such as data crimes, theft of services, property-related crimes, industrial sabotage, politically related sabotage, vandalism, crimes against the individual and financially related crimes… Theft of data, or data crime, has attracted the interest of organized criminal syndicates. This is usually the theft or copying of valuable computer grogram. An international market already exists for computerized data, and specialized fences are said to be playing a key role in this rapidly expanding criminal market. Buyers for stolen programs may range from a firm’s competitors to foreign nations. A competitor sabotages a company’s computer system to destroy or cripple the firm’s operational ability, thus neutralizing its competitive capability either in the private or the government sector. This computer sabotage may also be tied to an attempt by affluent investors to acquire the victim firm. With the growing reliance by firms on computers for their recordkeeping and daily operations, sabotage of their computers can result in internal havoc, after which the group interested in acquiring the firm can easily buy it at a substantially lower price. Criminal groups could also resort to sabotage if the company is a competitor of a business owned or controlled by organized crime. Politically motivated sabotage is on the increase; political extremist groups have sprouted on every continent. Sophisticated computer technology arms these groups with awesome powers and opens technologically advanced nations to their attack. Several attempts have already been made to destroy computer facility at an air force base. A university computer facility involved in national defence work suffered more than $2 million in damages as a resu lt of a bombing. Computer vulnerability has been amply documented. One congressional study concluded that neither government nor private computer systems are adequately protected against sabotage. Organized criminal syndicates have shown their willingness to work with politically motivated groups. Investigators have uncovered evidence of cooperation between criminal groups and foreign governments in narcotics. Criminal groups have taken attempts in assassinating political leaders…. Computers are used in hospital life-support system, in laboratories, and in major surgery. Criminals could easily turn these computers into tools of devastation. By sabotaging the computer of a life-support system, criminals could kill an individual as easily as they had used a gun. By manipulating a computer, they could guide awesome tools of terror against large urban centers. Cities and nations could become hostages. Homicide could take a now form. The computer may become the hit man of the twentieth century. The computer opens vast areas of crime to organized criminal groups, both national and international. It calls on them to pool their resources and increase their cooperative efforts, because many of these crimes are too complex for one group to handle, especially those requiting a vast network of fences. Although criminals have adapted to computer technology, law enforcement has not. Many still think in terms of traditional criminology. 1. How many kinds of crimes are mentioned in the passage? [A]. 7. [B]. 8. [C]. 9. [D]. 10 2. What is the purpose of a competitor to sabotage a company’s computer? [A]. His purpose is to destroy or weaken the firm’s operational ability. [B]. His purpose is to weaken firm’s competitive capability and get it. [C]. His purpose is to buy the rival’s company at a relatively low price. [D]. His purpose is to steal important data. 3. Which of the following can be labeled as a politically motivated sabotage of a computer system? [A]. Sabotage of a university computer. [B]. Sabotage of a hospital computer. [C]. Sabotage of computer at a secret training base. [D]. Sabotage of a factory computer. 4. What does the author mean by “Homicide could take a new form”? [A]. There is no need to use a gun in killing a person. [B]. Criminals can kill whoever they want by a computer. [C]. The computer can replace any weapons. [D]. The function of a computer is just like a gun. 答案 BBCB 45 Giving Credit Where Credit Is Not Due The big identity-theft bust last week was just a taste of what's to come. Here's how to protect your good name HERE'S THE SCARY THING about the identity-theft ring that the feds cracked last week: there was nothing any of its estimated 40,000 victims could have done to prevent it from happening. This was an inside job, according to court documents. A lowly help-desk worker at Teledata Communications, a software firm that helps banks access credit reports online, allegedly stole passwords for those reports and sold them to a group of 20 thieves at $60 a pop. That allowed the gang to cherry-pick consumers with good credit and apply for all kinds of accounts in their names. Cost to the victims: $3 million and rising. Even scarier is that this, the largest identity-theft bust to date, is just a drop in the bit bucket. More than 700,000 Americans have their credit hijacked every year. It's one of crime's biggest growth markets. A name, address and Social Security number--which can often be found on the Web--is all anybody needs to apply for a bogus line of credit. Credit companies make $1.3 trillion annually and lose less than 2% of that revenue to fraud, so there's little financial incentive for them to make the application process more secure. As it stands now, it's up to you to protect your identity. The good news is that there are plenty of steps you can take. Most credit thieves are opportunists, not well-organized gangs. A lot of them go Dumpster diving for those millions of "pre-approved" credit-card mailings that go out every day. Others steal wallets and return them, taking only a Social Security number. Shredding your junk mail and leaving your Social Security card at home can save a lot of agony later. But the most effective way to keep your identity clean is to check your credit reports once or twice a year. There are three major credit-report outfits: Equifax (at ), Trans-Union () and Experian (). All allow you to order reports online, which is a lot better than wading through voice-mail hell on their 800 lines. Of the three, I found TransUnion's website to be the cheapest and most comprehensive--laying out state-by-state prices, rights and tips for consumers in easy-to-read fashion. If you're lucky enough to live in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Vermont, you are entitled to one free report a year by law. Otherwise it's going to cost $8 to $14 each time. Avoid services that offer to monitor your reports year-round for about $70; that's $10 more than the going rate among thieves. If you think you're a victim of identity theft, you can ask for fraud alerts to be put on file at each of the three credit-report companies. You can also download a theft-report form at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, which, along with a local police report, should help when irate creditors come knocking. Just don't expect justice. That audacious help-desk worker was one of the fewer than 2% of identity thieves who are ever caught. 1.What is the trend of credit-theft crime? [A]Tightly suppressed. [B]More frightening. [C]Rapidly increasing. [D]loosely controlled. 2.The expression “inside job”(Line 6, Paragraph 1) most probably means _________. [A]a crime that is committed by a person working for the victim [B]a crime that should be punished severely [C]a crime that does great harm to the victim [D]a crime that poses a great threat to the society 3.The creditors can protect their identity in the following w ay except _________. [A]destroying your junk mail [B]leaving your Social Security card at home [C]visiting the credit-report website regularly [D]obtaining the free report from the government 4.Why is it easy to have credit-theft? [A]More people are using credit service. [B]The application program is not safe enough. [C]Creditors usually disclose their identity. [D]Creditors are not careful about their identity. 5.What is the best title of the text? [A]The danger of credit-theft [B]The loss of the creditors [C]How to protect your good name [D]Why the creditors lose their identity 答案：CADBC 46 Opinion polls are now beginning to show that,whoever is to blame and whatever happens from now on,high unemployment is probably here to say.This means we shall have to find ways of sharing the available employment more widely. But we need to go further. We must ask some fundamental questions about the future work. Should we continue to treat employment as the norm? Should we not rather encourage many ways for self-respecting people to work? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves, rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive the household and the neighborhood, as well as the factory and the office, as centers of production and work? The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people’s work has taken the form of jobs. The industrial age may now becoming to an end, and some of the changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed. This seems a daunting thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better future for work. Universal employment, as its history shows, has not meant economic freedom. Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by depriving them of the use of the land, and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves. Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people’s homes. Later, as transport improved first by rail and then by road, people commuted longer distances to their places of employment until, eventually, many people’s work lost all connection with their home lives and the places in which they live. Meanwhile, employment put women at a disadvantage. In preindustrial times, men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community. Now it became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the unpaid work of the home and families to his wife. Tax and benefit regulations still assume this norm today, and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between the sexes. It was not only women whose work status suffered. As employment became the dominant form of work, young people and old people were excluded—a problem now, as more teenagers become frustrated at school and more retired people want to live active lives. All this may now have to change. The time has cert ainly come to switch some effort and resources away from the idealist goal creating jobs for all, to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs. 21.What is the main idea of the passage? A） Employment became widespread in the 17th and 18th centuries. B） Unemployment will remain a major problem for industrialized nations. C） The industrial age may now be coming to an end. D） Some efforts and resources should be devoted to helping more people cope with the problem of unemployment. 22.Which of the following was NOT mentioned as a factor contributing to the spread of employment? A） The enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries. B） The development of factories. C） Relief from housework on the part of women. D） Development of modern means of transportation. 23.It can be inferred from the passage that____. A）most people who have been polled believe that the problem of unemployment may not be solved within a short period of time B） many farmers lost their land when new railways and factories were being constructed C） in preindustrial societies housework and community service were mainly carried out by women D） some of the changes in work pattern that the industrial age brought have been reversed 24.What does the word “daunting” in the third paragraph mean? A） Shocking B） Interesting C） Confusing D） Stimulating 25.Which of the following is NOT suggested as a possible means to cope with the current situation? A） Create situations in which people work for themselves. B） Treat employment as the norm. C） Endeavor to revive the household and the neighborhood as centers of production. D） Encourage people to work in circumstances other than normal working conditions. 答案：DCAAB 47 No one should be forced to wear a uniform under any circumstance. Uniforms are demanding to the human spirit and totally unnecessary in a democratic society. Uniforms tell the world that the person who wears one has no value as an individual but only lives to function as a part of a whole. The individual in a uniform loses all self-worth. There are those who say that wearing a uniform gives a person a sense of identification with a larger, more important concept. What could be more important than the individual himself? If an organization is so weak that it must rely on cloth and buttons to inspire its members, that organization has no right to continue its existence. Others say that the practice of making persons wear uniforms, say in a school, eliminates all envy and competition in the matter of dress, such that a poor person who cannot afford good-quality clothing is not to be belittled by a wealthy person who wears expensive quality clothing. Those persons conveniently ignore such critical concepts as freedom of choice, motivation, and individuality. If all persons were to wear the same clothing, why would anyone strive to be better? It is only a short step from forcing everyone to drive the sam e car, have the same type of foods. When this happens, all incentive to improve one’s life is removed. Why would parents bother to work hard so that their children could have a better life than they had when they know that their children are going to be forced to have exactly the same life that they had? Uniforms also hurt the economy. Right now, billions of dollars are spent on the fashion industry yearly. Thousands of persons are employed in designing, creating and marketing different types of clothing. If everyone were forced to wear uniforms, artistic personnel would be unnecessary. Sales persons would be superfluous as well; why bother to sell the only items that are available? The wearing of uniforms would destroy the fashion industry, which in turn would have a ripple effect on such industries as advertising and promotion. Without advertising, newspapers, magazines, and television would not be able to remain in business. One entire information and entertainment industry would collapse. 26.The author’s primary purpose in writing this passage was to ____. A）plead for the abolishment of uniforms B）show that uniforms are not possible in a democratic society C）advocate stronger governmental controls on the wearing of uniforms D）convince the reader that uniforms have more disadvantages than advantages 27.Why does the author discuss forcing everyone to buy the same car or eat the same food? A) To show that freedom of choice is absolute. B) To show that the government has interfered too much in the lives of individual. C) To suggest what would happen if uniforms became compulsory. D) To predict the way the society will be in the next few generations. 28.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the author? A) The person who wears a uniform has no self-worth. B) Wearing a uniform gives a person a sense of identification with a larger concept. C) Uniforms will hurt one entire information and entertainment industry. D) Envy and competition are incentive to improve one’s life. 29.The word “superfluous” (Para. 3) most probably means ____. A) indispensable B) availableC) surplus D) supplementary 30.The next paragraph in this passage might discuss____. A) the positive effects of wearing uniformsB) more negative effects of wearing uniforms C) alternative to wearing uniformsD) the legal rights of those not wishing to wear uniforms 答案：DCBCB 48 A strange thing about humans is their capacity for blind rage. Rage is presumably an emotion resulting from survival instinct, but the surprising thing about it is that we do not deploy it against other animals. If we encounter a dangerous wild animal - a poisonous snake or a wild cat - we do not fly into a temper. If we are unarmed, we show fear and attempt to back away; if we are suitably armed, we attack, but in a rational manner not in a rage. We reserve rage for our own species. It is hard to see any survival value in attacking one’s own, but if we take account of the long competition, which must have existed between our own subspecies and others like Neanderthal man - indeed others still more remote from us than Neanderthal man human rage becomes more comprehensible. In our everyday language and behavior there are many reminders of those early struggles. We are always using the words “us and them”. “Our” side is perpetually trying to do down the “other” side. In games we artificially create other subspecies we can attack. The opposition of “us” and “them” is the touchstone of the two-party system of “democratic” politics. Although there are no very serious consequences to many of these modern psychological representations of the “us and them” emotion, it is as well to remember that the original aim was not to beat the other subspecies in a game but to exterminate it. The readiness with which humans allow themselves to be regimented has permitted large armies to be formed, which, taken together with the “us and them” blind rage, has led to destructive clashes within our subspecies itself. The First World War is an example in which Europe divided itself into two imaginary subspecies. And there is a similar extermination battle now in Northern Ireland. The idea that there is a religious basis for this clash is illusory, for not even the Pope has been able to control it. The clash is much more primitive than the Christian religion, much older in its emotional origin. The conflict in Ireland is unlikely to stop until a greater primitive fear is imposed from outside the community, or until the combatants become exhausted. 31.A suitable title for this passage would be____. A) Why Human Armies Are Formed B) Man’s Anger Against Rage C) The Human Capacity for Rage D) Early Struggles of Angry Man 32.According to the author, the surprising aspect of human anger is____. A) its lengthy and complex development B) a conflict such as is now going on in Northern Ireland C) that we do not fly into a temper more often D) that we reserve anger for mankind 33.The passage suggests that____. A) historically, we have created an “us” versus “them” society B) humans have had a natural disinclination toward formal grouping C) the First World War is an example of how man has always avoided domination D) the emotional origin of the war in Ireland is lost in time 34.From the passage we can infer that ____. A) the artificial creation of a subspecies unlike us is something that never happens B) games are psychologically unhealthy C) any artificially created subspecies would be our enemy D) the real or imagined existence of an opposing subspecies is inherent in man’s activities 35.The author believes that a religious explanation for the war in Northern Ireland is____. A) founded in historical fact B) deceptive C) apparent D) probably accurate 答案：CDADB 49 The first way we can approach language is as a phenomenon of the individual person. It is concerned with describing and explaining language a s a matter of human behavior. People speak and write; they also evidently read and understand what they hear. They are not born doing so; they have to acquire these skills. Not everybody seems to develop them to the same degree. People may suffer accidents or diseases, which impair their performance. Language is thus seen as part of human psychology, a particular sort of behavior, the behavior, which has as its principal, function that of communication. The trouble with the term “behavior” is that it is often taken to refer only to more or less overt, and describable, physical movements and acts. Yet part of language behavior-that of understanding spoken or written language, for example-has little or no physically observable signs. It is true we can sometimes infer that understanding has taken place by the changes that take place in the other person’s behavior. When someone has been prohibited from doing something, we may infer that he has understood the prohibition by observing that thereafter he never behaves in that way. We cannot, of course, be absolutely sure that his subsequent behavior is a result of his understanding; it might be due to a loss of interest or inclination. So behavior must be taken to include unobservable activity, often only to be inferred from other observable behavior. Once we admit that the study of language behavior involves describing and explaining the unobservable, the situation becomes much more complicated, because we have to postulate some set of processes, some internal mechanism, which operates when we speak and understand. We have to postulate something we can call a mind. The study of language from this point of view can then be seen as a study of the specific properties, processes and states of the mind whose outward manifestations are observable behavior; what we have to know in order to perform linguistically.This approach to language, as a phenomenon of the individual, is thus principally concerned with explaining how we acquire language, and its relation to general human cognitive systems, and with the psychological mechanisms underlying the comprehension and production of speech; much less with the problem of what language is for, that is, its function as communication, since this necessarily involves more than a single individual. 36.What is the best title for this passage? A) Language as Means of Communication. B) Language and Psychology. C) Language and the Individual. D) Language as a Social Phenomenon. 37.According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true? A) Language is often regarded as part of human psychology. B) People develop language skills of different degrees as a result of different personal experiences. C) Language is a special kind of psychological behavior that is born with an individual. D) People learn to speak and write through imitation and training. 38.What does the term “behavior” in the second paragraph especially refer to in this passage? A) It refers to observable and physical movements and acts. B) It refers to the part of language behavior that involves understanding or interpretation. C) It refers to both the overt and the unobservable language behaviors in communicating. D) It refers to acts of speaking and writing. 39.What does “internal mechanism”(Line 3, Para. 3) mean? A) Secret machine. B) Mental processes. C) Overt system. D) Mechanic operation. 40.What can you infer from the passage? A) Its individualistic approach to language is meant to study the psychological processes of language acquisition. B) The individualistic approach to language is mainly concerned with how language functions in society. C) The study of language is sure to involve more than a single individual. D) Psychological approach to language is concerned with the comprehension and production of speech. 答案：CCCBA 50 The orange towers of the Golden Gate Bridge--probably the most beautiful,certainly the most photographed bridge in the world--are visible from almost every point of elevation in San Francisco. The only crack in Northern California's 600-mile continental wall,for years this mile-wide strait was considered unbridgeable. As much an architectural as an engineering feat, the Golden Gate took only 52 months to design and build, and was opened in 1937. Designed by Joseph Strauss, it was the first really massive suspension bridge,with a span of 4,200ft, and until 1959 ranked as the world's longest. It connects the city at its northwesterly point on the peninsula to Marin County and Northern California, rendering the hitherto essential ferry crossing redundant, and was designed to withstand winds of up to a hundred miles an hour and to swing as much as 27 ft. Handsome on a clear day, the bridge takes on an eerie(神秘的) quality when the thick white fogs pour in and hide it almost completely. You can either drive or walk across. The drive is the more thrilling of the two options as you race under the bridge's towers, but the half-hour walk across it really gives you time to take in its enormous size and absorb the views of the city behind you and the headlands of Northern California straight ahead. Pause at the midway point and consider the seven or so suicides a month who choose this spot,260 ft up, as their jumping-off spot. Monitors of such events speculate that victims always face the city before they leap.In 1995, when the suicide toll from the bridge had reached almost 1,000,police kept the figures quiet to avoid a rush of would-be suicides going for the dubious distinction of being the thousandth person to leap. Perhaps the best loved symbol of San Francisco, in 1987 the Golden Gate proved an auspicious place(风水宝地) for a sunrise party when crowds gathered to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Some quarter of a million people turned up (a third of the city's entire population); the winds were strong and huge numbers caused the bridge to buckle(使弯曲), but fortunately not to br eak. 1. What is TURE of the Golden Gate Bridge? A. It is certainly the world's most beautiful bridge. B. It is far from San Francisco. C. It is a feat neither architecturally nor engineeringly before 1960. D.It was the world longest bridge. 2. What do you know further about the Golden Gate Bridge? A. It is over a strait where no bridge could have been built before the 1930s. B. It is the first massive bridge designed by Joseph Strauss. C. It appears while in the thick white fogs. D. It connects Marin Country with Northern California. 3. Of the two exercises, the drive over the bridge is more _________. A. interesting B. fascinating C. inviting D. exciting 4. Those who attempt to suicide often jump from the midway point of the bridge probably because_________. A. they want to die quietly B. they want to die quickly C. they want to take a glance at the bridge's towers D. they want to take a glance at San Francisco 5. What would be the best title for the text? A. The World's Most Beautiful Bridge B. The World's Most Photographed Bridge C. The World's First Suspension Bridge D.The Golden Gate Bridge 答案：DADDD 51 Children are getting so fat they may be the first generation to die before their parents, an expert claimed yesterday. Today’s youngsters are already falling prey to potential killers such as diabetes(糖尿病) because of their weight. Fatty fast- food diets combined with sedentary(长坐的) lifestyles dominated by televisions and computers could mean kids will die tragically young, says Professor Andrew Prentice, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. At the same time, the shape of the human body is going through a huge evolutionary shift because adults are getting so fat. Here in Britain, latest research shows that the average waist size for a man is 36-38in, and may be 42-44, by 2032. This compares with only 32.6in. in 1972.Women’s waists have grown from an average of 22in. in 1920 to 24in. in the Fifties and 30in. now. One of the major reasons why children now are at greater risk is that we are getting fatter younger. In the UK alone, more than one million under- 16s are classed as overweight or obese(过度肥胖的)— double the number in the mid Eighties. One in ten four-year- olds are also medically classified as obese. The obesity(肥胖症) pandemic（流行病）—an extensive epidemic— which started in the US, has now spread to Europe, Australasia, Central America and the Middle East. Many nations now record more than 20 per cent of their population as clinically obese and well over half the population as overweight. Prof. Prentice said the change in our shape has been caused by an oversupply of easily available high-energy foods combined with a dramatic drop in the energy we use as a result of technology developments. He is not alone in his concern. Only last week one medical journal revealed how obesity was fuelling a rise in cancer cases. Obesity also increases the risk factor for strokes and heart disease as well as diabetes. An averagely obese person’s lifespan is shortened by around nine years while a severely obese person by many more. Prof. Prentice said: ”So will parents outlive their children, as claimed recently by an American obesity specialist? The answer is yes and no. Yes, when the offspring become grossly obese. This is now becoming an alarmingly common occurrence in the US. Such children and adolescents have a greatly reduced quality of life in terms of both their physical and psychosocial health.” So say” No” to that doughnut and burger. 1. Prof. Andrew Prentice said that the life of an extremely fat child________ A. might be shorter B. might be longer C. shorter than his father, but longer than his mother D. might be longer than his father, but shorter than his mother 2. The word “prey”(Line 3, Para.1) means________ A. victim B. vitamin C. food D. fool 3. Which of the following fails to refer to an obese child? A. An extremely weighty child. B. An extremely fat child. C. An extremely fatty child. D. An over weight child. 4. According to the passage, obesity is an extensive epidemic starting in __________ A. Asia B. North America C. Europe D. Central America 5. Which of the following disease is NOT mentioned in the passage? A. pneumonia B. diabetes C. heart disease D. stroke 答案 AAABA 52 Proxemics(空间关系学) is the study of what governs how closely one person stands to another. People who feel close will be close, though the actual distances will vary between cultures. For Amreicans we can discern four main categories of distance: intimate, personal, social and public. Intimate ranges from direct contact to about 45 centimeters. This is for the closest relationships such as those between husband and wife. Beyond this comes personal distance. This stands at between 45 and 80 centimeters. It is the most usual distance maintained for conversations between friends and relatives. Social distance covers people who work together or are meeting at social gatherings. Distances here tend to be kept between 1.30 to 2 meters. Beyond this comes public distance, such as that between a lecturer and his audience. All cultures draw lines between what is an appropriate and what is an inappropriate social distance for different types of relationship. They differ, however, in where they draw these lines. Look at an international reception withrepresentatives from the US and Arabic countries conversing and you will see the Americans pirouetting(快速旋转) backwards around the hall pursued by their Arab partners. The Americans will be trying to keep the distance between themselves and their partners which they have grown used to regarding as “normal”. They probably will not even notice themselves trying to adjust the distance between themselves and their partners, though they may have vague feeling that their Arab neighbors are being a bit “pushy”. The Arab, on the other hand, coming from a culture where muc h closer distance is the norm, may be feeling that the Americans are being “stand-offish”. Finding themselves happier standing close to and even touching those they are in conversation with they will persistently pursue the Americans round the room trying to close the distance between them. The appropriateness of physical contact varies between different cultures too. One study of the number of times people conversing in coffee shops over a one hour period showed the following interesting variations: London, 0; Florida, 2; Paris, 10; and Puerto Rico 180. Not only dose it vary between societies, however, it also varies between different subcultures within one society. Young people in Britain, for example, are more likely to touch and hug friends than are the older generation. This may be partly a matter of growing older, but it also reflects the fact that the older generation grew up at a time when touching was less common for all age groups. Forty years ago, for example, footballers would never hug and kiss one another on the field after a goal as they do today. 1.In proxemics, ____governs the standing space between two persons. A. distance B. culture C. conversation D. relationship 2.The word “stand-offish”(Line 14, Para. 2) could best be replaced by_________. A. cold and distant in behaviour B. ungentlemanlike in behaviour C. inhuman in behaviour D. polite in behaviour 3. In conversation with an American partner at an international reception, an Arab deems that close distant is _________. A. appropriate B. inappropriate C. rash D. impetuous 4. We can infer from the third paragragh that the appropriateness of physical contact also varies with_________. A. time B. city C. country D. people 5. The best title for the passage would be __________. A. Proxemics B. Appropriateness of Social Distance C. Appropriateness Relationships Between Two Persons D. Appropriateness Physical Contact Between Two Persons 答案 DAAAA 53 In the past century Irish painting has changes from a British-influenced lyrical tradition to an art that evokes the ruggedness and roots of an Irish Celtic past. At the turn of the twentieth century Irish painters, including notables Walter Frederick Osborne and Sir William Orpen, looked elsewhere for influence. Osborne’s exposure to “plein air” painting deeply impacted his stylistic development; and Orpen allied himself with a group of English artists, while at the same time participated in the French avant-garde experiment, both as painter and teacher. However, nationalist energies were beginning to coalesce (接合)，reviving interest in Irish culture-including Irish visual arts. Beatrice Elvery’s (1907), a landmark achievement, merged the devotional simplicity of fifteenth-century Italian painting with the iconography (肖像画法) of Ireland’s Celtic past, linking the history of Irish Catholicism with the still-nasce t (初生 的) Irish republic. And, although also captivated by the French plein air school , Sir John Lavery invoked the mythology of his native land for a 1928 commission to paint the central figure for the bank note of the new Irish Free State. Lavery chose as this figure, with her arm on a Celtic harp (竖琴)，the national symbol of independent Ireland. In Irish painting from about 1910, memories of Edwardian romanticism coexisted with a new sense of realism,exemplified by the paintings of Paul Henry and Se Keating, a student of Orpen’s. realism also crept into the work of Edwardians Lavery and Orpen, both of whom made paintings depicting World WarⅠ,Lavery with a distanced Victorian nobility, Orpen closer to the front, revealing a more sinister and realistic vision. Meanwhile, counterpoint to the Edwardians and realists came Jack B. Yeats, whose travels throughout the rugged and more authentically Irish West led him to depict subjects ranging from street scenes in Dublin to boxing matches and funerals. Fusing close observations of Irish life and icons with an Irish identity in a new way, Yeats changed the face of Irish painting and became the most important Irishartist of his century. 1. Which of the following art most probably exerted the greatest influence on Irish painting in the 19th century? A. British lyrical tradition B. French avant-garde experiment C. notionalist energies D. Italian painting 2. It is implied_________was least influenced by the contemporary art of Frence. A. Sir John Lavery B. Sir William Orpen C. Beatrice Elvery D. Se Keating 3. Which of the following best explains the author’s use of the word “counterpoint” in referring to Yeats? A. Yeats’ paintings differed significantly in subject matter from those of his contemporaries in Ireland. B. Yeats reacted to the realism of his contemporary artists by invoking nineteenth-century naturalism in his own painting style. C. Yeats avoided religious and mythological themes in favor of mundane portrayals of Irish life. D. Yeats built upon the realism painting tradition, elevating it to unprecedented artistic heights. 4. The author points out the coexistence of romanticism and realism most probably in order to show that_________. A. Irish painters of the early twentieth century tended to romanticize the harsh reality of war B. for a time painters from each school influenced painters from the other school C. Yeats was influenced by both the romantic and realist schools of Irish painting D. the transition in Irish painting from one predominant style to the other was not an abrupt one 5. The most likely topic of the paragraph followed is _________. A. The Role of Celtic Mythology in Irish Painting B. Who Deserves Credit for the Preeminence of Yeats among Irish Painters? C. Realism vs. Romanticism: Ireland’s Struggle for National Identity D. Irish Paintings: Reflections of an Emerging Independent State 答案 AAADD 54 The moden world only recently reached the Yanomano, a native people of the Amazon basin. Sheltered by thick rainforest,the Yanomano lived a sel f-contained existence until gold was discovered in their jungle homeland. Miners flocked into the forests, cutting down trees and bringing disease and shot those Yanomano who would not get out of the way. In just seven years from the early 1980s, the population fell 20 per cent. Hands Around the World, a native American cultural association, says the Yanomano are believed to be the most culturally intact people in the world. They wear loin cloths, use fire sticks and decorate their bodies with dye from a red berry(桨果). They don’t use the wheel and the only metal they use is what has been traded to them by outsiders. When a Yanomano dies, the body is burned and the remaining bones crushed into a powder and turned into a drink that is later consumed by mourners in memory of the dead. A Hands Around the World report says that in South America not only are the cultures and traditions in danger of disappearing, but some tribes are in danger of extinction. “The Yanomano is a well-known tribe that is rapidly losing its members through the destruction of Western disease,” the report says. Before illegal gold miners entered their rainforest, the Yanomano were isolated from modern sociaty. They occupy dense jungle north of the Amazon River between Venezuela and Brazil and are catalogued by anthropologists(人类学家) as neo-indians with cultural characteristics that date back more than 8,000 years. Each community lives in a circular communal house, some of which sleep up to 400, built around a central square. Though many Yanomano men are monogamous, it is not unusual for them to have two or more wives. Anthropologists from the University of Wisconsin say polygamy is a way to increase one’s wealth because having a large family increases help with hunting and cultivating the land. These marriages result in a shortage of women for other men to marry, which has led to inter-tribal wars. Each Yanomano man is responsible for clearing his land for gardening, using slash-and-hum farming methods. They grow plantains, a type of banana eaten cooked, and hunt game animals, fish and anaconda(南美热带蟒蛇) using bows and arrows. 1. Miners flocked into the forest and shot those Yanomano who _______. A. sheltered in thick rainforest B. would not leave their jungle homeland C. lived a self-contained existence D. would stand in their way 2. The organization called Hands Around the World believes that culturally, the Yanomano is the world’s__________. A. most primitive people B. most backward people C. most advanced people D. oldest people 3. Which of the following is NOT true according to an American cultural association report? A. In South America, the cultures are on the verge of extinction. B. In South America, the traditions are on the verge of extinction. C. In South America, the Yanomano can survive extinction. D. In South America, some tribes are on the verge of extinction. 4. ___caused the Yanomano to have inter-tribal wars. A. The shortage o f women resulting from polygamy B. The difference in wealth resulting from polygamy C. The shortage of women resulting from monogamy D. The difference in wealth resulting from monogamy 5. We can infer from the passage that it is imperative for us to protect the Yanomano because__________. A. it is a clturally most intact people B. it is a primitive people deep in jungle C. it is a native people of the Amazon basin D. it is primitive people in danger of disappearing 答案 DACCD 55 Since its foundation in 1954, the United Nations has written into its major covenants(契约) the need to establish minimum ages for marriage. But the custom of marriage is a highly sensitive cultural issue, mainly because it is so unpleasantly involved with women’s rights and societal traditions and practices, and rules on marriage vary widely between countries. Some countries, particularly in West Africa, still do not have a legal minimum age for marriage. In the West, a 13-year-old is still considered a child. Even getting married in one’s late teens is not usually encouraged because married life is likely to interfere with a young woman’s education and consequently restrict opportunities in later life. And there are also physical dangers in giving birth so young. The World Health Organization has over the past ten years identified early childbirth as a major cause of female mortality in many countries. Under Islamic religious law, the age of consent for sex and marriage is puberty, which Muslims say is in harmony with the biological transition from childhood into adulthood. In Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, the age of puberty at around 13 or 14 is the legal age for marriage, but in Turkey it is 15, and in Egypt and Tunisia, 18 the same minimum age as in many Western countries. It is argued that by allowing earlier marriages, Islamic law is promoting stable relationships, while Western laws are encouraging promiscuity among young people. In many countries, the trends of urbanization and education for girls have seen a drop in the number of child brides. However, early marriages continue to occur in poor rural areas, where society works very much on personal arrangement between families, villages and communities. And it doesn’t only happen in countries which don’t have a legal minimum age. In India, for example, the legal age of marriage for a girl is 18 and to a boy, 21. Yet, according to government statistics, 18 percent of ten to fourteen-year old girls in the poor, rural state of Rajasthan in the northwest of the country are married. There are obvious social and economical advantages for doing this: by marrying off their daughters early, families no longer have to provide for them ; and the younger the bride the smaller the dowry(嫁妆), or wedding price, demanded by the groom’s family. It is clear, then, that child marriages are connected with poverty, lack of education and rural customs such as dowries; there don’t tend to be any child marriages in urban or rich areas. So, unless these real causes are addressed, it will be extremely hard to enforce change, even when change is dictated by a country’s governing body. (451 words) 1. What is the topic of this passage? A. Child brides. B. Early marriages. C. Minimum age for marriage. D. Different attitudes towards early marriages. 2. The word “promiscuity”(Line 9, Para. 3) means__. A. unstable partnership B. firm partnership C. diverse relationship D. single relationship 3. ____is likely to marry late. A. Women from less educated background B. Women from rural areas C. Women from Islamic countries D. Women from cities 4. Child marriages are NOT related to __________according to the passage. A. social position B. rural customs C. personal arrangements D. religion 5. According to the passage, getting married early does all of the following EXCEPT__________. A. reducing a young woman’s education B. limiting a young woman’s chances C. causing infant death D. doing harm to a young woman’s health 答案 BCDAC 56 As you all know, the United States is a country on wheels. Nearly eight million new cars are made each year; four households out of five own at least one car, and more than a quarter have two each. Yet you’ll be surprised to learn that some of the car-owners even suffer from malnutrition（营养不良）. In 1968, a nation-wide survey of malnutrition was made for the first time. It found that 10 million people are suffering in health through inadequate feeding; the causes of their plight（困境）were varied. Unemployment over a long period should be considered as the main factor. And unemployment, strange to say, nine times out of ten results from automation, both in industrial and agricultural areas. For example, in the rural South when a cotton plantation suddenly cuts its force from 100 people to three, the problem to help the displaced arises. So is the case with industrial automation. In fact, probably 2 million jobs are made unnecessary each year in the whole country as a result of the automation process, thus making unemployment a chief social concern. According to government statistics, the number of people unemployed was over 5 percent for the period from 1958 to 1963. In July 1981, it rose to 7.8 percent. As a matter of fact, it has long been known that even during the most prosperous periods there have been people without enough to eat. So I think that’s why President Kennedy said in his inauguration speech in 1961, if the government did not help the poor, it could not save the rich. In 1966, the Social Security Administration calculated that a family of four needed an income of $3,355 a year to be above the line of poverty. And in 1977, the average poverty line of the country was slightly more than $6,200 annual income for a non-farm family of four. According to the Social Security Act, families of that size below poverty line are eligible to receive benefits from the special welfa re program. The average weekly payment of benefits now is equivalent to 36 percent of the worker’s normal wage. And the number of people who receive government benefits is increasing. In 1973, social insurance payments by governments, mainly to old age pensioners and people who had lost their jobs or were off work through illness, amounted to $86,000 million. Those not fully qualified for insurance payments received $29,000 million in public aid. But problems still exist. Many people are not reached by the anti-poverty program, because local authorities and agencies do not want to play their part or do not gave the resources to do so. Some poor people will not accept help for various reasons. Of course, there are some more important factors which lie in the structure of the society, but I don’t consider it necessary to dig into them here. Yet we will perhaps agree that social welfare programs have solved to some extent the problems of feeding, clothing and housing those below the poverty line. On the whole, it perhaps might be said that American people are living a better life than people in most other countries. 1. The United States is called a country on wheels because______. A. about one-fourth Americans own two cars B. a bit over one out of four households are the owners of two cars C. nearly 8 million new cars drive in the country every year D. 80% Americans have at least one car 2. According to a 1968 survey, ten million Americans found themselves in a difficult health situation chiefly due to _______. A. inadequate feeding B. malnutrition C. unemployment D. automation 3. The author use ”the displaced”(Line 9, Para. 2) to refer to those who are _______. A. unemployed B. disabled C. sick D. poor 4. The word “eligible”(Line 6, Para.3) is synonymous with “_______” A. necessary B. urgent C. needed D. worthy 5. Americans are living a better life than those in most of other countries because, to some degree, _____. A. many Americans receive benefits from the special welfare program B. some poor people can receive help for some reason or other C. there is the anti-poverty program in the U.S. D. social welfare programs have some measure settled the problems of those below the poverty line. 答案 BCADD 57 A scientific panel convened by the World Health Organization recommended guidelines on Friday for doctors conducting clinical studies of SARS patients. The panel urged doctors to apply the guidelines in analyzing the masses of potentially useful information about various therapies that were collected in this year’s epidemic. Much of that information has not been published or analyzed. “It is a matter of urgency to get better analysis and review,” said Dr. Simon Mardel, a WHO official who led the two-day meeting that ended on Friday. He said thousands of potential therapies and compounds had been tested so far as researchers try to determine treatments for SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. “We recognize that having no treatment for SARS is hindering our ability to control an epidemic in so many ways.” He said. In the epidemic earlier this year, various treatments, like drugs to fight the virus or strengthen the immune system, as well as traditional Chinese medicine, were delivered under emergency conditions, in widely different settings and countries to patients suffering from varying stages of the illness. Those conditions—generally without standardized measurements or controlled situations—have made it hard to interpret results. Standard supportive therapy like nursing, and in severe cases the use of mechanical respirators（呼吸器）to help patients breathe, is the mainstay （主要支持） SARS care, and helped many patients survive. But doctors still do not know how best to of treat SARS patients who have breathing difficulties. Dr. Mardel said. One method is invasive ventilation. A second method involves blowing oxygen into the lungs through a mask. Both carry the risk of transmitting the virus to hospital employees. Without proper analysis, the panel was unable to say definitively which treatment worked best, or which caused the most harm. “There is a lack of shared information,” Dr. Mardel said, noting that a lot of data have not been published. The panel also agreed on guidelines that would allow doctors to conduct quick and safe clinical trials, a process that generally takes years to complete. The world Health Organization, a United Nations agency did not release the guidelines. Dr. Mardel said they were flexible because no one knew where, when and in what setting SARS would return. Experts in many countries have already listed the treatments they want to test, and the health agency is leaving these decisions to individual nations. 1. Guidelines recommended by the scientific panel can be used for _____. A. gathering potentially useful information about various therapies collected B. conducting clinical studies of SARS patients C. determining treatment for SARS D. publishing all the information about SARS 2. According to the passage, it is difficult to interpret the results of certain treatments for SARS because _____. A. patients were in different countries B. patients were given medicines in widely different settings C. patients were at different stages of the illness D. these conditions had no standardized measurements or controlled situations 3. According to doctors, the two methods to treat SARS patients who have breathing difficulties both _______. A. carry the risk of infecting hospital employees B. are effective in curing patients who have breathing difficulties C. don’t run the risk of transmitting the virus to hospital employees D. prove to work effectively and cause no harm 4. According to a WHO official, Dr. Mardel, the guidelines were flexible because _____. A. SARS would reemerge in poor countries B. no one knew where, when and in what setting SARS would return C. SARS would not appear in developed countries D. no one knew whether SARS would return or not 5. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? A. SARS, a Dreadful Disease B. No Good Methods to Treat SARS C. SARS Will Return One Day D. Health Panel Recommends New Guidelines on SARS 答案 BDABD 58 We all know that the normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7-8 hours’ sleep alternation with some 16-17 hours’wakefulness and that, broadly speaking, the sleep normally coincides with the hours of darkness. Our present concern is with how easily and to what extent this cycle can be modified. The question is no mere academic one. The ease, for example, with which people can change from working in the day to working at night is a question of growing importance in industry where automation calls for round-the-clock working of machines. It normally takes from five days to one week for a person to adapt to a reversed routine of sleep and wakefulness, sleeping during the day and working at night. Unfortunately, it is often the case in industry that shifts are changed every week; a person may work from 12:00 midnight to 8:00 a.m. one week, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. the next, and 4:00p.m. to 12:00 midnight the third and so on. This means that no sooner has he got used to one routine than he has to change to another, so that much of his time is spent neither working nor sleeping very efficiently. The only real solution appears to be to hand over the night shift to a number of permanent night workers. An interesting study of the domestic life and health of night-shift workers was carried out by Brown in 1957. She found a high incidence of disturbed sleep and other disorders among those on alternating day and night shifts, but no abnormal occurrence of these phenomena among those on permanent night work. This latter system then appears to be the best long-term policy, but meanwhile something may be done to relieve the strains of alternate day and night work by selecting those people who can adapt most quickly to the changes of routine. One way of knowing when a person has adapted is by measuring his body temperature. People engaged in normal daytime work will have a high temperature during the hours of wakefulness and a low one at night; when they change to night work, the pattern will only gradually go back to match the new routine and the speed with which it does so parallels, broadly speaking, the adaptation of the body as a whole, particularly in terms of performance. Therefore, by taking body temperature at intervals of two hours throughout the period of wakefulness it can be seen how quickly a person can adapt to a reversed routine, and this could be used as a basis for selection. So far, however, such a form of selection does not seem to have been applied in practice. 1. The main problem of the round-the-clock working system lies in _______. A. the disturbance of the daily cycle of workers who have to change shifts too frequently B. the inconveniences brought about to the workers by the introduction of automation C. the fact that people working at night are often less effective D. the fact that it is difficult to find a number of good night workers 2. The best solution to implementing the 24-hour working system seems ___. A. to employ people who work on night shifts only B. to create better living conditions for night workers C. to change shifts at longer intervals D. to have longer shifts 3. Which of the following statements is NOT true? A. Body temperature may serve as an indication of a worker’s performance. B. The employment of permanent night shift workers seems to be the best solution to problems of the round-the-clock working system. C. Taking body temperature at regular intervals can show how a person adapts to the changes of routine. D. Disturbed sleep occurs more frequently among shift workers. 4. It is possible to find out if a person has adapted to the changes of routine by measuring his body temperature because ________. A. body temperature changes when the cycle of sleep and wakefulness alternates B. body temperature changes when he changes to night shift or back C. the temperature reverses when the routine is changed. D. people have higher temperature when they are working efficiently. 5. The phrase “coincide with”(Line 3, Para.1) could best be replaced by ____. A. take place B. agree with C. accord to D. take up 答案 BAACB 59 Look at the keyboard of any standard typewriter or computer. "Q," "W," "E," "R," "T" and "Y" are the first six letters. Who decided on this arrangement of the letters? And why? People tried for centuries to invent the typewriter. In 1714 in England, Henry Mill filed a patent for a machine called An Artificial Machine or Method for the Impressing or Transcribing of Letters, Singly or Progressively one after another, as in Writing, whereby all Writing whatsoever may be Engrossed in Paper or Parchment so Neat and Exact as not to be distinguished from Print. That machine probably didn’ t sell because no one could remember its name! The first practical typewriter was patented in the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. His machine was known as the type-writer. It had a movable carriage, a lever for turning paper from line to line, and a keyboard on which the letters were arranged in alphabetical order. But Sholes had a problem. On his first model, his "ABC" key arrangement caused the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly. Sholes didn’t know how to keep the keys from sticking, so his solution was to keep the typist from typing too fast.Sholes asked his brother-in-law to rearrange the keyboard so that the commonest letters were not so close together and the type bars would come from opposite directions. Thus they would not clash together and jam the machine.The new arrangement was the QWERTY arrangement typists use today. Of course, Sholes claimed that the new arrangement was scientific and would add speed and efficiency. The only efficiency it added was to sl ow the typist down, since almost any word in the English language required the typist’ s fingers to cover more distance on the keyboard. The advantages of the typewriter outweighed the disadvantages of the keyboard. Typists memorized the crazy letter arrangement, and the typewriter became a huge success. By the time typists had memorized the new arrangement of letters and built their speed, typewriter technology had improved, and the keys didn’ t stick as badly as they had at first. 1.We know from the passage that the inventor of the first practical typewriter is_____. A.Henry Mill B.Christopher Latham Sholes C.Sholes’brother-in-law D.Allbert Einstein 2.The author thinks the machine invented by Henry Mill could not be sold because_____. A.it was difficult for people to accept new things B.there were great disadvantages of the keyboard C.the machine could not be distinguished from print D.the name of the machine was too long 3.Sholes decided the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard in order to___. A.arrange the letters in alphabetical order B.cause the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly C.solve the problem of the keys jamming D.compete with "ABC" key arrangement 4.It is inferred that the QWERTY arrangement of the keyboard_____. A.is the most scientific arrangement B.adds speed and efficiency of typists C.keeps the typist from typing too fast D.is easy for typists to memorize 5.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage? A.The Arrangement of The Letters on Keyboard B.The Story of Christopher Latham Sholes C.How to Invent The Typewriter D.The First Practical Typewriter 答案：BDCCA 60 With its common interest in lawbreaking but its immense range of subject matter and widely varying methods of treatment, the crime novel could make a legitimate claim to be regarded as a separate branch of literature, or, at least, as a distinct, even though a slightly disreputable, shoot of the traditional novel. The detective story is probably the most respectable (at any rate in the narrow sense of the word) of the crime species. Its creation is often the relaxation of university dons, literary economists, scientists or even poets. Fatalities may occur more frequently and mysteriously than might be expected in polite society, but the world in which they happen, the village, seaside resort, college or studio, is familiar to us, if not from our own experience, at least in the newspaper or the lives of friends. The characters, though normally realized superficially, are as recognizably human and consistent as our less intimate associates. A story set in a more remote environment, African jungle, or Australian bush, ancient China or gaslit London, appeals to our interest in geography or history, and most detective story writers are conscientious in providing a reasonably authentic background. The elaborate, carefully-assembled plot, despised by the modem intellectual critics and creators of significant novels, has found refuge in the mur der mystery, with its sprinkling of clues, its spicing with apparent impossibilities, all with appropriate solutions and explanations at the end. With the guilt of escapism from Real Life, nagging gently, we secretly revel in the unmasking of evil by a vaguely super-human sleuth (侦探), who sees through and dispels the cloud of suspicion which has hovered so unjustly over the innocent. Though its villain also receives his rightful deserts, the thriller presents a less comfortable and credible world. The sequence of fist fights, revolver duels, car crashes and escapes from gas-filled cellars exhausts the reader far more than the hero, who suffers from at least two broken ribs, one black eye, uncountable bruises and a hangover, can still chase and overpower an armed villain With the physique of wrestler. He moves dangerously through a world of ruthless gangs, brutality, a vicious lust for power and money and, in contrast to the detective tale, with a near-omniscient arch-criminal whose defeat seems almost accidental. Perhaps we miss in the thriller the security of being safely led by our calm investigator past a score of red herrings and blind avenues to a final gathering of suspects when an unchallengeable elucidation (解释) of all that has bewildered us is given and justice and goodness prevail. All that we vainly hope for from life is granted vicariously（间接地）. 57. The crime novel may be regarded as [A] not a tree novel at all [B] an independent development of the novel [C] related in some ways to the historical novel [D] a quite respectable form of the conventional novel 58. The passage suggests that intellectuals write detective stories because [ A] they enjoy writing these stories [ B ] the stories are often in fact very instructive [ C ] detective stories are an accepted branch of literature [ D ] the creation of these stories demands considerable intelligence 59. What feature of the detective story is said to disqualify it from respectful consideration by intellectual critics? [ A ] The fact that the guilty are always found out and the innocent cleared. [ B ] The lack of interest in genuine character revelations. [ C ] The existence of a neat closely-knit story. [ D ] The many seemingly impossible events. 60. One of the most incredible characteristics of the hero of a thriller is [A]his exciting life [B] his amazing toughness [C] the way he deals with enemies [D] his ability to escape from dangerous situations 61. In what way are the detective story and the thriller unlike? [A] In introducing violence. [B]In providing excitement and suspense． [C]In ensuring that everything comes right in the end． [D]In appealing to the intellectual curiosity of the reader 答案 BACＢＤ 61 Every once in a while the reasons for discouragement about the human prospect pile up so high that it becomes difficult to see the way ahead。and it is then a．great blessing to have one conspicuous and undeniable good thing to think about ourselves ， something solid enough to step onto and look beyond the pile． language is often useful for this，and music．A particular painting，if you have the right receptors，can lift the spirits and hold them high enough to see a whole future for the race．The sound of laughter in the distance in the dark can be a marvelous encouragement．But these are uncertain stimuli，ready，to work only if you happen to be ready to receive them,which takes a bit of luck. I have been reading magazine stories about the technology of lie detection lately，and it occurs to me that this may be the thing I've been looking for，an encouragement supported by genuine，hard scientific data．It is promising enough that I’ve decided to take as given what the articles say．uncritically，and to look no further． As I understand it，a human being cannot tell a lie，even a small one．without setting off a kind of smoke alarm Somewhere deep in a dark recess of the brain，resulting in the sudden discharge 9f nerve impulses，or the sudden outpouring of neurohormones(神经激素)of some sort，or both．The outcome，recorded by the lie—detector device is similar to the responses to various kinds of stress． Lying，then is stressful，even when we do it for protection，or relief，or escape，or profit，or just for the pure pleasure of lying and getting away with it．It is a strain．distressing enough to cause the emission of signals to and from the central nervous system warning that something has gone wron9．It is，in a pure physiological sense，an unnatural act． Now I regard this as a piece of extraordinarily good news，meaning，that we are compelled to be a moral species at least in the limited sense that we are biologically designed to be truthful to each other． It seems a petty thing to have this information，but perhaps it tells us to look again，and look deeper．We are indeed a social species，more dependent on each other than the celebrated social insects，we can no more live a solitary life than can a bee，we ale obliged，as a species。to rely on each other—Trust is a fundamental requirement for our kind of existence，and without it all our linkages would begin to snap loose．It is enough，quite enough，to know that we cannot even tell a plain untruth，and betray a trust，without scaring some part of our own brains． 62．In the first paragraph．the author implies that [A]we are convinced that men are born evil [B] human beings are surrounded by piles of rubbish [C]there are a lot of obstacles on the way ahead of human beings [D]man’s future is seen to be encouraging from his good nature 63．According to the second paragraph，which of the following statements is true? [A] Language is as useful as music． [B]Painting is the best of all in lifting one’s spirits． [C]To see human’s bright side is a game of chance， [D]Not everyone is given the chance of a good future． 64. Which of the following is true ac6 ording to the passage? [ A] Physiological changes will for sure betray a liar. [ B] The bigger a lie is, the stronger the strain will be. [C ] The degree of the strain depends on the purpose of lying. [ D] A well-trained person can tell lies without being detected. 65. The information given by the lie detector, according to the author, is [ A] trivial [ B ] essential [ C ] surprising [ D] unreliable 66. The message the author transmits to us by the lie detector is that [ A] it is vital for us to be truthful to each other [B ] lying will be checked by more advanced lie detectors [ C] a lie detector can make a good record of nerve impulses [ D] a liar benefits himself from lying, but only at the cost of others 答案ＤＣＡＢＡ 62 President Bush touched off a firestorm of criticism from congressional Democrats, civil fights groups and newspaper editorialists Wednesday when he decided to intervene in a Supreme Court case challenging racial preferences in the University of Michigan admissions policy. The howls of protest were quick and loud. Judging from the noise, one might conclude that this president is in big political trouble as he looks to reelection in 2004. After all, with public uncertainty about the economy, the possibility of war with Iraq, increased tensions with North Korea dominating the headlines, and Democrats hurling brickbats at Bush for everything from his economic stimulus plan that they say favors the rich to what they see as his abandonment of minorities by opposing the Michigan case, he would appear to be poised (使平衡) on the brink of political disaster. But is he? Not yet. His standing with the public is stronger than outward poll numbers suggest. Much was made this past week of a USA TODAY CNN Gallup Poll that showed Bush's job approval rating dipping below 60% for the first time since Sept. 11, to 58%. That caused many to comment that he might be following down a path his father previously trod. The elder Bush achieved success in the Persian Gulf War but saw his job ratings erode steadily, largely because of what many read as an inadequate response to a slumping economy. He was denied a second term.But for the younger Bush to be in danger of a repeat, he would have to do something that breaks the bond he has formed with the American public on a personal level since Sept. 11 that transcends his positions on various issues. The same USA TODAY poll that showed Bush's overall job-approval slipping, but still good,also found that his so-called political "vital signs" are remarkably strong. They suggest that regardless of whether people agree or disagree with Bush's handling of specific problems or issues,he retains a high degree of respect, trust and support for pushing boldly ahead as he sees fit. Most who said the qualities do not apply are Democrats, Who more than likely are not going to vote for Bush anyway. It is the swing voters that Bush must hold, and the poll shows that most independents rank Bush positively on these measures, He also "gets some pretty strong ratings from women, who traditionally lean toward Democratic presidential candidates. So when Bush makes a bold decision to fight terrorism, oppose the Michigan admissions policy or force Saddam Hussein to disarm, many may disagree. But they rate him high for leading, which, after all, is what we elect our presidents to do. And most see him as honest, willing to get along with his political opponents and an effective government manager. Analysts say those vital signs will see Bush through the rough times. 52. It can be inferred from the passage that the University of Michigan [ A ] carries out a preferential policy for recruiting minority students [ B] comes into open conflicts with Bush's economic stimulus plan [ C] puts Bush in trouble by abandoning minority students in its admission [D] is strongly opposed to Bush's foreign policies 53. According to the passage, the poll numbers indicate that [A] Bush's standing with the public is very strong [ B] Bush's economic package wins widespread support [ C] public support for Bush is declining [ D] Bush is on the brink of political disaster 54. The elder Bush lost a second term mainly because [ A ] he lost the Persian Gulf War [B ] he failed to develop an intimate relationship with the public [ C ] he proved himself inadequate as a political leader [ D ] he did not take effective measures to recover the economy 55. The expression "vital signs" (Line 2, Para. 3 ) mainly refers to [ A] signs that signalize public satisfaction with Bush's work [ B ] qualities that meet the leadership of the country [ C] poll numbers that show Bush's job-approval ratings [ D] issues that Bush has to handle before a reelection 56. The main idea of the passage is that [ A] approval polls don't tell the whole Bush story [ B ] young Bush is in danger of repeating the elder Bush's mistakes [ C ] fighting another war does not help the slumping economy [ DJ public support for Bush's work takes another dip 答案ＡＣＤＢＡ 63 In recent years, we have all watched the increasing commercialization of the campus. The numerous advertising posters and the golden arches of fast food outlets may be an insult to our aesthetic sensibilities, but they are, arguably, no worse than ugly. Some of the other new features of commercialized campus life do, however, constitute a serious threat to things we rightly respect. "Privatization" and the "business model" are the potential menace. What do these notions mean? To me, they involve an increased dependence on industry and charitable actions for operating the university; an increased amount of our resources being directed to applied or so-called practical Subjects, both in teaching and in research; a proprietary (所有权的，所有人的) treatment of research results, with the commercial interest in secrecy overriding the public's interest in free, shared knowledge; and an attempt to run the university more like a business that treats in dustry and students as clients and ourselves as service providers with something to sell. We pay increasing attention to the immediate needs and demands of our "customers" and, as the old saying goes, "the customer is always right". Privatization is particularly frightening from the point of view of public well-being. A researcher employed by a university-affiliated hospital in Canada, working under contract with a medicine-making company, made public her findings that a particular drug was harmful. This violated the terms of her contract, and so she was fired. Her dismissal caused a scandal, and she was subsequently restored to her previous position. The university and hospital in question are now working out something similar to tenure (终身任职) for hospital-based researchers and guidelines for contracts, so that more public exposure of privately funded research will become possible. This is a rare victory and a small step in the right direction, but the general trend is the other way. Thanks to profit-driven private funding, researchers are not only forced to keep valuable information secret, they are often contractually obliged to keep discovered dangers to public health under wraps, too. Of course, we must not be too naive about this. Governments can unwisely insist on secrecy, too, as did the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food in the work they funded in connection with the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (牛脑海绵体病) epidemic.This prevented others from reviewing the relevant, data and pointing out that problems were more serous than government was letting on. 57. From the first paragraph we can learn that the campus life has become [A ] more convenient [ B ] rather ugly [ C ] somewhat harmful [ D ] no more aesthetic than before 58. "Privatization" and the "business model" in this passage most probably mean [ A ] potential menace to life [ B ] new features of campus life [ C ] new trend on campus [ D] dependence on industry and charities 59. The author believes that we should pay [ A] little attention to applied subjects [ B ] due attention to the public interest in free, shared knowledge [ C ] more attention to the immediate needs and demands of our customers [ D ] considerable attention to the commercial interest in the secrecy of research results 60. The researcher mentioned in the third .paragraph was fired because [ A] she worked for the rival of the company [ B ] she failed to keep her research results secret [ C ] she was obliged to keep her discoveries secret [ D ] she was committed to a contract with a company 61. It is implied in the passage that [ A ] the general public is too naive to accept the "privatization" [ B ] the notion that "the customer is always right" is out of date [ C ] it is a general trend that there will be more public disclosure of privately funded research [ D] the bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic in Britain was more serious than what was disclosed 答案 CＢＢDD 64 On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas. Vice President Al Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said. They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House. The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore’s unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down. “The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,” William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement. Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley. He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps. Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms form Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president. The news of Mr. Gore’s plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country. It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271votes to 267—the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of 1876. Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation’s highest court. The 5-to –4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to select their presidential electors. James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was “very pleased and gratified.” Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country’s deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush’s ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington. When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan.20, he will be only the second son of a pres ident to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century. Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his hive-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as “resolved and resigned.” While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway. The U.S. high court sent back “for revision” to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over. In its unsigned main opinion, the court declared, “The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter.” That decision, by a court fractured along philosophical lines, left one liberal justice charging that the high court’s proceedings bore a political taint. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in an angry dissent:” Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law.” But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tested in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support. The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governor’s hopes had risen and fallen so many times since Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration. 1 The main idea of this passage is [A]. Bush’s victory in presidential election bore a political taint. [B]. The process of the American presidential election. [C]. The Supreme Court plays a very important part in the presidential election. [D]. Gore is distressed. 2 What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step” mean [A]. Bush hopes Gore to join his administration. [B]. Bush hopes Gore to concede defeat and to support him. [C]. Bush hopes Gore to congraduate him. [D]. Bush hopes Gore go on fighting with him. 3 Why couldn’t Mr. Gore win the presidential election after he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because [A]. the American president is decided by the supreme court’s decision. [B]. people can’t directly elect their president. [C]. the American president is elected by a slate of presidential electors. [D]. the people of each state support Mr. Bush. 4 What was the result of the 5—4 decision of the suprem e court? [A]. It was in fact for the vote recount. [B]. It had nothing to do with the presidential election. [C]. It decided the fate of the winner. [D]. It was in essence against the vote recount. 5 What did the “turbulent election of 1876” imply? [A]. The process of presidential election of 2000 was the same as that. [B]. There were great similarities between the two presidential elections (2000 and 1876). [C]. It was compared to presidential election of 2000. [D]. It was given an example. 答案 ABCDB 65 Why the inductive and mathematical sciences, after their first rapid development at the culmination of Greek civilization, advanced so slowly for two thousand years—and why in the following two hundred years a knowledge of natural and mathematical science has accumulated, which so vastly exceeds all that was previously known that these sciences may be justly regarded as the products of our own times—are questions which have interested the modern philosopher not less than the objects with which these sciences are more immediately conversant. Was it the employment of a new method of research, or in the exercise of greater virtue in the use of the old methods, that this singular modern phenomenon had its origin? Was the long period one of arrested development, and is the modern era one of normal growth? Or should we ascribe the characteristics of both periods to so-called historical accidents—to the influence of conjunctions in circumstances of which no explanation is possible, save in the omnipotence and wisdom of a guiding Providence? The explanation which has become commonplace, that the ancients employed deduction chiefly in their scientific inquiries, while the moderns employ induction, proves to be too narrow, and fails upon close examination to point with sufficient distinctness the contrast that is evident between ancient and modern scientific doctrines and inquiries. For all knowledge is founded on observation, and proceeds from this by analysis, by synthesis and analysis, by induction and deduction, and if possible by verification, or by new appeals to observation under the guidance of deduction—by steps which are indeed correlative parts of one method; and the ancient sciences afford examples of every one of these methods, or parts of one method, which have been generalized from the examples of science. A failure to employ or to employ adequately any one of these partial methods, an imperfection in the arts and resources of observation and experiment, carelessness in observation, neglect of relevant facts, by appeal to experiment and observation—these are the faults which cause all failures to ascertain truth, whether among the ancients or the moderns; but this statement does not explain why the modern is possessed of a greater virtue, and by what means he attained his superiority. Much less does it explain the sudden growth of science in recent times. The attempt to discover the explanation of this phenomenon in the an tithesis of “facts” and “theories” or “facts” and “ideas”—in the neglect among the ancients of the former, and their too exclusive attention to the latter—proves also to be too narrow, as well as open to the charge of vagueness. For in the first place, the antithesis is not complete. Facts and theories are not coordinate species. Theories, if true, are facts—a particular class of facts indeed, generally complex, and if a logical connection subsists between their constituents, have all the positive attributes of theories. Nevertheless, this distinction, however inadequate it may be to explain the source of true method in science, is well founded, and connotes an important character in true method. A fact is a proposition of simple. A theory, on the other hand, if true has all the characteristics of a fact, except that its verification is possible only by indirect, remote, and difficult means. To convert theories into facts is to add simple verification, and the theory thus acquires the full characteristics of a fact. 1 The title that best expresses the ideas of this passage is [A]. Philosophy of mathematics. [B]. The Recent Growth in Science. [C]. The Verification of Facts. [D]. Methods of Scientific Inquiry. 2 According to the author, one possible reason for the growth of science during the days of the ancient Greeks and in modern times is [A]. the similarity between the two periods. [B]. that it was an act of God. [C]. that both tried to develop the inductive method. [D]. due to the decline of the deductive method. 3 The difference between “fact” and “theory” [A]. is that the latter needs confirmation. [B]. rests on the simplicity of the former. [C]. is the difference between the modern scientists and the ancient Greeks. [D]. helps us to understand the deductive method. 4 According to the author, mathematics is [A]. an inductive science. [B]. in need of simple verification. [C]. a deductive science. [D]. based on fact and theory. 5 The statement “Theories are facts” may be called. [A]. a metaphor. [B]. a paradox. [C]. an appraisal of the inductive and deductive methods. [D]. a pun. 答案 DBACB 66 The striving of countries in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer an unprecedented chance to the continent’s Gypsies (or Roman) to be recognized as a nation, albeit one without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even seek some kind of formal place—at least a total population outnumbers that of many of the Union’s present and future countries. Some experts put the figure at 4m-plus; some proponents of Gypsy rights go as high as 15m. Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their language is related to Hindi, their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held them to be born on the moon. Other Europeans (wrongly) thought them migrant Egyptians, hence the derivative Gypsy. Most probably they were itinerant metal workers and e ntertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century. However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground. The International Romany Union, which says it stands for 10m Gypsies in more than 30 countries, is fostering the idea of “self-rallying”. It is trying to promote a standard and written form of the language; it waves a Gypsy flag (green with a wheel) when it lobbies in such places as the United Bations; and in July it held a congress in Prague, The Czech capital. Where President Vaclav Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better deal. At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected president of the International Tomany Union. Later this month a group of elected Gypsy politicians, including members of parliament, mayors and local councilors from all over Europe (OSCE), to discuss how to persuade more Gypsies to get involved in politics. The International Romany Union is probably the most representative of the outfits that speak for Gypsies, but that is not saying a lot. Of the several hundred delegates who gathered at its congress, few were democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsies are perhaps the world’s best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councils there. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but how it would actually be elected was left undecided. So far, the European Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation. The might, it is feared, open a Pandora’s box already containing Basques, Corsicans and other awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a nation might backfire, just when several countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are beginning to treat them better, in order to qualify for EU membership. “The EU’s whole premise is to overcome differences, not to highlight them,” says a nervous Eurocrat. But the idea that the Gypsies should win some kind of special recognition as Europe’s largest continent wide minority, and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on . Gypsies have suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has the largest number of them (more than 1m), in the 19th century they were actually enslaved. Hitler tried to wipe them out, along with the Jews. “Gypsies deserve some space within European structures,” says Jan Marinus Wiersma, a Dutchman in the European Parliament who suggests that one of the current commissioners should be responsible for Gypsy affairs. Some prominent Gypsies say they should be more directly represented, perhaps with a quota in the European Parliament. That, they argue, might give them a boost. There are moves afoot to help them to get money for, among other things, a Gypsy university. One big snag is that Europe’s Gypsies are, in f act, extremely heterogeneous. They belong to many different, and often antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language or religion, Their self-proclaimed leaders have often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says, Dimitrina Petrova, head of the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Gypsies’ shared experience of suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says, stems from “being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe.” And they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In Slovakia and Bulgaria, for instance, Gypsy political parties are trying to form electoral blocks that could win seats in parliament. In Macedonia, a Gypsy party already has some—and even runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge, an expert on Gypsy affairs at the OSCE, reckons that, spread over Central Europe, there are now about 20 Gypsy MPS and mayors, 400-odd local councilors, and a growing number of businessmen and intellectuals. That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash to forge a nation. But, with the Gypsy question on the EU’s agenda in Central Europe, they are making ground. 1The Best Title of this passage is [A]. Gypsies Want to Form a Nation. [B]. Are They a Nation. [C]. EU Is Afraid of Their Growth. [D]. They Are a Tribe 2Where are the most probable Gypsy territory origins? [A]. Most probably they drifted west from India in the 7th century. [B]. They are scattered everywhere in the world. [C]. Probably, they stemmed from Central Europe. [D]. They probably came from the International Romany Union. 3 What does the International Romany lobby for? [A]. It lobbies for a demand to be accepted by such international organizations as EU and UN. [B]. It lobbies for a post in any international Romany Union. [C]. It lobbies for the right as a nation. [D]. It lobbies for a place in such international organizations as the EU or UN. 4 Why is the Europe Commission wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation? [A]. It may open a Pandora’s Box .[B]. Encouragement may lead to some unexpected results. [C]. It fears that the Basgnes, Corsicans and other nations seeking separation may raise the same demand. [D]. Gyspsies’ demand may highlight the difference in the EU. 5 The big problem lies in the fact that [A]. Gypsies belong to different and antagonistic clans and tribes without a common language or religion. [B]. Their leaders prove corrupt. [C]. Their potential unity stems from “being regarded as sub-human”. [D]. They are a bit more pragmatic. 答案 BADCA 67 President Clinton’s decision on Apr.8 to send Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji packing without an agreement on China’s entry into the World Trade Organization seemed to be a massive miscalculation. The President took a drubbing from much of the press, which had breathlessly reported that a deal was in the bag. The Cabinet and Whit House still appeared divided, and business leaders were characterized as furious over the lost opport unity. Zhu charged that Clinton lacked “the courage” to reach an accord. And when Clinton later telephoned the angry Zhu to pledge a renewed effort at negotiations, the gesture was widely portrayed as a flip-flop. In fact, Clinton made the right decision in holding out for a better WTO deal. A lot more horse trading is needed before a final agreement can be reached. And without the Administration’s goal of a “bullet-proof agreement” that business lobbyists can enthusiastically sell to a Republican Congress, the whole process will end up in partisan acrimony that could harm relations with China for years. THE HARD PART. Many business lobbyists, while disappointed that the deal was not closed, agree that better terms can still be had. And Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, National Economic Council Director Gene B. Sperling, Commerce Secretary William M. Daley, and top trade negotiator Charlene Barshefsky all advised Clinton that while the Chinese had made a remarkable number of concessions, “we’re not there yet,” according to senior officials. Negotiating with Zhu over the remaining issues may be the easy part. Although Clinton can signal U.S. approval for China’s entry into the WTO himself, he needs Congress to grant Beijing permanent most-favored-nation status as part of a broad trade accord. And the temptation for meddling on Capital Hill may prove over-whelming. Zhu had barely landed before Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) declared himself skeptical that China deserved entry into the WTO. And Senators Jesse A. Helms (R-N.C.) and Emest F. Hollings (D-S. C.) promised to introduce a bill requiring congressional approval of any deal. The hidden message from these three textile-state Southerners: Get more protection for the U. S. clothing industry. Hoping to smooth the way, the Administration tried, but failed, to budge Zhu on textiles. Also left in the lurch: Wall Street, Hollywood, and Detroit. Zhu refused to open up much of the lucrative Chinese securities market and insisted on “cultural” restrictions on American movies and music. He also blocked efforts to allow U. S. auto makers to provide fleet financing. BIG JOB. Already, business lobbyists are blanketing Capitol Hill to presale any eventual agreement, but what they’ve heard so far isn’t encouraging. Republicans, including Lott, say that “the time just isn’t right” for the deal. Translation: We’re determined to make it look as if Clinton has capitulated to the Chinese and is ignoring human, religious, and labor rights violations; the theft of nuclear-weapons technology; and the sale of missile parts to America’s enemies. Beijing’s fierce critics within the Democratic Party, such as Senator Paul D. Wellstone of Minnesota and House Minority leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, won’t help, either. Just how tough the lobbying job on Capitol Hill will be become clear on Apr. 20, when Rubin lectured 19chief executives on the need to discipli ne their Republican allies. With business and the White House still trading charges over who is responsible for the defeat of fast-track trade negotiating legislation in 1997, working together won’t be easy. And Republicans—with a wink—say that they’ll eventually embrace China’s entry into the WTO as a favor to Corporate America. Though not long before they torture Clinton. But Zhu is out on a limb, and if Congress overdoes the criticism, he may be forced by domestic critics to renege. Business must make this much dear to both its GOP allies and the Whit House: This historic deal is too important to risk losing to any more partisan squabbling 1 The main idea of this passage is [A]. The Contradiction between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. [B]. On China’s entry into WTO. [C]. Clinton was right. [D]. Business Lobbyists Control Capitol Hill. 2 What does the sentence “Also left in the lurch: Wall Street, Hollywood, Detroit” convey? [A]. Premier Zhu rejected their requirements. [B]. The three places overdid criticism. [C]. They wanted more protection. [D]. They are in trouble. 3 What was the attitude of the Republican Party toward China’s entry into the WTO? [A]. Contradictory. [B].Appreciative .[C]. Disapproving. [D]. Detestful. 4 Who plays the leading part in the deal in America? [A]. White House . [B]. Republicans. [C]. The Democratic Party. [D]. Businessmen. 5 It can be inferred from the passage that [A]. America will make concessions. [B]. America will hold out for a better WTO [C]. Clinton has the right to signal U. S. approval for China’s entry. [D]. Democratic party approve China’s entry into the WTO. 答案 CAADA 68 In the last two hundred years there have been great changes in the method of production of goods. This is now also true of the building industry; for mechanization has been introduced. System building can save both time and money. The principle of system building is that the building is made from a set of standard units. These are either made at the building-site or at a factory. Some designers, in fact, are standardizing the dimensions of rooms. They are made in multiples of a single fixed length, usually ten centimeters. This is called a modular (标准件的) system, and it means that manufactures can produce standardized fittings at a lower cost. The most important fact about system building is its speed. A ten-storey flat, for example, can be completed in four months. There are several new methods of system building. One is the panel method. In this case, the construction company sometimes erects a factory on the site. The walls and floors of the building, called panels, are cast in a horizontal or vertical position. Conduits for electrical wires and sleeves for pipes are cast in the panels when they are being made. The moulds for making these castings are situated all around the building. After the concrete panels are cast, they are allowed to set and harden for a week. Next they are lift ed by a tower crane on to any section of the building. There the panels are cemented together at their joints and the floor covering is laid. After the panels have been cemented together, the crane lifts a case into the area. It contains all the fittings to be installed, such as wash-basins, radiators and pipes. Finishing tradesmen, such as plumbers, plasterers, painters and electricians, follow behind to complete the work. In some building developments, in some countries, whole flats with internal features like their bathrooms, bedrooms and connecting stairs, and weighing as much as twenty tons, are carried to the building-site ready-made. A giant overhead crane is used to lift them into position. In the future, this method may become more widespread. 1. The main difference between panel method and the method discussed in the last paragraph is_______. A. the latter uses ready-made internal features B. panels are cast in a level position C. the former is used to build walls and floors while the latter to construct bathrooms or bedrooms D. the former is more expensive than the latter 2. Which of these statements is TRUE of system building? A. It employs more men. B. It is difficult and dangerous. C. It can save both time and money. D. It means less mechanization. 3. According to the passage, the principle of system building is that_______. A. construction methods are safer B. buildings are made from a set of standardized units C. similar buildings can be produced D. all units are produced on the site 4. The usual fixed length in the modular system is_______. A. twenty centimeters B. ten millimeters C. fifty centimeters D. ten centimeters 5. What lifts the concrete panels onto the building? A. Cranes. B. Man-power. C. Pulleys. D. Hydraulic jacks. 答案 A C B D A 69 As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn't the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, hut a fact of Europe's new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, real- estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the "irresistible momentum of individualism" over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on (扰乱) Europeans' private lives. Europe's new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe's shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today's tech-savvy (精通技术的) workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent en ough to want to do so. Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-- twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone. The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn't leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn't got time to get lonely because he has too much work. "I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult. "Only an ideal woman would make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called "The Single Woman and Prince Charming," thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don't last long if they start at all. Eppendorf a blond Berliner with a deep tan, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she'd never have wanted to do what her mother did give up a career to raise a family. Instead, "I've always done what I wanted to do：live a self- determined life." 52. More and more young Europeans remain single because? A) they are driven by an overwhelming sense of individualism B) they have entered the workforce at a much earlier age C) they have embraced a business culture of stability D) they are pessimistic about their economic future 53. What is said about European society in the passage? A) It has fostered the trend towards small families. B) It is getting closer to American style capitalism. C) It has limited consumer choice despite a free market. D) It is being threatened by irresistible privatization. 54. According to Paragraph 3, the newest group of singles are ______. A) warm and light hearted B) on either side of marriage C) negative and gloomy D) healthy and wealth 55. The author quotes Eppendorf to show that ______. A) some modern women prefer a life of individual freedom B) the family is no longer the basic unit of society in present-day Europe C) some professional people have too much work to do to feel lonely D) most Europeans conceive living a single life as unacceptable 56. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage? A) To review the impact of women becoming high earners. B) To contemplate the philosophy underlying individualism. C) To examine the trend of young people living alone. 答案 ABDAC D) To stress the rebuilding of personal relationships. 70 Supporters of the biotech industry have accused an American scientist of mi sconduct after she testified to the New Zealand government that a genetically modified(GM) bacterium could cause serious damage if released. The New Zealand Life Sciences Network, an association of pro-GM scientists and organizations, says the view expressed by Elaine Ingham, a soil biologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, was exaggerated and irresponsible. It has asked her university to discipline her. But Ingham stands by her comments and says the complaints are an attempt to silence her. "They're trying to cause trouble with my university and get me fired," Ingham told New Scientist. The controversy began on 1 February, when Ingham testified before New Zealand's Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, which will determine how to regulate GM organisms. Ingham claimed that a GM version of a common soil bacterium could spread and destroy plants if released into the wild. Other researchers had previously modified the bacterium to produce alcohol from organic waste. But Ingham says that when she put it in soil with wheat plants, all of the plants died within a week.. "We would lose terrestrial(陆生的)plants... this is an organism that is potentially deadly to the continued survival of human beings," she told the commission. She added that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) canceled its approval for field tests using the organism once she had told them about her research in 1999. But last week the New Zealand Life Sciences Network accused Ingham of "presenting inaccurate, careless and exaggerated information" and "generating speculative doomsday scenarios (世界末日的局面)that are not scientifically supportable". They say that her study doesn't even show that the bacteria would survive in the wild, much less kill massive numbers of plants. What's more, the network says that contrary to Ingham's claims, the EPA. was never asked to consider the organism for field trials. The EPA has not commented on the dispute. But an e-mail to the network from Janet Anderson, director of the EPA's bio pesticides (生物杀虫剂)division, says "there is no record of a review and/or clearance to field test". Ingham says EPA officials had told her that the organism was approved for field tests, but says she has few details. It's also not clear whether the organism, first engineered by a German institute for biotechnology, is still in use. Whether Ingham is right or wrong, her supporters say opponents are trying unfairly to silence her. "I think her concerns should be taken seriously. She shouldn't be harassed in this way," says Ann Clarke, a plant biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who also testified before the commission. "It's an attempt to silence the opposition." 57. The passage centers on the controversy ______. A) between American and New Zealand biologists over genetic modification B) as to whether the study of genetic modification should be continued C) over the possible adverse effect of a GM bacterium on plants D) about whether Elaine Ingham should be fired by her university 58. Ingham insists that her testimony is based on ______. A) evidence provided by the EPA of the United States B) the results of an experiment she conducted herself C) evidence from her collaborative research with German biologists D) the results of extensive field tests in Corvallis, Oregon 59. According to Janet Anderson, the EPA ______. A) has canceled its approval for field tests of the GM organism B) hasn't reviewed the timings of Ingham's research C) has approved field tests using the GM organism D) hasn't given permission to field test the GM organism 60. According to Ann Clarke, the New Zealand Life Sciences Network ______. A) should gather evidence to discredit Ingham's claims B) should require that the research by their biologists be regulated C) shouldn't demand that Ingham be disciplined for voicing her views D) shouldn't appease the opposition in such a quiet way 61. Which of the following statements about Ingham is TRUE? A) Her testimony hasn't been supported by the EPA. B) Her credibility as a scientist hasn't been undermined. C) She is firmly supported by her university. D) She has made great contributions to the study of GM bacteria. 答案 CBDCA 71 As Toyota and Hummer have learned, growing too fast can be a dangerous thing. From its origins, success in the auto industry has been about scale. In the early decades of the 20th century, Henry Ford was able to democratize the car and dominate the early auto industry because he built, and then continually improved, an assembly line that could make huge numbers of cars in a short amount of time. Bigger was always better. But two items from yesterday’s dispatch in the ongoing car dramas indicate why that’s not always true. Item No. 1: The Toyota debacle (失败). The mass failings of Toyota’s legendary quality-control efforts are now on full display in the hearings that have subjected CEO Akio Toyoda to a ritualized set of apologies and humiliations (羞辱). In recent years Toyota rode its efficiency and better financial management — it didn’t have to contend with the burdensome pension and health-care benefits that sandbagged the Big Three (i.e. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) — to large gains in market share and significant growth. In 2007 Toyota surpassed GM as the largest carmaker in the world. But something got lost in the process. As Toyoda acknowledged on Wednesday: “I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priority has traditionally been: first, safety; second, quality; and third, volume. These priorities became confused.” In other words, Toyoda seemed to admit, the company went wrong by moving size — i.e., volume — to the front of the line. Item No. 2: After a series of failed efforts to sell it, GM announced that its Hummer brand would be wound down. Hummer had a different problem with bigness than Toyota has. It was n’t that its production volumes were too high. In 2008 only 2,710 Hummers were sold. Rather, the outsize Hummer was simply too big — too inefficient, too out of step with the times — to succeed in a marketplace in which oil spiked to $150 per barrel and seems to have settled at a plateau above $70 a barrel. As the economy tanked, energy prices rose, and the spirit of the time shifted in favor of conservation, the gas-guzzling Hummer faced a double whammy (厄运): consumers had difficulty affording the vehicle’s high list price as well as difficulty affording its high operating price. Size does matter when it comes to auto production. But not always in the way manufacturers think. 47. The example of Henry Ford’s assembly line suggests that the success in the auto industry was built on 48. According to the author, Toyota’s fast growth in recent years was attributed to 49. CEO Akio Toyoda seemed to admit that Toyota betrayed its tradition of putting at top priority. 50. According to the passage, GM decided to gradually bring its Hummer brand to an end because of 51. According to the passage, whether purchasing or operating a Hummer, consumers found it hard to 47. scale 48. its efficiency and better financial management 49. safety 50. a series of failed effort to sell it 51. afford the high prices 72 Has your child cracked a book this summer? Although adults often jump at the chance to catch up on their reading during vacations, many children and teenagers, particularly those from low-income families, read few, if any, books during the summer break from school. But the price for keeping the books closed is a high one. Several studies have documented a “summer slide” in reading skills once school lets out each spring. The decline in reading and spelling skills are greatest among low-income students, who lose the equivalent of about two months of school each summer, according to the National Summer Learning Association, an education advocacy group. And the loss compounds each year. Now new research offers a surprisingly simple, and affordable, solution to the summer reading slide. In a three-year study, researchers at the University of Tennessee found that simply giving low-income children access to books at spring fairs — and allowing them to choose books that most interested them — had a significant effect on the summer reading gap. The study, financed by the federal Department of Education, tracked the reading habits and test scores of more than 1,300 Florida children from 17 low-income schools. At the start of the study, 852 randomly selected first- and second-graders attended a school book fair in the spring where they were allowed to browse from 600 book titles. A variety of books were offered. The children chose 12 books. The researchers also selected at random a control group of 478 children who weren’t given reading books. Those children were offered free activity and puzzle books. The book fairs and activity book giveaw ays continued for three summers until the study participants reached the fourth and fifth grades. Then the researchers compared reading test scores for the two groups. Children who had received free books posted significantly higher test scores than the children who received activity books. The difference in scores was twice as high among the poorest children in the study. One of the most notable findings was that children improved their reading scores even though they typically weren’t selecting the curriculum books or classics that teachers normally assigned for summer reading. That conclusion confirms other studies suggesting that children learn best when they are allowed to select their own books. But giving children a choice in the books they read is a message many parents resist. At a bookstore recently, a study co-author, Anne McGill-Franzen, professor and director of the reading center at the University of Tennessee, said she witnessed an exchange between some mothers encouraging their fifth- and sixth-grade daughters to read biographies of historical figures, when the girls wanted to select books about Hannah Montana, a character played by the pop star Miley Cyrus. “If those books get them into reading, that has great repercussions (影响) for making them smarter,” Dr. McGill-Franzen said. “Teachers and middle-class parents undervalue kids’ preferences, but I think we need to give up being so uptight about children’s choices in books.” . 52. Several studies reveal that during summer vacations, A) parents are eager to choose books for their children B) slide enjoys greater popularity among poor children C) many schools choose to close the library to save money D) children’s reading skills decline without book reading 53. To solve the summer reading slide, researchers at the University of Tennessee suggest . A) schools provide free books to children B) children read in company with their parents C) children discuss with friends after reading D) parents buy some classics for their children . 54. In the study, children are divided into two groups according to whether A) they come from low-income families B) the books are offered to them for free C) they are allowed to select their own books D) they read much and perform well in tests 55. What conclusion of the study is worthy of notice according to the passage? A) Children tend not to read the curriculum books in summer. B) Poor students get the lowest scores in the reading test. C) Children given choice in books improve their reading. D) Teachers’ summer reading assignment fails to work on children. 56. What does Anne McGill-Franzen’s experience in the bookstore illustrate? A) Parents oppose giving children a choice in books. B) Reading about fictional figures makes children smarter. C) Many children books are undervalued in bookstores. D) There exists generation gap in selecting reading material. 答案 D A C C A 73 Amid weak job and housing markets, consumers are sa ving more and spending less than they have in decades, and industry professionals expect that trend to continue. Consumers saved 6.4 percent of their after-tax income in June. Before the recession, the rate was 1 to 2 percent for many years. In June, consumer spending and personal incomes were essentially flat compared with May, suggesting that the American economy, as dependent as it is on shoppers opening their wallets and purses, isn’t likely to rebound anytime soon. On the bright side, the practices that consumers have adopted in response to the economic crisis ultimately could make them happier. New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses. If consumers end up sticking with their newfound spending habits, some tactics (策略) that retailers and marketers began using during the recession could become lasting business strategies. Among those strategies are offering goods that makes being at home more entertaining and trying to make consumers feel special by giving them access to exclusive events and more personal customer service. While the current round of stinginess may simply be a response to the economic downturn, some analysts say consumers may also be permanently adjusting their spending based on what they’ve discovered about what truly makes them happy or fulfilled. “This actually is a topic that hasn’t been researched very much until recently,” says Elizabeth W. Dunn, an associate professor in the psychology department at the University of British Columbia, who is at the forefront of research on consumption and happiness. “There’s massive literature on income and happiness. It’s amazing how little there is on how to spend your money.” Studies over the last few decades have shown that money, up to a certain point, makes people happier because it lets them meet basic needs. The latest round of research is, for lack of a better term, all about emotional efficiency: how to reap the most happiness for your dollar. So just where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven’t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness. One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff. “‘It’s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch’ is basically the idea,” says Professor Dunn. Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacatio ns, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles. 57. What’s the dark side of American consumers’ saving more and spending less? A) The job and housing markets will become even weaker.B) There is little hope that the American economy will recover soon. C) More and more retailers and marketers will have to go bankrupt. D) It’s possible that the American economy will rebound sooner. 58. What makes consumers happier according to the new studies? A) Overcoming the economic crisis. B) Affording anything at any time. C) Spending money for an experience. D) Having as much money as other people. 59. What will happen if customers keep their spending habits formed in the economic downturn? A) They will get goods and services much cheaper. B) It’s likely that they spend more time indoors. C) Retailers will change their business strategies. D) They will enjoy better services and experiences. 60. What surprises Elizabeth W. Dunn according to the passage? A) There is little about how to spend money to make people happy. B) Consumers unconsciously adjust their spending habits to be happy. C) People started researches on consumption-happiness relationship so early. D) Happiness is proved to have nothing to do with consumption. 61. Scholars such as Prof. Dunn and Prof. DeLeire agree that . A) richer people feel happier and more satisfied B) most consumers prefer leading brands like Armani C) spending on vacations brings long-term happiness D) people should curb their spending on material things 答案 B C D A C 74 After the earthquake, the text messages came streaming in to 4636 — reports of trapped people, fires, polluted water sources, and requests for food, water and medical supplies. Hundreds of volunteers translated them from Creole and French into English, tagged them with a location and passed them on to aid agencies on the ground. Yet not one of the volunteers was anywhere near Haiti. The 4636 texting service is part of a new generation of web-based efforts to help disaster relief that has emerged from the revolution in texting, social networking and crowdsourcing. Its impact on the ground is tangible (确凿的). For example, a Haitian clinic texted 4636 that it was running low on fuel for its generator. Within 20 minutes the Red Cross said it would resupply. 4636 is run by a small organization called U, originally set up in Kenya to gather reports of violence after the 2008 election. Within days of the earthquake on 12 January that flattened Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and numerous surrounding towns, it had set up a Haitian operation and recruited hundreds of volunteers to help translate messages, many of them Haitians living in the U.S. The service is free, courtesy of Digicell, Haiti’s largest mobile network operator, which had 70 per cent of its network running within 24 hours of the quake. Nicolas di Tada, who helped set up 4636 on the ground in the first days after the disaster, says that was t he easy part. “The challenge was making responders on the ground aware of us.” A stroke of luck made a big difference. One of the first texts was from a hospital which had 200 beds, and doctors, nurses and medical supplies on standby, but no patients, because hardly any relief agencies knew they were there. Forwarding that message on told a large number of organization about 4636. Now, radio stations help spread the word. As people generally don’t send messages to say their request has been fulfilled, Ushahidi has no way of knowing how successful it has been. Still, “the system is unprecedented,” says Christopher Csikszentmihalyi, director of the Center for Future Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 47. Who tackled text messages on earthquake-hit Haiti that poured into 4636? 48. The example of a Haitian clinic receiving response from the Red Cross suggests that the 4636 texting service has . 49. The original purpose of creating 4636 was to that followed the 2008 Kenya election. 50. According Nicolas di Tada, the difficult part of work for 4636 Haitian operation is . . 51. Ushahidi is not clear of the effect of 4636 since senders usually do not give a feedback when 答案 47. Hundreds of volunteers. 48. tangible impact 49. gather reports of violence 50. making responders on the ground aware of them51. their request has been fulfilled 75 The 35 percent of African-American youth living in poverty are the most visible victims of what is often called the achievement gap. But black children of all socioeconomic levels perform worse on national tests and graduate in fewer numbers than their white middle-class peers. A 2009 study by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics found that African-American students scored, on average, 26 points lower than white students on their reading and math tests. Some say, as Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and American Enterprise Institute political scientist Charles Murray did in their 1994 book, The Bell Curve, that the cause is genetic. And though The Bell Curve has been discredited in scientific circles, the idea that IQ is somehow linked to race has been slow to retreat. Others, like Cornell University researchers Gary Evans and Michelle Schamberg, believe that “physiological stress is a plausible model for how poverty could get into the brain and eventually interfere with achievement,” as they wrote in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Our best efforts at narrowing the gap nationally — think No Child Left Behind — haven’t worked. But locally, there are now signs of hope. At the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy charter schools, at least 97 percent of third graders scored at or above grade level on a statewide math test in 2008, outperforming the average scores of both black and white children in New York City and New York State. What the HCZ does is first recognize that the amelioration (改善) of p overty does not begin and end with an excellent education, but also requires a full belly, parental education, safety, advocacy, and the expectation that every student will succeed. “We help parents and kids through the system,” HCZ founder Geoffrey Canada says. “We get them past every hindrance put in their way, whether it be at home or with social services. We can advocate on a child’s behalf, whether it be at home or in the classroom or with the juvenile justice system.” Indeed, the HCZ starts early: it provides new parents with a Baby College to teach parenting skills during the crucial first three years of a child’s life and a preschool Gems program, where kids learn not only French and Spanish but healthy eating habits to combat childhood obesity. The Zone also offers the HCZ Asthma Initiative to provide medical care and education to families, thus drastically cutting down on the number of school days missed by students suffering from asthma (哮´). And it has a network of afterschool programs that teach media literacy, karate (空手道), and computer skills. It’s called the pipeline — once families enter, it’s hoped that they’ll stay until their child graduates from college. The idea is to create a safety net woven so tightly that kids can’t slip through. 52. What does the author say about African-American youth as a whole? A) They have more graduates from community colleges. B) They score far below the average education level. C) They obviously are victims of the American education system. D) Their academic performances are worse than their white peers. 53. According to the passage, the book The Bell Curve ________. A) has sparked a heated debate in the scientific field B) leads to the study on the link between race and IQ C) states that intelligence has a lot to do with race D) is against the idea that intelligence is decided by race 54. Experts like Michelle Schamberg think that ________. A) the achievement gap can be narrowed easily B) it is unreasonable to relate low achievement to poverty C) physiological stress works on achievement indirectly D) it is impossible to achieve the goal of equal performance 55. When it comes to fighting poverty, the Harlem Children’s Zone ________. A) stresses more on crime prevention B) emphasizes an all-around system C) condemns parents as a hindrance D) sees excellent education as the sole way 56. According to the passage, the purpose of HCZ’s black education is to ________. A) offer students an integrated system B) reduce the number of asthmatic children C) get rid of poverty at the first place D) set up a network to protect students from hazards 答案 D C C B A 76 Since Andrew Benton graduated from college less than four years ago, he has dropped out of a Princeton Ph.D. program in economics, moved to rural Georgia to start a Web-software company that he’s trying to sell, and now works freelance (自由职 业) for a cloud-computing company in Silicon Valley. He buys his own health insurance and contributes to his retirement accounts; neither his policy nor his accounts receive corporate contributions. Does his job instability and lack of benefits worry him? Nope. The 26-year-old does not expect to hold a traditional 9-to-5 job unless he starts his own business again, and he is not overly pessimistic about the recession’s long-term effect on his career. “I don’t pay that much attention to what is going on in the economy,” he says. “I just found stuff I was interested in.” Whatever you make of this attitude — smart, entitled, tech savvy (聪明的), risky, or bold — Benton is arguably the prototype (典型) of the new and perhaps ideal worker in the post-recession economy. Still, this savvy demographic group isn’t immune from the career setbacks of the recession. Workers born after 1980, who are having a harder time gaining a foothold in the job market, may face lower earnings over the next several years of their careers. Those who opt for traditional corporate careers have had to readjust their expectations. For some young, well-educated workers such as 24-year-old Adrian Muniz, the recession has been startling. Muniz graduated from Brown University in 2007 and moved to New York City, expecting to easily find work at a magazine. Instead, he ended up working at high-end retail stores for the past three years and doing media internships on the side to build up his résumé. When the economy does pick up, experts warn that millennials, i.e. people born in or after 1980, may leave their companies for better jobs and higher paychecks. They will quit to travel the world, or simply because they did not like their boss. When more jobs become available, the millennials will use their tech savvy to promote themselves on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. They will have no problem accepting contract, short-term work in place of a steadier paycheck. “The economy is actually creating a type of work that suits millennials well and does not suit baby boomers,” says Karl Ahlrichs, a human-resources consultant. In part, that’s because the economy is generating jobs in technology, computers, education, and health care that require serious technological, entrepreneurial, and creative skills as opposed to expertise in operations or management. Armed with their education, parental support, or savings, millennials seem to have plenty of answers when it comes to dealing with the current economy. Still, questions remain. In their 30s and 40s, will they start their own businesses rather than joining the ranks of middle management? Will their innovative and entrepreneurial streak survive as they move through adult rites (仪式) of passage such as buying houses, raising children, or caring for aging parents? Ask a millennial and they’ll tell you that they’ll find or invent new answers to such age-old questions. 57. What do we learn about Andrew Benton’s work experience? A) He has now an unstea dy job without corporate welfare benefits. B) Without a Ph.D., he was at a disadvantage when applying for job. C) He gave up the chance to take a traditional corporate job. D) It takes about four years for him to realize what he wants to be. 58. What is a main concern of Andrew Benton? A) Whether the economy is going to pick up quickly. B) When he should start and run another software firm. C) Whether the job interests him and arouses his curiosity. D) How he can find an ideal job unaffected by the recession. 59. According to the passage, in the job market, workers born after 1980 ________. A) earn much more than their predecessors B) have been affected by the economic downturn C) gain a competitive edge with good education D) are undoubtedly ideal workers for the economy 60. What accounts for millennials’ being suitable for work created by the current economy? A) Their desire to promote themselves. B) Their strong sense of looking after families. C) Their special skills in running and managing firms. D) Their embrace of tech skills and innovative ideas. 61. What can we infer from the passage about millennials’ attitude towards their future? A) Negative. B) Uncertain. C) Positive. D) Conservative. 答案 A C B D C 77 More than two million people in Europe now have fibre broadband direct to their home, suggests a survey. The latest figures on superfast broadband delivered by fibre to the home (FTTH) shows 18% growth over the last survey compiled in late 2008. The continued growth suggests that the global economic downturn has not hit plans to build a fibre infrastructure (基础设 施). Sweden tops the list of nations rolling out the technology, with 10.9% of its broadband customers using fibre. Karel Helsen, president of Europe’s Fibre-To-The-Home Council, said the growth matched predictions that were revised when the credit crunch (信用紧缩) started to make itself felt. “The numbers in 2009 are in line with the latest forecasts,” said Mr. Helsen. By 2012, the FTTH Council expects that 13 million people across 35 European nations will have their broadband delivered by fibre. Such services would start at speeds of 100 megabits per second (mbps), said Mr. Helsen. Around Europe more than 233 projects were underway to lay the fibres that would connect homes or buildings to the net, said Mr. Helsen. Many of those, he said, were being operated by local governments or smaller net firms. Local governments were interested in FTTH because of the economic and social benefits it brought in its wake, said Mr. Helsen. The low latency or delay inherent in high-speed fibre networks made possible novel uses of broadband, he said. “No delay is very important,” he said, “specifically if you talk about applications that are time-dependent such as personal communications, conference calls or video calls where delays cause a lot of interference.” While early FTTH services were concentrated in cities, said Mr. Helsen, many more were reaching ou t to rural areas for e-health and e-learning projects. Separate studies show that an FTTH infrastructure can have a direct impact on local economic output, said Mr. Helsen. The UK, France and Germany have yet to break into the list of top ten FTTH nations. ﹡TOP FIBRE NATIONS: 1) Sweden - 10.9% 2) Norway - 10.2% 3) Slovenia - 8.9% 4) Andorra - 6.6% 5) Denmark- 5.7% 6) Iceland - 5.6% 7) Lithuania - 3.3% 8) Netherlands - 2.5% 9) Slovakia - 2.5% 10) Finland - 2.4% 47. Despite the worsening global economy, the number of Europeans using fibre broadband . 48. When the credit crunch emerged, people’s forecasts about the growth of FTTH were . 49. According to Karel Helsen, who were mainly in charge of European’s fibre-laying projects? 50. Superfast broadband delivered by fibre saves users of instant communication from delays which 51. Different from the past, now more and more fibre projects are carried out in . 答案 47. continues to grow 48. revised 49. Local governments or smaller net firms. 50. cause a lot of interference 51. rural areas 78 Musicians — from karaoke singers to professional cello players — are better able to hear targeted sounds in a noisy environment, according to new research that adds to evidence that music makes the brain work better. “In the past ten years there’s been an explosion of research on music and the brain,” Aniruddh Patel, Senior Fellow at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said today at a press briefing. Most recently brain-imaging studies have shown that music activates many diverse parts of the brain, including an overlap in where the brain processes music and language. Language is a natural aspect to consider in looking at how music affects the brain, Patel said. Like music, language is “universal, there’s a strong learning component, and it carries complex meanings.” For example, brains of people exposed to even casual musical training have an enhanced ability to generate the brain wave patterns associated with specific sounds, be they musical or spoken, said study leader Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois. But for people without a trained ear for music, the ability to make these patterns decreases as background noise increases, experiments show. Musicians, by contrast, have subconsciously trained their brains to better recognize selective sound patterns, even as background noise goes up. At the same time, people with certain developmental disorders, such as dyslexia (诵读困难), have a harder time hearing sounds amid the continuing loud confused noise — a serious problem, for example, for students straining to hear the teacher in a noisy classroom. Musical experience could therefore be a key therapy for children with dyslexia and similar language-related disorders, Kraus said. In a similar vein, Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Gottfried Schlaug has found that stroke patients who have lost the ability to speak c an be trained to say hundreds of phrases by singing them first. In research also presented today at the AAAS meeting Schlaug demonstrated the results of intensive musical therapy on patients with lesions (损伤) on the left sides of their brains, those areas most associated with language. Before the therapy, these stroke patients responded to questions with largely incoherent sounds and phrases. But after just a few minutes with therapists (治疗师), who asked them to sing phrases and tap their hands to the rhythm, the patients could sing “Happy Birthday,” recite their addresses, and communicate if they were thirsty. “The underdeveloped systems on the right side of the brain that respond to music became enhanced and changed structures,” Schlaug said. Overall, Schlaug said, the experiments show that “music might be an alternative medium for engaging parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged.” 52. What do we learn from the first paragraph? A) Music training can improve the function of the brain. B) Singers or instrument players tend to have better hearing. C) There has been little evidence to prove the power of music. D) Musicians are born with ability to hear targeted sound amid noise. 53. According to Aniruddh Patel, language is usually under consideration when ________. A) musicians explain the complex meaning behind the music B) therapists try to treat patients who suffer from stroke C) people research the connection between music and the brain D) researchers study the functions of different parts of the brain 54. Whether people can hear selective sounds amid noise depends on their ability to ________. A) neglect the influence of the noise B) remember the meaning of the sounds C) make the associated brain wave patterns D) tell musical sounds from spoken ones 55. According to Kraus, the significance of identifying the link between music and brain is that ________. A) music training can be a way to enhance poor hearing B) singing can be used to treat people with language disorders C) intensive musical therapy may make a mute person speak D) all brain disorders can be cured by learning musical sounds 56. The musical training therapists gave to the stroke patients actually _______. A) enhanced the parts of the left brain which are under constant use B) restored the language function of the damaged system in the left brain C) hindered the damaged systems in the brain from deteriorating sharply D) changed the structures of the underdeveloped systems in the right brain 答案 A C C B D 79 As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children’s show in history, and one of television’s biggest and most enduring success stories. The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy (奖±) award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories ar ound the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live. Sesame’s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. “The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4,” says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney — who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) — “children are basically the same, and have been through the years.” But if preschoolers’ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven’t changed much, the world around them has — not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids’ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media. In 2000, the Children’s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show’s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it’s just as important “to keep our curriculum current. The ABC’s and 123’s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful.” “We focus on all aspects of development — cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs — and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we’re age-appropriate,” says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. “But we never talk down to children, and we’re not afraid to explore sensitive topics.” Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well. For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, “shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint (影响) that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience.” On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street “a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can’t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships.” 57. What do we learn about Sesame Street from the first two paragraphs? A) It rose to fame because of the first lady’s role. B) It’s successful and gains international popularity. C) It still has to win a lifetime-achievement award. D) It is the most successful show in American history. 58. What’s Spinney’s opinion on the target audience of Sesame Street? A) They are completely different than they were 40 years ago. B) Many of them are devoted fans of the performance. C) Their basic ne eds haven’t changed much through years. D) They continue to watch the show when they have grown up. 59. The author says that in the current world, Sesame Street _______. A) has slight edge over other shows targeting children B) has made some changes so as to keep up with the times C) tries to cater to adults who accompany their children to the show D) is doomed to fail due to its out-dated content and presentation 60. What can be inferred about Sesame Street from Rosemarie Truglio’s words? A) It tries to prepare children both for school and life’s lessons. B) Its writer has changed the theme of the story for kids. C) Children seem to be looked down upon in the show. D) Sensitive topics have always been banned in the show. 61. Mary Lynn Crow is negative about Sesame Street because she thinks it _______. A) only touches up superficial relationships B) is too complicated for children to understand C) goes against ways of traditional education D) repeats basic knowledge over and over again 答案 B C B A A 80 America is a country that now sits atop the cherished myth that work provides rewards, that working people can support their families. It's a myth that has become so divorced from reality that it might as well begin with the words "Once upon a time". Today 1.6 million New Yorkers suffer from "food insecurity", which is a fancy way of saying they don't have enough to eat. Some are the people who come in at night and clean the skyscrapers that glitter along the river. Some pour coffee and take care of the aged parents of the people who live in those buildings. The American Dream for the well-to-do grows from the bowed backs of the working poor, who too often have to choose between groceries and rent. In a new book called "The Betrayal of Work", Beth Shulman says that even in the booming 1990s one out of every four American workers made less than $8. 70 an hour, an income equal to the government's poverty level for a family of four. Many, if not most, of these workers had no health care, sick pay or retirement provisions. We ease our consciences, Shulman writes, by describing these people as "low skilled", as though they're not important or intelligent enough to deserve more. But Iow-skilled workers today are better educated than ever before, and they constitute the linchpin (SYNC) of American industry. When politicians crow (得意洋洋地说) that happy days are here again because jobs are on the rise, it's these jobs they're really talking about. Five of the 10 occupations expected to grow big in the next decade are in the lowest-paying job groups. And before we sit back and decide that's just the way it; is, it's instructive to consider the rest of the world. While the bottom 10 percent of American workers earn just 37 percent of our average wage, their counterparts in other industrialized countries earn upwards of 60 percent. And those are countries that provide health care and child care, which eases the economic pinch considerably. Al most 40 years ago, when Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a family with a car and a house in the suburbs felt prosperous. Today that same family may well feel poor, overwhelmed by credit card debt, a second mortgage and the cost of the stuff that has become the backbone of American life. When the middle Class feels poor, the poor have little chance for change, or even recognition. 47. By saying "it might as well begin with the words 'Once upon a time'"(Line 3,Para. 1), the author suggests that the American myth is ______. 48. What is the American Dream of the well-to-do built upon? 49. Some Americans try to make themselves feel less guilty by attributing the poverty of the working people to ______. 50. We learn from the passage that the difference in pay between the lowest paid and the average worker in America is ______ than. that in other industrialized countries. 51. According to the author, how would an American family with a car and a house in the suburbs probably feel about themselves today? 答案 47. divorced from reality/unrealistic 49. (their) lack of skill/(their)low skill 50. much greater 51. Poor. 48. The backbreaking labor of the working poor. /The bowed backs of the working poor. 81 Women who apply for jobs in middle or senior management have a higher success rate than men, according to an employment survey. But of course far fewer of them apply for these positions. The study, by recruitment (征召新成员) consultants NB Selection, shows that while one in six men who appear on interview shortlist get jobs, the figure rises to one in four for women. Reasons for higher success rates among women are difficult to isolate. One explanation suggested is that if a woman candidate manages to get on a shortlist, then she has probably already proved herself to be an exceptional candidate. Dr. Marx said that when women apply for positions they tend to be better qualified than their male counterparts but are more selective and conservative in their job search. Women tend to research thoroughly before applying for positions or attending interviews. Men, on the other hand, seem to rely on their ability to sell themselves and to convince employers that any shortcomings they have will not prevent them from doing a good job. Managerial and executive progress made by women is confirmed by the annual survey of boards of directors carried out by Korn International. This year the survey shows a doubling of the number of women serving as non-executive directors compared with the previous year. However, progress remains painfully slow and there were still only 18 posts filled by women out of a total of 354 non-executive positions surveyed. In Europe a recent feature of corporate life in the recession has been the de-layering of management structures. Hilary Sears said that this has halted progress for women in as much as de-layering has taken place either where women are working or in layers they aspire to. Sears also noted a positive trend fro m the recession, which has been the growing number of women who have started up on their own. In business as a whole, there are a number of factors encouraging the prospect of greater equality in the workforce. Demographic trends suggest that the number of women going into employment is steadily increasing. In addition a far greater number of women are now passing through higher education, making them better qualified to move into management positions. Organizations such as the European Women's Management Development Network provide a range of opportunities for women to enhance their skills and contacts. However, Ariane Antal, director of the International Institute for Organization Change for Archamps in France, said that there is only anecdotal evidence of changes in recruitment patterns. And she said: "It's still so hard for women to even get on to shortlists -there are so many hurdles and barriers." She agreed that there have been some positive signs but said: "Until there is a belief among employers, until they value the difference, nothing will change." 47. From the passage, we can see that males applicants ______ female applicants for top posts. 48. Women are more ______ than men when they apply for positions or attending interviews. 49. What aspect of company structuring has disadvantaged women in getting management positions? 50. According to Sears; the number of female-run business is ______. 51. Which group of people should change their attitude to recruitment so as to have a greater equality in the workforce? 答案 47. exceed/are more than 48. well-prepared/better qualified 49. De-layering. 50. increasing/on the increase 51. The employers. /Employers. 82 The radical transformation of the Soviet society had a profound impact on women's lives. Marxists had traditionally believed that both capitalism and the middle-class husbands exploited women. The Russian Revolution of 1917 immediately proclaimed complete equality of rights for women. In the 1920s divorce and abortion were made easily available, and women were urged to work outside the home and liberate themselves sexually. After Stalin came to power, sexual and familial liberation was played down, and the most lasting changes for women involved work and education. These changes were truly revolutionary. Young women were constantly told that they had to be equal to men, that they could and should do everything men could do. Peasant women in Russia had long experienced the equality of backbreaking physical labor in the countryside, and they continued to enjoy that equality on collective farms. With the advent of the five-year-plans, millions of women also began to toil in factories and in heavy construction, building dams, roads and steel mills in summer heat and winter frost. Most of the opportunities open to men through education were also open to women. Determined women pursued their studies and entered the ranks of the better-paid specialists in industry and science. Medicine prac tically became a woman's profession. By 1950, 75 percent of doctors in the Soviet Union were women. Thus Stalinist society gave woman great opportunities but demanded great sacrifices as well. The vast majority of women simply had to work outside the home. Wages were so law that it was almost impossible for a family or couple to live only on the husband's earnings. Moreover, the fun-time working woman had a heavy burden of household tasks in her off hours, for most Soviet men in the 1930s still considered the home and the children the woman's responsibility. Men continued to monopolize the best jobs. Finally, rapid change and economic hardship led to many broken families, creating further physical, emotional, and mental strains for women. In any event, the often-neglected human resource of women was mobilized in Stalinist society. 52. The main idea of this passage is that women in Stalinist society ______. A) had economic opportunities that had never been available before B) had difficulty balancing their work and family responsibilities C) had new opportunities but also many hardships D) moved quickly into the highest levels of government 53. In the last paragraph, "monopolize" probably means ______. A) hold B) earn C) leave D) pay 54. The author's main purpose in writing this passage is to ______. A) compare different systems of government B) tell stories about women in Soviet Union C) amuse the reader D) provide information 55. The author's tone in this passage can best be described as ______. A) disapproving B) emotional C) objective D) sympathetic 56. We can conclude that the economic and social status of women in Stalinist society ______. A) had been improved B) was worse than before C) had not Changed much D) was better than that in capitalistic countries 答案 CADCA 83 The General Electric Company, often criticized for the complexity of its structure and the resulting opacity of its numbers, said yesterday that it would break GE Capital, by far its largest business, into four businesses. The reorganization effectively eliminates the job of Denis J. Nayden, 48, the chairman of GE Capital. Each of the new units will have its own chief, who Will report directly to Jeffrey R. Immelt, G. E.'s chairman. "The reason for doing this is simple. I want more direct contact with the financial services teams," Mr. Immelt said. The new businesses are GE Commercial Finance, GE Insurance, SE Consumer Finance and GE Equipment Management. Some support functions within GE Capital, including risk management and treasury, will now report to Dennis Dammerman, 57, a G. E. vice chairman who preceded Mr. Nayden as GE Capital's chlef. Mr, Nayden will remain at G. E. as an adviser for now, but is expected to leave shortly to start a financial services firm. Mr. Dammerman insisted that the reorganization had nothing to do with the increasing clamor from investors, regulators and the news media for greater transparency in accounting and for chief executives to take more responsibility for businesses: Analysts seem to believe him. "This is just what it appears to be, a managerial, reorganization which gives leaders more direct access to the office of the chairman," said Martin A. Sankey, a G. E. analyst. The executives leading the new units will also sit on G.. E. 's corporate executive council, a committee made up of the company's top 25 executives, which meets periodically and discusses various strategic and management issues. GE Capital, the company's largest nit, provided $55 billion of G. E. 's $124 billion in revenue last year and $ 5.6 billion of its $19.7 billion in pretax profits. The rest of G. E. had been divided into 11 other businesses, many of them--lighting and appliances are examples-much smaller than the new GE Capital units, yet each run by someone who reports directly to the chairman. Mr. Dammermn said that Mr. Immelt began talking about breaking GE Capital into more manageable pieces as soon as he took over as chief executive last September. "Jeff didn't like the extra layer between him and the GE Capital businesses," G. E. has tried to make GE Capital less mysterious to 'the outside world. Although GE Capital was officially one unit, it had begun to report quarterly results in live product-related segments--a number that will be reduced to four with the new organization. And analysts say GE Capital's management has been more accessible than it was in past years, and that Mr. Immelt and other G. E. corporate executives have been willing to discuss GE Capital in more depth. 57. After the reorganization, GE will have altogether ______. A) six businesses B) sixteen businesses C) four businesses . D) fifteen businesses 58. Which of the following statements is NOT true of Dennis Dammerman? A) He is now a GE's vice chairman. B) He is expected to leave GE to start a new financial services firm. C) He was once the chairman of GE Capital. D) He regards the reorganization of GE as an initiative of its own. 59. All the following statements are False of Denis Nayden EXCEPT that ______. A) the reorganization makes him lose his position as a chairman B) he will remain for some time at GE as an analyst C) he is currently GE's chairman D) he is expected to start a new GE financial firm in the near future 60. The reorganization will enable GE's chief executive to ______. A) quiet down the unrest in the world B) work in a more friendly business environment C) have more direct contact with GE's financial services teams D) appear less mysterious to the outside world 61. The General Electric Capital ______. A) is divided into five product-related segments now B) provided more than 1/3 of GE's revenue last year C) is going to be broken into more businesses D) now has smaller units than all other businesses in GE 答案 DBACB 84 Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently told the nation’s governors that America high school education is “obsolete”. He said, “When I compare our high schools to what I see whe n I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In 2001, India graduate almost a million more students from college than the Unites States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the US and has six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. America is falling behind.” Gates was describing a global economy in which the chance to move up into a better economic life is slipping overseas, along with jobs that can be performed anywhere----manufacturing in China, technology support in India, online order fulfillment across borders. The Internet brings Bhutan and Bangalore just as close to our offices and living rooms as Boise. Maybe closer. Our children’s competitors are not the other schools in the district or the state or even the nation. They are the technologically literate young people in Taiwan, India, Korea, and other developing nations. For today’s American students , learning and retraining will be a lifelong experience. In The World Is Flat, a recent book analyzing the shift in the global economy, Thomas Friedman points out that the dot. com bubble inspired a massive outlay (花费) of capital to connect the continents. Undersea cable, universal software, high-tech imagery, and Google have erased geography. College graduates in Latin America, Central Asia, India, China, and Russia can do the information work Americans used to count on---in many cases better and in all cases cheaper. We are burning through reliable careers for our young people at high speed as technology relieves us of the tedium of repetitive work. The robots that vacuum our floors today will be filling out teeth tomorrow. Even jobs at Wal-Mart are endangered. Have you seen the self-check-out lanes? No cashiers required. To be competitive now, US students must develop sophisticated critical thinking and analytical skills to manage the conceptual nature of work they will do. They will need to be able to recognize patterns, create narrative, and imagine solutions to problems we have yet to discover. They will have to see the big picture and ask the big questions. How many high schools do you know that are nurturing minds like that? Are we supplying the conditions in our schools to create a new crop of original thinkers? Are we making sure of our curricula and instructional programs are not relegated (降级) for repetitive practice, gathering and organizing information, remediation, and test preparation? Are we requiring all students to use their minds well to construct knowledge , to inquire, to invent, to make meaning and relevance out of their learning? Hardly. 57. Bill Gates believes that the American high schools are obsolete in than schools in many other countries 58. According to the author, the challenge on American schools comes from the progression of 59. By saying that “ Undersea cable, universal software, high-tech imagery, and Google have erased geography.” ( Line3-4, Para. 4), the author me ans that has enabled many jobs to be done anywhere. 60. In order to compete with overseas students, American children will probably have to strengthen . 61. The last paragraph calls readers’ attention to confronting the current American education system. 答案 47. graduating less students 48. globalization of economy 49. information technology 50. the ability of innovation 61. some existing problems 85 Computer science and technology is developing so fast that no one can predict exactly what new technology might be developed in the near future, and the development of computer law can hardly keep up with the developing computer technology. The wide spread application of computers in business has created new situations that no existing laws are adequate to cope with. In the following cases, computer generated information was used as evidence but was not all accepted by the court. A man received some treatment at a hospital but refused to pay the hospital bill because he claimed the figures were not correct. The hospital sued the man. As proof of the amount owed to it, the hospital offered in evidence a computer printout of the services rendered to the defendant and the amounts owed for them. Hospital employees testified that information as to amounts owed by patients in the hospital were stored in a computer as part of a regular business routine. The man objected to the admission of the computer printout as evidence on the ground that there was not a proper comparison checking of original slips showing services rendered against the computer printout. The court decided that the computer printout was admissible as evidence when it was shown that the entries were made with proper equipment in a regular courses of business. The objection that there was not a sufficient checking of the printout did not make the printout inadmissible. It was up to the jury to decide how much weight or importance should be attached to computer printout. In order to make it possible to admit evidence protected by computer, the law of evidence of the United States has changed greatly. According to the new rule, computer printouts of business records stored on electronic computing equipment are admissible in evidence if relevant to the material, without the necessity of identifying, locating, and producing as witnesses the individuals who made the entries in the regular course of business, if it is shown that the electronic computing equipment is recognized as standard equipment, the entries are made in the regular course of business at or reasonably near the time of the happening of the event recorded, and the foundation testimony satisfies the court the sources of information, method and time of preparation were such as to indicate its trustworthiness and justify its admission. 52. The man refused to pay the hospital bill because he claimed . A) the hospital overcharged him B) he couldn’t afford the money C) the computer printout offered by the hospital was not consis tent with original slips D) the hospital couldn’t show any proof for the amount of money he should pay 53. The court’s final decision is . A) the man must pay the bill B) the computer printout was not admissible C) the hospital failed for lack of evidence D) not mentioned in the passage 54. According to the passage, which of the following is true? A) The computer printout was not in keeping with the service rendered. B) The computer printout was in keeping with the service rendered C) The computer printout was checked to compare it with the service rendered D) The computer printout was not checked to compare it with the service rendered 55. In order to make the computer evidence admissible, the United States . A) has completely changed the law of evidence B) has begun to draw up the law of evidence C) has abolished the law of evidence D) has revised the law of evidence 56. The best title for this passage is . A) The Computer Evidence B) The Law of Evidence C) The Computer and the Law of Evidence D) A Case on Computer 答案 ADDDC 86 In the Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society, Revised and Enlarged Edition (W.W. Norton) Schlesinger provides deep insights into the crises of nationhood in America. A new chapter assessed the impact both of radical multiculturalism and radical monoculturalism on the Bill of Rights. Written with his usual clarity and force, the book brings a noted historian’s wisdom and perspective to bear on America’s “culture wars.” Schlesinger addresses the questions: What holds a nation together? And what does it mean to be an American? Describing the emerging cult of ethnicity, Schlsinger praises its healthy effect on the campaign of multicultural advocates to divide the nation into separate ethnic and racial communities. From the start, he observes, the United States has been a multicultural nation, rich in its diversity but held together a shared commitment to the democratic process and by the freedom of intermarriage. It was this national talent for assimilation that impressed foreign visitors like Alexis de Tocqueville and James Bryce, and it is this historic goal that Schelsinger champions as the best hope for the future. Schlesinger analyses what he sees as grim consequences of identity politics: the widening of differences. Attacks on the First Amendment, he argues, threaten intellectual freedom and, ultimately, the future of the ethnic groups. His criticisms are not limited to the left. As a former target of McCarthyism, he understands that the radical right is even more willing than the radical left to restrict and weaken the Bill of Rights. The author does not minimize the injustices concealed by the “melting pot” dream. The Disuniting Of America is both academic and personal, forceful in argument, balanced in judgment. It is a book that will no doubt anger some readers, but it will surely make all of them think again. The winner of Pulitzer prizes for history and for biography, an authoritative voice of American liberalism, Schlesinger is uniquely positioned to bring bold answers and healing wisdom to this passionate debate over who we are and what we should become. 57. According to Schlesinger, the United States is . A) a melting pot B) a nation with diverse cultures held together by the democratic process C) a federation of ethnic and racial communities D) a nation with one culture despite its various ethnic and racial groups 58. We can infer from the passage that Schlesinger . A) advocates the assimilation of different cultures into one nationhood B) holds that each racial group should keep its distinct identity C) gives full support to the emerging cult of ethnicity D) prefers multiculturalism to monoculturalism 59. We can infer form this passage that America . A) is experiencing a crisis of nationhood B) has ended its history of racial prejudice C) is trying to restrict the Bill of Rights D) has tried to obstruct intellectual freedom 60. According to the author, Schlesinger’s book will . A) put an end to the culture wars in America. B) cause anger among the radical right C) cause anger among the radical left D) provoke thinking among all readers 61. This passage is most probably taken from . A) a history book B) a new report C) a book review D) a journal of literary criticism. 答案 BAADC 87 Addison Heard uses an image of his wife and infant son for the background on his laptop. An MBA student at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, Heard thinks about his family constantly. But because he's away at B-school, he has experienced much of his son's first year via phone calls and digital photos. Says Heard, "It has been particularly hard, not being there with them every day. " This was his family's choice. It didn't make financial sense for his wife, Eden, a corporate lawyer in Washington, to quit her job, sell their condo(公寓)， and move to Charlotterville with her husband. So he went alone. In his first Year each spouse made the 200-mile round-trip commute on alternate weekends. Since their son was born last May, Addison has been doing most of the driving。 As complicated as the Heard's situation seems, it isn't all that rare. In any year, hundreds of couples deal with how to handle the family logistics(后勤工作) of going to B-school. Some choose a long-distance relationship, commuting back and forth on weekends and breaks. Others see partners and children only on vacations and holidays. Still others pack up the family and bring them along。 Being apart hasn't been easy, but the Heards have made it work. On weekends when the couple is in Virginia, they attend social events, so she can feel a part of the community. Heard also avoids Friday classes to gain more family time. "We've gotten into a routine that works," he says, "but I'm looking forward to being home, so the three of us can be a family. " Any long-distance commute puts pressure on a relationship, causing some couples to drift apart. Being thrown in a rigorous academic schedule for one spouse and a demanding career for the other, the stress intensifies, often distracting students from their studies。 Some schools offer students in these situations a good deal of support. For faraway spouses, there are on-campus social events when they visit, online communities, even involvement in alumni networks in their home cities. But mainly B-schools try to make it easier for students to take their partners along for the ride. They help families find housing, preschools, or local employment。 The decision to attend a distant B-school is fraught(伴随着的) with financial and logistical problems. Students also must decide if their families should stay or go. Either way, schools try to accommodate them. "We have more than ourselves to think about," an MBA student, Cory Hricik says. "It's a family-influenced choice. " 47. Heard will come into contact with his son in his first year via____________________。 48. Before his son was born, in order to meet each other, Addison made the 200-mile round-trip commute___________。 49. The way that Addison continues his study will make the other____________________。 50. Some B-schools will make it easier for students to ______________________。 51. According to Hrncirik's remarks, the pursuit of MBA degree is ______________________。 答案 phone calls and digital photos on alternate weekends/every two weeks feel more stressed in career take their partners along a family plan rather than an individual decision 88 There he was America's first President with a MBA, the man who loves to boast about his business background, whose presidential campaign raised unprecedented sums from corporate wallets and whose cabinet is stuffed with chief executives. Faith in the integrity of American business leaders was being undermined(破坏)， George Bush said fiercely, by executives "breaching trust and abusing power". It was time for "a new ethic of personal responsibility in the business community". He was going to "end the days of cooking the books, shading the truth and breaking our laws"。 Only months ago, the idea that George W Bush would publicly lambaste America's cooperate bosses was laughable. As a candidate, born on the wave of a decade-long economic boom and an unprecedented 18-year bull market, he cashed in on American's love affair with corporate success. But things are different now. The stock market bubble has burst and, despite signs of economic recovery. Wall Street seems to be sunk in gloom. A string of scandals at some of America's most high-flying firms--including Enron, Xerox. Tyco, Global Crossing and most recently, World Com??has radically changed the public mood。 As political pressure for reform increases, so too does the heat on Mr Bush. Is the businessman's president really prepared to take business on and push hard for reform? Despite the set jaw and aggrieved tone in New York. Probably not. Mr. Bush thinks the curr ent crisis stems from a few bad-apple chief executives rather than the system as a whole. Hence he focus on tough penalties for corrupt businessmen and his plea for higher ethical standards. The president announced the creation of a financial-crimes SWAT team, at the Justice Department to root out corporate fraud, and wants to double the maximum prison sentence for financial fraud from five to ten years. But he offered few concrete suggestions for systemic reform: little mention of changes to strengthen shareholders' rights, not even an endorsement of the Senate corporate-reform bill。 There are few signs yet that cleaning up corporate America is an issue that animates the voters. Polls show that Americans have little faith in their business leaders, but politicians do not seem to be suffering as a result. Mr. Bush's approval ratings have fallen from their sky-highs, but they are still very strong。 The president, therefore, need do no more than talk tough. This alone will convince ordinary Americans that he is on top of the issue. As the economy rebounds and public outage subsides, the clamor for change will be quieter. Democratic attacks will fizzle, and far-reaching reform bills will be watered down before they become law. Politically, the gamble makes sense. Unfortunately for American capitalism, a great opportunity will be missed。 52. We can infer from the third paragraph that Mr. Bush______。 A) didn't intend to take business on and push hard for reform B) did not do anything at all for the presence of the current situation C) took shareholders' right into account, but he didn't approve reform bill D) took some measures to pave the way for the reform 53. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE? A) Bush had to offer concrete suggestions for reform as political pressure increase B) At present, the maximum prison sentence for financial fraud is five year C) It is laughable that M Bush publicly attacked America's corporate bosses D) Americans have little faith in their business as well as political leaders 54. Which of the following statements about Mr. Bush is mentioned in this passage? A) M Bush is the second President with an MBA in American history B) M Bush contributes a lot to decade-long economic boom C) M Bush's approval ratings are still high D) M Bush didn't get support in his presidential campaign 55. The author's attitude towards the reform is______。 A) indifferent B) optimistic C) skeptical D) favorable 56. The phrase "a great opportunity" mentioned in the last paragraph refers to an opportunity to______。 A) carry out reform B) boom economy C) animate the voters D) attack chief executive 答案 ABCDA 89 In recent decades, there is a phenomenon which makes us give some attention; the so-called Southeast Asian "tigers" have rivaled the western "lions" for stock cliches that make economic headlines. The myth of American economic hegemony(霸权) over Asia in the imposing and patriarchal figure of U ncle Sam has provided frequent political grist (有利) for Southeast Asian political leaders, particularly Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir. He has attempted to forge an international reputation as a snarling tiger, but lately sounds more like a barnyard dog groaning at shadows. Without demeaning in any way the remarkable achievements of the newly developing economies of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, these nations at times appear to be their own worst enemies. This is often exemplified by Dr. Mahathir, who rails at Western evil whenever an international or domestic crisis provides an opportunity。 To be more specific, the recent devaluation of the Philippine and Thai currencies, and the subsequent pressure on the Malaysian currency has inspired Dr. Mahathir to launch an all-out attack on the West as the source of the problem. He even alleges that the United States has deli-berately destabilized Southeast Asian economies in revenge for these nations, supporting the brutal military rule in Mahathir, an action which the United States seems to want inspected rather than rewarded. But by resorting to such scapegoat (替罪羊)， instead of accepting even a bit responsibility, the Prime Minister may undermine the future success of the region and Malaysia in particular。 Upon further questioning, Dr. Mahathir narrowed his attack to one wealthy individual, the well-known philanthropist (慈 善家)， Mr. George Soros, whose opposition to Myanmar's admission to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Mahathir found particularity, irritating. The logical mistakes that underlie such conspiracy theories do not help Malaysia address the serious issues of economic overheating that experts have been warning about for all these difficult periods, which include large deficits and low savings to debt ratios. In fact, the recent dramatic drop in Malaysia's stock market and currency has led Dr. Mahathir to reverse his initial approach to the crisis. He even announces measures that at least imply he is quite aware of excesses in his own administration's spending policies that have contributed to this crisis of confidence. In the end, this kind of reaction undermines the esteem that Dr. Mahathir's enlightened leadership has justly earned。 57. It is implied in the first paragraph that Dr. Mahathir______。 A) has correctly identified the financial problem in Asia B) tries to manipulate anti-Western actions for political gains C) detests the USA's controlling over the regional economies D) believes in the effect of the ghostly influence from the west 58. The author of this essay seems to suggest that______。 A) the devaluation of Malaysia's currency is due to the American plot B) the Asian Crisis is the result of ASEAN pandering to terrorist governments C) there is not a serious economic problems in Southeast Asia at all D) the economic problems in some Asian countries is partly the result of their overheating economy 59. The author suggests the D r. Mahathir's comments on the currency problems______。 A) prove that he has been a poor leader in general B) are poor because they weaken his own credibility C) are sharp in identifying the cause of the problem D) reveal his keen insight into the complex issue 60. Which of the following is the tone of this essay? A) Sarcastic and prejudice B) Objective and detached C) Piercing and indifferent D) Impassive and hostile 61. The relative pronoun "which" in the last paragraph (Line 5) refers to______。 A) theories B) experts C) periods D) issues 答案 BDBAD 90 Every day from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed, we are bombarded with information from all sides, from TV, radio, newspapers and books; from family, friends, and colleagues. As a new cable television subscriber, I am absolutely amazed at the quantity and varying levels of information quality on cable television. Including the networks, there are eight TV “news” organizations vying to provide us with all the information we can possibly absorb. Newspaper, magazines, books, radio, the Internet, email, snail mail, and the telephone all compete for our attention and our minds. At the office conversations around the water cooler and coffee maker serve to spread even more items of information. There is valuable information out there about the world we live in, on topics as varied as health, safety, traffic, nutrition, business, finance, philosophy, nature, science, weather, history and the human condition. There is also a large amount of misleading and outright false information, not just on controversial subjects such as politics and religion but on any topic one can think of, including all of the topics mentioned above. With all this information coming at us from all directions, how does one sift through it all to sort out the facts from the fiction, the truth from the lies, the more important from the less important? Should we turn off the TV, cancel our newspaper subscriptions, disconnect our phones and modems to become information “hermits”? Probably not. A better method of sifting through the information wave without being overwhelmed and confused is to become a skeptical inquirer—or skeptic—with regard to the surrounding world. By “skeptic”—I do not mean a cynic—a person who rejects new ideas simply because they are new. A skeptic is one who questions the validity of a particular claim by calling for evidence to prove or disprove it. Skepticism is a method, not a position. It is a provisional approach to all factual claims. In terms of processing information, a skeptic needs to be able to grasp reality and acquire knowledge about the environment that agrees with reason, logic, and evidence. In other words, as skeptics, when we hear a claim that may or may not be fantastic, we should say, “That’s nice, prove it.” 52. According to the passage, casual conversations at work provide . A) all the latest news B) many useful facts C) only trivial personal go ssip D) more items of information 53． The writer implies that if we want to make some judgments about some information, the first thing that we should do is to . A) ask for the information B) cut off all channels of information C） receive and go through the information D) become information “hermits” 54. What does the author say is the more reasonable approach to processing the information wave? A) A skeptical approach. B) A subjective approach. C) A cynical approach. D) A philosophical approach. 55. What can we conclude from the difference between a skeptic and a cynic? A) Skeptics are reasonable but cynics are too optimistic. B) Skeptics are reasonable but cynics are too pessimistic. C) Skeptics take a position but cynics are extreme in their attitude. D) Skeptics reject all new ideas but cynics only reject some of them. 56. When faced with an incredible or fantastic claim, what shall we do according to the author? A) Ask questions and look for proof. B) Ignore the information and its source. C) Change the subject immediately. D) Try to consult an expert who knows the truth. 91 “Self-Reliance,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, has influenced the way I view the world and myself. This work has had a profound effect on me. It concentrates on the powers of positive thinking and careful decision-making. I believe that decision-making is one of the most important aspects of life. Since my thoughts and viewpoints will carry me throughout life, it is important that I should be confident in the decisions I will make and the viewpoints I will possess.“Self-Reliance”has made it evident to me that in order to obtain the best results from my decisions I have to trust in myself. Through reading this work I learned that the only way I can accomplish my goals and prevail in this world is to be confident in myself. Emerson said, “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men that is genius.” I realize that in the future I will interact with many different people who will disagree with my views. Therefore, I have to be confident in myself in order to accept criticism and remain focused on my goals. With self-assurance I will be able to view the world realistically and overcome any disappointments. “Self-Reliance”also influences the way I view myself. I have come to the realization that ultimately I can only depend on myself in many situations. “None but he knows what he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”I also realize that I will make mistakes but I will learn from them. However, I must not dwell on past mistakes. Instead, I should focus on confidence for future decisions. I learned that I am the key to my success. My success will depend on my persistence, intelligence and self-assurance. Emerson has helped to elevate my confidence. I now have the ability to trust my own judgment. I do not worry about what others think of my views. I have learned to voice my opinions wi th confidence and clarity. Also, I should learn from and accept criticism without choosing the alternative, abandoning my views and relying on the views of others. “Your genuine action will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing.” I am now able to confront my future. “Self-Reliance” has influenced the way I view the world and myself. After much thought, I have found strength and confidence in myself and I hope to utilize these qualities in making wise decisions in the future. 57. In the first paragraph, it can be inferred that Ralph Waldo Emerson holds the view that . A) one should have confidence in oneself but not in others B) one should trust in oneself and have confidence in one’s own decisions C) one should do things without partners or companions D) one should live away from one’s parents 58. What does the work “Self-Reliance”concentrate on? A) The power of positive thinking . B) The most important ways to live one’s life more happily. C) The importance of careful decision-making. D) Both positive thinking and careful decision-making. 59. What does the author think is the only way to succeed in this world? A) Interacting with different people. B) Focusing on the goals.C) Being confident in oneself.D) Viewing the world realistically. 60. What has the author come to realize according to Paragraph 3? A) She herself is the key to her own success. B) She will never make mistakes again. C) She must dwell on past mistakes .D) She shouldn’t always rely on herself. 61. What is the main idea of the passage? A) We should disagree with others if we want to succeed in the future. B) We should accept others’opinions if we want to prevail in this world. C) We should voice our opinions with confidence and clarity. D) We should be confident and self-reliant if we hope to be successful. 92 Dog training is a business for some people, a serious hobby for others, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many. Individuals in all of these categories would probably agree that consistency is a key element of success in this venture from the beginning. If puppies are to be socialized, they must learn to control the impulse to use the carpet as a bathroom, chew shoes, and nip at fingers. The first issue, bathroom training, is more easily accomplished in warm weather. Try to feed your pup outdoors, and after he has finished eating, take him to a spot where you would like him to eliminate. If he cooperates, praise him generously with words and pats. Take him to the same spot after each meal, and eventually he will follow this routine himself. The sight of a small puppy prancing away with a large shoe is so endearing that it is tempting to fetch the camera rather than play the role of disciplinarian. If you can imagine your pup chewing through a new tennis shoe, however, you would do well to remove the stolen shoe from the pup’s mouth and firmly say, “No!” Provide your pup with some acceptable toys, such as a ba ll or a chew toy. Don’t tempt fate with an old shoe, though. Until your pup is well trained and trustworthy, don’t leave him unattended unless he is confined to a small area. When he is young, you want to be sure someone will praise your pup for desired behavior and express disapproval when he does something you want to discourage. A puppy who is punished several hours after he has chewed the rug will not understand what he has done wrong. You will want your dog to learn to respond to the commands “Come,” “Sit,” and “Stay.” Again, consistency and praise will help you achieve this goal. Each time the dog responds as you wish, praise him. Whenever he ignores your command, make him do what you commanded and then praise him. Negative behavior must be attended to also. You can discipline most dogs without hitting them. Since they are usually anxious to please, most dogs are duly chastised by harsh words and tone of voice. Remember to be consistent so your dog knows unquestioningly what acceptable behavior is. Although the initial stages of dog training require great deal of time and patience, the reward of a socialized and obedient dog is well worth the effort. 47. Dog training is appropriately attempted by . 48. One of the most important elements in a successful dog-training program is . 49. A puppy must learn to control the impulse to use the carpet as a bathroom, chew shoes, and nip at fingers so as to . 50. If you punish a puppy several hours later, what will he do? . 51. Negative behavior is best handled by 93 Because of satellite links which now enable broadcast news organizations to originate live programming from any part of the globe, the entire world is becoming one giant sound stage for television news. As a result, Marshall McLean’s reference to the post-television world as being a single “global village” is gaining new acceptance and Shakespeare’s famous line, “all the world’s a stage,” has taken on an interesting new twist in meaning. But, beyond the philosophical dimensions of global television communications there are some dramatic, political implications. Even before today’s worldwide satellite links were possible, the growing effect of broadcast news technology on national and international politics was becoming increasingly evident. Because television is a close-up medium and a medium that seems to most readily involve emotions, it is most effective when it is revealing the plights of people. It was probably the appalling footage of the Nazi death camps that first demonstrated the power of motion pictures and television to affect the collective consciousness of a world audience. In the United States during the 50’s and 60’s the power of television to stir the consciousness of large numbers of people was demonstrated in another way. Night after night graphic news footage(英尺数) of the civil rights struggle was brought into U.S. homes. Years later, this role was to take on a new and even more co ntroversial dimension during the Vietnam War. Reading about war was one thing; but war took on a deeper and more unsavory(令人讨厌的) dimension when it was exported directly into U.S. living rooms night after night by television. Public opinion eventually turned against the war and to some measure against President Johnson who was associated with it. As a result of the public opinion backlash(消极反应) during these times, the Pentagon was thereafter much more careful to control what foreign correspondents and TV crews would be allowed to see and report. It was during this time that President Carter brought the issue of human rights to the centre of his foreign policy, and, to some degree, to the centre of international politics. “Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy,” Carter said. “Of all human rights the most basic is to be free of arbitrary violence, whether that violence comes from government, from terrorists, from criminals, or from self-appointed messiahs(救世主) operating under the cover of politics or religion.” Although political viewpoints have changed since then， because of the emotional nature of human rights, this has emerged as the “soul” of television news. The transgression(侵犯) of human rights has been the focus of many, if not most，major international television news stories. The reporting of these stories has created outrage in the world, prompted attempts at censorship by dictators, and in many cases resulted in the elimination of human rights abuses. 52. The passage is mainly about . A) the evolution of international politics in the United States B) the broadcast media’s growing role in international politics C) the concern for human rights as is shown in broadcast media D) the impact of global television communication on viewers’emotions 53. The introduction of satellite technology into television broadcast . A) confirmed what Shakespeare said long ago B) changed the way television news is handled C) improved the sound effect of television news D) initiated a shift of emphasis to international politics . 54. The civil rights struggle to the 50’s and 60’s won public support partly owing to A) the viewing of the Nazi atrocities on TV B) the news broadcast through satellite links C) the impact of televised news on emotions D) the support provided by a world audience 55. President Carter’s major contribution to broadcast news was that he . A) eliminated any kind of censorship of broadcast news B) encouraged news coverage of the Vietnam War and ended it C) proclaimed the Pentagon’s control over the media unconstitutional D) made the transgression of human rights a global focus in broadcast news 56. The television coverage of human rights issues has all the effects EXCEPT . A) reduction in the cases of human rights violation B) prompted attempts at censorship by dictators C) increased respect for different cultures and attitudes D) heightened international concern over human ri ghts abuses 94 With the possibility that the United States may be withdrawing from the confines of the Kyoto Protocol by the end of this year, it behooves（对……来说感兴趣) responsible citizens of the world to examine the past and present implications of the international treaty. The 1992 Kyoto Protocol, signed by 174 of the world’s nations, ambitiously sought to reduce worldwide emission levels by the year 2000, aiming to restore them to 1990 levels so as to slow global warming and begin the slow process of eradicating pollution. It has thus far not been entirely successfully, with its noble goals overly vague, resulting in international willingness to comply with its provisions, but lacking a structured method by which to achieve them. Harsh criticism of the Kyoto Protocol often involves the relatively short-term nature of the project. By trying to achieve such spectacular environmental goals in such a short span of time, it has been argued that an impossibly difficult challenge has been undertaken. Finding the task impossible, the nations of the world may soon discard the wider goal of reducing pollution along with the protocol itself. Further, the commitments made by the industrialized nations, such as the United States, Britain and France, are vastly different from those agreed upon by the developing nations, such as Brazil and China, with the industrialized signatories(签字者) agreeing to be bound by more concrete, stated plans and goals. This disparity(不一致) in commitment has been viewed as a necessity, however. Developing nations argue that their more industrialized, wealthier counterparts achieved their power and status by utilizing methods of development that resulted in pollution, and that they have a right to take their turn at using those methods. Also, it has been stated that the richer nations are those who can afford to immediately change their methods of production to comply with the goals of the Kyoto Protocol, while the other nations would find it virtually impossible to change the ways without seriously disrupting their economies. Whatever one’s stance, it is almost universally agreed upon that the Kyoto Protocol is a step in the right direction, in theory and philosophy, at the very least. The reality of practical application and implementation, however, is a very different story. With the possibility of a United States withdrawal looming, it must be considered that if the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation finds it impossible to reasonably comply with the protocol, then perhaps a more conservative and manageable plan must be considered. . 57. In Paragraph 2, the “impossibly difficult challenge” probably refers to A) achieving the goals stated in the Kyoto Protocol B) abiding by the rules laid down in the Kyoto Protocol C) keeping with and maintaining the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol D) achieving emissions standard reductions in the short span of time allowed in the Kyoto Protocol 58．The second sentence in Paragraph 3 implies that developing nations . A) have no power to complete with developed nations B) have the ability to develop their economies by using the traditional methods C) treat the developed nations as enemies D) cannot develop very fast if they do not use the methods used by the developed nations in the past 59. The author perceives the following as the weaknesses of the Kyoto Protocol EXCEPT . A) its short-sighted nature B) international compliance with its provisions C) its underlying theory and plans for achieving goals D) the lack of equity in the terms assigned to developed and developing nations . 60. The author’s attitude and recommendation regarding the nature of the Kyoto Protocol may best be interpreted as A) “Look before you leap” B) “You can’t please everyone” C) “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” D) “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” 61. The main idea of the passage is that . A) the possible exit of the United States could mark the end of the Kyoto Protocol B) the terms of the Kyoto Protocol are overly ambitious, and thus inapplicable in reality C) in order for the Kyoto Protocol to succeed, it must be reviewed and possibly modified D) in light of its unequal treatment of under-developed nations, the Kyoto Protocol is doomed to failure 95 As Toyota and Hummer have learned, growing too fast can be a dangerous thing. From its origins, success in the auto industry has been about scale. In the early decades of the 20th century, Henry Ford was able to democratize the car and dominate the early auto industry because he built, and then continually improved, an assembly line that could make huge numbers of cars in a short amount of time. Bigger was always better. But two items from yesterday’s dispatch in the ongoing car dramas indicate why that’s not always true. Item No. 1: The Toyota debacle (失败). The mass failings of Toyota’s legendary quality-control efforts are now on full display in the hearings that have subjected CEO Akio Toyoda to a ritualized set of apologies and humiliations (羞辱). In recent years Toyota rode its efficiency and better financial management — it didn’t have to contend with the burdensome pension and health-care benefits that sandbagged the Big Three (i.e. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) — to large gains in market share and significant growth. In 2007 Toyota surpassed GM as the largest carmaker in the world. But something got lost in the process. As Toyoda acknowledged on Wednesday: “I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota’s priority has traditionally been: first, safety; second, quality; and third, volume. These priorities became confused.” In other words, Toyoda seemed to admit, the company went wrong by moving size — i.e., volume — to the front of the line. Item No. 2: After a series of failed efforts to sell it, GM announced that its Hummer brand would be wound down. Hummer had a different problem with bigness than Toyota has. It wasn’t that its production volumes were too high. In 2008 only 2,710 Hummers were sold. Rather, the outsize Hummer was simply too big — too inefficient, too out of step with the times — to succeed in a marketplace in which oil spiked to $150 per barrel and seems to have settled at a plateau above $70 a barrel. As the economy tanked, energy prices rose, and the spirit of the time shifted in favor of conservation, the gas-guzzling Hummer faced a double whammy (厄运): consumers had difficulty affording the vehicle’s high list price as well as difficulty affording its high operating price. Size does matter when it comes to auto production. But not always in the way manufacturers think. 47. The example of Henry Ford’s assembly line suggests that the success in the auto industry was built on . 48. According to the author, Toyota’s fast growth in recent years was attributed to . at top priority. 49. CEO Akio Toyoda seemed to admit that Toyota betrayed its tradition of putting 50. According to the passage, GM decided to gradually bring its Hummer brand to an end because of . 51. According to the passage, whether purchasing or operating a Hummer, consumers found it hard to . 答案 47. scale 48. its efficiency and better financial management 49. safety 50. a series of failed effort to sell it 51. afford the high prices 96 Many workers who worked in the World Trade Center after the September eleventh attacks became sick. They breathed a mix of dust, smoke and chemicals in the ruins of the Twin Towers and a third building that fell. Some went clays without good protection for their lungs. Five years later, many of the thousands who worked at Ground Zero in the early days after the attacks still have health problems. Doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City have announced the results of the largest study of these workers. The study confirmed high rates of breathing problems in members of the building trades, firefighters, police officers and other workers. Almost seventy percent of the workers in the study had a new or worsened breathing problem. These problems developed during or after their time working in the mountain of wreckage. About sixty percent still had breathing problems at the time of their examination. The researchers say they decided to study the effects on breathing first because other disorders might be slower to appear. Mount Sinai says it tested almost twelve thousand people between two thousand two and two thousand four. Eight out of ten of them agreed to have their results used in the report. The new results added strength to a Mount Sinai study released in two thousand four. That study was based on only about one thousand workers. Some lawmakers have sharply criticized city and state officials for letting workers labor at Ground Zero without satisfactory equipment. Officials have also been criticized for sayin g the air was relatively safe. State and federal officials have promised more than fifty million dollars to pay for treatment of the workers. Doctor Robin Herbert is one of the directors of the Mount Sinai testing program. She says people are still coming to the hospital for treatment of problems that were caused by the dust at Ground Zero. In her words:" My worry is that money will be gone in a year, and what happens then?" 47. What contributed to problems of the workers in World Trade Center after the attacks? 48. Who had the most serious breathing problems according to the latest study? 49. The researchers decided to carry on some study on the effects on breathing first because __________ might appear in a later period of time. 50. ______ are sharply criticized by some lawmakers because they let workers labor at Ground Zero with out satisfactory equipment. 51. What measures have the officials promised to take to deal with the health problem? 答案 47. A harmful mix of dust，smoke and chemicals in the ruins. 48. The building trades，firefighters，police officers and other workers. 49. other disorders 50. City and state officials 51. To pay more than fifty million dollars for treatment of the workers. 97 Acting is such an over-crowded profession that the only advice that should be given to a young person thinking of going on the stage is "Don't!". But it is useless to try to discourage someone who feels that he must act, though the chances of his becoming famous are slim. The normal way to begin is to go to a drama school. Usually only students who show promise and talent are accepted, and the course lasts two years. Then the young actor or actress takes up work with a repertory company, usually as an assistant stage manager. This means doing everything that there is to do in the theatre: painting scenery, looking after the furniture, taking care of the costumes, and even acting in very small parts. It is very hard work indeed. The hours are long and the salary is tiny. But young actors with the stage in their blood are happy, waiting for the chances of working with a better company, or perhaps in films or television. Of course, some people have unusual chances which lead to fame and success without this long and dull training. Connie Pratt, for example, was just an ordinary girl working in a bicycle factory. A film producer happened to catch sight of her one morning waiting at a bus stop, as he drove past in his big car. He told the driver to stop, and he got out to speak to the girl. He asked her if she would like to go to the film studio to do a test, and at first she thought he was joking. Then she got angry and said she would call the police. It took the producer twenty minutes to tell Connie that he was serious. Then an appointment was made for her to go to the studio the next day. The test was successful. They gave her some necessary lessons and within a few weeks she was playing the leading part opposite one of the most famous acto rs of the day. Of Course, she was given a more dramatic name, which is now world-famous. But chances like this happen once in a blue moon! 52. According to the passage, the main reason why young people should be discouraged from becoming actors is ______. A) actors are very unusual people B) the course at the drama school lasts two years C) acting is really a hard job D) there are already too many actors 53. An assistant stage manager's job is difficult because he has to ______. A) do all kinds of stage work B) work for long hours C) wait for a better company D) act well 54. According to the context, the sentence "But young actors with the stage in their blood are happy" at the end of the first paragraph means ______. A) they don't care if their job is hard B) they like the stage naturally C) they are born happy D) they are easily satisfied 55. Conie Pratt soon became a famous actress after ______. A) learning some lessons about the art of speaking B) playing her part in the "Blue Colored Moon" C) successfully matching the most famous actors D) acting a leading part with a most famous actor at that time 56. The phrase "once in a blue moon" in last line refers to ______. A) all at once B) once for a long time C) once in a while D) once and for all 答案 DABDB 98 The home service industry in Beijing is expected to become more attractive both as a job and as an industry. Sources at the Beijing People's Political Consultative Conference said resistance to home service work is melting away from minds of the city's laid-off workers. The Conference suggested the establishment of municipal centers which supervise property management, household mending and installation, and house keeping services. Modern city life is creating a need for industrialization home services. This will create job opportunities for laid-off workers, said Vice director of the Social Judicial Committee of the Conference. Beijing residents have long desired a home service industry. The demand is expected to drive new economic growth. There are few high quality home help services in Beijing and customers are always complaining. In the past, few laid-off workers in Beijing desired to work as home helpers, jobs largely taken by young women from the countryside. At the same time, some city residents have not felt safe trusting rural girls with modern household machines or with their small children. Many people would pay more for reliable house keepers who are more familiar with city life, but they have had no way of getting one, even though the city is home to thousands of laid-off workers. By the end of June this year, there were 30,600 jobless workers in the city. Most of them are women in their 40's, who are not blessed with particular skills and who have had their work ethics shaped by the planned economy. Many of them were at a loss when they first realized they had lost their jobs and a way of life they had got used to for decades. They never imagined being laid-off by state-owne d enterprises; they never considered other kinds of employment. For them, the private sector meant taking risks; housekeeping implied lower social status. Gao yunfang, 44, is a pioneer who is breaking the ice. She sells the Beijing Morning Post in the morning, and works at two households in the afternoon. She earns 1,000 yuan per month. So she no longer worries about her daughter's tuition at a university in Shanghai. 57. What is talked about in the passage? A) Home service. B) Modern city life. C) Laid-off worker. D) Social status. 58. What does the word "laid-off' in the passage mean? A) Heavily-burdened. B) Old. C) Inexperienced. D) Jobless. 59. Why were many laid-off workers at a loss? A) Because they didn't get used to the new way of life. B) Because they are too old to find a new job. C) Because they dislike being laid off. D) Because they think they lost their social status. 60. Why didn't the laid-off workers like to do home services in the past? A) Low salary. B) Lower social status. C) Dirty working condition. D) Too much extra work. 61. In which ways is home service industry good for our society? A) It meets the needs of modern life. B) It provides work opportunities for the laid-off worker. C) It is a new industry. D) A and B. 答案 ADABD 99 By the mind-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns(酒 馆), and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern fridge, had been invented. Making an efficient icebox as not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary(未发展的). The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox. But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his b utter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool. 47. What is the topic of the passage? 48. Where was ice used after the Civil War? 49. What was essential to a science of refrigeration according to the passage? 50. It can be inferred from the passage that the theoretical foundation of ice box should be that ________. 51. Without an ice box, farmers had to go to the market at night because ________. 100 Freshwater life itself has never come easy in the Middle East. Ever since The Old Testament(旧约全书), God punished man with 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Water supplies here have been dwindling. The rainfall only comes in winter and drains quickly through the semiarid land, leaving the soil to bake and to thirst for next November. The region's accelerating population, expanding agriculture, industrialization, and higher living standards demand more freshwater. Drought and pollution limit its a availability. War and mismanagement waste it. Said Joyce Starr of the Global Water Summit Initiative, based in Washington, D.C. "Nations like Israel and Jordan are swiftly sliding into that zone where they are suing all the water resources available to them. They have only 15 to 20 years left before their agriculture, and ultimately their food security, is threatened." I came here to examine this crisis in the making, to investigate fears that "water wars" are imminent, that water has replaced oil as the region's most contentious commodity. For more than two months I traveled through three river valleys and seven nations—from southern Turkey down the Euphrates River to Syria, Iraq, and on to Kuwait; to Israel and Jordan, neighbors across the valley of the Jordan; to the timeless Egyptian Nile. Even amid the scarcity there are haves and have-nots. compared with the United States, which in 1990 had freshwater potential of 10,000 cubic meters (2.6 million gallons) a year for each citizen, Iraq had 5,500, Turkey had 4,000, and Syria had more than 2,800. Egypt's potential was only 1,100. Israel had 460. Jordan had a meager 260. But these are not firm figures, because upstream use of river water can dramatically alter the potential downstream. Scarcity is only one element of the crisis. Inefficiency is another, as is the reluctance of some water-poor nations to change priorities from agriculture to less water-intensive enterprises. Some experts suggest that if nations would share both water technology and resources, they could satisfy the region's population, currently 159 million. But in this patchwork of ethnic and religious rivalries, water seldom stands alone as an issue. It is entangled in the politics that keep people from trusting and seeking help from one another. Here, where water, like truth, is precious, each nation tends to find its own water and supply its own truth. As Israeli hydrology professor Uri Shamir told me:" If there is political will for peace, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities." 57. Why does the author use the phrase "for next November" (Line 3, Para. 1)? [A] According to the Old Testament freshwater is available only in November. [B] Rainfall comes only in winter starting from November. [C] Running water systems will not be ready until next November. [D] It is a custom in that region that irrigation to crops is done only in November. 58. What is NOT the cause for the imminent water war? [A] Lack of water resources. [B] Lack of rainfall. [C] Inefficient use of water. [D] Water has replaced oil. 59. One way for the region to use water efficiently is to ________. [A] develop other enterprises that cost less water [B] draw a plan of irrigation for the various nations [C] import water from water-rich nations [D] stop wars of any sort for good and all 60. Uri Shamir's viewpoint is that ________. [A] nations in that region are just fighting for water [B] people there are thirsty for peace instead of water [C] water is no problem as long as there is peace [D] those nations have every reason to fight for water 61. The author's tone in the article can be described as ________. [A] depressing [B] urgent [C] joking [D] mocking 101 Let us suppose that you are in the position of a parent. Would you allow your children to read any book they wanted to without first checking its contents? Would you take your children to see any film without first finding out whether it is suitable for them? If your answer to these questions is "yes", then you are either extremely permissive. If your answer is "no", then you are exercising your right as a parent to protect your children from what you consider to be undesirable influences. In other words, by acting as a censor yourself, you are admitting that there is a strong case for censorship. Now, of course, you will say that it is one thing to exercise censorship where children are concerned and quite another to do the same for adults. Children need protection and it is the parents' responsibility to provide it. But what about adults? Aren't they old enough to decide what is good for them? The answer is that many adults are, but don't make the mistake of thinking that all adults are like you. Censorship is for the good of society as a whole. Like the law, censorship contributes to the common good. Some people think that it is disgraceful that a censor should interfere with works of art. Who is this person, they say, to ban this great book or cut that great film? No one can set himself up as a superior being. But we must remember two things. Firstly, where genuine works of art are concerned, modern censors are extremely liberal in their views—often far more liberal than a large section of the public. Artistic merit is something which censors clearly recognize. And secondly, we must bear in mind that the great proportion of books, plays and films which come before the censor are very far from being "works of art". When discussing censorship, therefore, we should not confine our attention to great masterpieces, but should consider the vast numbers of publications and films which make up the bulk of the entertainment industry. When censorship laws are relaxed, immoral people are given a license to produce virtually anything in the name of "art". There is an increasing tendency to equate artistic with "pornographic". The vast market for pornography would rapidly be exploited. One of the great things that censorship does is to prevent certain people from making fat profits by corrupting the minds of others. To argue in favor of absolute freedom is to argue in favor of anarchy. Society would really be the poorer if it deprived itself of the wise counsel and the restraining influence which a censor provides. 57. Permissive parents would ________. [A] let their children read any books they like to [B] not let their children see any films they like to [C] not let their children read any books without first checking their contents [D] let their children see the films with their first checking 58. The fact that parents check the contents of the book or the film for their children to read or see shows ________. [A] the necessity of censorship [B] many books and films are bad [C] children need their parents to help them understand more [D] the parents are permissive 59. Which of the following statements is NOT true? [A] Some adults can't tell right from wrong. [B] Censorship is compared to the law because both of them perform good service to society as a whole. [C] Censors pay attention only to genuine works of art. [D] Censorship is necessary because many books, plays and films are far from being “works of art”. 60. What does the word “corrupt” (Line 5, Para 4) mean? [A] Make morally bad. [B] Hurt. [C] Injure. [D] Damage. 61. What would be the best title of this passage? [A] Permissive Parents and Responsible Parents. [B] Censorship and the law. [C] Censors Value Artistic Merits. [D] Censorship Performs Good Service to Society. 102 One thing the tour books don’t tell you about London is that 2,000 of its residents are foxes. As native as the royal family, they fled the city about centuries ago after developers and pollution moved in. But now that the environment is cleaner, the foxes have come home, one of the many wild animals that have moved into urban areas around the world. “The number and variety of wild animals in urban areas is increasing,” says Gomer Jones, president of the National Institute for Urban Wildlife, in Columbia, Maryland. A survey of the wildlife in New York’s Central Park last year tallied the species of mammals, including muskrats, shrews and f lying squirrels. A similar survey conducted in the 1890s counted only five species. One of the country’s largest populations of raccoons(浣熊)now lives in Washington D.C., and moose(驼鹿)are regularly seen wandering into Maine towns. Peregrine falcons(游隼)dive from the window ledges of buildings in the largest U.S. cities to prey on pigeons. Several changes have brought wild animals to the cities. Foremost is that air and water quality in many cities has improved as a result of the 1970s’ pollution-control efforts. Meanwhile, rural areas have been built up, leaving many animals on the edges of suburbia. In addition, conservationists have created urban wildlife refuges. The Greater London Council last year spent $750,000 to buy land and build 10 permanent wildlife refuges in the city. Over 1,000 volunteers have donated money and cleared rubble from derelict lots. As a result, pheasants now strut in the East End and badgers scuttle across lawns near the center of town. A colony of rare house martins nests on a window ledge beside Harrods, and one evening last year a fox was seen on Westminster Bridge looking up at Big Ben. For peregrine falcons, cities are actually safer than rural cliff dwellings. By 1970 the birds were extinct east of the Mississippi because the DDT had made their eggs too thin to support life. That year, ornithologist Tom Cade of Cornell University began rising the birds for release in cities, for cities afforded abundant food and contained none of the peregrine’s natural predators. "Before they were exterminated, some migrated to cities on their own because they had run out of cliff space," Cade says. “To peregrines, buildings are just like cliffs.” He has released about 30 birds since 1975 in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Norfolk, and of the 20 pairs now living in the East, half are urbanites. “A few of the young ones have gotten into trouble by falling down chimneys and crashing into window-glass, but overall their adjustment has been successful.” 62. The first paragraph suggests that ________. [A] environment is crucial for wildlife [B] tour books are not always a reliable source of information [C] London is a city of fox [D] foxes are highly adaptable to environment 63. The selection is primarily concerned with ________. [A] wildlife of all kinds returning to large cities to live [B] falcons in New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Norfolk [C] moose stumbling into plate-glass storefronts [D] foxes returning to London 64. In the 4th paragraph the pheasants, badgers, and martins etc. are mentioned to ________. [A] explain their living habit [B] make known their habitat [C] show the endeavors of Londoners to make the city habitable for wildlife [D] encourage volunteers to do something for the species 65. The main idea of paragraph 3 is ________. [A] that air and water quality has improved in the cities [B] why wildlife likes the noise and commotion in the cities [C] that wildlife refuges have be en built in the cities [D] why wildlife is returning to cities 66. Cities make good homes for peregrine falcons because they provide ________. [A] bountiful nesting areas, abundant food, and rainwater control basins [B] abundant food, buildings that resemble cliffs, and no natural predators [C] large buildings with chimneys other wildlife, and well-lighted nesting areas [D] abundant food, chimneys, rubble, and window sills 103 The bacteria that cause a common food-borne illness show low drug resistance in Australia, unlike similar strains from the United States and Europe, a study has found. Scientists behind the finding say Australia's de facto ban on certain antibiotics in poultry (家禽) and other livestock helps explain why. In the study, researchers analyzed samples of Campylobacter jejuni (空肠弯曲杆菌) bacteria from 585 patients in five Australian states. Scientists found that only 2 percent of the samples were resistant to ciprofloxacin (环丙沙星), one of the group of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolonones. By contrast, 18 percent of Campylobacter (弧形杆菌) samples in U.S. patients are immune to fluoroquinolonones, which have been used in the U.S. to prevent or treat respiratory (呼吸的) disease in poultry for a decade. The study, led by Leanne Unicomb, a graduate student at Australian National University in Canberra, was published in the May issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The findings add to the growing body of evidence suggestive of the problems of using fluoroquinolonones in food-producing animals," Unicomb wrote in an email. Campylobacter is the most common food-borne disease in the U.S. and many other industrialized countries. People can contract the pathogen (病原体) by consuming undercooked poultry or meat, raw milk, or contaminated (被污 染的) water. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, and diarrhea (腹泻). In rare cases, the disease can trigger paralysis or death. "In most industrial countries Campylobacter is more commonly reported than Salmonella (沙门氏菌), a better-known cause of food poisoning," Unicomb said. "The number of cases of Campylobacter has been on the rise in Australia since the early 90's." In the U.S., about 1.4 million people contracted Campylobacter infections last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. While the infection rate in the U.S. has dropped over the last decade, the bacteria have grown more drug-resistant. According to the CDC, surveys between 1986 and 1990 found no signs of resistance to the antibiotics in U.S. Campylobacter infections. But by 1997, strains resistant to the antibiotics accounted for 12 percent of human cases. In 2001 the figure climbed to 18 percent. Public health experts say many factors contribute to Campylobacter's drug resistance; the widespread use of fluoroquinolonones by U.S. poultry farmers over the past decade is one of them. Fluoroquinolones were first approved fo r use in humans by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986. In 1995 the FDA granted poultry farmers permission to the use the drugs in livestock. Last year the FDA banned the antibiotic from food-producing animals, citing the concerns raised by public health experts over drug-resistant bacteria. Frederick Angulo, an epidemiologist with the CDC, monitors the drug resistance of food-borne pathogens in the U.S. food supply. "The people who are most likely to get infected with food-borne diseases include the most vulnerable people in the population-infants and young children and also the elderly," he said. He says that Campylobacter infections are entirely preventable, as is the bacteria's antibiotic resistance. "In many ways what's occurring with Campylobacter is an indicator for a broader issue, which is...antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the food supply," he said. 47. Why do food-borne pathogens in Australia show low drug resistance? 48. In many industrialized countries, the most common food-borne disease is ________. 49. The food-borne disease may cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea and even ________. 50. The FDA banned the use of antibiotic from food-producing animals because public healthexperts were concerned about __. 51. What does Angulo say about the bacteria's antibiotic resistance? 104 At some time in your life, you may have a strong desire to do something strange or terrible. However, chances are that you don't act on your impulse, but let it pass instead. You know that to commit the action is wrong in some way and that other people will not accept your behavior. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the phenomenon of taboo behavior is how it can change over the years within the same society, how certain behavior and attitude once considered taboo can become perfectly acceptable and natural at another point in time. Topics such as death, for example, were once considered so upsetting and unpleasant that it was a taboo to even talk about them. Now with the publication of important books such as On Death and Dying and Learning to Say Goodbye, people have become more aware of the importance of expressing feelings about death and, as a result, are more willing to talk about this taboo subject. One of the newest taboos in American society is the topic of fat. Unlike many other taboos, fat is a topic that Americans talk about constantly. It's not taboo to talk about fat; it's taboo to be fat. The "in" look is thin, not fat. In the work world, most companies prefer youthful-looking, trim executives to sell their images as well as their products to the public. The thin look is associated with youth, vigor, and success. The fat person, on the other hand, is thought of as lazy and lacking in energy, self-discipline, and self-respect. In an image-conscious society like the U.S., thin is "in", fat is "out". It's not surprising, then, that millions of Americans have been obsessed with staying slim and "in shape". The pursuit of a youthfu l physical appearance is not, however, the sole reason for Americans' fascination with diet and exercise. Recent research has shown the critical importance of diet and exercise for personal health. As in most technologically developed nations, the life style of North Americans has changed dramatically during the course of the last century. Modern machines do all the physical labor that people were once forced to do by hand. Cars and buses transport us quickly from point to point. As a result of inactivity and disuse, people's bodies can easily become weak and vulnerable to disease. In an effort to avoid such a fate, millions of Americans are spending more of their time exercising. 52. From the passage we can infer taboo is ________. [A] a strong desire to do something strange or terrible [B] a crime committed on impulse [C] behavior considered unacceptable in society's eyes [D] an unfavorable impression left on other people 53. Based on the ideas presented in the passage we can conclude "being fat" ________ in American society. [A] will always remain a taboo [B] is not considered as a taboo by most people [C] has long been a taboo [D] may no longer be a taboo someday 54. The topic of fat is ________ many other taboo subjects. [A] the same as [B] different from [C] more popular than [D] less often talked about than 55. What does "thin is 'in', and fat is 'out'" mean? [A] Thin is "inside", and fat is "outside". [B] Thin is "diligent", and fat is "lazy". [C] Thin is "youthful", and fat is "spiritless". [D] Thin is "fashionable", and fat is "unfashionable". 56. Apart from this new understanding of the correlation between health and exercise, the main reason the passage gives for why so many Americans are exercising regularly is ________. [A] their changed life style [B] their eagerness to stay thin and youthful [C] their appreciation of the importance of exercise [D] the encouragement they have received from their companies 105 Wild ducks and other migratory(迁移的) birds could be important carriers of deadly bird flu, researchers say. Even so, the infectious-disease experts say there is no solid basis for killing wild birds to protect poultry and minimize the risk of human infection. The European team investigating the global spread of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza(禽流感)says certain duck species may be infecting wild bird populations. Geese and wading birds are also possible vectors(带菌者)of the virus, the team says. The team's study was led by Björn Olsen of Umea University in Sweden. Olsen runs Europe's largest wild-bird flu monitoring program. Studies have shown that influenza viruses in lake water, generally passed via bird feces(粪), can stay infectious for up to 30 days. The migration or feeding behavior of dabbling ducks could at least partially explain the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the researchers add. This group of duck species includes mallards, teal, pintails, and others that feed at or near the surface, where viruses in water are most likely to be picked up. Perhaps as a result, dabblers have the highest known rates of avian influenza infection, the study says. For instance, nearly 13 percent of mallards tested positive for bird flu. Other species tested include the American black duck (18.1 percent), blue-winged teal (11.5 percent), and northern pintail (11.2 percent). However, bird flu viruses appear to exist in ducks in a low-pathogenic form, meaning infection doesn't usually lead to severe illness and death. "Dabbling ducks are for sure the prime hosts for low pathogenic viruses," said study co-author Ron Fouchier, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. "But the big question is, how much of our knowledge about these viruses can we translate to high-pathogenic viruses such as the H5N1 strain of bird flu?" In poultry avian viruses can mutate(变异)into more virulent influenza strains, including H5N1. If this mutated virus then finds its way back into wild populations, the birds could then spread the disease through migration. Some scientists have argued that wild birds infected with HN51 would be too ill to migrate. Swans, for instance, appear to be particularly vulnerable to the strain. "Swans apparently drop dead quite easily, but they are unlikely to be the vector because they are not going to fly very far if they are dead," Fouchier said. But the study team says that some birds that have been purposely infected for the sake of research show that wild birds can survive H5N1. "For some reason H5N1 has adapted so it no longer kills dabbling ducks," Fouchier said. This means the ducks may be able to spread the virus over a wide area. The study team says migratory geese may also be vectors, because they often graze in huge flocks, a practice that could encourage transmission. Migrating ducks, the researchers add, "could provide an intercontinental bridge" for bird flu to North America, which has not yet had any known cases of H5N1. 47. According to the author, what may be the possible carriers of bird flu? 48. The main sources of influenza viruses in lake water are ________, which may stay infectious for up to 30 days. 49. By saying "bird flu viruses appear to exist in ducks in a low-pathogenic form" (Para. 6), the author suggests that infection ____. 50. On what condition can the birds spread the influenza through migration? 51. According to the study team, ________ is a practice that can encourage transmission of the bird flu. 106 For about three centuries we have been doing science, trying science out, using science for the construction of what we call modern civilization. Every dispensable item of contemporary technology, from canal locks to dial telephones to penicillin, was pieced together from the analysis of data provided by one or another series of scientific experiments. Three hundred years seems a long time for testing a new approach to human inter-living, long enough to set back for critical appraisal of the scientific method, maybe even long enough to vote on whether to go on with it or not. There is an argument. Voices have been raised in protest since the beginning, rising in pitch and violence in the nineteenth century during the early stages of the industrial revolution, summoning urgent crowds into the streets on the issue of nuclear energy. "Give it back," say some of the voices, "It doesn't really work, we've tried it and it doesn't work. Go back three hundred years and start again on something else less chancy for the race of man." The principle discoveries in this century, taking all in all, are the glimpses of the depth of our ignorance of nature. Things that used to seem clear and rational, and matters of absolute certainty-Newtonian mechanics, for example-have slipped through our fingers; and we are left with a new set of gigantic puzzles, cosmic uncertainties, and ambiguities. Some of the laws of physics are amended every few years; some are canceled outright; some undergo revised versions of legislative intent as if they were acts of Congress. Just thirty years ago we call it a biological revolution when the fantastic geometry of the DNA molecule was exposed to public view and the linear language of genetics was decoded. For a while, things seemed simple and clear: the cell was a neat little machine, a mechanical device ready for taking to pieces and reassembling, like a tiny watch. But just in the last few years it has become almost unbelievably complex, filled with strange parts whose functions are beyond today's imagining. It is not just that there is more to do, there is everything to do. What lies ahead, or what can lie ahead if the efforts in basic research are continued, is much more than the conquest of human disease or the improvement of agricultural technology or the cultivation of nutrients in the sea. As we learn more about fundamental processes of living things in general we will learn more about ourselves. 52. What CANNOT be inferred from the first paragraph? [A] Scientific experiments in the past three hundred years have produced many valuable items. [B] For three hundred years there have been people holding a hostile attitude toward science. [C] Modern civilization depends on science so man supports scientific progress unanimously. [D] Some people think three hundred years is not long enough to set back for critical appraisal of scientific method. 53. The principle discovery in this century shows ________. [A] man has overthrown Newton's laws of physics [B] man has solved a new set of gigantic puzzles [C] man has lost many scientific discoveries [D] man has given up some of the once accepted theories 54. Now scientists have found in the past few years ________. [A] the exposure of DNA to the public is unnecessary [B] the tiny cell in DNA is a neat little machine [C] man knows nothing about DNA [D] man has much to learn about DNA 55. The writer's main purpose in writing the passage is to say that ________. [A] science is just at its beginning [B] science has greatly improved man's life [C] science has made profound progress [D] science has done too little to human beings 56. The writer's attitude towards science is ________. [A] critical [B] approving [C] neutral [D] regretful 107 Here amid the steel and concrete canyons, green grass grows. A hawthorn tree(山楂树) stands in new soil, and freshly dug plants bend in the wind. But Chicago City Hall here seems an unlikely spot for a garden of any variety—especially 20,000 square feet of gardens—on its roof. As one of a handful of similar projects around the country, the garden is part of a $1.5 million demonstration projected by the city to reduce its "urban heat islands", said William Abolt, the commissioner of the Department of Environment. Heat islands-dark surfaces in the city, like rooftops-soak up heat. The retention can bake a building, making it stubborn to cooling. The roof of City Hall, a 90-year-old gray stone landmark on LaSalle Street in the heart of downtown, has been known to reach temperature substantially hotter than the actual temperature on the street below. The garden will provide greenery and shade. "And that," said the city officials, "will save the city dollars on those blistering summer days." The project savings from cooling is about $4,000 a year on a new roof whose life span is about 50 percent longer than that of a traditional roof. The sprawling open-air rooftop garden is being carefully built on a multi-tiered bed of special soil, polystyrene, egg-carton-shaped cones and "waterproof membrane" mall to keep the roof from leaking, or caving under the normal combined weight of soil, rain and plant life. The design calls for soil depths of 4 inches to 18 inches. When the last plants and seedlings are buried and the last bit of compost is laid, the garden will have circular brick stepping-stones winding up to hills. "The primary focus of what we want to do was to establish this laboratory on the top of City Hall to get people involved and understanding their impact on the environment and how the little things can make an impact on the quality of life", Mr. Abolt said, adding that the plants also help to clear the air. Rooftop gardens, in places where concrete jungles have erased plants and trees, are not new, not even in Chicago. Arms of greenery dangling over terraces or sprouting from rooftops, common in Europe, are becoming more so in the United States as people become increasingly conscious about the environment. Richard M. Daley, who urged the environmental department to look into the project after noticing rooftop gardens in Hamburg, Germany a few years ago, has praised the garden as the first of its kind on a public building in the country. It will hold thousands of plants in more than 150 species-wild onion and butterfly weed, sky-blue aster and buffalo grass-to provide data on what species adapt best. Small plants requiring shallow soil depths were chiefly selected. 57. The rooftop garden project ________. [A] is common and popular in the country [B] is a demonstration project and costs the city government 1.5 million dollars [C] will make the ordinary cooling down of the city in summer unnecessary [D] aims at getting people involved and understanding their impact on the environment 58. What can we learn about the City Hall? [A] It was built ninety years ago and is the most outstanding feature in the center of the city. [B] It is originally proper to build a garden on the top of the City Hall. [C] The temperature on its top is a little bit lower than that on the street below. [D] It is the first building in America to have a garden on it. 59. Which of the following statements is TRUE? [A] Every year, Chicago spends about $ 4,000 on cooling the city. [B] The design of the garden on the City Hall specially takes into consideration the weight the roof can stand. [C] The Mayor urged the environmental department to look into rooftop gardens in Hamburg and build similar ones in America. [D] Heat islands mainly refer to those dark-colored rooftops which receive and retain heat and will not easily release the heat. 60. Why should the rooftop garden be built on the top of City Hall other than on any other buildings? [A] Because the City Hall is large. [B] Because the mayor had urged the environmental department to do so. [C] Because it can make people understand their impact on environment better through a public building. [D] Because the experts just want to make the City Hall a convenient laboratory. 61. The word "substantially" (Line 2, Para. 5) most likely means ________. [A] a little bit [B] in fact [C] materially [D] considerably