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15[阅读题]
In what now seems like the prehistoric times of computer history, the earth’s postwar era, there was quite a wide-spread concern that computers would take over the world from man one day. Already today, less than forty years later, as computers are relieving us of more and more of the routine tasks in business and in our personal lives, we are faced with a less dramatic but also less foreseen problem. People tend to be over-trusting of computers and are reluctant to challenge their authority. Indeed, they behave as if they were hardly aware that wrong buttons may be pushed, or that a computer may simply malfunction(失误).
Obviously, there would be no point in investing in a computer if you had to check all its answers, but people should also rely on their own internal computers and check the machine when they have the feeling that something has gone wrong.
Questioning and routine double-checks must continue to be as much a part of good business as they were in pre-computer days. Maybe each computer should come with the warning: for all the help this computer may provide, it should not be seen as a substitute for fundamental thinking and reasoning skills.
1. What is the main purpose of this passage?
A) To look back to the early days of computers.
B) To explain what technical problems may occur with computers.
C) To discourage unnecessary investment in computers.
D) To warn against a mentally lazy attitude towards computers.
2. According to the passage, the wide-spread concern about computers was that they might _____________.
A) change our personal lives
B) take control of the world
C) create unforeseen problems
D) affect our businesses
3. The passage recommends those dealing with computers to ______________.
A) be reasonably doubtful about them
B) check all their answers
C) substitute them for basic thinking
D) use them for business purposes only
4. The passage suggests that the present-day problem with regard to computers is _____________.
A) challenging B) psychological C) dramatic D) fundamental
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would disapprove of _______________.
A) investment in computers
B) the use of one’s internal computer
C) double-checks on computers
D) complete dependence on computers for decision-making
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12[阅读题]
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of President Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg only out of courtesy. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and very popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked, “I have failed again.” On the train back to Washington he commented sadly, “That speech was a flat failure, and the people are disappointed.”
Some newspapers at first criticized the speech. But little by little, as people read the speech, they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now everyone thinks of it as one of the greatest orations ever given in American history.
1. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was __________.
A) very critical B) unpopular C) very popular D) very courteous
2. Lincoln was invited to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery because he was ___________.
A) a famous orator
B) very handsome
C) President of the United States at the time
D) a popular statesman
3. It can be inferred from the text that ___________.
A) Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg
B) Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn’t have much time to prepare his speech
C) Lincoln’s speech was full of rich oratory
D) Lincoln’s speech was very long
4. Lincoln’s speech was ___________.
A) an immediate success B) warmly applauded
C) a total failure D) not well-received at first
5. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.
B) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is simple in style.
C) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American school child.
D) Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United States.
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13[阅读题]
To say that the child learns by imitation and that the way to teach is to set a good example oversimplifies. No child imitates every action he sees. Sometimes, the example the parent wants him to follow is ignored while he takes over contrary patterns from some other example. Therefore we must turn to a more subtle theory than “monkey see, monkey do.”
Look at it from the child’s point of view. Here he is in a new situation, lacking a ready response. He is seeking a response which will gain certain ends. If he lacks a ready response for the situation, and cannot reason out what to do, he observes a model who seems able to get the right result. The child looks for an authority or expert who can show what to do.
There is a second element at work in this situation. The child may be able to attain his immediate goal only to find that his method brings criticism from people who observe him. When shouting across the house achieves his immediate end of delivering a message, he is told emphatically that such a racket is unpleasant, that he should walk into the next room and say his say quietly. Thus, the desire to solve any objective situation is overlaid with the desire to solve it properly. One of the early things the child learns is that he gets more affection and approval when his parents like his response. Then other adults reward some actions and criticize others. If one is to maintain the support of others and his own self-respect, he must adopt response his social group approves.
In finding trial responses, the learner does not choose models at random. He imitates the person who seems a good person to be like, rather than a person whose social status he wishes to avoid. If the pupil wants to be a good violinist, he will observe and try to copy the techniques of capable players; while some other person may most influence his approach to books.
Admiration of one quality often leads us to admire a person as a whole, and he becomes an identifying figure. We use some people as models over a wide range of situations, imitating much that they do. We learn that they are dependable and rewarding models because imitating them leads to success.
1. The statement that children learn by imitation is incomplete because ___________.
A) they only imitate authorities and experts
B) they are not willing to copy their parents
C) the process of identification has been ignored
D) the nature of their imitation as form of behavior has been neglected.
2. For a child the first element in his learning by imitation is ___________.
A) the need to find an authority
B) the need to find a way to achieve the desired result
C) the need for more affection from his parents
D) the desire to meet the standards of his social group
3. Apart from achieving his desired results, a child should also learn to ___________.
A) behave properly
B) attain his goal as soon as possible
C) show his affection for his parents
D) talk quietly
4. Children tend to imitate their models ___________.
A) who do not criticize them
B) who bring them unexpected rewards
C) whom they want to be like
D) whose social status is high
5. “An identifying figure” (Lines 1-2, Para. 5) refers to a person ___________.
A) who serves as model for others
B) who is always successful
C) who can be depended upon
D) who has been rewarded for his success
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11[阅读题]
When I was about six years old, my mother came home one day and found that I had collected half a dozen babies of the neighbourhood — all of them too young to walk — and had them sitting before me on the floor while I was teaching them to wave their arms. When she asked the explanation of this, I informed her that it was my school of dance. She was amused, and placing herself at the piano, she began to play for me. This school continued and became very popular. Later on, little girls of the neighbourhood came and their parents paid me a small sum to teach them. This was the beginning of what afterwards proved a very lucrative occupation.
My mother took me to a famous ballet teacher, but his lessons did not please me. When the teacher told me to stand on my toes I asked him why, and when he replied “Because it is beautiful,” I said that it was ugly and against nature and after the third lesson I left his class, never to return. This stiff and commonplace gymnastics which he called dancing only disturbed my dream. I dreamed of a different dance. I did not know just what it would be, but I was feeling out towards an invisible world into which I guessed I might enter if I found the key.
My art was already in me when I was a little girl, and it was owing to the heroic and adventurous spirit of my mother that it was not stifled. I believe that whatever the child is going to do in life should be begun when it is very young. I wonder how many parents realize that by the so-called education they are giving their children, they are only driving them into the commonplace, and depriving them of any chance of doing anything beautiful or original.
1. When her mother came home one day, the narrator of the story _________.
A) was teaching half a dozen babies to dance
B) was teaching half a dozen babies to walk
C) was collecting babies of the neighbourhood
D) was making babies of the neighbourhood sit before her on the floor
2. The attitude of the narrator’s mother toward her school of dance was one of _________.
A) despise B) contempt C) support D) indifference
3. The narrator thought that ballet was _________.
A) the most graceful dance
B) stiff, ugly and unnatural
C) a dance that she had dreamed of
D) an invisible world into which she guessed she might enter
4. According to the narrator, she owed her success in art to ______________.
A) the good education her parents gave her
B) the support of her understanding and adventurous mother
C) her inborn talent
D) her ballet teacher
5. The central idea of the passage is that _____________.
A) parents should try to discover the natural gift in their children and help to develop it while they are young
B) the so-called good education parents give their children only drives them into the commonplace and deprives them of any chance of doing anything orginal
C) mother should be heroic and adventurous
D) ballet is no good as a form of dance
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8[阅读题]
Just as exercise strengthens the heart and lungs, bones and muscles, it may also power up the brain. A succession of scientific studies of animals implies that physical activity has a positive effect on mental functioning. “It’s clear that the brain benefits from exercise,” says brain scientist William Greenough of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His studies with rats have demonstrated two primary effects of activity: vigorous physical exercise provides the brain with more fuel, and skill-based exercise increases the formation of connections in the brain, which, according to the proposals of some scientists, may make the brain better able to process information. In one experiment, laboratory rats were separated into three groups. One group was exercised by running inside an automatic wheel, a second group improved their skills in a complicated obstacle course, and a third group was inactive. “The animals that learned to go through the obstacle course exhibited a greater number of brain connections than the animals in the exercised or inactive groups,” Greenough said. “In contrast, the animals that exercised inside the automatic wheel possessed a greater density of blood vessels in the brain than did either of the other two groups of animals.”
Learning a new dance step may boost the brain in the same way that learning a language can, he says. And if the dance is a good physical exercise as well, the benefits multiply. Young brains may be especially able to boost brain power through exercise, suggested another of Greenough’s experiments that showed the most significant changes in the brain occurred among rats that had been exercised when very young. And while animals aren’t people, he says it is logical to make the inference that an effect found in rats may also apply to humans. Human studies have focused primarily on older adults and suggest that regular exercises can improve the speed with which the brain processes information. Measurements made by Arthur Kramer at the University of Illinois demonstrated that inactive adults, aged 63 to 82, could hit buttons faster in response to a tone after they went through a 10-week water exercise course. A corresponding control group that didn’t exercise showed no improvement. This boost in reaction time after exercise training may occur because declines associated with getting old could actually stem from declines in physical condition. Some scientists speculate the reduction in mental function often attributed to getting old may really be a penalty of neglecting to stay physically active, in addition to related factors such as medicines and poor diet.
“In older people, an exercise program appears important for brain maintenance,” says Daniel M. Landers, professor of exercise science at Arizona State University, who recently published an article reviewing the scientific literature on activity’s effect on the brain. Numerous studies show that children who engage in regular physical activity do better in school than their inactive classmates. But until recently, the academic edge gained by participating in sports was thought to come from the increased self-confidence, the better mood, and the ability to concentrate that comes from burning off steam in exercise. Now, however, some scientists have revised their way of thinking, and point to possible physical connections.
1. What makes the brain better able to process information?
A) Vigorous physical exercise. B) Skill-based exercise.
C) Both of them. D) Neither of them.
2. While _______ of rats showed a greater number of brain connections, _______ had a greater density of blood vessels in the brain.
A) the first group / the third group B) the second group / the third group
C) the first group / the second group D) the second group / the first group
3. One possible reason for scientists to make experiments with rats or other animals is that _________.
A) rats benefit from the experiments
B) the experiments can boost the brains of the rats
C) an effect found in rats may also apply to humans
D) rats and humans are very much alike
4. Which word in Paragraph 6 tells us that older adults were divided into groups in the human studies?
A) Corresponding. B) Inactive. C) Older. D) Faster.
5. Which of the following is not a finding that results from the studies of older adults?
A) Regular exercise can improve the speed with which the brain processes information.
B) Inactive adults can hit buttons faster in response to a tone after being trained.
C) Getting old is the cause for the reduction in mental function.
D) Exercise can make one smarter.
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4[阅读题]
3, Disney is one of the most powerful companies in the world. In fact, it is so big and has so much influence that a new word has come into English: DISNEYFICATION. Here is a quick guide to the effects of Disneyfication.
A few media and publishing giants control many of the things we watch, read and listen to. Therefore the West — mainly the USA — has a strong influence on the world’s popular culture. It is easy for people to identify with the products of the entertainment corporations. These products are glamorous, exciting and full of the latest technology; they easily become part of the culture that people share with their friends and their communities.
As the culture of western entertainment spreads, the world will lose a lot of its cultural variety. Everyone is becoming more and more alike: all around the world teenagers wear the same “uniform” of baseball caps, blue jeans and running shoes.
Countries like Canada, France and Malaysia have been fighting hard to protect their traditional culture by restricting the import of foreign books, films and so on. However, companies that want to increase their culture exports are in favor of a new treaty, the Multilateral Treaty of Investment. This treaty would limit the power of governments to control cultural imports.
Major corporations like Disney make consumerism part of sports, arts and entertainment. After you have taken your children to see the latest Disney movie, they will want you to buy the video, the key chain, the toys, the T-shirt, the note-paper, the pencil set…Every film comes with a package of products, games, and children’s books — and, of course, a careful plan for marketing them all.
Theme parks are becoming a model for towns and commercial development. Everywhere, you can find chain restaurants, giant shopping malls, and modernized city centers that all follow the same pattern. They are all designed to make us feel as if we are getting away from life’s problems — and to make us spend money. As this kind of development spreads, there is less and less space for other values and other ways of doing things.
1. The effects of Disneyfication can be seen from all of the following EXCEPT that ________.
A. the world grows like a theme park
B. we buy, buy, buy
C. we have the corporate view of nature
D. western culture grows stronger
2. What does the world “disneyfication” imply?
A. Disney is a giant corporation.
B. We all become more alike.
C. The local culture becomes less strong.
D. The real world is becoming more and more like a theme park — like Disneyland.
3. As far as the USA is concerned, the Multilateral Treaty of Investment signifies __________.
A. the limit of “culture exports”
B. the spread of “culture exports”
C. the restrict of “culture imports”
D. the limit of government’s power to control the culture imports
4. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The big influence that Disney plays on the world.
B. Disney motivates us to buy its products.
C. Children are crazy about Disney fashion.
D. Disney is simply a dream to us all.
5. The word “glamorous” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to __________ in the context.
A. beautiful B. attractive C. exciting D. elegant
