单选题 .  SECTION A MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
    In this section there are three passages followed by ten multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
    Passage One
    (1) How they toiled and sweated to get the hay in! But their efforts were rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped.
    (2) Sometimes the work was hard; the implements had been designed for human beings and not for animals, and it was a great drawback that no animal was able to use any tool that involved standing on his hind legs. But the pigs were so clever that they could think of a way round every difficulty. As for the horses, they knew every inch of the field, and in fact understood the business of mowing and raking far better than Jones and his men had ever done. The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership. Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake and tramp steadily round and round the field with a pig walking behind and calling out "Gee up, comrade!" or "Whoa back, comrade!" as the case might be. And every animal down to the humblest worked at turning the hay and gathering it. Even the ducks and hens toiled to and fro all day in the sun, carrying tiny wisps of hay in their beaks. In the end, they finished the harvest in two days' less time than it had usually taken Jones and his men. Moreover, it was the biggest harvest that the farm had ever seen. There was no wastage whatever; the hens and ducks with their sharp eyes had gathered up the very last stalk. And not an animal on the farm had stolen so much as a mouthful.
    (3) All through that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork. The animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out to them by a grudging master. With the worthless parasitical (寄生的) human beings gone, there was more for everyone to eat. There was more leisure too, inexperienced though the animals were. They met with many difficulties—for instance, later in the year, when they harvested the corn, they had to tread it out in the ancient style and blow away the chaff with their breath, since the farm possessed no threshing machine—but the pigs with their cleverness and Boxer with his tremendous muscles always pulled them through. Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on his mighty shoulders. From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always at the spot where the work was hardest. He had made an arrangement with one of the cockerels to call him in the mornings half an hour earlier than anyone else, and would put in some volunteer labor at whatever seemed to be most needed, before the regular day's work began. His answer to every problem, every setback, was "I will work harder!"—which he had adopted as his personal motto.
    (4) But everyone worked according to his capacity. The hens and ducks, for instance, saved five bushels of corn at the harvest by gathering up the stray grains. Nobody stole, nobody grumbled over his rations, the quarrelling and biting and jealousy which had been normal features of life in the old days had almost disappeared. Nobody shirked—or almost nobody. Mollie, it was true, was not good at getting up in the mornings, and had a way of leaving work early on the ground that there was a stone in her hoof. And the behavior of the cat was somewhat peculiar. It was soon noticed that when there was work to be done the cat could never be found. She would vanish for hours on end, and then reappear at meal-times, or in the evening after work was over, as though nothing had happened. But she always made such excellent excuses, and purred so affectionately, that it was impossible not to believe in her good intentions. Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in the same slow obstinate (顽固的；倔强的) way as he had done it in Jones's time, never shirking and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its results he would express no opinion. When asked whether he was not happier now that Jones was gone, he would say only "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey," and the others had to be content with this cryptic (神秘的；含义模糊的) answer.
    Passage Two
    (1) Not every self-driving car company is a hi-tech unicorn eager to disrupt the status quo. The latest firm to invite journalists to experience its autonomous technology is the epitome of traditional car manufacturing: Ford.
    (2) On its sprawling campus in Dearborn, Michigan, the century-old company is trying its hardest to look and act like a new startup. In March, Ford launched a subsidiary called Ford Smart Mobility (FSM) to develop in-car connectivity, ride-sharing and autonomous technologies. FSM is designed to compete like a startup, with the aim of translating Ford's decade of work in autonomous systems into real products. At its first public autonomous vehicle demos, young engineers and entrepreneurs were enthused about reinventing our traffic-clogged cities.
    (3) "We're rethinking our entire business model," said Mark Fields, Ford's CEO. "It's no longer about how many vehicles we can sell. It's about what services we can provide. We understand that the world has changed from a mindset of owning vehicles to one of owning and sharing them." That has led to some quirky (稀奇古怪的) investments, such as Ford's acquisition last week of a San Francisco-based crowdsharing shuttle bus startup called Chariot, and a partnership to provide the city with thousands of human-powered bikes for a ride-sharing scheme.
    (4) But while Ford's car sales are fairly healthy today, Fields foresees a world transformed by driverless cars, Uber and climate change. "You could argue that in major cities, vehicle density will drop because of automated vehicles and congestion charges. Some cities might even outlaw personal use of vehicles." One of Ford's strategies to cope with this is to accelerate its efforts towards a fully autonomous car. Fields now says Ford will have a completely self-driving car, without a steering wheel, an accelerator or pedals, in production by 2021. It will initially be used only for robotic taxi services in restricted urban areas but should be available for consumers to purchase by the middle of the decade.
    (5) Ford's newfound confidence in self-driving cars comes just as the technology's pioneers are struggling to mature beyond this same gee-whiz enthusiasm. Google's self-driving project, perennially (永久地) poised to be spun out into a separate company, recently lost key members, while Apple is rumored to have laid off dozens of engineers and scaled back its ambitious plans to build its own autonomous vehicle.
    (6) But other rivals still seem years ahead of Ford. Uber is beginning a driverless taxi pilot in Pittsburgh this week (albeit with a human safety driver), and startup Nutonomy is already offering robotic taxi rides in Singapore. To judge by Monday's demos, on the other hand, Ford's self-driving Fusions are still spooked (惊吓) by bushes growing too close to the road and paralyzed with indecision when confronted with pedestrians who may or may not be about to step off the pavement.
    (7) Its fleet of development cars, currently just 10 strong, looks thin compared with Google's dozens of cars operating across the US, or the thousands of autopilot-enabled Teslas gathering millions of miles of real-world data monthly. Ford aims to have 30 autonomous Fusions by the end of the year, and about 100 by the end of 2017.
    (8) But although Ford may appear to be lagging behind, it has been working quietly behind the scenes. Several self-driving startups, including Uber, Faraday Future and Autonomous Stuff, are already using Ford Fusions (or its near equivalent, the Lincoln MKZ) to develop their own technologies. "It's the absolute best vehicle right now for testing self-driving," says Bobby Hambrick, CEO of Autonomous Stuff, a company developing retro-fit automated driving kits. "There are no other carmakers that are so open to work through third parties like us."
    (9) Fields also points to the multinational's competencies in building and selling vehicles. "We've been working on autonomous vehicles for over 10 years," he said. "And for 100 years, we've built high-volume product with quality and affordability."
    (10) Fields finished his keynote address by predicting that autonomous vehicles will have as big an impact on society as Henry Ford's moving assembly line did a century ago. He will be hoping that Ford will still be around to celebrate the centenary of the autonomous car.
    Passage Three
    (1) Dr. Leonard Bailey turns 74 in August, but as chief of surgery for Loma Linda University's Children's Hospital, he still puts in 60-hour weeks, starting at 6:30 every morning. The pioneering heart surgeon performed the world's first successful infant-to-infant heart transplant and has done hundreds of transplants for the tiniest of babies. "There's no reason to stop. If you're constantly thinking new thoughts and dealing with new problems, it refreshes your brain cells and makes new connections."
    (2) A June report by the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of retirement-age Americans who remain in the workforce has dramatically increased, climbing from 12.8 percent in 2000 to 18.8 percent this year.
    (3) Several factors are driving this trend. Some of it is financial—the Great Recession of 2008 ripped a big chunk out of retirement savings, and fewer employees these days have fixed pensions, so many people have little choice but to keep working. But others are like Bailey—educated professionals who aren't ready to be cast aside.
    (4) There's also a shift in attitudes toward retirement, probably because we're in the midst of the most significant demographic (人口统计学的) change in history. Up until the 20th century, fewer than half of all Americans reached age 50, but by midcentury, more than 88 million Americans will be over 65, according to U.S. government projections, which has triggered worries that caring for these oldsters could drain societal resources and bankrupt the health care system. But many experts believe horror stories of greedy geezers (怪老头) guzzling (狂饮；暴食) scarce resources miss the fact that many of today's seniors are healthier, better educated and more productive than previous generations—and want to keep working.
    (5) While some employers worry about aging workers' diminished capacities, rising health care costs and their unfamiliarity with new tech tools, some companies are already finding innovative ways to accommodate an aging workforce. They've launched programs that range from mentoring programs that pair up experienced veterans with younger colleagues to phased-in retirement plans that allow people to work flexibly or on part-time schedules. These programs let companies capitalize on the legions of workers in their 60s who'd miss the camaraderie and the paycheck but not the hectic pace that comes with a full-time job.
    (6) There are good reasons for companies to do this. Older workers are more loyal and stay on the job longer than their younger counterparts. This reduces turnover and minimizes costs for hiring and training replacements. Older employees also have a depth of experience, contacts and skills, which often means they can come up to speed faster than the youngsters, and they can be more adept at navigating in the corporate world.
    (7) The staff at Michelin, the tire manufacturer in the U. S. is practically geriatric: Nearly 40 percent of their 16,000 employees are over 50, and most of them have been with the company for two decades or more. They range from flextime, compressed work schedules and job-sharing to telecommuting and phased retirement programs. And Michelin's not just holding on to its white-collar professionals; it puts just as much effort into retaining skilled tradespeople—the automation experts, electricians and technical support staffers who maintain production on the factory floor. "These are the hardest jobs to fill because so few have this kind of expertise," says Stafford, Michelin's executive vice president of human resources. "Manufacturing companies are all facing these kinds of shortages today."
    (8) MEI Technologies, an aerospace and technology company, actively recruits retirees, targeting former NASA engineers and retired military people to work on a project basis during rush periods. "Work flows have peaks and valleys, and this on-call workforce helps us meet customer needs," says Sandra Stanford, director of human resources at MEI Technologies.
    (9) Even in the notoriously youth-oriented tech world, some companies are crafting corporate benefits to keep and attract older workers. At NerdWallet, a financial information website headquartered in San Francisco, nearly a third of the writing and editing staff is 50 or older. "I want the best talent, I want a mix of it, and we're highly selective of who we hire," says Maggie Leung, the company's senior director of content.
    (10) Leung says she aggressively recruited Phil Reed in his mid-60s, who's been writing about cars for more than two decades, telecommutes from Long Beach, California. "There were times I felt conscious of my age," recalls Reed, who normally does weekly video conferences with his boss and colleagues. "But I was pleased to find that there were quite a few editors in their 40s and 50s, and it wasn't just a startup with kids running around. Originally, I had planned to retire in a couple of years. But I like being involved and being part of a team. If things keep up like this, why would I retire?"1.  What is the moral implied in the first two paragraphs? ______ (Passage One)