单选题
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Questions
26-30 Actually, though, America, the "land of
immigrants", has always had people of many different nationalities and
languages. The 1990 census indicates that almost 14% of Americans speak a non-
English language at home. Yet only 3% reported that they spoke English "not
well" or "not at all". That means that slightly more than one out of 10
Americans could be considered bilingual. Besides that, many high school and
college students--and even some elementary school students--are required to take
a foreign language as a part of their curriculum. In addition to old standbys
like Spanish, German and French, more and more students are opting Eastern
European and Asian languages. Of course, not all students keep up their foreign
language abilities. As the old saying goes, "If you don't use it, you lose it. "
But still, a growing number of Americans are coming to appreciate the benefits
of being multilingual. Ethnic enclaves, found particularly in
major metropolitan centers, have preserved the language and culture of American
immigrants. Some local residents can function quite well in their native
language, without having to bother learning English. Regions such as southern
Florida and the Southwest have numerous Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. In fact,
Spanish speakers--numbering over 17 million--compose the largest non-English
linguistic group in America. But Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Polish and
many other ethnic groups add to the linguistic flavor of America. Foreign
languages are so commonly used in some ethnic neighborhoods that visitors might
think they are in another country! Although some Americans
welcome this linguistic and cultural diversity, others have begun to fear that
the English language is being threatened. Since the 1980s, the "English Only"
movement has sought to promote legislation which would establish English as the
"official language" and restrict the use of non-English language. However, some
groups, including TESOL, the organization for Teachers of English to Speakers of
Other Language, object to such "language restrictionism". Their view, known as
"English Plus", suggests that Americans should have respect for people's native
language and culture, while promoting the teaching of English to help them fit
into the mainstream of society. But so far, 19 states have passed English Only
legislation, and the topic is the focus of an ongoing debate.
Whether or not English is the official language of the United States, it
remains the "language of wider communication". Nearly everyone recognizes
the need to develop proficiency in English in order to do well in America. To
help those who want to brush up on their English skills, English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes abound. Cities with large numbers of recent immigrants
often set up bilingual education programs to teach students content subjects in
their native language while they improve their English. Language educators
often have strong and divergent views as to which approach helps learners
achieve better results: a bilingual approach, an ESL approach--or even a pure
immersion ("sink or swim") approach. However, alI these
teachers share a common commitment: to help students function well in
English. Americans recognize that English is the international
language, and people with good English skills can get by in many international
settings. On the other hand, in a world growing increasingly smaller, second
language skills can be a great favor. They can build cross-cultural bridges and
give people an edge in a variety of career fields. Indeed, lack of foreign
language proficiency can limit one's chances for advancement and keep one in a
cultural dead-end street. As many people in America are discovering, being
monolingual is no laughing matter.
单选题 Directions: In this section you will read
several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to
choose ONE best answer, (A), (B), (C) or (D), to each question. Answer all the
questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in
that passage and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the
corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
Questions 1~5
Farmers in the developing world would hate price fluctuations.
It makes it hard to plan ahead. But most of them have little choice, they sell
at the price the market sets. Farmers in Europe, the US and Japan are luckier:
they receive massive government subsidies in the form of guaranteed prices or
direct handout. Last month US President Bush signed a new farm bill that gives
American farmers $190 billion over the next 10 years, or $ 83 billion more than
they had been scheduled to get, and pushes US agricultural support close to
crazy European levels. Bush said the step was necessary to "promote farmer
independence and preserve the farm way of life for generations". It is also
designed to help the Republican Party win control of the Senate in November's
mid-term elections. Agricultural production in most poor
countries accounts for up to 50% of GDP, compared to only 3% in rich countries.
But most farmers in poor countries grow just enough for themselves and their
families. Those who try exporting to the West find their goods whacked with huge
tariffs or competing against cheaper subsidized goods. In 1999 developing
counties receive in aid close up to $14 just because of trade barriers imposed
on the export of their manufactured goods. It's not as if the developing world
wants any favors, says Gerald Ssendawula, Uganda's Minister of Finance. "What we
want is for the rich countries to let us compete. " Agriculture
is one of the few areas in which the Third World can compete. Land and labor are
cheap, and as farming methods develop, new technologies should improve output.
This is no pie-in- the-sky speculation. The biggest success in Kenya's economy
over the past decade has been the boom in exports of cut flowers and vegetables
to Europe. But that may all change in 2008, when Kenya will be slightly too rich
to qualify for the "least-developed country" status that allows African
producers to avoid paying stiff European import duties on selected agricultural
products. With trade barriers in place, the horticulture industry in Kenya will
shrivel as quickly as a discarded rose. And while agriculture exports remain the
great hope for poor countries, reducing trade barriers in other sectors also
works: America's African Growth and Opportunity Act, which cuts duties on
exports of everything from handicrafts to shoes, has proved a boom to Africa's
manufacturers. The lesson. the Third World can prosper if the rich world gives
it a fair go. This is what makes Bush's decision to increase
farm subsidies last month all the more depressing. Poor countries have long
suspected that the rich world urges trade liberalization only so it can wangle
its way into new markets. Such suspicions caused the Seattle trade talks to
break down three years ago. But last November members of the World Trade
Organization, meeting in Doha, Qatar, finally agreed to a new round of talks
designed to open up global trade in agriculture and textiles. Rich countries
assured poor countries that their concerns were finally being addressed. Bush's
handout last month makes a lie of America's commitment to those talks and his
personal devotion to free trade.
单选题WhoshotAbrahamLincoln?[A]Ayoungmanof24fromthenorth.[B]Ayoungmanof25fromthesouth.[C]Aslaveownerof26fromthesouth.
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Question
11-15 Recent years have brought minority-owned
businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities as well as new and
significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the
principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have
difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the
sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now
Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded
federal contracts of more than $ 500, 000 do their best to find minority
subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the
government. Indeed, (some federal and local agencies) have gone so far as to set
specific percentage goals for apportioning part of public works contracts to
minority enterprises. Corporate response appears to have been
substantial. (According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate
contracts with minority businesses rose from $ 77 million in 1972 to $1.1
billion in 1977. ) The projected total of corporate contracts with minority
businesses for the early 1980s is estimated to be over $ 3 billion per year with
no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for
minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.
First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves
financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses,
they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment,
and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter,
their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially
crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be
frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal
estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small
company's efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the
financial health of the business will suffer. A second risk is
that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionments
through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in
many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White
and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could
acquire alone. But civil rights groups and minority business owners have
complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White
backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint
ventures. Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business
of one large corporate customer often run the danger of becoming and remaining
dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger,
more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden
their customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a
single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency
arising from their current success.
单选题Which of the following topics is mainly discussed in the passage?
单选题 For several days I saw little of Mr. Rochester. In
the morning he seemed much occupied with business, and in the afternoon
gentlemen from the neighbourhood called and sometimes stayed to dine with him.
When his foot was well enough, he rode out a great deal. During
this time, all my knowledge of him was limited to occasional meetings about the
house, when he would sometimes pass me coldly, and sometimes bow and smile. His
changes of manner did not offend me, because I saw that I had nothing to do with
the cause of them. One evening, several days later, I was
invited to talk to Mr. Rochester after dinner. He was sitting in his armchair,
and looked not quite so severe, and much less gloomy. There was a smile on his
lips, and his eyes were bright, probably with wine. As I was looking at him, he
suddenly turned, and asked me, "do you think I'm handsome, Miss Eyre?"
The answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I realized it: "No, sir.
" "Ah, you really are unusual! You are a quiet, serious little
person, but you can be almost rude. " "Sir, I'm sorry. I should
have said that beauty doesn't matter, or something like that."
"No, you shouldn't! I see, you criticize my appearance, and then you stab me in
the back! You have honesty and feeling. There are not many girls like you. But
perhaps I go too fast. Perhaps you have awful faults to counterbalance your few
good points. I thought to myself that he might have too. He
seemed to read my mind, and said quickly, ""Yes, you're right. I have plenty of
faults. I went the wrong way when I was twenty-one, and have never found the
right path again. I might have been very different. I might have been as good as
you, and perhaps wiser. I am not a bad man, take my word for it, but I have done
wrong. It wasn't my character, but circumstances which were to blame. Why do I
tell you all this? Because you're the sort of person people tell their problems
and secrets to, because you're sympathetic and give them hope. "
It seemed he had quite a lot to talk to me. He didn't seem to like to
finish the talk quickly, as was the case for the first time.
"Don't be afraid of me, Miss Eyre. " He continued. "You don't relax or laugh
very much, perhaps because of the effect Lowood School has had on you. But in
time you will be more natural with me, and laugh, and speak freely. You're like
a bird in a cage. When you get out of the cage, you'll fly very high. Good
night. "
单选题Question 23-26
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{{B}}Questions
19-22{{/B}}
单选题Question 11-15
Without regular supplies of some hormones our capacity to behave would be seriously impaired; without others we would soon die. Tiny amounts of some hormones can modify moods and actions, our inclination to eat or drink, our aggressiveness or submissiveness, and our reproductive and parental behavior. And hormones do more than influence adult behavior; early in life they help to determine the development of bodily form and may even determine an individual"s behavioral capacities. Later in life the changing outputs of some endocrine glands and the body"s changing sensitivity to some hormones are essential aspects of the phenomena of aging.
Communication within the body and the consequent integration of behavior were considered the exclusive province of the nervous system up to the beginning of the present century. The emergence of endocrinology as a separate discipline can probably be traced to the experiments of Bayliss and Starling on the hormone secretion. This substance is secreted from cells in the intestinal walls when food enters the stomach; it travels through the bloodstream and stimulates the pancreas to liberate pancreatic juice, which aids in digestion. By showing that special cells secrete chemical agents that are conveyed by the bloodstream and regulate distant target organs or tissues. Bayliss and Starling demonstrated that chemical integration could occur without participation of the nervous system.
The term "hormone" was first used with reference to secretion. Starling derived the term from the Greek hormone, meaning "to excite or set in motion". The term "endocrine" was introduced shortly thereafter. "Endocrine" is used to refer to glands that secrete products into the bloodstream. The term "endocrine" contrasts with "exocrine", which is applied to glands that secrete their products though ducts to the site of action. Examples of exocrine glands are the tear glands, the sweat glands, and the pancreas, which secrete pancreatic juice through a duct into the intestine. Exocrine glands are also called duct glands, while endocrine glands are called ductless glands.
单选题An industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependent on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbours. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger.
It is this interdependency of the economic system which makes the power of trade unions such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many countries" economic blood supply. This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labour force is highly organized. About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States.
For historical reasons, Britain"s unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes a wages policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedures for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve.
There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of industrial changes. Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies, unions can fight for their members" disappearing jobs to the point where the jobs of other unions" members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has Frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold onto their traditional highly-paid jobs.
Trade unions have problems of internal communication just as managers in companies do, problems which multiply in very large unions or in those which bring workers in very different industries together into a single general union. Some trade union officials have to be re-elected regularly; others are elected, or even appointed, for life. Trade union officials have to work with a system of "shop stewards" in many unions, "shop stewards" being workers elected by other workers as their representatives at factory or works level.
单选题When Harvey Ball took a black felt-tip pen to a piece of yellow paper in 1963, he never could have realized that he was drafting the face that would launch 50 million buttons and an eventual war over copyright. Mr. Ball, a commercial artist, was simply filling a request from Joy Young of the Worcester Mutual Insurance Company to create an image for their "smile campaign" to coach employees to be more congenial in their customer relations. It seems there was a hunger for a bright grin-the original order of 100 smiley-face buttons were snatched up and an order for 10,000 more was placed at once. The Worcester Historical Museum takes this founding moment seriously. "Just as you'd want to know the biography of General Washington, we realized we didn't know the comprehensive history of the Smiley Face," says Bill Wallace, the executive director of the historical museum where the exhibit "Smiley-An American Icon" opens to the public Oct. 6 in Worcester, Mass. Worcester, often referred to by neighboring Bostonians as "that manufacturing town off Route 90," lays claim to several other famous commercial firsts, the monkey wrench and shredded wheat among them. Smiley Face is a particularly warm spot in the city's history. Through a careful historical analysis, Mr. Wallace says that while the Smiley Face birthplace is undisputed, it took several phases of distribution before the distinctive rounded-tipped smile with one eye slightly larger than the other proliferated in the mainstream. As the original buttons spread like drifting pollen with no copyright attached, a bank in Seattle next realized its commercial potential. Under the guidance of advertising executive David Stern, the University Federal Savings & Loan launched a very public marketing campaign in 1967 centered on the Smiley Face. It eventually distributed 150,000 buttons along with piggy banks and coin purses. Old photos of the bank show giant Smiley Face wallpaper. By 1970, Murray and Bernard Spain, brothers who owned a card shop in Philadelphia, were affixing the yellow grin to everything from key chains to cookie jars along with "Have a happy day." "In the 1970s, there was a trend toward happiness," says Wallace. "We had assassinated a president, we were in a war with Vietnam, and people were looking for [tokens of] happiness. [The Spain brothers] ran with it. " The Smiley Face resurged in the 1990s. This time it was fanned by a legal dispute between Wal-Mart, who uses it to promote its low prices, and Franklin Loufrani, a Frenchman who owns a company called SmiteyWorld. Mr. Loufrani says he created the Smiley Face and has trademarked it around the world. He has been distributing its image in 80 countries since 1971. Loufrani's actions irked Ball, who felt that such a universal symbol should remain in the public domain in perpetuity. So in a pleasant proactive move, Ball declared in 1999 that the first Friday in October would be "World Smile Day" to promote general kindness and charity toward children in need. Ball died in 2001. The Worcester exhibit opens on "World Smile Day", Oct. 6. It features a plethora of Smiley Face merchandise—from the original Ball buttons to plastic purses and a toilet seat— and contemporary interpretations by local artists. The exhibit is scheduled to run through Feb. 11.
单选题
单选题Too bad--I missed the early train ______ only a few minutes! [A] at [B] in [C] by [D] after
单选题I remember meeting him one evening with his pushcart. I had managed to sell all my papers and was coming home in the snow. It was that strange hour in downtown New York when the workers were pouring homeward in the twilight. I marched among thousands of tired men and women whom the factory whistles had unyoked. They flowed in rivers through the clothing factory districts, then down along the avenues to the East Side.
I met my father near Cooper Union. I recognized him, a hunched, frozen figure in an old overcoat standing by a banana cart. He looked so lonely, the tears came to my eyes. Then he saw me, and his face lit with his sad, beautiful smile—Charlie Chaplin"s smile.
"Arch, it"s Mikey," he said. "So you have sold your papers! Come and eat a banana."
He offered me one. I refused it. I felt it crucial that my father sell his bananas, not give them away. He thought I was shy, and coaxed and joked with me, and made me eat the banana. It smelled of wet straw and snow.
"You haven"t sold many bananas today, pop," I said anxiously, He shrugged his shoulders. "What can I do? No one seems to want them."
It was true. The work crowds pushed home morosely over the pavements. The rusty sky darkened over New York building, the tall street lamps were lit, innumerable trucks, street cars and elevated trains clattered by. Nobody and nothing in the great city stopped for my father"s bananas.
"I ought to yell," said my father dolefully. "I ought to make a big noise like other peddlers, but it makes my throat sore. Anyway, I"m ashamed of yelling, it makes me feel like a fool."
I had eaten one of his bananas. My sick conscience told me that I ought to pay for it somehow. I must remain here and help my father. "I"ll yell for you, pop," I volunteered." "Arch, no," he said, "go home; you have worked enough today. Just tell momma I"ll be late."
But I yelled and yelled. My father, standing by, spoke occasional words of praise, and said I was a wonderful yeller. Nobody else paid attention. The workers drifted past us wearily, endlessly; a defeated army wrapped in dreams of home. Elevated trains crashed; the Cooper Union clock burned above us; the sky grew black, the wind poured, the slush burned through our shoes. There were thousands of strange, silent figures pouring over the sidewalks in snow, None of them stopped to buy bananas. I yelled and yelled, nobody listened.
My father tried to stop me at last. "Nu," he said smiling to console me, "that was wonderful yelling. Mikey. But it"s plain we are unlucky today! Let"s go home."
I was frantic, and almost in tears. I insisted on keeping up my desperate yells. But at last my father persuaded me to leave with him.
单选题
单选题
Questions
27-30
单选题Questions 11-14
单选题Despite questions of the motivation behind them, the attacks by the President and the Vice President on the moral content of television entertainment have found an echo in the chambers of the American soul. Many who reject the messengers still accept the message. They do not like the moral tone of American TV.
Every good story will not only captivate its viewers but also give them some insight into what it means to be a human being. By so doing, it can help them grow into the deeply centered, sovereignly free, joyously loving human beings. Meaning, freedom and love—the supreme human values. And this is the kind of human enrichment the American viewing public has a right to expect from those who make its entertainment.
It is not a question of entertainment or enrichment. These are complementary concerns and presuppose each other. The story that entertains without enriching is superficial and escapist. The story that enriches without entertaining is simply dull. The story that does both is a delight.
Is that what the American viewing public is getting? Perhaps 10% of prime-time network programming is a happy combination of entertainment and enrichment. I think immediately of dramas like I"ll Fly Away and Life Goes On or comedies like Brooklyn Bridge and The Wonder Years. There used to be television movies rich in human values, but they have now become an endangered species. Sleaze and mayhem. Murder off the front page. The woman in jeopardy. Is there too much sex on American TV? Not necessarily. Sex is a beautiful, even holy, part of human life, a unique way for husband and wife to express their love. No doubt there is too much dishonest sex on TV. How often do we see the aching emptiness, the joyless despair that so often follows sex without commitment? And certainly there is too much violence. It desensitizes its viewers to the horrors of actual violence and implies that it is an effective way to resolve conflict. I seldom see the dehumanization that violence produces, not only in its victims, but also in its perpetrators. And I never see the nonviolent alternative—the way of dialogue and love—explored. Think about Gandhi and Martin Luther King. But in reality, I find television too much concerned with what people have and too little concerned with who they are, very concerned with taking care of No. 1 and not at all concerned with sharing themselves with other people. All too often it tells us the half truth we want to hear rather than the whole truth we need to hear.
Why is television not more fully realizing its humanizing potential? Is the creative community at fault? Partially. But not primarily. I have lived and worked in that community for 32 years. As a group, these people are not the sex-crazed egomaniacs of popular legend. They have values. In fact, in Hollywood in recent months, audience enrichment has become the in thing. ABC, CBS and NBC have all held workshops on it for their programming executives. A coalition of media companies has endowed the Humanitas Prize so that it can recognize and celebrate those who accomplish it. And during the school year, an average of 50 writers spend a Saturday a month in a church basement discussing the best way to accomplish it. All before the Vice President"s misguided lambasting of Murphy Brown.
The problem with American TV is not the lack of storytellers of conscience but the commercial system within which they have to operate. Television in the U. S. is a business. In the past, the business side has been balanced by a commitment to public service. But in recent years the fragmentation of the mass audience, huge interest payments and skyrocketing production costs have combined with the FCC"s abdication of its responsibility to protect the common good to produce an almost total preoccupation with the bottom line. The networks are struggling to survive. And like most businesses in that situation, they make only what they feel the public will buy. And that, the statistics seem to indicate, is mindless, heartless, escapist fare. If we are dissatisfied with the moral content of what we are invited to watch, I think we should begin by examining our own consciences. When we tune in, are we ready to plunge into reality, so as to extract its meaning, or are we hoping to escape into a sedated world of illusion? And if church leaders want to elevate the quality of the country"s entertainment, they should forget about boycotts, production codes and censorship. They should work at educating their people in media literacy and at mobilizing them to support quality shows in huge numbers.
That is the only sure way to improve the moral content of America"s entertainment.
单选题Animation means making things which are lifeless come alive and move. Since earliest times, people have always been astonished by movement. But not until this century have we managed to take control of movement, to record it, and in the case of animation, to retranslate it and recreate it. To do all this, we use a movie camera and a projector (放映机). In the world of cartoon animation, nothing is impossible. You can make the characters do exactly what you want them to do. A famous early cartoon character was Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan in America in the early nineteen twenties. Felix was a wonderful cat. He could do all sorts of things no natural cat could do like taking off his tail, using it as a handle and then putting it back. Most of the great early animators lived and worked in America, the home of the moving picture industry. The famous Walt Disney cartoon characters came to life after 1928. Popeye the Sailor and his girl friend Olive Oyo were born at Max Ficischer in 1933. But to be an animator, you don't have to be a professional(专业人士). It is possible for anyone to make a simple animated film without using a camera at all. All you have to do is to draw directly onto an empty film and then run the film through a projector.
