Passage 46

　　Too often young people get themselves employment quite by accident, not knowing what lies ahead in the way of opportunity of promotion (提升) , happiness and security (安全) .As a result, they are employed doing jobs that afford them little or no satisfaction. Our school leavers face so much competition that they seldom care what they do so long as they can earn a living. Some stay long at a job and learn to like it, others move from one to another looking for something to suit them. The young graduates who leave the university look for jobs that offer a salary up to their expectation. Very few go out into the world knowing exactly what they want and realizing their own abilities. The reason behind all this confusion (混乱) is that there never has been a proper vocational (职业) guidance in our educational institutions. Nearly all grope (摸索) in the dark and their chief concern when they look for a job is to ask what their salary is like. They never bother to think whether they are suited for the job or, even more important, whether the job suits them.

　　Having a job is more than merely providing yourself and your dependents with daily bread and some money for leisure and entertainment. It sets a pattern of life and, in many ways, determines social position in life, selection of friends, leisure and interests.

　　In choosing a career you should first consider the type of work which will suit your interest. Nothing is more pathetic (可悲) than taking on a job in which you have no interest, for it will not only discourage your desire to succeed in life but also ruin your talents and at last make you an emotional damage and a bitter person. Consideration should also be given to various aptitudes (明智). Far too many people have stores of abilities and talents that are not fully used or are even left dormant (睡眠).Being aware of latent (潜在的) talents will provide you with the incentive (激情) to keep working in face of difficulties and disappointments, because you will know for sure that you are doing the best for yourself and have the confidence that you can carry out what you set out to do.

　　At this point it would be useful to note the differences between occupation and profession. An occupation is employment, trade or business. It does not necessarily require great mental ability. It cares for people with standard basic education and enough skill to carry on work to satisfy the need of a society. Professional employment demands extensive college or university training and requires a strict and comprehensive (全面的) public examination. You should not attempt to enter a profession career unless you have above average intelligence and have determination to spend time for studies.

　　1. The point the writer is making about the main defect (缺点) of choosing a suitable job is____.

　　A. the young people are money-minded

　　B. they face much competition

　　C. they have no working experience

　　D. they are not aware of their latent talents

　　2. In emphasizing (强调)the importance of choosing a job in relation to success in life, the writer makes one of the following statements____.

　　A. whether the job sets a pattern of life

　　B. whether the job suits you

　　C. whether the job will destroy your talents

　　D. whether the job determines your social position in life

　　3. What is the author’s opinion about the common factor shared between occupation and profession?

　　A. both provide service for mankind.

　　B. both satisfy the need of a society.

　　C. both require academic(学校的)aptitude.

　　D. both have to fulfill strict examination.

　　4. A suitable title for this passage is____.

　　A. Job-hunting B. Earning a living

　　C. Differences among Different Jobs

　　D. Choosing a Career

　　答案与分析

　　本文是说明文。全文讲述了在择业时应该注意的几个问题。

　　1. D判断题。A 有较大干扰性。从文中我们看到money-minded 是一部分人的缺点，但并不是年青人寻找工作时的main defect。从第一段Very few go out into the world knowing exactly what they want and realizing their own abilities,而在第三段Being aware of latent talents will provide you with the incentive...作者又强调了知道自己潜在能的重要性，因此 D为最佳答案。

　　2. B细节题。从第一段最后一句得此答案。

　　3. B深层理解题。最后一段作者提出It (an occupation)cares for people... to satisfy the need of a society。下文又指出Professional employment demands. . .and requires a strict and comprehensive public examination ，而public examination 在此指the need of a society, 因此尽管occupation and profession对人们的要求有所不同，换句话说，profession 对人的要求更宽、更广，但它们都必须要顺应社会的需要。

　　4. D主旨大意题。全文讲了在选择职业时人们的错误意识，接下来作者提出了选择职业的几条建议，因此D为最佳答案。

　　Passage 47

　　Cyber English

　　There are new and exciting ways to use the Internet to learn English while you are on-line. The Internet uses a lot of multimedia elements (多媒体原理), like words, sounds, pictures, animations (动画制作), and video. This is perfect for studying a language because you’ve got to see, hear, and repeat things as much as you like. Learning over the Internet is also fun because you can be a part of conversations happening all around the globe! Special Internet sites are designed for people learning English, just like yourself. These sites use multimedia to help you learn and are a great way to meet other people around the world.

　　The Language of the Net

　　On the Internet, English is the major language. As a result, it is now more important than ever to be able to understand English when you serve the web. It is not always easy, though. The English can be difficult or have a lot of cultural information that you have never seen.

　　See You in Town!

　　One site for students studying English and their teachers is Englishtown. At www.englishtown.com, you will find a community (group) of people interested in learning English. There are several buildings in the virtual (实际的；事实的) town where you can play games, chat with friends, ask and get answers to language and cultural questions, and find an international pen friend who shares your interests. There are extra resources (资源) to help you learn, such as multimedia CD-ROMs and books for language learning and translation. You can also have daily and monthly English lessons delivered to your own e-mail address .There is even an on-line school where you can take English classes over the Internet. Englishtown is the perfect place to prepare for a trip to England or the United States!

　　Would you like to become part of a virtual community of English speakers?

　　Learn While You Serf

　　Surfing the web is not only fun but can also help improve your English ! Try out some of the web sites listed below and see how students all over the world are learning English online.

　　1. “Cyber English” probably means“_____”.

　　A .learning English on Internet

　　B. teaching yourself English

　　C. the history of English

　　D. English broadcast on TV or over the radio

　　2. English online interests a lot of people because_____.

　　A. only in this way one can learn the language well

　　B. people don’t have to pay

　　C. the learners can have a face-to-face study of the courses with the teachers

　　D. it makes learning easier and more interesting

　　3.The omitted (省略) part of the passage might_____.

　　A. show us some of the websites on which sell books

　　B. tell us how to use the Internet

　　C. tell us where to get the CD-ROMs we need

　　D. show us some of the websites on which English is taught

　　答案与分析

　　本文是广告阅读。全文介绍了几个对我们的英语学习有利的网络。

　　1. A主旨大意题。读完全文第一部分我们不难看出，作者在此叙述网络在学习英语方面的好处因此A为最佳答案。

　　2. D归纳题。从Cyber English我们可以看出多媒体不仅为我们提供单词、声音、图像动画制作等，它同样也可以让你成为环球谈话中的参与者，因此与传统的学习方法相比，它更有趣学习起来容易。

　　3. D作者意图推断题。从Learn While You Serf栏中Try out some of the web sites listed below...得此推论。

　　Passage 48

　　If there is one thing I’m quite sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we will still be reading newspapers. Not that newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of the news from the television or have the radio switched on in the background or in the car. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.

　　The basic British character won’t change, and one of the characteristics of the British is that we don’t much like talking to each other when we get up. So what better way is there to keep yourself think in the morning than to wrap yourself in a newspaper ?

　　Over the past couple of centuries, human beings have developed a close relationship with the newspaper. It has become as natural as breathing or enjoying the sun. And it is not just the British who love newspapers. On Suburban trains in Calcutta, for instance, just one person in the whole car will buy a newspaper and read aloud the best bits to his fellow passengers, much to everybody’s enjoyment.

　　The nature of what is news may change. What essentially (本质上) makes news is what affects our lives and the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering (基因工程).In the future I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do ─ whether its love or depressions we develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.

　　It’s quite possible that in the next century newspapers will be transmitted electronically from the national equivalents of Fleet Street (伦敦的舰队街，以报馆集中而著称) and printed out in our own homes .In fact, I’m pretty sure that that is how it will happen in future . You’ll be probably select from a menu, making up your own bespoke newspaper by picking out the things you want to read and say. You might even have an intelligent screening device to do the job for you.

　　I think people have got it wrong when they talk about the competition between the different media (媒体).They actually have a relationship, feeding off each other. It was once predicted that television would kill off newspapers, which hasn’t happened. What is read on the printed page is more enduring than pictures on a flickering screen or sound lost in the sky. And as for the internet, it’s never really satisfying to read something just on a screen.

　　1. The writer of the passage is probably from______.

　　A. Russia B. India C. Britain D. America

　　2. According to the passage the future of newspapers_____.

　　A. will be mainly connected with scientific research

　　B. will report more important political activities

　　C. will directly cover more on science

　　D. will build a bridge between different people

　　3. The underlined part “bespoke newspaper ”of the passage probably means______.

　　A. a newspaper which dares to report the truth

　　B. a newspaper edited to one’s own interest

　　C. a newspaper edited and published for the public

　　D. a newspaper which only cover the life of family members

　　4. The writer thinks that competitions between different media ____.

　　A. have a relationship, depending on each other

　　B. will destroy some media in the world

　　C. do great harm to people

　　D. are becoming more and more severe (严重)

　　5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

　　A. It was centuries ago that newspapers came into being.

　　B. Televisions have taken place of newspapers.

　　C. The internet will gradually take place of newspapers.

　　D. The British are active.

　　答案与分析

　　本文是说明文。全文说明的在电视网络出现的今天报纸存在的原因。

　　1. C细节题。从第二段The basic British character won’t change, and one of the characteristics of the British is that we don’t much like talking to each other when we get up我们可以得知作者是英国人。

　　2. C细节题。从第四段I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though得此答案。A有较大干扰性，从第四段第二句我们得知，现在报纸上所登的人们所关注的事情将来还会保留，因此 A不合题意。

　　3. B词义推断题。从本词组后的by picking out the things you want to read and say得此答案。

　　4. A细节题。从They actually have a relationship, feeding off each other.得此答案。

　　5. A细节理解题。从第三段Over the past couple of centuries, human beings have developed a close relationship with the newspaper得此答案。

　　Passage 49

　　There is no doubt that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that the internal combustion engine (内燃机) has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases and pistons (活塞) being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer’s effect on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy (读写能力) . For computer literacy is not a form of literacy; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.

　　Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two different activities. A case might be made that the able citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one. Leave that to people who have chosen programming as a career (职业).While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.

　　Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become more “user- friendly ”. Let us assume (假定) that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase “learning (有能力的) to use a computer” mean? It sounds like “learning to drive a car” ,that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once gained, enable one to use a computer.

　　In fact,“ learning to use a computer” is much more like “learning to play a game”, but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same. There is no such a thing as teaching someone who to use a computer. One can only teach people to use this or that program, and generally that is easily performed.

　　1. In the second paragraph “violin-making” is mentioned to show that____.

　　A. programming a computer is as interesting as making a violin

　　B. our society needs experts in different fields

　　C. violin-making requires as much skill as computer programming

　　D. people who can use computers don’t necessarily have to know computer programming

　　2. Learning to use a computer is getting easier all the time because___.

　　A. programs are becoming much simpler

　　B. programs are designed to be convenient to users

　　C. programming is becoming easier and easier

　　D. programs are becoming readily easier for computer users to buy

　　3. According to the author, the phrase“ learning to use a computer” means “learning______”.

　　A. a set of rules

　　B. the basic knowledge of computer science

　　C. specific programs

　　D. general rules of programming

　　4. The author’s purpose in writing this passage is_____.

　　A. to stress the effect of the computer on society

　　B. to explain the idea of computer literacy

　　C. to tell the requirements for being competent citizens of tomorrow

　　D. to emphasize (强调) that computer programming is an interesting and demanding job

　　答案与分析

　　本文是议论文。全文论述了在使用计算机方面，我们应该学些什么。

　　1. D作者意图推断题。在短文第二段作者提出，对大多数人来说，知道如何使用计算机就足矣，至于设计程序，就留给那少数以此为职业的人，这正如拉小提琴与制造小提琴。因此作者以小提琴的演奏与制造起例来说明自己对计算机使用的看法。

　　2. B细节题。从第三段“and it gets easier all the time as programs becomes more ‘user-friendly’”得此答案。在此user-friendly 意思是convenient to users。

　　3. C词(组) 意推测题。B有较大干扰性。从本段对此词语的解释“that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once gained ,enable one to use a computer”我们可以看出“learning to use a computer”我们就极容易地选出B，然而作者在最后一段又以“Learning to play a game”对此又作进一步的解释，由此我们可以得出，在便用计算机时，我们不能只学基础的东西，也要使用其具体的程序。“specific programs”意思是具体程序。 注意本词组的意思在最后两段。

　　4. B作者意图推断题。作者全文向我们解释了在使用计算机上的认识问题。

　　Passage 50

　　Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simply because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.

　　Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards .A mother describes her child’s hast-made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand still. Another way is to shift (转移) blame . If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.

　　The trouble with failure-prevention devices is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time - - and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when don’t win . A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honor roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick consolation (安慰), prize or say, “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment -- and be helped to master it.

　　Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grown-ups and children alike. But it can make a positive (有益的) contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did I fail ?”

　　Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring (咨询).Success, which encourages repetition of old behavior, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second .Even a failure that seems definitive can prompt fresh thinking, a change of direction. After 12 years of studying ballet a friend of mine auditioned (面试) for a professional company. She was turned down. “Would further training help?” she asked. The ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer” , he said, “you haven’t the body for it.”

　　In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock ( 鉴定) bravely asking. “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery (恢复) of energy ─ a way to find new possibilities.

　　1. The second paragraph tells us _____.

　　A. how a mother praised her children

　　B. two ways of failure prevention most parents used when their children fail

　　C. how to shift (转移) blame

　　D. parents should blame their children at the proper time.

　　2. According to the author, what should a child know in the real world?

　　A. He should be equipped for life.

　　B. No one can be best all the time at everything.

　　C. No parents should offer quick consolations.

　　D. He can get pleasure from failure as well as success.

　　3. The underlined word “prompt ”in the fifth paragraph can be best replaced by“_____.”

　　A. improve B. prevent C. continue D. cause

　　4. From the passage we know that_____ can affect one’s life greatly once he learns to use it.

　　A. success B. disappointment C. failure D. value

　　答案与分析

　　失败也许是痛苦的，但如果正确的引导，失败并不是那么可怕。本文主要是讲述在孩子失败的时候，父母如何对待他们。

　　1. B主旨大意题。本题是对短文第二段的总结。第二段主要讲了当孩子失败时，父母的两种保护方式：“One way is to lower standards; another way is to shift blame.”

　　2. B作者意图推断题。作者在第三段提出“The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time...”的观点，这是对待失败的正确观点，有了这种观点人们才不至于在失败中消沉。

　　3. D词意推断题。从本词前面的句子“You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one,...”我们得知，作者认为人们可以在失败中吸取教训，产生新的思想，然后反败为胜，在“Even a failure that seems definitive can prompt fresh thinking, a change of direction”中作者顺接上文，因此prompt 在此意为“便(人)产生”。

　　4. C主旨大意题。作者全文叙述了失败带给人们好的一面。尽管它会带给人们痛苦，然而它可以使人懂得真正的生活，并让人们从中吸取教训，找出正确的处理问题的方法。