Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

The aim of the teacher is to get his pupils as quickly as possible over the period in which each printed symbol is looked at for its shape, and arrive at the stage when the pupil looks at words and phrases, for their meaning, almost without noticing the shapes of the separate letters.

When a good reader is at work he does not look at letters, nor even at words, one by one however quickly; he takes in the meaning of two, three, or four words at a time, in a single moment. Watch carefully the eyes of a person who is reading, and it will be seen that they do not travel smoothly along the lines of print, but they move by jumps separated by very short stops. The eyes of a very good reader move quickly, taking long jumps and making very short halts (停顿); the eyes of a poor reader move more slowly, taking only short jumps and stopping longer at each halt. Sometimes, when he meets a difficulty, he even goes backwards to see again what has already been looked at once.

The teacher’s task is therefore clear: it is to train his pupils to take in several words at a glance (one eye-jump’) and to remove the necessity for going backwards to read something a second time.

This shows at once that letter-by-letter, or syllable-by-syllable, or word-by-word reading, with the finger pointing to the word, carefully fixing each one in turn, is wrong. It is wrong because such a method ties the pupil’s eyes down to a very short jump, and the aim is to train for the long jump. Moreover, a very short jump is too short to provide any meaning or sense; and it will be found that having struggled with three or four words separately, the pupil has to look at them again, all together and in one group, in order to get the meaning of the whole phrase.

21. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the first paragraph?
A) Pupils should be trained to reach quickly the stage of reading without having to concentrate on the separate symbols.
B) Pupils should look at each printed symbol for its meaning as well as for its shape.
C) Teachers should help their pupils avoid looking at the shape of the printed symbols.
D) Teachers should tell their pupils the different stages of their study.（A）

22. In a single moment, a good reader picks up ________.
A) several words
B) several phrases
C) several sentences
D) several lines（A）

23. According to the passage, which of the following is FALSE?
A) The eyes of a good reader make short halts and long jumps.
B) The eyes of a bad reader take in the meaning of one word at a time.
C) The eyes of a bad reader take only short jumps.
D) The eyes of a good reader move steadily.（D）

24. One may have to read something a second time if ________.
A) there is enough time
B) one reads too fast
C) the passage is very long
D) one reads word by word（D）

25. The main idea of the last paragraph is that ________.
A) word-by-word reading is highly inefficient
B) the pupil’s eyes should focus on groups of syllables instead of single syllables
C) pupils have to move their eyes back and forth when reading
D) finger pointing in reading helps the pupil concentrate on meaning（A）



Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
Television has changed the lifestyle of people in every Industrialized country in the world. In the United States, where sociologists have studied the effects, some interesting observations have been made.

Television, although not essential, has become an important part of most people’s lives. It alters peoples’ ways of seeing the world; in many ways, it supports and sustains (维持) modern life. Television has become a baby-sitter, an introducer of conversations, the major transmitter of culture, a keeper of tradition. Yet when what can be seen on TV in one day is critically analyzed, it becomes evident that television is not a teacher but a sustainer; the poor quality of programming does not elevate (提高) people into greater understanding, but rather maintains and encourages the life as it exists.

The primary reason for the lack of quality in American television is related to both the history of TV programming development and the economics of TV. Television in America began with the radio. Radio companies and their sponsors first experimented with television. Therefore, the close relationship which the advertisers had with radio programs became the system for American TV. Sponsors not only paid money for time within programs, but many actually produced the programs.

Thus, in American society, television is primarily concerned with reflecting and attracting society rather than experimenting with new ideas. Advertisers want to attract the largest viewing audience possible, to do so requires that the programs be entertaining rather than educational, attractive rather than challenging.
Television in America today remains, to a large extent, with the same organization and standards as it had thirty years ago. The hope for further development and true achievement toward improving society will require a change in the entire system.

26. According to the author American television is poor in quality because ________.
A) advertisers are interested in experimenting with new ideas
B) it is still at an early stage of development, compared with the radio
C) the programs have to be developed in the interests of the sponsors for economic reasons
D) it is controlled by radio companies（C）

27. The second paragraph is mainly about ________.
A) TV as the sustainer of American life
B) TV as the major transmitter of culture
C) the educational effect of TV on society
D) the strong influence and the poor quality of American TV（D）

28. In the author’s view American TV should ________.
A) be critical but entertaining
B) be creative and educational
C) change with the development of society
D) attract as many viewers as possible（C）

29. The author believes that television in the United States has become important to most people because ________.
A) it promotes family unity
B) it helps them develop their speaking ability
C) it affects their life in many ways
D) it challenges society（C）

30. The author’s attitude towards American television is ________.
A) critical
B) praising
C) doubtful
D) sympathetic（A）


Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

“... We are not about to enter the Information Age but instead are rather well into it.” Present predictions are that by 1990, about thirty million jobs in the United States, or about thirty percent of the job market, will be computer-related. In 1980, only twenty-one percent of all United States high schools owned one or more computers for student use. In the fall of 1985, a new survey revealed that half of United States secondary schools have fifteen or more computers for student use. And now educational experts, administrators, and even the general public are demanding that all students become “computer literate (慢点…的).” “By the year 2000 knowledge of computers will be necessary in over eighty percent of all occupations. Soon those people not educated in computer use will be compared to those who are print illiterate today.”

What is “computer literacy”? The term itself seems to imply soon extent of “knowing” about computers, but knowing what. The current opinion seems to be that this should include a general knowledge of what computers are, plus a little of their history and something of how they operate.

Therefore, it is vital that educators everywhere take a careful look not only at what is being done, but also at what should be done in the field of computer education. Today most adults are capable of utilising a motor vehicle without the slightest knowledge of how the internal-combustion engine works. We effectively use all types of electrical equipment without being able to tell their histories or to explain how they work. Business people for years have made good use of typewriters and adding machines, yet few have ever known how to repair them. Why, then, attempt to teach computers by teaching how or why they work?

Rather, we first must concentrate on teaching the effective use of the computer as the tool is.

“Knowing how to use a computer is what’s going to be important, we don’t talk about ‘automobile literacy. ‘ We just get in our cars and drive them.”

31. In 1990, the number of jobs having nothing to do with computers in the United States will be reduced to ________.
A) 79 million
B) 30 million
C) 70 million
D) 100 million（C）

32. The expression “Print illiterate” (Para. 1, Line 16) refers to ________.
A) one who has never learnt printing
B) one who is not computer literate
C) one who has never learnt to read
D) one who is not able to use a typewriter（C）

33. The first paragraph is mainly about ________.
A) recent predictions of computer-related jobs
B) the wide use of computers in schools
C) the urgency of computer education
D) public interest in computers（C）

34. According to the author, the effective way to spread the use of computers is to teach ________.
A) what computers are
B) how to use computers
C) where computers can be used
D) how computers work（B）

35. Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) What to teach about computers should be reconsidered.
B) Those who are not educated in computer use will find it difficult to get a job.
C) Human society has already entered the Information Age.
D) Those who want to use computers should know how computers operate.（D）



Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

Editor:
While a new school term is about to begin, perhaps we should reconsider the matter of examinations. In July, two writers (Letters to the Editor) praised the cancellation of exams because they believe “tests don’t tell the whole story.”
As a teacher who has worked in four countries, I have had the experience that a student who earns good marks is generally a good student, and that a student’s final mark in a subject is usually a grade average of the year’s work. Of course there are exceptions, but they do not have the frequency that would give an unfair picture of a student’s ability.
The simple fact is that proper class work, diligent exam studies and good marks are almost certain indicators of a student’s future performance. The opposite, almost certainly, incompetence.

There is no acceptable substitute for competition and examination of quality. How can teachers and future officials determine what a student has learned and remembered? Should we simply take the student word for it? Any institution that “liberates” students from fair and formal exams is misguided, if not ignorant. And surely the “graduates” of such institutions will lack trustworthiness, not to mention being rejected by foreign universities for graduate or other studies.

When all is said and done, I sense that a fear of failure and a fear of unpleasant comparison with others is at the bottom of most ban-exams (废除考试) talk. Excellence and quality fear nothing. On the contrary, they seek competition and desire the satisfaction of being the best.

36. Which of the following will the author of this passage probably agree with?
A) Tests are not effective in measuring the students’ abilities.
B) Tests are an effective measure of the students’ abilities.
C) Tests can only measure some of the students’ abilities.
D) Tests may not be useful for measuring students’ abilities.（B）

37. The two writers mentioned in the first paragraph ________.
A) opposed judging students by the results of exams
B) must have proposed other ways of testing students
C) regarded exams as a way of punishing students
D) seem to be worried about the poor marks of their students（A）

38. According to the letter, a student’s final mark ________.
A) is often encouraging
B) often gives a fair picture of the year’s work
C) often proves unreliable
D) often tells whether he likes the subject of not（B）

39. If a student graduated from a university which does not require exams he would ________.
A) have to continue his studies
B) have a feeling of failure
C) be incompetent
D) not be admitted by foreign institutions（D）

40. According to the letter, those who dislike the idea of examinations are probably afraid of ________.
A) competing with other students
B) being graded unfairly
C) working too hard
D) being dismissed from school（A）