Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
The failed Skylab will come screaming home to earth in disappointment sometime next month. But it will fall we know not where.

That precise information is beyond even the calculations of scientists and their computers.
The best they can tell us is that the space station, weighing 77 tons and as high as a 12 story building, will break into hundreds of pieces that will be scattered across a track 100 miles wide and 4,000 miles long.

We are again exposed to one of those unexpected adventures, or misadventures, of science that attracts our attention from the boring routines of daily existence and encourages us to think a lot about man’s future.

What worries Richard Smith, the Skylab’s director, is the “big pieces” that will come through the atmosphere, Two lumps, weighing 2 tons each, and ten, weighing at least 1,000 pounds each, will come in at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour and if they crash on land they will dig holes up to 100 feet deep.

What worries us, with our lack of scientific knowledge and our quick imagination, is both the big and little pieces, although project officials say there is a very small chance that anyone will be injured by them.
That’s good to know, but it doesn’t remove the doubts of the millions who still remember the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. That accident took place in 1979 in spite of what the officials had assured us as to the safely of the nuclear reactor.

21. Where the Skylab will fall?
A) is kept secret
B) has been made public
C) has been predicted by scientists
D) can’t be predicted even by computers（D）

22. According to the passage, what does an incident such as the failed Skylab lead us to do?
A) Not to believe in officials.
B) To think about our future.
C) Has been predicted by scientists.
D) To fear for our lives.（D）

23. The author suggests that ________.
A) the danger of the Skylab’s fall has been overestimated
B) it’s useless to worry over things you can’t do anything about
C) the danger of the Skylab’s fall has been underestimated
D) computers can solve the problem caused by the broken Skylab（A）

24. The author refers to Three Mils Island ________.
A) because he is doubtful about what the officials said
B) because he fears that a piece of the Skylab may strike a nuclear power plant
C) because he is afraid of the use of nuclear power
D) because the nuclear reactor there and the Skylab were both built by the same company（B）

25. This passage is mainly about the author’s ________.
A) interest in the failure of the Skylab
B) willingness to give his advice
C) eagerness to see more new scientific discoveries
D) concern that science cannot answer all questions（C）


Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

As supplier of most of the food we eat and of raw materials for many industrial processes, agriculture is clearly an important area of the economy. But the industrial performance of agriculture (the relative efficiency of agricultural production compared to other areas in the economy) is even more important than this. For in nations where the productivity of farmers is low, most of the working population is needed to raise food and few people are available for the production of investment goods or for other activities required for economic growth. Indeed, one of the factors related most closely to the per capita income (人均收入) of a nation is the fraction of its population engaged in farming. In the poorest nations of the world more than half of the population lives on farms. This compares sharply with less than 10 percent in western Europe and less than 4 percent in the United States.

In short, the course of economic development in general depends in a fundamental way on the performance of farmers. This performance, in turn, depends on how agriculture is organized and on the economic environment, or market structure, within which it functions. In the following pages the performance of American agriculture is examined. It is appropriate to begin with a consideration of its market structure.

26. This passage is most probably ________.
A) a news item
B) part of an introduction to a book
C) part of a lecture
D) an advertisement（C）

27. What is the most important to agriculture is ________.
A) the amount of food it produces
B) the per capita income of farmers
C) its industrial performance
D) the production of investment goods（C）

28. The underlined word “this” in the first paragraph refers to ________.
A) the provision of food and raw materials
B) the productivity of farmers
C) the production of investment goods
D) the economy as a whole（A）

29. The performance of farmers essentially determines ________.
A) the size of the working population
B) the organization of agriculture
C) the market structure
D) the general development of economy（D）

30. This passage will most probably be followed by a discussion of ________.
A) the structure of American farming population
B) the market structure of American agriculture
C) the various functions of American agriculture
D) the organization of American agriculture（B）



Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 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 is, 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’s 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.

31. 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.

32. 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) seemed to be worried about the poor marks of their students

33. 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 or not

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

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


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

Time was—and not so many years ago, either—when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be—and a few still are—forbidding (令人生畏的) structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer’s account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.

And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business—usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930’s banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.

The movement to “humanize” banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more “little” people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment (分期付款) buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit (信贷) could be extremely helpful.

36. The author believes that the unfriendly atmosphere in banks many years a go was chiefly due to ________.
A) the attitude of bankers
B) unfriendliness of customers toward banks
C) economic pressure of the time
D) the outer appearance of bank buildings

37. The banks of many years ago showed interest only in ________.
A) rich customers
C) friendly businessmen
B) regular visitors
D) elderly gentlemen

38. When did banks begin to grow human?
A) In the last century.
C) Sometime before the war.
B) A few years ago.
D) During the war.

39. What helped the “humanization” of banks?
A) The elderly gentlemen in banks were replaced by younger men.
B) More and more “little” people became customers of banks.
C) More banks were set up in small and medium-sized towns.
D) The size of the customer’s account was greatly increased.

40. Ordinary people seldom borrowed money from banks in the past because ________.
A) the bank buildings looked forbidding
B) they were comparatively rich before the war
C) they thought it was not proper to be in debt
D) they rarely spent more than they could earn

21. D 22. D 23. A 24. B 25. C
26. D 27. A 28. C 29. C 30. A
31. B 32. D 33. C 34. B 35. A
36. D 37. B 38. C 39. B 40. A