While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon(现象)is commonly known as “Empty Nest Syndrome”(空巢综合症).
In order to seek better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response(回应)in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”. According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by _________.
| A．their earlier experience of feeling lonely |
| B．the unfavorable living conditions in their native countries |
| C．the common worry about their income |
| D．the geographical distance between parents and children |
Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to _________.
| A．live in the countries with more money |
| B．seek a better place for their aged parents |
| C．continue their studies abroad |
| D．realize their dreams in foreign countries |
If young people go abroad, _________.
| A．they do not hold to the value of duty at all |
| B．they can give some help to their parents back home |
| C．they cannot do what they should for their parents |
| D．they believe what they actually do is right |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________.
| A．the situations in the developed and developing countries are different |
| B．“Empty Nest Syndrome” has arrived unexpectedly in our society |
| C．children will become independent as soon as they go abroad |
| D．the aged parents are not fully prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome” |
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we take two identical twins, they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence.
51. The writer is in favor of the view that man’s intelligence is given to him____________.
A. at birth B. through education
C. both at birth and through education D. neither at birth nor through education
52. If a child is born with low intelligence, he can_____________________.
A. become a genius B. still become a genius if he should be given special education
C. reach his intelligence limits in rich surroundings
D. not reach his intelligence in his life.
53. In the second paragraph, the underlined sentence means if we_______________.
A．pick any two persons
B. take out two different persons
C. choose two persons who are relative
D. choose two persons with different intelligence
54. The example of the twins going to a university and to a factory separately shows___________.
A. the importance of their intelligence B. the role of environment on intelligence
C. the importance of their positions D. the part that birth plays
55. The best title of the passage can be _______________.
A. Surroundings B. Intelligence
C. Dependence on Environment D. Effect of education
It was Thanksgiving morning and in the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey when the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in rags huddling together inside the storm door on the top step.
“Any old papers, lady?” asked one of them.
I was busy. I wanted to say “no” until I looked down at their feet. They were wearing thin little sandals, wet with heavy snow.
“Come in and I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”
They walked over and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the floor. I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight against the cold outside. Then I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget.
The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, “Lady, are you rich?”
I looked at my shabby slipcovers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer carefully and said, “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was hungry with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn’t said “Thank you.” They didn’t need to. They had reminded me that I had so much for which to be grateful. Plain blue china cups and saucers were only worth five pence. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and stirred the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job—these matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and cleaned the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to forget how rich I am.
46. Two children came to the writer’s front door because _________________.
A. it was Thanksgiving Day
B. they were beggars
C. they wanted old papers
D. they wanted a cup of cocoa
47. Why did the writer let the children in?
A. She showed great pity on them
B. She had old papers to sell
C. She wanted to invite them to her Thanksgiving feast
D. She wanted them to see how rich she was
48. The girl thought the writer was rich perhaps because ________________.
A. she saw that the lady’s room was comfortable
B. she saw the cups matched the saucers
C. the writer’s slipcovers were very new
D. the writer was preparing a big meal while she was too hungry.
49. From the passage, we can infer that whether you are rich depends on ____________.
A. how much money you have had B. how you feel about your life
C. how you have helped others D. what job your husband is doing
50. The writer left the muddy prints of small sandals on the floor for a while to ____________.
A. show her husband that someone had come
B. remind her that she had helped two children
C. remind her that she was very rich in the neighborhood
D. remind her how life should be
Ⅲ阅读(共两节，满分40分)
第—节 阅渎理解(共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读—列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Without most people realizing it, there has been a revolution in office work over the last ten years. Before that time, large computers were only used by large, rich companies that could afford the investment. With the advancement of technology, small computers have come onto the market, which are capable of doing the work that used to be done by much larger and expensive computers, so now most smaller companies can use them
The main development in small computers has been in the field of word processors (处理器) , or WPS as they are often called. 40% of British offices are now estimated to have a word processor and this percentage is growing fast.
There are many advantages in using a word processor for both secretary and manager. The secretary is freed from a lot of daily work, such as re-typing letters and storing papers. He or she can use this time to do other more interesting work for the boss. From a manager’s point of view, secretarial time is being made better use of and money can be saved by doing daily jobs automatically outside office hours.
But is it all good? If a lot of daily secretarial work can be done automatically, surely this will mean that fewer secretaries will be needed. Another worry is the increasing medical problems related to work with visual display units (显示器). The case of a slow loss of sight among people using word processors seems to have risen greatly. It is also feared that if a woman works at a VDU for long hours, the unborn child in her body might be killed. Safety screens to put over a VDU have been invented but few companies in England bother to buy them.
Whatever the arguments for and against word processor, they are a key feature (特征) of this revolution in office practice.
41. Ten years ago, smaller companies did not use large computers because_________.
A. these companies had not enough money to buy such expensive computers
B. these computers could not do the work that small computers can do today
C. these computers did not come onto the market
D. these companies did not need to use this new technology
42. According to the writer, the main feature of the revolution in office work over the last
ten years is __________.
A. the saving of time and money
B. the use of computers in small companies
C. the wide use of word processors
D. the decreasing number of secretaries
43. It is implied but not directly stated in the passage that with the use of word processors
_________.
A. some secretaries will lose their jobs
B. daily jobs can be done automatically outside office hours
C. medical problems related to work with a VDU have increased greatly
D. the British companies will make less money
44. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. There are both advantages and disadvantages in using a word processor.
B. The British companies care much for the health of the people using word processors.
C. The technology in the field of computers has been greatly advanced over the last
ten years.
D. Using word processors, secretaries can get more time to do more interesting work
for their bosses.
45. It can be concluded from the passage that ________.
A. safety screens are of poor quality
B. working at a VDU for a long time is good for one’s health
C. more and more British offices will use word processors
D. British companies will need fewer and fewer managers
请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每空格1个单词。
Health researchers have noticed that some groups of people are more consistently healthy than others, and wondered… Is it race? Income? Where you live? In the United States, these disagreements in health outcomes have been the focus of intense research for the past several decades.
Harvard University health policy researcher Ellen Meara says scholars have found some clues as to why some groups of people have more or less disease than others. She says one important factor in people’s health is the amount of education they have.
In her most recent paper, Meara looked at data from the United States census. Meara and her colleagues examined data from several decades.
“We looked at life expectancy（预测寿命）at age 25,” Meara says.
“How many additional years can you expect to live if you arrive at age 25 and your education has stopped at high school, or sooner? Versus how many years, can you expect to live if you’ve reached aged 25 and you’ve gone on to at least some college…”
Meara says they found that in 1990, a 25-year-old who only had some secondary school could expect to live for a total of 75 years. In 2000, a 25 year old with some secondary education could also expect to live to the age of 75.
In contrast, for a better educated 25-year-old, they could expect to live to the age of 80 in 1990. Someone with a similar education level in the year 2000, could expect to live to be more than 81 years, 81.6 years to be exact .
Meara says, not only do better-educated people live longer to begin with, but in the past ten years, more educated people has made gains in the length of their lives. Meanwhile, the life expectancy hasn’t changed for less educated people.
Some of these gains can be explained. Meara says researchers know that people who are more educated are more likely to quit smoking cigarettes, or not start at all, compared to people with less education.
“I think it’s a reminder not to be satisfactory,” Meara says. “Just because a population overall appears to be getting healthier, it doesn’t always mean that those advantages and successes that many people have enjoyed really extend into all parts of the population. And I think that's something to really pay attention to regardless of whether you live in the US or elsewhere.”
Meara points out that education can often determine income - people with more education frequently make more money. This makes them aware of health care, and purchase other resources and services that can keep them healthier. But the data on income do NOT show that people who make more money are automatically healthier.
| Title |
The Amount of __71_____Contributes to People’s Health |
|||
| Comparisons |
The less educated people |
The ____72____ educated people |
||
| In 1990 |
They could live for 75 years |
They could live to the age of 80 |
||
| In 2000 |
Their life expectancy was the same as in 1990. |
They could live to the age of 81.6 _____73____. |
||
| ___74___ of the research |
In the past ____75___ |
Their life expectancy remained ____76_____. |
They’ve made gains in the length of their lives, partly ___77____ to their quitting smoking. |
|
| People are getting healthier, but it doesn’t mean that the advantages and successes extend into all parts of the population |
||||
| Income____78_____ on education. |
People with more education make more money |
|||
| Getting more money helps to increase their ____79____ of health care, which can keep them healthier. |
||||
| ______80_____ |
Education is the key to better health. |
|||
Sir William Osler has a few words for you: “In the Life of a young man, the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” Truer words were never spoken. For what more could you ask than comradeship during the peaks and valleys of life? To whom else but a close, valuable friend can you show off your successes and complain about your failures or losses?
What is a “good friend”? How is he best described? Well, it has been my observation that although many will cry with you, few can sincerely rejoice (欣喜) with you. Therefore, in my opinion, a good friend is one who can enjoy your successes without envy; one who can say, “That wa
s wonderful! You can do it again, even better if you want!” and mean it. Nothing taxes a friendship more than the success of one and not the other. Even the closest of friendships often cannot resist such pressure and fail. No wonder many minor friendships go down day by day for the same reason.
A person of good character and sound moral, of honor and humor, of courage and belief is a friend to be sought and treasured — for there are few. Too often we hear, “If you can count your good friends on more than one hand, consider yourself blessed
.”
What makes a friendship last? Well, I don’t know all the answers, but one of my observations is that most good friends usually have similar tastes. They generally like and dislike many of the same things. There also usually seems to exist a similarity of personality types — especially in the fundamental value
s of life such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability. More often than not, birds of a feather do fly together. I don’t think it matters a lot whether one prefers jazz or hockey to another’s Mozart or ballet. Much other matters far more: relying, sharing, giving, getting, enjoying; a sympathetic ear always there; criticism when it can help; praise — even if only because it would help. With not many people on this earth will you find this much in common. When you find one, hang on to him, for a good friend found is a rare treasure.The function of Paragraph 1 is to introduce ______.
| A．a famous saying |
| B．the topic for discussion |
| C．a famous person |
| D．two different attitudes |
What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph two?
| A．People don’t have to pay taxes to develop friendship with others. |
| B．Success of one person can promote his friendship with others. |
| C．Friendship can be affected by the difference in success between friends. |
| D．Nothing can affect friendship because it has gone through the peaks and valleys of life. |
What is the main idea of Paragraph three ?
| A．One is lucky to have many friends. |
| B．A friend should have a good character. |
| C．We should count our friends on more than one hand. |
| D．A true friend should be treasured because there are few. |
According to the passage, which of the following plays the LEAST important role in a long-lasting friendship?
| A．Hobbies. | B．Tastes. | C．Personality. | D．Sympathy. |
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