More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving（旺盛的）. As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline（衰退）in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce（离婚）rate needs to be taken in this pro- marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.
What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty- five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses （配偶）．
Thus, one can find every type of tamely arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with “full - time” children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full- time”children from the present marriage and“ part- time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half- brothers and half - sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.
| A．Americans are more traditional than Europeans |
| B．Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans |
| C．there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe |
| D．more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age |
Divorced Americans ________ .
| A．prefer the way they live |
| B．will most likely remarry |
| C．have lost interest in marriage |
| D．are the majority of people in the society |
Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？
| A．Which types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable. |
| B．A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife. |
| C．Americans prefer to have more kids than before. |
| D．There are no nuclear families any more. |
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (古色古香的)—all those little houses, looking terribly old fashioned but nice, like doll’s house. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentleman, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You are forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p.m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middleses I had a neighbor who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn’t like London because she___________.
A. is not used to the life there now
B. has lived there for seventeen years
C prefers to live in an old-fashioned house
D. has to be polite to everyone she meets there Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a café | B．In a restaurant | C．In a nightclub | D．In a pub |
The underlined word “it” in Para.4 refers to__________.
| A．a taxi | B．the money | C．a bomb | D．public transport |
The writer took her neighbor the France for Christmas because she__________.
| A．felt lonely in England | B．had never been to France |
| C．was from a typical French family | D．didn’t like the British idea of family |
Every autumn, as families across the United States get ready to send their kids to college, the economics of higher education receive renewed attention. College is expensive and becoming more so in the U. S. The situation raises two questions: Why does it cost so much, and how can students and their families afford it?
Several studies published in the past few weeks reflect on these questions. The findings provide comfort to poor families.
First, it appears that only the minority actually pay the "high price". A study by the US Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics found that 55 percent of college students last year received some forms of help--scholarships, loans(贷款)or jobs.
Other factors are also at work. The government has increased the size of its grants (补助金)to lower-income students. Grants, unlike loans, don't have to he repaid and are awarded only to college students who have not earned a bachelor's or professional degree.
At the same time, most colleges are spending more on undergraduate education than they are collecting in tuition fees. A study, which is part of the Williams College Project on the Economics of Higher Education, reaches the conclusion that on average colleges “subsidize (赞助)” their students. The results of these studies, however, leave unanswered the questions of whether educational costs are higher than they need to be. Some experts argue that much of the college cost results from educational competition for fame, students and facilities.
This puts upward pressure on tuition, hut many colleges feel that good fame will enable them to attract students even if they charge them more.
Therefore, until something important changes in the marketplace, costs seem likely to continue rising. And American families will continue to beat down the doors of the high price "college in the end．From the fourth paragraph of the passage we can conclude that _______.
| A．American families earn only a little money every year |
| B．American families pay little attention to education |
| C．American students often have to stop their studies |
| D．American colleges have different ways to help poor students |
In the writer's opinion, for students from lower-income families, the best way is ________.
| A．to find a good job and make money |
| B．to borrow money from the banks |
| C．to ask for grants |
| D．to borrow money from friends |
It can be inferred that in America _______.
| A．famous colleges only accept rich students. |
| B．famous colleges charge their students more money |
| C．the government spends little money on education |
| D．families often break the doors of colleges |
The writer of this passage seems to hold the opinion that _______.
| A．college fees rise too fast for poor families. |
| B．poor people should borrow money from banks |
| C．poor people don’t need to send their children to college |
| D．colleges should get more money to improve themselves |
To Whom It May Concern:
My husband and I got married in 1965 and for the first ten years of our marriage I was very happy to stay home and raise our three children. Then four years ago, our youngest child went to school and I thought I might go back to work.
My husband was very supportive and helped me to make my decision. He emphasized all of the things I can do around the house, and said he thought I could be a great success in business.
After several weeks of job-hunting I found my present job, which is working for a small public relations firm. At first, my husband was very proud of me and would tell his friends , "My clever little wife can run that company she's working for."
But as his joking remark approached reality, my husband stopped talking to me about my job．I have received several promotions and pay increases , and I am now making more money than he is. I can buy my own clothes and a new car. Because of our combined incomes, my husband and I can do many things that we had always dreamed of doing , but we don't do these things because he is very unhappy.
We fight about little things and my husband is very critical of me in front of our friends. For the first time in our marriage, I think there is a possibility that our marriage may come to an end．
I love my husband very much, and I don't want him to feel inferior, but I also love my job．I think I can be a good wife and a working woman, but I don't know how .Can you give me some advice? Will I have to choose one or the other or can I keep both my husband and my new career?
Please help."Distressed"The letter was most probable written ________.
| A．in 1975 | B．around 1980 | C．four years ago | D．in 1965 |
Her husband ________ when she first found her present job．
| A．was very critical of her | B．felt disappointed |
| C．was proud of her | D．was happy but critical |
What does the underlined word "promotion" mean?
| A．scolding | B．criticism | C．prize | D．advancement |
As her income increased, ________.
| A．she found a gap emerged between her and her husband |
| B．she bought more clothes and a house |
| C．she did the many things she and her husband dreamed of |
| D．she felt very proud of herself |
The famous American gorilla(大猩猩) expert Diane Fossey had a completely new way to study gorillas — she pretended to be one of them. She copied their actions and way of life — eating plants and getting down on her hands and knees to walk the way a gorilla does. It was a new relationship.
Diane Fossey was murdered in Rwanda in 1985 and her story was made into the popular film Gorillas in the Mist. It was a long way from King Kong, which is about a gorilla as a monster (a frightening animal), and helped to show a new idea: the real monster is man, while the gorilla is to be admired.
Today there are thought to be around 48,000 lowland gorillas and maybe 400—450 mountain gorillas in the wild. From the Congo in West Africa, to Rwanda and Uganda further east, they are endangered by hunting and by the cutting down of their forest homes.
Some time ago, I found in my letterbox a little magazine from the World Wide Fund for Nature. It had two photos side by side. One was of a young gorilla. “This is a species of mammal(哺乳类动物),” said the words below it. “It is being destroyed by man. We must save it for our own good.” The other photo showed a human baby. The words also read, “This is a species of mammal,” but then went on: “It is the most destructive(破坏性的) on earth. We must retrain it for its own good.”The text mainly talks about _____.
| A．Diane Fossey |
| B．the gorillas in Rwanda |
| C．the protection of the gorillas |
| D．the film Gorillas in the Mist |
We can learn from the text that _____.
| A．Gorillas in the mist was based Fossey’s experiences |
| B．Lowland gorillas live longer than mountain gorillas |
| C．King Kong showed us that a gorilla is admirable |
| D．Diane Fossey was murdered by a gorilla |
What message can we get from the two photos in the magazine?
| A．Gorillas are man’s close friends. |
| B．Both man and the gorilla need to be saved. |
| C．Young gorillas are as lovely as human babies. |
| D．Man should live peacefully with the gorilla. |
Life in 2060
Let us suppose it is now about A.D. 2060. Let’s make believe (假装；虚构) it is about sixty years from now. Of course, things have changed and life is very different.
Voyages to the moon are being made every day. It is as easy to take a holiday on the moon today as it was for the people in 1960 to take a holiday in Europe. At a number of scenic spots on the moon, many hotels have been built. The hotels are air-conditioned, naturally. In order that everyone can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the moon, every room has at least one picture window. Everything imaginable is provided for entertainment (娱乐) of young and old.
What are people eating now? People are still eating food. They haven’t yet started to take on heir (继承) supply of energy directly as electrical current or as nuclear power. They may some day. But many foods now come in pill form, and the food that goes into the pill continues to come mainly from green plants.
Since there are several times as many people in the world today as there were a hundred years ago, most of our planet’s surface has to be filled. The deserts are irrigated with water and crops are no longer destroyed by pests. The harvest is always good.
Farming, of course, is very highly developed. Very few people have to work on the farm. It is possible to run the farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then.
People are now largely vegetarians (素食者). You see, as the number of people increases, the number of animal decreases. Therefore, the people have to be vegetarians and we are healthier both in our bodies and in our minds, and we know the causes and cure of disease and pain, and it is possible to get rid of diseases. No one has to be ill any more.
Such would be our life in 2060.
1. When was the passage written?
A. In about A.D. 2060.
B. In about 1960.
C. In about 2000.
D. In about 2004.
2. According to the passage, what will be on the moon in about A.D. 2060?
A. Many tourists.
B. Many other animals.
C. Many plants.
D. A sea.
3. What will people eat then according to the passage?
A. Biscuits in pill form.
B. Foods in pill form.
C. Foods in water form.
D. Foods in gas form.
4. The passage tells us that in 2060, ____ on the earth than now.
A. there are fewer population
B. there are more pests
C. there is less water
D. the crops are getting better
5. Why are people largely vegetarians in 2060?
A. Because they don’t eat meat.
B. Because doctors advise them not to eat meat.
C. Because the number of animals decreases.
D. Because all the animals have died of diseases.