IV. Reading Comprehension (40 points)
(A)
So far as I know, Miss Hannah was the first person to give the basic difference between work and labor. To be happy, a man must feel, firstly, free and secondly, important. He cannot be really happy if he is forced by society to do what he does not enjoy doing, or what he enjoys doing lowly thought of by society as valueless or unimportant. In a society where slavery in the strict sense has been got rid of, the sign that what a man does is of social value is that he is paid money to do it, but a laborer today can rightly be called a wage slave. A man is a laborer if the job that society offers him is not interesting to himself but he has to take it just owing to the necessity of earning a living and supporting his family.
The opposite side to labor is play. When we play a game, we enjoy what we are doing, otherwise we should not play it, but it is a purely private activity; and society could not care less whether we play it or not.
Between labor and play stands work. A man is a worker if he is personally interested in the job which society pays him to do; what from the point view of society is necessary labor is from his own point of view willing play. Whether a job is to be classified as labor or work depends, not on the job itself, but on the tastes of the individual who does it. The difference does not, for example, agree with the difference between a physical and a mental job; a gardener or a copper may be a worker, a bank clerk is a laborer.
Which a man is can be seen from his attitude toward leisure. To a worker, leisure means simply the hours he needs to relax and rest in order to work efficiently. He is therefore more likely to take too little leisure than too much; workers die of heart attack and forget their wives' birthday. To the laborer, on the other hand, leisure means freedom from compulsion(强迫), so that it is natural for him to imagine that the fewer hours he has to spend laboring, and the more hours he is free to play, the better.
56. A man feels happy when ____________.
A. he is supposed to do what is important in his opinion
B. he has to take a job to earn a living and support his family
C. he is doing something personally interesting and socially valuable
D. what he enjoys doing is what he thinks highly of
57. The reason why a laborer can be called a wage slave is that ___________.
A. he has a family to support
B. his wages are as low as what a slave used to make
C. society doesn't care whether he plays or not
D. he is doing the job only for money, not for interest
58. Whether a job can be classified as labor or work depends on _____________.
A. whether it is a physical or mental B. the tastes of the person who does it
C. the attitude of the society toward it D. the necessity of the job to the society and individual
59. Which of the following can be the best title of the text?
A. Whether to Work or to Play B. Work, Labor, and Play
C. Differences between Labor and Play D. Leisure, Key to Work, Labor and Play
A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently from other ones.
Black holes can be big or small. Scientists think the smallest black holes are as small as just one atom. These black holes are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain. Mass is the amount of matter, or “staff”, in an object.
Another kind of black hole is called “stellar”(星球黑洞). Its mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun. There may be many stellar mass black holes in Earth’s galaxy. Earth’s galaxy is called the Milky Way.
The largest black holes are called “supermassive”(超大质量黑洞). These black holes have masses that are more than one million suns together. Scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has a mass equal to about four million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.
Scientists think the smallest black holes formed when the universe began. Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself, or falls apart. When this happens, it exploded part of the star into space. Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.
A black hole can not be seen because strong gravity pulls all of the light into the middle of the black hole. But scientists can see how the strong gravity affects the stars and gas around the black hole. Scientists can study stars to find out if they are flying around, or orbiting a black hole.
When a black hole and a star are close together, high-energy light is made. This kind of light cannot be seen with human eyes. Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see the high-energy light.The gravity of a black hole may become so strong that light cannot get out when ____________.
A.the star is going to die |
B.special tools are used on it |
C.other stars come close to it |
D.it is seen from the space telescopes |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A.A black hole can be very tiny but extremely heavy. |
B.The gravity of a black hole holds all light in its center. |
C.Scientists observe high-energy light through their own eyes. |
D.Some small black holes came into being as early as the universe. |
Which can be inferred from the passage?
A.Every galaxy must have a black hole. |
B.A galaxy is the center of the universe. |
C.A galaxy consists of a large group of stars and planets. |
D.Earth’s galaxy is called the Milky Way. |
What does the last sentence in Paragraph 5 suggest?
A. Neither the sun nor the earth is as heavy as a black hole.
B. There is only one supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
C. The supermassive black hole had existed before the Milky Way was formed.
D. There is a reason why the large black holes are called “supermassive”.
65. The last two paragraph mainly focus on the question of _________.
A. what a black hole is
B. how black holes form
C. how big black holes are
D. how scientists know about black holes
Right in front of the Minneapolis Central Library,a row of green bikes sits parked in a special stand.Each bike is designed with the logo “Nice Ride”—the name of the city’s bike-share program.
Nice Ride bikes are a lot like the library books that people come here to borrow.To rent a bike,you simply use your membership card at a Nice Ride bike station.Members can rent one of 1,200 bikes from 138 stations throughout Minnesota's largest city.People use the Nice Ride bikes to go to work,to go out on business,or just to enjoy the city’s many bike paths.
The rise of bike-share programs like Nice Ride is encouraging more people than ever to choose biking over driving.Rising gas prices and concerns about the environment have also gotten people to dust off their bike helmets, pump air into flat tires,and hit the road.
Why ride? Not only is biking good exercise,but switching from a car to a bike also reduces the amount of pollution in the air.Carbon dioxide,a greenhouse gas linked to climate change,is one of the many polluting substances that come out of a car's tallpipe.
Bike-share systems are found around the world in cities like London,Paris,Barcelona,and Melbourne,Australia.The largest program-with 70,000 bikes-is in Wuhan,China.
To make roads friendlier to non-motorists,the U.S.Department of Transportation has invested more than a billion dollars in cycling and pedestrian projects in recent years.The money went toward building thousands of miles of on-street bike lanes and bike-and pedestrian-only passages called green ways.If one wants to use the bike,it's a must to __________.
A.give away a bicycle |
B.know Nice Ride well |
C.pay the cost in advance |
D.get a membership card |
Which of the following can people do with the bikes?
A.Earn a living. |
B.Enjoy bikeways. |
C.Compete in a race. |
D.Rent them out to others. |
Paragraph 4 is mainly about _____________.
A.benefits of biking |
B.pollution caused by cars |
C.methods to use the bikes |
D.ways to reduce pollution |
Which of the following is true of Nice Ride?
A.It will take the place of taxi companies. |
B.China has better public bike systems. |
C.It attracts more people to choose biking. |
D.The government lacks money to support it. |
The author's purpose in writing this text is to ______________.
A.spread bike-share programs |
B.seek advice for Nice Ride |
C.compare Nice Ride with libraries |
D.introduce the public bike system |
In this age of Internet chat, video games and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.What do we learn from the first paragraph?
A.Now many amusements compete for children’s time. |
B.Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities. |
C.Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time. |
D.Rebecca often go online for her writing materials. |
What did the author say about her own writing experience?
A.She was constantly under pressure of writing more. |
B.Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers. |
C.She didn’t quite live up to her reputation as a writer. |
D.Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations. |
The underlined word “resurface” in Paragraph 2 probably means “______”.
A.recycle | B.reappear | C.reconsider | D.reunite |
Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
A.She was confident about her talent in writing. |
B.She was sure of winning with her mother’s help. |
C.She wanted to share her stories with readers. |
D.She had won a prize in the previous contest. |
The author took great pains to improve her daughter’s stories because _______.
A.she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer |
B.she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing |
C.she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much |
D.she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance |
What’s the author’s advice for parents?
A.Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions. |
B.Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in. |
C.Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience. |
D.A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue. |
A euphemism (from the Greek words eu--well and pheme--speak) is a word or expression that is used when people want to find a polite or less direct way of talking about difficult or embarrassing topics like death or the bodily functions. Most people, for example, would find it very difficult to say in plain language that they have arranged for their sick old dog to be killed. They would soften the pain by saying:We had Ruby put down or We had Ruby put to sleep. Many people prefer to call someone plain than ugly, or cuddly rather than fat.
Euphemisms are an important part of every language, but it seems that English has an ever-growing number of them. The non-native speaker not only has to make sense of the euphemisms he hears, he also has to learn which euphemisms are appropriate in any particular situation. He might be aware that his American friend needs to use the toilet when she asks where the bathroom (or restroom, or comfort station) is, but he is less likely to guess that his English friend has the same need when he says he has to see a man about a dog. He might have learned, for example, that in the family way is a euphemism for pregnant. If, however, he says to his boss," Congratulations! I hear your wife is in the family way," he would be using an expression that is too familiar for the circumstances.
Schools are full of euphemisms. At Frankfurt International School, for example, the special lessons given to students who are having difficulties in their school subjects are called Study Center (in the middle school) and Academic Workshop (in the high school). Teachers rightly do not want to upset students or parents by being too frank or straight-forward, and usually choose a softer word or expression to convey the same message.According to the passage, people use euphemisms in order to.
A.make themselves understood |
B.attract attention |
C.to sound straightforward |
D.avoid embarrassment |
A person who is described as plain and cuddly is in fact.
A.tall and handsome | B.ugly and fat |
C.ugly but tall | D.pretty and slim |
When an English lady says she has to see a man about a dog, she might want to.
A.go to the toilet |
B.see an ugly friend |
C.have her old dog killed |
D.see a pregnant woman |
The main purpose of Paragraph 2 is to.
A.stress that euphemisms are an important part of every language |
B.inform readers that English has an ever-growing number of euphemisms |
C.warn English learners to be careful about the meaning and use of euphemisms |
D.suggest non-native speakers use euphemisms as often as possible |
At Frankfurt International School, the students who receive lessons in Study Center.
A.work hard at their lessons |
B.do well in school |
C.have poor grades in the subjects |
D.prefer to learn more |
“I will never marry,” the future Elizabeth I declared at the age of eight, and, to the terror of her people, the Great Queen kept her word.
For four centuries, historians have guessed why Elizabeth never married. In her own day, her decision to remain single was considered absurd and dangerous. A queen needed a husband to make political decisions for her and to organize and lead her military campaigns. More important, she needed male heirs to avoid a civil war after her death.
There was no shortage of suitors for the Queen, both English courtiers (朝臣) and foreign princes, and it was confidently expected for the best part of 30 years that Elizabeth would eventually marry one of them. Indeed , although she insisted that she preferred the single state, she kept these suitors in a state of permanent expectation. This was a deliberate policy on the Queen's part, since by keeping foreign princes in hope, sometimes for a decade, she kept them friendly when they might otherwise have made war on her kingdom.
There were, indeed, good political reasons for her avoiding marriage. The disastrous union of her sister Mary I to Philip II of Spain had had an unwelcome foreign influence upon English politics. The English were generally prejudiced against the Queen taking a foreign husband, particularly a Catholic one. Yet if she married an English, jealousy might lead to the separation of the court.
There were other, deeper reasons for Elizabeth's unwillingness to marry, chief of which, I believe, was her fear of losing her autonomy as Queen. In the 16th century, a queen was regarded as holding supreme dominion(统治权)over the state, while a husband was thought to hold supreme dominion over his wife. Elizabeth knew that marriage and motherhood would bring some harm to her power.
She once pointed out that marriage seemed too uncertain a state for her. She had seen several unions in her immediate family break down, including that of her own parents.
Some writers, based on very fragile evidence, have argued that Elizabeth was frightened or incapable of the sex act, but it is more likely that she feared childbirth. Two of her stepmothers, her grandmother and several acquaintances had died in child bed.
Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had had her mother, Anne Boleyn, killed; her stepmother Catherine Howard later suffered the same fate. When Elizabeth was 14 she was all but attracted by Admiral Thomas Seymour, who also went to the prison within a year. Witnessing these terrible events at an early age, it has been argued, may have put Elizabeth off marriage.
Elizabeth had to decide her priorities. Marriage or being single? Elizabeth was far too intelligent.The choice she made was courageous and revolutionary, and, in the long run, the right one for England.To the suitors including English courtiers and foreign princes,Elizabeth ________.
A.held back the truth |
B.gave a definite answer “no” |
C.kept them expecting deliberately |
D.said she preferred the single state |
If Elizabeth had married a foreign prince, there might have been ________.
A.prejudice against her |
B.separation of the court |
C.jealousy among English courtiers |
D.a negative impact on English politics |
Which of the following implications is right according to the passage?
A.Queen Elizabeth was not a Catholic. |
B.Some foreign princes made war on Britain. |
C.Catherine Howard was killed by Anne Boleyn. |
D.Admiral Thomas Seymour was killed by Henry VIII. |
What is the attitude of the author towards Queen Elizabeth never marrying in her life?
A.Pitiful. | B.Approving. | C.Negative. | D.Neutral. |