III. Reading Comprehension
Section A
Directions: For each blank in the following passage there are four words or phrases marked A,B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.
Nothing can better illustrate the failure of education in this country than the contrast between millions of college graduates finding it hard to get a proper job every year and the lack of workers in the more industrialized regions.
According to news from Dongguan (东莞), one of the __50__ manufacturing centers in the Pearl River Delta (珠江三角洲) region in South China, “over 90 percent” factories have said they are finding __51__ difficult to employ people from the second half of 2009, when the __52__ began picking up and overseas orders restarted pouring in. Running to full capacity seems a dream that the factories had__53__.
An awkward reality is that only few, __54__, of the new college graduates could really fill the vacancies because the trainings they have received are entirely __55__ from the demands of the jobs. Nor will Chinese cities have enough workforce if they pursue a development model other than export-based manufacturing.
The __56__ for that is simple: The knowledge about management graduates gather is totally out of step with reality, __57__ of them can hardly express themselves in English or compose an email message properly, and __58__ handle even paper work in a law service with the legal knowledge they have.
I __59__ some college teachers, whom I went to college with, that the amount of time an average college student spends on studies today is less than half of what we __60__ in the late 1970s when proper college education was recovered after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76).
“They (the administrations) have enrolled so many students just to __61__ from their parents (tuition and other charges)”, one of the teachers said embarrassedly. “It's a nationwide phenomenon, you know.”
It is hard to believe that a country should not __62__ education so seriously when there are no longer as many young people as before and view its opportunities only in terms of immediate financial gains, which greatly affects the quality of education. __63__, vocational education faces a double threat: frequent ups and downs in the business cycle and that of a flooding of cheap college certificates.
It is __64__ in a country with rapid development in many fields to see little reform and progress in its education system. When colleges are reduced to money-making machines, they cannot help a society create enough workers, thinkers and leaders.
50. A. necessary B. key C. new D. remote
51. A. this B. that C. it D. as
52. A. economy B. country C. city D. industry
53. A. in the near future B. at present time C. from time to time D. in the long past
54. A. and some B. but none C. if any D. because such
55. A. different B. same C. opposite D. similar
56. A. result B. method C. reason D. expectation
57. A. some B. most C. few D. all
58. A. can B. must C. can’t D. mustn’t
59. A. took from B. picked out C. caught sight of D. learned from
60. A. spent B. cost C. wasted D. detected
61. A. cost money B. make money C. create money D. deal with
62. A. put B. set C. make D. take
63. A. Although B. Besides C. However D. Therefore
64. A. common B. likely C. worthwhile D. surprising
I used to be a very self-centered person, but in the past two years I have really changed. I have started to think about other people I think about myself. I am happy that I am becoming a person.
I think my started when I was at Palomar College. At first, I just wanted to get my and be left alone. I thought I was smarter than everyone else, so I hardly ever to anyone in my classes. By the end of my first semester, I was really . It seemed as if everyone but me had made friends and was having fun. So tried a(n) . I started asking people around me how they were doing, and if they were having trouble I to help. That was really a big for me. By the end of the year, I had several new friends, and two of are still my best friends today.
A bigger cause of my new , however, came when I took a part-time job at a Vista Nursing Home. One old lady there who had Alzheimer’s disease became my . Every time I came into her room, she was so because she thought I was her daughter. Her real daughter never her, so I took her place. She let me that making others feel good made me feel good, too, when she died, I was , but I was very grateful to her.
I think I am a much person today than I used to be, and I hope I will not these experiences. They have me to care about other people more than about myself. I who I am today, and I could not say that a few years ago.
A.since B.before C.or D.unless
A.famous B.simple C.different D.skilled
A.education B.career C.tour D.change
A.balance B.homework C.degree D.interest
A.talked B.wrote C.lied D.reported
A.careful B.lonely C.curious D.guilty
A.argument B.game C.experiment D.defence
A.dared B.offered C.hesitated D.happened
A.dream B.problem C.duty D.step
A.us B.which C.them D.whom
A.attitude B.hobby C.hope D.luck
A.friend B.partner C.guide D.guest
A.polite B.happy C.strange D.confident
A.bothered B.answered C.visited D.trusted
A.explain B.guess C.declare D.see
A.homeless B.heartbroken C.bad-tempered D.hopeless
A.quieter B.busier C.better D.richer
A.forget B.face C.improve D.analyze
A.forced B.preferred C.ordered D.taught
A.miss B.like C.wonder D.expect
Making friends is a skill. Like most skills, it patience. If you want to meet people and make friends, you must be willing to some action. You must first go where there are people. You won’t make friends staying home .
Joining a club or group, talking to those who like the same things you do is much easier. Or join someone some activity.
Many people are when talking to new people. all, meeting strangers means seeing the unknown .And it’s human nature to feel a bit about the unknown. Most of fears about new people come from doubts about .We imagine other people are us——finding us too tall or too short, too this or too that. But don’t forget that they must be feeling the same way. Try to accept yourself you are, and try to put the other at ease. You’ll both feel more comfortable.
Try to act self-confident even you don’t feel that way when you a room full of strangers. Walk tall and straight, look at other people directly and .
If you see someone you’d like to , say something. Don’t wait for person to start a talk.
Just meeting someone does not mean that you’ll make friends with that person. is based on mutual(相互的) likings and “give and take”. It takes time to
friendship.
A.needs B.costs C.spends D.wants
A.make B.take C.do D.carry
A.alone B.yourself C.lonely D.with you
A.that B.which C.as D.what
A.with B.to C.on D.in
A.shy B.excited C.afraid D.worried
A.At B.For C.After D.In
A.unhappy B.usual C.upset D.unlucky
A.talking B.meeting C.visiting D.speaking
A.yourself B.himself C.yourselves D.ourselves
A.talking B.saying C.laughing D.judging
A.like B.what C.as D.that
A.when B.as C.if D.what
A.come B.go C.enter D.step t5o
A.smile B.laugh C.cry D.jump
A.talk about B.speak to C.say to D.call up
A.other B.the other C.another D.others
A.new B.young C.old D.little
A.Friendship B.Relation C.Connection D.Feeling
A.start B.develop C.keep D.Change
I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a car and landing on my head. Now I am thirty-two. I can vaguely remember the brightness of _____ and what color red is. It would be _____ to see again, but a (n) ____ can do strange things to people. I don’t mean I would ____ to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate more what I had ____.
My parents and my teachers saw something in me ----- a ____ to live ---- which I didn’t see, and they made me want to fight in out with ___.
The ____ lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. I am not talking about simply the kind of ____ that helps me down so unfamiliar staircase alone. I _____ something bigger than that: a confidence that I am, despite being ____, a real, positive person; that there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this confidence. It had to start with the easy and simple things. _____ a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was laughing at me and I was ____. “I can’t use this,” I said. “Take with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words _____ in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could ____ where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought ___ before; playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I ___ a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to be clear about my ___. It was no good crying for something that I knew at the start was ____ out of reach because that only invited bitterness of failure. I would fail something anyway, _____ on the average I made progress.
A.sky B.cloud C.sunshine D.mist
A.helpful B.wonderful C.hopeful D.successful
A.disaster B.environment C.incident D.wonder
A.manage B.try C.want D.prefer
A.lost B.left C.used D.cared
A.purpose B.potential C.pressure D.preparation
A.energy B.happiness C.luck D.blindness
A.hardest B.dullest C.simplest D.easiest
A.self-respect B.self-control C.self-confidence D.self-defence
A.think B.consider C.guess D.mean
A.imperfect B.perfect C.unfair D.fair
A.Later B.Soon C.Once D.Then
A.worried B.encouraged C.shocked D.hurt
A.stuck B.impressed C.occupied D.held
A.see B.hear C.notice D.observe
A.important B.unimportant C.possible D.impossible
A.invented B.discovered C.instructed D.directed
A.experience B.advantages C.knowledge D.limitation
A.hardly B.wildly C.highly D.deeply
A.so B.for C.but D.and
In our discussion with people on how education can help them succeed in life, a woman remembered the first meeting of an introductory____course about 20 years ago.
The professor ____the lecture hall, placed upon his desk a large jar filled with dried beans(豆), and invited the students to _ _how many beans the jar contained. After ____shouts of wildly wrong guesses the professor smiled a thin, dry smile, announced the ____ answer, and went on saying,” You have just ___an important lesson about science. That is Never____ your own senses.”
Twenty years later, the ___could guess what the professor had in mind. He ____himself, perhaps, as inviting his students to start an exciting____into an unknown world
Invisible(无形的)to the ,which can be discovered only through scientific .But the seventeen-year-old girl could not accept or even the invitation. She was just to understand the world. And she that her firsthand experience could be the .The professor, however, said that it was .he was taking away her only for knowing and was providing her with no substitute. “I remember feeling small and ,”the women says, “and I did the only thing I could do. I the course that afternoon, and I haven’t gone near science since.”
A.art B.history C.science D.math
A.searched for B.looked at C.got through D.marched into
A.count B.guess C.report D.watch
A.warning B.giving C.turning away D.listening to
A.ready B.possible C.correct D.difficult
A.learned B.prepared C.taught D.taken
A.lose B.trust C.sharpen D.show
A.lecturer B.scientist C.speaker D.woman
A.described B.respected C.saw D.served
A.voyage B.movement C.change D.rush
A.professor B.eye C.knowledge D.light
A.model B.senses C.spirit D.methods
A.hear B.make C.present D.refuse
A.suggesting B.beginning C.pretending D.waiting
A.believed B.doubted C.proved D.explained
A.growth B.strength C.faith D.truth
A.firm B.interesting C.wrong D.acceptable
A.task B.tool C.success D.connection
A.cruel B.proud C.frightened D.brave
A.dropped B.started C.passed D.missed
Music to My Ears
Robby was 10 for his first piano lesson in my class. Much as he tried, he ____ even the basic rhythm. However, he dutifully reviewed the pieces that I required.
Over the months he tried and tried while I ____ and encouraged him. At the end of each lesson he'd always say, "My mom's going to hear me play some day." ____ it seemed hopeless.
I only knew his mother from a ____as she waited in her aged car to pick him up. Then one day Robby stopped coming. I was secretly ____ that he stopped because of his lack of ability.
Weeks later I informed the students, including Robby, of the coming recital(独奏). To my ____, Robby asked me if he could be included. I told him he really did not qualify because he had ____ out. He said his mom had been sick and unable to take him to lessons but he was still ____ .
“I've just got to play!" he ____. Something inside me let me allow him to.
Then came the recital night. The gym was ____ with parents. I put Robby up ____, thinking that I could save his poor performance through my “curtain closer(谢幕).”
The recital went off smoothly. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was ____. "Why didn't his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?" I thought.
Robby pulled out the piano bench and began. I was not ____ for what I heard next. His fingers were ____ on the keys. Never had I heard Mozart played so well by people of his age. After he ended, everyone was ____ their feet in wild applause.
In ____ I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby. "I've never heard you play like that, Robby! How did you ____ it?"
Robby explained, "Well, Miss Hondorf…remember I told you my mom was sick? …____ she had cancer and passed away yesterday. She was born deaf, so tonight she could hear me play in heaven. I wanted to make it special."
There wasn’t a ____ eye in the house. That night I felt he was the teacher and I was the pupil, for it was he who taught me the meaning of perseverance and ____.
A.lacked B.had C.showed D.got
A.listened B.learned C.checked D.played
A.And B.But C.So D.Or
A.conversation B.performance C.distance D.picture
A.guilty B.sad C.anxious D.glad
A.relief B.surprise C.pleasure D.satisfaction
A.stepped B.worn C.run D.dropped
A.acting B.performing C.practicing D.recording
A.insisted B.suggested C.complained D.threatened
A.lined B.packed C.piled D.filled
A.least B.most C.first D.last
A.messy B.cool C.neat D.dull
A.eager B.concerned C.prepared D.grateful
A.hesitating B.dancing C.touching D.crawling
A.over B.under C.in D.on
A.chaos B.tears C.silence D.return
A.find B.feel C.make D.like
A.Gradually B.Suddenly C.Frequently D.Actually
A.dry B.curious C.bright D.wet
A.regret B.talent C.love D.courage