Americans: Restless? Illiterate（没文化的）?
Americans are queer people: they can’t rest．They have more time, more leisure, shorter work hours, more holidays, and more vacations than any other people in the world．But they can’t rest．They rush up and down across their continent as tourists; they move about in great herds to conferences; they search the wilderness; they flood the mountains; they keep the hotels full．But they can’t rest．The scenery rushes past them．They learn it．Battles and monuments are announced to them on a tour bus．They hear them, but they don’t get them．They never stop moving; they rush up and down as Shriners, Masons, Old Graduates, Bankers—they are a new thing each day, always rushing to a reunion or something．So they go on rushing about till eventually the undertaker （殡葬工） gather them to a last conference．
Americans are queer people: they can’t read．They have more schools, and better schools and spend more money on schools and colleges than all Europe．But they can’t read．They print more books in a year than the French print．But they can’t read．They cover their country with one hundred thousand tons of Sunday newspapers every week．But they don’t read them．They’re too busy．They use them for fires and to make more paper with．They buy eagerly thousands of new novels at two dollars each．But they read only page one．Their streets are full of huge signs．They won’t look at them．Their streetcars are filled with advertising; they turn their eyes away．Transparent colors, cart wheels, and mechanical flares whirl and flicker in the crowded streets at night．No one sees them．Tons of letters pour into the mail boxes, through the houses, and down the garbage cans．No one reads them．
68．The underlined word “queer ” means ___________．
A．strange B．difficult C．forgetful D．friendly
69．According to the text, when do the Americans stop rushing about ?
A．When they are to allowed to．B．When they feel tired and sleepy
C．When they stop breathing eventually D．When they are seriously ill in bed
70．The Americans know the places of battles and monuments ___________．
A．by driving there in person B．when they are on the tour bus
C．from books and magazines D．by visiting them
71．Why does the writer write this passage?
A．To tell people the Americans are illiterate
B．To prove the Americans to be a queer nation
C．To make fun of the American way of life
D．To give the readers information about USA
A few days ago I asked my sons’ governess（女家庭教师）Julia to come into my study. “Be seated, Julia, ”I said, “Let’s settle our accounts. I guess you most likely need some money, but maybe you’re too polite to mention it. Now then, we agreed on thirty dollars a month...”
“Forty.”
“No, thirty. I made a note of it. I always pay our governess thirty. Well, um, you’ve been here two months, so...”
“Two months and five days.”
“Exactly two months. I made a special note of it. That means you have sixty dollars coming to you. Take off nine Sundays... you know you didn’t work with Tom on Sundays, you only took walks. And three holidays... ”Julia was biting her finger nail nervously, her face red, but - not a word.
“Three holidays, therefore take off twelve dollars. Four days Tom was sick and there were no lessons, as you were occupied only with Dick. Three days you had a toothache and my wife gave you permission not to work after lunch. Twelve and seven - nineteen. Take nineteen off ... that leaves. hmm.... forty one dollars. Correct？”
Julia’s left eye reddened with tears welling up. Her chin trembled; she coughed nervously and blew her nose, but - still not a word.
“Around New Year’s Day you broke a teacup and a saucer; take off two dollars. The cup cost more, it was a treasure of the family, but- forget it. When didn’t I take a loss! Then, due to your neglect （疏忽）, Tom climbed a tree and tore his jacket; take away ten. Also due to your carelessness the maid stole Dick’s shoes. You ought to watch everything! You get paid for it. So, that means five more dollars off. The tenth of January I gave ten dollars.”
“You didn’t. ”sobbed Julia.
“But I made a note of it.”
“Well... if you say so.”
“Take twenty seven from forty one -that leaves fourteen.”
Both her eyes were filled with tears. Beads of sweat stood on the thin pretty little nose. Poor girl!
“Only once was I given any money,” she whispered, her voice trembling, “and that was by your wife. Three dollars, nothing more.”
“Really? You see now, and I didn’t know that! Take three from fourteen.. leaves eleven. Here’s your money, my dear. Three, three, three, one and one. Here it is !”
I handed her eleven dollars. She took them and pocketed them.
“Merci （法语: 谢谢）,”she whispered.
I jumped to my feet and started pacing the room. I was overcome with anger. “For what, this - ‘merci’?” I asked.
“For the money. ”
“But you know I’ve cheated you - robbed you ! I have actually stolen from you ! Why this‘merci’？”
“In my other places they didn’t give me anything at all.”
“They didn’t give you anything? No wonder! I played a little joke on you, a cruel lesson, just to teach you... I m going to give you all the eighty dollars! Here they are in the envelope all ready for you... Is it really possible to be so spineless （懦弱）?Why didn’t you protest? Why were you silent? Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws（爪）—to be such a fool?”
Embarrassed, she smiled. And I could read her expression,“It is possible.”
I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and, to her great surprise, gave her the eighty dollars. She murmured her little“merci”several times and went out. I looked after her and thought,“How easy it is to crush the weak in this world !”
While talking to Julia, the wrier expected from her ________.
| A．a protest | B．gratitude |
| C．obedience | D．an explanation |
What shocked the writer was Julia’s ________.
| A．nervousness in front of her boss |
| B．acceptance of injustice |
| C．shyness when talking about money |
| D．reluctance to express herself |
The writer said, “Is it possible in this world to be without teeth and claws?” He was actually telling the governess ________.
| A．to be more aggressive |
| B．to be more careful in her work |
| C．to protect her right |
| D．to live independently |
At the end of the story, the writer said,“ How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!”to show ________.
| A．his understanding of Julia’s anxiety |
| B．his worry about Julia’s future |
| C．his concern on the living condition of working - class people |
| D．his sympathy for the mental state of those exploited |
In a few years, you might be able to speak Chinese, Korean, Japanese, French,and English—and all at the same time. This sounds incredible, but Alex Waibel,a computer science professor at US's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Germany's University of Karlsruhe,announced last week that it may soon be reality. He and his team have invented software and hardware that could make it far easier for people who speak different languages to understand each other.
One application, called Lecture Translation, can easily translate a speech from one language into another. Current translation technologies typically limit speakers to certain topics or a limited vocabulary. Users also have to be trained how to use the programme.
Another prototype(雏形机) can send translations of a speech to different listeners depending on what language they speak.“It is like having a simultaneous translator right next to you but without disturbing the person next to you,” Waibel said.
Prefer to read? So-called Translation Glasses transcribe(转录) the translations on a tiny liquid-crystal(液晶) display(LCD) screen.
Then there's the Muscle Translator. Electrodes capture the electrical signals from facial muscle movements made naturally when a person is mouthing words. The signals are then translated into speech. The electrodes could be replaced with wireless chips implanted in a person's face, according to researchers.
During a demonstration held last Thursday in CMU's Pittsburgh campus, a Chinese student named Stan Jou had 11 tiny electrodes attached to the muscles of his cheeks, neck and throat. Then he mouthed—without speaking aloud—a few words in Mandarin(普通话) to the audience. A few seconds later, the phrase was displayed on a computer screen and spoken out by the computer in English and Spanish: “Let me introduce our new prototype.”
This particular gadget(器械),when fully developed, might allow anyone to speak in any number of languages or, as Waibel put it, “to switch your mouth to a foreign language”. “The idea behind the university's prototypes is to create ‘good enough’ bridges for cross-cultural exchanges that are becoming more common in the world,” Waibel said.
With spontaneous(自发的) translators, foreign drivers in Germany could listen to traffic warnings on the radio, tourists in China could read all the signs and talk with local people, and leaders of different countries could have secret talks without any interpreters there.Which of the following statements is not TRUE?
| A．A lecture translation can translate what you said into other languages easily. |
| B．There is no Muscle Translator in the world now. |
| C．Muscle Translators can translate what you think into speech if you just move your mouth. |
| D．The spontaneous translators will help us a lot. |
What kind of equipment is NOT mentioned in this passage?
| A．Lecture Translation. |
| B．Muscle Translator. |
| C．Multiple Translator. |
| D．Translation Prototype. |
What's the final destination of inventing the language translators?
| A．To make cultural exchanges between different countries easier. |
| B．To help students learn foreign languages more easily. |
| C．To make people live in foreign countries more comfortably. |
| D．To help people learn more foreign languages in the future. |
Where can this passage probably excerpted from?
| A．A newspaper. | B．A magazine on science. |
| C．A fairy tale. | D．A scientific fantasy book. |
For some time past,it has been widely accepted that babies—and other creatures—learn to do things because certain acts lead to “rewards(报酬)”,and there is no reason to doubt that this is true. But it used also to be widely believed that effective rewards, at least in the early time, had to be directly connected to such basic physiological(生理的) “drives” as thirst or hunger. In other words, a baby would learn if he got food or drink or some sort of physical comfort, not otherwise.
It is now clear that this is not so. Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except success in sight.
Papousek began his studies by using milk in the normal way to “reward” the babies and to teach them to carry out some simple movements, such as turning the head to one side or the other.Then he noticed that a baby who had had enough to drink would refuse the milk but would still go on making the learned response(回答) with clear signs of pleasure. So he began to study the children's responses in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “turned on” some lights—and indeed that they were able to learn some more turns to bring about(产生) this result,for example,two left or two right,or even to make as many as three turns to one side.
Papousek's light experiment was placed directly in front of the babies and he made the interesting observation that sometimes they would not turn back to watch the light closely although they would “smile and speak” when the light was on.Papousek concluded that it was not the sight of the lights which pleased them.It was the success they were achieving in solving the problem,in mastering the skill,and then there is a basic human nature to make sense of the world and bring it under control.According to the writer,babies learn to do things which _______.
| A．will satisfy their surprise | B．will meet their physical needs |
| C．are directly connected to pleasure | D．will bring them a feeling of success |
Papousek noticed in his studies that a baby _______.
| A．would make learned responses when it saw the milk |
| B．would continue the simple movements without being given milk |
| C．would turn its head to right or left when it had enough to drink |
| D．would carry out learned movements when it had enough to drink |
In Papousek's experiment babies make learned movements of the head in order to _______.
| A．be praised | B．please their parents |
| C．be rewarded with milk | D．have the lights turned on |
The babies would “smile and speak” at the lights because _______.
| A．they succeeded in “turning on” the lights |
| B．the sight of lights was interesting |
| C．they need not turn back to watch the lights |
| D．the lights were directly connected to some basic “drives” |
Perhaps you will visit New York one day. You might be a student there. Here is some advice.
Get a good map of the city. It will also have subway and bus maps. Remember the directions—uptown, downtown, east and west. Feel the excitement of New York .Have fun!
NEW YORK CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU
Address:90 East 42nd Street,N.Y.100017
Telephone:6871300
TIMES SQUARE INFORMATION CENTER
Address:43rd Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway
Telephone:5938983
TRAVELERS' AID SOCIETY
Address:204 ast 39th Street,N.Y.10016(central office)
Telephone:6790200
TRAVEL INFORMATION:NEW YORK SUBWAYS AND BUSES
Telephone:3301234
OTHER TELEPHONE NUMBERS
The weather:WE 61212.The time:ME 71212
Emergency (Police,Fire,or Ambulance):911 or “0” for operator
A doctor:8971000
USEFUL BOOK
Seeing New York; The official MTA Travel Guide,published by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Introductions and directions |
| B．This is New York |
| C．Information and advice |
| D．Have fun here |
If you lose your passport in New York, you may probably get help from _______.
| A．CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU |
| B．TIMES SQUARE INFORMATION CENTER |
| C．USEFUL BOOK |
| D．TRAVEL INFORMATION |
If a visitor wanted to take a train, he could get some help by dialing the number “_______”.
| A．8971000 | B．3301234 | C．WE 61212 | D．911 or “0” |
It will be hot—hot enough that most locals will have cleared town for cooler places. But because athletes competing at the 2004 Olympics have no choice but to stay in the hot weather, many plan to turn to science to stay cool.
Some will put their hands in ice water just before competing and nearly all will be wearing fabrics(织物) designed with hot weather in mind.
“Normally we warm up before exercise,”said Gordon Sleivert, director of sports science and medicine at the Canadian Sport Center in Victoria, British Columbia.“But in this case we're taking the warm out of warm up. It's like pre-cooling.”
Experts are predicting(预测) the average high this August in Athens will be 90 degrees Fahrenheit, with temperatures often reaching above 100(the average temperature in Sydney for the 2000 summer games was 64).
Although some events, such as the marathon, will start early(1 a.m.) to avoid hot weather, other competitors will be pushing their limits during high temperatures. Drinking lots of water will help athletes keep cool, but humidity(湿度) remains a problem. The body's ability to cool down is weakened by damp air since sweat drips off the skin rather than evaporates(蒸发),resulting in dehydration(脱水) without the cooling.
“Getting hot is a real problem because when our brains heats up, the brain waves are more like when you're really sleepy. Everything feels harder,” said Sleivert. The passage mainly tells us that _______.
| A．why it is very hot in Athens |
| B．the hot weather is a big problem for Olympic athletes |
| C．how important science is to every athlete |
| D．the Olympics will be put off because of the hot weather |
The underlined sentence “other competitors will be pushing their limits during high temperatures”in the fifth paragraph means _______.
| A．Olympic athletes will put off their competition time |
| B．some events in the Olympics will have to be put forward |
| C．competitors can't reach their limits in the hot weather |
| D．competitors will have to try their best to compete under any condition |
The following things will be likely to happen in the hot weather EXCEPT _______.
| A．dehydration |
| B．being sleepy |
| C．that the blood in the body can become less and less |
| D．that the body's ability to cool down is weakened |