Despite rising education levels, Americans of every age are reading less and less for pleasure these days, according to an analysis by the National Endowment for the Arts. The decline(下降) could have bad effects as people tune out books, tune in popular culture and become less socially engaged.
"We've got a public culture which is almost entirely commercial(商业化)and novelty - driven (追新)," says NEA chairman Dana Gioia. "I think it's letting the nation down."
The study gathers years of data on Americans' reading habits and finds that, at every age group, we're reading less.
Most of the data have appeared in private, government and university surveys, but today's report is the first to combine them into a single portrait. It suggests that the demands of school, work and family and the decisive advantage of other forms of entertainment have caused the decline in reading for millions of Americans.
·Only 38% of adults in 2006 said they had spent time reading a book for pleasure.
·65% of college freshmen in 2005 said they read little or nothing for pleasure.
·30% of 13 - year - olds in 2004 said they read for fun "almost every day," down from 35% in 1984.
According to Gioia, a poet, they decline is probably the single most important social issue in the United States today. The findings should be a wake - up call to educators to change the way they teach literature at every level. It was once believed that if someone went to college, they would become a lifelong reader. What we're seeing right now is that we're no longer producing readers. We're producing B. A. s and M. A. s and Ph. D. s.
Cioia also wants main media to wake up to how they can promote good books in many ways. He notes that when a character in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral recited a few lines of W. H. Auden's poem Funeral Blues, the poet briefly became a best seller.
65.The underlined phrase "tune out" in the first paragraph probably means________.
A.close B.publish C.prove D.read
66.According to Dana Gioia, the change of Americans' reading habit________.
A.is positive and valuable B.does harm to the nation
C.is caused only by popular culture D.can make poets best sellers
67.Which of the following is NOT the cause for the change in reading habit?
A.Demands of getting a B. A., M. A. or Ph. D.
B.Demands of family, school and work.
C.The change in the way the literature is taught.
D.Advantages of the entertainment.
68.We can infer that the number of teenagers reading for pleasure reduced by________in 20 years.
A.30% B.38% C.65% D.5%
Who doesn’t love sitting beside a cosy fire on a cold winter’s night ? Who doesn’t love to watch flames (火苗) curling up a chimney? Fire is one of man’s greatest friends, but also one of his greatest enemies. Many big fires are caused by carelessness. A lighted cigarette thrown out of a car or train window or a broken bottle lying on dry grass can start a fire. Sometimes, though, a fire can start on its own. Wet hay (草) can begin burning by itself. This is how it happens: the hay starts to rot (腐烂) and begins to give off heat which is trapped inside it. Finally, it bursts into flames. That’s why farmers cut and store (贮存) their hay when it’s dry.
Fires have destroyed whole cities. In the 17th century, a small fire which began in a baker’s shop burnt down nearly every building in London. Moscow was set on fire during the war against Napoleon. This fire continued burning for seven days. And, of course, in 64 A.D. a fire burnt Rome. Even today, in spite of modern fire-fighting methods, fire causes millions of pounds’ worthy of damage each year both in our cities and in the countryside. It has been wisely said that fire is a good servant but a bad master . The writer considers it ________ to sit beside a fire on a cold winter night .
| A．nice | B．dangerous | C．unhappy | D．painful |
Which of the following describes the way how hay begins burning on its own ?
| A．wet hay ---- becomes dry ---- gives off heat ---- burns |
| B．dry hay ---- gets too much heat from the sun ---- gives out heat --- starts to burn |
| C．wet hay ---- begins to rot ---- gives out heat ---- starts to burn |
| D．dry hay ---- gives off heat ---- starts to rot ---- starts to burn |
Many big fires are caused __________ .
| A．by cigarette | B．by their own |
| C．by dry grass | D．by people’s carelessness |
How many examples did the writer give to show fires can destroy the whole city ?
| A．One | B．Two | C．Three | D．Four |
Which of the following statement is not true ?
| A．Fires still cause much damage now although there are modern fire - fighting methods . |
| B．Fires cause less damage in the country than in the city . |
| C．Fire can be man’s good friend and also great enemy . |
| D．One should be careful not to throw a lighted cigarette everywhere . |
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. “How much is an ice cream sundae?” “Fifty cents,” replied the waitress. The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it. “How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he required. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. “Thirty-five cents,” she said rudely. The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said. The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the bill and departed. When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw. There, nearly beside the empty dish, were seven five-cent coins and fifteen one-cent coins---her tip.How much money did the boy probably have in his pocket?
| A．No more than fifty cents. | B．More than fifty cents. |
| C．Not more than fifty cents. | D．Less than fifty cents. |
Why did the little boy have only a dish of plain ice cream?
| A．The plain ice cream cost him much less. |
| B．He enjoyed the cheaper ice cream better. |
| C．The coins were not enough for an ice cream sundae. |
| D．He wanted to save some coins to tip the waitress. |
We can infer that the waitress might have felt_______when she got the tip.
| A．very surprised | B．a bit of shame |
| C．quite pleased | D．a little worried |
Recently some American scientists have given a useful sincere piece of advice to people in industrialized nations that they would be much healthier if they ate more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago.
The scientists say that the human body has changed very little since humans first appeared on the earth, but the way we live has changed greatly. Our body has not been able to deal with these changes in life style and this has led to new kinds of sicknesses. These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times, so they are called “diseases of civilization”. Many cancers and diseases of the blood system, including heart attacks and strokes ( 中风 ) are examples of such diseases.
Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none. Ancient people also got a great deal of physical exercise, but a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today.
Stone-age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic or tame ones ( 家畜 ). They also ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits. They didn’t have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains. But today, we eat a large amount of these. We eat six times more salt than our remote ancestors. We eat more sugar. We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C.
People today probably do not want to live the way people thousands of years ago did, but scientists say that we would be much healthier if we ate much the same way as remote ancestors did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food.
67. What is the main cause that people suffer from a lot of new sicknesses?
A. Ancient people did a great deal of physical exercise.
B. People today have a lot of alcohol.
C. People today have more tobacco.
D. Food today is quite different from that of ancient times.
68. Which of the following belongs to the dairy products?
A. Milk B. Corn C. Pork D. Flour
69. New kinds of sicknesses have been found because ________.
A. the human body has changed compared with humans who first appeared on the earth
B. the way we live has changed a little
C. our body can’t deal with the changes in life style
D. the way we live today is proper for the human body
70. According to some scientists, Stone-age people were much healthier than people today because they ate a lot of ________.
A. milk and other dairy products B. salt and sugar
C. wild animals, fresh wild vegetables and fruits D. grain foods
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63. Which position is most suitable for a retired person?
A. Part-time Shop Assistant. B. Teaching Assistant in Hania's Playschool.
C. Weekend Work in Rubberlast Group Ltd
D. Teaching Assistant in the University of Bristol.
64. If you have good computer skills and recently graduated from university (English degree), which jobs can you apply for?
A. Job 1, 2 and 7. B. Job 3, 4 and 6. C. Job 4, 6 and 7. D. Job 2, 3 and 5.
65. Which is the only position that has a formal educational requirement?
A. Full Time Secretary at United Business Ltd.
B. Home Delivery Representative for Yorkshire Post.
C. Teaching Assistant at Hania's Playschool.
D. University Positions at the University of Bristol.
66. How can you get more information if you are interested in the position of a full-time computer trained secretary?
A. By telephone. B. By letter. C. By Internet. D. In person.
Eat, drink and be merry. That’s what Spring Festival is all about. But there are millions of people, too, who love to let happiness go up in smoke.
Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect to them. A cup of tea and cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China, especially during festive occasions.
No wonder, 40 percent of the people surveyed(调查) recently said they would smoke at least twice the usual number of cigarettes during the Spring Festival because of all those gatherings and parties. Only 20 percent of the respondents said they would refuse a cigarette when offered one. Why can’t the others do the same? Because they could be seen as being rude, said more than half in the respondents. 15 percent feared they could be taken as “someone who cannot get along well with others”.
The Think-tank Research Centre for Health Development and sohu. com survey shows 61 percent Chinese think offering a cigarette is useful for socialising, and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others. The study surveyed 3,800 people, and 64 percent of them were men.
One-third of those surveyed were smokers, out of which 57 percent said they couldn’t give up smoking because of the offering-and-accepting culture. “People have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends,” research centre director Wu Yiqun says.
China has more than 350 million smokers, catering to the tobacco market that is worth 500 billion yuan. “The survey shows we still have a lot of work to do,” Wu says. “It is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately.”
59. The passage is written with the purpose of ________.
A. telling us a custom about the Chinese Spring Festival
B. introducing a way to make friends with Chinese
C. stopping smoking during the Chinese Spring Festival
D. telling us that offering cigarettes is a bad habit
60. The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.
A. the fact that smokers are greatly increasing during the festival
B. the reason why refusing cigarettes is acceptable
C. the fact that many people have to smoke more cigarettes during the festival
D. it is rude to attend parties without smoking cigarettes
61. Which of the following may NOT be the reason that makes many people fail to refuse the offered cigarettes?
A. It’s impolite to refuse. B. Smoking is harmful for non-smokers.
C. They want to be friendly D. It’s a kind of social habit.
62. The writer mentions the 500 billion yuan tobacco market because ________.
A. the tobacco market is not developing smoothly
B. the writer thinks that smoking wastes a lot of money
C. smoking is helpful to the tobacco market
D. the tobacco market attracts too many smokers