IntheUnitedStates,friendshipsc-优题课

Passage Seventeen (On the President’s Program)
President Arling has put his long awaited economic restructuring program before the Congress. It provides a coordinated program of investment credits, research grants, education reforms, and tax changes designed to make American industry more competitive. This is necessary to reverse the economic slide into unemployment, lack of growth, and trade deficits that have plagued the economy for the past six years.
The most liberal wing of the President’s party has called for stronger and more direct action. They want an incomes policy to check inflation while federal financing helps rebuild industry behind a wall of protective tariffs.
The Republicans, however, decry even the modest, graduated tax increases in the President’s program. They want tax cuts and more open market. They say if federal money has to be injected into the economy, let it through defence spending.
Both these alternatives ignore the unique nature of the economic problem before us. It is not simply a matter of markets or financing. The new technology allows vastly increased production for those able to master it. But it also threatens those who fail to adopt it with permanent second-class citizenship in the world economy. If an industry cannot lever itself up to the leading stage of technological advances, then it will not be able to compete effectively. If it cannot do this, no amount of government protectionism or access to foreign markets can keep it profitable for long. Without the profits and experience of technological excellence to reinvest, that industry can only fall still further behind its foreign competitors
So the crux is the technology and that is where the President’s program focused. The danger is not that a plan will not be passed, it is that the ideologues of right and left will distort the bill with amendments that will blur its focus on technology. The economic restructuring plan should be passed intact. If we fail to restructure our economy now, we may not get a second chance.
1.The focus of the President’s program is on
A.investment.
B.economy.
C.technology.
D.tax.
2.What is the requirement of the most liberal wing of the Democratic-party?
A.They want a more direct action.
B.They want an incomes policy to check inflation.
C.They want to rebuild industry.
D.They want a wall of protective tariffs.
3.What is the editor’s attitude?
A.support.
B.distaste.
C.Disapproval.
D.Compromise.
4.The danger to the plan lies in
A.the two parties’ objection.
B.different idea of the two parties about the plan.
C.its passage.
D.distortion.
5.The passage is
A.a review.
B.a preface.
C.a advertisement.
D.an editorial.

Passage Sixteen (Mules)
Although the top men in smuggling business must work together, most of a syndicate’s small fry, especially the mules, know only their immediate contacts. If caught there is little they can give away. A mule probably will not even know the name of the person who gives him his instructions, nor how to get in touch with him. Usually he even does not know the person to whom he has to make delivery. He will be told just to sit tight in a certain hotel or bar until someone contacts him. In this way if he is blown, coming through airport customs he cannot unwittingly lead agents to the next link in the chain. All the persons at the receiving end do is to hang around the airport among the waiting crowd, and see that the mule comes through safely. If he does not, he is dimply written off as a loss. To make identification of mules easier, several syndicates have devised their own “club ties” so that a mule wearing one can immediately be picked out.
Mules often receive careful training before embarking on their first journey. One Beirut organization, for example, uses a room with three airline seats in it. There the trainee mules sit for hours on end wearing weighted smuggling vests beneath their clothes, so that they become accustomed to standing up after a long flight in a natural way, and without revealing what they are carrying. An outfit in Brussels maintained a comfortable apartment where the mules could relax and get a firm grip on themselves on the night before their first journey; they were helped to dress before setting out for the airport in the morning. More often than not a courier will not know precisely where he is going or what flight number is until he is actually handed his tickets at the airport. This prevents the careless boast in some bar or to a girl friend the night before.
Mules occasionally run off with the goods to keep the profit themselves. As insurance against this, a syndicate often sends a high-up on the same plane to keep a wary eye on couriers, particularly new ones. Even then things can go badly wrong. One international currency smuggler who was having trouble getting money out of Britain was offered help by a group of men who said they were in a position to “fix thing” – for a fee of course. Foolishly, the smuggler agreed to accept their help. When he got to London’s Heathrow Airport, he handed over to one of the men a black suitcase containing nearly $90,000 in cash, destined for Frankfurt. Just to keep an eye on things, the smuggler went along on the same plane. When they landed at Frankfurt he was handed back his suitcase. He beat a straight path to the men’s toilet, opened the case, and found only old clothes. The courier had switched suitcase en route, but the smuggler could hardly run to the police and complain that “the man who was smuggling money out of England for me has stolen it.”
1.What is a “mule”?
A.A person who sends smuggling goods for a syndicate is called mule.
B.A person in charge of smuggling goods is called mule.
C.A person who makes delivery for a syndicate is called mule.
D.A person who receives instructions from a smuggler is called mule.
2.The sentence “if he is blown” in line (6) is closest in meaning to
A.if he is arrested.
B.if he is recognized, but not necessarily arrested.
C.if he is recognized and arrested.
D.if he runs away.
3.Why does the author give an example in the last paragraph?
A.To show how a smuggler is caught.
B.To show a smuggler is afraid of the police.
C.To show to keep a wary eye on couriers is useless.
D.To show mules may keep the profit for themselves.
4.how does a mule work?
A.Jointly.
B.Independently.
C.consciously.
D.Separately.

Passage Fifteen (Contribution of Coeducation)
Imagining being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children – conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!
Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of educations is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.
A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is ( to give just a small example ) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girl or vice-versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a coeducational school, everything falls into its proper place.
But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures – airy goddesses, more like book-illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobbly knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.
1.What is the best title for this passage?
A.only co-education can be in harmony with society.
B.people are in great need of co-education.
C.any form of education other than co-education is simply unthinkable.
D.co-education has many features.
2.what does co-education offer to children?
A.A society.
B.A true small model of society.
C.A real life.
D.True version of social condition.
3.According to the passage, what is one of the chief aims of education?
A.It is for students to acquire knowledge.
B.It is to equip future citizens with scientific technology.
C.It is to equip future citizens with what is required in getting a position in society.
D.It is for students to get academic achievements.
4.Why do boys and girls in co-education have no illusion about each other?
A.They live together and know each other too well.
B.Years of living together at school dismiss such illusion.
C.co-education encourage them to have an healthy attitude toward life.
D.They are familiar with each other’s problems.

Passage Fourteen(Antarctica and Environment)
Antarctica has actually become a kind of space station – a unique observation post for detecting important changes in the world’s environment. Remote from major sources of pollution and the complex geological and ecological systems that prevail elsewhere, Antarctica makes possible scientific measurements that are often sharper and easier to interpret than those made in other parts of the world.
Growing numbers of scientists therefore see Antarctica as a distant-early-warning sensor, where potentially dangerous global trends may be spotted before they show up to the north. One promising field of investigation is glaciology. Scholars from the United States, Switzerland, and France are pursuing seven separate but related projects that reflect their concern for the health of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – a concern they believe the world at large should share.
The Transantarctic Mountain, some of them more than 14,000 feet high, divide the continent into two very different regions. The part of the continent to the “east” of the mountains is a high plateau covered by an ice sheet nearly two miles thick. “West” of the mountain, the half of the continent south of the Americas is also covered by an ice sheet, but there the ice rests on rock that is mostly well below sea level. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared, the western part of the continent would be reduced to a sparse cluster of island.
While ice and snow are obviously central to many environmental experiments, others focus on the mysterious “dry valley” of Antarctica, valleys that contain little ice or snow even in the depths of winter. Slashed through the mountains of southern Victoria Land, these valleys once held enormous glaciers that descended 9,000 feet from the polar plateau to the Ross Sea. Now the glaciers are gone, perhaps a casualty of the global warming trend during the 10,000 years since the ice age. Even the snow that falls in the dry valleys is blasted out by vicious winds that roars down from the polar plateau to the sea. Left bare are spectacular gorges, rippled fields of sand dunes, clusters of boulders sculptured into fantastic shapes by 100-mile-an-hour winds, and an aura of extraterrestrial desolation.
Despite the unearthly aspect of the dry valleys, some scientists believe they may carry a message of hope of the verdant parts of the earth. Some scientists believe that in some cases the dry valleys may soak up pollutants faster than pollutants enter them.
1.What is the best title for this passage?
A.Antarctica and environmental Problems.
B.Antarctica: Earth’s Early-Warning station.
C.Antarctica: a Unique Observation Post.
D.Antarctica: a Mysterious Place.
2.What would the result be if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet disappeared?
A.The western part of the continent would be disappeared.
B.The western part of the continent would be reduced.
C.The western part of the continent would become scattered Islands.
D.The western part of the continent would be reduced to a cluster of Islands.
3.Why are the Dry Valleys left bare?
A.Vicious wind blasts the snow away.
B.It rarely snows.
C.Because of the global warming trend and fierce wind.
D.Sand dunes.
4.Which of the following is true?
A.The “Dry Valleys” have nothing left inside.
B.The “Dry Valleys” never held glaciers.
C.The “Dry Valleys” may carry a message of hope for the verdant.
D.The “Dry Valleys” are useless to scientists.

Passage Thirteen (The Neutrality of American in the Early World War II)
The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler’s atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt’s “quarantine the aggressor” speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler’s policies. Germany’s seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted “cash and carry” exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States.
1.One item occurring before 1937 that the author does not mention in his list of actions that alienated the American public was
A.the burning of the Reichstag.
B.German plans for conquest.
C.Nazi barbarism.
D.the persecution of religious groups.
2.The Lend-Lease Act was designed to
A.help the British.
B.strengthen the national defense of the United States.
C.promote the Atlantic Charter.
D.avenge Pearl Harbor.
3.American Policy during the years 1935-1936 may be described as being
A.watchful.
B.isolationist.
C.peaceful.
D.indifferent.
4.The Neutrality Act of 1939
A.permitted the selling of arms to belligerent nations.
B.antagonized Japan.
C.permitted the British to trade only with the Allies.
D.led to Lend-Lease Act.
5.We entered the war against Germany
A.because Germany declared war.
B.because Japan was an ally of Germany.
C.after Germany had signed the Nazi-soviet Pact.
D.after peaceful efforts had failed.