an life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(当代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.
31. The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.
A. an increase in birthrates B. the industrial development
C. a decrease in death rates D. human beings’ cultural advances
32. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.
A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work
B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation
C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations
D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life
33. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the United States is true?
A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.
B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.
C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.
D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.
34. The phrase “this need” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.
A. prolonging the dying old people’s lives
B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people
C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people
D. taking care of the sick or weak people
35. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward most of the nursing homes and convalescent hospitals?
A. Sympathetic. B. Approving. C. Optimistic. D. Critical.
Mrs. White lived in a town of England. Her husband died three years ago and one of her children worked in the capital and the o
ther three lived in another town. Her husband didn’t leave her much money and she had to live a simple (简朴) life. Sometimes her children went to see her during their holidays, but they stayed with her for only two or three days.
One winter morning the old woman got up early. She was going to buy some food in a shop. And when she came out, she found there was much snow in the street. She had to sweep it away. And suddenly she found a dying dog at the corner of the house. She picked it up and took it into the ho
use quickly. She put it near the fire and gave it some milk and bread. At first the poor dog ate nothing and that afternoon it drank some milk and three days later it was all right. Now the old woman found it was a beautiful dog. And she liked it very much and took it everywhere she went. A week later she went shopping with her dog. At a bus stop a young man was eating fish and chips. The little dog became very excited (兴奋) at the smell of the man’s lunch and began jumping up at him.
“Do you mind if I throw it a bit (一点)?” asked the young man.
“Not at all,” answered Mrs. White.
Having heard this, he picked up the dog and threw it over the wall.
50. One of the old woman’s children worked in ______.
A. Moscow B. Paris C. London D. New York
51. Mrs. White lived a simple life because ______.
A. she wasn’t rich enough B. she hoped to save money for her children
C. she had four children D. her children hated her
52. It was _______ that morning when Mrs. White went to buy something.
A. rainy B. snowy C. windy D. cloudy
53. The old woman liked the dog very much because _______.
A. it was beautiful B. it was little
C. she spent money on it D. she felt lonely
54. The dog hoped ______, so it became excited.
A. to be given some food B. to leave the
bus stop soon
C. to bite (咬) the young man D. to go as soon as possible
55. The meaning of the word “smell” in the story means ______.
A. 闻 B. 口味 C. 气味 D. 嗅觉
Jee Hock and Meng Kim were very good friends. Jee Hock could not see. He was blind. Meng Kim could not walk. He was lame. They lived in a village near a forest. Everyone in the village was going to a rich man’s dinner on the other side of the forest. Jee Hock and Meng Kim were anxious to attend the dinner too.
Blind Jee Hock thought of a plan. He would carry Meng Kim. The lame man could tell him the way. Meng Kim said that the plan was a good one.
On the way through the forest, Meng Kim saw a tiger. He did not tell Jee Hock about it. Instead, he quietly asked Jee Hock to carry him to the nearest tree. Upon reaching an over banging branch, Meng kim quickly hauled himself up.
Then the tiger roared. Jee Hock at once knew a tiger was near. He lay down quietly. The tiger came to him and sniffed his body. The tiger’s whiskers touched Jee Hock’s nose. At once Jee Hock sneezed, “Ah choooooo!” The tiger was afraid and ran away.
Then Meng Kim came down from the tree. He asked Jee Hock about the tiger. Jee Hock said that the tiger had told him to choose his friends wisely.
45. Jee Hock and Meng Kim were good ______.
A. men B. tigers C. friends D. brothers
46. They decided to go to ______.
A. a picnic B. a dinner C. a party D. the cinema
47. When Meng Kim saw the tiger, he ______.
A. shouted loudly B. did not tell Jee Hock about it
C. quickly climbed up a tree D. lay down quietly
48. Jee Hock knew the tiger was near. He ______.
A. wen
t to sleep B. cried
C. sat down and waited D. lay down quietly
49. Jee Hock sneezed because the tiger’s whiskers ______.
A. hurt himB. was very long
C. cut his nose D. touched his nose
Mrs. Allen’s husband died ten years ago when her son and daughter were still in high school. Mr. Allen had left some money, and since Mrs. Allen had managed a bookstore before she was married, she took the money and bought a shop in town. Later she moved the shop out to the shopping center.
She was a pleasant woman; she worked hard and was well-informed about books, and so the bookstore prospered(生意兴隆) and she was able to hire a friend to help her.
Laura Barnes, Mrs. Allen’s friend and assistant, was also a widow. She had some free time and the need for a little extra-money, and so she took the job in the bookstore. She was too clever and friendly, and the two women were well-known in the neighbourhood as “Mrs. A” and “Mrs. B”
41. How many people in all were there in the two women’s families? ______.
A. At least 8 B. At least 7 C. At least 6 D. At least 4
42. The bookstore prospered ______.
A. after Mrs. Allen lost control of it
B. before Mrs. A got to know Mrs. B
C. because the two women had little housework to do
D. because Mrs. A became expert at management and threw herself into it
43. Why did Mrs. A hire Mrs. B? ______.
A. Mrs. B asked for very little pay
B. She believed that Mrs. B was the very person to help her to improve management
C. Mrs. B was a friend of hers
D. She was also that kind of woman like her
44. Which of the following is true? ______.
A. Mrs. A set up her bookshop in the shopping center
B. Mr. Allen was dead but Mr. Barnes alive
C. Mrs. A managed to set another bookstore with Mrs. B
D. The two children of Mrs. A were of the same age
三.阅读理解（每小题2分，共40分）
The 
horsepower was first used two hundred years ago. James Watt had made the world’s first widely used steam engine. He had no way of telling people exactly how powerful it was, for at that time there were no units for measuring power.
Watt decided to find out how much work one strong horse could do in one minute. He called that unit one horsepower. With this unit he could measure the work his steam engine could do.
He discovered that a horse could lift a 3,300-pound weight 10 feet into the air in one minute. His engine could lift a 3,300 pound weight 100 feet in one minute.
Because his engine did ten times as much work as the horse, Watt called it a t
en-horsepower engine.
36. Watt made the world’s first ______.
A. train B. engine C. steam engine D. bus
37. Watt wanted to find a way ______.
A. to lift a 3,300-pound weight
B. to show how useful his steam engine was
C. to tell people exactly how powerful his steam engine was
D. to measure the weight of his steam engine
38. What does one horsepower mean? It means ______.
A. one horse’s power
B. what one strong horse can do in one minute
C. what one horse can 
do in a day
D. what work one horse can do as much as possible
39. Which is not true? ______.
A. Watt decided to find out how much work one strong horse could do in one mi
nute
B. Watt decided to make the world’s first widely used horse engine
C. He wanted to find a way to tell people exactly how powerful his engine was
D. He wanted to measure the work his engine could do
40. The best headline for the article is ______.
A. Horsepower B. Watt’s steam engine
C. A ten-horsepower engine D. The beginning of horsepower
Grown－ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But
does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid, T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion（视觉影像）of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could reach out and touch , and then to show them the illusion. If they knew that objects are solid and they reached out for the illusion and found empty air, they could be expected to show surprise in their faces and movements. All the 16-to 24- week -old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16－week－old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to reappear. If the experimenter took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted（替换）a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week -old babies did not seem to notice the switch（更换）. Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of“something permanence, ”while the 22－week－old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.
74. The passage is mainly about _____.
A. babies’ sense of sight B. ef
fects of experiments on babies
C. babies’ understanding of objects D. different tests on babies’ feelings
75. In Paragraph 3, “object permanence”means that when out of sight, an object ________.
A. still exists B. keeps its shape C. still stays solid D. is beyond reach
76. Which of the following statements is true?
A. The babies didn’t have a sense of direction.
B. The older babies preferred toy trains to balls.
C. The younger babies liked looking for missing objects.
D. The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion.