JeanDriscollcangofasterinherwh-优题课

Prolonging human 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.
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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.

A businessman must keep records of the money he takes in and the money he spends. The work of keeping such records is called bookkeeping. The work of deciding how the records should be set up is called accounting. An accountant also finds out, by studying the records, whether or not a business is doing well. The accountant must know many things about the business.
Suppose a man owns a small clothing store, he keeps records that show that he spent money for newspaper advertising and for suits, shirts, shoes, and neckties to sell to his customers. He had to pay a young man to help him in the store. He also paid rent and had other expenses.
At the end of the year, he must take an inventory. That is, he counts how many pieces of clothing he has on hand. Then he must find out exactly how many he sold, how much money he took in, and how much money he spent in running the business. If he took in more than he spent, he made a profit for the year. If he spent more than he took in, he suffered a loss. He depends on his store accounting records to get all this information.
The owner of a small clothing store can keep records without much trouble. But a big oil company or a big bank has many difficult accounting problems. The company must know how much money is to be paid by its debtors and how much it owes other companies for supplies. It must know how much it has lost in depreciation, or wear and tear of its equipment. All of this information must be kept in the company’s accounts. Big companies employ many accountants.
After a company’s accountants finish their yearly count, their work must be officially examined. Experts from outside company double-check the records to be sure the accounts are correct.
1. According to the passage, a clothing store owner needs to keep records of the money he spends for ______.
A. clothing only B. newspaper advertising
C. all necessary expenses D. housing
2. After taking an inventory, if the owner found that he had got more money than he had spent, he made _______.
A. a profit B. a loss C. an income D. an interest
3. A small store owner can usually keep records _______.
A. with difficulty B. easily
C. without any help D. without working
4. In big companies, after the accountants finish the yearly count, _______.
A. the work will be well done B. no one will check it
C. the records will be finished D. experts will check the records

For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children. They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern.
Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys, it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.
She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact(影响) working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.
The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics(情况, 材料)on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone.
1. The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______.
A. are growing in numbers
B. are also found in middle-class neighborhoods
C. watch too much television during the day
D. suffer problems from being left alone
2. Which sentence in the second paragraph is the topic sentence?
A. We had a school rule against wearing jewelry.
B. A lot of kids had chains around their necks.
C. I was constantly telling them to put inside their shirts.
D. They were house keys.
3. The main feeling these children have when they are at home by themselves is _______.
A. tiredness B. freedom C. loneliness D. fear
4. We may draw a conclusion that _______.
A. latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone
B. latchkey children try to hide their feeling
C. latchkey children often watch TV with their parents
D. it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are

As the saying goes, nothing succeeds like success. People like to deal with a successful person. Why? You see there must be a reason why the person has achieved success. And most obviously it is because he is expert at what he is doing.
When given a chance, people would deal with the best. Naturally, the best way to produce a success is to do a lot of work. Your achievement and the fame it leads to will make it known to the public how good you really are. People will know this by your completed record or simply by recognizing it upon seeing you in action. Just as it becomes quite obvious that a man is a full-time tennis player when you see him play on the tennis court, it will become obvious that you are skilled in your work when people see you do your work. But many other image building ways are practical in producing a success image, as will be discussed in the following…
1. People like to deal with a successful person probably because _______.
A. they hope to know the secret of being successful
B. they don’t believe what he has achieved
C. they are eager to show respect to him
D. they feel uncertain if he is an expert
2. How can we know how good a person is at his work?
A. Work with him.
B. Study how he has achieved success.
C. Just look at him doing his work.
D. Watch him playing tennis on the tennis court.
3. The passage mainly tells that _____.
A. success image may come after success
B. people like to deal with a successful person
C. there are many image building ways
D. success image is or has been built in one’s work
(1—3 ACB)

How many men do housework? Recently a European commission(委员会) tried to find out people’s ideas and reactions to the women’s movement. As part of their survey(调查), they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!
The housework they asked people about was: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish(丹麦的) men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework; many of them said they never helped at all!
But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most truthful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives’ answers.
Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.
1. The survey was carried out in _______.
A. Britain B. Italy C. Denmark D. Europe
2. The subject for the survey is_______.
A. how many boys do the housework?
B. who does the housework at home
C. how many women do the housework?
D. who are more diligent, wives or husbands
3. From the passage we can see that _______.
A. there are more husbands who did the housework than wives
B. husbands do half of the housework all the time
C. there are more wives who do the housework than husbands
D. wives do almost all the housework at home
4. More _______ husbands help in the house than _______ husbands.
A. British; Danish B. Italian; Danish
C. Danish; British D. Italian; British

A．Work hard.	B．Hope for the best.
C．Dream a lot.	D．Have great wishes and work hard.