TV’s Harmfulness
Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television? How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn’t been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes,  we never fond it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the goggle box. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do – anything, providing it doesn’t interfere with the programme. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced.
Whole generations are growing up addicted to the telly（電視）. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn’t matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or spectacles of sadism and violence – so long as they are quiet.
There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world. Every day, television consumes vast quantities of creative work. That is why most of the programmes are so bad: it is impossible to keep pace with the demand and maintain high standards as well. When millions watch the same programmes, the whole world becomes a village, and society is reduced to the conditions which obtain in preliterate communities. We become utterly dependent on the two most primitive media of communication: pictures and the spoken word.
Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself. Television may be s splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization. In quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic tyranny of King Telly.
小題1:What is the biggest harm of TV?
A It deprives people of communication with the real world.
B People become lazy.
C People become dependent on second-hand experience.
D TV consumes a large part of one’s life.
小題2:In what way can people forget TV?
A Far away from civilization.  B To a mountain.  C By the sea.  D In quiet natural surroundings.
小題3:What does a mother usually do to keep her children quiet?
A Let them watch the set.       B Put them in the living room.
C Let them watch the rubbish.   D Let them alone.
小題4:What does the first sentence in the first paragraph mean?
A We found it difficult to occupy our spare time.      B We become addicted to TV.
C What we used to do is different from now.         D We used to enjoy civilized pleasures.

ple — their clothes, ideas, or languages—has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree(可可樹)by South American. Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London, shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Eu??rope, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish peo??ple starved when the crop failed during the "Potato Famine (饑荒)" of 1845—1846, and thousands more were forced to leave their homeland and move to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia, a country in Africa. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.
according to an. Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a person named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee, bush. He tried one and experienced the " wide-awake" feeling that one third of the world’s population now starts the day with.
小題1:according to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?

A．Food.

B．Clothing.

C．Ideology.

D．Language.

小題2:The word "some" in the last sentence of the first paragraph refers to________.

A．some cocoa trees	B．some chocolate drinks.
C．some shops	D．some South American Indians

小題3:Thousands of Irish people starved during the " Potato Famine" because________

A．they were so dependent on potatoes that they refused to eat anything else

B．they were forced to leave their homeland and move to America

C．the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing potatoes

D．the potato harvest was bad

小題4:according to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．One third of the world’s population drinks coffee.

B．Coffee is native to Colombia.

C．Coffee can keep one awake.

D．Coffee drinks were first made by Arabs.

Today, people all over the world are moving out of small villages in the country to go and live in big noisy cities . They are moving from the peaceful hills, mountains, fields, rivers and streams of the countryside to the busy world of streets, buildings, traffic and crowds. This movement from rural areas to urban areas has been going on for over two hundred years.
In many countries, the main reason people come to live in towns and cities is work. After one or two large factories have been built in or near a town, people come to find a work, and soon an industrial area begins to grow. There is usually a residential area nearby, where the factory workers can live. The families of these workers need schools, hospitals and shops, so more people come to live in the area to provide these services—and a city grows.
　　In every major city in the world, there is a business district where the big companies have their main offices. In the United States, this area is usually in the city center downtown. It is here that you can see the huge skyscraper office blocks. The people who work here often travel a long way to work each day.
　　Many of them live in the suburbs of the city, far away from the industrial area and the city center. Some suburbs are very pleasant, with nice houses and big gardens. There are usually parks for children to play in and large department stores where you can buy all you need.
　　But what is the future of the big cities? Will they continue to get bigger and bigger? Perhaps not. Some major cities have actually become smaller in the last ten years, and it is quite possible that one day we will see people moving out of the major cities and back into smaller towns and villages.
小題1:We can easily know that the underlined phrase “urban areas” means._____

A．a(chǎn)reas of the countryside

B．a(chǎn)reas of a town or city

C．a(chǎn)reas near the countryside

D．a(chǎn)reas near a town or a city

小題2:Why do people move to live in cities or towns?

A．Because they can live more comfortable there

B．Because they prefer noisy life to peaceful life

C．They do so mainly to find work

D．They don’t like small villages

小題3:We can infer that this movement from rural areas to urban areas_______.　

A．has been going on for more than 2,000 years

B．will continue in the future

C．may not continue in the future

D．is sure to stop

Each high school has its own policy. One good example is that some high schools require all students to wear uniforms, while others do not. I have been to both types of schools, and if I have to decide which one is better, I will pick the former.
Perhaps every student has this experience: once you are in your school uniforms, you will care more about your own behavior. Uniforms give you an identity that always reminds that you belong to a group. What you do will not only represent yourself, but also the group you belong to, as well as the people with you. In other words, you carry the responsibility to maintain the honor of the group. When you are in your own clothes, it doesn’t matter for you to behave badly in public, but when in your uniform, it does. For high school students, who are not adults yet, this is a good way to shape their behavior.
Moreover, uniforms create an atmosphere of equality. While permitted to wear their won clothes, students may pay much attention to what they wear, in order to show how rich their families are. While in uniforms, all students, rich or poor, look the same, and will be treated equally.
Besides, free from the desires to gain what is new in the shopping mall, wearing uniforms helps students to concentrate on their study.
For all the reasons above, I believe that it is a better choice for high school students to wear uniforms.  They can wear them after school or on weekends.
小題1:According to the author, high schools that require students to wear uniforms______.

A．a(chǎn)re more attractive to students

B． are more strict with students

C． carry out a better policy

D． admit more excellent students.

小題2:How many reasons does the author give to support his or her ideas?

A．two

B．three

C．four

D．five

小題3:According to Paragraph 2, wearing uniforms helps students_______.

A．focus on their study

B．become responsible

C．build up their confidence

D．find the group they belong to

小題4: What would be the best title for the passage?

A．A wise choice, to wear school uniform

B．An honor, to wear your school uniform

C．A difficult choice, in school uniform or not?

D．A difficult choice, which school should we pick?

We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被動(dòng)地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(謠言).
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared. Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上標(biāo)記）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.
小題1:According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.

A．doing a medical experiment	B．solving a math problem
C．visiting an exhibition	D．doing scientific reasoning

小題2:The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.

A．a(chǎn)ctive learning

B．knowledge

C．communication

D．passive learning

小題3:The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.

A．a(chǎn) message may be changed when being passed on

B．a(chǎn) message should be delivered in different ways

C．people may have problems with their sense of hearing

D．people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor

小題4:What can we infer from the passage?

A．Active learning is less important.	B．Passive learning may not be reliable.
C．Active learning occurs more frequently.
D．Passive learning is not found among scholars.

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(語氣) of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.
Often we got “l(fā)ost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly----tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）. In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that were really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.
小題1:The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to _______.

A．spend their free time	B．play gold and other sports
C．a(chǎn)void doing their schoolwork	D．keep away from their parents

小題2:What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．The activities in the woods were well planned.

B．Human history is not the result of exploration.

C．Exploration should be a systematic activity.

D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly.

小題3: The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．calm

B．doubtful

C．serious

D．optimistic

小題4: How does the author feel about his childhood?

A．Happy but short.	B．Lonely but memorable.
C．Boring and meaningless.	D．Long and unforgettable.

Around the world more and more people are ___1___ dangerous sports and activities. Of course there have always been people who have ___2___ adventure—those who have climbed the ___3___ mountains, explored unknown parts of the world or ___4___ in small boats across the greatest oceans. Now, however, there are people who look for an immediate pleasure from a ___5___ activity which may only last a few minutes or even ___6___.
I would consider bungee jumping to be a good example of such an activity. You ___7___ from a high place about 200 meters above the ground with an elastic rope ___8___ to your ankles. You ___9___ at up to 150 kilometers an hour until the rope stops you from ___10___ the ground. It is said that 2 million people around the world have now ___11___ bungee jumping. Other activities, ___12___ most people would say are as dangerous as bungee jumping, ___13___ jumping from tall buildings and ___14___ into the sea from the top of high rocks.
Why do people take part in such activities as these? Some psychologists(心理學(xué)家) suggest that it is because life in ___15___ societies has become safe and boring. Not very long ago, people’s lives were constantly under ___16___. They had to go out and hunt for ___17___, and life was a continuous battle for survival.
Nowadays, according to many people, life offers ___18___ excitement. They live and work in relatively safe condition; they buy food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to ___19___ them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to ___20___ danger in activities such as bungee jumping.
1. A. escaping from       B. taking part in     C. going in     D. taking in
2. A. looked up      B. looked into C. looked for  D. looked around
3. A. lowest    B. highest       C. beautiful    D. wild
4. A. sailed     B. swam  C. jumped      D. crossed
5. A. safe B. excited       C. funny  D. dangerous
6. A. years      B. seconds      C. hours  D. days
7. A. jump      B. run     C. walk   D. cross
8. A. followed B. tied     C. brought      D. took
9. A. go   B. run     C. fall     D. fly
10. A. falling  B. running      C. flying D. hitting
11. A. tried     B. looked for  C. found  D. studied
12. A. that      B. which C. it D. what
13. A. hold     B. include       C. find    D. contain
14. A. swimming    B. running      C. diving D. sailing
15. A. old       B. modern      C. past    D. formal
16. A. safety   B. imperfection      C. danger       D. perfection
17. A. animals B. food   C. water  D. dangers
18. A. few      B. little   C. much  D. many
19. A. look at  B. look into    C. look for     D. look after
20. A. look for       B. look after   C. explore      D. find

The Eskimos believed that a human being is made up of a body, a soul, and a name, and it is not ___1___ unless it has all three. This ___2___ has a great ___3___ on the Eskimos daily life and runs like a golden ___4___ through the Eskimos culture.
As for the soul of man, the Eskimos do not claim to know exactly what it is… but, who does? They see it, however, as the beginning of life, and the energy ___5___ which life cannot continue.
An Eskimo’s name is ___6___ to give life of ___7___. It has in it all the good qualities of all the persons who have been called by it. Many Eskimos believe that a newborn baby ___8___ because it wants ___9___ name and will not complete until it gets it. 
Immediately after a birth, some wise elders ___10___ to ___11___ the child. The name that is ___12___ must be ___13___ of someone who has died ___14___. When my son was born, everyone realized that ___15___ was great-grandfather, Mequsaq(who had died a few months ___16___,) who had been reborn in him. The newborn baby had a slight squint(看一眼) in ___17___ eye that old Mequsaq had ___18___ to the enemy ride in the battle. This was taken as a ___19___ from the name spirit that the baby ___20___ be called Mequsaq.
1. A. separate  B. complete    C. serious       D scientific
2. A. thought  B. idea    C. belief  D. theory
3. A. result     B. effect  C. control       D. touch
4. A. thread    B. line     C. way    D. rope
5. A. with       B. without      C. by      D. along
6. A. believed B. taken  C. held    D. regarded
7. A. his own  B. its own       C. own    D. itself
8. A. sobs       B. laughs C. weeps D. cries
9. A. it    B. his      C. her     D. its
10. A. run       B. discuss       C. gather D. appear
11. A. name    B. call     C. hold    D. dress
12. A. decided B. selected      C. elected       D. demanded
13. A. this      B. these   C. those   D. that
14. A. recently       B. long ago     C. just now     D. meanwhile
15. A. this      B. that     C. it D. who
16. A. since    B. later    C. ago     D. before
17. A. the other      B. the same     C. the different      D. other
18. A. hurt      B. wounded    C. lost     D. injured
19. A. choice  B. decision     C. notice D. sign
20. A. could    B. might  C. would D. should

Why do women earn less than men?
Women earn less than men. For example, in 1988 the hourly wages of women in the U.S. were 16% less than those of men. The gap between male and female incomes varies with age. The gap between the labor incomes of young women and young men is much smaller than that between middle-aged women and men. It is also clear that jobs in which women are concentrated pay less. The larger the number of workers in an industry who are women, the lower the average wages.
Why do women earn less than men? Are the differences explained by the fact that women are looked down upon? If so, the government has to intervene, to force the employers to pay equal wages to equal jobs. however, there is no agreement among economists about the causes of the gap. One view argues that women on the average have chosen low-paying jobs in which workers enjoy the freedom of entering and leaving the labor force, which reduces their years of experience relative to men. Other people say the gap can also be explained by the difference in educational background which is shown in the difference in the marginal product between men and women.
Much of the gap, however, has not been fully explained. It might be the result of some bias against women. It is this part that has produced calls for government action. What would happen if the government did intervene to increase the wages paid to women? One possibility is that incomes for women as a group might actually decline. An increase in wage decreases the quantity of labor input demanded, resulting in decreased employment as the rate of hiring new workers declines. The result will be a surplus of labor. Those who can find jobs might be better off while those who had jobs might find themselves out of work.
小題1:The difference in labor incomes is most obvious between _______.

A．young men and young women

B．young women in the same industry

C．middle-aged men and middle-aged women

D．middle-aged women in the same industry

小題2:Some economists believe women earn less than men partly because ______.

A．women are less experienced than men

B．women are only provided with low-paying jobs

C．women have much freedom in selecting their jobs

D．there is more than enough women in the labor force

小題3:Which of the following cannot be inferred from the second paragraph?

A．Women receive less education than men.

B．Women are not as productive as men.

C．Levels of education are closely related to productivity.

D．Goods produced by women are not as good as those by men.

小題4:What does the author suggest that the government should do for women workers?

A．To ensure equal pay for women.

B．To explain why women are paid less.

C．To force employers to hire more women.

D．No solution is clearly suggested.

小題5:What would happen if women’s wages were raised?

A．Input of capital would be increased.

B．The unemployment rate would go up.

C．Those that have jobs would become better off.

D．Women as a group would earn more than before.

Macao, also called Macau, is on the western side of the Pearl River entrance, at the head of which is the Chinese port of Guangdong and it stands opposite Hong Kong which is on the eastern side of the entrance. It is made of a small narrow peninsula(半島) sticking out from Guangdong province. The total area of Macao is about 21.45 square kilometers, and it is made up of three parts: Macao Peninsula, Dingbat Isle and Lehman Isle.
Between Macao Peninsula and Dingbat Isle there are two bridges which join the two parts together, and there is also a highway between the Dingbat and Lehman Isles. Therefore, two bridges and one highway make the three parts of Macao into an integrated region(一個(gè)整體).
Macao faces to the vast sea and its back is the Pearl River Delta. The two big cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and the two special economic zones Hula and Shenzhen are its neighbors. All of this offers much advantage for its economic development.
Macao has a population of about 450, 000. This is very large against the size of the area. The average population density(密度) reaches 20, 000 per square kilometer. It is one of the densest population regions in the world. The majority of its people are Chinese, who make up 96% of the whole population.
小題1:Which is the advantage for Macao’s economic development?

A．Macao is on the coast line.

B．Macao is near some big cities or special economic zones.

C．Macao’s back is a rich delta.

D．All of the above.

小題2:In Macao there are only about _______ people who are not Chinese.

A．18,000	B．20,000
C．21,450	D．428,000