Adam Smith, writing in the 1770s, was the first person to see the importance of the division of labour
and to explain part of its advantages. He gives us an example the process by which pins were made in
England. "One man draws out the wire, another strengthens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth
grinds(磨光滑) it at the top to prepare it to receive the head. To make the head requires two or three
distinct operations. To put it on is a separate operation, to polish the pins is another. And the important
business of making pins is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations, which in some
factories are all performed by different people, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. "
     "Ten men, " Smith said, "in this way, turned out twelve pounds of pins a day or about 4,800 pins a
piece. But if all of them had worked separately and independently without division of labour, they certainly could not turn out any pin, each of them would have made twenty pins in a day and perhaps not even
one."
     There can be no doubt that division of labour is a way of organising work. Fewer people can make
more pins. Adam Smith saw this but it's a pity he also took it for granted that division of labour is in itself
responsible for economic growth and development and that it accounts for the difference between
expanding economies and those that stand still. But division of labour adds nothing new；it only enables
people to produce more of what they already have.

1. According to the passage, Adam Smith was the first person to ________.
A. take advantage of the division of labour
B. understand the effects of the division of labour
C. explain the causes of the division of labour
D. introduce the division of labour into England

2. Adam Smith saw that the division of labour ________.
A. enabled each worker to make pins more quickly and more cheaply
B. increased the number of people employed in factories
C. increased the possible output per worker
D. improved the quality of pins produced

3. Adam Smith mentioned the number 4,800 in order to ________.
A. show the advantages of the division of labour
B. emphasize how powerful the individual worker was
C. show the advantages of the old craft system
D. emphasize the importance of increased production

4. According to the writer, Adam Smith's mistake was in believing that division of  labour ________.
A. certainly led to economic development
B. was a good way of organising work
C. increased the production of existing goods
D. was an important development in methods of production

5. Which of the following could serve as an appropriate title for the passage?
A. The Theory of Division of Labour
B. Adam Smith as the Discoverer of Division of Labour
C. Adam Smith, the English Economist
D. Division of Labour, a Good Way of Organizing Work

1. What is the name of the author who once worked on a farm?

A. Mark Twain                    
B. Herman Melville
C. F. Scott Fitzgerald            
D. Ernest Hemingway

2. What is the title of the book about an author's experiences in Spain?

A. Moby Dick.                    
B. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
C. For Whom the Bell Tolls.          
D. Tender is the Night.

3. What is the most popular book by the writer of The Innocents Abroad?

A. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
B. Tender is the Night
C. Moby Dick.
D. For Whom the Bell Tolls.

4. Which writer wrote his first story for a school paper?

A. Edgar Allen Poe                
B. Herman Melville
C. Ernest Hemingway              
D.F. Scott Fitzgerald

1. In order to show the respect for older people, ______.

A. people from some other cultures will always express their true feelings
B. people from some other cultures may sometimes hide their true feelings
C. Americans always show their true feelings
D. Americans usually argue with them

2. Why is the extremely competitive nature considered as one of the American faults?

A. Because people from other cultures fear competition.
B. Because only American people own it.
C. Because it will make people forget leisure.
D. Because it may sometimes urge people to do something bad.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

A. American people are more critical of everything than people from other cultures
B. the author believes that American character has more faults than virtues
C. the author admires American virtues as they are viewed as competitive and anti-traditional
D. it is difficult for newcomers to get on with Americans

4. The passage mainly talks about ______.

A. American virtues                    
B. American characters
C. American faults                      
D. American lifestyles

1. The underlined word "sample" in the first paragraph probably means "________". 

A. taste          
B. experience
C. test              
D. record

2. The culture of pub in Britain is so developed to ________.   

A. encourage people to communicate with each other
B. encourage more people to consume drinks
C. attract more tourists to the pubs  
D. form its own character of culture

3. If you don't follow the local rules in a pub, ________.

A. you won't buy good local drinks
B. you may annoy the regular customers and bar staff
C. you may fail to feel the local culture
D. you might get into a dangerous place

4. What may be the best title for the passage?

A. Self-service Pubs in Britain
B. British Local Pubs: Special Chat Places
C. Local Pub Culture in Britain
D. Manners in British Local Pubs

     As the English language has changed at a fast speed in this century, so has the use of the English
language.
     After the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was founded in 1927, the particular style of
speech of the BBC announcers was recognized as Standard English or Received Pronunciation (RP)
English. Now, most people still consider that the pronunciation and delivery of BBC announcers in the
clearest and most understandable spoken English.
     English has had a strong association with class and social status. However, since the Second World
War there has been a considerable change of attitude towards speech snobbery (勢利), and hallmarks
(標準) of class distinction such as styles of speech have been gradually thrown away, especially by the
young generation.
     As the need has arisen, new words have been invented or found from other languages and integrated
into English. Similarly, old words and expressions have been discarded (丟棄) as their usefulness has
reduced or the fashions have passed. This also happens to styles and modes of speech which became
fashionable at a particular time and in specific circumstances.
     By the end of the 1960s it became apparent that it was not necessary to speak Standard English or
even correct grammar to become popular, successful and rich. The fashionable speech of the day was
no longer the feature of a privileged class but rather an expression of classlessness.
     The greatest single influence of the shaping of the English language in modern times is the American
English. Over the last 25 years the English used by many people, particularly by those in the media,
advertising and show business, has become more and more mid-Atlantic in style, delivery and accent.
     In the 1970s, fashion favoured stressless pronunciation and a language full of jargon, slang and "in"
words, much of it quite incomprehensible to the outside world. What is considered modern and
fashionable in Britain today is often not the kind of English taught in schools and colleges.

1. According to the author, there was a trend in the U.S. for the young people _______.
A. to speak Standard English
B. to speak English without class distinction
C. to speak English with class distinction
D. to speak English with grammar mistakes

2.The word "mid-Atlantic" in the passage (Para. 6) probable means _________.
A. American and European
B. American and British
C. the Atlantic Ocean
D. in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean

3. It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
A. Standard English is taught in school and colleges
B. the young people are defiant because they refuse to speak standard English
C. the English language is influenced by American English in the last 25 years
D. there has been a great change in the English language in this century

     Culture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. 1. _________.
      Culture shock is caused by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of
social exchange. Those signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we adjust ourselves to
the situation of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to
give tips, how to make purchases, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, most of which we do not carry on the level of conscious awareness.
     2. __________. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded or full of goodwill you may be, a series of supports have been knocked from under you, followed by a feeling of frustration
and anxiety. People react to the frustration in much the same way.
     3. __________. "The ways of host country are bad because they make us feel bad." When foreigners
in a strange land get together to complain about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are
suffering from culture shock.
     Another stage of culture shock is regression (回歸). 4. _________. To the foreigner everything back
home becomes irrationally glorified. All the difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered. 5. _________.
A. Now when an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed.
B. It usually takes a trip home to bring one back to reality.
C. First they reject the environment which causes the discomfort.
D. The home environment suddenly assumes a tremendous importance.
E. Individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them.
F. Some of the symptoms of culture shock are excessive washing of the hands, excessive
     concern over drinking water, food dishes and bedding.
G. Like most diseases, it has its own symptoms and cure

     I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles" (風格) of directions every time 1 ask "How can I get to
the post office?"
     Foreign tourists are often confused (困惑) in Japan because most streets there don't have names; in
Japan, people use landmarks (地標) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market.
The post office is across from the bus stop."
     In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no
mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. lnstead of
landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile."
     People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it's about five minutes from here." You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it?" They don't know.
     It's true that a person doesn't know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a
situation? A New Yorker might say, 'Sorry, I have no idea." But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I
don't know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don't know" is impolite, They usually give an answer,
often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!

1. When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place they usually _________
A. describe the place carefully
B. show him a map of the place
C. tell him the names of the streets
D. refer to recognizable(可辨認的) buildings and places

2. What is the place where people measure distance in time?
A. New York.  
B. Los Angeles.  
C. Kansas.  
D. Iowa.

3. People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________
A. in order to save time  
B. as a test 
C. so as to be polite  
D. for fun

4. What can we infer from the text?
A. It's important for travelers to understand cultural differences.
B. It's useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.
C. People have similar understandings of politeness.
D. New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.

     Many people take it for granted that black is a color of bad things while white should always mean
something good. This may be because, in their opinion, black is related to darkness and white to purity.
However, that is not always the case. Did you know that the same one color may mean something
differently in different places of the world?
     In the English-speaking world, black is the color of mourning-people wear black at the funeral. Red is
concerned with danger or bloodshed(傷亡). Yellow is the word for fear. If you are afraid, you are yellow. Yet none of these sayings is true outside the English-speaking world. In China and Korea white is the color of mourning. In Russia, China and some other countries, red stands for beauty, life and excellence. In Italy and Germany, you are yellow with anger, not with fear.
     Even within the English-speaking area, it is not difficult to find color contradictions(矛盾). A redcap in
the United States is a porter in a railway station. In Britain, however, a redcap is a military policeman. Both names are logical, because both men wear red caps. Similarly, the British term for an American
white-collar worker is sometimes called a black-coated worker.
     One does not have to cross an area to find color differences. Would you rather be red-blooded or a
blue-blooded? If we go back to the origin, we find that both terms are logical as both names suggest. The expression "blueblood" comes from Spain, where some noble families proudly told the world that they had "blue blood". Actually they meant that they had no Moorish or Jewish blood. But then why "blue" blood?
Because they were fair-skinned, and it is only natural that their blood vessels (血管) stood out appearing
blue.

1. Yellow is concerned with anger in _____.

A. India                        
B. Britain
C. China                      
D. Italy

2. Both Britain and America would probably agree that _____.

A. a redcap is a porter in a station
B. black is the color of mourning
C. red stands for beauty and excellence
D. a black-coated worker is employed in an office

3. In Britain , a redcap is a _____.          

A. porter
B. nobleman  
C. clerk
D. military policeman

4. The best title for this reading selection is _____.

A. The Origin of Blue Blood
B. Colors that Carry Bad Meanings
C. The Meaning Concerned with Certain Colors
D. The Development of the Symbolic Use of Colors

     Tattoos and body piercings(穿孔)have moved up on the trend list in recent years. Around Western
schools lots of teens are sporting new holes and "flesh ink"(紋身). As with all other subjects, the Chinese will surely have to deal with this situation with respect to their children. To get a better view of what has
happened in the West, 1et's sit down and hear what they say.
     Tiara from Indiana:  
     I personally think body piercing is sickening. If there were supposed to be holes in your body,you
would have been born with them. I do,however,think that ear piercing is not wrong. There is a difference
between ear piercing and belly button piercing. Ear piercing is not nearly as dangerous. I would be sick if
someone stuck a needle in my belly button.
     Lee from Illinois:
     Hi! I live in Illinois. I am 23. I have 12 tattoos and three piercings. I love my tattoos and consider
myself an art collector. You would be surprised at who has given me the thumbs up on my art work.
People on the street stop me to look at the tattoo on my leg. Most of them don't know what it is. They
just think the work itself is great.
     Subotai from California:
     I'm not prohibitive(禁止)of self-expression,but when I see high school students getting these piercings,
I really wonder. In some cases, the drive is deeper and darker than mere fashion. A friend of mine tried
piercing her own tongue with a safety pin. It got infected and she had a tongue the size of a cow's.
     Jackson from Ohio:
     I don't think it is wrong, but when people do it all over the place like their face and everything-I think
that's ridiculous. People who get the big "dragons that cover the whole body-I don't think that's necessary." When I see naked chicks on guys, I think, "You have no respect for women."

1. According to the passage, we can infer that         .

A. Tiara might have body piercings
B. Subotai won't have body piercing
C. Lee thinks tattoos are art
D. Jackson likes tattoos and piercings

2.Who doesn't think tattoos and piercings except ear piercing are beautiful?

A. Jackson
B. Lee
C. Tiara
D. Subotai

3. We can conclude that         .

A. tattoos and piercings are a new kind of elegant art
B. all the teachers in the West are in favour of tattoos and piercings
C. everything is changeable as time goes on
D. it is necessary to live with different views of beauty

4. The best title for this passage is probably         .

A. Body Art or Causing Damage    
B. Doing Damage to the Young People's Bodies
C. Young People's Different Curiosities
D. The Latest Fad(時尚)