. Directions: There are two reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by five questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A),B),C) and D), you should choose the One best answer.
Passage 1
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
People tend to think of computers as isolated machines, working away all by themselves. Some do-personal computers without an outside link, like someone's secret cabin in the woods. But just as most homes are tied to a community by streets, bus routes and electric lines, computers that exchange intelligence are part of a community-local, national, and even global network joined by telephone connections.
The computer network is a creation of the electronic age, but it is based on old-fashioned trust. It cannot work without trust. A rogue (流氓、无赖) loose in a computer system called hacker is worse than a thief entering your house. He could go through anyone's electronic mail or add to, change or delete anything in the information stored in the computer's memory. He could even take control of the entire system by inserting his own instructions in the software that runs it. He could shut the computer down whenever he wished, and no one could stop him. Then he could program the computer to erase any sign of his ever having been there.
Hacking, our electronic-age term for computer break-in, is more and more in the news-intelligent kids vandalizing(破坏) university records, even pranking (恶作剧)about in supposedly safeguarded systems. To those who understand how computer networks are increasingly regulating life in the late 20th century, these are not laughing matters. A potential for disaster is building: A dissatisfied former insurance-company employee wipes out information from some files. A student sends out a "virus", a secret and destructive command, over a national network. The virus copies itself at lightning speed, jamming the entire network-thousands of academic, commercial and government computer systems. Such disastrous cases have already occurred. Now exists the possibility of terrorism by computer. Destroying a system responsible for air-traffic control at a busy airport, or knocking out the telephones of a major city, is a relatively easy way to spread panic. Yet, neither business nor government has done enough to strengthen its defenses against attack. For one thing, such defenses are expensive; for another, they may interrupt communication-the main reason for using computers in the first place.
1. People usually regard computers as________.
A) part of a network
B) means of exchanging intelligence
C) personal machines disconnected from outside
D) a small cabin at the end of a street
2. The writer mentions "a thief" in the paragraph 2 most probably to________.
A) show that a hacker is more dangerous than a thief
B) tell people that thieves like to steal computers nowadays
C) demand that a computer network should be set up against thieves
D) look into the case where hackers and thieves are the same people
3. According to the passage, a hacker may do all the damages below EXCEPT________.
A) attacking people's e-mails
B) destroying computer system
C) creating many electronic-age terms
D) entering into computer systems without being discovered
4. By saying"Now exists the possibility of terrorism by computer" (Line 14, Para. 3), the writer means that________.
A) some employees may erase information from some files
B) students who send out a"virus" may do disastrous damages to thousands of computers
C) some people may spread fear in public by destr oying computer system
D) some terrorists are trying to contact each other using electronic mails
5. From the passage, it can be seen that the author is ________.
A) amazed at hacking because some hackers are so intelligent
B) concerned about hacking because the problem may get even worse
C) optimistic that hacking would be eliminated in the near future
D) indifferent to hacking because this is all government's affair
Passage 2
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.
When you see a clever advertisement in a newspaper, do you say to yourself, "Ah, that's good. I'd like to have one of those?" Or do you say, "What lies are they telling this time? It can't be very good or they wouldn't have to advertise it so cleverly?" Both of these people exist; the first are optimistic; the second pessimists and realists.
Advertisements can be extremely useful if they are honest; if, let us say, you have broken your pen and you want to buy another, the first thing to do is to look at as many advertisements for pens as you can find. That will help you to choose the model, color and price that suit you. Advertisements save a lot of time and trouble by putting sellers in touch with buyers in a quick and simple way. If the advertisements are true and accurate, the customers will be satisfied and will probably buy from the same firm next time and advise their friends and acquaintances to do the same.
The really dishonest advertiser hopes to sell hid goods quickly and to make a large profit on them before the customer's reactions begin. He knows that no customers will buy from him a second time, and that none will recommend his products to their friends. But there are also semi-dishonest advertisers who make claims for their products which they know perfectly well to be incapable of verification(验证), like advertising that a certain toothpaste contains a particular substance-which it in fact does-knowing that this substance is in fact neither beneficial nor harmful to the teeth. Such advertisements do not tell downright lies, but their advertising is deliberately misleading.
6. From the passage we learn that a pessimistic advertisement reader will________.
A) trust all advertisements and make purchases accordingly
B) get suitable colors and prices from advertisements
C) doubt the truthfulness of advertisements
D) admire the clever ways advertisements are made
7. What is the biggest benefit people may get from honest advertisements?
A) Customers can offer their friends some good advice about shopping.
B) Some firms will make a large profit from loyal customers.
C) Customers can find their favorite colors.
D) Customers can make purchases from sellers efficiently.
8. The term "semi-dishonest advertisers" in the last paragraph refers to________.
A) advertisers who tell small lies in advertisements
B) advertisers who tell white lies in advertisements
C) advertisers who don't tell lies but may give false information
D) advertisers who are sometimes honest and sometimes dishonest
9. If a semi-dishonest advertisement claims that a certain toothpaste contains a particular substance, it may mean that________.
A) there is no such substance at all in the toothpaste
B) the toothpaste does contain such substance
C) such substance is pretty good for people's teeth
D) such substance may be harmful to people's teeth
10. In the third paragraph, the author discusses________. A) the tricks of semi-dishonest advertisers
B) the customer's reactions
C) the downright lies in advertisements
D) the false claims in advertisements
II. Directions: In this part there are two short passages, each with five questions or incomplete statements. Read the passages carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words (not exceeding 10 words).
Passage 1
In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity(紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the GREat Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the l930s.
In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide GREater economic stability for farmers.
President Hoover's successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin ID. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by ConGREss. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation's soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid(杂交)grain, and fertilizers.
Questions:
1. What brought about the decline in the demand for
American farm products?
2. The chief concern of the American government in the
area of agriculture in the 1920s was to________.
3. The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged American
farmers to________.
4. The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjust-
ment Act because it believed that the Act________.
5. It was claimed that the new laws passed during the
Roosevelt Administration were aimed at________.
Passage 2
Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U. S., about half the urban pollution and one fourth the GREenhouse (温室) gases. They take a similar toll of (损耗)resources in other industrial nations and in the cities of the developing world. As vehicle use continues to increase in the coming decade, the U.S. and other countries will have to deal with these issues or else face unacceptable economic, health-related and political costs. It is unlikely that oil prices will remain at their current low level or that other nations will accept a large and growing U. S. contribution to global climatic change.
Policymakers and industry have four options: reduce vehicle use, increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles, switch to less harmful fuels, or find less polluting driving systems. The last of these-in particular the introduction of vehicles powered by electricity-is ultimately the only sustainable option. The other alternatives are attractive in theory but in practice are either impractical or offer only marginal improvements. For example, reduced vehicle use could solve traffic problems and a host of social and environmental problems, but evidence from around the world suggests that it is very difficult to make people give up their cars to any significant extent. In the U. S., mass-transit ridership and carpooling (合伙用车) have declined since World War II. Even in western Europe, with fuel prices averaging more than $ 1 a liter (about 54 a gallon) and with easily accessible mass transit and dense populations, cars still account for 80 percent of all passenger travel.
Improved energy efficiency is also appealing, but automotive fuel economy has barely made any proGREss in 10 years. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, burned in internal-combustion engines, could be introduced at relatively low cost, but they would lead to only marginal reductions in pollution and greenhouse emissions (especially because oil companies are already spending billions of dollars every year to develop less polluting types of gasoline.)
Questions:
6. From the passage we know that________will have serious consequences for the well-being of all nations.
7. The U. S. has to deal with the problems arising from vehicle use because________.
8. What is the best solution to the problems mentioned in the passage?
9. What is practical but only makes a marginal contribution to solving the problem of GREenhouse emissions?
10. How much GREenhouse gases do cars cause in the U. S.?
参考答案
I. Passage 1
文章大意：目前，电脑不再是独立工作的机器，而是通过网络彼此互联。这样，一些"黑客"便可以在计算机系统中为所欲为而不被人发现。"黑客"所造成的潜在的灾难正在增加，他们窃取信息，侵入并破坏国家机密系统，甚至扰乱通讯系统引起大范围骚乱。而目前针对这一现象所采取的安全保卫工作还很欠缺。
1.答案C)。细节题。文章第一句"tend to"表示"往往、倾向于"，与"usually"同义，"isolated"表示"孤立的、隔离的"，与C)中的"disconnected from outside"同义，故选C)项。A)和B)说的是一个意思，处于网络之中则一定能互换信息，反之亦然；第一段中有两个形象的比喻，孤立的电脑被比作隐藏在树林里的一个小木屋，而网络将电脑连起来则像是四通八达的街道，就像电线将许多房子连接起来一样，可知D)不过是个比喻，不能成为正确选项。
2.答案A)。推断题。"a thief"出现在"than"引导的比较状语中，引出"a thief"是为了说明"hacker(黑客)"的某些特点，接下来的几句列举了"hacker"能够造成的种种危害，说明他们比普通的贼要厉害得多，故选A)。B)、C)在文中均未提及；既然文章将二者进行了比较，则说明二者并不相同，这样可排除D)项。
3.答案C)。细节题。A)、B)、D)均可在文中找到同义表达，A)对应"go through(翻阅)anyone's electronic mail"；B)对应"take control of the entire system by inserting(插入)his own instructions(指令)"；D)对应"erase(抹去)any sign of his ever having been there"。文中只提到"hacking"电子时代的一个名词，并不代表黑客们制造了许多电子时代的名词，故选C)。
4.答案C)。推断题。本文列举了大量实例来说明黑客可能造成的危害，文中"Now exists..."这句话的例子是用来说明(由于黑客而被破坏的)航班行程或电话通讯控制系统以引起的恐慌，这就是作者所谓"terrorism by computer"的意思，故选C)。A)、B)的例子都出现在文中其他处；而D)则根本未提到。
5.答案B)。态度题。文章从头到尾都在介绍黑客给人类及社会造成的种种危害，且层层深入，从一般的偷阅别人的电子邮件到破坏公共设施以引起公众恐慌，并且文章末尾指出无论商业公司还是政府目前都无法采取有效的防范措施，表达了作者的担忧；另外，文中所用的一些词语，如：worse than，potential for disaster，disastrous cases；possibility of terrorism；panic等也表达出作者的担忧，故选B)。
Passage 2
文章大意：文章论述了消费者对广告的不同态度和三种不同类型的广告。诚实的广告能够快速地在消费者和生产商之间建立联系，使买卖双方达到各自的目的；不诚实的广告做的就是一锤子买卖，并不期望消费者再次购买；然而还有半诚实广告，它们宣扬一些无法证实的商品特性，那些话并非假话，但却有可能误导消费者。
6.答案C)。推断题。文章说悲观的(pessimistic)读者看到广告时会说"这回他们又扯的什么慌？这东西好不了，不然他们用不着这么巧妙地做广告"，C)项"怀疑广告的真实性"便是对这种态度的归纳。
7.答案D)。细节题。"the biggest benefit "和第二段的"extremely useful"相对应，文中通过一个例子说明广告如何有用，并在段尾总结说"广告通过快速而简单地建立买方与卖方的联系而节省了大量的时间，省去了很多麻烦,"而选项D)正是其同义的转述。
8.答案C)。词义题。首先"semi-"是词的前缀，表示"半的、不完全的"，另外文中举了一个牙膏广告的例子，即宣传说牙膏内含有某种物质--确实如此--但他们又非常清楚这种物质对牙齿既无害也无益，文章结尾句说"这样的广告并不完全在撒谎，但却在故意误导(消费者),"C)中的"give false information(提供错误信息)"可理解为"误导消费者"。A)中的"small lies(扯个小谎)"和B)中的"white lies(善意的谎言)"毕竟都是谎言；而D)的解释也不符合文意。
9.答案B)。推断题。正确理解了"semi-dishonest"一词的意义就可解答该题，详见33题解释。
10.答案A)。主旨题。第三段虽然开头介绍了不诚实的广告，但"but there are also..."引出了该段的真正中心，即半诚实的广告，接下来通过举例说明半诚实广告惯用的伎俩，即"tricks"。该段并没有着力分析顾客的反应，排除B)；半诚实广告并不"tell downright lies"，排除C)；该种广告宣称的(claim)并不是虚假的(false)，只是容易使人误解，这样就可排除D)。
II. Passage 1
1. The shrinking of overseas markets.
2. prevent farmers from going bankrupt
3. reduce their scale of production
4. benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others
5. conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation
Passage 2
6. the increased use of cars
7. other countries will protest its increasing GREenhouse emissions
8. The development of electric cars.
9. The use of fuels other than gasoline.
10. One fourth GREenhouse gases in the U. S..
