阅读一
At some time in your life you may have a strong desire to do something strange or terrible. However, chances are that you don’t act on your impulse, but let it pass instead. You know that to commit the action is wrong in some way and that other people will not accept your behavior.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the phenomenon of taboo behavior is how it can change over the years within the same society, how certain behavior and attitudes once considered taboo can become perfectly acceptable and natural at another point in time. Topics such as death, for example, were once considered so upsetting and unpleasant that it was a taboo to even talk about them. Now with the publication of important books such as On Death and Dying and Learning to Say Goodbye, people have become more aware of the importance of expressing feelings about death and, as a result, are more willing to talk about this taboo subject.
One of the newest taboos in American society is the topic of fat. Unlike many other taboos, fat is topic that Americans talk about constantly. It’s not taboo to talk about fat; it’s taboo to be fat. The “in” look is thin, not fat. In the work world, most companies prefer youthful-looking, trim executives to sell their image as well as their products to the public. The thin look is associated with youth, vigor, and success. The fat person, on the other hand, is thought of as lazy and lacking in energy, self-discipline, and self-respect. In an image-conscious society like the U.S., thin is “in”, fat is “out”.
It’s not surprising, then, that millions of Americans have become obsessed with staying slim and “in shape”. The pursuit of a youthful physical appearance is not, however, the sole reason for America’s fascination with diet and exercise. Recent research has shown the critical importance of diet and exercise for personal health. As in most technologically developed nations, the life-style of North Americans has changed dramatically during the course of the last century. Modern machines do all the physical labor that people were once forced to do by hand. Cars and buses transport us quickly from point to point. As a result of inactivity and disuse, people’s bodies can easily become weak and vulnerable to disease. In an effort to avoid such a fate, millions of Americans are spending more of their time exercising.
1.From the passage we can infer taboo is__.
A.a strong desire to do something strange or terrible.
B.a crime committed on impulse.
C.behavior considered unacceptable in society’s eyes.
D.an unfavorable impression left on other people.
2.Based on the ideas presented in the passage we can conclude “being fat” __ in American society.
A.will always remain a taboo.
B.is not considered a taboo by most people.
C.has long been a taboo.
D.may no longer be a taboo some day.
3.The topic of fat is __ many other taboo subjects.
A.the same as
B.different from
C.more popular than
D.less often talked about than.
4.In the U.S., thin is “in”, fat is “out”, this means__.
A.thin is “inside”, fat is “outside”.
B.thin is “diligent”, fat is “lazy”.
C.thin is “youthful”, fat is “spiritless”.
D.thin is “fashionable”, fat is “unfashionable”.
5.Apart from this new understanding of the correlation between health and exercise, the main reason the passage gives for why so many Americans are exercising regularly is__.
A.their changed life-style.
B.their eagerness to stay thin and youthful.
C.their appreciation of the importance of exercise.
D.the encouragement they have received from their companies
参考答案：CDBDB本文导航第1页阅读一第2页阅读二第3页阅读三第4页阅读四
阅读二
Computers monitor everything in Singapore from soil composition to location of manholes. At the airport, it took just 15 seconds for the computerized immigration system to scan and approve my passport. It takes only one minute to be checked into a public hospital.
By 1998, almost every household will be wired for interactive cable TV and the Internet, the global computer network. Shoppers will be able to view and pay for products electronically. A 24-hour community telecomputing network will allow users to communicate with elected representatives and retrieve information about government services. It is all part of the government’s plan to transform the nation into what it calls the “Intelligent Island”.
In so many ways, Singapore has elevated the concept of efficiency to a kind of national ideology. For the past ten years, Singapore’s work force was rated the best in the world-ahead of Japan and the U.S.-in terms of productivity, skill and attitude by the Business Environment Risk Intelligence service.
Behind the “Singapore miracle” is a man Richard Nixon described as one of “the ablest leaders I have met,” one who, “in other times and other places, might have attained the world stature of a Churchill.” Lee Kuan Yew led Singapore’s struggle for independence in the 1950s, serving as Prime Minister from 1959 until 1990. Today (1995), at 71, he has nominally retired to the office of Senior Minister, where he continues to influence his country’s future. Lee offered companies tax breaks, political stability, cheap labor and strike-free environment.
Nearly 90 percent of Singaporean adults now own their own homes and thanks to strict adherence to the principle of merit, personal opportunities abound. “If you’ve got talent and work hard, you can be anything here,” says a Malaysian-born woman who holds a high-level civil-service position.
Lee likes to boast that Singapore has avoided the “moral breakdown” of Western countries. He attributes his nation’s success to strong family ties, a reliance on education as the engine of advancement and social philosophy that he claims is superior to America’s.
In an interview with Reader’s Digest, he said that the United States has “lost its bearings” by emphasizing individual rights at the expense of society. “An ethical society,” he said, “is one which matches human rights with responsibilities.”
1.What characterizes Singapore’s advancement is its___.
A.computer monitoring.
B.work efficiency.
C.high productivity.
D.value on ethics.
2.From Nixon’s perspective, Lee is___.
A.almost as great as Churchill.
B.not as great as Churchill.
C.only second to Churchill in being a leader.
D.just as great as Churchill.
3.In the last paragraph, “lost its bearings” may mean___.
A.become impatient.
B.failed to find the right position.
C.lost its foundation.
D.grown band-mannered.
4.“You can be anything here”(Paragraph 5) may be paraphrased as___.
A.You can hope for a very bright prospect.
B.You may be able to do anything needed.
C.You can choose any job as you like.
D.You will become an outstanding worker.
5.In Singapore, the concept of efficiency___.
A.has been emphasized throughout the country.
B.has become an essential quality for citizens to aim at.
C.is brought forward by the government in order to compete with America.
D.is known as the basis for building the “Intelligent Island.”
参考答案：DDBAB本文导航第1页阅读一第2页阅读二第3页阅读三第4页阅读四
阅读三
Chinese Americans today have higher incomes than Americans in general and higher occupational status. The Chinese have risen to this position despite some of the harshest discrimination and violence faced by any immigrants to the United States in the history of this country. Long confined to a narrow range of occupations they succeeded in those occupations and then spread out into other areas in later years, when opportunities finally opened up for them. Today much of the Chinese prosperity is due to the simple fact that they work more and have more (usually better) education than others. Almost one out of five Chinese families has three or more income earners compared to one out of thirteen for Puerto Ricans, one out of ten among American Indians, and one out of eight among Whites. When the Chinese advantages in working and educational are held constant, they have no advantage over other Americans. That is in a Chinese Family with a given number of people working and with a given amount of education by the head of the family, the income is not only about average for such families, and offer a little less than average.
While Chinese Americans as a group are prosperous and well-educated Chinatowns are pockets of poverty, and illiteracy is much higher among the Chinese than among Americans in general. Those paradoxes are due to sharp internal differences. Descendants of the Chinese Americans who emigrated long ago from Toishan Province have maintained Chinese values and have added acculturation to American society with remarkable success. More recent Hong Kong Chinese are from more diverse cultural origins, and acquired western values and styles in Hong Kong, without having acquired the skills to proper and support those aspirations in the American economy. Foreign-born Chinese men in the United States are one-fourth lower incomes than native-born Chinese even though the foreign-born have been in the United States an average of seventeen years. While the older Hong Kong Chinese work tenaciously to sustain and advance themselves, the Hong Kong Chinese youths often react with resentment and antisocial behavior, including terrorism and murder. The need to maintain tourism in Chinatown causes the Chinese leaders to mute or downplay these problems as much as possible.
1.According to the passage, today, Chinese Americans owe their prosperity to___.
A.their diligence and better education than others.
B.their support of American government.
C.their fight against discriminations.
D.advantages in working only.
2.The passage is mainly concerned with___.
A.chinese Americans today.
B.social status of Chinese Americans today.
C.incomes and occupational status of Chinese Americans today.
D.problems of Chinese Americans today.
3.Chinatowns are pockets of poverty, as is probably associated with___.
A.most descendants of Chinese Americans are rebelling.
B.most descendants of Chinese Americans are illiterate.
C.sharp internal difference between Chinese coming from different cultural backgrounds.
D.only a few Chinese Americans are rich.
4.Which of the following statements is not true according to this article
A.As part of the minority, Chinese Americans are still experiencing discrimination in American today.
B.Nowadays, Chinese Americans are working in wider fields.
C.Foreign-born Chinese earn lower income than native-born Chinese Americans with the similar advantages in the U.S.
D.None of the above.
5.According to the author, which of the following can best describe the older Hong Kong Chinese and the younger
A.Tenacious; rebellion.
B.Conservative; open-minded.
C.Out-of-date; fashionable.
D.Obedient; disobedient.
参考答案：ACCCA本文导航第1页阅读一第2页阅读二第3页阅读三第4页阅读四
阅读四
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time; if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the languages he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people. In the same way, when children learn to do all the other things they learn to do without being taught-to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle-compare those performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his own mistakes for himself, let alone correct them. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher. Let him do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not.
If it is a matter of right answers, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such routine work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let’s end this nonsense of grades, exams, marks, Let us throw them all out, and let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.
Let them get on with this job in the way that seems sensible to them. With our help as school teachers if they ask for it. The idea that there is a body of knowledge to be learnt at school and used for the rest of one’s life is nonsense in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours. Anxious parents and teachers say, “But suppose they fail to learn something essential they will need to get in the world?” Don’t worry! If it is essential, they will go out into the world and learn it.
1.What does the author think is the best way for children to learn things?
A.by copying what other people do.
B.by making mistakes and having them corrected.
C.by listening to explanations from skilled people.
D.by asking a great many questions.
2.What does the author think teachers do which they should not do?
A.They give children correct answers.
B.They point out children’s mistakes to them.
C.They allow children to mark their own work.
D.They encourage children to mark to copy from one another.
3.The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are___.
A.not really important skills.
B.more important than other skills.
C.basically different from learning adult skills.
D.basically the same as learning other skills.
4.Exams, grades, and marks should be abolished because children’s progress should only be estimated by___.
A.educated persons.
B.the children themselves.
C.teachers.
D.parents.
5.The author fears that children will grow up into adults while being___.
A.too independent of others.
B.too critical of themselves.
C.incapable to think for themselves.
D.incapable to use basic skills.
参考答案：ABDBC
