Read carefully the following excerpt and then writ...

Read the following passage carefully and compose a “sentence outline” for it.

The Changing Workweek

In the early 1900s in the U.S.A., workers in large industries worked long days and long weeks. It was not uncommon for workers in the meat-packing companies of Chicago, for example, to work twelve to fourteen hours, for six or seven days a week. As unions started exerting their influence, however, the working conditions of American workers began improving, and the workweek was gradually shortened. Today, workers have workweek opinions that were unheard of earlier in the last century.

The five day workweek has become commonplace in American industries. However, he four-day workweek is becoming even more popular. Mary workers prefer four tea-hour days. This gives them longer working days, but it also gives them three-day weekends, an unheard-of luxury even twenty years ago. Management isn’t complaining since the same amount of work gets accomplished, and in some cases a plant can be totally shut down on the fifth day, saving the company thousands of dollars in utilities.

Another change in the workweek is the variable hours option. While American workers have traditionally worked either day or night shifts, some companies are allowing workers to set their own hours within the workweek. Flexible schedules are becoming more common in metropolitan areas with commuter-time traffic problems and in industries that are open around the clock. The advantage to the workers is that they can plan their hours around the days of their families. For example, a husband who takes each afternoon off could babysit the children while his wife works. The variable hours schedule also motivates workers because the company is letting them control their own time.

A third change in the workweek over the past twenty years is the use of overtime. While most workers do not have to work beyond a forty-hour week, many companies will pay them time and a half to do so. Although this is more expensive for the company, it is still cheaper than having to hire additional workers and providing benefits. On traditional nonworking days such as holidays, workers are often paid double-time or more to work. Overtime pay allows companies to meet their production needs without exploiting the workers. It allows workers to make extra money at a higher rate than they normally work for. Although overtime work often represents a return to longer working days and weeks, it is done on a voluntary basis and is usually negotiated willingly by the workers.

What does the future hold for American workers? As modern technology turns more and more wok to machines, the typical workweek may continue to shrink. Some companies have already gone to the thirty-five-hour week, and in the 21st century, the thirty-five-hour week may be standard. Within twenty years, the great advantage to shorter workweeks is that workers have more time off to themselves. However, given the financial demands upon American families in the future, it may also become common for workers to hold down two full-time jobs at one time. Given the American work ethic, most workers will probably fill their free time with more work instead of more leisure.

Directions: Read the following passage carefully. The passage is followed by some questions or unfinished sentences. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the best answer to each question. Questions 1 to 5 are based on the same passag Feeling lonely? Why not go to the mall? You'll find plenty of company, and yes, a new pair of shoes or maybe even a new computer game. It's quick and effortless; and you don't need special equipment. You just get in your car and drive to a store. They're everywhere, and they're open 24 hours in any weather. Most of people think of shopping as something we do when we need to buy things, but some people shop for different reasons. In fact, if shopping is your favorite hobby, something you can easily do to change your mood, you might feel great. However, if you are not careful, the total on your credit card bills will soon be more than you have in your bank account. Because shopping is so enjoyable and convenient, people get into the dangerous habit of spending money to try to feel good. They become trapped in a cycle of self-defeating behavior. that leads to debt and dissatisfaction. How do you know if you are a compulsive spender? There is no easy answer. But ask yourself this: Do you have clothes in your closet that you never wear or that still have the price tags on them? Do you ever hide your purchases from your family? These are some of the warning signs. Most compulsive spenders are unaware of their habits or strongly deny them. Compulsive spenders prefer to avoid the issues that force them to shop, so the problem is not just that they spend more than they earn. Spending problems may result from deep personal problems that compulsive spenders have. Some spontaneous spending is natural: flowers to brighten a rainy day, or a treat for a job well done. To be spontaneous means to act without planning. However, a compulsive spender will shop in response to stress and follow a real physical urge to go out and spend money. When this type of spending causes serious problems for you and your family, you have a compulsive spending problem. Question 11 is based on the above passage. According to the passage, people usually go shopping ________.

A、when they want to hang out with friends

B、when they feel lonely and bored

C、when they need to buy things

D、when they want the pleasure of spending money

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

After the terrorist attacks in America last September, terrorist risk became the pariah of perils. The airline industry was most directly affected by the attacks, and it was the first to find that no one wanted to insure terrorist risk. Insurance companies immediately increased premiums and cut cover for airlines' third-party terror and war liabilities to $50m per airline, per "event". Under pressure from airlines, the American government and the members of the European Union agreed to become insurers of last resort for airlines' war and terrorist liabilities, for a limited period. These government guarantees are due to expire at the end of the month.

The American government has already agreed to extend its guarantee for another 60 days. The EU's transport ministers are meeting next week in Brussels to decide what to do. Insurers and reinsurers are keen for the commercial market to resume the provision of all airline insurance as soon as possible. No wonder: The premiums for such cover have inevitably increased considerably.

However, in the case of terrorism, and especially of terrorism in the skies, a number of special factors arise. Some are purely practical: a disaster as sudden and unforeseen as the attacks on the World Trade Center has had destructive effects on the insurance industry. The maximum cover for third-party terrorist risk available in the primary aviation market is now $50m, and that is not nearly enough cover risks that are perceived to be much higher since September 11th. Even if the market could offer sufficient cover, another catastrophe on such a scale would be more than the market could cope with.

In addition, a rare and devastating risk of a political nature is arguably one that it is right for governments to cover, at least in part. In the wake of attacks by Irish terrorists the British government has recognized this point by agreeing to back a mutual fund to cover risks to property from terrorist attack.

In the case of the airlines, the appropriate answer is some form. of mutual scheme with government backing. In fact, under the code-name "Equitime", representatives of airlines, insurers and the American government are setting up an insurance vehicle to be financed by airlines and reinsured by the government. Governments would guarantee the fund's excess risk, but their role would diminish as the fund grew.

Setting something up will take time. So, to bridge the gap, governments will have to remain insurer of last resort for airlines' war and terrorist risk for some time to come.

By "terrorist risk became the pariah of perils" (Paragraph 1), the author means

A．insurance companies increased premiums.

B．airlines seek to avoid legal liabilities.

C．terrorist attacks left insurers panicked.

D．terrorist risk is unlikely to be insured.

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

After Los Angeles, Atlanta may be America's most car-dependent city. Atlantans sentimentally give their cars names, compare speeding tickets and jealously guard any side street where it is possible to park. The city's roads are so well worn that the first act of the new mayor, Shirley Franklin, was to start repairing potholes. In 1998, 13 metro counties lost federal highway funds because their air-pollution levels violated the Clean Air Act. The American Highway Users Alliance ranked three Atlanta interchanges among the 18 worst bottlenecks in the country.

Other cities in the same fix have reorganized their highways, imposed commuter and car taxes, or expanded their public-transport systems. Atlanta does not like any of these things. Public transport is a vexed subject, too. Atlanta's metropolitan region is divided into numerous county and smaller city governments, which find it hard to work together. Railways now serve the city center and the airport, but not much else; bus stops are often near invisible poles, offering no indication of which bus might stop there, or when.

Georgia's Democratic governor, Roy Barnes, who hopes for reelection in November, has other plans. To win back the federal highway money lost under the Clean Air Act, he created the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA), a 15-member board with the power to make the county governments, the city and the ten-county Atlanta Regional Commission cooperate on transport plans, whether they like it or not.

Now GRTA has issued its own preliminary plan, allocating $4.5 billion over the next three years for a variety of schemes. The plan earmarks money to widen roads; to have an electric shuttle bus shuttle tourists among the elegant villas of Buckhead; and to create a commuter rail link between Atlanta and Macon, two hours to the south. Counties will be encouraged, with generous ten-to-one matching funds, to start express bus services.

Public goodwill, however, may not stretch as far as the next plan, which is to build the Northern Arc highway for 65 miles across three counties north of the city limits. GRTA has allotted $270m for this. Supporters say it would ease the congestion on local roads; opponents think it would worsen over-development and traffic. The counties affected, and even GRTA's own board, are divided.

The governor is in favor, however; and since he can appoint and fire GRTA'S members, that is probably the end of the story. Mr. Barnes has a tendency to do as he wants, regardless. His arrogance on traffic matters could also lose him votes. But Mr. Barnes think that Atlanta's slowing economy could do him more harm than the anti-sprawl movement.

The author's presentation of Atlanta's car-dependence is meant ______.

A．to be ironic.

B．to poke fun to them.

C．to be fair.

D．to make it notorious.

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Part A

Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Language learning begins with listening. Individual children vary greatly in the amount of listening they do before they start speaking, and late starters are often long listeners. Most children will "obey" spoken instructions some time before they can speak, though the word obey is hardly accurate as a description of the eager and delighted cooperation usually shown by the child. Before they can speak, many children will also ask questions by gesture and by making questioning noises.

Any attempt to trace the development from the noises babies make to their first spoken words leads to considerable difficulties. It is agreed that they enjoy making noises, and that during the first few months one or two noises sort themselves out as particularly indicative of delight, distress, sociability, and so on. But since these cannot be said to show the baby's intention to communicate, they can hardly be regarded as early form. of language. It is agreed, too, that from about three months they play with sounds for enjoyment, and that by six months they are able to add new sounds to their store. This self-imitation leads on to deliberate imitation of sounds made or words spoken to them by other people. The problem then arises as to the point at which one can say that these imitations can be considered as speech.

It is a problem we need not get our teeth into. The meaning of a word depends on what a particular person means by it in a particular situation; and it is clear that what a child means by a word will change as he gains more experience of the world. Thus the use, at his seven months, of "mama" as a greeting for his mother can not be dismissed as a meaningless sound simply because he also uses it at other times for his father, his dog, or anything else he likes.

Playful and apparently meaningless imitation of what other people say continues after the child has begun to speak for himself. I doubt, however, whether anything is gained when parents cash in on this ability in an attempt to teach new sounds.

Children who start speaking late ______.

A．may have problems with their hearing

B．probably do not hear enough language spoken around them

C．usually pay close attention to what they hear

D．often take a long time in learning to listen properly

Part A

Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

"Family" is of course an elastic word. And in different countries it has different meanings. But when British people say that their society is based on family life, they are thinking of "family" in its narrow, peculiarly European sense of mother, father and children living together in their own house as an economic and social unit. Thus, every British marriage indicates the beginning of a new and independent family—hence the tremendous importance of marriage in British life. For both the man and the woman, marriage means leaving one's parents and starting one's own life. The man's first duty will then be to his wife, and the wife's to her husband. He will be entirely responsible for her financial support, and she for the running of the new home. Their children will be their common responsibility and their alone. Neither the wife's parents nor the husband's, nor their brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, have any right to interfere with them—they are their own masters.

Readers of novels like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will know that in former times, marriage among wealthy families were arranged by the girl's parents, that is, it was the patents' duty to find a suitable husband for their daughter, preferably a rich one, and by skillful encouragement to lead him eventually to ask their permission to marry her. Until that time, the girl was protected and maintained in the parents' home, and the financial relief of getting rid of her could be seen in their giving the newly married pair a sum of money called a dowry (嫁妆). It is very different today. Most girls of today get a job when they leave school and become financially independent before their marriage. This has had two results. A girl chooses her own husband, and she gets no dowry. Every coin has two sides; independence for girls is no exception. But it may be a good thing for all of the girls, as their social status are much higher and they are no longer the subordinate (部下，下级) of their parents and husbands.

What does the author mean by "Family is of course an elastic word"?

A．Different families have different ways of life.

B．Different definitions could be given to the word.

C．Different nations have different families.

D．Different times produce different families.

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

A study by scientists in Finland has found that mobile phone radiation can cause changes in human cells that might affect the brain, the leader of the research team said.

But Darius Leszczynski, who headed the 2-year study and will present findings next week at a conference in Quebec, said more research was needed to determine the seriousness of the changes and their impact on the brain or the body.

The study at Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority found that exposure to radiation from mobile phones can cause increased activity in hundreds of proteins in human cells grown in a laboratory, he said.

"We know that there is some biological response. We can detect it, with our very sensitive approaches, but we do not know whether it can have any physiological effects on the human brain or human body", Leszczynski said.

Nonetheless the study, the initial findings of which were published last month in the scientific journal Differentiation, raises new questions about whether mobile phone radiation can weaker/the brain's protective shield against harmful substances.

The study focused on changes in cells that line blood vessels and on whether such changes could weaken the functioning of the blood-brain barrier, which prevents potentially harmful substances from entering the brain from the bloodstream, Leszczynski said.

The study found that a protein called hsp27 linked to the functioning of the bloodbrain barrier showed increased activity due to irradiation and pointed to a possibility that such activity could make the shield more permeable, he said.

"Increased protein activity might cause cells to shrink—not the blood vessels but the cells themselves—and then tiny gaps could appear between those cells through which some molecules could pass", he said.

Leszczynski declined to speculate on what kind of health risks that could pose, but said a French study indicated that headache, fatigue and sleep disorders could result.

"These are not life-threatening problems but can cause a lot of discomfort", he said, adding that a Swedish group had also suggested a possible link with Alzheimer's disease.

"Where the truth is I do not know", he said.

Leszczynski said that he, his wife and children use mobile phones, and he said that he did not think his study suggested any need for new restrictions on mobile phone use.

According to Leszczynski, how does mobile phone affect one's health?

A．Mobile phone radiation can increase protein activities and such activities can make the protective shield more permeable.

B．Mobile phone radiation can shrink the blood vessels and prevent blood from flowing smoothly.

C．Mobile phone radiation will bring stress to people exposed to it.

D．Mobile phone radiation kills blood cells at a rapid speed.

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

In 1929 John D. Rockefeller decided it was time to sell shares when even a shoe-shine boy offered him a share tip. During the past week The Economist's economics editor has been advised by a taxi driver, a plumber and a hairdresser that "you can't go wrong" investing in housing—the more you own the better. Is this a sign that it is time to get out? At the very least, as house prices around the world climb to ever loftier heights, and more and more people jump on to the buy-to-let ladder, it is time to expose some of the fallacies regularly trotted out by so many self-appointed housing experts.

One common error is that house prices must continue to rise because of a limited supply of land. For instance, it is argued that "house prices will always rise in London because lots of people want to live here". But this confuses the level of prices with their rate of change. Home prices are bound to be higher in big cities because of land scarcity, but this does not guarantee that urban house prices will keep rising indefinitely-just look at Tokyo's huge price-drops since 1990. And, though it is true that a fixed supply of homes may push up house prices if the population is rising, this would imply a steady rise in prices, not the 20% annual jumps of recent years.

A second flawed argument is that low interest rates make buying a home cheaper, and so push up demand and prices. Lower interest rates may have allowed some people, who otherwise could not have afforded a mortgage, to buy a home. But many borrowers who think mortgages are cheaper are suffering from money illusion.

Interest rates are not very low in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Initial interest payments may seem low in relation to income, but because inflation is also low it will not erode the real burden of debt as swiftly as it once did. So in later years mortgage payments will be much larger in real terms. To argue that low nominal interest rates make buying a home cheaper is like arguing that a car loan paid off over four years is cheaper than one repaid over two years.

Fallacy number three is a favourite claim of Alan Greenspan, chairman of America's Federal Reserve. This is that price bubbles are less likely in housing than in the stockmarket because higher transaction costs discourage speculation. In fact, several studies have shown that both in theory and in practice bubbles are more likely in housing than in shares. A study by the IMF finds that a sharp rise in house prices is far more likely to be followed by a bust than is a share-price boom.

The term "fallacies" (Line 6, Paragraph 1) most probably means ______.

A．ridiculous strategies

B．obsolete methodologies

C．mistaken beliefs

D．far-fetched assertions

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D . Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

When he died in April of 1983, Dr. Joel Hildebrand was 101 years old, who had been married for seventy-five years, and had taught freshman chemistry to over 40,000 college students.

For his life, he had published a popular chemistry textbook and dozens of articles, managed the U. S. Olympic ski team, and discovered a way to allow deep-sea divers to stay underwater longer. In his own way, Dr. Hildebrand was certainly a genius.

Dr. Hildebrand's interest in chemistry began at an early age. In an interview, he once said that his interest had been formed because he was fortunate enough to be born before there was television, so he had to make his own decisions about what to pay attention to. Even as a student in high school. Dr. Hildebrand had the reputation as the one who learned more chemistry than his teacher knew. As a result he was given the keys to the high school chemistry lab. And there he discovered that the correct formula for a certain chemical compound was not the one given in his chemistry book but a totally different one. Dr. Hildebrand went on to teach at the University of California at Berkeley and remained there for almost forty years.

During that time, Dr. Hildebrand discovered that the gas helium could be combined with oxygen for use as diving gas to allow divers to dive deeper and take the great pressure of the water without the physical discomforts that had been experienced when they used another gas, nitrogen. The use of helium for deep-sea diving is now standard practice. Dr. Hildebrand was also valuable to his country during both world wars. In World War I he analyzed the poisonous gases used on the battlefield and helped develop a truck that could clean and treat soldiers' clothes which had been contaminated by poisonous gases during fighting. In World War Ⅱ he helped develop a type of snowmobile, a vehicle used to carry soldiers through the snow in northern countries.

Dr. Hildebrand's retirement from teaching at the age of seventy was required by state law in California. He objected to this, joking that he thought a teacher's time of retirement ought to be determined not by age but by how many of that teacher's students were still awake after the first fifteen minutes of class! Dr. Hildebrand's writing career continued, however, and was still feeling strong at the age of 100, when he published an article on the theory of chemical solutions. Dr. Hildebrand's love of life and his interest in it were an inspiration to all who knew him. When asked once how he could have such ageless energy and vigor, he said, "I chose my ancestors carefully."

Which of the following is not mentioned in Para.1 of the text?

A．The prizes and honors Dr. Joel Hildebrand received.

B．Dr. Joel Hildebrand's contributions to physical training facilities.

C．Dr. Joel Hildebrand's talent in technical innovations.

D．The number of students Dr. Joel Hildebrand had ever taught.