Although Dickens always described the misery and sufferings of the poor people, most of his novels have a ending

Section B

Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.

There are many ways of defining success. It is accurate to say that each of us has our own concept of success to the extent that each of us is responsible for setting our own goals and determining whether we have met these goals satisfactorily. Because each of us possesses unique differences in genetic ability and favorable environments in which to express these abilities, it is necessarily tree that we must define success broadly.

For some people, simply being able to live their life with a minimum of misery and suffering is considered a success. Think of the peace of mind of the poor shepherd who tends his sheep, enjoys his frugal life with his family in the beauty of nature, and who is respected because he does a good job of achieving the goals expected of and accepted by him and his society. On the other hand, it seems that even though some people appear to be rich in material possessions, many of them seem to be miserable and consider themselves unsuccessful when judged by their own standards of success. Because not all ventures can be successful, one should not set unrealistic goals for achieving success, but if one has self-confidence it would be unfortunate to set one's goals at too low a level of achievement.

A wise counselor once said to a young man who was experiencing frustration with his own professional success: "You do not have to set your goal to reach the moon in order to have success in traveling. Sometimes one can be very successful merely by taking a walk in the park, or riding the subway downtown," The counselor added, "You have not really failed and spoiled your chances for success until you have been unsuccessful at something you really tike, and to which you have given your best effort."

In the first paragraph, the author implies that _________ are essential in achieving success.

A．ability and goals

B．goals and determination

C．ability and environment

D．goals and environment

That touching toads causes warts are still one of the most widely believed superstitions in America.

A．has

B．have been

C．had been

D．is

That touching toads causes warts are still one of the most widely believed superstitions in America.

A．has

B．have been

C．had been

D．is

A System of Guaranteed Subsistence Minimum

A hundred years ago it was assumed and scientifically "proved" by economists that the laws of society made it necessary to have a vast army of poor and jobless people in order to keep the economy going. To day, hardly anybody would dare to voice this principle. It is generally accepted that nobody should be excluded from the wealth of the nation, either by the laws of nature or by those of society. The opinions, which were current a hundred years ago, that the poor owed their conditions to their ignorance, lack of responsibility, are outdated. In all Western industrialized countries, a system of insurance has been introduced which guarantees everyone a minimum of subsistence in case of unemployment, sickness and old age. I would go one step further and argue that, even if these conditions are not present, everyone has the right to receive the means to subsist, in other words, he can claim this subsistence minimum without having to have any "reason". I would suggest, however, that it should be limited to a definite period of time, let's say two years, so as to avoid the encouraging of an abnormal attitude, which refuses any kind of social obligation.

This may sound like a fantastic proposal, but so, I think, our insurance system would have sounded to people a hundred years ago. The main objection to such a scheme would be that if each person were entitled to receive minimum support, people would not work. This assumption rests on the fallacy of the inherent laziness in human nature, actually, aside from abnormally lazy people, there would be very few who would not want to earn more than the minimum, and who would prefer to do nothing rather than work.

However, the suspicions against a system of guaranteed subsistence minimum are not groundless from the standpoint of those who want to use ownership of capital for the purpose of forcing others to accept the work conditions they offer. If nobody were forced to accept work in order not to starve, work would have to be sufficiently interesting and attractive to induce one to accept it. Freedom of contract is possible only if both parties are free to accept and reject it; in the present capitalist system this is not the case.

But such a system would not only be the beginning of real freedom of contract between employers and employees, its principal advantage would be the improvement of freedom in interpersonal relationships in every sphere of daily life.

People used to think that poverty and unemployment were due to ______.

A．the slow development of the economy

B．the fault of the poor and the jobless themselves

C．the lack of responsibility on the part of society

D．the large number of uneducated people

Why are Terry and Susan late according to the man?

A．Perhaps because of the heavy roads.

B．Perhaps because of the subway.

C．Maybe they haven't got the invitation