模擬試題16閱讀理解.doc

Passage OneIn addition to redistributing incomes, inflation may affect the total real income and production of the community. An increase in prices is usually associated with high employment. In moderate inflation, industries are operating efficiently and output is near capacity. There is a great deal of private investment and jobs are plentiful. Such has been the historical pattern. Thus many business persons and union leaders, in evaluating a little deflation and a little inflation, consider the latter to be the lesser of two evils. In mild inflation, the losses to fixed-income groups are usually less than gains to the rest of the community. Even workers with relatively fixed wages are often better off because of improved employment opportunities and greater take-home pay, a rise in interest rates on new securities may partly compensate for any losses to creditor, and increases in pension benefits may partly make up losses to retirees.In deflation, on the other hand, the growing unemployment of labor and capital causes the communitys total well-being to be less; so in a sense, the gainers get less than the losers lose. As a matter of fact, in a depression, or a time of severe deflation, almost everyone suffers, including the creditor who is left with uncollectible debts.For these reasons as increase in consumption of investment spending is considered good in times of unemployment, even if this tends to increase prices slightly. When the economic system is suffering from severe depression, few people will criticize private or public spending on the ground that this might be inflationary. Actually, most of this increased spending will increase production and create jobs. Once, full employment and full plant capacity have been reached, however, any further increases in spending are likely to be completely wasted in price increase.21. Historical pattern mentioned in the passage means that in mild inflation_.A. there will be more production and employmentB. private investment will be moderate and peoples income will be influencedC. the bad effects of the two evils will be associated with each otherD. industrial revolution made men and women more equal22. Which of the following happens if there is mild inflation?A. Everyone loses because of the increase of prices.B. Retired people do experience some influence.C. Creditors gain rather than lose with a rise in interest rates.D. Some people gain more while others lose.23. In times of inflation_.A. people like private or public investment B. there is usually full plant capacity C. creditors suffer more than other people D. everyone suffers and no one gainsADAPassage Two Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which read: Fragile; Handle with Care. It will never do, these days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them politely as social misfits. The professional killer who wouldnt think twice about using his club or knife to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meager life-savings must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of hospital treatment. According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evilor so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why we arent all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital punishment.The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his memoirs. Newspapers which specialize in crime reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or murder mysteries have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about the some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. Its no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being killed while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from brutal violence. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that life sentence does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of good conduct, the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. Its always fashionable to pose as the defender of under-dog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly. You see, they couldnt, because all the victims were dead.24. What is the main idea of the text?A. Society is to blame for the rising crime.B. All the criminals are to be sympathized.C. Crime defenders have done a lot for criminals.D. Severe punishment should be used to prevent crime.25. In the authors opinion, all the following are to blame for crime EXCEPT _.A. society B. the criminals themselves C. the suspension of life sentenceD. the defenders role26. The word deterrent (Line 1, Para. 3) most probably means _.A. threat B. delay C. determination D. hindrance27. What is the tone of the text?A. Critical. B. Cynical. C. Ironic. D. Humorous.28. What is the authors attitude toward capital punishment?A. Negative. B. Sympathetic C. Supportive. D. Neutral.DAACCPassage ThreeThe gravitational pull of the Earth and the Moon is important to us as we attempt to conquer more and more of outer-space. Heres why.As a rocket leaves the Earth, the pull of the Earth on it becomes less and less as the rocket roars out into space. If you imagine a line between the Earth and the Moon, there is a point somewhere along that line, nearer to the Moon than to the Earth, at which the gravitation pull of both the Earth and the Moon on an object is just about equal. An object placed on the Moon side of that point would be drawn to the Moon. An object placed on the Earth side of that point would be drawn to the Earth. Therefore, a rocket need be sent only to this point of no return in order to get it to the Moon. The Moons gravity will pull it the rest of the way.The return trip of the rocket to the Earth is, in some ways, less of a problem. The Earths gravitational field reaches far closer to the Moon than does the Moons to the Earth. Thus it will be necessary to fire an Earthbound rocket only a few thousand miles away from the Moon to reach a point where the rocket will drift to the Earth under the Earths gravitational pull.The problem of rocket travel is not so much concerned with getting the rocket into space as it is with guiding the rocket after it leaves the Earths surface. Remember that the Moon is constantly circling the Earth. A rocket fired at the Moon and continuing in the direction in which it was fired would miss the Moon by a wide margin and perhaps continue to drift out into space until captured in another planets gravitational field. To reach the Moon, a rocket must be fired toward the point where the Moon will be when the rocket has traveled the required distance. This requires precise calculations of the speed and direction of the rocket and of the speed and direction of the Moon.For a rocket to arrive at a point where the Moons gravity will pull it the rest of the way, it must reach a speed called velocity of escape. This speed is about 25,000 miles per hour. At a speed less than this, a rocket will merely circle the Earth in an orbit and eventually fall back to the Earth.29. This passage deals mainly with_.A. the gravitational pull of the Earth and the MoonB. the factors involved in firing a rocket into the outer-spaceC. the gravitational fields of the Earth and the MoonD. the speed and direction of a rocket traveling in the outer-space30. It can be seen that if a rocket misses its target, it keeps on traveling through space until_.A. it burns upB. it is caught in the gravitational field of another planetC. it is brought back to the Earth by scientistsD. it runs out of fuel31. A rocket might miss its target by a wide margin. This means the rocket missed the target_.A. because of mechanical failure B. by a great dealC. by a small distance D. because the target moved32. According to the passage, the most difficult task of firing a rocket is_.A. to get the rocket into the spaceB. to calculate the rockets velocity of escapeC. to guide the rocket after it leaves the Earths surfaceD. to identify the gravitational fields of the Earth and the Moon33. The word precise in precise calculations means_.A. good guesses B. simple problems C. big errors D. exact34. This passage intends to_.A. tell us why the gravitational pull is important B. research on the problem of rocket travelC. tell us how to conquer more of outer-spaceD. discuss something between the Earth and the MoonABBCDAPassage FourA hundred years ago it was assumed and scientifically proved by economists that the laws of society make it necessary to have a vast army of poor and jobless people in order to keep the economy going. Today, hardly anybody would dare to voice the principle. It is generally accepted that nobody should be excluded from the wealth of the nation, either by the law of nature or by those of society. The opinions are outdated, which were current a hundred years ago, that the poor owed their conditions to their ignorance, lack of responsibility. 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, in other words, one 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, lets say two years, so as to avoid the encouragement 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 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 be sufficiently interesting and attractive in order 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.35. People used to think that poverty and unemployment were due to_.A. the slow development of the economyB. the poor and jobless peoples own faultsC. the lack of responsibility on the part of societyD. the large number of people who were not well-educated36. Now it is widely accepted that_.A. the present system of social insurance should be improvedB. everybody should be granted a minimum subsistence without any reasonC. everybody has the right to share the wealth of the countryD. people have to change their attitude towards the poor37. The author argues that the social insurance system should_.A. provide benefits for the old, sick and unemployedB. encourage people to take on more social obligationsC. guarantee everybody the right to be employedD. provide everyone the right to a minimum subsistence for a certain period38. The word fallacy means_.A. doubt B. fact C. strong argument D. wrong belief39. According to the author, a system of guaranteed subsistence minimum_.A. demands too much from societyB. makes freedom of contract impossibleC. helps people take interest in their workD. helps bring about changes in the relationship among people40. In the fourth sentence of Paragraph 1, the word outdated can be best replaced by_.A. unacceptable B. bannedC. old-fashioned D. rejectedBCDDDCSection BDirections: In this section, you are required to read five short paragraphs and decide which of the five titles marked A, B, C, D and E is the best suited to each of them. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.A. You can schedule an automatic payment.B. Trying to get out of the late fee sometimes. C. Youd better plan to pay ahead.D. Change your payment due date in order to avoid late fee. E. You could also set for yourself a reminder to pay in time.Some Tips to Avoid a Credit Card Late FeeIf youre even a minute late with a payment, your credit card company can hit you hard in the walletas much as $ 39 each time, according to a July 2008 survey. However, some simple steps can help keep your exposure to these extra costs to a minimum.41_A few card issuers, including Chase and HSBC, charge extra fees for online payments that you need to post the same day, so even if you pay electronically, do it three to four days ahead so your credit card company will process the payment by the due date. If youre snail-mailing checks, allow even more timeabout 10 daysto allow for mail snafus. And unless youre desperate, forget about phone paymentsa number of banks charge a fee for them, no matter when you call.42_A few card issuers allow you to choose a due date to coincide with your payday schedule, so a cash shortfall wont make you late. You can even choose a due date thats easier to remember. Your birthdays on Feb. 17?