C

　　They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessorise(配飾).Yet these are girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies.A gengration which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favouring the same high street looks worn by those half their age.

　　Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert , said ,“Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s .In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter . It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to .Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly . ”

　　Professor Twigg analysed family expending(支出)data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same—and 5 or 6 per cent of spending—the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply.

　　The professor said,“Clothes are now 70 per cent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East.In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from,but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere.Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them.”

　　Fashion designer Angela Barnard ,who runs her own fashion business in London ,said older women were much more affected by celebrity(名流) style than in previous years .

　　She said ,“When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties ,they want to follow them . Older women are much more aware of celebrities .There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their look,and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties . When I started my business a few years ago .my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women .My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago.”

　　59. Professor Twigg found that ,compared with the 1960s,_______.

　　A. the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70%

　　B. the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6%

　　C. people spend 30% less than they did on clothes

　　D. the amount of chothes bought has risen by 5% or 6%

　　60. What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion?

　　A.They are often ignored by fashion designers .

　　B. They are now more easily influenced by stars .

　　C. They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion .

　　D. They are more interested in clothes because of their old age .

　　61. It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because

　　A. they get tired of things more quickly

　　B.TV shows teach them how to change their look

　　C. they are in much better shape now

　　D. clothes are much cheaper than before

　　62. Which is the best possible title of the passage ?

　　A. Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans

　　B.The More Fashionable ,the Less Expensive

　　C.Unexpected Changes in Fashion

　　D.Boom of the British Fashion Industry

　　D

　　This brief book is aimed at high school students , but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.

　　Its formal ,serious style closely matches its content ,a school-masterly book on schooling .The author , W .H . Armstrong ,starts with the basics : reading and writing . In his opinion , reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page ; it means taking in the information,digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of himself .The goal is to bring the information back to life , not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees . Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other ; in fact ,the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text .I’ve seen it again and again ：some-one who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.

　　Only a third of the book remains after that discussion ,which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages ,math , science and history . He generally handles these topics thoroughly(透徹地) and equally ,except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion(激情) regarding history to his students , that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across .To my disappointment , in this part of the book he ignores the arts .As a matter of fact ,they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do,though the study differs slightly in kind .Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired ,actually ,learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.

　　My other comment is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s—none of the references(參考文獻(xiàn))seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.

　　These are small points, though, and don’t affect the main discussion. I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student.

　　63. According to Armstrong, the goal of reading is to________.

　　A. gain knowledge and expand one’s view

　　B. understand the meaning between the lines

　　C. experts ideas based on what one has read

　　D. get information and keep it alive in memory

　　64. The author of the passage insists that learning the arts_________.

　　A. requires great efforts

　　B. demands real passion

　　C. is less natural than learning maths

　　D. is as natural as learning a language

　　65. What is a shortcoming of Armstrong’s work according to the author?

　　A. Some ideas are slightly contradictory.

　　B. There is too much discussion on studying science.

　　C. The style is too serious.

　　D. It lacks new information.

　　66. This passage can be classified as________.

　　A. an advertisement

　　B. a book review

　　C. a feature story

　　D. A news report