Part III. Reading Comprehension (50 points)

　　Directions: There are four passages in this part. Each passage is followed by a number of questions for comprehension. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.

　　Passage One

　　I don’t know how I became a writer, but I think it was because of a certain force in me that finally burst through and found a channel. My father, an ordinary worker, was a man with a great respect. He had a tremendous memory, and he loved poetry, Hamlet’s Soliloquy, Macbeth, Grey’s “Elegy”, and all the rest of it. I heard it all as a child; I memorized and learned it all.

　　He sent me to college to the state university. The desire to write, which had been strong during all my days in high school, grew stronger still. I was editor of the college paper, the college magazine, etc., and in my last year or two I was a member of a course in playwriting which had just been established there. I wrote several little one-act plays, still thinking I would become a lawyer or a newspaper man, never daring to believe I could seriously become a writer.

　　Then I went to Harvard, wrote some more plays there, became obsessed(著迷的) with the idea that I had to be a playwright, left Harvard, had my plays rejected, and finally in the autumn of 1926, how, why, or in what manner I have never exactly been able to determine. But probably because the force in me finally sought out its channel, I began to write my first book in London, I was living all alone at that time. I had two rooms-a bedroom and a sitting room-in a litter square in Chelsea in which all the houses had that familiar, smoked brick and cream-yellow-plaster look.

　　36. From paragraph 1, we know that the author’s father .

　　A. played an important role in his choice of career

　　B. had no interest in literature.

　　C. strongly opposed his becoming a writer.

　　D. suggested that he read Hamlet to learn to write.

　　37. The author believes that he became a writer mostly because of .

　　A. his special talent

　　B. his father’s teaching

　　C. his study at Harvard

　　D. a hidden force in him

　　38. At Harvard, the author

　　A. was editor of the college magazine.

　　B. began to think of becoming a writer.

　　C. took a course in playwriting.

　　D. worked as a newspaper man.

　　39. What did the author do in 1926?

　　A. He published his plays.

　　B. He got married.

　　C. He went to Harvard.

　　D. He started his first book.

　　40. Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?

　　A. How I Loved My Father

　　B. How I Went to Harvard

　　C. How I became a Writer.

　　D. How I Wanted to Be a Lawyer

　　Passage Two

　　Throughout the world, every night children and their elders are talking on-line: many of them are talking at the same time. If you’ve been joining in chat room conversations, you might have become one of the millions who wrote in a special short form of English.

　　It is fast: it allows you to talk to six people once. It is convenient: you can use three or four words per exchange. It takes cleverness concentration and quick fingers. And it requires very simple language. There’s neither time nor space for explanations. Why bother to press the keys telling six friends you have to leave for a moment to take care of your little brother when BRB (=be right back) will do? Want to enter a conversation? Just type PMFJI (=pardon me for jumping in). Interested in whom you’re talking to Type A/S/L, the common request to know your pals age, sex and location. You may get 15/M/NY as a reply from your pal. If something makes you laugh, say you’re OTF (=on the floor), or LOL (=laughing out loud), or join the two into ROTFL (=rolling on the floor laughing). And when it’s time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG (=got to go) or TTYL (=talk to you later).

　　People want to write as fast as possible and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can. Capital(大寫的) letters in sentences are left in the dust, except when expressing feeling, as it takes more time to hold down the “shift” key and use capitals. Punctuation(標(biāo)點(diǎn))is going too.

　　41. According to paragraph 1, online chatting allows people in the world to .

　　A. learn millions of words

　　B. pick out things to buy

　　C. talk at the same time

　　D. find out funny tings

　　42. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2 mean?

　　A. People have to communicate in a funny way

　　B. People have to express themselves in a proper way.

　　C. People have to communicate in a logical way

　　D. People have to express themselves in a simple way.

　　43. An answer “19/M/HK” to your A/S/L question means .

　　A. a 19-year-old boy from Hong Kong

　　B. a boy being online for 19 minutes

　　C. being in Hong Kong for 19 months

　　D. 19 boys from Hong Kong

　　44. Which of the following is a way to save time when chatting online?

　　A. Using less short forms of English.

　　B. Using less capital letters or punctuation.

　　C. Coming up with ideas as quickly as possible.

　　D. Using the “shift” key when sending E-mails.

　　45. What is this passage mainly about?

　　A. A special form of English online

　　B. A special form of chatting room.

　　C. A new function of the Internet.

　　D. A new function of computers.