Part III Reading Comprehension Section A

　　Directions: There are 3 passages in this par. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. Choose the correct answer and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　How much living space does a person need? What happens when his space requirements are not adequately met? Sociologists and psychologists are conducting experiments on rats to try to determine the effect of overcrowded conditions on man. Recent studies have shown that the behavior of rats is greatly affected by space. If rats have adequate living space, they eat well, sleep well, and reproduce well. However, if their living conditions become too crowded, their behavior patterns and even their health perceptibly change. They cannot sleep or eat well, and signs of fear and tension become obvious. The more crowded they are, the more they tend to bite each other and even kill each other. Thus for rats, population and violence are directly related. Is this a natural law for human society as well? Is adequate space not only desirable, but also essential for human survival?

　　51. This passage is mainly about ______.

　　A) living space and behavior

　　B) population and living conditions

　　C) interesting experiments on rats

　　D) a natural law for human society

　　52. What is the purpose of the experiments described in the passage?

　　A) To determine how much living space a rat needs.

　　B) To see what happens when rats live in a limited space.

　　C) To know the likely effects of inadequate living space on human beings.

　　D) To find out the relationship between population and living conditions.

　　53. How would rats behave when their living conditions become too crowded?

　　A) They eat a lot and become friendly to others.

　　B) They sleep little and act quite peacefully.

　　C) They eat little but sleep soundly.

　　D) They become nervous and tend to be war-like.

　　54. The passage suggests that overcrowded conditions ______.

　　A) are directly related with population

　　B) may cause an increase in violence

　　C) may lead to high birth rate

　　D) may bring about pollution problems

　　Passage Two

　　Many people hope that the whole world will one day speak a common language. Over the Years, people have made up new languages with this aim. At least six hundred languages have been developed in the search for a language which all human beings would be able to speak. The most famous one, Esperanto ( 世界語) , was the idea of Ludwig Zamenhof, a doctor in Warsaw. He published a book about his new language in 1887.

　　To encourage people to learn the Language, he made it as simple as possible.

　　Esperanto has never been accepted as an official world language, but it has been suggested as an auxiliary language. By 1950 it had been taught to one and a half million speakers, and it was spoken in six hundred schools. Today Esperanto is spoken by about eight million people, and more than one hundred newspapers and magazines in the language are published regularly throughout the world. Thousands of books have been written in Esperanto, including those translated from other languages.

　　Today the need for a new auxiliary language like Esperanto seems less obvious. Throughout this century English has grown more and more important. It has become a second language for many millions of people. The fact that more are learning English shows that the use of English is still growing worldwide. No one would deny the usefulness of world language, but not many people think that Esperanto is likely to play such a role.

　　55. Over the years, people have made up new languages in the hope that ______.

　　A) all people will be able to speak a common language

　　B) people will learn a foreign language better

　　C) people can understand each other better

　　D) people will be able to speak several languages

　　56. Zamenhof made the language as simple as possible because ______.

　　A) he wanted people to learn it quickly

　　B) he hoped more and more people would be willing to learn it

　　C) he wanted everyone to speak it without any difficulty

　　D) he hoped it would be accepted as an official world language

　　57. Which of the following is NOT true of English?

　　A) It is widely taught in schools.

　　B) It has become a second language for many millions of people.

　　C) Many books have been written in English.

　　D) It is less popular than Esperanto.

　　58. What is the best title of the passage?

　　A) The language made by one man.

　　B) A talk about the world language.

　　C) English as a second language for everyone.

　　D) Esperanto—a better language than English.

　　Passage Three

　　After the violent earthquake that shook Los Angeles in 1994, earthquake scientists had news to report: The damage and death toll could have been much worse.

　　More than 60 people died in this earthquake. By comparison, an earthquake of similar intensity that shook America in 1988 claimed 25 ,000 victims.

　　Injuries and deaths were relatively less in Los Angeles because the quake occurred at 4:31 a. m. on a holiday, when traffic was light on the city’s highways. In addition, changes made to the construction codes in Los Angeles during the last 20 years have strengthened the city ’ s buildings and highways, making them more resistant to quakes.

　　Despite the good news, civil engineers aren’t resting on their successes. Pinned to their drawing boards are blueprints for improved quake - resistant buildings. The new designs should offer even greater security to cities where earthquakes often take place.

　　In the past, making structures quake - resistant meant firm yet flexible materials, such as steel and wood, that bend without breaking. Later, people tried to lift a building off its foundation, and insert rubber and steel between the building and its foundation to reduce the impact of ground vibrations. The most recent designs give buildings brains as well as concrete and steel supports. Called smart buildings, the structures respond like living organisms to an earthquake’s vibrations. When the ground shakes and the building tips forward, the computer would force the building to shift in the opposite direction.

　　The new smart structures could be very expensive to build. However, they would save many lives and would be less likely to be damaged during earthquakes.

　　59. One reason why the loss of lives in the Los Angeles earthquake was comparatively low was that ______.

　　A) new computers had been installed in the buildings

　　B) it occurred in the residential areas rather than on the highways

　　C) large numbers of Los Angeles residents had gone for a holiday

　　D) improvements had been made in the construction of buildings and highways

　　60. The function of the computer mentioned in the passage is to ______.

　　A) counterbalance an earthquake’s action on the building

　　B) predict the coming of an earthquake with accuracy

　　C) help strengthen the foundation of the building

　　D) measure the impact of an earthquake’ s vibrations

　　61. It can be inferred from the passage that in minimizing the damage caused by earthquakes attention should be focused on ______.

　　A) the increasing use of rubber and steel in capital construction

　　B) the development of flexible building materials

　　C) the reduction of the impact of ground vibrations

　　D) early forecasts of earthquakes

　　62. The main purpose of this passage is mostly to______.

　　A) compare the consequences of the earthquakes that occurred in the U. S.

　　B) encourage civil engineers to make extensive use of computers

　　C) outline the history of the development of quake - resistant building materials

　　D) report new developments in constructing quake - resistant building

　　Section B

　　Directions; Match the Chinese sentences in the left column with the English in the right column, mark the corresponding letter on the Answer with a single line through the centre.

63. 首先，他如此努力工作并非只為了錢，他一心為了教育青年人并設(shè)法激勵他們在各方面取得進步。		A) The desire to keep the respect of a good name propelled me to become the first in our family to go to college.
64. 要保持好名聲多贏得的那份尊重，這一渴求促使我成為全家第一個上大學(xué)的人。		B) Shielding children from the knowledge that they have failed is anything but beneficial to their development.
65. 我們必須喚醒人們認識到環(huán)境保護的重要性。否則，就為時太晚了。		C) We must waken people to the importance of environmental protection. Or it will be too late.
66.庇護孩子不讓他們知道自己已經(jīng)失敗對于他們的成長是絕對無益的。		D) To start with, it is not only money that he works so hard. He is committed to educating the young and tries to motivate them to get ahead in life.
67.現(xiàn)在回想起來，他是故意不讓我們知道，免得掃了大家的興。		A)The only thing neighbor have in common to begin with is proximity, and unless something more develops, that isn’t reason enough to be best friends.
68.盡管他對擁有這份體面的工作心存感激，但是他并不真正認為具有寫作天才的人一定能夠教書。		B)As I look back, it's clear that he had deliberately kept all of that hidden from us to avoid spoiling our fun.
69.對于一個靦腆的人而言，他愛交際的慷慨精神尤其難能可貴。		C)Though grateful for gentle employment, he didn’t really see who had a gift for writing should necessarily be able to teach.
70. 一開始，鄰居們唯一的公共點就是住得近，只有進一步發(fā)展關(guān)系，才有足夠的理由成為最好的朋友。		D)For a shy man, his gregarious generosity of spirit was remarkable.