二、閱讀理解

　　Much of the world’s coffee is grown in Brazil. Not long ago an unseasonable frost swept through coffee plantations there. The result affected people in many countries for a long time to come.

　　At first, reports of serious damage were received. These led to a sharp rise in the price of coffee, which had not been a highly profitable crop. Growers in other countries made extra efforts to increase their exports to profit from the expected shortage. However, they were hampered by smugglers who wished to avoid government controls. The price of coffee fell slightly.

　　Then large restaurants and hotels began to buy coffee to build up stocks for future use. The price rose sharply and public resistance developed. Housewives organized a boycott of coffee. This led to a rise in the price of tea and a fall in the price of coffee. Much to the dismay of growers, the price fell sharply. Their response was rather surprising. Instead of selling their stocks of coffee, they began to buy on the open market. Their motive was clear. They wanted to force the price of coffee up, and one way of doing this was to reduce the amount of coffee available for sale to the public.

　　Luckily for coffee-drinkers, this move failed. Restaurants and hotels stopped buying coffee. Large numbers of small growers had to sell their crops to keep alive. The large growers found that they were buying more coffee than they were growing. They abandoned their efforts and let the normal law of supply and demand decided the price. Meanwhile, millions of people had changed to cheaper drinks and would not switch back to coffee.(10分)

　　16). Who suffered most from the recent unseasonable frost?(2分)

　　(A) The restaurants and hotels.

　　(B) The coffee growers in Brazil.

　　(C) Smugglers.

　　(D) The coffee growers in other countries.

　　參考答案：B

　　17). Financially, who gained most from the crop failure in Brazil?(2分)

　　(A) the public as a whole.

　　(B) The coffee growers in Brazil.

　　(C) The housewives.

　　(D) The coffee growers in other countries

　　參考答案：D

　　18). This passage mainly deals with _______ .(2分)

　　(A) the effect of weather on a crop such as coffee

　　(B) the housewives’ reaction to the rise in the price of coffee

　　(C) the reasons for changes in the price of coffee

　　(D) the methods the coffee growers adopted to raise the price of coffee

　　參考答案：C

　　19). the outcome of the changes in the price of coffee was that _______ .(2分)

　　(A) the demand for coffee decreased

　　(B) there was a fall in the price of tea

　　(C) many people switched back to coffee

　　(D) the growers decided not to grow coffee in future

　　參考答案：A

　　20). Which of the following factors made the coffee price fall?(2分)

　　(A) The building up of stocks by restaurants and hotels.

　　(B) The reducing amount of coffee available for sale.

　　(C) The boycott of coffee organized by housewives.

　　(D) The news of the great damage caused by the bad weather.

　　參考答案：C

　　The process by means of which human beings can arbitrarily make certain things stand for other tings may be called the symbolic process.

　　Everywhere we turn, we see the symbolic process at work. Stripes on the sleeve can be made to stand for military rank; rings of gold or pieces of paper can stand for wealth; crossed sticks can stand for a set of religious beliefs. There are few thing that men do or want to do, possess or want to possess, that have not, in addition to their mechanical or biological value, a symbolic value.

　　All fashionable clothes are highly symbolic: materials, cut, and ornament are dictated only to a slight degree by considerations of warmth, comfort or practicability. The more we dress up in fine clothes, the more we restrict our freedom of action.

　　Food is also highly symbolic. Specific foods are used to symbolize specific festivals. For example, moon cakes are eaten to celebrate the Chinese mid-autumn festival as the Chinese think that on the Mid-Autumn Day (August 15th of the lunar year), the moon is at its brightest.

　　We select our furniture to serve as visible symbols of our taste, wealth, and social position. We trade in perfectly good cars for later models not always to get better transportation, but to give evidence to the community that we can afford it.

　　I once had an eight-year-old car in good running condition. A friend of mine, a repairman who knew the condition of the car, kept urging me to trade it for a new model. “But why?” I asked, “The old car’s in fine shape still.” The repairman answered scornfully, “Yeah, but what the hell. All you’ve got is transportation.”

　　Recently, the term “transportation car” has begun to appear in advertisements, for example, “4B Dodge----Runs perfectly well: transportation car. Leaving, must sell. $100”. Apparently it means a car that has no symbolic value and is good only for getting you there and bringing you back----a poor kind of vehicle indeed!(10分)

　　21). According to the passage, people dress themselves in fashionable clothes chiefly to _____(2分)

　　(A) comfort and warm themselves

　　(B) display their well-developed figures

　　(C) restrict their freedom of action

　　(D) show that they are rich enough to buy them

　　參考答案：D

　　22). Nowadays people often sell their old cars in good running condition and buy new ones _____(2分)

　　(A) just to hold more people

　　(B) because they want to celebrate specific festivals

　　(C) just to show their wealth

　　(D) because they are moving to a new place

　　參考答案：C

　　23). The term “transportation car” we now often come across in advertisements refers to a car which _____(2分)

　　(A) is made by a transport company

　　(B) transports goods only

　　(C) has only practical value

　　(D) is transported by other vehicles

　　參考答案：C

　　24). According to the writer, people eat specific food at specific time simply to ____(2分)

　　(A) show their high social position

　　(B) keep themselves healthy

　　(C) celebrate a certain traditional occasion

　　(D) prove that they are wealthy

　　參考答案：C

　　25). In the last paragraph of the passage, “Leaving, must sell.” Means that ______(2分)

　　(A) the advertiser is on his way to the market for selling his car

　　(B) the car has not any symbolic value at all

　　(C) the car is ready to leave and has to be sold

　　(D) the owner is going to leave the place so he has to sell the car

　　參考答案：D

　　In the past twenty years, there has been an increasing tendency for workers to move from one country to another. While some newly independent countries have understandably restricted most jobs to local people, other countries have attracted and welcomed migrant workers. This is particularly the case in the Middle East, where increased oil incomes have enabled many countries to call in outsiders to improve local facilities. Thus the Middle East has attracted oil-workers from the U.S.A. and Europe. It has brought in construction workers and technicians from many countries, including South Korea and Japan.

　　In view of the difficult living and working conditions in the Middle East, it is not surprising that the pay is high to attract suitable workers. Many engineers and technicians can earn at least twice as much money in the Middle East as they can in their own country, and this is a major attraction. An allied benefit is the low taxation or complete lack of it. This increases the net amount of pay received by visiting workers and is very popular with them.

　　Sometimes a disadvantage has a compensating advantage. For example, the difficult living conditions often lead to increased friendship when workers have to depend on each other for safety and comfort. In a similar way, many migrant workers can save large sums of money partly because of the lack of entertainment facilities. The work is often complex and full of problems but this merely presents an increased challenge to engineers who prefer to find solutions to the problems rather than do routine work in their own country.

　　One major problem which affects migrant workers in the Middle East is that their jobs are temporary ones. They are nearly always on contract, so it is not easy for them to plan ahead with great confidence. This is to be expected, since no country welcomes a large number of foreign workers as permanent residents. In any case, migrant workers accept this disadvantage, along with others, because of the considerable financial benefits which they receive.(10分)

　　26). The countries in the Middle East have welcomed migrant workers because_______.(2分)

　　(A) they can’t find enough hands in their own countries

　　(B) they can save money by employing migrant workers

　　(C) they want the migrant workers to help to improve their facilities

　　(D) they can increase their incomes by employing migrant workers

　　參考答案：C

　　27). What attracts the visiting workers most in the Middle East is _____(2分)

　　(A) the fast-developing economy there

　　(B) the high pay with low taxation

　　(C) the working conditions

　　(D) the entertainment facilities

　　參考答案：B

　　28). Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?(2分)

　　(A) To attract suitable workers from foreign countries the work should be easy.

　　(B) Migrant workers usually have good working conditions in a foreign country.

　　(C) Migrant workers spend a lot of money in a foreign country.

　　(D) The number of migrant workers has been increasing year after year.

　　參考答案：D

　　29). The migrant workers have established a friendly relationship among themselves because ____(2分)

　　(A) they come from the same country

　　(B) they have to help each other to cope with difficult living conditions

　　(C) they often go to the entertainment facilities together

　　(D) they are all engineers and technicians

　　參考答案：B

　　30). According to the writer, engineers like to do work which is _____(2分)

　　(A) routine

　　(B) complicated

　　(C) easy

　　(D) temporary

　　參考答案：B