Passage Three

　　The war had begun, and George had joined the air force. He wanted to be a pilot and after some months he managed to get to the air force training school, where they taught pilots to fly.

　　There, the first thing that new students had to do was to be taken up in a plane by an experienced pilot, to give them some ideas what it felt like. Even those who had traveled as passengers in commercial (商業(yè)的) airline planes before found it strange to be in the cockpit (駕駛艙)of a small fighter plane, and most of the students felt nervous.

　　The officer who had to take the students up for their first flight allowed them to fly the plane for a few seconds if they wanted to and if they were not too frightened to try, but he was always ready to take over as soon as the plane started to do dangerous things.

　　George was one of those who took over the controls of the plane when he went up in it for the first time, and after the officer had taken them from him again. George thought that he had better ask a few questions to show how interested he was and how much he wanted to learn to fly. There were a number of instruments (儀表) in front of him, so he chose one and asked the officer what it was. The officer looked at him strangely for a moment and then answered, “That is the clock.”

　　44. George went to the air force training school because he wanted .

　　A. to fight the war C. to be a pilot B. to fly D. to be a passenger

　　45. The first thing George did at the training school was .

　　A. to take an experienced pilot in a plane

　　B. to be taken up into the air in a plane by an officer

　　C. to fly a commercial plane

　　D. to talk about his ideas

　　46. The officer allowed .

　　A. the students to fly the plane all the time

　　B. all students to fly the plane

　　C. the students who were not frightened to fly on their own

　　D. some students to fly a little while

　　47. George asked the question because he wanted to show that he was

　　A. interesting B. not nervous D. eager to learn C. different

　　Passage Four

　　Every culture and every country in the world celebrates New Year, but not everyone does it the same way. The countries in North America and Europe welcome New Year on January the first. This practice began with the Romans in the Middle East, New Year is when spring begins. People in China and Vietnam celebrate it on the first day of the Spring Festival, which is the first day of their calendar based on the moon.

　　Rosh Hashana, which is the Jewish (猶太人的) New Year, comes at the end of summer. The Hindus (印度教教徒) in India celebrate the first day of each season, so they have four New Years.

　　In all these cultures, there is a practice of making noise. People made noise in ancient times to drive away the evil spirits (妖精) from their homes. Today making noise is more of a custom than a religious ritual (宗教儀式).

　　In the United States, many people stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve to watch the clock pass from one year to the next. Friends often gather together at a party on New Year's Eve, and when the new year comes, all ring bells, blow whistles, sing songs, and kiss each other. A favorite Scottish song which everyone sings together is Auld Lang Syne. The words tell of old friends and good times.

　　In all cultures, New Year's Day is a time when people think of new beginnings. They want to make the coming year better than the last one. Many people in the United States make New Year resolutions. These are specific promises that they make to improve their behavior, change their habits, and become better people. There are many jokes about how a person keeps his or her New Year resolutions.

　　48. In ancient times, the practice of making noise was meant .

　　A. to keep the evil spirits away B. to have fun

　　C. to celebrate the coming of the new year D. to keep to a custom

　　49. Auld Lang Syne is .

　　A. a Scottish song which says good-bye to old friends

　　B. a Scottish song that welcomes the coming of the new year

　　C. a song sung by the Scottish people only

　　D. a Scottish song remembering old friends and good times

　　50. A New Year resolution is .

　　A. made to begin a new year

　　B. a promise to make a joke

　　C. a decision to improve oneself and make one a better person

　　D. to be kept for the New Year's Day only

　　51. The Jewish New Year most probably comes between .

　　A. July and September B. October and December

　　C. January and March D. April and June

　　Passage Five

　　In order to learn a foreign language well, it is necessary to overcome the fear of making mistakes. If the primary goal (目標(biāo)) of language use is communication (交際) , then mistakes are secondary considerations that may be dealt with gradually. On the other hand, students should not ignore their mistakes. The language learner may observe how native speakers express themselves, and how native expressions differ from the way the learner might say them. For example, a Spanish speaker who has been saying “I do it” to express willingness to do something in the immediate future, could, by communicating with native speakers of English observe that native speakers actually say “I'll do it”. The result can serve as a basis for the student to change his way of using the present tense in English. But a student who is unwilling to communicate in the first place would lose this opportunity to learn by trial and error.

　　52. According to the passage, the present tense in English is

　　A. not used to express one's readiness to do something in the immediate future

　　B. used with some verbs but not with others to express future intention

　　C. basically the same in English as it is in Spanish

　　D. not the most difficult problem for foreign' students

　　53. According to the passage, language learners can reduce the number of their mistakes by .

　　A. asking native speakers for explanations

　　B. reading good books in the foreign language

　　C. comparing their speech with that of native speakers

　　D. paying no attention to them while speaking

　　54. According to the passage, foreign language students should not worry too much about making mistakes .because

　　A. native speakers, like foreign students, also try hard to learn their language

　　B. communication is the primary goal of language learning

　　C. native speakers will ignore their mistakes

　　D. everyone makes mistakes in speaking a strange language

　　55. The author's major conclusion about mistakes in foreign language learning is that .

　　A. mistakes are not important in the process of learning a language

　　B. learners are often very afraid of making mistakes

　　C. making mistakes can help the learner discover the rules

　　D. native speakers often do not tell foreign language learners about their mistakes