II. SPEED READING

　　Skim or scan the following passages, and then decide on the best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points, 1 point each)

　　Passage 5

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

　　Potatoes are a tuber-producing crop originally grown in the Americas. Over 200 varieties of wild potatoes grow from what is now Colorado to what are now Chile and Argentina. The native peoples of the Andean region of South America were the first to domesticate potatoes and to cultivate them as a food crop. The earliest potato, found in an archaeological site in central Peru, has been dated back to about 8000 B.C.. Scientists believe that American Indians began domesticating potatoes at the end of the Ice Age. Four thousand years later, native peoples living

　　in the Andean highlands had begun to rely on potatoes as a major part of their diet. By about 2000 B.C.. Indians in the coastal region of what is now Peru were also cultivating this crop extensively.

　　During the reign of the Inca, who established their empire in what is now Peru in about A.D. 1000, American Indian farmers were growing not only white potatoes but red, yellow, black, blue, green, and brown ones as well. They were deliberately developing potatoes of varying sizes and shapes that would do well under a number of growing conditions. Because potatoes were easily grown, flourish in a number of climates, and high in vitamin C, they were an efficient way of meeting dietary needs.

　　In 1531, when Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro landed in what is now Peru, the native Andean peoples had developed about 3,000 types of potatoes and had also invented a method to freeze-dry them for storage. The Inca, who called potatoes papas, ate boiled potatoes as a vegetable and also made a kind of unleavened potato bread made from flour that had been ground from freeze-dried potatoes. They also added this potato flour to soups and stews and made porridge from it.

　　Pedro de Cieza, who traveled with Francisco Pizarro's expedition, compared potatoes to chestnuts. Because the tubers grew underground and were small, the Spaniards believed potatoes were truffles (塊菌) and began calling them tartuffo. When English explorer Sir Francis Drake crossed the Strait of Magellan, he ate potatoes on the coast of what is now Chile that same year. Yet, historians are uncertain exactly whether the Spaniards or the English brought potatoes to Europe.

　　21. The earliest potato was found in ______.

　　A. Peru B. Chile

　　C. Argentina D. Colorado

　　22. Potatoes became the major source of food for American Indians about ______.

　　A. 8000 B.C. B. 4000 B.C.

　　C. 2000 B.C. D.A.D. 1000

　　23. American Indians developed potatoes of different sizes and shapes to ______.

　　A. meet different dietary needs

　　B. get potatoes of different colors

　　C. suit various growing conditions

　　D. store them in convenient places

　　24. American Indians freeze-dried potatoes so that they could be ______.

　　A. stewed B. ground

　　C. stored D. boiled

　　25. Which of the following is true?

　　A. Historians believe that the English brought potatoes to Europe.

　　B. Sir Francis Drake ate potatoes in what is now Peru.

　　C. Francisco Pizarro compared potatoes to chestnuts.

　　D. The Spaniards thought that potatoes were truffles.

　　Passage 6

　　Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

　　The blogging craze of a couple of years ago, when it was estimated that ten new blogs were started somewhere in the world every minute, now seems to have died down a bit. Yet thousands of blogs—probably the better ones—remain. Blogs are now no longer seen as the exclusive possession of geeks, and are now seen as important and influential sources of news and opinions. So many people read blogs now that it has even been suggested that some blogs may have been powerful enough to influence the result of the recent U.S. election.

　　Blogs are very easy to set up. All you need is a computer, an internet connection and the desire to write something. A blog differs from a traditional internet site in two ways. First, a blog is one page consisting mostly of texts, though a few pictures are sometimes provided. Second, and more importantly, a blog is a space for people to respond to what you write. The best blogs are similar to online discussions, where people write in response to what the blogger has written. Blogs are regularly updated—busy blogs are updated every day, or even every few hours.

　　Not all blogs are about politics, however. There are blogs about music, films, sports, books—any subject you can imagine has its enthusiasts typing away and giving their opinions to fellow enthusiasts or anyone else who cares to read their opinions.

　　But how influential, or important, is the blogosphere really? One problem with blogs is that many people who read and write them seem only to communicate with each other. When people talk about the influence of the blogosphere, they do not take into account the millions of people around the world who are not bloggers, never read blogs, and don't even have access to a computer, let alone a good internet connection.

　　Sometimes, it seems that the blogosphere exists only to influence itself, or that its influence is limited to what is actually quite a small community. Blogs seem to promise a virtual democracy—in which anyone can say anything they like, and have their opinions heard—but who is actually listening to these opinions? Little hard evidence shows that blogs have influenced people in the way that traditional mass media such as television and newspapers are able to do.

　　26. Now the blogging craze ______.

　　A. is emerging B. has become less intense

　　C. keeps rising D. remains the same as before

　　27. Blogs differ from traditional internet sites in that ______.

　　A. texts are mostly short B. they present pictures

　　C. they are daily updated D. readers can make comments

　　28. One problem with blogs is that bloggers fail to consider ______.

　　A. non-bloggers B. virtual democracy

　　C. U.S. politicians D. internet connection

　　29. In the author's opinion, the influence of the blogosphere is ______.

　　A. important B. powerful

　　C. positive D. limited

　　30. According to the author, it is not difficult to ______.

　　A. set up blogs

　　B. make blogs involve everyone

　　C. show the importance of blogosphere

　　D. make blogs surpass traditional mass media