Part I. Grammar and vocabulary：

Please write down your answers in the spaces given below.

1. ________ 2. ________ 3. ________ 4. ________5.________

6. ________ 7. ________ 8. ________ 9._______ 10.________

11.________ 12.________ 13.________ 14.________ 15.________

16.________ 17.________ 18.________ 19.________ 20.________

21.________ 22.________ 23.________ 24.________ 25.________

21.________ 22.________ 23.________ 24.________ 25.________

31.________ 32.________ 33.________ 34.________ 35.________

36.________ 37.________ 38.________ 39.________ 40.________

41.________ 42.________ 43.________ 44.________ 45.________

46.________ 47.________ 48.________ 49._______ 50.________

51.________ 52.________ 53.________ 54.________ 55.________

56.________ 57.________ 58.________ 59.________ 60.________

61.________ 62.________ 63.________ 64.________ 65.________

66.________ 67.________ 68.________ 69._______ 70.________

71.________ 72.________ 73.________ 74.________ 75.________

1. According to the announcement, the U.S. Government has never made an official request to the Indonesian Government on the issue. The claim was later verified by a (n) ____of the report by U.S. White House and the Defense Department.

A. refusal B. denial C. objection D. rejection

2. Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been ____or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism.

A. charged B. accused C. criticized D. condemned

3. Washington did not finally ____diplomatic relations with Cuba until January 3. 1961.

A. breaking out B. breaking in

C. breaking through D. breaking off

4. It is not the author's business to ____, but to give a real, historical picture of life.

A. support B. preach C. view D. regard

5. The broad aim of the conference was that experts working in the same technical area should meet to exchange____.

A. experiment B. exposition C. expertise D. emotion

6. She watched him ___all the handles and gears in his automobile until she thought she could run it herself.

A. modulate B. incorporate C. manipulate D. induce

7. Mutual respect for territorial____ is one of the bases upon which our two countries develop relationships.

A. integrity B. unity C. entirety D. reliability

8. Life was ____for her because she was kept busy with the grammar exercises for the whole summer vacation; she couldn't do what she liked to do.

A. colorful B. monotonous C. mortal D. encouraging

9. Although most dreams apparently happen____, dream activity may be provoked by external influences.

A. instantaneously B. homogeneously /P>

C. simultaneously D. spontaneously

10. We found a land whose tasks ____the deepest and best we had; and we built a nation, mighty and feared.

A. called forth B. called at

C. called on D. called off

11. Although the playwright Ben Johnson was not highly regarded by most Elizabethans of his day, a few scholars of that time felt deep respect for his work and ____ many of his plays.

A. destroyed B. preserved C. reserved D. conserved

12. The first primitive fish had lungs; in most of their descendants, these organs have ____into swim bladders.

A. merged B. combined C. stretched D. evolved

13. Diego Rivera was one of the most____ painters of the modern Mexican mural movement. Generation of young artists with his bold, dramatic forms.

A. famous ...displacing B. observant...replacing

C. influential...inspiring D. antagonistic... prompting

14. He was the chief ____ of his uncle's will. After taxes, he was left with an inheritance of $20000000.

A. beneficiary B. pensioner C. contestant D. winner

15. The Thanksgiving tradition in North America is more____ than any other: people of all ages, religions, and ethnic backgrounds commemorate this occasion by giving thanks for, bountiful harvest.

A. perpetual B. pertinent C. preventive D. pervasive

16. When levels of income are very low, the most elementary aspirations for human existence and improvement are____.

A. prevented B. frustrated C. prohibited D. accomplished

17. Many workmen paid with their lives for the rashness____ in these dangerous labors.

A. interior B. inherent C. inside D. inner

18. Many may destroy the balance of nature, but from time to time, nature takes a terrible____.

A. attack B. threat C. revenge D. lesson

19. One new ____to learning a foreign language is to study the language in its cultural context.

A. manner B. solution C. approach D. road

20. People innately____ for superiority over their peers although it sometimes takes the form of an exaggerated lust for power.

A. strive B. ascertain C. justify D. adhere

21. The early feminist leader Susan B, Anthony became increasingly aware through her work in the temperance movement____ the same rights as men.

A. women were not granted that B. that women were not granted

C. not granted women that were D. that were not granted women

22. Coinciding with the development of jazz in New Orleans in the 1920's____ in blues music.

A. was one of the greatest periods B. one of the greatest periods

C. was of the greatest periods D. the greatest periods

23. ____that Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring was one of the chief sources of inspiration for the development of nontoxic pesticides.

A. There is likely B. Likely to be

C. It is likely D. Likely

24. That was so serious a matter that I had no choice but____ the police.

A. called in B. calling in C. call in D. to call in

25. Seals appear clumsy on the land,____ are able to move short distances faster than most people can run.

A. which they B. but they C. they D. which

26. ____is a narrow strip of woods along a stream in an grassland

A. Ecologists use the term "gallery forest"

B. What do ecologists call a "gallery forest"

C. "Gallery forest" is the term ecologists use

D. What ecologists call a "gallery forest"

27. ____ in cases where special oxidants are used, fires are the result of a fuel rapidly combining with the oxygen in the air.

A. Except B. Even though C. Except for D. Rather than

28. Agriculture is the country's chief source of wealth, wheat____ by far the biggest cereal crop.

A. is B. been C. be D. being

29. There is no greater work incentive than ____see that your effort has a power payoff.

A．being able to B. to be able to

C. is able to D. be able to

30. The art of the 1970's was characterized by diversity and by the independence of artists____ main affinities were more often sociopolitical than stylistic.

A. that B. they have C. whose D. of which

31. Wright, an African-American author, is____ among the distinguished American writers of twentieth century.

A. indisputable B. insolubly C. arguably D. unexpectedly

32. The moon was hidden and the night had grown very dark; she had to____ to see.

A. mask B. strain C. reflect D. remember

33. The governor____ his club membership when he discovered that the club allow minority people to join.

A. announce B. renounce C. denounce D. condemn

34. It is the first of several agreements the United States hopes to reach as it attempts to reduce labor cost by $5.8billion and ____ bankruptcy.

A. avert B. transfer C. revert D. dispel

35. Two radar units_____ from huge balloons provide low-altitude coverage of the entire peninsula.

A. abridged B. deprived C. lessened D. suspended

36. The____ of gifted children into accelerated classes will start next week according to their academic performance.

A. specification B. spectrum C. segregation D. subscription

37. While they are concern about national and global issues, students also are cleaning up their own environments, starting in dorms and moving outward to campuses and____.

A. beyond B. apart C. over D. away

38. During the dinner conversation, it’s customary to_____ the hostess on the wonderful meal.

A. admire B. greet C. complement D. compliment

39. He was____ to withdraw this proposal from the manager for the construction of electronic factory there.

A. deserted B. expelled C. disgusted D. constrained

40. The tutorial system at Oxford and Cambridge is the____ of many universities in the world.

A. jealousy B. regret C. envy D. sorrow

41. Speaking on Monday, Miss Cooper said development for youths and women remains a concern in every ____ of the country and Grand Bassa is no exception.

A. life B. district C. quarter D. region

42. To many of this people, ___as they are, the great loss is the loss of language---that they can not say what is in them.

A. articulate B. smart C. distinct D. presentable

43. The recent economic crisis has brought about a ____ in world trade. Our government is trying its best to control the situation

A. discount B. slump C. flat D. lift

44. When he was asked to take charge of the department, he frankly said that the department was so large that he didn’t ____ the job.

A. feel up to B. feel like to

C. feel up at D. feel like for

45. The result of the investigation is highly____. No one can have access to it except the executive of the company.

A. conclusive B. confidential C. complicated D. considerate

46. Political cartoons often convey messages by mocking a particular type of ___ or institution.

A. man B. person C. personality D. people

47. If I were you, I would now____ the marriage _____ instead of letting it drag along like this.

A. bring… to the end B. take …to an end

C. carry…to a close D. bring …to a close

48. The survivors from a fire ____ the complex designer for equipping with only two small exits in the hall, which was in fact a disaster waiting to happen.

A. renounced B. reprimanded C. appealed D. squinted

49. Under segregation there were even white restrooms and while drinking fountains, a lily-white movement which would____ Negros from the organization.

A. eject B. exclude C. expel D. exile

50. Every afternoon, hundreds of fisherman can be found along the sho9res of Sydney Harbor, participating in one of the country’s most popular____ activities.

A. insoluble B. pleasurable C. compatible D. accountable

51. Like the federal government, ______.

A. taxation provides most of the funds for states and local governments as well.

B. state and local government obtain most of their funds through taxation

C. through taxation is how state and local government obtain most of their funds

D. funds are provide from taxation and local government

52. Many countries face some serious problems of land use, _____ result from population growth and the demands of modern technological living.

A. most which B. which most C. most which D. most of which

53. Some diseases are easy to____ because their visible effects are characteristic and can be recognized immediately.

A. digest B. designate C. diagnose D. denote

54. A new study has found that lazy Saturday and Sunday lie-ins can disturb your body clock, leaving you ____at the start of the week.

A. fatigued B. exhaustive C. feasible D. futile

55. During a Broadway show, the contributions of the workers backstage are often____ by the more visible performances on stage.

A. perpetuated B. shrouded C. portrayed D. demonstrated

56. The boys were often in trouble at school, although their parents were convinced that they were ____children.

A. innovative B. mischievous C. exemplary D. listless

57. Though the outlaw (歹徒)____ he would never be taken alive, he submitted without a struggle when the police arrived.

A. boasted B. declaimed C. denied D. defended

58. The editor claimed that great effort was being expended to check each fact, lest the book be ____because of inaccurate details.

A. revived B. challenged C. revised D. clarified

59. During the last four decades of Tennyson's long life, his creative powers never ____; some of his most remarkable work coming after the age of 70.

A. flagged B. recovered C. blossomed D. broadened

60. Because a circle has no beginning or end, the wedding ring is a symbol of____ love.

A. prominent B. extravagant C. eternal D. dominant

61. When the couple was saving money to buy house, they had to _____ pennies.

A. nod B. plunge C. pinch D. spray

62. Most of the wood was so rotten when they pulled that it_____ into a shower of fragments and woodlice.

A. broke away B. broke off

C. broke up D. broke through

63. Last Monday evening at 21:30 there was a _____ explosion at the other side of the square.

A. hasty B. terrific C. conspicuous D. remarkable

64. Some trichologists (毛发学研究者)argue that excessively _____hair can be caused by drinking too much milk, milkshakes and yogurt drinks.

A. greasy B. slippery C. waxy D. sticky

65. Poets sometimes ______to making use of strange language in their works to express their feelings.

A. proceed B. appeal C. incline D. resort

66. Mrs. White _____in her leather handbag till she collected exactly the correct change for admission.

A. felt B. searched C. found D. rummaged

67. The children managed to _____under the fence and got into the festival without paying.

A. compress B. squeeze C. hug D. huddle

68. In stormy weather considerable amounts of sea_____ can be dispersed into the air and it can be blown several kilometers inland.

A. foam B. surf C. spray D. lather

69. I am convinced that natural selection has been the main but not the _____means of modification.

A. exclusive B. excessive C. excluding D. extinct

70. The speaker _____his knowledge of the subject by his excellent presentation, so we all understood well.

A. enlightened B. dealt C. demonstrated D. illuminated

71. I’m not interested in any football team at all. Whether your favorite football team will win a matter of _____to me.

A. indifference B. discrimination C. deviation D. interests

72. The police searched the building _____but failed to find out where the bomb was.

A. together B. exactly C. altogether D. thoroughly

73. If you try to read small print and see only a_____, you probably need glasses.

A. mess B. blur C. mixture D. patch

74. How can we make it_____ to them for all the worry we've caused them

A. off B. for C. out D. up

75. The manager always tries to encourage people to_____ up with their own ideas to approach problems.

A. put B. come C. take D. use

Part II. Translate the following sentences:

Please write down your answers in the spaces given below.

1. 他粗鲁地对我吼道：“咱们得先弄清楚一件事一一在这儿得听我的， 懂吗？ ”（ to get sth. straight)

_______________________________________________________________________

2. 欧文对于失去那次为残疾人捐款的机会感到很惭愧。（to feel ashamed of)

_______________________________________________________________________

3. 理查德、买这套房子时， 地毯和窗帘是赠送的， 不另收费。（ to throw in）

_______________________________________________________________________

4. 我们都以为他在飞机失事中丧生了， 但三天以后， 他却安然无恙地出现了。（safe and sound）

_______________________________________________________________________

5. 明天早上要下雨， 至少天气预报是这样说的。（ at any rate )

_______________________________________________________________________

6. 除了正常的打字员工作以外， 她还给一位邻居照着接手。（ on top of sth.)

_______________________________________________________________________

7. 去年我本来有个去哈弗大学深造的机会， 可是我放弃了， 现在我为错过了那个机会而自责不已。（to kick onself）

_______________________________________________________________________

8. 这个村子的农民头半年靠养蚕生活， 后半年在种地生捐。（ to live off )

_______________________________________________________________________

9. 每次从父亲那儿要东西， 她总是很有办法， 知道如何说服他。（ to get around sb.)

_______________________________________________________________________

10. 他是一个自立、自强的人， 并为此而感到骄败。因此，只要一想起女儿要嫁给一个不名一文的穷鬼，他就心烦。（to one’s name）

_______________________________________________________________________

11. 他的亲戚和朋友都为他通过了这次入学考试向他表示祝贺。（to congratulate sb. on)

_______________________________________________________________________

12. 每当有紧急任务要完成时，他们都毫不犹豫地投入工作。（to pitch in)

_______________________________________________________________________

13. 在这种情况下，像我们这样的小公司除了跟在别人的后面跑以外别无选择。（have no choice but to do)

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Part III Reading Comprehension

Please write down your answers of the following two passages in the spaces given below

1. ________ 2. ________ 3. ________ 4. ________5.________

6. ________ 7. ________ 8. ________ 9._______ 10.________

11.________ 12.________ 13.________ 14.________ 15.________

16.________ 17.________ 18.________ 19.________ 20.________

21.________ 22.________ 23.________ 24.________ 25.________

Passage 1

There are a variety of ways to think about the self. Two of the most widely used terms are self-concept and self-esteem. Self-concept generally refers to the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that people hold about themselves, while self-esteem generally refers to how we feel about or how we value ourselves. There is a great deal of research which shows that the self-concept is, perhaps, the basis for all motivated behavior. It is the self-concept that gives rise to possible selves, and it is possible selves that create the motivation for behavior. Self-concept is related to self-esteem in that people who have good self-esteem have a clear self-concept. When people know themselves, they can maximize outcomes because they know what they can and cannot do. It would see, then, that one way to impact self-esteem is to obey the somewhat old cliché of “Know thyself.”

There are several different components of self-concept: physical, academic, social and transpersonal. The physical aspect of self-concept relates to that which is concrete: what we look like, our sex, height, weight, and what kind of clothes we wear. Our academic self-concept relates to how well we do in school or how well we learn. The social self-concept describes how we relate to other people and the transpersonal self-concept describes how we relate to other supernatural or unknown on an emotional or spiritual level.

Through self-reflection, people often come to view themselves in a new, more powerful way, and it is through this new, more powerful way of viewing the self that people can develop possible selves. We develop and maintain our self-concept by taking action and then reflecting on what we have done and what others tell us about what we have done. We reflect in comparison to our expectations and the expectations of others and to the characteristics and accomplishments of others. Self-concept, thus is developed by the individual through interaction with the environment and reflecting on that interaction. This dynamic aspect of self-concept is important because it indicates that it can be modified or changed.

1. It can be inferred from the text that __________.

A. the author believes most behavior is learned, not born with

B. the author doesn’t believe that one’s self-concept can change

C. self-concept and self-esteem are often mistaken for each other

D. the author has doubts about the idea that self-concept is the basis for behavior

2. The author’s attitude towards the ideas of “know thyself” is __________.

A. critical B. positive C. neutral D. mixed

3. One can conclude from the text that by developing good self-esteem people can __________.

A. improve their interactions immensely

B. begin improving their behavior

C. begin to develop a clear self-concept

D. correct deficiencies in their character

4. Which of the following would be identified as transpersonal self-concept?

A. Our concept of how interested we are in and how well we study supernatural topics.

B. Our knowledge of our strange intuition about people’s feelings.

C. Our understanding of how we relate to a god we believe in.

D. Our ability to explain odd and supernatural events.

5. The most appropriate title for the text would be __________.

A. The Characteristics of Self-Concept

B. The Changeability of Self-Concept

C. Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

D. New Research on Self-Concept

Passage 2

That man is an aggressive creature will hardly be disputed. With the exception of certain rodents（啮齿动物）, no other vertebrate（脊椎动物） habitually destroys members of his own species. No other animal takes positive pleasure in the exercise of cruelty upon another of his own kind. We generally describe the most disgusting examples of man's cruelty as brutal, implying by these adjectives that such behavior is characteristic of less highly developed animals than ourselves. In truth, however, the extremes of "brutal" behavior are confined to man; and there is no parallel in nature to our savage treatment of each other. The depressing fact is that we are the cruelest and most ruthless species that has ever walked the earth; and that, although we may shrink back in horror when we read in newspaper or history book of the brutalities committed by man upon man, we know in our hearts that each one of us harbors within ourselves those same savage impulses which lead to murder, to torture and to war.

To write about human aggression is a difficult task because the term is used in so many different senses. Aggression is one of those words which everyone knows, but which is nevertheless hard to define. As psychologists use it, it covers a very wide range of human behavior. The red-faced infant squalling for the bottle is being aggressive; and so is the judge who awards a thirty-year sentence for robbery. The guard in a concentration camp who tortures his helpless victim is obviously acting aggressively. Less manifestly, but no less certainly, so is the neglected wife who threatens or attempts suicide in order to regain her husband's affection. When a word becomes so diffusely applied that it is used both of the competitive striving of a footballer and also of the bloody violence of a murderer, it ought either to be dropped or else more closely defined. Aggression is a combined term which is fairly bursting at its junctions. Yet until we can more clearly designate and comprehend the various aspects of human behavior which are subsumed（把…归入） under this head, we cannot discard the concept.

One difficulty is that there is no clear dividing line between those forms of aggression which we all deplore and those which we must not disown（否认…同自己有关） if we are to survive. When a child rebels against authority it is being aggressive; but it is also manifesting a drive towards independence which is a necessary and valuable part of growing up. The desire for power has, in extreme form, disastrous aspects which we all acknowledged but the drive to conquer difficulties, or to gain mastery over the external world underlies the greatest of human achievements. Some writers define aggression as "that response which follows frustration", or as "an act whose goal- response is injury to an organism (or organism surrogate)". In the author's view these definitions impose limits upon the concept of aggression which are not in accord with the underlying facts of human nature which the word is attempting to express. It is worth noticing, for instance, that the words we use to describe intellectual effort are aggressive words. We attack problems, or get our teeth into them. We master a subject when we have struggled with and overcome its difficulties. We sharpen our wits, hoping that our mind will develop a keen edge in order that we may better divide a problem into its component parts. Although intellectual tasks are often frustrating, to argue that all intellectual effort is the result of frustration is to impose too negative a coloring upon the positive impulse to comprehend and master the external world.

6. According to the passage, man is unique in______.

A. regularly killing members of the same species

B. enjoying reading about brutalities

C. enjoying being cruel to members of the same species

D. gaining pleasure from watching acts of violence

7. The writer implies that people_____.

A. would be quite incapable of violence

B. are cruel in their everyday lives

C. are unmoved by acts of violence

D. possess the potential to commit acts of violence.

8. What does the writer say about “human aggression” in Paragraph 2?

A. It is easy to define because everyone knows it.

B. It can be used to describe a limited range of human behavior.

C. It is so imprecise as to be totally meaningless.

D. It covers an immense variety of human activity.

9. According to the writer, one problem with the concept of aggression is that_____.

A. it is such a deplorable characteristic of mankind

B. it is hard to say where the negative side ends and the positive begins

C. it is difficult to separate from the concept of frustration

D. it is very often seen in wholly negative terms

10. What is the writer’s opinion of the argument that aggression is the result of frustration?

A. It ignores the more positive aspects of aggression.

B. It underlines the harsh realities of human nature.

C. It is supported by evidence from the examination of intellectual power.

D. It corresponds very closely to observable human behavior against authority.

Passage 3

The typical style of hunting is familiar from Hemingway novels and common to the New England woods in October, in which a small band of men trek oft into the wild and stalk their prey, A deer or two at a time, But there is another way to get the job done known as "communal hunting", in which the entire group—women, men and children over a cliff or into a net or cul-de-sac（死胡同）.The Indians hunted bison this way before they acquired the horse—hence all .those "buffalo jumps" in the Canadian and American West and net hunting are the most productive hunting methods employed by the people of Congo today. When driving animals into a place where they can be slaughtered, noise is a positive help, whether the clashing of men's spears or the squeals （尖叫）of massed children.

But there was only indirect evidence of communal hunting in Paleolithic（旧石器时代的） times until archaeologist Olga Softer came across the clue that, it took a womanly eye to notice. While sifting through clay fragments from the Paleolithic site of Pavlov in what is now the Czech Republic, she found a series of parallel lines impressed on some of the clay surfaces evidence of woven fibers from about 25, 000 years ago. Intrigued to find signs of weaving from this early date, Softer and her colleagues examined 8, 400 more clay fragments from the same and nearby sites, eventually coming across a likely tool of the communal hunt—a mesh net. The entire theory of man—the hunter had been based on "durable media", Softer explains, meaning items like the sharpened stones that can serve as spearheads, rather than softer, biodegradable goods like baskets, fabrics and nets. But in archaeologically well-preserved prehistoric sites, such as those found underwater or in dry eaves, the soft goods predominate over the durable by a ratio of about 20 to 1. If the hard stuff was the work of men, then "we've been missing the children, the women, the old people?' she asserts. Thanks to Softer's sharp eye, Paleolithic net hunting is no longer invisible, and in net hunting. Softer says, "everybody participates."

Furthermore, as Mary Zeiss Stage points out in her 1997 book Woman the Hunter, there's no reason to rule out women's hunting with hard edge weapons too, perhaps even of their own making. Among the Tiwi aborigines（土著居民） of Australia hunting is considered women's work, and until the introduction of steel implements, it was done with handmade stone axes the women fashioned for themselves. By putting women's work back into the record, the new female evolutionary scientists may have helped rewrite the biography of the human race. At least we should prepare to welcome our bold and resourceful new ancestor, Xena the hunter princess.

11. The author cites Hemingway novels to exemplify that____.

A. men getting together for hunting is a common practice even nowadays

B. Hemingway is good at hunting

C. the Indians are good at hunting

D. children are important in hunting

12. The second paragraph of the passage mainly concerns____.

A. the findings of an archaeologist

B. the hunting methods of a prehistoric tribe

C. net hunting as a productive method

D. stones are important for hunting tools

13. The expression "the durable" in the second paragraph probably means things made____.

A. of wood B. of fabrics C. of stones or steel D. for hunting

14. In the last paragraph, the author says "By putting women's work back into the record" to mean that____.

A. women’s contribution should be emphasized

B. the women's work in hunting was once left out in history

C. the record of evolution is complete

D. the women's record is different from that of men

15. Among the following titles,____ could be the best title for the passage?

A. Hunting B. Woman the Hunter

C. Communal Hunting D. Communal and Woman Hunting

Passage 4

Are Americans today overworked? The following is excerpted from a book published in 1991 on the unexpected decline of leisure in American life.

Faith in progress is deep within our culture. We have been taught to believe that our lives are better than the lives of those who came before us. The ideology of modern economics suggests that material progress has yielded enhanced satisfaction and well-being. But much of our confidence about our own well being comes from the assumption that our lives are easier than those of earlier generations. I have already disputed the notion that we work less than medieval European peasants, however poor they may have been. The field research of anthropologists gives another view of the conventional wisdom.

The lives of so-called primitive peoples are commonly thought to be harsh—their existence dominated by the "incessant quest for food." In fact, primitives do little work. By contemporary standards, we'd have to judge them very lazy. If the Kapauku of Papua work one day, they do no labor on the next. Kung Bushmen put in only two and a half days per week and six hours per day. In the Sandwich Islands of Hawaii, men work only four hours per day. And Australian aborigines have similar schedules. The key to understanding why these "stone age peoples” fail to act like us—increasing their work effort to get more things—is that they have limited desires. In the race between wanting and having, they have kept their wanting low—and, in this way, ensure their own kind of satisfaction. They are materially poor by contemporary standards, but in at least one dimension-time-we have to count them richer.

I do not raise these issues to imply that we would be better off than Polynesian natives on medieval peasant. Nor am I arguing that "progress" has made us worse off. I am, instead, making a much simpler point. We have paid a price for prosperity. Capitalism has brought a dramatically increased standard of living, but at the cost of a much more demanding worklife. We are eating more, but we are burning up those calories at work. We have color televisions and compact disc players, but we need them to unwind after a stressful day at the office. We take vacations, but we work so hard throughout the year that they become indispensable to our sanity. The conventional wisdom that economic progress has given us more things as well as more leisure is difficult to sustain.

16. According to the author, we based our belief that American people today are well off on the assumption that_____.

A. American has always been the land of opportunity

B. Americans particularly deserve to be prosperous

C. people in the past have an inferior standard of living

D. people elsewhere envy the American way of life

17. The author regards “the conventional wisdom” in the last sentence of Paragraph 1 with_____.

A. resentment B. skepticism C. apprehension D. bewilderment

18. In the second paragraph, the Kapauku tribesmen and Kung Bushmen are presented as examples of_____.

A. noble savages with little sense of time

B. people who implicitly believe in progress

C. people unmotivated by desire for consumer goods

D. people obsessed by their constant search for food

19. The last four sentences of the passage provide____.

A. an example of the argument that has been proposed earlier

B. a series of assertions and qualifications with a conclusion

C. a reconciliation of two opposing viewpoints

D. a reversal of the author’s original position

20. The primary purpose of the passage is to ____.

A. dispute an assumption B. highlight a problem

C. ridicule a theory D. answer a criticism

Passage 5

In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won’t necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.

　　We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25% from 1929. But this doesn’t mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn’t afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.

　　Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.

　　After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book “The Unemployed Man and His Family”, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job “with tireless search for work.” He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.

　　The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale(士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.

　　Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.

　　Today’s economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably(无法弥补地)ruined. So it’s only when the economy is healthy again that we’ll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.

21. In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to __________.

A．tear many troubled families apart

B．bring about a drop in the divorce rate

C．contribute to enduring family ties

D．cause a lot of conflicts in the family

22. In the Great Depression many unhappy couples chose to stick together because_______.

A．starting a new family would be hard

B．they expected things would turn better

C．they wanted to better protect their kids

D．living separately would be too costly

23. In addition to job losses. What stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce?

A．Mounting family debts

B．A sense of insecurity

C．Falling housing prices

D．Difficulty in getting a loan

24. What will the current economic crisis eventually do to some married couples?

A．It will irreparably damage their relationship

B．It will undermine their mutual understanding

C．It will help strengthen their emotional bonds

D．It will force them to pull their efforts together

25. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The economic recovery will see a higher divorce rate

B．Few couples can stand the test of economic hardships

C．A stable family is the best protection against poverty.

D．Money is the foundation of many a happy marriage