Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.

Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine, infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary(當代的) societies, people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.

When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (療養(yǎng)的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel.

1. The author believes that the population explosion results from _______.

A. an increase in birthrates          B. the industrial development

C. a decrease in death rates           D. human beings’ cultural advances

2. It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.

A. it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could    not work

B. the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation

C. old people were given the task of imparting the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations

D. death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of the hardships of life

3. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the  United States is true?

A. Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.

B. Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.

C. When they reach a certain age, compulsory retirement is necessary and beneficial.

D. With the growing inflation, they must suffer more from unbearable burdens than ever.

4. The phrase “this need” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A. prolonging the dying old people’s lives

B. reducing the problems caused by the retired people

C. making profits through caring for the sick or weak people

D. taking care of the sick or weak people

5. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward most of the nursing homes and convalescent hospitals?

A. Sympathetic.      B. Approving.         C. Optimistic.      D. Critical.

Some spiders hunt on the ground, others build webs to trap their food, but the grass water spider catches its prey by running along the surface of the water.

This special water spider lives on the grassy banks of streams where mosquitoes, damsel flies and other insects come to feed and breed.

Although it is one of the largest spiders in New Zealand, it has an unusual ability. It doesn’t disturb the water as it waits for its meal, and there is barely a ripple(波紋) when it skims(掠過) across the surface at lightning speed to catch its prey.

Grass water spiders deal swiftly with larger insects like damsel flies by pulling their heads under the water and holding them there until they drown.

After a meal, the grass water spider spends up to half an hour grooming(修飾) itself. It wipes its eight eyes, brushes its antennae(觸角), and takes special care to clean the hairs on its body.

It is the hairs that trap tiny bubbles(泡沫) of air so that the spider can run down a blade(葉片) of grass and stay underwater for up to an hour when it is frightened. The hairs also keep the spider dry, even underwater.

It is only when the female spider is caring for the young that she does not hunt on the water. After mating, she produces a large egg sac(囊), which she carries around for five weeks. Once the eggs start to hatch, she attaches the sac to some blades of grass or a thistle. She then tears the sac open and releases the tiny spiders into the nursery web.

1. How does the grass water spider kill its prey?

A. in a web     B. by drowning      C. by poisoning     D. with its antennae

2. the writer describes the special spider as “special” because _______.

A. it walks on water                    B. it has eight eyes　　

C. of its hairy appearance             D. of the way it produces its young

3. The passage tells us that the spider ______.

A. feeds grass and thistles to its young.　　　　

B. lives on blades of grass under the water

C. lives in the grass on the banks of streams　　

D. eats a meal once every five weeks

4. The purpose of the passage is to _______.

A. convince readers that spiders are dangerous　　

B. indicate that the grass water spider is endangered

C. list all of the spiders that can be found in New Zealand

D. describe the characteristics of the grass water spider

－_______ leave at the end of this month.

－I don’t think you should do that until _________ another job.

A. I’m going to; you’d found             B. I’m going to; you’ve found

C. I’ll; you’ll find                              D. I’ll; you’d find

“Can I take it away?”  “You ___ better not.”

A. should  B.could   C. would   D. had

Many buildings ___ in the eathquake.

A. put down  B.lay down  C. fell down  D.knocked down

Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one thing still puzzles (困擾) old Harold. How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ballgame, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa? Talking?

What in the world, Harold wonders, do they have to talk about?

Betty shrugs. Talk? We're friends.

Researching this matter called friendship, Psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two

years interviewing more than two hundred women and men. No matter what their age, their job, their sex, the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men, and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is“marked and unmistakable”.

More than two hirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman. Yet three?quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend, and almost always it was a woman. More married men than women named their wife／husband as a best friend, most trusted person, or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress (感情危機).“Most women,” says Rubin,“identified (認定) at least one, usually more, trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment, and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives.”

“In general,” writes Rubin in her new book,“women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities.” For the most part, Rubin says, interactions (交往) between men are emotionally controlled—a good fit with the social requirements of “manly behavior”.

“Even when a man is said to be a best friend,”Rubin writes,“the two share little about their innermost feelings. Whereas a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa.”

1.What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that________.

A. he is treated as an outsider rather than a husband

B. women have so much to share

C. women show little interest in ballgames

D. he finds his wife difficult to talk to 

2.Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to_________.

A. a male friend     B. a female friend      C. her parents      D. her husband

3.According to the text, which type of behavior is NOT expected of a man by society?

A. Ending his marriage without good reason.

B. Spending too much time with his friends.

C. Complaining about his marriage trouble.

D. Going out to ballgames too often. 

4.Which of the following statements is best supported by the last paragraph?

A. Men keep their innermost feelings to themselves.

B. Women are more serious than men about marriage.

C. Men often take sudden action to end their marriage.

D. Women depend on others in making decisions. 

5.The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around_________.

A. happy and successful marriages        

B. friendships of men and women

C. emotional problems in marriage         

D. interactions between men and women 

I’m seventeen. I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter and you put things in their bags for them. And carried things to their cars. It was hard work.

While working, you wear a plate with your name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said,“Mr Castle, how are you?"We talked about this and that. As he left, he said,“It was nice talking to you, Brett."I felt great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh no. He didn?t remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put“Irving"down on my name plate. If he?d have said,“Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?"I d have been ready for him. There?s nothing personal here.

The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was: you couldn?t accept tips(小費). Okay, I?m outside and

 I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction(反應)is to take a quarter and give it to me. I?d say,“I?m ?sorry,? I can’t."They’d get angry. When you give someone a tip, you?re sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to say,“Oh,thanks a lot."When you say,“I'm sorry, I can't."They feel a little put down.They say,“No one will know."And they put it in your pocket. You say,“I really can’t."It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically(身體上)to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store?s belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good. I just could?t understand the strangeness of some people?s ideas. One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away. I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something.

I had decided that one year was enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.

1.What can be the best title for this text?

A.How Hard Life for Box Boys 

B.Getting along with Customers

C.Why I Gave up My Job

D.The Art of Taking Tips 

2.From the second paragraph, we can infer that _______ .

A.the writer didn’t like the impersonal part of his job

B.with a name plate, people can easily start talking

C.Mr Castle mistook Irving for Brett

D.Irving was the writer?s real name 

3.The box boy refused to accept tips because _______.

A.customers only gave small tips

B.some customers had strange ideas about tipping

C.the store forbade the box boys to take tips

D.he didn’t want to fight with the customers 

4.The underlined phrase“put down"in the third paragraph probably means _______.

A.misunderstood         B.defeated         C.hateful         D.hurt 

Answer the following questions by using the four job advertisements A—D from a newspaper.(You may read the questions first.)

1.How many advertisements are for waiters?

A.One.         B.Two.         C.Three.         D.Four.

2.According to advertisement B,we can learn that_________.

A.only German,Spanish and Eastern European speakers are needed

B.the job offers ￡450—￡1200 per month

C.the job is open to people of all ages

D.you may call to get more information about the job

3.In advertisement C,the baby sitter should_________.

A.have 9 months'working experience  B.speak German or French

C.accept flexible working hours     D.come form an artistic household

--Is everything ready?  ---We want ___ chairs.

 A. other three   B. three other   C.the other three    D. three another

In order to stop poverty,the World Bank has ___its focus to providing technical

assistance and long-term loans to developing countries.?

     A.fixed                B.exchanged?

     C.transferred        D.switched?