A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the victory of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people. Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.
Accountability isn’t hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.
Of the many values that hold civilization together --- honesty, kindness, and so on --- accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law --- and, ultimately, no society.
My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.
Fortunately there are still communities --- smaller towns, usually --- where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that declare: “In this family certain things are not tolerated --- they simply are not done!”
Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you annoy him.
The main cause of this breakdown is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged (被剝奪基本社會權(quán)利的) upbringing, by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home.
I don’t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything. We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it..
【小題1】What the wise man said suggests that it’s __________.

A．unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil

B．certain that evil will be widespread if good men do nothing about it

C．only natural for good men to defeat evil

D．desirable for good men to keep away from evil

【小題2】 According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime, ________.

A．society is to be held responsible

B．modern civilization is responsible for it

C．the criminal himself should bear the blame

D．the standards of living should be improved

【小題3】  Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have ________.

A．less self-discipline	B．better sense of discipline
C．more respect to each other	D．less effective government

【小題4】 The writer is sorry to have noticed that ________.

A．people in large cities tend to excuse criminals

B．people in small towns still stick to old discipline and standards.

C．today’s society lacks sympathy for people in difficulty

D．people in disadvantaged circumstances are engaged in criminal activities

【小題5】 The key point of the passage is that ________.

A．stricter discipline should be maintained in schools and families

B．more good examples should be set for people to follow

C．more attention should be paid to people’s behavior

D．more people should accept the value of accountability

You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists. But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes (撞擊) through a wind and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead. With any luck he isn't even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars or even catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks. There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress (床墊). Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman' s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff (懸崖) a thousand feet high. His parachute (降落傘) failed to open, and he was killed. In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action. For nowadays there are stuntgirls too.
【小題1】Stuntmen are those who ______.

A．often dress up as actors

B．prefer to lead dangerous lives

C．often perform seemingly dangerous actions

D．often fight each other for their lives

【小題2】Stuntmen earn their living by ______.

A．playing their dirty tricks

B．selling their special skills

C．jumping out of high windows

D．jumping from fast moving trains

【小題3】Which of the following is the main factor (因素) of a successful performance?

A．Strength.	B．Exactness.
C．Speed.	D．Carefulness.

【小題4】What can be inferred from the author' s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
A.Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman.
B The percentage of serious accidents is high.
C. Parachutes must be of good quality.
D. The cliff is too high.

People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behavior are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive. 
Social scientists are of course extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behavior. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature and nurture”．
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme，this theory states that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能)．
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic. They state that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (刺激) as the basis of their behavior. 
Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching. In the US，for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically lower in status than whites. Behaviorists, on the contrary, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes and that the controversy will continue for a long time is certain. 
【小題1】This passage is mainly concerned with ________.

A．relation between personality and behavior

B．relation between behavior and environment

C．different accounts of patterns of human behavior

D．different theories of the formation of human behavior

【小題2】The underlined word “proponents” in Paragraph 2 means ________.

A．creators	B．a(chǎn)dvisors
C．a(chǎn)dvocates	D．judges

【小題3】In Paragraph 5, the author mainly writes about ________.

A．the considerable influence of the two theories

B．differences between the blacks and whites

C．racial discrimination in the United States

D．different responds to intelligence tests

【小題4】What's the author's purpose in writing the passage?

A．To call our attention to the changes of human behavior.

B．To urge scientists to do more research in social science.

C．To give us a detailed explanation of human behavior.

D．To present an argument in the field of social science.

One of the most striking findings of a recent questionnaire in the UK is that of the people interviewed, one in two believes that it is becoming more difficult to meet someone to start a family with.
Why are many people finding it increasingly difficult to start and keep close relationships? Does modern life really make it harder to fall in love? Or are we making it harder for ourselves?
It is certainly the case today that nowadays couples benefit in different ways from relationships. Women no longer rely upon partners for economic security or status. A man doesn’t expect his wife to be in sole (唯一的) charge of running his household and raising his children.
But perhaps the knowledge that we can live perfectly well without a partnership means that it takes much more to persuade people to abandon their independence.
In theory, finding a partner should be much simpler these days. Only a few generations ago，your choice of soul mate was limited by geography, social convention and family tradition. Although it was never clear, many marriages were essentially arranged. Now those barriers have been broken down. You can approach a builder or a brain surgeon in any bar in any city on any given evening. When the world is your oyster（牡蠣）, you surely have a better chance of finding a pearl.
But it seems that the traditions have been replaced by an even tighter restriction：the limitation of choice. The expectations of partners are made greater to an unmanageable degree：good looks, impressive salary, kind to grandmother, and so on. There is no room for error in the first impression.
We think that a relationship can be perfect. If it isn’t，it is intended to be thrown away. We work to protect ourselves against future heartache and don’t put in the hard emotional labor needed to build a strong relationship. Twelve-hour work at the office makes relaxed after-hours dating(約會) difficult. The cost of housing and child-raising creates pressure to have a stable(穩(wěn)定的) income and career before a life partnership.
【小題1】 Nowadays, in a family, _________.

A．men begin to depend on women

B．couples share the burdens

C．men are responsible for housework

D．couples can’t get along together

【小題2】 People don’t want to give up their independence because______.

A．they can’t bear arranged marriages

B．they want to have more choices

C．they don’t want to follow traditions

D．they think they can live happily alone

【小題3】 People don’t bother to date because_______.

A．it requires luck to build a strong relationship

B．it takes them too much energy to work

C．it needs faith to have a life partnership

D．it causes mental problems to find a life partner

【小題4】 Which of the following can best describe the main idea of the passage?

A．The expectations of partners and financial pressure may prevent a relationship.

B．People should spend more money on marriage today.

C．Independence is much more important than love.

D．Even a perfect marriage can be given up for the sake of independence.

Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.
Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated(夸大) or distorted(扭曲) what they are doing on social media once a month. The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and polished an exotic(異國的) holiday or their job.
The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their lives would seem “boring”, envy at seeing other people’s more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.
Psychologists suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on social media, they can in fact “paradoxically(自相矛盾地)” be left “more isolated”. They also said that “the more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel”.
According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to “dishonesty” on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage.
Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.
Nearly 30 percent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs. Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.
“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and eventually unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.
“Leaving out the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our `friends` online leads to less opportunity to feel empathized with(與…產(chǎn)生共鳴), resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”
The survey was conducted by Pencourage, a new anonymous (匿名的)“diary-style” social media website.
【小題1】 Which of the words below is closest in meaning to the underlined word “fibs” in Para 3?

A．life experiences	B．short stories
C．careful thoughts	D．insignificant lies

【小題2】 A woman tends to tell a lie online when she__________.

A．hopes to make more friends

B．envies other people’s exciting life

C．feels lonely at home

D．gets tired of the boring life

【小題3】 A woman might pretend to be happier online than she actually is by __________.

A．a(chǎn)voiding conversations with friends

B．describing her holiday activities

C．leaving out the imperfections in life

D．overstating her trouble at work

【小題4】 According to Dr Michael Sinclair, constantly lying online may __________.

A．eventually make one’s life more exciting

B．a(chǎn)ctually lead to a sense of isolation

C．really improve one’s sense of happiness

D．scarcely have any influence on relationships

Bursting into the classroom from recess, 15 children take their seats and face the woman they know as Ms. Yang.
“What day is it today?” she asks, in Mandarin Chinese.
“Confucius’ birthday!” the fifth graders shout in Mandarin.
“Why do we celebrate Confucius’ birthday?”
“Because he’s the greatest teacher in the history of China!” exclaims a brown-haired girl. She is speaking Mandarin.
English is rarely heard in Lisa Yang’s class at the Chinese American International School(CAIS), despite the fact that few students are native speakers of Mandarin.
The United States is actively trying to increase the group of students in “critical languages” such as Mandarin. The students at CAIS are way ahead in such a trend.
Founded 25 years ago, this small private school in San Francisco, USA, does what few other American schools do: It produces fully fluent speakers of Mandarin Chinese, by far the most commonly spoken language in the world.
Mandarin Chinese is suddenly hot in American schools. As China becomes the world’s leading economy sometimes this century, schools in the U. S. are scrambling to add Mandarin to their list of foreign languages or expand Chinese programs already in place.
“It really is almost unprecedented. People are looking at China as a force to be reckoned with… And to ensure that the U. S. has the ability to conduct trade, and to work with the Chinese. Certainly having an understanding of Chinese language and culture is an advantage,” said Marty Abbott of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages(ACTFL).
To develop Chinese-language programs has not been smooth. A shortage of trained teachers has made it difficult for some schools to join the race. When schools do get teachers, they often hire them straight from China, and the teachers usually suffer culture shock when they come to the U. S.
Robert Liu remembers his first two years in an American classroom It was not an easy adjustment. “In China, students respect their teachers,” he said. Liu found that American students, however, expect an active teaching style. He had to use games to engage them rather than lectures.
To avoid many of the problems with foreign teaching styles, the CAIS has been working with the Chinese government to improve training of teachers who are sent to the U. S.
【小題1】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Understanding Chinese language and culture is helpful to work with Chinese.

B．Chinese-language programs have met trouble during the development.

C．Many other American schools do the same as CAIS, founded 25 years ago.

D．A lack of trained Mandarin Chinese teachers is a problem for the programs.

【小題2】What kind of problem is the most difficult to adjust in teaching Chinese in America?

A．To adapt themselves to the American life styles.

B．To communicate with the American students.

C．To get along well with the American students.

D．To be fit for the cultural differences in teaching styles.

【小題3】The meaning of the underlined word “scrambling” is similar to         .

A．climbing	B．rushing
C．changing	D．beating

【小題4】It can be learned from the passage that        .

A．the students in Lisa Yang’s class usually speak Chinese

B．There are few American students in Lisa Yang’s class

C．We celebrate Confucius’ birthday because he’s the greatest history teacher

D．in America the students don’t respect their teachers

“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the concept that image is everything, but an appealing image isn’t enough when there’s no substance behind it.
First of all, one should consider how important image is in selling products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. But if the product or service doesn’t live up to it, customers will be very dissatisfied. The recent scandal (丑聞) about the Arthur Andersen accounting firm showed that behind that image, it had unfair business practices under the table. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to its downfall.
Similarly, personal consultants(顧問) can build up a very positive public image for politicians and movie stars in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both that fell from grace (體面) like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind it, failure is close.
To conclude, it’s clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation(等式). What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself — the person or product must live up to that image or there’s little chance for long-term success.
【小題1】The downfall of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm is due to ______.

A．its dishonesty in business

B．its bad management

C．its previous images

D．its poor service

【小題2】Some famous people fall from grace because _____.

A．their images were not well built up

B．they failed to live up to their images

C．they felt much pressure from the public

D．they paid little attention to fame and fortune

【小題3】The structure of the passage is probably        .

(A: Argument        P: Point        C: Conclusion)
【小題4】The author might support that______.

A．image is the basis of everything

B．truth and image are equally important

C．truth goes hand in hand with image

D．image holds the key to success

From the health point of view we are living in a wonderful age. A large number of once fatal illnesses can now be cured by modern drugs and surgery. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the incredible killing of people on the roads. Man is opposite to the motor-car! It is a never ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people are killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.
It  has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering-wheel(方向盤) , his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man's worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They are rude, ill-mannered and aggressive. All their hidden frustrations and disappointments seem to be brought to the surface by the act of driving.
The surprising thing is that society smiles on the motorist and seems to forgive the behaviour. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities and towns are made ugly by huge car parks.
It is high time a world law were created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are not strict and even the strictest are not strict enough. A law which was universally accepted could only have a beneficial effect on the accident rate. Here are a few examples of some things that might be done. The driving test should be made to a fixed standard and far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21 ; all vehicles should be put through strict annual tests for safety. Present drinking and driving laws (where they exist) should be mad much stricter. Driving speed should be limited on all roads. These measures may sound extremely severe. But surely nothing should be considered difficult if it results in reducing the annual toll of human life. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.
【小題1】The main idea of this passage is______.

A．traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists

B．thousands of people in the world are killed each year

C．only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents

D．the laws of some countries about driving are too strict

【小題2】 Which of the following is right according to the passage?

A．It is right to build huge car parks in cities and towns.

B．a(chǎn)ll the drivers must be asked to take a test every year.

C．Working by car can save time and money.

D．Society overlooks their rude driving.

【小題3】Why does the author say" his car becomes the extension of his personality" ?

A．Driving can show his real self.

B．Driving can bring out his good character.

C．Driving can make a man excited and joyful.

D．Driving can make a man quiet and pleasant.

【小題4】The attitude of the author is______.

A．a(chǎn)pproving	B．critical
C．sympathetic	D．a(chǎn)ggressive

Why are people interested in eating raw foods or whole foods? One reason is that eating these types of food reduces the risk of acid accumulation in your body .
Raw and whole foods are usually digested more efficiently than cooked and refined foods. When we cook foods, we destroy the natural enzymes （酶） that are part of the food in its raw form. These enzymes were intended by nature to help us digest the food. When we consume food without these natural enzymes, our bodies either digest the food improperly or allow too many nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream. In both instances, the result is obesity. When too many nutrients are absorbed at once, the body grows fat. Improperly digested food moves slowly through the digestive tract, where it becomes increasingly acidic. To protect its vital organs from this acidic waste, the body changes the acid into fat and stores it safely away from the organs.
Processed foods contain chemical elements, which might confuse the appetite mechanism that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat; as a result, people often overeat. Processed foods also upset the digestive cycle. The body will either identify these foods as allergens and then store them safely away from the organs as fat, or the remains of undigested food will become acidic and enter the bloodstream as acid waste, which will stick to the blood vessel walls and block the passage of vital oxygen and nutrients heading for the body’s cells. The body’s metabolism （新陳代謝）becomes inactive, and the result is weight gain and obesity.
The accumulation of acid in the digestive tract makes digestion increasingly inefficient. When that happens, even healthy foods can become acidic and the food allergies will become more common.
To stop this vicious circle in its tracks, people need to consume food and supplements that will neutralize the acid already accumulated in body. Eating the right types of raw and whole foods can help. It’s also important to restore your enzyme balance. You need to identify and avoid the foods that cause acid accumulation and consume the foods that increase enzyme production. If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself, you need to take an active approach.
【小題1】It can be inferred from Para. 2 that __________.

A．foods with natural enzymes help people keep fit

B．we’d better be cautious about raw and whole foods

C．it is essential for people to protect their vital organs

D．giving up cooked and refined foods is a new lifestyle

【小題2】Processed foods are unhealthy because they __________.

A．destroy body’s cells	B．may lead to obesity
C．a(chǎn)re difficult to digest	D．stop body’s metabolism

【小題3】What is the main purpose of this passage？

A．To warn people of the problem of obesity.

B．To advocate eating more raw and whole foods.

C．To inform people of the harm of processed foods.

D．To tell the differences between raw and processed foods.

【小題4】What is likely to be talked about following the last paragraph？

A．Different causes of acid accumulation.

B．Correct ways to cook raw foods.

C．Suitable types of raw and whole foods.

D．Active approaches to avoid acid.

There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容師) tried to trim(修剪) its claws.
Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化癥), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “ I would like to buy her a new dog.”
A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.
Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that.” Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.
“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待),” Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills, said.
People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue, in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate … and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog.”
“When Gooch was with me, I was happy,” Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again.”
【小題1】What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．A disabled woman’s service dog.

B．A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog.

C．People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog.

D．Disabled woman loves to have the dog as company.

【小題2】 People called and emailed to             .

A．offer help and care to Laurie Crouch.

B．give their angry voice to the groomer.

C．offer a cure for Crouch’s disease.

D．tell Crouch how to punish the groomer.

【小題3】We can infer from the passage that          .

A．Crouch refused to take another dog.

B．Crouch must be sad after losing her dog.

C．Crouch has accepted another dog from a stranger.

D．Crouch can live well without a dog’s company.