Cycling is highly __________ to people’s health and the environment.

1. A.
   fashionable
2. B.
   beneficial
3. C.
   changeable
4. D.
   suitable

A child, who has once got interested in a tale, likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to “tell” a story than just “read” it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce his own as an improvement on the printed text, according to his child’s actual situation, so much the better.
There is a charge made against some fairy tales, as they probably harm children by frightening them or leaving them sad feelings. To prove it, an experiment has been done to show that children who have heard terrible fairy stories often feel more uneasy than those who have not. As for fears, there are some cases where children get timid (膽怯的) by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition may weaken the pain of fear.
There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that the stories are not objectively true, and that those giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets etc. do not really exist, so children should be taught to learn the reality by studying history, instead of being got fond of the strange side in fairy tales. Those, who prefer to create such stories, are so peculiar (奇怪的) that it is hard to argue with them. If their creative exaggeration (夸張) were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girl-friend.
Not once is a fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world, but not every child is clever enough to be aware of it. Parents should choose their children’s “bed-time” reading materials with much care. Only the fairy stories containing positive effect will make a clever and caring child with rich imagination

1. 1.

   The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is ______

   1. A.
      repeated without any change
   2. B.
      treated as no more than a joke
   3. C.
      made some changes by parents
   4. D.
      set in the present situation
2. 2.

   According to the passage, when a child hears a terrible fairy story, ______

   1. A.
      he will get more interested
   2. B.
      great fear can take place in him
   3. C.
      he will like it to be repeated
   4. D.
      an experiment is being done
3. 3.

   The word “sound” in Para.3 can be understood as ______

   1. A.
      fashionable
   2. B.
      forgettable
   3. C.
      available
   4. D.
      believable
4. 4.

   The author mentions “sticks” and “telephones” to prove that ______

   1. A.
      fairy stories are all made up
   2. B.
      fairy tales lead to misunderstanding
   3. C.
      children are cheated by old stories
   4. D.
      there is more concern for children
5. 5.

   One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that ______

   1. A.
      they are made up far from the truth
   2. B.
      they are so full of imagination
   3. C.
      they are not interesting at all
   4. D.
      they make history difficult to teach
6. 6.

   It makes sense that parents choose fairy stories with ______ as “bed-time” reading materials

   1. A.
      formal printings
   2. B.
      creative scenes
   3. C.
      positive effect
   4. D.
      terrible characters

E
A century ago in the United States, when an individual brought suit against a company, public opinion tended to protect that company. But perhaps this phenomenon was most striking in the case of the railroads. Nearly half of all negligence cases decided through 1896 involved railroads. And the railroads usually won.
Most of the cases were decided in sate courts, when the railroads had the climate of the times on their sides. Government supported the railroad industry; the progress railroads represented was not to be slowed down by requiring them often to pay damages to those unlucky enough to be hurt working for them.
Court decisions always went against railroad workers. A Mr. Farwell, an engineer, lost his right hand when a switchman’s negligence ran his engine off the track. The court reasoned that since Farwell had taken the job of an engineer voluntarily at good pay, he had accepted the risk. Therefore the accident, though avoidable had the switchmen acted carefully, was a “pure accident”. In effect a railroad could never be held responsible for injury to one employee caused by the mistake of another.
In one case where a Pennsylvania Railroad worker had started a fire at a warehouse and the fire had spread several blocks, causing widespread damage, a jury found the company responsible for all the damage. But the court overturned the jury’s decision because it argued that the railroad’s negligence was the immediate cause of damage only to the nearest buildings. Beyond them the connection was too remote to consider.
As the century wore on, public sentiment began to turn against the railroads—against their economic and political power and high fares as well as against their callousness toward individuals.
72. Which of the following is NOT true in Farwell’s case?
A. Farwell was injured because he negligently ran his engine off the track.
B. Farwell would not have been injured if the switchman had been more careful.
C. The court argued that the victim had accepted the risk since he had willingly taken his job.
D. The court decided that the railroad should not be held responsible.
73. What must have happened after the fire case was settled in court?
A. The railroad compensated for the damage to the immediate buildings.
B. The railroad compensated for all the damage by the fire.
C. The railroad paid nothing for the damaged building.
D. The railroad worker paid for the property damage himself.
74. The following aroused public resentment EXCEPT _____.
A. political power   B. high fares    C. economic loss   D. indifference
75. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. Railroad oppressing individuals in the US.
B. History of the US railroads.
C. Railroad workers’ working rights.
D. Law cases concerning the railroads.

Millions of British people have ditched the traditional “thank you” and replaced it with the less formal “cheers”, according to a survey.
Although the average person will say “thank you” nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to throw in a “cheers” or “ta” where it’s needed, rather than risk sounding old fashioned.
One in 20 now say “nice one” instead, while younger generations are more likely to offer a “cool” than a “thank you”. “Merci”, “fab” and even “gracias” were also listed as common phrases to use, as was “much appreciated”.
One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal “thank you” was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly wouldn’t say “thank you” if they were in a bad mood.
Most people declared that saying “thank you” was something drilled into them by their parents. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say “thank you” to a person’s face without even meaning it, while a fifth avoid saying it when they know they should — on at least two occasions every day.
It seems our friends and family get the brunt (壓力) of our bad manners with half admitting they’re not good at thanking those closest to them — many justifying (為……辯解) the lack of thanks because their family “already know I’m grateful”.
When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people. A thank you email is also popular, while a quarter turn to social networks to express gratitude. A quarter of British people say thank you with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake. A third will still send a handwritten thank-you note — but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they bothered to send one.
It follows that 85 percent of people will be annoyed at not getting the gratitude they feel they should receive. 
【小題1】Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” _____.