Passage One

It's early August and the countryside appears peaceful. Planting has long been finished and the fields are alive with strong healthy crops. Soybeans and wheat are flourishing under the hot summer sun, and the corn, which was "knee-high by the fourth of July", is now well over six feet tall. Herds of dairy and beef cattle are grazing peacefully in rolling pastures which surround big, red barns and neat, white farmhouses. Everything as far as the eye can see radiates a sense of prosperity. Welcome to the Midwest-one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the world.

The tranquility of the above scene is misleading. Farmers in the Midwest put in some of the longest workdays of any profession in the United States. In addition to caring for their crops and livestock, they have to keep up with new farming techniques, such as those for combining soil erosion and increasing livestock production. It is essential that farmers adopt these advances in technology if they want to continue to meet the growing demands of a hungry world.

Agriculture is the number one industry in the United States and agricultural products are the country's leading export. American farmers manage to feed not only the total population of the United States, but also millions of other people throughout the rest of the world. Corn and soybean exports alone account for approximately 75 percent of the amount sold in world markets.

This productivity, however, has its price. Intensive cultivation exposes the earth to the damaging forces of nature Every year wind and water remove tons of rich soil from the nation's croplands, with the result that soil erosion has become a national problem concerning everyone from the farmer to the consumer.

Each field is covered by a limited amount of topsoil, the upper layer of earth which is richest in the nutrient and minerals necessary for growing crops.Ever since the first farmers arrived in the Midwest almost 200 years ago, cultivation and, consequently, erosion have been depleting the supply of topsoil. In the 1830s, nearly two feet of rich, black top soil covered the Midwest. Today the average depth is only eight inches, and every decade another inch is blown or washed away. This erosion is steadily decreasing the productivity of valuable cropland. A United States Agricultural Department survey states that if erosion continues at its present rate, corn and soybean yields in the Midwest may drop as much as 30 percent over the next 50 years.

A.the Midwest is the most prosperous in the US

B.the Midwest is the most fertile in the world

C.the Midwest is expecting a good harvest

D.the Midwest is within reach of prosperity

A.They live a tranquil but industrious life

B.They work very hard and learn new skills

C.They work longer hours during weekdays

D.They have to compete with farmers in other countries

A.American farmers feed almost three quarters of the world population

B.75 percent of corn and soybeans in the world market come from the US

C.American agricultural exports have a share of 75% in the global market

D.corn and soybeans take up about three quarters of American agricultural exports

A.soil deterioration is becoming a serious problem

B.climate change reduces the area of the croplands

C.customers have to pay more for agricultural products

D.high productivity comes along with damaging forces of nature

A.to show the necessity to improve farming methods

B.to persuade farmers to adopt new farming techniques

C.to inform people of the side effect of intensive cultivation

D.to intensify people’s awareness of land erosion in the US

Passage Two

Like many other small boys, I was fascinated by cars, not least because my oldest brother was a bit of a car guy and subscribed to cool magazines like Car and Driver and Motor Trend. Every so often, one of those magazines would run an article on the "Car of the Future". They featured unconventional styling and things like small nuclear reactors as power sources. Yet, frankly, my car doesn't do anything that my brother's Studebaker didn't do. It goes, it stops, it burns gasoline, and it plays music. I still have to steer it, and it still runs into things if I don't steer it carefully.

But guess what? All of these things are subject to change in the not-so-distant future. It will still go and stop, but it may not burn gasoline, I may not have to steer it, and it may be a lot better at not running into things.

Airbags aren't the be-all and end-all in safety. In fact, considering the recent news about people occasionally being killed by their airbags in low-speed collisions, they obviously still need some development. But they aren't going away, and in fact, you can expect to see cars appearing with additional, side-impact airbags, something some European car manufacturers already offer.

Better than systems to minimize injury in the event of an accident, however, are systems that minimize the likelihood of an accident happening in the first place. Future cars may be able to eliminate many of the major causes of accidents, including drunk-driving, tailgating and sleepiness. Cars could be equipped with sensors that can detect alcohol in driver's system and prevent the car from being started, for example. Many accidents are caused by people following the car in front too closely. As early as next year, you'll be able to buy cars with radar-equipped control systems. If the radar determines you're closing too quickly with the car in front, it will ease up on the throttle. For city streets, expect other radar devices that will give advance warning that the car in front of you has slowed abruptly and you should step on the brakes-or that may even brake for you.

Will cars eventually be able to drive themselves? There's' no reason to think it won't be technically possible, and Mercedes is working on a system that can brake, accelerate and steer a vehicle down a highway on its own. Nobody really expects people to give up all control to their cars, but such system could be used as failsafe system to keep cars on the road and bring them safely to a stop even if the driver suddenly became disabled.

A.the power source of his brother’s car

B.his oldest brother’s car magazines

C.his ride in his oldest brother’s car

D.other small boys’ desire for cars

A. the author's car is as expensive as his brother's

B. the author's car fulfills more functions than his brother's

C. not much has changed in the way people drive cars

D. improved performance of cars helps to reduce traffic accidents

A.will disappear gradually

B.need further improvement

C.kill rather than protect people in low-speed collisions

D.have been standard equipment of all European cars for years

A.by giving a warning in advance

B.by easing up on the throttle

C.by braking automatically

D.by not starting the engine

A.future technology will enable cars to drive themselves

B.people will be glad to give up all control to their cars

C.all cars will be equipped with failsafe systems

D.no car will ever break down on the roads

Passage Three

Men are spending more and more time in the kitchen encouraged by celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver according to a report from Oxford University.

The effect of the celebrity role models, who given cookery more manly image, has combined with a more general drive towards sexual equality, to mean men now spend more than twice the amount of time preparing meals than they didin1961.

According to research by Prof. Jonathan Gershuny, who runs the Centre for Time Research at Oxford, men now spend more than half an hour day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961. Prof. Gershuny said: "The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of gender equality, but there is another 40 years probably to come."

Women, who a generation ago spent a fraction under two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes-a dramatic fall, but they still spend far more time at the stove than men. Some critics say men have been inspired to pick up a spatula by the success of Ramsay, Oliver as well as other male celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Marco Pierre White and Keith Floyd.

The report, commissioned by frozen food company Birds Eye, also makes clear that the family meal is limping on in far better health than some have suggested, thanks in part to a resurgence in cooking by some consumers. Two-thirds of adults claim that they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table.

Anne Murphy, general manager at Birds Eye, said: "The evening meal is still clearly central to family life and with some saying family time is on the increase and the appearance of a more frugal consumer, we think the return to tradition will continue as a trend.

However, Prof. Gershuny pointed out that the family meal was now rarely eaten by all of its members around table-with many "family meals"in fact taken on the sofa in the sitting room, and shared by completely different members of the family.

"The family meal has changed very substantially, and few of us eat-as I did when I was a child-at least two meals a day together as a family. But it has survived in a different format."

A.the development of sexual equality campaign

B.the improvement of cooks’ economic status

C.the change of women’s view on cooking

D.the popularity of female chefs

A.it has become a trend that men spend more time cooking than women

B.the time men spend on cooking drops sharply compared with that in 1961

C.it will take 40 years before men spend more time at the stove than women

D.the average woman spends less time on cooking than decades ago

A.more and more families enjoy eating out

B.families prepare healthier food nowadays

C.the dining room table has become unnecessary

D.family members share more meals than some have suggested

A.the decrease of shared meals

B.the shrinking of modem kitchens

C.consumers’ tendency of being more economical

D.parents’ greater tolerance to children’s eating habits

A.have become a thing of the past

B.take on different forms nowadays

C.shouldn’t be advocated in modem times

D.are beneficial to the stability of the family

Passage Four

A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer I have some urgent things to say to good people.

Days after days 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 communitiessmal- towns, usually-where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim:"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 enrage 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 upbringing, by the school that didn't teach him to read, by the church that failed to teach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn't provide 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.

A.it’s only natural for virtue to defeat evil

B.good people needn’t do anything in face of evil

C.evil will prevail if good men do nothing about it

D.it’s desirable for good men to keep away from evil

A.being responsible for one’s own action

B.being honest and kind to others

C.being trusted by other people

D.being aware of dangers

A.his parents should be criticized

B.modem civilization is responsible for it

C.the criminal himself should bear the blame

D.moral standards should be improved in the society

A.people in small towns stick to old discipline and standards

B.people tend to excuse criminals for their illegal behaviors

C.disadvantaged people are engaged in criminal activities

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

A.more self-discipline is required in schools and families

B.more role models should be set for people to follow

C.more regulations should be introduced in the society

D.more people should accept the value of accountability

Passage Five

Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty That compulsion has resulted in robotics, the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.

As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with sub-millimeter accuracy-far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.

But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves-goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error,"says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense'to reliably interact with a dynamic world.”

Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.

What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented-and human perception far more complicated-than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.

A.the use of machines to produce science fiction

B.the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry

C.the invention of tools for difficult and unpleasant work

D.the elite’s cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work

A.devices

B.experts

C.programs

D.creatures

A.control subway trains

B.perform delicate brain surgery

C.communicate with human beings verbally

D.respond independently to a changing world

A.cope with some errors with human assistance

B.improve factory environments

C.make decisions on their own

D.stimulate human creativity

A.human brains can spot minor errors in a controlled factory environment

B.human brains are better than robots at focusing on relevant information

C.robots are expected to imitate human brain in internal structure

D.robots are able to gain 98 percent of the information