Passage 1

Questions l t0 5 are based on the following passage.

     Television that most pervasion and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.

     Very simply put, television works in this way:through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable. These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set), can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image.

     The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based air wave transmission of television signals. Second, there is one broadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest

groups through controlled transmission techniques.

     Traditionally, we are most familiar with broadcast television;ABC, NBC and CBS have been the major purveyors of news,information,and entertainment. But now,in addition, we have CNN,Cable News Network, the first global TV news company. With its advent,the very definition of news was rewritten from something that has

happened to something that is happening at the very moment you are hearing of it.In 1991,one of the most eventful years of this century,in world witnessed the dramatic and transforming impact of live tel vised news coverage on the latest developments. For turning viewers 1 150 countries into instant witnesses of history,whereby influencing he dynamic of events, Robert Edward Turner president of CNN,Was Time's Man of the Year for 1991.

With what topic is the passage primarily concerned?

A. Recent changes in modern technology.

B. The marriage of broadcasting giants.

C. The role of television in today's society.

D. The content of broadcast television programs.

According to the passage, how many major networks are there7 

A. Two.

B. Three.

C. Four.

D. Five.

Which of the following networks does feature TV films, game shows or talk shows on its program?   

A.NBC   

B.ABC 

C.CBS    

D.CNN

It can be inferred from the passage that ordinary people

A. think "all politics is local"

B. can take a deep interest in events that occur in remote places

C. respond to news coverage only in nationalistic terms

D. ignore communications media

According to the passage, for what reason was Robert Edward.Turner of CNN chosen Time's Man of the Year for 1991?

A. For his commitment to reshape our lives and our world.

B. For making CNN a powerful tool to reach other human beings in the "global village".

C. For introducing CNN as a major purveyor of news information.

D. For introducing "simultaneous happening" to news coverage with a vast influence on critical events of the year.

Passage 2

Questions 6 t0 10 are based on the following passage.

     In the old days,when a glimpse of stockings was looked upon a something far too shocking to distract the serious work of an office secretaries were men.

     Then came the First World War.and the male secretaries we replaced by women. A man's secretary became his personal servant charged with remembering his wife's birthday and buying her pref ents;taking his suits to dry-cleaners; telling lies on the telephone i keep people he did not wish to speak to at bay; and, of course, typing and filing and taking shorthand.

      Now all this may be changing again. Hie microchip (集成块) and high technology is sweeping the British office, taking with it much better of the routine clerical work that secretaries did.

     "Once office technology takes over generally, the status of the job will rise again because it will involve only the high-powered work and then men will want to do it again. "

     That was said by one of the executives (male) of one of the biggest secretarial agencies in this country. What he has predicted is already under way in the U. S.

     Once high technology has made the job secretary less routine,will there be a male takeover? Men should beware of thinking that they can walk right into better jobs. There are a lot of women secretaries who will do the job as well as they not just because they can buy negligees(妇女长睡衣)for the boss's wife,but because they are as efficient and well-trained to cope with word processors and computers as men.

Before 1914 female secretaries were rare because they

A. were less efficient than men

B. were not as serious as men

C. liked stockings

D. would have disturbed other office workers.

Besides fulfilling other duties, a female secretary was expected to

A. be her boss's memory

B. clean her boss's clothes

C. do what her boss asked her to

D. telephone her boss's wife

Secretaries,until recently,  had to do a lot of work now done by

A. Machines

B. other staff

C. Servants

D. wives

A secretary in the future will

A. be better paid

B. have higher status

C. have less work to do

D. have more work to do

The writer believes that before long

A. both men and women will be qualified secretaries

B. men will be better than machines

C. men will take over women's jobs as secretaries

D. women will operate most office machines

Passage 3

Questions 11 t0 1.5 are based on the following passage.

    If culture is learned, there must be channels of transmission.This is the task of agents of socialization people and organizations charged with conveying the rules. Chief among these are parents,peers, teachers, the media, and religious authorities.

     The first and most important agent of socialization is those who care for infants. In the earliest months,messages from nurturers constitute the child's basic understanding of the world around it. This is the infant's first introduction to the language that shapes perception and elicits emotions. What the child learns is the culture as mediated through others. A desire for continued interaction with the nurturers,combined with a fear of losing these sources of pleasure,motivates the infant to become sensitive to the cues of those entrusted with its care.

     Another powerful source of information and socialization is the friendship group of age peers. Peers are equals, whereas parents are superiors in relation to the child. The greater power of parents makes some kinds of learning difficult. A distance and formality must be observed even in the most indulgent homes. Peers, on the other hand,are those one can deal with on the same level as oneself:tease,insult, let imagination loose upon,share dreadful mistakes with,and so on,but without the heavy emotional overlay of family relationship.

     Much formal socialization is placed in the hands of professionals.Teachers from kindergarten are specifically designated agents of socialization, and are paid for the task. Ideally, a teacher is one who has both knowledge and the skills to present it.

     In an earlier time,parents,friends,and teachers would comprise the list of primary childhood socializers. Children's books,comics,and magazines might also have been mentioned as sources of information on norms and role models. Today one must add four powerful indirect socitifization agents: radio, movie, television and computer. Many people leam about politics, form a vision of the good life,and develop attitudes toward others from what they see on the screen and hear through loudspeakers.

The main topic of this passage is

A. agents of socialization

B. sources of information

C. culture and language learning

D. channels of transmission

According to the passage, parents are

A. the first and most important agents of socialization

B. the less powerful agents of socialization than teachers

C. the least important agents of socialization

D. formal agents of socialization

Some kind of knowledge cannot be leamed from parents because

A. there is the heavy emotional overlay of family relationships

B. children are not regarded as equals  '

C. children are not allowed to make mistakes

D. they have too many age peers

Which of the following is not mentioned as a source of information on norms and models?

A. Games.

B. Radio

C. Books.       

D. Television.

The term "socializers" in the last paragraph refers to

A. Instructors

B. agents of socialization

C. superiors

D. Nurturers

Passage 4

Questions16 t0 20 are based on the following passage.

     New technology links the world as never before. Our planet ha;shrunk.It's now a "global village" where countries are only second:away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability U benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly en' hanced by foreign language skills.

     Deeply involved with this new technology is a breed of modern business people who have a growing respect for the economic value Oi doing business abroad. In modern markets,  success overseas ofter helps support domestic business efforts.

     Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks, the executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being "out of sight and out of mind". He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company's plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to cope back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more prevalent(普遍的).

      Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.

      English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn't generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.

     The employee posted abroad who speaks the country's principal language has an opportunity to fast forward certain negotiations,and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly.The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign clients over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.

What is the author's attitude toward high-tech communications equipment?  

A. Critical.

B. Prejudiced.

C.Indifferent.

D. Positive.

With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment,business people 

A. have to get familiar with modern technology

B. are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations

C. are attaching more importance to their overseas business

D. are eager to work overseas

In this passage,"out of sight and out of mind"(Para. 3) probably means 

A. being unable to think properly for lack of insight

B. being totally out of touch with business at home

C. missing opportunities for promotion when abroad

D. leaving all care and worry behind

According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?

A. Connections with businesses overseas.

B. Ability to speak the client's language.

C. Technical know-how.

D. Business experience.

The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can

A. better control the whole negotiation process

B. easily find new approaches to meet market needs

C. fast forward their proposals to headquarters

D. easily make friends with business people abroad

Passage 5

Questions 21 t0 25 are based on the following passage.

    In the eighteenth-century, one of the first modern economists,Adam Smith, thought that the “whole annual produce of the land and labour of every country" provided revenue to "three different orders of people: those who live by rent, those who live by wages, and those who live by profit". Each successive stage of the industrial revolution, however, made the social structure more complicated.

     Many intermediate groups grew up during the nineteenth century between the upper middle class and the working class. There were small-scale industrialists as well as large ones, small shopkeepers and tradesmen, official and salaried s.imployees, skilled and unskilled workers, and professional men such as doctors and teachers. Farmers and peasants continued in all countries as independent groups.

      During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the possession of wealth inevitably affected a person's social position.Intelligent industrialists with initiative made fortunes by their wits which lifted them into an economic group far higher than that of their working class parents. But they lacked.the social training of the upper class, who despised them as the "new rich".

     They often sent their sons and daughters to special schools to acquire social training. Here their children, mixed with the children of the upper classes, were accepted by them, and very often found marriage partners from among them. In the same way, a thrifty, hardworking labourer, though not clever himself, might save for his son enough to pay for an extended secondary school education in the hope that he would move in a "white-collar" occupation, carrying with it a higher salary and a move up in the social scale.

In the twentieth century the increased taxation of higher incomes, the growth of the social services, and the wider development of educational opportunity have considerably altered the social outlook. The upper classes no longer are the sole, or even the main possessors of wealth, power and education, though inherited social position still carries considerable prestige.

What criterion did Adam Smith seem to go by in his classification of social groups? 

A. The amount of wealth.

B. The amount of money.

C. The social status.

D. The way of getting money.

If you compare the first and second paragraphs, what groups of people did Adam Smith leave out in his classification? 

A. Officials and employees.

B. Peasants and farmers.

C. Doctors and teachers.

D. Tradesmen and landlords.

Who were the"new rich"during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

A. The upper class people.

B. Owners of large factories.

C. Intelligent industrialists.

D. Skilled workers who made their fortune.

According to the passage, what did labourer do if they intended to make their children move up in the social ladder?

A. They saved a lot of money for their children to receive higher education.

B. They tried to find marriage partners from the children of the upper class.

C. They made greater fortunes by their wits.

D. They worked even harder to acquire social training.

In the twentieth century, class differences have been partly smoothed out by

A. increased income and decreased taxation

B. developed social services, more educational opportunities and increased taxation

C. education, the increase of income and industrial development

D. the decrease of the upper class population