Passage 1

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between nations and that, if countries play games together, they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sport encourages international brotherhood. Apart from tragic incidents involving the murder of athletes, the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by international contests.

One country received its second-place medals with visible indignation after a hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, the losers objecting to the final decision. They were convinced that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in a rage when he said: “This wasn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension of the team for at least three years.

The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable end to their contest. The game had ended in disturbance. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were still three seconds to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the U.S.A had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. A judging panel debated the matter for four and a half hours without changing the original decision. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.

    Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals, or on non-national teams, might be too much to hope for, but in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism.

The author cites two examples in the passage to show that _______.

A. athletes should compete as individuals,

B. sports encourage aggressive patriotism,

C. athletes should compete on national teams,

D. sports encourage international brotherhood

The American basketball players eventually _______.

A. had to agree with the judging panel,

B. had to yield the first place to Russia,

C. decided not to receive the silver medals,

D. decided to protest against the unfair decision

The word “indignation” (para. 2) is closest in meaning to _______.

A. rage,

B. pleasure,

C. misery,

D. temper

It can be inferred from the passage that the suggestion mentioned in the last paragraph is ______.

A. modest,

B. realistic,

C. impractical,

D. unreasonable

The author’s attitude toward the present organization of the Olympics is _______.

A. positive,

B. negative,

C. impartial,

D. satirical

Passage 2

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.

  Since the Second World War, there has been an obvious trend, especially among the growing group of college students, toward early marriage. Many youths begin dating in the first stages of adolescence, “go steady” through high school, and marry before their formal education has been completed. In some quarters, there is much shaking of graying heads over the ways of rebellious youth. However, emotional maturity does not grow with age; it does not arrive automatically at twenty-one or twenty-five. Some achieve it surprisingly early, while others never do, even in three-score years and ten.

  Many students are marrying as an escape, not only from an unsatisfying home life, but also from their own personal problems of isolation and loneliness. However, any marriage entered into as an escape cannot prove entirely successful. The sad fact is that marriage seldom solves one’s problems; more often, it merely worsens them. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether the home is capable of carrying all that the young are seeking to put into it; one might say that they are abandoning one idol only to worship another. Young people correctly understand that their parents are wrong in believing that success is the ultimate good, but they themselves are wrong in believing that they have found the true center of life’s meaning. Their expectations of marriage are essentially unrealistic and therefore incapable of fulfillment. They want too much, and tragic disillusionment is often bound to follow.

  Shall we, then, join the chorus of those against early marriages? One cannot generalize: all early marriages are not bad any more than all later ones are good. Satisfactory marriages are determined not by how old one is, but by the emotional maturity of the partners. Therefore, each case must be judged on its own merits. If the early marriage is not an escape, if it is entered into with relatively few illusions or false expectations, and if it is economically feasible, why not? Good marriages can be made from sixteen to sixty, and so can bad ones.

The phrase “go steady” (para. 1) can be replaced by _______.

A. break up very often,

B. keep changing partners,

C. maintain the relationship,

D. believe in early marriages

The phrase “shaking of graying heads” (para. 1) refers to _______.

A. the anger of parents,

B. the disapproval of old people,

C. the radical behaviors of the young,

D. the unruly manners of young lovers

Besides escaping from unsatisfying home life, young people also marry early _______.

A. for personal development,

B. for financial support,

C. to get rid of their loneliness,

D. to stay away from their parents

According to the author, marriage more often than not _______.

A. ends up in divorce,

B. leads to tragedies,

C. proves to be successful,

D. worsens one’s problems

The author argues that _______.

A. older people suspect early marriages,

B. early marriages should not be encouraged,

C. early marriages are not always unsuccessful,

D. older people are wrong about early marriages

Passage 3

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

  A guest at the Holiday Inn on Union Square in San Francisco is attempting to turn on the radio in his room. Not matter which button he pushes, the radio will not play. Finally, the guest reports a defective (有毛病的) radio. A hotel employee soon arrives at the guest’s room with a new radio, a box of chocolates, and flowers. As for the radio already in the room, the employee turns it on without difficulty and quickly reassures the guest that the radio is tricky to operate. The employee shows the guest how to work the radio and pleasantly exits the room, leaving the radios, the chocolates and the flowers.

  An elderly woman is in her favorite food store, Ukrop’s Super Market of Richmond, Virginia. She picks up a large pineapple from the display case, holds it for several moments, and then returns it with obvious reluctance. Ukrop’s president, James Ukrop, witnesses this scene and asks the customer if she would like to buy half of the pineapple, indicating that the store would be glad to cut it in half. The customer accepts and states how she looks forward to visiting Ukrop’s because the staff is so friendly and makes her feel so welcome.

  Night after night, in Aurora, Colorado, police officers answer calls for break-ins of cars parked outside a local dance hall. One officer notes that the burglaries usually involve purses of female customers who say they lock their handbags in their cars, fearing the bags would be stolen from unattended tables during dances. The officer then persuades the dance hall owner to install lockers and the burglary calls drop from dozens each month to two in four months.

  These three stories emphasize our central argument, that is, the essence of services marketing is service. Service quality is the foundation of services marketing, for the core product being marketed is a performance. The performance is the product; the performance is what customers buy. A strong service concept gives companies the opportunity to compete for customers; a strong performance of the service concept builds competitiveness by earning customers’ confidence and reinforcing branding, advertising, selling, and pricing.

The radio in the guest’s room at the Holiday Inn does not work because _______.

A. there are too many buttons on it,

B. there is something wrong with it,

C. it takes a technician to operate it,

D. the guest has not operated it properly

It can be inferred from the second paragraph that _______.

A. the lady doesn’t like the pineapple at first,

B. the lady loves the way the pineapple is arranged,

C. it is natural for the shop to cut the pineapple in half,

D. the shop usually does not sell part of an item to a customer

The third story in the passage shows _______.

A. the significance of service,

B. the high crime rates in Aurora,

C. the importance of police work,

D. the carelessness of women dancers

In a service business, the product being marketed is _______.

A. a brand,

B. a person,

C. a promise,

D. a performance

The author sets forth the argument of the passage by _______.

A. finding causes,

B. giving examples,

C. defining a term,

D. providing comparisons

Passage 4

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

  Blaming the media for violence is misguided. To better understand the issue of violence and society, it is helpful to examine its historical roots. Certainly not all tribal societies were violent. For example, many native tribes in the American southwest were entirely peaceful. However, for most tribal people throughout most of the world, war and violence have always been part of life. One of our oldest books, the Old Testament, tells of constant tribal wars among the peoples of the Middle East. Likewise, ancient texts such as the Greek Iliad, the Indian Bhagavad-Gita and the Nordic Beowulf all tell tales of war and violence. Certainly the peoples of ancient Babylonia, Greece, India, and Scandinavia were not influenced by the media, yet most of the earliest human records indicate that violence has been an ever-present part of human life. Since violence was with us long before modern media, it seems unlikely that controlling the media now would have much impact on stopping human violence.

  A comparison of violence in nations around the world indicates that there is no relationship between media violence and real violence. In the United States, in 1996, there were 9,390 gun-related deaths. In the same year, Japan had 15 gun-related deaths. Yet the level of violence on television in Japan is higher than that in the U.S. Japanese TV often depicts graphic violence that would not be allowed on U.S. television, and Japanese movie-goers see the same major Hollywood films that Americans see, but street crime is so rare in Tokyo that most people do not worry about it. In contrast, in American cities, people in general, and women in particular, are afraid to walk alone at night. Security is an ever-present concern in the U.S., where citizens limit their lives in numerous ways to reduce the chances of joining the 11,000 people who are killed by guns in America each year. However, the number of murders in the U.S. is small compared to Columbia, where, for example, 23,000 people were murdered in 1999. Columbians have much less exposure to media violence than either Americans or Japanese; they have fewer TV stations and watch fewer films. Indeed, those committing murders in Columbia are often people from the countryside who have the least exposure to the media. Thus people who are not exposed to the media are often more likely to commit violent crimes than those exposed to it. Since Canada borders the U.S., Canadians receive the same TV and radio programs that Americans receive, yet gun violence in Canada is nearly one hundred times lower than that in the U.S. Clearly there is no significant relationship between media violence and real-life violence. We need to look elsewhere for solutions to real-life violence.

The author cites the examples of ancient texts in the first paragraph to show that _______.

A. ancient texts are just as violent as modern media,

B. ancient societies could be both peaceful and violent,

C. violence came into being long before modern media did,

D. there is more violence in ancient, works than in the media

The author uses Japanese, Columbian and Canadian examples to show that real-life violence and media violence _______.

A. are not related,

B. are not serious,

C. affect each other,

D. are directly related

It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the safest country is _______.

A. Japan,

B. Canada,

C. Columbia,

D. the U.S.

The phrase “reduces the chances of joining...” (para. 2) may be replaced by _______.

A. refuses to take part in,

B. adds to the number of,

C. avoids becoming one of,

D. decreases the number of

According to the passage, those who are the least exposed to media violence are citizens of _______.

A. Japan,

B. the U.S.,

C. Canada,

D. Columbia

Passage 5

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

  Laura House remembers the day with embarrassment. “Mom and I were on our way home after dinner when we stopped at an intersection,” she says. “When the light changed, the guy ahead of us was looking at a map of something and didn’t move right away. I leaned on my horn and automatically yelled. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. Mom’s jaw just dropped. She said, ‘Well, I guess you’ve been living in the city too long.’ That’s when I realized that my anger was out of control.”

  According to Carol Tavris, author of Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion, the keys to dealing with anger are common sense and patience. She points out that almost no situation is improved by an angry outburst. Shouting, fuming, or leaning on the car horn won’t make traffic begin to flow, make the screen unlock or make keys appear. Patience, on the other hand, is a highly practical virtue. People who take the time to cool down before responding to an anger-producing situation are far less likely to say or do something they will regret later.

    Anger-management therapist Doris Wilde agrees. “Like any feeling, anger lasts only about three seconds,” she says. “What keeps it going is your own negative thinking.” As long as you focus on the idiot who cut you off on the expressway, you’ll stay angry. But if you let the incident go, your anger will go with it. “Once you come to understand that you’re driving your own anger with your thoughts,” adds Wilde, “you can stop it.”

  Experts who have studied anger also encourage people to cultivate activities that effectively release their anger. For some people, it’s reading newspapers or watching TV, while others need more active outlets (发泄渠道), such as taking a walk, hitting golf balls, or working out with a punching bag. People who succeed in calming their anger also enjoy the satisfaction of having dealt positively with their frustrations.

  For Laura House, her experience in the car with her mother was a wake-up call. “Once I saw what I was doing, it really wasn’t that hard to develop different habits. I simply decided I was going to treat other people the way I would want to be treated. I’m a calmer, happier person now,” she reports.

The writer begins the passage by _______.

A. giving an example,

B. making a comparison,

C. looking into causes,

D. quoting a famous person

According to Carol Tavris, anger can be handled effectively ________.

A. by remaining silent,

B. by listening to music,

C. through games and exercises,

D. through common sense and patience

Doris Wilde believes that people stay angry ______.

A. when traffic on the expressway is heavy,

B. when anger-causing incidents are serious,

C. because it takes time for them to calm down,

D. because they fail to look at things positively

The sentence “if you let the incident go, your anger will go with it” (para. 3)  tells us that ______.

A. anger depends on how serious the situation is,

B. people get carried away by unpleasant incidents,

C. anger disappears when people ignore the incident,

D. people won’t be angry without anger-causing incidents

The passage mainly deals with ______.

A. types of anger,

B. effects of anger,

C. causes of anger,

D. management of anger