同等學(xué)力英語(yǔ)輔導(dǎo)——閱讀周周練

Passage 1

When families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions dating back to Grandma's generation. Their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver, and the dress code will be Sunday-best.

But in many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance has given way to a stoneware( 粗陶 )-and-stainless informality, with dresses assuming an equally casual-Friday look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain , it spells economic hard times.

Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent , announced that it is eliminating 1,000 jobs-one-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4,000 the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery ( 陶瓷 ) region. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.

Although a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs is Stoke have their roots in earthshaking social shifts. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company "has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend" toward casual dining. Families eat together less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or they eat in front of television.

Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone casual. In a time of long work hours and demanding family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that it's better to share a takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a "real" dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Polish the silver? Who has time?

Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiquette( 禮節(jié) ) that children might once have learned at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents ("Chew with your mouth closed". "Keep your elbows off the table.") must be picked up elsewhere. Some companies now offer etiquette seminars for employees who may be competent professionally but clueless socially.

1. The trend toward casual dining has resulted in _____.

A ． bankruptcy of fine china manufacturers B ． shrinking of the pottery industry

C ． restructuring of large enterprises D ． economic recession in Great Britain

2. Which of the following may be the best reason for casual dining?

A. Family members need more time to relax.

B.Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.

C. People want to practice economy in times of scarcity.

D. Young people won't follow the etiquette of the older generation.

3. It can be learned from the passage that Royal Doulton is _____.

A. a retailer of stainless steel tableware B. a dealer in stoneware

C. a pottery chain store D. a producer of fine china

4. The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is _____.

A. the increased value of the pound B. the economic recession in Asia

C. the change in people's way of life D. the fierce competition at home and abroad

5. Refined table manners, though less popular than before in current social life, _____.

A. are still a must on certain occasions B.are bound to return sooner or later

C. are still being taught by parents at home D. can help improve personal relationships

參考答案：

•  B 2. B 3. D 4. C 5. A

Passage 2

Computers can beat chess champion Gary Kasparov at his game ， count all the atoms in a nuclear explosion ， and calculate complex figures in a fraction of a second ， but they still fail at the slight differences in language translation ． Artificial Intelligence computers have large amounts of memory ， capable of storing huge translating dictionaries and extensive lists of grammar rules ． Yet ， today's best computer language translators have just a 60 percent accuracy rate ． Scientists are still unable to program the computer with human-like common sense reasoning power ．

Computer language translation is called Machine Translation ， or MT. While not perfect ， MT is surprisingly good ． MT was designed to process dry ， technical language that people find tedious to translate. Computers can translate basic phrases, such as “You foot bone's connected to your ankle bone, your ankle bone's connected to your leg bone.” They can translate more difficult phrases ， such as “Which witch is which?” Computers can also accurately translate “Wild thing, you make my heart sing!” into other languages because they can understand individual words, as long as the words are pre-programmed in their dictionary ．

But highly sensitive types of translating, such as important diplomatic conversations ， are beyond the scope of computer translating programs. Human translators use intuitional meaning ， not logic ， to process words and phrases into other languages ． A human can properly translate the phrase ， “The pen is in the pen （圍養(yǎng)禽畜的圈， ” because most humans know that it means that a writing instrument is in a small enclosed space ． Many times ， computers do not have the ability to determine in which way two identical words in one sentence are to be used ．

In addition to using massive rule-programmed machines ， computer programmers are also trying to teach computers to learn how to think for themselves through the “experience” of translating. Even with these efforts, programmers admit that a “thinking” computer might not ever be invented in the future ．

1 ． Computers today are capable of______ ．

A. defeating the best chess player in the world ．

B. telling subtle differences between languages

C. translating over 60 percent of difficult texts ．

D. doing human-like common sense reasoning

2. According to the passage ， which of the following is NOT true?

A. Computers can translate dry and difficult phrase

B. Computers can understand sensitive language

C. Computers can translate technical language

D. Computers can understand pre-programmed word

3. The major problem with computer translating programs is that computers

A. can not translate illogical sentences

B. do not have a large enough capacity of memory

C. can not understand grammatical rules

D. do not have intuition to process language

4. To improve machine translation, computer programmers are trying to

A. use powerful rule-programmed computers

B. teach computers to think by practice

C. have computers compile translating dictionaries

D. add explanations of words in computer programs

5. The passage suggests that

A .the accuracy rate of machine translation cannot be raised

B. it is impossible for computers to think as humans do

C.only technical language is suitable for machine translation

D.it is impossible to determine of identical words

參考答案 1A ． 2.B ． 3.A ． 4.B ． 5.B

Passage 3

There is a new type of small advertisement becoming increasingly common in newspaper classified columns. It is sometimes placed among “situations vacant”, although it does not offer anyone a job, and sometimes it appears among “situations wanted”, although it is not placed by someone looking for a job, either. What it does is to offer help in applying for a job.

“Contact us before writing your application”, or “Make use of our long experience in preparing your curriculum vitae or job history”, is how it is usually expressed. The growth and apparent success of such a specialized service is, of course, a reflection on the current high levels of unemployment. It is also an indication of the growing importance of the curriculum vitae (or job history), with the suggestion that it may now qualify as an art form in its own right.

There was a time when job seekers simply wrote letters of application. “Just put down your name, address, age and whether you have passed any exams”, was about the average level of advice offered to young people applying for their first jobs when I left school. The letter was really just for openers, it was explained, everything else could and should be saved for the interview. And in those days of full employment the technique worked. The letter proved that you could write and were available for work. Your eager face and intelligent replies did the rest.

Later, as you moved up the ladder, something slightly more sophisticated was called for. The advice then was to put something in the letter which would distinguish you from the rest. It might be the aggressive approach. “Your search is over. I am the person you are looking for”, was a widely used trick that occasionally succeeded. Or it might be some special feature specially designed for the job interview.

There is no doubt, however, that it is increasing number of applicants with university education at all points in the process of engaging staff that has led to the greater importance of the curriculum vitae.

1. The new type of advertisement which is appearing in newspaper columns .

A.informs job hunters of the opportunities available

B.promises to offer useful advice to those looking for employment

C.divides available jobs into various types

D.informs employers of the people available for work

2. Nowadays a demand for this specialized type of service has been created because .

A.there is a lack of jobs available for artistic people

B.there are so many top level jobs available

C.there are so many people out of work

D.the job history is considered to be a work of art

3. In the past it was expected that first job hunters would .

A. write an initial letter giving their life history

B. pass some exams before applying for a job

C. have no qualifications other than being able to read and write

D. keep any detailed information until they obtained an interview

4. Later, as one went on to apply for more important jobs, one was advised to include in the letter .

A. something that would distinguish one from other applicants

B. hinted information about the personality of the applicant

C. one's advantages over others in applying for the job

D. an occasional trick with the aggressive approach

5. The curriculum vitae has become such an important document because .

A. there has been an increase in the number of jobs advertised

B. there has been an increase in the number of applicants with degrees

C. jobs are becoming much more complicated nowadays

D. the other processes of applying for jobs are more complicated

參考答案： 1. B 2. C 3. D 4. A 5. B

Passage 4

About the time that schools and others quite reasonably became interested in seeing to it that all children, whatever their background, were fairly treated, intelligence testing became unpopular.

Some thought it was unfair to minority children. Through the past few decades such testing has gone out of fashion and many communities have indeed forbidden it.

However, paradoxically, just recently a group of black parents filed a lawsuit ( 訴訟 ) in California claiming that the state's ban on IQ testing discriminates against their children by denying them the opportunity to take the test. (They believed, correctly, that IQ tests are a valid method of evaluating children for special education classes.) The judge, therefore, reversed, at least partially, his original decision.

And so the argument goes on and on. Does it benefit or harm children from minority groups to have their intelligence tested? We have always been on the side of permitting, even facilitating such testing. If a child of any color or group is doing poorly in school it seems to us very important to know whether it is because he or she is of low intelligence, or whether some other factor is the cause.

What school and family can do to improve poor performance is influenced by its cause. It is not discriminative to evaluate either a child's physical condition or his intellectual level.

Unfortunately, intellectual level seems to be a sensitive subject, and what the law allows us to do varies from time to time. The same fluctuation back and forth occurs in areas other than intelligence. Thirty years or so ago, for instance, white families were encouraged to adopt black children. It was considered discriminative not to do so.

And then the style changed and this cross-racial adopting became generally unpopular, and social agencies felt that black children should go to black families only. It is hard to say what the best procedures are. But surely good will on the part of all of us is needed.

As to intelligence, in our opinion, the more we know about any child's intellectual level, the better for the child in question.

1. Why did the intelligence test become unpopular in the past few decades?

A. Its validity was challenged by many communities.

B. It was considered discriminative against minority children.

C. It met with strong opposition from the majority of black parents.

D. It deprived the black children of their rights to a good education.

2. The recent legal action taken by some black parents in California aimed to________.

A. draw public attention to IQ testing C. remove the state's ban on intelligence tests

B. put an end to special education D. have their children enter white schools

3. The author believes that intelligence testing ________.

A. may ease racial confrontation in the United States

B. can encourage black children to keep up with white children

C. may seriously aggravate racial discrimination in the United States

D. can help black parents make decisions about their children's education

4 The author's opinion of child adoption seems to be that________.

A. no rules whatsoever can be prescribed

B. white families should adopt black children

C. adoption should be based on IQ test results

D. cross-racial adoption is to be advocated

5. Child adoption is mentioned in the passage to show that _______.

A. good will may sometimes complicate racial problems

B. social surroundings are vital to the healthy growth of children

C. intelligence testing also applies to non-academic areas

D. American opinion can shift when it comes to sensitive issues

參考答案： 1-5 B C A D D