Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A),B),C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:
Every year 100 million holiday—makers are drawn to the Mediterranean. With onethird of the world's tourist trade, it is the most popular of all the holiday destinations; it is also the most polluted.It has only 1 per cent of the world's sea surface, but carries more than half the oil and tar floating on the waters. Thousands of factories pour their poison into the Mediterranean, and almost every city, town and village on the coast sends its sewage, untreated, into the sea.
The result is that the Mediterranean, which nurtured so many civilizations, is gravely ill—the first of the seas to fall victim to the abilities and attitudes that evolved around it. And the pollution does not merely keep back life of the sea—it threatens the people who inhabit and visit its shores.
The mournful form of disease is caused by sewage. Eightyfive per cent of the waste from the Mediterranean's 120 coastal cities is pushed out in to the waters where their people and visitors bathe and fish. What is more, most cities just drop it in straight off the beach; rare indeed are the places like Cannes and Tel Aviv which pipe it even half a mile offshore.
Not surprisingly, vast areas of the shallows are awash with bacteria and it doesn't take long for these to reach people. Professor William Brumfitt of the Royal Free Hospital once calculated that anyone who goes for a swim in the Mediterranean has a one in seven chance of getting some sort of disease. Other scientists say this is an overestimate; but almost all of them agree that bathers are at risk. Industry adds its own poisons. Factories cluster round the coastline, and even the most modern rarely has proper wastetreatment plant. They do as much damage to the sea as sewage.
But the good news is that the countries of the Mediterranean have been coming together to work out how to save their common sea.
21. The causes of the Mediterranean's pollution is ____.
A) the oil and tar floating on the water
B) many factories put their poison into the sea
C) untreated sewage from the factories and coastal cities
D) there are some sorts of diseases in the sea
22. Which of following consequence of a polluted sea is not true according to the passage?
A) Bring up so many civilizations.
B) Various diseases in the sea.
C) It threatens the inhabitants and travelers.
D) One in seven chance of getting some sort of disease swimming in the sea.
23. The word “sewage”refer to ____.
A) poison C) liquid material
B) waste D) solid material
24. Why does industry do much damage to the sea?
A) Because most factories have proper wastetreatment plants.
B) Because many factories have not proper wastetreatment plants even the most modern one.
C) Because just the modern factory has a waste treatment plant.
D) Because neither ordinary factories nor most modern ones have p roper wastetreatment plants.
25. What is the passage mainly about?
A) Save the world.
B) How the people live in the Mediterranean sea.
C) How the industry dangers the sea.
D) Beware the dirty sea.
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
THE CLASSROOM is a man's world, where boys get twothirds of the teachers' attention — even when they are in a minority— taunt (辱骂) the girls without punishment, and receive praise for sloppy work that would not be tolerated from girls. They are accustomed to being teachers' pets, and if girls get anything like equal treatment, they will protest eagerly and even wreck lessons.
These claims are made in a book out this week, written by Dale Spender, a lecturer at the London University Institute of Education. She argues that discrimination against girls is so deeply in coeducational schools that single sex classes are the only answer.Her case is based on taperecordings of her own and other teachers' lessons. Many of them, like Spender, had deliberately set out to give girls a fair chance. “Sometimes,” says Spender, “I have even thought I have gone too far and have spent more time with the girls than the boys.”
The tapes proved otherwise. In 10 taped lessons (in secondary school and college), Spender never gave the girls more than 42 per cent of her attention (the average was 38 percent) and never gave the boys less than 58 percent. There were similar results for other teachers, both male and female.
In other words, when teachers give girls more than a third of their time, they feel that they are cheating the boys of their rightful share. And so do the boys themselves. “She always asks the girls all the questions,” said one boy in a classroom where 34 per cent of the teachers' time was allocate d to girls. “She doesn't like boys, and just listens to the girls.” said a boy in another class, where his sex got 63 per cent of teacher attention.
Boys regarded twothirds of the teacher's time as a fair deal — and when they got less they caused trouble in class and even complained to higher authority. “It's important to keep their attention,” said one teacher, “Otherwise, they play you up something awful.”
Spender concludes that, in mixed classes, if the girls are as boisterous and pushy as the boys, they are considered “unladylike”, if they are docile and quiet, they are ignored.
26. If boys are better treated in class, ____ would be better.
A) singlesex classes and coeducational classes
B) coeducational classes
C) singlesex classes
D) None of the above
27. Dale Spender obtained the evidence for her claims by ____ .
A) her own lessons in secondary school and college
B) the other teachers' taperecordings
C) both male and female teachers
D) taperecordings of her own and other teachers' lessons
28. What are the boy's reactions when girls are given more attention?
A) They will keep the teachers' attention again.
B) They will make some trouble and complain to the headmaster.
C) They will play up the teacher something awful.
D) They will feel they are cheated by teachers.
29. The word “boisterous” in the last paragraph probably means ____.
A) rough B) brave C)troublesome D) emotional
30. The best title for this passage would be ____.
A) boys are teachers' pets
B) boys do better in coeducational classes
C) singlesex classes are better than coeduationed classes
D) girls do better than boys
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
Gestures aren't the only area in which the unwary traveler can get tripped up. Foreign cultures adhere to different business customs and behavior. For example:
Caffeine junkies should restrain themselves in the Middle East.“Three cups of tea or coffee isusually the polite limit in offices and during social calls,” counsels “Travel Pak, ” a free publication of Alia, the Royal Jordanian Airline. “But if your host keeps going, you also may continue sipping. If you've had your fill, give your empty cup a quick twist a sort of wiggle—as you hand it back. That means “No more, thank you.”
Middle East visitors also should not be surprised “if others barge right into the office in the middle of your conversation with the person you are seeing,” notes “Travel Pak.” An old Arab custom calls for keeping an “open office.”
The British, however, consider it impolite to interrupt a visitor, even after all business has been transacted. The commercial caller is expected to be sensitive to this point, know when to stop, and initiate his or her own departure.
In Japan certain guests at evening business gatherings will leave early. They should be allowed to leave without effusive goodbyes. The Japanese consider formal departures to be disruptive in such cases and disturbing to remaining guests.
In Scandinavia and Finland business guests may be asked to shed their clothes and join their hosts in a sauna. The invitation is a sign that a good working relationship has been established.
In the Arab world, the word “no” must be mentioned three times before it is accepted. In contrast, it is considered good business manners to make many and long efforts to pick up the check.
In the People's Republic of China, gift giving is considered an insult, says Patrick J. Lewis, President of Club Universe, a Los Angeles tour operator. “If you want to give someone a gift, make sure it's modest in value.
This will not be considered offensive, but it may be declined, ” The Chinese manner of expressing friendship and welcome is to clap. Lewis adds. “You may be greeted with clapping when entering a factory, hospital, commune, or school.Politeness dictates that you respond with applause, even though it may seem like you're clapping for yourself.”
