Part II Reading Comprehension
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 center.
Passage One
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
A is for always getting to work on time.
B is for being extremely busy.
C is for the conscientious way you do your job.
You may be all these things at the office, and more. But when it comes to getting ahead, experts say, the ABCs of business should include a P, for politics, as in office politics.
Dale Carnegie suggested as much more than 50 years ago: Hard work alone doesn t ensure career advancement. You have to be able to sell yourself and your ideas, both publicly and behind the scenes. Yet, despite the obvious rewards of engaging in office politics a better job, a raise, praise many people are still unable or unwilling to play the game.
People assume that office politics involves some manipulative behavior, says Deborah Comer, an assistant professor of management at Hofstra University. But politics derives from the word polite . It can mean lobbying and forming associations. It can mean being kind and helpful, or even trying to please your superior, and then expecting something in return.
In fact, today, experts define office politics as proper behavior used to pursue one s own self-interest in the workplace. In many cases, this involves some form Of Socializing within the office environment not just in large companies, but in small workplaces as well.
The first thing people are usually judged on is their ability to perform well on a consistent basis, says Neil P Lewis, a management psychologist. But if two or three candidates are up for a promotion, each of whom has reasonably similar ability, a manager is going to promote the person he or she likes best. It s simple human nature.
Yet, psychologists say, many employees and employers have trouble with the concept of politics in the office. Some people, they say, have an idealistic vision of work and what it takes to succeed. Still others associate politics with flattery , fearful that, if they speak up for themselves, they may appear to be flattering their boss for favors.
Experts suggest altering this negative picture by recognizing the need for some self-promotion.
11. Office politics is used in the passage to refer to ________.
A) the code of behavior for company staff
B) the political views and beliefs of office workers
C) the interpersonal relationships within a company
D) the various qualities required for a successful career
12. To get promoted, one must not only be competent but ________.
A) give his boss a good impression
B) honest and loyal to his company
C) get along well with his colleagues
D) avoid being too outstanding
13. Why are many people unwilling to play the game ?
A) They believe that doing so is impractical.
B) They feel that such behavior is unprincipled.
C) They are not good at manipulating colleagues.
D) They think the effort will get them nowhere.
14. The author considers office politics to be ________.
A) unwelcome at the workplace
B) bad for interpersonal relationships
C) indispensable to the development of company culture
D) an important factor for personal advancement
15. It is the author s view that ________.
A) speaking up for oneself is part of human nature
B) self-promotion does not necessarily mean flattery
C) hard work contributes very little to one s promotion
D) many employees fail to recognize the need of flattery
Passage Two
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.
As soon as it was revealed that a reporter for Progressive magazine had discovered how to make a hydrogen bomb, a group of firearm fans formed the National Hydrogen Bomb Association, and they are now lobbying against any legislation to stop Americans from owning one.
The Constitution, said the association s spokesman, gives everyone the right to own arms. It doesn t spell out what kind of arms. But since anyone can now make a hydrogen bomb, the public should be able to buy it to protect themselves.
Don t you think it s dangerous to have one in the house, particularly where there are children around?
The National Hydrogen Bomb Association hopes to educate people in the safe handling of this type of weapon. We are instructing owners to keep the bomb in a locked cabinet
and the fuse separately in a drawer.
Some people consider the hydrogen bomb a very fatal weapon which could kill somebody.
The spokesman said, Hydrogen bombs don t kill people people kill people. The bomb is for self-protection and it also has a deterrent effect. If somebody knows you have a nuclear weapon in your house, they re going to think twice about breaking in.
But those who want to ban the bomb for American citizens claim that if you have one locked in the cabinet, with the fuse in a drawer, you would never be able to assemble it in time to stop an intruder .
Another argument against allowing people to own a bomb is that at the moment it is very expensive to build one. So what your association is backing is a program which would allow the middle and upper classes to acquire a bomb while poor people will be left defenseless with just handguns.
16. According to the passage, some people started a national association so as to ________.
A) block any legislation to ban the private possession of the bomb
B) coordinate the mass production of the destructive weapon
C) instruct people how to keep the bomb safe at home
D) promote the large-scale sale of this newly invented weapon
17. Some people oppose the ownership of H-bombs by individuals on the grounds that ________.
A) the size of the bomb makes it difficult to keep in a drawer
B) most people don t know how to handle the weapon
C) people s lives will be threatened by the weapon
D) they may fall into the hands of criminals
18. By saying that the bomb also has a deterrent effect the spokesman means that it ________.
A) will frighten away any possible intruders
B) can show the special status of its owners
C) will threaten the safety of the owners as well
D) can kill those entering others houses by force
19. According to the passage, opponents of the private ownership of H-bombs are very much worried that ________.
A) the influence of the association is too powerful for the less privileged to overcome
B) poorly-educated Americans will find it difficult to make use of the weapon
C) the wide use of the weapon will push up living expenses tremendously
D) the cost of the weapon will put citizens on an unequal basis
20. From the tone of the passage we know that the author is ________.
A) doubtful about the necessity of keeping H-bombs at home for safety
B) unhappy with those who vote against the ownership of H-bombs
C) not serious about the private ownership of H-bombs
D) concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons
Passage Three
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are unique a speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy: whether language, complete with grammar, is something that we are born With, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D. C., the world s only liberal arts university for deaf people.
When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher.
Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English . But Stokoe believed the hand talk his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf people actually: have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as substandard . Stokoe s idea was academic heresy .
It is 37 years later. Stokoe now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture is having lunch at a cafe near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of space. What I said, Stokoe explains, is that language is not mouth stuff it s brain stuff.
21. The study of sign language is thought to be ________.
A) a new way to look at the learning of language
B) a challenge to traditional, views on the nature of language
C) an approach: to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language
D) an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language
22. The, present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by ________.
A) a famous scholar in the study of the human brain
B) a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts
C) an English teacher in a university for the deaf
D) some senior experts in American Sign Language
23. According to Stokoe, sign language is ________.
A) a Substandard language
B) a genuine language
C) an artificial language
D) an international language
24. Most educators objected to Stokoe s idea because they thought ________.
A) sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people
B) sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted
C) a language should be easy to use and understand
D) a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds
25. Stokoe s argument is based on his belief that ________.
A) sign language is as efficient as any other language
B) sign language is derived from natural language
C) language is a system of meaningful codes
D) language is a product of the brain
Passage Four
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
It came as something of a surprise when Diana, Princess of Wales, made a trip to Angola in 1997, to support the Red Cross s campaign for a total ban on all anti-personnel landmines. Within hours of arriving in Angola, television screens around the World were filled with images of her comforting victims injured in explosions caused by landmines. I knew the statistics, she said. But putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me; like When I met Sandra, a 13-year-old girl who had lost her leg, and people like her.
The Princess concluded, with a simple message: We must stop landmines . And she used every opportunity during her visit to repeat this message.
But, back in London, her views were not shared by some members of the British government, which refused to support a ban on these weapons. Angry politicians launched an, attack on the Princess in the press. They described her as very ill-informed and a loose cannon .
The Princess responded by brushing aside the criticisms: This is a distraction we do not need. All I m trying to do is help.
Opposition parties, the media and the Public immediately voiced their support for the Princess. To make matters worse for the government, it soon emerged that the Princess s trip had been approved by the Foreign Office, and that she was in fact very well-informed about both the situation in Angola and the British government s policy regarding landmines. The result was a severe embarrassment for the government.
To try and limit the damage, the Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, claimed that the Princess s views on landmines were not very different from government policy, and that it was working towards a worldwide ban. The Defense Secretary, Michael Portillo, claimed the matter was a misinterpretation or misunderstanding.
For the Princess, the trip to this war-torn country was an excellent opportunity to use her popularity to show the world how much destruction and suffering landmines can cause. She said that the experience had also given her the Chance to get closer to people and their problems.
26. Princess Diana paid a visit to Angola in 1997 ________.
A) to voice her support for a total ban of landmines
B) to clarify the British government s stand on landmines
C) to investigate the sufferings of landmine victims there
D) to establish her image as a friend of landmine victims
27. What did Diana mean when she said ... putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me ?
A) She just couldn t bear to meet the landmine victims face to face.
B) The actual situation in Angola made her feel like going back home.
C) Meeting the landmine victims in person made her believe the statistics.
D) Seeing the pain of the victims made her realize the seriousness of the situation.
28. Some members of the British government criticized Diana because ________.
A) she was ill-informed of the government s policy
B) they were actually opposed to banning landmines
C) she had not consulted the government before the visit
D) they believed that she had misinterpreted the situation in Angola
29. How did Diana respond to the criticisms?
A) She paid no attention to them.
B) She made more appearances on TV.
C) She met the 13-year-old girl as planned.
D) She rose to argue with her opponents.
30. What did Princess Diana think of her visit to Angola?
A) It had caused embarrassment to the British government.
B) It had brought her closer to the ordinary people.
C) It had greatly promoted her popularity.
D) It had affected her relations with the British government.
Unit 11
11. C 12. A 13. B 14.D 15. B
16. A 17. C 18. A 19.D 20. A
21. B 22. C 23. B 24.D 25. D
26. A 27. D 28. B 29.A 30. B
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