| Directions : There are three passages in this part. Each passage is followed by five questions. For each question 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 1
In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the instruction of the TV dinner.
Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family for in many homes dinner-time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with table setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day's experiences and more than food was consumed. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family solidarity was reinforced. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their significance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been erased by a product—the television set.
By the beginning of the 1980' s, the typical American family dinner is just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of this once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the overall pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners—meals designed to be consumed between the opening and closing credits of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.
1)
According to the passage, the American family is now threatened by ______
(A)
poverty
(B)
having few children
(C)
poor living conditions
(D)
divorce
2)
In the past, Americans tended to ______
(A)
spend more time eating their food at dinner table
(B)
eat more food than they have today
(C)
spend more time talking about their day's experience at dinner table
(D)
talk so much that they forgot to eat
3)
The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to ______.
(A)
the TV programs
(B)
the pace of modern life
(C)
the wide use of household appliances
(D)
the popularity of fast food
4)
According to the passage, TV dinners are ______.
(A)
meals consumed while one is watching TV
.
(B)
meals one learns to cook on TV
(C)
meals ordered on TV
(D)
meals consumed before the TV set
5)
The best title for this passage might be _______.
(A)
Talk at Dinner Table
(B)
TV Dinner
(C)
Pace of Modern Life
(D)
Problems Caused By TV
Passage 2
As all soccer fans know, the greatest teams don't always win. Their fans' enthusiasm and their own desires sometimes help teams play better than normal. In the 1950 World Cup, for example, most people thought the team from England was the best in the world. The US team surprised everyone by winning its match. That loss stopped England from winning the Cup. This, of course, did not mean that the US team was the best in the world. The United States lost to Chile in its next game. Then the Chilean team lost to Spain , and Spain finished fourth in the final result. Uruguay won the Cup.
The World Cup is called that because teams from every continent have played in it. However, since the Cup began, all of the winning teams have been from Europe or South America . Teams from Asia or Africa always do well. But they haven't yet won. Mexico played surprisingly well in the 1970 Cup, which it hosted, but it wasn't among the final four teams.
The largest crowd ever to attend a soccer match was at the World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , on July 16, 1950. 199,854 fans watched Uruguay defeat Brazil by a score of 2-1.
The following incidents show how serious some people are about soccer. During the 1960s, a player for a team from Derby , England , was fined two dollars for smiling at a referee during a match. In another incident in Greece , a referee feared an angry crowd after a match, so he dressed himself as Catholic priest and tried to escape to Athens by ship. The fans found out where he was and threw fruit at him before his ship sailed.
6)
The 1970 World Cup was held in ______.
(A)
Britain
(B)
Chile
.
(C)
Spain
(D)
Mexico
7)
Which of the following decides soccer players' performance according to the writer?
(A)
Their skill
(B)
Their fans' enthusiasm
(C)
Their mental state
(D)
All of the above
8)
It seems that the result of the 1950 World Cup was ______.
(A)
just what had been expected
(B)
quite different from what had been expected
(C)
due to fans' enthusiasm
(D)
very normal
9)
In the end, the referee _______.
(A)
turned out to be a Catholic priest
(B)
was attacked by fans with fruit
(C)
escaped to Athens by ship
(D)
was caught by the fans in Athens
10)
What is the attitude of the author toward Asian or African teams?
(A)
Contemptuous
(B)
Negative
(C)
Affirmative
(D)
Pessimistic
Passage 3
The basic flag of the United States is one of the world's oldest national flag. Only the basic flags of Austria , Denmark , Great Britain , The Netherlands, Sweden , and Switzerland are older.
The first official flag of the United States was created by Congress on June 14, 1777. It consisted of 13 colonies that had declared their independence in 1776. the Congress adopted a new flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes in 1795, to give representation of the two new states admitted into the Union, Vermont and Kentucky .
By 1871, there were 20 states in the Union , and it became apparent that adding one stripe for each new state would destroy the shape of the flag. As a result, Congress in 1818 restored the original design of 13 stripes and provided that each state was to be represented by one star.
The evolution of the Stars and Stripes reflects the growth of the United States . After the admission of Hawaii into the Union in 1959, the flag was officially changed for the 26 th time since its creation.
There are many government flags flown in the US in addition to the national flag. Among them are the president's and vice-president's flags and those of the federal departments and some federal agencies. Each state in Union has an official flag. The United States Navy uses special flags for signaling.
11)
The basic flag of the US is ______.
(A)
the oldest national flag in the world
(B)
one of the world's oldest flags
(C)
the most beautiful flag in the West
(D)
as old as the basic flags of some European nations
12)
The first official flag of the United States was adopted _____.
(A)
before the Independence War
(B)
right after the Independence War
(C)
when independence was declared in 1776
(D)
during the War of Independence which ended in 1783
13)
The 13 red and white stripes and 13 white stars represent ______.
(A)
13 independence states
(B)
the colonies that declared independence in 1776
(C)
the US Congress
(D)
13 famous figures in the American colonies
14)
Why is it that the original design of 13 stripes was restored in 1818?
(A)
Too many stripes would destroy the shape of the flag.
(B)
Congress insisted 13 be the best number
(C)
That was a decision President Taft had made.
(D)
The American people would accept this restoration.
15)
The fact that the flag was officially changed 26 times shows ______.
(A)
the admission of 50 states into the nation in 200 years
(B)
the growth and development of US
(C)
Hawaii was the last state admitted into the Union
(D)
The US Congress had made all the changes
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