WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets.

​(difficult) Bad weather heightened the  for them to carry out the task. 

Word Formation
Complete the following sentence with the proper form of the word in the bracket.

(annoy) He was beginning to get verywith me about my carelessness.

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets. 

​(marry) She went to live abroad after her  broke up.

WORD FORMATION
Complete the following sentence with the proper form of the word in the bracket.

（attend）  at football matches has dropped off since the coming of television.

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets. 

​(evaluation) The police force should not  officers' performance in terms of the number of arrests they make.

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets. 

(convenience) We apologize for the delay and regret any it may have caused.

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets. 

​(understand) Prof. Clinton spoke slowly to make himself  .

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets.

(concern) Her new report is  with rainforest.

WORD FORMATION
Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in brackets.

(satisfy) If you can't get any  , complain to the park owner.

SPEED READING
Skim or scan the following passages and then decide on the best answer.

    MGM's most promising young star in the early 1930s couldn't meet the height requirement for most of today's amusement park rides: Shirley Temple, coming into her own in starring roles at the tender age of 5, was almost immediately headhunted (物色) by bigger, more profitable studios. And Fox was definitely that. For the studio, that proved to be a power move against MGM, buying their young star out from under them.

    The move solidified Shirley Temple's place as the most beloved young star of her era, and is also credited with saving the Fox studio; Temple's cheerful and inspiring performance was able to draw moviegoers to the theater better than any other Depression-era star's.
    The saga started in 1933 with Fox Film songwriter, Jay Gorney. He was walking out of a viewing of an episode of Temple's multi-part series, Frolics of Youth, and saw her charming fans in the movie theater lobby with song and dance numbers. He immediately arranged a screen test with Temple for the film Stand Up and Cheer! in early December of that year. The film was a hit upon its release in 1934. And audiences adored the innocence of both Temple and her character.
    On the Good Ship Lollipop, a song from the film Bright Eyes, sold more than 500,000 copies. On February 27, 1935, 6-year-old Shirley Temple became the first child star to be honored with a Juvenile Oscar for her film achievements. Then, Fox and 20th Century Pictures merged, thanks in large part to Temple's success, creating 20th Century Fox, and as one of the crown jewels in the new studio's collection, Temple's star began to grow ever higher.
    During the Great Depression, an era when making large investments was considered by conservative commentators to be nothing if not reckless (轻率的), Fox almost immediately began to see the benefits of banking on the bright young talent of Shirley Temple. As her star rose higher and higher, Fox was able to show more of their stars in Temple movies, using them to springboard actors such as Cesar Romero into star-making roles of their own. Shirley Temple showed Fox that the kind of movie capable of selling in the economic misery of the Depression was the exceedingly optimistic fare she was creating. In turn, Fox's returns on their investment in this optimism allowed them to make similar investments elsewhere, in actors that would become mainstays (支柱) of Hollywood and television for decades to come.

CAREFUL READING

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer.

     Sport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes (运动员). Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological, and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.
     The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents' and coaches' criticisms to heart and find a flaw (缺陷) in themselves.
     Coaches and parents should also be cautious that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today's youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters' performances.
     Positive reinforcement (加强) should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.

Careful Reading

Read the following passage carefully. Decide on the best answers. 

     Postage stamps are labels affixed to letters or parcels to indicate that a specified amount of postage has been prepaid for delivery. Stamps are usually issued by a government or an agency representing a government, such as a national post office. The collecting and study of postage stamps and related items such as postcards is known as philately, a word derived from Greek meaning, literally, “love of what is free of further tax.” Stamp collecting is one of the most popular hobbies in the world.
     From the earliest years of the hobby, most philatelists have preferred to collect stamps by country, specializing in the issues of one or more nations. Since about the mid-1950s, however, many philatelists have become interested in topical collecting, acquiring stamps illustrating certain themes or subjects. Among the wide range of pictorials are stamps devoted to sports, art and music, aviation, birds and flowers, and telecommunications.
     One of the attractions of stamp collecting is the ease of starting a collection. With access to enough incoming mail, especially from abroad, a person can build a collection without any expense. Literally tens of thousands of stamps, however, including many of the older issues, are priced very cheaply.
     Little special equipment is required. A collector needs only an album to house the collection and a pair of stamp tongs with which to handle them. Stamps and accessories can be purchased easily. Nearly every city has one or more professional stamp dealers. Thousands of other dealers operate exclusively by mail or on the Internet.
     When collectors have accumulated a number of valuable stamps, they must take precautions for safe storage, preferably in a bank safety deposit box. If the stamps are in mint(崭新的) condition, they should not be overlapped; through changes in humidity, overlapping stamps may stick together and become seriously damaged. Collectors also should keep accurate written inventories of all their philatelic material.

CAREFUL READING 

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer.

     Regular interaction or familiarity seems to increase liking; often, the people we interact with the most are simply those who are closest to us. A classic study by Festinger found that residents of an apartment complex tended to interact with, and like those who happened to live on the same floor more than those who lived on other floors or in other buildings. The researcher did not analyze this phenomenon in terms of the development of in-group versus out-group perceptions and biases, but such an analysis might prove interesting. Likewise, when classroom seating is alphabetical (依字母顺序的), students are more likely to be friends with people who share the same initial. 

     There are two major explanations for the relation between proximity (接近) and liking. The first is simple availability. If most people are nice and easy enough to approach, it follows that proximity will determine who you get to know and, therefore, like. The second explanation is based on the mere exposure effect, that is, simple familiarity increases liking for a person or object that is not necessarily likeable. The mere exposure effect has been demonstrated in the laboratory with some meaningless syllables, which people find more pleasing after they have repeated them several times. It seems reasonable to conclude that repeated exposure to people in proximity to us leads us to like them more.

CAREFUL READING 

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET. 

     Historical periods are dominated by distinct sets of ideas which form the general spirit of a period in history. Greek philosophy, Christianity, Renaissance thought, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment are examples of sets of ideas that dominated their historical periods. The changes from one period to the next are usually rather gradual.; other changes—more abrupt—are often referred to as revolutions. The most far-reaching of all these intellectual changes was the Darwinian revolution. The worldview formed by any thinking person in the Western world after 1859, when On the Origin of Species was published, was by necessity quite different from a worldview formed before 1859. It is almost impossible for a modern person to project back to the early half of the nineteenth century and reconstruct the thinking of this pre-Darwinian period, for the impact of Darwinism on our views has been so great.
     The intellectual revolution brought about by Darwin went far beyond the realm of biology, causing the overthrow of some of the most basic beliefs of his age. For example, Darwin rejected the belief in the individual creation of each species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor. By extension, he introduced the idea that humans were not the special products of creation but evolved according to principles that operate everywhere else in the living world. Darwin upset current notions of a perfectly designed natural and gentle world and substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival. Victorian notions of progress and perfectibility were seriously weakened by Darwin's demonstration that evolution brings about change and adaptation, but it does not necessarily lead to progress, and it never leads to perfection.
     Darwin would be remembered as an outstanding scientist even if he had never written a word about evolution. Indeed, some people believe that Darwin’s most original contribution to biology was not the theory of evolution but his series of books on experimental botany published near the end of his life. This achievement is little known among non-biologists, and the same is true for his equally outstanding work on the adaptation of flowers and on animal psychology, as well as his imaginative work on earthworms. Darwin also attacked important problems with extraordinary originality, thereby becoming the founder of several now well-recognized separate disciplines. Darwin was the first person to work out a sound theory of classification, which is still used by most experts today.

Careful Reading

Read the following passage carefully. Decide on the best answers. 

     People have thought very differently about children in different historical eras. In ancient Rome and throughout the Middle Ages, for example, childhood was brief: A boy or girl was considered an “infant” until the age of six, but soon afterward worked alongside adults in the fields, in the workshops, or at home. Children were thought to be born in a state of sin and were viewed as the property of their fathers. Such beliefs contributed to strict discipline of children and neglect of their special needs. 
     These harsh attitudes softened during the Renaissance and Enlightenment as the humanistic spirit of the times caused a rediscovery of the special qualities of childhood. In paintings, for example, young children were depicted as playing and doing other childish things, rather than being shown as miniature adults. The importance of childhood as a unique period of development was understood more fully in the 17th and 18th centuries, as reflected in the writings of two important European thinkers: the English philosopher John Locke and the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. John Locke argued that the newborn infant comes into the world with no inherited predispositions (天性), but rather with a mind as a “blank slate” that is gradually filled with ideas, concepts, and knowledge from experiences in the world. He concluded that the quality of early experiences, particularly how children are raised and educated, shapes the direction of a child’s life. Later, Jean Jacques Rousseau claimed that children at birth are innately good rather than evil, and that their natural tendencies should be protected against the corrupting influences of society. Rousseau’s attitude had an important influence on society, and inspired, for example, the novelists Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo, who decried(揭露)the exploitation of child labor and highlighted the need for educational and social reform.

CAREFUL READING 

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.   

     The public schools of the United States—elementary, secondary, and higher—have a history, and it is the social history of the United States: the decades before the Civil War, in which the elementary or “common schools” were reformed; the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century, in which the secondary schools “welcomed” the “children of the plain people”; and the post-World War II decades, which found the public colleges and universities flooded non-traditional students—those traditionally excluded from higher education by sex, race, and class.
     In each of these periods, the quantitative expansion of the student population was matched by a qualitative transformation of the enlarged institutions. The common schools of the mid-1800s were charged with reforming the moral character of the children of failed artisans (工匠) and farmers; the expanded high schools at the turn of the century with preparing their poor, working-class, and immigrant teenagers for future lives in city and factory; the “open-access” public institutions in the postwar period with moving their students off the unemployment lines and into lower-level white-collar positions.
     The common schools, the high schools, the colleges and universities—all in their own times—were expanded and transformed so that they might better maintain social order and increase material productivity. But no matter how enlarged or reformed, they could not do the jobs expected of them: they could not solve the economic, social, and human problems brought about by uncontrolled urbanization and industrialization within the context of the private property system. The schooling reforms succeeded only in shifting the discussion and action from the social and productive system to the people who were now held responsible for not fitting into it.

Careful Reading

Read the following passage carefully. Decide on the best answers. 

     If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition must be worthy of the sacrifices on ambition’s behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it should be widely shared, and it especially must be highly regarded by such people as the educated, who are themselves admired. However it is the educated who have claimed to have given up ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps benefited most from ambition, though the ambition may be more that of their parents and grandparents than of their own. 
     Certainly, people do not seem less interested in success now than formerly. In fact, the signs of success such as summer homes, European travel and BMWs have never ceased to be sought after. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought to be aggressive, materialistic or vulgar. Instead, what has often confused us are those fine hypocritical spectacles: the critic of American materialism in possession of a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals every day in five-star restaurants; the journalist promoting participatory democracy in all phases of life, who sends his own children to expensive private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the motto is, “Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious. ” 
     Ambition has been attacked from various angles；its public defenders are few and unimpressive, though they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired by the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean, however, that people are no longer ambition-driven, but only that, no longer openly honored, ambition has become something smartly concealed.

CAREFUL READING

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.    

     The passengers on the bus watched sympathetically as the young woman with the white cane made her way cautiously up the steps. She paid the driver and then, using her hands to feel the location of the seats, settled into one. She placed her briefcase on her lap and rested her cane against her leg. 

     It had been a year since Susan, thirty-four, became blind. As the result of a medical accident she was sightless, suddenly thrown into a world of darkness, anger frustration and self-pity. All she could cling to was her husband Mark.
     Mark was an Air Force officer and he loved Susan with all his heart. When she first lost her sight, he watched her sink into despair and he became determined to use every means to help his wife.
     Finally, Susan felt ready to return to her job, but how would she get there? She used to take the bus, but she was now too frightened to get around the city by herself. Mark volunteered to ride the bus with Susan each morning and evening until she got the hang of (摸清情况) it. And that was exactly what happened.
     For two weeks, Mark, military uniform and all, accompanied Susan to and from work each day. He taught her how to rely on her other senses, specifically her hearing, to determine where she was and how to adapt to her new environment. He helped her befriend the bus drivers who could watch out for her, and save her a seat.
     Each morning they made the journey together, and Mark would take a taxi back to his office. Although the routine of going back and forth was costly, Mark knew it was only a matter of time before Susan would be able to ride the bus on her own.
     Finally, Susan decided that she was ready to try the trip on her own. Monday morning arrived. Before she left, she embraced her husband tightly. Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude for his loyalty, his patience, and his love. She said good-bye and, for the first time, they went their separate ways. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... Each day on her own went perfectly, and a wild gaiety (快乐) took hold of Susan. She was doing it! She was going to work all by herself!

CAREFUL READING 

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer.

     In the 1950s, the Sami of Finland had an economy based on fishing and reindeer herding (放养驯鹿), which provided most of the food. Reindeer had several other important economic and social functions. They were used as animals to haul wood for fuel. Their hides were made into clothing. Reindeer were also key items of exchange, both in external trade and internal gift-giving. A child was given a reindeer to mark the appearance of its first tooth. When a couple became engaged, they exchanged a reindeer with each other and when they married, reindeer were the most important wedding gift. 

     By the 1960s, all this had changed because of the introduction of the snowmobile. After that, the herds were no longer kept closely domesticated (围养) for part of the year, during which they became tame. Instead, they were allowed to roam freely all year and thus became wilder. On snowmobiles, the men covered larger amounts of territory at round-up (把牲畜赶回畜栏）time to bring in the animals, and sometimes several round-ups occurred instead of one.
     Herd size declined dramatically. Reasons for the decline included the stress caused to the reindeer by the extra distance traveled during round-ups and the tear aroused by the noisy snowmobiles. Round-ups were now held at a time when the females were near the end of their pregnancy, another factor causing reproductive stress. As the number of snowmobiles increased, the number of reindeer decreased. 

     Another economic change involved the dependence on the outside through links to the cash economy. Cash was needed in order to purchase a snowmobile, gasoline, and to pay for parts and repairs. This led to social inequality, which had not existed previously: the cash cost of effective participation in herding exceeded the resources of some families, who had to drop out of serious participation in herding; the use of snowmobiles changed the age pattern of reindeer herding in favor of youth over age; thus, older herders were squeezed out; the snowmobile pushed many Sami into debt; the dependence on cash and indebtedness forced many Sami to migrate to cities for work.

CAREFUL READING

Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer.

     Friedrich Dobl, a Yugoslav (南斯拉夫人) working in Germany, was annoyed with traffic jams. At long weekends and holiday times when he wanted to get home quickly, he always found himself moving slowly with hundreds of other cars along the crowded foreign workers' route through Germany and Austria.
     How easy it all was for police and emergency services! A siren (警报器), a flashing light? And like magic everyone was out of the way. Going home from work one night, he passed a garage. And there in front of him was the answer to his problem. An old ambulance was for sale. The red cross had been removed. But not the flashing light, and the siren. He tried the light. It flashed magnificently. He tried the siren. That too sounded impressive. He bought the ambulance and opened up for himself a dream world of motoring.
     It began early in the morning, all his luggage in the back of the ambulance and the motorway in Germany looking reasonably clear. Soon, as always, a long line of traffic appeared ahead. He switched on the flashing light and set off the siren. Cars swiftly slowed and pulled off the fast lane. Other cars stopped and drivers waved him ahead to an open road all his own. In record time he crossed the border into Austria. His trick was working. Police even waved him through the confusion caused by an accident.
     But then the Yugoslav made his bad mistake. Until then he had only stopped for petrol. Now he was driving past a real accident, lights flashing, too late to realize that it was not another traffic jam as he assumed. They stopped him, and after hearing the story of his ride across two countries fined him 12.5 pounds.