题目内容

Age has its special advantages in America. And one of the more impressive of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age – in some cases as low as 55 – is automatically entitled to plenty of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility （资格） is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practically the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses – as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.

People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them; yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent （有支付能力的）. Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” are synonymous（同义的）. Perhaps that once was true, but today, to be sure, there is economic variety within the elderly, and most of them aren’t poor.

It is impossible to determine the effect of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to income. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a directly annoy some politicians and scholars who consider it a coming conflict between the generations.

Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involves a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another point. Supported by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are refusing the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job — thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers. Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a powerful economic privilege（特权） to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.

It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enrich the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment; and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the heart of the very thing older Americans are fighting against — discrimination by age.

1．We learn from the first paragraph that _______.

A．offering senior citizens discounts has become routine commercial practice

B．senior citizen discounts have enabled many old people to live a good life

C．giving senior citizens discounts has increased the market for the elderly

D．senior citizens have to show their birth certificates to get a discount

2．The reason to give the senior citizen discount is that          .

       A．the elderly need humane help from society

       B．businesses should do something for society in return

       C．old people are entitled to special treatment for their contribution to society

       D．the senior discounts can make up for the lack of the Social Security system

3．What does the author think of the Social Security system?

       A．It encourages elderly people to retire in time.

       B．It opens up broad career chances for young people.

       C．It benefits the old at the expense of the young.

       D．It should be strengthened by laws and court decisions.

4．What does the author mainly argue in the passage?

       A．Senior citizens should fight hard against age discrimination.

       B．The elderly are selfish and taking senior discounts for granted.

       C．Senior citizen discounts may well be a type of age discrimination.

       D．Discounts should be given to the economic needs of senior citizens.

AACC

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How often one hears children wishing they were grown-ups and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.

     Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. In addition, life is always presenting new things to the child — things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-known. But a child has his parents. He is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things or being punished for what he has done wrong.

When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.

According to the second paragraph, the writer thinks that __.

    A. life for a child is comparatively easy

    B. a child is always loved whatever he does

    C. if much is given to a child, he must do something in return

    D. only children are interested in life

After a child grows up, he __.

    A. will have little time playing

    B. has to be successful in finding a job

    C. can still ask for help in time of trouble

    D. should be able to take care of himself

The underlined word "responsibilities" in the second paragraph means__________.

    A. duties      B. jobs       C. suggestions     D. desires

The main idea of the passage is _________ .

    A. life is not enjoyable since each age has some pains

    B. young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard

C. childhood is the most enjoyable time in one's life

D. one is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 7 — At 26, many people haven’t even decided on a career. Luke Ravenstahl, cashing in on his family’s political tradition, is already the mayor of Pittsburgh, the youngest mayor of any major city in the country. Although mayors elsewhere have been younger, Jeff Dunkel was 18 in 2001 when he was elected mayor of Mount Carbon, small towns in New York, and elsewhere have also elected teenagers as mayors. But, Tallahassee, is the only other city with a population over 100,000 that has had a mayor as young as Mr. Ravenstahl. A supporter of Mr. Ravenstahl said concerns about Mr. Ravenstahl’s age would dissipate once the city saw his work ethic.

 But now comes the hard part. As he strives to be taken seriously and take charge of a city only recently back from the brink of bankruptcy, the baby-faced mayor said that even the smallest decisions felt weighty, even what to wear in the Steelers game matters.

And another pressing issue is to strengthen the city’s economy. Pittsburgh has lost all its mills, nearly half its population and much of its downtown commercial district in the last several decades. “But Pittsburgh has 50,000 college students, and our challenge is to figure out how to retain them and to increase downtown development.” He said.

But one of the biggest uncertainties is how long he will remain in office. According to the city charter, Mayor Ravenstahl’s term will not expire until November 2009. Some city lawyers, however, have argued that he must face the electorate next year. And residents in Pittsburgh are still withholding judgment on him. Deli, Jimmy Cvetic, a sandwich shop owner, said “I call him Cool Hand Luke. He’ll be all right, but he’s going to need a cool hand to get through this.”

Mayor Ravenstahl said he was still coming to terms with the challenge he faced.

41. About Luke Ravenstahl, which of the following statements is correct?

He is the youngest mayor in the U.S.A.

His family background has contributed to his successful political career.

His young age has won support from media and young voters.

He will be mayor of Pittsburgh at least until 2009.

42. The underlined word “dissipate” in the first paragraph probably means________.

A. disappear                 B. appear                      C. spread               D. reduce

43. What can you infer from the article about Pittsburgh?

A. It is a small town in New York famous for steel mills.

B. It has always enjoyed prosperous economic success.

C. Many young college students there are the new hope of the district.

D. It is a major city in the U.S.A with a population slightly smaller than 100,000.

44. Where can you find this article?

A. A magazine      

B. A brochure about politicians

C. A newspaper

D. An advertisement about some mayor candidates

45. What kind of Challenges will not Luke Ravenstahl cope with?

A. Distrust from his citizens                      B. pressure from other outstanding young majors

C. economical standstill of his city              D. decreasing population in his city

“I’m seventy years old,” says the gray-haired lady proudly to the entertainer at her Community Club dinner.

“Did you hear that, everyone?” says the entertainer. “This lovely lady is just seventy years young! And she doesn’t look a day over fifty.” He has been careful not to use the word “old”. In a society where youth is so admired, old age is often seen as something sad, something to fight against. Americans prefer not to say “old” people. They use the expression “senior citizens”. They do not talk about “old people’s” homes, but “retirement” homes.

In fact, the entertainer is not so wrong. Seventy is not very old these days. People in the US are living longer and longer. In1980, 12 percent of Americans were over sixty-five years old. By 2030, 21 percent will be over sixty-five. One reason for this is that families are getting smaller. The average couple now has only 1.8 children. At the same time, improved medical care means that people are living longer.

This change in the age of Americans is going to have serious results. For one thing, medical costs are rising. The government is unable to pay the elderly people’s medical bills that have gone up very much. Some old people have to leave hospital “sicker and quicker” than they should, before they are really better.

More fortunate senior citizens, though, who still have good health, want new laws to be passed to allow them to stay at work. In the past, the retirement age was sixty-five, but that is changing now. Older people are stronger and more energetic than ever before. Many of them refuse to stop working just because they have reached a certain age.

There is a change, too, in the way in which elderly people see themselves. Many are no longer happy to accept the gray hair, bald heads, and boring clothes of their own parents. They like to wear younger-looking clothes and bright makeup（化妆品）.American women spend millions of dollars a year on operations to lift their faces and make those ugly wrinkles disappear. Men are prepared to spend even more on operations to plant new hair on their bald spots. It’s worth any money to look younger.

60. In America people try to avoid using the word “old” because    ____.

A. the old age is seen as something that isn’t admired

B. it is now believed to bring bad luck to elderly people

C. the standard of getting old has changed  

D. the change in the age has caused a healthy problem

61. According to the passage, which of the following does NOT describe the American society correctly?

A. People live longer because of improved medical care.

B. The government finds it difficult to afford the medical bills of the elderly.

C. People use polite expressions when talking about old age.

D. The old patients’ time in hospital is strictly limited.

62. Which of the following is not the result of the changing in the age of Americans?

A. Medical costs are rising.          

B. The family becomes smaller.

C. The retirement age needs changing. 

D. Elderly people spend a lot on keeping young.

63. This passage is most probably taken from        .

A. a travel booklet     B. a magazine   

C. an advertisement     D. a medical report 

 

 

The Great Wall of China is one of Beijing’s biggest draws for tourists; despite its fame and ubiquity in postcards across the world, it rarely fails to attract tourists at the first proper sight.Yet the authorities open only certain sections of the wall as fit for viewing, and few get to visit the unauthorized sections. Fewer still are aware of the existence of at least one part of the Wall that remains in almost original condition, nearly 1,500 years after construction of legendary fortification began. But there’s a good reason for this – it’s underwater.

American journalist Steven Schwankert has been diving since age 10. It was though his setting – up of a diving school that Schwankert came to explore some of lesser – known areas of China’s lakes – and discovered the underwater Wall under a reservoir.  “The most fascinating piece of diving I ever did in China must be the Great Wall. I managed to find out about it via the Internet. It wasn’t difficult to get to Pan Jiakou in Hebei Province, near the East Qing Tomb about 4 hour’s drive from Beijing. Why do I want to dive the Great Wall? Why do people want to walk on the Great Wall? It’s the same answer.”

There are, however, advantages of visiting the Great Wall in a diving suit over being on foot. The water acts as a preservative by preventing the kind of mass tourism that has brought trouble on other parts of the Wall. “Unlike the people who walk in the Wall, we as divers never need to actually touch it. I’ve dived twice there, the last time in July. I found that the water then was much deeper than it was before – 13 meters deep.” When he first dived, parts of the Wall were visible above the surface. Now even the guard tower is completely submerged. “It’s better that the Wall is deep under water, as there are lots of boats coming in and out around that area. Their wave action could potentially damage the brickwork. So, the deeper, the better.”

1．Steven Schwankert is most interested in           .

         A．collecting photos of the Wall     B．walking along on the Wall

         C．diving the underwater Wall       D．visiting some famous lakes

2．What does the underlined word “submerged” in Paragraph 5 most probably mean?

         A．Damaged by water.  B．Washed by water.

         C．Preserved by water.  D．Covered by water.

3．What is the topic discussed in the last paragraph?

         A．Advantages of walking on the Great Wall.

         B．Advantages of visiting the underwater Wall.

         C．The reasons why the Wall is deep under water.

         D．The reasons why the underwater Wall is protected.

4．What can we infer from the text?

        A．The underwater Wall will sink deeper year by year.

         B．Diving the Wall is popular with divers all over the world.

         C．Diving is a good way to visit the Wall without causing much damage.

         D．More and more tourists will come to visit the underwater Wall in China.

 

If you dream in color, you’re not alone: the majority of people today claim to have colorful dreams. But it wasn’t always thus. Research conducted in the early part of the last century consistently found that people reported dreaming most often in black and white.

According to Eva Murzyn at the University of Dundee, there are at least two possible explanations for this strange situation.

The first is the methods used in the researches. The early studies tended to use questionnaires（问卷）, while more modern studies use dream diaries (filled in upon rising in the morning) or so-called “REM-awakening”, which involves interrupting people’s dream-filled periods of sleep to find out what they were dreaming about. People’s memories of their dreams are likely to be less accurate by using the questionnaire approach and they are more likely to reflect their beliefs about the form dreams generally take in an unclear way.

The second explanation has to do with black and white television and film. It's possible that the sudden increase in black and white film and television during the first half of the last century either affected the form of people’s dreams at that time, or affected their beliefs about the form dreams generally take.

According to Murzyn’s findings, it’s the explanation based on media exposure that carries more weight. She used both questionnaire and diary methods to study the dreams of 30 older (average age 64) and 30 younger people (average age 21).

The methodological technique made no difference to the type of dreams people reported. However, the extremely important thing was that, across both questionnaires and diaries, the older participants (who had had significant early life exposure to black and white media) reported experiencing significantly more black and white dreams over the last ten days than the younger participants (22 per cent vs. 4 per cent).

Another finding was that older participants reported black and white dreams and colorful dreams to be of equal clearness. By contrast, the younger participants reported that the quality of black and white dreams was poorer. This raises the possibility that the younger participants didn’t really have any black and white dreams at all, but were simply regarding poorly remembered dreams as black and white.

1.We learn from the text that ______.

       A. people in the first half of the last century never had colorful dreams

       B. older people are more likely to have black and white dreams

       C. the dreams of younger people are always colorful

       D. people today don’t have white and black dreams any more

2.What did Murxyn do to find out the explanations for the colors in people’s dreams?

       A. She applied both questionnaire and diary methods to study people’s dreams.

       B. She used diary methods to record people’s dreams.

       C. She chose 60 people to answer her questions about their dreams.

       D. She woke people up to record the colors of their dreams.

3.What does the underlined expression “carry more weight” in paragraph 5 mean?

       A. be heavier  B. be more powerful      C. be more important     D. be more useful

4.From Murxyn’s findings we can infer that ______.

       A. both older people and younger people could report colorful dreams clearly

       B. young people don’t have any black and white dreams in fact

       C. the color of a person’s dream is decided by one’s age

       D. it is probably the color of media that affects the color of one’s dream

 

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