GET YOUR DEGREE AT HOME!

Have you ever wondered what a Degree might be worth to you in your job or career(事业)? It means a lot of Americans with an Associate Degree average nearly $10,000 more in yearly earnings than those with just a High School Diploma(毕业证).

Harcourt Learning Direct offers you a way to get a Specialized Associate Degree in 11 of today’s growing fields-without having to go to college full time. With Harcourt, you study at home, in your spare time-so you don’t have to give up your present job while you train for a better one. Choose from exciting majors like Business Management, Accounting, Dressmaking &Design, Bookkeeping, Photography, Computer Science, Engineering, and more! Your training includes everything you need! Books, lessons, learning aids-even professional-quality tools and equipment-everything you need to master your training and more ahead to a new career is included in the low tuition(学费) price you pay. Your education is nationally recognized! Nearly 2, 000 American companies-including General Electric, IBM, Mobile, General Motors, Ford, and many others-have used our training for their employees. If companies like these recognize the value of our training, you can be sure that employees in your area will, too!

Earn your degree in as little as two years! Get a career diploma in just six months! The career of your dreams is closer than you think! Even if you have no experience before, you can get valuable job skills in today’s hottest fields! Step-by-step lessons make learning easy. Prepare for promotions(提升), pay raises, even start a business of your own! Send today for FREE information about Harcourt at home training!

Simply fill in your name and address on the coupon(票券) above. Then write in the name and number of the one program you’re most interested in, and mail it today. We’ll rush your free information about how you can take advantage of the opportunities(机会) in the field you’ve chosen. Act today!

Mail coupon today! Or call the number below 1-800-372-1589. Call any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. www. Harcourt-learning. com E-mail:Harcourt@learning. com.

1. This advertisement aims at calling on people to ________.

A. attend full-time universities                      B. work part time to further their education

C. improve their education at home to get better jobs   D. earn their degrees in different ways that suit them

2. Which of the following is NOT clearly mentioned in this advertisement? 

A. The way how you will get your degree.         B. Tuition price. 

C. The hot fields you will be preparing yourself for.  D. The length of time it will take you to get a degree.

3. What does the writer of this ad intend to say by naming General Electric, IBM, Ford, etc.?

A. To show that their training is widely used in the country. 

B. To show that the training program is fully supported by famous companies in the U. S.

C. To prove the value of their training in every area.   

D. To show the importance of getting recognized by the most famous companies.

4. It seems to the writer that the greatest attraction for people to take their training is______. 

A. its convenience                           B. the degree’s nation-wide recognition

C. the economic benefit(利益) it will bring about  D. the hot fields the training will help people to enter

5. How many ways are mentioned in the ad for people to get in touch with the Harcourt Learning Direct?

A. One.        B. Two.        C. Three.       D. Four.

The basic flag of the United States is one of the world’s oldest national flags. Only the basic flags of Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzer land are older.

During the discovery and settlement of what is now the United States, the flags of various European nations were flown over the land, as symbols of possession. Later, in the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods, flags representing famous persons, places, and events were flown in the American Colonise.

The first official flag of the United States was created by Congress on June 14, 1777. It consisted of 13 alternate red and white stripes and 13 white stars in a field of blue, representing the 13 colonies that had declared their independence in 1776. Congress adopted a new flag of 15 stars and 15 stripes in 1795, to give representation to the two new states admitted into the Union, Vermont and Kentucky.

By 1817, 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. In 1921 Preside William H. Taft made the first official provision for the arrangement of the stars. He ordered that there be six even rows of eight stars each. Previously the arrangement of the stars had been left to the flag- maker’s fancy.

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 official changed for the 26th time since its creation.

There are many government flags flown in the United States 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 the Union has an official flag. The United States Navy uses special flags for signaling.

The basic flag of the United States 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

Before the War of Independence the flags of various European nations flown over the land were symbols of _______.

A. self- rule    B. occupation

C. peace and friendship  D. independence

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

The 13 red and white stripes and 13 white stars represent _______.

A. 13 independent states

B. the colonies that declared independence in 1776.

C. the U. S. Congress

D. 13 famous figures in the American colonies

How many states were represented on the new flag adopted in 1795?

A. 13.            B. 15.

C. 20.     D. 2.

1During the First World War, some Americans indirectly benefited because of the war. With two million white men fighting in Europe and no new immigrants entering the country, many jobs in the United States became available to blacks and women for the first time.

2Both groups proved their ability to do any kind of job. Women became railway conductors, brick layers, and factory workers. Their presence in traditionally male workplace produced many problems. Men were annoyed by women’s higher productivity and willingness to work for lower pay. Working mothers were often criticized for leaving their families. But many women welcomed the responsibilities. “It was not until our men were called overseas,” said one woman bank executive, “that we make any real onslaught on the realm of finance, and became tellers, managers of departments, and junior and senior officers.”

3Women who did not take jobs helped in the war effort in other ways. They made uniforms, rolled bandages, and campaigned for the sale of Liberty Bonds to help finance the war.

4American manufacturers offered jobs to large numbers of black Americans for the first time as a result of the war. Most factories were located in the North. To take advantage of these new job opportunities, many black families moved from their homes in the South to the Northern cities such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, and Detroit.

5White Americans were of two minds about the role of black Americans in the war effort. On the one hand, black workers’ ability to learn new jobs quickly and do them well strengthened the home front, and the black men’s fighting ability helped the Allies win the war. However, many whites did not want to acknowledge that blacks were capable, effective workers. White soldiers returning from the war had no desire to compete for jobs with blacks on equal terms. At the same time, many blacks were not willing to a lesser role once the war had ended.

1.Why could American women and backs find jobs during World War I?

A. They were taken to serve the war.                B. They had their equal right at that time.

C. Workforce was in great need.               D. They had better productivities.

2.Which of the following is Untrue according to the above passage?

A. Blacks women were not allowed to fight in World War I.

B. All American women went to work during World War I.

C. Northern cities applied more blacks during World War I.

D. Women and blacks earned a lot during World War I.

3.Which of the following is the main idea of the whole passage?

A. Americans benefited a lot from World Ward I.

B. World War I had strong effect on America.

C. Some Americans benefited from World War I indirectly.

D. U.S.A. women and blacks contributed much in World War I.

4.Which of the following shows the right structures of the above passage?

A. 1→23→45             B. 1→2→3→4→5

C. 1→23→4→5                     D. 123→4→5

 

According to sociologists(社会学家), every modern industrial society has some form of social stratification(阶层). Class, power and status are important in deciding people’s rank in society.

Class means a person’s economic position in society. A commonly used classification is lower class, middle class and upper class. While sociologists disagree on how these terms should be exactly defined, they do describe societies like the United States quite well. One study shows that 53% of Americans belong to the lower class, 46% the middle class, and 1% the upper class. Interestingly, a surgeon earning $500,000 a year and a bus driver earning $50,000 a year both regard themselves as the middle class!

Power refers to the amount of control a person has over other people. Obviously, people in positions of great power (such as governors) exercise(行使)big power, but people who take orders from others have less power. Power and class do not always go hand in hand, however. For example, the governor of a state has great power, but he or she may not belong to a corresponding (相应的)economic class. Generally, however, there is a relationship between power and class.   

To our knowledge, there aren’t too many people who aren’t millionaires in the U.S. Senate!

Status is the honor or respect attached to a person’s position in society. It can also be affected by power and class, but not necessarily so. For example, a university professor may have a high status but not belong to a high social class or have a lot of power over others.

1.What can we learn about “the middle class” from Paragraph 2?

A.People earning $50,000 a year belong to the middle class.

B.Nearly half Americans belong to the middle class.

C.People generally consider bus drivers as the middle class.

D.Sociologists have a clear definition of the middle class.

2.According to the text, we know that _____.

A.power and class do not always correspond with each other

B.status refers to a person’s economic position in society

C.people with high status have a lot of control over others

D.class is less important in deciding a person’s social rank

3.Which of the following shows the structure of the whole text?

 

You hear the comment all the time: the U.S. economy looks good by figures, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Wealthy Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.

The Wealthy Society is a modern classic because it helped describe a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. “Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.” After World War II, the fear of another Great Depression gave way to an economic growth. By the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.

To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and would cause discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it would be unsatisfying. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people wrongly considered government only as “a necessary bad.”

It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich — overpaid chief managers, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, people feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants — for bigger homes, more health care, more education, and faster Internet connections.

The other great disappointment is that it has not got rid of insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As company unemployment increased, that part has gradually become weaker. More workers fear they’ve become “the disposable American,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.

Because so much previous suffering and social conflict resulted from poverty, the arrival of widespread wealth suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, wealth succeeds. There is much less physical suffering than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, wealth also creates new complaints.

Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the search for growth cause new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Wealth sets free the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-accomplishment. But the promise is so unreasonable that it leads to many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown. Figures indicate that happiness has not risen with incomes.

Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply confirmed an old truth: the seeking of wealth does not always end with happiness.

1.The Wealthy Society is a book ______.

A.about previous suffering and social conflict in the past

B.written by Louis Uchitelle who died recently at 97

C.indicating that people are becoming worse off

D.about why happiness does not rise with wealth

2.According to Galbraith, people feel discontented because ______.

A.materialism has run wild in modern society

B.they are in fear of another Great Depression

C.public spending hasn’t been cut down as expected

D.the government has proved to be necessary but ugly

3.Why do people feel“squeezed”when their average income rises considerably?

A.They think there are too many overpaid rich.

B.There is more unemployment in modern society.

C.Their material demands go faster than their earnings.

D.Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control.

4.What does Louis Uchitelle mean by “the disposable American” ?  

A.People with a stable job.

B.Workers who no longer have secure jobs.

C.Those who see job stability as part of their living standard.

D.People who have a sense of security because of their rising incomes.

5.What has wealth brought to American society?

A.Stability and security.

B.Materialism and content.

C.A sense of self-accomplishment.

D.New anxiety, conflicts and complaints.

 

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网