Among rich countries, people in the United States work the longest hours. They work much longer than in Europe. This difference is quite surprising because productivity per hour worked is the same in the United States as it is in France, Spain and Germany, and it is growing at a similar speed.

In most countries and at most times in history, as people have become richer they have chosen to work less. In other words they have decided to “spend” a part of their extra income on a fuller personal life. Over the last fifty years Europeans have continued this pattern, and hours of work have fallen sharply. But not in the United States. We do not fully know why this is. One reason may be greatly lower taxes in America, which increase the rewards (回报) to work. Another may be more satisfying work, or less satisfying personal lives.

Longer hours do of course increase the GDP (国内生产总值). So the United States has produced more per worker than, say, France. The United Sates also has more of its people at work, while in France many more mothers and older workers have decided to stay at home. The overall result is that American GDP per head is 40% higher than in France, even though productivity per hour worked is the same.

It is not clear which of the two situations is better. As we have seen, work has to be compared with other values like family life, which often get lost in its interest. It is too early to explain the

different trends (趋势) in happiness over time in different countries. But it is a disappointing idea that in the United States happiness has made no progress since 1975, while it has risen in Europe. Could this have anything to do with trends in the work-life balance (平衡)?

56．From the text we know that the author ___________.

       A．believes that longer working hours is better

       B．prefers shorter working hours to longer ones

       C．says nothing certain about which pattern is better

       D．thinks neither of the patterns is good

57．Which of the following countries has more of its people at work?

       A．Spain.                                             B．France.

       C．Germany.                                        D．America.

58．In the last paragraph, the underlined word “which” refers to __________.

       A．family life                                        B．situations

       C．other values                                     D．trends

59．What message can we get from the text?

       A．The GDP of Europe is higher than that of America.

       B．Two possible reasons are given for working longer hours in the US.

       C．People all over the world choose to work less when they are richer.

       D．Americans are happier than Europeans.

60．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

       A．Americans and Europeans.                B．Staying at Home.

       C．Work and Productivity.                     D．Work and Happiness.

________ at the city centre, the old temple has a history of more than 500 years.

About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.

As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.

As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen

All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.               

That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.

What was the writer a decade ago?

A. A worker working in a university.

B. A teacher teaching in a college.

C. A clerk working in a museum.

D. A university student who had not yet taken a degree.

What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Life difficulty.    B. Troublesome problem.

C. Failure in work.   D. Physical disability. 

How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?

A. She felt full of hope.

B. She was filled with confidence.

C. She felt unhappy because of poverty.

D. She felt life was beautiful.

Which of the following title suits this passage best?

A. A Disabled Girl.

B. A Disabled Girl’s Smile.

C. Full of Hope.

D. Full of Confidence.

For centuries ,the only form of written correspondence（通信）was the letter .Letters were ,and are ,sent by some form of postal service ,the history of which goes back a long way. Indeed ,the Egyptians began sending letters from about 2000 BC, as did the Chinese a thousand years later.

       Of course ,modern postal services now are much more developed and faster ,depending as they do on cars and planes for delivery .Yet they are still too slow for some people to send urgent documents（紧急文件）and letters.

       The invention of the fax（传真）machine increased the speed of delivering documents even more .When you send a fax ,you are sending a copy of a piece of correspondence to someone by telephone service .It was not until the early 1980s that such a service was developed enough for businesses to be able to fax documents to each other.

       The fax service is still very much in use when copies of documents require to be sent ,but ,as a way of fast correspondence, it has been largely taken the place of by email. Email is used to describe messages sent from one computer user to another.

       There are advantages and disadvantages with emails. If you send someone and email, then he will receive it extremely quickly. Normal postal services are rather slow as far as speed of delivery is concerned.

       However ,if you write something by email ,which you might later regret ,and send it immediately ,there is no chance for second thoughts. At least ,if you are posting a letter you have to address and seal（封）the envelope and take it to the post box .There is plenty of time to change your mind. The message is think before you email!

41．We can learn from the text that         .

       A．email is less popular than the fax service

       B．the postal service has over the years become faster

       C．the postal service has over the years become slower

       D．the fax service has a history as long as the postal service does

42．It can be inferred from the text that         .

       A．the fax service had been fully developed by the 1980s

       B．letters have been used in China for about 1,000 years

       C．the fax machine was invented after the 1980s

       D．letters have been used in Egypt for about 2,000 years

43．In the last paragraph ,the writer mentions “think before you email” to show that         .

       A．you may regret if you don’t seal your envelope

       B．you may regret before you send something by email

       C．you’d better not send your email in a hurry

       D．you need plenty of time to send an email

44．The text mainly deals with         .

       A．the progress in correspondence

       B．the advantage of fax machines

       C．the advantage of emails

       D．the invention of fax machines

In some countries where racial prejudice is acute, violence has so come to be taken for granted as a means of solving differences that it is not even questioned. There are countries where the white man imposes his rule by brute force; there are countries where the black man protests by setting fire to cities. Important people on both sides, who would in other respects appear to be reasonable men, get up and calmly argue in favor of violence—as if it were a legitimate solution, like any other. What is really frightening, what really fills you with despair, is the realization that when it comes to the crunch(关键时刻), we have made no actual progress at all. We may wear collars and ties instead of war－paint, but our instincts remain basically unchanged. The whole of the recorded history of the human race, that tedious documentation of violence, has taught us absolutely nothing. We have still not learned that violence never solves a problem but makes it even acute. The sheer horror, the bloodshed(流血), the suffering mean nothing. No solution ever comes to light the morning after when we dismally contemplate the smoking ruins and wonder what hit us.

The truly reasonable men who know where the solutions lie are finding it harder and harder to get a hearing. They are despised, mistrusted and even persecuted by their own kind because they advocate such apparently outrageous things as law enforcement(执行). If half the energy that goes into violent acts were put to good use, if our efforts were directed at cleaning up the slums and ghettos, at improving living－standards and providing education and employment for all, we would have gone a long way to arriving at a solution. Our strength is sapped by having to mop up the mess that violence leaves in its wake. In a well－directed effort, it would not be impossible to fulfill the ideals of a stable social programme. The benefits that can be derived from constructive solutions are everywhere apparent in the world around us. Genuine and lasting solutions are always possible, providing we work within the framework of the law.

5. Recorded history has taught us ________.

A. violence never solves anything                

B. nothing

C. the bloodshed means nothing                

D. everything

6. It can be inferred that truly reasonable men ________.

A. can't get a hearing                                 

B. are looked down upon

C. are persecuted       

D. have difficulty in advocating law enforcement

7. According to the passage, the best way to solve race prejudice is ________.

A. law enforcement        

B. knowledge         

C. nonviolence       

D. mopping up the violent mess

8. What is the author's attitude towards the violence?

A. Critical.           B. Supportive.

C. Neutral.             D. Sympathetic.

9. What is the BEST title for this passage?

A. Advocating Violence

B. Violence Can Do Nothing to Diminish Race Prejudice

C. Violence as a Legitimate Solution

D. Violence: The Instinct of Human Race