Thirty- two people watched Kitty Genovese being killed right below their windows. She was their neighbor. Yet none of the 32 helped her. Not one even called the police. Was this in gunman cruelty? Was it lack of feeling about one’s fellowman?

　　“Not so,”say scientists John Barley and Bib Fatane. These men went beyond the headlines to research into the reasons why people didn’t act. They found that a person has to go through two steps before he can help. First he has to notice that is an emergency（紧急情况）. Suppose you see a middle-aged man fall to the side - walk. Is he having a heart attack? Is he in a coma（昏迷） from a headache? Or is he about to sleep off a drunk? Is the smoke coming into the room from a leak（漏洞）in the air conditioning? Is it “steam pipes”? Or is it really smoke from a fire? It’s not always easy to tell if you are faced with a real emergency. Second, and more important, the person faced with an emergency must feel personally responsible（负责任的）. He must feel that he must help, or the person won’t get the help he needs.

　　The researchers found that a lot depends on how many people are around. They had college students in to be “tested.”Some came alone. Some came with one or two others. And some came in large groups. The researchers started them off on the “tests.”Then they went into the next room. A curtain divided the “testing room”and the room into which they went. Soon the students heard a scream, the noise of bookshelves falling and a cry for help. All of this had been prerecorded on a tape recorder.

　　Eight out of ten of the students taking the test alone acted to help. Of the students in pairs, only two out of ten helped. Of the students in groups, none helped.

　　In other words, in a group, Americans often fail to act. They feel that others will act. They, themselves, needn’t. They do not feel any direct responsibility.

　　Are people bothered by situations where people are in trouble? Yes. Scientists found that the people were shocked, they sweated, and they had trembling hands. They felt the other person’s trouble. But they did not act. They were in a group. Their actions were shaped by the actions of those they were with.

60. The purpose of this passage is ________.

　A. to explain why people fail to act in emergencies

　B. to explain when people will act in emergencies

　C. to explain what people will do in emergencies

D. to explain how people feel in emergencies

61. Which of the following is NOT true?

　　A. When a person tries to help others, he must be clear that there is a real emergency.

　　B. When a person tries to help others, he should know whether they are worth his help.

　　C. A person must take the full responsibility for the safety of those in emergencies if he wants to help.

　　D. A person with a heart attack needs the most.

62. The main reason why people fail to act when they stay together is that ________.

　 A. they are afraid of emergencies

　 B. they are not willing to get themselves involved

　 C. others will act if they themselves hesitate

D. they do not have any direct responsibility for those who need help

63. The author suggests that ________.

　　A. we shouldn’t blame a person if he fails to act in emergencies

　　B. a person must feel guilty if he fails to help

　　C. people should be responsible for themselves in emergencies

D. when you are in trouble, people will help you anyway

—My cousin would like to risk _____ the weight-loss pills rather than _____ in a gym.
—Really? She must be mad.

Silence is unnatural to man．He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness．In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else．Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence．If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox （喋喋不休的人）．He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure （蜡塑人像）．

       The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound．There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito （蚊子）．But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person．Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind．He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing -with his neighbors．

       Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish 1:0 talk．Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new．Some of them are content ．if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new, plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel．At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationists．

According to the author, people make conversation to              .

       A．exchange ideas              B．prove their value

       C．achieve success m life         D．overcome their fear of silence

By "the buzzing of a fly" （Para．1）, the author means"_____".

       A．the noise of an insect               B．a low whispering sound

       C．meaningless talks                  D．the voice of a chatterbox

According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors___     ．

       A．about whatever they have prepared                       

       B．about whatever they want to

       C．in the hope of learning something new

       D．in the hope of getting on well

What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?

       A．To discuss why people like talking about weather．

       B．To encourage people to join in conversations．

       C．To persuade people to stop making noises．

       D．To explain why people keep talking．

-- When was it that you got home last night?

-- It _______ around nine o’clock when I drove back home, for it was very dark.

NEW YORK— Picking a Christmas tree takes most people a few minutes, or a couple of hours if they head for the woods. Dave Murbach needs 11 months.

Almost every day of every year, Murbach’s thoughts turn to vision of a perfectly shaped evergreen tree that will take everyone's breath away.

     Murbach is the man responsible for finding the towering tree that makes more attractive Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.

     “I'm always looking for a tree,” the center's chief gardener says. “I look for it even when I go to the beach in the summer. It' s like a homework assignment hanging over your head.”

     And if he gets it wrong, there's nothing hiding it.

     “Every day it's up, 400,000 people go by, and 2.5 million people watch the lighting celebration on television,”he says.

    This year’s tree, a 74-foot Nomy spruce (云杉) from Richfield, Ohio, flown to New York on the world's largest cargo plane, was lighted on December 2.

    The arrival of the tree leads in the Christmas season in New York — a tradition dating back to 1931, when the workers building Rockefeller Center put up a small tree with ornaments (装饰品). 

     The search for the next year's tree starts soon after the old tree is chopped up for wood chips and horse-jumping logs.

    Murbach has three standards: The tree must be at least 65 feet high, at least 35 feet across and leaves dense (密集的) enough not to see through.

    That's not as simple as it sounds. Though forests are full of evergreens, few get enough sunlight or space to fill out. And branches in snow regions often break under the weight, making trees unbalanced.

    Back at the office, he sorts through hundreds of letters from people offering their trees, many addressed simply to “Mr. Christmas Tree Man.”

Though there was occasional anxiety attack and sleepless night, Murbach knows the effect the tree has on people: “It's for bringing people together, attempting to bring together people you love. That's what I hope it sets off.”  But Murbach says he's always too worn out to celebrate Christmas.

51． Which is the correct order of the events in the passage?

a. Murbach’s thoughts turn to a perfectly shaped tree.

b. 2.5 million people watch the Christmas tree.

c. The tree is flown to New York.

d. It was lighted on December 2.

e. The tree is chopped up.

f. Murbach searches for the tree.

A. a, b, c, d, e, f                                B. c, d, b, f, e, a

C. c, d, e, b, a, f                                D. a, f, c, d, b, e

52． Murbach spends a lot of time         that are exhibited in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.

A. taking care of Christmas trees

B. deciding on the perfect evergreens

C. sorting the letters from people

D. deciding the TV programs

53． Why does Murbach take his job seriously?

A. Because he wants everyone to be happy with his choice.

B. Because he hopes to make everybody unable to breathe.

C. Because he enjoys showing off.

D. Because he wishes to attract people's attention to himself.

54． According to Murbach' s standard of trees, the best tree must_______ .

A. be evergreen

B. have lots of space between their branches

C. be tall enough not to see through

D. be equally balanced

55． What kind of person do you think Murbach is?

A. A person always ignoring his family.

B. A person full of love.

C. A person devoted to his work.

D. A person with great anxiety.