Directions: There are 4 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by 4 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.
Questions 51 to 54 are based on the following passage:
It is simple enough to say that since books have classes fiction, biography, poetry--we should separate them and take from each what it is right that each should give us. Yet few people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconception when we read, that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author; try to become him. Be his fellow worker and accomplice (同谋).
If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible finess (委婉之处), from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this, and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite. The thirty two chapters of a novel--if we consider how to read a novel first--are an attempt to make something as formed and controlled as a building but words are more impalpable than bricks, reading is a longer and more complicated process than seeing. Perhaps the quickest way to understand the elements of what a novelist is
doing is not to read, but to write; to make your own experiment with the dangers and difficulties of words. Recall, then, some event that has left a distinct impression on you--how at the corner of the street, perhaps, you passed two people talking. A tree shook; an electric light danced; the tone of the talk was comic, but also tragic; a whole vision, an entire conception, seemed contained in that moment.
51. What does the author mean by saying \ A. The author means that lots of people read few books.
B. The author thinks that readers have only absorbed part of knowledge in books. C. The author holds that few people have a proper idea about what content some kind of books should include.
D. The author considers that readers can scarcely understand most of the books. 52. According to the passage, which of the following statement is right? A. A reader should find some mistakes when he is reading. B. The more difficult a book is, the more you can get from it. C. To read something is easier than to watch something.
D. One should be in the same track with the writer when he is reading. 53. What is the possible meaning of \ A. Clear. B. Elusive. C. Delicate. D. Precise. 54. What's the main idea of this passage?
A. The importance of reading. B. The proper way to read. C. How to get most from one book. D. The characters of a good book.
Questions 55 to 58 are based on the following passage:
It isn't often that an entire industry is symbolized in the figure of a single human being, and such is the case with Canadian aviation and the aircraft industry. The man is the Hon. John A. D. McCurdy, and the life story of this still vigorous, distinguished Canadian is at once and at the same time the thrilling history of aviation's progress in Canada.
It all began one cold February day in 1909 at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, when John McCurdy confounded the critics by flying the Silver Dart, an aircraft designed by himself, for half a mile over the ice of Bras deor Lakes. This was the first powered flight in Canada and the first by a British subject in the Commonwealth. McCurdy gave proof of his flying ability--and of the development and the use of the aileron--by being the first man in the world to execute a figure eight in the air. He became the first to pilot a flying boat, taking off from Long Island Sound. He flew the first airplane to Mexico. In 1911 he had made the longest flight to date, and that over open sea 90 miles from Key West to Havana. He won the first cross country race in Canada 40 miles from Hamilton to Toronto--and he transmitted the first radio message from aircraft. When World War ]I came, McCurdy took on board supervisory authority for Canadian aircraft production by serving with the government in various senior positions. Following World War 11, McCurdy was honored by being made lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia where he made Canada's first historic flight. He now lives in Montreal with a summer home in Baddeck, site of his first flight.
55. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true about McCurdy?
A. He was a Canadian.
B. He is regarded as the symbol of Canadian aviation and aircraft industry. C. He is the first man to finish a figure eight in the air. D. He now lives in Baddeck. 56. The \ A. the name of a weapon B. a plane bought by McCurdy
C. the nickname of a famous Canadian pilot D. a plane designed by McCurdy 57. McCurdy is NOT the first one to __ A. fly in Canada B. pilot a flying boat
C. fly from Key West to Toronto D. fly to Mexico 58. Nowadays, McCurdy __ A. lives in Montreal in summer
B. is the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia C. is still very active and energetic D. is the government's counselor
Questions 59 to 62 are based on the following passage:
The U.S. birthrate began to decline in the middle 1950's, resulting in a smaller college age population starting in the middle 1970's. S4 Something else happened in the 1970's: the price of oil increased tremendously, driving up the price of almost everything and making Americans aware that their large automobiles used a lot of gasoline. At the same time, foreign car manufacturers had begun to produce small fuel efficient cars in large quantities for the export market. ~Suddenly, the large, gas guzzling American cars were no longer attractive to American buyers, who began buying foreign cars by the thousands. The American automobile industry went into a recession. Thousands of automotive workers were laid off, as were thousands of people in industries indirectly connected with the auto industry. People who are laid off tend to keep what money they have for necessities, like food and housing. They do not have the extra money needed to send their children to college. Their children cannot pay their own college costs, because during a recession they cannot find jobs. High unemployment means that more state funds must be used for social service--unemployment benefits and to aid dependent children, for example--than during more prosperous times. It also means, that the states have fewer funds than usual, because people are paying fewer taxes. Institutions of higher education depend on two major sources of income to keep them functioning: tuition from students and funds from the states. At the present time, there are fewer students than in the past and fewer state funds available for higher education. The colleges and universities are in trouble. 59. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The rising of oil price drove up the price of everything.
B. There were many reasons why higher education was in trouble in the 1970's.