Passage 1 书签 答案
People used to be born at home and die at home. In the old days, children were familiar with birth and death as part of life. This is perhaps the first generation of American youngsters who have never been close by during the birth of a baby and have never experienced the death of a beloved family member.
Nowadays when people grow old, we often send them to nursing homes. When they get sick, we transfer them to a hospital, where children are usually unwelcome and are forbidden to visit terminally ill patients — even when those patients are their parents.
It is important for next of kin and members of the helping professions to understand these patients' communications in order to truly understand their needs, fears, and fantasies. Most of our patients welcomed another human being with whom they could talk openly, honestly, and frankly about their predicament. Many of them shared with us their tremendous need to be informed, to be kept up-to-date on their medical condition, and to be told when the end was near. We found out that patients who had been dealt with openly and frankly were better able to cope with the approach of death and finally to reach a true stage of acceptance prior to death.
Two things seem to determine terminal illness. When patients were allowed hope at the beginning of a fatal illness and when they were informed that they would not be deserted \they were able to drop their initial shock and denial rather quickly and could arrive at a peaceful acceptance of their finiteness.
Most patients respond to the awareness that they have a terminal illness with the statement, \no, this can't happen to me\numbness, and need to deny the reality of the situation, the patient begins to send out cues that he is ready to \need to deny the reality of the situation, the patient will often feel deserted, isolated, and lonely and unable to communicate with another human being what he needs so desperately to share. When, on the other hand, the patient has one person with whom he can talk freely, he will be able to talk about his illness and about the consequences of his deteriorating health, and he will be able to ask for help. Sometimes, he'll need to talk about financial matters; and, toward the end of the life, he will frequently ask for some spiritual help.
What we have to learn is that the stage of anger in terminal illness is a blessing, not a curse. These patients are not angry at their families or at the members of the helping professions. Rather, they are angry at what these people represent: health, pep, energy.
1 The elders of contemporary Americans used to _____. transfer their sick relatives to day-care institutions. witness the birth or death of a family member. experience the fear of death as part of life.
be denied access to medicare facilities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 The expression \ the faithful followers. the nearest relations.
the inseparable companion. the professional staff.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 The need of a dying patient for company shows _____. his desire for communication with other people. his fear of approaching death.
his pessimistic attitude towards his condition. his reluctance to part with his family.
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4 Most patients' first reaction to the information of their terminal illness is _____. becoming conscious of their privileges. being eager to ask for assistance. denying the reality of the situation. accepting their finiteness.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
most patients are unable to cope with death until it is inevitable. dying patients are afraid of being told of the approach of death. most doctors and nurses understand what dying patients need. dying patients should be truthfully informed of their condition. Passage 2
An image taken of the Pacific Ocean last September is astonishing. Made using data collected from satellites monitored by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the picture shows the surface level of the Pacific as clearly as a yardstick lying across a lumpy bed. One sample of water — with a volume 30 times that of all the Great Lakes — is white, indicating that it is as much as 13 inches higher than its normal level. EI Ni?o experts are still striving to tackle the really big question: What is causing the abnormal EI Ni?o behavior of the past two decades? But what? Some see the hand of global warming, accelerating the pace of EI Ni?o formation and reinforcing each event. Supporters of global-warming-as-EI Ni?o-instigator include Kevin Trenberth, a climate analyst with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, \evidence that global warming didn't have much impact until 1979, but now it's beginning to break through,\ Two additional arguments are on the table. One theory is that the recent EI Ni?o epidemic is simply one of nature's climatic riffs, but that we haven't been hearing the tune long enough to recognize the change in key. One problem is that historical data on EI Ni?o is sketchy prior to the early 1970s and almost nonexistent going back more than 50 years. If one looks back further, however, fossil evidence suggests that something about EI Ni?o has indeed changed. Fossil records of coral in the Galapagos Islands show that some 4,000 years ago, an EI Ni?o occurred only every 60 year or so. Studies of tree rings and ice cores indicate a more recent cycle of seven years, still much less frequent than the present cycle of every three or four years.
The other alternative? Records are accurate enough to show that we're in the second EI Ni?o-intensive era of the past 100 years. The first was during the 1920s and '30s, and probably was responsible for the Dust Bowl, when drought destroyed hundreds of farms in Oklahoma and north Texas. The second seems to have started around 1976. These shifts seem to be due to periods
of natural warming in the Pacific. The warming does not necessarily cause EI Ni?o but certainly amplifies it, creating the appearance of more — and more severe — EI Ni?os.
1 The picture as depicted by the writer in the first paragraph seems to be _____. fairly reassuring. very bleak. rather shocking.
quite exceptional.
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2 The idea of the \Ni?o-instigator\(Lines 3, Para.2) roughly refers to ______.
the contribution of global warming to the occurrence of EI Ni?o. the unusual behavior of EI Ni?o in the past two decades.
the caution shown by authorities against the destruction of EI Ni?o. the accurate forecast for the approach of EI Ni?o.
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3 The reason why it is difficult to explain the odd EI Ni?o behavior may be _____. lack of detailed accounts. its inconsistent behavior. the need for advanced technology. its increasing frequencies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 According to the passage, the author considers forecasting of EI Ni?o to be ______. inconclusive. effortless. informative. precise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 What is the passage mainly about? A trace to the mysteries of EI Ni?o. A vivid account of the impact of EI Ni?o. Exposure to the myths of EI Ni?o. A review of different theories on EI Ni?o. Passage 3
People think what I do is so prestigious because I get to interview stars. And I have to admit that when I first started working at Sassy in 1987 I was excited about that part of my job. For the first couple of months, anyway. Then I noticed how celebrities would fool me around for months, rescheduling our interviews or completely backing out at the last minute. I could never get enough time with a celebrity to find out anything interesting, and some acted just plain rude. I started getting resentful over the way I was treated, and I was really disappointed to see that these people I had sort of worshipped from afar were pretty ordinary. So I decided I would just tell the truth instead of keeping up their myths. If the celeb was a jerk, I would say so. If I thought anyone was
stupid, or pretentious, I did not hold back that information.
I thought readers would appreciate that kind of honesty. Instead, many of them hated me for it. I have gotten so many attacks on my character, like the over-1,000-letter attack of hate mail following my negative New Kids on the Block article.
No talents become celebrities all the time. The result is that no one in any walk of life seems to care about achievement or talent — fame is the only objective. Everyone wants to be famous, because in our society you are not considered a success unless you are famous, no matter what your career. Even being famous for doing nothing is more desirable than being truly creative and talented.
Why do we need celebrities? In effect, the media created celebrities to satisfy our primitive need for gossip. Over time, talking about people we have never met and are never likely to meet became an obsession. It's gotten to the point where some people are more interested in the personal lives of the stars than in the lives of their family and friends. That is why it is so ridiculous when a celeb wants to discuss only his or her work in an interview — like we care. We want the dirt on their personal lives.
There is another reason we worship celebrities. As a whole, our society is not as religious as it once was. It seems like people need something to fulfill them the way religion once did. Celebrity worship exists as a twisted and unfulfilling substitute of true heroes.
We make them stars, but then their fame makes us feel insignificant — and we truly feel better about ourselves when they die. I am part of this whole process. No wonder I feel soiled at the end of work-day.
1 The author's overall attitude towards the existence of celebrities seems to be _____. biased. critical. arbitrary.
compromising.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 It seems that some people as pointed out by the author are _____. obsessed with remarks on celebrities. in the habit of poking fun at others. caught in inevitable dilemmas.
out of step with modern lifestyles.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 It is generally accepted that celebrities are _____. a mirror of true mass media. mythical and artificial. a bunch of good-for-nothings. admirable and talented.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 The author feels soiled at the end of her work day because _____. she associates celebrities with the labor. she realizes celebrities are not noble at all. of the environment in which she is working.
of the sincerity as shown by celebrities.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 This passage is intended to ______. highlight the role of celebrities. call for a return to simplicity. debunk the myths of celebrities. ridicule the failures of celebrities.
Passage 4
Nineteen fifty-one wasn't so long ago. You may even remember the events that unfolded in Topeka, Kans., that year. Ten-year-old Linda Brown, a student at the all-black Monroe School, wished to enroll at the Summer Elementary School, an all-white school across the street from her house. The resulting conflict led to Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that ended school segregation in the United States. It was a historic episode — and so, six years ago, the National Park service named the Monroe School a National Historic Site, in hopes that it might inspire future generations. Today, however, the Monroe School is anything but inspiring. It lies gutted and empty utterly unfit for visitors.
And it's not alone. \across the country will require significant attention if they're to last any distance into the next millennium, says Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHF), a 270,000-member education and advocacy organization. President Bill Clinton, it seems, agrees. In his budget message earlier this year, he asked Congress to set aside $50 million in each of the next three years to help in the maintenance and restoration of the buildings, battlefields, landmarks and artifacts that are the legacy of our nation's history. The proposed funds are part of a new White House initiative called the Save America's Treasures Millennium Program, which will team public agencies with private groups like the NTHP to identify and carry out the country's most Urgent preservation projects. \
Saving that heritage will take both money and ingenuity. The park service alone has a maintenance backlog estimated at $5 billion to $8 billion. Of the 20,000 historic structures so far identified on park sites, more than half are thought to be in poor, fair or unknown condition. \just no federal money,\says NPS chief historical architect Randy Biallis. Even if that changes, preservation work will be no walk in the park. Unlike Europe's stone castles and cathedrals, American historical sites are often simple, wood-framed buildings, which are subject to the ravages of moisture and insects. Very few wooden structures built before 1750 survive at all, and those that do either require constant upkeep or have actually been rebuilt using modern materials and techniques.
Some recent successes have rekindled hope among the preservationists. A few years ago Lawnfield, a 29-room Victorian mansion near Cleveland, where James A. Garfield based his \Now, after two years and $13 million worth of work, the house and its grounds are getting ready to reopen. \great-grandson.