成都理工大学外国语学院
<大学英语精品课程:三级阅读补充材料>
(CET-3 Reading Comprehension Supplementary Materials)
Directions: There are 30 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer to each question. Passage 1
Television has opened windows in everybody‘s life. Young men will never again go to war as they did in 1914. Millions of people now have seen the effects of a battle. And the result has been a general dislike of war, and perhaps more interest in helping those who suffer from all the terrible things that have been shown on the screen. Television has also changed politics. The most distant areas can now follow state affairs, see and hear the politicians before an election. Better informed, people are more likely to vote, and so to make their opinion count.
Unfortunately, television‘s influence has been extremely harmful to the young. Children do not have enough experience to realize that TV shows present an unreal world; that TV advertisements lie to sell products that are sometimes bad or useless. They believe that the violence they see is normal and acceptable. All educators agree that the ―television generations‖ are more violent than their parents and grandparents.
Also, the young are less patient. Used to TV shows, where everything is quick and interesting, they do not have the patience to read an article without pictures; to read a book that requires thinking; to listen to a teacher who doesn‘t do funny things like the people on children‘s programs. And they expect all problems to be solved happily in ten, fifteen, or thirty minutes. That‘s the time it takes on the screen.
1. In the past, many young people ____A__ A. knew the effects of war B. went in for politics
C. liked to save the wounded in wars D. were willing to be soldiers 2. Now with TV people can ___C__.
A. discuss politics at an information center B. show more interest in politics
C. make their own decisions on political affairs D. express their opinions freely
3. The author thinks that TV advertisements _B__ A. are not reliable on the whole B. are useless to people C. are a good guide to adults D. are very harmful to the young
4. Which is NOT true according to the passage?----A A. People have become used to crimes now.
B. With a TV set some problems can be solved quickly. C. People now like to read books with pictures. D. The adults are less violent than the young. 5. From the passage, we can conclude that ___D__. A. children should keep away from TV B.TV programs should be improved C. children‘s books should have pictures D. TV has a deep influence on the young
Passage 2
Nonverbal (非语言的) communication has to do with gestures, movements and closeness of two people when they are talking. The scientists say that those gestures, movements and so on have meaning which words do not carry.
For example, the body distance between two speakers can be important. North Americans often complain that South Americans are unfriendly because they tend to stand close to the North American when speaking, while the South American often considers the North American to be ―cold‖ or ―distant‖ because he keeps a greater distance between himself and the person he is speaking to . The ―eye contact‖ provides another example of what we are calling nonverbal communication. Scientists have observed that there is more eye contact between people who like each other than there is between people who don‘t like each other. The length of time that the person
whom you are speaking to looks at your eyes indicates the amount of interest he has in the things you are talking about.
On the other hand, too long a gaze can make people uncomfortable. The eyes apparently play a great part in nonverbal communication. Genuine warmth or interest, shyness or confidence can often be seen in the eyes. We do not always consider a smile to be a sign of friendliness. Someone who is always smiling, and with little apparent reasons, often makes us uneasy.
6. According to the passage, nonverbal communication ___B__. A. is a method often used by people who cannot speak B. can tell something that words cannot
C. can be used to talk with people who cannot bear D. is less used than words 7. The South American __B___.
A. tends to keep a distance between himself and the person he is speaking to B. usually stands close to the person he is talking to C. is often unfriendly when spoken to D. is often cold and distant when speaking 8. Which of the following is NOT true? D A. Less eye contact suggests distance in relation.
B. The longer one looks at you, the more interest he has in you. C. There is more eye contact between people who like each other. D. Shorter eye contact shows more interest in what one is talking about. 9. Too long a gaze ____A_.
A. may upset people being looked at B. shows one‘s great confidence C. indicates one‘s interest in the talk D. tells you how friendly one is
10. Constant smiling without apparent reason ____D_. A. is a sign of one‘s friendliness B. is a sign of one‘s unfriendliness C. makes people feel happy D. makes people feel uncomfortable
Passage 3
In the United States elementary education begins at the age of six. At this stage nearly all the teachers are women, mostly married. The atmosphere is usually very friendly , and the teachers have now accepted the idea that the important thing is to make the children happy and interested. The old authoritarian (要绝对服从的) methods of education were discredited (不被认可) rather a long time ago--so much so that many people now think that they have gone too far in the direction of trying to make children happy and interested rather than giving them actual instruction.
The social education of young children tries to make them accept the idea that human beings in a society need to work together for their common good. So the emphasis is on co-operation rather than competition throughout most of this process. This may seem curious, in view of the fact that American society is highly competitive; however, the need for making people sociable in this sense has come to be regarded as one of the functions of education. Most Americans do grow up with competitive ideas, and obviously quite a few as criminals, but it is not fair to say that the educational system fails. It probably does succeed in making most people sociable and ready to help one another both in material ways and through kindness and friendliness.
11. According to the passage, the U.S. elementary education is supposed to make children ___D__.
A. sensible and sensitive
B. competitive and interested C. curious and friendly
D. happy and co-operative
12. Some Americans complain about elementary schools because they think ___D__.
A. children are reluctant to help each other B. schools lay too much emphasis on co-operation C. children should grow up with competitive ideas D. schools give little actual instruction to children
13. The author‘s attitude towards American education can be best described as ____A_.
A. favorable B. negative
C. tolerant
D. unfriendly
14. The American educational system emphasizes ____C_.
A. material wealth B. competition C. co-operation D. personal benefit
15. The word ―sociable‖ (Line 7, Paragraph2) most probably means ____B_. A. fond of talking freely B. friendly with other people C. concerned about social welfare D. happy at school
Passage 4
In the United States, 30 percent of the adult population has a ―weight problem‖. To many people, the cause is obvious: they eat too much. But scientific evidence does little to support this idea. Going back to the America of the 1910s, we find that people were thinner than today, yet they ate more food. In those days people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less and didn‘t watch television. Several modern studies, moreover, have shown that fatter people do not eat more on the average than thinner people. In fact, some investigations, such as the 1979 study of 3,545 London office workers, report that, on balance, fat people eat less than slimmer people.
Studies show that slim people are more active than fat people. A study by a research group at Stanford University School of Medicine found the following interesting facts:
The more the men ran, the more body fat they lost. The more they ran, the greater amount of food they ate.
Thus, those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost the greatest amount of body fat.
16. The physical problem that many adult Americans have is that ____C____. A. they are too slim B. they work too hard C. they are too fat D. they lose too much body fat
17． According to the article, given 500 adult Americans, ____D___ people will