(电大复习)英语阅读(3)（专）

1 英 语阅读 ( 3 ) Passage 1 This is a short passage about Dave , the Disk Doctor. Call the Disk Doctor! 1 Desperate computer users who lose the data from their disks can get in touch with experts who, for a fee , will recover the lost information. One of these experts is Dave Smith , who , some years ago , set up a company called Dave s Disk Doctor Service Ltd. Dave and a few of his friends work from home and give all the money they earn to charity. The fees are always the same , no matter how precious the data on the disk is. Some people , however , are so grateful that they send extra money to Dave or to the charities his company supports. One oil company offered him 1 , 000 for his help and a vet sent him a blank check. 2 It would be hard to put a value on the things rescued by the Disk Doctor. There have been disks containing medical research , television scripts , manuscripts of whole books , a comedian s joke collection , a solicitor s papers for a court case , and even Margaret Thatcher s itinerary for a visit to eastern Europe. For this last case , Dave was asked if he would go in person to Mrs. Thatcher s office for security reasons ! 3 Disks are usually sent to the Disk Doctor by post , but sometimes people are in such a hurry that they cant wait for the post. Radio scripts have had to be rushed by taxi to Daves house because they were needed for broadcasting the next day , for example. When the material has been recovered , the disk is returned to the sender with a diagnosis and a prescription for avoiding the problem in future. One grateful client , an author , put a thank you to Dave in the front of his book. Dave saved me from a cardiac arrest , he wrote. But says Dave, most people don t take any notice of the doctor s advice! Read Passage 1 and decide whether the following statements are True or False. Write T for True and F for False against the number of each of the statements on your Answer Sheet. 1. Computer users can get back their lost data from their disks without any payment in Dave s company. 2. The company named Dave s Disk Doctor Service Ltd is set up by Dave Smith. 3. Dave and his friends earn a large amount of money , and then they spend the money like water. 4. According to the different value of the data on the disk , people need pay different amount of money for saving them. 5. Most people will take notice of the disk doctor s advice after the disk is repaired。 （ key: F T F F F ） Passage 2 CAl CHUNLONG, 28 , found a job after graduating from college , doing marketing for a company in Beijing. Last September , when he saw in the China Youth News a notice recruiting volunteers to go to poor areas to help local people eradicate poverty , Cai suddenly found it was something he really wanted to do and immediately applied. Two months later , Cai became a member of the first group of volunteers in the Poverty Relief Relay Program ,and , given a years leave by his company , went to Jingle County in Shanxi Province with 21other members. The Poverty Relief Relay Program was launched by the China Young Volunteers Association (CYVA)in order to recruit volunteers from all walks of life to work in poor areas and share their experience in education , medicine , science and technology. Each group of volunteers puts in one year of service. CYVA was founded in 1994 , aimed at motivating young people to provide voluntary service for the public good. As the first and largest organization of its kind in China , it has had an extensive impact on social welfare programs in China. The Poverty Relief Relay Program was conceived in June of 1996 , when the CYVA investigated several rural counties in northern China and finally chose Jingle as the first target for the program. In September , a notice to recruit volunteers was published in several newspapers , requiring participants to have an educational level higher than junior college and qualifications for educational , or medical, or technical work. In addition , volunteers had to have their employers approval for a year s leave and a guarantee of being able to resume employment after a year s service. Usually , these volunteers have their salary suspended until they return. To the great surprise of the CYVA , their ads received a heavy response. In the half month following the publication of the notice , the association received more than 200 letters and telephone calls , and 171 applications were processed. Twenty volunteers were to make up the first group , but 2 consequently two more members were added. According to a survey conducted by a local newspaper in Beijing , most young people who had heard of the program expressed a willingness to participate. Read Passage 2 and then choose the best answer that may complete each of the statements below according to the passage. 1. In the second sentence of Paragraph 1, the word eradicate can be replaced by A. get rid of B. gain C. produce D. evaluate 2. What did Mr. Cai decide to do after reading the notice? A. To do marketing for the company. B. To ask for one year s leave. C. To become one of the volunteers. D. To launch a new program for the company. 3. How many members went to Jingle County in the Poverty Relief Relay Program at last? A. 20. C. 22. B. 21. D. 23. 4. CYVA launched its program A. to ask for voluntary service by the youth to the association B. to help young university graduates to find jobs c. to organize voluntary service for society D. to help people from poor areas to find jobs in the city 5. To participate in the Poverty Relief Relay Program , volunteers need A. to be from poverty stricken areas B. to be university graduates c. to have the approval of their parents D. to have had one year s experience working in poor areas 6. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage? A. Cai was forced to join the Poverty Relief Relay Program by his company. B. The Poverty Relief Relay Program was launched by Shanxi Province government. c. CYVA is the second largest organization of its kind that has had a great impact in China D. The Poverty Relief Relay Program was formed in 1996. 7. CYVA recruited volunteers for the Poverty Relief Relay Program through A. radio B. newspapers C. TV D. the Internet 8. In their one year s service , the volunteers will A. have to quit their own jobs B. be paid by the local government C. receive no pay from their companies D. be paid by the companies they work for 9. The findings from the survey by the local newspaper prove that A. many young people are fed up with the jobs they are doing B. the program is relatively unknown to the public C. very few people are interested in the program D. many young people are willing to offer help to others 10. The best title for the passage could be A. Volunteers Contribute to Poverty Relief B. History of CYVA and Its Program C. Volunteers and Their Companies D. How to Find a Job in Jingle County ( key: A C C C B D B C D A ) Passage 3 Christopher Columbus About five hundred years ago , there lived a boy named Columbus. He loved the ocean , and often went to sea. He grew up to be a fine sailor. In the time of Columbus , men did not know much about the earth； most of them thought it was flat. Columbus thought it must be round. He said: I think I can sail around it , just as a fly can walk around an apple. I will do so. All I want is a ship and some sailors to go with me. But he was a poor man. How could he get ships and men? He asked many people to help him. Some made fun of him. Some even thought he was crazy. But he kept on trying for many years. At last the Queen of Spain gave him three ships and some men. With these Columbus sailed west. One week passed , and he went on. Two weeks , and still he sailed on. Three weeks went by, and still he saw the sea , the sea , only the sea. The sailors became frightened and wished to turn back , but Columbus would not give up. He said , Sail on. At last the sailors said , We will not go on any longer. Sail on three days longer , Columbus told them , Only three days. If we do not come to land by then , you may turn back. One day went by and no land was seen. Two days , and there was still no land. The next day passed , and night came. That night a man on one of the ships called out , A light! A light! The other men ran to see. Yes , there was a far-off light. The next morning the sailors saw something dark at the edge of the sky. Was it land? The day grew bright. Land! Land! It 3 was land at last. How glad the men were to see it! Gladdest of all was the brave Columbus. The sailors got in their boats and went ashore. They shed (流出 )tears of joy , and even kissed the ground , so happy were they to be on land again. This is how the New World was found. It took place in 1492. Read Passage 3 and decide whether the following statements are True or False. Write T for True and F for False 1. When Columbus was still a boy , he was interested in sailing. 2. In the time of Columbus , most people knew a lot about the earth. 3. Columbus believed that he could reach the east by sailing for the west. 4. The Queen of Spain made fun of Columbus and called him a crazy man. 5. Columbus began sailing west with a ship and some sailors. 6. After sailing three weeks , the sailors got frightened and wanted to turn back. 7. The sailors became frightened because they had nothing to eat. 8. Columbus told his men not to give up because he knew they would come to land three days later. 9. Columbus and his men were so excited to see the land that they jumped into the sea and swam ashore. 10. When Columbus found the New World , he absolutely knew which part of the world lt was. (key: T F T F F T F F F F ) Passage 4 When I was in the seventh grade , I was a volunteer at a local hospital in my town. I volunteered about thirty to forty hours a week during the summer. Most of the time I spent there was with Mr. Gillespie. He never had any visitors , and nobody seemed to care about his condition. I spent many days there holding his hand and talking to him , helping with anything that needed to be done. He became a close friend of mine , even though he responded with only an occasional squeeze (捏 ) o f my hand. I left for a week to vacation with my parents , and when I came back , Mr. Gillespie was gone. I didnt have the nerve to ask any of the nurses where he was , for fear that they might tell me he had died. So with many questions unanswered , I continued to volunteer there through my eight-grade year. Several years later , when I was in high school , I was at the gas station when I noticed a familiar face. When I realized who it was , my eyes filled with tears. He was alive. I got up the nerve to ask him if his name was Mr. Gillespie , and if he had been in a hospital about five years ago. With an uncertain look on his face , he answered yes. I explained how I knew him , and that I had spent many hours talking with him in the hospital. His eyes filled with tears , and he gave me the warmest greeting. He began to tell me how, as he lay in hospital , he could hear me talking to him and could feel me holding his hand the whole time. He thought it was an angel , not a person , who was there with him. Mr. Gillespie believed that it was my voice and touch that had kept him alive. Then he told me about his life and what happened to him to put him in hospital. We cried for a while and exchanged greetings , said our good-byes. Although I havent seen him since , he fills my heart with joy every day. I know that I made a difference between his life and his death. More importantly , he has made a great difference in my life. I will never forget him and what he did for me: he made me an angel 、 helping Mr. Gillespie brought me happiness and changed my life. Read Passage 4 and then try to give short answers to the questions. 1. Why did the author spend most of the time in hospital with Mr. Gillespie? 2. Why didn t the author ask the nurses where Mr. Gillespie was when she found he was gone? 3. Did the author recognize Mr. Gillespie when they met several years later? 4. According to Mr. Gillespie , who saved his life? 5. Why did the author say that helping Mr. Gillespie brought her happiness and changed her life? Key: 1. Because Mr. Gillespie had no visitors and nobody seemed to care about him. 2. Because she was afraid that the nurses might tell her the bad news - he died. 3. Yes , she did. 4. The author. 5. Because Mr. Gillespie made her an angel. Passage 5 Color Psychology Many researchers have found out through their research studies that many blind people can actually see with their feels or senses. The fact that blind people can see things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may 4 help us to understand their feelings about color. If they can sense different colors , then perhaps we , too , are affected by colors unconsciously. By trial and error , manufacturers have discovered that sugar sells badly in green wrappings. The blue food is considered untasty or even unpalatable (不好吃的 ) and cosmetics (化 妆 品 ) should never be packaged in brown. These discoveries have grown into a whole discipline of color psychology that now finds application in everything from fashion to interior decoration. Some of our preferences are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore associated with placidity (平静 ) and calm. In general , blue is a calming and cooling color. It is relaxing for the eyes and cheering for the mind. Yellow is a day color with the associations of energy and incentive. For a primitive man , activities during the day meant hunting and attacking , in which he often saw red - the color of blood and rage , and the heart that came with effort. So it was natural that green , the complementary color to red , should be associated with passive defense and self-preservation. Experiments have shown that colors , partly because of their psychological associations , also have a direct physiological effect. Pink , if not overused , has a calming effect. It is believed that an angry person will quiet down when he is shut in a pink room for a few minutes. People exposed to bright red show an increase in respiration rate , heartbeat and blood pressure. Similar exposure to pure blue has exactly the opposite effect. It is a calming color. Because of its exciting connotations (内涵 )， red is chosen as a signal for danger , that s why most of the warning signs are designed in red. But closer analysis shows that a vivid yellow can produce a more basic state of alertness and alarm , so fire engines and ambulances in some advanced communities are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop the traffic dead. Read Passage 5 and decide whether the following statements are True or False. Write T for True and F for False against the number of each of the statements on your Answer Sheet. 1. Even the blind people can feel the differences between colors. 2. Research shows that sugar sells best in green wrappings. 3. The blue food is considered tasty and delicious. 4. Yellow is relaxing for the eyes and cheering for the mind. 5. Blue is the complementary color to red and is associated with placidity. 6. An angry man will become even more angry if shut in a red room. 7. The phrase respiration rate in Paragraph 5 means breathing rate. 8. For primitive men, red has connotations of surprise. 9. Bright yellow can produce a more basic state of precaution and alarm. 10. Colors have direct psychological effects on people due to their psychological associations. (Key: T F F F F T T F T T ) Passage 6 What will the earth look like in the 21st century? As acid rain , ozone depletion , and soil erosion destroy the earth s environment and as the negative effects of economic development , such as decreased forest coverage , over-exploitation of marine resources and shrinking farmland become more obvious , people have grown concerned about their future living space. In 1987 , Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland introduced the term sustainable development in her report entitled Our Common Future to the World Environment and Development Council. The United Nations Environment and Development Conference held in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , in 1992 , accepted the new term and passed the framework document called Agenda 21. The conference was a milestone and marked a shift from traditional development and life styles to the start of sustained development in the global economy. It proved that development and environmental protection had finally achieved equal importance. It is universally acknowledged that the problem of environmental protection and improvement will be solved only when it is considered in the context of development. At that very conference , Chinese Premier Li Peng , on behalf of the Chinese government , vowed China would seriously fulfill its international obligations. Two years later , in July 1994 , China enacted Agenda 21 of China and the Plan for Priority Projects in China s Agenda 21. It is of great international and historic significance for China , with the world s largest population and its 5 long history , to carry out a strategy of sustained development , remarked Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN Environment and Development Conference. IDatal The Key Points of Agenda 21 of China Following are the main points of the Agenda. Part One: Overall Sustainable Development Strategies. This part emphasizes capacity building for sustainable development. It includes setting up China s system of sustainable development , improving education , developing science and technology , and establishing an information system for sustainable development. Part Two: Social Sustainable Development. This part includes population control , consumption by inhabitants , social services