考试院新题型样题.doc

Directions:Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.The Voice in the BoxWhen I was quite young, my family had one of the first telephones in the neighborhood. I remember well the polished wooden case fastened to the wall on the lower stair landing. But my first personal experience with this genie-in-the-receiver came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I hurt my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didnt seem to be much use crying, because there was no one home to offer sympathy. I walked around the house, and finally arrived at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly I ran for the footstool and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. “Information Please,” I said into the mouthpiece just above my head.A click or two, and a small, clear voice spoke into my ear,“Information.” “I hurt my fingerrrr” I cried into the phone. The tears came readily enough, now that I had an audience. “Isnt your mother home?” came the question.“Nobodys home but me,” I sobbed.“Are you bleeding?”“No,” I replied. “I hit it with the hammer and it hurts.”“Can you open your icebox?” she asked. I said I could. “Then break off a little piece of ice, and hold it on your finger. That will stop the hurt. Be careful when you use the icepick (冰锥),” she said. “And dont cry. Youll be all right.”After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was, and the Orinoco, the romantic river that I was going to explore when I grew up. She helped me with my arithmetic, and she told me that my pet chipmunkI had caught him in the park just the day beforewould eat fruit and nuts.参考答案： One day I hurt my finger when alone at home. It occurred to me that I could use the telephone to call the operator. She gave me detailed instructions and comforted me. I later turned to the magic device for help with almost everything.能力目标：【读】能概括文章或段落的主旨大意 【写】能用自己的语言概括所读材料Could Fast Food Make It Harder to Stop and Smell the Roses?A new study from the University of Toronto suggests that fast food might make it harder to stop and smell the roses. Researchers pointed out that Americans have gained more and more leisure time, yet they arent any happier. The problem could be that modern conveniences make us more impatient, and therefore less able to appreciate small moments of joy. To test the theory, the University of Toronto researchers carried out a few different tests focused on fast foods, the typical American “symbols of the culture of impatience,” and happiness. In one of the tests, researchers told 257 people to rate pictures based on whether they were suitable for ads. Participants saw a series of pictures: One group saw fast food in regular packaging while the other group saw the same food set out on ceramic tableware (瓷器餐具). Afterward, some of the participants were shown photographs of “scenic natural beauty” and then were asked to rate their happiness. Others rated their happiness without seeing the pictures. The researchers found that people who saw the fast food before viewing the nature photos tended to rate their happiness lower. Yet those who simply rated their happiness without seeing the nature shots beforehand were actually a little happier if theyd seen fast food in advance. Researchers said that suggests fast food doesnt directly cause unhappiness but decreases the ability to enjoy things. Researchers cautioned, however, that much more research was needed to determine exactly how fast food and happiness are correlated (相互关联) and how strong the relationship really is. 参考答案：A study from the University of Toronto shows fast food will affect peoples ability to enjoy things, thus making them less happy. In one test, among the 257 participants, those who saw pictures of natural beauty after being shown fast food rated their happiness lower than those who didnt. But researchers said more research was needed to confirm the findings.能力目标：【读】能概括文章或段落的主旨大意 【写】能用自己的语言概括所读材料Four-day WorkweekIn the United States, employees typically work five days a week for eight hours each day. However, many employees want to work a four-day week and are willing to accept less pay in order to do so. If a law required companies to offer their employees the option of working a four-day workweek for four-fifths (80 percent) of their normal pay, it would benefit the economy as a whole as well as the individual companies and the employees who decided to take the option. The shortened workweek would increase company profits because employees would feel more rested and alert, and as a result, they would make fewer costly errors in their work. Hiring more staff to ensure that the same amount of work would be accomplished would not result in additional pay the company has to prepare for these people, because four-day employees would only be paid 80 percent of the normal rate. In the end, companies would have fewer overworked and error-prone (容易出错的) employees for the same money, which would increase company profits.For the country as a whole, one of the primary benefits of offering this option to employees is that it would reduce unemployment rates. If many full-time employees started working fewer hours, some of their workload would have to be shifted to others. Thus, for every four employees who went on an 80 percent week, a new employee could be hired at the 80 percent rate. Finally, the option of a four-day workweek would be better