PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or un­finished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked with A、B、C and D, Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

For new countries joining the European Union, and older ones getting used to their dark red passport, becoming “Europeans” is a bit like marrying a large and strange family.

Europeans have a lot in common but it is their differences, not their similarities, that attract the attention of sociologies and market researchers, and are more interesting

   35% of Germans live alone, but only 9% of Spaniards. Perhaps this explains why Spaniards lead Europe in the habit of going out for a drink.

  The British attend more adult evening classes than anyone else in Europe, and the Belgians least. So it can’t just be the dark evenings. There are no figures on how many Britons go for a drink afterwards. If there were, they might be up at the top with Spain.

  The British think black cats are lucky. Every other European country regards them unlucky.

  The French are the most athletic Europeans. Next come the Dutch. But the Belgians, just over the border, play fewest sports.

  The Germans spend twice as much on heating as the Spaniards. Well, of course they do, it’s colder.

  Dutch husbands do the household shopping a lot more often than Italians or Spaniards.

  The French are the champion public transport commuters(经常往返者)of Europe. If you hate commuting, go and live in the Netherlands, where journeys to work are shorter than anywhere else.

  The amount of direct eye-contact between strangers is three times greater among Spaniards than it is among the British or Swedes. So, sharing a lift is a torture for both the British and the Swedish.

There are exceptions to all these rules. Deal with them in the spirit of my 8-year-old daughter. “If you don’t understand each other’s language, just laugh a lot and eat and point at things.”

1.We can know from this passage that______________.

A.sociologist are most interested in the idea of European Union

B.most European countries are not willing to join the European Union

C.Europeans have more differences than similarities

D.trade opportunities exit in the cultural differences in the European Union

2.If you work and live in Belgium, you will______________.

A. have to change your living places often B. not get used to its cold weather

C. seldom sees people playing sports     D. be invited to go for a drink frequently

3. The underlined sentence means that the British and Swedish _________________.

A. care about their safety most                  B. like to appear gentle and smart

C. hate to look at each other face to face          D. enjoy a richer life than others

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE about Spain?

A.Spaniards hate direct eye-contact between strangers.

B.Spaniards like to go for a drink after dark.

C.Spaniards spend twice as much on heating as the Germans.

D.In Spain, husbands do more household shopping than those in Italy.

5.In the last paragraph, the author wants to express his idea that ______________.

A.his daughter knows well how to understand foreigners in unfamiliar situations

B.Europeans actually share the same culture even if they have different languages

C.being a European, you will have no living trouble at all in the European Union

D.there are differences between European countries, but don’t take them too seriously

 

On Christmas morning, I went to the Cockhedge Mall. People there were all busy buying their last minute requirements. I needed to buy a birthday card for my son-in-law whose birthday is the 29th of December. Picking up a few more things as well as my cared I went to join the line for the express checkout which was for people who only had a few items in a basket and not a trolley load. This line was next to the Customer Service desk.

Seemingly waiting quite a long time, I was jogged out of my thoughts by a voice behind me making comments on the things I bought.

It was so funny when I realized that she was describing the contents of my basket. The owner of the voice was a very pretty young lady. I said to her that I was going to buy a box of Christmas cookies but the only ones left were not to my liking. The lady told me that just opposite Cockhedge in Superdrug they had lots of cookies. I said, “I’m not going to bother now. I had enough of shops and I’m going home.”

The assistant from the Customer Service came across at this time saying “If there is anyone in the line with a few items in their basket, none of which needed to be weighed, I will check out their groceries at the desk.” Because I had the sprouts which needed to be weighted, the young lady accepted the offer and walked away waving goodbye.

Eventually my turn came at the checkout. I was walking away when I met my new friend once again who handed me a beautiful box of Christmas cookies. With a big hug she said “Hope you have a lovely Christmas.” She had been into Superdrug to buy me the cookies while I was still queuing in Cockhedge.

What a generosity to a stranger! I was so surprised you could have knocked me down with a feather. My Good Samaritan would never know what a joyful Christmas day I had with my family. Telling them this story, as we ate around the table, kept everyone spellbound.

1..

The underlined word “spellbound” in the last paragraph probably means          .

    A．interested       B．disappointed     C．astonished       D．frightened

2..

Which of the following could be the best title of the story?

    A．A Piece of Lucky Feather             B．A Surprise Christmas Gift

    C．The Boring Shopping Experience       D．The Unforgettable Big Hug

3..

How does the writer feel about the pretty young lady?

    A．Worried.         B．Satisfied.       C．Grateful         D．Proud.

4..

What can we learn from the story?

    A．Nobody is sure what will happen the next moment.

    B．A simple action can bring other people happiness.

    C．Being patient will decrease the waiting time.

    D．Life without hope and faith is a full thing.

 

Self-employed private physicians who charge a fee for each patient visit are the foundation of medical practice in the United States. Most physicians have a contract relationship with one or more hospitals in the community. They send their patients to this hospital, which usually charges patients according to the number of days they stay and the facilities (operating room, tests, medicines that they use). Some hospitals belong to a city, a state or, in the case of veteran's hospitals, a federal government agency. Others are operated by religious orders(教会) or other non-profit groups.

Some medical doctors are on salary. Salaried physicians may work as hospital staff members, or residents, who are often still in training. They may teach in medical schools, be hired by corporations to care for their workers or work for the federal government’s Public Health Service.

Physicians are among the best paid professionals in the United States. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for medical doctors to earn incomes of more than $ 100,000 a year. Specialists, particularly surgeons, might earn several times that amount. Physicians list many reasons why they deserve to be so well rewarded for their work. One reason is the long and expensive preparation required to become a physician in the United States. Most would-be physicians first attend college for four years, which can cost nearly $ 20,000 a year at one of the best private institutions. Prospective physicians then attend medical school for four years. Tuition alone can exceed $ 10,000 a year. By the time they have obtained their medical degrees, many young physicians are deeply in debt. They still face three to five years of residency(实习阶段) in a hospital, the first year as an apprentice physician. The hours are long and the pay is relatively low.

Setting up a medical practice is expensive, too. Sometimes several physicians will decide to establish a group practice, so they can share the expense of maintaining an office and buying equipment. These physicians also take care of each other’s patients in emergencies.

Physicians work long hours and must accept a great deal of responsibility. Many medical procedures, even quite routine ones, involve risk. It is understandable that physicians want to be well rewarded for making decisions which can mean the difference between life and death.

1.According to the passage, it is very unlikely that an American hospital is owned by ______.

A. a church                 B. a corporation         C. a city              D. a state

2.The expenses for becoming a doctor are spent on _______.

A. schooling and retraining                           B. practice in a hospital

C. facilities he or she uses                   D. education he or she receives

3.According to the passage, how long does it take for a would-be physician to become an independent physician in the USA?

A. About seven year.                                      B. Eight years.

C. Ten years.                                       D. About twelve years.

4.Sometimes several physicians set up a group medical practice mainly because _______.

A. there are so many patients that it is difficult for one physician to take care all of them

B. they can take turns to work long hours

C. facilities may be too much of a burden for one physician to shoulder

D. no one wants to assume too much responsibility

5.Which of the following statements could fully express the author’s view towards physicians’ payment in the USA?

A. For their expensive education and their responsibility, they deserve a handsome pay.

B. It is reasonable for physicians to have a large income because their work is very dangerous.

C. Physicians should be better paid because they work long hours under bad conditions.

D. Physicians have great responsibility, so it is understandable that they should be well rewarded.

 

I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence (吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.

At the first home, the son of the deceased (已故的) woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow , she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”

You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.

The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.

A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.

1.The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because     .

A．he wanted to comfort the two families       B．he was an official from the community

C．he had great pity for the deceased          D．he was priest of the local church

2.People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because     .

A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B．they believe that they were responsible

C．they had neglected the natural course of events

D．they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction

3.According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that     .

A．everything in the world is predetermined

B．the world can be interpreted in different ways

C．there’s an explanation for everything in the world

D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B．Every story should have a happy ending.

C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.

 

Self-employed private physicians who charge a fee for each patient visit are the foundation of medical practice in the United States. Most physicians have a contract relationship with one or more hospitals in the community. They send their patients to this hospital, which usually charges patients according to the number of days they stay and the facilities(operating room, tests, medicines that they use). Some hospitals belong to a city, a state or, in the case of veteran's hospitals, a federal government agency. Others are operated by religious orders(教会) or other non-profit groups.

Some medical doctors are on salary. Salaried physicians may work as hospital staff members, or residents, who are often still in training. They may teach in medical schools, be hired by corporations to care for their workers or work for the federal government's Public Health Service.

Physicians are among the best paid professionals in the United States. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for medical doctors to earn incomes of more than $ 100 000 a year. Specialists, particularly surgeons, might earn several times that amount. Physicians list many reasons why they deserve to be so well rewarded for their work. One reason is the long and expensive preparation required to become a physician in the United States. Most would be physicians first attend college for four years, which can cost nearly $ 20 000 a year at one of the best private institutions. Prospective physicians then attend medical school for four years. Tuition alone can exceed $ 10 000 a year. By the time they have obtained their medical degrees, many young physicians are deeply in debt. They still face three to five years of residency(实习阶段) in a hospital, the first year as an apprentice physician. The hours are long and the pay is relatively low.

Setting up a medical practice is expensive, too. Sometimes several physicians will decide to establish a group practice, so they can share the expense of maintaining an office and buying equipment. These physicians also take care of each other's patients in emergencies.

Physicians work long hours and must accept a great deal of responsibility. Many medical procedures, even quite routine ones, involve risk. It is understandable that physicians want to be well rewarded for making decisions which can mean the difference between life and death.

According to the passage, it is very unlikely that an American hospital is owned by _______.

A. a church            B. a corporation            C. a city                       D. a state

The expenses for becoming a doctor are spent on _______.

A. schooling and retraining                        B. practice in a hospital

C. facilities he or she uses                          D. education he or she receives

According to the passage, how long does it take for a would-be physician to become an independent physician in the USA?

A. About seven years.                                B. Eight years.

C. Ten years.                                             D. About twelve years.

Sometimes several physicians set up a group medical practice mainly because _______.

A. there are so many patients that it is difficult for one physician to take care all of them

B. they can take turns to work long hours

C. facilities may be too much of a burden for one physician to shoulder

D. no one wants to assume too much responsibility

Which of the following statements could fully express the author's view towards physicians’ payment in the USA?

A. For their expensive education and their responsibility, they deserve a handsome pay.

B. It is reasonable for physicians to have a large income because their work is very dangerous.

C. Physicians should be better paid because they work long hours under bad conditions.

D. Physicians have great responsibility, so it is understandable that they should be well rewarded.