54. Many girls are now likely to ___.

　 A. give up their jobs for good after they are married

　 B. leave school as soon as they can

　 C. marry so that they can get a job

　 D. continue working until they are going to have a baby.

53. One reason why the woman of today may take a job is that she ___.

　 A. is younger when her children are old enough to look after themselves

　 B. does not like children herself

　 C. needn’t worry about food for her children

　 D. can be free from family duties when she reaches sixty

52. We are told that in a family about 1900 ___.

　 A. few children died before they were five

　 B. seven or eight children lived to be more than five

　 C. the youngest child would be fifteen

　 D. four or five children died when they were five

51. In the passage, the writer tells us ___.

　 A. to make enough water

　 B. to pay more attention to the water shortage problem

　 C. to pipe used water to be a purifying plant

　 D. to reuse the water

D

During the twentieth century there has been a great change in the lives of woman. A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century probably has been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and can be expected to live another thirty-five year and is likely to take paid work until sixty.

This is an important change in women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-learning age is sixteen; many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life.

50. In order to have enough water, we should also make use of ___.

　 A. icebergs and glaciers　　　　　　 B. sea water

　 C. rivers and lakes　　　　　　　　　 D. underground water

49. To reuse water, we should ___.

　 A. treat it with chemicals

　 B. use it only once

　 C. send it out into a sewer system

　 D. make it flow into underground tanks

48. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. As things remain unchanging, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us.

B. Our need for water is becoming larger and larger.

C. There will be no water shortage in the future.

D. We should take steps to deal with the water shortage problem.

47. A study of the art works has proved that most people--prefer to use the right hand when one hand is needed.

A. in 93% of the countries　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. in most historical periods

C. five thousand years ago　　　　　　　　　 D. no matter when and where　　　

C

The world is not only hungry, but it is also thirsty for water. This may seem strange to you, since nearly 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water. But about 97 percent of this huge amount is sea water, or salt water. Man can only drink and use the other 3 percent-the fresh water from rivers, lakes, underground, and other sources. And we cannot even use all of that, because some of it is in the form of icebergs and glacier (冰川). Even worse, some of it has been polluted.

However, as things stand today, this small amount of fresh water is still enough for us. But our need for water is increasing rapidly-almost day by day. Only if we take steps to deal with this problem now can we avoid a severe worldwide water shortage later on.

We all have to learn how to stop wasting our valuable water. One of the first steps is to develop ways of reusing it.

Today in most large cities, water is used only once and then sent out into a sewer system (下水道). From there it returns to the sea or runs into underground storage tanks. But it’s possible to pipe used water to a purifying plant. There it can be treated with chemicals so that it can be used again, just as if it were fresh from a spring.

But even if every large city purified and reused its water, we still would not have enough. All we’d have to do make use of the vast reserves of sea water in the world is to remove the salt.

If we take these steps we’ll be in no danger of drying up.

46. The second theory suggests that a number of people have developed right-handedness as a result of

A. the studies they looked at.　　　　　　　 B. the research they did.

C. the pressures they experienced.　　　　 D. the art works they saw.

45. According to the text, some people believe that the right hand is often preferred because

A. it is easier to hold things in the right hand.

B. man's knowledge of the world supports it.

C. the right hand is stronger than the left

D. the human body has this special need.