A) Sometime before the war.
B) A few years ago.
C) During the war.
D) In the last century.
24. What helped to push the “humanization” of banks?
A) More and more “little” people became customers of banks.
B) The elderly gentlemen in banks were replaced by women.
C) More banks were set up in small and medium-sized towns.
D) The size of the customer’s account was greatly increased.
25. Average People seldom borrowed money from bank in the bank because ________.
A) the bank buildings looked forbidding
B) they were comparatively rich before the war
C) they thought it was not proper to be in debt
D) they rarely spent more than they could earn
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
Last summer, Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole announced a new rule: Unless
states representing two-thirds of the country’s population pass compulsory (强制性的)
seat-belt-use laws by April 1989, all new vehicles will have to be fitted with air bags or
automatic seat belts.
The rule wouldn’t have been necessary but for one simple fact. Even though seat
belts could prevent nearly half of the deaths in fatal car accidents, 85 percent of the
population simply won’t wear them.
Why not? Behavioral engineers have found that there are all sorts of
reasons—usually unstated. These are some of the most popular. It’s safer to be thrown
from a car man trapped. According to E. Scott Geller, that’s a faulty argument. “In fact”,
he says, “being thrown from a car is twenty-five times more dangerous than being
trapped”.
It won’t happen to me; I’m a good driver. But what about the other person who may
be a terrible driver? The data show that the average incidence (发生率) for all accidents
in one per driver every 10 years.
My car will end up underwater or on fire, and I won’t be able to get out. According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), only 0.5 percent of all
injury-producing accidents occur under these conditions. “If you’re wearing a belt,
you’ve got a better chance of being conscious and not having your legs broken—distinct
advantages in getting out of a dangerous situation”.
I’m only going a few blocks. Yet 80 percent of accidents happen at speeds or less
that 25 miles per hour, 75 percent happen within 25 miles of home.
26. Before 1989, in the United States ________.
A) the use of seat belts was not compulsory for the majority of the population
B) a new law requiring the use of seat belts had just been passed
C) people had to choose between the use of seat belts or the use of air bags
D) almost fifty percent of the people involved in car accidents were saved by seat
Belts
27. The word “trapped” (Para. 3, Line 3) means to be ________.
A) held up in a traffic jam
B) confined in the car
C) caught in an accident
D) pulled into a car
28. One of the reasons why many drivers refuse to wear seat belts is because ________.
A) they don’t think that it is comfortable to wear seat belts
B) they don’t believe that an accident involving a terrible driver is highly probable
C) they believe that no danger is involved in just driving a few blocks
D) they think that few drivers are willing to wear seat belts
29. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A) seat belts should be replaced by air bags
B) eighty-five percent of all drivers are likely to Break traffic rules
C) all drivers, whether good or bad, are liable to have an accident at one time or
another
D) wearing seat belts will get drivers out of dangerous situations
30. The purpose of the writer in writing this passage is ________.
A) to urge the government to pass the law sooner
B) to tell how dangerous car-driving can be
C) to criticise those who refuse to use seat belts
D) to prove the necessity of the new rule
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
For well over 2000 years the world’s great religions have taught the virtues of a
trusting heart. Now there is another reason to merit the wisdom of the ages: scientific
evidence indicates that those with trusting hearts will live longer, healthier lives.
As a result of the work published in the 1970s by two pioneering heart specialists,
Meyer Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman, nearly every American is aware that blood Type.
A people are impatient, and easily moved to hostility and anger. Many have come to
believe that Type As are at a much higher risk of suffering heart attack or dying of heart
disease than others.
The driving force behind hostility is a cynical (愤世嫉俗) mistrust of others. If we
expect others to mistreat us, we are seldom disappointed. This generates anger and leads
us to respond with hostility.
The most characteristic attitude of a cynic is being suspicious of the motives of
people he doesn’t know. Imagine you are waiting for an elevator and it stops two floors
above for longer than usual. How inconsiderate (不替别人着想的) You think. In a few
seconds, you have drawn hostile conclusions about unseen people and their motives.
Meanwhile, your cynical mistrust is leading to noticeable physical consequences.
Your voice rises. The rate and depth of your breathing increases. Your heart is beating
faster and harder, and the muscles of your arms and legs become tight. You feel “charged
up”, ready for action.
If you frequently experience these feelings, you may be at increased risk of
developing serious health problems. Anger can add to the risk of heart and other diseases.
31. According to the author, people with trusting hearts are ________.
A) usually intelligent and wise
B) usually very religious
C) less likely to get heart diseases
D) not likely to be mistreated by others
32. The book by Meyer Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman most probably discusses
________.
A) friendliness and hostility
B) trust and mistrust of people
C) heart diseases and death rate
D) people’s characters and their blood types
33. According to the passage, if you have a fixed idea in mind that people will mistreat
you, you will always find it ________.
A) to be disappointing
B) to be pleasing
C) to be wrong
D) to be so
34. A cynic, in the passage, is a person ________.
A) who is always ready to fight
B) who usually has doubts about the people around him
C) whose behaviour usually leads to serious health problems
D) whose behaviour usually seems strange to the people he knows
35. The author’s intention in writing the passage is to ________.
A) advise people to be patient
B) analyze the danger of heart diseases
C) persuade people to be trustful
D) praise the wisdom of the old people
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
“Time is a problem for kids,” states a news report for a new Swiss watch. Children
in some countries “learn time slowly” because “they don’t wear watches” and “parents
don’t really know how to teach them time”. The kids grow up with this handicap and
become adults—and then can’t get to work on time. Is there an answer to this problem?