TEST – 36
Television has been altering the way people live for
thirty
years. It influences nearly every aspect of modern
life: how
people use leisure time, how news is reported, how
information is learned, and how people think and
feel. Children are particularly susceptible to the
effects of television because their minds are
growing, developing, and learning much faster than
those of adults. Whereas television could be used as
an educational tool for children, more often simple,
entertaining cartoons with little or no educational
value are shown. Social scientists, teachers, and
parents are troubled by the kinds of television
programs children choose to watch. These groups of
people are concerned about the media's impact on
young children. They are worried about the effects
of televised violence on society as well as
commercials for sugar-coated food. Most importantly,
however, they feel television is one factor that
causes declining math and reading scores among
schoolchildren. Because of the excessive time spent
watching TV, children are spending less time reading
and thinking independently.
Indeed, youngsters are watching a lot of television
- an average of nearly four hours a day and about 25
hours a week, according to an A. C. Neilsen Co.
survey. The set stays on 53 hours a week in homes
with pre-schoolers as opposed to 43 hours weekly in
the average U.S. household. Upon entering
kindergarten at age 5, an American child already has
spent more hours viewing television than he or she
would spend earning a college degree. By the child's
eighteenth birthday, more time has been spent
watching television than on any other single
activity except sleep. The
high-school graduate will have attended school for
11,000 hours, but he or she will have sat for almost
twice that many hours in front of the set, exposed
to an estimated 35,000 commercials and 18,000
murders.
1. What is the most essential thing that social
scientists, teachers, and parents are concerned
about?
A. They spend less time reading and thinking.
B. They become violent
C. Television causes declining math and reading
scores
D. Television has been changing the way people live
for thirty years.
E. American children spent more hours viewing
television than studying.
2. Why is television more than just a spare time
activity for
children?
A. Their minds are growing, developing and learning.
TV
influences children's attitudes.
B. Television puts their dental health at risk.
C. Exposure to excessive violence.
D. Young children don't distinguish between
commercials and programs.
E. They have limited attention spans, low tolerance
for frustration, and a lack of creative imagination.
3. How many hours ", week is the TV set on in the
standard U.S. household?
A. 25 hours
B. 22000 hours
C. 35000 hours
D. 43 hours
E. more than 50 hours
Thirty-five hundred years ago, an incredible
explosion blew
apart an island and completely destroyed a
civilization called
Atlantis. Where was Atlantis? What kind of people
lived there? Why and how was it destroyed? No one
knows the answers to these questions, but there have
been hundreds of guesses and theories.
The Greek philosopher Plato (approximately 427 to
347 B.C.) is the primary source for the legend of
Atlantis. His description of the "lost continent"
still excites the modern mind. Plato's Atlantis was
a kind of paradise - a vast island "larger than
Libya and Asia put together" - with magnificent
mountain ranges, green plains that were full of
every variety of animal, and luxuriant gardens where
the fruit was "fair and wondrous and in infinite
abundance." The earth was rich with precious metals,
especially the one prized most highly by the
ancients, orichalc, an alloy of copper, perhaps
brass.
The capital of Atlantis was beautifully constructed
in white,
black, and red stone. The city was carefully planned
- in five
zones built in perfect concentric circles. Each
circular zone was built inside a larger one. Plato
says that the capital's canals and its nearby port
were "full of vessels and merchants coming from all
parts, who ... kept up ... din and clatter ....
night and day." The city was full of life, activity,
and culture.
4. Plato lived ___.
A. 3,500 years ago.
B. roughly 427 to 347 B.C. I
C. 23 centuries ago I
D. in Africa I
E. on a lost continent
5. In accordance with Plato, how large was Atlantis?
A. as large as a continent
B. larger than Libya and Asia put together
C. as large as a vast island
D. None of the above
E. all of the above
6. The fruit on Atlantis was ___.
A. orichalc
B. rich with special metals
C. fair and wondrous and in endless abundance
D. a kind of paradise
E. green
The need for a surgical operation, specially an
emergency
operation, almost always comes as a severe shock to
the patient and his family. Despite modern advances,
most people still have an irrational fear of
hospitals and anaesthetics. Patients do not often
believe they really need surgery - cutting into a
part of the body as opposed to treatment with drugs.
In the early years of this century there was little
specialisation in surgery. A good surgeon was
capable of performing almost every operation that
had been devised up to that time. Today the
situation is different. Operations are now being
carried out that were riot even dreamed of fifty
years ago. The heart can be safely opened and its
valves repaired. Clogged blood vessels can be
cleaned out, and broken ones mended or replaced. A
lung, the whole stomach, or even part of the brain
can be removed and still permit the patient to live
a comfortable and satisfactory life. However, not
every surgeon wants to, or is qualified to carry out
every type of modern operation.
7. Many people are afraid of being operated on ___
A. unless it is an emergency operation.
B. in spite of improvements in modern surgery.
C. because they are afraid of the surgeries.
D. because they don't believe modem surgery.
E. because they are afraid of anaesthetics.
8. Surgeons in the early years of this century,
compared with contemporary ones, ___
A. were more trusted by their patients.
B. were younger than today's surgeons.
C. had less to learn about surgery.
D. had more to learn about surgery.
E. were obliged to specialize more than their
predecessors.
9. Open heart surgery has been probable ___
A. since the invention of valves.
B. since the beginning of this century.
C. only in the last fifty years.
D. for ages.
E. since the invention of clogged blood vessels.
The unfavourable effects of cigarette smoking on the
heart have frequently been described, but the exact
source for these effects has not been clarified.
Some investigators believe nicotine to be the
culprit, and there has been some experimental work
in animals indicating that large doses of nicotine
in conjunction with cholesterol feeding and vitamin
D could produce a disease of the arteries resembling
that seen in humans. An alternative explanation has
been offered by other scientists who have pointed to
the possible role of carbon monoxide being inhaled
with the cigarette smoke.
10. It is emphasized in the passage that nicotine
___.
A. is considered by some to be one of the reasons
why smoking has
an adverse effect on the heart
B. is the only harmful factor in relation to smoking
C. affects animals more seriously than humans
D. has been established as more dangerous than
carbon monoxide for smokers
E. has an adverse effect only upon the arteries
11. In accordance with the passage, studies into the
adverse effects of smoking ___.
A. have ruled out any relationship between smoking
and
cholesterol levels in humans
B. have not been able to establish for certain
whether or not
carbon monoxide could be a factor
C. have so far not raised any controversial opinions
D. have shown that vitamin D reduces nicotine in the
body
E. indicate that nicotine and carbon monoxide may be
only minor factors
12. The main concern of the passage is to ___.
A. describe certain experiments on animals relating
to the effects of carbon monoxide
B. emphasize the role nicotine and vitamin D play in
heart
diseases
C. demonstrate that the adverse effects of smoking
on the heart are still under debate
D. compare the effects on the heart of nicotine and
carbon
monoxide
E. give an account of the research work concerning
animal
disease
Agriculture remains the most fundamental area to
development, here it seems the most intractable
problems of resistance to change exist. One may
argue that scientific training in agriculture by
itself is unlikely to have any marked impact on
agricultural output. Any attempt at vocational
training in agriculture presupposes that a
meaningful structure of incentive exists for the
individual farmer to increase his output, improve
his techniques and expand his range of activities.
Without such incentives and opportunities,
agricultural education can have little impact.
13. The writer is of the opinion that improvements
in the field of agriculture ___.
A. cannot be achieved through vocational training
B. can easily be realized
C. have already led to good results
D. are absolutely vital for productivity
E. have largely been confined to technology
14. We can infer from the passage that the
agricultural
community ___,
A. tends to disregard the problems of the individual
farmer
B. is eager for more vocational training
C. is full aware of the long-term benefits of
scientific training
D. has already begun to benefit from the improved
techniques
E. is not the one that welcomes change,
15. The writer concludes that vocational training in
agriculture
A. will be an effective way of eliminating
resistance to change in society
B. will provide farmers with a wide range of
opportunities
C. will be fertile unless it's backed up with
various incentives
D. is regarded as a priority for social development
E. as often been underestimated by various
authorities
Some decades ago there was hardly such a subject as
the economics of education. Today it is one of the
most quickly growing branches of economics. Together
with health economics it makes up the core of human
resources, a field of inquiry which in the last few
years has been silently revolutionizing such
traditional subjects as growth economics, labour
economics, international trade, and public finance;
consequently, the economics of education with its
concept of human investment has rapidly transformed
large areas of orthodox economics.
16. The writer implies that the term the economics
of education………..
A. has only come into use in very recent years
B. has for decades been under discussion among
economists
C. is of little significance in orthodox economics
D. has only been accepted in educational circles
E. is gradually disappearing from economic writings
17. In accordance with the passage, the economics of
education ___.
A. is not connected in anyway with investment in man
B. B. relates to a very narrow sphere of human
activity
C. has had no impact whatever or other areas of
orthodox
economics
D. has today come into the forefront of economic
thinking
E. is one of the earliest branches of general
economics
18. The writer suggests that the earlier branches of
economics ___.
A. have grown steadily in impotence
B. have been substantially modified through the
introduction of
the economic of human resources
C. have been virtually unaffected by health
economics or the
economic of human resources
D. gave great importance to the idea of human
investment
E. constituted the essence of the economics of human
resources
Tigers grow to lengths of ten feet or more and can
be bigger than the largest lion. They have huge
strength. They clutch their prey to them holding on
with their claws, and depend on the crushing bite of
their powerful jaws to end the struggle. They swim
very well and can often be seen splashing about in
water on very hot days since they apparently suffer
from the heat. When the air is chilly, however, they
avoid wet or damp vegetation. They can climb but do
not approach the leopard's ability in this. They can
negotiate treacherous rocky areas but generally
prefer to
stay on level ground. They are not as well equipped
with senses as one might expect. They apparently
depend on their hearing while hunting. Their
eyesight is not particularly good, and they seem
unable to spot their prey until it moves.
19. It is implied in the passage that tigers ___.
A. rely on their huge claws alone to catch and kill
their prey.
B. are the most skilful climbers of all wild
animals.
C. are sensitive to significant variations in
temperature.
D. closely resemble lions as regards size, speed and
strength.
E. rely heavily upon their eyesight in locating and
catching prey.
20. As is pointed out in the passage, a flat terrain
____.
A. is usually the favoured habitat of the tiger.
B. rather than rocky cliffs gives tigers better
opportunities for hiding.
C. provides camouflage for leopards.
D. is usually wet, so tigers prefer higher levels.
E. usually has thicker vegetation which shelters
more prey.
21. From the passage we infer that contrary to what
is generally thought, ___.
A. once a prey starts to move a tiger can rarely
catch it.
B. hearing is the least developed sense of the tiger
C. the leopards hunting ability is far behind that
of the tiger.
D. rocky areas are invariably avoided by all wild
animals.
E. the tiger's senses are not particularly well
developed.
Scientists have long sought ways to define and
measure human intelligence. And while theorists of
intelligence have grown more sophisticated since the
1800s when some believed mental ability were
determined by the size of the person's head.
Researchers still do not agree about certain
fundamental principles of human thought. They hence
continue to debate such basic questions as whether
heredity or the environment is more important in
forming intelligence.
22. As we infer from the passage, the age-old
controversy about whether intelligence depends upon
heredity or the environment…………
A. is now being ignored as it is seen to be
fruitless.
B. was finally reached in area 1800.
C. has only recently become a subject for serious
research.
D. does not seem to have ceased yet.
E. was more sophisticated in the 19th century than
it is today.
23. In accordance with the passage, in the early
nineteenth century, some people held the view that a
person's mental capacity ___.
A. could never be changed.
B. depended on the head size:
C. was purely hereditary.
D. was completely shaped by the environment.
E. fundamental to his character.
24. One may infer from the passage that a full
understanding of the nature and the capacity of
human intelligence ___.
A. can only be achieved by exceptionally
sophisticated minds .
B. has finally been achieved by modern scientists .
C. is sure to be realized within the next few years
.
D. is not likely to be achieved in the near future.
E. will emerge through theoretical rather than
environmental
structures.
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