Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

　　Directions: There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

　　Acculturation, which begins at birth, is the process of teaching new generations of children the customs and values of the parents' culture. How people treat newborns, for example, can be indicative of cultural values. In the United States it is not uncommon for parents to put a newborn in a separate room that belongs only to the child. This helps to preserve parents' privacy and allows the child to get used to having his or her own room, which is seen as a first step toward personal independence. Americans traditionally have held independence and a closely related value, individualism, in high esteem. Parents try to instill these prevailing values in their children. American English expresses these value preferences: children should "cut the (umbilical) cord" and are encouraged not to be "tied to their mothers' apron strings." In the process of their socialization children learn to "look out for number one" and to "stand on their own two feet".

　　Many children are taught at a very early age to make decisions and be responsible for their actions. Often children work for money outside the home as a first step to establishing autonomy. Nine-or ten-year-old children may deliver newspapers in their neighborhoods and save or spend their earnings. Teenagers (13 to 18 years) may baby-sit neighbors' homes in order to earn a few dollar a week. Receiving a weekly allowance at an early age teaches children to budget their money, preparing them for future financial independence. Many parents believe that managing money helps children learn responsibility as well as appreciate the value of money.

　　21. According to this passage, the way people treat newborns _____.

　　A) is a sign of their customs

　　B) is an indication of their level of knowledge

　　C) symbolizes their social system

　　D) varies from culture to culture

　　22. The expression, "to cut the cord", is used to show that _____.

　　A) children don't like their parents

　　B) parents don't feel close to their children

　　C) parents would not like to live together with their children

　　D) independence from one's family is an important personal goal in USA

　　23. Children who are "tied to the apron strings" _____.

　　A) are caught in their mothers' aprons

　　B) must always wear an apron when they eat

　　C) are very dependent on their mothers

　　D) are independent from their parents

　　24. American people often let their children work for money outside the home at a very early age because _____.

　　A) children have to earn money to help the family

　　B) they need more money

　　C) they want them to begin establishing autonomy

　　D) children have to save money for future use

　　25. It can be inferred from this passage that _____.

　　A) Americans are money lovers

　　B) Americans admire independence

　　C) Americans are good at decision-making

　　D) Americans are all responsible

　　Passage Two

　　Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

　　Many people believe that the glare from snow causes snowblindness. Yet, dark glasses or not, they find themselves suffering from headaches and watering eyes, and even snowblindness, when exposed to several hours of "snow light".

　　The United States Army has now determined that glare from snow does not cause snowblindness in troops in a snow-covered country. Rather, a man's eyes frequently find nothing to focus on in a broad expanse of barren snow-covered terrain. So his gaze continually shifts and jumps back and forth over the entire landscape in search of something to look at. Finding nothing, hour after hour, the eyes never stop searching and the eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache. Nature offsets this irritation by producing more and more fluid which covers the eyeballs. The fluid covers the eyeball in increasing quantity until vision blurs, then is obscured, and the result is total, even though temporary, snowblindness.

　　Experiments led to the Army to a simple method of overcoming this problem. Scouts ahead of a main body of troops are trained to shake snow from evergreen bushes, creating a dotted line as they cross completely snow-covered landscape. Even the scouts themselves throw lightweight, dark colored objects ahead on which they too can focus. The men following can then see something. Their gaze is arrested. Their eyes focus on a bush and having found something to see, stop scouring the snow-blanketed landscape. By focusing their attention on one object at a time, the men can cross the snow without becoming hopelessly snowblind or lost. In this way the problem of crossing a solid white terrain is overcome.

　　26. To prevent headache, watering eyes and blindness caused by the glare from snow, dark glasses are _____.

　　A) indispensable

　　B) useful

　　C) ineffective

　　D) available

　　27. When the eyes are sore tears are produced to _____.

　　A) clear the vision

　　B) remedy snowblindness

　　C) ease the irritation

　　D) loosen the muscles

　　28. Snowblindness may be avoided by _____.

　　A) concentrating on the solid white terrain

　　B) searching for something to look at in snow-covered terrain

　　C) providing the eyes with something to focus on

　　D) covering the eyeballs with fluid

　　29. The eyeballs become sore and the eye muscles ache because _____.

　　A) tears cover the eyeballs

　　B) the eyes are irritated by blinding sunlight

　　C) the eyes are irritated by blinding snow

　　D) there is nothing to focus on

　　30. A suitable title for the passage would be _____.

　　A) Snowblindness and How to Overcome It

　　B) Nature's Cure for Snowblindness

　　C) Soldiers in the Snow

　　D) Snow Vision