Passage 4

　　In Western countries people have been using the installment plan since the first half of the twentieth century. Today, a large number of families in Great Britain buy furniture, household goods and cars by installments. In the U.S., the figure is much higher than in Great Britain, and people there spend over 10 percent of their income on the installment plan.

　　The price of an article bought on installments is always higher than the price that would be paid by cash. There is a charge for interest. The buyer pays one quarter or one third of the price as a down payment when the goods are delivered to him. He then makes regular payments, weekly or monthly, until the full price is paid up. The legal ownership of the goods remains with the seller until the final payment has been made.

　　Installment buy has advantages and disadvantages. It can help couples with small incomes to furnish their homes and start housekeeping. It increases the demand for goods, and in this way helps business and employment. There is, however, the danger that when business is bad, installment buying may end suddenly, making business much worse. This may result in a great increase in unemployment. If the people on the imstallment plan lose their jobs, they will probably not be able to make their payments. If great numbers of people are bot able to pay their installment debts there is a possibility that businessmen cannot collect their debts and will therefore lose money. If businessmen lose money or fail to make a satisfactory profit, it becomes more likely to have a depression. This is why, in some countries, the government controls the installment plan by fixing the amount of the down payment and each of the following installments to discourage people from buying more than they can pay for on the installment plan.

　　( B )1. Which of the following is NOT true about the installment plan?

　　A. A lot of British families use the installment plan.

　　B. More than 10 percent American families buy things on installments.

　　C. Americans depend more on installment than British people do.

　　D. Americans spend one tenth of their income on installment buying.

　　( C )2. Goods bought on installments are more expensive than goods bought by cash because

　　________ .

　　A. the delivery of the goods charges extra money

　　B. the buyer has to pay a down payment

　　C. the buyer has to pay extra money as interest

　　D. the service offered by installment plan charged extra money

　　( C )3. What will happen to a buy if he fails to make the full payment for an item bought on

　　installements?

　　A. He might lose his job.

　　B. He will have to sell what he has bought.

　　C. He will stop owning the item he has bought.

　　D. He will go into debt.

　　( A )4. The advantage of installment buying might include all the following EXPECT

　　that___________ .

　　A. people develop a good habit of saving money

　　B. purchasing power is strengthened

　　C. employment might be increased

　　D. young couples are able to furnish their homes

　　( D )5. In some countries, the governments control the installment plan to ________ .

　　A. increase employment

　　B. avoid depressions

　　C. ensure that businesses make good profits

　　D. ensure that people can pay for what they buy

　　Passage 5

　　Engineering students are supposed to be examples of practicality and rationality, but when it comes to my college education I am an idealist and a fool. In high school I want to be an electrical engineer and, of course, any sensible student with my aims would have chosen a college with a large engineering department, famous reputation and lots of good labs and research equipment. But that's not what I did.

　　I chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts( 文科 ) university that doesn't even offer a major in electrical engineering. Obviously, this was not a practical choice; I came here for more noble reasons. I wanted a broad education that would provide me with flexibility and a value system to guide me in my career. I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by interacting with people who weren't studying science or engineering. My parents, teachers and other adults praised me for such a sensible choice. They told me I was wise and mature beyond my 18 years, and I believed them.

　　I headed off to college sure I was going to have an advantage over those students who went to big engineering "factories" where they didn't care if you had values or were flexible. I was going to be complete engineer: technical genius and sensitive humanist ( 人文学者 ) all in one.

　　Now I'm not so sure. Somewhere along the way my noble ideals crashed into reality, as all noble ideals eventually do. After three years of struggling to balance math, physics and engineering courses with liberal-arts courses, I have learned there are reasons why few engineering students try to reconcile ( 协调 ) engineering with liberal-arts courses in college.

　　The reality that has blocked my path to become the typical successful student is that engineering and the liberal arts simply don't mix as easily as I assumed in high school. Individually they shape a person in very different ways; together they threaten to confuse, the struggle to reconcile the two fields of study is difficult.

　　( A )1. The author chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university because he _____ .

　　A. intended to be a combination

　　B. wanted to be an example of practicality and rationality

　　C. wanted to be a combination of engineer and humanist

　　D. Intended to be a sensible student with noble ideals

　　( B )2. According to the author, by interacting with people who study liberal arts, engineering students can ________ .

　　A.balance engineering and the liberal-arts

　　B. broaden their horizons

　　C. become noble idealists

　　D. broaden their horizons

　　( B )3. In the eyes of the author, a successful engineering student is expected________ .

　　A. to have an excellent academic record

　　B. to be a technical genius with a wide vision

　　C. to be wise and mature

　　D. to be imaginative with a value system to guide him

　　( A )4.The author's experience shows that he was ________ .

　　A. unrealistic B. creative

　　C. ambitious D. irrational

　　( C )5. The word "they" in "…together they threaten to confuse."( Para. 5 )refers to ______ .

　　A. flexibility and a value system

　　B. engineering and the liberal arts

　　C. engineer and the liberal arts

　　D. practicality and rationality

　　Passage 6

　　The making of glass is a very old industry-at least 4500 years old. Glass has many extraordinary qualities and it is frequently being used in new ways.

　　One of the most interesting new uses for glass is in telephone communication. Scientists have developed glass fibres as thin as human hair which are designed to carry light signals. When the light reaches the other end , it is first changed into electrical signals, which are in turn converted into sound messages.

　　Called light-wave communication, the new system was used successfully in an experiment in Chicago in 1977. During the experiment, two glass fibres were able to carry 672 conversations at the same time. The light-wave cable, containing 144 glass fibres, has the capacity to carry 50000 conversations at the same time.

　　The light-wave communication system has two important advantages. First, the glass fibre cables are smaller and weigh less than copper cables. Second, they cost less.

　　Perhaps it can be said that telephone communication has entered the age of light!

　　( C )1. One of the extraordinary qualities of glass is that it can carry________ .

　　A. sound signals

　　B. electrical signals

　　C. light signals

　　D. any signal

　　( A )2. Before you can hear a message on the telephone using the new system, ________ .

　　A. light must first be changed into electrical signals and then into sound

　　B. electrical signals must first be changed into light signals and then into sound

　　C. the light signals have to be changed directly into sound messages

　　D. either the light or the electrical signals have to be changed into sound messages

　　( B )3. Which of the following is not included in the passage?

　　A. Glass fibre cables are lighter than copper ones.

　　B. Light-wave communication has been for civil use of about 30 years.

　　C. Glass fibre cables are used to carry light waves.

　　D. Glass is a favorable material for telephone communication.

　　( A )4. From the passage, you can tell that people prefer glass fibre cables to copper cables because ________ .

　　A. glass fibres are less expensive

　　B. glass fibres deliver messages directly

　　C. glass fibres are more up to date

　　D. glass fibres are easier to make

　　( C )5. Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Glass is very useful because it has many unusual qualities.

　　B. Light signals have changed the use of glass in industry,

　　C. The use of glass fibres to carry telephone messages is an interesting new development.

　　D. Glass fibres have reduced the cost of telephone communication.