Old-Fashioned Play―For Pay

       Kids !Come have a ball! Or 60,000 of them! There’s a new type of business franchise that is appearing in shopping malls and neighborhoods across America offering pay-per-use indoor playgrounds ,which feature toys ,games ,supervised fun and a workout that doesn’t break the family bank.

       As public playgrounds grow increasingly worn and dirty, the for-profit centers offer clean, safe supervised activity as well as a variety of challenging exercises to develop youngsters’ physical fitness, usually for a fee of around 5$ an hour. “Playgrounds are dirty ,not supervised,” says Dick Guggenheimer ,owner of the two-month-old Discovery Zone in Yonkers, N.Y., part of Kansas City-based chain, “We are indoors; we are padded（鋪上軟墊）;parents can feel their child is safe”.

       In order to satisfy the need of two-earner families ,the new franchise stayed open in the evenings ,long after traditional public playgrounds have grown dark and unusable .However these new playgrounds are not meant to be day-care centers .Parents are expected go stay and play with their kids rather than drop them off. But several also provide high-tech baby-sitting services. At some of the Discovery Zones, parents can register their children in special supervised programs, then leave them and slip away for a couple of hours to enjoy a movie or dinner. If there is a problem ,Mom and Dad are called.

       The most fun of all, though, is getting to do what parents used to do in the days before two-earner families and two-hour commutes; play with their kids. That ,at least ,is old-fashioned, even at per-hour rates.

60．What is this article mainly talking about?

       A．The fast development of Discovery Zone.

       B．The disadvantages of outdoor playgrounds.

       C．A new type of business franchise for kids.

       D．Children can play in the public playgrounds without parents’ care.

61．According to the article, which of the following is true to the new playground?

       A．The cost is high for a family.

       B．It stayed open in the evening just as traditional playgrounds.

       C．It doesn’t allow parents to leave their kids.

       D．It’s a place where parents can play together with their kids.

62．What does the writer mean by saying “old-fashioned”?

       A．The so-called new playground is outdated.

       B．The new playground is also enjoyed by old people.

       C．The new playground is actually enjoyed by parents.

       D．The new playground offers a fashion which is poplar in the past.

63．What is the writer’s attitude toward the new playground?

       A．Agreeable            B．Indifferent           C．Objective             D．Doubtful

       In sports the sexes are separate. Women and men do not run or swim in the same races. Women are less strong than men. That at least is what people say. Women are called the weaker sex, or ,if men want to please them, “the fair sex”. But boys and girls are taught together at schools and universities .There are women who are famous Prime Ministers, scientists and writers. And women live longer than men. A European woman can expect to live until the age of 74, a man only until he is 68. Are women’s bodies really weaker?

       The fastest men can run a mile under 4 minutes. The best women need 4.5 minutes .Women’s times are always slower than men’s ,but some facts are a surprise. Some of the fastest women swimmers today are teenager girls. One of them swam 400 meters in 4 minutes 21.2 seconds when she was only 16. The first “Tarzan” in films was an Olympic swimmer ,Johnny Weissmuller. His fastest 400 meters was 4 minutes 59.1 seconds, which is 37.9 seconds slower than a girl 50 years later ! This does not mean that women are catching men up .Conditions are very different now ,and sport is much more serious .It is so serious that some women athletes are given hormone injections. At the Olympics a doctor has to check whether the women athletes are really women or not. It seems sad that sport has such problems. Life can be very complicated when there are two separate sexes!

56．Which of the following is true?

       A．Famous Prime Ministers are women.

       B．Women do not run or swim in races with men.

       C．Boys and girls study separately everywhere.

       D．Men can expect to live longer than women in Europe.            

57．The underlined sentence “That at least is what people say” means people     .

       A．say this but may not think so                B．don’t say this much

       C．say other things too                             D．only think this

58．What problems does sport have?

       A．Some women athletes are actually men.

       B．Some women athletes are given hormone injections.

       C．Women and men do not run or swim in the same races.

       D．It is difficult to check whether women athletes are really women.

59．In this passage the author implies that         .

       A．men are not always stronger and faster than women

       B．women are slower than men ,but stronger

       C．men are faster and stronger than women

       D．women are weaker than men ,but faster

A strong wind was blowing hard ,thunder was rumbling(雷聲隆隆地響),and lightning flashed across the dark sky. Rain was  36   down; it looked as if heaven had been broken open.

       Gleams of light appeared from windows of   37  houses ,shining like jewels in all the dark.

       A  38  woman dressed in rags and trembling with cold was  39  on a lonely road, while the merciless rain was  40  against her without pause.

       She knocked at a door, and a boy answered it. She  41  him to let her stay a while  42  .

       The boy then let her into the sitting room and  43  her sitting by the fire.

       The woman  44  old and tired under the bright electric light,  45  she was only in her early thirties. She sat  46  for a moment ,and then her eyes began to look about the room. When her wandering eyes  47  on the picture of a young man, she  48   up, looking thunderstruck.

       Just then ,the boy came with his  49  .The man at once  50  the woman as his wife .They had   51  touch with each other during the war ,and he thought he had lost her forever.

         52  words needed to be spoken. They ran into each other’s arms  53  the boy stared at them ,puzzled.

       The storm was over and the sky cleared up. Feeling very  54  , the couple stood face to face with their child between them, watching the rain as it gradually  55  .

The manager of this company is very considerate        his employees.

       A．towards              B．with                    C．a(chǎn)t                       D．a(chǎn)bout

It is suggested that our plan for the project        as soon as possible.

       A．is changed          B．be changed          C．must be changed  D．will be changed

Nothing taught by others can have the same effect on you as        learned by yourself.

       A．it                        B．the one                C．that                     D．those

―Will you go to the fashion show this Saturday evening?

―It all depends .Well, if you go ,        .

       A．so do I                B．so I will               C．so will I              D．so I do

It would take a next generation of scientists        the importance of the environment on species back in view.

       A．to carry               B．to realize              C．to bring              D．to take

Some laid-off workers delightedly took up the work to        patients in hospitals.

       A．took on               B．look on               C．depend on           D．wait on

Let’s observe another little scene,        you might have in your new life to come.

       A．what                   B．a(chǎn)s                       C．where                 D．that