There is one word that is on the lips of Americans, day and night: “Sorry．”

  One time as I was walking on the street, a young man ran by hurriedly, brushing against my handbag．Even as he continued on his way, he turned back and said “sorry” to me．Even in a rush, he didn’t forget to apologize．

  One day, after I bought a mango, the salesman was giving me the change, but I wasn’t ready for it and a coin dropped to the ground．“I’m sorry,” he said while bending down to pick it up．I was puzzled ----- why would he apologize when it was my fault?

    Another time, I stepped on a man’s foot in an escalator．At the same time, we both said “sorry”．I thought it interesting: was it really necessary for him to apologize?

    Later on, an American friend explained to me that according to the American mentality, the escalator is a public place, and everyone should be able to stand in it．After someone occupies a position in the elevator, making it difficult for someone else to find a place to stand, isn’t it necessary to express an apology?

    If you go to the movies and the tickets happen to be sold out, the ticket seller will say: “Sorry, the tickets are sold out．”

    Whenever one of your hopes goes unfulfilled, an American will say “sorry”, as a sign of sympathy．

    During my stay in America, I often came across situations in which I was supposed to say “sorry”．Gradually I realized that when friction occurs in daily life, Americans don’t care much about who is responsible; if someone important and she is very busy, the secretary will say: “sorry．”

  If someone is troubled, a “sorry” is always necessary．When this happens, even if the other person is hurt, the “sorry” cools tempers ----- and human generosity is displayed．Perhaps this is why I never saw anyone quarreling on the buses, subways or streets of America．

1．When the salesman gave me the change, _____．

A．I intentionally didn’t accept it

B．he intentionally didn’t pass it to me

C．I was a little slow than the salesman to accept it

D．he was slow to give than I accept it

2．Why the man on whose feet I stepped apologized to me?

A．Because the elevator is a public place．

A.      B．Because the man is afraid of me．

C．Because the “sorry” he said to the author was intended to say to another people．

D．Because there is not enough place to get my feet in so I have to step on his feet．

3．The author cites （引用） several examples to show that ______．

     A． the Americans are friendly             B．the Americans are kind

     C． the Americans are generous            D．All of the above

4．What is the author’s tone to American’s “sorry”?

   A． Neutral        B． Negative        C． Unnecessary        D． Approving

Most Americans get what money they have from their work; that is, they earn an income from wages or salaries．The richest Americans, however, get most of their money from what they own ------- their stock, bonds, real estate, and other forms of property, or wealth．Although there are few accurate statistics to go by, wealth in American society appears to be concentrated in very few hands．More than 20 percent of everything that can be privately owned is held by less than one percent of the adult population and more than 75 percent of all wealth is owned by 20 percent of American adults． The plain fact is that most Americans have no wealth at all aside from their incomes, automobiles, and a small amount of savings．

    Income in the United States is not as highly concentrated as wealth．In 1917 the richest 10 percent of American families received 26．1 percent of all income, while the poorest 10 percent received 17 percent, mainly from Social Security and other government payments．The most striking aspect of income distribution is that it has not changed significantly since the end of World War Ⅱ．Although economic growth has roughly doubled real disposable（可自由使用的） family income （the money left after taxes and adjusted for inflation）over the last generation, the size of the shares given to the rich and the poor is about the same．By any measure economic inequality is great in the United States．

    The reality behind these statistics is that a large number of Americans are poor．In 1918, 14 percent of the population was living below the federal government’s poverty line, which at that line was an annual income of $ 9287 for a non-farm family of two adults and two children．In other words, about one out of seven Americans over 31 million people was officially considered unable to buy the basic necessities of food, clothes, and shelter．The suggested poverty line in 1981 would have been an income of about $ 11200 for a family of four．By this relative definition, about 20 percent of the population or more than 45 million Americans are poor．

1．What does the majority of the Americans have in terms of wealth?

A．Their income and savings．

B．Everything they own in their homes．

C．Actually, they have no wealth at all．

D．Their house, cars and small amounts of savings．

2．What is the percent of wealth that is in the hands of most Americans?

    A．More than 25%．               B．Less than 25%．

C．More than 75%．               D．Less than 20%．

3．Why is economic inequality still great in the US in spite of the economic growth?

A．Because the proportion of income received by the rich and the poor remains almost the same as in 1917．

B．Because the economic growth has widened the gap of the family income between the rich and the poor．

C．Because income in the US is still concentrated in the hands of the richest 10% of American families．

D．Because some Americans made great fortunes during the Second World War．

4．What can we learn from comparison of the two poverty lines in the last paragraph?

A．The poverty line of 1918 is more favorable to the poor than that of 1981．

B．The 1981 line didn’t leave much to the poor．

C．There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1981 line．

D．There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1918 line．

Professor Martin’s report says that children who attend a number of different schools, because their parents have to move around the country, probably make slow progress in their studies．There are also signs, says Professor Martin, that an unusually large number of such children are mentally affected．

    The professor says, “It’s true, my personal feeling is that children should stay in one school． However, our feelings are based on research and not on any personal feelings that I or my assistants may have on the subject．”

    Captain Thomas James, an Army lecturer for the past 20 years and himself a father of two, said, “I’ve never heard such rubbish．Taking me for example, no harm is done to the education of my children who change schools regularly ------ if they keep to the same system, as in our Army schools． In my experience ------- and I’ve known quite a few of them ------- Army children are as well-adjusted as any others, if not more so． What the professor doesn’t appear to appreciate is the fact that in such situations children will adapt much better than grown-ups．”

  When this was put to Professor Martin, he said that at no time had his team suggested that all such children were backward or mentally affected in some way, but simply that in their experience there was a clear tendency．

    “Our findings show that while the very bright child can deal with regular changes without harming his or her general progress in studies, the majority of children suffer from constantly having to enter a new learning situation．”

1．Professor Martin’s report suggests that _____．

A．it may not be good for children to change schools too often

B．parents should not move around the country

C．children are now making slow progress

D．more and more children are mentally affected

2．From this passage, we can conclude that Captain James’ children ______．

A．have been affected by changing schools

B．go to ordinary state school

C．can get used to the Army school education

D．discuss their education regularly with their father

3．About children and grown-ups, Captain James says that children ______．

A．a(chǎn)re generally well-adjusted

B．a(chǎn)re usually less experienced

C．can adapt much more easily

D．can deal with changes quickly

4．According to Professor Martin, _____ suffer from changing schools regularly．

    A．a(chǎn)rmy children                     B．quite a few children

C．bright children                    D．few children

Like most other US college students, Eric Rogers knows that submitting a term paper taken off the Internet is plagiarism（抄襲）and cause for suspension（停學(xué)）or a failing grade．

  What about using a paragraph? “Just a paragraph,” he said．“Taking a paragraph and changing words．I’ve done that before; it wasn’t a big deal,” he decided finally．“As long as I can change it into my words, change a few, it’s not cheating．”

    Under the honor code he signed when he entered Duke University last year, it is．But for many college students, the once-clear lines that explain cheating have faded．Some colleges and universities have made use of sophisticated （精良的）search engines to ferret out cheats．But an increasing number are turning to something decidedly more low-tech: their honor codes．Some campuses are adopting codes for the first time．Others, among them Duke, admitting that their codes have existed mostly in name only, are rewriting and forcing them to buy．

    Cheating has become so common, experts say, that it often goes unreported and unpunished．Surveys show not only that there is more cheating these days but also that students and teachers alike have become more accepting of some practices once considered out of limits．One such survey was performed for the Centre for Academic Integrity, an organization based at Duke that helps create honor codes．In that survey, 27 percent of students questioned during the 2001—2002 academic year said that falsifying （偽造）laboratory data happened “often or very often” on campus．

    The new honor codes aim to punish more while also forcing students and faculty members to think about the kinds of offenses that are cheating．At large universities and small liberal art colleges alike, educators talk about restoring a “culture of honor”．

    “It’s a psychological effect: if people expect you to be honorable, you are more likely to respond with honorable behavior,” said Nannerl O．Keohane, the president of Duke．

    At Duke, a new “community standard” for academic honesty will take effect next fall．

    Under it, the staff will no longer have to proctor exams, but students will face punishment if they see cheating and do not report it．Factually members will have greater power to discipline first-time cheats, authority that the university hopes will encourage them to face offenders．

1．The writer of the passage _______．

A．is professor in the US college

B．a(chǎn)dvises college students not to cheat

C．is trying to find a way to prevent cheating

D．has done much investigation before writing

2．The underlined phrase “ferret out” in paragraph 3 probably means ____．

   A．praise            B．punish          C．discover         D．test

3．The honor codes ______．

A．a(chǎn)re effective in dealing with cheats in colleges

B．have been widely used in most US college campuses

C．a(chǎn)re high-tech products that are difficult to use

D．can help reduce the number of cheats on campus

4．Paragraph 4 tells us _____．

   A．some teachers neglect the students’ cheats on campus

B．cheating happens so often that the students who cheat are not punished

C．a(chǎn) survey was performed to know if cheating is common on campus

D．many students have broken the honor codes

此題要求你對一段文章改錯(cuò)。先對每一行做出判斷是對還是錯(cuò)。如果是對的，在該行右邊的橫線上劃一個(gè)勾（√）；如果有錯(cuò)誤，則按如下情況改錯(cuò)：

多一個(gè)詞，把多余的詞用斜線劃掉，在該行右邊橫線上寫出該詞，并也用斜線（\）劃掉；

缺一個(gè)詞，在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號（∧），在該行右邊橫線上寫出該詞；

錯(cuò)一個(gè)詞，在錯(cuò)詞下面劃一橫線，在該行右邊橫線上寫出改正后的詞。

注意：原行沒有錯(cuò)的請不要改。

據(jù)調(diào)查，中國城市居民的電腦擁有率達(dá)30%。很多農(nóng)村居民對電腦也越來越感興趣，甚至有的家庭也買了電腦。請參考下表寫一篇題為“Computers in China”的短文。詞數(shù)為100詞左右。

Computers in China

According to a recent investigation, about 30% of the city families have computers．_________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

John plays basketball well, ______his favorite sport is badminton．

A．so         B．or         C．yet            D．for

--Why does the lake smell terrible?  

--Because large quantities of water       ．

A．have polluted                                           B．is being polluted

C．has been polluted                                     D．have been polluted

The loss has not yet been ______ accurately, but it is believed to be well beyond a hundred million dollars．

A．calculated            B．considered         C．completed          D．controlled

Every evening after dinner, if not        from work, I will spend some time walking my dog．

A．being tired        B．tiring               C．tired                      D．to be tired