第 32 题：Reading Comprehension:
This is offered as a textbook illustration of the principle that voters are far shrewder than most politicians believe. This case study highlighting Washington''s inability to fool anyone is based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare about their new prescription-drug benefit.
Last fall, when Congress added prescription-drug coverage to Medicare, the new law was hailed as a political masterpiece. Congressional Democrats, who overwhelmingly opposed the bill, thundered that they, too, were eager to provide a drug benefit under Medicare, but they championed alternative legislation that offered a larger drug subsidy and smaller incentives to health insurers to participate. Liberals such as Sen. Edward Kennedy were confident that the drug bill, with plenty of holes in its benefit formulas, would inevitably be expanded around the time it took effect.
Not many in Congress seemed troubled that the federal budget was deep in deficit, the nation was saddled with future expenditures for the Iraq war and virtually no health care expert believed that the legislation would fit into its projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework. The new law was a cynical bargain that had more to do with the 2004 election than a rational approach to the prescription-drug needs of the nation''s elderly.
The prescription-drug legislation seems a compromise between competing ideologies inserted into a fixed congressional budget. Put another way, it was sausage-stuffing in the guise of lawmaking. And, what no one anticipated was the reaction of the elderly, a group that votes in disproportionate numbers.
1小题>
The passage you are reading is the beginning part of a report in the original. Then, what is "This", the first word, most probably referring to?
A An offered illustration.
B Part of a textbook on politics.
C What the author is going to write.
D The principle that voters are shrewder than most politicians believe.
2小题>
Also found in Paragraph 1, what does "this case study" probably refer to?
A A case study the writer is to talk about.
B Part of a textbook on politics.
C What the author is going to write.
D Washington's inability to fool anyone.
3小题>
Based on a recent survey of the attitudes of people on Medicare is________.
A the capital city of the United States of America
B a textbook on American politics
C what the author is going to write
D a statement that the American government cannot fool its people
4小题>
Congress added prescription-drug coverage to Medicare most probably means that the Congress of the USA decided to ________.
A add prescription-drugs to the Medicare program
B allow the Medicare program to provide refunding subsidies to selected medicines to be purchased by Medicare members
C increase payment to Medicare for refunding Americans buying prescription medicines
D provide insurance to prescription drugs purchased by Medicare participants
5小题>
Below are four groups of terms that are found in the passage. Which group contains at least one term that does not refer to the same thing as the other terms within the group?
A the new law, the bill, the drug bill, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation
B prescription-drug coverage, the new law, the drug bill, the prescription- drug legislation, the legislation
C the drug bill, the bill, Medicare with prescription-drug coverage added, the prescription-drug legislation, the legislation
D the new law, the bill, the drug bill, Medicare with additions including prescription-drug coverage, the prescription-drug legislation
6小题>
Democratic Congressmen suggested that the government should________.
A be enthusiastic in providing a drug benefit to the people
B oppose the new legislation with thundering protests
C give more money, so to speak, to medicine makers and retailers
D provide financial assistance to people wanting to buy life insurance
7小题>
Paragraph 3 reflects basically the views and comments of________.
A Congressional Democrats
B many other Liberals in the Congress
C Sen. Edward Kennedy
D the author of the passage
8小题>
According to the text, some health care experts believed that .
A the new law had a 10-year budget of about $400 billion but little was expected for the prescription-drug coverage
B the new law will have to wait another 10 years and cost about $400 billion before it is able to take effect
C the framework of the new legislation would be fit for a project that was to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years
D the projected $400-billion-over-10-years cost framework was planned to be the budget for the current Iraq war
9小题>
Referring to the elderly as summarized in the passage, we can assume that they are________.
A great in number and most will vote
B great in number but few tend to vote
C few in number and few tend to vote
D few in number but most will vote
10小题>
From the end of the passage we would expect the author to start his next paragraph most probably on ________.
A how the senior citizens of the United States responded to the new legislation
B the opinions of the few who anticipated what the reaction of the elderly was to be
C what the legislators would consider doing to avoid further legislative digressions
D major competing ideologies that differ on the coming congressional budget
第 33 题：Reading Comprehension:
When you first drift off into slumber, your eyes will roll about a bit, your temperature will drop slightly, your muscles will relax, and your breathing will become quite regular. Your brain waves slow down a bit, with the alpha rhythm predominating for the first few minutes. This is the first stage of sleep. For the next 30 minutes or so, you will drift down through Stage 2 and Stage 3. The lower your stage of sleep, the slower your brain waves will be. About 40-60 minutes after you lose consciousness, you will reach the last stage. Your brain waves will show the delta rhythm. You may think that you stay at this deep stage all the rest of the night, but that turns out not to be the case. About 80 minutes after you fall into slumber, your activity cycle will increase slightly. The delta rhythm will disappear, to be replaced by the activity pattern of brain waves. Your eyes will begin to dart around under your closed eyelids. This period of Rapid Eye Movements lasts for 8-15 minutes and is called REM sleep.
During both light and deep sleep, the muscles in your body are relaxed but capable of movement. As you slip into REM sleep, a very odd thing occurs — most of the voluntary muscles in your body become paralyzed. Although your brain shows very rapid bursts of neural activity during REM sleep, your body is incapable of moving. REM sleep is accompanied by extensive muscular inhibition.
1小题>
On the part of an average sleeper, there ________of sleep in cycles.
A is one stage
B are two stages
C are six stages
D are four stages
2小题>
When a person falls into the state of sleep, his________.
A eyeballs will roll about a bit
B mind will relax more and more
C breathing will slow for minutes
D temperature will increase slightly
3小题>
The lower your stage of sleep,________.
A the faster your eyes will roll about
B the quieter your breath will become
C the slower your brain waves will be
D the higher your temperature will be
4小题>
After you have reached the deepest sleep,________.
A you will stay at the fourth stage the rest of the night
B you will lose your consciousness for 40-60 minutes
C your brain waves will show the delta rhythm
D your brain waves will show the alpha rhythm
5小题>
In the REM sleep,________.
A the delta rhythm will disappear
B the activity pattern will appear
C something will occur in front of you
D your eyes will begin to dart around
6小题>
You will fall into the fourth stage of sleep________.
A about 80 minutes after you fall into slumber
B some 10 minutes after your fall into REM sleep
C about 40 minutes after you lose consciousness
D some 30 minutes after your brain waves slow
7小题>
The first paragraph of this passage tells us about ________.
A the rhythms of brain waves
B the daily activities of sleep
C the stages of sleep in cycles
D the daily activities in cycles
8小题>
In this passage, the word "paralyzed" means unable to________.
A move
B think
C work
D speak
9小题>
The phrase "extensive muscular inhibition" means________.
A the body is incapable of movement
B the muscles in the body are relaxed
C voluntary muscles are capable of movement
D the brain shows rapid burst of neural activity
10小题>
The best title for this passage would be________.
A Brain Waves
B Sleep Cycles
C Daily Activities
D Body Activities
