B
A woman and her elderly uncle were waiting for a bus at a corner in downtown Chicago.Buses came by，not the one they wanted.The woman finally halfentered one of the buses and asked the driver if the bus she wanted stopped at that corner.
The driver looked at her but made no answer，so she repeated the question.To her surprise，he then closed the door，by her arm，and drove off.
The woman，her arm stuck in the door，ran alongside the bus，shouting.Passengers said the driver stopped after almost a block only because they，too，were shouting.
When the driver finally did stop and open the door，the woman jumped on the bus to get his bus number.Then he took off again and went another couple of blocks before other shouting passengers persuaded him to stop and let the woman off.
After the driver’s bosses at a taxsupported governmental company(CIA) heard of the incident，they looked into it and set his punishment：a fiveday suspension(停职) without pay.That struck me as rather light.
But Bill Baxa，the company’s pubicrelations man，said，“That’s a pretty serious punishment.”
Five days off work is a serious punishment for dragging a woman alongside a bus by her arm?Baxa said，“Any time you take money away from someone，it is a terrible punishment.The driver makes $14 an hour.Multiply that by 40 and you can see what he lost.”
Yes，that comes to $560，a good sum.But we know that people in the private company are fired for far less minor mistakes.If the people who run the bus company think that the loss of a week’s pay is more than enough，I offer them a sporting(公正的) suggestion：Give me a bus.Then have their wives stick their arms in the doorway of the bus，and I’ll slam the door shut，start the bus quickly and take them for a fast oneblock run.And I’ll pay $560 to anyone who is bold enough to try it.Any takers?Mr. Baxa?Anyone?I didn’t think so.
31.The nurse halfentered one of the buses because________.
A.the bus they wanted didn’t stop there
B.she wanted the driver to stop the bus
C.she wanted to get some information from the driver
D.she and her uncle couldn’t wait any longer at the corner
32.How many blocks was the woman away from the corner where she waited when the bus driver finally let her off?
A.Almost one block.
B.Almost two blocks.
C.Probably three blocks.
D.Probably five or six blocks.
33.Why did the author offer a sporting suggestion?
A.Because the CTA paid little attention to the incident.
B.Because he bus driver had not been fired.
C.Because he wanted to threaten the CTA people.
D.Because he thought the punishment was a light one.
34.From this passage we may infer that________.
A.many people in the private sector are fired for minor mistakes every day
B.people in the private sector usually get more serious punishment than those in the public sector
C.people in the private sector get much higher pay than those in the public sector
D.people in the private sector are better trained than those in the public sector
35.Which of the following is NOT true?
A.The company is a bus company supported by the government.
B.The writer and Mr.Baxa disagreed with each other on the bus company’s decision.
C.The driver finally stopped the bus under the pressure of the passengers.
D.The writer asked the bus company to give him a bus if his suggestion was refused.
C
Technology has been an encouragement of historical change.It acted as such a force in England beginning in the eighteenth century，and across the entire Western World in the nineteenth.Rapid advances were made in the use of scientific findings in the manufacture(制造) of goods，which has changed ideas about work.One of the first changes was that other forms of energy have taken the place of human power.Along with this came the increased use of machines to manufacture products in less time.People also developed machines that could produce the same parts for a product：each nail was exactly like every other nail，meaning that each nail could be changed for every other nail.This means that goods could be mass production，although mass production required breaking production down into smaller and smaller tasks.
Once this was done，workers no longer started on the product and laboured to complete it.Instead，they might work only one thousandth of it，other workers completing their own parts in certain order.There is nothing strange about this manufacturing work by today’s standards.Highly skilled workers were unable to compare with the new production techniques，as mass production allowed goods of high standard to be produced in greater number than could ever be done by hand.But the skilled worker wasn’t the only loser，the common workers lost too.Similar changes forced farmers away.The increased mechanization(机械化) of agriculture freed masses of workers from ploughing the land and harvesting its crops.They had little choice but to stream toward the rapidly developing industrial centers.Increasingly，standards were set by machines.Workers no longer owned their own tools，their skill was no longer valued，and pride in their work was no longer possible.Workers fed，looked after and repaired the machines that could work faster than humans at greatly reduced cost.
36.In this passage，which of the following is NOT considered as a change caused by the use of scientific findings in the production of goods?
A.Other forms of energy have taken the place of human power.
B.The increased exploitation of workers in the 19th century.
C.The increased use of machines to make products in less time.
D.The use of machines producing parts of the same standard.
37.The underlined word “this” in the first paragraph refers to________.
A.the use of scientific findings
B.the practice of producing the same parts for a product
C.the human power being replaced by other forms of energy
D.the technology becoming the encouragement of historical change
38.The underlined word “this” in the second paragraph refers to the change that________.
A.each nail could be taken the place of by every other nail
B.each nail was exactly like every other nail
C.producing tasks became smaller and smaller
D.goods could be mass produced
39.According to the writer，highly skilled workers________.
A.completely disappeared with the coming of the factory system
B.were dismissed by the boss
C.were unable to produce goods of high standard
D.were unable to produce fine goods at that same speed as machines
40.According to the passage，what did the farmers have to do with the coming of mechanization of agriculture?
A.Many of them had to leave their farmland for industrial centers.
B.They stuck to their farm work.
C.They refused to use machines.
D.They did their best to learn how to use the machines.
D
“If there is one thing I’m sure about，it is that in a hundred years from now we will still be reading newspapers.It is not that newspapers are a necessity.Even now some people get most of their news from television or radio.Many buy a paper only on Saturdays or Sundays.But for most people reading a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.”
The nature of what is news may change.What basically makes news is what affects our lives—the big political stories，the coverage of the wars，earthquakes and other disasters，will continue much the same.I think there will be more coverage of scientific research，though.It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering.In the future，I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do—as we develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.
It’s quite possible that in the next century newspapers will be transmitted electronically from Fleet Street and printed out in our own home.In fact, I’m pretty sure that how it will happen in the future.You will probably be able to choose from a menu，making up your own newspaper by picking out the things you want to read—sports and international news，etc.
I think people have got it wrong when they talk about competition among the different media.They actually feed_off each other.Some people once foresaw that television would kill off newspapers，but that hasn’t happened.What is read on the printed page lasts longer than pictures on a screen or sound lost in the air.And as for the Internet，it’s never really pleasant to read something just on a screen.
41.What is the best title for the passage?
A.The Best Way to Get News
B.The Changes of Media
C.Make Your Own Newspaper
D.The Future of Newspapers
42.In the writer’s opinion，in the future，________.
A.more big political affairs，wars and disasters will make news
B.newspapers will not be printed in publishing houses any longer
C.newspapers will cover more scientific research
D.more and more people will watch TV
43.What will probably be in the newspaper made by yourself?
A.Sports and international news.
B.A menu of important news.
C.The most important news.
D.What you are interested in.
44.From the passage，we can infer________.
A.newspapers will win the competition among the different media
B.newspapers will stay with us together with other media
C.television will take the place of newspapers
D.the writer believes some media will die out
45.The underlined phrase “feed off” in the last paragraph probably means________.
A.depend on B.compete with
C.fight with D.kill off
