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SECTION III Reading Comprehension Part A(40 minutes)
Text 1
46、根据下列材料，请回答46-60题：
In 1997, 25 Japanese citizens, all older than 60, launched Jeeba (the name means "old man and old woman") to make senior-friendly products. They knew they were making history when they coined their company motto : "Of the elderly, by the elderly and for the elderly. " They do not hire young people, and the oldest of their workers is 75.
Firms run by senior citizens are still a rarity, in Japan and worldwide. But the elderly have numbers on their side. Healthier and longer-living seniors, born immediately after World War II,are reaching retirement age in huge numbers all over the developed world. Extremely low birthrates in those same countries mean there are far fewer young workers to take their place. One likely con-sequence is now clear: shrinking work forces.
While the streamlining effects of international competition are focusing attention on the need to create and keep good jobs, those fears will eventually give way to worries about the growing short-age of young workers. One unavoidable solution: putting older people back to work, whether they like it or not. Indeed, advanced economies like those of Finland and Denmark have already raised their retirement ages. Others are under severe pressure to follow suit, as both the European Com-mission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have recently warned their members that their future prosperity depends on a growing contribution from the elderly.
Whether these changes are good or bad news to workers depends on whether they anticipate retirement with eagerness or dread. In the United States, half of working-age Americans now expect to work into their 70s, whether by financial necessity or by lifestyle choice, according to a new study by Putnam Investments.
Contrary to still widespread assumptions, there is very little hard evidence to suggest that com-panies cannot stay competitive with a rising share of older workers. At 13ritish hardware chain B&Q, its "elder worker" stores in Manchester and Exmouth were 18 percent more profitable than its regular outlets--due in part, the company says, to six times less employee turnover and 60 per-cent less shoplifting and breakage.
46、Jeeba' s difference from a conventional company mainly lies in
A.the age of its employees
B.the number of its owners
C.the quality of its products
D.the scope of its operations
47、 In the developed world, compared with young people, the elderly
A.are better at business
B.are greater in number
C.have healthier lifestyles
D.have more job opportunities
48、 According to the writer, in the current situation companies are faced with the tough task of
A.creating good positions
B.employing retired workers
C.filling vacant positions
D.replacing unskilled workers
49、 For future prosperity, many European countries will have to
A.increase the number of young workers
B.offer many senior-friendly jobs
C.improve services for seniors
D.raise their retirement ages
50、 B&Q' s "elder worker" stores are mentioned to show that the employment of older work-ers
A.does not reduce a company' s competitiveness
B.does not affect older workers' lifestyle Choices
C.is not a usual practice among competitive firms
D.is not good news to those who are eager to retire
Text 2
根据下列材料，请回答51-65题：
Here' s how I want to watch the 2014 Winter Olympics. I want to go to a Web site to see any event I want, whenever I want to watch it, on whatever screen I choose. I' 11 gladly pay.
The technology exists to make this happen today. Yet nearly two decades after the introduction of the World Wide Web, this remains a fantasy. NBC, which broadcasted the Vancouver Olympics in the United States, wouldn' t put videos on its Web site until they had been shown on prime-time TV. So Americans had the weird experience of learning from a news report during the day that something fantastic had just happened, and then having to wait until that night' s broadcast to see it.
Bloggers complained, but NBC wouldn' t give way. Its research shows that people like me, who want to watch the Olympics online, represent only 7 percent of the total audience. The other, bigger concern is: the Internet doesn' t deliver any money. Advertisers remain willing to pay big money to show their commercials on prime-time TV. But on the Internet? Not so much.
So NBC clings to the old way of doing things. As it sees it, the prime-time show is the most important. To make matters worse, NBC was already expecting to lose $ 250 million on the 2010 Vancouver Games. Good luck persuading it to invest in a risky Web project.
It's easy to blame the network executives. But the NBC guys and their like are only doing what makes sense. They're going where the money is.
That needs to change. Yes, selling reporting of Olympic events over the Internet would drain away some of the prime-time audience, but my sense is many of the online subscribers would still watch the prime-time show. And over time, the subscription dollars could become a substantial rev- enue stream. Instead of viewing the Internet as a threat to prime time, the TV networks should see the Web as a way to sell even more of their product to a small but passionate subset of their audi-ence.
I' m hoping that by 2014, that will have changed.
51、 According to the writer, watching the Olympics online as one likes
A.is technologically impossible
B.is still denied to the audience
C.has been a dream for 20 years
D.will no longer be free in 2014
52、 We learn that what Americans saw about the Vancouver Olympics
A.was unavailable online
B.differed from the news
C.seemed weird to them
D.was first shown on TV
53、 Bloggers complained about NBC' s
A.neglect of those in the minority
B.excessive online advertisements
C.delay in providing videos online
D.limited reporting on sports news
54、 After the 2010 Vancouver Games, NBC is likely to
A.improve its prime-time show
B.continue its current practice
C.raise its price for advertising
D.try its luck in a web program
55、 The writer thinks the TV networks should view the Web as a potential to help them to
A.make dramatic profits
B.develop new products
C.satisfy their subscribers
D.divide prime-time revenues
Text 3
根据下列材料，请回答56-70题：
One important thing during the pre-Christmas rush at our house was the arrival of my daughter' s kindergarten report card. She got high praise for her reading, vocabulary and overall en-thusiasm. On the other hand, we learnt that she has work to do on her numbers and facility with the computer, though the detailed handwritten report her teachers prepared is absent of any words that might be interpreted as negative in describing her efforts. A number system indicates how she' s measuring up in each area without any mention of passing or failing.
All of which seems to make my daughter' s school neither fish nor fowl when it comes to the debate over the merits of giving formal grades to kids. At one level, the advantages and disadvanta-ges are obvious. A grade system provides a straightforward standard by which to measure how your child is progressing at school--and how he or she is getting on compared to other children. But as writer Sue Ferguson notes, "Grades can deceive. " The aim should be "to measure learning, not simply what a student can recall on a test. " The two aren' t the same--and if you doubt that as an adult, ask yourself whether you could sit down without any preparation and still pass those high-school-level examinations.
If you' re old enough, you' ve lived through this debate before. At one time, it was considered unfair to put children in direct competition with one another if it could be avoided. The inten-tion behind tha.t may have been good, but it ignored the fact that competition, and the will to come out on top, are essential components of the human condition.
This time around, educators working with a no-grades approach are emphasizing different rea-sons. The thing is, that approach is much more commonplace in the adult workplace than is the tra-ditional pass-fail system we place on our children. Many workplaces conduct regular employee eval-uations. There are usually fairly strict limits to what an employer can tell an employee in those eval-uations-and even then, negative evaluations can be challenged by the employee. No matter where you sit in the debate over the grade system, then, the real question is this: if it' s so good for kids, why isn't that also true for adults?
56、The school report indicates that the writer' s daughter
A.lacks interest in her school work
B.ranks among the best at language
C.has some trouble with her handwriting
D.needs to improve in math and computer skills
57、 We can learn that the girl' s school tries to deliver the report
A.in a positive way
B.in a scientific way
C.in an attractive way
D.in an enthusiastic way
58、 Sue Ferguson seems dissatisfied with the grade system for its focus on
A.the process of getting the knowledge
B.the capability of memorizing for the test
C.the procedure of measuring learning
D.the standard of comparing schools
59、 The writer would agree that cutting children off from competition is
A.fit for human development
B.fit for their age and experience
C.against a key part of human nature
D.out of consideration for children
60、 It can be learned that today's educators supporting the no-grades approach insist that
A.kids be allowed to challenge the negative evaluations
B.the traditional teacher-student relationship be changed
C.the evaluation system for kids be similar to that for adults
D.strict rules be set up in evaluating school children
