I. CAREFUL READING Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answer and write the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points, 2 points each)
Passage 1 Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
Sport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes (運動員). Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological, and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable. The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents' and coaches' criticisms to heart and find a flaw (缺陷) in themselves. Coaches and parents should also be cautious that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today's youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters' performances. Positive reinforcement (加強) should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.
1. An effective way to prevent the burnout of young athletes is ______.
A. to reduce their mental stress
B. to point out their shortcomings
C. to increase their sense of success
D. to make sports more challenging
2. According to the passage, the sport setting is positive for young people in that ______.
A. it enables them to find flaws in themselves
B. it helps them learn more about school life
C. it provides them with valuable experiences
D. it teaches them how to set realistic goals for themselves
3. Many coaches and parents tend to criticize young athletes ______.
A. so that they train harder
B. believing that too much praise is harmful
C. in order to make them remember life lessons
D. without realizing that criticism may destroy their self confidence
4. According to the passage, parents and coaches should ______.
A. train children to cope with stress
B. help children to win every game
C. prevent children from repeated failures
D. encourage children to enjoy themselves and sports
5. The author's purpose in writing the passage is ______.
A. to teach young athletes how to avoid burnout
B. to persuade young athletes not to worry about criticism
C. to stress the importance of positive reinforcement in sports
D. to discuss the skill of combining criticism with encouragement
Passage 2 Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.
Friedrich Dobl, a Yugoslav (南斯拉夫人) working in Germany, was annoyed with traffic jams. At long weekends and holiday times when he wanted to get home quickly, he always found himself moving slowly with hundreds of other cars along the crowded foreign workers' route through Germany and Austria. How easy it all was for police and emergency services! A siren (警報器), a flashing light? And like magic everyone was out of the way. Going home from work one night, he passed a garage. And there in front of him was the answer to his problem. An old ambulance was for sale. The red cross had been removed. But not the flashing light, and the siren. He tried the light. It flashed magnificently. He tried the siren. That too sounded impressive. He bought the ambulance and opened up for himself a dream world of motoring. It began early in the morning, all his luggage in the back of the ambulance and the motorway in Germany looking reasonably clear. Soon, as always, a long line of traffic appeared ahead. He switched on the flashing light and set off the siren. Cars swiftly slowed and pulled off the fast lane. Other cars stopped and drivers waved him ahead to an open road all his own. In record time he crossed the border into Austria. His trick was working. Police even waved him through theconfusion caused by an accident. But then the Yugoslav made his bad mistake. Until then he had only stopped for petrol. Now he was driving past a real accident, lights flashing, too late to realize that it was not another traffic jam as he assumed. They stopped him, and after hearing the story of his ride across two countries fined him 12.5 pounds.
6. At long weekends and holiday times Friedrich Dobl used to ______.
A. drive home in Germany
B. meet other foreign workers
C. get caught in terrible traffic jams
D. get to the workplace by a quick route
7. The reason why Dobl decided to buy the ambulance was that ______.
A. he had always wanted one
B. he wanted to sell it at a higher price
C. he liked the red cross and the flashing light
D. he knew that other cars would make way for an ambulance
8. In what condition was the ambulance he bought?
A. It was shabby and untidy.
B. The siren worked wonderfully.
C. The light did not flash properly.
D. The red cross was vaguely seen.
9. Armed with the ambulance, Dobl found that ______.
A. all the cars stopped and made way for him
B. the police were busy clearing the way of traffic
C. it was such fun to get out of the traffic confusion in Germany
D. he could cross the border into Austria in the shortest possible time 10. The most appropriate title for the story would be ______.
A. "A Happy Drive!" B. "A Tough Drive!" C. "A Safe Way Home?" D. "A Quick Way Home?"
Passage 3 Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
If it were only necessary to decide whether to teach elementary science to everyone on a mass basis or to find the gifted few and take them as far as they can go, our task would be fairly simple. The public school system, however, has no such choice, for the jobs must be carried on at the same time. Because we depend heavily upon science and technology for our progress, we must produce specialists in many fields. Because we live in a democratic nation, whose citizens make thepolicies for the nation, large numbers of us must be educated to understand, to support, and when necessary, to judge the work of experts. The public school must educate both producers and users of scientific services. In education, there should be a good balance among the branches of knowledge that contribute to effective thinking and wise judgment. Such a balance is defeated by too much emphasis on any other field. This question of balance involves not only the relation of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the arts but also relative emphasis among the natural sciences themselves. Similarly, we must have a balance between current and classical knowledge.The attention of the public is continually drawn to the discovery of new knowledge; it should not be allowed to turn our attention away from the sound, established materials that form the basis of courses for beginners.
11. According to the 1 st paragraph, the task of education is fairly complicated because ______.
A. the public school has no choice of what to teach
B. it is difficult to choose what to teach in public schools
C. the current public school system is too complex to be understood
D. the educators have to take care of both ordinary and gifted students
12. Which of the following is NOT included in the passage?
A. A democratic nation needs a lot of well-educated citizens.
B. We depend much on science and technology for our progress.
C. The educators are required to lay emphasis on some particular field.
D. Elementary science should be taught on a mass basis in public schools.
13. According to the author, the balance among the branches of knowledge is very necessary because such a balance ______.
A. would benefit the growth of gifted students
B. would ensure the students' grasp of new knowledge
C. involves both the natural sciences and the social sciences
D. facilitates the training of effective reasoning and wise decision-making
14. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A. Most people take great interest in classical knowledge.
B. Sufficient attention should be given to basic knowledge.
C. The discovery of new knowledge is particularly important.
D. Classical knowledge is more popular than current knowledge.
15. The passage centers on ______.
A. the balance in education B. the importance of education
C. the balance between basic and new knowledge
D. the balance among different branches of knowledge
Passage 4 Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.
Regular interaction or familiarity seems to increase liking; often, the people we interact with the most are simply those who are closest to us. A classic study by Festinger found that residents of an apartment complex tended to interact with, and like those who happened to live on the same floor more than those who lived on other floors or in other buildings. The researcher did not analyze this phenomenon in terms of the development of in-group versus out-group perceptions and biases, but such an analysis might prove interesting. Likewise, when classroom seating is alphabetical (依字母順序的), students are more likely to be friends with people who share the same initial. There are two major explanations for the relation between proximity (接近) and liking. The first is simple availability. If most people are nice and easy enough to approach, it follows that proximity will determine who you get to know and, therefore, like. The second explanation is based on the mere exposure effect, that is, simple familiarity increases liking for a person or object that is not necessarily likeable. The mere exposure effect has been demonstrated in the laboratory with some meaningless syllables, which people find more pleasing after they have repeated them several times. It seems reasonable to conclude that repeated exposure to people in proximity to us leads us to like them more.
16. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Liking and Similarity. B. Proximity and Liking.
C. Availability and Friendship. D. Interaction and Relationship.
17. According to the passage, the researcher studies the phenomenon on the basis of ______.
A. perceptions of membership
B. the development of friendship
C. in-group versus out-group biases
D. the degree of familiarity among people
18. The organizational pattern of the passage can be best described as ______.
A. opinion-proof B. problem-solution
C. phenomenon-reason D. comparison-contrast
19. The experiment on the meaningless syllables is intended to demonstrate that ______.
A. most people are friendly at first sight
B. simple familiarity increases liking for a person
C. students will definitely become friends in the classroom setting
D. irritation with someone at the first meeting usually leads to disliking
20. According to the passage, all the following statements are true EXCEPT that ______.
A. we tend to interact with people closest to us
B. teachers like the students seated in the front
C. interaction is more likely to happen between neighbors
D. we tend to like people who share our attitudes and opinions
編輯推薦：
相關鏈接：2013年10月自考英語考試報名匯總 考試培訓
（責任編輯：lqh）
