Reading Comprehension 7

Reading Comprehension 7 Passage One Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage: On average, American kids ages 3 to 12 spent 29 hours a week in school, eight hours more than they did in 1981. They also did more household work and participated in more of such organized activities as soccer and ballet (芭蕾舞). Involvement in sports, in particular, rose almost 50% from 1981 to 1997: boys now spend an average of four hours a week playing sports; girls log half that time. All in all, however, children’s leisure time dropped from 40% of the day in 1981 to 25%. “Children are affected by the same time crunch (危机) that affects their parents,” says Sandra Hofferth, who headed the recent study of children’s timetable. A chief reason, she says, is that more mothers are working outside the home. (Nevertheless, children in both double-income and “male breadwinner” households spent comparable mounts of time interacting with their parents, 19 hours and 22 hours respectively. In contrast, children spent only 9 hours with their single mothers.) All work and no play could make for some very messed-up kids. “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about himself,” says T. Berry Brazelton, professor at Harvard Medical School. Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, but kids ages 3 to 12 spent only 12 hours a week engaged in it. The children sampled spent a quarter of their rapidly decreasing “free time” watching television. But that, believe it or not, was one of the findings parents might regard as good news. If they’re spending less time in front of the TV set, however, kids aren’t replacing it with reading. Despite efforts to get kids more interested in books, the children spent just over an hour a week reading. Let’s face it, who’s got the time? 1. By mentioning “the same time crunch” (Line 1, Para. 2) Sandra Hofferth means ________. A) children have little time to play with their parents B) children are not taken good care of by their working parents C) both parents and children suffer from lack of leisure time D) both parents and children have trouble managing their time 2. According to the author, the reason given by Sandra Hofferth for the time crunch is ______. A) quite convincing B) partially true C) totally groundless D) rather confusing 3. According to the author a child develops better if ______. A) he has plenty of time reading and studying B) he is left to play with his peers in his own way C) he has more time participating in school activities D) he is free to interact with his working parents 4.The author is concerned about the fact that American kids ______. A) are engaged in more and more structured activities B) are increasingly neglected by their working mothers C) are spending more and more time watching TV D) are involved less and less in household work 5. We can infer from the passage that ______. A) extracurricular activities promote children’s intelligence B) most children will turn to reading with TV sets switched off C) efforts to get kids interested in reading have been fruitful D) most parents believe reading to be beneficial to children Passage Two Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage: Henry Ford, the famous U.S. inventor and car manufacturer, once said, ‘The business of America is business.” By this he meant that the U.S. way of life is based on the values of the business world. Few would argue with Ford’s statement. A brief glimpse at a daily newspaper vividly shows how much people in the United States think about business. For example, nearly every newspaper has a business section, in which the deals and projects, finances and management, stock prices and labor problems of corporations are reported daily. In addition, business news can appear in every other section. Most national news has an important financial aspect to it. Welfare, foreign aid, the federal budget, and the policies of the Federal Reserve Bank are all heavily affected by business. Moreover, business news appears in some of the unlikeliest places. The world of arts and entertainment is often referred to as “the entertainment industry” or “show business.” The positive side of Henry Ford’s statement can be seen in the prosperity that business has brought to U.S. life. One of the most important reasons so many people from all over the world come to live in the United States is the dream of a better job. Jobs are produced in abundance (大量地) because the U.S. economic system is driven by competition. People believe that this system creates more wealth, more jobs, and a materially better way of life. The negative side of Henry Ford’s statement, however, can be seen when the word business is taken to mean big business. And the term big business—referring to the biggest companies, is seen in opposition to labor. Throughout U.S. history working people have had to fight hard for higher wages, better working conditions, and the right to form unions. Today, many of the old labor disputes are over, but there is still some employee anxiety. Downsizing—the laying off of thousands of workers to keep expenses low and profits high -- creates feelings of insecurity for many. 6. The united States is a typical country ______. A) which encourages free trade at homes and abroad B) where people’s chief concern is how to make money C) where all businesses are managed scientifically D) which normally works according to the federal budget 7. The influence of business in the U.S. is evidenced by the fact that ______. A) most newspapers are run by big businesses B) even public organizations concentrate on working for profits C) Americans of all professions know how to do business D) even arts and entertainment are regarded as business 8. According to the passage, immigrants choose to settle in the U.S., dreaming that ______. A) they can start profitable businesses there B) they can be more competitive in business C) they will make a fortune overnight there D) they will find better chances of employment 9. Henry Ford’s statements can be taken negatively because ______. A) working people are discouraged to fight for their rights B) there are many industries controlled by a few big capitalists C) there is a conflicting relationship between big corporations and labor D) public services are not run by the federal government 10. A company’s efforts to keep expenses low and profits high may result in ______. A) reduction in the number of employees B) improvement of working conditions C) fewer disputes between labor and management D) a rise in workers’ wages Passage Three Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage: Professor Smith recently persuaded 35 people, 23 of them women, to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for a fortnight. When he came to analyse their embarrassing lapses (差错) in a scientific report, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groupings. Nor did the lapses appear to be entirely random (随机的). One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “The explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. But somehow the action got reversed in the programme.” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.” Altogether the volunteers logged 433 unintentional actions that they found themselves doing – an average of twelve each. There appear to be peak periods in the day when we are at our zaniest (荒谬可笑的). These are two hours some time between eight a.m. and noon, between four and six p.m. with a smaller peak between eight and ten p.m. “Among men the peak seems to be when a changeover in brain ‘programmes’ occurs, as for instance between going to and from work.” Women on average reported slightly more lapses – 12.5 compared with 10.9 for men – probably because they were more reliable reporters. A startling finding of the research is that the absent-minded activity is a hazard of doing things in which we are skilled. Normally, you would expect that skill reduces the number of errors we make. But trying to avoid silly slips by concentrating more could make things a lot worse – even dangerous. 11. In his study Professor Smith asked the subjects ______. A) to keep track of people who tend to forget things B) to report their embarrassing lapses at random C) to analyse their awkward experiences scientifically D) to keep a record of what they did unintentionally 12.Professor Smith discovered that ______. A) certain patterns can be identified in the recorded incidents B) many people were too embarrassed to admit their absent-mindedness C) men tend to be more absent-minded than women D) absent-mindedness is an excusable human weakness 13.“Programme assembly failures” (Line 6, Para.2) refers to the phenomenon that people ______. A) often fail to programme their routines beforehand B) tend to make mistakes when they are in a hurry C) unconsciously change the sequence of doing things D) are likely to mess things up if they are too tired 14. We learn from the third paragraph that ______. A) absent-mindedness tends to occur during certain hours of the day B) women are very careful to perform actions during peak periods C) women experience more peak periods of absent-mindedness D) men’s absent-mindedness often results in funny situations 15.It can be concluded from the passage that ______. A) people should avoid doing important things during peak periods of lapses B) hazards can be avoided when people do things they are good at C) people should be careful when programming their actions D) lapses cannot always be attributed to lack of concentration