Passage 2
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
(77) Much unfriendly feeling towards computers has been based on the fear of widespread unemployment resulting from their introduction. Computers are often used as part of automated (自动化)production systems requiring a least possible number of operators, causing the loss of many jobs. This has happened, for example, in many steelworks.
On the other hand, computers do create jobs. They are more skilled and better paid, though fewer in number than those they replace. Many activities could not continue in their present form without computers, no matter how many people are employed. Examples are the check clearing (交换) system of major banks and the weather forecasting system.
When a firm introduces computers, a few people are usually employed in key posts(such as jobs of operations managers) while other staff are re-trained as operators, programmers, and data preparation staff. (78) After the new system has settled down, people in non-computer jobs are not always replaced when they leave, resulting in a decrease in the number of employees. This decrease is sometimes balanced by a substantial increase in the activity of the firm, resulting from the introduction of computers.
The attitudes of workers towards computers vary. There is fear of widespread unemployment and of the takeover of many jobs by computer-trained workers, making promotion for older workers not skilled in computers more difficult.
On the other hand, many workers regard the trend toward wider use of computers inevitable. They realize that computer bring about greater efficiency and productivity, which will improve the condition of the whole economy, and lead to the creation of more jobs. This view was supported by the former British Prime Minister, James Callaghan in 1979, when he made the point that new technologies hold the key to increased productivity, which will benefit the economy in the long run.
6. The unfriendly feeling towards computers is developed form ____.
A the possible widespread unemployment caused by their introduction
B their use as part of automated production systems
C the least possible number of operators
D the production system in steelworks
7. The underlined word “They” (Line1, Par.2) refers to____.
A computers
B jobs
C activities
D systems
8. According to Paragraph 2, without computers____.
A human activities could not continue
B there could not be weather forecasting systems
C many activities would have to change their present form
D banks would not be able to go on with check clearing
9. According to the passage, what results from the introduction of computers?
A After re-training, all employees in the firm get new jobs.
B A considerable proportion of people are employed in key posts
C The firm keeps all of its origin staff members
D The decrease in staff members may be balanced by the increase of form activities.
10. James Callaghan’s attitude towards computers can be best described as____.
A doubtful
B regretful
C unfriendly
D supportive
Passage 3
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:
The vitamins necessary for a healthy body are normally supplied by a good mixed diet(饮食), including a variety of fruits and green vegetables. (79) It is only when people try to live on a very restricted diet that it is necessary to make special provision to supply the missing vitamins.
An example of the dangers of a restricted diet may be seen in the disease known as “beri-beri”. (80) It used to distress large numbers of Eastern peoples who live mainly on rice. In the early years of this century, a scientist named Eijkman was trying to discover the cause of “beri-beri”. At first he thought it was caused by a germ. He was working in a Japanese hospital, where the patients were fed on polished rice which had the outer husk(外壳)removed from the grain. It was thought this would be easier for weak and sick people to digest.
Eijkman thought his germ theory was confirmed when he noticed the chickens in the hospital yard, which were fed on leftovers(剩饭)from the patients’ plates, were also showing signs of the disease. He then tried to isolate the germ, but his experiments were interrupted by a hospital official, who declared that the polished rice, even though left over by the patients, and the chickens should be fed on cheap rice with the outer layer still on the grain.
Eijkman noticed that the chickens began to recover on the new diet. He began to consider the possibility that eating unpolished rice somehow prevented or cured “beri-beri”----even that a lack of some element in the husk might be the cause of the disease. Indeed this was the case. The element needed to prevent “beri-beri” was shortly afterwards isolated from rice husks and is now known as vitamin B. Nowadays, this terrible disease is much less common thanks to our knowledge of vitamins.
11. A good mixed diet____.
A normally contains enough vitamins
B still needs special provision of vitamins
C is suitable for losing weight
D is composed of fruits and vegetables
12. The disease “beri-beri”____
A kills large numbers of Eastern peoples
B is a vitamin deficiency(缺乏)disease
C is caused by diseased rice
D can be caught from diseased chickens
13. The chickens Eijkman noticed in the hospital yard____.
A couldn’t digest the polished rice
B proved “beri-beri” is caused by germs
C were later cooker for the patients’ food
D were suffering from “beri-beri”
14. According to Eijkman, polished rice____.
A was cheaper than unpolished rice
B was less nourishing(有营养的)than unpolished rice
C was more nourishing than unpolished rice
D cured “beri-beri”
15. The chemical substance missing from polished rice____.
A was vitamin B
B did not affect the chickens
C was named the Eijkman vitamin
D has never been accurately identified
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