One of the more controversial methods advocated is the so-called 10% rule. The idea is for public universities which educate three-quarters of all U. S. undergraduates--to admit students who are in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. Doing so allows colleges to take minorities who excel in average urban schools, even if they wouldn't have made the cut under the current statewide ranking many universities use.
1. U.S. court restrictions on affirmative action signifies that
[A] minorities no longer hold the once favored status.
[B] the quality of American colleges has improved.
[C] racial preferences has replaced racial prejudice.
[D] the minority is on an equal footing with the majority.
2. What has been a divisive issue across the United States
[A] Whether affirmative action should continue to exist,
[B] Whether this law is helping minorities or the white majority.
[C] Whether racism exists in American college admission.
[D] Whether racial intolerance should be punished.
3. CEOs of big companies decided to help colleges enroll more minority students because they
[A] think it wrong to deprive the minorities of their rights to receive education.
[B] want to conserve the fine characteristics of American nation.
[C] want a workforce that reflects the diversity of their customers.
[D] think it their duty to help develop education of the country.
4. The major tactic the forum uses is to
[A] battle the racial preferences in court.
[B] support colleges involved in lawsuits of racism.
[C] strive to settle this political debate nationwide.
[D] find legally viable ways to ensure minority admissions.
5. If the 10% rule is applied,
IAI the best white high school students can get into colleges.
[B] public universities can get excellent students.
[C] students from poor rural families can go to colleges.
[D] good minority students can get into public universities.
Text 3
Positive surprises from government reports on retail sales, industrial production, and housing in the past few months are leading economists to revise their real gross domestic product forecasts upward, supporting the notion that the recession ended in December or January.
Bear in mind This recovery won't have the vitality normally associated with an upturn. Economists now expect real GDP growth of about 1.5% in the first quarter. That's better than the 0.4% the consensus projected in December, but much of the additional growth will come from a slower pace of inventory drawdowns, not from surging demand.
Moreover, the economy won't grow fast enough to help the labor markets much. The only good news there is that jobless claims have fallen back from their spike after September 11 and that their current level suggests the pace of layoffs is easing.
The recovery also does not mean the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon. The January price indexes show that inflation remains tame. Consequently, the Fed can take its time
shifting monetary policy from extreme accommodation to relative neutrality.
Perhaps the best news from the latest economic reports was the January data on industrial production. Total output fell only 0.1%, its best showing since July. Factory output was flat, also
the best performance in six months. Those numbers may not sound encouraging, but manufacturers have been in recession since late 2000, The data suggest that the factory sector is finding a bottom from which to start its recovery.
Production of consumer goods, for instance, is almost back up to where it was a year ago. That's because consumer demand for motor vehicles and other goods and the housing industry remained healthy during the recession, and they are still growing in early 2002.
Besides, both the monthly homebuilding starts number and the housing market index for the past two months are running above their averages for all of 2001, suggesting that home-building is off to a good start and probably won't be a big drag on GDP growth this year.
Equally important to the outlook is how the solid housing market will help demand for home-related goods and services. Traditionally, consumers buy the bulk of their furniture, electronics and textiles within a year of purchasing their homes. Thus, spending on such items will do well this year, even as car sales slip now that incen6ves are less attractive. Look for the output of consumer goods to top year-ago levels in coming months.
Even the business equipment sector seems to have bottomed out. Its output rose 0.4% in January, led by a 0.6% jump computer gear. A pickup in orders for capital goods in the fourth quarter suggests this production will increasing--although at a relaxed pace--in coming months.
31. American economists are surprised to see that
[A] their government is announcing the end of a recession.
[B] US economy is showing some signs of an upturn so soon.
[C] some economic sectors have become leading industries.
[D] they have to revise the product forecasts so often.
32. The most encouraging fact about the US economy is that
[A] employment rates have risen faster than expected.
[B] the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon.
[C] GDP is growing because of surging demand.
[D] Industrial production has reached its lowest point.
33. Which of the following best brightens the future of US economy
[A] Business equipment.
[B] Computer gear.
[C] Housing market.
[D] Motor vehicles
34. In spite of the good news, the author sounds relatively more reserved about
[A] national GDP growth.
[B] price indexes.
[C] output of consumer goods.
[D] the number of layoffs.
35. Which of the following best summarizes the U.S. economic situation today
[A] All the data still show a bleak year in 2002.
[B] It is slowly warming up with moderate growth.
[C] Recession may come back anytime in the coming months.
[D] Most sectors are picking up at a surprisingly fast pace
Text 3
Timothy Berners-Lee might be giving Bill Gates a run for the money, but he passed up his shot at fabulous wealth-intentionally-in 1990. That’s when he decided not to patent the technology used to create the most important software innovation in the final decade of the 20th century the World Wide Web. Burners-Lee wanted to make the world a richer place, not a mass personal wealth. So he gave his brainchild to us all.
Burners-Lee regards today’s Web as a rebellious adolescent that can never fulfill his original expectations. By 2005, he hopes to begin replacing it with the Semantic Web-a smart network that will finally understand human languages and make computers virtually as easy to work with as other humans.
As envisioned by Berners-Lee, the new Web would understand not only the meaning of words and concepts but also the logical relationships among them. That has awesome potential. Most knowledge is built on two pillars semantic and mathematics. In number-crunching, computers already outclass people. Machines that are equally adroit at dealing with language and reason won’t just help people uncover new insights; they could blaze new trails on their own.
Even with a fairly crude version of this future Web, mining online repositories for nuggets of knowledge would no longer force people to wade through screen after screen of extraneous data. Instead, computers would dispatch intelligent agents, or software messengers, to explore Web sites by the thousands and logically soft out just what’s relevant. That alone would provide a major boost in productivity at work and at home. But there’s far more.
Software agents could also take on many routine business chores, such as helping manufacturers find and negotiate with lowest-cost parts suppliers and handling help-desk questions. The semantic web would also be a bottomless trove of eureka insights. Most inventions and scientific breakthroughs, including today’s web, spring from novel combinations of existing knowledge. The semantic web would make it possible to evaluate more combinations overnight than a person could juggle in a lifetime. Sure scientists and other people can post ideas on the web today for others to read. But with machines doing the reading and translating technical terms, related ideas from millions of web pages could be distilled and summarized. That will lift the ability to assess and integrate information to new heights. The semantic web, burners-lee predicts, “will help more people become more intuitive as well as more analytical. It will foster global collaborations among people with diverse cultural perspectives, so we have a better chance of finding the right solutions to the really big issues-like the environment and climate warming.”
1.had he liked, burners-lee could have .
A. created the most important innovation in the 1990s.
B .accumulated as much personal wealth as Bill Gates
C. patented the technology of Microsoft software
D. given his brainchild to us all
2.the semantic web will be superior to today’s web in that it
A surpasses people in processing numbers
B fulfills users’ original expectations
C deals with language and reason as well as number
D responses like a rebellious adult
3.to search for any information needed on tomorrow’s web, one only has to
A wade through screen after screen of extraneous data
B ask the web to dispatch some messenger to his door
C use smart software programs called “agents”
D explore websites by the thousands and pick out what’s relevant
4.thanks to the web of the future, .
A. millions of web pages can be translated overnight
B. one can find most inventions and breakthroughs online
C. software manufacturers can lower the cost of computer parts
D. scientists using different specialty terms can collaborate much better
5.the most appropriate title for this text is
A .Differences Between Two Webs
B .The Humanization of Computer Software
C. A New Solution to World Problems
D. The Creator and His Next Creation
Unit 7
Directions
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
Over the last decade, demand for the most common cosmetic surgery procedures, like breast enlargements and nose jobs, has increased by more than 400 percent. According to Dr. Dai Davies, of the Plastic Surgery Parmership in Hammersmith, the majority of cosmetic surgery patients are not chasing physical perfection. Rather, they are driven to fantastic lengths to improve their appearance by a desire to look normal. What we all crave is to look normal, and normal is what is prescribed by the advertising media and other external pressures. They give uslook like that.
In America, the debate is no longer about whether surgery is normal; rather, it centers on what age people should be before going under the knife. New York surgeon Dr. Gerard Imber
recommends maintenance work for people in their thirties. The idea of waiting until oneneeds a heroic transformation is silly, he says. By then, you've wasted 20 great years of yourlife and allowed things to get out of hand. Dr. Imber draws the lino at operating on people who are under 18, however, It seems that someone we don't consider old enough to order a drink shouldn't be considering plastic surgery.
In the UK cosmetic surgery has long been seen as the exclusive domain of the very rich and famous. But the proportionate cost of treatment has fallen substantially, bringing all but the most
advanced laser technology within the reach of most people. Dr. Davies, who claims to cater for the average person, agrees. He says I treat a few of the rich and famous and an awful lot of
secretaries. Of course, ￡3, 000 for an operation is a lot of money. But it is also an investment for life which costs about halfthe price of a good family holiday.
Dr. Davies suspects that the increasing sophistication of the fat injecting and removal techniques that allow patients to be treated with a local anaesthetic in an afternoon has also helped promote the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Yet, as one women who recently paid ￡2,500for liposuction to remove fat from her thighs admitted, the slope to becoming a cosmetic surgery Veteran is a deceptively gentle one. I had my legs done because they'd been bugging me for years. But going into the clinic was so low key and effective it whetted my appetite. Now I don't think there's any operation that I would rule out having if I could afford it.
1. According to the text, the reason for cosmetic surgery is to
[A] be physically healthy.
[B] look more normal.
[C] satisfy appetite.
[D] be accepted by media.
2. According to the third paragraph, Dr. Davies implies that
[A] cosmetic surgery, though costly, is worth having.
[B] cosmetic surgery is too expensive.
[C] cosmetic surgery is necessary even for the average person.
[D] cosmetic surgery is mainly for the rich and famous.
3. The statement draws the line at operating on people (para. 2) is closest in meaning to
[A] removing wrinkles from the face.
[B] helping people make up.
[C] enjoying operating.
[D] refusing to operate.
4. It can be inferred from the text that
[A] it is wise to have cosmetic surgery under 18.
[B] cosmetic surgery is now much easier.
[C] people tend to abuse cosmetic surgery.
[D] the earlier people have cosmetic surgery, the better they will be.
5. The text is mainly about
[A] the advantage of having cosmetic surgery.
[B] what kind of people should have cosmetic surgery.
[C] the reason why cosmetic surgery is so popular.
[D] the disadvantage of having cosmetic surgery.
Text 2
In nature as in culture, diversity can be a difficult concept. Understanding it is one thing, accepting it another, especially when diversity means not only acknowledging a pre-existing
mixture of difference--the very ampleness of the world--but also accommodating an adjustment to the existing state of things. A case in point is the reintroduction of gray wolves in
Yellowstone national Park. Thirty-three wolves were released in 1995, and their number has now reached 97. Population expansion is one measure of the wolf program's success, but a better one is the wolves' impact on the natural diversity of the park.
