passage 3:

                  Policy against Smoking

  摘要：全文中作者冷嘲热讽，抨击了各国政府在禁烟问题上的暧昧态度和不十分有效的政策，指出这些政策的长远后果，意在敦促各国政府正视现实，尽快采取强有力的禁烟措施。

  If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite link between smoking and bronchial troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly deceiving yourself. No one will accuse you of hypocrisy. Let us just say that you are suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking. This needn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company. Whenever the subject of smoking and health is raised, the governments of most countries hear no evil, see no evil and smell on evil. Admittedly, a few governments have taken timid measures. In Britain, for instance, cigarette advertising has been banned on television. The conscience of the nation is appeased, while the population continues to puff its way to smoky, cancerous death.

  You don’t have to look very far to find out why the official reactions to medical findings have been so luke-warm. The answer is simply money. Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax.. It’s almost like a tax on our daily bread. In tax revenue alone, the government of Britain collects enough from smokers to pay for its entire educational facilities. So while the authorities point out ever so discreetly that smoking may, conceivably, be harmful, it doesn’t do to shout too loudly about it.

  This is surely the most short-sighted policy you could imagine. While money is eagerly collected in vast sums with one hand, it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with the other. Enormous amounts are spent on cancer research and on efforts to cure people suffering from the disease. Countless valuable lives are lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that everybody would be much better-off if smoking were banned altogether.

  Of course, we are not ready for such drastic action. But if the governments of the world were honestly concerned about the welfare of their peoples, you’d think they’d conduct aggressive anti-smoking campaigns: Far from it! The tobacco industry is allowed to spend staggering sums on advertising. Its advertising is as insidious as it is dishonest. We are never shown pictures of real smokers coughing up their lungs early in the morning. That would never do. The advertisements always depict virile, clean-shaven young men. They suggest it is mainly to smoke, even positively healthy! Smoking is associated with the great open-air life, with beautiful girls, true love and togetherness. What utter nonsense!

Notes:

1.  bronchial          adj. 支气管的

2.  hypocrisy          n.  虚伪

3.  luke-warm        adj. 拥护和反对都不热心的

4.  conceivably      adj. 可以想象的

1.       What do you think is the author’s intention to write the article?

A)  To urge governments to conduct serious campaigns against smoking.

B)   To emphasize the harm smoking does to man.

C)  To show why governments are reluctant to fight against smoking.

D)  To urge smokers to give up smoking.

2.       We can infer from the passage that the author’s attitude towards those who are still suspicious of the negative effects of smoking is _____.

A) sympathetic    B) friendly    C) luke-warm    D) sarcastic

3.       What’s the indication of the advertisements by the tobacco industry?

A)  It is unhealthy to smoke.

B)   Smoking belongs to the upper class alone.

C)  It is mainly to smoke, even positively healthy.

D)  Cigarettes do not cost as much as you have imagined.

4.       The author would probably describe the British government’s policy concerning smoking as _____.

A) short-sighted     B) satisfactory     C) effective     D) popular

5.       All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT ________.

A)  governments collect a great amount of money from the tobacco industry.

B)   Most governments hold ambiguous attitudes toward new findings about the harm of smoking.

C)  Some governments have taken radical measures against smoking.

D)  Advertisements by tobacco industry are quite dishonest.

答案：

Passage Three

1． A. 全文中作者冷嘲热讽，抨击了各国政府在禁烟问题上的暧昧态度和不十分有效的政策，指出这些政策的长远恶果，意在敦促个国政府正视现实，尽快采取强有力的禁烟措施。B、C均不全面。D指向了个人，而本文指向的是政府。

2． D. sarcastic意为“嘲讽的”，见第一段前三句：“。。。毫无疑问，你是在自欺欺人。没人会指责你虚伪，让我们这么说吧，你不过是胡思乱想昏了头。””wishful thinking” :thinking or believing that something is true, because one wishes it were true.

3． C. 最后一段后半段中，作者指出政府的一个失责之处，即允许香烟广告的存在，这些广告误导消费派，使人产生吸烟体现男子汉气质，甚至健康体魄的错觉。A正好相反。B、D文中未涉及。

4． A. Short-sighted从“近视”引伸为“没有远见”，见第一段最后一句及第三段第一句。尽管英国政府禁止香烟广告，但它没有更激烈的禁烟措施，所以作者仍然不满。

5． C. 第一段讲“只有少数政府采取了相当保守的措施”。Timid意为“胆怯的”。B见第二段luke-warm（拥护或反对都不热心的，暧昧的）这个词。A见第二段。D是第四段“dishonest”和 “utter nonsense”两词。

Passage Four 

                          On Laziness

摘要： 懒惰既有缺点又有优点。懒惰可能带来许多坏处同时也是一种疾病。但懒惰也有许多益处：一些伟大的科学发现等都是偶然或是在某人游手好闲时完成的。

  Laziness is a sin. Everyone knows that. We have probably all had lectures pointing out that laziness is immoral, that it is wasteful, and that lazy people will never amount to anything in life. But laziness can be more harmful than that, and it is often caused by more complex reasons than simple wish to avoid work. Some people who appear to be lazy are suffering from much more serious problems. They may be so distrustful of their fellow workers that they are unable to join in any group task for fear of ridicule or fear of failure that prevents fruitful work. Or other sorts of fantasies may prevent work; some people are also busy planning, sometimes planning great deals or fantastic achievements that they are unable to deal with whatever “lesser” work is on hand. Still other people are not avoiding work; strictly speaking, they are merely procrastinating---rescheduling their day.

  Laziness can actually be helpful. Like procrastinators, some people may look lazy when they are really thinking, planning, contemplating, and researching. We should all remember that some great scientific discoveries occurred by chance or while someone was “ goofing off”. Newton wasn’t working in the orchard when the apple hit him and he devised the theory of gravity. All of us would like to have someone “lazy” build the car or stove we buy, particularly if that “ laziness” were caused by the worker’s taking time to check each step of his work and to do his job right. And sometimes, being “lazy”---that is , taking time off for a rest---is good for overworked student or executive. Taking a rest can be particularly helpful to the athlete who is trying too hard or the doctor who’s simply working himself overtime too many evenings, at the clinic. So be careful when you are tempted to call someone lazy. That person may be thinking, resting, or planning his or her next book.

Notes:

1. procrastinate         v.  延迟

2. procrastinator         n.  拖延者

3. goofing off               游手好闲

1．  The main idea of this passage is that _______.

A)   laziness is a moral sin

B)    there are advantages and disadvantages in being lazy

C)   laziness is a sign of deep-seated emotional problems

D)   lazy people do more careful work

2. The passage states that _____.

A)   laziness is a disease

B)    some people appear lazy because they are insecure

C)   laziness is more beneficial than harmful

D)   a good definition of laziness is emotional illness

3.       Which of the following conclusion does the passage support?

A)   The word laziness is sometimes applied incorrectly.

B)    Most of the time laziness is a virtue.

C)   Most assembly line workers are lazy.

D)   Most insecure people are lazy.

4.       The final paragraph is _____.

A)   somber

B)    humorous

C)   serious

D)   trite （陈腐的）

5.       The word “devised” in Paragraph 2 means ______.

A)   formulated

B)    understood

C)   wrote

D)   proved

答案：

Passage four

1.     B. 此题考察归纳能力。通读全文，不难得出第一段为缺点，第二段为优点。所以B是正确答案。

2.     D. 此题可用排除法解题。选项A，B，C在文中均未提及，都应被排除，故选D。

3.     A. 此题可用排除法解题。选项B，C，D在文中均未提及，都应被排除，故选A。

4.     B. 通读第二段，可知作者用一种轻松诙谐的笔触把懒惰和成功联系起来说明懒惰的益处，观点颇为新颖，其笔调既不是忧郁、严肃，也不是陈腐的，因此选B。

5.     A. 根据短文第二段第四句，答案为A。

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