水木艾迪：阅读理解冲刺之练习题（一）

Text 1

　　Everybody loathes it, but everybody does it. A recent poll showed that 40% of Americans hate the practice. It seems so arbitrary, after all. Why does a barman get a tip, but not a doctor who saves lives?

　　In America alone, tipping is now a $16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip.

　　Such explanations no doubt explain the purported origin of tipping — in the 16th century, boxes in English taverns carried the phrase “To Insure Promptitude” (later just “TIP”). But according to new research from Cornell University, tipping no longer serves any useful function.

　　The paper analyses data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The correlation between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated a meal as “excellent” still tipped anywhere between 8% and 37% of the meal price.

　　Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom has become institutionalized: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New York restaurant, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers can expect to get 15-20%, the man who delivers your groceries $2. In Europe, tipping is less common; in many restaurants, discretionary tipping is being replaced by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all.

　　How to account for these national differences? Look no further than psychology. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper’s co-author, countries in which people are more extrovert, sociable or neurotic tend to tip more. Tipping relieves anxiety about being served by strangers. And, says Mr. Lynn, “in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off. ” Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip— a measure of their introversion, no doubt.

　　While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does not work. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actually stimulate the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. Service people should “just be paid a decent wage” which may actually make economic sense. (448 words)

　　1. Which is true according to the passage?

　　A. It is regulated that the customers must pay a tip if they want to get good service.
　　B. There exists the tipping custom in each country.
　　C. In some countries, tipping has become an industry.
　　D. More and more people are in favor of tipping.

　　2. What can we know about the origin of “tip”?

　　A. It originated from the English inn service.
　　B. The original purpose of tip was to ensure that waiter could get more money.
　　C. The waiter threatened the customers with bad service if no tips were given.
　　D. It originated in a small English village.

　　3. We can get the information from the article that ____.

　　A. tipping is very popular in European countries.
　　B. in Asian countries tipping never existed.
　　C. tipping is more popular in America than in Europe.
　　D. tipping is popular in America because the Americans are much richer.

　　4. People who dine in a New York restaurant _____.

　　A. are not expected to give any tip to the waiter or waitress.
　　B. had better tip more than 15% so as not to be shamed.
　　C. may be looked down upon when offering a considerable tip.
　　D. are thought of as generous if they tip 15%.

　　5. The author thinks that ____.

　　A. tipping can benefit greatly a country’s economic growth.
　　B. tipping can ensure the quality of service a customer receives.
　　C. tipping can improve a country’s cultural environment.
　　D. tipping is not conductive tertiary industry.

Text 2

　　When he died in April of 1993, Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand was 101 years old, had been married for seventy years, and had taught freshmen chemistry to over 40,000 students. In addition, he had published a popular textbook and dozens of articles, had managed the U. S. Olympic ski team, and had discovered a way to allow deep-sea divers to stay underwater longer. In his own way, Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand was certainly a genius.

　　Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s interest in chemistry began at an early age. In an interview, he once said that his interest formed because he was fortunate enough to be born before there was a television, so he had to make his own decisions about what to pay attention to. Even as a student in high school, Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand had the reputation as the one who learned more chemistry than his teacher knew. As a result he was given the keys to the high school chemistry lab, and there he discovered that the correct formula for a certain chemical compound was not the one given in his chemistry book but a totally different one. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand went on to teach at the University of California at Berkeley and remained there for almost forty years.

　　During that time, Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand discovered that the gas helium could be combined with oxygen for use as diving gas to allow divers to dive deeper and take the great pressure of the water without the physical discomforts that had been experienced when they used another gas, nitrogen. The use of helium for deep-sea diving is now standard practice.

　　Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand was also valuable to his country during both World Wars. In World War I he analyzed the poisonous gases used on the battlefield and helped develop a truck that could clean and treat soldiers’ clothes which had been contaminated by poisonous gases during fighting. In World War II, he helped develop a type of the snowmobile, a vehicle used to carry soldiers through the snow in northern countries.

　　Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s retirement from teaching at the age of seventy was required by state law in California. He objected to this, joking that he thought a teacher’s time of retirement ought to be determined not by age but by how many of that teacher’s students were still awake after the first fifteen minutes of class! Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s career continued, however, and was still going strong at the age of 100, when he published an article on the theory of chemical solutions. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s love of life and his interest in it were an inspiration to all who knew him. When asked once how he could have such ageless energy and vigor, he said, “I chose my ancestors carefully. ” (466 words)

　　6. Which of the followings is the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s discoveries and inventions.
　　B. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s contributions to education.
　　C. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s contributions to the world.
　　D. Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand, a versatile with ageless energy and vigor.

　　7．What’s the reason for Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand’s interest in chemistry?

　　A. His chemistry teacher was a great teacher.
　　B. His parents taught him chemistry when he was very young.
　　C. He was born in a time young people had greater freedom to decide what they wanted to do.
　　D. His talents were greater than his chemistry teacher.

　　8. What distinguished Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand from others as early as in high school?

　　A. He was given the key to the chemistry lab
　　B. His discovery of the correct formula for some chemical compound.
　　C. He learned more chemistry from his teacher
　　D. His excellent score in chemistry learning.

　　9. The use of helium for deep-sea diving_________________.

　　A. helped to overcome the physical discomforts the divers experienced when nitrogen was used
　　B. was found by Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand
　　C. is still universally acknowledged as standard practice up to now
　　D. All that is included in A, B, and C

　　10. According to Dr. Jeol Hiderbrand what accounts for his ageless energy?

　　A. His ancestors.
　　B. His parents.
　　C. Heredity.
　　D. Hard working.

Text 3

　　One important aspect of retirement for most people is deciding where to live. In the past, this was not an issue because most elderly persons remained at home where they could be close to family. In contemporary times, parents and grown children go their separate ways, staying in touch through the telephone and, more recently, through e-mail. Every year, more than 400,000 adults who are 55 or older move out of their home state and relocate.

　　Florida leads all states in the proportion of elderly people －19 percent over 65 years of age, most of whom relocated from other places. Thus, Florida cities have become known as retirement centers. Among those prominently mentioned are Boca Raton, Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Naples, and Ocala where between 20 and 25 percent of the residents are over 65 years of age. Two other Florida cities, Saint Petersburg and Sarasota, have even higher proportions－25 percent and 32 percent respectively. Other cities that have gained reputations as retirement centers with large number of elderly are Savannah, Georgia, Prescott and Scottsdale, Arizona, Palm Springs, California, and Asheville, North Carolina. Even tourist centers like Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, where residents pay no income tax and no inheritance or estate taxes, are attracting growing numbers of seniors.

　　There are also many smaller private development communities that are packaged as state-of-the-art retirement communities with such amenities as golf courses, lakes for fishing and boating, cultural and recreation activities. They go by such names as Sun City Grand near Phoenix, Arizona, Sun City Palm Desert near Palm Springs California, Sun City Summerlin near Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ford's Colony close to Williamsburg, Virginia among others.

　　To the extent that the proportion of retired elderly people in towns and regions continues to grow, certain consequences tend to follow. Where such communities are essentially residential, their revenue base depends largely on the individual wealth of their residents. For this reason, the economies of such communities are becoming increasingly dependent on the rise and fall of pensions, Social Security, and Medicare payments. Retirees are also likely to block future industrial development efforts since their priorities emphasize nice climate and attractive places to live and recreate. They are inclined to reject the noise and congestion that comes with new factories and the jobs they bring to the economy. (387 words)

　　11. Which of the following can be best used as the title of the passage?

　　A. Retired People
　　B. Retirement Centers
　　C. The Increase of Aging Population
　　D. A Demographic Trend

　　12. According to the passage there is a growing number of aged people relocating their homes because _______.

　　A. they don’t need to pay taxes
　　B. they could not get along with their neighbors
　　C. they don’t live close to their own children
　　D. they want to live their own way of life

　　13. The words in the following mean the same thing EXCEPT for ________.

　　A. Retirement centers
　　B. Retirement sites
　　C. Retirement state
　　D. Retirement communities

　　14. What does the word “amenities” in Par. 2 mean?

　　A. things that make life easy and pleasant
　　B. activities
　　C. interests
　　D. agreeable features of places

　　15. From the last paragraph it can be concluded that the continuous growth of retired people ________.

　　A. will contradict future industrial development
　　B. will stabilize the economies of such communities
　　C. will spoil the relationship between the elderly and the young
　　D. will be good for tourist industry

Text 4

　　Although the use of cloning to produce copies of humans has been suggested, many people would judge this to be morally wrong. In addition, the prospect of cloning humans raises false expectations, since human personality is only partly determined by genes. Cloning a sick or dying relative would provide a genetically identical copy of that person, but this new individual would likely develop a quite different personality. Similarly, a copy of an athlete, movie star, or scientist might well choose another career because of chance events during his or her lifetime. One hypothetical scenario involves a childless couple who wish to make a copy of one or the other partner rather than having a child by artificial insemination. The social concern is that the parents would not be able to treat naturally a child who was a copy of one of them.

　　The impetus behind the research that led to Dolly was not to find a way to clone humans but rather to develop genetically engineered animals that would serve a variety of purposes. As there are great genetic differences in cattle herds and sheep flocks, breeding copies of selected livestock would increase the efficiency of agricultural productivity and help improve/boost the quality of such commercial products as milk, beef, and wool.

　　As in the management of other breeding schemes, it will be important for scientists to maintain the balance between intense selection of livestock and the maintenance of genetic variability. Preservation of frozen cells from a large number of representatives of different breeds would allow nuclei from those donor cells to be used as required. The ethical issues in animal cloning are perhaps less controversial than with humans; nevertheless, some people worry that producing large number of animal clones only increase the likelihood that these animals will be mistreated.

　　Genetic modification of livestock will also provide new opportunities in medicine and research. Today many patients in need of transplants die before organs become available from suitable donors. Cloning pigs has been suggested as a means of rapidly achieving xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs to replace organs in human patients. Organs transplanted between species are in danger of being destroyed within minutes by the acute immune response of the body receiving the transplant; however, strategies are being developed to modify pigs genetically so that rejection by the immune system may be effectively prevented. (394 words)

　　16. According to the passage people object to the use of cloning to produce copies of humans mainly because_________.

　　A. its technique is not good enough
　　B. it is immoral and leads to wrong expectations
　　C. it may lead to parents’ unnatural behavior to the copy of them
　　D. it may lead to many people’s unemployment

　　17. Which of the following words can be used to replace the word “well” in Para. 1, Line 5?

　　A. easily
　　B. as one would wish
　　C. quite possibly
　　D. skillfully

　　18. In breeding copies of selected livestock, scientists should take consideration of all the following aspects EXCEPT _________.

　　A. the balance between extreme selection of livestock and continuation of genetic variability
　　B. ill-treatment of the copied animals
　　C. preservation of frozen cells
　　D. intense opposition to animal cloning

　　19. What do you think would be described /dealt with in the next paragraph of the passage?

　　A. The strategies to modify pigs genetically.
　　B. People’s response to the proposals above
　　C. The immune system
　　D. Another potential medical application of cloning

　　20. What is the author’s attitude towards the technique of cloning?

　　A. In favor of cloning both animals and humans.
　　B. In favor of cloning animals but not humans.
　　C. In favor of cloning humans but not animals.
　　D. In favor of neither cloning animals nor humans.

Text 5

　　Legend has it that the first credit card was born in 1950 over lunch at a Manhattan restaurant when Alfred Bloomingdale and his colleague Francis McNamara dreamed up the idea of creating a third party to cover checks at restaurants. They called it Diners Club. But the scheme faced a "chicken-and-egg problem". Consumers didn't want card until stores accepted it, and merchants wouldn't accept it until consumers carried it.

　　To solve the problem, and to work around federal laws that prevented banks from operating across state lines, banks joined together to form "network joint ventures", such as Visa and MasterCard. Under these arrangements, some member banks recruited consumers, others recruited merchants. The banks on both ends earned fees, and they shared the costs of maintaining the networks.

　　Because of an antitrust dispute twenty-five years ago, Visa allows its member banks to join up with MasterCard as well. But it refuses to allow them to collaborate with any other network. The Justice Department is less appreciative. In October 1998—shortly before Paying with Plastic went to press—the government charged Visa and MasterCard with violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. (Wal-Mart and a group of big retailers have filed a related suit, charging that Visa and MasterCard have colluded to keep fees on their debit cards unfairly high. ) The trouble is that today Visa and MasterCard have pretty much the same member banks. Do two ventures with the same owners really have an incentive to compete?

　　According to the government's complaint, in 1987 MasterCard was prepared to introduce the first "smart card" — a card with an integrated circuit that could store personal data. But MasterCard's board refused to proceed without Visa's go-ahead. Today both brands are still developing a smart card, sharing information all the while. The situation doesn't exactly encourage competition. As Visa International's president and chief executive put it in an unguarded moment in 1992, "If you have got one foot firmly placed on both sides of the street, who cares?"

　　Some people insist that the Visa-MasterCard partnership does not harm competition or innovation. They point to Visa and MasterCard's rival advertising campaigns and to Citibank's recent decision to switch its primary allegiance from Visa to MasterCard because only MasterCard would allow it to relegate the network insignia to the back of its plastic cards. The reason no one has introduced smart cards, says Evans, is because the chip technology is too expensive. "It is a silly argument," he says. "The Justice Department is trying to fix something that isn't broken. This industry is extraordinarily successful. "

　　Indeed, however the case turns out, the most popular complaint against the consumer-credit business is likely to remain what it was a century ago: The industry succeeds all too well at putting expensive credit in the hands of weak-willed shoppers. (466 words)

　　21. The phrase "chicken-and-egg problem" in paragraph 1 most probably means ______.

　　A. consumers didn't want card until stores accepted it
　　B. merchants wouldn't accept it until consumers carried it
　　C. both consumers and merchants are very important
　　D. it is hard to say which side should take the initial step

　　22. According to the text, which of the following may be considered as Visa’s violating Antitrust Act?

　　A. Allowing its member banks to join up with MasterCard.
　　B. Keeping fees on their debit cards unfairly high.
　　C. Developing a smart card, sharing information all the while.
　　D. Sharing the costs of maintaining the networks.

　　23. Which of the following is NOT true of "smart card"?

　　A. It was officially issued 1987.
　　B. It contains an integrated circuit.
　　C. It could store personal data.
　　D. It is being developed by both Visa and MasterCard.

　　24. Why are people reluctant to accept smart cards according to Evans?

　　A. Because it is too popular.
　　B. Because it is too inconvenient.
　　C. Because the chip itself is too expensive.
　　D. Because it's cost to produce the chip is too expensive.

　　25. The best title for the text may be _______.

　　A. Legend of the First Credit Card
　　B. A "Chicken-and-egg Problem"
　　C. Credit Card and Its Problems
　　D. Miraculous Credit Card

下一页：阅读参考答案