【7月22日】英语低分到高分专项突破每日一练

　　26.   In ________ times human beings did not travel for pleasure but to find a more favourable climate.

　　A) prime

　　B) primitive

　　C) primary

　　D) preliminary

　　Part II Reading Comprehension

　　Passage One

　　Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

　　Age has its privileges in America. And one of the more prominent of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age—in some cases as low as 55—is automatically entitled to a dazzling array of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practically unheard of a generation ago, the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses—as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.

　　People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them；yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent (有支付能力的). Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” aresynonymous (同义的). Perhaps that once was true, but today elderly Americans as a group have a lower poverty rate than the rest of the population. To be sure, there is economic diversity within the elderly, and many older Americans are poor, But most of them aren’t.

　　It is impossible to determine the impact of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to revenue. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they are a direct irritant in what some politicians and scholars see as a coming conflict between the generations.

　　Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involves a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another sore point, Buoyed (支持) by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are declining the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job-thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers.

　　Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a formidable economic privilege to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.

　　It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enhance the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment； and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly are ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the essence of the very thing older Americans are fighting against-discrimination by age.

　　1.     We learn from the first paragraph that ________.

　　A) offering senior citizens discounts has become routine commercial practice

　　B) senior citizen discounts have enabled many old people to live a decent life

　　C) giving senior citizens discounts has boosted the market for the elderly

　　D) senior citizens have to show their birth certificates to get a discount

　　2.     What assumption lies behind the practice of senior citizen discounts?

　　A) Businesses, having made a lot of profits, should do something for society in return.

　　B) Old people are entitled to special treatment for the contribution they made to society.

　　C) The elderly, being financially underprivileged, need humane help from society.

　　D) Senior citizen discounts can make up for the inadequacy of the Social Security system.

　　3.     According to some politicians and scholars, senior citizen discounts will ________.

　　A) make old people even more dependent on society

　　B) intensify conflicts between the young and the old

　　C) have adverse financial impact on business companies

　　D) bring a marked increase in the companies revenues

　　4.     How does the author view the Social Security system?

　　A) It encourages elderly people to retire in time.

　　B) It opens up broad career prospects for young people.

　　C) It benefits the old at the expense of the young.

　　D) It should be reinforced by laws and court decisions.

　　5.     Which of the following best summarizes the author’s main argument?

　　A) Senior citizens should fight hard against age discrimination.

　　B) The elderly are selfish and taking senior discounts for granted.

　　C) Priority should be given to the economic needs of senior citizens.

　　D) Senior citizen discounts may well be a type of age discrimination.

　　Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.

　　The estimates of the numbers of home-schooled children vary widely. The U.S. Department of Education estimates there are 250,000 to 35,000 home-schooled children in the country. Hone-school advocates put the number much higher-at about a million.

　　Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers, perceiving their actions as the ultimate slap in the face for public education and a damaging move for the children. Home schoolers harbor few kind words for public schools, charging shortcomings that range from lack of religious perspective in the curriculum to a herd-like approach to teaching children.

　　Yet, as public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population, and as home schoolers realize they can reap benefits from public schools, these hard lines seem to be softening a bit. Public schoolers have moved closer to tolerance and, in some cases, even cooperation.

　　Says John Marshall, an education official, “We are becoming relatively tolerant of home schoolers. “The idea is, ‘Let’s give the kids access to public school so they’ll see it’s not as terrible as they’ve been told, and they’ll want to come back.

　　Perhaps, but don’t count on it, say home-school advocates. Home schoolers, oppose the system because they have strong convictions that their approach to education-whether fueled by religious enthusiasm or the individual child’s interests and natural pace-is best.

　　“The bulk of home schoolers just want to be left alone,” says Enge Cannon, associate director of the National Center For Home Education. She says home schoolers choose that path for a variety of reasons, but religion plays a role 85 percent of the time.

　　Professor Van Galen breaks home schoolers into two groups. Some home schoolers want their children to learn not only traditional subject matter but also “strict religious doctrine and a conservative political and social perspective. Not incidentally, they also want their children to learn-both intellectually and emotionally-that the family is the most important institution in society. “

　　Other home schoolers contend “not so much that the schools teach heresy (异端邪说), but that schools teach whatever they teach inappropriately,” Van Galen writes. “These parents are highly independent and strive to ‘take responsibility’ for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient.”

　　6.     According to the passage, home schoolers are ________.

　　A) those who engage private teachers to provide additional education for their children

　　B) those who educate their children at home instead of sending them to school

　　C) those who advocate combining public education with home schooling

　　D) those who don’t go to school but are educated at home by their parents

　　7.     Public schools are softening their position on home schooling because ________.

　　A) there isn’t much they can go to change the present situation

　　B) they want to show their tolerance for different situation

　　C) home schooling provides a new variety of education for children

　　D) public schools have so many problems that they cannot offer proper education for all children

　　8.     Home-school advocates are of the opinion that ________.

　　A) things in public schools are not so bad as has often been said

　　B) their tolerance of public education will attract more kids to public schools

　　C) home schooling is superior and, therefore, they will not easily give in

　　D) their increased cooperation with public school will bring about the improvement of public education

　　9.     Most home schoolers’ opposition to public education stems from their ________.

　　A) respect for the interest of individuals

　　B) worry about the inefficiency of public schools

　　C) concern with the cost involved

　　D) devotion to religion

　　10.   According to Van Galen some home schoolers believe that ________.

　　A) public schools take up a herd-like approach to teaching children

　　B) teachers in public school are not as responsible as they should be

　　C) public schools cannot provide an education that is good enough for their children

　　D) public schools are the source of bureaucracy and inefficiency in modern society

　　Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

　　Every year television stations receive hundreds of complaints about the loudness of advertisements. However, federal rules forbid the practice of making ads louder than the programming. In addition, television stations always operate at the highest sound level allowed for reasons of efficiency. According to one NBC executive, no difference exists in the peak sound level of ads and programming. Given this information why do commercials sound so loud?

　　The sensation of sound involves a variety of factors in addition to its speak level. Advertisers are skilful at creating the impression of loudness through their expert use of such factors. One major contributor to the perceived loudness of commercials is that mush less variation in sound level occurs during a commercial. In regular programming the intensity of sound varies over a large range. However, sound levels in commercials tend to stay at or near peak levels.

　　Other “tricks of the trade” are also used. Because low-frequency sounds can mask higher frequency sounds, advertisers filter out any noises that may drown out the primary message. In addition, the human voice has more auditory (听觉的) impact in the middle frequency ranges. Advertisers electronically vary voice sounds so that they stay within such a frequency band. Another approach is to write the script so that lots of consonants (辅音) are used, because people are more aware of consonants than vowel (元音) sounds. Finally, advertisers try to begin commercials with sounds that are highly different from those of the programming within which the commercial is buried. Because people become adapted to the type of sounds coming from programming, a dramatic change in sound quality draws viewer a attention. For example, notice how many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some type.

　　The attention-getting property of commercials can be seen by observing one-to two-year-old children who happen to be playing around a television set. They may totally ignore the programming. However, when a commercial comes on, their attention is immediately drawn to it because of its dramatic sound quality.

　　11.   According to the passage, the maximum intensity of sound coming from commercials ________.

　　A) does not exceed that of programs

　　B) is greater than that of programs

　　C) varies over a large range than that of programs

　　D) is less than that of programs

　　12.   Commercials create the sensation of loudness because ________.

　　A) TV stations always operate at the highest sound levels

　　B) their sound levels are kept around peak levels

　　C) their sound levels are kept in the middle frequency ranges

　　D) unlike regular programs their intensity of sound varies over a wide range

　　13.   Many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some kind because ________.

　　A) pop songs attract viewer attention

　　B) it can increase their loudness

　　C) advertisers want to make them sound different from regular programs

　　D) advertisers want to merge music with commercials

　　14.   One of the reasons why commercials are able to attract viewer attention is that ________.

　　A) the human voices in commercials have more auditory impact

　　B) people like cheerful songs that change dramatically in sound quality

　　C) high-frequency sounds are used to mask sounds that drown out the primary message

　　D) they possess sound qualities that make the viewer feel that something unusual is happening

　　15.   In the passage, the author is trying to tell us ________.

　　A) how TV ads vary vocal sounds to attract attention

　　B) how the loudness of TV ads is overcome

　　C) how advertisers control the sound properties of TV ads

　　D) how the attention-getting properties of sounds are made use of in TV ads