PartIV Reading Comprehension (Reading in Depth) (25 minutes)

SectionA

Questions47 to 51 are based on the following passage.

?? One of the majorproducers of athletic footwear, with 2002 sales of over $10 billion, is acompany called Nike, with corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.Forbes magazine identified Nike’s president, Philip Knight, as the 53rd-richestman in the world in 2004. But Nike has not always been a largemultimillion-dollar organization. In fact, Knight started the company byselling shoes from the back of his car at track meets.

In the late1950s Philip Knight was a middle-distance runner on the University of Oregontrack team, coached by Bill Bowerman. One of the top track coaches in the U.S.,Bowerman was also known for experimenting with the design of running shoes inan attempt to make them lighter and more shock-absorbent. After attending Oregon, Knight moved on to do graduate work at Stanford University; his MBA thesis was onmarketing athletic shoes. Once he received his degree, Knight traveled to Japanto contact the Onitsuka Tiger Company, a manufacturer of athletic shoes. Knightconvinced the company’s officials of the potential for its product in the U.S.In 1963 he received his first shipment of Tiger shoes, 200 pairs in total.

In 1964, Knightand Bowerman contributed $500 each to from Blue Ribbon Sports, the predecessorof Nike. In the first few years, Knight distributed shoes out of his car atlocal track meets. The first employees hired by Knight were former collegeathletes. The company did not have the money to hire “experts”, and there wasno established athletic footwear industry in North Americafrom which to recruit those knowledgeable in the field. In its early years theorganization operated in an unconventional manner that characterized itsinnovative and entrepreneurial approach to the industry. Communication wasinformal; people discussed ideas and issues in the hallways, on a run, or overa beer. There was little task differentiation. There were no job descriptions,rigid reporting systems, or detailed rules and regulations. The team spirit andshared values of the athletes on Bowerman’s teams carried over and provided thebasis for the collegial style of management that characterized the early yearsof Nikes.

47. While serving as a track coach, Bowerman tried todesign running shoes that were lighter and more shock-absorbent.

48. During his visit to Japan,Knight convinced the officials of the Onitsuka Tiger Company that its productwould have potentials in the U.S.

49. Blue Ribbon Sports as unable to hire experts due tothe absence of established athletic footwear in North America.

50. In the early years of Nike, communication within thecompany was usually carried out informally.

51. What qualities of Bowerman’s teams formed the basisof Nike’s early management style?

?? The teamspirit and shared valves of the athlets.

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Passage one

questions 52 to 56 are based on thefollowing passage

sustainable development is applied to justabout eberything from energy to clean water and economic growth,and as a resultit has become difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it orthe way the concept is put to is especially true in agriculture,wheresustainable development is often taken as the sole measure of progress withouta proper appreciation of histrorcal and cultural perspectives.

To start with,it is important to rememberthat the nature of agriculture has changed markedly throughout history,and willcontinue to do so .medieval agriculture in northern Europe fed,clothed andshelered a predominantly rural society with a much lower population densitythan it is had minimal effect on biodiversity,and any pollution itcaused was typically termsof energy use and the nutrients capturedin the product it was relatively inefficient.

Contrast this with farming since the startof the industrial ion from overseas led farmers to specializeand increase hout this period food became cheaper,safe and r,these changes have alsoled to habitat loss and to diminishingbiodiversity.

What’smore,demand for animal products indeveloping countrics is growing so fast that meeting it will require an extra300 million tons of grain a year by the growth of cities and in dustryis reducing the amount of water available for agriculture in many regions.

All this means that agriculture in the 21stcentury will have to be very different from how it was in the 20th.thiswill require radical example,we need to move away from the ideathat traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than new need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be “zero impact”. The keywill be to abandon the rather simple and static measures ofsustainability,which centre on the need to maintain production withoutincreasing d we need a more dynamic interpretation,one that looksat the pros and cons of all the various way land is are manydifferent ways to measure agricultural performance besides food yield:energyuse, environmental costs,water purity,carbon footprint and biodiversity. It isclear, for example,that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from spain to the UK

Is less than that of producing them in theUK with additional heating and we do not know whether lower carbonfootprints will always be better for biodiversity.

What is crucial is recognizing thatsustainable agriculture is not just about sustainable food production.

52. How do people ofen measure progress inagriculture?

?? A)By its productivity?? C) By its impact onthe environmet

?? B) By its sustainability? D) By its contribution to economic growth

53. Specialisation and the effort toincease yields have esulted in________.

?? A)Localised pollution?? C) competition fromoverseas

?? B)the shrinking of farmland D) the decrease ofbiodiversity

54.What does the author think oftraditional farming practices?

??A)They have remained the same over the centuries

?? B)They have not kept pace with populationgrowth

?? C)They are notnecessarily sustainable

?? D)They are environmentally friendly

55.What willagriculture be like in the 21st century

?? A) It will gothrough radical changes

?? B) It will supply more animal products

?? C) It will abandon traditional farmingpractices

?? D) It will cause zero damage to theenvironment

56 What is theauthor’s purpose in writing this passage?

? A) To remind people of the need ofsustainable development

? B) To suggest ways of ensuring sustainablefood production

? C) To adance new criteria for measuringfarming progress

? D) To urge people torethink what sustainable agriculture is

Passage Two

Questions 57 to61 are based on the following passage

? The percentage of immigrants(including thoseunlawfully present) in the United states has been creeping upward for years.At 12.6 percent, it is now higher than at any point ince the mid1920s

? We are not about to go back to the days whenCongress openly worried about inferior races polluing America’s bloodstream. But onceagain we are wondering whether we have too many of the wrong sort fonecomers.Their loudest citecs argue that the new wave of immigrants cannot,andindeed do not want to, fit in as previous generations did.

? We now know that these racist views werewrong.In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other so-called inferiorraces became exemplary Americans and contributed greatly, in ways too numerousto detail , to the building of this magnificent nation. There is no reason whythese new immigrants should not have the same success.

?Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms ofeducational and professional attainment, than thir parents UCLA sociologistEdward Telles has found that the gains don’t continme. Indeed, the fouthgeneration is marginally worse off than the third James Jackson,of the University of Michigan,hasfoud a simila rend among black Caribbeanimmigrants,Tells fears that Mexican-Americans may be fated to follow in the footstepsof American blacks-that largeparts of the community may become mired in aseemingly state of poverty and Underachievement . Like African-Americans, Mexican-americansare increasingly relegated to (降入)segregated, substandyrd schools, and their dropout rate is thehighest for any 兒童會(huì)nic groupin the country.

?????? Wehave learned much about the foolish idea of excluding people on the presumptionof the ethnic/racial inferiority. But what we have not yet learned is how tomake the process of Americanization work for all. I am not talking aboutrequiring people to learn English or to adopt American ways; those thingshappen pretty much on their own, but as arguments about immigration hear up thecampaign trail, we also ought to ask some broader question about assimilation,about ho wto ensure that people , once outsiders , don’t fovever remainmarginalized within these shores.

????? That is a much larger question than whatshould happen with undocumented workers, or how best to secure the border, andit is one that affects not only newcomers but groups that have been here forgenerations. It will have more impact on our future than where we decide to setthe admissions bar for the lasest ware of would-be Americans. And it would benice if we finally got the answer right.

57.How were immigrants viewed by U.S.Congress in early days?

A)They were of inferiorraces.

B)They were a Source of politicalcorruption.

C)They were a threat to the nation’ssecurity.

D)They were part of the nation’sbloodstream.

58.What does the author think of the newimmigrants?

A)They will be a dynamic work force in the U.S.

B)They can do just aswell as their predecessors.

C)They will be very disappointed on the newland.

D)They may find it hard to fit into themainstream.

59.What does Edward Telles’ research sayabout Mexican-Americans?

A)They may slowlu improve from generationto generation.

B)They will do better in terms ofdeucationl attainment.

C)They will melt into the African-Americancommunity.

D)They may forever remainpoor and underachieving.

60.What should be done to help the newimmigrants?

A)Rid them of their inferiority complex.

B)Urge them to adopt American customs.

C)prevent them from beingmarginalized.

D)Teach them standard American English.

61.According to the author,the burningissue concerning immigrationg is_______.

A)how to deal with people entering the U.S.without documents

B)how to help immigrantsto better fit into American society

C)how to stop illegal immigrants fromcrossing the corder

D)how to limit the number of immigrants toenter the U.S.

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