SECTION B

　　TEXT E
　　First read the question.

　　31. The purpose of the passage is to? ___.
　　A. review some newly-published interior-design books
　　B. explore the potential market for interior-design books
　　C. persuade people to buy some good books
　　D. stress the importance of reading good books

　　Now go through TEXT E quickly to answer question 31.

　　Do your relationships keep failing? When you leave your home in the morning are you already feeling stressed? Is there no time in your life for fun any mor e? Cancel your appointment with the doctor. What you need is a good interior-des ign book. Publishers have created a new genre of books for the home, titles that go beyond paint charts and superficial style and instead show you how your home can be transformed and even heal your life.

　　Dawna Walter is one of the authors leading the way in Britain with her boo k Organized Living? that attempts to show how even a tidy sock drawer can improve? the quality of your life. Walter is the owner of the Holding Company, a shop on? London’s Kings Road which sells hundreds of storage ideas for the home. It has been such a hit that Walter is planning to open four new outlets in the near fu ture. Born in America, Dawna Walter is a fast talker, a self-confessed perfectio nist, and a tidiness fundamentalist. “If it takes 10 minutes for you to find a matching pair of socks in the morning, then you are not in control and your outl ook just isn’t any good. Being organized saves you a couple of hours every week and gives you more time to do the things you enjoy, ”she explains.

　　Her book contains dozens of ideas for streamlining your life. In the kitch en she recommends filing magazine recipes immediately, and organizing them by ty pes-of dishes or particular cooks, and using ice-cube trays to freeze sauces in individual portions. Her ideas seem common sense but nevertheless require you to be at least slightly obsessive. CDs are a case in point: “How often do you wan t? to find one particular CD and can’t? Now, how much easier it would be if you p l aced them in alphabetical order? That will only take an hour. Then divide out th e ones you listen to regularly into a separate section. ”

　　Another recent book in the British market was Sarah Shurety’s Chinese-ins p ired Feng Shui For Your Home. Within 14 days of publication every copy had been sold. Shurety’s room-by-room guide to creating a harmonious living space, based on the ancient Chinese tradition Feng Shui, contains rules for how to create the best atmosphere and promote health, wealth and happiness. Dinner party hosts ar e told to place quiet people at the head of the table and facing the door so tha t they will feel more garrulous; those looking for romance learn to place pink f lowers by their beds; and house-buyers are warned to beware of properties built on sloping foundations if they want stability in their lives.

　　The book Creating Space , by Elizabeth Wilhide, claims that readers followin g its advice will not just improve their homes but transform their lives. Wilhid e believes that as we increasingly work from home, we need to reassess the way o ur houses work(especially when there are children in the household) if we want t o avoid being overran by junk and that feeling of “being mentally weighed down. ”? Unfortunately, she admits, she finds it difficult to follow her own advice. She? sheepishly confesses to having “dumping zones” in her house, a handbag “that? do esn’t bear looking into”, and a car “that’s a no-go zone”? But she is undau nted by these small failures. In the future, she says she is determined to tidy up he r own life and follow the path to stress-free health , wealth and happiness.
　　
　　TEXT F

　　First read the question.

　　32. The writer of the passage mainly intends to ___.
　　A. criticize Germany’s tax system
　　B. help companies ease their tax burden
　　C. examine the current corporate tax rates
　　D. propose ways to reform the tax system

　　Now go through TEXT F quickly to answer question 32.

　　One major reason? for Germany’s high unemployment and the evident weakness o f business investment is the nature of the tax system, which tends to discourage both individual effort and investment. Nominal corporate tax rates are, in fact , very high and it is these rates that potential investors primarily look at. Ho wever, the actual burden borne by companies is not as great as it might seem, be cause the tax base is fairly narrow. This combination in itself tend to encourag e tax avoidance at both the personal and corporate levels. Moreover, by internat ional standards, firms in Germany are still taxed quite heavily.

　　A reform? of corporate taxation, therefore, should start by, reducing tax r ates, cutting subsidies and broadening the taxable base. The resulting positive impact on growth would be reinforced if there were also a substantial easing of the net burden.

　　How do? the current plans for a reform of corporate taxation measure up to these goals? The overall tax burden on companies is to be brought down significa ntly, with the ceiling of 35 % being set. To this end, a dramatic reduction in t he corporate tax on retained earnings is planned. The related drop in revenues i s to be offset by changes in the rules governing tax breaks.

　　An approach? incorporating these basic features would be a welcome step. I f realized in its presents form, it should ensure that the objective of making t ax rates more attractive for businesses is achieved. At the same time, however, it would be unfortunate if an excessive broadening of the taxable base made it i mpossible to attain the equally important goal of providing relief.

　　Comprehensive tax reform? is needed in Germany to spur investment and to cre ate new jobs, thus putting the economy on a higher growth path. The drop in reve nues caused by the tax relief granted to both companies and households would, in time, be at least partially offset by the larger volume of tax receipts produce d by economic growth. The gaps that remained should primarily be closed through spending cuts. If measure of this sort proved inadequate, then, as a last resort , an increase in indirect taxes could perhaps be considered.

　　TEXT G

　　First read the question.

　　33. The following passage emphasizes the role of ___ in health conservation.
　　A. advertising???? B. research???? C. governments???? D. taxation

　　Now go through TEXT G quickly to answer question 33.

　　Most of the ill health we suffer could be prevented if people made more effo rt to change their life styles. Instead many people continue to smoke, to drink excessively and to eat unbalanced diets. How can governments help people conserv e their health and avoid premature death?

　　Well, many of the measures which need to be taken are primarily a matter of new legislation and need not be expensive. One of the first preventive health m easures should be an increase in taxes on tobacco to the point at which consumpt ion falls off. The aim should be to raise the same amount of revenue from a decr easing number of people. In the short term such a policy could even raise extra money which should then be spent on subsidizing sport so that advertising tobacc o through sports sponsorship could be banned.


　　Legislation is badly needed to ban all advertising of tobacco products as i t persuades people to smoke more and so is in a large part responsible for the i ll health and thousands of premature deaths caused by cancer of the lung. Other measures should be enforced, such as a much tougher health warning on cigarette packets, and tobacco companies should be made to contribute to research into a c ure for lung cancer.

　　Alcoholism could be prevented by making wines, spirits and strong beers mor e expensive and the revenue raised could be used to set up clinics to help the p eople who already have a drink problem and want to give up. Similarly all advert ising of alcohol should be banned and compensation paid to families of alcoholic s who die of cirrhosis of the liver. A country’s food and agricultural policy should also be based on a coheren t health policy. For political reasons it is considered important to have a relat ively cheap supply of eggs, cheese and milk, the very foods which are blamed as the cause of heart disease when eaten in excess. And even if it is disputed that? excess animal fat is detrimental to health, foods could be labelled with the av erage percentage of different fats so that consumers who wanted to reduce their saturated fat intake would be able to do so easily.

　　Much more could be done to improve people’s diet in Britain and everyone s h ould be encouraged to eat the types of food which are good for health. Current r esearch on the nutritional value of foods should be freely available and the gov ernment should control the advertising of “rubbish” food. A programme of healt h education and lessons on sensible eating could be started in the schools with th e Government’s backing.

?

TEXT H

　　First read the question.

34. The passage is primarily ___ in the development of the thesis.
　　A. persuasive????????? B. descriptiveC. narrative?????? D. expository

　　Now go through TEXT H quickly to answer question 34.

　　The question remains: must we conform? Or can we, somehow, resist the power s that conspire to domesticate us? And if so, with what arms are we to redeem ou r almost-lost manhood? Where are we to find the weapons of resistance?

　　I believe that the question of conformity, in the long run, answers itself.? I think that if there was a possibility, once, of a yes or no——if at one time humans could decide “we must conform” or “we must not” —— that possibilit y ha s been lost in the long reaches of evolution, far back along the corridors of Ti me. The simple truth is that we cannot conform. Built into man, is an instinct. I have chosen to call it the “instinct of rebellion”, since it reveals itself as a drive or urge toward mastery over ever y obstacle, natural or man-made, that stands as a barrier between man and his dis tant, perhaps never-to-be-achieved but always striven after goals. It is this in stinct that underwrites his survival, this instinct from which he derives his na ture: a great and powerful dynamic that makes him what he is——restless, seekin g, curious, forever unsatisfied, eternally straggling and eventually victorious.? Because of the instinct of rebellion man has never been content with the limits? of his body; it has led him to extend his senses almost infinitely, so that his? fingers now probe space, his eyes magnify the nuclei of atoms, and his ears det ect whispers from the bottoms of seas. Because of the instinct of rebellion man has never been content with the limits of his mind; it has led him to inquire th e secrets of the universe, to gather and learn and manipulate the fabulous inven tory of the cosmos, to seek the very mysteries of creation.


　　Man is a rebel. He is committed by his biology not to conform, and herein lies the paramount reason for the awful tension he experiences today in relation to Society. Unlike other cream of earth, man cannot submit, cannot surrender hi s birthright of protest, for rebellion is one of his essential dimensions. He ca n not deny it and remain man. In order to live he must rebel. Only total annihila tion of humanity as a species can eliminate this in-built necessity. Only with t he death of the last man will the revolt that is the essence of his nature also die.

　　TEXT I

　　First read the questions.

　　35. According to the census prediction, the average male Americans will b e expected to live up to ___ years of age by 2050.
　　A.73.3??????? B.75.1???????????????? C.81.3???????? D. 83.6

　　36. Crime experts predict that in the near future crime rates will first decrease in ___.
　　A. South and Southwest???????????????????? B. North and Northeast C. Southwest and Midwest?????????????????? D. Northeast and Midwest

　　Now go through TEXT I quickly to answer questions 35 & 36.

　　If past is prologue, then it ought to be possible to draw some modest concl usions about the future from the wealth of data about America’s present. Will t h e rate continue to fall? Will single-person households actually swamp the tradit ional family?
　　
　　All projections, of course, must be viewed with a healthy dose of skeptici sm. Nonetheless, the urge to make sense of what lies ahead is inescapable. After? the 1980 census, the Census Bureau decided for the first time to venture some f orecasts of its own for the decades to come. Working from what America already k nows about itself, the bureau’s experts and other demographers offer an irresis tible, if clouded, crystal ball among their visions.

　　According to the census projections, female life expectancy will increase from 78.3 years in 1981 to 81.3 in the year 2005. The life expectancy of America n men will grow from 70.7 for babies born in 1981 to 73.3 years in 2005.And by t he year 2050, women will have a life expectancy of 83.6 years and men of at leas t 75.1.
　　
　　Annual population growth will slow to almost nothing by 2050. In fact, the Census Bureau predicts that the rate of natural increase will be negative after 2035; only continuing immigration will keep it growing after that. The total pop ulation will be 268 million in 2000 and 309 million—an all-time high—in 2050. After that, it will start to decline.

　　The American population will grow steadily older. From 11.4 percent in 198 1, the proportion of the population that is 65 and over will grow to 13.1 percen t in 2000 and 21.7 percent in 2050. The percentage of the population that lives beyond the age of 85 will mere than quintuple over the same period. Meanwhile th e median age—30.3 in 1981— will rise to 36.3 by 2000 and 41.6 50 years later.

　　 When it comes to the quality of life, more prognosticators are fairly cauti ous. John Hopkins sociologist Andrew Cherlin observes that “as we enter the 198 0 s, the pace of change appears to have slowed.” For the next few decades, he pre d icts, there may be only modest swings in the marriage, birth and divorce rates—giving society time to adjust to the new patterns that have formed in recent y ears. “We are in a plateau in our family patterns that will likely last awhile, ”Cherlin maintains. Crime expert Alfred Blumstein, who foresees a drop in crime over the coming decade, predicts that the Northeast and Midwest, with stable but aging populations, will see the falloff first; for the South and Southwest, wit h their large proportions of younger people, the improvement will come less quic kly.

　　TEXT J

　　First read the questions.

　　37. The formal diplomatic relations between China and the United States w ere established on ___.
　　A. February 28,1972???????????????????????? B. January 28,1979 C. December 16,1978??????????????????????? D. January 1,1979

　　38. The Five Principles for the establishment of a new type of Sino -US r elationship were put forward by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in? ___.
　　A. Seattle???? B. Jakarta??? C. Manila???? D. New York

　　Now go through TEXT J quickly to answer questions 37 & 38.

　　The following is a list of some of the major events in Sino-US relations fr om February? 1972 to May? 1998.

　　February 21 — 28, 1972 : The US President Richard Nixon paid an official vi sit to China, during which a Sino-US joint communique was issued in Shanghai.

　　May 1, 1973 : The liaison offices set up by China and the US in each other’ s capital started functioning.

　　December 16, 1978 : China and the US issued a joint communique which called for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on Janua ry 1,1979.

　　January 1, 1979 : China and the US formally established diplomatic ties.

　　January 28—February 5,1979 : Then Chinese vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping paid a n official visit to the US, during which two agreements were signed on scientifi c , technological and cultural co-operation between the two countries.

　　August 17, 1982 : The Chinese and the US governments issued a joint communiq ue under which the US promised to gradually reduce its sales of weapons to Taiwa n until the complete settlement of the problem.

　　April 26—May 1, 1984 : Then US President Ronald Reagan visited China, durin g which the two countries signed four agreements on avoiding double-taxation and tax evasion and initiated an agreement on co-operation on the peaceful use of n uclear energy.

　　July 23 —31, 1985? :Then Chinese President Li Xiannian visited the US, the first visit by a Chinese head of state since the founding of the People’s Repub lic of China in 1949.

　　February 25 — 6, 1989 : Then US President George Bush paid a working visit to China. November 19, 1993 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin held talks with US Preside nt Bill Clinton during the informal Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) le adership meeting in Seattle.

　　November 14, 1994 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin, on the sidelines of atten ding an informal APEC leadership meeting in Bogor, met US President Bill Clinton? in Jakarta and put forward the Five Principles for the establishment of a new t ype of Sino-US relationship. October 24, 1995 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin met US President Bill Clin ton in New York while attending the special conference held for marking the 50a anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

　　November 24, 1996 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin met US President Bill Cli nton at an informal APEC leadership meeting in Manila.

　　February 24, 1997 : US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited China.
　　October 26—November 3, 1997 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state v isit to the US, the first by a Chinese president in 12 years. A joint communique , issued on October 29, called on the two countries to strengthen co-operation a nd strive for the establishment of a constructive strategic partnership oriented? to the 21(th) century, in a bid to promote world peace and development.

　　March 14, 1998 : The US declared that the US-Chinese Agreement on Co-operat ion on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, which had been dormant for 13 years, could now come into effect.

　　April 29—May 1, 1998 : US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Ch ina. An agreement was signed between the two countries on the establishment of a direct secure telephone link.

　　TEXT K

　　First read the questions.

　　39. Whose works would you most probably choose to read if you were intere sted in satire?A. Alexander Pope. B. Oliver Goldsmith. C. R. B. Sheridan.??????? D.W.M.
　　Thackeray. 40. Which of the following writers was a Nobel-Prize winner?
　　A. Alexander Pope.????????????????? B. John Galsworthy. C. Thomas Hardy.?????????????? D.W.M. Thackeray.

　　Now go through TEXT K quickly to answer questions 39 & 40.

　　JOHN GALSWORTHY ( 1867 — 1933) Although John Galsworthy wrote many good p lays, it is as a novelist and creator of the Forsyte family that he is best reme mbered. The whole progress and background of the Forsyte family over a period of? forty years is told with great skill and charm in a series of novels. Galsworth y was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

　　OLIVER GOLDSMITH ( 1728 — 1774) Born and educated in Ireland, Oliver Gold smith travelled widely in his earlier years and the knowledge and experience he accumulated were later put to good use. He arrived in London where he made the a cquaintance of Samuel Johnson, who helped him sell a short novel, The Vicar of W akerfield. His drama She Stoops to Conquer, produced in 1773, was a great succes s.

　　THOMAS HARDY ( 1840 — 1928) The wild heaths of mid-Dorset are Thomas Hardy? country; he was born here, the Wessex of his novels. Hardy’s impressions of th e countryside and of nature were the staple of much of his writing. Tess of the D 'Urbervilles, The Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd are his best-known books. Hardy is also remembered for his poetry and drama.

　　ALEXANDER POPE (1688- 1744) Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, was born in the City of London. He was largely self-educated and at an early age showed the satirical skill and metrical ingenuity on which much of the fame rests. The Rape? of the Lock, published in 1712,established Pope’s reputation .He occupies a hi gh place among English poets.
　　
　　R. B. SHERIDAN (1751 - 1816) Richard Brinsley Sheridan, dramatist and poli tician, was born in Ireland but educated in England. Although at first unsuccess ful, when Sheridan came to London he made his name as the writer of such comedie s as The Rivals, The School for Scandal and The Critic, which brilliantly expose d the intellectual and social pretensions of the time. These place Sheridan in t he forefront of the great English dramatists. He also shone as an orator in Parl iament.