PART V?? READING? COMPREHENSION [25MIN]

　　In this section there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements,each with four suggested answers marked A,B,C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer.

　　TEXT A

　　If you like the idea of staying with with a family,living in house might be the answer.Good landladies---those who are superb cooks and launderers,are figures as popular in fiction as the bad ones who terrorize their guest and overcharge them at the slightest opportunity.The truth is probably somewhere between the two extremes.If you are lucky,the food will be adequate, some of your laundry may be done for you and you will have a reasonable amount of comfort and chompanionship .For the less fortune ,house rules may restrict the freedom to invite friends to vistit,and shared cooking and bathroom facilities can be frustrating and row-provoking if tidy and untidy guest are living under the same roof.

　　The same disadvantages can apply to flat sharing,with the added difficulties that arise from deciding who pays for what,and in what proportion.One person may spend hours on the phone,while another rarely makes calls. If you want privacy with guest , how do you persuade the others to go out; how do you persuade them to leave you in peace,especially if you are student and want to study?

　　Conversely,flat sharing can be very cheap,there will always be someone to talk to and go out with,and the chores,in theory,can be shared.

　　81.According to the passage ,landladies are ________

　　y strict.
　　 mean.
　　tely competent.
　　 popular with their guest.

　　82.What is the additional disadvantage of flat sharing ?

　　A.Problems of sharing and paying.
　　B.Differences in living habits.
　　C.Shared cooking and bathroom facilities.
　　D.Restriction to invite friends to visit.

　　83.What is NOT mentioned as a benefit of flat sharing?

　　A.Rent is affordable
　　B.There is companionship.
　　C.Housework.
　　D.There is peace and quiet.

　　TEXT B

　　(1) Travelling through the country a couple of weeks ago on business,I was listening to the talk of the late UK writer Douglas Adams’ master work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” on the radio and thought-I know,I’ll pick up the next hitchhikers I see and ask them wahat the state of real hitching is today in Britain.

　　(2)I drove and drove on main roads and side roads for the next few days and never saw a single one.

　　(3)When I was in my teens and 20s ,hitchhiking was a main form of long-distance transport.The kindness or curiosity of strangers took me all over Europe,North America,Asiaand southern Africa,Some of the lift-givers became friends ,many provided hospitality on the road.

　　(4)Not only did you find out much more about a country than when traveling by train or plane ,but there was that lelement of excitement about where you would finish up that night.Hitchhiking featured importantly in Western culture.It has books and songs about it .So what has happened to it?

　　(5)A few years ago ,I was asked the same question about hitching in a column of a newspaper.Hundreds of people from all over the world responded with their view on the state of hitchhiking .

　　(6)Rural Ireland was recommended as f friendly place for hitching,as was Quebec,Canada-“if you don’t mind being criticized for not speaking French”.

　　(7)But while hitchhiking was clearly still alive and well in some places ,the general feeling was that throughtout much of the west it was doomed.

　　(8)With so much news about crime in the media,people assumed that anyone on the open road without the money for even a bus ticket must present a danger.But do we need to be so wary both to hitch and to give a lift?

　　(9)In Poland in the 1960s,according to a Polish woman who e-mail me ,＂the authorities introduced the Hitchhiker’s Booklet.The booklet contained coupons for drivers,so each time a driver picked somebody ,he or she received a coupon.At the end of the season,drivers who had picked up the most hikers were rewarded with various prizes.Everyone was hitchhiking then”.

　　(10)Surely this is a good idea for society.Hitchhiking would increase respect by breaking down barriers between strangers.It would help fight global warming by cutting down on fuel consumption as hitchhikers would be using existing fuels.It would also improveeducational standards by delivering instant lessons in geography ,history,politics and sociology.

　　(11)A century before Douglas Adams wrote his “Hitchhiker’s Guide”,another adventure story writer,Robert Louis Stevenson, gave us that what should be the hitchhiker’s motto:＂To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” What better time than putting a holiday weekend into practice. Either put it to the test yourself, or help out someone who is trying to travel hopefully with thumb outstreched.

　　84. In which paragraph(s) does the writer comment on his experience of hitchhiking?

　　A. (3)
　　B. (4)
　　C. (3) and (4)
　　D. (4) and (5)

　　85. What is the current situation of hitchhiking?

　　A. It is popular in some parts of the world.
　　B. It is popular throughout the west.
　　C. It is popular in Poland.

　　86. What is the writer’s attitude towards the practice in Poland?

　　A. Critical.
　　B. Unclear.
　　C. Somewhat favourable.
　　D. Strongly favourable.

　　87. The writer has mentioned all the following benefits of hitchhiking EXCEPT

　　A. promoting mutual respect between strangers.
　　B. increasing one’s confidence in strangers.
　　C. protecting enviroment.
　　D. enrich one’s knowledge.

　　88.＂Either put it to the test yourself…”in Paragraph (11) means

　　A. to experience the hopefulness.
　　B. to read Adams’ book.
　　C. to offer someone a lift.