Part I Reading Comprehension (30%)
Passage 1 Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:
Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of others they need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.
Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells.
Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money. In parts of Africa, Cattle were one of the earliest kinds of money. Other animals were used as money, too.
The first metal coins were made in China. They were around and had a square hole in the center. People strung them together and carried them from place to place.
Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. The first coins in England were made of tin. Sweden and Russia used copper to make their money. Later, other countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money 76)The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than paper money used today.
Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.
1. Which of the following can be cited as an example of the use of money in exchange for services?
A. To sell a bicycle for $20.
B. To get some money for old books at a garage sale.
C. To buy things you need or want.
D. To get paid for your work.
2. Where were shells used as money in history?
A. In the Philippines.
B. In China
C. In Africa
D. We don’t know
3.Why, according to the passage, did ancient Chinese coins have a square hole in the center?
A. Because it would be easier to put them together and carry them around.
B. Because it would be lighter for people to carry them from place to place.
C. Because people wanted to make it look nicer.
D. Because people wanted to save the expensive metal they were made from.
4. Why does the author say that even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive?
A. Because they are easy to steal.
B. Because they are difficult for people to obtain.
C. Because they are not easy to carry around.
D. Because they themselves are expensive, too.
5. Which do you choose as the best title for this passage?
A. Money and Its Uses
B. Different Things used as Money
C. Different Countries, Different Money
D. The History of Money
Passage 2 Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
77)In the last 500 years , nothing about people ----not their clothes, ideas, or languages----has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.
The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. 78)Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845-6, and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.
There are many other foods that have traveled from south America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the World’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.
According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a goatherd name Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the “wide –awake” feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.
6. According to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?
A. Food
B. Chocolate
C. Potato
D. Coffee
7. “Some ”in “Some still exist today” means _________.
A. some cocoa trees.
B. some chocolate drinks.
C. some shops.
D. some South American Indians.
8.. Thousands of Irish people starved during the “Potato Famine” because _________.
A. they were so dependent on the potato that they refused to eat anything else.
B. they were forced to emigrate to America.
C the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing the potato.
D. the potato harvest was bad.
9. Coffee originally came from_________.
A. Brazil
B. Colombia
C. Ethiopia
D. Arabia
10. The Arabic legend is used to prove that _________.
A. coffee was first discovered by Kaldi.
B. coffee was first discovered by Kaldi’s goats.
C. coffee was first discovered in south American countries.
D. coffee drinks were first made by Arbas.
Passage 3 Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:
Traditionally, universities have carried out two main activities: research and teaching. Many experts would argue that both these activities play a critical role in serving the community. The fundamental question , however is : how does the community want or need to be served?
In recent years universities have been coming under increasing pressure from both the governments and the public to ensure that they do not remain “ivory towers”(象牙塔)of study separated from the realities of everyday life. University teachers have been encouraged, and in some cases constrained (強逼), to provide more courses which produce graduates with the technical skills required for the commercial use.79) If Aristotle wanted to work in a university in the UK today, he would have a good chance of teaching computer science but would not be so readily employable as a philosopher.
A post-industrial society requires large numbers of computer programmers, engineers, managers and technicians to maintain and develop its economic growth but “man”, as the Bible says,“ does not live by bread alone.” 80)Apart from requiring medical and social services, which do not directly contribute to economic growth, the society should also value and enjoy literature, music and the arts. In these cost-conscious times, it has even been pointed out in justification for the funding of the arts that they can be useful money earners. A successful musical play, for instance, can contribute as much to the Gross National Product through tourist dollars as any other things.
11. The main idea of the first paragraph is that ____________.
A. traditional universities do a good job serving the society
B. universities must meet the needs of the society
C. research and teaching are of great importance in universities
D. universities play an important role in our society
12. We can infer from the second paragraph that__________.
A. the society is not satisfied with the present college education
B. the governments interfere too much with college education
C. teacher are forced to do what they don’t like to do
D. teachers dislike teaching commercially useful courses
13. The Aristotle example is used to make the point that _________.
A. universities in the UK have produced too many good-for –nothing graduates
B. such abstract subjects as philosophy is no longer useful
C. education should serve the social needs
D. it is advisable for today’s philosophers to know computer science.
14. According to the passage, literature, music and the arts__________.
A. do not contribute to economic growth at all
B. are less useful to the society because they do not make direct contribution to economic growth
C. are similar to medical and social services in their way of promoting economic growth
D. should develop only when they are good for economic growth
15. The author believes that_________.
A. art is useful only when it is made into a money earner
B. the promotion of economic growth is the only goal of today’s society
C. universities should not provide literature or art courses
D. the society needs both technical skills and arts
