社会现象类阅读理解模拟训练(60670)-高三英语阅读(394)-21英语网

A

Stopping teens from smoking is a big challenge many communities face today. Many communities can only watch without being able to act while local businesses continue to sell tobacco products to children, even under risk of punishment by law.

Recent studies show that a large percentage of teens today are getting their cigarettes from stores, mostly gas stations or convenience store. As teens continue to be able to buy their own cigarettes, more and more communities begin to impose stronger punishments on merchants who sell to teens.

One community has experienced success in their attempts to stop the sale of tobacco products to children. Woodridge, Illinois, started a program seven years ago which forbade and strictly punished the sale of tobacco products to children. The entire program includes local licensing of selling, repeated undercover inspections to see if the sale to minors has stopped, and education programs in schools. Woodridge has become a model community as other communities are moving to stop teen tobacco use.

A recent national study showed that 36.5% of females and 40.8% of males buy their cigarettes from stores, whether it be a gas station or a supermarket. Hopefully, as more and more merchants see the trouble they face if caught selling to minors, they will stop selling.

True, placing pressure on stores that sell tobacco to children isn’t going to completely stop the problem of teen tobacco use. Teens continue to get them from other sources. But it definitely does make it more difficult for them. With more education in schools, and perhaps stronger punishments for teens caught with tobacco, more and more teens will see the problems with the tobacco usage, and will stop the habit.

1. To stop teens from smoking, more and more communities are ______.

A. punishing those who sell cigarettes to teens more severely

B. punishing teens caught with tobacco more severely

C. educating those who sell cigarettes about the danger of teen smoking

D. stopping the sale of tobacco products in stores

2. Which of the following is NOT a method Woodridge uses to stop the sale of tobacco products to children?

A. Local licensing of tobacco sale

B. repeated undercover inspections

C. education programs in schools

D. stronger punishment of teens caught smoking

3. The passage tell us that ______.

A. teens can only buy cigarettes from stores

B. the Woodridge practice is being adopted by most communities in the US

C. more males than females smoke

D. punishment alone cannot solve the problem of teen tobacco use

4. What attitude does the article have about stopping teen tobacco abuse?

A. Pessimistic . B. Optimistic C. Uncertain. D. Indifferent.

B

Terrible workplace stories of injury and death are becoming less common in the West; thanks to strict safety laws. Now many American and European workers have a new concern: illness and sometimes even death caused by overwork.

American Paul Brennan spent five years in TV production for a major company in New York. “My job was almost killing me,” he says. “In the end I was constantly exhausted, often sick and my relationship with my girlfriend was on the brink of meltdown – we hardly ever saw each other, and when we did I was always tired and grumpy.”

At first Brennan found the pressure exciting. But he says although he expected the hard work, it was normal to work 55–60 hours a week.

Americans have fewer paid holidays than Europeans and longer work hours. The International Labour Organization reports US workers average nearly 2,000 work hours yearly – 350 hours more than Europeans.

Although most European countries reduced work hours in the 1980s and 1990s, the British working week got longer for many. As in the US, managers, professionals, and ordinary workers do the most hours.

According to the London-based Institute for Employment Studies, over two-thirds of UK managerial and professional staff work long hours without extra pay. Other workers are usually paid for more work.

“I often work extra hours, but there’s no way I’d do unpaid overtime,” says Dan Carter, an Australian carpenter in London. “Some of my mates work in finance here and make good money, but they work like slaves.”

Professor Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich, Germany says, “As Europeans struggle with high unemployment, they may have to work longer to cope with globalization.”

5. What is the problem facing Western workers at present?

A. Workplace injury.B. Workplace death.

C. Overwork.D. No holidays.

6. The underlined word “grumpy” in the second paragraph probably means ______.

A. hungryB. hot-temperedC. caringD. excited

7. The text tell us that ______.

A. Americans have more paid holidays than Europeans

B. managers in Britain work less hours than ordinary workers

C. Dan Carter won’t work extra hours unless he gets extra pay

D. professional staff in the US and the UK work overtime without extra pay

8. According to Professor Hans-Werner Sinn, ______ is making Europeans overwork.

A. a new regulationB. globalization

C. desire for promotionD. extra pay

C

IT was a party. I was 18 and it was fresher week. I was at the beginning of a course in English Literature and full of enthusiasm for my subject. She was also 18 and enrolled in a course in physics.

“Your major is of no use to society. What will you do with it when you graduate, other than teach? Plus, you’re going to be poor your whole life,” she said.

“You have no soul and your degree is boring. I don’t care how much money you’re going to earn. I’d rather be poor and don’t mind being a teacher. If I love my work I’ll have something far more meaningful than a big bank account!” came the reply.

And so it went, back and forth, neither of us giving the other an inch, each of us stubbornly committed to our prejudice.

We were both ignorant, but our ignorance was also society’s ignorance. It had always been that way. Scientists mocked humanists; humanists laughed at scientists. Back in the 1960s, the physicist-turned novelist C. P. Snow labeled the sciences-humanities divide “a problem of ‘the two cultures’.” He said it was bad for society. The modern world needed well-rounded people.

I think I know better now, but it would have helped if we had been encouraged to think a little more outside our science and arts “boxes”.

That’s why I believe it is healthy that China is beginning a debate on whether it’s wise for young people to have to choose which direction their careers – and lives – will take at such an early age. At the moment, in their second year of high school, students must choose either the sciences or the humanities. After making the choice, they focus their energies on passing the appropriate college entrance exam.

But now, people in China are asking: Is this forced, early decision good for young people or society? Young people need time to explore, to discover where their real talents and interests lie. There are more than just a few middle-aged people out there, stuck in jobs they hate because they made the wrong choice at the wrong time.

And from the point of view of society, isn’t it better for students to delay a while before they decide what to study? Scientists can benefit from learning to develop the critical skills associated with the humanities; students in the humanities, surely, only stand to gain by finding out a little more about science and technology, which are so important to the future of a developing country like China.

With any luck, in the future young people fresh to college will be better informed about the possibilities of education than people of my generation.

By Paul Brennan

9. The author describes what happened at a fresher party to ______.

A. show that he was ready to defend the subject he enjoyed

B. lead up his argument that the sciences-humanities divide is harmful

C. describe how fierce students of different majors can be when arguing with each other

D. prove that doing something meaningful is better than having a lot of money.

10. What was C. P. Snow’s attitude towards the sciences-humanities divide?

A. Positive B. Negative C. Indifferent. D. Uncertain.

11. In the eighth paragraph, an example mentioning middle-aged people is used to show that ______.

A. students should not make decisions too early

B. these people did not have the chance to make a choice earlier in life

C. the earlier young people make a decision, the better it will be for them.

D. Not all people have a talent for or are interested in the sciences.

12. According to the text, it is safe to say that ______.

A. C. P. Snow was a novelist who became a physicist

B. sciences are more practical in the modern world

C. a command of both the sciences and humanities is important to society

D. future generations will be able to get more out of education

D

The British aren’t having as many children as they used to. One reason is that people are having children much older than before, meaning they have fewer years in which they can have them. After years at university, they need a few years of work experience before they can get the job they want. They might then get married, but it’s incredibly expensive to buy a house in the UK.

The above explains why young British people now don’t move out of their parents’ home until they are around 30 years old on average. It is not until they are 30 that they can afford their own home. Increasingly, it is not until that age that they can afford to get married and start a new life in a new home. It’s only after this age that many young people start thinking about having a child.

So a British person manages to get a job, get a home and get married. Why isn’t he or she then having at least two children on average? The main reason is that it is quite expensive to bring up a child in the UK. Why is it expensive? Well, these days, both parents need to work just to pay for their home and living expenses. Because both parents are at work, that means they then need to pay someone to look after their child during the day. Paying for this childcare is nearly always expensive.

The recent financial crisis is making things even harder for families, since unemployment is rising and even fewer people can afford to have children. With so much pressure on families, is it any surprise that the divorce rate is so high?

So what is Britain doing to try and save the British family? The government is trying to make it cheaper to have children. For example, there have been increases in money families can claim from the state each month. Also, there are increasing government subsidies (补贴) for nursery schools, so that parents do not need to pay so much for child care.

The government is also trying to reduce the number of hours British parents have to work to earn enough money to pay their bills. If parents didn’t have to work so many hours, they’d have more time to spend with their children and wouldn’t need to spend so much on childcare. On average, a Briton works 49 hours a week, which is the most in Europe. The state is now considering introducing laws to encourage companies to improve their employees’ work-life balance. Let’s hope they’re not too late to save the British family. Otherwise, the British will always be too tired, and won’t have enough time and money, to have children.

By A. J. Dalton

13. Young British people live in their parents’ home until around 30 because ______.

A. They are allowed to get married at 30

B. they can’t find jobs to support themselves

C. they can’t afford a house of their own until then

D. they enjoy family life with their parents

14. The British are now having fewer children than before for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ______.

A. they have fewer years to have children

B. they live much shorter lives than before

C. it is more expensive to bring up a child

D. people are losing their jobs because of the recent financial crisis

15. To make it cheaper to have children, the British government is ______.

A. bringing down pricesB. raising the salaries of parents

C. reducing family income tax

D. increasing subsidies for families and nursery schools

16. It can be inferred from the text that ______.

A. with long work hours, it is hard for British parents to balance life and work

B. more and more families in Britain are breaking up because they are having fewer children

C. among Europeans, British people work hardest and earn the least

D. childcare takes up too much energy and time for the British

E

The shell-shocked students walked out onto Tottenham Court Road from the University College London office where they’d just finished their final exam. After months of study, they are near graduation and don’t quite know what they’ll do with themselves next. Some will go on to further study, others will travel, and some lucky ones will get a job.

According to the Higher Education Careers Service Unit, up to 40,000 of this year’s nearly 400,000 graduates will still be searching for jobs in six months’ time. That is twice as many as last year. These students are the biggest group of graduates ever. And they’re the first to have paid ￡3,000 in additional fees for every year they studied. The class of 2009 is part of the New Labour generation: the most educated, but also the generation that owes the most money and has the poorest chances of a job.

Joyce, 22, a computer science student, is taking a risk. She told the Guardian, “I’m going to pack my bags and go [traveling]. None of my friends has found a job, so I’m not alone.”

Fight or flight

That fight-or-flight pattern can be seen in a study by the Guardian. A survey of 55 universities, including 20 top colleges, shows a big rise in applications for master’s courses. It’s a way the “fighters” try to make themselves look better to possible bosses.

For those who don’t “fight”, “flight” is calling them. Figures provided by the student travel group STA Travel suggest a rise in people going traveling. Working holiday visas obtained through STA are up 14 percent on the same point last year.

Fiona Sandford, director of careers at the London School of Economics, told the Guardian that, in hard economic times, students do one of two things: they work harder at getting ahead, or they give up.

One common UK student response is “I’m off to Thailand”. But next year they will be in competition with those who are just coming out. When the economy improves, bosses want fresh graduates.

17. The article mainly talks about ______.

A. the increasing popularity of master’s courses among graduates

B. the choice between fight and flight upon graduation

C. ways to add value and look better to potential bosses

D. fresh UK graduates’ response to a bad employment environment

18. Which is NOT a way graduates fight for better job opportunities?

A. Apply for master’s study.

B. Go traveling abroad.

C. Join working holiday programmes.

D. Go on searching for job possibilities.

19. Which is NOT characteristic of this year’s UK graduates?

A. They are among the largest number of graduates.

B. They have to pay much more for their higher learning.

C. They have better job chances than next year’s graduates.

D. They have to bear the biggest job-seeking pressure.

20. The underlined word “flight” is closest in meaning to ______.

A. taking a plane

B. running away

C. travelling abroad

D. making a comeback