The marker is a concept . If you are growing tomatoes in your backyard for sale you are producing for the market. You might sell some to your neighbor and some to the manager of the local supermarket. But in either case, you are producing for the marker. Your efforts are being directed by the marker. If people stop buying tomatoes, you will stop producing them.
  If you take care of a sick person to earn money, you are producing for the marker. If your father is a steelworker or a truck driver or a doctor or a grocer, he is producing goods or service for the market.
  When you spend you income, you are buying things from the marker. You may spend money in stores, supermarkets, gas stations, and restaurants. Still you are buying from the market. When the local grocer hires you to drive the delivery truck, he is buying your labor in the labor market.
  The marker may seem to be something abstract. But for each person or business who is making and selling something, it's very real. If nobody buys your tomatoes, it won't be long before you get the message. The market is telling you something. It's telling you that you are using energies and resources in doing something the market doesn't want you do.

1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Selling and Buying
B. What Is the Market
C. Everything You Do Is Producing for the Market
D. What the Market Can Do for You?

2. All of the following acts are producing for the market except _________.
A. working in a bank
B. printing a book
C. attending a night school
D. growing beans for sale

3. You are buying from the market when you ________.
A. borrow a book from the library.
B. look after your children
C. drive to the seaside for a holiday
D. dine at a restaurant

4. The word "real" in the last paragraph may most probably mean ______.
A. serious
B. true
C. important
D. concrete

5. In what way is the market very real for each person or business who is making and selling something?
A. It tells you what to produce.
B. It tells you how to grow tomatoes.
C. It provides you with everything you need.
D. It helps you save money.

2

  After inventing dynamite, Swedish-born Alfred Nobel became a very rich man. However, he foresaw its universally destructive powers too late. Nobel preferred not to be remembered as the inventor of dynamite, so in 1895, just two weeks before his death, he created a fund to be used for awarding prizes to people who had made worthwhile contributions to mankind. Originally there were five awards: literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, and peace. Economics was added in 1968, just sixty-seven years after the first award ceremony.
  Nobel's original legacy of nine million dollars was invested, and the interest on this sum is used for the awards which vary from $30,000 to $125,000.
  Every year on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death, the awards (gold medal, illuminated diploma, and money) are presented to the winners. Sometimes politics plays an important role in the judge' decision. Americans have won numerous science awards, but relatively few literature prizes.
  No awards were presented from 1940 to 1942 at the beginning of World War II. Some people have won two prizes, but this is rare; others have shared prizes.

6. When did the first award ceremony take place?
A. 1895
B. 1901
C. 1962
D. 1968

7. Why was the Nobel Prize established?
A. To recognize worthwhile contributions to humanity.
B. To resolve political differences.
C. To honor the inventor of dynamite.
D. To spend money

8. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Awards vary in monetary value.
B. Ceremonies are held on December 10 to commemorate Nobel's invention.
C. Politics can play an important role in selecting the winners.
D. A few individuals have won two awards.

9. In which area have Americans received the most awards?
A. literature
B. peace
C. economics
D. science

10. In how many fields are prizes bestowed（授予)?
A. 2
B. 5
C. 6
D. 10

3

  Very high waves are destructive when they strike the land. Fortunately, this seldom happens. One reason is that out at sea, waves moving in one direction almost always run into waves moving in a different direction. The two sets of waves tend to cancel each other out. Another reason is that water is shallower near the shore. As a wave gets closer to land, the shallow bottom helps reduce its strength.
  But the power of waves striking the shore can still be very great. During a winter gale, waves sometimes strike the shore with the force of 6,000 pounds for each square foot. That means a wave 25 feet high and 500 feet along its face, may strike the shore with a force of 75 million pounds.
  Yet the waves, no matter how big or how violent, affect only the surface of the sea. During the most raging storms, the water a hundred fathoms (600 feet) beneath the surface is just as calm as on a day without a breath of wind.

11. According to the passage, destruction caused by high waves occurs _________.
A. regularly
B. rarely
C. always
D. predictably

12. We know from this passage that out at sea, when waves going in opposite directions meet, their force ________.
A. causes great damage
B. extends to the ocean floor
C. is liable to lessen
D. increase rapidly

13. It is clear from the passage that coastal depth _______.
A. is the only factor influencing the strength of high waves
B. influences the power of high waves
C. has no influence upon the strength of very high waves
D. is irrelevant to the question of the power of high waves

14. From the second paragraph of the passage we know that the power of very high waves striking the shore is ________.
A. constant
B. equalized
C. variable
D. perpetual

15. From your reading of the passage, which of the following is true?
A. At a depth of 1,200 feet the effects of a violent surface storm are frightful.
B. A submarine commander navigating his vessel at a depth of 700 feet will not be affected by a raging surface storm.
C. A typhoon 500 miles out at sea can stir up the ocean floor.
D. If high waves can strike the shore with a horizontal force of 75 million pounds, the vertical force of such waves can have an even greater effect upon the ocean floor.

4

  Why don't birds get lost on their long flights from one place to another? Scientists have puzzled over this question for many years. Now they're beginning to fill in the blanks.
  Not long ago, experiments showed that birds rely on the sun to guide them during daylight hours. But what about birds that fly by night? Tests with artificial stars have proved that certain night-flying birds are able to follow the stars in their long-distance flights.
  A dove had spent its lifetime in a cage and had never flown under a natural sky. Yet it showed an inborn ability to use the stars for guidance. The bird's cage was placed under a artificial star-filled sky. The bird tried to fly in the same direction as that taken by his outdoor cousins. Any change in the position of the artificial stars caused a change in the direction of his flight.
  But the stars are apparently their principal means of navigation. When the stars are hidden by clouds, they apparently find their way by such landmarks as mountain ranges, coast lines, and river courses. But when it's too dark to see these, the doves circle helplessly, unable to find their way.

16. The reason why birds don't get lost on long flights _________.
A. has been known to scientists for years
B. has only recently been discovered
C. is known by everyone
D. will probably remain a mystery

17. During daylight hours, birds _______.
A. fly aimlessly
B. rely on landmarks
C. use the sun for guidance
D. are more likely to get lost

18. By "his outdoor cousins" the author means __________.
A. other experimenters
B. the other doves of the same brood
C. doves under the natural sky
D. other birds in general

19. The experiment with the dove indicated that __________.
A. birds have to the taught to navigate
B. a bird that has been caged will not fly long distances
C. some birds cannot fly at night
D. some birds seem to follow the stars when they fly at night

20. In total darkness, doves ____________.
A. use landmarks
B. don't know which way to fly
C. fly back home
D. wait for the stars to appear

5

  With the invention and development of television, entertainment has grown much more visual in character and is demanding less and less use of the imagination, considered by many to be man's greatest faculty; but its greatest inadequacy lines in its inability to exercise just those creative powers in men which are called upon and developed in the pursuit of a worth while hobby. This lack is not serious while a man is still fully employed in his day-to-day work which itself often gives him opportunities to create either with his hands or with his mind. At this time he seeks only some form of relaxation in his leisure. There comes a time, however, when he must retire from his occupation on account of age, and it is then that these shallower pastimes, useful enough as a form relaxation, might cease to satisfy the hitherto active man. Today, many elderly people are finding this to be true, and seem constantly to be suffering from a sense of frustration after retirement, which reveals itself in a short temper and slow degeneration of health, the two most common symptoms.

21. The writer criticizes visual entertainment because ________.
A. it does not require men's creative powers
B. it cannot improve our intelligence and skill
C. it demands too much of our imagination
D. it leads men to slow degeneration in health

22. What is regarded as men's greatest faculty?
A. Entertainment.
B. Character.
C. Hobbies.
D. imagination.

23. While fully employed, men look for __________.
A. visual entertainment that requires imagination in their leisure
B. opportunities to create either with their hands or with their minds in their leisure
C. something that will help them relax in their leisure
D. creative hobbies in their leisure

24. The elderly people find _________.
A. that shallower pastimes can no longer satisfy them
B. it unnecessary to cultivate creative hobbies in their younger days
C. retirement unnecessary
D. relaxation most suitable for their age

25. It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A. hobbies are more important to the youth than to the elderly people
B. we should develop worthwhile hobbies when we are young
C. in ancient time entertainment was more visual in character
D. hobbies are not important in the health of modern men

参考答案：
1. B  2. C  3. D  4. D  5. A
6. B  7. A  8. B  9. D  10. C
11. B  12. C  13. B  14. C  15. B
16. B  17. C  18. C  19. D  20. B
21. A  22. D  23. C  24. A  25. B