Part II Reading Comprehension
(35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
Passage one
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Interest in pursuing international careers has soared in recent years, enhanced by chronic (長久的) personnel shortages that are causing companies to search beyond their home borders for talent.
Professionals seek career experience outside of their home countries for a variety of reasons. They may feel the need to recharge their batteries with a new challenge. They may want a position with more responsibility that encourages creativity and initiative. Or they may wish to expose their children to another culture, and the opportunity to learn a second language.
When applying for a job, one usually has to submit a resume or curriculum vitae (CV). The two terms generally mean the same thing: a one-or two-page document describing one’s educational qualifications and professional experience. However, guidelines for preparing a resume are constantly changing. The best advice is to find out what is appropriate regarding the corporate (公司) culture, the country culture, and the culture of the person making the hiring decision. The challenge will be to embrace two or more cultures in one document. The following list is a good place to start.
● “Educational requirements differ from country to country. In almost every case of ‘cross-border’ job hunting, just stating the title of your degree will not bean adequate description. Provide the reader with details about your studies and any related experience.”
● Pay attention to the resume format you use-chronological or reverse-chronological order. Chronological order means listing your ‘oldest’ work experience first. Reverse-chronological order means listing your current or most recent experience first. Most countries have preferences about which format is most acceptable. If you find no specific guidelines, the general preference is for the reverse-chronological format.”
● If you are submitting your resume in English, find out if the recipient (收件人) uses British English or American English because there are variations between the two versions. For example, university education is often referred to as ‘tertiary education’ in the United Kingdom, but this term is almost never used in the United States. A reader who is unfamiliar with these variations may assume that your resume contains errors.
21. Companies are hiring more foreign employees because ________.
A) they find foreign employees are usually more talented
B) they need original ideas from employees hired overseas
C) they want to expand their business beyond home borders
D) they have difficulty finding qualified personnel at home
22. The author believes that an individual who applies to work overseas ________.
A) is usually creative and full of initiative
B) aims to improve his foreign language skills
C) is dissatisfied with his own life at home
D) seeks either his own or his children’s development
23. When it comes to resume writing, it is best to ________.
A) take cultural factors into consideration
B) learn about the company’s hiring process
C) follow appropriate guidelines for job hunting
D) know the employer’s personal likes and dislikes
24. When writing about qualifications, applicants are advised to ________.
A) stress their academic potential to impress the decision maker
B) give the title of the university degree they have earned at home
C) provide a detailed description of their study and work experiences
D) highlight their keen interest in pursuing a ‘cross-border’ career
25. According to the author’s last piece of advice, the applicants should be aware of ________.
A) the different educational systems in the US and the UK
B) the differences between the varieties of English
C) the recipient’s preference with regard to the format
D) the distinctive features of American and British cultures
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
Educating girls quite possibly yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world. Women’s education may be unusual territory for economists, but enhancing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its emphasis on incentives (激勵), provides guideposts that point to an explanation for why so many girls are deprived of an education.
Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and art kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school-the prophecy (預言) becomes self-fulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle (惡性循環(huán)) of neglect.
An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters are given a fair chance. The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the
next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle.
Few will dispute that educating women has great social benefits. But it has enormous economic advantages as well. Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers. Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning. Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices, including family planning.
26. The author argues that educating girls in developing countries is ________.
A) troublesome
B) labor-saving
C) rewarding
D) expensive
27. By saying “... the prophecy becomes self-fulfilling...” (Lines 45, Para. 2). the author means that ________.
A) girls will turn out to be less valuable than boys
B) girls will be capable of realizing their own dreams
C) girls will eventually find their goals in life beyond reach
D) girls will be increasingly discontented with their life at home
28. The author believes that a vicious circle can turn into a virtuous circle when ________.
A) women care more about education
B) girls can gain equal access to education
C) a family has fewer but healthier children
D) parents can afford their daughters’ education
29. What does the author say about women’s education?
A) It deserves greater attention than other social issues.
B) It is now given top priority in many developing countries.
C) It will yield greater returns than other known investments.
D) It has aroused the interest of a growing number of economists.
30. The passage mainly discusses ________.
A) unequal treatment of boys and girls in developing countries
B) the potential earning power of well-educated women
C) the major contributions of educated women to society
D) the economic and social benefits of educating women
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
Speeding off in a stolen car, the thief thinks he has got a great catch. But he is in for an unwelcome surprise. The car is fitted with a remote immobiliser (鎖止器), and a radio signal from a control centre miles away will ensure that once the thief switches the engine off, he will not be able to start it again.
The idea goes like this. A control box fitted to the car contains a mini-cellphone, a micro-processor and memory, and a GPS (全球定位系統(tǒng)) satellite positioning receiver. If the car is stolen, a coded cellphone signal will tell the control centre to block the vehicle’s engine management system and prevent the engine being restarted.
In the UK, a set of technical fixes is already making life harder for car thieves. ‘The pattern of vehicle crime has changed,’ says Martyn Randall, a security expert. He says it would only take him a few minutes to teach a person how to steal a car, using a bare minimum of tools. But only if the car is more than 10 years old.
Modern cars are far tougher to steal, as their engine management computer won’t allow them to start unless they receive a unique ID code beamed out by the ignition (點火) key. In the UK, technologies like this have helped achieve a 31% drop in vehicle-related crime since 1997.
But determined criminals are still managing to find other ways to steal cars, often by getting bold of the owner’s keys. And key theft is responsible for 40% of the thefts of vehicles fitted with a tracking system.
If the car travels 100 metres without the driver confirming their ID, the system will send a signal to an operations centre that it has been stolen. The hundred metres minimum avoids false alarms due to inaccuracies in the GPS signal.
Staff at the centre will then contact the owner to confirm that the car really is missing, and keep police informed of the vehicle’s movements via the car’s GPS unit.
31. What’s the function of the remote immobilizer fitted to a car?
A) To help the police make a surprise attack on the car thief.
B) To allow the car to lock automatically when stolen.
C) To prevent the car thief from restarting it once it stops.
D) To prevent car theft by sending a radio signal to the car owner.
32. By saying “The pattern of vehicle crime has changed” (Lines 1-2. Para. 3), Martyn Randall suggests that ________.
A) it takes a longer time for the car thief to do the stealing
B) self-prepared tools are no longer enough for car theft
C) the thief has to make use of computer technology
D) the thief has lost interest in stealing cars over 10 years old
33. What is essential in making a modem car tougher to steal?
A) A coded ignition key.
B) A unique ID card.
C) A special cellphone signal.
D) A GPS satellite positioning receiver.
34. Why does the tracking system set a 100-metre minimum before sending an alarm to the operations centre?
A) To leave time for the operations centre to give an alarm.
B) To keep police informed of the car’s movements.
C) To give the driver time to contact the operations centre.
D) To allow for possible errors in the GPS system.
35. What will the operations centre do first after receiving an alarm?
A) Start the tracking system.
B) Contact the car owner.
C) Block the car engine.
D) Locate the missing car.
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Psychiatrists (精神病專家) who work with older parents say that maturity can be an asset in child rearing-older parents are more thoughtful, use less physical discipline and spend more time with their children. But raising kids takes money and energy. Many older parents find themselves balancing their limited financial resources, declining energy and failing health against the growing demands of an active child. Dying and leaving young children is probably the older parents’ biggest, and often unspoken, fear. Having late-life children, says an economics professor, often means parents, particularly fathers, “end up retiring much later.” For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream.
Henry Metcalf, a 54-year-old journalist, knows it takes money to raise kids. But he’s also worried that his energy will give out first. Sure, he can still ride bikes with his athletic fifth grader, but he’s learned that young at heart doesn’t mean young. Lately he’s been taking afternoon naps (午睡) to keep up his energy. “My body is aging,” says Metcalf. “You can’t get away from that.”
Often, older parents hear the ticking of another kind of biological clock. Therapists who work with middle-aged and older parents say fears about aging are nothing to laugh at. “They worry they’ll be mistaken for grandparents, or that they’ll need help getting up out of those little chairs in nursery school,” says Joann Galst, a New York psychologist. But at the core of those little fears there is often a much bigger one: “that they won’t be alive long enough to support and protect their child,” she says.
Many late-life parents, though, say their children came at just the right time. After marrying late and undergoing years of fertility (受孕) treatment, Marilyn Nolen and her husband. Randy, had twins. “We both wanted children,” says Marilyn, who was 55 when she gave birth. The twins have given the couple what they desired for years, “a sense of family.” Kids of older dads are often smarter, happier and more sociable because their fathers are more involved in their lives. “The dads are older, more mature,” says Dr. Silber,
“and more ready to focus on parenting.”
36. Why do psychiatrists regard maturity as an asset in child rearing?
A) Older parents are often better prepared financially.
B) Older parents can take better care of their children.
C) Older parents are usually more experienced in bringing up their children.
D) Older parents can better balance their resources against children’s demands.
37. What does the author mean by saying “For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream” (Lines 7-8, Para. 1)?
A) They are reluctant to retire when they reach their retirement age.
B) They can’t obtain the retirement benefits they have dreamed of.
C) They can’t get full pension unless they work some extra years.
D) They have to go on working beyond their retirement age.
38. The author gives the example of Henry Metcalf to show that ________.
A) older parents should exercise more to keep up with their athletic children
B) many people are young in spirit despite their advanced age
C) older parents tend to be concerned about their aging bodies
D) taking afternoon naps is a good way to maintain energy
39. What’s the biggest fear of older parents according to New York psychologist Joan Galst?
A) Approaching of death.
B) Slowing down of their pace of life.
C) Being laughed at by other people.
D) Being mistaken for grandparents.
40. What do we learn about Marilyn and Randy Nolen?
A) They thought they were an example of successful fertility treatment.
B) Not until they reached middle age did they think of having children.
C) Not until they had the twins did they feel they had formed a family.
D) They believed that children born of older parents would be smarter.
