Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them the re 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 centre.
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
A few common misconceptions. Beauty is only skin deep. One’s physical assets and liabilities don’t count all that much in a managerial career. A woman should always try to look her best.
Over the last 30 years, social scientists have conducted more than 1,000 studies of how we react to beautiful and not so beautiful people. The virtually unanimous conclusion: Looks do matter, more than most of us realize. The data suggest, for example, that physically attractive individuals are more likely to be treated well by their parents, sought out as friends, and pursued romantically. With the possible exception of women seeking managerial jobs, they are also more likely to be hired, paid well, and promoted.
Un American, you say, unfair and extremely unbelievable? Once again, the scientists have caught us mouthing pieties (虔诚) while acting just the contrary. Their typical experiment works something like this. They give each member of a group-college students, or teachers or corporate personnel mangers-a piece of paper relating an individual’s accomplishments. Attached to the paper is a photograph. While the papers all say exactly the same thing the pictures are different. Some show a strikingly attractive person, some an average looking character, and some an unusually unattractive human being. Group members are asked to rate the individual on certain attributes, anything from personal warmth to the likelihood that he or she will be promoted.
Almost invariably, the better looking the person in the picture, the higher the person is rated. In the phrase, borrowed from Sappho, that the social scientists use to sum up the common perception, what is beautiful is good.
In business, however, good looks cut both ways for women, and deeper than for men. A Utah State University professor, who is an authority on the subject, explains: In terms of their careers, the impact of physical attractiveness on males is only modest. But its potential impact on females can be tremendous, making it easier, for example, for the more attractive to get jobs where they are in the public eye. On another note, though, there is enough literature now for us to conclude that attractive women who aspire (追求) to managerial positions do not get on as well as women who may be less attractive.
21. According to the passage, people often wrongly believe that in pursuing a career as a manager ________.
A) a person’s property or debts do not matter much
B) a person’s outward appearance is not a critical qualification
C) women should always dress fashionably
D) women should not only be attractive but also high minded
22. The result of research carried out by social scientists show that ________.
A) people do not realize the importance of looking one’s best
B) women in pursuit of managerial jobs are not likely to be paid well
C) good looking women aspire to managerial positions
D) attractive people generally have an advantage over those who are not
23. Experiments by scientists have shown that when people evaluate individuals on certain attributes ________.
A) they observe the principle that beauty is only skin deep
B) they do not usually act according to the views they support
C) they give ordinary looking persons the lowest ratings
D) they tend to base their judgment on the individual’s accomplishments
24. “Good looks cut both ways for women” (Line 1, Para. 5) means that ________.
A) attractive women have tremendous potential impact on public jobs
B) good looking women always get the best of everything
C) being attractive is not always an advantage for women
D) attractive women do not do as well as unattractive women in managerial positions
25. It can be inferred from the passage that in the business world ________.
A) handsome men are not affected as much by their looks as attractive women are
B) physically attractive women who are in the public eye usually do quite well
C) physically attractive men and women who are in the public eye usually get along quite well
D) good looks are important for women as they are for men
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
Not content with its doubtful claim to produce cheap food for our own population, the factory farming industry also argues that “hungry nations are benefiting from advances made by the poultry (家禽) industry”. In fact, rather than helping the fight against malnutrition (营养不良) in “hungry nations,” the spread of factory farming has, inevitably aggravated the problem.
Large scale intensive meat and poultry production is a waste of food resources.
This is because more protein has to be fed to animals in the form of vegetable matter than can ever be recovered in the form of meat. Much of the food value is lost in the animal’s process of digestion and cell replacement. Neither, in the ca se of chicken, can one eat feathers, blood, feet or head. In all, only about 44% of the live animal fits to be eaten as meat.
This means one has to feed approximately 9—10 times as much food value to the animal than one can consume from the carcass. As a system for feeding the hungry, the effects can prove disastrous. At times of crisis, grain is the food of life.
Nevertheless, the huge increase in poultry production throughout Asia and Africa continues. Normally British or US firms are involved. For instance, an American based multinational company has this year announced its involvement in projects in several African countries. Britain’s largest suppliers chickens, Ross Breeders, are also involved in projects all over the world.
Because such trade is good for exports, Western governments encourage it. In 1979, a firm in Bangladesh called Phoenix Poultry received a grant to set up a unit of 6,000 chickens and 18,000 laying hens. This almost doubled the number of poultry kept in the country all at once.
But Bangladesh lacks capital, energy and food and has large numbers of unemployed. Such chicken raising demands capital for building and machinery, extensive use of energy resources for automation, and involves feeding chickens with potential famine relief protein food. At present, one of Bangladesh’s main imports is food grains, because the country is unable to grow enough food to feed its population. On what then can they possibly feed the chicken?
26. In this passage the author argues that ________.
A) efficiency must be raised in the poultry industry
B) raising poultry can provide more protein than growing grain
C) factory farming will do more harm than good to developing countries
D) hungry nations may benefit from the development of the poultry industry
27. According to the author, in factory, vegetable food ________.
A) is easy for chickens to digest
B) is insufficient for the needs of poultry
C) is fully utilised in meat and egg production
D) is inefficiently converted into meat and eggs
28. Western governments encourage the poultry industry in Asia because they regard it as an effective way to ________.
A) boost their own exports
B) alleviate malnutrition in Asian countries
C) create job opportunities in Asian countries
D) promote the exports of Asian countries
29. The word “carcass” (Line 2, Para. 3) most probably means “________”.
A) vegetables preserved for future use
B) the dead body of an animal ready to be cut into meat
C) expensive food that consumers can hardly afford
D) meat canned for future consumption
30. What the last paragraph tells us is the author’s ________.
A) detailed analysis of the ways of raising poultry in Bangladesh
B) great appreciation of the development of poultry industry in Bangladesh
C) critical view on the development of the poultry industry in Bangladesh
D) practical suggestion for the improvement of the poultry industry in Bangladesh