评论
打印
C
Everybody cheats. Whether it’s the taxi driver who tricks a visitor and takes them the long way round, or the shop assistant who doesn’t give the correct change, or the police officer who accepts a bribe (贿赂) – everybody’s at it. Cheats in the nest include the scientist whose research was based on fake data, the game show competitors who worked with a friend in the audience or win a million pounds, and the doctor who made up his qualifications and wasn’t really a doctor at all. Everybody cheats; nobody’s playing the game.
Is cheating acceptable, a natural way of surviving and being successful? Or is it something that should be frowned on, and young people discouraged from doing? If it’s the latter how can we explain to children why so many bend the rules?
Take sport for example. The Word Cup was filled with cheating. Whether diving, pretending to be hurt or denying a handball, footballers will do anything for a free – kick or a penalty shot. France striker Henry denied cheating to win the free – kick which led to his side’s second goal in their 3 – 1 victory over Spain. Many footballers, however, are often putting it on. Whatever the nationality there’s one common ploy: the player rolls over holding their leg, ankle or head seeming to be in great pain. As a result a yellow card and / or free – kick is given for the foul and then, a few seconds later, the player is up and about as if nothing had happened ! The ref (裁判) may be taken in by it but youngsters watching the game aren’t. they also see their heroes getting away with it.
Of course it’s not just football. In 1998 the Tour de France, the world’s greatest cycling event, was hit by a drug – taking scandal (丑闻). The 40 bottles of forbidden drugs found with the Fustian team caused a massive investigation that almost caused the Tour to be abandoned. One rider, Veronique, was banned for 9 months. He claimed: “You have cheats in sport, just as you do in business – there will always be people trying to take a short cut. At least we’re not turning a blind eye to the problem, which other sports are.”
Is it all unavoidable? There’s huge pressure on all athletes to perform for their fans and for their sponsors. It’s success, money and power that rule professional sport rather than an honest at tempt to do the best one can.
Meanwhile companies around the world are losing billions of dollars to fake products. From cut price CDs and DVDs to sportswear, cheap fake products are everywhere. It has become socially acceptable to buy fake Gucci bags and illegal copies of films. If parents are doing this, their children will follow.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that around the world more pupils than ever are caught cheating during exams. In one case missing exam papers were put up for sale on the Internet. In another, widespread cheating took place by pupils using their mobile phones to receive tested answers. They blame the pressure put on them to do well in exams. It doesn’t help that their role models are alos cheats. Surely we can’t complain when we’re setting such a bad example.
50. According to the passage, in which way can a game show player cheat?
A. By taking an indirect way. B. By gaining aid from a friend.
C. By taking forbidden drugs. D. By selling fake products.
51. The phrase “be frowned on”(Paragraph 2) most probably means .
A. to be disapproved of B. to be pushed forward
C. to be taken the place of D. to be stuck with
52. The writer’s suppose for writing this passage is to .
A. explain why people in almost every field cheat
B. complain about cheats in school education
C. persuade young people not to cheat in exams
D. blame the society for tolerating cheats
53. The writer mentions the example of the World Cup in Paragraph 3 in order to .
A. show cheating is a common phenomenon nowadays
B. discuss the relationship between sport and cheating
C. explore the nature of cheating in important events
D. warn coaches and athletes of the danger of cheating
54. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
A. Exams are not a good way of testing children.
B. Children are natural cheats.
C. If adults cheat, children will cheat too.
D. Everyone including children cheats.
D
When I left home for college, I sought to escape the limited world of farmers, small towns, and country life. I long for the excitement of the city, for the fast pace that rural life lacked, for adventure beyond the horizon. I dreamed of exploring the city, living within a new culture and landscape, and becoming part of the pulse of an urban jungle.
Yet some of my best times were driving home, leaving the city behind and slipping back into the valley. As city life disappeared and traffic thinned, I could see the faces of the other drivers relax. Then, around a bend in the highway, the grassland of the valley would come into being, offering a 6 of gentle rolling hills. The land seemed permanent. I felt as if I had stepped back in time.
I took comfort in the stability of the valley. Driving through small farm communities, I imagined the founding families still rooted in their grand homes, generations working the same lands, neighbors remaining neighbors for generations. I allowed familiar farmhouse landmarks to guide me.
Close to home, I often turned off the main highway and took a different, getting familiar farms again and testing my memory. Friends lived in those houses. I had eaten meals and spent time there; I had worked on some of these farms, lending a hand during a peak harvest, helping a family friend for a day or two. The houses and lands looked the same, and I could picture the gentle faces and hear familiar voices as if little had been changed. As I eased into our driveway I’d return to old ways, becoming a son once again, a child on the family farm. My feelings were honest and real. How I longed for a land where life stood still and my memories could be relived. When I left the farm for college, I could only return as visitor to the valley, a traveler looking for home.
Now the farm is once again my true home. I live in that farmhouse and work the permanent lands. My world may seem unchanged to casual observers, but they are wrong. I now this; if there’s a constant on these farms, it’s the constant of change.
The good observer will recognize the differences. A farmer replants an orchard (果园) with a new variety of peaches. Irrigation is added to block of old grapes, so I imagine they vineyard has a new owner. Occasionally the changes are clearly evident, like a FOR SALE sign. But I need to read the small print in order to make sure that a bank has taken possession of the farm. Most of the changes contain two stories. One is the physical change of the farm, the other involves the people on that land, the human story behind the change.
I’ve been back on the farm for a decade and still haven’t heard all the stories behind the changes around me. But once I add my stories to the landscape, I can call this place my home, a home that continues to evolve and changes as I add more and more of my stories.
A poet returns to they valley and says, “How closed – minded you all are.” He comments about the lack of interest in the sorts, I social and environmental issues, In the poverty and inequality of our life. “Little has changed in the valley.” He was born and raised here, so he might have the right to criticize and lecture us. Yet he speaks for many who think they know the valley. How differently would others think of us if they knew the stories of a grape harvest in a wet year or a peach without a home?
55. The most important reason why the writer wanted to move to the city is that .
A. he did not want to work on the farm B. he wanted to make new friends
C. he was eager for a different life there D. there were more things to do there
56. What made the writer relax as he drove from the city to the country?
A. He could see for miles and miles.
B. The traffic moved more slowly.
C. The people he passed seemed to be calmer.
D. The land seemed familiar to him.
57. When driving through the valley the writer was guided home by .
A. familiar farmhouses which left him a good memory
B. houses that had sheltered generations of the same family
C. land that had been worked by a family for generations
D. large farms which stretched out right before him.
58. When he was in college, why was the writer sad when he returned to his family home?
A. He remembered how hard he used to work.
B. He realized that he was only a visitor.
C. He recognized the old housed and land.
D. He remembered his next door neighbors.
59. Which of the following most likely indicates that there is a sad human story behind a physical change on the farm?
A. A new variety of peach is being planted.
B. Irrigation is being added to a grape operation.
C. A piece of land is being sold by a bank.
D. A farm is being sold to a large corporation.
60. The fact that most upsets the writer with the poet is that .
A. the poet prefers to live in the urban area
B. the poet thinks that the folk people are backward
C. the poet says that little has changed in the valley
D. the poet’s criticism and comments are not objective
