Model Test 1
Section I Use of English
Directions:
Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C, and D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
Many parents who welcome the idea of turning off the TV and spending more time with the family are still worried that without TV they would constantly be on call as entertainers for their children. They remember (1) ____ of all sorts of things to do when they were kids, but their own kids seem different, less resourceful, (2) ____. When there’s nothing to do, these parents observe (3) ____, their kids seem unable to (4) ____ any thing to do besides turning on the TV.
One father, (5) ____, says “When I was a kid, we were always thinking up things to do, projects and (6) ____. We certainly never complained in an (7) ____ way to our parents, ‘I have nothing to do!’ ” He compares this with his own children today: “If someone doesn’t entertain them, they’ll happily sit there in front of the (8) ____ all day.”
There is one word for this father’s (9) ____: unfair. It is as if he were disappointed in them for not reading Greek though they have never studied the language. He deplores his children’s (10) ____ of inventiveness, as if the ability to play were something (11) ____ that his children are missing. In fact, while the tendency to play is built into the human species, the actual ability to play —— to imagine, to invent, to elaborate on (12) ____ in a playful way —— and the ability to gain (13) ____ from it, these are skills that have to be learned and developed.
Such disappointment, (14) ____, is not only (15) ____, it is also destructive. Sensing their parents’ disappointment, children come to believe that they are, indeed, lacking something, and that this makes them less worthy of (16) ____ and respect. Giving children the opportunity to develop new (17) ____, to enlarge their horizons and (18) ____ the pleasures of doing things on their own is, on the other hand, a way to help children develop a (19) ____ feeling about themselves as (20) ____ and interesting people.
1. [A] disposing
[B] conceiving
[C] reminding
[D] deceiving
2. [A] anyway
[B] instead
[C] somehow
[D] likewise
3. [A] zealously
[B] identically
[C] regretfully
[D] militantly
4. [A] come up with
[B] shed light on
[C] stay away from
[D] give play to
5. [A] for example
[B] in effect
[C] in a sense
[D] as a result
6. [A] riots
[B] rituals
[C] schemes
[D] games
7. [A] demanding
[B] innate
[C] amusing
[D] annoying
8. [A] spouse
[B] tube
[C] peers
[D] toys
9. [A] admission
[B] tolerance
[C] caution
[D] distress
10. [A] lack
[B] curiosity
[C] plea
[D] liability
11. [A] absent
[B] innate
[C] original
[D] verbal
12. [A] reality
[B] virtual
[C] media
[D] trend
13. [A] reward
[B] progress
[C] fulfillment
[D] intelligence
14. [A] indeed
[B] hence
[C] however
[D] therefore
15. [A] illogical
[B] undesirable
[C] improper
[D] unjust
16. [A] admiration
[B] ignorance
[C] speculation
[D] disregard
17. [A] occasions
[B] domains
[C] perspectives
[D] resources
18. [A] entitle
[B] detach
[C] secure
[D] discover
19. [A] excessive
[B] arrogant
[C] confident
[D] surplus
20.[A]conscientious
[B] capable
[C] sociable
[D] sensitive
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions: Reading the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
Pundits who want to sound judicious are fond of warning against generalizing. Each country is different, they say, and no one story fits all of Asia. This is, of course, silly: all of these economies plunged into economic crisis within a few months of each other, so they must have had something in common.
In fact, the logic of catastrophe was pretty much the same in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and south Korea. (Japan is a very different story.) In each case investors — mainly, but not entirely, foreign banks who had made short-term loans — all tried to pull their money out at the same time. The result was a combined banking and currency crisis. In the face of the stampede, governments had no good options. In practice, countries paid a heavy price regardless.
Was the crisis a punishment for bad economic management? Like most cliches, the catchphrase “crony capitalism” has prospered because it gets at something real: excessively cozy relationships between government and business really did lead to a lot of bad investments. The punishment was surely proportionate to the crime, and many investments that look foolish in retrospect seemed sensible at the time.
Given that there were no good policy options, was the policy response mainly on the right track? There was frantic blame-shifting when everything in Asia seemed to be going wrong; now there is a race to claim credit when some things have started to go right. The International Monetary Fund points to Korea’s recovery — and more generally to the fact that the sky didn’t fall after all — as proof that its policy recommendations were right.
The truth is that an observer would probably conclude that none of the policies adopted either on or in defiance of the IMF’s advice made much difference either way. When there was no more money to run, the natural recuperative powers of the economies finally began to prevail. At best, the money doctors who purported to offer cures provided a helpful bedside manner; at worst, they were like medieval physicians who prescribed bleeding as a remedy for all ills.
Will the patients stage a full recovery? It depends on exactly what you mean by “full”. South Korea’s industrial production is already above its pre-crisis level; but in the spring of 1997 anyone who had predicted zero growth in Korean industry over the next two years would have been regarded as a reckless doomsayer. So if by recovery you mean not just a return to growth, but one that brings the regions performance back to something like what people used to regard as the Asian norm, they have a long way to go.
21. In the eyes of the writer, most Asian economies
[A] were unduly punished in the crisis.
[B] acted on IMF’s recommendations.
[C] failed to live up to the Asian norm.
[D] adopted effective monetary policies.
22. The writer mentions the case of medieval physicians to justify
[A] their versatile skills in the treatment of all ills.
[B] the ineffectiveness of IMF’s policy recommendations.
[C] their ignorance of generalizations about crises.
[D] the insensibility of most Asian business management.
23. It can be inferred from the passage that IMF policy recommendations
[A] were regarded as an irresponsible doomsayer.
[B] were very feasible in their recipient countries.
[C] were obviously far from a panacea in all cases.
[D] were rejected unanimously by Asian countries.
24. This text is intended mainly to
[A] analyze the causes of Asian economic crisis.
[B] make generalizations about Asian economic crisis.
[C] launch a complaint against all foreign banks.
[D] point out the catastrophic results of punishment.
25. At the end of the passage, the writer seems to think that a full recovery of the Asian economy is
[A] predictable.
[B] normal.
[C] imaginable.
[D] remote.
Text 2
Society is all too committed to the notion of “progress” as measured through economic growth and population expansion. The concept of working toward a “sustainable future” is not given much serious thought. Energy policy, for example, concentrates on expanding supply, with relatively little R&D being devoted to improving the efficiency of energy use or developing low-carbon fuels. Yet without a change in course, human activities are destined to further degrade the global environment.
That was my message in 1988, when I argued that it was imperative to create what I called a “conservator society.” After reviewing humanity’s “progress” during the intervening years, however, I have concluded, sadly, that I would change my argument very little. To say that more sustained effort will be needed to achieve the conservator society is obviously an understatement.
Has humanity made any progress during the past 15 years, or have we been retrograde? Consider the following:
Since 1988, the world’s human population has increased by 1.2 billion. By far the majority (over 90 percent) of global population growth is occurring in the developing world — about 75 million more people per year — placing extraordinary strains on global systems to provide for it. Mercifully, population growth rates have fallen in some parts of the world, such as South America. But the rates remain disastrously high in other regions, such as the Middle East. For example, if Saudi Arabia’s 3 percent annual growth rate continues, its population will double in 23 years. Today, nearly half of its citizens are under 15 years of age.
Since 1988, knowledge about the science of global climate change and the human contributions to it has steadily improved, and there now is virtually complete consensus about the phenomenon, even though many technical uncertainties remain. But this scientific progress has not triggered significant action to slow or reverse the impacts. Rather than moving to lessen and delay global climate change, we in the United States tend to politically ignore the evidence, largely because of the argument that to take definitive action would hurt economic growth.
In the energy sector, emphasis remains on subsidizing oil and gas. Federal support for research has continued its long decline. Despite efforts, most notably in the Clinton administration, to work with the auto industry on developing more efficient cars, there has been a decline in fleet fuel efficiency as automakers aggressively market heavy, high-powered (and high-profit) machines. Meanwhile, U. S. production of oil continues to decline.
21. What is implied in the first sentence?
[A] Human activities are detrimental to the science of global climate change.
[B] The human community tends to be over-enthusiastic about economic expansions.
[C] Human actions are focused upon the promotion of energy efficiency.
[D] The human community takes a vain pride in the improvement of fuel efficiency.
22. It can be inferred from the text that during the past 15 years human actions definitely taken were
[A] dubiously-oriented.
[B] far-reaching.
[C] science-fair.
[D] radically-reformatory.
23. A “conservator society” probably means a society characterized by
[A] excessive progress.
[B] energy efficiency.
[C] aggressive marketing.
[D] population explosion.
24. The text intends to express the idea that
[A] population explosion is obviously an understatement.
[B] excessive economic growth demands energy efficiency.
[C] importance is attached to the control of birth-rates.
[D] progress should be measured in terms of a sustainable future.
25. Towards the present situation, the author attitude can best be said to be that of
[A] tolerance.
[B] compromise.
[C] disappointment.
[D] apprehension.
Text 3
This city, New York — consider the people in it, the eight million of us. An English friend of mine, when asked why he lived in New York City, said that he liked it here because he could be so alone. While it was my friend’s desire to be alone, the aloneness of many Americans who live in cities is an involuntary and fearful thing. It has been said that loneliness is the great American malady. What is the nature of this loneliness? It would seem essentially to be a quest for identity.
To the spectator, the amateur philosopher, no motive among the complex ricochets of our desires and rejections seems stronger or more enduring than the will of the individual to claim his identity and belong. From infancy to death, the human being is obsessed by these dual motives. During our first weeks of life, the question of identity shares urgency with the need for milk. The baby reaches for his toes then explores the bars of his crib; again and again he compares the difference between his own body and the objects around him, and in the wavering, infant eyes there comes a pristine wonder.
Consciousness of self is the first abstract problem that the human being solves. Indeed, it is this self-consciousness that removes us from lower animals. After the first establishment of identity there comes the imperative need to lose this new-found sense of separateness and to belong to something larger and more powerful than the weak, lonely self. The sense of moral isolation is intolerable to us. For fear is a primary source of evil. And when the question “Who am I?” recurs and is unanswered, then fear and frustration project a negative attitude. The corollary of this emotional incertitude is snobbism, intolerance, and racial hate. The xenophobic individual can only reject and destroy, as the xenophobic nation inevitably makes war.
The loneliness of Americans does not have its source in xenophobia; as a nation we are an outgoing people, reaching always for immediate contacts, further experience. But we tend to seek out things as individuals, alone. The European, secure in his family ties and rigid class loyalties, knows little of the moral loneliness that is native to us Americans. While the European artists tend to form groups or aesthetic schools, the American artist is the eternal maverick — not only from society in the way of all creative minds, but within the orbit of his own art.
We Americans are always seeking. We wander, question. But the answer waits in each separate heart — the answer of our own identity and the way by which we can master loneliness and feel that at last we belong.
21. We learn from the beginning of the text that most New Yorkers tend to hold in high regard
[A] rigid formalities.
[B] identity quests.
[C] alone lifestyles.
[D] fearful maladies.
22. The writer mentions the case of the baby’s explorations to show Americans’
[A] uncertainties about their motives.
[B] encouragement of infants’ adventures.
[C] over-emphasis on individualism.
[D] pursuit for their identity and belong.
23. Which of the following is the author most likely to agree with?
[A] Aloneness should be dealt with cautiously.
[B] European models are to be closely followed.
[C] Identity contradicts the quest for belong.
[D] Snobbism may well contribute to loneliness.
24. As used in the text, the word “maverick” is most closely related to
[A] “conservatism.”
[B] “amateur philosopher.”
[C] “nonconformism.”
[D] “a sociologist.”
25. The passage is probably intended to answer the question “____”.
[A] Is loneliness a fearful thing?
[B] What underlies American loneliness?
[C] Is individual existence desirable?
[D] How to deal with mental disorders?
