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Passage Three

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

It is hardly necessary for me to cite all the evidence of the depressing state of

literacy. These figures from the Department of Education are sufficient: 27 million

Americans cannot read at all, and a further 35 million read at a level that is less than

sufficient to survive in our society.

But my own worry today is less that of the overwhelming problem of

elemental literacy than it is of the slightly more luxurious problem of the decline in

the skill even of the middle-class reader, of his unwillingness to afford those spaces of

silence, those luxuries of domesticity and time and concentration, that surround the

image of the classic act of reading. It has been suggested that almost 80 percent of

America

’

s literate, educated teenagers can no longer read without an accompanying

noise(music) in the background or a television screen flickering

（闪烁）

at the corner

of their field of perception. We know very little about the brain and how it deals with

simultaneous conflicting input, but every common-sense intuition suggests we should

be profoundly alarmed. This violation of concentration, silence, solitude(

独处的 状

态

)goes to the very heart of our notion of literacy, this new form of part- reading, of

part-perception against background distraction, renders impossible certain essential

acts of apprehension and concentration, let alone that most important tribute any

human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves, which is to

learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital.

Under these circumstances, the question of what future there is for the arts of

reading is a real one. Ahead of us lie technical, psychic(

心理的

), and social

transformations probably much more dramatic than those brought about by Gutenberg,

the German inventor in printing. The Gutenberg revolution, as we now know it, took a

long time; its effects are still being debated. The information revolution will touch

every facet of composition, publication, distribution, and reading. No one in the book

industry can say with any confidence what will happen to the book as we

’

ve known

it.

picture of the reading ability of the American people, drawn by the author, is

.

A) rather bleak

C) very

impressive

B) fairly bright

D) quite encouraging

32.

The author

’

s biggest concern is

.

A)

elementary school children

’

s disinterest in reading classics

B)

the surprisingly low rate of literacy in the U.S.

C)

the musical setting American readers require of reading

D)

the reading ability and reading behavior of the middle class

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33.

A major problem with most adolescents who can read is

.

A)

their fondness of music and TV programs

B)

their ignorance of various forms of art and literature

C)

their lack of attentiveness and basic understanding

D)

their inability to focus on conflicting input

34.

The author claims that the best way a reader can show admiration for a piece

of poetry or prose is

.

A) to the able to appreciate it and memorize it

B) to analyze its essential features

C) to think it over conscientiously

D) to make a fair appraisal of its artistic value

35.

About the future of the arts of reading the author feels

.

A) upset

B) uncertain

C) alarmed

D) pessimistic

Passage Four

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons

that were to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. Columbus went west to look

for better trade routes to the Orient and to promote the greater glory of Spain. Lewis

and Clark journeyed into the American wilderness to find out what the U.S. had

acquired when it purchased Louisiana, and the Appolo astronauts rocketed to the

moon in a dramatic show of technological muscle during the cold war.

Although their missions blended commercial and political-military imperatives, the

explorers involved all accomplished some significant science simply by going where

no scientists had gone before.

Today Mars looms(

隐约出现

) as humanity

’

s next great terra incognita(

未探明之地

).

And with doubtful prospects for a short-term financial return, with the cold war a

rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in

large space ventures, it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will

have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet

’

s reddish surface.

Could it be that science, which has long played a minor role in exploration, is at last

destined to take a leading role? The question naturally invites a couple of others: Are

there experiments that only humans could do on Mars? Could those experiments

provide insights profound enough to justify the expense of sending people across

interplanetary space?

With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. The

issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has

been highlighted by mounting evidence that the Red Planet once had abundant stable,

liquid water and by the continuing controversy over suggestions that bacterial fossils

rode to Earth on a mctcorite(

陨石

) from Mars. A more conclusive answer about life