[33]

it would only last a fraction of the second. He would

[34]

lean, push, rise, and be up. But now, instead, it lasts

much longer. He holds his "readiness-to-rise" post and

[35]

keeps on holding it. It is as if his body had frozen

at the get-ready moment.

PART III    READING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN.)

SECTION A: READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN.)

Directions: In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages carefully and then mark your answers on your Coloured Answer Sheet.

TEXT A

A magazine's design is more than decoration, more than simple packaging. It expresses the magazine's very character. The Atlantic Monthly has long attempted to provide a design environment in which two disparate traditions -- literary and journalistic -- can co-exist in pleasurable dignity. The redesign that we introduce with this issue -- the work of our art director, Judy Garlan -- represents, we think, a notable enhancement of that environment. 　

Garlan explains some of what was in her mind as she began to create the new design: "I saw this as an opportunity to bring the look closer to matching the elegance and power of the writing which the magazine is known for." The overall design has to be able to encompass a great diversity of styles and subjects -- urgent pieces of reporting, serious essays, lighter pieces, lifestyle-oriented pieces, short stories, poetry. We don't want lighter pieces to seem too heavy, and we don't want heavier pieces to seem too pretty. We also use a broad range of art and photography, and the design has to work well with that, too. At the same time, the magazine needs to have a consistent feel, needs to underscore the sense that everything in it is part of one Atlantic world. 　

The primary typefaces Garlan chose for this task are Times Roman, for a more readable body type, and Bauer Bodoni, for a more stylish and flexible display type (article titles, large initials, and so on). Other aspects of the new design are structural. The articles in the front of the magazine, which once flowed into one another, now stand on their own, to gain prominence. The Travel column, now featured in every issue, has been moved from the back to the front. As noted in this space last month, the word "Monthly" rejoins "The Atlantic" on the cover, after a decade-long absenceJudy Garlan came to the Atlantic in 1981 after having served as the art director of several other magazines. During her tenure here The Atlantic has won more than 300 awards for visual excellence, from the Society of illustrators, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, and elsewhere. Garlan was in various ways assisted in the redesign by the entire art-department staff: Robin Gilmore, Barnes, Betsy Urrico, Gillian Kahn, and Lisa Manning. 　

The artist Nicholas Gaetano contributed as well: he redrew our colophon (the figure of Neptune that appears on the contents page) and created the symbols that will appear regularly on this page (a rendition of our building), on the Puzzler page, above the opening of letters, and on the masthead. Gaetano, whose work manages to combine stylish clarity and breezy strength, is the cover artist for this issue.

36. Part of the new design is to be concerned with the following EXCEPT ____.

A. variation in the typefaces.

B. reorganization of articles in the front.

C. creation of the travel column.

D. reinstatement of its former name.

37. According to the passage, the new design work involves ____.

A. other artists as well.

B. other writers as well.

C. only the cover artist.

D. only the art director.

38. This article aims to ____.

A. emphasize the importance of a magazine's design.

B. introduce the magazine's art director.

C. persuade the reader to subscribe to the magazine.

D. inform the reader of its new design and features.

TEXT B

WHY SHOULD anyone buy the latest volume in the ever-expanding Dictionary of National Biography? I do not mean that it is bad, as the reviewers will agree. But it will cost you 65 pounds. And have you got the rest of volumes? You need the basic 22 plus the largely decennial supplements to bring the total to 31. Of course, it will be answered, public and academic libraries will want the new volume. After all, it adds 1,068 lives of people who escaped the net of the original compilers. Yet in 10 years' time a revised version of the whole caboodle, called the New Dictionary of National Biography, will be published. Its editor, Professor Colin Matthew, tells me that he will have room for about 50,000 lives, some 13,000 more than in the current DNB. This rather puts the 1,068 in Missing Persons in the shade.    　

When Dr Nicholls wrote to The Spectator in 1989 asking for names of people whom readers had looked up in the DNB and had been disappointed not to find, she says that she received some 100,000 suggestions. (Well, she had written to "other quality newspapers" too.) As soon as her committee had whittled the numbers down, the professional problems of an editor began. Contributors didn't file copy on time; some who did sent too much: 50,000 words instead of 500 is a record, according to Dr Nicholls. 　

There remains the dinner-party game of who's in, who's out. That is a game that the reviewers have played and will continue to play. Criminals were my initial worry. After all, the original edition of the DNB boasted: Malefactors whose crimes excite a permanent interest have received hardly less attention than benefactors. Mr.. John Gross clearly had similar anxieties, for he complains that, while the murderer Christie is in, Crippen is out. One might say in reply that the injustice of the hanging of Evans instead of Christie was a force in the repeal of capital punishment in Britain, as Ludovie Kennedy (the author of Christies entry in Missing Persons) notes. But then Crippen was reputed as the first murderer to be caught by telegraphy (he had tried to escape by ship to America). 　

It is surprising to find Max Miller excluded when really not very memorable names get in. There has been a conscious effort to put in artists and architects from the Middle Ages. About their lives not much is always known. 　

Of Hugo of Bury St Edmunds, a 12th-century illuminator whose dates of birth and death are not recorded, his biographer comments: "Whether or not Hugo was a wall-painter, the records of his activities as carver and manuscript painter attest to his versatility". Then there had to be more women, too (12 per cent, against the original DBN 's 3), such as Roy Strong's subject, the Tudor painter Levina Teerlinc, of whom he remarks: "Her most characteristic feature is a head attached to a too small, spindly body. Her technique remained awkward, thin and often cursory". Doesn't seem to qualify her as a memorable artist. Yet it may be better than the record of the original DNB, which included lives of people who never existed (such as Merlin) and even managed to give thanks to J. W. Clerke as a contributor, though, as a later edition admits in a shamefaced footnote, "except for the entry in the List of Contributors there is no trace of J. W. Clerke". 　

39. The writer suggests that there is no sense in buying the latest volume ____.

A. because it is not worth the price.

B. because it has fewer entries than before.

C. unless one has all the volumes in his collection.

D. unless an expanded DNB will come out shortly. 　

40. On the issue of who should be included in the DNB, the writer seems to suggest that ____.

A. the editors had clear rules to follow.

B. there were too many criminals in the entries.

C. the editors clearly favored benefactors.

D. the editors were irrational in their choices.

41. Crippen was absent from the DNB ____.

A. because he escaped to the U.S.

B. because death sentence had been abolished.

C. for reasons not clarified.

D. because of the editors' mistake.

42. The author quoted a few entries in the last paragraph to ____.

A. illustrate some features of the DNB.

B. give emphasis to his argument.

C. impress the reader with its content.

D. highlight the people in the Middle Ages. 　

43. Throughout the passage, the writer's tone towards the DNB was ____.

A. complimentary.

B. supportive.

C. sarcastic.

D. bitter. 　

TEXT C

Medical consumerism -- like all sorts of consumerism, only more menacingly -- is designed to be unsatisfying. The prolongation of life and the search for perfect health (beauty, youth, happiness) are inherently self-defeating. The law of diminishing returns necessarily applies. You can make higher percentages of people survive into their eighties and nineties. But, as any geriatric ward shows, that is not the same as to confer enduring mobility, awareness and autonomy. Extending life grows medically feasible, but it is often a life deprived of everything, and one exposed to degrading neglect as resources grow over-stretched and politics turn mean. 　

What an ignominious destiny for medicine if its future turned into one of bestowing meager increments of unenjoyed life! It would mirror the fate of athletics, in which disproportionate energies and resources -- not least medical ones, like illegal steroids -- are now invested to shave records by milliseconds. And, it goes without saying, the logical extension of longevism -- the "abolition" of death -- would not be a solution but only an exacerbation. To air these predicaments is not anti-medical spleen -- a churlish reprisal against medicine for its victories -- but simply to face the growing reality of medical power not exactly without responsibility but with dissolving goals. 　

Hence medicine's finest hour becomes the dawn of its dilemmas. For centuries, medicine was impotent and hence unproblematic. From the Greeks to the Great War, its job was simple: to struggle with lethal diseases and gross disabilities, to ensure live births, and to manage pain. It performed these uncontroversial tasks by and large with meager success. Today, with mission accomplished, medicine's triumphs are dissolving in disorientation. Medicine has led to vastly inflated expectations, which the public has eagerly swallowed. Yet as these expectations grow unlimited, they become unfulfillable. The task facing medicine in the twenty-first century will be to redefine its limits even as it extends its capacities. 　

44. In the author's opinion, the prolongation of life is equal to ____.

A. mobility.

B. deprivation.

C. autonomy.

D. awareness.

45. In the second paragraph a comparison is drawn between ____.

A. medicine and life.

B. resources and energies.

C. predicaments and solutions.

D. athletics and longevism.  

TEXT D

The biggest problem facing Chile as it promotes itself as a tourist destination to be reckoned with, is that it is at the end of the earth. It is too far south to be a convenient stop on the way to anywhere else and is much farther than a relatively cheap half-day's flight away from the big tourist markets, unlike Mexico, for example. 　

Chile, therefore, is having to fight hard to attract tourists, to convince travelers that it is worth coming halfway round the world to visit. But it is succeeding, not only in existing markets like the USA and Western Europe but in new territories, in particular the Far East. Markets closer to home, however, are not being forgotten. More than 50% of visitors to Chile still come from its nearest neighbor, Argentina, where the cost of living is much higher.    　

Like all South American countries, Chile sees tourism as a valuable earner of foreign currency, although it has been far more serious than most in promoting its image abroad. Relatively stable politically within the region, it has benefited from the problems suffered in other areas. In Peru, guerrilla warfare in recent years has dealt a heavy blow to the tourist industry and fear of street crime in Brazil has reduced the attraction of Rio de Janeiro as a dream destination for foreigners. 　

More than 150,000 people are directly involved in Chile's tourist sector, an industry which earns the country more than US'950 million each year. The state-run National Tourism Service, in partnership with a number of private companies, is currently running a world-wide campaign, taking part in trade fairs and international events to attract visitors to Chile. 　

Chile's great strength as a tourist destination is its geographical diversity. From the parched Atacama Desert in the north to the Antarctic snowfields of the south, it is more than 5,000km long. With the Pacific on one side and the Andean mountains on the other, Chile boasts natural attractions. Its beaches are not up to Caribbean standards but resorts such as Vina del Mar are generally clean and unspoilt and have a high standard of services. 　

But the trump card is the Andes mountain range. There are a number of excellent ski resorts within one hour's drive of the capital, Santiago, and the national parks in the south are home to rare animal and plant species. The parks already attract specialist visitors, including mountaineers, who come to climb the technically difficult peaks, and fishermen, lured by the salmon and trout in the region's rivers. 

However, infrastructural development in these areas is limited. The ski resorts do not have as many lifts as their European counterparts and the poor quality of roads in the south means that only the most determined travelers see the best of the national parks. 　

Air links between Chile and the rest of the world are, at present, relatively poor. While Chile's two largest airlines have extensive networks within South America, they operate only a small number of routes to the United States and Europe, while services to Asia are almost non-existent.  Internal transport links are being improved and luxury hotels are being built in one of its national parks. Nor is development being restricted to the Andes. Easter Island and Chile's Antarctic Territory are also on the list of areas where the Government believes it can create tourist markets.

But the rush to open hitherto inaccessible areas to mass tourism is not being welcomed by everyone. Indigenous and environmental groups, including Greenpeace, say that many parts of the Andes will suffer if they become over-developed. There is a genuine fear that areas of Chile will suffer the cultural destruction witnessed in Mexico and European resorts.

The policy of opening up Antarctica to tourism is also politically sensitive. Chile already has permanent settlements on the ice and many people see the decision to allow tourists there as a political move, enhancing Santiago's territorial claim over part of Antarctica.

The Chilean Government has promised to respect the environment as it seeks to bring tourism to these areas. But there are immense commercial pressures to exploit the country's tourism potential. The Government will have to monitor developments closely if it is genuinely concerned in creating a balanced, controlled industry and if the price of an increasingly lucrative tourist market is not going to mean the loss of many of Chile's natural riches.

46. Chile is disadvantaged in the promotion of its tourism by ____.

A. geographical location.

B. guerrilla warfare.

C. political instability.

D. street crime.

47. Many of Chile's tourists used to come from EXCEPT ____.

A. U.S.A.

B. the Far East.

C. western Europe.

D. her neighbors.

48. According to the author, Chile's greatest attraction is ____.

A. the unspoilt beaches.

B. the dry and hot desert.

C. the famous mountain range.

D. the high standard of services.

49. According to the passage, in which area improvement is already under way?

A. Facilities in the ski resorts.

B. Domestic transport system.

C. Air services to Asia.

D. Road network in the south.

50. The objection to the development of Chile's tourism might be all EXCEPT that it ____.

A. is ambitious and unrealistic.

B. is politically sensitive.

C. will bring harm to culture.

D. will cause pollution in the area. 　

SECTION B SKIMMING & SCANNING [10min.]

Directions: In this section there are seven passages followed by ten multiple-choice questions. Skim or scan them as required and then mark your answers on your Coloured Answer Sheet.

TEXT E

First read the question.

51. The main purpose of the passage is to ____.

A. illustrate the features of willpower.

B. introduce ways to build up willpower.

C. explain the advantages of willpower.

D. define the essence of willpower.

Read the text quickly and then answer the question.

Willpower isn't some immutable trait we're either born with or not. It is a skill that can be developed, strengthened and targeted to help us achieve our goals. 　

"Fundamental among man's inner powers is the tremendous unrealized potency of man's own will," wrote Italian psychologist Roberto Assagioli 25 years ago. "The trained will is a masterful weapon," added Alan Marlatt of the University of Washington, a psychologist who is studying how willpower helps people break habits and change their lives. "The dictionary defines willpower as control of one's impulses and actions. The key words are power and control. The power is there, but you have to control it." Here, from Marlatt and other experts, is how to do that: 　

Be positive. Don't confuse willpower with self-denial. Willpower is most dynamic when applied to positive, uplifting purposes. 　

Positive willpower helps us overcome inertia and focus on the future. When the going gets tough, visualize yourself happily and busily engaged in your goal, and you'll keep working toward it. 　

Make up your mind. James Prochaska, professor of psychology at the University of Rhode Island, has identified four stages in making a change. He calls them precontemplation (resisting the change), contemplation (weighing the pros and cons of the change), action (exercising willpower to make the change), and maintenance (using willpower to sustain the change).

Some people are "chronic contemplators," Prochaska says. They know they should reduce their drinking but will have one more cocktail while they consider the matter. They may never put contemplation into action. 　

To focus and mobilize your efforts, set a deadline. 

Sharpen your will. In 1915, psychologist Boyd Barrett suggested a list of repetitive will-training activities -- stepping up and down from a chair 30 times, spilling a box of matches and carefully replacing them one by one. These exercises, he maintained, strengthen the will so it can confront more consequential and difficult challenges. 　

New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley was a basketball star with the champion New York Knicks. On top of regular practice, he always went to the gym early and practised foul shots alone. He was determined to be among the best form of the foul line. True to his goal, he developed the highest percentage of successful free throws on his team. 

Expect trouble. The saying "Where there's a will, there's a way" is not the whole truth. Given the will, you still have to anticipate obstacles and plan how to deal with them. 

When professor of psychology Saul Shiffman of the University of Pittsburgh worked with reformed smokers who's gone back to cigarettes, he found that many of them hadn't considered how they'd cope with the urge to smoke. They had summoned the strength to quit, but couldn't remain disciplined. The first time they were offered a cigarette, they went back to smoking. 

If you've given up alcohol, rehearse your answer for when you're offered a drink. If you're expecting to jog but wake up to a storm, have an indoor workout program ready. 　

Be realistic. The strongest will may falter when the goal is to lose 50 pounds in three months or to exercise three hours a day. Add failure undercuts your desire to try again. 　

Sometimes it's best to set a series of small goals instead of a single big one. As in the Alcoholics Anonymous slogan "One day at a time," divide your objective into one-day segments, then renew your resolve the next day. At the end of a week, you'll have a series of triumphs to look back on. 　

Be patient. A strong will doesn't develop overnight. It takes shape in increments, and there can be setbacks. Figure out what caused you to backslide, and redouble your efforts. 　

When a friend of ours tried to give up cigarettes the first time, she failed. Analyzing her relapse, she realized she needed to do something with her hands. On her second try, she took up knitting and brought out needles and yarn every time she was tempted to light up. Within months she had knitted a sweater for her husband -- and seemed to be off cigarettes for good. 　

Keep it up. A strong will becomes stronger each time it succeeds. If you've successfully mustered the willpower to kick a bad habit or leave a dead-end job, you gain confidence to confront other challenges. 　

A record of success fosters an inner voice of confidence that, in the words of Assagioli, gives you "a firm foot on the edge of the precipice." You may face more difficult tasks, but you've conquered before, and you can conquer again.

TEXT F

First read the question.

52. The message of the passage is that shares can now be sold ____.

A. through the computer.

B. in the shop.

C. at the bank.

D. through the mail. 　

Read the text quickly and then answer the question.

Investors seeking a cheap, no-frills way to sell privatization shares need look no further than the post box. 　

Most stockbrokers offer bargain-basement deals on postal trades. They are ideal for selling a small holding for the lowest possible commission. 　

But the arrangements leave investors at the mercy of the Royal Mail and a seller will not know in advance how much a sale will produce. 　

Data processing engineer Mark Stanistreet of Bradford sold by post after buying a few National Power and PowerGen shares when they were privatized.He says: "I didn't really know where to go to for help. An information slip with the shares gave details of Yorkshire Building Society's share shop service, which offered to sell for a flat fee of ￡5." "It was an ideal first step that showed me how easy and cheap it is to sell shares. I have been investing in a small way since then.

"I use Yorkshire's telephone service, which has a ￡9 minimum fee."

Many stockbrokers offer postal deals as part of their usual dealing services, but clients may normally sell only big company or privatization shares this way.

ShareLink's minimum postal commission is '7.50, Skipton Building Society's is '9 and NatWest's is '9.95.   

　TEXT G

First read the question.

53. In the passage the author's attitude towards the subject under discussion is ____.

A. factual.

B. critical.

C. favorable.

D. ambiguous.

Read the text quickly and then answer the question.

With increasing prosperity, Western European youth is having a fling that is creating distinctive consumer and cultural patterns. 　

The result has been the increasing emergence in Europe of that phenomenon well known in America as the "youth market." This is a market in which enterprising businesses cater to the demands of teenagers and older youths in all their rock mania and pop-art forms. 　

In Western Europe, the youth market may appropriately be said to be in its infancy. In some countries such as Britain, West Germany and France, it is more advanced than in others. Some manifestations of the market, chiefly sociological, have been recorded, but it is only just beginning to be the subject of organized consumer research and promotion. 　

Characteristics of the evolving European youth market indicate dissimilarities as well as similarities to the American youth market. 　

The similarities: 　

The market's basis is essentially the same -- more spending power and freedom to use it in the hands of teenagers and older youth. Young consumers also make up an increasingly high proportion of the population.　

As in the United States, youthful tastes in Europe extend over a similar range of products -- records and record players, transistor radios, leather jackets and "wayout," extravagantly styled clothing, cosmetics and soft drinks. Generally it now is difficult to tell in which direction trans-Atlantic teenage influences are flowing. 　

Also, a pattern of conformity dominates European youth as in this country, though in Britain the object is to wear clothes that "make the wearer stand out," but also make him "in," such as tight trousers and precisely tailored jackets. 　

Worship and emulation of "idols" in the entertainment field, especially the "pop" singers and other performers is pervasive. There is also the same exuberance and unpredictability in sudden fad switches. In Paris, buyers of stores catering to the youth market carefully watch what dress is being worn by a popular television teenage singer to be ready for a sudden demand for copies. In Stockholm other followers of teenage fads call the youth market "attractive but irrational." 　

The most obvious differences between the youth market in Europe and that in the United States is in size. In terms of volume and variety of sales, the market in Europe is only a shadow of its American counterpart, but it is a growing shadow. 　

But there are also these important dissimilarities generally with the American youth market: 　

In the European youth market, unlike that of the United States, it is the working youth who provides the bulk of purchasing power. 　

On the average, the school-finishing age still tends to be 14 years. This is the maximum age to which compulsory education extends, and with Europe's industrial manpower shortage, thousands of teenage youths may soon attain incomes equal in many cases to that of their fathers. 　

Although, because of general prosperity, European youths are beginning to continue school studies beyond the compulsory maximum age, they do not receive anything like the pocket money or "allowances" of American teenagers. The European average is about '5 to '10 a month. 　

Working youth, consequently, are the big spenders in the European youth market, but they also have less leisure than those staying on at school, who in turn have less buying power. 　

TEXT H

First read the question.

54. The passage mainly ____.

A. discusses patterns in company car use.

B. advertises famous British company cars.

C. recommends inexpensive company cars.

D. introduces different models of cars.

Read the text quickly and then answer the question.