Americans often say that there are only two things a person can be sure of in life: death and taxes. Americans do not have a comer on the “death” market, but many people feel that the United States leads the world with the most taxes.Taxes consist of the money which people pay to support their government. There are generally three levels of government in the United States: federal, state, and city: therefore, there are three types of taxes. Salaried people who earn more than a few thousand dollars must pay a certain percentage of their salaries to the federal government. The percentage varies from person to person. It depends on their salaries. The federal government has a graduated income tax, that is, the percentage of the tax increases as a person’s income increase. With the high cost of taxes, people are not very happy on April 15, when the federal taxes are due.The second tax is for the state government: New York，California，or any of the other forty-eight states. Some states have an income tax similar to that of the federal government. Of course, the percentage for the state tax is lower. Other states have a sales tax, which is a percentage charged to any item which you buy in that state. For example, a person might want to buy a packet of cigarettes for twenty-five cents. If there is a sales tax of eight percent in that state, then the cost of the cigarettes is twenty-seven cents. This figure includes the sales tax. Some states use income tax in addition to sales tax to raise their revenues. The state tax laws are diverse and confusing.The third tax is for the city. This tax comes in two forms: property tax (people who own a home have to pay taxes on it) and excise tax, which is charged on cars in a city. The cities use these funds for education, police and fire department, public works and municipal buildings.Since Americans pay such high taxes, they often feel that they are working one day each week just to pay their taxes. People always complain about taxe. They often protest that the government uses their tax dollars in the wrong way. They say that it spends too much on useless and impractical programs. Although Americans have different view on many issues, they tend to agree on one subject: taxes are too high.1.How do you understand “Americans do not have a comer on the death market”?2.What’s the attitude of the Americans towards taxes?3.What’s the difference between federal tax and state tax?4.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?5.Which of the following usages of the taxes is NOT mentioned in the passage
A.Americans can’t monopolize this market. B.There is no such place as a death market in the United States. C.Americans are not good at doing business in the death market. D.Americans do not have a secret place to keep from death in their life.
問題2：
A.Take them easy. B.Try to resist them. C.Complain and protest. D.Take them as their duty.
問題3：
A.They have the same percentage. B.It is not mentioned in the passage. C.The percentage for the state tax is higher than the federal tax. D.The percentage for the federal tax is higher than the state tax.
問題4：
A.Excise tax is charged on ears. B.There is a unified state tax laws. C.Income tax increases as a person’s income increases. D.Some states have both an income tax and a sales tax.
問題5：
A.For raising their revenues. B.For sustaining development. C.For police and fire departments. D.For public works and municipal building.
Centuries of wind and rain had worn away the（ ）on the gravestones.
A.descriptions B.prescriptions C.inscriptions D.conscriptions
After losing the court case the company became something of a _______ joke in the business world.
A.standing B.steady C.persisting D.settled
Prices on the Stock Exchange plunged sharply in the morning but _____slightly in the afternoon.
A.recovered B.recuperated C.retrieved D.regained
If there is one thing interpreters working for the European Union dread，it is attempts at humour. It is not just that jokes are hard to translate ； because of the time needed for interpretation, they can prompt laughter at the wrong moment. A speaker once began with an anecdote，and then mourned a dead colleague — to be met by a gale of giggles, as listeners got his joke.The time-lags have grown worse with the expansion of the EU, to make a total of 25 countries. Finding interpreters who can translate directly from Estonian to Portuguese is well-nigh impossible. So now speeches are translated in relays, first into English and then into a third language. If only everybody would agree to speak one or two official tongues，it would be easier. Or would it? In fact， misunderstandings can abound even when all parties speak fluent English or French. Cultural differences mean that a literal understanding of what someone says is often a world away from real understanding. For example, how many non-Brits could decode the irony (and literary allusion) which lies behind the expression “up to a point”，which is used to mean “no, not in the slightest”？The problem is now so widely recognized that informal guides to what the French or the English really mean, when they are speaking their mother tongues, have been drawn up by other nationalities.One has written for the Dutch, trying to do business with British. Another was written by British diplomats, as a guide to the language used by their French counterparts. The fact that the Dutch — so eerily fluent in English — should need a guide to Brit- speak is particularly striking. But the problem — to judge by the guide，which was spotted on an office wall in the European Court of Justice ——is that Brits make their points in an indirect manner that the plain-speaking Nederlanders find baffling.Hence the guide’s warning that when a Briton says “I hear what you say”，the foreign listener may understand: “He accepts my point of view. ” In fact, the British speaker means: “I disagree and I do not want to discuss it any further. ” Similarly the phrase with the greatest respect ” when used by an Englishman is recognizable to a compatriot as an icy put-down, correctly translated by the guide as meaning “I think you are wrong, or a fool. ”The British, the French and the Dutch are old sparring partners who know each other’s little ways. So the capacity for misunderstanding is amplified when nationalities that are less familiar with each other come into contact. Often the problems are less to do with the meaning of words than their unexpected impact on an audience. Take the European summit last December, when it fell to Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, to try to wrap up sensitive negotiations over a proposed constitution for the European Union.When EU leaders filed into lunch, they were braced for tough negotiation； so they were startled when Mr. Berlusconi suggested that they discuss “football and women” -- and that Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, should lead the discuss, as he has been married four times. Some European diplomats conclude that Mr. Berlusconi must have been deliberately bating Mr. Schroder. But when the Italian leader was questioned about his chairmanship at a press conference, he grew hot under the collar， pointing out that he would hardly have become a billionaire unless he were fully capable of chairing a meeting. And indeed his defenders say that in Italian business circles it can be perfectly normal to set a jocular and relaxed tone before a difficult meeting, by discussing last night’s football, or even teasing your colleagues about their love lives.These sorts of misunderstandings are unlikely to be erased even if all Europe’s political leaders and bureaucrats were both willing and able to speak English. But ever-inventive Brussels is coming up with a solution of sorts through the emergence of “Euro-speak” -- a form of dead, bureaucratic English.
1.According to Paragraphs 1 and 2, which statement is TRUE?2.Why do the Dutch need a guide to Brit-speak?
（ ） people who find meaning in their work are generally—productive, supportive coworkers and promote workplace harmony.
A.Self-important B.Self-declared C.Self-conscious D.Self-motivated
The federal court has been putting pressure on the state to adhere to the population caps in the decree.
A.encounter B.stick to C.prepare D.anticipate
Like many other aspects of the computer age, Yahoo began as an idea, （1） into a hobby and lately has （2） into a full-time passion. The two developers of Yahoo, David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D candidates（3） Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, started their guide in April 1994 as a way to keep（4） of their personal interest on the Internet. Before long they （5） that their homebrewed lists were becoming too long and （6） .Gradually they began to spend more and more time on Yahoo.During 1994, they （7）Yahoo into a customized database designed to （8） the needs of the thousands of users （9） began to use the service through the closely（10） Internet community. They developed customized software to help them （11） locate, identify and edit material （12） on the Internet. The name Yahoo is （13） to stand for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Orale”, but Filo and Yang insist they selected the（14） because they considered themselves Yahoos. Yahoo itself first （15） on Yang’s workstation, “akebono”, while the search engine was （16） on Filo’s computer, “ Konishiki ".In early 1995 Marc Andersen, co-founder of Netscape Communication in Mountain View, California, invited Filo and Yang to move their files （17） to larger computers（18） at Netscape. As a result Stanford’s computer network returned to （19） , and both parties benefited. Today, Yahoo （20） organized information on tens of thousands of computers linked to the web.
A.became B.grew C.turn D.intend
問題2：
A.made B.saw C.looked D.turned
問題3：
A.in B.on C.about D.for
問題4：
A.touch B.contact C.track D.record
問題5：
A.founded B.found C.argued D.reported
問題6：
A.unwieldy B.tough C.tamable D.invaluable
問題7：
A.exchanged B.shank C.sold D.converted
問題8：
A.explain B.serve C.discover D.evaluate
問題9：
A.which B.that C.actually D.eagerly
問題10：
A.relative B.interactive C.bound D.contacted
問題11：
A.fluently B.efficiently C.exactly D.actually
問題12：
A.transmitted B.purchased C.sold D.stored
問題13：
A.about B.bound C.going D.supposed
問題14：
A.fable B.model C.name D.brand
問題15：
A.supported B.resided C.lived D.launched
問題16：
A.connected B.lodged C.introduced D.linked
問題17：
A.over B.away C.inside D.beneath
問題18：
A.housed B.caught C.hosed D.hidden
問題19：
A.average B.normal C.ordinary D.equal
問題20：
A.attains B.detains C.maintains D.contains
Like most fathers and sons, we fought； it was a cold war lasting from the （ ）of my adolescence until I went off to college in 1973.
A.setback B.onset C.drawback D.offset
I was（ ） as to how I could lay my hands on the money.
A.in charge B.aware C.at a loss D.incapable
Suddenly the daily fear and uncertainty（ ）into full-scale terror, and the ship echoed with screams.
A.evaporated B.escalated C.evacuated D.exaggerated
In both America and Europe, it is（ ）to tip the waiter or waitress anywhere from 10% to 20%.
A.elementary B.temporary C.voluntary D.customary
5.The word “mean” (line 2, paragraph 5) can be best replaced by（ ） .
6.The structure of this passage can be described as（ ） .
7.The tone of this passage is（ ） .
8.The main topic of this passage is（ ） .
'>The function of the office is to perform administrative work. First, it must provide the necessary communications with customers, banks, governments, and other outside organizations. Second, it must service the information requirements within the company itself. In order to meet these needs efficiently, the Office Manager must employ the most appropriate business methods, systems and equipment.In an efficient administrative structure, clerical operations are organized so that they add to the profitability of the business. However, in many countries the number of clerical staff has increased while the total number of workers employed in production has fallen.To ensure that office services run smoothly, there must be the means to check, sort, copy and file correspondence and other paperwork. Today there is a growing range of machine that can be used to do such jobs. The size and resources of a company will determine how mechanized or computerized its office systems are.The office must give maximum service at minimum cost. A balance must be kept between production, marketing, and administration. As a company develops and grows, the contribution of administration will vary in kind and in value.The most important objective in modem offices is the processing of data in order to provide a means of business control, but in many companies there are weaknesses in the ability to manage communications efficiently. For example, some data are often used only by individual managers, and different departments in the same company may use different data processing systems. In order to contribute to business efficiency, however data processing must be a centralized service. The system which is required is one that looks at the total needs of a business and therefore assists management in making appropriate decisions quickly.An office may receive information by telecommunications, by mail or by computer. An office worker must have skill in language and arithmetic to handle this and other business information properly. Almost all office jobs require at least a high school education. Many employers prefer people who have taken courses beyond the high school level. A person can get such advanced training at a community college, or business or vocational school.An office requires a staff of managers to plan and direct work. As a business grows, so does the amount of information that must be handled by its office workers. The managers coordinate the activities of these employees so that accurate records can be kept concerning correspondence, inventory, payroll, sales, and taxes.
1.The office manager has to use the most suitable business system in order to（ ） .2.According to the passage, the function of the office manager is to（ ） .
3.In what way are some companies inefficient in managing communications?4.The degree of computerization in a company's office is limited by（ ） .
5.The word “mean” (line 2, paragraph 5) can be best replaced by（ ） .
6.The structure of this passage can be described as（ ） .
7.The tone of this passage is（ ） .
8.The main topic of this passage is（ ） .
A.ensure that office services run economically B.check and copy business correspondence C.service the information requirements of the company D.provide means of business negotiation問題2： A.provide the necessary information for the local authority B.keep a balance between production, marketing and administration C.assist management in making appropriate decisions quickly D.make sure that administrative work is performed efficiently問題3： A.By not making data available to all managers. B.By was using the same data processing systems. C.By checking business correspondence. D.By depending on a manufacturing base.問題4： A.the business methods and systems B.the corrSleep is a funny thing. We’re taught that we should get seven or eight hours a night, but a lot of us get by just fine on less, and some of us actually sleep too much. A study out of the University of Buffalo last month reported that people who routinely sleep more than eight hours a day and are still tired are nearly three times as likely to die of stroke—probably as a result of an underlying disorder that keeps them from snoozing soundly.Doctors have their own special sleep problems. Residents are famously sleep deprived. When I was training to become a neurosurgeon, it was not unusual to work 40 hours in a row without rest. Most of us took it in stride, confident we could still deliver the highest quality of medical care. Maybe we shouldn’t have been so sure of ourselves. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association points out that in the morning after 24 hours of sleeplessness, a person’s motor person’s motor performance is comparable to that of someone who is legally intoxicated. Curiously, surgeons who believe that operating under the influence is grounds for dismissal often don’t think twice about operating without enough sleep.“I could tell you horror stories,” says Jays Agrawal, president of the American Medical Student Association, which runs a website where residents can post anonymous anecdotes. Some are terrifying. “I was operating after being up for over 36 hours,” one writes. “I literally fell asleep standing up and nearly face planted into the wound.”“Practically every surgical resident I know has fallen asleep at the wheel driving home from work,” writes another. “I know of three who have hit parked cars... Another hit a ‘Jersey barrier’ on the New Jersey Turnpike, going 65 m.p.h.” “Your own patients have become the enemy,” writes a third, because they are “the one thing that stands between you and a few hours of sleep.”Agrawal’s organization is supporting the Patient and Physician Safety and Protection Act of 2001, introduced last November by Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan. Its key provisions, modeled on New York State’s regulations, include an 80-hour workweek and a 24-hour work-shift limit. Most doctors, however, resist such interference. Dr. Charles Binkley, a senior surgery resident at the University of Michigan, agrees that something needs to be done but believes “doctors should be bound by their conscience, not by the government.”The U.S. controls the hours of pilots and truck drivers. But until such a system is a place for doctors, patients are on their own. If you’re worried about the people treating you or a loved one, you should feel free to ask how many hours of sleep they have had and if more-rested staffers are available. Doctors, for their part, have to give up their pose of infallibility and get the rest they need.
1.We can learn from the first paragraph that（ ） .2.Speaking of the sleep problems doctors’ face, the author implies that （ ） .3.Paragraphs 3 and 4 are written to （ ） .4.By “doctors should be bound by their conscience, not by the government”(line 6, paragraph 5), Dr. Charles Binkley means that（ ） .5.To which of the following is the author likely to agree?
A.people who sleep than 8 hours a day are more prone to illness B.poor sleep quality may be a sign of physical disorder C.stroke is often associated with sleep D.too much sleep can be as harmful as lack of sleep問題2： A.doctors often need little sleep to keep them energetic B.doctors’ sleep is deprived by residents C.doctors tend to neglect their own sleep problems D.sleep-deprived doctors are intoxicated問題3： A.entertain the audience with some anecdotes B.discuss the cause of doctors’ sleep problems C.show the hostility doctors harbor against their patients D.exemplify the danger doctors face caused by lack of sleep問題4： A.doctors should not abide by government’s regulations B.the government is interfering too much C.the regulations about workweek and work shift are too specific D.law cannot force a doctor to sleep while his conscience can問題5： A.Patients should control the hoursIn the current job market, university graduates are having a hard time finding jobs while many employers are complaining about the shortage of work hands. Write an essay of no less than 200 words analyzing the phenomenon. Your essay should be written clearly on the ANSWER SHEET 2.
1.When researchers reported that middle-aged men without wives were twice as likely to die during a 10-year span as men with wives（ ）.2.According to the passage, a man （ ） was likely to have the lowest survival rates.3.The word "discount" (line 4 of paragraph 3) most probably means （ ） .4.The word "this" in line 4 of paragraph 5 refers to（ ） .5.Which of the following can be the title for the passage?
'>Mothers and matchmakers have always known that not being monied is a definite health hazard. But when a team of research from the University of California, San Francisco, reported a few weeks ago that middle-aged men without wives were actually twice as likely to die during a 10-year span as men with wives, the espoused and the spouseless alike stopped to take notice. It was the kind of news that swept through offices and watering holes — and it made people feel smug and anxious, depending on their circumstances. Now the researchers who conducted the study are trying to find out what accounted for the dramatic differences in survival rates.The investigators, headed by UCSF associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics Maradee A. Davis, had set cut to examine the effect of various living arrangements on mortality. Because of the buttering social support marriage is known to provide. Davis and her colleagues fully expected to find that men and women dwelling alone fared worst in survival rates. It came as some surprise, however, that in their study population, subjects who shared living quarters with people other than a spouse had the same lower survival rates as those who lived by themselves."The critical factor," Davis says, "seems to be the presence of a spouse."The lower survival rates for the spouseless were found primarily in men who were widowed, separated or divorced, rather than in those who had never been married. Davis and her colleagues have already eliminated certain health factors as causes of higher mortality by adjusting their data to discount the effects of smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and lack of exercise. Now they will look more closely at a variety of other considerations, such as blood pressure, cholesteric levels and chronic illnesses.While many middle-aged men now know the difference between a cheese grater and a garlic press, nutrition may still account for some of the California study's findings. Previous research by Davis' team showed that unmarried man-even if they lived with other people—ate less healthy diets
Predicting the future is always risky. But it’s probably safe to say that at least a few historians will one day speak of the 20th-century as America’s “Disney Era.” Today, it’s certainly difficult to think of any other single thing that represents modem America as powerfully as the company that created Mickey Mouse. Globally, brands like Coca-Cola and McDonalds may be more widely-known, but neither encapsulates 20th-century America in quite the same way as Disney.The reasons for Disney’s success are varied and numerous, but ultimately the credit belongsto one person — the man who created the cartoon and built the company from nothing, Walt Disney. Ironically he could not draw particularly well. But he was a genius in plenty of other respects. In business, his greatest skills were his insight and his management ability. After setting himself up in Hollywood, he single-handedly pioneered the concepts of branding and merchandising —something his company still does brilliantly today.But what really distinguished Disney was his ability to identify with his audiences. Disney always made sure his films championed the “little guy,” and made him feel proud to be American. This he achieved by creating characters that reflected the hopes and fears of the ordinary people. Some celebrated American achievements —Disney’s very first cartoon Plane Crazy, featuring a silent Mickey house, was inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic. Others, like the three little Pigs and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, showed how, through hard work and helping one’s fellow man, ordinary Americans could survive social and economic crises like the Great Depression.Disney’s other great virtue was the fact that his company — unlike other big corporations — had a human face. His Hollywood studio — the public heard —operated just like a democracy, where everyone was on first-name terms and had a say in how things should be run. He was also regarded as a great patriot because not only did his cartoons celebrate America, but, during World War II, his studios made training films for American soldiers.The reality, of course, was less idyllic. As the public would later learn, Disney’s patriotism had an unpleasant side. After a strike by cartoonists in 1941, he became convinced that Hollywood had been infiltrated by Communists. He agreed to work for the FBI as a mole（間諜）, identifying and spying on colleagues whom he suspected were subversives.But, apart from his affiliations with the FBI, Disney was more or less the genuine article. A new book, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, by Steven Watts, confirms that he was very definitely on the side of ordinary Americans ― in the 30s and 40s he voted for Franklin Roosevelt, believing he was a champion of the workers. Also, Disney was not an apologist for the FBI, as some have suggested. In fact, he was always suspicious of large, bureaucratic organizations, as is evidenced in films like That Darned Cat, in which he portrayed FBI agents as bungling incompetents.By the time he died in 1966, Walt Disney was an icon like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. To business people and filmmakers, he was a role model; to the public at large, he was “Uncle Walt” 一 the man who had entertained them all their lives, the man who represented all that was good about America.In the 30 years since his death, not much has changed. In 1986, he was attacked as a McCarthyist, a supporter of big business, and a purveyor of “sub-literate” entertainment. However, none of it has made any difference to the general public. Their loyalty to Uncle Walt remains as strong as ever.1.Walt Disney is believed to possess the following abilities EXCEPT（ ）.2.Walt Disney became an icon after his death not because （ ）.3.In the sixth paragraph the sentence “Disney was more or less the genuine article” means that （ ）.4.The writer’s attitude toward Walt Disney can best be described as （ ）.5.According to the passage, what was the pleasant side of Disney’s patriotism?
A.painting B.creativity C.management D.m
A luxury express train jumped the tracks on a bridge in eastern India, killing at least 50 on the spot. According to the Northern Railway spokesman, the death（ ）is expected to rise.
A.toll B.figure C.span D.yield
According to a United States law passed in 1986, states participating in daylight saving time（ ） advance their clocks one hour on the last Sunday in April.
A.conceptually B.systematically C.simultaneously D.purposefully
Unfortunately, his damaging attacks on the ramifications of the economic policy have been（ ）by his wholehearted acceptance of that policy’s underlying assumptions.
A.supplemented B.undermined C.redeemed D.diverted