Part II Reading Comprehension (30%)
　　Directions: There are 4 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
　　Passage I
　　Questions 1 to 4 are based on the following passages:
　　He was in the first third-grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minnesota. All
　　34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, he had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievous delightful.
　　 One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice-teacher’s mistake. I looked at Mark and said, “ If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!” But he talked again. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark’s desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. After class he said to me, “Thank you for correcting me, Sister!”
　　 The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my class again. One Friday, things just didn’t feel right. We had worked on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were growing frustrated with themselves—and edgy with one another. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
　　 It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment, but as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, “ Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend.”
　　 That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Some of them ran tow pages. Before long, th4e entire class was smiling. “Really?” I heard whispered. “I never knew that meant anything to anyone!” “I didn’t know others liked me so much!”
　　No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. Several years later, after I returned from a vacation, my parents met me at the airport. From them I knew that Mark was killed in Vietnam. So I attended the funeral. After the funeral, Mark’s father took a wallet out of his pocket. “They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.”
　　 Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark’s classmates had said about him.
　　 Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, “I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home.” Chuck’s wife said, “ Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.”
　　 That’s when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.
　　1. When Mark was in the third grade, he ＿＿＿.
　　A) was very shy and quiet
　　B) was rough and disobedient
　　C) never talked without permission
　　D) often talked without permission
　　2. One Friday, the students were growing frustrated with themselves because ＿＿＿.
　　A) the new concept they had been working on was too difficult
　　B) they were not interested in learning the new concept
　　C) the teacher was not familiar with the new concept
　　D) the teacher became very impatient with them
　　3. After the funeral, Mark’s mother thanked the author for ________.
　　A) correcting Mark for misbehaving at school many times
　　B) giving Mark the list of all the good things said about
　　C) teaching Mark for such a long period of time
　　D) asking Mark’s classmates to have dinner with them
　　4. The reason why the students kept the lists of all the good things is that ＿＿＿.
　　A) they missed each other after they departed
　　B) they wanted to show the lists to their husbands or wives
　　C) they valued the teacher’s effort for copying all the good things about them
　　D) they treasured what made them feel good about themselves
　　Passage II
　　Questions 5 to 8 are based on the following passage:
　　There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is, how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling?
　　If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher’s interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
　　I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: “This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is illegible.” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the error, but if his priorities had centered on the child’s ideas, an expression his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.
　　5. Teachers differ in their opinions about _____.
　　A) the difficulties in teaching spelling
　　B) the role of spelling in general language development
　　C) the complexities of the basic writing skills
　　D) the necessity of teaching spelling
　　6. The expression “play safe” probably means _____.
　　A) to write carefully
　　B) to do as teachers say
　　C) to use dictionaries frequently
　　D)to avoid using words one is not sure of
　　7. Teachers encourage the use of dictionaries so that _____.
　　A) students will be able to express their ideas more freely
　　B) teachers will have less trouble in correcting mistakes
　　C) students will have more confidence in writing
　　D) students will learn to be independent of teachers
　　8. The major point discussed in the passage is ______.
　　A) the importance of developing writing skills
　　B) the complexities of spelling
　　C) the correct way making compositions
　　D) the relationship between spelling and the content of a composition
　　Passage III
　　Questions 9 to 12 are based on the following passage:
　　Population tends to grow at an exponential rate. This means that they progressively double. As an example of this type of growth rate, take one penny and double it every day for one month. After the first week, you would have only 64 cents, but after the fourth week you would have over a million dollars.
　　This helps explain why the population has come on “all of a sudden”. It took form the beginning of human life to the year 1830 for the population of the earth to reach one billion. That represents a time span of at least two million years. Then it took from 1830 to 1930 for world population to reach 2 billion. The next billion was added by 1960, only thirty years, and in 1975 world population reached 4 billion, which is another billion people in only fifteen years.
　　World population is increasing at a rate of 9,000 per hour, 220,000 per day, 80 million per year. This is not only due to higher birth rates, but to lower death rates as well. The number of births has not declined at the same rate as the number of deaths.
　　Some countries, such as Columbia, Thailand, Morocco, Costa Rica, and the Philippines, are doubling their populations about every twenty-one years, with a growth rate of 3.3 percent a year or more. The United States is doubling its population about every eighty-seven years, with a rate of 0.8 percent per year. Every time a population double, the country involved needs twice as much of everything, including hospitals, schools, resources, food and medicines to care for its people. It is easy to see that this is very difficult to achieve for the more rapidly growing countries.
　　9. This passage chiefly discussed_______.
　　 A) the growth of world population
　　 B) one type of the exponential rate
　　 C) the population problem of more rapidly growing countries
　　 D) the possible ways of dealing with the rapid population growth
　　10. According to the passage, what helps to explain why the population problem has come on “all of a sudden”?
　　A) The penny which doubles itself every day for one month.
　　 B) The time span of at least two million years in human history.
　　 C) An illustration of the exponential growth rate given by the author.
　　 D) The large amount of money you would luckily make after the fourth week.
　　11. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
　　A) World population is increasing at a rate of 150 per minutes.
　　B) Lower death rate also contributes to world population growth.
　　C) The population of Columbia has been doubling every year for 21 years.
　　D) The United States is usuall6y doubling its population about every 87 years.
　　12. When a population doubles, the country involved needs twice as much of everything, including ______.
　　A) hospitals and medicines B) schools and students
　　C) food and manpower resources D) all of the above
　　Passage IV
　　Questions I3 to 15 are based on the following passage:
　　 For years it has been possible to set up cameras to take pictures of cars as they speed along highways, jump lights or drive too fast down the street.
　　 However even if the pictures are taken automatically, someone still has to do all the paperwork of issuing fines. But now a British company called EEV has come up with a computerized video system that can do it all automatically.
　　 They suggest that all number plates have a bar code as well as the usual number. The bar codes are just strips of lines like those you see on food packets but bigger. EEV’s high speed video camera system can read a bar coded number plate even if the car is doing over 100 miles per hour. The computer controlling the system could then use the information from the bar code to find out the name and address of the driver (from vehicle records), print out the fine and send it off automatically. The inventors also suggest that the system could watch traffic to help catch stolen cars.
　　 The new electronic system could be watching everyone that passes the cameras! Many people find the idea that “big brother is watching you” is more of a worry than a few motorists getting away with driving too fast. Moreover, some people will be very unhappy to realize that with new system the police could find out where a particular car has been.
　　13. The best title for the article could be ______.
　　A) People Who Drive Too Fast
　　B) Stop People from Driving Too Fast
　　C) EEV and the Police System
　　D) Implications of Computerized Systems for Motoring Offense
　　14. A traditional function of the camera as used by the traffic police system is to ______.
　　A) take snapshots of cars on highways
　　B) catch cars violating traffic rules
　　C) send fines to fast motorists
　　D) make the traffic system fully automatic
　　15. The newly-invented system functions more efficiently with the aid of __________.
　　A) car number plates C) bar coded numbers on number plates
　　B) vehicle speeding records D) print-out fines