2. Passage Fourteen For a long time， people have disagreed about whether golf is a sport or a game. On one side of the argument， people say that golf meets the dictionary definition of a sport， because it is a physical， athletic activity. They add that golf is recognized as a sport by sporting goods companies， athletic groups， fans， and the media. Also， golf’s inclusion in the Olympics in 2016 is more proof that it is sport. On the other side， people say that golf is a game， not a sport. They say golf is not a very physical activity and can be played well by people who are overweight or injured. Also， golf was only recently added to the Olympics. For more than 100 years it was not included in the Olympic Games. For many， the Olympic Games serve as a measurement for whether an activity should be called a sport. Golf was first included in the Olympics in 1900. However， it was removed shortly thereafter because of a lack of participation and conflict with other golf events. Through the years， there were several attempts to bring golf back to the Olympics. It wasn’t until the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro， Brazil that golf returned. Some say the return of golf does not prove that it is a sport. Rather， it only proves that the Olympics wanted to benefit from the star power of famous golfers like Tiger Woods. The disagreement continues today. Those who think golf is a sport point to pro-golfers like Woods， who are strong and fit. Those who disagree point to golfers like John Daly. He is a successful pro-golfer who once had health problems. So is golf a sport? The answer depends on who you ask——and whether that person owns a set of golf clubs.The overweight or injured people are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to ( ) .

4. Passage Fifteen Big data can be defined as information that is too big or complex to be contained or processed by any one machine or person. As a student at the University of Sussex， Julian Dailly had two majors——English and philosophy. When he completed his studies， Dailly wondered how he would ever earn a living in a world filled with machines and technology. Now， he is part of the big data industry that includes Google and Facebook. Dailly’s research company， Morar Consulting， started three years ago with five employees. The company’s earnings have increased by 25% each year. It now employs 90 people. “What we do here is we try to discover what’s meaningful for people and link that to their economic behavior，” Dailly said. He noted the importance of working with people with different skills. “We have people from traditional research backgrounds， in addition to some in social sciences， economics， people from tech backgrounds， and salespeople，” Dailly said. Companies like Dailly’s employ recent college graduates. The industry profits from the ideas of these young men and women. New forms of data also make it possible for some observers to predict the future. They are more valuable to companies than the traditional forms of data recording or reporting. “We have access to the core information inside people’s heads，” Dailly said， “They tell you what people are going to do as opposed to what they’ve done. That helps people take proper action in advance. This makes it much more useful for strategy.” Julian Dailly dismisses concerns that computers have finally taken control of our daily lives. “Some may worry that humans will be allowed to be replaced by machines. I think it’s a fantasy.” The company is aimed at making use of the information to help people ( ) .

A. take predictive action

B. remember the past

C. learn from each other

D. stick to the tradition

32. Many a man (_____)_ satisfied (_____)_ life for the cause of the revolution.

A. 　 have...his

B. 　 has...his

C. 　 have... their

D. 　Has... their

3. Passage Four Did your mum and dad go to university， or did they leave school and go straight to the Job Centre? The educational experience of parents is still important when it comes to how today’s students choose an area of study and what to do after graduation， according to the Future-track research in the UK. The research was done by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit. It plans to follow university applicants for six years from 2006 through their early careers. The first year’s findings come from a study of 130，000 university applicants. They show significant differences in prospective students’ approach to higher education， depending on whether their parents got degrees 【second-generation applicants】 or didn’t 【first-generation applicants】. First-generation applicants were more likely to say that their career and employment prospects were uppermost in their minds in deciding to go to university. About one-fifth of this group gave “to enable me to get a good job” as their main reason for choosing high education. And 37 percent said that a degree was “part of my career plan” . A young person coming from a non-professional household where finances are stretched may find the idea of learning for its own sake to be a luxury. This explains the explosion in vocational course. At Portsmouth University， first-year student Kim Burnett， 19， says that she specifically chose her degree in health research management and psychology to get a secure， well-paid job. Harriet Edge， 20， studying medicine at Manchester University， also wanted job security. Her parents lacked college degrees， though the fact that her uncle is a doctor appears to have influenced her choice. “Medicine is one of those fields where it’s pretty likely you’ll get a job at the end. That’s a big plus， as the debt levels after five years of study are going to be frightening，” she says. Many experts believe that this situation affects those with no family tradition of higher education far more keenly. The fact that 26 percent of respondents said that they needed more advice implies that some students may end up feeling that their higher education investment was not worthwhile. For those with graduate parents， this lack of guidance may， the researchers suggest， be less of a problem. “But， for those without the advantages， lack of access to career guidance before applying for higher education leaves them exposed to making poorer choices，” the survey concludes. In which of the following aspects do Kim Burnett and Harriet Edge have in common?

A. They both chose their majors because of their family influence.

B. They are both the first-year students in university.

C. Both of their parents lack college degrees.

D. Both of them chose degrees for job security.

39 The committee is totally opposed (_____)_ any changes being made in the plans.

A. 　 of

B. 　 on

C. 　 to

D. 　 against

5. Passage Fifteen Big data can be defined as information that is too big or complex to be contained or processed by any one machine or person. As a student at the University of Sussex， Julian Dailly had two majors——English and philosophy. When he completed his studies， Dailly wondered how he would ever earn a living in a world filled with machines and technology. Now， he is part of the big data industry that includes Google and Facebook. Dailly’s research company， Morar Consulting， started three years ago with five employees. The company’s earnings have increased by 25% each year. It now employs 90 people. “What we do here is we try to discover what’s meaningful for people and link that to their economic behavior，” Dailly said. He noted the importance of working with people with different skills. “We have people from traditional research backgrounds， in addition to some in social sciences， economics， people from tech backgrounds， and salespeople，” Dailly said. Companies like Dailly’s employ recent college graduates. The industry profits from the ideas of these young men and women. New forms of data also make it possible for some observers to predict the future. They are more valuable to companies than the traditional forms of data recording or reporting. “We have access to the core information inside people’s heads，” Dailly said， “They tell you what people are going to do as opposed to what they’ve done. That helps people take proper action in advance. This makes it much more useful for strategy.” Julian Dailly dismisses concerns that computers have finally taken control of our daily lives. “Some may worry that humans will be allowed to be replaced by machines. I think it’s a fantasy.” According to Dailly， the idea that humans may be replaced by machines ( ) .

A. is a wise warning

B. is pure imagination

C. may come true

D. needs further study

3. Passage Eighteen An idea that started in Seattle’s public library has spread throughout America and beyond. The concept is simple: help to build a sense of community in a city by getting everyone to read the same book at the same time. In addition to encouraging reading as a pursuit (追求) to be enjoyed by all， the program allows strangers to communicate by discussing the book on the bus， as well as promoting reading as an experience to be shared in families and schools. The idea came from Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl who launched the “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” project in 1998. Her original program used author visits， study guides and book discussion groups to bring people together with a book， but the idea has expanded to many other American cities， and even to Hong Kong. In Chicago， the mayor appeared on television to announce the choice of To Kill a Mockingbird as the first book in the “One Book， One Chicago” program. As a result， reading clubs and neighborhood groups sprang up around the city. Across the US， stories emerged of parents and children reading to each other at night and strangers chatting away on the bus about the plot and characters. The only problem arose in New York， where local readers could not decide on one book to represent the huge and diverse population. This may show that the idea works best in medium-sized cities or large towns， where a greater sense of unity can be achieved. Or it may show that New Yorkers rather missed the point， putting all their energy and passion into the choice of the book rather than discussion about a book itself. Ultimately， as Nancy points out， the level of success is not measured by how many people read a book， but by how many people are enriched by the process or have enjoyed speaking to someone with whom they would not otherwise have 【shared a word】. According to the passage， where would the project be more easily carried out?

A. In large communities with little sense of unity.

B. In large cities where libraries are far from home.

C. In medium-sized cities with a diverse population.

D. In large towns where agreement can be quickly reached.

5. Passage Five The appeal of advertising to buying motives can have both negative and positive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement. For example， some advertisers have appealed to people’s desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve gasoline mileage. Some of the products work. Others are worthless and a waste of consumers’ money. Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading. A few years ago， a brand of bread was offered to dieters with the message that there were fewer calories in every slice. It turned out that the bread was not dietetic， but just regular bread. There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin， but there were the same number of calories in every loaf. On the positive side， emotional appeals may respond to a consumer’s real concerns. Consider fire insurance. Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss. But fear of loss is the real reason for fire insurance. The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance a worthwhile investment for most people. If consumers consider the quality of the insurance plans as the message in the ads， they will benefit from the advertising. Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation. Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it? Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers， but it does not force them to buy the product. Consumers still control the final buying decision. The passage is mainly about ( ) .

A. how to make a wise buying decision

B. ways to protect the interests of the consumer

C. the positive and negative aspects of advertising

D. the function of advertisements in promoting sales

3. Passage Twenty-Five Online dating has just been revealed to be one of the most common ways to start a relationship. But new research reveals that the concept is still highly flawed (有缺陷的). An analysis of 400 studies into online dating shows that while it offers access to plenty of other singles， users can be overwhelmed and put off by the volume of choice， defeating the purpose. The research， by Northwestern University and published in the journal Psychological Science in the public interest， found that the processes involved don’t lend themselves to forming strong relationships. The findings also indicated that the concept of an online profile (介绍) is not entirely useful and “can result in treating potential partners as mere objects ”. Lead author Eli. J. Finkel explained， “Online dating is a terrific addition for singles to meet. However， there are two problems. ” First， studying over seemingly endless lists of profiles of people one does not know， as on Match.com， does not reveal much about them. Second， it “overloads people and they end up shutting down，” he said. He compared it to shopping at “supermarkets of love” and said psychological research shows people presented with too many choices tend to make lazy and often poor decisions. The study’s authors also questioned the algorithms ( 算法) employed by sites such as eHarmony.com to match people based on their interests or personality—comparing it to having a real estate agent of love. While the algorithm may reduce the number of potential partners from thousands to a few， they may be as unsuitable for each other as two people meeting at random， Dr. Finkel explained， adding the chances are no better than finding a relationship by walking into any bar. “There’s no better way to figure out whether you’re a match with somebody than talking to them over a coffee or beer，” Dr. Finkel said. The phrase “lend themselves to” (Para.3) probably means ( ) .

A. be opposed to

B. be easily used for

C. be happy with

D. be consistent with

32. Great changes have taken place in my hometown since the 1980s. Still (_____)_ changes will take place in the future.

A. 　 greater

B. 　 great

C. 　 more great

D. 　 greatest

43. We were (_____)_ for half an hour in the traffic and so we arrived late.

A. 　 put down

B. 　 broken down

C. 　 help up

D. 　 kept off