2. Passage Twenty-Four Social change is more likely to occur in societies where there is a mixture of different kinds of people than in societies where people are similar in many ways. The simple reason for this is that there are more different ways of looking at things present in the first kind of society. There are more ideas， more disagreements in interest， and more groups and organizations with different beliefs. In addition， there is usually a greater worldly interest and greater tolerance in mixed societies. All these factors tend to promote social change by opening more areas of life to decision. In a society where people are quite similar in many ways， there are fewer occasions for people to see the need or the opportunity for change because everything seems to be the same. And although conditions may not be satisfactory， they are at least customary and undisputed. Within a society， social changes is also likely to occur more frequently and more readily in the material aspects of the culture than in the non-material， for example， in technology rather than in values; in what has been learned later in life rather than what was learned early; in the less basic and less emotional aspects of society than in their opposites; in the simple elements rather than in the complex ones; in form rather than in substance; and in elements that are acceptable to the culture rather than in strange elements. Furthermore， social change is easier if it is gradual. For example， it comes more readily in human relations on a continuous scale rather than one with sharp dichotomies ( 一分为二). This is one reason why change has not come more quickly to Black American as compared to other American minorities， because of the sharp difference in “appearance between them and their white counterparts” .( ) is one of the factors that tend to promote social change.

50. The output of new energy vehicle this year is (_____) last year.

A. 　 as much as twice

B. 　 as twice much as

C. 　 twice as much as

D. 　 twice so much as

39. The robot “teacher” was talking with his students as though it (_____) a human teacher.

A. 　 were

B. 　 was

C. 　 is

D. 　 had been

4. Passage Six We find that bright children are rarely held back by mixed-ability teaching. On the contrary， both their knowledge and experience are enriched. We feel that there are many disadvantages in streaming (把 …按能力分班) pupils. It does not take into account the fact that children develop at different rates. It can have a bad effect on both the bright and the not-so-bright child. After all， it can be quite discouraging to be at the bottom of the top grade! Besides， it is rather unreal to grade pupils just according to their intellectual (智力的) ability. This is only one aspect of their total personality. We are concerned to develop the abilities of all our pupils to the full， not just their academic ability. We also value personal qualities and social skills， and we find that mixed-ability teaching contributes to all these aspects of learning. In our classrooms， we work in various ways. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn to co-operate， to share， and to develop leadership skills. They also learn how to cope with personal problems as well as how to think， to make decisions， to analyze and evaluate， and to communicate effectively. The pupils learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Sometimes the pupils work in pairs. Sometimes they work on individual tasks and assignments， and they can do this at their own speed. They also have some formal class teaching when this is appropriate. We encourage our pupils to use the library， and we teach them the skills they need in order to do this efficiently. An advanced pupil can do advanced work. It doesn’t matter what age the child is. We expect our pupils to do their best， not their least， and we give them every encouragement to attain this goal. The pupils often work in groups: this gives them the opportunity to learn ( ) .

A. to cooperate， to share and to develop leadership skills

B. to cope with personal problems

C. to learn how to think， to make decisions， to analyze and evaluate， and to communicate effectively

D. to do all the above things

49. They had to put (_____) the meeting due to the ongoing COVID-19.

A. 　 forward

B. 　 up

C. 　 down

D. 　 off

5. Passage Sixteen Justin was always prepared. His motto was “Never throw anything out， you never know when it might come in handy.” His bedroom was so full of flat bicycle tires， bent tennis rackets， deflated basketballs， and games with missing pieces that you could barely get in the door. His parents asked him to clean out his room. “What use is a fish tank with a hole in the bottom?” his father asked. But Justin simply smiled and repeated his motto， “Never throw anything out， you never know when it might come in handy.” When Justin was away from home， he always carried his blue backpack. He liked to think of it as a smaller version of his bedroom——a place to store the many objects that he collected. It was so worn and stretched that it hardly resembled a backpack anymore. It was full of the kind of things that seemed unimportant， but when used with a little imagination， might come in handy. Justin had earned a reputation for figuring things out and getting people out of otherwise hopeless situations. Many of his classmates and neighbors sought him out when they needed help with a problem. On the first day of school， his friend Kenny， came looking for Justin. “Do you think you have something in your bag that could help me remember my locker code?” he asked. “I lost the paper it was written on. I have science class in two minutes and if I’m late on the first day it’ll make me look bad for the rest of the year.” Kenny looked genuinely worried. “Relax，” Justin said， taking his backpack off and opened it. “Remember how you borrowed my notebook in hometown to write the code down? Well， I know how we can recover what you wrote. ” He took the notebook and a soft lead pencil out of his bag. The page that Kenny had written on had left faint indentations (旧凹痕) on another page in the notebook. Justin held the pencil on its side and rubbed it lightly over the indentations. Slowly but surely the numbers of the locker code appeared in white， set off by the gray pencil rubbings. “That’s amazing!” Kenny said. “I owe you one.” And he dashed off to open his locker. The author’s purpose in writing this story is to ( ) .

A. inform

B. entertain

C. educate

D. satirize

2. 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 reason why the bread advertisement is misleading is that ( ) .

A. thin slices of bread could contain more calories

B. the loaf was cut into regular slices

C. the bread was not genuine bread

D. the total number of calories in the loaf remained the same

2. Passage Seventeen No one knows how man learned to make words. Perhaps he began by making sounds like those made by animals. Perhaps he grunted like a pig when he lifted something heavy. Perhaps he made sounds like those he heard all round him——water splashing， bees humming， a stone falling to the ground. Somehow， he learned to make words. As the centuries went by， he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language. People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in the world. Each contains many thousands of words. A very large English dictionary， for example， contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not need all these. Only a few thousand words are used in everyday life. The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your vocabulary bigger. You’re supposed to read as many books as you can. There are plenty of books written in easy English for you to read. You will enjoy them. When you meet a new word， you should find it in your dictionary. Your dictionary is your most useful book.The number of different languages spoken is about ( ) .

A. 150

B. 1500

C. 5000

D. 4000

2. Passage Three Have you always dreamed of traveling to cool places， meeting lots of different people， and maybe picking up a language or two? No matter what country you live in， you can fly over the world’s highest waterfalls in Venezuela， learn world trade in Japan， study art in France， or take dancing lessons in Ghana. How? Join a study abroad program， where high school and college students live with a host family in a foreign country. Semester， summer， and year-long programs allow you to attend school， take intensive language courses， or perform community service in another country. Besides the excitement of travel， one reason to study abroad is that you will experience new customs， holidays， foods， art， music， and politics firsthand. “I learned the language and am now fluent， but perhaps more important was how much I learned about cultures， people， and myself. I learned this from the viewpoint of an active member of the community and my host family， not from the tourist’s point of view，” says Andrew， who studied in Poitiers， France. Another reason for studying abroad is that you’ll gain self-confidence. Christina studied in Caracas， Venezuela， a city of 10 million people and a huge change from her hometown of 35，000! Christina says she learned how to better stand up for herself and her beliefs and to express herself in another language. What could make you more confident than that? Living away from home can also help you adjust in the transition to college and adulthood. Matthew says he returned from studying in Australia with confidence， social savvy， and a genuine interest in international affairs that really set him apart from his peers. “After having gone abroad in high school， I found the transition to college to be a breeze—moving 560 miles from home didn’t seem particularly daunting after having lived thousands of miles away.” And speaking of college， improving your language skills might help you get into dream colleges and even land future jobs. Colleges and employers know that studying abroad provides leadership skills in a world that is increasingly globally interconnected. Most of all， it’s fun! You’re not likely to suffer from sophomore slump or general boredom while you’re studying in a different learning environment. What are the reasons for studying abroad besides the excitement of travel according to the passage?

A. You will experience new customs， holidays， foods， art， music， and politics firsthand.

B. You will meet lots of different people and pick up a language or two.

C. You will experience new cultures and gain self-confidence.

D. All of the above.

4. Passage Twenty-One What will man be like in the future—in 5，000 or even 50，000 years from now? We can only make guesses， of course， but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today. For man is slowly changing all the time. Let us take an obvious example. Man， even five hundred years ago， was shorter than he is today. Now， on average， men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is relatively short period of time， so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again， in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so， we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on， however， we shall have to use our brains more and more， and eventually we shall need larger ones. This is likely to bring about a physical change to the head， in particular the forehead will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact， we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger. On the other hand， we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These， as a result， are likely to grow weaker. At the same time， however， our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life. But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future， then， both sexes are likely to be bald. Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at. This may well be true. All the same， in spite of all these changes， future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being， with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.Future man will probably ( ) .

A. have smaller eyes

B. see better

C. have larger eyes

D. wear better glasses

45. (_____)_ cleans the blackboard should be praised.

A. 　 That

B. 　 Who

C. 　 The one who

D. 　 The students who