2008年职称英语阅读理解习题(16)

Goal of American Education

Education is an enormous and expe ive part of American life. Its size is matched by its variety.

Differences in American schools compared with those found in the majority of other countries lie in the fact that education here has long been intended for everyone — not just for a privileged elite. Schools are expected to meet the needs of every child, regardle  of ability, and also the needs of society itself. This mea  that public schools offer more than academic subjects. It surprises many people when they come here to find high schools offering such courses as typing, sewing, radio repair, computer programming or driver training, along with traditional academic subjects such as mathematics, history, and languages. Students choose their curricula depending on their interests, future goals, and level of ability. The underlying goal of American education is to develop every child to the utmost of his or her own po ibilities, and to give each one a se e of civic and community co ciou e .

Schools have traditionally played an important role in creating national unity and “Americanizing” the millio  of immigrants who have poured into this country from many different backgrounds and origi . Schools still play a large role in the community, e ecially in the small tow .

The a roach to teaching may seem unfamiliar to many, not only because it is informal, but also because there is not much emphasis on learning facts. I tead, America  try to teach their children to think for themselves and to develop their own intellectual and creative abilities. Students  end much time, learning how to use resource materials, libraries, statistics and computers. America  believe that if children are taught to reason well and to research well, they will be able to find whatever facts they need throughout the rest of their lives. Knowing how to solve problems is co idered more important than the accumulation of facts.

This is America's a wer to the searching question that thoughtful parents all over the world are asking themselves in the fast-moving time: “How can one prepare today's child for a tomorrow that one can neither predict nor understand?”

1. Which of the following best states the goal of American education?
A. To teach every learner some practical skills.
B. To provide every learner with rich knowledge.
C. To give every student the o ortunity to fully develop his/her ability.
D. To train every student to be a re o ible citizen.

2. It is implied in the pa age that
A. all high-school students take the same courses.
B. every high-school student must take some practical ability training courses.
C. every public school offers the same academic subjects.
D. the subject every student takes may vary.

3. American schools place great emphasis on the learner's
A. enrichment of knowledge.
B. accumulation of facts.
C. acquisition of the ability to be creative.
D. acquisition of the ability to work with his hands.

4. According to the pa age, American education meets the needs of all the following EXCEPT
A. the brightest students.
B. the slow students.
C. the students from foreign countries.
D. the immigrants.

5. Which of the following best states the feature of American education that makes it different from education in other countries?
A. The large number of its schools.
B. The variety of the courses offered in its schools.
C. Its  ecial co ideration given to immigrants.
D. Its underlying goal to develop every child's abilities to the fullest extent.

Income

Income may be national income and personal income. Whereas national income is defined as the total earned income of all the factors of production—namely, profits, interest, rent, wages, and other compe ation for labor, personal income may be defined as total money income received by individuals before personal taxes are paid. National income does not equal G （Gro  National Product）because the factors of production do not receive payment for either capital co umption allowances or indirect busine  taxes, both of which are included in G . The money put aside for capital co umption is for replacement and thus is not counted as income. Indirect taxes include sales taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes that are paid by busine es directly to the government and so reduce the income left to pay for the factors of production. Three-fourths of national income goes for wages, salaries, and other forms of compe ation to employees.

Whereas national income shows the income that the factors of production earn, personal income measures the income that individuals or households receive. Corporation profits are included in national income because they are earned. Out of these profits, however, corporation profit taxes must be paid to government, and some money must be put into the busine  for expa ion. Only that part of profits distributed as dividends goes to the individual; therefore, out of corporation profits only dividends count as personal income. The factors of production earn money for social security and unemployment i urance contributio , but this money goes to government（which is not a factor of production）, not to individuals. It is therefore part of national income but not part of personal income.

On the other hand, money received by individuals when they collect social security or unemployment compe ation is not money earned but money received. Interest received on government bonds is also in this category, because much of the money received from the sale of bonds went to pay for war production and that production no longer furnishes a service to the economy.

The money people receive as personal income may be either  ent or saved. However, not all  ending is completely voluntary. A significant portion of our income goes to pay personal taxes. Most workers never receive the money they pay in personal taxes, because it is withheld from their paychecks. The money that individuals are left with after they have met their tax obligatio  is di osable personal income. Di osable income can be divided between personal co umption expenditures and personal savings. It is important to remember that personal saving is what is left after  ending.

1. This pa age is mainly about
A. the cla ification of income.
B. the difference between national income and personal income.
C. the concept of income.
D. the difference between di osable income and non-di osable income.

2. Which of the following statements is true according to the first paragraph?
A. G  equals national income plus indirect busine  taxes.
B. G  excludes both capital co umption allowances and indirect busine  taxes.
C. Personal income is regarded as the total money income received by an individual after his or her taxes are paid.
D. The money that goes for capital co umption is not regarded as income.

3. It can be known from this pa age that the government levy tax on
A. corporation profits.
B. every individual even though his income is very low.
C. those who work in joint ventures.
D. those who work in government departments.

4. According to this pa age, the money you get as interest from government bonds is
A. money earned.
B. not money earned but money received.
C. money received because you have contributed to the economy.
D. money earned because you have furnished a service to the economy.

5. The pa age implies that
A. people willingly pay taxes because they want to do something useful to the country.
B. people willingly pay taxes because they do not want to be looked down upon by others.
C. people pay taxes unwillingly because they feel they will be arrested if they do not.
D. people pay taxes somewhat unwillingly.

The Gene Industry

Major companies are already in pursuit of commercial a licatio  of the new biology. They dream of placing enzymes in the automobile to monitor exhaust and send data on pollution to a microproce or that will then adjust the engine. They  eak of what the New York Times calls “metal-hungry microbes that might be used to mine valuable trace metals from ocean water.” They have already demanded and won the right to patent new life forms.

Nervous critics, including many scientists, worry that there is corporate, national, international, and inter-scientific rivalry in the entire biotechnological field. They create images not of oil  ills, but of “microbe  ills” that could  read disease and destroy entire populatio . The creation and accidental release of extremely poisonous microbes, however, is only one cause for alarm. Completely rational and re ectable scientists are talking about po ibilities that stagger the imagination.

Should we breed people with cow-like stomachs so they can digest gra  and hay, thereby relieving the food problem by modifying us to eat lower down on the food chain? Should we biologically alter workers to fit the job requirement, for example, creating pilots with faster reaction times or a embly-line workers designed to do our monotonous work for us? Should we attempt to eliminate “inferior” people and breed a “super-race” ? （Hitler tried this, but without the genetic weaponry that may soon i ue from our laboratories. ）Should we produce soldiers to do our fighting? Should we use genetic forecasting to pre-eliminate “unfit” babies? Should we grow reserve orga  for ourselves, each of us having, as it were, a “savings bank” full of  are kidney, livers, or hands?

Wild as these notio  may sound, every one has its advocates（and o oses） in the scientific community as well as its striking commercial a lication. As two critics of genetic engineering, Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard, state in their book Who Should Play God? “Broad scale genetic engineering will probably be introduced to America much the same way as a embly lines, automobiles, vaccines, computers and all the other technologies. As each new genetic advance becomes commercially practical, a new co umer need will be exploited and a market for the new technology will be created. ”

1. According to the pa age, the exhaust from a car engine could probably be checked by
A. using metal-hungry microbes.
B. making use of enzymes.
C. adjusting the engine.
D. patenting new life forms.

2. According to the pa age, which of the following would worry the critics the most?
A. The unanticipated explosion of population.
B. The creation of biological solar cells.
C. The accidental  ill of oil.
D. The unexpected release of destructive microbes.

3. Which of the following notio  is NOT mentioned?
A. Developing a “savings bank” of one's orga .
B. Breeding soldiers for a war.
C. Producing people with cow-like stomachs.
D. Using genetic forecasting to cure diseases.

4. According to the pa age, Hitler attempted to
A. change the pilots biologically to win the war.
B. develop genetic farming for food su ly.
C. kill the people he thought of as inferior.
D. encourage the development of genetic weapo  for the war.

5. What does Jeremy Rifkin and Ted Howard's statement imply?
A. The commercial a licatio  of genetic engineering are inevitable.
B. America will depend on other countries for biological progre .
C. America are proud of their computers, automobiles and genetic technologies.
D. The potential a lication of each new genetic advance should be controlled.

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