Directions：

　　Read the following text. Choose the best word （s） for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. （10 points）

　　Many professions are associated with a particular stereotype. The 1 image of a writer, for instance, is 2 a slightly easy-looking person, locked in an attic, writing 3 furiously for days 4 . Naturally, he has his favorite pen and note-paper, or a beat-up typewriter, 5 which he could not produce a readable word.

　　Nowadays, we know that such images 6 little resemblance to reality. But are they 7 false？ In the case of at least one writer, it would seem not Dame Muriel Spark, who 8 80 in February, in many ways resembles this stereotypical sitter. She is certainly not crazy, and she doesn't work in an attic. But she is rather 9 about the tools of her 10.

　　She 11 writing with a certain type of pen in a certain type of notebook, which she buys from a certain 12 in Edinburgh called James Thin. In fact, so 13 is she that, if someone uses one of her pens 14 , she immediately throws it away. And she claims she would have enormous difficulty writing in any notebook 15 those sold by James Thin. This could soon be a problem, as the shop no longer 16 them, and Dame Muriel 's 17 of 72-page spiral bound is nearly finished.

　　As well as her18about writing materials, Muriel Spark 19 one other characteristic with the stereotypical writer ： her work is the most important thing in her life. It has stopped her from marrying； 20_ her old friends and made her new ones, and driven her from London to New York to Rome. Today she lives in the Italian province of Tuscany with a friend.

　　1. [A] historic　 [B] antique 　 [C]senior 　 　[D]classic

　　2. [A] in　　　　 [B]of 　　　 [C]with 　 　 [D]for

　　3. [A]away　　　 [B]off [C]on [D]down

　　4. [A] on finish [B]on final [C] on end [D] on stop

　　5. [A] except [B]without [C]beyond [D] on

　　6. [A] bear [B]stand [C]hold [D] keep

　　7. [A] extremely　　 [B] thoroughly 　　 [C]likely 　 　[D] com??pletely

　　8. [A]observed 　　 [B] entered 　　　　[C] saw 　　 [D] turned

　　9. [A] particular　　 [B] specific　　　 [C] peculiar　　 [D] special

　　10. [A]business 　　[B]trade 　　　 　[C]vocation　　 [D] career

　　11. [A]persists in [B] insists on [C] keeps on [D] indulges in

　　12. [A]grocer [B]chemist [C] stationer [D] baker

　　13. [A]mysterious [B] conventional [C]superstitious [D] traditional

　　14. [A] by fortune [B] by accident [C] on purpose [D] by coincidence

　　15. [A]much as [B] rather than [C] such as [D] other than

　　16. [A] piles [B] stores [C] stocks [D] conceals

　　17. [A] supply [B] provision [C] supplement [D] addition

　　18. [A]devotion [B] preoccupation [C] worship [D] obsession

　　19. [A] shares [B] agrees [C] sides [D] possesses

　　20. [A]spent [B] cost [C] exhausted [D] tired

　　Section II Reading Comprehension

　　Part A Directions： Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. （40 points）

　　Text 1

　　For thousands of Canadians, bad service is neither make-believe nor amusing. It is an aggra??vating and worsening real-life phenomenon that encompasses behavior ranging from indifference and rudeness to naked hostility and even physical violence. Across the country, better business bureaus report a lengthening litany, of complaints about contractors, car dealers, and repair shops, moving companies, airlines and department stores. There is almost an adversarial feeling between businesses and consumers.

　　Experts say there are several explanations for ill feeling in the marketplace. One is that cus??tomer service was an early and inevitable casualty when retailers responded to brutal competition by replacing employees with technology such as 1 ~ 800 numbers and voice mail. Another factor is that business generally has begun placing more emphasis on getting customers than on keeping them. Still another is that strident, frustrated and impatient shoppers vex shop owners and make them even less hospitable—especially a busier times of the year like Christmas. On both sides, simple courtesy has gone by the board. And for a multitude of consumers, service went with it.

　　The Better Business Bureau at Vancouver gets 250 complaints a week, twice as many as five years ago. The bureau then had one complaints counselor and now has four. People complain about being insulted, having their intelligence and integrity questioned, and being threatened. One will hear about people being hauled almost bodily out the door by somebody saying things like I don't have to serve you！ or this is private property, get out and don't come back！What can customers do？ If the bureau's arbitration process fails to settle a dispute, a customer’s only re??course is to sue in call claims court. But because of the costs and time it takes, relatively few ever do.

　　There is a lot of support for the notion that service has, in part, fallen victim to generational change. Many young people regard retailing as just a bead-end job that you're just going to do temporarily on your way to a real job. Young clerks often lack both knowledge and civility. Employers have to train young people in simple manners because that is not being done at home. Salespeople today, especially the younger ones, have grown up in a television-computer society where they’ve interacted largely with machines. One of the biggest complaints from businesses about graduates is the lack of inter-personal skills.

　　What customers really want is access. They want to get through when they call, they don't want busy signals, they don't want interactive systems telling them to posh one for this and two for that—they don't want voice mail. And if customers do not get what they want, they defect. Some people go back to local small businesses： the Asian greengrocer, a Greek baker and a Greek fishmonger. They don't wear nametags, but one gets to know them, all by name.

　　21. At a business place of bad service, the worst one can get is__________

　　[A] indifference and rudeness

　　[B] naked hostility and physical violence

　　[C] having intelligence and integrity questioned

　　[D] being insulted and threatened

　　22. One of the reasons for such ill feeling in the marketplace is that

　　[A] shoppers are usually strident, frustrated and impatient

　　[B] shoppers often take businesses to court to settle them

　　[C] businesses use new technology instead of employees

　　[D] businesses are keen on keeping customers, not getting them

　　23. What has changed at Vancouver Better Service Bureau in the past five years？

　　[A] More effective.

　　[B] Less bureaucracy.

　　[C]More business.

　　[D] Better staff.

　　24. Young clerks often lack interpersonal skills chiefly because they_______________ .

　　[A] are skilled in dealing with machines not people

　　[B] are not trained in simple manners at home

　　[C] fall victims to generational change

　　[D] take retailing to be a temporary job

　　25. The author's attitude towards businesses and bad service is_______________ them.

　　[A] attacking [B] understanding

　　[C] regretting [D]warning

　　Text 2

　　The United States is the United Nations' biggest deadbeat. Conservatives in Congress, led by Senator Jessie Helms, stopped Washington from paying its dues until the UN reduced its as??sessment and made other changes. Now, thanks to the hard work Richard Holbrook, America’s UN representative, and for peacekeeping. Mr. Helms, who has praised the deal, should release the dues he has been holding hostage—$ 582 million of the $1.3 billion the UN says it is owed.

　　The new formula would reduce the US contribution to the general UN budget to 22 percent from the current level of 25 percent—a symbolic difference of only $ 34 million a year. Washing??ton, which has been paying just over 30 percent of the peacekeeping budget, would now pay 27 percent—a difference of $ 80 million to $ 120 million a year—and that percentage will drop fur??ther. While poor countries would not pay more, the dues of other wealthy nations would rise un??der the new system.

　　The agreement would probably not have been reached without the intervention of the media magnate Ted Turner, who is already contributing $ 1 billion to UN programs over 10 years. Mr. Turner gave $ 34 million to cover the one-year gap during which other nations prepare to raise their contributions. His offer should embarrass Congress, which forced diplomats to waste their influence at the UN in months of negotiations to save a sum that is modest by federal budget stan??dards.

　　US debts reduced the UN's ability to reimburse nations that contributed peacekeepers to UN missions worldwide. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan and other poor countries essentially made up for the absence of US financial support. Since Washington benefits from peacekeepers, which damp down conflicts without US troops, It should not be discouraging nations from sending them.

　　Washington's natural allies at the UN were concerned that the US wanted influence without meeting its treaty obligations. Some of them withheld support for US proposals. Mr. Helms should also end his hold on an additional $244 million in back dues, whose release he has conditioned on a reduction in US dues for specialized UN agencies such as UNICEF and the UN refugee organization. These agencies need full support. Switch by Mr. Helms would help the in??coming Bush administration, which would reap the benefits of the restoration of America’s full in??fluence at the United Nations.

　　26. Senator Jessie Helms stopped the US government from paying its dues to the UN because he wants .

　　[A] other countries to pay as much as the US

　　[B] Washington to make assessments and changes

　　[C] the UN's general budget to be trimmed ,

　　[D] the US to share a smaller part of the burden

　　27. The new formula has adjusted the assessment and will save the US government at least a year.

　　[A] $114 million 　　　[B] $ 154 million

　　[C] $ 200 million 　　　[D] $ 234 million

　　28. After the budget reassessment, the gap left by the US will be covered by______________ .

　　[A] Ted Turner　　　　　 [B] peacekeeping countries

　　[C] all member nations　　　　 [D] other wealthy nations

　　29. The author believes that Richard Holbrook's negotiations at the UN were______________ .

　　[A]A money-saving success

　　[B] An eye-catching embarrassment

　　[C] A waste of US influence

　　[D] A defense of US interest

　　30. From the passage, we can infer that_____________ .

　　[A] The US contribution to the UN has become a huge burden to Washington

　　[B] The new formula has not solved all problems concerning the US dues

　　[C] The dispute over the US dues has been deliberately made political

　　[D] Ted turner's intervention saved the US a diplomatic disaster

　　Text 3

　　With its cluster of high-rises known as the Frankfurter Manhattan, its big banks and its bustling airport, this is a town with pretensions. Petra Roth, the mayor, sees it as a global city providing hub functions for the Continent,a place that should be as cosmopolitan as New York.

　　Frankfurt is not just the city of foreign companies, but it is also home to 8000 Muslims, most of them Turks of modest means. Foreigners, including a large contingent from the former Yugoslavia, make up 30 percent of the population； one of the highest ratios for any city in Europe troubled by immigration. But there is no blood on the streets. Quietly flows the Main River be??neath that mock-New World skyline.

　　As Germany goes these days, so goes Europe. And if Frankfurt, the headquarters for Europe's new Central Bank and so the capital of Europe's nascent shared currency, the euro, is comfortable being a part-Muslim city with 27 mosques, perhaps the so-called New Europe of one money and blurred borders can be a more tolerant place.

　　Xenophobia is very unusual in Frankfurt,SAID Francesco Renaldo, an Italian banker. Perhaps it's the 300 foreign banks, or the vast airport, or the long American presence. Not until 1994 did 30 000 American troops pack up and go home—the Cold War ended and, so people here say, the city shaped in the soldiers’ open, can-do spirit.

　　But even here, at the heart of American-influenced Europe, far from the strained psyche of a former East German city like Esau, where rightists this year killed an African immigrant, the ghost of xenophobia is not entirely absent. For Frankfurt—like Germany, like Europe—is strug??gling to define a shifting identity.

　　As the departed US soldiers suggest, this city is no longer part of a Cold War country living what Safer Seneca, a German intellectual of Turkish descent, has called a quasi a-national exis??tence under the umbrella of the West. Far from it, this is now the financial center of a strong Germany seeking to define and express a new national pride.

　　But Frankfurt is also the capital of a unique experiment in abolishing the nation-state through the voluntary abandonment of sovereignty involved in giving up national control of monetary poli??cy and adopting a common currency.

　　So the Continent's largest state, on reborn only in 1990, yet also one that is being abolished, veers, this way and that in its mood, one minute nostalgic for a proud Fatherland, the next in the vanguard of what Foreign Minister Joshua Fischer, himself a child of Frankfurt, calls a post-national era.

　　31. Frankfurt is referred to as aglobal citylike New York because of______________

　　[A] the foreign banks and businesses

　　[B] the number of foreigners in the city

　　[C] the 80,000 Muslims and mosques

　　[D] the refugees from former Yugoslavia

　　32. Quietly flows the Main River beneath that mock-New World skyline probably means that .

　　[A] The new central bank had a large inflow of funds

　　[B] The city life goes on quietly without racial conflicts

　　[C] The population moves quietly in the street of the city

　　[D] The foreigners come to the city like a flow of river

　　33. The word xenophobia probably means ____________ .

　　[A] fear of war　　　　　　 [B] psychological nervousness

　　[C] hatred of foreigners　　　 [D] open, can-do spirit