Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions:There are four reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A,B,C and D. You should choose the One best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET with a pencil.
Passage 1
By the time the Olympics begin in Atlanta this summer, the business world will have spent more than $ 1 billion to link their names and products to the Olympic Games. There are 10 Worldwide Sponsors, 10 Centennial Olympic Partners, about 20 regular sponsors and more than a hundred licensees. The Atlanta Games will boast an “official" scouring pad and timepiece, two official game shows, and three official vehicles: a family car, an import minivan and a luxury sedan.
But what exactly do these companies reap for their huge investment? At the very least, they command tickets to the most popular events, invitations to the best parties and prime hotel rooms. But most of all, according to US Postal Service, it is purchasing the right to spend money.
And the right to spend money is expensive. The biggest backers, Olympic sponsors like Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Mcdonald's and Xerox, commit up to $ 40 million. But, getting the rights to the Olympic rings is only half the battle. The other half is the challenge to sort of wrap their product brands around that image. Often that means TV time. And at roughly $ 400 000 per 30-second spot, some of the biggest sponsors have already locked up every commercial slot in their product categories that NBC has to sell. Not everyone is convinced that the Games are worth the price of business admission. The biggest and most conspicuous naysayer is Nike. Its spokesman says:“If I see a Reebok official who may not be in the best shape firing the starting pistol and Carl Lewis wearing Nike shoes, I'm going to go with Carl because that's the authentic link." Nike's strategy is hard to argue with - instead of sponsoring the Olympics, it sponsors Olympians.
Yet even Nike wants a piece of the Atlantic action. Along with some other nonsponsors, Nike is trying to dot downtown Atlanta with billboards. Advertisement, it's another Olympic event.
1. By “official vehicles", the author means .
A. automobiles for Olympic officials
B. automobiles used in official occasion
C. automobiles that the Olympic participants must drive
D. automobiles that allowed to bear the Olympic symbol
2. Which of the following is not an Olympic sponsor?
A. US Postal Service.
B. Nike.
C. Coca-Cola.
D. Mcdonald's
3. The last sentence of this passage indicates .
A. businesses trying to get publicity is a part of the Olympic Games
B. what the Olympic non-sponsors do is of no interest to the Olympic organizers
C. that businesses must try very hard to earn money from the Olympic Games as if they were themselves competing in the Games
D. that those who fail to sponsor the Olympics this time will try very hard the next time 4. Which of the following is NOT implied in the passage ?
A. Companies use their Olympic sponsorship to promote sales of their products.
B. To provide sportswear for Carl Lewis is a more effective advertisement than to provide suits for Olympic officials.
C. NBC makes great profits from selling advertising time to companies eager to impress potential customers during the Olympic Games.
D. Nike looks down upon the Olympic Games.
5. Which of the following can best sum up the passage?
A. Businesses want to profit from the Olympics.
B. The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
C. The Olympic sponsorship.
D. Importance of the Olympic Games.
Passage 2
Halloween(October 31)
This is a holiday widely celebrated with different names in many countries. Although it originated as a religious holiday, it has lost its religious connections in the United States. It is now celebrated largely as a children's day, and many American children look forward to it for days and weeks beforehand.
The orange pumpkin is harvested at this time of year and is hollowed out, a funny face cut into it, and a candle placed inside as a decoration in the window. City folks, nowadays, sometimes use paper pumpkins for decorations.
Some years ago, the holiday was celebrated by dressing up in strange and frightening costumes and playing tricks on one's neighbors and friends, such as ringing door bells, throwing bits of corn on the window panes, and in other ways making minor disturbances.
More recently, children come to the door to have friends and neighbors admire their costumes and guess who they are behind the false faces and receive treats of candy, fruit or cookies. They say, “Trick or Treat", meaning, “I will play a trick on you will not give me a treat." This practice has even more recently developed into a significant international activity. Instead of or along with candy, the children collect money for UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund). This special collection of money by children for needy children throughout the world is known as “UNICEF Trick of Treat". Begun only recently, it results in several million dollars each year contributed to UNICEF. The collection box is orange, reminiscent of the pumpkin.
6. What cloes Holloween originate from?
A. a chilolren's day
B. a trick or treat
C. a religious day
D. a day for UNI CEF
7. Which of the following is not mentioned some years ago how the children celebrate the Halloween?
A. Dressing up in strange and frightening costumes and playing tricks on one's neighbors friends.
B. Ringing door bells.
C. Throwing bits of corn on the window panes.
D. Dressing up in the best holiday clothes.
8. Which of the following is not used in the Halloween celebration?
A. Pumpkin
B. Candle
C. Costume
D. Flower
9. Why do the children collect money in the Halloween?
A. They love money.
B. They want to get enough money to buy themselves candy.
C. The adults are willing to give them money.
D. They want to help other children.
10. What is the symbol of Halloween?
A. Pumpkin.
B. Candle.
C. Laughter
D. Money.
Passage 3
International airlines have rediscovered the business travelers, the man or woman who regularly jets from country to country as part of the job. This does not necessarily mean that airlines ever abandoned their business travelers. Indeed, companies like Lufthansa and Swissair would rightly argue that they have always catered best for the executive class passengers. But many lines could be accused of concentrating too heavily in the recent past on attracting passengers by volume, often at the expense of regular travelers. Too often, they have seemed geared for quantity rather than quality. Operating a major airline in the 1980s is essentially a matter of finding the right mix of passengers. The airlines need to fill up the back end of their wide-bodied jets with low fare passengers, without forgetting that the front end should be filled with people who pay substantially more for their tickets.
It is no coincidence that the two major airline bankruptcies in 1982 were among the companies specializing in cheap flights. But low fares require consistently full aircraft to make flights economically viable, and in the recent recession the volume of traffic has not grown. Equally the large number of airlines jostling for the available passengers has created a huge excess of capacity. The net result of excess capacity and cut-throat competition driving down fares has been to push some airlines into collapse and leave many others hovering on the brink.
Against this grim background, it is no surprise that airlines are turning increasingly towards the business travelers to improve their rates of return. They have invested much time and effort to establish exactly what the executive demands for sitting apart from the tourists.
High on the list of priorities is punctuality; an executive's time is money. In-flight service is another area where the airlines are jostling for the executive's attention. The free drinks and headsets and better food are all part of the lure.
11. One criticism against many international airlines is that they have, in the recent past, .
A. catered for the more wealthy people
B. given preferential treatment to executive clients
C. only met the needs of the regular traveler
D. marketed their service with the masses in mind
12. With the intention of attracting a somewhat different type of passenger, the airlines have now begun to concentrate on .
A. ensuring that the facilities offered to the executive are indeed superior
B. providing facilities enabling business travelers to work on board
C. organizing activities in which first-class passengers can participate
D. installing sleeping compartments where more privacy is ensured
13. From the passage we can infer that .
A. a successful airline in the 1980s meets the needs not only of the masses but also of the wealthy passengers
B. it is more comfortable to sit in the back of jet planes
C. business travelers dislike tourists
D. only by specializing in cheap flights can airlines avoid bankruptcy.
14. In Paragraph 5. “in-flight service" means .
A. Service on the plane
B. A new safety device
C. Flights within one country
D. Charge-free air service
15. The following are all used to attract passengers except .
A. punctuality
B. sound system
C. free drinks
D. charge-free food