Passage One
You never see him．but they’re with you every time you fly．They record where you are going，how fast vou’re traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally．Their ability to withstand almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book．They’re known as the black box．
When planes￡all from the sky，as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean June 30，2009，the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong．So whena French submarine(潜水艇)detected the device’s homing signal five days later，the discoverymarked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which l 52 passengers were killed．
In l958．Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would trackbasic information like ahitude and direction．That was the first mode for a black box，which becamea requirement on all U．S．commercial flights by l960．Early models often failed to withstand cra’shes．however，so in l 965 the device was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of theplane—tlle area least subject to impact--from its original position in the landing wells(起落架舱)．
The same year，the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes，which were never actually black，be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility．
Modem airplanes have two black boxes：a voice recol-der，which tracks pilots’conversations，and a flight．data recorder，which monitors fuel levels，engine noises and other operating functions thathelD investigatorS reconstruct the aircraft’s final moments．Placed in an insulated(隔绝的)case andsurrunded by a quarte卜inch．thick panels of stainless steel，the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2．000 T．When submerged，they’re also able to emit signals from depths of 20．000 ft．Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447，which crashed near Brazil on June 1．2009,are in water nearly that deep，but statistics say they’re still likely to turn up．In the approxi- matelv 20 deep．sea crashes over the past 30 years，only one plane’s black boxes were never recovered．
21．What does the author say about the black box?
A．It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane．
B．The idea for its design comes from a comic book．
C．Its ability to ward off disasters is incredible．
D．It is an indispensable device on an airplane．
22．What information could be found from the black box on the Yemeni airliner?
A．Data for analyzing the cause of the crash．
B．The total number of passengers on board．
C．The scene of the crash and extent of the damage．
D．Homing signals sent by the pilot before the crash．
23．Why was the black box redesigned in l 965 ?
A．Because new materials became available by that time．
B．Because too much space was needed for its installation．
C．Because the early models often got damaged in the crash．
D．Because the early models didn’t provide the needed data．
24．Why did the FederM Aviation Authority require the black boxes be painted orange or yellow?
A．To distinguish them from the co]our of the plane．
B．To caution people to handle them with care．
C．To make them easily identifiable．
D．To confoITll to international standards．
25．What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447 7
A．There is still a good chance of their being recovered．
B．There is an urgent need for them to be reeonstructed．
C．They have stopped sending homing signals．
D．They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil．
请阅读Passage Two，完成第26—30小题。
Passage Two
Crippling health care bills，long emergency-room waits and the inability to find a primary care physician just scratch the surface of the problems that patients face daily．
Primary care should be the backbone of any health care system．Countries with appropriate pri-mary care resources score highly when it comes to heahll outcomes and cost．The U．S．takes the opposite approach by emphasizing the specialist rather than the primary care physician．
A recent study analyzed the providers who treat Medicare beneficiaries(老年医保受惠人)．
The startling finding was that the average Medicare patient saw a total of seven doctors--two primary care physicians and five specialists--in a given year．Contrary to popular belief，the more physicians taking care of you don’t guarantee better care．Actually，increasing fragmentation of care results in a corresponding rise in cost and medical errors．
How did we let primary care slip 80 far?The key is how doctors are paid．Most physicians are paid whenever they perform a medical service．The mort-a physician does，regardless of quality or outcome。the better he’s reimbursed(返还费用)．Moreover，the amount a physician receives leans heavily toward medical or surgical procedures．A specialist who performs a procedure in a 30-minute visit can be paid three times more than a primary care physician using that same 30 minutes to dis-cussa patient’s disease．Combine this fact with annual government threats to indiscriminately cut re-imbursements，physicians are faced with no choice but to increase quantity to boost income．
Primary care physicians who refuse to compromise quality are either driven out of business or to cash-only practices，further contributing to the decline of primary care．
Medical students are not blind to this scenari0．They see how heavily the reimbursement deck is stacked against primary care．The recent numbers show that since l997，newly graduated U．S．medical students who choose primary care as a career have declined by 50％．This trend results in emergency rooms being overwhelmed with patients without regular doctors．
How do we fix this problem?
It starts with reforming the physician reimbursement system．Remove the pressure for primary care physicians to squeeze in more patients per hour，and reward them for optimally(最佳地) managing their diseases and practicing evidence-based medicine．Make primary care more attractive to medical students by forgiving student loans for those who choose primary care as a career and rec.onciling the marked difference between specialist and primary care physician salaries．
We’re at a point where primary care is needed more than ever．Within a few years，the first wave of the 76 million Baby Boomers will become eligible for Medicare．Patients older than 85，who need chronic care most．will rise by 50％this decade．
Who will be there to treat them?
26．The author's chief concern about the current U．S．health care system is__________．
A．the inadequate training of physicians
B．the declining number of doctors
C．the shrinking primary care resources
D．the ever-rising health care costs
27．We learn from the passage that people tend to believe that__________．
A．the more costly the medicine，the more effective the cure
B．seeing more doctors may result in more diagnostic errors
C．visiting doctors on a regular basis ensures good health
D．the more doctors taking care of a patient，the better
28．Faced with the government threats to cut reimbursements indiscriminately，primary care physi-cians have to__________．
A．increase their income by working overtime
B．improve their expertise and service
C．make various deals with specialists
D．see more patients at the expense of quality
29．Why do many new medical graduates refuse to choose primary care as their career?
A．They find the need for primary care declinin9．
B．The current system works against primary care．
C．Primary care physicians command less respect．
D．They think working in emergency rooms tedious．
30．What suggestion does the author give in order to provide better health care?
A．Bridge the salary gap between specialists and primary care physicians．
B．Extend primary care to patients with chronic diseases．
C．Recruit more medical students by offering them loans．
D．Reduce the tuition of students who choose primary care as their major．
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