Part ⅡReading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Directions:There are four passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D) . You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage 1
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:
One day in 1935 the management of Britian’s Southern Railway (as it was then called) announced its intention to close the branch line from Lynton to Barnstable in North Devon. The proposal was received by the local inhabitants with angry protest. For them, the tall-chimneyed locomotives and the little flower-bordered stations of Devon had become as much of an institution as the village church or tavern. Moreover, the line ran through the heart of a popular tourist district. What would the holidaymaker do without it? Closing down the railway line had been unthinkable, yet now some busybody official in remote London was threatening to destroy it with a stroke of the pen.
Mounting local opposition resulted in a meeting at Barnstaple, where the crowed was joined by very vocal protestors from the other end of the line at Lynton.The meeting seemed to be going well for the railway supporters until the chairman p olitely inquired how many people from Lynton had traveled to Barnstaple by train. Out of the embarrassed silence that followed emerged the painful truth that, to a man, those who had come from Lynton to fight for the railway had come by highway. The fate of the Lynton and Barnstaple branch line was sealed.
This sad little story is typical of the attitude of many Englishmen toward their railways. Dissatisfied with the age of sheet metal, plastics, and reinforced concrete in which we find ourselves, we long more and more for the substantial, self-confident, and inspired products of the Victorian era. Of that age, Britain’s railways are the most eloquent and enduring reminders.?
21.One of the arguments against closing the railway line was that____. ?
A) fewer tourists would come into the area?
B) people from outlying districts would be unable to attend religious services?
C) the economy of the people would suffer greatly?
D) it would be difficult to get from Lynton to Barnstaple?
22.Who objected to the closing of the railway branch line??
A) Barnstaple people only.?
B) Workers of the Southern Railway.?
C) People of both Barnstaple and Lynton. ?
D) The management of the Southern Railway.?
23.What is the author’s reaction to the people who called the town meeting??
A) He is amused by their political efforts. ?
B) He is sympathetic to their cause.?
C) He is encouraged by their success. ?
D) He is critical of their attitudes.?
24.The author seems to think that railways are reminders of the____.?
A) personal concern and solid beauty of a past age?
B) ugliness and oppression that modern society has overcome?
C) benefits that the machine age has brought to man ?
D) growing dislike in England of the Victorian age
25.The passage suggests that the Southern Railway of Britain is now?
A) controlled by the local people ?
B) in financial difficult?
C) under a different name ?
D) financially sound?
Passage 2
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
Federal Reserve System, central banking system of the United States, popularly called the Fed. A central bank serves as the banker to both the banking community and the government; it also issues the national currency, conducts monetary policy, and plays a major role in supervision and regulation of banks and bank holding companies. In the U.S. these functions are the responsibilities of key officials of the Federal Reserve System: the Board of Governors, located in Washington, D.C., and the top officers of the 12 district Federal Reserve banks, located throughout the nation. The Fed’s actions, described below, generally have a significant effect on the U.S. interest rates and, subsequently, on stock,
bond, and other financial markets.
The Federal Reserve’s basic powers are concentrated in the Board of Governors, which is paramount in all policy issues concerning bank regulation and supervision and in most aspects of monetary control. The board enunciates the Fed’s policies on both monetary and banking matters. Because the board is not an operating agency, most of the day-to-day implementation of policies decisions is left to the district Federal Reserve banks, stock in which is owned by the commercial banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Ownership in this insance, however, does not imply control; the Board of Governors and the heads of the Reserve banks orient their policies to the public interest rather than to the benefit of the private banking system.
The U.S. banking system’s regulatory apparatus is complex; the authority of the Federal Reserve is shared in some instances for example, in mergers or the examination of banks with other federal agencies such as the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation (FDIC). In the critical area of regulating the nation’s money supply in accordance with national economic goals, however, the Federal Reserve is independent within the government. In come and expenditures of the Federal Reserve banks and of the Board of Governors are not subject to the congressional appropriation process; the Federal
Reserve is subject to the congressional appropriation process; the Federal Reserve is self-financing. Its income($20.2 billion in 1992) comes mainly from Reserve bank holdings of income-earning securities, primarily those of the U.S. government. Outlays ($1.5 billion in 1992) are mostly for operational expenses in providing services to the government and for expenditures connected with regulation and monetary policy. In 1992 the Federal Reserve returned $16.8 billion in earnings to the U.S. Treasury.?
26.The Fed of the United States____.?
A) functions as China Bank ?
B) is the counterpart of People’s Bank of China?
C) is subject to the banking community and government?
D) has 13 top officers who can influence the American financial market?
27.The fact that stock in the Fed belongs to commercial banks____.?
A) doesn’t mean the latter is in control ?
B) means the latter is in control?
C) means the latter is subjected to the Reserve banks ?
D) means the Reserve banks orient the latter’s policies?