TEXT E Someone once marked that the British and the Americans are two peoples separated by the same language. Most epigrams exaggerate for effect, and this one is no exception. But it is, nevertheless, undeniably true that some commonly used words mean different things in these two countries. Consider the seemingly simple term--"the government". To parliamentarians trained in British terminology "the government" means the cabinet: a group of the legislature’s own members, chosen by it to devise public policies, to manage the legislature’s major activities, and to exercise executive powers. In theory, at least, the government continues in office only so long as it commands the support of the legislature. Losing that support, it may be turned out of power at almost any moment. When Americans say "the government", they mean some thing quite different: It connotes the whole governmental structure-- executive, legislative and judicial. Americans assume a situation in which the branches of government are deliberately separated and in which the powers of each check and balance those of the other. Another difference between the U. S. and parliamentary systems concerns the concept of "political party". In the British tradition, a political party connotes a group relatively cohesive in ideology and disciplined in action. Playwright William S. Gilbert’s satirical line that remembers of parliament "vote just as their leaders tell ’em to" is not as accurate as it once was, but it is still close enough to the mark. In contrast, the two major U. S. political parties are vast, sprawling, decentralized conglomerations of varied ideological positions whose members do not feel obliged to vote the way the party leaders tell them to do. In fact, most members come to Congress as independent entrepreneurs, willing to go along with party policy only to the extent that it does not conflict with what they perceive to be the wishes and interests of their constituencies. According to British terminology, the following are the functions of the government EXCEPT ______.
A. to work out public policies
B. to arrange and conduct the activities of the law-making body
C. to exercise executive power
D. to win the support of the legislature
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Passage ThreeQuestions 32 to 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.
A. Because he thinks that it does great harm to human relationship.
Because he thinks that it may lead to the loss of his sports team.
C. Because he believes that it is considered as the most dangerous.
D. Because he believes that it is a totally shared experience.
TEXT A In the United States, the fourth Thursday in November is called Thanksgiving Day. On this day, Americans give thanks for the blessing they have enjoyed during the year. Thanksgiving is usually a family day celebrated with big dinners and happy reunion. The first American Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. It was in September of 1620 that the Puritans, or Pilgrims as they called themselves, left England aboard the Mayflower in search of religious freedom. After 65 days at sea, they landed in Province town Harbor, inside the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. For about a month, the Pilgrims lived aboard ship and then sailed to Plymouth Harbor. The Pilgrims were not trained and equipped to cope with life in the wilderness. During their first winter, they suffered tremendously. Hard work, diseases, bitterly cold weather, and insufficient food killed about half of them. By the end of this terrible first winter, only about 50 Plymouth colonists remained alive. In spring 1621, the Indians of Massasoil’s tribe taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish, and grow food. They taught the Pilgrims to use fish for fertilizer when growing corn, pumpkins, and beans. Because of this help from the Indians, the Pilgrims had a good harvest. William Bradford, the governor chosen by the Pilgrims, was following an ancient tradition when, in the fall of 1621, he established a day of Thanksgiving to God. He invited Chief Massasoil and his men to share the Thanksgiving feast. The Indians gladly accepted and sent deer meat for the feast. The Pilgrim men went hunting and returned with turkey and other wild animals. The women of Plymouth prepared delicious dishes from corn, berries, squash and pumpkins. The first Thanksgiving dinner was cooked and served out-of- doors. Although it was late autumn, huge fires kept the hosts and guests warm. Many of the traditions of the modern American Thanksgiving come from that first Thanksgiving celebration. Today’s Thanks giving turkey is much like the ones that were hunted in the forests around Plymouth. Squash and corn, which were also harvested by the early Pilgrims, appear on the Thanksgiving table. Pumpkin pie is a traditional Thanksgiving dessert. Every year, about 500,000 Americans take a journey into early American history by visiting Plymouth, a modern city that respects its past. In Plymouth Harbor, sightseers tour Mayflower Ⅱ, a recently built ship similar to the original Mayflower. Then they spend a few hours walking through a reproduction of the original Pilgrim village. Modern Americans take great pride in these courageous ancestors who had so little by today’s standards, but who were thankful for receiving the things they valued most--a good harvest and the freedom to live and worship as they pleased. Which of the following statements is true
Americans show respect to their forefathers.
B. The Pilgrims raised turkeys.
C. The Pilgrims did not know what to grow after they got to Plymouth.
D. Today a lot of guests are invited to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
The nobler and more perfect a thing is, the later and slower it is in arriving at maturity. A man reaches the maturity of his reasoning powers and mental faculties hardly before the age of twenty-eight; a woman at eighteen. And then, too, in the case of woman, it is only reason of a sort--very niggard in its dimensions. That is why women remain children their whole life long; never seeing anything but what is quite close to them, cleaving to the present moment, taking appearance for reality, and preferring trifles to matters of the first importance. For it is by virtue of his reasoning faculty that man does not live in the present only, like the brute, but looks about him and considers the past and the future; and this is the origin of prudence, as well as of that care and anxiety which so many people exhibit. Both the advantages and the disadvantages which this involves, are shared in by the woman to a small extent because of her weaker power of reasoning. She may, in fact, be described as intellectually shortsighted, because, while she has an intuitive understanding of what lies quite close to her, her field of vision is narrow and does not reach to what is remote; so that things which are absent, or past, or to come, have much less effect upon woman than upon men. This is the reason why women are more inclined to be extravagant, and sometimes carry their inclination to a length that borders upon madness. In their hearts, women think it is men’s business to earn money and theirs to spend it--if possible during their husband’s life, but, at any rate, after his death. The very fact that their husband hands them over his earning for purposes of housekeeping, strengthens them in this belief. However many disadvantages all this may involve, there is at least this to be said in its favor; that the woman lives more in the present than the man, and that, if the present is at all tolerable, she enjoys it more eagerly. This is the source of that cheerfulness which is peculiar to women, fitting her to amuse man in his hours of recreation, and, in case of need, to console him when he is borne down by the weight of his cares. The cause of women’s frivolity and cheerfulness is that ______.
A. men do not challenge their intellect
B. they are irresponsible by their very nature
C. they live more in the present
D. they want to console men
TEXT A In the United States, the fourth Thursday in November is called Thanksgiving Day. On this day, Americans give thanks for the blessing they have enjoyed during the year. Thanksgiving is usually a family day celebrated with big dinners and happy reunion. The first American Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. It was in September of 1620 that the Puritans, or Pilgrims as they called themselves, left England aboard the Mayflower in search of religious freedom. After 65 days at sea, they landed in Province town Harbor, inside the tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. For about a month, the Pilgrims lived aboard ship and then sailed to Plymouth Harbor. The Pilgrims were not trained and equipped to cope with life in the wilderness. During their first winter, they suffered tremendously. Hard work, diseases, bitterly cold weather, and insufficient food killed about half of them. By the end of this terrible first winter, only about 50 Plymouth colonists remained alive. In spring 1621, the Indians of Massasoil’s tribe taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish, and grow food. They taught the Pilgrims to use fish for fertilizer when growing corn, pumpkins, and beans. Because of this help from the Indians, the Pilgrims had a good harvest. William Bradford, the governor chosen by the Pilgrims, was following an ancient tradition when, in the fall of 1621, he established a day of Thanksgiving to God. He invited Chief Massasoil and his men to share the Thanksgiving feast. The Indians gladly accepted and sent deer meat for the feast. The Pilgrim men went hunting and returned with turkey and other wild animals. The women of Plymouth prepared delicious dishes from corn, berries, squash and pumpkins. The first Thanksgiving dinner was cooked and served out-of- doors. Although it was late autumn, huge fires kept the hosts and guests warm. Many of the traditions of the modern American Thanksgiving come from that first Thanksgiving celebration. Today’s Thanks giving turkey is much like the ones that were hunted in the forests around Plymouth. Squash and corn, which were also harvested by the early Pilgrims, appear on the Thanksgiving table. Pumpkin pie is a traditional Thanksgiving dessert. Every year, about 500,000 Americans take a journey into early American history by visiting Plymouth, a modern city that respects its past. In Plymouth Harbor, sightseers tour Mayflower Ⅱ, a recently built ship similar to the original Mayflower. Then they spend a few hours walking through a reproduction of the original Pilgrim village. Modern Americans take great pride in these courageous ancestors who had so little by today’s standards, but who were thankful for receiving the things they valued most--a good harvest and the freedom to live and worship as they pleased. The present passage is probably taken from ______.
A. a geography book
B. a book about customs
C. a travel book
D. a book about the American way of life