Part A
Directions: Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness, then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, self-improvement.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment, for commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night's sleep or a three-day vacation. I don't know any parent who would choose the word "fun" to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children will never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because he ______.
A. is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
B. believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. finds more fun in dating than in marriage
D. fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
My new shoes cost me 50 yuan (RMB). The price was______that of the last pair I bought a month ago.
A. two time more than
B. twice as much as
C. as twice
D. as much as twice
In Washington D. C. , 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a very special address. It is the address of the White House, the home of the President of the United States.
Originally the White House was gray and was called the Presidential Palace. It was built from 1792 to 1800. At this time, the city of Washington itself was being built. It was to be the nation's new capital city. George Washington, the first President, and Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, chose the place for the new city. L'Enfant then planned the city. The President's home was an important part of the plan.
A contest was held to pick a design for the President's home. An architect named James Hoban won. He designed a large three-story house of gray stone.
President Washington never lived in the Presidential Palace. The first President to live there was John Adams, the second President of the United States, and his wife. Mrs. Adams did not really like her new house. In her letters, she often complained about the cold. Fifty fireplaces were not enough to keep the house warm.
In 1812 the United States and Britain went to war. In 1814 the British invaded Washington. They burned many buildings, including the Presidential Palace.
After the war James Hoban, the original architect, partially rebuilt the President's home. To cover the marks of the fire, the building was painted white. Before long it became known as the White House.
The White House is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States. Every year more than 1. 5 million visitors go through the five rooms that are open to the public.
The White House was built in Washington______.
A. because a French engineer was invited to design it
B. because President George Washington liked to live in it
C. because the British invaders lived in it in 1812—1814
D. because it was to be the nation's capital city
Almost everyone failed______on the first day.
A. pass his driving test
B. to have passed his driving test
C. to pass his driving test
D. passing his driving test