Most Americans get what money they have from their work; that is, they earn an income from wages or salaries. The richest Americans, however, get most of their money from what they own — their stocks, bonds, real estate, and other forms of property, or wealth. Although there are few accurate statistics to go by, wealth in American society appears to be concentrated in very few hands. More than 20 percent of everything that can be privately owned is held by less than one percent of the adult population and more than 75 percent of all wealth is owned by 20 percent of American adults. The plain fact is that most Americans have no wealth at all aside from their homes, automobiles, and a small amount of savings.

Income in the United States is not as highly concentrated as wealth. In 1917 the richest 10 percent of American families received 26.1 percent of all income, while the poorest 10 percent received 17 percent, mainly from Social Security and other government payments. The most striking aspect of income distribution is that it has not changed significantly since the end of World War II. Although economic growth has roughly doubled real disposable (可自由使用的) family income (the money left after taxes and adjusted for inflation) over the last generation, the size of the shares given to the rich and the poor is about the same. By any measure economic inequality is great in the United States.

The reality behind these statistics is that a large number of Americans are poor. In 1918, 14 percent of the population was living below the federal government’s poverty line, which at that time was an annual income of $ 9 287 for a nonfarm family of two adults and two children. In other words, about one out of seven Americans over 31 million people was officially considered unable to buy the basic necessities of food, clothes, and shelter. The suggested poverty line in 1981 would have been an income of about $11 200 for a family of four. By this relative definition, about 20 percent of the population or more than 45 million Americans are poor.

1. What does the majority of the Americans have in terms of wealth?

A. Their income and savings.

B. Everything they own in their homes.

C. Actually, they have no wealth at all.

D. Their house, cars and small amounts of savings.

2. What is the percentage of wealth that is in the hands of most Americans?

A. More than 25%.               B. Less than 25%.

C. More than 75%.         D. Less than 20%.

3. Why is economic inequality still great in the US in spite of the economic growth?

A. Because the proportion of income received by the rich and the poor remains almost the same as in 1917.

B. Because the economic growth has widened the gap of the family income between the rich and the poor.

C. Because income in the US is still concentrated in the hands of the richest 10% of American families.

D. Because some Americans made great fortunes during the Second World War.

4. What can we learn from comparison of the two poverty lines in the last paragraph?

A. The poverty line of 1918 is more favorable to the poor than that of 1981.

B. The 1981 line didn’t leave much to the poor.

C. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1981 line.

D. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1918 line.

5. From the last two sentences we can see that 1981 government’s poverty line _______.

A. was of no good for the poor     B. was not put into operation then

C. was officially approved           D. was not helpful to the poor

Endangered languages are languages that wouldn’t exist any longer, much like endangered species of plants or animals. Languages are considered to be endangered when parents are no longer teaching the language to their children and are not using it actively in everyday life. A language is considered to nearly disappear when it is spoken by only a few elderly native speakers.

The world faces enormous challenges in order to protect different kinds of languages. Of the more than 6,912 languages, half may be in danger of disappearing in the next several decades.

It is caused by many reasons: small numbers of speakers, the regular use of other languages, attitudes towards their languages, moving of the younger population, government policies, and languages used in education and so on. A language may lack important things such as a body of literature, and people who read and write it. A language may also lack prestige (声望) and support of its speakers.

The survival of a language is also threatened when speakers move to other areas where different languages are spoken, or when government policies improve the use of a specific language in school, official business and the media. These situations encourage people to learn the wider-known language and may cause them, especially the young, to stop using their mother tongue. Often those speaking lesser-known languages will choose to learn a more prestigious language with the hope of greater economic opportunities. Most of the world’s parents are teaching their children English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian or some other main languages instead of their own languages for social and economic reasons.

1.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Languages in the world.

B．Reasons why languages become endangered.

C．What an endangered language is.

D．Languages spoken by few speakers.

2.About ________languages will probably disappear in this century according to the passage.

A．more than 6,912      B．more than 3,456      C．6,912     D．less than 3,456

3.Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?

①=Paragraph1   ②=Paragraph2  ③=Paragraph3  ④=Paragraph4

4.We can infer that the best way to maintain an endangered language is to _________.

A．forbid the speakers to move about              

B．pass laws to protect the language

C．raise the salaries of the people who speak the language

D．teach the language to young children and encourage people to speak it often

5.All of the following about languages are true EXCEPT __________.

A．many languages will be probably endangered in this century

B．government policies have a big effect on languages

C．the endangered language is a language that is spoken by a few people

D．languages are related to their speakers’ social and economic position 

Michael, a typical (典型的) American, stays home on workdays. He plugs into his personal computer terminal (接线端) in order to connect with the office. After work, he puts on his headphones, watches a movie on his home video recorder, or plays baseball on the computer. On many days, Michael doesn’t talk to any other human beings, and he doesn’t see any people except the ones on television. Michael is imaginary, but his lifestyle is very possible. The inventions of modern technology seem to be cutting us off from contact with our fellow human beings.

　　The world of business is one area in which technology is isolating (使隔离) us. Experts say, for example, that many people will soon be able to work at home. With access to a large central computer, employees such as office clerks, insurance agents, and accountants could do their jobs at display terminals in their own homes. They would never have to actually see the people they’re dealing with. In addition, the way employees are paid will change. Workers’ salaries will be automatically paid into their bank accounts(账户), making paper checks(支票)unnecessary. No workers will stand in line to receive their pay or cash their checks. Personal banking will change, too. Customers will deal with machines to put in or take out money from their accounts.

　　Another area that technology is changing is entertainment. Music, for instance, was once a group experience. People listened to music at concert halls or in small social gatherings. For many people now, however, music is an individual experience. Walking along the street or sitting in their living rooms, they wear headphones to build a wall of music around them. Movie entertainment is changing, too. Movies used to be social events. Now, fewer people are going out to see a movie. Many more are choosing to wait for a film to appear on television or are borrowing videotapes to watch at home. Instead of laughing with others, viewers watch movies in their own living rooms.

13. The sentence “Michael is imaginary, but his lifestyle is very possible” means ____ .

　　A .Michael is a person full of imagination and he can make his dreams come true

　　B. Michael is not a real person but probably the lifestyle does exist

　　C. Michael has ambitions but he can?t make his dreams come true

　　D. Michael is a person full of imagination and his lifestyle is common nowadays

14. What will the author most probably discuss after the last paragraph?

　　A. Games and sports.

　　B. Personal banking.

　　C. Music and films.

　　D. International business.

15. What is the main idea of the passage?

　　A. We may no longer need to communicate with other human beings.

　　B. Modern technology seems to be separating human beings.

　　C. We may no longer need to work in the office.

　　D. Modern technology makes it possible for us to work and entertain ourselves at home.

Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft chairman without a single earned university degree, is by his success raising new doubts about the worth of the business world’s favorite academic title: the MBA (Master of Business Administration).

The MBA, a 20^th century product, always has borne the mark of lowly commerce and greed on the tree-lined campuses ruled by purer disciplines such as philosophy and literature.

But even with the recession(经济萎缩) apparently cutting down the hiring of business school graduates, about 79,000 people are expected to receive MBAs in 1993. This is nearly 16 times the number of business graduates in 1960.

“If you are going into the corporate world it is still a disadvantage not to have one,” said Donald Morrison, professor of marketing and management science. “But in the last five years or so, when someone says, ‘Should I attempt to get an MBA?’ the answer a lot more is: It depends.”

The success of Bill Gates and other non-MBAs, such as the late Sam Walton of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has helped inspire self-conscious debates on business school campuses over the worth of a business degree and whether management skills can be taught.

The Harvard Business Review printed a lively, fictional exchange of letters to dramatize complaints about business degree holders. The article called MBA hires “extremely disappointing” and said “MBAs want to move up too fast, they don’t understand politics and people, and they aren’t able to function as part of a team until their third year. But by then, they’re out looking for other jobs.”

The problem, most participants in the debate acknowledge, is that the MBA has acquired an aura (光环) of future riches and power far beyond its actual importance and usefulness.

Business people who have hired or worked with MBAs say those with the degrees of ten know how to analyze systems but are not so skillful at motivating people. “They don’t get a lot of grounding in the people side of the business”, said James Shaffer, vice-president and principal of the Towers Perrin management consulting firm.

1.According to paragraph 2, what is the general attitude towards business on campuses ruled by purer disciplines?

2.. It seems that the argument over the value of MBA degrees had been fueled mainly by ___.

3.. What is the major weakness of MBA holders according to the Harvard Business Review?

4.. From the passage we know that most MBAs ________.

5. What is the passage mainly about?

 I prefer to work here because salaries are higher here than ______in my country.

A．that              B．the ones          C．those             D．one