When your parents advise you to “get an education” in order to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower（人力资源） for your society, but not so much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.

Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can successfully dropout in grade school.

Get a college degree, if possible. With a B. A., you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an M.B.A., and the famous law of diminishing(逐渐减少的) returns begins to take effect.

Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more per year than full professors? Yes, the average salary for those truckers was $24000 while the full professors managed to earn just $23030.

A doctorate is the highest degree you can get. Except for a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, if you pursue such a degree in any other field, you will face a future which is not bright. There are more doctors unemployed or underemployed in this country than any other part of the world.

If you become a doctor in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or—worst of all—in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands.

Thousands of doctors are selling shoes, driving cars, waiting on table, and endlessly filling out applications month after month. They may also take a job in some high school or backwater(闭塞) college that pays much less than the doorkeeper earns.

You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.

1.According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people who ______.

A. will not be a disgrace to society????

B. will become loyal citizens

C. can take care of themselves

D. can meet the nation’s demand as a source of manpower

2.Many doctors are out of job because ______.

A. they are improperly educated

B. they are of little commercial value to their society

C. there are fewer jobs in high schools

D. they prefer easier jobs that make more money

3.The nation is only interested in people ______.

A. with diplomas

B. who specialize in physics and chemistry

C. who are valuable to the gross national product

D. who receive little education

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. Bernard Shaw didn’t finish high school, nor did Edison.

B. One must think carefully before pursuing a master’s degree.

C. The higher your education level, the more money you will earn.

D. If you are too well-educated, you’ll be overeducated for society’s demands.

5.The writer sees education as ______.

A. a means of providing job security and financial security and a means of meeting a country’s demands for technical workers

B. a way to broaden one’s horizons

C. more important than finding a job

D. an opportunity that everyone should have

No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certain kinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept of specialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.

Let’s take a man we’ll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He did everything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended the fields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he did many other jobs on the farm. However, he didn’t make the bricks for his house, grind the wheat for his flour, or cut his trees into boards. He also did not make the plows(犁), the work boots, or any of the other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them from people who specialized in doing each of those things.

Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Using what he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright invented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not really like farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really good  plows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow for one of my plows.

How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing? Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then he put up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign may have been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and a simple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really good plows.

Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were used about five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.

A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicate your message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, or sound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use it today. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind of simple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people’s attention.

A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to be heard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepers might hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this primitive form of advertising involved a newly arrived ship loaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explained where they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, in other words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial in today’s world.

1.What probably led to the start of advertisement?

A．The discovery of iron.                    B．The specialization of labor.

C．The appearance of new jobs.               D．The development of farming techniques.

2.To advertise his plows, Mr. Plowright__________.

A．praised his plows in public                B．placed a sign outside the shop

C．hung an arrow pointing to the shop          D．showed his products to the customers

3.The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to___________.

A．explain the origin of advertising            B．predict the future of advertising

C．expose problems in advertising             D．provide suggestions for advertising

4.In ancient Egypt, a crier was probably someone who_______________.

A．owned a ship

B．had the loudest voice

C．ran a shop selling goods to farmers

D．functioned like today’s TV or radio commercial

5.The last two paragraphs are mainly about_____________.

A．the history of advertising                 B．the benefits of advertising

C．the early forms of advertising              D．the basic design of advertising

Suppose you work in a big firm and find English very important for your job because you often deal with foreign businessmen. Now you’re looking for a place where you can improve your English, especially spoken English.

Here are some ads about English language training from newspapers. You may find the information you need.

Global English Center

﹡General English in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

﹡3-month (700yuan), 6-month (1,200yuan) and one year (2,000yuan) courses.

﹡Choice of morning or evening classes, 3 hours per day, Mon.---Fri.

﹡Experienced college English teachers.

﹡close to city center and bus stop.

Tel: 67605272     Add: 105 Zhongshan Road, 100082

Modern Language School

﹡Special courses in English for business, travel, banking, hotel management and office skills.

﹡Small classes (12-16 students) on Sat. & Sun. from 2:00p.m.---5:00p.m.

﹡Native English teachers from Canada and USA.

﹡Language lab and computer supplies.

﹡3-month course: 1,050 yuan.

﹡6-month course: 1,850 yuan.

Write or phone: Modern Language School, 675 Park Road, 100056

Tel: 67353019

The 21^st Century English Training Center

﹡We specialize (专门研究) in effective teaching at all levels.

﹡We offer morning or afternoon classes, both of which last three months and a half at a cost of 800 yuan.

﹡We also have a six-week TOEFL preparation class during winter and summer holiday.

﹡Entrance exams: June 1 and December 1.

﹡Only 15-minute walk from city center.

Call 67801642 for more information.

The International House of English

﹡Three/ Six-month English courses for students of all levels at a very low cost: 60 yuan for 12 hours per week; convenient class hours: 9:00a.m. –12:00a.m. and 2:00p.m.—5:00p.m.

﹡A four-month evening programme for developing speaking skills (same cost as day classes).

﹡Well-trained Chinese and foreign teachers experienced in teaching English as a second/ foreign language.

﹡Free sightseeing and social activities.

For further information call 57432308.

You work from 9:00a.m. to 4:30p.m. every day. Which school will you choose?

A. Global English Center and Modern Languange School.

B. Global English Center and the International House.

C. Modern Languange School and the 21^st Century.

D. The 21^st Century and the International House.

The 21^st Century’s difference from the other three schools is that ________ .

A. its teaching quality is better

B. it is nearest to the city center

C. its courses are more advanced

D. it requires an entrance examination

You will probably prefer to go to the International House because it ________ .

A. offers sightseeing and social activities

B. has a special course in spoken English

C. costs less than the other schools

D. has native English teachers

Modern Language School runs only _______ .

A. big classes     B. special classes     C. normal classes     D. small classes

If you are planning to study in the United States, you need to consider several factors. Everyone has different opinions about where the best places to live in also; the best places to live are not always home to the best schools. Finally, many schools specialize in different areas of study. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, is a great school for computer science and technology-based fields of study, However, if you want to study oceanography, your interests may be better served by attending school in a place that is on a coastline or near the ocean.

Now I am sure that you know which schools are considered the best in the country. So I will tell you about which states I believe are the best to live in.

California is a nice state. Northern California specifically has very good weather. Los Angeles in southern California is another story though. Life in LA is full of excitement and fast, and sometimes—dangerous. As for me, I enjoyed the history and culture. The weather is not as perfect as California, but it is still quite nice. My favorite area of America is the Mid-west. Middle America, I think, is home to the true American sense of values. In addition, there are many good universities there.  

Also, you need to think about your likes and dislikes and then research the various states. You like sunshine and hate snow? Then you probably won’t like the Midwest or even the Northeast. Open space, nature and peace and quiet? Then you should stay away from America’s larger cities. Are you interested in government? Then Washington D.C. is the only place for you. Whatever you decided put some thought into it. The place you live could be the difference between a great study abroad experience and a state of great suffering on earth.

From the first paragraph we can conclude that in the U.S.A. __________.

all colleges and universities lie in big cities

all colleges and universities lie in beautiful places

famous colleges and universities lie in nice places

famous colleges and universities may not lie in nice places

What should be considered first if you want to study in the U.S.A.?

A. The climate.       B. The scenery.        C. The study condition.       D. The living condition.

If you study in Middle America, you can probably _______.

find the best universities

feel the real character of the nation

meet the most famous professors there

face more difficulty

From the last paragraph of this passage we can get to know that ________.

Washington is the largest city in the U.S.A.

Washington is the political center of the U.S.A.

you can’t find sunshine in the Midwest

you can’t find any universities out of big cities in the U.S.A.

In the United States you will find yourself being urged from every page of every newspaper and every television station to buy all kinds of goods.
Not only is there a wide range of prices for goods in America, there is also a wide range in the quality of goods offered for sale. Unlike some countries,
Americans generally pay the price of a product without question, instead of trying to get a lower price by bargaining. However, there are many “sales” in the United States, during which time stores will lower their normal prices. This may all be very confusing to visitors. How are you going to know how to “get your money’s worth” when you shop? Perhaps the best advice is: Don’t hurry. Visit various stores and determine the quality of goods. Read the advertisements so that you can compare prices.
There is a great variety of shops in the United States, ranging from very large stores called “department stores” to very small shops. There are “discount houses” offering goods at low prices, and “dime stores” specializing in a wide range of inexpensive items.
Most department stores in large cities carry better quality products at higher prices. However, they offer the shoppers great convenience since they contain such a wide variety of products.
If convenience isn’t as important to you as price, you may want to shop in discount houses. These stores have nearly as great a variety of goods as department stores, but offer lower prices. They can do so for several reasons. They don’t offer the same services to buyers that department stores do; there may be fewer sales people; and the store probably doesn’t deliver purchases.
Another popular shop is the “dime store”. No longer selling many things for five or ten cents, these stores got their name in the last century when it was decided that a small profit on a great quantity of goods would be better than a large profit on fewer sales. Dime stores specialize in a wide variety of inexpensive items and today, prices range from a quarter or 50 cents up to several dollars.
【小题1】The passage is mainly about______