阅读理解部分
　　Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes, 40 points)
　　Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each of the passages is followed by 5 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.
　　Unit One
　　Passage 1
　　In Japan many workers for large corporations have a guarantee of lifetime employment. They will not be laid off during recession or when the tasks they perform are taken over by robots (机器人). To some observers, this is capitalism at its best, because workers are treated as people not things. Others see it as necessarily inefficient and believe it cannot continue if Japan is to remain competitive with foreign corporations more concerned about profits and less concerned about people.
　　Defenders of the system argue that those who call it inefficient do not understand how it really works. In the first place not every Japanese worker has the guarantee of a lifetime job. The lifetime employment system includes only " regular employees." Many employees do not fall into this category, including all women. All businesses have many part time and temporary employees. These workers are hired and laid off during the course of the business cycle just as employees in the United States are. These " irregular workers" make up about 10 percent of the nonagricultural work force. Additionally, Japanese firms maintain some flexibility (灵活性) through the extensive use of subcontractors (分包单位). This practice is much more common in Japan than in the United States.
　　The use of both subcontractors and temporary workers has increased markedly in Japan since the 1974—1975 recession. All this leads some to argue that the Japanese system really is not all that different from the American system. During recessions Japanese corporations lay off temporary workers and give less business to subcontractors. In the United States, corporations lay off those workers with the least seniority (资力). The difference then is probably less than the term "lifetime employment" suggests, but there still is a difference. And this difference cannot be understood without looking at the values of Japanese society. The relationship between employer and employee cannot be explained in purely contractual terms. Firms hold on to the employees and that employees stay with one firm. There are also practical reasons for not jumping from job to job. Most retirement benefits come from the employer. Changing jobs means losing these benefits. Also, teamwork is an essential part of Japanese production. Moving to a new firm means adapting to a different team and at least temporarily, lower productivity and lower pay.
　　1. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
　　A. Employment in Japan
　　B. Employment both in Japan and in America
　　C. Lifetime Employment in Japan
　　D. Lifetime Employment in the United States
　　2. According to the passage, a woman in Japan _______.
　　A. cannot get a lifetime job
　　B. cannot get a part time job
　　C. will be employed for life
　　D. is among the regular workers
　　3. The use of subcontractors _______.
　　A. is much more common in Japan than in the United States
　　B. began in 1974
　　C. makes Japanese firms less flexible
　　D. is out of date now in Japan
　　4. Those, who are first laid off by American corporations, are_______.
　　A. temporary workers    B. regular workers
　　C. senior workers    D. junior workers
　　5.The following statements are reasons for Japanese workers to stay with one firm except ______.
　　A. they don't want to lose their retirement benefits
　　B. they get used to the teamwork
　　C. any change of jobs will make them less paid
　　D. they are not adaptable people

　　Passage 2
　　Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes at reducing population growth — but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.
　　Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
　　Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧) and instalment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
　　"Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values — not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behaviour and other values, which were put into a very attractive package."
　　Meanwhile, the instalment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was incompatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.
　　1. According to the passage, Brazil has cut back its population growth ______.
　　A. by educating its citizens
　　B. by careful family planning
　　C. by developing TV programs
　　D. by chance
　　2. According to the passage, many Third World countries ______.
　　A. haven't attached much importance to birth control
　　B. would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate
　　C. haven't yet found an effective measure to control their population
　　D. neglected the role of TV plays in family planning
　　3. The phrase “puts it down to”(sentence 1, para. 3) is closest in meaning to “______”.
　　A. attributes it to
　　B. finds it a reason for
　　C. sums it up as
　　D. compares it to
　　4. Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate because______.
　　A. they keep people sitting long hours watching TV
　　B. they have gradually changed people’s way of life
　　C. people are drawn to their attractive package
　　D. they popularize birth control measures
　　5. What is Martine’s conclusion about Brazil’s population growth?
　　A. The increase in birth rate will promote consumption
　　B. The desire for consumption helps to reduce birth rate.
　　C. Consumption patterns and reproduction patterns are contradictory.
　　D. A country’s production is limited by its population growth