Questions 59 to 62 are based on the following passage:
Today, the computer has taken up appliance status in more than 42 percent of households across the United States. And these computers are increasingly being wired to the Internet. Online access was up more than 50 percent in just the past year. Now, more than one quarter of all U.S. households can surf in cyberspace.
Mostly, this explosive growth has occurred democratically. The online penetration and computer ownership increases extend across all the demographic levels -- by race, geography, income, and education.
We view these trends as favorable without the slightest question because we clearly see computer technology as empowering. In fact, personal growth and a prosperous U.S. economy are considered to be the long-range rewards of individual and collective technological power.
Now for the not-so-good news. The government“s analysis spells out so-called digital divide. That is, the digital explosion is not booming at the same pace for everyone. Yes, it is true that we are all plugged in to a much greater degree than any of us have been in the past. But some of us are more plugged in than others and are getting plugged in far more rapidly. And this gap is widening even as the pace of the information age accelerates through society.
Computer ownership and Internet access are highly classified along lines of wealth, race, education, and geography. The data indicates that computer ownership and online access are growing more rapidly among the most prosperous and well educated: essentially, wealthy white people with high school and college diplomas and who are part of stable, two-parent households.
The highest income bracket households, those earning more than $75,000 annually, are 20 times as likely to have access to the Internet as households at the lowest income levels, under $10,000 annually. The computer penetration rate at the high-income level is an amazing 76.56 percent, compared with 8 percent at the bottom end of the scale.
Technology access differs widely by educational level. College graduates are 16 times as likely to be Internet surfers at home as are those with only elementary-school education. If you look at the differences between these groups in rural areas, the gap widens to a twenty-six-fold advantage for the college-educated.
From the time of the last study, the information access gap grew by 29 percent between the highest and lowest income groups, and by 25 percent between the highest and lowest education levels.
In the long nm, participation in the information age may not be a zero sum game, where if some groups win, others must lose. Eventually, as the technology matures we are likely to see penetration levels approach all groups equally. This was true for telephone access and television ownership, but eventually can be cold comfort in an era when tomorrow is rapidly different from today and unrecognizable compared with yesterday.
59. How many U.S. households have linked to Internet today?
A. More than 25 percent.
B. By 29 percent.
C. More than 42 percent.
D. More than 50 percent.
60. According to the text, the computer use by the high-income level is that by the lowest income levels.
A. 8 percent more than
B. 76.56 percent more than
C. nearly 10 times as many as
D. about 20 times as many as
61. According to the author, which of the following prevents people from gaining access to the Internet?
A. Income level.
B. Poor education and low-income level.
C. Participation in the information age.
D. Telephone access and television ownership.
62. Judging from the context, what does "digital divide" (Dara.3) probably mean?
A. The government“s analysis.
B. The divide between the poor and the rich.
C. The pace of the information age.
D. The gap between people“s access to the computer.
Questions 63 to 65 are based on the following passage:
Just over a year ago, I foolishly locked up my bicycle outside my office, but forgot to remove the pannier (挂蓝). When I returned the pannier had been stolen. Inside it were about ten of thelittle red notebook I take everywhere for jotting down ideas for articles, short stories, TV shows and the like.
When I lost my notebooks, I was devastated; all the ideas I“d had over the past two years were contained within their pages. I could remember only a few of them, but had the impression that those I couldn“t recall were truly brilliant. Those little books were crammed with the plots of award-winning novels and scripts for radio comedy shows that were only two-thirds as bad as the ones on at the moment.
That“s not all, though. In my reminiscence, my lost notebooks contained sketches for many innovative and incredible machines. In one book there was a design for a device that could turn sea water into apple cider; in another, plan for an automatic dog; in a third, sketches for a pair of waterproof shoes with television screens built into the toes. Now all of these plans are lost to humanity:
I found my notebooks again. It turns out they weren“t in the bike pannier at all, but in a carrier bag in my spare room, where I found six months after supposedly losing them. And when I flipped through their pages, ready to run to the patent office in the morning, I discovered they were completely full of rubbish.
Discovering the notebooks really shook me up. I had firmly come to believe they were brimming with brilliant, inventive stuff-- and yet clearly they weren“t. I had deluded myself.
After surveying my nonsense, I found that this halo effect always attaches itself to things that seem irretrievably lost. Don“t we all have a sneaking feeling that the weather was sunnier, TV shows funnier and cake-shop buns bunnier in the not-very-distant past?
All this would not matter much except that it is a powerful element in reactionary thought, this belief in a better yesterday. After all, racism often stems from a delusion that things have deteriorated since "they" came. What a boon to society it would be if people could visit the past and see that it wasn“t the paradise they imagine but simply the present with different hats.
Sadly, time travel is impossible.
Until now, that is. Because I“ve suddenly remembered I left a leather jacket in an Indonesian restaurant a couples of years ago, and I“m absolutely certain that in the inside pocket there was a sketch I“d made...
63. By "only two-thirds as bad as the ones on at the moment," the author means__________
A. better than
B. as bad as
C. worse than
D. as good as
64. As soon as the author read me lost notebooks ,he_________
A. reported the fact
B. found it valueless
C. registered the inventions
D. was very excited
65. Which of the following would the author most probably agree with? __________
A. Yesterday is better.
B. Yesterday is no better than today.
C. Self delusion sometimes is necessary.
D. Things today have deteriorated.
Part B
Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then give short answers to the five
questions. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET 2.
A television ad features a ship drifting on a twinkling ocean as the voice-over intones words to this effect, "When was the last time the world revolved around you?" Whenever my husband and I see this, we can“t help but laugh. Pointing to our daughter, we shout, "When didn“t it?"
But it“s a rueful chuckle(苦笑). Somehow our family does revolve around our child: her sports, her homework, her social commitments. My husband and I have lives too. It“s just that we must fit them into whatever scrap of time is left over.
Somewhere in the last two generations, we shifted our focus from marriage as the family foundation to children. It“s been a subtle change, and you have to look closely to see its impact on marriage.
Compare the time your parents spent exclusively together to the amount you and your mate do. Parents of earlier generations went out on Saturday nights. Today“s families cart the kids to parties with family friends. Is it good for the parents and kids to be together?
Parents once supported each other“s needs, and children“s preferences came second. "Turn off that television. Your father deserves some peace when he comes home" and "No, you can“t sit in the front. That“s your mother“s seat" were perfectly reasonable things to say. Many couples took half an hour at the day“s end to share a drink and conversation. Children were expected to play independently.
Bedroom doors were closed and parents“ beds sacred. Sex was an adult secret enjoyed by parents who were confident that their children wouldn“t walk in without knocking. Now, parents can“t find time or privacy. Children centredness has gone too far.
How did we make marital love second to parental love?
The increasing balance of power between the sexes that resulted from women achieving more economic independence cut ruthlessly into the time women have for their children. A marriage-centred family was once a father-centred family. Parents spent time together when Dad came home. Today Mum might spend that half hour reading a story to her son. He too wants to reconnect, and in a child-centred family, that takes precedence. When time is limited, we put our children first.
Dad“s position has been eroded by the demands of an ever more competitive childhood. Child experts have shown us the benefits of early stimulation, socializing, being read aloud to. To afford a child these advantages requires 1000 gymnastics visits, music lessons, tutoring.
Intellectual achievements are all fast-tracked now too. Children arrive in kindergarten having long since learned the letters and colours once lovingly taught during that first year of school. And good schools are the ones assigning more homework, requiring more parent participation.
66. What is the-author“s attitude towards children centeredness?
67. Why does the author say "It“s been a subtle change"?
68. What does the word "erode" mean?
69. Give examples to show "an ever more competitive childhood".
70. Mention two factors that have made the shift from marital love to parental love.
Section V Translation (10 points)
Directions: In this section there is a passage in English. Translate the five sentences underlined
into Chinese and write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET2.
March 27, 1997, dawned as a normal day at the Collins“ home. By the middle of the morning, Jack Collins was at his desk, writing checks, paying bills the way he always had: on time. Then the phone rang, and the nightmare began.
(71) An investigator for a bank was on the line, asking in a severe voice why Collins, a university physicist, was late on payments for a $27,000 car, bought in Virginia the previous year. "I don“t have a car like this," Collins protested. The last time he had set foot in Vir~nia was as an officer at a submarine base, three decades ago. But his name was on the contract, and so was his Social Security Number.
During the months that ensued, he and his wife learned that someone had bought four more cars and 28 other items -- worth $113,000 in all m in their name. Their hitherto good credit record had been destroyed. (72) "After a lifetime of being honest," says Collins, "all of a sudden I was basically being accused of stealing and treated like a criminal."
This is what it means to fall prey to a nonviolent but frightening and fast-growing crime: identity theft. It happens to at least 500,000 new victims each year, according to government figures.
(73) And it happens very easily because every identification number you have m Social Security, credit cards driver“s license, telephone m "is a key that unlocks some storage of money or goods," says a fraud (欺诈) program manager of the US Postal Service. "So if you throw away your credit card receipt and I get it and use the number on it, I“m not becoming you, but to the credit card company I“ve become your account."
(74) One major problems experts say, is that the Social Security Number (SSN) – originally meant only for retirement benefit and tax purposes -- has become the universal way to identify people. It is used as identification by the military, colleges and in billions of commercial transactions.
Yet a shrewd thief can easily snatch your SSN, not only by stealing your wallet, but also by taking mail from your box, going through your trash for discarded receipts and bills or asking for it over the phone on some pretext.
Using your SSN, the thief applies for a credit card in your name, asking that it be sent to a different address than yours, and uses it for multiple purchases. A couple of months later the credit card company, or its debt collection agency, presses you for payment.
You don“t have to pay the debt, but you must clean up your damaged credit record. (75) Thatmeans getting a means getting a police report and copy of the erroneous contract, and then using them to clear the fraud from your credit reports which is held by a credit bureau. Each step can require a huge amount of effort.
Section VI Writing ( 15 points)
76. Directions: In this section, you are asked to write a composition entitled Which Is More Important, Family or Career? Your composition should be about 120 words. Remember to write clearly on the ANSWER SHEET 2.
附：2004联考英语写作参考答案
Family or Career
Family or Career seemingly a couple of opposite things. Career means that we are destined to do many things such as teaching, writing and designing though sometimes we don“t like to do. While family is to be at ease and relax ourselves. And thus, different people have different opinions about Family or Career.
On one hand, some people think that family is more important. They maintain that a personis born to enjoy an easy life. People work just for the purpose of entertainment and joy. So they prefer family.
On the other hand, other people think career is more important. They regard career as a method to realize their ambitions. Only when they make achievements in career can they feel happy. So they keep on working hard.
While in my opinion, we should combine family and career in a proper way. Without career we can“t earn a living or fulfill our ideals, but without family, our life would be tiring and hard. Therefore, we should integrate family and career appropriately. Only in this way can we live a colorful and meaningful life.
