大学新视野英语期末复习题(7)

Even grown men who do market research have trouble visualizing what a public relations man does with his day, and it is a safe bet that the average systems analyst is as puzzled about what a space salesman does at the shop as the average space salesman is about the tools needed to analyze a system.

In the common everyday job, nothing is made any more. Things are now made by machines. Very little is repaired. The machines that make things make them in such a fashion that they will quickly fall apart in such a way that repairs will be too expensive. Thus the buyer is encouraged to throw the thing away and buy a new one. In effect, the machines are making junk.

The handful of people remotely associated with these machines can, of course, tell their inquisitive children ―Daddy makes junk.‖ Most of the work force, however, is too remote from junk production to sense any contribution to the industry. What do these people do?

Consider the typical twelve-story glass building in the typical American city. Nothing is being made in this building and nothing is being repaired, including the building itself. Constructed as a piece of junk, the building will be discarded when it wears out, and another piece of junk will be set in its place. Still, the building is filled with people who think of themselves as working. At any given moment during the day, perhaps one-third of them will be talking into telephone. Most of these conversations will be about paper, for paper is what occupies nearly everyone in this building.

Some jobs in the building require men to fill paper with words. There are persons who type neatly on paper and persons who read paper and jot notes in the margins. Some persons make copies of paper and other persons deliver paper. There are persons who file paper and persons who unfile paper. Some persons mail paper. Some persons telephone other persons and ask that paper be sent to them. Others telephone to ascertain the whereabouts of paper. Some persons confer about paper. In the grandest offices, men approve of some paper and disapprove of other paper.

The elevators are filled throughout the day with young men carrying paper from floor to floor and with vital men carrying paper to be discussed with other vital men.

What is a child to make of all this? His father may be so important that he lunches with other men about paper. Suppose he brings his son to work to give the boy some idea of what is all about. What does the boy see happening?

His father calls for paper. He reads paper. Perhaps he makes an angry red mark on paper. He telephones another man and says they had better lunch over paper.

At lunch they talk about paper. Back at the office, the father orders the paper retyped and reproduced in quintuplicate, and then sent to another man for comparison with paper that was reproduced in triplicate last year.

Imagine his poor son afterwards thinking about the mysteries of work with a friend, who asks him, ―What does your father do?‖ What can the boy reply? ―It beats me,‖ perhaps, if he is not very observant. Or if he is, ―Something that has to do with making junk, I think. Same as everybody else.‖

Statements

1. According to the author, modern children feel disheartened when they have to go to work, because they fear the prospect of having to earn their own living. F

2. In the past, a child understood his father‘s job better because most of the jobs at that time were of a more functional nature. T

3. Men engaged in market research know the work of a man in public relations no better than an average systems analyst about the work of an average space salesman. T

4. By making the remark that ―the machines are making junk‖, the author means the machines no longer make things people need. F

5. Nowadays, it is cheaper for people to buy new stuff than to repair the old one. T

6: Many workers may feel that their work is so abstract that sometimes they doubt if they are contributing to the industry.T

7. A paper-centered working environment has been created in most working places for greater efficiency. N

8. In the very last paragraph, when the boy says ―It beats me,‖ he means he was overwhelmed with pride for what his father does.F

9. From this passage, we may see the author speaks highly of modern work brought by advanced technology. F

10. If a child were to observe his father at work nowadays, he would be puzzled at seeing his father dealing only with paper all the time. T

II. CVB

Directions: Choose the best answer to complete each of the following sentences.

He was driven out of the house by the landlady since he had failed to pay his ______ for two months.

A) bill B) fee C) fare D) rent

Once ______ of doping (using excitant), the long distance runner will face a life ban.

A) sentenced B) accused C) convicted D) condemned

On this special occasion, we‘d love to have Eight Treasure Pudding for ______ which is a specialty in this Chinese restaurant.

A) dessert B) desert C) deserve D) desertion

The insurance company paid the Johnsons $ 20,000 in ______ after their house was burnt down.

A) pension B) compensation C) commission D) substitution

Some vegetables like tomatoes and carrots are more nutritious while eaten cooked than ______.

A) crude B) originally C) rude D) raw

The defending ______ snatched the gold medal by setting a new world record.

A) champagne B) campaign C) companion D) champion

More ______ attitudes toward divorce were held responsible for the rise in divorce rate.

A) liberal B) liberate C) literal D) literate

You can claim a refund (退款) provided you keep the ______.

A) recipe B) receipt C) label D) cheque

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