Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
Work-life balance: Ways to restore harmony and reduce stress
Finding work-life balance in today’s frenetically (疯狂) paced world is no simple task.
Spend more time at work than at home, and you miss out on a rewarding personal life. Then again, when you face challenges in your personal life, such as caring for an aging parent or coping with marital problems, concentrating on your job can be difficult.
Whether the problem is too much focus on work or too little, when your work life and your personal life feel out of balance, stress — along with its harmful effects — is the result.
The good news is that you can take control of your work-life balance — and give yourself the time to do the things that are most important to you. The first step is to recognize how the world of work has changed. Then you can evaluate your relationship to work and apply some specific strategies for striking a healthier balance.
How work invades your personal life
There was a time when employees showed up for work Monday through Friday and worked eight- to- nine-hour days. The boundaries between work and home were fairly clear then. But the world has changed and, unfortunately, the boundaries have blurred for many workers. Here’s why:
●Global economy. As more skilled workers enter the global labor market and companies outsource or move more jobs to reduce labor costs, people feel pressured to work longer and produce more just to protect their jobs.
●International business. Work continues around the world 24 hours a day for some people. If you work in an international organization, you might be on call around the clock for troubleshooting or consulting.
●Advanced communi cation technology. Many people now have the ability to work anywhere — from their home, from their car and even on vacation. And some managers expect this.
●Longer hours. Employers commonly ask employees to work longer hours than they’re scheduled. Ofte n, overtime is mandatory (强制性的). If you hope to move up the career ladder, you may find yourself regularly working more than 40 hours a week to achieve and exceed expectations.
●Changes in family roles. Today’s married worker is typically part of a dual-career couple, which makes it difficult to find time to meet commitments to family, friends and community.
Married to your work
It can be tempting to rack up the hours at work —especially if you’re trying to earn a promotion or some extra money for a child’s education or a dream vacation. For others, working more hours feels necessary in order to manage the workload.
But if you’re spending most of your time at work, your home life will likely pay the price. Consider the pros and cons of working extra hours on your work-life balance:
●Fatigue. Your ability to think and your eye-hand coordination decrease when you’re tired. This means you’re less productive and may make more mistakes. These mistakes can lead to injury or rework and negatively impact your professional reputation.
●Family. You may miss out on important events, such as your child’s first bike ride, your father’s 60th birthday or your high-school reunion. Missing out on important milestones may harm relationships with your loved ones.
●Friends. Trusted friends are a key part of your support system. But if you’re spending time at the office instead of with them, you’ll find it difficult to nurture those friendships.
●Expectations. If you regularly work extra hours, you may be g iven more responsibility. This could create a never-ending and increasing cycle, causing more concerns and challenges.
Sometimes working overtime is important. If you work for a company that requires mandatory overtime, you won’t be able to avoid it, bu t you can learn to manage it. Most importantly, say no when you’re too tired, when it’s affecting your health or when you have crucial family obligations.
Striking the best work-life balance
For most people, juggling (巧妙处理) the demands of career and personal life is
an ongoing challenge. With so many demands on your time —from overtime to family obligations — it can feel difficult to strike this balance. The goal is to make time for the activities that are the most important to you.
Here are some ideas to help you find the balance that’s best for you:
●Learn to say no. Whether it’s a co-worker asking you to spearhead (充当先锋) an extra project or your child’s teacher asking you to manage the class play, remember that it’s OK to respectfully say no. When you quit doing the things you only do out of guilt or a false sense of obligation, you’ll make more room in your life for the activities that are meaningful to you and bring you joy.
●Leave work at work. Make a conscious decision to separate work time from personal time. When with your family, for instance, turn off your cell phone and put away your laptop computer.
●Manage your time. Organize household tasks efficiently. Do one or two loads of laundry every day, rather than saving it all for your day off. A weekly family calendar of important dates and a daily list of to-dos will help you avoid deadline panic. If your employer offers a course in time management, sign up for it.
●Get enough sleep. There’s nothing as stressful and potentially d angerous as working when you’re sleep-deprived. Not only is your productivity affected, but also you can make costly mistakes. You may then have to work even more hours to make up for these mistakes.
●Communicate clearly. Limit time-consuming misunderstandings by communicating clearly and listening carefully. Take notes if necessary.
●Nurture yourself. Set aside time each day for an activity that you enjoy, such as walking, working out or listening to music.
●Set aside one night each week for recre ation. Take the phone off the hook, power down the computer and turn off the TV. Discover activities you can do with your partner, family or friends, such as playing golf, fishing or canoeing. Making time for activities you enjoy will rejuvenate (使年轻) you.
Remember, striking a work-life balance isn’t a one-shot deal. Creating balance in your life is a continuous process. Balance doesn’t mean doing everything. Examine your priorities and set boundaries. Be firm in what you can and cannot do. Only you can restore harmony to your lifestyle.
1. What will happen if your work life and personal life feel out of balance?
A) You will have little time to finish your work.
B) You may feel stress, which will affect you negatively.
C) You will have a lot of time to share with your family.
D) You will never balance the combination of life and work.
2. The boundaries between work and home have blurred for the following reasons, EXCEPT _______.
A) global economy
B) changes in family roles
C) advanced communication technology
D) high divorce rate
3. What will happen if you’re spending most of your time at work?
A) You will lose both health and wealth.
B) You will be hated by your loved ones.
C) You will lose all your friends.
D) You may be given more responsibility.
4. According to the passage, you’d better say no to mandatory overtime when _______________.
A) you get bored with the work
B) you are not interested in the work
C) you can’t get additional allowance
D) you have crucial family obligations
5. What does the underlined sentence mean?
A) You should do the things people ask you to do without feeling guilty.
B) You shouldn’t do the things people ask you to do if you don’t want to.
C) To do things people ask you to do can bring you a lot of joy.
D) To do things for yourself is more meaningful than to do things for others.
6. What will NOT happen if you don’t get enough sleep?
A) You will feel stressed while working.
B) You will have no sense of exhaustion.
C) You can make costly mistakes.
D) You will have low productivity.
7. What does the real balance mean according to the author?
A) Examining priorities and deciding what is the most important to you.
B) Doing everything you want to do whether you can do it or not.
C) Saying yes to everybody in order to maintain good relationships.
D) Being firm that working overtime will strike a work-life balance.
8. Spend more time at work than at home, and you won’t have enough time to enjoy your _______________.
9. You have slow responses and your eye-hand coordination decreases when you’re ________.
10. You can save a lot of time and avoid misunderstandings if you communicate clearly and ____________.
参考答案
1. B)。参见第三段“Whether the problem is too mu ch focus on work or too little, when your work life and your personal life feel out of balance, stress — along with its harmful effects —is the result.”可知，当你生活和工作的平衡被打乱的时候，你就会感到压力，这种压力会给你带来不好的影响。
2. D)。参见How work invades your personal life小标题下列举的打乱生活和工作平衡的内容可知，A)、B)、C)三个选项的内容与文章相符，唯有D)在文章中没有提及。
3. D)。参见Married to your work小标题下列举的过度工作可能给自己和家人或朋友带来的影响可知，文章提到了过度工作会使你疲劳并导致效率低下;过度工作还会占用你与家人和朋友团聚的时间而使亲情、友情受到影响;过度工作还会使你深陷工作泥潭以至于你肩上的担子越压越重。A)、B)、C)三个选项在一定程度上改变了文章的含义，只有D)与原文内容相符。
4. D)。参见Married to your work小标题下“Most importantly, say no when you’re too tired, when it’s affecting your health or when you have crucial family obligations.”一句可知，当你遇到如下三种情况的时候要对加班说“不”：太累了;影响到你的健康;有至关重要的家事。
5. B)。参见Striking the best work-life balance小标题下画线一句可知，作者是在建议大家学会说“不”，当别人让你帮助做某事的时候，你如果不想做，可以礼貌地拒绝，而不要强迫自己去做。
6. B)。参见Striking the best work-life balance小标题下Get enough sleep.一段所讲述的内容可知，如果你睡眠不足，你可能会在工作的时候感觉有压力;你可能会犯错误而因此付出高昂的代价;你的工作效率低下。但是文章中并没有说当你睡眠不足的时候，你就没有疲劳的感觉。
7. A)。纵观全文可知，本文作者认为，做出正确的判断和决定，判断哪些事情比较紧急，决定哪些事情对你来说是最重要的。
8. personal life。参见文章“Spend more time at work than at home, and you miss out on a rewarding personal life.”一句可知，如果你的工作占用了你大部分时间，那么你就没有足够的时间来享受生活。
9. tired。参见Married to your work小标题下“Your ability to think and your eye-hand coordination decrease when you’re tired.”一句可知，当你疲惫的时候你的反应速度在降低，你
手眼协调能力在下降。
10. listen carefully。参见Striking the best work-life balance小标题下“Limit time-consuming misunderstandings by communicating clearly and listening carefully.”一句可知，如果你在与人交流的时候表达清楚、仔细倾听，那么你可以节省大量因为沟通中的误解所浪费的时间。
大学英语四级模拟题四 Part One Reading Comprehension (2’×10 = 20’) Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre. Passage One Air pollution can spread from city to city. It even spreads from one country to another. Some northern European countries have had “black snow”from pollutants that have traveled through the air from other countries and have fallen with the snow. So air pollution is really a global problem. Air pollution can kill babies, older people, and those who have respiratory（呼吸的）diseases. As found in cities, air pollution increases the risks of certain lung diseases. Air pollution can cause both airplane and car accidents because it cuts down visibility （能见度）. There are other possible health dangers from air pollution that we don’t know much about. For example, scientists are trying to find out whether chemicals that reach us from the air may cause changes in our cells. These changes might cause babies to be born with serious birth defects. Scientists are trying to learn how all the many chemicals are apt（易于的）to take into our bodies from air, water, food, and even medicines act together to affect our health and the way our bodies work. That is another reason why it is so important to begin to control pollution now instead of waiting until we learn all the answers. Air pollution costs us a lot of money. It corrodes（腐蚀）our buildings. It damages farm crops and forests. It has a destructive effect on our works of art. The cost of all this damage to our government is great. It would be much more worthwhile, both for us and for the government, to spend our tax dollars on air pollution control. 1. Air pollution may lead to airplane accidents because . A. it may cause pilots to be ill B. engines may fail from the air-borne dirt C. visibility is reduced D. it brings a lot of black snow 2. Scientists are trying to find a link between pollution and . A. intelligence levels B. birth problems C. man’s behavior D. the nervous system 3. Scientists have not yet determined . A. all of the effects of pollution on the human body B. how pollution can be controlled successfully C. when the atmosphere first became polluted D. how some snow becomes black 4. The author suggests that before air pollution becomes more serious, . A. factories will be forced to stop operating B. buildings should be protected C. the earth will begin to grow colder D. more money should be spent to solve the problem 5. We can conclude that . A. civilization may be ruined if pollution is not controlled B. pollution is more serious in Europe than it is in America C. most people do not know that pollution is a serious problem D. we should learn all the answers before we begin to control pollution Passage Two Stiletto heels could be banned from the workplace because of health and safety reasons, according to British Trade Union bosses. The Trade Union Congress, predominantly male, has proposed a motion arguing that high heels are disrespectful to women while they also contribute to long term injuries. They propose instead that women wear “sensible shoes”with an inch heel limit in an attempt to avoid future foot and back pain as well as injuries. The motion is due to be debated at next month’s conference. The motion states: “Congress believes high heels may look glamorous on the Hollywood catwalks but are completely in appropriate for the day-to-day working environment. Feet bear the burden of daily life, and for many workers prolonged standing, badly fitted footwear, and in particular high heels can be a hazard. Around two million days a year are lost through sickness as a result of lower limb disorders. Wearing high heels can cause long-term foot problems and also serious foot, knee and back pain and damaged joints. Many employers in the retail sector force women workers to wear high heels as part of their dress code. More must be done to raise awareness of this problem so that women workers and their feet are protected.” Nadline Dorries, the Tory Member of Parliament, however criticized the motion and said the extra height heels give women can help them when in the workplace. “I’m 5ft 3in and need every inch of my Christian Louboutin heels to look my male colleagues in the eye,”she said. “If high heels were banned in Westminster, no one would be able to find me. The Trade Union leaders need to get real, stop using obvious sexist tactics by discussing women’s
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Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. Five thousand hours, I am told, are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a bachelor's degree. In 10,000 hours you could have learned enough to become an astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. If it appealed to you, you could be reading Homer in the original Greek or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn't, you could have walked around the world and written a book about it. The trouble with television is that it discourages concentration. Almost anything interesting and rewarding in life requires some constructive, consistently applied effort. The dullest, the least gifted of us can achieve things that seem miraculous to those who never concentrate on anything. But Television encourages us to apply no effort. It sells us instant gratification(满意). It diverts us only to divert, to make the time pass without pain. Television's variety becomes a narcotic(麻醉的), nor a stimulus. Its serial, kaleidoscopic (万花筒般的)exposures force us to follow its lead. The viewer is on a perpetual guided tour: 30 minutes at the museum, 30 at the cathedral, 30 for a drink, then back on the bus to the next attraction—except on television., typically, the spans allotted arc on the order of minutes or seconds, and the chosen delights are more often car crashes and people killing one another. In short, a lot of television usurps(篡夺;侵占) one of the most precious of all human gifts, the ability to focus your attention yourself, rather than just passively surrender it. Capturing your attention—and holding it—is the prime motive of most television programming and enhances its role as a profitable advertising vehicle. Programmers live in constant fear of losing anyone's attention—anyone's. The surest way to avoid doing so is to keep everything brief, not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety, novelty, action and movement. Quite
大学英语四级专项训练——选词填空 （一） Americans are proud of their variety and individualty, yet they love and respect few things more than a uniform. Why are uniforms so __1__ in the United States Among the arguments for uniforms, one of the first is that in the eyes of most people they look more __2__ than civilian（百姓的）clothes. People have become conditioned to __3__ superior quality from a man who wears a uniform. The television repairman who wears a uniform tends to __4__ more trust than one who appears in civilian clothes. Faith in the __5__ of a garage mechanic is increased by a uniform. What an easier way is there for a nurse, a policeman, a barber, or a waiter to __6__ professional identity（身份）than to step out of uniform Uniforms also have many __7__ benefits. They save on other clothes. They save on laundry bills. They are often more comfortable and more durable than civilian clothes. Primary among the arguments against uniforms is their lack of variety and the consequent loss of __8__ experienced by people who must wear them. Though there are many types of uniforms, the wearer of any particular type is generally stuck with it, without __9__, until retirement. When people look alike, they tend to think, speak, and act __10__, on the job at least. [A]skill [B]popular [C]get [D]change [E]similarly 、[F]professional [G]character [H]individuality [I] inspire [J] differently [K]expect [L]practical [M] recall [N] lose [O] ordinary （二） 、 Psychologists take opposing views of how external rewards, from warm praise to cold cash, affect motivation and creativity. Behaviorists, who study the relation between actions and their consequences, argue that rewards can __1__ performance at work and school. Cognitive( 认识派的) researchers, who study various aspects of mental life, maintain that rewards often destroy creativity by encouraging dependence on __2__ and gifts from others. The latter view has gained many supporters, __3__ among educators. But the careful use of small __4__ rewards speaks creativity in grade school children, suggesting that properly presented inducements( 刺激) indeed __5__inventiveness, according to a study in the June Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “If kids know they’re working f or a reward and can focus on a relatively __6__ task, they show the most creativity,” says Robert Eisenberger of the University of Delaware in Newark. “But it’s easy to __7__ creativity by giving rewards for poor performance or creating too much anticipation for rewards.
2017年大学英语四级快速阅读技巧 2017年大学英语四级的3个试题特点 大学英语四级的试题特点1. 题干中的细节信息往往反映文章的主旨和段落主题。通过快速地阅读题干中的若干细节信息，考生可以迅速了解原文的主旨大意。 大学英语四级的试题特点2. 题干提供的细节信息中往往暗含一些说明文或议论文所必需的逻辑关系，考生可以利用这种关系预先对一些表达进行排序，这对于解答信息匹配题有着非常重要的意义。 大学英语四级的试题特点3. 提干提供的信息表达中通常包括如下三类：能够指示开头段的词，如overview, introduction, initiation, main idea, definition 等;能够指示结尾段的词，如future, solution, conclusion, suggestion, summary 等;能够帮助考生回原文定位的特殊词，如rate, ration, proportion, percentage, number, figure, statistical demographics 等。 4.有些试题题干中的细节信息往往会和原文的其他某一题目联系密切，考生可通过先解答原文的其他题目来获得解答题目的线索和提示性信息。 2017年英语四级快速阅读的6个解题技巧 快速阅读的解题技巧(1) 判定词性时可以重点分析动词的时态，即哪几个是一般时，哪几个是过去时又或者是过去分词。 因为根据样题，它对考生不做选项改写要求，所以我们可以根据上下文时态对应的原则，给自己进一步缩小选择范围。
如果选项中出现指代词时，往往该选项不能放在首句，要注意指代成立的条件。 快速阅读的解题技巧(3) 如果选项中出现一组反义词时，往往有一个是干扰选项，它注重考察的是对于文章框架结构的理解，要求考生理解整篇文章的语境色彩。 快速阅读的解题技巧(4) 如果选项中出现一组近义词时，往往也有一个是干扰选项，它注重考察的是词汇的精确理解，要求考生分析清楚其细微的区别。 快速阅读的解题技巧(5) 如果选项为连词时，要关注上下句内在的逻辑关系。常见的逻辑关系有：因果，并列平行，递进，强对比，前后意思一致等。 快速阅读的解题技巧(6) 要有总体观，不必按顺序作题。先把自己最有把握的词选出，然后删除该选项，为吃不准的选项缩小选择范围。 2017年快速判定英语四级文章主题3个技巧 快速判定主题的技巧(1) 读文章时重点关注文章的首段和首末句。按照西方人习惯性的思维方式和写作习惯，他们惯用的是演绎法：即文章一开始先扔出自己的核心观点，然后具体一步步论证。 根据统计，每一段的第一句、第二句和最后一句话为本段的主题句的概率分别为50%、20%、20%，三句话成为主题句的概率超过九成，当然也就成为我们阅读的重中之重。
洛基英语，中国在线英语教育领导品牌 Model Test 1 Part One Listening Comprehension Section A Directions： In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said - Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A）, B）, C）and D）, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a line through the centre. Example： You will hear： You will read： A） At the office. B） In the waiting room. C） At the airport. D） In a restaurant. From the conversation we know that the two were talking about some work they had to finish in the evening. This is most likely to have taken place at the office. Therefore, A） At the office is the best answer. You should choose [A] on the Answer Sheet and mark it with a single line through the centre. 1. A） She is not interested in the article. B） She has given the man much trouble. C） She would like to have a copy of the article. D） She doesn't want to take the trouble to read the article. 2. A） He saw the big tower he visited on TV~ B） He has visited the TV tower twice. C） He has visited the TV tower once. D） He will visit the TV tower in June. 3. A） The woman has trouble getting along with the professor. B） The woman regrets having taken up much of the professor's time. C） The woman knows the professor has been busy. D） The woman knows the professor has run into trouble. 4. A） He doesn't enjoy business trips as much as he used to. B） He doesn't think he is capable of doing the job. C） He thinks the pay is too low to support his family, D） He wants to spend more time with his family. 5. A） The man thought the essay was easy. B） They both had a hard time writing the essay. C） The woman thought the essay was easy. D） Neither of them has finished the assignment yet. 6. A） In the park. B） Between two buildings C） In his apartment. D） Under a huge tree. 7. A） It's awfully dull. B） It's really exciting.
大学英语四级阅读理解模拟题 The most frightening words in the English language are, "Our computer is down. " You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, "I' m sorry, I can' t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down. " "If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket. " "I can' t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so. " I looked down on the computer and every passenger .was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, "What do all you people do?" "We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not. " "So when it goes down, you go down with it. " "That' s good, sir. " "How long will the computer be down?" I wanted to know. "I have no idea. Sometimes it' s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There' s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it' s down it won' t answer us. "
2011年6月大学英语四级真题 Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage. The popular notion that older people need less sleep than younger adults is a myth, scientists said yesterday. While elderly people __47__ to sleep for fewer hours than they did when they were younger, this has a(n) __48__ effect on their brain's performance and they would benefit from getting more, according to research. Sean Drummond, a. psychiatrist (心理医生) at the University of California, San Diego, said older people are more likely to suffer from broken sleep, while younger people are better at sleeping __49__ straight through the night. More sleep in old age, however, is __50__ with better health, and most older people would feel better and more __51__ if they slept for longer periods, he said. “The ability to sleep in one chunk (整块时间) overnight goes down as we age but the amount of sleep we need to __52__ well does not change,” Dr Drummond told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego. “It's __53__ a myth that older people need less sleep. The more healthy an older adult is, the more they sleep like they did when they were __54__. Our data suggests that older adults would benefit from __55__ to get as much sleep as they did in their 30s. That's __56__ from person to person, but the amount of sleep we had at 35 is probably the same amount as we need at 75.” 答案Part IV Reading Comprehension (Reading in depth) 47 N tend 48 L negative 49 H efficiently 50 B associated 51 A alert 52 J function/ 53 F definitely 54 O younger 55 E continuing56 G different 文章大意：本文主要讲述的是关于老年人睡眠的问题：是否老年人与年轻人相比只需要较少的睡眠时间？ 2010年12月英语四级考试真题 Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage. What determines the kind of person you are? What factors make you more or less bold, intelligent, or able to read a map? All of these are influenced by the interaction of your genes and the environment in which you were 47 . The study of how genes and environment interact to influence 48 activity is known as behavioral genetics. Behavioral genetics has made important 49 to the biological revolution, providing information about the extent to which biology
大学英语四级快速阅读技巧 15分钟做完，先看小标题（现只看2-3个，多了也记不住），再通过1-7 小题的题干的名词、动词找出原句来做， 特别注意： 做题顺序，先看文章标题，直到文章主要内容，然后看第一小题，在小题部分的定位词先圈出来，在回原文找。找到第一小题后，再看第二小题。看一个题，作一个；不要把文章看完再做题，或题看完再读文章。 特别注意：比较容易定位的词是： A. 不能用中心思想词定位，因为整篇文章都说的是它。 B. 时间、数字、地点、大写字母的单词容易定位。 C. 比较长，难的名词容易定位，好找。 D. 定位词找2-3个就行，多了也记不住。最好是位置不同的两个词。 一般判断N0和NG的标准如下: NO题: (l)信息与原文相反 (2)将原文信息张冠李戴 (3)将原文中不确定的或未经证实的内容作为正确的或客观的来表述 (4)改变原文的条件、范围、频率、可能性等 NG题: (l)无中生有 (2)以个别代替整体，即将原文所举例子的特殊现象推广为普遍现象 (3)随意比较原文中提到的两个事物 (4)将原文具体化，即题目中涉及的范围小于原文涉及的范围 (5)原文中作者或某个人物的目标、目的、愿望、誓言等内容，在题目中作为客观事实陈述 Promote Learning and Skills for Young People and Adults This goal places the emphasis on the learning needs of young people and adults in the context of lifelong learning. It calls for fair access to learning programs that are appropriate, and mentions life skills particularly.
最牛英语口语培训模式：躺在家里练口语，全程外教一对一，三个月畅谈无阻！ 洛基英语，免费体验全部在线一对一课程：https://www.doczj.com/doc/378156991.html,/ielts/xd.html（报名网址）Passage Three Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage. Material culture refers to what can be seen, held, felt, used -what a culture produces. Examining a culture’s tools andtechnology can tell us about the group’s history and way of life. Similarly, research into the material culture of mus ic can help us to understand the music-culture. The most vivid body of material culture in it, of course, are musical instruments. We cannot hear for ourselves the actual sound of any musical performance before the 1870s when the phonograph (留声机) was invented, so we rely on instruments for important information about music-cultures in the remote past and their development. Here we have two kinds of evidence: instruments well preserved and instruments pictured in art. Through the study of instruments, as well as paintings, written documents, and so on, we can explore the movement of music from the Near East to China over a thousand years ago, or we can outline the spread of Near Eastern influence to Europe that resulted in the development of most of the instruments in the symphony orchestra（交响乐）. Sheet music（乐谱）or printed music, too, is material culture. Scholars once defined folk music-cultures as those in which people learn and sing music by earrather than from print, but research shows mutual influence among oral and written sources during the past few centuries in Europe, Britain, and America. Printed versions limit variety because they tend to standardize any song, yet they stimulate people to create new and different songs. Besides, the ability to read music notation（乐谱）has a far-reaching effect on musicians and, when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole. One more important part of music’s material culture should be singled out: the influence of the electronic media-radio, record player, tape recorder, television, and videocassette, with the future promising talking and singing computers a nd other developments. This is all part of the “information revolution”, a twentieth-century phenomenon as important as the industrial revolution was in the nineteenth. These electronic media are not just limited to modern nations; they have affected music-cultures all over the globe. 31. Research into the material culture of a nation is of great importance because ____. A) it helps produce new cultural tools and technology B) it can reflect the development of the nation C) it helps understand the nation’s past and present D) it can demonstrate the nation’s civilization 32. It can be learned from this passage that ____. A) the existence of the symphony was attributed to the spread of Near Eastern and Chinese music