六级阅读模拟。
Passage 1
Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large.The same problem,on a smaller scale,faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs.There can be little prospect of raising the sort of sums needed from friends and people we know, and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance, they are generally unwilling to provide money on a permanent basis for long-term projects. So companies turn to public, inviting people to lend them money, or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future profits. This they do by issuing stocks and shares in the business through The Stock Exchange. By doing so they can put into circulation the savings of individuals and institution, both at home and overseas.When the saver needs his money back,he does not have to go to the company wiht whom he originally placed it.Instead, he sells his shares through a stockbroker(证券经纪人)to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.
Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local authorities. Without hospitals, roads, electricity, telephones, railways, this country could not function.All these require continuous spending on new equipment and new development if they are to serve us properly, requiring more money than is raised through taxes alone. The government,local authorities, and nationalized industries therefore frequently needed to borrow money to finance major capital spending,and they,too,come to The Stock Exchange.
There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose job or whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her emplorers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.
Almost all companies involved in new production and development must _____。[ANSWER]
A)rely in their own financial resourses.
B)persuade the banks to provide long-term finance.
C)borrow large sums of money from friends and people we know.
D)depend on the population as a whole for finance.
The money which enables these companies to go ahead with their projects is _____.[ANSWER]
A)repaid to its original owners as soon as possible.
B)raised by the selling of shares in the companies.
C)exchanged for part ownership in The Stock Exchange.
D)invested in different companies on The Stock Exchange.
when the savers want their money back they _____.[ANSWER]
A)ask another company to obtain their money for them.
B)look for other people to borrow money from.
C)put their shares in the company back on the market.
D)transfer their money to a more successful company.
All the essential services on which we depend are _____.[ANSWER]
A)run by the Government or our local authorities.
B)in constant need of financial support.
C)financed wholly by rates and taxes.
D)unable to provide for the needs of the population.
The Stock exchange makes it possible for the Government,local authorities and nationlized industries _____.[ANSWER]
A)to borrow as much money as they wish.
B)to make certain everybody saves money.
C)to raise money to finance new developments.
D)to make certain everybody lends money to them.
Passage 2
The year 1400 opened with more peacefulness thanusual in England. Only a few months before,Richard II weak,wicked,and treacherous--had been deposed(废黜),and Herry IV declared king in his stead.But it was only a seeming peacefulness,lasting for but a little while;for though King Herry proved himself a just and a merciful man--as hustice and mercy went with the men of iron of those days--and though he did not care to shed blood needlessly,there were many noble families who had been benifited by King Richard during his reign,and who had lost some what of their power and prestige from the coming in of the new king.
Among these were a number of great lords who had been degraded from their former titles and eatates,from which degradation King Richard had lifted them.They planned to fall upon King herry and his followers and to massacre(屠杀)them during a great tournament(中世纪之马上比武大会) which was being held at Oxford.And they might have succeeded had not one of their own members betrayed them.
But Herry did not appear at the lists;whereupon,knowing that he had been lodging at Windsor with only a few attendants,the conspirators marched there against him.In the meantime,the king had been warned of the plot,so that instead of finding him in the royal castle,they discovered through their scouts that he had hurried to London,and that he was marching against them at the head of a considerable army.So nothing was left but flight.One and another,they were all caught and some killed.Those few who found friends faithful and bold enough to afford them shelter dragged those friends down in their own ruin.
What does the author seem to think of King Herry?[ANSWER]
A)He was the best king England had ever had.
B)He was unfair and cowardly.
C)He was just as evil as King Richard.
D)He was a better ruler than King Richard.
How did King Herry find out about the plot?[ANSWER]
A)His scouts discovered it.
B)He saw the conspirators coming.
C)One of the conspirators told him.
D)He found a copy of the conspirators'plan.
How did the conspirators find out that Herry was in London?[ANSWER]
A)They saw him leave windsor.
B)Herry's attendants told them.
C)They saw him at the tournament.
D)Their scouts told them.
Why did the nobles wish to kill Herry?[ANSWER]
A)Herry had taken away power given to them by Richard.
B)Herry was weak,wicked,and treacherous.
C)Herry had needlessly killed members of their families.
D)Herry had killed King Richard.
It can be inferred that Richard II's reign was _____.[ANSWER]
A)peaceful
B)corrupt
C)democratic
D)illegal
Passage 3
The ballad and the fork song have long been recognized as important keys to the thoughts and feelings of a people, but the dime novel though sought by the collector and referred to in a general way by the social historian, is dismissed with a smile of amusement by almost everyone else.Neither fork songs nor dime novels were actually created by the plain people of America.But in their devotion to these modes of expression, the peoplemade them their own. The dime novel, intersted as it was for the great masses and designed to fill the pockets of both author and publisher, quite naturally sought the lowest common denominator (共同点，标准): themes that were found to be popular and attitudes that met with the most general approval became stereotyped(定型的). Moreover, the dime novel, reflecting a much wider range of attitudes and ideas than the ballad and the fork song, is the nearest thing we have had in this country to a true "proletarian" literature, that is, a literature written for the great masses of people and actually read by them.
Although a study of our dime novels alone cannot enable anyone to determine what are the essential characteristics of the Amerian tradition, it can contribute materially to that end. Sooner or later, the industrious researchers who have minded so many obscure lodes of Amerian literary expression will almost certainly turn their attention to these novels and all their kind.Let no one think, however, that the salmon-covered paperbacks once so eagerly decoured (贪婪地阅读) by soldiers, lumberjacks (伐木工人), trainmen, hired girl, and adolescent boys now make exciting or agreeable even for the historian, much as the socialand historical implications may interest him. As for the crowds today who get their sensational thrills from the movies and the tabloids (小刊，小报), I fear that they would find these hair-raisers of an earlier age deadly dull.
The principal intention of the author of a dime novel was to _____.[ANSWER]
A)explore a segment of Amerian society.
B)Promote the Amerian political philosophy.
C)raise the level of intelligence of the great masses of people.
D)make money.
The "lowest common denominator" refers to _____.[ANSWER]
A)the poorer classes.
B)themes ans attitudes that would be accepted by the greatest number of people.
C)attitudes accepted by the Amerian intellectuals.
D)the character of the authors of the dime novel.
"Proletarian" literature is _____.[ANSWER]
A)written for and read by the great masses of people.
B)distinguished by its devotion to pornography.
C)distinguished by its elegant style.
D)written for,but not actually read by,most people.
The author believes that a study of our dime novels _____.[ANSWER]
A)is a waste of time.
B)would be sufficient in itself to determine the essential characteristics of the American tradition.
C)would be a valuable contribution in determining the essential characteristics of the American tradition.
D)would be amusing but unimportant.
Which of the followingis implied in the passage?[ANSWER]
A)The attitudes of the masses of people are best expressed by sociology texts.
B)The nearest thing we have had to a proletarian literature is the dime novel.
C)The study of the formal literature alone will not enable the historian to understand the attitudes and interests of the common people.
D)Because the themes in the dime novels were not good,they could no longer be legally distributed.
