III. 阅读 第一节:阅读理解(共15小题,每小题2分.满分30分) 阅读下列短文.从每题所给的四个选项中.选出最佳选项.并在答题卡上将该项涂黑. As go

III. 阅读 (共两节，满分40分)

第一节：阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

As goods and services improved, people werepersuaded to spend their money on changing from old to new, and found thechange worth the expense. When an airline equipped itself with jets, for example,its costs (and therefore air fare) would go up, but the new planes meant suchan improvement that the higher cost was justified. A new car (or wireless,washing machine, electric kettle) made life so much more comfortable than theold one that the high cost of replacement was fully repaid. Manufacturers stillcry their goods as persuasively as ever, but are the improvements really worthpaying for? In many fields, things have now reached such a high standard ofperformance that further progress is very limited and very, very expensive.Airlines, for example, go to enormous expense in buying the latest prestigejets, in which vast research costs have been spent on relatively smallimprovements. If we abandon these vast costs we might lose the chance ofcutting minutes away from flying times; but wouldn’t it be better to seeairfares drop dramatically, as capital costs become relatively insignificant?Again, in the context of a 70 m. p. h. Limit, with lines of cars traveling soclose as to control each other’s speeds, improvements in performance areactually irrelevant; improvements in handling are unnecessary, as mostproduction cars grip（抓牢） the road perfectly, and comfort has now reached a very high level.Small improvements here are unlikely to be worth the thousands that anybodyreplacing an ordinary family car every two years may have spent on them. Let usinstead have cars — or wireless, electric kettles, washing machines, televisionsets — which are made to last, and not to be replaced. Significant progress isobviously a good thing, but the insignificant progression from model-change tomodel-change is not.

1. The author is obviously challenging thesocial norm (社会规范)that ________________.

A. it is important to improve goods andservices

B. development of technology makes our lifemore comfortable

C. it is reasonable that prices are goingup all the time

D. slightly improved new products are worthbuying

2. According to this passage, airfares mayrise because ______________.

A. the airplane has been improved

B. people tend to travel by new airplanes

C. the change is found to be reasonable

D. the service on the airplane is betterthan before

3. According to the author, passengerswould be happier if they ____________.

A. could fly in the latest model of goodplanes

B. could get tickets at much lower prices

C. see the airlines make vital changes intheir services

D. could spend less time flying in the air

4. When manufactures have improved theperformance of their products to a certain level, then it would be _______________.

A. justified for them to cut the price

B. unnecessary for them to make any newchanges

C. difficult and costly to further betterthem

D. insignificant for them to cut down theresearch costs

5. In the case of cars, the author advisesthat we _____________.

A. cancel the speedlimit                      B. further improve their performance

C. change models every twoyears          D. improve theirdurability (耐久性)

试题答案

【答案】

 D

 A

 B

 C

 D

【解析】