Passage Three

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

　　Professor Smith recently persuaded 35 people, 23 of them women, to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for a fortnight. When he came to analyse their embarrassing lapses (差錯) in a scientific report, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groupings, Nor did the lapses appear to be entirely random (隨機(jī)的).

　　One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “the explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. But somehow the action got reversed in the programme,” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”

　　Altogether the volunteers logged 433 unintentional actions that they found themselves doing—an average of twelve each, There appear to be peak periods in the day when we are at our zaniest (荒謬可笑的). These are two hours some time between eight a.m. and noon,

　　between four and six p.m. with a smaller peak between eight and ten p.m. “Among men the peak seems to be when a changeover in brain ‘programmes’ occurs, as for instance between going to and from work.” Women on average reported slightly more lapses—12.5 compared with 10.9 for men—probably because they were more reliable reporters.

　　A startling finding of the research is that the absent-minded activity is a hazard of doing things in which we are skilled. Normally, you would expect that skill reduces the number of errors we make. But trying to avoid silly slips by concentrating more could make things a lot worse—even dangerous.

　　31. In his study Professor Smith asked the subjects ________.

　　A) to keep track of people who tend to forget things

　　B) to report their embarrassing lapses at random

　　C) to analyse their awkward experiences scientifically

　　D) to keep a record of what they did unintentionally

　　32. Professor Smith discovered that ________.

　　A) certain patterns can be identified in the recorded incidents

　　B) many people were too embarrassed to admit their absent-mindedness

　　C) men tend to be more absent-minded than women

　　D) absent-mindedness is an excusable human weakness

　　33. “Programme assembly failures” (Line 6, Para. 2) refers to the phenomenon that people ________.

　　A) often fail to programme their routines beforehand

　　B) tend to make mistakes when they are in a hurry

　　C) unconsciously change the sequence of doing things

　　D) are likely to mess things up if they are too tired

　　34. We learn from the third paragraph that ________.

　　A) absent-mindedness tends to occur during certain hours of the day

　　B) women are very careful to perform actions during peak periods

　　C) women experience more peak periods of absent-mindedness

　　D) men’s absent-mindedness often results in funny situations

　　35. It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

　　A) people should avoid doing important things during peak periods of lapses

　　B) hazards can be avoided when people do things they are good at

　　C) people should be careful when programming their actions

　　D) lapses cannot always be attributed to lack of concentration

Passage Four

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

　　It’s no secret that many children would be healthier and happier with adoptive parents than with the parents that nature dealt them. That’s especially true of children who remain in abusive homes because the law blindly favors biological parents. It’s also true of children who suffer for years in foster homes (收養(yǎng)孩子的家庭) because of parents who can’t or won’t care for them but refuse to give up custody (監(jiān)護(hù)) rights.

　　Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Mays fits neither description, but her recent court victory could eventually help children who do. Kimberly has been the object of an angry custody baffle between the man who raised her and her biological parents, with whom she has never lived. A Florida judge ruled that the teenager can remain with the only father she’s ever known and that her biological parents have “no legal claim” on her.

　　The ruling, though it may yet be reversed, sets aside the principle that biology is the primary determinant of parentage. That’s an important development, one that’s long overdue.

　　Shortly after birth in December 1978, Kimberly Mays and another infant were mistakenly switched and sent home with the wrong parents. Kimberly’s biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, received a child who died of a heart disease in 1988. Medical tests showed that the child wasn’t the Twiggs’ own daughter, but Kimt only was, thus sparking a custody battle with Robert Mays. In 1989, the two families agreed that Mr. Mays would maintain custody with the Twiggs getting visiting fights. Those rights were ended when Mr. Mays decided that Kimberly was being harmed.

　　The decision to leave Kimberly with Mr. Mays rendered her suit debated. But the judge made clear that Kimberly did have standing to sue (起訴) on her own behalf. Thus he made clear that she was more than just property to be handled as adults saw fit.

　　Certainly, the biological link between parent and child is fundamental. But biological parents aren’t always preferable to adoptive ones, and biological parentage does not convey an absolute ownership that cancels all the rights of children.

　　36. What was the primary consideration in the Florida judge’s ruling?

　　A) The biological link.

　　B) The child’s benefits.

　　C) The traditional practice.

　　D) The parents’ feelings.

　　37. We can learn from the Kimberly case that ________.

　　A) children are more than just personal possessions of their parents

　　B) the biological link between parent and child should be emphasized

　　C) foster homes bring children more pain and suffering than care

　　D) biological parents shouldn’t claim custody rights after their child is adopted

　　38. The Twiggs claimed custody rights to Kimberly because ________.

　　A) they found her unhappy in Mr. Mays’ custody

　　B) they regarded her as their property

　　C) they were her biological parents

　　D) they felt guilty about their past mistake

　　39. Kimberly had been given to Mr. Mays ________.

　　A) by sheer accident

　　B) out of charity

　　C) at his request

　　D) for better care

　　40. The author’s attitude towards the judge’s ruling could be described as ________.

　　A) doubtful

　　B) critical

　　C) cautious

　　D) supportive

　　Unit 9

　　21. C 22. B 23. B 24.A 25. A

　　26. B 27. D 28. D 29.C 30. A

　　31. D 32. A 33. C 34.A 35. D

　　36. B 37. A 38. C 39.A 40. D