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Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
It is natural for young people to be critical of their parents at times and to blame them for most of the misunderstandings between them. They have always complained, more or less justly, that their parents are out of touch with modern ways; that they are possessive and dominant that they do not trust their children to deal with crises; that they talk too much about certain problems and that they have no sense of humour, at least in parent-child relationships.
I think it is true that parents often underestimate their teenage children and also forget how they themselves felt when young.
Young people often irritate their parents with their choices in clothes and hairstyles, in entertainers and music. This is not their motive. They feel cut off from the adult world into which they have not yet been accepted. So they create a culture and society of their own. Then, if it turns out that their music or entertainers or vocabulary or clothes or hairstyles irritate their parents, this gives them additional enjoyment. They feel they are superior, at least in a small way, and that they are leaders in style and taste.
Sometimes you are resistant, and proud because you do not want your parents to approve of what you do. If they did approve, it looks as if you are betraying your own age group. But in that case, you are assuming that you are the underdog: you can’t win but at least you can keep your honour. This is a passive way of looking at things. It is natural enough after long years of childhood, when you were completely under your parents’ control. But it ignores the fact that you are now beginning to be responsible for yourself.
If you plan to control your life, co-operation can be part of that plan. You can charm others, especially parents, into doing things the ways you want. You can impress others with your sense of responsibility and initiative, so that they will give you the authority to do what you want to do.
21. The author is primarily addressing ________.
A) parents of teenagers
B) newspaper readers
C) those who give advice to teenagers
D) teenagers
22. The first paragraph is mainly about ________.
A) the teenagers’ criticism of their parents
B) misunderstandings between teenagers and their parents
C) the dominance of the parents over their children
D) the teenagers’ ability to deal with crises
23. Teenagers tend to have strange clothes and hairstyles because they ________.
A) want to show their existence by creating a culture of their own
B) have a strong desire to be leaders in style and taste
C) have no other way to enjoy themselves better
D) want to irritate their parents
24. Teenagers do not want their parents to approve of whatever they do because they ________.
A) have already been accepted into the adult world
B) feel that they are superior in a small way to the adults
C) are not likely to win over the adults
D) have a desire to be independent
25. To improve parent-child relationships, teenagers are advised to be ________.
A) obedient
B) responsible
C) co-operative
D) independent
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
The long years of food shortage in this country have suddenly given way to apparent abundance. Stores and shops are choked with food. Rationing (定量供應) is virtually suspended, and overseas suppliers have been asked to hold back deliveries. Yet, instead of joy, there is widespread uneasiness and confusion. Why do food prices keep on rising, when there seems to be so much more food about? Is the abundance only temporary, or has it come to stay? Does it mean that we need to think less now about producing more food at home? No one knows what to expect.
The recent growth of export surpluses on the world food market has certainly been unexpectedly great, partly because a strange sequence of two successful grain harvests. North America is now being followed by a third. Most of Britain’s overseas suppliers of meat, too, are offering more this year and home production has also risen.
But the effect of all this on the food situation in this country has been made worse by a simultaneous rise in food prices, due chiefly to the gradual cutting down of government support for food. The shops are overstocked with food not only because there is more food available, but also because people, frightened by high prices, are buying less of it.
Moreover, the rise in domestic prices has come at a time when world prices have begun to fall, with the result that imported food, with the exception of grain, is often cheaper than the home-produced variety. And now grain prices, too, are falling. Consumers are beginning to ask why they should not be enabled to benefit from this trend.
The significance of these developments is not lost on farmers. The older generation have seen it all happen before. Despite the present price and market guarantees, farmers fear they are about to be squeezed between cheap food imports and a shrinking home market. Present production is running at 51 per cent above pre-war levels, and the government has called for an expansion to 60 per cent by 1956; but repeated Ministerial advice is carrying little weight and the expansion programme is not working very well.
26. Why is there “wide-spread uneasiness and confusion about the food situation in Britain?”
A) The abundant food supply is not expected to last.
B) Britain is importing less food.
C) Despite the abundance, food prices keep rising.
D) Britain will cut back on its production of food.
27. The main reason for the rise in food prices is that ________.
A) people are buying less food
B) the government is providing less financial support for agriculture
C) domestic food production has decreased
D) imported food is driving prices higher
28. Why didn’t the government’s expansion programme work very well?
A) Because the farmers were uncertain about the financial support the government guaranteed.
B) Because the farmers were uncertain about the benefits of expanding production.
C) Because the farmers were uncertain about whether foreign markets could be found for their produce.
D) Because the older generation of farmers were strongly against the programmer.
29. The decrease in world food price was a result of ________.
A) a sharp fall in the purchasing power of the consumers
B) a sharp fall in the cost of food production
C) the overproduction of food in the food-importing countries
D) the overproduction on the part of the main food-exporting countries
30. What did the future look like for Britain’s food production at the time this article was written?
A) The fall in world food prices would benefit British food producers.
B) An expansion of food production was at hand.
C) British food producers would receive more government financial support.
D) It looks depressing despite government guarantees.
