Passage One
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
Like most people, I’ve long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’m treated as a person.
Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people. I had customers say and do things to me I suspect they’d never say or do to their most casual acquaintances. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned (示意I’d been.
I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon (勤杂工) plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.
— cordially.
I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from an advertising sales representative with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately evident. Perhaps it was because money was involved, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.
My job title made people treat me with courtesy. So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.
It’s no secret that there’s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry, by definition, exists to cater to others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’t get the difference between server and servant.
I’m now applying to graduated school, which means someday I’ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want, I think I’ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose only job is to serve them.
52. The author was disappointed to find that _______.
[A] one’s position is used as a gauge to measure one’s intelligence [B] talented people like her should fail to get a respectable job [C] one’s occupation affects the way one is treated as a person [D] professionals tend to look down upon manual workers
53. What does the author intend to say by the example in the second paragraph? [A] Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them. [B] People absorbed in a phone conversation tend to be absent-minded. [C] Waitresses are often treated by customers as casual acquaintances.
54. How did the author feel when waiting tables at the age of 19? [A] She felt it unfair to be treated as a mere servant by professional. [B] She felt badly hurt when her customers regarded her as a peon. [C] She was embarrassed each time her customers joked with her. [D] She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.
55. What does the author imply by saying “…many of my customers didn’t get the difference between
server and servant”(Lines 3-4, Para.7)?
[A] Those who cater to others’ needs are destined to be looked down upon. [B] Those working in the service industry shouldn’t be treated as servants.
[C] Those serving others have to put up with rough treatment to earn a living. [D] The majority of customers tend to look on a servant as server nowadays.
56. The author says she’ll one day take her clients to dinner in order to ________. [A] see what kind of person they are
[B] experience the feeling of being served
[C] show her generosity towards people inferior to her [D] arouse their sympathy for people living a humble life
Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
What’
In December, Mortimer Zuckerman wrote a column in U.S. News & World Report, which he owns. “our nation’s core bargain with the middle class is disintegrating,” lamented (哀叹) the 117th-richest man in America. “rking age, by contrast, has fallen five years in a raw.” He noted that “Tens of millions of Americans live in fear that a major health problem can reduce them to bankruptcy.”
Wilbur Ross Jr. has echoed Zuckerman’s anger over the bitter struggles faced by middle-class Americans. “It’s an outrage that any American’,” said the former chairman of the International Steel Group.
What’alifornia’s governor to offer universal health care, these guys don’t need their own personal weathermen to know which way the wind blows.
It’s possible that plutocrats (有钱有势的人) are expressing solidarity with the struggling middle class as part of an effort to insulate themselves from confiscatory (没收性的n’t keep plutocrats up at night. They can live with that.
In other words, if middle-class Americans continue to struggle financially as the ultrawealthy grow ever wealthier, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain political support for the free flow of goods, services, and capital across borders. And when the United States places obstacles in the way of foreign investors and foreign goods, it’t’s the real nightmare.
[A] The fate of the ultrawealthy people. [B] The disintegration of the middle class.
[C] The inequality in the distribution of wealth. [D] The conflict between the left and the right wing.
58. What do we learn from Mortimer Zuckerman’s lamentation?
[D] The majority of Americans benefit little from the nation’s growing wealth. 59. From the fifth paragraph we can learn that ________. [A] the very rich are fashion-conscious [B] the very rich are politically sensitive
[C] universal health care is to be implemented throughout America [D] Congress has gained popularity by increasing the minimum wage
60. What is the real reason for plutocrats to express solidarity with the middle class? [A] They want to protect themselves from confiscatory taxation. [B] They know that the middle class contributes most to society. [C] They want to gain support for global economic integration.
[D] They feel increasingly threatened by economic insecurity.
61. What may happen if the United States places obstacles in the way of foreign investors and foreign goods?
[A] The prices of imported goods will inevitably soar beyond control. [B] The investors will have to make great efforts to re-allocate capital.
[D]. Foreign countries will place the same economic barriers in return. 阅读Section B
52 C One’s occupationaffects the way one is treated as a person.
53 A Some customers simply show no respect to those who serve them.
54 D She found it natural for professionals to treat her as inferior.
55 B Those working in the service industry shouldn’t be treated as servants.
56 A See what kind of person they are.
57 C The inequality in the distribution of wealth.
59 B The very rich are politically sensitive.
60 C They want to gain support for global economics’ integration.
61 D Foreign countries will place the same economic barriers in return.
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