Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section A Directions: In this section , there is a passage w ith ten blanks . You are required to select one w ord for each blank from a list of choices gi v en in a w ord bank follo w ing the passage . Read the passage through carefully before making your choices . Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter . Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on the Ans w er Sheet . You may not use any of the w ords in the bank more than once . Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage. Most of us __ 36 __ money for entertainment. Movies , concerts and shows are __ 37 __ but expensive. If you think that you can't have a good time without spending a lot of money , read on. A little __ 38 __ and a few minutes of newspaper­scanning should give you some pleasant surprises. People may be the most interesting show in a large city. Wander through busy streets and see what everybody else is doing. You will probably see people from all over the world; you will __ 39 __see people of every age , size , and shape , and you'll get a free fashion show , too. Window­shopping is also a __ 40 __ sport if the stores are closed. Check the listings in your neighborhood paper. Local colleges or schools often __ 41 __ the public to hear an interesting speaker or a good __ 42 __.The film or concert series at the local public library probably won't cost you a penny. Be sure to check commercial advertisements too. A flea market can provide hours of pleasant looking round. Perhaps you can find a free cooking or crafts __ 43 __ in a department store. Plan ahead for some activities. It is always more pleasant not to have people in front of you in a museum or at a zoo. You may save some money , too , since these places often __ 44 __ one or two free admission days at slow times during the week. Make sure that you are including the indispensable __ 45 __ that people travel miles to see. If you feel like taking an interesting walk , find a free walking tour , or plan one yourself. A) enjoyable I) valuable B) wonder J) dispute C) debate K) welcome D) trade L) confidently E) set aside M) sights F) resourcefulness N) demonstration G) safe O) certainly H) addition Section B Directions: In this section , you are going to read a passage w ith ten statements attached to it . Each statement contains information gi v en in one of the paragraphs . Identify the paragraph from w hich the information is deri v ed . You may choose a paragraph more than once . Each paragraph is marked w ith a letter . Ans w er the questions by marking the corresponding letter on the Ans w er Sheet. What Money Can't Buy A) In an interesting recent book , What Money Can ' t Buy : The Moral Limits of the Market , the Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel points to the range of things that money can buy in modern societies and gently tries to put at ease our anger at the market's growing power. Is he right that we should be alarmed? While Sandel worries about the dishonest nature of some money dealings (do kids really develop a love of reading if they are given money to read books ? ) , he is also concerned about unequal access to money , which makes trades using money essentially unequal. More generally , he fears that the expansion of anonymous monetary exchange damage social unity , and argues for reducing money's role in society. B) Sandel's concerns are not entirely new , but his examples are worth reflecting upon. In the United States , some companies pay the unemployed to stand in line for free public tickets to congressional hearings . They then sell the tickets to lobbyists and corporate lawyers who have a business interest in the hearing but are too busy to stand in line. Clearly , public hearings are an important element of participatory democracy. All citizens should have equal access. So selling access seems to be an abuse of the democratic principles. C) The fundamental problem , though , is scarcity. We cannot have everyone in the room who might have an interest in a particularly important hearing. So we have to “sell” entry. We can either allow people to use their time (standing in line) to apply for seats , or we can sell seats for money. The former seems fairer , because all citizens seemingly start with equal amount of time. But is a single mother with a high­pressure job and three young children given the same amount of pare time as a student on summer vacation? And is society better off if she , the chief lawyer for a large corporation , spends much of her time standing in line? D) Whether it is better to sell entry tickets for time or for money thus depends on what we hope to achieve. If we want to increase society's productive efficiency , people's willingness to pay with money is a reasonable indicator of how much they will gain if they have access to the hearing. Selling seats for money makes sense—the lawyer contributes more to society by preparing briefs than by standing in line. E) On the other hand , if it is important that young , easily influenced citizens see how their democracy works , and that we build social unity by making corporate executives stand in line with jobless teenagers , it makes sense to force people to wait in line and to make entry tickets non­transferable. But if we think that both objectives—efficiency and unity—should play some role , perhaps we should turn a blind eye to hiring the unemployed to stand in line for busy lawyers , so long as they don't take away all of the tickets. F) What about the sale of human organs , another example Sandel worries about? Something seems wrong when a lung or a kidney is sold for money. Yet we celebrate the kindness of a stranger who donates a kidney to a young child. So , clearly , it is not the transfer of the organ that angers us—we do not think that the donor is misinformed about the value of a kidney or is being fooled into parting with it. Nor , I think , do we have concerns about what goes in the mind of the person selling the organ—after all , they are parting with something that is dear to them for a price that few of us would accept. G) I think part of our discomfort has to do with the circumstances in which the transaction takes place. What kind of society do we live in if people have to sell their organs to survive? But , while a ban on organ sales may make us feel better , does it really make society better off? Possibly , if it makes society work harder to ensure that people are never driven to the circumstances that would make them consider selling a vital organ. But possibly not , if it allows society to ignore the deep­rooted problem , either moving the trade underground , or forcing people in such circumstances to resort to worse solutions. H) Then again , part of our unease probably has to do with what we perceive as an unequal exchange. The seller is giving up part of her body in a transaction that can not be undone. The buyer is giving up only money—perhaps earned on a lucky stock trade or at an overpaid job. If that money had been earned by selling a portion of a lung , or represented savings painfully collected during years of backbreaking work , we might consider the exchange more equal. Of course , the central virtue of money is precisely its anonymity. I need to know nothing about the dollar bill I receive to be able to use it. But , because money's anonymity makes it hard to determine where it comes from , it may be socially less acceptable as a way of payment for some objects. I) In both examples—congressional tickets and organ sales—Sandel suggests reducing money's role. But money has many virtues in concluding business dealings—hence its wide use. So , perhaps the more important message is that society is more tolerant for the use of money if the distribution of money is done in a legal manner. The more people believe that it is the hardworking and the deserving who have money , the more they are willing to tolerate dealings for money (though some dealings remain beyond the pale) . But if people believe that the moneyed are primarily those who are well connected or crooked , their tolerance for monetary dealings falls. Rather than focusing on prohibiting monetary dealings , perhaps a more important lesson given by Sandel's examples is that we should work continuously to improve the perceived legitimacy of money's distribution. 46. The writer tends to agree that selling free public tickets to congressional hearings violates the democratic principles. 47. It seems that the perception of an unequal exchange may not happen if it is paid with money earned in a decent way. 48. The writer does not oppose hiring the unemployed to apply for free tickets to congressional hearings. 49. The writer does not believe that people are offended by the transfer of human organs. 50. Banning organ sales may force the sale of human organs in the black market. 51. The writer believes , with regard to the sales of congressional tickets and human organs , people should be made to appreciate the legitimacy of money distribution. 52. Some people argue that allowing the sale of free tickets to congressional hearings promotes society's productive efficiency. 53. Participatory democracy allows citizens equal access to public hearings. 54. Selling free public tickets to congressional hearings happens because they are limited. 55. Michael Sandel is upset that people do not have equal access to money and the expansion of anonymous monetary exchange. Section C Directions: There are 2 passages in this section . Each passage is follo w ed by some questions or unfinished statements . For each of them there are four choices marked A ) , B ) , C ) and D ) . You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Ans w er Sheet . Passage One Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage. Think of the loneliness of Marie Smith who died earlier this year in her native Alaska , at 89.She was the last person who knew the