1998年6月四级试题及参考答案
Section B
Passage One
Sam had worked 30 years for the same company and now he had to retire. As a sign of gratitude, the company held a dinner in his honor. "Sam"announced his boss ," It is my great honour to present this gift to you on behalf of the company. " Sam walked down to the front of the table and accepted the gift with pride. I t was a gold watch and on it was written "To faithful Sam for 30 years of servi ce." Sam wept. "I am at a loss for words." At home, Sam, s wife looked at the gold watch critically."For this you worked 30 years? A cheap gold-plate d watch?""It's the thought dear."answered Sam."The important thing is that I am not working any more." His wife held the gold watch to her ear and said: "Neither is your watch."
11. What did the company do to honor Sam?
12. How did Sam feel when he saw what was written on the watch?
13. What can we infer from the story?
Passage Two
Religious and private schools receive little or no support from public taxes in the United States. As a result, they are more expensive to attend. The religious schools in America are usually run by churches. Therefore they tend to be less expensive than private schools. When there is free education available to all c hildren in the United States, why do people spend money on private schools? Amer icans offer a great variety of reasons for doing so. Some parents send their chi ldren to private schools because the classes there are usually smaller. In their opinion the public schools in their area are not of high enough quality to mee t their needs. Private schools in the United States range widely in size and qu ality, and they offer all kinds of programmes to meet the needs of certain students.
14. Why is it usually expensive to attend religious and private schools?
15. What is one of the reasons for people to send their children to private schnd?
16. Who usually runs religious schools in the United States?
Passage Three
An elderly woman yesterday made a legal claim against a department store because it had wrongly accused her of stealing a Christmas card. Ms. Doss white, 72 years old, is claiming $ 3000 damages from the store for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Ms. White visited the store while doing Christmas shopping, but did not buy anything. She was followed through the town by a store manager. He had been told that a customer saw her take a card and put it in her shopping bag. He stopped her at a bookstore as she was reading a book. Ms. White said."This man, a total stranger, suddenly grasped my bag and asked if he could look in it." She was taken back to the store and shut in a small room in full view of shop pers for 20 minutes until the police arrived. At the police station she was body -searched and nothing was found. Her lawyer said the department store sent an in sincere apology and they insisted that she may have been stealing. The hearing continues today.
17. What does the story tell us about the old woman?
18. What was said to have been stolen?
19. What happened to Ms. White after she was taken back to the store?
20. What was now the attitude of the department store in this legal case?