C. A book review.     D. A research paper.

B

Beat the Burglar

Don’t invite crime---take basic, sensible precautions. Your house and possession are valuable and must be properly protected. When you buy a lock, you buy time. The best prevention is delay and noise which could mean discovery.

When you leave it---lock it!

First of all, fit security locks to all doors and windows and a safety chain on the front door. Secondly, use them!

If you have any ladders or tools, don’t leave them lying about in the garden, lock them away.

“Safe” or “secret” places for keys and valuables are not reliable --- nine times out of ten, they are the first place a thief will look. When you move house…

When you move into a new home even if it is fitted with security locks, change them. You don’t know who else may have keys.

Never let strangers into your house. An official-looking cap is not enough, ask for proof of identity and look at it carefully --- if you are still not satisfied, don’t let the person in.

Valuables need special protection

Valuables should really be given special protection --- preferably by leaving them with your bank. A small security safe works too, but not to the most determined burglar. It is also important to keep an up-to-date list of valuables and their descriptions. In the case of fine art, paintings, or jewelry, color photographs can sometimes be of assistance to the police if you are unfortunate enough to have them stolen. Enter the details on the back of the pictures. But don’t keep such documents in your house, keep them at the bank or with your insurance company. Going on holiday?

Don’t talk about your holidays and future plans loudly in public. Do remember to cancel the milk and newspapers and also to draw curtains back.

Operate a “Good Neighbor” program to ensure that mail is taken in, the house is checked regularly and that lights are put on.

Call at your local police station and tell them you are going away. Make sure that they know how to contact you in case of trouble.

Don’t leave cash or valuables in the house --- take them with you or put them in the bank.

60. When moving into a new house, you are supposed to __________.

A. buy a safe     B. change the locks

C. visit your neighbors   D. stay away from strangers

61. Which is the safest way to protect your valuables?

A. Taking pictures of your valuables.

B. Putting your valuables in your safe.

C. Keeping your valuables at the bank.

D. Giving a list of your valuables to the police.

62. When you are away for holidays, you __________.

A. should cancel your mail

B. shouldn’t leave your keys to your neighbors

C. shouldn’t make it known that your home is empty

D. should ask the police to check your house regularly

63. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To inform people of safety standards.

B. To introduce the advantages of banks.

C. To prove the importance of security locks.

D. To educate people on prevention of burglars.

C

One of the most difficult questions to answer is how much a job is worth. We naturally expect that a doctor’s salary will be higher than a bus conductor’s wages. But the question becomes much more difficult to answer when we compare a miner with an engineer, or an unskilled man working on an oil-rig(钻探平台)with a teacher in a secondary school. What the doctor, the engineer and the teacher have in common is that they have devoted several years to studying in order to obtain the necessary qualifications for their professions. We feel instinctively that these skills and these years should be rewarded. At the same time we recognize that the work of the miner and the oil-rig laborer is both hard and dangerous, and that they must be highly paid for the risks they take.

Another aspect we must take into consideration is how socially useful a man’s work is. Most people would agree that looking after the sick or teaching children is more important than, say, selling second-hand cars. Yet it is almost certain that the used-car salesman earns more than the nurse and the schoolteacher.

Indeed, this whole question of just rewards can be turned on its head. You can argue that a man who does a job which brings him personal satisfaction is already receiving part of his reward in the form of a so-called “psychic(精神的)wage”, and that it is the man with the boring, repetitive job who needs more money to make up for the soul-destroying repetitiveness of his work. It is significant that the jobs like nursing and teaching continue to be poorly paid, while others, such as those in the world of sport or entertainment, carry financial rewards out of all proportion to their social worth.

Although the amount of money that people earn is largely determined by market forces, this should not prevent us from seeking some way to decide what is the right pay for the job. A starting point would be to try to decide the ratio(比率)which ought to exist between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture is made more complicated by two factors: firstly by the welfare benefits which every citizen receives, and secondly by the taxation system which is often used as an instrument of social justice by taxing high incomes at a very high rate indeed. Most countries now regard a ratio of 7:1 as socially acceptable. If it is less, the highly-qualified people carrying heavy responsibilities will become disappointed, and might even end up by leaving for another country. If it is more, the difference between rich and poor will be so great that it will lead to social unrest.

64. Why do people naturally expect that doctors should be well-paid?

A. Their work requires greater intelligence.

B. They are under constant pressure at work.

C. They work harder than most other people.

D. They have studied for years to get qualified.

65. In Paragraph 2 and 3, the author indicates that __________.

A. the talented should do more important work

B. unskilled jobs have less social responsibility

C. those with more socially useful jobs earn less

D. people want to pay more to important services

66. Which of the following statements would the author agree?

A. It’s difficult to define the social value of a job.

B. The market will decide what the right pay is for a job.

C. People should find a proper ratio between high and low pay.

D. Those receiving high salary should carry heavy responsibilities.

D

Crowd controls could soon become an important skill for climbers on Mount Everest, as important as physical strength or watching the weather. In a single day last week, nearly 40 people reached the top of the world --- a record. Reports from base camp spoke of queues at dangerous ridges and crowds as people passed each other in the final dash for the 8, 848 meters top.

More traditional mountaineers tease about the circus atmosphere surrounding Everest in re¬cent years, and there are warnings that the crowds are making the mountain more dangerous. In 1996, 14 died on the mountain when the members of several groups were trapped at high altitudes by sudden snowstorms. Bad weather in early May led to this year’s jam on the summit ridge, but the loss, luckily, was light. Just four climbers died, in¬cluding a Nepali Sherpa who had made 11 previous successful climbing.