2013职称英语综合类经典阅读理解模拟题5-6

Characteristics of Publicity

　　Publicity offers several benefits. There are not costs for message time or space. An ad in prime-time television may cost $250,000 to $5000,000 or more per minute, whereas a five-minute report on a network newscast would not cost anything. However, there are costs for news releases, a publicity department, and other items. As with advertising, publicity reaches a mass audience. Within a short time, new products or company policies are widely known.

　　Credibility about messages is high, because they are reported in independent media. A newspaper review of a movie has more believability than an ad in the same paper, because the reader associates independence with objectivity. Similarly, people are more likely to pay attention to news reports than to ads. For example, Women's Wear Daily has both fashion reports and advertisements. Readers spend time reading the stories, but they flip through the ads. Furthermore, there may be 10 commercials during a half-hour television program or hundreds of ads in a magazine. Feature stories are much fewer in number and stand out clearly.

　　Publicity also has some significant limitations. A firm has little control over messages, their timing, their placement, or their coverage by a given medium. It may issue detailed news releases and find only portions cited by the media, and media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would like.

　　For example, in 1982, Procter & Gamble faced a substantial publicity problem over the meaning of its 123-year-old company logo. A few ministers and other private citizens believed resulted in the firm receiving 15,000 phone calls about the rumor in June alone. To combat this negative publicity, the firm issued news releases featuring prominent clergy that refuted the rumors, threatened to sue those people spreading the stories, and had a spokesperson appear on Good Morning America. The media cooperated with the company and the false rumors were temporarily put to rest. However, in 1985, negative publicity became so disruptive that Procter & Gamble decided to remove the logo from its-products.

　　A firm may want publicity during certain periods, such as when a new product is introduced or new store opened, but the media may not cover the introduction or opening until after the time it would aid the firm. Similarly, media determine the placement of a story; it may follow a report on crime or sports. Finally, the media ascertain whether to cover a story at all and the amount of coverage to be devoted to it. A company-sponsored fobs program might go unreported or receive three-sentence coverage in a local newspaper.

　　练习：

　　1. The author mentions all of the following advantages of publicity except

　　A) Having no time costs.

　　B) Having attentiveness.

　　C) Having high credibility.

　　D) Having high profitability.

　　2. the second paragraph indicates that people are more likely to believe stories

　　A) in a newspaper than in a women's daily.

　　B) In a newspaper than in a magazine.

　　C) In an independent newspaper than in a dependent newspaper.

　　D) In a magazine than in a local newspaper.

　　3. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

　　A) A firm can control and time publicity accurately.

　　B) A firm can neither control nor time publicity accurately.

　　C) A firm can either control or time publicity accurately.

　　D) In most cases a firm can control and time publicity accurately.

　　4. The example in Paragraph 4 is intended to demonstrate

　　A) the power of publicity.

　　B) the victim of publicity.

　　C) the terrible effect of rumors.

　　D) the vulnerability of people to publicity.

　　5. The passage implies that

　　A) the placement of a story is not quite important.

　　B) the report of a crime may not be true.

　　C) local newspapers are not interested in company-sponsored programs.

　　D) publicity is not always necessary.

　　Keys: DCBAD

Rockets in the Sky

　　If someone asked you, "What color is the sky?" I expect that you would answer, "Blue." I am afraid that you would be wrong. The sky has no color. When we see blue, we are looking at blue sunlight. The sunlight is shining on little bits of dust in the air.

　　We know that there is air all around the world. We could not breathe without air. Airplanes could not fly without air. They need air to lift their wings. Airplanes cannot fly very high because as they go higher the air gets thinner. If we go far enough away from the earth, we find there is no air.

　　What is the sky? The sky is space. In this space there is nothing except the sun, the moon and all the stars.

　　Scientists have always wanted to know more about the other worlds in the space. They have looked at them through telescopes and in this way they have found out a great deal.

　　The moon is about 384,000 kilometers away from the earth. An airplane cannot fly to the moon but there is a thing that can fly even when there is no air. This is rocket.

　　I am sure that you are asking, "How does a rocket fly?" if you want to know, get a balloon and then blow it up until it is quite big. Do not tie up the neck o f the balloon. Let go! The balloon will fly off through the air very quickly. The air inside the balloon tries to get out. It rushes out through neck of the balloon and this pushes the balloon through the air. It does not need wings like an airplane.

　　This is how a rocket works. It is not made of rubber like a balloon, of course. It is made of metal. The metal must not be heavy but it must be very strong. There is gas inside the rocket which is made very hot. When it rushes out of the end of the rocket, the rocket is pushed up into the air.

　　Rockets can fly fat out into space. Rockets with men inside them have already reached the moon. Several rockets, without men inside them, have been sent to other worlds much farther away. One day rockets may be able to go anywhere in the space.

　　1. What color is the sky?

　　A) It is blue.

　　B) It is white.

　　C) It is grey.

　　D) It has no color.

　　2. When an airplane flies too high,

　　A) the air will be too thin to support its wings.

　　B) the air will become thicker.

　　C) the air will exert pressure on it.

　　D) the air will disappear in no time.

　　3. A rocket can fly to the moon because

　　A) it looks like a balloon.

　　B) it is much lighter than an airplane.

　　C) it doesn't have wings.

　　D) it works like an untied balloon.

　　4. Which of the following statements about a rocket is NOT true?

　　A) It can fly when there is no air.

　　B) It can fly without wings.

　　C) It is made of strong metal.

　　D) It is propelled by burning gas inside it.

　　5. A rocket is pushed up into the air when

　　A) hot gas rushes out of its head.

　　B) it is powered by gas.

　　C) hot gas rushes out of its bottom.

　　D) hot gas rushes out of its neck.

　　Keys: DADDC

TV Shows and Long Bus Trips

　　Long bus rides are like televisions shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end---with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good'n Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas." Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"

　　The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed---new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.

　　The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you've sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests---even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at no more ways to sit.

　　1. According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?

　　A) Buses on the road.

　　B) Films on television.

　　C) Advertisements on the board.

　　D) Gas stations.

　　2. What is the purpose of this passage?

　　A) To give the writer's opinion about long bus trips.

　　B) To persuade you to take a long bus trip.

　　C) To explain how bus trips and television shows differ.

　　D) To describe the billboards along the road.

　　3. the writer of this passage would probably favor

　　A) bus drivers who weren't reckless

　　B) driving alone.

　　C) a television set on the bus.

　　D) no billboards along the road.

　　4. The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because

　　A) the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun.

　　B) they both have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with commercials in between.

　　C) the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses.

　　D) both traveling and watching TV are not exciting.

　　5. The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are

　　A) exciting.

　　B) comfortable.

　　C) tiring.

　　D) boring

　　KEY: CADBA

New Foods and the New World

　　In the last 500 years, nothing about people---not their clothes, ideas, or languages---has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made form the seeds of the cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.

　　The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the "Potato Famine" of 1845-6, and thousands more were forced to emigrate to America.

　　There are many other foods that have traveled from south America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.

　　According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the "wide-awake" feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.

　　1. According to the passage, which of the following has changed the most in the last 500 years?

　　A) Food.

　　B) Chocolate.

　　C) Potato.

　　D) Coffee

　　2. "Some" in "Some still exist today" means

　　A) some cocoa trees.

　　B) some chocolate drinks.

　　C) some shops.

　　D) some South American Indians.

　　3. Thousands of Irish people starved during the "Potato Famine" because

　　A) they were so dependent on the potato that they refused to eat anything else.

　　B) they were forced to emigrate to America.

　　C) the weather conditions in Ireland were not suitable for growing the potato.

　　D) the potato harvest was bad.

　　4. Coffee originally came from

　　A) Brazil.

　　B) Colombia.

　　C) Ethiopia.

　　D) Arabia.

　　5. The Arabic legend is used to prove that

　　A) coffee was first discovered by Kaldi.

　　B) coffee was first discovered by Kaldi’s goats.

　　C) coffee was first discovered in south American countries.

　　D) coffee drinks were first made by Arabs.

　　KEY: ACDCD