Diego Chiapello, legally blind since birth, isn’t one of Italy’s famous “mama’s boys” who live with their parents into adulthood. The 27-year-old lives alone in Milan, works as a network administrator, loves diving and dreams of sailing across the Atlantic with a sight-impaired（有视力障碍的）crew.

　　Obviously, he’s not your average disabled person — but especially so in Italy. The country has more barriers to integration than almost anywhere else on the continent. Among European countries, Italy ranks third from the bottom in accessibility for the disabled, ahead of only Greece and Portugal. People who use wheelchairs, especially, find it difficult to navigate the country’s cobblestone（鹅卵石）streets, ride buses or visit restaurants, shops and museums. Less than a quarter of Italy’s disabled hold jobs compared with 47 percent for Europe.

　　But the biggest obstacle for the country’s physically challenged may, in fact, be the fabled Italian family. Because of the social defect that still attaches to disabilities, “they tend to keep disabled people at home and out of public view,” explains Giovanni Marri, head of an employment training center in Milan that caters to the handicapped. Thus while 15 percent of the country’s families include a disabled person, according to surveys, only 2 percent of Italians report going to school with a disabled person and only 4 percent work with one.

　　Italians are beginning to recognize the problem. Over the past decade, the government has passed laws targeting everything from workplace discrimination to accessibility requirements. A recent study by the European Union found that 85 percent of Italians admit that public transportation and infrastructure（基础设施）are inadequate for the handicapped, and 97 percent say action is needed. But the biggest barrier is psychological. “Italian companies are afraid of hiring disabled people,” says Chiapello. The only way to alter that, he says, is for Italy’s disabled to do what he did — get out of the house and demand change.

　　1． Which of the following words best describes “mama’s boys”?

　　A．Ordinary.

　　B．Optimistic.

　　C．Dependent.

　　D．Desirable.

　　2． In this passage, Chiapello is cited as an example of .

　　A．unusual disabled Italians

　　B．courageous blind sailors

　　C．typical handicapped people

　　D．vulnerable disabled Europeans

　　3． In Italy, where are the disabled people most likely to be?

　　A．On the street.

　　B．At home.

　　C．In school.

　　D．At work.

　　4． Italy’s general public will most probably agree that .

　　A．physical inadequacies are the biggest obstacle for the disabled

　　B．things should be done to remove the barriers against the disabled

　　C．workplace prejudices toward the disabled are hardly recognizable

　　D．disabled people should reduce the need of going to public places

　　5． What is the passage mainly about?

　　A．Italy has not done enough in aiding the disabled.

　　B．Italy’s disabled people should get out of their houses.

　　C．Italian people have been blind to troubles of the disabled.

　　D．Italian ways of aiding the disabled should be encouraged.

　　答案解析：

　　1． C。根据文章第一段中的“…‘mama’s boys’ who live with their parents into adulthood.”可知，mama’s boys指的是那些需要依靠别人生活的孩子。故答案为C。

　　2． A。根据文章第二段中“…he’s not your average disabled person…”，作者举这个例子主要是比较特殊。故答案为A。

　　3． B。根据文章第三段中“…They tend to keep disabled people at home…”，残疾人大多数时间待在家里。故答案为B。

　　4． B。根据第四段中“…97 percent say action is needed.”，针对目前存在的不利于残疾人的因素，97%的人认为应该采取措施消除不利于残疾人的障碍。故答案为B。

　　5． A。文章从一开始就论述了在意大利残疾人受到各种各样的不平等待遇，且政府并没有采取多么显著的措施。故答案为A。 You’re busy filling out the application form for a position you really need. Let’s assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isn’t it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University? More and more people are turning to utter deception like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from famous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university.

　　Registrars at most well-known colleges say they deal with deceitful claims like these at the rate of about one per week. Personnel officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms, then. If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them “impostors (骗子)” ; another refers to them as “ special cases”. One well-known West Coast school, in perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by “no such people”. To avoid outright (彻底的) lies, some job-seekers claim that they “ attended”  or “ were associated with”  a college or university. After carefully checking, a personnel officer may discover that “attending” means being dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being associated with” a college means that the job-seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century—that’s when they began keeping records, anyhow. If you don’t want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a phony diploma.

　　One company, with offices in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of nonexistent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dollars for a diploma from “Smoot State University”. The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of Purdue”. As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seem rather high for one sheet of paper.

　　6.  The main idea of this passage is that ______.

　　A. employers are checking more closely on applicants now

　　B. lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem

　　C. college degrees can now be purchased easily

　　D. employers are no longer interested in college degrees

　　7.  According to the passage, “special eases” refers to cases that ______.

　　A. students attend a school only part-time

　　B. students never attended a school they listed on their application

　　C. students purchase false degrees from commercial firms

　　D. students attended a famous school

　　8.  We can infer from the passage that ______.

　　A. performance is a better judge of ability than a college degree

　　B. experience is the best teacher

　　C. past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do

　　D. a degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job competition

　　9.  This passage implies that ______.

　　A. buying a false degree is not moral

　　B. personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools

　　C. most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school

　　D. society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications

　　10.  The word “phony” (Para. 2) means ______.

　　A. thorough

　　C. false

　　B. ultimate

　　D. decisive

　　答案：

　　6. B。文章第一段简要概述了求职人员在求职过程中对自己的学历弄虚作假这一社会现象，然后在第二、三段分别给出一些具体的例子进行说明，所以B正确。，

　　7. B。由第二段中前半部分的If it turns out that an applicant is lying…school calls them “impostors”；another refers to them as “special cases”可知，imposters和special cases指的都是编造虚假学历，所以B正确。

　　8. D。由文章第一段倒数第二句中的for personnel officers，like most Americans，value degrees from famous schools可知，名牌大学的毕业生在求职过程中比其他人有优势，所以D正确。

　　9. D。文章讲述的是在简历中对学历弄虚作假这一问题，同时也指出，问题出现的原因是大家都很看重学历，特别是名牌大学的文凭，由此可知，这是一种社会现象，全社会对此都负有责任，所以D正确。

　　10. C。该词所在句意为“如果你不想撒谎又不愿和盘托出，会有公司愿意卖给你____文凭”，再结合下文提到的售卖假文凭的公司的情况可知，C(假的)正确。thorough意为“彻底的”，ultimate意为“最终的”，decisive意为“决定性的”，均排除。It came as something of a surprise when Diana, Princess of Wales, made a trip to Angola in 1997, to support the Red Cross’s campaign for a total ban on all anti-personnel landmines. Within hours of arriving in Angola, television screens around the world were filled with images of her comforting victims injured in explosions caused by landmines. “I knew the statistics,” she said. “But putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me; like when I met Sandra, a 13- year-old girl who had lost her leg, and people like her.”

　　The Princess concluded with a simple message: “We must stop landmines”. And she used every opportunity during her visit to repeat this message.

　　But, back in London, her views were not shared by some members of the British government, which refused to support a ban on these weapons. Angry politicians launched an attack On the Princess in the press. They described her as “very ill-informed” and a “loose cannon” (乱放跑的人)

　　The Princess responded by brushing aside the Criticisms: “This is a distraction (干扰) we do not need. All I’m trying to do is help.”

　　Opposition parties, the media and the public immediately voiced their Support for the Princess. To make matters worse for the government, it soon emerged that the Princess’s trip had been approved by the Foreign Office, and that she was in fact very well-informed about both the situation in Angola and the British government’s policy regarding landmines. The result was a severe embarrassment for the government.

　　To try and limit the damage, the Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkidnd, claimed that the Princess’s views on landmines were not very different from government policy, and that it was “working towards” a worldwide ban. The Defense Secretary, Michael Portillo, claimed the matter was “a misinterpretation or misunderstanding.”

　　For the Princess, the trip to this war-torn country was an excellent opportunity to use her popularity to show the world how much destruction and suffering landmines can cause. She said that the experience had also given her the chance to get closer to people and their problems.

　　11.  Princess Diana paid a visit to Angola in 1997 _____.

　　A. to clarify the British government’s stand on landmines

　　B. to establish her image as a friend of landmine victims

　　C. to investigate the sufferings of landmine victims there

　　D. to voice her support for a total ban of landmines

　　12.  What did Diana mean when she said “... putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me” (Line 5, Para. 1)?

　　A. Meeting the landmine victims in person made her believe the statistics.

　　B. She just couldn’t bear to meet the landmine victims face to face.

　　C. The actual situation in Angola made her feel like going back home.

　　D. Seeing the pain of the victims made her realize the seriousness of the situation.

　　13.  Some members of the British government criticized Diana because _____.

　　A. she had not consulted the government before the visit

　　B. she was ill-informed of the government’s policy

　　C. they were actually opposed to banning landmines

　　D. they believed that she had misinterpreted the situation in Angola

　　14.  How did Diana respond to the criticisms?

　　A. She made more appearances on TV.

　　B. She paid no attention to them.

　　C. She rose to argue with her opponents.

　　D. She met the 13-year-old girl as planned.

　　15.  What did Princess Diana think of her visit to Angola?

　　A. It had caused embarrassment to the British government.

　　B. It had greatly promoted her popularity.

　　C. It had brought her closer to the ordinary people.

　　D. It had affected her relations with the British government.

　　答案：

　　11. D。由题干in 1997直接定位于文章第一句to support the Red Cross’s Campaign for a total ban on all anti-personnel landmines，D项是原文的同义改写。

　　12. D。本句中的figures，指的不是前面提到的统计数字，而是后面列举的小女孩Sandra等深受地雷伤害的人；另一个是bring sth. home这个短语是指“活生生的揭示，以强调的形式清楚的表示”。所以本句的意思是亲眼看到被地雷伤害的人使王妃深切感受到了事实。

　　13. C。由some members of the British government定位与第三段第一句，此处表明英国政府批评戴安娜的原因，即政府不支持禁雷。从第三段第二句可知，王妃的出访是得到了外交部的批准的，排除A，B和D是政府在媒体上对王妃的批评之辞，并没有说明真实的原因。

　　14. B。第四段第一句说明了王妃对政府对她的批评所持的态度。brush aside意思是“不理，漠视”，相当于pay no attentionto sth.

　　15. C。文章最后一段用王妃的话总结了她出访安哥拉的意义，即让她有机会贴近普通民众， C项是原文的同义转述。Today only one person in five in the United States lives within 50 miles of his birthplace. Since the country was first settled, Americans have moved around a great deal, and are often far away from their parents. Because they have broken ties with their past at a young age, chosen their own occupations, established their own homes and developed their own lifestyles, few American children grow up closely surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as they do in Italy, Nigeria, or India, for example. This along with the fact that modern American families do not have servants has made the “baby-sitter” a vital part of the American scene. A “sitter” is someone who is hired to care for children for a specific length of time—usually relatively short—while the parents are out for an evening, going to a party or a course of study for example. Sometimes the baby-sitter is also hired for longer period, perhaps when the parents are away for a weekend. In such cases the “sitter” is likely to be a mature and motherly woman. For short periods, teen-agers, college students, nursing students, and others are commonly employed on an hourly basis.

　　From the point of view of convenience, the best sitters are often young people who live in your apartment building or close by in the neighborhood. This gives you a chance to meet the parents and see what they are like. If an emergency occurs, young sitters can call upon their parents quickly for help; you do not have to take them far to see them home at night or pay expensive taxi fares. Another advantage is that young people living close by can usually fill in quite readily on short notice or for short periods of time.

　　In an apartment house you can ask the superintendent for permission to post a notice for a baby-sitter by the mailboxes. This is often the best way to find out if there is anyone in the building who is interested in baby-sitting. Retired people as well as students are often glad to earn a little money in this way and can be found by such a note.

　　1. We can infer from the first paragraph that ______.

　　A. the American is a movable and independent nation

　　B. the Americans are often far away from their parents

　　C. the Children in Italy, Nigeria, or India doesn’t feel like living with their parents

　　D. the Americans broke ties with their past at a young age

　　2. A baby-sitter is a person who ______.

　　A. helps to do housework

　　B. is a cleaning woman

　　C. looks after children while their parents are out

　　D. takes care of babies and cooks for the family

　　3. Who can be a baby-sitter?

　　A. Women  

　　B. Man   

　　C. College student 

　　D. All the above

　　4. It is advised that when you are out for short periods, you may hire ______ to be baby-sitters.

　　A. motherly women     

　　B. retired people

　　C. young people      

　　D. mature women

　　5. The best title for the passage is ______.

　　A. American Families

　　B. Baby-Sitters

　　C. A Way of Earning Money for Young Students

　　D. A Best Way to Find Baby-Sitters

　　答案：

　　1. A。根据题干中的“infer”可以排除B项和D项，因为这两项在文中有直接体现，而非读 者通过阅读之后“推断”出来的内容，C项表述错误。故答案为A。

　　2. C。根据理解以及短文第一段的说明“A ‘sitter’ is someone who is hired to care for children  for a specific length of time—usually relatively short—while the parents are out … ”可以知 道，故答案为C。

　　3. D。短文中并没有提及对这一职业的性别限制，所以应该是全部都可以，故答案为D。

　　4. C。由第一段“For short periods, teen-agers, colleges students, nursing students, and others are  commonly employed on an hourly basis.”可以知道，短期的保姆就雇佣青年人比较合适。

　　5. B。本题比较简单，B选项概括了短文的内容，而且比较简练。