Section I Use of English
Directions:
Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. 1 a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been 2 for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon "revolutionize the very 3 of money itself," only to 4 itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so 5 in coming?
Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work 6 the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very 7 to set up the computer, card reader, and telecornmunications networks necessary to make electronic money the 8 form of payment Second, paper checks have the advantage that they 9 receipts, something thai many consumers are unwilling to 10 . Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of "float" - it takes several days 11 a check is cashed and funds are 12 from the issuer's account, which means that the writer of the check can cam interest on the funds in the meantime. 13 electronic payments arc immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer.
Fourth, electronic means of payment may 14 security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information 15 there. The fact that this is not an 16 occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and 17 from someone else's accounts. The 18 of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to 19 security issues. A further concern is that the use of e lectronic means of payment leaves an electronic 20 that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.
1. [A] However [B] Moreover [C] Therefore [D] Otherwise
2. [A] off [B] back [C] over [D] around
3. [A] power [B] concept [C] history [D] role
4. [A] reward [B] resist [C] resume [D] reverse
5. [A] silent [B] sudden [C] slow [D] steady
6. [A] for [B] against [C] with [D] on
7. [A] imaginative [B] expensive [C] sensitive [D] productive
8. [A] similar [B] original [C] temporary [D] dominant
9. [A] collect [B] provide [C] copy [D] print
10. [A] give up [B] take over[C] bring back [D] pass down
11. [A] before [B] after [C] since [D] when
12. [A] kept [B] borrowed [C] released [D] withdrawn
13. [A] Unless [B] Until [C] Because [D] Though
14. [A] hide [B] express [C] raise [D]ease
15. [A] analyzed [B] shared [C] stored [D] displayed
16. [A] unsafe [B] unnatural [C] uncommon [D] unclear
17. [A] steal [B] choose [C] benefit [D] return
18. [A] consideration [B] prevention [C] manipulation [D] justification
19. [A] cope with [B] fight against [C] adapt to [D] call for
20. [A] chunk [B] chip [C] path [D] trail
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
In an essay entitled “Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill only two employees today,” a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”
Davidson’s article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign worker.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job，could earn an average lifestyle ,But ,today ,average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra-their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes,” In the 10 years ending in 2009, [U.S.] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs-about 6 million in total -disappeared.
There will always be changed-new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G.I.Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to poet-high school education.
