\[A\] analyzing the causes of a phenomenon.
\[B\] discussing the fathers role in the family.
\[C\] advocating reforms in the welfare system.
\[D\] criticizing some attitudes to welfare recipients.
37. Many critics assert it as true that the welfare system is
\[A\] liable for most divorces.\[B\] on the verge of collapse.
\[C\] to become obsolete.\[D\] unjust to the needy.
38. According to the author, the marital stability relies mainly on
\[A\] the steady income of the couple.
\[B\] the balance of both sides property.
\[C\] the difference in spousal contributions.
\[D\] the benefits from government subsidies.
39. All of the following are factors tending to perpetuate a marriage EXCEPT
\[A\] the expenditure of child support.
\[B\] the loss of property upon divorce.
\[C\] the greater consumption of married people.
\[D\] the welfare provision for divorced women.
40. Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the text?
\[A\] Welfare restrictions mostly account for family unsteadiness.
\[B\] Poor family dissolution is little attributed to helpless fathers.
\[C\] Official welfare payments can slow the growing divorce rate.
\[D\] Lowincome family disruption results in poor welfare benefits.Part B
Directions:
You are going to read a list of headings and a text about views on environmental and resource problems.Choose the most suitable heading from the list A—F for each numbered paragraph(41~45).The first and last paragraphs of the text are not numbered.There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)[A] A bad thing may bring about a good result.
[B] Pollution and poverty are leading us to destruction.
[C] The worries of humanists are unfounded.
[D] God helps those who help themselves.
[E] Is our planet getting less habitable than it used to be?
[F] The view on resource crisis deviates from facts.A great many articles and books discussing environmental and resource problems begin with the proposition that there is an environmental and resource crisis.If this means that the situation of humanity is worse now than in the past,then the idea of a crisis—and all that follows from it—is dead wrong.In almost every respect important to humanity,the trends have been improving,not deteriorating.41.
Our world now supports 6 billion people.In the nineteenth century,the earth could sustain only 1 billion.And 10,000 years ago,only 1million people could keep themselves alive.People are now living more healthily than ever before.42.
One would expect lovers of humanity—people who hate war and worry about famine in Africa—to jump with joy at this extraordinary triumph of the human mind and human organization over the raw forces of nature.Instead,they lament (feel sorrow for) that there are so many human beings,and wring their hands about the problems that more people inevitably bring,and the problem that resources will be further diminished.43.
It is amazing but true that a resource shortage resulting from population or income growth usually leaves us better off than if the shortage had never arisen.If firewood had not become scarce in seventeenthcentury England,coal would not have been developed.If coal and whale oil shortages hadnt loomed,oil wells would not have been dug.44.
The prices of food,metals,and other raw materials have been declining by every measure since the beginning of the nineteenth century,and as far back as we know;that is,raw materials have been getting less scarce throughout history,defying the commonsense notion that if one begins with an inventory of a resource and uses some up,there will be less left.This is despite,and indirectly because of,increasing population.We dont say that all is well everywhere,and we dont predict that all will be rosy in the future.Children are hungry and sick;people live out lives of physical or intellectual poverty and lack of opportunity;war or some other pollution may do us in.45.
Also,we do not say that a better future happens automatically or without effort.It will happen because men and women—sometimes as individuals,sometimes as enterprises working for profit,sometimes as voluntary nonprofit groups,and sometimes as governmental agencies—will address problems with muscle and mind,and will probably overcome,as has been usual through history.
We are confident that the nature of the physical world permits continued improvement in humankinds economic lot in the long run,indefinitely.Of course,there are always newly arising local problems,shortages,and pollution,resulting from climate or increased population and income and new technologies.Sometimes temporary largescale problems arise.But the worlds physical conditions and the resilience(power of recovering quickly)of a wellfunctioning economic and social system enable us to overcome such problems,and the solutions usually leave us better off than if the problem had never arisen.That is the great lesson to be learned from human history.Part C