2017公共英語(yǔ)考試二級(jí)考前閱讀練習(xí)
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Passage One
There are many different kinds of peaches (桃). One clear difference is the one between clingstone一fruit in which the flesh is stuck to the seed inside—and freestone一that in which the seed floats freely. Customers prefer freestone peaches because they don’t want to struggle to get the flesh away from the seed.
And that’s how it goes in stone fruit land. Plant breeders (培育者) are trying all the time to improve the old favorites. Frequently, the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers. One very delicious family of peach varieties has nearly disappeared because it forms a small “beak”at the bottom of the fruit. That little point is likely to break during packing and shipping, o-pening the door to spoilage (腐爛).
This is certainly not to say that the wants of customers are not important. In fact, they drive some of the most important changes. One thing customers like is red—lots of red. Peaches used to be prized for golden skin; now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness.
But red has a hold on people. There’s a story told by those in the stone fruit industry about a marketing experiment. A group of people were given two peaches:one a fairly tasteless red variety, the other a great-tasting gold. Sitting around, tasting and talking about the fruit, the group all agreed that the gold was a much better peach and that was the one they would buy. Then, on the way out the door, they were offered boxes of peaches as a thank-you gift. One held the preferred golden fruit, the other the red. To a person, they picked the red fruit to take home. Red sells.
64.What does the word“stone” mean in the text?
[A] The hard seed inside a fruit.
[B] Containers that packers use.
[C] Small rocks found in the fields.
[D] Soft beaks at the bottom of the fruit.
65.Why do plant breeders try hard to improve peaches?
[A] To get better shaped fruit.
[B] To meet the needs of growers.
[C] To make peaches taste better.
[D] To have a better chance for prizes.
66.Why do people like to buy red fruit?
[A] They believe it is ripe.
[B] It sells cheaper than gold.
[C] It is usually more delicious.
[D] They know it is an improved variety.
67.What can we learn about the peach-tasting group in the last paragraph?
[A] They were experts on marketing.
[B] They took home golden peaches.
[C] They agreed about the taste of peaches.
[D] They said they would buy the red peaches.
答案與解析：
64. 選A。該題屬于推斷題。stone的本意是“石頭”，但結(jié)合本文關(guān)于桃子的描述，可以推斷出它指的是桃子中間的部分，Brthe hard seed in-side a fruit”。
65. 選B。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。從文章第二段第二句“the changes are designed to meet the demands of the growers or packers”可得出答案。
66. 選A。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。從文章第三段最后一句“now people are buying red, regarding it as a sign of ripeness”可以得出答案。
67. 選C。該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。此題可以用排除法解答，A選項(xiàng)中，他們并不是專(zhuān)家，而是被實(shí)驗(yàn)者，B、D選項(xiàng)不符合文中的表達(dá)，可排除。
參考譯文：
桃子的種類(lèi)繁多，它們之間一個(gè)明顯的區(qū)別是粘核桃和離核桃，前者指桃子果肉和內(nèi)部的核緊密相連的品種，后者指果肉和核彼此脫離的種類(lèi)。人們總是喜歡離核的桃子，因?yàn)樗麄儜械觅M(fèi)力將果肉和桃核剝開(kāi)。
在核果地帶總是這樣，作物培育者總是試圖改善桃子以迎合老顧客的需求，為迎合種植者和包裝商的需求而經(jīng)常做出變動(dòng)。一個(gè)美味的桃子家族因其底部長(zhǎng)著小小的鳥(niǎo)嘴般的東西而幾近滅絕。那個(gè)小東西在包裝和運(yùn)輸過(guò)程中可能會(huì)破裂，以至于腐爛。
這當(dāng)然并不意味著顧客的需求是不重要的，其實(shí)，他們促使一些重大的變化發(fā)生。顧客喜歡滿是紅色的桃子。以前人們總是夸贊桃子擁有金黃色的外表;例如，人們都買(mǎi)紅色的桃子，認(rèn)為意味著成熟。
紅 色對(duì)人們有一定影響。核果工業(yè)人士曾講了個(gè)關(guān)于營(yíng)銷(xiāo)實(shí)驗(yàn)的故事。把兩種桃子發(fā)給一組人：一種是索然無(wú)味的紅色桃子，另一種是味道甜美的金色桃子。那組人圍 圈而坐，品嘗桃子，相互討論，都認(rèn)為金色桃子比較美味，是他們買(mǎi)桃的選擇。然后，在出門(mén)時(shí)，有人送給他們幾箱桃子作為感謝禮物。一種是受人青睞的金色桃 子，另一種是紅色桃子。為了送人，他們選擇了紅色桃子，于是紅色桃子大賣(mài)。
Passage Two
Most of you would probably say that what makes you truly happy is your family and the love you share in your relationships, and I couldn’t agree more. But money comes into play in those relationships.
When I talk about money this way to a group, there is always someone who comes up to me and says, “Suze, you are so wrong. Money isn’t the key to life—this is!” At which point their wallet flies open and they show me a photo of their family.
That’s when things get interesting, because I start asking them questions: Did you take that photo with your own camera? It looks like a beautiful beach, was the photo taken on a family vacation? Do you hope to help those beautiful boys and girls go to college?
As their answers are “yes”, I ask them how they provide all of that for their family. That’s when they understand that I had it right.
I totally agree that family and friends are of great importance to our well being; without meaningful relationships, there’s no chance of ever being truly happy. That’s why, every Saturday night, I end my CNBC show with the following words:“People first. Then money. Then things.”
How we deal with the money we have also plays into our happiness. Over the past few decades (十年), the percentage of Americans who say they’re happy hasn’t changed much, while at the same time the average income has doubled. So we have more money, but we’re not much happier on average.
A paradox (悖論)? Far from it. My sense is that while we’re making more money, we arent’t making more of the money we make. We have to pay for a lot of things, and we have to worry about saving for retirement (退休) in a way that our parents and grandparents never did. And as many of you know, it’s really hard to increase your happiness when you’ve got a lot of money worries.
Do you agree, or am I way off base? I’d love to know what do you think about the money/happiness connection.
60.Why do people often show the author their family photos?
[A] They hope to show money is very important.
[B] They want to prove they can afford a holiday.
[C] They think a good family makes them truly happy.
[D] They believe a happy person considers people first.
61.Why did the authur ask the group questions in Paragraph 3 ?
[A] To persuade them to save for the future. '
[B] To ask for advice on holidays abroad.
[C] To know more about each person.
[D] To show them what he meant.
62.Which of the following arguments does the author want to make?
[A] Money is all that matters in our life.
[B] The richer we are, the happier we’ll be.
[C] Money makes a difference to the quality of our lives.
[D] True happiness is achievable from good relationships.
63.What does the underlined words “off base” in the last paragraph most probably mean?
[A] mistaken
[B] unprepared
[C] unnecessary
[D] misunderstood
答案與解析：
60. 選C。題干的意思為“為什么人們通常會(huì)把自己的全家福給作者看，”該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。
從文章意思可以得知，這些人是想反駁作者的觀點(diǎn)，證明家人是幸福的源泉。
61. 選D。題干的意思為“為什么作者問(wèn)那些人第三段的問(wèn)題?”該題屬于細(xì)節(jié)題。
作者是想證明自己的觀點(diǎn)，通過(guò)問(wèn)問(wèn)題明晰自己的觀點(diǎn)。
62. 選C。題干的意思為“以下哪句話是作者想表達(dá)的觀點(diǎn)?”該題屬于推理題。
本題沒(méi)有原文，但是作者的觀點(diǎn)非常明晰，錢(qián)在個(gè)人幸福中地位非常重要，可以改善我們的生活質(zhì)量。
63. 選A。題干的意思為“最后一段下劃線詞'off base'最可能是什么意思?”該題屬于推理題。
從文章的句意理解來(lái)看，應(yīng)該是錯(cuò)誤的意思。
參考譯文：
我們中的大多數(shù)人通常會(huì)說(shuō)家庭和家人的愛(ài)是真正使自己幸福的源泉，我也非常贊同此觀點(diǎn)，但是錢(qián)在這層關(guān)系中也非常重要。
每當(dāng)我在對(duì)人們說(shuō)起錢(qián)的時(shí)候，總會(huì)有人反駁道：“蘇斯，你錯(cuò)了，錢(qián)不是生活中最重要的因素，這個(gè)才是!”邊說(shuō)他們會(huì)打開(kāi)出錢(qián)包給我看自己的全家福。
我開(kāi)始問(wèn)他們問(wèn)題，事情就開(kāi)始變得有趣了。我的問(wèn)題是你是用自己的相機(jī)拍的`照嗎?這個(gè)沙灘真漂亮，當(dāng)時(shí)你們?nèi)以诙燃賳?你希望幫這些漂亮的孩子上大學(xué)嗎?”
他們不停地點(diǎn)頭，這時(shí)我問(wèn)他們那你們拿什么支付這些花費(fèi)呢?”;這時(shí)，他們才意識(shí)到我的觀點(diǎn)是對(duì)的。
我也完全贊同家人和朋友對(duì)個(gè)人幸福來(lái)說(shuō)至關(guān)重要，沒(méi)有家人和朋友，我們永遠(yuǎn)都不會(huì)真正的快樂(lè)。這就是為什么每周六晚上，在CNBC節(jié)目結(jié)束時(shí)，我總會(huì)說(shuō)人第一，錢(qián)第二，事情第三。”
我們?nèi)绾位ㄥX(qián)，對(duì)于幸福也很重要。在過(guò)去的十年里，美國(guó)人的收入翻倍了，但是說(shuō)自己幸福的人卻沒(méi)有多大變化。難道在有了更多錢(qián)之后，我們沒(méi)有變得更幸福一點(diǎn)嗎?
這是一個(gè)悖論?其實(shí)并非如此。我認(rèn)為，雖然我們?cè)谫嵏嗟腻X(qián)，但我們并沒(méi)有更充分地利用這些錢(qián)。我們要支付的開(kāi)銷(xiāo)太大了，還要擔(dān)憂自己退休后的積蓄，而我們的父母和祖父母從來(lái)沒(méi)有這樣擔(dān)憂過(guò)。有了這么多好擔(dān)心的錢(qián)，增強(qiáng)的幸福感從何而來(lái)呢?
你同意嗎?或者認(rèn)為我的觀點(diǎn)大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)?我非常想知道你對(duì)于錢(qián)和幸福之間關(guān)系的看法。
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