Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)
Passage One
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
People living on parts of the south coast of England face a serious problem. In 1993, the owners of a large hotel and of several houses discovered, to their horror, that their gardens had disappeared overnight. The sea had eaten into the soft limestone cliffs on which they had been built. While experts were studying the problem, the hotel and several houses disappeared altogether, sliding down the cliff and into the sea.
Erosion (侵蚀) of the white cliffs along the south coast of England has always been a problem but it has become more serious in recent years. Dozens of homes have had to be abandoned as the sea has crept farther and farther inland. Experts have studied the areas most affected and have drawn up a map for local people, forecasting the year in which their homes will be swallowed up by the hungry sea.
Angry owners have called on the Government to erect sea defenses to protect their homes. Government surveyors have pointed out that in most cases, this is impossible. New sea walls would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and would merely make the waves and currents go further along the coast, shifting the problem from one area to another. The danger is likely to continue, they say, until the waves reach an inland area of hard rock which will not be eaten as limestone is. Meanwhile, if you want to buy a cheap house with an uncertain future, apply to a house agent in one of the threatened areas on the south coast of England. You can get a house for a knockdown price but it may turn out to be a knockdown home.

11. What is the cause of the problem that people living on parts of the south coast of England face?

12. The erosion of the white cliffs in the south of England ________.

13. The experts’ study on the problem of erosion can ________.

14. It is not feasible to build sea defenses to protect against erosion because ________.

15. According to the author, when buying a house along the south coast of England, people should ________.

Passage Two
Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.
Sport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes (运动员). Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological, and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.
The early years of development are critical years for learning abut oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents’ and coaches’ criticisms to heart and find a flaw (缺陷) in themselves.
Coaches and parents should also be cautious that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today’s youth sport setting, young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters’ performances. Positive reinforcement should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect
on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.

16. An effective way to prevent the burnout of young athletes is ________.

17. According to the passage sport is positive for young people in that ________.

18. Many coaches and parents are in the habit of criticizing young athletes ________.

19. According to the passage parents and coaches should ________.

20. The author’s purpose in writing the passage is ________.

Passage Three
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Humanity uses a little less than half the water available worldwide. Yet occurrences of shortages and droughts (干旱) are causing famine and distress in some areas, and industrial and agricultural by-products are polluting water supplies. Since the world’ population is expected to double in the next 50 years, many experts think we are on the edge of a widespread water crisis.
But that doesn’t have to be the outcome. Water shortages do not have to trouble the world—if we start valuing water more than we have in the past. Just as we began to appreciate petroleum more after the 1970s oil crises, today we must start looking at water from a fresh economic perspective. We can no longer afford to consider water a virtually free
resource of which we can use as much as we like in any way we want.
Instead, for all uses except the domestic demand of the poor, governments should price water to reflect its actual value. This means charging a fee for the water itself as well as for the supply costs.
Governments should also protect this resource by providing water in more economically and environmentally sound ways. For example, often the cheapest way to provide irrigation (灌溉) water in the dry tropics is through small-scale projects, such as gathering rainfall in depressions (凹地) and pumping it to nearby cropland.
No matter what steps governments take to provide water more efficiently, they must change their institutional and legal approaches to water sue. Rather than spread control among hundreds or even thousands of local, regional, and national agencies that watch various aspects of water use, countries should set up central authorities to coordinate water policy.

21. What is the real cause of the potential water crisis?

22. As indicated in the passage, the water problem ________.

23. According to the author, the water price should ________.

24. The author says that in some hot and dry areas it is advisable to ________.

25. In order to raise the efficiency of the water supply, measures should be taken to ________.

Passage Four
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced, most people did not like it as well as “regular” coffee, and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage). At one point, though, instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity, and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth). After a while, people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off (stage of maturity). Sales went into a slight decline (衰退) when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline).
The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this: Different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to extend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification. It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Did you know, for example, that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military?
Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market, such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections.
Another product extension strategy is called product modification. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture world markets. Note, also, how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.

26. According to the passage, when people grow fond of one particular brand of a product, its sales will ________.

27. The first paragraph tells us that a new product is ________.

28. Marketers need to know which of the four stages a product is in so as to ________.

29. The author mentions the example of “backpacks” (Line 4, Para. 2) to show the importance of ________.

30. In order to recover their share of the world market, U.S. auto makers are ________.