A good reader becomes sooner or later a good book buyer.The sooner,the better. The reading done in a book drawn from a library can not be so pleasant at the moment nor so permanently useful as the reading done in our own copy. A book which is worth reading is likely to be read more than once,and at each reading some idea or some statement makes such an impression that we wish to refer to it again. Some readers underline the page as they read,but I find that a page which I have underlined can not give me so many fresh impressions as one which has no marks on it.My habit is to make my own index of a book as I read.I put down the number of the page and a word or two to identify the thought or the fact which I get from it.On a second or third reading I am likely to double or triple the size of this index.This is my substitute for underlining.Most of the books in my library are so indexed that I can find quickly the passage which from time to time I wish to look up. To use a book in this way,organizing it for continued usefulness year after year, we must,of course,do our reading in a copy which belongs to us.The books I buy are chiefly those of less expensive editions. As I have grown older and the number of books on my shelves has increased,I appre- ciate editions which do not take much room.By careful and continuous selection I keep my librarv down to ten thousand books.This would be,of course,too large a number for any but a professional scholar or writer.But my advice to a book lover is to weed but his library at least once every two years,giving away the books which are not likely to be read again. And never never buy a book which you will not immediately read.A library bought only for looks is not literature,but indoor decoration. Which of the following books would the author most probably like to keep? A) Big expensive good books. B) Thin and cheap books. C) Books with lots of pictures. D) Good books in cheap,thin editions.
D
(Question)
On the whole, it's not something we parents shout about, but one in four of us does it.Hiring private tutors for our children is now widespread.And this year, as always,the Easter holidays will be peak time for tutor demand. "My husband and I tried to tutor her at home,but we found all our knowledge was out of date and we were only confusing Zarreen.We also tried a group revision course but all the children were sitting exams for different boards . On the whole we think one-two-one tuition works best and it is worth the money.In our case,Preeta is a bit like an elder sister to Zarreen and that's the most important,"says Ashan Sabri from London, whose daughter Zarreen,18,is having tuition in biology and chemistry in preparation for A-levels this summer. In fact,Preeta Datta is only six years older than her pupil and she is happy to provide extra tuition through mobile phone."Maybe Zarreen will call me two or three times a week with a question about biology or chemistry, and that's fine to me,"says Datta. The real question is:does tutoring do any good? "It's not the magic bullet,"says Professor Judith Ireson.'It's still up to the child to do the learning.If he or she isn't interested,then sending them to a private tutor won't do any good." In which case,surely it's time to break open the Champagne ?Not necessarily, says Elaine Tyrrell,head of the Rowans School. "While we recommend private tutoring for a few children whose first language isn't English,we don't encourage it for the others,"says Tyrrell."With the level of education they get here,children really ought to be able to pass the entrance exams without any extra teaching. Besides, our biggest worry is that they might just get in with the help of last-minute tutoring,but,once they actually get to that school,they won't be able to manage." It's a point worth considering.After all,who would want their child to stay at the bottom of the class? Elaine Tyrrell doesn't encourage parents to hire private tutors for their children mainly because_. A) children may be misled by private tutors B) the quality of private tutoring may be poor C) the education that children receive in class is enough for them D) children may not have the real ability to deal with their further studies
(Answer)
D
Ques: Commencement is a time for idealism. But economic reality is cruel everywhere; especially for new graduate. They have been told repeatedly that a college degree is an open sesame to the global economy. But that's not necessarily so, according to new research by two economists at he Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Frank Levy and Peter Temin. It is true that people with college degrees make more money than people without degrees. The gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years, which is disturbing. But the earning power of college graduates still far outpaces that of less-educated workers. The bad news, though, is that a college degree does not ensure a bigger share of the economics pie for many graduates. In recent decades Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show, only college-educated women have seen their income grow in line with economy wide gains in productivity. The earnings of male college graduates have failed to keep pace with productivity gains. Instead, a huge share of productivity growth, which expands the nation's income, is going to Americans on the top of the income scale. In 2005, the latest year with available data, the top of 1 percent of Americans---whose average annual income was $ 1.1 million--- took in 21.8 percent of the nation's income, their largest share since 1929. Administration officials, and other politicians and economists, often, believe that income inequality, reflects an education gap. But Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show that in the case of men, the average bachelor's degree is not enough to catch the rising tide of the global economy. They argue that the real reason that inequality is worsening is the lack of strong policies that broadly distribute economic gains. In the past, for example, a more progressive income tax and unions promote equality. Positive measures have been _ and new ones have not yet emerged, making the income gap even greater. Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin conclude that only a new government policy can restore general prosperity. That's a challenge to the nation's leader... We can infer from the passage that _ . A) female college graduates have higher income than male ones. B) female college graduates have benefited from some governmental measures to ensure their income growth. C) income tax can grantee income equality. D) new measures and policies have been taken to promote income equality.
Ans: B
Ques: Mr. And Mrs. Bell are very forgetful . For example , Mr. Bell sometimes goes to his office for work on Sunday morning, for he thinks it is Monday. And Mrs. Bell sometimes forget to cook supper for the family. One summer they planned to fly to New York for their holidays. They got to the airport only ten minutes before the plane took off. So time was short. But suddenly Mrs. Bell said she must tell Alice, their daughter, not to forget to lock the front door when she went to school. As Alice was then at school, they couldn't tell her about it by telephone. So they hurried to the post office. Mrs. Bell wrote a short note to Alice while Mr. Bell bought a stamp and an envelope . Soon the note was ready. They put the stamp on the envelope in a hurry and dropped it in the letter box, but suddenly Mrs. Bell began to cry. The short note was still in her hand. She had put the plane ticket in the envelope. When their daughter received the letter she would _ A) wonder why their parents posted the plane tickets to her B) remember to lock the front door C) write back to her parents as soon as possible D) fly to New York too
Ans:
A