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The Sea
¡¡¡¡What do you know about the sea? We know that it looks very pretty when the sun is shining on it. We also know that it can be very rough when there is a strong wind. What other things do we know about it?
¡¡¡¡The first thing to remember is that the sea is very big. When you look at the map of the world you will find there is more water than land. The sea covers three quarters of the world.
¡¡¡¡The sea is also very deep in some places. It is not deep everywhere. Some parts of the sea are very shallow. But in some places the depth of the sea is very great. There is one spot, near Japan, where the sea is nearly 11 kilometers deep! The highest mountain in the world is about 9 kilometers high. If that mountain were put into the sea at that place, there would be 2 kilometers of water above it! What a deep place!
¡¡¡¡If you have swum in the sea, you know that it is salty. You can taste the salt. Rivers, which flow into the sea, carry salt from the land into the sea. Some parts of the sea are saltier than other parts. There is one sea, called the Dead Sea, which is very salty. It is so salty that swimmers cannot sink! Fish cannot live in the Dead Sea!
¡¡¡¡In most parts of the sea, there are plenty of fishes and plants. Some live near the top of the sea. Others live deep down. There are also millions of tiny living things that float in the sea. These floating things are so small that it is hard to see them. Many fish live by eating these.
¡¡¡¡The sea can be very cold divers who go deep down in the sea, know this. On the top the water may be warm. When the diver goes downwards, the sea becomes colder and colder. Another thing happens. When the diver goes deeper, the water above presses down on him. It squeezes him. Then the diver has to wear clothes made of metal. But he cannot go very deep. Some people who wanted to go very deep used a very strong diving ship! They went down to the deepest part of the sea in it. They went down to a depth of eleven kilometers! 
1. The sea looks beautiful when it is calm.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
2. The land takes up 25% of the world.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
3. The sea is 6 kilometers in depth on average.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
4. The Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
5. The deeper one goes down in the sea, the fewer fishes and plants he can find.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
6. The deeper a diver goes down in the sea, the greater water pressure he hears.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
7. Divers have to use a very strong diving ship when they want to go down to the deepest part of the sea mainly because it is extremely cold there.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

KEYS: CACCBAB
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Dining Custom

¡¡¡¡Every land has its own dining custom, and the United States is no exception. Americans feel that the first rule of being a polite guest is to be on time. If a person is invited to dinner at 6:30, the hostess expects him to be there at 6:30 or not more than a few minutes after. Because she usually does her own cooking, she times the meal so that the coffee and meat will be at their best at the time she asks the guest to come. If he is late, the food will not be so good, and the hostess will be disappointed. When the guest cannot come on time, he calls his host or hostess on the telephone, gives the reason, and tells at what time he thinks he can come.
¡¡¡¡As guests continue to arrive, the men in the group stand when a woman enters and remain standing until she has found a chair. A man always rises when he is being introduced to a woman. A woman does not rise when she is being introduced either to a man or a woman unless the woman is much older.
¡¡¡¡When the guests sit down at a dinner table, it is customary for the men to help the ladies by pushing their chairs under them.
Even an American may be confused by the number of knives, forks, and spoons beside his plate when he sits down to a formal dinner. The rule is simple, however, use them in the order in which they lie, beginning from the outside. Or watch the hostess and do what she does. The small fork on the outside on the left is for salad, which is often served with the soup. The spoon on the outside at the right is for soup, and so on. Sometimes there is a separate little knife, called a butter spreader, on a small bread-and-butter plate at the left. As the bread is passed, each guest puts his piece on the bread-and-butter plate.

1. As a country of immigrants, the U.S. does not have its own dining customs.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
2. The guest is expected to arrive on time because the coffee and meat will be at their best at the time he is required to come.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
3. A woman usually rises when she is being introduced to an aged gentleman.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
4. At a dinner table, it is customary for the men to arrange chairs for ladies.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
5. At formal American dinner, the knives, forks, and spoons beside the plate are placed in a certain order.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
6. The right order to use the knives, forks and spoons at a formal dinner is from the left to the right.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned
7. At a formal dinner, bread is usually served together with salad and soup.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

KEY: BABCABC

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Computers

¡¡¡¡Before the widespread use of computers, managers could not make full use of large amounts of valuable information about a company's activities. The information either reached managers too late or was too late or was too expensive to be used. Today, managers are facing a wide range of data processing and information instruments. In place of a few financial controls, managers can draw on computer-based information systems to control activities in every area of their company. On any kinds of performance measures, the information provided by these systems helps managers compare standards with actual results, find out problems, and take corrective action before it is too late to make changes.
¡¡¡¡The introduction of computerized information systems has sharply changed management control in many companies. Even a neighborhood shopkeeper may now use computers to control sales, billing, and other activities. In large companies, electronic data processing systems monitor entire projects and sets of operations.
¡¡¡¡Now, there are about 24 million microcomputers in use in the United States - one for every 10 citizens. It is estimated that by 1996, 61 percent of American managers will be using some sort of electronic work station. In order for managers to be sure that the computer-based information they are receiving is accurate, they need to understand how computers work. However, in most cases they do not need to learn how to program computers. Rather, managers should understand how computerized information systems work; how they are developed; their limitations and costs; and the manner in which information systems may be used. Such an understanding is not difficult to achieve.
¡¡¡¡One research found that business firms were more successful in teaching basic information about computers to business graduates than they were in teaching business subjects to computer science graduates.

1. Equipped with computers, managers today operate their firms with higher efficiency and less cost than they used to be.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

2. Today, financial controls are still exercised in some minor areas such as billing and vocational training.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

3. It is unnecessary for a neighborhood baker to use a computer in his shop.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

4. At present about 10% of American citizens possess a microcomputer.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

5. One thing that managers do not have to understand is how computers work.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

6. In some case managers have to learn how to write programs so as to work out computerized information systems that suit their own companies best.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

7. Computerized firms would rather employ business graduates than computer science graduates because it is easier to train the former into qualified employees.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

KEY:ABBABCA

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The Cold Places

¡¡¡TThe Arctic is a polar region. It surrounds the North Pole.
¡¡¡¡Like Antarctica, the Arctic is a land of ice and snow. Antarctica holds the record for a low temperature reading ---125 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Reading of 85 degrees below zero are common in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Winter temperatures average 30 d3egrees below zero in the Arctic. At the South Pole the winter average is about 73 degrees below zero.
¡¡¡¡One thing alone makes it almost impossible for men to live in Antarctica and in parts of the Arctic. This one thing is the low temperature --- the killing chill of far North and the polar South.
¡¡¡¡To survive, men must wear the warmest possible clothing . They must build windproof shelters. They must keep heaters going at al times. Not even for a moment can they be unprotected against the below-zero temperatures.
¡¡¡¡Men have a way of providing for themselves. Polar explorers wrap themselves in warm coats and furs. The cold makes life difficult. But the explorers can stay alive.
¡¡¡¡What about animals? Can they survive? Do we find plants? Do we find life in the Arctic and in Antarctica? Yes, we do. There is life in the oceans. There is life on land.
¡¡¡¡Antarctica, as we have seen, is a cold place indeed. But this has not always been the case. Expedition scientists have discovered that Antarctica has not always been a frozen continent. At one time the weather in Antarctica may have much like our own.
¡¡¡¡Explorers have discovered coal in Antarctica. This leads them to believe that Antarctica at one time was a land of swamps and forests. Heat and moisture must have kept the trees in the forests alive.

EXERCISE:
1) The lowest temperature that man has ever known was recorded in Antarctica.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

2) Winter temperatures average 85 degrees below zero in Antarctica.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

3) The Arctic and Antarctica are no man's lands because of their notorious coldness.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

4) Polar explorers can stay alive without heaters and windproof shelters.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

5) Despite the hostile environment, both animals and plants can be found in the oceans and on land in polar areas.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

6) As discovered by expedition scientists, Antarctica has not always been so cold as it is today, so has the Arctic.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

7) At one time, the weather in Antarctica was so warm and damp that trees grew there.
A. Right B. Wrong C. Not mentioned

KEY:
A B B B A C A
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