英語六級閱讀理解真題

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　　1

　　German Chancellor ***首相*** Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy ***遺產*** includes many of today’s social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion ***憐憫*** for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement, Chancellor Bismarck created the world’s first workers’ compensation law in 1884.

　　By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers’ compensation insurance. America’s injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees had to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers’ compensation law in this country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation.

　　After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers’ compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100 percent of the states’ average weekly wages.

　　In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55 percent of the states’ average weekly wages in 1972 to 97 percent today. But, as most studies show, every 10 percent increase in compensation benefits results in a 5 per cent increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers’ compensation system, it’s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.

　　31. The world’s first workers’ compensation law was introduced by Bismarck________.

　　A*** to make industrial production safer

　　B*** to speed up the pace of industrialization

　　C*** out of religious and political considerations

　　D*** for fear of losing the support of the socialist labor movement***C***

　　32. We learn from the passage that the process of industrialization in Europe________.

　　A*** was accompanied by an increased number of workshop accidents

　　B*** resulted in the development of popular social insurance programs

　　C*** required workers to be aware of the potential dangers at the workplace

　　D*** met growing resistance from laborers working at machines***A***

　　33. One of the problems the American injured workers faced in getting compensationin the early 19th century was that ________.

　　A*** they had to have the courage to sue for damages in a court of law

　　B*** different states in the U.S. had totally different compensation programs

　　C*** America’s average compensation benefit was much lower than the cost of living

　　D*** they had to produce evidence that their employers were responsible for the accident***D***

　　34. After 1972 workers’ compensation insurance in the U.S. became more favorable toworkers so that ________.

　　A*** the poverty level for a family of four went up drastically

　　B*** there were fewer legal barriers when they filed for claims

　　C*** the number of workers suing for damages increased

　　D*** more money was allocated to their compensation system***C***

　　35. The author ends the passage with the implication that ________.

　　A*** compensation benefits in America are soaring to new heights

　　B*** the workers are not the only ones to benefit from the compensation system

　　C*** people from all walks of life can benefit from the compensation system

　　D*** money floating in the compensation system is a huge drain on the U.S. economy

　　答案

　　31. C 32. A 33. D 34. C 35. B

　　2

　　Early in the age of affluence ***富裕*** that followed World War II, an American retailing analystnamed Victor Lebow proclaimed, “Our enormously productive economy... We need thingsconsumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate.”

　　Americans have responded to Lebow’s call, and much of the world has followed.

　　Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded insocial values. Opinion surveys in the world’s two largest economies—Japan and the UnitedStates—show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever prevalent.

　　Overconsumption by the world’s fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severityby anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resourcesthreatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate.

　　Ironically, high consumption may be a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honoredvalues of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often beensacrificed in the rush to riches.

　　Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow—that, misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy whatare essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things.

　　Of course, the opposite of over-consumption—poverty—is no solution to either environmentalor human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too.Dispossessed ***被剝奪得一無所有的*** peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests ofLatin America, and hungry nomads ***遊牧民族*** turn their herds out onto fragile Africangrassland, reducing it to desert.

　　If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are leftto wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When doeshaving more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?

　　36. The emergence of the affluent society after World War II ________.

　　A*** gave birth to a new generation of upper class consumers

　　B*** gave rise to the dominance of the new egoism

　　C*** led to the reform of the retailing system

　　D*** resulted in the worship of consumerism***D***

　　37. Apart from enormous productivity, another important impetus to highconsumption is ________.

　　A*** the conversion of the sale of goods into rituals

　　B*** the people’s desire for a rise in their living standards

　　C*** the imbalance that has existed between production and consumption

　　D*** the concept that one’s success is measured by how much they consume***D***

　　38. Why does the author say high consumption is a mixed blessing?

　　A*** Because poverty still exists in an affluent society.