"Another argument against allowing people to own a bomb is that at the moment it is very expensive to build one. So what your association is backing is a program which would allow the middle and upper classes to acquire a bomb while poor people will be left defenseless with just handguns."

16. According to the passage, some people started a national association so as to .

A) block any legislation to ban the private possession of the bomb

B) coordinate the mass production of the destructive weapon

C) instruct people how to keep the bomb safe at home

D) promote the large-scale sale of this newly invented weapon

17. Some people oppose the ownership of H-bombs by individuals on the grounds that .

A) the size of the bomb makes it difficult to keep in a drawer

B) most people don't know how to handle the weapon

C) people's lives will be threatened by the weapon

D) they may fall into the hands of criminals

18. By saying that the bomb also has a deterrent effect the spokesman means that it .

A) will frighten away any possible intruders

B) can show the special status of its owners

C) will threaten the safety of the owners as well

D) can kill those entering others' houses by force

19. According to the passage, opponents of the private ownership of H-bombs are very much worried that .

A) the influence of the association is too powerful for the less privileged to overcome

B) poorly-educated Americans will find it difficult to make use of the weapon

C) the wide use of the weapon will push up living expenses tremendously

D) the cost of the weapon will put citizens on an unequal basis

20. From the tone of the passage we know that the author is .

A) doubtful about the necessity of keeping H-bombs at home for safety

B) unhappy with those who vote against the ownership of H-bombs

C) not serious about the private ownership of H-bombs

D) concerned about the spread of nuclear weapons

Passage Three

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Sign has become a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are unique—a speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy: whether language, complete with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering

work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world's only liberal arts university for deaf people.

When Bill Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher.

Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing a word in English. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than a form of pidgin English (混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the "hand talk" his students used looked richer. He wondered: Might deaf people actually have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as "substandard". Stokoe's idea was academic heresy (异端邪说).

It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch at a café near the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of space. "What I said," Stokoe explains, "is that language is not mouth stuff—it's brain stuff."

21. The study of sign language is thought to be .

A) a new way to look at the learning of language

B) a challenge to traditional views on the nature of language

C) an approach to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language

D) an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language

22. The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by .

A) a famous scholar in the study of the human brain

B) a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts

C) an English teacher in a university for the deaf

D) some senior experts in American Sign Language

23. According to Stokoe, sign language is .

A) a substandard language

B) a genuine language

C) an artificial language

D) an international language

24. Most educators objected to Stokoe's idea because they thought .

A) sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people

B) sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted

C) a language should be easy to use and understand

D) a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds

25. Stokoe's argument is based on his belief that .

A) sign language is as efficient as any other language

B) sign language is derived from natural language

C) language is a system of meaningful codes

D) language is a product of the brain

Passage Four

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

It came as something of a surprise when Diana, Princess of Wales, made a trip co Angola in 1997, to support the Red Cross's campaign for a total ban on all anti-personnel landmines. Within hours of arriving in Angola, television screens around the world were filled with images of her comforting victims injured in explosions caused by landmines. "I knew the statistics," she said. "But putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me; like when I met Sandra, a 13- year-old girl who had lost her leg, and people like her."

The Princess concluded with a simple message: "We must stop landmines". And she used every opportunity during her visit to repeat this message.

But, back in London, her views were not shared by some members of the British government, which refused to support a ban on these weapons. Angry politicians launched an attack on the Princess in the press. They described her as "very ill-informed" and a "loose cannon (乱放炮的人).”

The Princess responded by brushing aside the criticisms: "This is a distraction (干扰) we do not need. All I'm trying to do is help."

Opposition parties, the media and the public immediately voiced their support for the Princess. To make matters worse for the government, it soon emerged that the Princess's trip had been approved by the Foreign Office, and that she was in fact very well-informed about both the situation in Angola and the British government's policy regarding landmines. The result was a severe embarrassment for the government.

To try and limit the damage, the Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkidnd, claimed that the Princess's views on landmines were not very different from government policy, and that it was "working towards" a worldwide ban. The Defence Secretary, Michael Portillo, claimed the matter was "a misinterpretation or misunderstanding."

For the Princess, the trip to this war-torn country was an excellent opportunity to use her popularity to show the world how much destruction and suffering landmines can cause. She said that the experience had also given her the chance to get closer to people and their problems.

26. Princess Diana paid a visit to Angola in 1997 .

A) to voice her support for a total ban of landmines

B) to clarify the British government's stand on landmines

C) to investigate the sufferings of landmine victims there

D) to establish her image as a friend of landmine victims

27. What did Diana mean when she said "... putting a face to those figures brought the reality home to me" (Line 5, Para.1)?

A) She just couldn't bear to meet the landmine victims face to face.

B) The actual situation in Angola made her feel like going back home.

C) Meeting the landmine victims in person made her believe the statistics.

D) Seeing the pain of the victims made her realize the seriousness of the situation.

28. Some members of the British government criticized Diana because .

A) she was ill-informed of the government's policy

B) they were actually opposed to banning landmines

C) she had not consulted the government before the visit

D) they believed that she had misinterpreted the situation in Angola

29. How did Diana respond to the criticisms?

A) She paid no attention to them.

B) She made more appearances on TV.

C) She met the 13-year-old girl as planned.

D) She rose to argue with her opponents.

30. What did Princess Diana think of her visit to Angola?

A) It had caused embarrassment to the British government.

B) It had brought her closer to the ordinary people.

C) It had greatly promoted her popularity.

D) It had affected her relations with the British government.

Part III Vocabulary (20 minutes)

Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices

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