Passage Three

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

　　In a world that is becoming more and more interdependent, there is an ever-increasing need to link communications systems on various continents and to provide live international television coverage. This need is now being met by the communications satellites.

　　Communications satellites make use of technology that has been available for some time: the microwave radio relay. Microwave, which have a higher frequency than

　　ordinary radio waves, are used routinely in sending thousands of telephone calls and television programs across long distances. They give high-quality performance, and they can carry many messages at the same time.

　　But they has always been one problem in using radio relay in overseas communications. Although high-frequency waves can travel almost unlimited distances, they

　　travel only in straight lines. Since the curvature of the earth limits a microwave’s line-of-sight path to about 30 miles, good cet4v.com a series of relay towers spaced every 30 miles or so. Obviously it isn’t possible to built these towers across the ocean. But by sending signals high up into the sky and then bouncing them back again to a far-off spot, we can send microwave messages long distances.

　　As long ago as 1945, Arthur C. Clarke, an English science-fiction writer, proposed that manned “stationary” satellites be used to relay and broadcast electromagnetic communication signals. In 1945, of course, the idea of getting a satellite out into space seemed fantastic. But with ten years, satellites were close to reality. With the first launching of a satellite into orbit by the Soviet Union (Sputnik I) in 1957, the real development work on satellite communications began.

　　Shortly thereafter, two successful satellites were launched in the United States, Echo I and Telstar I.

　　The launching of the Telstar I satellite in 1962 marked a major step toward opening the era of commercial satellite communications. Echo I, a ten-story aluminum-coated balloon, was a “passive” target; it merely reflected weak signals back to the earth. But Telstar I was the first “active” satellite to pick up a broadband signal, amplify it, and transmit it back to the earth on a different frequency. The satellite’s transmission of transatlantic television thrilled millions.

　　A few months after Telstar I went into orbit, Relay, a medium-altitude satellite launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), provided

　　the first satellite communication between North and South America. Relay was followed by the Telstar II satellite, and by NASA’s Syncom series and its successors——all of them high-altitude (23,000 miles) satellites whose orbits are synchronous with the rotation of the earth so that this positions, if they could be seen from the earth, would appear to be fixed in one spot.

　　Shortly before Telstar I was launched, the United States Congress established the Communications Satellite Corporation——Comsat——to develop a commercial satellite system as part of an improved global communications network. Comsat, which is owned partly by public investors and partly by communications carriers, represents the United States in the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium-Intelsat-and acts as manager for that body. Since its inception in 1962, the corporation, in collaboration with Intelsat, has inaugurated commercial satellite transmission of telephone, television, and other telecommunications traffic between North America and Europe and North America and the Far East.

　　The commercial satellite Intelsat IV was launched in June of 1972.This one-and-one-half-ton spacecraft multiplied by five times the space-borne relaying capacity linking Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. With the launching of Intelsat IV, full global coverage by communications satellites had at last been achieved.

　　31. The first paragraph indicates ____.

　　A) communications systems is becoming more and more independent

　　B) link communications systems on various continents

　　C) the need to link communications systems on various is ever-increasing

　　D) this need is now being met by the communications satellites

　　32.The maximum distance for high-frequency and straight line microwave tr

　　ansmission is ____ miles.

　　A) much more than 30

　　B) less than30

　　C) 30

　　D) about 30

　　33.The phrase “marked a major step”(Line 1,Para. 5) most probably means____.

　　A) got significant step

　　B) was an important advance

　　C) made a progress

　　D) marked in the history

　　34.What is the author trying to tell us in the second paragraph

　　A) Microwave radio relay.

　　B) Microwave itself.

　　C) Microwave’s transmission.

　　D) Microwave’s value.

　　35. In paragraph 6, “...whose orbits are synchronous with the rotation of the earth so that this positions,...” means ____.

　　A) satellites are orbited in the same time with the rotation of the earth

　　B) that moves as fast as the earth the earth turns round

　　C) that travels in the same direction with the earth turns round

　　D) that travels faster than the earth turns

　　Passage Four

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

　　Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching

　　, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the other being labor.

　　“We are slaves to nothing but the clock,” it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost tangible. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it,

　　kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious commodity. Many people have a rather acute cet4v.com shortness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a person’s hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count.

　　A foreigner’s first impression of the U. S. is likely to be that everyone is in

　　a rush-often under pressure. City people appear always to be hurry to get where they are going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, elbowing others as t

　　hey try to complete their errands. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating places are waiting for you to finish so they too can be served and get back to work within the time allowed. Each person hurries to make room for the next person. If you don’t, waiter will hurry you.

　　You also find drivers will be abrupt and that people will push past you. You will miss smiles, brief conversations, small courtesies with strangers. Don’t take

　　it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else “wasting” it beyond a certain courtesy point.

　　This view of time affects the importance we attach to patience. In the American system of values, patience is not a high priority. Many of us have what might be

　　called “a short fuse.” We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slipping away without some return-be this in terms of pleasure, work value, or rest. Those coming from lands where time is looked upon differently may find this matter of pace to be one of their most difficult adjustments in both business and day life.

　　Many newcomers to the States will miss the opening courtesies of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual socializing that goes with a welcoming

　　cup of tea or coffee that may be traditional in their own country. They may miss leisurely business chats in a café or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over prolonged small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust and report. Rapport to most of us is less important

　　than performance. We seek out evidence of past performance rather than evaluate a business colleague through social courtesies. Since we generally assess and probe professionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly.

　　Most Americans live according to time segments laid out in engagement calendars.

　　We often give a person two or three ( or more) segments of our calendar, but in business world we almost always have other appointments following hard on the heels of whatever we are doing. Time is therefore always ticking in our inner ear.

　　As a result we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through telexes phone calls or memos rather than through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longer-especially given our traffic-filled streets. We therefore save most personal visiting for after work hours or for social weekend gatherings.

　　36.“If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind.”(Para.1,Line1)　means ____.

　　A) if you are moving, you are falling down

　　B) you would fall behind if you move ahead

　　C) you are moving ahead or you are falling behind

　　D) you are not moving, you are disappear

　　37. The second paragraph implies____.

　　A) everyone’s life has his regrets

　　B) everybody has his defaults

　　C) lifetime is not long for everyone

　　D) lifetime is full of pities

　　38. In the American system of value, patience is not a high priority indicates ____.

　　A) patience is very important

　　B) patience is high valuable

　　C) patience is not of value

　　D) patience is ranked after others

　　39. “We begin to move restlessly about if we feel time is slipping away without

　　some return...”, this sentence reflects Americans’ attitude to life ____.

　　A) is not patient enough

　　B) gets angry easily

　　C) saves times

　　D) values time

　　40. Is the article to ____

　　A) narrate B) tell story

　　C) inform D) argue

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