2009年12月大學(xué)英語六級(jí)考試模擬演練題(二)

　　Driver’s education courses begin with classroom instruction on the rules of the road and traffic laws. You learn, for example, how fast it is safe to go in certain areas, what to do if a fire engine is near, and what the different road signs mean. When you finish the classroom course, you can apply for a Learner’s Permit. In some states you have to take a test before you receive the permit.

　　When you have your Learner’s Permit, you are allowed to drive a car under supervision. This means that you can drive only when you are accompanied by a licensed driver. It is during this period that you actually learn to drive. You learn to steer the car, to start it, to pass other cars, to park and all the other practical things you will need to know.

　　Your Learner’s Permit is good for only a limited amount of time, since it is expected that you will be ready to take the test for your licence after a relatively short period of instruction.

　　29. What is the passage mainly talking about ?

　　30. What condition does the license require ?

　　31. What can we infer from the passage ?

　　Passage Three

　　The African ancestors of today’s black Americans were brought to the U.S. as slaves in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. They worked on farms, especially the large farms in the southern states. Slowly they became a necessary part of the economic system of the South.

　　Slaves did not have the rights of people, according to the law, they were “things” which belonged to the person who bought them .They had to obey the orders of their owners without question. They were not allowed to learn to read, because their owners feared that educated slaves would begin to think about the injustice of the system and would learn to struggle for their freedom.Slaves had to work long hours in extremely unheathly conditions. Their owners had complete power over them. They could be bought and sold like animals. At the slave markets, black children separated from their parents and never saw them again. Slave oweners had the right to punish severely any slave who broke rules or protested against the system . Slaves were often beated brutally by their owners or killed. After the Civil War, one free slave reported that his owners killed an older slave who was teaching him to read. There was a law against brutality to slaves, so in theory an owner who treated a slave badly could be punished. In practice, however, the law meant nothing. Another law said that slaves could not give evidence against white people, so very few owners were ever punished for their brutality.