2012年1月英语阅读（二）自考试题

全国2012年1月自考
英语阅读(二)试题
课程代码：00596

全部题目用英文作答(翻译题除外)，请将答案填在答题纸相应位置上

I. Reading Comprehension (50 points, 2 points for each)
   Directions: In this part of the test, there are five passages. Following each passage, there are five questions with four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and then write the corresponding letter on your Answer Sheet.
Passage One
     The over-60 population is growing faster than any other age group. Between 1950 and 2050 it is expected to increase from 200 million to 2 billion. As the number of older persons increases, so will the need to ensure their social inclusion, based on an income from decent work or retirement and a chance to participate in community life through employment, volunteer work or other activities. According to the International Labour Organization, “decent work” is work that meets people’s basic aspirations, not only for income, but also for security for themselves and their families, in a working environment that is safe. Decent work treats men and women equally, without discrimination or harassment. Finally, decent work provides social security and is carried out in conditions of freedom and human dignity.
     But there are over 1.2 billion people in the world who live on an income of less than $1 a day, and another billion who live on less than $2 a day. They live hand to mouth, day to day, and do not have enough income to support their daily existence — much less put something aside for retirement. In most developing countries retirement is a luxury few older people can afford. Even in developed countries some hard working people will not have enough to live on retirement. Many women — paid less than men, working more at home than men, and working more informally than men — may not be ready or able to rest at 65.
     By tradition, at least in developed countries, there is a change in roles as one moves from active middle years into “gentle” and “enjoyable” retirement. This change in roles has been viewed by the public, by government and by business, as a transition from a productive time of life to one that is unproductive and dependent. But today more than ever, this is not true. Most older people do not withdraw from society. Instead, they continue to contribute to their households, to their descendants and to their communities, although their contribution may not be paid employment.
     Instead of producing goods or services — the traditional economic model “products”－older persons may contribute a “product” that has value to society, such as caring for children, caring for other older persons, caring for the oldest old, providing community leadership, mentoring or being an effective role model. But in spite of their significant human and economic benefits, such contributions have not been figured into an economy’s gross national product. And they have not been appropriately valued.
     Over the past several decades, most industrialized countries have experienced a substantial drop in the average age at which individuals retire from the labour market. Longer life expectancy and better health have not been accompanied by longer working lives. As a consequence, these countries are facing serious concerns about the viability of social security systems. A key challenge for these countries is to mitigate the effects of a drop in the working age population by increasing and prolonging the participation of older people in the labour market.
Questions 1-5 are based on Passage One.
1. The term “social inclusion” (in Para. 1) here means ______.
   A. having decent work     B. being equal in jobs
   C. having decent income             D. being productive in life
2. It is implied in Paragraph 2 that ______.
   A. people in rich countries can enjoy luxury retirement
   B. women if hard working can obtain decent retirement
   C. women in informal work are free to choose when to retire
   D. people in poor countries have no social security protection
3. The sentence “But today more than ever, this is not true.” (in Para. 3)  means ______.
   A. elder people used to be dependent
   B. elder people used to enjoy retirement
   C. elder people now do not want to retire from their work
   D. elder people now do not want to be cut off from society
4. To meet the challenge of financing social security, the government in developed countries needs to ______.
   A. provide more flexible choice for retirement
   B. persuade elder people to postpone retirement
   C. promote unpaid employment
   D. reform social security system
 5. The writer in the passage mainly wants to express that elder people would ______.
     A. have an enjoyable retirement       B. prolong their productive life
     (2. have a more healthy life           D. prolong their work life
Passage Two
      Because speech is the most convenient form of communication, in the future  we want essentially natural conversations with computers. The primary point of  contact will be a simple device that will act as our window on the world. It will have to be small enough to slip into your pocket, so there will be a screen but no keyboard: you will simply talk to it. The device will be permanently connected to the Internet and will beep relevant information up to you as it comes in. Such devices will evolve naturally in the next five to ten years.
      Just how quickly people will adapt to a voice-based Internet world is  uncertain. Many believe that, initially at least, we will need similar conventions for the voice to those we use at present on screen: click, back, forward, and so on. But soon you will undoubtedly be able to interact by voice with all those IT-based services you currently connect with over the Internet by means of a keyboard. This will help the Internet serve the entire population, not just techno-freaks.
      Changes like this will encompass the whole world. Because English is the language of science, it will probably remain the language to which the technology is most advanced, but most speech-recognition techniques are transferable to other languages provided there is sufficient motivation to undertake the work.
      Of course, in any language there are still huge problems for us to solve. Carefully dictated, clear speech can now be understood by computers with only a 4-5 percent error rate, but even state-of-the-art technology still records 30-40 percent errors with spontaneous speech. Within ten years we will have computers that respond to goal-directed conversation, but for a computer to have a conversation that takes into account human social behavior is probably 50 years off. We’re not going to be chatting to the big screen in the living room just yet.
     In the past insufficient speed and memory have held us back, but these days they’re less of an issue. However, there are those in the IT community who believe that current techniques will eventually hit a brick wall. Personally, I believe that incremental developments in performance are