In this section there are four reading passages followed by fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages andthen mark your answers on your Answer Sheet.
TEXT A When imaginative scientists first suggested the possibility that one person cold speak directly to another over along distance, few people took them seriously. Among the few who did was a Scots born American named Alexander
Craham Bell, who was one of the first to develop a telephone in 1876. Now the most common means of voice communicationin the world, the telephone of today is infinitely more sophisticated and effective than the crude instrument developed by Bell,and it is being used in ways he could not possibly have foreseen. Today, communication is being seriously considered acommunications service \"on the move\". Because America is such a highly mobile society —— a society on wheels ——telephones in cars and trucks are becoming as essential as those in homes and offices. Industry have predicted that mobilecommunications service will soon be comparable in many respects to the service provided by telephones that do not move.Another area rapidly being expanded is oversea telephone service. In 1927, when overseas telephone service wasinaugurated with a radio telephone call between New York and London, the occasion was heralded as thrilling. Today,many, many telephone users regard international calls as routine, and overseas service, thanks largely to undersea cablesand communications satellites, has undergone extraordinary improvement. Transmission has been made clearer, chargeshave been greatly reduced, and dependability has been improved. Overseas telephone service has now been extended tonearly 250 countries and areas throughout the world. The introduction of direct distance dialing in 1951 was one of the mostsignificant developments in the effort of improving long-distance service. Direct distance dialing is not only fast and
convenient for the caller, it has also enabled telephone companies to handle the extraordinary growth of telephone use thathas occurred since the 1950s. Between 1950s and 1973, the number of telephones in the United States more than tripled,with the addition of 90 million telephones. For the Bell Telephone System alone long-distance calls in the same period haveincreased from 1.4 billion to 8.5 billion, and indications are that long-distance traffic will continue to increase significantly inthe years ahead. In 1972, 77 percent of the 8.5 billion long-distance messages were dialed by the customer. Another verysignificant development in telephone use is in the area of data communications. Here is an example of how medical data arebeing transmitted. In a small town in the western part of the United States about 300 people gathered in the local school toundergo tests for lung and respiratory diseases such as emphysema. The procedures followed marked a major advance indetecting emphysema and allied diseases by providing almost instantaneous computer diagnosis over long distance
telephone lines. First, technicians at the school used touch-tone telephones to send vital statistics on the person being testedto the exhaled into a Spiro meter, which measures volume and rate of air exhalation, and these measurements were
automatically transmitted to the computer. The computer instantly calculated the results and within two seconds relayed themback to the testing center. Normally, it takes hours or even weeks to evaluate Spiro meter measurements —— and a lapse ofweeks in detecting emphysema can seriously affect the outcome of treatment. By utilizing a computer and communications.However, the time lag is reduced to seconds. Moreover, people in a remote community are put within arms length of the mostup-to-date medical facilities available.
36. What does \"communication service on the move\" mean?
A) Communication enables the world move more efficiently so that we are living in a mobile society. B) Communication can be carried on almost anywhere in the world. C) Mobile communication service.
D) Communication has been upgraded ever since the first telephone was invented. 37. What are the advantages of direct distance dialing? A) It's fast and convenient for the caller.
B) It's easy to handle either for the caller or the telephone company, as well as (A). C) It lowers the cost of telephone service. D) All of the above.
38. The selection can be best categorized as ____. A) argumentation B) objective description. C) exposition.
D) narration.
TEXT B Ups and Downs I was convinced that roller coasters were invented in Nazi Germany to conduct fiendishexperiments on unsuspecting children who did not ear their vegetables. My earliest memory of riding a \"death machine\" waswhen I was 9. A friend of my parents was going to Astro World and invited us to come along. Being the natural adventuresthat we were, my sister, brother and I decided to journey with them. After arriving there, I somehow found myself waiting inline to ride the notorious Texas Cyclone. Yes, the roller coaster with the sign that should read: PLEASE SECURE ALLLOOSE ITEMS SUCH AS GLASSES; DENTURES; HAIRPIECES; VITAL ORGANS; SMALL, ORIENTAL 9-YEAR-OLDS;ETC. IF YOU HAVE NO WISH OF DYING, THEN GET OUT OF LINE NOW. THANK YOU. \"Oh, its a lot of fun,\" said Lan,one of the older girls I was with. I was beginning to worry, nonetheless. \"This is a wooden roller coaster?\" I asked. \"Yeah, its one of the last ones around,\" boasted Lan. She reassured me a few more times that the ride was perfectly safeand that the odds of getting killed were as slim as something comparable to …… ohhh, living past the age of 9. I smiled toshow her that I was totally relaxed and ready for the ride. But deep in the left lobe of my brain I was thinking. \"WHADDAYAMEAN WOOD WHAT ABOUT TERMITES Has it not occurred to you that the reason the Cyclone was one of the lastwooden coasters around was that people have better things to do than die by being flung from a few stories up off the rails ata gazillions miles an hour?\" I stood in line watching others, with the sun filtering through the rafters, twitching my legnervously. The heat sought us out through the patches of sun, and my legs began to ache from standing. For some oddreason I stayed in line. Ill try to explain this phenomenon as best as I can. You see, all males are forced by some masculinegland, located next to the pancreas, to get on a roller coaster even if they are scared to the point of a bladder-control loss. Weare obliged by the girls standing behind us in line to get on the ride or risk the girls thinking that we, the studs we are, are oftheir gender if we dont. I finally got onto the ride hoping for a quick end. I actually prayed (honest, Im not lying) and people inline laughed. I thought it eased the situation a bit. I stepped into the car and put the safety bar over my lap. A mad dash forthe exit was impossible. There were girls around, so I couldnt leave. The ride attendants checked the bars in the seats to seeif they were secure by giving a little tug on each of them. I gulped loudly and grabbed hold of the bars firmly enough to chokea horse. The cars shoved off as we headed of to \"concussion city.\" Clank. Clank. Clank. We approached the dropping point.For a split second I could see the whole park, and then WHOOSH! My stomach hit the ceiling of my skull and was about toescape via my ears as we hit the bottom. The ride did not stop until the end of the Reagan administration. I could hardly recallwhat happened because I was about to lose consciousness and depart my physical body. I did not breathe for the duration ofthe ride, and my pale, white knuckles could have been pried off the safety bar only with a crowbar and several power tools. I would cry this fear of roller coaster and dropping at great height for the next eight years. I tried my best to stay away fromthe larger rides and always took the \"easy\" ride with no steep drops. Embarrassment followed me every time I was near aroller coaster. I suffered a form of uncanny acrophobia commonly referred to by leading medical researchers as well
\"chicken\". This past summer I found myself at the prestigious Kings Island Amusement Park (also known as Spend-All-Your-Money-To-Us-Park) in Cincinnati, Ohio, with my relatives. I decided that in order to conquer my fear I had to, like anyrational person would, totally avoid it. However, for some odd reason, the dormant masculine gland resurfaced, and I wasforced to get on a ride with girls waiting in line behind me. I took my younger cousin with me, also. This was so I could sit inthe designated \"41 wuss-section\" (or the middle) of the looping Pirate Ship and not be embarrassed because I had a smallchild with me. I pretended to act cool by talking through the whole ride to my cousin, who was concentrating on not
dispersing the contents of these words: Me: WHOOOAHH! Here comes another one! Him: Uh huh. Me: WHOOOAHH!MOMMY! Him: Blurgh! (sound of him vomiting) People below: Look out! In coming! Before long I found myself on the ride,not assuming the fatal position. That day I went to some other big rides and managed to seem (in the least sense of the word)\"manly\". I credited my conquering the rides to my masculine gland. You know, it could have been my stupidity gland. 39. The tone of the passage can most probably be described as ____. A) tragic B) comic C) nostalgic D) facetious
40. Which of the following statement is True according to the passage? A) Roller coasters were invented by a German.
B) Oriental children are not allowed to ride a roller coaster. C) The speed of the roller coaster is two gazillion miles per hour.
D) The writer did not ride another roller coaster for eight years after his first ride. 41. How did the writer conquer his fear?
A) It should be attributed to his masculine gland.
B) He pretended to seem manly to the roller coaster, and nothing serious happened, so he was no longer scared at it. C) He has outgrown the childish fear of big ride. D) He had to pretend to be manly before his cousin.
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