第1个回答 2006-11-24
The dinner and speeches three hours.
A. grasped B. gave C. occupied D. fulfilled
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
(A)
During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood of Western Canada. When the crops were good, the economy was good; when the crops failed, there was depression(萧条). People on city streets watched the yields and the price of wheat with almost as much feeling as if they were growers. The marketing of wheat became an increasingly favorite topic of conversation.
(1) War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketing the western crop. For years, farmers mistrusted speculative（投机的）grain selling as carried on through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn, but farmers could not wait for markets to improve.
(2) It happened too often that they sold their wheat soon after harvest when farm debts were coming due only to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various occasions, producer groups asked for firmer controls, but governments had no wish to become involved, at least not until wartime wheat prices threatened to run wild.
Anxious to check inflation and rising living costs, the federal government appointed a board of grain supervisors to handle deliveries(审议) from the crops of 1917 and 1918. Grain Exchange trading was suspended(暂停)，and farmers sold at prices fixed by the board. To handle the crop of 1919, the government appointed the first Canadian Wheat Board, with full authority to buy, sell, and set prices.
41. The author uses the term “lifeblood”(in the first sentence of the passage) to indicate that wheat was
A. difficult to produce on large quantities
B. susceptible to many parasites
C. expensive to gather and transport
D. essential to the health of the country
42. According to the passage, most farmers’ debts had to be paid
A. because wheat prices were high
B. when the autumn harvest had just been completed
C. as soon as the Winnipeg Grain Exchange demanded payment
D. when crop failure caused depression
43. According to the passage, wheat prices became unmanageable because of conditions caused by
A. farmers B. supervisors C. war D. weather
44. In the first sentence of Par. 3, the word “check” could best be replaced by which of the following?
A. investigate B. control C. finance D. reinforce
45. According to the passage, a preliminary step in the creation of the Canadian Wheat Board was the appointment of
A. a board of supervisors B . the Winnipeg Grain Exchange
C. several producer groups D. a new government
(B)
Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning, that is , to decide what they want to learn, and when, where, how, how much, how fast, and with what help they want to learn it. To be still more specific, I want them to have the right to decide if, when, how much, and by whom they want to be taught and the right to decide whether they want to learn in a school and if so which one and for how much of the time.
No human right, except the right to life itself, is more fundamental than this. A person’s freedom of learning is part of his freedom of thought, even more basic than his freedom of speech. If we take from someone his right to decide what he will be curious about, we destroy his freedom of thought. (3) We say, in effect, you must think not about what interests and concerns you, but about what interests and concerns us.
We might call this the right of curiosity, the right to ask whatever questions is most important to us. As adults, we assume that we have the right to decide what does or does not interest us, what we will look into and what we will leave alone. We take this right for granted, cannot imagine that it might be taken away from us. Indeed, as far as I know, it has never been written into any body of law. Even the writers of our Constitution did not mention it. They thought it was enough to guarantee(保证) citizens the freedom of speech and the freedom to spread their ideas as widely as they wished and could. It did not occur to them that even the most tyrannical government would try to control people’s minds, what they thought and knew.