Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C, or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
Names have gained increasing importance in the competitive world of higher education. As colleges strive for market share, they are looking for names that project the image they want or reflect the changes they hope to make. Trenton State College, for example, became the College of New Jersey nine years ago when it began raising admissions standards and appealing to students from throughout the state.
“All I hear in higher education is brand, brand, brand,” said Tim Westerbeck, who specializes in branding and is managing director of Lipman Hearne, a marketing firm based in Chicago that works with universities and other nonprofit organizations.” There has been a dramatic change over the last 10 years. Marketing used to be almost a dirty word in higher education.”
Not all efforts at name changes are successful or as fluid, of course. In 1997, the New School for Social Research became New School University to reflect its growth into a collection of eight colleges, offering a list of majors that includes psychology, music, urban studies and management. But New Yorkers continued to call it the New School.
Now, after spending an undisclosed sum on an online survey and a marketing consultant’s creation of “brand architecture” and “identity systems”, the university has come up with a new name: the New School. Beginning Monday, it will adopt new logos, banners, business cards and even new names for the individual colleges, all to include the words “the New School.” Of the “change”, Bob Kerrey, the university's president noted that his view was that you never argue with customers about what they expect, especially as it relates to the school’s name.
Changes in names generally reveal significant shifts in how a college wants to be perceived. In altering its name from Cal State, Hayward, to Cal State, East Bay, the university hoped to project its expanding role in two mostly suburban states east of San Francisco.
The University of Southern Colorado, a state institution, became Colorado State University at Pucblo two years ago, hoping to highlight many internal changes, including offering more graduate programs and setting higher admissions standards.
Beaver College turned itself into Arcadia University in 2001 for several reasons: to break the connection with its past as a women’s college, to promote its growth into a full –fledged university and officials acknowledged, to eliminate some jokes about the college’s old name on late-night television and “morning zoo” radio shows.
Many college officials said changing a name and image could produce substantial results. At Arcadia, in addition to the rise in applications, the average student’s test score has increased by 60 points, Juli Roebeck, an Arcadia spokeswoman, said.
21. Which of the following is NOT the reason for colleges to change their names？
A. They prefer higher education competition
B. They try to gain advantage in market share.
C. They want to project their image.
D. They hope to make some changes.
22. It is implied that one of the most significant changes in higher education in the past decade is__________.
A. the brands created by colleges.
B. the concept of marketing
C. the college names
D. the role that colleges play.
23. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Marketing used to be a dirty word in education.
B. The University of Southern Colorado changed its name to set tougher admissions requirements and offer more graduate programs.
C. The name “New School” was based on the costumers’ expectation.
D. New School offered many more programs than before.
24. The case of name changing from Cal State Hayward to Cal State East Bay indicates that the university_______________.
A. wants to be perceived by the society
B. prefers to reform its reaching programs
C. expects to expand its campus
D. hopes to expand its influence
25. According to the spokeswoman, the name change of Beaver College_________.
A. fails to attain its goal
B. turns out to be quite successful
C. has eliminated some jokes
D. has transformed its status
Text 2
Carrying 20-foot containers is not as glamorous as making films, but shipping is doing more than Hollywood to boost southern California's economy these days. The adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, already the two biggest in the country, are growing quickly thanks to trade with China. They are a giant job-creating engine, stimulating industrial and warehouse employment on a scale not seen in the region since the rise of the aerospace industry after the Second World War. Sadly, like most engines, they are filthy.
The ports themselves reckon they are responsible for about 12% of all the diesel particle emissions and 45% of the sulphur oxides in southern California. Carried east by prevailing winds, such pollutants help to create some of America's worst air more than 50 miles inland. Those who live close to the freeways leading out of the ports suffer the most. Researchers have found that children living within a few hundred meters of such roads are not only more likely to suffer from asthma, a disease of the breathing system and characterized by coughing. They actually have smaller lungs.
The most ambitious effort to control pollution, and the one that may affect the local economy most drastically, involves truckers. Some 16,000 lorries currently haul containers between ships and warehouses, most of whom are owned by Hispanic immigrants. The drivers put in long hours: 13 a day is not unusual, according to a survey. They earn, on average, just under $35,000 a year. Such jobs, like many connected to the port, are an important stepping-stone on the path to the middle class.
The ports want to remove the oldest trucks and gradually upgrade the others so that, within five years, the fleet emits four-fifths less pollution than at present. To help pay for this, they intend to levy a fee of $34 to $54 on every “dirty” vehicle entering the port. Most important, they want to turn a large, unwieldy network of independent contractors into a more orderly group of companies operating concessions, as happens in an airport. “We need to have more control,” explains Geraldine Knatz, the head of Los Angeles' port.
The reforms do nonetheless pose a threat to the ports' competitiveness. At present, the truckers who work at the docks are price-takers, not price-setters. Because they are self-employed, they are almost impossible to unionise, and consequently have little bargaining power. All that could quite easily change if they were to become the employees of a few large firms. Indeed, the most enthusiastic welcome for the ports' plans has come not from environmental groups but from the Teamsters' union.
26. What is the passage mainly about?
A. the consequences of shipping industry in southern California
B. the causes of pollution along the coast of southern California
C. the pollution problem of the shipping industry in southern California
D. the role of shipping industry in southern California’s economy
27. The author mentions the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to justify that_________.
A. they are the largest in the US
B. they create new job opportunities
C. shipping industry is less glamorous than making movies.
D. shipping industry plays a significant role in southern California’s economy.
28. We can infer from the passage that___________.
A. Hollywood movies help little to improve southern California’s economy these days.
B. The shipping industry there is as dirty as other industries.
C. People living near these ports suffer the most.
D. The polluted air in the region may result in both asthma and smaller lungs.
29. According to the passage, the most ambitious effort to control pollution ______________.
A. has almost nothing to do with the truckers.
B. could have negative impacts upon the local economy.
C. may depend on independent contractors
D. will upgrade all the trucks to reduce pollution.
30. According to the author, the reforms bring about a threat to the port’s competitiveness in that_________.
A. the truckers’ unionization would raise the cost of the ports.
B. truckers working at the docks are price-takers.
C. the Teamsters’ union would have little bargaining power.
D. environmental groups are not enthusiastic about the plans.