TEXT C
We have long ceased to live in a world where education was the prerogative of the few and the interchange of knowledge and ideas was limited to handful of learned men. The demand for education as a right of mankind is accepted.
In many countries the challenge implicit in this demand has to be met largely unaided: such countries have to use their own resources to build the schools and train the teachers they need. But throughout the world there are other countries which, by their association with the Commonwealth, have unique opportunities for helping each other. They range from India to the tiny Pacific island of Pitcarin inhabited by little over 100 people.
Britain’s part in developing education in countries of the Commonwealth and her dependencies goes back over three hundred years. The first colleges set up in the mainland colonies of North America which were to become the United States give tuition modeled on the arts courses at Oxford and Cambridge. British institutions set the early educational pattern in parts of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the nineteenth century Britain took a direct interest in developing state-aided education in India, and began financially to help the missionaries pioneering education in the colonies and to set up a few schools where there were no others.
74. The author claims that ____.
A. learning is no longer the right of a select group of people
B. very few people are illiterate
C. exchange of knowledge is now universal
D. special learning should not be left to a few people
75. The tiny Pacific island of Pitcarin is not unaided in her field of education because____.
A. she is member of the Commonwealth
B. she has a population of just 100-odd people
C. she gets help from India
D. she has properly built schools
76. The author states that the early universities in the British colonies were ____.
A. started by British government
B. supported by the British universities
C. modeled on the British universities
D. trying in vain to copy Oxford and Cambridge
77. In the nineteenth last century what Britain did for Commonwealth education was ____.
A. merely to encourage children to go to school
B. to build institutions on the pattern of Oxford and Cambridge
C. to encourage missionaries to set up more schools
D. to give financial help to set up schools
TEXT D
Every people has its own special words and expressions like the American expression “on the wagon”. It means a person who no longer drinks whisky, beer or other kinds of alcoholic drinks. The `wagon’ is a water wagon. In other words, a drinker has decided to change from alcohol to water. An Oklahoma newspaper wrote about a man who had a history of heavy drinking on America’s Fourth of July holiday. Said the newspaper, “We believed that his experience had lifted him onto the water wagon, but he was even drunker the next Fourth of July.”
Why do people decide to go on the wagon? Well, usually because they are alcoholics. They lose control of themselves when they drink. If they take one alcoholic drink, then they want to drink another, and another, until all thought is gone.
Alcoholism is a major social problem in countries throughout the world. The United States is no exception. Experts believe that several million Americans are alcoholics today. Their health care needs, car accidents, reduced job performance and other problems cost thousands of millions of dollars every year.
In the early 1900s, many Americans joined in a campaign to make alcohol illegal in the United States. In 1920 an amendment was added to the Constitution. It made drinking or selling alcohol a crime. But the new law did not stop people from drinking. Criminals produced or imported alcohol illegally and sold it almost everywhere.
After a few years Americans realized the so-called Prohibition Law did not work. So in 1933 another constitutional change was made, canceling the amendment that made alcohol illegal.
In recent years Americans have taken other steps to deal with the problem of alcohol. One important action had been to increase the punishment for people who drive their automobiles after drinking alcohol. Many states now consider this to be a serious crime. Another important step has been to explain to children and students the dangers of alcohol. Many schools now offer special programmes to teach young people about the problem. Doctors have been working to develop new drugs and treatment programmes to help alcoholics. Finally, alcoholics themselves are dealing with the problem of alcoholism. Many of them have “ gone on the wag on” and stopped drinking. They have joined the Alcoholics Anonymous group meeting regularly to discuss their problems and give each other support. “Going on the wagon” is not the only way to conquer alcoholism, but most alcoholic say it is the best way. They must give up alcohol completely so their own body and spirit can survive.
78. People decide to go on the wagon because ____.
A. they enjoy having one drink after another
B. they like the kind of drinks they get on the wagon
C. they are afraid of losing their self-control in drinking again
D. they are alcoholics and can not control themselves well
79. Americans are now taking steps to solve the problem of alcoholism by ____.
A. decreasing the amount of alcohol drunk by drivers
B. teaching young students how to drive safely after drinking alcohol
C. punishing people more heavily for driving after drinking alcohol
D. giving special courses to teach doctors about new drugs and treatments for alcoholics
80. In the United States today ____.
A. alcoholism is not a major social problem
B. there are no more than a million alcoholics
C. the problem of alcoholism costs thousands of millions of dollars every year
D. alcoholism has caused a million automobile accidents a year