now go through text f quickly and answer question 52.
death valley is an arid, depressed, desert region, southeastern california. it was given its name by one of 18 survivors of a party of 30 attempting in 1849 to find a shortcut to the california goldfield. much of the valley is below sea level, and near badwater at 86 meters below sea level, is the lowest point in the western hemisphere. death valley national monument (established 1933) has an area of 8368.1 sq km and incorporates the valley and surrounding mountains. the valley is from 6 to 26 km wide and about 255 km long and is almost entirely enclosed by mountain ranges, volcanic in origin, bare and brilliantly colored. the panamint range on the west, which rises to a maximum altitude of 3367 m in telescope peak, shuts out the moist pacific winds. on the east are the peaks of the amargosa range. the summer temperatures in death valley, one of the hottest regions known, exceed 51.7 c in the shade and rarely fall below 21.1 c. the national weather service recorded 56.7 c in 1913, the highest temperature ever recorded in the us. average rainfall in a normal year is less than 51 mm. sandstorms and dust whirlwinds of several hours duration are common. several watercourses enter the valley, among them the amargosa river from the south and furnace creek from the east, but it is only after heavy rains, which are rare, that they contain water. the lowest parts of the valley floor are salt flats, devoid of vegetation; higher portions contain a mixture of sand and salt grains, occasionally forming dunes. the western side of the valley floor is bordered by stunted mesquite, and in a marsh in the northern section a growth of tall, coarse grass is found; the east and west slopes have a sparse vegetation of cacti and desert shrubs and grasses. animal life is confined to a few species of desert reptiles, such as horned toads and lizards and such mammals are as rabbits, rats, and the desert bighorn sheep. gold has been found in death valley, and silver, copper, and lead have been taken in paying quantities. the famous borax deposits of death valley were first mined in the 1880s.
52. the passage focuses on ____.
a) the location of the valley.
b) the temperature of the valley.
c) the rivers, animals and plants of the valley.
d) the general features of the valley.
text g
first read the following question.
53. the primary purpose of the passage is to ____.
a. discuss the japanese prime minister.
b. discuss the coined words in the recent japanese language.
c. deal with language problem.
d. deal with word formation.
now go through text g quickly and answer question 53.
japanese prime minister keizo obuchi was famous for making his own phone calls, ringing up advertisers, friends, politicians and people he read about in newspapers. he picked up his push-button phone —— called a "pushu-phone" in japanese —— punched in the number and announced," this is obuchi." after obuchis habits became known, it wasnt long before someone coined the word "buchi-phones." so was born a japanese word. more than 6,000 words and phrases are added to the language each year —— most of them short-lived —— and used in a stream so rapid that people complain they often cannot figure out what is being said. one word that is now acknowledged as a permanent part of the lexicon is "risutora", the japanese version of "restructure". its most common meaning here is to be fired or pressured to quit as a company downsizes. "he was restructured" is heard frequently these days. teenagers are a major source of the linguistic additions, and, perhaps not surprisingly, adults say they are particularly difficult to understand. all teens seem to know that "one-girl", which translates as "one-cut", is a way of communicating with friends by cell phone without paying the phone company. the caller lets the receiving phone ring once, then cuts it off. the recipient sees the number that the call came from, recognizes a friend and perhaps sends a one-giri back. many of these words are in english, often shortened and always pronounced according to the japanese syllabic alphabet, which does not include, for example, "th" or any single consonant except "n.". the japanese words derived from english are not always recognizable. "game" is "geimu", "animation" is "anime". from "poketo (pocket)" and "monsuta (monster)" the japanese took "poke" and "mon" to make, of course, "pokemon". fumio inoue, professor of social linguistics at tokyo university of foreign studies, said:" i do think that the number of new words reflects the degree of modernization of the culture. thats the first reason. the second is that we have a precedent for absorbing language from others." the japanese language is a mix of chinese characters, words with japanese roots and words from other language. the distinction between words that were originally japanese and those that came from western language is eroding. the japanese word for "shame" is "shuchi". young people are adding the english ending "less." so japanese now say "shuchi-lesu" —— which is what many people seem so feel about twisting and stretching their language.
53. the primary purpose of the passage is to ____.
a) discuss the japanese prime minister.
b) discuss the coined words in the recent japanese language.
c) deal with language problem.
d) deal with word formation.
text h first read the following question 54.
the novel "generation x" was written mainly for ____.
a. card games.
b. economy.
c. finance.
d. younger generation.
death valley is an arid, depressed, desert region, southeastern california. it was given its name by one of 18 survivors of a party of 30 attempting in 1849 to find a shortcut to the california goldfield. much of the valley is below sea level, and near badwater at 86 meters below sea level, is the lowest point in the western hemisphere. death valley national monument (established 1933) has an area of 8368.1 sq km and incorporates the valley and surrounding mountains. the valley is from 6 to 26 km wide and about 255 km long and is almost entirely enclosed by mountain ranges, volcanic in origin, bare and brilliantly colored. the panamint range on the west, which rises to a maximum altitude of 3367 m in telescope peak, shuts out the moist pacific winds. on the east are the peaks of the amargosa range. the summer temperatures in death valley, one of the hottest regions known, exceed 51.7 c in the shade and rarely fall below 21.1 c. the national weather service recorded 56.7 c in 1913, the highest temperature ever recorded in the us. average rainfall in a normal year is less than 51 mm. sandstorms and dust whirlwinds of several hours duration are common. several watercourses enter the valley, among them the amargosa river from the south and furnace creek from the east, but it is only after heavy rains, which are rare, that they contain water. the lowest parts of the valley floor are salt flats, devoid of vegetation; higher portions contain a mixture of sand and salt grains, occasionally forming dunes. the western side of the valley floor is bordered by stunted mesquite, and in a marsh in the northern section a growth of tall, coarse grass is found; the east and west slopes have a sparse vegetation of cacti and desert shrubs and grasses. animal life is confined to a few species of desert reptiles, such as horned toads and lizards and such mammals are as rabbits, rats, and the desert bighorn sheep. gold has been found in death valley, and silver, copper, and lead have been taken in paying quantities. the famous borax deposits of death valley were first mined in the 1880s.
52. the passage focuses on ____.
a) the location of the valley.
b) the temperature of the valley.
c) the rivers, animals and plants of the valley.
d) the general features of the valley.
text g
first read the following question.
53. the primary purpose of the passage is to ____.
a. discuss the japanese prime minister.
b. discuss the coined words in the recent japanese language.
c. deal with language problem.
d. deal with word formation.
now go through text g quickly and answer question 53.
japanese prime minister keizo obuchi was famous for making his own phone calls, ringing up advertisers, friends, politicians and people he read about in newspapers. he picked up his push-button phone —— called a "pushu-phone" in japanese —— punched in the number and announced," this is obuchi." after obuchis habits became known, it wasnt long before someone coined the word "buchi-phones." so was born a japanese word. more than 6,000 words and phrases are added to the language each year —— most of them short-lived —— and used in a stream so rapid that people complain they often cannot figure out what is being said. one word that is now acknowledged as a permanent part of the lexicon is "risutora", the japanese version of "restructure". its most common meaning here is to be fired or pressured to quit as a company downsizes. "he was restructured" is heard frequently these days. teenagers are a major source of the linguistic additions, and, perhaps not surprisingly, adults say they are particularly difficult to understand. all teens seem to know that "one-girl", which translates as "one-cut", is a way of communicating with friends by cell phone without paying the phone company. the caller lets the receiving phone ring once, then cuts it off. the recipient sees the number that the call came from, recognizes a friend and perhaps sends a one-giri back. many of these words are in english, often shortened and always pronounced according to the japanese syllabic alphabet, which does not include, for example, "th" or any single consonant except "n.". the japanese words derived from english are not always recognizable. "game" is "geimu", "animation" is "anime". from "poketo (pocket)" and "monsuta (monster)" the japanese took "poke" and "mon" to make, of course, "pokemon". fumio inoue, professor of social linguistics at tokyo university of foreign studies, said:" i do think that the number of new words reflects the degree of modernization of the culture. thats the first reason. the second is that we have a precedent for absorbing language from others." the japanese language is a mix of chinese characters, words with japanese roots and words from other language. the distinction between words that were originally japanese and those that came from western language is eroding. the japanese word for "shame" is "shuchi". young people are adding the english ending "less." so japanese now say "shuchi-lesu" —— which is what many people seem so feel about twisting and stretching their language.
53. the primary purpose of the passage is to ____.
a) discuss the japanese prime minister.
b) discuss the coined words in the recent japanese language.
c) deal with language problem.
d) deal with word formation.
text h first read the following question 54.
the novel "generation x" was written mainly for ____.
a. card games.
b. economy.
c. finance.
d. younger generation.