proof reading

Proof Reading Exercises for TEM 8

1. About half of the infant and maternal deaths in developing countries could

be avoided if women had used family planning methods to prevent high risk ____1____ pregnancies, according to a report publishing recently by the Johns Hopking ____2____ University.

The report indicates that 5.6 million infant deaths and 2,000,000 maternal

Deaths could be prevented this year if women chose to have theirs children ____3____ within the safest years with adequate intervals among births and limited their ____4____ families to moderate size.

This amounts to about half of the 9.8 million infant and 370.000 maternal

deaths in developing countries, excluded China, estimated for this year by ____5____

the United Nation?s Children?s Fund an d the US Centers for Disease Control respectably. China was excluded because very few births occur in the high ____6____

risk categories.

The report says that evidences from around the world shows the risk of ____7____ maternal or infant ill and death is the highest in four specific types of ____8_____ pregnancy; pregnancies before the mother is 18 year old; those after the ____9____

mother is 35 years old; pregnancies after four births; and those lesser than ____10____

two years apart.

2. “Home, sweet home” is a phrase that express an essential

attitude in the United States. Whether the reality of life in the

family house is sweet or no sweet, the cherished ideal of home _____1_____

has great importance for many people.

This ideal is a vital part of the American dream. This dream,

dramatized in the history of nineteenth century European settlers

of American West, was to find a piece of place, build a house _____2_____

for one?s family, and started a farm. These small households were _____3_____

portraits of independence: the entire family- mother, father, children,

even grandparents-live in a small house and working together to _____4_____

support each other. Anyone understood the life-and-death importance _____5_____

of family cooperation and hard work. Although most people in the

United States no longer live on farms, but the ideal of home ownership _____6_____

is just as strong in the twentieth century as it was in the nineteenth.

When U.S soldiers came home before World WarⅡ, for example, _____7_____

they dreamed of buying houses and starting families. But there was _____8_____

a tremendous boom in home building. The new houses, typically in

the suburbs, were often small and more or less identical, but it satisfied _____9_____

a deep need. Many regarded the single-family house the basis of their _____10_____

way of life.

3. We live in a society which there is a lot of talk about science, but I would say _____1_____ that there are not 5 percent of the people who are equipped with school, including

college, to understand scientific reasoning. We are more ignorant of science as people

_____2_____

with comparable education in Western Europe.

There are a lot of kids who know everything about computers—how to build

them, how to take them apart, and how to write programs for games. So if you ask _____3_____ them to explain about the principles of physics that have gone into creating the _____4_____ computer, you don?t have faintest idea. _____5_____

The failure to understand science leads to such things like the neglect of human _____6_____ creative power. It also takes rise to blurring of the distinction between science and _____7_____ technology. Lots of people don?t differ between the two. Science is the production of

_____8_____

new knowledge that can be applied or not, and technology is the application of

knowledge to the production of some products, machinery or the like. The two are

really different, and people who have the faculty for one very seldom have a

faculty for the others. _____9_____

Science in itself is harmless, more or less. But as soon as it can provide technology,

it?s not necessarily harmful. No society has yet learned to forecast the consequences of

_____10_____

new technology, which can be enormous.

4. What is a black hole? Well, it is difficult to answer the question,

as the terms we would normally use to describe a scientific phenomenon __1__

are adequate here. Astronomers and scientists think that a black hole is __2__

a region of space which matter has fallen and from which nothing can __3__

escape—not even light. But we can?t see a black hole. A black hole __4__

exerts a strong gravitational pull and yet it has no matter. It is only

space—or thus we think. How can this happen? __5__

The theory is that some stars explode when their density increases

to a particular point; they “collapse” and sometimes a supernova occurs.

The collapse of a star may produce a “White Dwarf” of a “neutronstar”—

a star which matter is so dense that if continually shrinks by the force of __6___

its own gravity. But if the star is very large, this process of shrinking may

be so intense that a black hole results in. Imagine the earth reduced to the __7__

size of a marble, but still having the same masses and a stronger __8__

gravitational pull, and you have some ideas of the force of a black hole. __9__

And no matter near the black hole is sucked in. __10__

5. The great whales are among the most fascinating creatures which __1__

have ever lived on the earth, and one of them, the blue whale, is the

largest. People in ancient times thought whales as fearsome __2__

monsters of the ocean depths. So to hunt a whale, when one

occasionally swam toward shore, he was high adventure. People __3__

found the adventure was rewarding, too, for the oil and meat from

one whale alone could heat and feed a village for a whole winter.

Whales resemble huge fish. They were referred by the ancients as __4__

“great fish,” and any whale beaching along the coasts of England

was designated “the King?s fish” because it automatically be longed

to the Crown.

Ever since those early times, human have felt whales a sense of __5__ wonder mixed with an intense desire to capture, slaughter, and

exploit. Now the slaughter has reached alarming proportions. __6__

Even though some species are protected by the regulations of

the International Whaling Commission and theoretically all whale

hunting is regulated, but the earth?s stock of whales is still being __7__ depleted. In fact, some scientists worry that 100 years since now __8__

there may be no whales left. If this happens, mankind will

be blame for removing from the earth forever a remarkable and __9__

awe-inspiring creature that always fed man?s imagination and __10__

made the world a more exciting place.

6. We use language every day. We live in a world of words. Hardly any moment passes with someone talking, writing or reading. Indeed, __1__ languages is most essential to mankind. Our lives increasingly depend

on fast and successful use of language. Strangely enough, we know __2__ more about things around us than on ourselves. For example, language __3__ is species specific, that is, it is language that differs human from __4__ animals. However, we do not know yet how exactly we inquire language __5__ and how it is possible for us to perceive through language; nor we __6__ understand precisely the combinations between language and thought, __7__ language and logic, or language and culture; still less, how and when language started. One reason for this inadequate knowledge of language

is that we, like language users, take too many things for granted. __8__ Language comes to every normal person so naturally that a few __9__

of us stop to question what language is, much less do we feel the

necessity to study it. Language is far more complex than most people

have probably imagined and the necessity to study it is far greater than

some people may have assured. Linguistic is a branch of science which __10__ takes language as its object of investigation.

7. Whenever you see an old film, even one made as little as

ten years before, you can?t help being strucked by the __1__

appearance of the women taking part. Their hair styles and

make-up look date; their skirts look either too long or too __2__

short; their general appearance is, in fact, slightly ludicrous.

The men taking part, on other hand, are clearly recognizable. __3__

There is nothing about their appearance to suggest that

they belong to an entire different age. This illusion is created __4__

by changing fashions. Over the years, the great minority of men __5__

have successfully resisted all attempts to make it change their __6__

style of dress. The same cannot be said for women. Each year,

a fewer so-called top designers in Paris and London lay down __7__

on the law and women around the world run to obey. The __8__

decrees of the designers are unpredictable and dictatorial.

Sometime they decide arbitrarily, that skirts will be short and __9__

waists will be height; hips are in and buttons are out. __10__

8. Demographic indicators show that Americans in the post war period were more eager than ever to establish families. They quickly brought down the age at marriage for both men and women and brought the birth rate to a twentieth century height __1__

after more than a hundred years of a steady decline, producing the “baby boom.” __2__

These young adults established a trend of early marriage and relatively large

families that went for more than two decades and caused a major but temporary __3__

reversal of long-term demographic patterns. From the 1940s through the early

1960s, Americans married at a high rate and at a younger age than their __4__

Europe counterparts. __5__

Less noted but equally more significant, the men and women who formed __6__

families between 1940 and 1960 nevertheless reduced the divorce rate after a __7__

postwar peak; their marriages remained intact to a greater extent than did that of __8__

couples who married in earlier as well as later decades. Since the United States __9__ maintained its dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate in the world,

the temporary decline in divorce did not occur in the same extent in Europe. __10__

Contrary to fears of the experts, the role of breadwinner and homemaker was not abandoned.

9. When you start talking about good and bad manners you immediately start

meeting difficulties. Many people just cannot agree what they mean. We asked a lady, who replied that she thought you could tell a well-mannered person on the __1__

way they occupied the space around them—for example, when such a person

walks down a street he or she is constantly unaware of others. Such people never __2__

bump into other people.

However, a second person thought that this was more a question of

civilized behavior as good manners. Instead, this other person told us a story, __3__

it he said was quite well-known, about an American who had been invited __4__

to an Arab meal at one of the countries of the Middle East. The American __5__

hasn?t been told very much about the kind of food he might expect. If he ha d __6__

known about American food, he might have behaved better. __7__

Immediately before him was a very flat piece of bread that looked, to

him, very much as a napkin. Picking it up, he put it into his collar, so that __8__

it falls across his shirt. His Arab host, who had been watching, __9__

said of nothing, but immediately copied the action of his guest. __10__

And that, said this second person, was a fine example of good manners.

10. A great many cities are experiencing difficulties which are nothing

new in the history of cities, except in their scale. Some cities have lost their

original purpose and have not found new one. And any large or rich city is __1__

going to attract poor immigrants, who flood in, filling with hopes of __2__

prosperity which are then often disappointing. There are backward towns on the

edge of Bombay or Brasilia, just as though there were on the edge of __3__ seventeenth-century London or early nineteenth-century Paris. This is new is __4__

the scale. Descriptions written by eighteenth-century travelers of the poor of

Mexico City, and the enormous contrasts that was to be found there, are very __5__ dissimilar to descriptions of Mexico City today—the poor can still be numbered __6__ in millions.

The whole monstrous growth rests on economic prosperity, but behind it lies __7__ two myths; the myth of the city as a promised land, that attracts immigrants __8__ from rural poverty and brings it flooding into city centers, and the myth of the __9__ country as a Garden of Eden, which, a few generations late, sends them flood __10__ -ing out again to the suburbs.

11. Artists use caricature to distort the human face or figure for comic affect, __1__ while at the same time capturing an identifiable likeness and suggests the essence __2__ of the personality or character beneath the surface. The humor lies in the fact __3__

the caricature is recognizable, and yet exaggerated.

From their origin in Europe as witty sketches, caricature grew through __4__

the eighteenth and nineteenth century, becoming enormously popular in __5__

the United States early in this century. In 1920s and 1930s especially,

this lively form of illustration was appeared in newspapers and __6__

magazines throughout the country. The caricaturists in this era drew his __7__ portraits of important figures primary to entertain. In spirit their work was __8__

close to the humor of the fast-developing comic strip and gag cartoon than to the __9__ string of political satire. Their subjects were more often amusing than offended __10__ by amiable attacks.

12. Most people would describe water like a colorless liquid. They __1__

would know that in very cold conditions it becomes a solid called

ice and that when heating on a fire it becomes a vapor called steam. __2__ However, water, they would say, is a liquid. We have learned that

water consists of molecules composed with two atoms of hydrogen __3__

and one atom of oxygen, which we describe by the formula H2O.

This is equally true of the solid called ice and the gas called steam.

Chemically there is no difference between the gas, the liquid, and

the solid, all of which is made up of molecules with the formula H2O. __4__

This is true of other chemical substances; most of them can exist as

gases or as liquids or as solids. We may normally think of iron as a

solid, but if we will heat it in a furnace, it will melt and become a __5__

liquid, and at very high temperatures it will become a gas. Nothing

very permanent occurs when a gas changes into a liquid or a solid.

Everyone knows that ice, which has been made by freezing water,

can be melted again by warmed and that steam can be condensed __6__

on a cold surface to become liquid water. In fact, it is only because

water is so a familiar substance that different names are used for __7__

the solid, liquid and gas. Most substances are only familiar with __8__

us in one state, because the temperatures requiring to turn them __9__

into gases are very high, or the temperatures necessary to turn them

into solids are so low. Water is an exception in this respect, which

is another reason why its three states have given three different names. __10__

13. Classic Intention Movement

In social situations, the classic Intention Movement is “the

chair-grasp”. Host and guest have been talking for some tim e, but

now the host has an appointment to keep and can get away. His urge __1__

to go is held in cheek by his desire not be rude to his guest. If he did __2__

not care of his guest?s feelings he would simply get up out of his chair __3__

and to announce his departure. This is what his body wants to do, __4__

therefore his politeness glues his body to the chair and refuses to let him __5__

raise. It is at this point that he performs the chair-grasp Intention __6__

Movement. He continues to talk to the guest and listen to him, but leans

forward and grasps the arms of the chair as about to push himself upwards. __7__

This is the first act he would make if he were rising. If he were not __8__ hesitating, it would only last the fraction of the second. He would lean, __9__

push, rise, and be up. But now, instead, it lasts much longer. He

holds his “readiness-to-rise” post and keeps on holding it. It is as if his __10__

body had frozen at the get-ready moment.

14. The hunter-gatherer tribes that today live as our prehistoric human __1__ ancestors consume primarily a vegetable diet supplementing with animal foods __2__ An analysis of 58 societies of modern hunter-gatherers, including the Kung of southern Africa, revealed that one-half emphasize gathering plants foods,

one-third concentrate on fishing, and only one-sixth are primarily hunters,

Overall, two-thirds and more of the hunter-gatherer?s calories come from __3__ plants. Detailed studies of the Kung by the food scientists at the University

of London, showed that gathering is a more productive source of food

than is hunting. An hour of hunting yields in average about 100 edible __4__ calories, as an hour of gathering produces 240. __5__

Plant foods provide for 60 percent to 80 percent of the Kung diet, and no __6__

one goes hungry when the hunt fails. Interestingly, if they escape fatal infections

or accidents, these contemporary aborigines live to old ages despite of the absence __7__ of medical care. They experience no obesity, no middle-aged spread, little

dental decay, no high blood pressure, no heart disease, and their blood

cholesterol levels are very low (about half of the average American adult). __8__

If no one is suggesting that we return to an aboriginal life style, we certainly __9__ could use their eating habits as a model for healthier diet. __10__

15. There are great impediments to the general use of a standard in pronun-

ciation comparable to that existing in spelling (orthography). One is the

fact that pronunciation is learnt …naturally? and unco nsciously, and orthography __1__

is learnt deliberately and consciously. Large numbers of us, in fact, remain

throughout our lives quite unconscious with what our speech sounds __2__

like when we speak out, and it often comes as a shock when we __3__

firstly hear a recording of ourselves. It is not a voice we recognize at once, __4__

whereas our own handwriting is something which we almost always know. We __5__

begin the …natural? learning of pronunciation long before we start learning to

read or write, and in our early years we went on unconsciously imitating and __6__ practicing the pronunciation of those around us for many more hours per every __7__

day than we ever have to spend learning even our difficult English spelling.

This is … natural?, therefore, that our speech-sounds should be those of our im- __8__

mediate circle; after all, as we have seen, speech operates a means of holding a

community and to give a sense of …belonging?. We learn quite early to recognize a __9__…stranger?, someone who speak s with an accent of a different community—perhaps

only a few miles far. __10__

16. Sporting activities are essentially modified forms of hunting behavior.

Viewing biologically, the modern footballer is revealed as a member of a disguised __1__ hunting pack. His killing weapon has turned into a harmless football

and his prey into a goal-mouth. If his aim is inaccurate and he scores a goal, __2__

enjoys the hunter?s triumph of killing his prey. __3__

To understand how this transformation has taken place we

must briefly look up at our ancient ancestors. They spent over a million __4__

year evolving as co-operative hunters. Their very survival depended on success __5__

in the hunting-field. Under this pressure their whole way of life, even if their __6__

bodies, became radically changed. They became chasers, runneRs, jumpers,

aimers, throwers and prey-killers. They co-operate as skillful male-group __7__

qttackers.

Then, about ten thousand years ago, when this immensely long formative __8__

period of hunting for food, they became farmers. Th%ir improved intelligence,

so vital to their old hunting life, were put to a new use—that of penning, __9__ controlling and domestiCating their prey. The food was there on the farms,

awaiting their needs. The risks and uncertainties of farming were no longer __10__

essential for survival.

17. During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood

of Western Canada. People on city streets watched the yields and the price of wheat

in almost as much feeling as if they were growers. The marketing of wheat __1__

became an increasing favorite topic of conversation. __2__

War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketing the western crop.

For years, farmers mistrusted speculative grain selling as carried on through

the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn,

so farmers could not wait for markets to improve. It had happened too often that __3__

they sold their wheat soon shortly after harvest when farm debts were coming due, __4__

just to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various occasions, producers __5__ groups asked firmer control, but the government had no wish to become __6__

involving, at least not until wartime when wheat prices threatened to run wild. __7__

Anxious to check inflation and rising life costs, the federal government appointed __8__

a board of grain supervisors to deal with deliveries from the crops of 1917

and 1918. Grain Exchange trading was suspended, and farmers sold at prices

fixed by the board. To handle with the crop of 1919, the government appointed __9__

the first Canadian Wheat Board, with total authority to buy, sell, and set prices. __10__

18. For the last fifteen or twenty years the fashion in criticism or appreciation

of the arts have been to deny the existence of any valid criteria and to make the __1__ words “good” or “bad” irrelevant, immaterial, and inapplicable. There is no such

thing, we are told, like a set of standards first acquired through experience and __2__ knowledge and late imposed on the subject under discussion. This has been a __3__ popular approach, for it relieves the critic of the responsibility of judgment and the

public by the necessity of knowledge. It pleases those resentful of disciplines, it __4__ flatters the empty-minded by calling him open-minded, it comforts the __5__

confused. Under the banner of democracy and the kind of quality which our

forefathers did no mean, it says, in effect, “Who are you to tell us what is good

or bad?” This is same cry u sed so long and so effectively by the producers of mass __6__ media who insist that it is the public, not they, who decide what it wants to hear __7__

and to see, and that for a critic to say that this program is bad and that program

is good is pure a reflection of personal taste. Nobody recently has expressed this __8__ philosophy most succinctly than Dr. Frank Stanton, the highly intelligent __9__

president of CBS television. At a hearing before the Federal Communications Commission, this phrase escaped f rom him under questioning: “One man?s mediocrity __10__ is another man?s good program”.

19. When a human infant is born into any community in any part of the

world it has two things in common with any infant, provided neither of them __1__

have been damaged in any way either before or during birth. Firstly, and most __2__ obviously, new born children are completely helpless. Apart from a powerful

capacity to pay attention to their helplessness by using sound, there is nothing __3__

the new born child can do to ensure his own survival. Without care from some

other human being or beings, be it mother, grandmother, or human group, a

child is very unlikely to survive. This helplessness of human infants is in marked

contrast with the capacity of many new born animals to get on their feet within __4__ minutes of birth and run with the herd within a few hours. Although young

animals are certainly in risk, sometimes for weeks or even months after birth, __5__ compared with the human infant, they very quickly develop the capacity to

fend for them. __6__

It is during this very long period in which the human infant is totally

dependent on the others that it reveals the second feature which it shares with all __7__ other undamaged human infants, a capacity to learn language. For this reason,

biologists now suggest that language be “ species specific” to the human race, __8__

that is to say, they consider the human infant to be genetic programmed in __9__

such way that it can acquire language. This suggestion implies that just __10__

as human beings are designed to see three-dimensionally and in color and just

as they are designed to stand upright rather than to move on all fours, so they

are designed to learn and use language as part of their normal development as

well-formed human beings.

20. The grammatical words which play so large a part in English grammar are for the most part sharply and obviously different from the lexical words. A rough

and ready difference which may seem the most obvious is that grammatical __1__

words have “less meaning”, but in fact some grammarians have called them __2__ “empty” words as opposed in the “full” words of vocabulary. But this is a rather __3__ misled way of expressing the distinction. Although a word like the is not the name __4__

of something as man is, it is very far away from being meaningless; there is a __5__

sharp difference in meaning between “man is vile” and “the man is vile”, yet the

is the single vehicle of this difference in meaning. Moreover, grammatical words __6__

differ considerably among themselves as the amount of meaning they have even in __7__

the lexical sense. Another name for the grammatical words has been “little words.”

But size is by no mean a good criterion for distinguishing the grammatical words.” __8__

of English, when we consider that we have lexical words as go, man, say, car. __9__

Apart from this, however, there is a good deal of truth in what some people say:

we certainly do create a great number of obscurity when we omit them. This is __10__ illustrated not only in the poetry of Robert Browning but in the prose of telegrams

and newspaper headlines.

21. More people die of tuberculosis than of any other disease caused by a

single agent. This has probably been the case in quite a while. During the __1__

early stages of the industrial revolution, perhaps one in every seventh __2__

deaths in Europe?s crowded cities were caused by the disease. From __3__

now on, though, western eyes, missing the global picture, saw the trouble __4__

going into decline. With occasional breaks for war, the rates of death and

infection in the Europe and America dropped steadily through the 19th and __5__

20th centuries. In the 1950s, the introduction of antibiotics strengthened the

trend in rich countries, and the antibiotics were allowed to be imported to __6__

poor countries. Medical researchers declared victory and withdrew.

They are wrong. In the mid1980s the frequency of infections and deaths __7__

started to pick up again around the world. Where tuberculosis vanished, it came __8__ back; in many places where it had never been away, it grew better. The World __9__

Health Organization estimates that 1.7 billion people (a third of the earth?s

population)suffer from tuberculosis. Even when the infection rate was falling,

population growth kept the number of clinical cases more or less constantly at 8 __10__ million a year. Around 3 million of those people died, nearly all of them in poor

countries.

22. One of America?s most important export is her modern music. __1__

American popular music is playing all over the world. It is enjoyed __2__

by people of all ages in all countries. Because the lyrics are English, __3__

nevertheless people not speaking English enjoy it. The reasons for

its popularity are its fast pace and rhythmic beat.

The music has many origins in the United States. Country music,

coming from the suburban areas in the southern United States, is one __4__ source. Country music features simple themes and melodies describing

day-to-day situations and the feelings of country people. Many people appreciate this music because the emotions expressed by country __5__ music songs.

A second origin of American popular music is the blues. It depicted __6__ mostly sad feelings reflecting the difficult lives of American blacks. It

is usually played and sung by black musicians, but it is not popular with __7__ all Americans.

Rock music is a newer form of music. This music style, featuring

fast and repetitious rhythms, was influenced by the blues and country music. It is first known as rock-and- roll in the 1950?s. Since then there __8__ have been many forms of rock music, hard rock, soft rock, punk rock,

disco music and others. Many performers of popular rock music are

young musicians.

American popular music is marketed to a demanding audience.

Now popular songs are heard on the radio several times a day. Some

songs become popular all over the world. People hear these songs sing __9__ in their original English or sometimes translated into other languages.

The words may coincide but the enjoyment of the music is universal. __10__

23. Cities can be frightened places. The majority of __1__

the population live in noisy massive tower blocks. The

sense of belonging to a community tends to appear __2__

when you live thirty floors up in a skyscraper. Strange __3__

enough, whereas in the past the inhabitants of one

street all knew each other, nowadays people on the

same floor in tower blocks even say hello to each __4__

other. Country life, on the other hand, differs from this

kind of isolated existence in that a sense of community

generally keep the inhabitants of a small village togeth- __5__

er. People have the advantage of knowing that there is

always someone to turn to when they need help. So __6__

country life has disadvantages too. For example,

shopping becomes a major problem and for anything

slightly out of the ordinary you have to go for an expe- __7__

dition to the nearest large town. The country has the

advantage of peaceful and quiet, but suffers from the __8__ disadvantages of being cut off. The city has noise and

population which do harm to human health. But one of

their main advantages is that you are at the centre of __9__

things and that life doesn?t come to an end even at ten

at night. Some people have found a compromise be-

tween the two: they expressed their preference for the

quiet life by leaving for the city and moving to the __10__

country within commuting distance of the large city.

24. Planning is a very important activity in our lives. It can give

pleasure, even excitement, and it can cause quite severe headaches. __1__

The most significant the task ahead, the more careful the planning __2__

required. Getting to school or to work on time is a task requiring few __3__

or no planning, it is almost routine. A mon th?s touring holiday abroad,

or better still, getting married, is a different matter altogether. If the

matter involve a church wedding, a reception, a honeymoon in Venice, __4__

and returning a new home, this requires even more planning to make __5__

sure that it is successful. Planning is our way of trying to ensure success

and of avoiding costly failures we can not suffer. It is equally essential __6__

to individual nations and families; the scale may be vary, but the degree __7__

of importance does not. In the essence, a nation planning its resources __8__

and needs do not differ from the familiar weekly shopping or monthly __9__ household budget. Both are designed to ensure an adequate supply of

essentials, and if improperly carried out, will avoid shortages, wastage __10__

and over-expenditure.

25. Tracing missing persons can take much patient detective work. But a special

kind of “private eye” can trace the missing ancestors of whole peoples by

studying the clues buried by words. __1__

These philologists, such as the language detectives are called, have traced __2__

the word trail back from peoples in Europe, India, South Africa, the Americas,

and the Pacific islands in a tiny nameless, and forgotten tribe that roamed central __3__ Eurasia 5000 to 6000 years ago, before the dawn of writing history. __4__

Since a long time scholars have been puzzled over the striking __5__

difference of words in different languages. In Dutch, vader; in Latin, pater;in __6__

old Irish, athir; in Persian, pidar;in the Sanskrit of distant India, pitr.

These words all sounded likely and meant the same thing—“father” __7__

Where did it happen that widely separated peoples used such __8__

close related sound symbols? The problem baffled linguists for years. The more so __9__ b ecause “father” was but one of a host of such coincidences. Towards the end

of the 18 century it dawned on scholars that perhaps all these words stemmed __10__ from some common language.

26. Why does the idea of progress loom so large in

the modern world? Surely because progress of particu-

lar kind is actually taking place around us and is more

and more manifesting. Although mankind has underg- __1__

one no general improvement in intelligence or morali-

ty, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumu-

lation of knowledge. Knowledge begins to increase as __2__ soon as the thoughts of one individual could be com- municated to another by mean of speech. With the in- __3__ vention of writing, knowledge could be communicated

and stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in turn added libraries: the growth of knowl- __4__ edge followed a kind of compound-interest law,

which was greatly enhanced by the invention of print-

ing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the

coming of science, the tempo was suddenly risen. __5__ then knowledge began to be accumulated according to

a systematic plan. However, as soon as new knowl- __6__ edge is acquired, it is now turned to practical ac-

count. What is called “modern civilization” is not the

res ult of a balanced development of all man?s nature,

but not of accumulated knowledge applied to practical __7__ life. The problem now facing humanity is: what is go-

ing to be done with all this knowledge? Like is often __8__ pointed out, knowledge is a two edged weapon which

could be used equally for good or evil. It is now being __9__ used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly whimsical than that gunners __10__ using science to shatter men?s bodies while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them.

27. You will think about what kind of saving instru- __1__ ment to use or what kind of investment to make. By

putting your money in some kind of savings instrument

or investment, you can set aside small amount of mon- __2__ ey regularly and the money will earn interest or divi- dends. Interest refers to the amount what your money __3__ earns when it is kept in a savings instrument. Divi-

dends are payments of part of a company?s earnings to people hold stock in the company. A savings instru- __4__ ment has an “interest rate ” associated with it; this re-

fers to the rate which the money in the instrument in- __5__ creases during a certain period of time. Principal re-

fers to the facial value or the amount of money you __6__ place in the savings instrument on which the interest is earned. Every type of savings or investment has some risk that the return will be less than needed or expected. Federally insured savings accounts are safe and guar- anteed up to $100,000 by the U.S. Government.

Therefore, they may have lower interest rates, making __7__

it hard to save large amounts of money for college. __8__ Bonds and stocks often have higher returns than sav-

ings accounts or EE saving bonds but are more riskier. __9__ You can reduce the risks of these kinds of investments

by starting to save early. The earlier we begin the less __10__ money you will have to put aside each month and the

more total savings you will accumulate.

28. One of our main arguments is that we in Western countries actually have part to play in causing the __1__ problems of the Third World. Many Third World

countries are saddle with immense debt burdens, for __2__ example. They were lent money with low interest rates __3__

in the 1970s, when money flooded into Western banks

from the oil-producing countries and was lent out to

the Third World. The interest rates have then been risen __4__ dramatically. So you have a situation where a country

in many cases can?t even repay the interest, letting alone __5__ the capital, on the debt. And I suppose the best example

from what I have come across is a country in West

Africa where the consumption, the local consumption

of peanuts was banned, because peanuts, if they are

imported can bring in a great deal of foreign income. __6__ The peanut is a major source of protein in this country.

So you have people go hungry as a result of that. __7__

The peanuts were exported to Great Britain and the

United States to feed our cattle. Those cattle then produced

a surplus of milk which we do not know what to do with.

We have enough milk, more milk than we can

cope with in the Western World. And also that milk __8__

was transformed into dried milk powder and then taken

back to this country to help feed children who were

suffering from malnutrition. So that?s the kind of insanely __9__ economic relationship that we have got ourselves in __10__

the Third World.

29. One of the most important non-legislative functions of the U.S Congress is the power to investigate. The power is usually delegated to committees—either standing committees, special committees set for a specific purpose, or joint committees __1__ consisted of members of both houses. Investigations __2__

are held to gather information on the need for future legislation,to test the effectiveness of laws already passed,

to inquire into the qualifications and performance of

members and officials of the other branches, and in rare occasions, __3__ to lay the groundwork for impeachment proceedings. Frequently, committees rely outside experts to assist in conducting __4__ investigative hearings and to make out detailed studies of issues. __5__ There are important corollaries to the investigative power.

One is the power to publicize investigations and its results. Most __6__ committee hearings are open to public and are reported widely __7__

in the mass media. Congressional investigations nevertheless __8__ represent one important tool available to lawmakers to inform

the citizenry and to arouse public interests in national issues, __9__ Congressional committees also have the power to compel

testimony from unwilling witnesses, and to cite for contempt

of Congress witnesses who refuse to testify and for perjury

these who give false testimony. __10__

30.Successful aging is a psychological feat. Fear for __1__

death, for example, may sometimes oppress you.

even when this is successfully overcome, there is still

something for you to deal with-loneliness. Loneliness

can speed your demise no matter conscientiously __2__

you care for your body. “We go through life surrounded

by protective convoys of others,” says Robert

Kahn, a psychologist of the University of Michigan

who studied the health effects of companionship. “People __3__

who manage to maintain a network of social support do

best.” One study of elderly heart-attack patients

found that those with two or more close associations __4__

enjoyed twice the one-year survival rate of those who

were completely alone. Companionship aside, healthy oldsters seem to share a knack for managing stress, poison that contributes __5__ measurably to heart disease, cancer and accidents.

Researchers have also been kinked successful aging __6__

to mental stimulation. An idle brain will deteriorate

just as sure as an unused leg, notes Dr. Gene Cohen, __7__

Head of the gerontology center at George Washington

University. But just as exercise can prevent muscle __8__

atrophy, mental challenges seem to preserve both

the mind and the immune system. But what most

impresses researchers who study the oldest old is

his simple drive and resilience. “People who reach 100 __9__

are not quitters,” says Adler of the National Centenarian

Awareness Project. “They share a remarkable ability to

renegotiate life in every turn, to accept the inevitable losses __10__

And move on.”