2003年12月英语六级试题及答案_第3页

Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

When school officials in Kalkaska, Michigan, closed classes last week, the media flocked to the story, portraying the town’s 2,305 students as victims of stingy (吝啬的) taxpayers. There is some truth to that; the property-tax rate here is one-third lower than the state average. But shutting their schools also allowed Kalkaska’s educators and the state’s largest teachers’ union, the Michigan Education Association, to make a political point. Their aim was to spur passage of legislation Michigan lawmakers are debating to increase the state’s share of school funding.
It was no coincidence that Kalkaska shut its schools two weeks after residents rejected a 28 percent property-tax increase. The school board argued that without the increase it lacked the $1.5 million needed to keep schools open.
But the school system had not done all it could to keep the schools open. Officials declined to borrow against next ear’s state aid, they refused to trim extracurricular activities and they did not consider seeking a smaller-perhaps more acceptable-tax increase. In fact, closing early is costing Kalkaska a significant amount, including $600,000 in unemployment payments to teachers and staff and $250,000 in lost state aid. In February, the school system promised teachers and staff two months of retirement payments in case schools closed early, a deal that will cost the district $275,000 more.
Other signs suggest school authorities were at least as eager to make a political statement as to keep schools open. The Michigan Education Association hired a public relations firm to stage a rally marking the school closings, which attracted 14 local and national television stations and networks. The president of the National Education Association, the MEA’s parent organization, flew from Washington, D. C., for the event. And the union tutored school officials in the art of television interviews. School supervisor Doyle Disbrow acknowledges the district could have kept schools open by cutting programs but denies the moves were politically motivated.
Michigan lawmakers have reacted angrily to the closings. The state Senate has already voted to put the system into receivership (破产管理) and reopen schools immediately; the Michigan House plans to consider the bill this week.
26. We learn from the passage that schools in Kalkaska, Michigan, are funded ______.
A) by both the local and state governments
B) exclusively by the local government
C) mainly by the state government
D) by the National Education Association
27. One of the pumoses for which school officials closed classes was _______.
A) to avoid paying retirement benefits to teachers and staff
B) to draw the attention of local taxpayers to political issues
C) to make the financial difficulties of their teachers and staff known to the public
D) to pressure Michigan lawmakers into increasing state funds for local schools
28. The author seems to disapprove of _______.
A) the Michigan lawmakers’ endless debating
B) the shutting of schools in Kalkaska
C) the involvement of the mass media
D) delaying the passage of the school funding legislation
29. We learn from the passage that school authorities in Kalkaska are more concerned about _______.
A) a raise in the property-tax rate in Michigan
B) reopening the schools there immediately
C) the attitude of the MEA’s parent organization
D) making a political issue of the closing of the schools
30. According to the passage, the closing of the schools developed into a crisis because of ______.
A) the complexity of the problem
B) the political motives on the part of the educators
C) the weak response of the state officials
D) the strong protest on the part of the students’ parents

Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

German Chancellor (首相) Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy (遗产) includes many of today’s social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion (怜悯) for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement, Chancellor Bismarck created the world’s first workers’ compensation law in 1884.
By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers’ compensation insurance. America’s injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees had to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers’ compensation law in this country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation.
After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers’ compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100 percent of the states’ average weekly wages.
In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55 percent of the states’ average weekly wages in 1972 to 97 percent today. But, as most studies show, every 10 percent increase in compensation benefits results in a 5 percent increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers’ compensation system, it’s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.
31. The world’s first workers’ compensation law was introduced by Bismarck _______.
A) to make industrial production safer
B) to speed up the pace of industrialization
C) out of religious and political considerations
D) for fear of losing the support of the socialist labor movement
32. We learn from the passage that the process of industrialization in Europe _______.
A) Was accompanied by an increased number of workshop accidents
B) resulted in the development of popular social insurance programs
C) required workers to be aware of the potential dangers at the workplace
D) met growing resistance from laborers working at machines
33. One of the problems the American injured workers faced in getting compensation in the early 19th century was that ______.
A) they had to have the courage to sue for damages in a court of law
B) different sums in the U.S. had totally different compensation programs
C) America’s average compensation benefit was much lower than the cost of living
D) they had to produce evidence that their employers were responsible for the accident
34. After 1972 workers’ compensation insurance in the U.S. became more favorable to workers so that _______.
A) the poverty level for a family of four went up drastically
B) there were fewer legal barriers when they filed for claims
C) the number of workers suing for damages increased
D) more money was allocated to their compensation system
35. The author ends the passage with the implication that ______.
A) compensation benefits in America are soaring to new heights
B) the workers are not the only ones to benefit from the compensation system
C) people from all walks of life can benefit from the compensation system
D) money floating in the compensation system is a huge drain on the U.S. economy