Passage Three
The men who planned and constructed the first American railroads were men of great vision. They predicted that their “iron horses” would open vast expanses of land to farming and industry. They knew that towns would spring up along the new railroads. Yet few of these pioneers could have guessed that American railroads would establish the system of time used throughout most of the world today.
Until the 1880s, all time in the United States was sun time. Farmers set their clocks to noon when the sun appeared to be overhead. In towns, people set their clocks by a courthouse clock or factory whistles. One town’s time was often different from the time in a neighboring town.
As the new railroads expanded, large numbers of people began to travel. But the railroads were unable to print accurate timetables when most towns along their tracks have their clocks set differently. There was need for a change, and the railroads led in planning it.
In 1883, railroads in the United States and Canada adopted standard time, a system which divided the continent into four time zones. Within each zone, all railroad clocks were set to an identical time. When it was noon in the Eastern Zone, it was nine o’clock in the Pacific Zone. Railroad time signals were sent out by the newly-invented telegraph.
Standard time quickly spread. Traveling businessmen set their watches to correspond to the railroad clocks. Factories and schools followed the railroad’s lead. Soon, nearly everyone in the United States and Canada was using the four-zone time system – standard time.
Today, nearly all the world keeps standard time according to an international system of twenty-four time zones.
26. Implied but not directly stated: ___________.
A. Farmers set their clocks according to the factory whistles
B. The correct time was not too important before the 1800s
C. Only people who traveled on trains ever knew time
D. A standard system was set up by the pioneers
27. On the whole, the article tells about __________.
A. pioneers who rode on “iron horses”
B. large numbers of people who traveled
C. the establishment of standard time
D. the accurate timetable in the United States
28. Which statement does this article lead you to believe?
A. Accurate timetelling is important in many industries.
B. Accurate time is important only in the United States.
C. Accurate time is owned by the men who built railroads.
D. Accurate time is owned by pioneers.
29. Why weren’t railroads able to print accurate timetables?
A. Towns along the tracks set their clocks differently.
B. No one was able to read timetables that were accurate.
C. Farmers preferred to read the sun instead of timetables.
D. Railroad workers had no watches.
30. What does the word “identical” mean?
A. different
B. difficult
C. similar
D. understandable
Passage Four
Until recently, women in advertisements were one of three things – an apron, a glamorous dress or a frown. Although that is now changing, many women still feel angry enough to deface offending advertisements with stickers protesting. “This ad degrades women.” Why does this sort of advertising exist? How can advertisers and ad agencies produce, sometimes, after months of research, advertisements that offend the consumer?
The advertising Standards Authority (the body which deals with complaint about print media) is carrying out research into how women feel about the way they are portrayed in advertisements. Its conclusions are likely to be what the advertising industry already knows; although women are often irritated by the way they are seen in ads, few feel strongly enough to complain.
Women are not only the victims of poor and boring stereotypes – in many TV commercials men are seen neither as useless, childish oafs who are unable to perform the simplest household tasks, or as in considerate boors, permanently on the lookout for an escape to the pub. But it is women who seem to bear the impact of the industry’s apparent inability to put people into an authentic present-day context.
Yet according to Emma Bennett, executive creative director of a London advertising agency, women are not infuriated by stereotypes and sexist advertising. It tends to wash over them. They are not militant or angry – they just find it annoying or tiresome. They reluctantly accept outdated stereotypes, but heave a sigh of relief when an advertisement really gets it right.
She says that it is not advertising’s use of the housewife role that bothers women, but the way in which it’s handled. “Researchers have often asked the wrong questions. The most important thing is the advertisement’s tone of voice. Women hate being patronized, flattered or given desperately down-to-earth commonsense advice.”
In the end, the responsibility for good advertising must be shared between the advertiser, the advertising agency and the consumer. Advertising does not set trends but it reflects them. It is up to the consumers to tell advertisers where they fail, and until people on the receiving end take the business seriously and make their feelings known, the process of change will remain laboriously slow.
31. Despite recent changes in attitudes, some advertisements still fail to __________.
A. change women’s opinions of themselves
B. show any understanding of people’s feelings
C. persuade the public to buy certain products
D. meet the needs of the advertising products
32. According to the writer, the commonest fault of present-day advertising is to __________.
A. condemn the role of the housewife
B. ignore protests about advertisement
C. present a misleading image of women
D. meet the needs of the advertising industry
33. Research suggests that the reaction of women towards misrepresentation by advertisements is __________.
A. indifference
B. hostility
C. consent
D. unbelief
34. Emma Bennett suggests that advertisement ought to __________.
A. give further emphasis on practice
B. use male images instead of female ones
C. change their style rather than their content
D. pay more compliments to women than before
35. Ultimately the advertising industry should __________.
A. take its job more earnestly
B. do more pioneering work
C. take notice of the public opinion
D. concentrate on the products advertised
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