【正文】 s rising awareness of how humans affect the natural environment, hopefully we can learn to fit better into the natural food chains that govern our world. Otherwise we need to accept that the loss of any more plants and animals could eventually mean our own extinction. 58. What do the first two paragraphs mainly tell us? A. Hunting and habitat destruction lead to extinction. B. Many species of animals and plants are endangered. C. Plants and animals bee extinct for the same reasons. D. The main cause of extinction is often a disruption in the natural food chain. 59. Which of the following sentence is TRUE according to the passage? A. Strict rules alone can remove the bad effects of alien species. B. Plants, herbivores and carnivores are the three tiers of consumers. C. If a bird bees extinct, the relevant food chain will be disrupted. D. Animals and plants bee extinct because alien species are imported. 60. By mentioning the mice in Gough Island, the author intends to highlight ______. A. mice worldwide are growing all the time B. being aliens, they had no natural predators C. some places are still fighting the effects of aliens D. traveling can have disastrous effects on food chains 61. What is the best title of the passage? A. Survival of the fittest. B. Endangered animals and plants. C. How to protect the natural environment. D. The link between food chains and extinction. C Automation refers to the introduction of electronic control and automatic operation of productive machinery. It reduces the human factors, mental and physical, in production, and is designed to make possible the manufacture of more goods with fewer workers. The development of automation in American industry has been called the “Second Industrial Revolution”. Labour’s concern over automation arises from uncertainty about the effects on employment, and fears of major changes in jobs. In the main, labour has taken the view that resistance to technical change is unfruitful. Eventually, the result of automation may well be an increase in employment, since it is expected that vast industries will grow up around manufacturing, maintaining, and repairing automation equipment. The interest of labour lies in bringing about the transition with a minimum of inconvenience and distress to the workers involved. Also, union spokesmen emphasize that the benefit of the increased production and lower costs made possible by automation should be shared by workers in the form of higher wages, more leisure, and improved living standards. To protect the interests of their members in the era of automation, unions have adopted a number of new policies. One of these is the promotion of supplementary unemployment benefit plans. It is emphasized that since the employer involved in such a plan has a direct financial interest in preventing unemployment, he will have a strong drive for planning new installations so as to cause the least possible problems in jobs and job assignment. Some unions are working for dismissal pay agreements, requiring that permanently dismissed workers be paid a sum of money based on length of service. Another approach is the idea of the “improvement factor”, which calls for wage increases based on increases in productivity. It is possible, however, that labour will rely mainly on reduction in working time. 62. Though labour worries about the effect of automation, it does not doubt that ________. A. automation will eventually prevent unemployment B. automation will help workers acquire new skills C. automation will eventually benefit the workers no less than the employers D. automation is a trend which cannot be stopped 63. The idea of the “improvement factor” (Line 6, Pa ra. 3) probably implies that ________. A. wages should be paid on the basis of length of service B. the benefit of increased production and lower costs should be shared by workers C. supplementary unemployment benefit plans should be promoted D. the transition to automation should be brought about with the minimum of inconvenience and distress to workers 64. In order to get the full benefits of automation, labour will depend mostly on ________. A. additional payment to the permanently dismissed workers B. the increase of wages in proportion to the increase in productivity C. shorter working hours and more leisure time D. a strong drive for planning new installations 65. Which of the following can best sum up the passage? A. Advantages and disadvantages of automation. B. Labour and the effects of automation. C. Unemployment benefit plans and automation. D. Social benefits of automation. D What will higher education look like in 2050? That was the question addressed Tuesday night by Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University. “We’re at the end of the fourth wave of change in higher education,” Crow began, arguing that research universities followed the initial establishment of higher education, public colleges, and landgrant schools in the timeline of America. In less than a halfcentury, he said, global market petition will be at its fastest rates of change ever, with several multitrilliondollar economies worldwide. According to a recent projection, the nation’s population could reach 435 mill ion, with a large percentage of those residents economically disadvantaged. In addition, climate change will be “meaningfully uncontrollable” in many parts of the world. The everyday trends seen today, such as declining performance of students at all levels, particularly in math and science, and declining wages and employment among the less educated, will only continue, Crow maintained, and are, to say the least, not contributing to fulfilling the dream of climbing the social ladder mobility, quality of life, sustainable environment, and longer life spans