The positive side of Henry Ford’s statement can be seen in the prosperity that business has brought to U.S. life. One of the most important reasons so many people from all over the world come to live in the United States is the dream of a better job. Jobs are produced in abundance (大量地) because the U.S. economic system is driven by competition. People believe that this system crates more wealth, more jobs, and a materially better way of life.

　　The negative side of Henry Ford’s statement, however, can be seen when the word business is taken to mean big business. And the term big business—referring to the biggest companies, is seen in opposition to labor. Throughout U.S. history working people have had to fight hard for higher wages, better working conditions, and the fight to form unions. Today, many of the old labor disputes are over, but there is still some employee anxiety. Downsizing—the laying off of thousands of workers to keep expenses low and profits high—creates feelings of insecurity for many.

　　26. The United States is a typical country ________.

　　A) which encourages free trade at home and abroad

　　B) where people’s chief concern is how to make money

　　C) where all businesses are managed scientifically

　　D) which normally works according to the federal budget

　　27. The influence of business in the U.S. is evidenced by the fact that ________.

　　A) most newspapers are run by big businesses

　　B) even public organizations concentrate on working for profits

　　C) Americans of all professions know how to do business

　　D) even arts and entertainment are regarded as business

　　28. According to the passage, immigrants choose to settle in the U.S., dreaming that ________.

　　A) they can start profitable businesses there

　　B) they can be more competitive in business

　　C) they will make a fortune overnight there

　　D) they will find better chances of employment

　　29. Henry Ford’s statement can be taken negatively because ________.

　　A) working people are discouraged to fight for their fights

　　B) there are many industries controlled by a few big capitalists

　　C) there is a conflicting relationship between big corporations and labor

　　D) public services are not run by the federal government

　　30. A company’s efforts to keep expenses low and profits high may result in ________.

　　A) reduction in the number of employees

　　B) improvement of working conditions

　　C) fewer disputes between labor and management

　　D) a rise in workers’ wages

　　26. B 27. D 28. D 29.C 30. A

　　Professor Smith recently persuaded 35 people, 23 of them women, to keep a diary of all their absent-minded actions for a fortnight. When he came to analyse their embarrassing lapses (差錯) in a scientific report, he was surprised to find that nearly all of them fell into a few groupings, Nor did the lapses appear to be entirely random (隨機的).

　　One of the women, for instance, on leaving her house for work one morning threw her dog her earrings and tried to fix a dog biscuit on her ear. “the explanation for this is that the brain is like a computer,” explains the professor. “People programme themselves to do certain activities regularly. It was the woman’s custom every morning to throw her dog two biscuits and then put on her earrings. But somehow the action got reversed in the programme,” About one in twenty of the incidents the volunteers reported were these “programme assembly failures.”

　　Altogether the volunteers logged 433 unintentional actions that they found themselves doing—an average of twelve each, There appear to be peak periods in the day when we are at our zaniest (荒謬可笑的). These are two hours some time between eight a.m. and noon,

　　between four and six p.m. with a smaller peak between eight and ten p.m. “Among men the peak seems to be when a changeover in brain ‘programmes’ occurs, as for instance between going to and from work.” Women on average reported slightly more lapses—12.5 compared with 10.9 for men—probably because they were more reliable reporters.

　　A startling finding of the research is that the absent-minded activity is a hazard of doing things in which we are skilled. Normally, you would expect that skill reduces the number of errors we make. But trying to avoid silly slips by concentrating more could make things a lot worse—even dangerous.

　　31. In his study Professor Smith asked the subjects ________.

　　A) to keep track of people who tend to forget things

　　B) to report their embarrassing lapses at random

　　C) to analyse their awkward experiences scientifically

　　D) to keep a record of what they did unintentionally

　　32. Professor Smith discovered that ________.

　　A) certain patterns can be identified in the recorded incidents

　　B) many people were too embarrassed to admit their absent-mindedness

　　C) men tend to be more absent-minded than women

　　D) absent-mindedness is an excusable human weakness

　　33. “Programme assembly failures” (Line 6, Para. 2) refers to the phenomenon that people ________.

　　A) often fail to programme their routines beforehand

　　B) tend to make mistakes when they are in a hurry

　　C) unconsciously change the sequence of doing things

　　D) are likely to mess things up if they are too tired

　　34. We learn from the third paragraph that ________.

　　A) absent-mindedness tends to occur during certain hours of the day

　　B) women are very careful to perform actions during peak periods

　　C) women experience more peak periods of absent-mindedness

　　D) men’s absent-mindedness often results in funny situations

　　35. It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

　　A) people should avoid doing important things during peak periods of lapses

　　B) hazards can be avoided when people do things they are good at

　　C) people should be careful when programming their actions

　　D) lapses cannot always be attributed to lack of concentration

　　31. D 32. A 33. C 34.A 35. D