Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.

　　Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop “responsible attitudes” about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.

　　Though new laws have led to increased arrests and tests and, in many areas already, to a marked decline in fatalities. Some states are also penalizing bars for serving customers too many drinks. A tavern in Massachusetts was fined for serving six or more double brandies to a customer who “obviously intoxicated” and later drove off the road, killing a nine-year-old boy.

　　As the fatalities continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years of national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, what President Hoover called the “ noble experiment.” They forgot that legal prohibition didn’t stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution.

　　1. Drunken driving had become a major problem in America because ___.

　　A. most Americans are heavy drinkers.

　　B. Americans are now less shocked by road accidents.

　　C. accidents attract so much publicity.

　　D. drinking is a socially accepted habit in America.

　　2. Why has public opinion regarding drunken driving changed?

　　A. Because detailed statistics are now available.

　　B. Because the news media have highlighted the problem.

　　C. Because judges are giving more severe sentences.

　　D. Because drivers are more conscious of their image.

　　3. Statistics issued in New Jersey suggested that ___.

　　A. many drivers were not of legal age.

　　B. young drivers were often bad drivers.

　　C. the level of drinking increased in the 1960s.

　　D. the legal drinking age should be raised.

　　4. Laws recently introduced in some states have ___.

　　A. reduced the number of convictions.

　　B. resulted in fewer serious accidents.

　　C. prevented bars from serving drunken customers.

　　D. specified the amount drivers can drink.

　　5. Why is the problem of drinking and driving difficult to solve?

　　A. Because alcohol is easily obtained.

　　B. Because drinking is linked to organized crime.

　　C. Because legal prohibition has already failed.

　　D. Because legislation alone is not sufficient.

　　參考答案：DBDBD

　　英語六級閱讀理解練習(xí)：人種的傳播

　　The life story of the human species goes back a million years, and there is no doubt that man came only recently to the western hemisphere. None of the thousands of sites of aboriginal (土著的) habitation uncovered in North and South America has antiquity comparable to that of old World sites. Man’s occupation of the New World may date several tens of thousands of years, but no one rationally argues that he has been here even 100,000 years.

　　Speculation as to how man found his way to America was lively at the outset, and the proposed routes boxed the compass. With one or two notable exceptions, however, students of American anthropology soon settled for the plausible idea that the first immigrants came b way of a land bridge that had connected the northeast comer of Asia to the northwest corner of North America across the Bering Strait. Mariners were able to supply the reassuring information that the strait is not only narrow – it is 56 miles wide – but also shallow, a lowering of the sea level there by 100 feet or so would transform the strait into an isthmus (地峽). With little eels in the way of evidence to sustain the Bering Strait land bridge, anthropologists (人類學(xué)家) embraced the idea that man walked dryshod (不濕鞋的) from Asia to America.

　　Toward the end of the last century, however, it became apparent that the Western Hemisphere was the New World not only for man but also for a host of animals and plants. Zoologists and botanists showed that numerous subjects of their respective kingdoms must have originated in Asia and spread to America. These findings were neither astonishing nor wholly unexpected. Such spread of populations is not to be envisioned as an exodus or mass migration, even in the case of animals. It is, rather, a spilling into new territory that accompanies increase in numbers, with movement in the direction of least population pressure and most favorable ecological conditions. But the immense traffic in plant and animal’s forms placed a heavy burden on the Bering Strait land bridge as the anthropologists ahead envisioned it. Whereas purposeful men could make their way across a narrow bridge, the slow diffusion of plant and animals would require an avenue as a continent and available for ages at a stretch.

　　1. The movement of plants and animals form Asia to America indicates ______.

　　A. that they could not have traveled across the Bering Strait

　　B. that Asia and the Western hemisphere were connected by a large land mass

　　C. that the Bering Sea was an isthmus at one time

　　D. that migration was in the one direction only

　　2. The author is refuting the notion that _____.

　　A. life arose in America independently of life in Europe

　　B. the first settlers in America came during the sixteenth century

　　C. a large continent once existed which has disappeared

　　D. man was a host to animals and plants

　　3. By using the words “boxed the compass “(in Line 7) the author implies that _____.

　　A. the migration of mankind was from West to East

　　B. the migration of mankind was from East to West

　　C. mankind traveled in all directions

　　D. mankind walked from Asia to America

　　4. One reason for the migration not mentioned by the author is _____.

　　A. overcrowding

　　B. favorable environmental conditions

　　C. famine

　　D. the existence of a land bridge

　　5. We may assume that in the paragraph that follows this passage the author argues about______.

　　A. the contributions of anthropologist

　　B. the contributions of zoologists and botanists

　　C. the contributions made by the American Indians

　　D. the existence of a large land mass between Asia and North America

　　參考答案：BCCCD

　　英語六級閱讀理解練習(xí)：購買權(quán)

　　There was on shop in the town of Mufulira, which was notorious for its color bar. It was a drugstore. While Europeans were served at the counter, a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but, when their turn came to be served, were rudely treated by the shop assistants. One day I was determined to make a public protest against this kind of thing, and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store and waited outside to see what would happen when I went in.

　　I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand he shouted at me in a bastard language that is only used by an employed when speaking to his servants. I stood at the counter and politely requested in English that I should be served. The manager became exasperated and said to me in English, “If you stand there till Christmas I will never serve you.”

　　I went to the District commissioner’s office. Fortunately the District Commissioner was out, for he was one of the old school; however, I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine. He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that if ever I wanted anything more from the drugstore all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me. I protested that that was not good enough. I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager. This he did, and I well remember him saying to the manager, “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant.” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said, “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was, then, of course I should have given him proper service.”

　　I had to explain once again that he had missed my point. Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend? I want to prove that any man of any color, whatever his position, should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted.

　　1.“Color bar” in the first paragraph comes closest in meaning to ___.

　　A. a bar which is painted in different colors.

　　B. the fact that white and black customers are served separately.

　　C. a bar of chocolate having different colors.

　　D. a counter where people of different colors are served with beer.

　　2. The writer was, at the time of the story, ___.

　　A. a black school teacher

　　B. an African servant

　　C. a black, but a friend of Europeans

　　D. a rich black

　　3. The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in a bastard language because ___.

　　A. he hadn’t learned to speak polite English.

　　B. he thought the writer wouldn’t understand English.

　　C. that was the usual language used by Europeans when speaking to Africans.

　　D. that was the only language he could speak when he was angry.

　　4. In the third paragraph, “he was one of the old school” means ___.

　　A. he believed in the age-old practice of racial discrimination.

　　B. he was a very old man.

　　C. he graduated from an old, conservative school.

　　D. he was in charge of an old school.

　　5. Why didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other black African?

　　A. Because he thought he was educated and should be treated differently.

　　B. Because he thought, being an important person, he should not be kept waiting.

　　C. Because he thought his white friends would help him out.

　　D. Because he wanted to protest against racial discrimination.

　　參考答案：BACAD