How many Americans are involved in telecommuting?

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

Because writing has become so important in our culture, we sometimes think of it as more real than speech. A little thought, however, will show why speech is primary and writing secondary to language. Human beings have been writing (as far as we can tell from surviving evidence) for at least 5000 years; but they have been talking for much longer, doubtless ever since there have been human beings.

When writing did develop, it was derived from and represented speech, although imperfectly. Even today there are spoken languages that have no written form. Furthermore, we all learn to talk well before we learn to write; any human child who is not severely handicapped physically or mentally will learn to talk: a normal human being cannot be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, it takes a special effort to learn to write. In the past many intelligent and useful members of society did not acquire the skill, and even today many who speak languages with writing systems never learn to read or write, while some who learn the rudiments of those skills do so only imperfectly.

To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage the latter. One advantage writing has over speech is that it is more permanent and makes possible the records that any civilization must have. Thus, if speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.

We sometimes think of writing as more real than speech because______.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.

If parents bring up a child with the sole aim of turning the child into a genius, they will cause a disaster. According to several leading educational psychologists, this is one of the biggest mistakes which ambitious parents make. Generally, the child will be only too aware of what his parents expect, and will fail. Unrealistic parental expectations can cause great damage to children

However, if parents are not too unrealistic about what they expect their children to do, but are ambitious in a sensible way, the child may succeed in doing very well – especially if the parents are very supportive of their child.

Michael Collins is very lucky. He is crazy about music, and his parents help him a lot by taking him to concerts and arranging private piano and violin lessons for him. They even drive him 50 kilometers twice a week for violin lessons. Michael’s mother knows very little about music, but his father plays the trumpet in a large orchestra. However, he never makes Michael enter music competitions if he is unwilling.

Winston Smith, Michael’s friend, however, is not so lucky. Both his parents are successful musicians, and they set too high a standard for Winston. They want their son to be as successful as they are and so they enter him for every piano competition held. They are very unhappy when he does not win. Winston is always afraid that he will disappoint his parents and now he always seems quiet and unhappy.

One of the serious mistakes parents can make is to______.

The word “them” in the second paragraph refers to ________.

Which of the following is NOT true?

According to the author, one mark of any civilized society is that it______.

In order to show that learning to write requires effort, the author gives the example of ______.

The author mentions all of the following as concerns of telecommuting EXCEPT ________.

Normal human beings______.

The author of the passage argues that______.

The word “advantage” in the last paragraph most closely means______.

The phrase “of no consequence” means ________.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to

indicate the correct answer to each of the questions

Telecommuting is some form of computer communication between employees’ homes and offices. For employees whose job involve sitting at a terminal or word processor entering data or typing reports, the location of the computer is of no consequence. If the machine can communicate over telephone lines, when the work is completed, employees can dial the office computer and transmit the material to their employers. A recent survey in USA Today estimates that there are approximately 8,7 million telecommuters. But although the numbers are rising annually, the trend does not appear to be as significant as predicted when Business Week published “The Portable Executive” as its cover story a few years ago. Why hasn’t telecommuting become more popular?

Clearly, change simply takes time. But in addition, there has been active resistance on the part of many managers. These executives claim that supervising the telecommuters in a large work force scattered across the country would be too difficult, or, at least, systems for managing them are not yet developed, thereby complicating the manager’s responsibilities.

It is also true that employees who are given the option of telecommuting are reluctant to accept the opportunity. Most people feel that they need regular interaction with a group, and many are concerned that they will not have the same consideration for advancement if they are not more visible in the office setting. Some people feel that even when a space in their homes is set aside as a work area, they never really get away from the office.

With which of the following topics is the passage primarily concerned?

The reason why telecommuting has not become popular is that the employees ________.

Who have criticized the methods of some ambitious parents?

The phrase "crazy about" in in the paragraph 3 mostly means______.