Passage Three

Everyone experiences fear during major crisis—such as fires, automobile accidents, etc. Some people even feel very nervous when they fly in airplanes. No matter how hard they try, they cannot lower their anxiety. Some people try to hide their nervousness: they try to disguise their anxiety by telling jokes. Others become loud and aggressive, attacking people by making them the butt of cruel jokes. Sometimes making someone else the target of jokes is an attempt to control one’s own fears—to master anxiety.

A number of factors can be mentioned as important in explaining why some people have a fear of flying: early childhood experiences, general sense of security, fear of heights, trust in others, percentage of alcohol in blood, etc. The memory of a bad experience can sometimes trigger the same fear caused by that experience. Thus, a child might be frightened by the sight of a dog even though he is safe, merely because he once had a bad experience with a dog. A bad experience can be the cue that triggers our fears. But the crucial factor seems to be a feeling of no control.

Usually we are able to suppress our feelings so that they do not affect our behavior. But sometimes the tension produced by our fears is so great that we cannot suppress it. At such time we need to discharge the tension by laughing or crying. By smiling foolishly and talking loudly, we are able to repress the rising feeling of fear so that it does not affect the way we behave.

Because it is necessary to recognize a problem before it can be solved, admitting that we are afraid is an integral part of the process of mastering our fears.

36. To make someone the butt of jokes means ______.

A. to make someone become the object of jokes

B. to force someone to enjoy jokes

C. to entitle someone to tell jokes

D. to offend someone by jokes

37. What is the positive purpose of people’s telling jokes?

A. To show one’s sense of humor. B. To control one’s own fears.

C. To disguise their anxiety. D. To attack others.

38. To master anxiety means ______.

A. to be familiar with tension

B. to hold back the feeling of uneasiness

C. to conquer the feeling of nervousness

D. to be good at the subject of anxiety

39. According to the author, which of the following is the most important factor triggering the feeling of fear?

A. The fear of heights. B. Early childhood experience.

C. The general sense of security. D. A feeling of no control.

40. According to the concluding paragraph, what is essential to go through the process of mastering one’s fears?

A. To be conscious of the way of mastering fears.

B. To repress the rising feeling of fear.

C. To admit the feeling of fears.

D. To control one’s feelings.

Passage Four

Any country has good reason to want its citizens to be as healthy as possible, since one of its greatest resources is an active population. No country wants its people to suffer unnecessarily from ill health.

This was the kind of thinking which led to the introduction of a health service in many countries. In Britain this has developed into a “Welfare State” in which all citizens, rich and poor alike, can get most health treatment free. The money for this is partially raised by contributions from employers and employees.

As three decades have shown, such automatic arrangements are not always ideal and there are arguments for and against the Health Service. The number of patients treated every year and the cost of treatment are much greater than was estimated. This means that the people who work for the Health Service—doctors, nurses and other hospital staff—have much more routine work to do and as a result they have little time for preventive medicine. The Health Service does need more staff—a need that can only be met if more money is made available to it.

However, a powerful argument for the Health Service is that many people are able to receive expensive treatment which they could never afford themselves. Sometimes this free treatment is abused and people visit their doctors when they don’t really need to. Because they have so many patients, doctors cannot spend as long with each one as they would like, and some people prefer to pay for private treatment so that their doctors can give them more time. In fact, some wealthy people feel that they should pay, and so free more money for treatment to others.

46. In the author’s view, Britain is a Welfare State in that ______.

A. all citizens are entitled to a free medical treatment in some sense

B. poor, unlike the rich, could enjoy free medical treatment

C. health service is highly developed in Britain

D. Britain doesn’t allow its people to suffer unnecessarily from ill health

47. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. the Health Service is introduced to many other countries by Britain

B. the Health Service has been introduced and developed for 30 years in Britain

C. an active population is the greatest resource in Britain

D. all citizens in Britain have a good opinion of the Health Service

48. The best title for the passage would be ______.

A. A Welfare State

B. Importance of the Health Service

C. Disadvantages of the Health Service

D. The Health Service

49. The author mentions that some wealthy people prefer to pay for private treatment because ______.

A. their doctors can give them more time leave from work

B. those doctors have better medical instruments

C. they might save some money for the poor

D. their doctors have a stronger sense of responsibility for the patients

50. The word “abused” (Par. 4) means ______.

A. destroyed B. used in wrong way

C. ignored D. wasted