The economy of the United states after 1952 was the economy of a well-fed,almost fully employed people. Despite occasional alarms, the country escaped any postwar depression and lived in a state of boom. A n economic survey of the year 1955, a typical year of the 1950’s, may be typical as illustrating the rapid economic growth of the decade. The national output was value at 10 percent above that of 1954 (1955 output was estimated at 392 billion dollars). The production of manufacturers was about 40 percent more than it had averaged in the years immediately following World War 2. The country’s business spent about 30billion dollars for new factories and machinery. National income available for spending was almost a third greater than it had been it had been in 1950. Consumers spent about 256 billion dollars; that is about 700 million dollars a day ,or about twenty-five million dollars every hour , all round the clock. Sixty-five million people held jobs and only a little more than two million wanted jobs but could not find them . Only agriculture complained that it was not sharing in the room. To some observers this was an ominous echo of the mid-1920’s . As farmer’s share of their products declined , marketing costs rose. But there were , among the observers of the national economy, a few who were not as confident as the majority . Those few seemed to fear that the boom could not last and would eventually lead to the opposite-depression.

1. What is the best title of the passage?

　A. The Agricultural Trends of 1950’s   B. The Unemployment Rate of 1950’s

　C. U.S. Economy in the 50’s          D. The Federal Budget of 1952

2. In Line 4 , the word “boom” could best be replaced by______.

　A. nearby explosion                     B. thunderous noise

　C. general public support                 D. rapid economic growth

3. It can be inferred the national from the passage that most people in the United States in 1955 viewed the national economy with an air of _________.

　 A. Confidence                            B. confusion

　C. Disappointment                      　D. suspicion

4. Which of the following were LEAST satisfied with the national economy in the 1950’s?

　　A. Economists                           　B. Farmers

　　C. Politicians                              D. Steelworkers

5. The passage states that income available for spending in the U.S. was greater in 1955 than in 1950 . How much was it ?

A. 60%          B. 50%           C. 33%           D. 90%

Today ,as in every other day of the year ,more than 3000 U.S. Adolescents will smoke their first cigarette on their way to becoming regular smokers as adults. During their lifetime,it can be expected that of these 3000 about 23 will be murdered,30 will die in traffic accidents, and nearly 750 will be killed by a smoking-related disease. The number of deaths attributed to cigarette smoking outweigh all other factors, whether voluntary or involuntary, as a cause of death.

　Since the late 1970s, when daily smoking among high school seniors reached 30 precent , smoking rates among youth have declined . While the decline is impressive ,several important issues must be raised.

　　First, in the past several years,smoking rates among youth have declined very little. Second,in the late 1970s ,smoking among male high school seniors exceeded that among female by nearly 10 percent . The statistic is reversing.Third ,several recent studies have indicate high school dropouts have excessively high smoking rates, as much as 75 percent .

　　Finally, though significant declines in adolescent smoking have occurred in the past decade,no definite reasons for the decline exist. Within this context,the Natational Cancer Institute (NCI) began its current effort to determine the most effective measures to reduce smoking level among youth.

 The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health.Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat ,it has, at the same time,made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well,especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more likely to cause certain different illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures. That food is related to illness is into a new discovery. In 1945, about 35 years ago, government researchers realized that nitrates, commonly used to preserve color in meats,and other food additive,caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things on the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful. The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and living animals, and because of this ,penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cow. Sometimes similar drugs are given to animals not for medical purposes,but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.