四六级阅读是一个考验理解能力的部分，但是又是最容易涨分的一个部分，所以我们要多做阅读习题。下面是yjbys网小编提供给大家关于英语四级仔细阅读练习题，希望对大家的备考有所帮助。
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices markedA.,B., C. andD.. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
An industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependent on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbors. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger.
It is this economic interdependency of the economic system which makes the power of trade unions (工会)such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many countries' economic blood supply.
This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labor force is highly organized. About 55 percent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States.
For historical reasons, Britain's unions have tended to develop along trade (行业) and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes a wages policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedures for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve.
There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of their industrial changes.
Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feelings between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies,unions can fight for their members' disappointing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs.
Trade unions have problems of internal communication just as managers in companies do, problems which multiply in very large unions or in those which bring workers in very different industries together into a single general union. Some trade union officials have to be re-elected regularly; others are elected, or even appointed, for life. Trade union officials have to work with a system of "shop stewards" (工厂工人代表) in many unions, "shop stewards" being workers elected by other workers as their representatives at factory or work level.
56. Why is the trade union power crucial in Britain?
A. Because the economy is very interdependent.
B. Because the unions have been established a long time.
C. Because there are more unions in Britain than elsewhere.
D. Because there are many essential services offered by the unions.
57. Because of their out-of-date organization, some unions find it difficult to __________.
A. bargain for high enough wages
B. get new members to join
C. learn new technologies
D. change as industries change
58. Disagreements arise between unions because some of them__________.
A. try to win over members of other unions
B. ignore agreements
C. protect their own members at the expense of others
D. take over other unions' jobs
59. Why does the author compare the trade unions with managers in companies?
A. They are both influential in company affairs.
B. They both face problems of internal communication.
C. They both work with a system of "shop stewards".
D. They both work efficiently.
60. The title which best expresses the idea of the text would be __________.
A. British Trade Unions and Their Drawbacks
B. A Centralized and Concentrated Society
C. The Power of Trade Unions in Britain
D. The Structure of British Trade Unions
Passage Two
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
One of the most interesting paradoxes in America today is that Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, is now engaged in a serious debate about what a university should be, and whether it is measuring up (符合标准).
Like the Roman Catholic Church and other ancient institutions, it is asking--still in private rather than in public--whether its past assumptions about faculty, authority, admissions, courses of study, are really relevant to the problems of our society.
Should Harvard--or any other university--be an intellectual sanctuary, apart from the political and social revolution of the age, or should it be a laboratory for experimentation with these political and social revolutions; or even an engine of the revolution? This is what is being discussed privately in the big clapboard ( 楔形板) houses of faculty members around the Harvard Yard.
The issue was defined by Walter Lippmann, a distinguished Harvard graduate, many years ago.
"If the universities are to do their work," he said, "they must be independent and they must be disinterested... They are places to which men can turn for unbiased judgments. Obviously, the moment the universities fall under political control, or under the control of private interests, or the moment they themselves take a hand in politics and the leadership of government, their value as independent and disinterested sources of judgment is impaired..."
This is part of the argument that is going on at Harvard today. Another part is the argument of the militant and even many moderated students: that a university is the keeper of our ideals and morals, and should not be "disinterested" but activist in bringing the Nation's ideals and actions together.
Harvard's men of today seem more troubled and less sure about personal, political and academic purpose than they did at the beginning. They are not even clear about how they should debate and resolve their problems, but they are struggling with them privately, and how they come out is bound to influence American university and political life in the 21st century.
61. A "paradox"(Line 1, Paragraph 1 ) is__________.
A. an unusual situation
B. a parenthetical expression
C. a difficult puzzle
D. a self-contradiction
62. The word "sanctuary", in paragraph 3 refers to __________.
A. a holy place dedicated to a certain god
B. a temple or nnnnery of the middle age
C. a certain place you can hide in and avoid mishaps
D. an academy for intelligent people
63. The issues in the debate on Harvard's goals are whether the universities should remain independent of our society and its problems, and whether they should __________.
A. fight off militarism
B. exert greater influence upon the young generation
C. take an active part in solving the society's ills
D. reconsider the structure of institutes and departments
64. In regard to their goals and purposes in life, the author believes that Harward men are becoming __________.
A. more sure about them
B. less sure about them
C. more hopeful of reaching a satisfactory answer
D. less interested in them
65. In the author's judgment, the ferment going on at Harvard__________.
A. will influence the future of America
B. will soon be over, because times are bound to change
C. is of interest mostly to Harvard men and their friends
D. is a sad symbol of our general bewilderment
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