questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
it was the worst tragedy in maritime (航海的) history, six times more deadly than the titanic.
when the german cruise ship wilhelm gustloff was hit by torpedoes (鱼雷) fired from a russian submarine in the final winter of world war ii, more than 10,000 people - mostly women, children and old people fleeing the final red army push into nazi germany - were packed aboard. an ice storm had turned the decks into frozen sheets that sent hundreds of families sliding into the sea as the ship tilted and began to go down. others desperately tried to put lifeboats down. some who succeeded fought off those in the water who had the strength to try to claw their way aboard. most people froze immediately. i’ll never forget the screams," says christa ntitzmann, 87, one of the 1,200 survivors. she recalls watching the ship, brightly lit, slipping into its dark grave - and into seeming nothingness, rarely mentioned for more than half a century.
now germany's nobel prize-winning author gtinter grass has revived the memory of the 9,000 dead, including more than 4,000 children - with his latest novel crab walk, published last month. the book, which will be out in english next year, doesn't dwell on the sinking; its heroine is a pregnant young woman who survives the catastrophe only to say later: "nobody wanted to hear about it, not here in the west (of germany) and not at all in the east." the reason was obvious. as grass put it in a recent interview with the weekly die woche: "because the crimes we germans are responsible for were and are so dominant, we didn't have the energy left to tell of our own sufferings.''
the long silence about the sinking of the wilhelm gustloff was probably unavoidable - and necessary. by unreservedly owning up to their country's monstrous crimes in the second world war, germans have managed to win acceptance abroad, marginalize ( 使...不得势 ) the neo- nazis at home and make peace with their neighbors. today's unified germany is more prosperous and stable than at any time in its long, troubled history. for that, a half century of willful forgetting about painful memories like the german titanic was perhaps a reasonable price to pay. but even the most politically correct germans believe that they' ye now earned the right to discuss the full historical record. not to equate german suffering with that of its victims, but simply to acknowledge a terrible tragedy.
31. why does the author say the sinking of the wilhelm gustloff was the worst tragedy in maritime history?
a) it was attacked by russian torpedoes.
b) it caused the largest number of casualties.
c) most of its passengers were frozen to death.
d) its victims were mostly women and children.
32. hundreds of families dropped into the sea when .
a) the badly damaged ship leaned toward one side
b) a strong ice storm tilted the ship
c) the cruise ship sank all of a sudden
d) the frightened passengers fought desperately for lifeboats
33. the wilhelm gustloff tragedy was little talked about for more than half a century because germans .
a) were eager to win international acceptance
b) had been pressured to keep silent about it
c) were afraid of offending their neighbors
d) felt guilty for their crimes in world war ii
34. how does gunter grass revive the memory of the wilhelm gustloff tragedy?
a) by describing the ship's sinking in great detail.
b) by giving an interview to the weekly die woche.
c) by presenting the horrible scene of the torpedo attack.
d) by depicting the survival of a young pregnant woman.
35. it can be learned from the passage that germans no longer think that .
a) the wilhelm gustloff tragedy is a reasonable price to pay for the nation's past misdeeds
b) germany is responsible for the horrible crimes it committed in world war ii
c) they will be misunderstood if they talk about the wilhelm gustloff tragedy
d) it-is wrong to equate their sufferings with those of other countries
passage four
questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
when we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the federal agents. but the private sector outdoes the government every time. it's linda tripp, not the fbi, who is facing charges under maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. it's our banks, not the internal revenue service (irs), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
consumer activists are pressing congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. the legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
as an example of what's going on, consider u.s. bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of minnesota. according to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called member works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, social security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
with these customer lists in hand, member works started dialing for dollars - selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had, 30 days to cancel. if the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. u.s. bancorp collected a share of the revenues ...
customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. they. didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to memberworks. and if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
the state sued memberworks separately for deceptive selling. the company denies that it did anything wrong. for its part, u.s. bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. but it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. a few top banks decided to do the same. many other banks will still do business with memberworks and similar firms.
and banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
you have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. for example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information - mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. social security numbers are for sale by private firms. they've generally agreed not to sell to the public. but to businesses, the numbers are an open book. self-regulation doesn't work. a firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
take u.s. bancorp again. customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." then it sold your data to memberworks. the bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. it merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. now you know.
36. contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy .
a) is practiced exclusively by the fbi
b) is more prevalent in business circles
c) has been intensified with the help of the irs
d) is mainly carried out by means of secret taping
37. we know from the passage that .
a) the state of minnesota is considering drawing up laws to protect private information
b) most states are turning a blind eye to the deceptive practices of private businesses
c) legislators are acting to pass a law to provide better privacy protection
d) lawmakers are inclined to give a free hand to businesses to inquire into customers' buying habits
38. when the "free trial" deadline is over, you'll be charged without notice for a product or service if .
a) you happen to reveal your credit card number
b) you fail to cancel it within the specified period
c) you fail to apply for extension of the deadline
d) you find the product or service unsatisfactory
39. businesses do not regard information concerning personal bank accounts as private because .
a) it is considered "transaction and experience" information unprotected by law
b) it has always been considered an open secret by the general public
c) its sale can be brought under control through self-regulation
d) its revelation will do no harm to consumers under the current protection policy
40. we can infer from the passage that .
a) banks will have to change their ways of doing business
b) "free trial" practice will eventually be banned
c) privacy protection laws will soon be enforced
d) consumers' privacy will continue to be invaded