第4篇 Trying to Find a Partner One of the most striking findings of a recent poll in the UK is that of the people interviewed, one in two believes that it is becoming more difficult to meet someone to start a family with. Why are many finding it increasingly difficult to start and sustain intimate relationships Does modern life really make it harder to fall in love Or are we making it harder for ourselves It is certainly the case today that contemporary couples benefit in different ways from relationships. Women no longer rely upon partners for economic security or status. A man doesn’t expect his spouse to be in sole charge of running his household and raising his children. But perhaps the knowledge that we can live perfectly well without a partnership means that it takes much more to persuade people to abandon their independence. In theory, finding a partner should be much simpler these days. Only a few generations ago, your choice of soulmate (心上人) was constrained by geography, social convention and family tradition. Although it was never explicit, many marriages were essentially arranged. Now those barriers have been broken down. You can approach a builder or a brain surgeon in any bar in any city on any given evening. When the world is your oyster (牡蛎) ,you surely have a better chance of finding a pearl. But it seems that the old conventions have been replaced by an even tighter constraint: the tyranny of choice. The expectations of partners are inflated to an unmanageable degree, good looks, impressive salary, kind to grandmother, and right socks. There is no room for error in the first impression. We think that a relationship can be perfect. If it isn’t, it is disposable. We work to protect ourselves against future heartache and don’t put in the hard emotional labor needed to build a strong relationship. Of course, this is complicated by realities. The cost of housing and child-rearing creates pressure to have a stable income and career before a life partnership.What does the recent poll show

A:It is getting more difficult for a woman to find her husband. B:It is getting increasingly difficult to start a family. C:It is getting more difficult for a man to find his wife. D:It is getting increasingly difficult to develop an intimate relationship with your spouse.

One of the most striking findings of a recent poll in the UK is that of the people interviewed, one in two believes that it is becoming more difficult to meet someone to start a family with.
Why are many finding it increasingly difficult to start and sustain intimate relationships Does modern life really make it harder to fall in love Or are we making it harder for ourselves
It is certainly the case today that contemporary couples benefit in different ways from relationships. Women no longer rely upon partners for economic security or status. A man doesn’t expect his spouse to be in sole charge of running his household and raising his children.
But perhaps the knowledge that we can live perfectly well without a partnership means that it takes much more to persuade people to abandon their independence.
In theory, finding a partner should be much simpler these days. Only a few generations ago, your choice of soulmate (心上人) was constrained by geography, social convention and family tradition. Although it was never explicit, many marriages were essentially arranged.
Now those barriers have been broken down. You can approach a builder or a brain surgeon in any bar in any city on any given evening. When the world is your oyster (牡蛎), you surely have a better chance of finding a pearl.
But it seems that the old conventions have been replaced by an even tighter constraint: the tyranny of choice.
The expectations of partners are inflated to an unmanageable degree: good looks, impressive salary, kind to grandmother, and right socks. There is no room for error in the first impression.
We think that a relationship can be perfect. If it isn’t, it is disposable. We work to protect ourselves against future heartache and don’t put in the hard emotional labor needed to build a strong relationship. Of course, this is complicated by realities. The cost of housing and child-rearing creates pressure to have a stable income and career before a life partnership.
What does the recent poll show

A:It is getting more difficult for a woman to find her husband. B:It is getting increasingly difficult to start a family. C:It is getting more difficult for a man to find his wife. D:It is getting increasingly difficult to develop an intimate relationship with your spous

What is the ’biggest city in the world That is, (21) city has the largest population This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn’t.
It’s actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn’t easy to determine a city’s boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it’s difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it’s difficult to define what a city is.
The second reason that it is difficult to (25) the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York’s population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City’s population in 1981. So we real ly can’t compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly.
So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it’s difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

27（）

A:a difficult B:a troublesome C:easy D:an easy

Passage One
Most people want to work, but it has become more difficult in today’ s world to find work for everybody. The economies(经济) of the world need to grow by 4% each year just to keep the old number of jobs for people. Often this is not possible, and so more people are out of work (失业). Some people have no jobs now because new machines can do the work of many people in a short time. Also, machines do not ask for more money and longer holiday. In all of the countries of the world, machines are taking work from people, not only in factories but also on the farms. One machine can often do the work of forty people. About 75 000 people are moving to the cities a day to look for jobs, but only 70% of them can find jobs.

It was （） for people to find work before than today.

A:not possible B:difficult C:more difficult D:easier

What is the ’biggest city in the world That is, (21) city has the largest population This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn’t.
It’s actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn’t easy to determine a city’s boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it’s difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it’s difficult to define what a city is.
The second reason that it is difficult to (25) the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York’s population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City’s population in 1981. So we real ly can’t compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly.
So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it’s difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

25（）

A:a difficult B:a troublesome C:easy D:an easy

C
These are useful to man in three important ways: They provide him with wood and other products; They give him shade and they help to prevent drought (干旱) and floods. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, in his eagerness to draw quick benefit from the tree, man has cut down a large number of trees. Even where a government realizes the importance of plentiful supply of trees, it is difficult for it to persuade the villagers to see this. So unless the government has a great system of control, or can educate the people, the forests slowly disappear.
The resaults are more serious: for where there are trees their roots break the soil allowing the rain to sink and also hold the soil, thus preventing it from being washed away easily, but where there are no trees, the soil becomes hard and poor.
The rain falls on hard ground and flows away on the surface, causing floods, and carry away with it the rich top soil in which crops grow so well. When all the top soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.

According to the article we know it is （） to prevent the forest from slowly disappearing.

A:necessary but impossible B:necessary but difficult C:impossible and unimportant D:difficult and impossible

What is the ’biggest city in the world That is, (21) city has the largest population This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn’t.
It’s actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn’t easy to determine a city’s boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it’s difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it’s difficult to define what a city is.
The second reason that it is difficult to (25) the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York’s population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City’s population in 1981. So we real ly can’t compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly.
So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it’s difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

28（）

A:a difficult B:a troublesome C:easy D:an easy

What is the ’biggest city in the world That is, (21) city has the largest population This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn’t.
It’s actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn’t easy to determine a city’s boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it’s difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it’s difficult to define what a city is.
The second reason that it is difficult to (25) the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York’s population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City’s population in 1981. So we real ly can’t compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly.
So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it’s difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

30（）

A:a difficult B:a troublesome C:easy D:an easy

What is the ’biggest city in the world That is, (21) city has the largest population This seems like (22) question to answer, but actually it isn’t. It’s actually rather difficult to say which cities (23) the largest. There are two reasons for this difficulty. First of all, it isn’t easy to determine a city’s boundaries, that is, where a city ends. Nowadays, nearly all cities have a large (24) area around them. So when we talk about the population of a city, we often mean the population of the whole metropolitan area around the city. That means that it’s difficult to determine what the population of a city is because it’s difficult to define what a city is. The second reason that it is difficult to (25) the population of different cities is this: it is almost impossible to get (26) about the population of all cities for the same year. For example, we might get an estimate of New York’s population in 1979 and an (27) of Mexico City’s population in 1981. So we real ly can’t compare the numbers because the information is for (28) different years. And the population of cities changes rather quickly, especially in some cases. For example, the population of Jakarta, Indonesia, may increase by 5% each year, so the population figure will change rather quickly. So we can say that these are our two (29) for comparing the populations of cities: one, it’s difficult to determine the (30) of a city, and two, it is difficult to get accurate information.

22（）

A:a difficult B:a troublesome C:easy D:an easy