TEXT C

 

(1) The other problem that arises from the employment of women is that of the working wife.

It has two aspects: that of the wife who is more of a success than her husband and that of the wife who must rely heavily on her husband for help with domestic tasks. There are various ways in which the impact of the first difficulty can be reduced. Provided that husband and wife are not in the same or directly comparable lines of work, the harsh fact of her greater success can be obscured by a genial conspiracy to reject a purely monetary measure of achievement as intolerably crude. Where there are ranks, it is best if the couple work in different fields so that the husband can find some special reason for the superiority of the lowest figure in his to the most elevated in his wife's.

 

(2) A problem that affects a much larger number of working wives is the need to re-allocate

domestic tasks if there are children. In The Road to Wigan Pier George Orwell wrote of the

unemployed of the Lancashire coalfields: "Practically never ... in a working-class home, will you

see the man doing a stroke of the housework. Unemployment has not changed this convention,

which on the face of it seems a little unfair. The man is idle from morning to night but the woman is as busy as ever - more so, indeed, because she has to manage with less money. Yet so far as myexperience goes the women do not protest. They feel that a man would lose his manhood if, merely because he was out of work, he developed in a 'Mary Ann'."

 

(3) It is over the care of young children that this re-allocation of duties becomes really

significant. For this, unlike the cooking of fish fingers or the making of beds, is an inescapably time-consuming occupation, and time is what the fully employed wife has no more to spare of than her husband.

 

(4) The male initiative in courtship is a pretty indiscriminate affair, something that is tried on with any remotely plausible woman who comes within range and, of course, with all degrees of

tentativeness. What decides the issue of whether a genuine courtship is going to get under way is the woman's response. If she shows interest the engines of persuasion are set in movement. The truth is that in courtship society gives women the real power while pretending to give it to men.

 

(5) What does seem clear is that the more men and women are together, at work and away

from it, the more the comprehensive amorousness of men towards women will have to go, despite

all its past evolutionary services. For it is this that makes inferiority at work abrasive and, more indirectly, makes domestic work seem unmanly, if there is to be an equalizing redistribution of economic and domestic tasks between men and women there must be a compensating redistribution of the erotic initiative. If women will no longer let us beat them they must allow us to join them as the blushing recipients of flowers and chocolates.

 

21. Paragraph One advises the working wife who is more successful than her husband to

A. work in the same sort of job as her husband.

B. play down her success, making it sound unimportant.

C. stress how much the family gains from her high salary.

D. introduce more labour-saving machinery into the home.

 

22. Orwell's picture of relations between man and wife in Wigan Pier (Paragraph Two) describes a

relationship which the author of the passage

A. thinks is the natural one.

B. wishes to see preserved.

C. believes is fair.

D. is sure must change.

 

23. Which of the following words is used literally, NOT metaphorically?

A. Abrasive (Paragraph Five).

B. Engines (Paragraph Four).

C. Convention (Paragraph Two).

D. Heavily (Paragraph One).

 

24. The last paragraph stresses that if women are to hold important jobs, then they must

A. sometimes make the first advances in love.

B. allow men to flirt with many women.

C. stop accepting presents of flowers and chocolates.

D. avoid making their husbands look like "Mary Anns".

 

25. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about the present form of courtship?

A. Men are equally serious about courtship.

B. Each man "makes passes" at many women.

C. The woman's reaction decides the fate of courtship.

D. The man leaves himself the opportunity to give up the chase quickly.

 

TEXT D

 

From Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa capital at 12,000 feet, the long line threaded south,

dropping 2,000 feet to the valley floor, then trudged down the huge Sola-Khumbu canyon until it

opened out to the lush but still daunting foothills of Central Nepal.

 

It was here at Namche that one man broke rank and leaned north, slowly and arduously

climbing the steep walls of the natural amphitheater behind the scatter of stone huts, then past

Kunde and Khumjong.

 

Despite wearing a balaclava on his head, he had been frequently recognized by the Tibetans,

and treated with the gravest deference and respect. Even among those who knew nothing about

him, expressions of surprise lit up their dark, liquid eyes. He was a man not expected to be there.

 

Not only was his stature substantially greater than that of the diminutive Tibetans, but it

was also obvious from his bearing - and his new broadcloak, which covered a much-too-tight

army uniform - that he came from a markedly loftier station in life than did the average Tibetan.

Among a people virtually bereft of possessions, he had fewer still, consisting solely of a rounded bundle about a foot in diameter slung securely by a cord over his shoulder. The material the bundle was wrapped in was of a rough Tibetan weave, which did not augur that the content was

of any greater value - except for the importance he seemed to ascribe to it, never for a moment

releasing his grip.

 

His objective was a tiny huddle of buildings perched halfway up an enormous valley wall

across from him, atop a great wooded spur jutting out from the lower lap of the 22,493-foot Ama

Dablum, one of the most majestic mountains on earth. There was situated Tengboche, the most

famous Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, its setting unsurpassed for magnificence

anywhere on the planet.

 

From the top of the spur, one's eyes sweep 12 miles up the stupendous Dudh Kosi canyon

to the six-mile-long granite wall of cliff of Nuptse at its head. If Ama Dablum is the Gatekeeper,then the sheer cliff of Nuptse, never less than four miles high, is the Final Protector of the highest and mightiest of them all: Chomolongma, the Mother Goddess of the World, to the Tibetans; Sagarmatha, the Head of the Seas, to the Nepalese; and Everest to the rest of us. And over the great barrier of Nuptse She demurely peaks.

 

It was late in the afternoon - when the great shadows cast by the colossal mountains were

descending into the deep valley floors - before he reached the crest of the spur and shuffled to a stop just past Tengboche's entrance gompa. His chest heaving in the rarefied air, he removed his hand from the bundle--the first time he had done so - and wiped grimy rivulets of sweat from

around his eyes with the fingers of his mitted hand.

 

His narrowed eyes took in the open sweep of the quiet grounds, the pagoda-like monastery

itself, and the stone buildings that tumbled down around it like a protective skirt. In the distance the magic light of the magic hour lit up the plume flying off Chomolongma's 29,029-foot-high crest like a bright, welcoming banner.

 

His breathing calmed, he slowly, stiffly struggled forward and up the rough stone steps to

the monastery entrance. There he was greeted with a respectful nameste -"I recognize the divine

in you" - from a tall, slim monk of about 35 years, who hastily set aside a twig broom he had

been using to sweep the flagstones of the inner courtyard. While he did so, the visitor noticed

that the monk was missing the small finger on his left hand. The stranger spoke a few formal

words in Tibetan, and then the two disappeared inside.

 

Early the next morning the emissary - lightened of his load - appeared at the monastery

entrance, accompanied by the same monk and the elderly abbot. After a bow of his head, which

was returned much more deeply by the two ocher-robed residents, he took his leave. The two

solemn monks watched, motionless, until he dipped over the ridge on which the monastery sat,

and out of sight.

 

Then, without a word, they turned and went back inside the monastery.

 

26. Which of the following words in Paragraph One implies difficulty in walking?

A. "threaded".

B. "dropping".

C. "trudged".

D. "daunting".

 

27. In the passage the contrast between the Tibetans and the man is indicated in all the following

aspects EXCEPT

A. clothing.

B. height.

C. social status.

D. personal belongings.

 

28. It can be inferred from the passage that one can get ______ of the region from the

monastery.

A. a narrow view

B. a hazy view

C. a distant view

D. a panoramic view

 

29. Which of the following details shows that the man became relaxed after he reached the

monastery?

A. "...he reached the crest of the spur and shuffled to a stop..."

B. "...he removed his hand from the bundle..."

C. "His narrowed eyes took in the open sweep of the quiet grounds..."

D. "...he slowly, stiffly struggled forward and up the rough stone steps..."

 

30. From how it is described in the passage the monastery seems to evoke

A. a sense of awe.

B. a sense of piety.

C. a sense of fear.

D. a sense of mystery.