PASSAGE 8
　　New York - The Melting Pot
　　Recently the Department of Planning of New York issued a report which laid bare a full scale of the city. In 1970, 18 percent of the city's population was foreign-born. By 1995, the figure had risen to 33 percent, and another 20 percent were the US-born offsprings of immigrants. So immigrants and their children now form a majority of the city's population.
　　Who are these New Yorkers? Why do they come here? Where are they from? (OK, time to drop the "they". I'm one of them). The last question at least is easy to answer: we come from everywhere. In the list of the top 20 source nations of those sending immigrants to New York between 1990 and 1994 are six countries in Asia, five in the Caribbean, four in Latin America, three in Europe, plus Israel and former Soviet Union. And when we immigrants get here we roll up our sleeves. "if you're not ready to work when you get to New York," says a friend of mine, "you'd better hit the road."
　　The mayor of New York once said, "Immigration continues to shape the unique character and drive the economic engine of New York City." He believes that immigrants are at the heart of what makes New York great. In Europe, by contrast, it is much more common to hear politicians worry about the loss of "unity" that immigration brings to their societies. In the quarter century since 1970, the United Stated admitted about 125 million legal immigrants, and has absorbed them into its social structures with an ease beyond the imagination of other nations. Since these immigrants are purposeful and hard-working, they will help America to make a fresh start in the next century.
　　1. The report issued by the Department of Planning of New York
　　A) put forward ways to control New York's population.
　　B) concerned itself with the growth of New York's population.
　　C) studied the structure of New York's population.
　　D) suggested ways to increase New York's population.
　　2. According to the second paragraph, which of the following is true of the immigrants in New York?
　　A) One can not find his place in New York unless he is ready to work.
　　B) They found life in New York harder than in their own countries.
　　C) Most of them have difficulty finding jobs.
　　D) One can live on welfare if he does not want to work.
　　3. The mayor of New York considers immigration to be
　　A) a big problem in the management of the city.
　　B) a push needed to develop the city.
　　C) a cause of disintegration of the city's social structure.
　　D) an obstacle to the development of the city.
　　4. Where are the new New Yorkers from?
　　A) Asia.
　　B) Europe.
　　C) All over the world.
　　D) Latin America.
　　5. What is the author's attitude towards immigration to New York?
　　A) Negative.
　　B) Worried.
　　C) Indifferent
　　D) Positive.
　　Keys: CABCD
　　PASSAGE 9
　　Preserving Nature for Future
　　Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 counties are members, have shown that 45 per cent of reptile species and 24 per cent of butterflies are in danger of dying out.
　　European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and natural resources division of the council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council's diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr Peter Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right.
　　"No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction," he went on. The short-sighted view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future.