In 1959 the average American family paid $ 989 for a year’ s supply of food. In 1972 the family paid $ 1, 311. That was a price increase of nearly one third. Every family has had this sort of experience. Everyone agrees that the cost of feeding a family has risen sharply. But there is less agreement when reasons for the rise are being discussed. Who is really responsible? Many blame the farmers who produce the vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, and cheese that are stored for sale. According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the farmer’ s share of the $ 1, 311 spent by the family in 1972 was $ 521. This was thirty-one percent more than the farmer had received in 1959. But farmers claim that this increase was very small compared to the increase in their cost of living. Farmers tend to blame others for the sharp rise in food prices. They particularly blame those who process the farm products after the products leave the farm. These include truck drivers, meat packers, manufacturers of packages and other food containers, and the owners of stores where food is sold. They are among the “middlemen“ who stand between the fanner and the people who buy and eat the food. Are middlemen the ones to blame for rising food prices? Of the $ 1, 311 family food bill in 1972, middlemen received $ 790, which was thirty-three percent more than they had received in 1959. It appears that the middlemen’ s profit has increased more than the farmer’ s. But some economists claim that the middlemen’ s actual profit was very low. According to economists at the First National City Bank, the profit for meat packers and food stores amounted to less than one percent. During the same period all other manufacturers were making a profit of more than five percent. By comparison with other members of the economic system, both farmers and middlemen have profited surprisingly little from the rise in food prices. Who then is actually responsible for the size of the bill a housewife must pay before she carries the food from the store? The economists at First National City Bank have an answer to give housewives, but many people will not like it. These economists blame the housewife herself for the jump in food prices. They say that food costs more now because women don’ t want to spend much time in the kitchen. Women prefer to buy food which has already been prepared before it reaches the market.

A = Hallucinogens B = Cocaine C = Alcohol Which drug. . . may slow down body functions? 【P1】______ can lead to the drivers’ distorted perception of reality? 【P2】______ may influence the drivers’ vision negatively? 【P3】______ is psychologically addictive to those chronic uses? 【P4】______ can cause the impairment of driving? 【P5】______ can cause difficulty focusing? 【P6】______ can make drivers dissociate from the environment? 【P7】______ can make drivers easily irritated? 【P8】______ can affect how drivers think, feel and act? 【P9】______ may stimulate drivers to flee in their cars? 【P10】______ A The term “ hallucinogen“ describes any drug that radically changes a person’ s mental state by distorting the perception of reality to the point where, at high doses, hallucinations occur. Normal sensitivity is usually restored after abstaining for several consecutive days. Chronic users may also become psychologically dependent on hallucinogens. Psychological dependence exists when a drug is so central to a person’ s thoughts, emotions, and activities that the need to continue its use mats to a craving or compulsion. According to the National Survey on Drug Abuse, four million Americans used hallucinogens in 1982. Presumably most of them drive. Paul Fishbein of Phoenix House in New York City, one of the nation’ s largest residential drug-treatment facilities, describes the driver-impairing impact of phencyclidine(PCP or “ angel dust“), a depressant with hallucinogenic effects; “After the first few hits(drags)of a PCP-laced joint, “ he explains, “you have to look at the floor to see where your feet are. A few more hits and you dissociate from the environment. When a person drives under the influence of PCP, LSD or other hallucinogens, he may stop in the middle of a freeway to look at his map. Everything else going on him is not part of his experience—so why should he care about other cars?“ B The changes in a person’ s perception, mood, and thinking during cocaine intoxication are particularly relevant to driving skills. The most dramatic effects of cocaine with respect to driving are on vision. Cocaine may cause a higher sensitivity to light, halos around objects, and difficulty focusing. Users have also reported blurred vision, glare problems, and hallucinations, particularly “snow lights“—weak flashes or movements of light in the peripheral field of vision, which tend to make drivers swerve toward or away from the lights. Some users have also reported auditory hallcuci-nations(e. g. ring bells)and old factory hallucinations(e. g. smell of smoke or gasoline). Many users say that cocaine actually improves their driving ability, which is not surprising because the drug induces euphoria and feelings of increased mental and physical abilities. Such self-reports must be accepted with caution, however, since these effects of cocaine are short-lived and are often followed by fatigue and lassitude. Cocaine can also heighten irritability, excitability, and startle response. Users have reported that sudden sounds, such as horns or sirens, have caused them severe anxiety coupled with rapid steering or braking reactions, even when the source of the sound was not in the immediate vicinity of their vehicles. Suspiciousness, distrust, and paranoia—other reactions to cocaine—have prompted users to flee in their cars or drive evasively. Everyone surveyed reported attention lapses while driving and ignoring relevant stimuli such as changes in traffic signals. In May 1983 Dr. Mark Gold, medical director of Fair Oaks Hospital in Summit, N. J. , set up a telephone hot line for cocaine users, which in eight months received some 220, 000 calls. “ Cocaine users tell us they have such a feeling of power and mastery when they’ re on the drug that they think they can do things with the car they can’ t do, “ says Gold. “With cocaine, “ exulted a 30-year-old ad executive, “ I can go a hundred miles an hour and give death a finger in the eye. “ Such drivers present a horrifying highway hazard. C What does alcohol do to a driver that makes driving so dangerous? How does it affect driving skills? Alcohol impairs driving skills. Alcohol is a depressant drug that slows down body functions. The amount of alcohol in the blood at any point in time is referred to as the Alcohol Concentration(AC)level. The greater the amount of alcohol in the blood the higher the AC level and greater the impairment of driving. Even at very low AC levels(. 01 -. 04), important body functions and skills can be affected. At higher AC levels(. 05 and above)these functions become greatly impaired. Those functions most directly related to driving include coordination and balance, vision, steering, perception, processing of information, attention and judgment. It is important to remember that there is no safe level of alcohol that a person can assume will not impair driving performance. Alcohol can affect how we think, feel and act.

If you are buying a property in France, whether for a permanent or a holiday home, it is important to open a French bank account. Although it is possible to exist on traveller’ s cheques, Eurocheques and credit cards【C1】______by British banks, the【C2】______for these【C3】______can be expensive. The simplest way to pay regular【C4】______, such as electricity, gas or telephone, 【C5】______when you are not in residence, is by direct debit(a sum withdrawn from an account)from your French account. To【C6】______a current account, you will need to【C7】______your passport and birth【C8】______ and to provide your address in the United Kingdom. You will be issued with a cheque book within weeks of opening the account. In France it is illegal to be overdrawn. All accounts must be operated【C9】______credit. However, there are no【C10】______charges. Note that cheques【C11】______ longer to clear in France than in Britain, and can only be stopped【C12】______stolen or lost. The easiest way to【C13】______money from a British bank account to a French【C14】______ is by bank transfer. You simply provide your British bank with the name, address and【C15】______of your French bank account. The procedure takes about a week and【C16】_____ between ￡ 5 and ￡ 40 for each transaction, 【C17】______on your British bank. 【C18】______, you can transfer money【C19】______a French bank in London. You can also send a sterling cheque(allow at least 12 days for the cheque to be cleared), Eurocheques or traveller’ s【C20】______. Finally, it is a good idea to make a friend of your French bank manager. His help can prove invaluable.

To produce the upheaval in the United States that changed and modernized the domain of higher education from the mid-1860’ s to the mid-1880’ s, three primary causes interacted. The mergence of a half-dozen leaders in education provided the personal force that was needed. Moreover, an outcry for a fresher, more practical, and more advanced kind of instruction arose among the alumni and friends of nearly all of the old colleges and grew into a movement that overrode all conservative opposition. The aggressive “Young Yale“ movement appeared, demanding partial alumni control, a more liberal spirit, and a broader course of study. The graduates of Harvard University simultaneously rallied to relieve the University’ s poverty and demand new enterprise. Education was pushing toward higher standard in the East by throwing off church leadership everywhere, and in the West by finding a wider range of studies and a new sense of public duty. The old-style classical education received its most crushing blow in the citadel of Harvard University, where Dr. Charles Elliot, a young captain of thirty-five, son of a former treasurer of Harvard led the progressive forces. Five revolutionary advances were made during the five years of Dr. Elliot administration. They were the elevation and amplification of entrance requirements, the enlargement of the curriculum and the development of the elective system, the recognition of graduate study in the liberal arts, the raising of professional training in law, medicine, and engineering to a postgraduate level, and the fostering of greater maturity in student life. Standards of admission were sharply advanced in 1872 -1873 and 1876 -1877. By the appointment of a dean to take charge of student affairs , and a wise handling of discipline, the undergraduates were led to regard themselves more as young gentlemen and less as young animals. One new course of study after another was opened up—science, music, the history of the fine arts, advanced Spanish, political economy, physics, classical philology, and international law.

In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the inadequacies of the judicial system in the United States. Costs are staggering both for the taxpayers and the litigants and, the litigants, or parties, have to wait sometimes many years before having their day in court. Many suggestions have been made concerning methods of ameliorating the situation but, as in most branches of government, changes come slowly. One suggestion that has been made in order to maximize the efficiency of the systems is to allow districts that have an overabundance of pending cases to borrow judges from other districts that do not have such a backlog. Another suggestion is to use pretrial conferences, in which the judge meets in his chambers with the litigants and their attorneys in order to narrow the issues, limit the witnesses, and provide for a more orderly trial. The theory behind pretrial conferences is that judges will spend less time on each case and parties will more readily settle before trial when they realize the adequacy of their claims and their opponents’ evidence. Unfortunately, at least one study had shown that pretrial conferences actually use more judicial time than they save, rarely result in pretrial settlements and actually result in higher damage settlements. Many states have now established another method, small-claims courts, in which cases over small sums of money can be disposed of with considerable dispatch. Such proceedings cost the litigants almost nothing. In California , for example, the parties must appear before the judge without the assistance of counsel. The proceedings are quite informal and there is no pleading—the litigants need to make only a one-sentence statement of their claim. By going to this type of courts, the plaintiff waives any right to jury trial and the right to appeal the decision. In coming years, we can expect to see more and more innovations in the continuing effort to remedy a situation which must be remedied if the citizens who have valid claims are going to be able to have their day in court.

Millions of man-hours are lost to industry through employees suffering backache or strain caused by operating poorly designed machines and vehicles or moving awkward and heavy loads. Production is also interrupted by injury from other causes, such as vibration and excessive noise. 【R1】______ But help is coming from a perhaps unexpected quarter for companies prepared to plan their workshops and manufacturing lines to take account of these hazards. The necessary information is emerging from a recently formed team of Ministry of Defense scientists at the Army Personnel Research Establishment at Farnborough. They are measuring factors which limit a soldier’ s ability to cope with advanced technical equipment and new types of vehicles, or to carry out routine jobs under difficult working conditions. The problems of the factory and office manager may at first sight seem distant from those of the Army. 【R2】______ A task force of 120 physiologists, biologists, computer scientists, technologists and soldiers is therefore looking for the point at which human factors set the limit to the use of technology. It is the stage at which no matter how advanced the engineering, it is the man who caused the complicated e-quipment to fail. Dr. John Nelms, director of the establishment, says: “ In an era when there is almost nothing the engineer can not build, man is the limiting factor. The research program marks a new stage in the evolution of the army in looking at how best to make the soldier and technology compatible. If we do not get the relationship right, the next battlefield could be a shambles. “ To meet the vast range of occupational hazards faced by the armed forces, the research group is measuring the limits imposed by physical stress arising from heat and cold, noise and vibration, psychological pressure, and the operational stress of putting high technology system into battleground conditions. The army also has an obligation during peacetime and training exercises to ensure that its men are exposed to greater risks to, say, hearing than those encountered in a well-run industry. Trials to discover how stress cuts the efficiency of a man with a guided missile or a new tank electronic control and firing system, perhaps by reducing his “hit rate“ from 100 percent to only 50, may appear to be a special requirement. But it is also relevant to the introduction in industry and commerce of new technologies with keyboard controls and visual displays. 【R3】______ Different patterns of noise are measured at Farnborough because damage to hearing is produced in various ways. Impulse noise from gunfire produces high pressures on the ear of a short duration, making the effects on the ear difficult to measure. For instance, a rifle shot produces a maximum pressure of 160 decibels, lasting less than a hundredth of a second, at the ear of the marksman, whereas a typical industrial noise might reach an average level of 90 decibels over most of the working day. Some idea of those noise levels is given by what a person hears about 20 feet from a roadway—from motorcycles it is 89 decibels, cars 87 decibels, light commercial vehicles 88 and heavy lorries 92. The effect on the body of lifting, loading and carrying objects is perhaps the work that has the widest common application to industry and the Army. But the methods used today by the research team and the trials section—a group of regular soldiers seconded for two years for this work—to measure physiological limitations imposed by physical stress and strain are far from usual. The measurements involve monitoring muscle fatigue by analyzing the bioelectric signals produced during movement and examination of the energy being expended and the muscle strength. 【R4】______ Particular tasks scrutinized at Farnborough include such things as the physiological strain in loading 120 mm ammunition within the turret workplace intended for a new tank design. The importance of this type of study was underlined by an analysis of the prototype of an advanced new armored vehicle, which the specialists in human engineering showed could only be operated by about 5 percent of the men in the Army. 【R5】______ It will provide further valuable material for the scientific discipline known as ergonomics—fitting the job to the workers—to which several university and polytechnic research groups have also made important contributions. A. Although these occupational hazards are well recognized eliminating them is another matter, and they are not problems that disappear overnight by a wave of the magic wand of new technology. B. New advances in technology requires specialist research into the best way to operate sophisticated equipment. C. Indeed, the military research emerged because the generals foresaw that the development of a wide range of new equipment, including man-operated guided missiles and suits for protection against nuclear, chemical and biological dangers, had important implications for the efficiency of the soldier on the battlefield. D. The psychological fear of the battlefield may be missing, but measurements of the degree to which an operator’ s skill is impaired by constant noise and other stressful interruptions are of concern to all businessmen. E. An indication of the stress on the cardiovascular system is made by recording variation in heart rates during work. A tiny tape recorder attached to the individual’ s clothing logs the signals. F. Much of this information is being compiled as manuals that will be available to industry as well as suppliers of defense equipment to the Ministry of Defense.

What is the main topic of this passage?

According to the passage, the following groups of people are mentioned to have been blamed for rising food prices except______.

According to the economists, who is actually responsible for the jump in food prices?

For the middlemen, which of the following is NOT true?

Farmers should not be blamed for the rise because______.