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Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are .four choices marked A), B) , C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
3D glasses help doctors perform invasive surgery when their hands are obscured from view.
Moviegoers aren't the only ones wearing 3D glasses nowadays—doctors could benefit from them, too, a new study suggests.
In the past, doctors have been skeptical of using 3D technology in their work, preferring to rely on their own experience. But that may change, thanks to improved 3D glasses and even glasses-free systems .Funded by industry sponsors, the study of 50 surgeons using the new technology showed improvements in surgical precision and speed.
"While the technology still requires some free-tuning, technology without the need to wear special glasses will increase the popularity of 3D systems in operating rooms," study leader Ulrich Leiner of the Fratmhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin said in a statement.
Improvements to screens are driving developments in 3D technology. High-definition screens are already available. The next step is ultra-high definition, with a sixteen fold improvement in resolution, according to study co-author Michael Witte of HHI.
To evaluate whether new 3D technology was ready for hospital applications, researchers invited surgeons from the Klinikum rechts der Isar's surgical hospital to test it out. A leading endoscope manufacturer and an international display company funded the study.
The surgeons tested four different systems: 2D, 3D with glasses, 3D without glasses and a mirror-based 3D system. The glasses-free model relied on an eye-tracking camera system that delivered separate images to each eye, creating a 3D effect in the brain.
The images came from endoscopic cameras used in surgery. The doctors practiced a simulated, routine surgical procedure in which they sewed up a wound in a model patient's stomach using a needle and thread. Just as in a minimally invasive surgery, their hands were obscured from view and they relied
on the screen to see what they were doing.
"The results were astonishing," Hubertus Feuner, of the Klinikum rechts der Isar university hospital in Munich, said in a statement. The winning surgeon performed the procedure in 15 percent less time and with considerably increased precision, Feuner said.
The most surprising thing was that not only young surgeons benefited, but experienced surgeons also, according to the researchers. The winning doctor has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years and has conducted thousands of operations.
The surgeons in the study rated the 3D glasses system the highest, and the glasses-free system as comparable to the 2D one.
Once the technology is widely available, will doctors begin using it. "There's no doubt that 3D will be a commodity in the future." Witte said.
The study's findings will be presented at a congress of the Association of German. Surgeons in Berlin in April. The findings have not been published in a scientific peer-reviewed journal.
56. What can be inferred about 3D glasses from the second paragraph?
A) Doctors usually have a poor eye sight.
B) Moviegoers often wear 3D glasses to watch films.
C) Some doctors are moviegoers.
D) Moviegoers know how to perform surgery.
57. What was the doctors' attitude toward 3D technology in the past?
A) Apathetic.
B) Positive.
C) Disappointed.
D) Doubtful.
58. To create a 3D effect in the brain, an eye-tracking camera system
A) enabled each eye to receive separate images
B) separated images for each eye
C) delivered images of each eye through a camera
D) delivered to each glass separate images
59. The benefits that 3D technology may bring to surgeons are
A) less precision and less time
B) improved precision and less time
C) improved precision and more time
D) obscured views
60. What can be inferred from the feedbacks of the surgeons?
A) 3D glasses system has the highest technology.
B) 3D glasses system is no better than 2D one.
C) The glasses-free system is superior to the 2D one.
D) 3D glasses system is more helpful than the glasses-free system.
Passage Two
Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.
A recent BBC documentary, The Town That Never Retired, sought to show the effects of increasing the state pension age by putting retirees back to work.
Although the results were entertaining, they need not have bothered. Away from the cameras, unprecedented numbers of older people are staying in work .Since the start of the recession that began in 2008, the number of 16-to 24-year-olds in work has fallen by 597,000. Over the same period the number of workers over the age of 65 has increased by 240 o000.
The graying of the British workforce dates back to around 2001, since when the proportion of older people working has nearly doubled. But it has accelerated since the start of the recession. There are several reasons why. Happily, people are living longer and healthier lives, which makes staying in work less daunting than it was. Less happily, low interest rates, a stagnant stock market and the end of many defined-benefit ( 固定收益 ) pension schemes make it a financial necessity. And changing attitudes ,spurred by rules against age discrimination, are making it easier than ever.
Most older workers are simply hanging on at the office: 63% of workers over state pension age have been with their employer for more than ten years. Over two-thirds of them work part-time, mostly doing jobs that they once performed full-time. A big advantage is that they do not pay national insurance contributions effectively a second income tax on younger workers.
According to Stephen McNair, director of the Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, this flexibility explains why older workers have not suffered so much in the slump. Instead of slashing the workforce, as in previous recessions, many firms have halted recruitment and cut working hours. At small businesses in particular, keeping on older workers is cheaper and less risky than training replacements. Over half of workers over state pension age work for businesses with fewer than 25 employees.
Christopher Nipper, who owns David Nipper, a womens wear manufacturer based in Derbyshire, prizes his semi-retired workers, who can be employed at short notice and do not need to work full-time to survive. Retired machinists can fill in if there is a surge in orders; former sales advisers can work as part-time consultants. As his competitors have moved production abroad, depleting the pool of trained labour,retaining older workers and their skills has become even more important.
There is scope for the older workforce to expand. Workers over the age of 50 who are made unemployed find it harder to pick up new jobs, which could mean that more oldsters want to work than are able to. That would be good. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, reported on July 12th that an ageing, unproductive population is the biggest long-term threat to Britain's economic health.
Data from the OECD, a think-tank, shows that employment rates among workers approaching retirement age are split in Europe, with old workers hanging on best in the north. Government credit ratings follow a similar pattern. That Britain's ageing workforce more closely resembles Germany's than Italy's could prove the country's salvation(拯救).
61. Which of the following can be inferred from the BBC documentary The Town That Never Retired?
A) What it intends to reveal is contrary to the reality.
B) It has received good comments from audience.
C) It aims to criticize the poor pension provision in the UK.
D) It reflects the current phenomenon of retirees coming back to work.
62. According to the passage, "it" ( Line 6, Para. 2 ) refers to__________.
A) age discrimination
B) the changing attitude
C) a financial necessity
D) staying in work after retiring
63. According to Paragraph 3, which of the following is TRUE about the older workers in the UK?
A) Most of them are loyal to their former employers.
B) Most of them rarely challenge themselves by seeking new types of jobs.
C) They do not have to pay national income tax.
D) 63% of them continue to work over the retirement age.
64. According to Christopher Nieper, why are semi-retired workers favored in hiring?
A) Because they can fill in the job vacancy in a brief time.
B) Because the pool of labour in the UK is drained.
C) Because they work harder than the yoking because of economic pressure.
D) Because their working hours can be as flexible as they want.
65. It can be concluded from the last paragraph that __________.
A) Britain's ageing workforce is similar to Italy's
B) Britain's credit ratings are higher than Italy's
C) Britain's salvation is better than Germany's
D) Britain's employment rates of ageing workforce are higher than Germany's
