Passage One Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage. Education is one of the key words of our time. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of unfortunate circumstances deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states “invest” in institutions of learning to get back “interest” in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks — those purchasable wells of wisdom — what would civilization be like without its benefits? So much is certain that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births; but our spiritual outlook would be different. We would lay less stress on “facts and figures” and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow-citizens. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of “college” imaginable. Among the people whom we like to call savages all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all; it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is equally equipped for life. It is the ideal condition of the “equal start” which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all. There are no “illiterates” — while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in France in 1806, and in England in 1976, and is still nonexistent in a number of “civilized” nations. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the “happy few” during the past centuries. Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means. All are entitled to an equal start. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parents; therefore the jungles and the savages know of no “juvenile delinquency”. No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children, and no father is confronted with his inability to “buy” an education for his child. 1. Which of the following could be the best title for the text? A) The Significance of Education B) Educational Investment and Its Results C) Education: A Comparison of Its Past and Its Present D) Education in the Wilderness 2. According to the text, the author seems_____. A) against the education in the very early historic times B) positive about our present educational instruction C) in favor of the educational practice in primitive cultures D) quite happy to see an equal start for everyone 3. According to the text, which of the following statements is true? A) One without education today has few opportunities. B) We have not yet decided on our educational models. C) Compulsory schooling is a legal obligation in several countries now. D) Our spiritual outlook is better now than before. 4. In the last paragraph, the author implies that_____. A) some families now can hardly afford to send their children to school B) everyone today has an equal opportunity in education C) every country invests heavily in education D) we are not very certain whether preachers are necessary or not 5. "All are entitled to an equal start" (in Para.5) means all are_____. A) about to give an equal start B) given a right to an equal start C) given a title to an equal start D) certain to have an equal start Passage Two Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage. In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, they're nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid. The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AI movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field. Imitating the brain's neural network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. "People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors," he explains. "But it's not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves." Right now, the notion that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town. 6. The author says that the powerful computers of today ____ . A) are capable of reliably recognizing the shape of an object B) are close to exhibiting humanlike behavior C) are not very different in their performance from those of the 1950's D) still cannot communicate with people in a human language 7. The new trend in artificial intelligence research stems from _____ .  A) the shift of the focus of study on the recognition of the shapes of objects B) the belief that human intelligence cannot be duplicated with logical, step-by-step programs C) the aspirations of scientists to duplicate the intelligence of a ten-month-old child D) the efforts made by scientists in the study of the similarities between transistors and brain cells 8. Conrad and his group of AI researchers have been making enormous efforts to_____ .  A) find a roundabout way to design powerful computers B) build a computer using a clever network of switches C) find out how intelligence develops in nature D) separate the highest and most abstract levels of thought 9. What's the author's opinion about the new AI movement? A) It has created a sensation among artificial intelligence researchers. B) It's a breakthrough in duplicating human thought processes. C) It's more like a peculiar game rather than a real scientific effort. D) It may prove to be in the right direction though nobody is sure of its future prospects. 10. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase “the only game in town” (in Para.4)? A) The only approach to building an artificially intelligent computer. B) The only way for them to win a prize in artificial intelligence research. C) The only area worth studying in computer science. D) The only game they would like to play in town.