Major league baseball players, fraternity members, veterans groups, high school and college graduates, and former Boy Scouts all hold reunions on a regular basis. In addition, family reunions frequently attract blood relatives from faraway places who spend considerable money and time to reunite.
Actually, in their affection for reuniting with friends, family or colleagues, Americans are probably no different from any other people, except that Americans have created a mind-boggling number and variety of institutionalized forms of gatherings to facilitate the satisfaction of this desire. Indeed, reunions have increasingly become formal events that are organized on a regular basis and, in the process, they have also become big business.
Shell Norris of Class Reunion, Inc. says that Chicago alone has 1,500 high school reunions each year. A conservative estimate on the national level would be 10,000 annually. At one time, all high school reunions were organized by volunteers, usually female homemakers. In the last few years, however, as more and more women have entered the labor force, alumni（校友） reunions are increasingly being planned by specialized companies rather than by part-time volunteers.
The first college reunion was held by the alumni of Yale University in 1792. Graduates of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, and Brown followed suit. And by the end of the 19th century, most 4-year institutions were holding alumni reunions.
The variety of college reunions is impressive. At Princeton, alumni parade through the town wearing their class uniforms and singing their alma mater. At Marietta College, they gather for a dinner-dance on a steamship cruising the Ohio River.
Clearly, the thought of cruising on a steamship or marching through the streets is usually not, by itself, sufficient reason for large numbers of alumni to return to campus. Alumni who decide to attend their reunions share a common identity based on the years they spent together as undergraduates. For this reason, universities that somehow establish a common bond – for example, because they are
relatively small or especially prestigious - tend to draw substantial numbers of their alumni to reunions. In an effort to enhance this common identity, larger colleges and universities frequently build their class reunions on participation in smaller units, such as departments or schools. Or they encourage \members of military organizations on campus, and the like.
Of course, not every alumnus is fond of his or her former school. Students who graduated during the late 1960s may be especially reluctant to get involved in alumni events. They were part of the generation that conducted sit-ins and teach-ins directed at university administrators, protested military recruitment on campus and marched against \identity, it may fall outside of their university ties - or even be hostile to them. Even as they enter their middle years, alumni who continue to hold unpleasant memories of college during this period may not wish to attend class reunions.
66. The function of the first paragraph is to ________
A. introduce Rona Jeffes novel. B. present the authors counterargument. C. serve as introduction to the authors argument. D. bring into focus contrasting opinions. 67. According to the passage, Sparacinos study _________
A. provided strong evidence for Jaffes statement.
B. showed that attendees tended to excel in high school study.
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C. found that interest in reunions was linked with school experience. D. found evidence for attendee’s intense desire for showing off success.
68. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a distinct feature of U.S. class reunions?
A. U.S. class reunions are usually occasions to show off ones recent success. B. Reunions are regular and formal events organized by professional agencies. C. Class reunions have become a profitable business.
D. Class reunions have brought about a variety of activities.
69. What mainly attracts many people to return to campus for reunion?
A. The variety of activities for class reunion. B. The special status their university enjoys. C. Shared experience beyond the campus.
D. Shared undergraduate experience on campus. 70. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Reasons for popularity and (non)attendance for alumni reunions. B. A historical perspective for alumni reunions in the United States. C. Alumni reunions and American university traditions.
D. Alumni reunion and its social and economic implications.
第Ⅱ卷 非选择题（共35分）
第四部分：任务型阅读（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。 Successful people read a lot. They read specifically for self-improvement, education and success. For instance, people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are productive readers of books that help them improve their skills, knowledge and understanding. But the average person appears to have little interest in reading self-improvement books.
If you look back on decades of book sales, you’ll see that fiction books tend to be much more popular than self-improvement bools. Often there is a cliffhanger (悬念) in every chapter of a fiction book that keeps you reading until the last page, so that you can find out what happens next. However, non-fiction books in the self-improvement field are intended to help you solve a problem or reach a specific goal. In most cases, these types of books aren’t written in story form, which leads most people to believe the books are boring or difficult to read and understand.
If you want to be successful in life, you must take advantage of the limitless wisdom and knowledge available in self-improvement books. They can open up all kinds of future opportunities for you. You will learn new things, be inspired, and develop a deep love of practical knowledge and wisdom. And the most exciting thing is that in your daily life you will be able to take advantage of the ideas and advice you learn from the books. And once you do this, you will be likely to see a trend towards positive results.
The secret to choosing the most suitable self-improvement books for yourself is to understand you current situation--- and to have a clear vision of what you hope to achieve in the future. The ideal self-improvement book will be one that fits your present needs. So you need to take a good
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