抗战胜利纪念馆:Reading Passage

Earing a good living requires a certain amount of hard work, intelligence, and ambition. Granted, wealth and social standing at birth as well as luck play a significant role., but in general those who make the most money have utilized their intelligence and perseverance. Thy have pride in their ability to rise within the system of free enterprise and express this pride by purchasing material goods. These material items are a symbol of the hard work which brought them to their present position of affluence.
The pursuit of money and material things breeds competition, the cornerstone of the American economic system. "Keeping up with the Joneses" is an American ideal which keeps everyone working harder, striving to do better than the next man. A worker will perform better if he realizes there is an ambitious youngster right behind him who wants his job.
The quest for material goods also prevents stagnation of our culyure. If people did not have the desire to buy the latest fashions or automobiles, perhaps designers would become complacent and show little desire to change their styles. Material desire creates competition, forward thinking in design and invention and ultimately growth of the American society as a whole.

QUESTION:
1) According to the second paragraph of this passage, it is NOT true that King Lear
a) is a reflection of the times
b) is considered worthy as a Shakespeare drema
c) contains scenes which fail to contribute to the action
d) keeps the attention of the ausience strongly fixed
e) agitates our passions

2) This passage suggests we must assume that
a) Shakespeare tells us just what he is trying to do
b) life is the way it seems to be
c) the tragedy of Lear is a family squabble only
d) Shakespeare's plays are reflections of the life of the times during which they were written
e) Lear, Edmund, Gloucester, and Cordelia were faultless

3) According to this passage, we can be reasonably sure that genres of the comic, the tragic, and the chronicles of Shakespeare reflect some of the aspects of the life and the society of
a) Gloucester
b) Shakespeare
c) Lear
d) Cordelia
e) Bacon

4) According to this passage, the "message" that one receives upon reading or seeing the tragedy of Lear
a) is universally the same
b) depends on how the play is produced
c) varies from person to person
d) is clearly defined by Shakespeare
e) is not indicated

5) This passage says that what is more than meets the eye in exoeriences observed in literature is
a) a family squabble
b) a physical pain
c) a storm
d) a perpetual tumult
e) a reflection of life
6) the best title for this passage would be
a) earning a good living in the U.S
b) the merits of materialism
c) dtagnation of our culture
d) "keeping up with the Jonese"
e) the growth of American Society

7) which of these, according to the passage, is not mentioned as a requirement for earning a good living?
a) intelligence
b) hard work
c) purchasing material goods
d) ambition
e) poverty

9) according to this passage, "keeping up with the Joneses" keeps people working harder because of
a) honor
b) patriotism
c) survival
d) training
e) competition

10) if people were lose their desire for material goods, this passage suggest, then a likely result would not be
a) decay
b) depression
c) stagnation
d) recession
e) renascence

11) in this passage, the limit of an individual's ability to rise within the system of free enterprise is imposed by
a) law
b) custom
c) wealth and social standing at birth
d) intelligence
E)none of these