Reacting to the shortage, a Pittsburgh blood bank asked 40 hospitals in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to postpone elective surgeries through Wednesday. At least 1,000 donors are needed each day for the next several days to stabilize the supply, said Mark Lynch, spokesman for the Central Blood Bank. “We’re talking about (postponing) hip replacement, for example, and orthopedic cases. These are sick people who need surgery, but it’s not life threatening,” he said. When its blood supply is stable, the blood bank needs about 700 donors each day to maintain normal inventory. The Pittsburgh blood bank last asked hospitals to postpone elective surgeries because of a blood shortage in October 1995. Such procedures were canceled for almost a week.

　　Nationwide, donations typically fall off during the holidays, when donors become too busy to give blood regularly. Bad weather increases shortages both by blocking blood drives and by causing increased blood demand to treat accident victims.

　　注意：此部分試題請在答題卡2 上作答。

　　47. The blood shortage urged people ___________.

　　48. The Red Cross is important in supplying blood because the organization has __________.

　　49. To ease the situation, what kind of surgeries had to be put off?

　　50. We can infer from the passage that blood shortage usually occur _______________.

　　51. Usually 700 donors are needed each day for the blood bank to remain stable in __________.

　　Section B

　　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 center.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.

　　All societies have distinct role expectations for men and for women. In the United States these expectations have been undergoing change for many decades. Today Americans live in a world of diverse family patterns and conflicting images of ideal life styles for men and women. The conventional norms of the first half century defined a successful woman as a wife and mother who stayed home to carry out a full array of household duties. The husband and father was expected to stay away from the home most of the day, earning enough money to pay the bills. Many adults still live by these expectations, but the traditional pattern is no longer held up as an ideal to be followed by everyone. Times have changed; there is no return to yesterday.