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Unit 20
Part II Reading Comprehension
(35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
Navigation computers, now sold by most car-makers, cost $2 000 and up. No surprise, then, that they are most often found in luxury cars, like Lexus, BMW and Audi. But it is a developing technology―meaning prices should eventually drop―and the market does seem to be growing.
Even at current prices, a navigation computer is impressive. It can guide you from point to point in most major cities with precise turn-by-turn directions―spoken by a clear human-sounding voice, and written on a screen in front of the driver.
The computer works with an antenna(天线)that takes signals from no fewer than three of the 24 global positioning system(GPS) satellites. By measuring the time required for a signal to travel between the satellites and the antenna, the car’s location can be pinned down within 100 meters.
The satellite signals, along with inputs on speed from a wheel-speed sensor and direction from a meter, determine the car’s position even as it moves. This information is combined with a map database. Streets, landmarks and points of interest are included.
Most systems are basically identical. The differences come in hardware―the way the computer accepts the driver’s request for directions and the way it presents the driving instructions. On most systems, a driver enters a desired address, motorway junction or point of interest via a touch screen or disc. But the Lexus screen goes a step further: you can point to any spot on the map screen and get directions to it.
BMW’s system offers a set of cross hairs(瞄准器上的十字纹)that can be moved across the map (you have several choices of map scale) to pick a point you’d like to get to. Audi’s screen can be switched to TV reception.
Even the voices that recite the directions can differ, with better systems like BMW’s and Lexus’s having a wider vocabulary. The instructions are available in French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian, as well as English. The driver can also choose parameters for determining the route: fastest, shortest or no freeways(说，高速公路), for example.
21. We learn from the passage that navigation computers .
A) will greatly promote sales of automobiles B) may help solve potential traffic problems
C) are likely to be accepted by more drivers D) will soon be viewed as a symbol of luxury
22. With a navigation computer, a driver will easily find the best route to his destination .
A) by inputting the exact address B) by indicating the location of his car
C) by checking his computer database D) by giving vocal orders to the computer
23. Despite their varied designs, navigation computers used in cars .
A) are more or less the same price B) provide directions in much the same way
C) work on more or less the same principles D) receive instructions from the same satellites
24. The navigation computer functions .
A) By means of a direction finder and a speed detector
B) Basically on satellite signals and a map database
C) Mainly through the reception of turn-by-turn directions
D) By using a screen to display satellite signals
25. The navigation systems in cars like Lexus, BMW and Audi are mentioned to show .
A) the immaturity of the new technology
B) the superiority of the global positioning system
C) the cause of price fluctuations in car equipment
D) the different ways of providing guidance to the driver
#P#
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
“The world’s environment is surprisingly healthy. Discuss.” If that were an examination topic, most students would tear it apart, offering a long list of complaints: from local smog(烟雾)to global climate change, from the felling(砍伐)of forests to the extinction of species. The list would largely be accurate, the concern legitimate. Yet the students who should be given the highest marks would actually be those who agreed with the statement. The surprise is how good things are, not how bad.
After all, the world’s population has more than tripled during this century, and world output has risen hugely, so you would expect the earth itself to have been affected. Indeed, if people lived, consumed and produced things in the same way as they did in 1900 (or 1950, or indeed 1980), the world by now would be a pretty disgusting place: smelly, dirty, toxic and dangerous.
But they don’t. The reasons why they don’t, and why the environment has not been ruined, have to do with prices, technological innovation, social change and government regulation in response to popular pressure. That is why today’s environmental problems in the poor countries ought, in principle, to be solvable.
Raw materials have not run out, and show no sign of doing so. Logically, one day they must: the planet is a finite place. Yet it is also very big, and man is very ingenious. What has happened is that every time a material seems to be running short, the price has risen and, in response, people have looked for new sources of supply, tried to find ways to use less of the materials, or looked for a new substitute. For this reason prices for energy and for minerals have fallen in real terms during the century. The same is true for food. Prices fluctuate, in response to harvests, natural disasters and political instability; and when they rise, it takes some time before new sources of supply become available. But they always do, assisted by new farming and crop technology. The long-term trend has been downwards.
It is where prices and markets do not operate properly that this benign(良性的)trend begins to stumble, and the genuine problems arise. Markets cannot always keep the environment healthy. If no one owns the resource concerned, no one has an interest in conserving it or fostering it: fish is the best example of this.
26. According to the author, most students .
A) believe the world’s environment is in an undesirable condition
B) agree that the environment of the world is not as bad as it is thought to be
C) get high marks for their good knowledge of the world’s environment
D) appear somewhat unconcerned about the state of the world’s environment
27. The huge increase in world production and population .
A) has made the world a worse place to live in B) has had a positive influence on the environment
C) has not significantly affected the environment D) has made the world a dangerous place to live in
28. One of the reasons why the long-term trend of prices has been downwards is that .
A) technological innovation can promote social stability
B) political instability will cause consumption to drop
C) new farming and crop technology can lead to overproduction
D) new sources are always becoming available
29. Fish resources are diminishing because .
A) no new substitutes can be found in large quantities
B) they are not owned by any particular entity
C) improper methods of fishing have ruined the fishing grounds
D) water pollution is extremely serious
30. The primary solution to environmental problems is .
A) to allow market forces to operate properly B) to curb consumption of natural resources
C) to limit the growth of the world population D) to avoid fluctuations in prices
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
About the time that schools and others quite reasonably became interested in seeing to it that all children, whatever their background, were fairly treated, intelligence testing became unpopular.
Some thought it was unfair to minority children. Through the past few decades such testing has gone out of fashion and many communities have indeed forbidden it.
However, paradoxically, just recently a group of black parents filed a lawsuit(诉讼) in California claiming that the state’s ban on IQ testing discriminates against their children by denying them the opportunity to take the test. (They believed, correctly, that IQ tests are a valid method of evaluating children for special education classes.) The judge, therefore, reversed, at least partially, his original decision.
And so the argument goes on and on. Does it benefit or harm children from minority groups to have their intelligence tested? We have always been on the side of permitting, even facilitating, such testing. If a child of any color or group is doing poorly in school it seems to us very important to know whether it is because he or she is of low intelligence, or whether some other factor is the cause.
What school and family can do to improve poor performance is influenced by its cause. It is not discriminative to evaluate either a child’s physical condition or his intellectual level.
Unfortunately, intellectual level seems to be a sensitive subject, and what the law allows us to do varies from time to time. The same fluctuation back and forth occurs in areas other than intelligence. Thirty years or so ago, for instance, white families were encouraged to adopt black children. It was considered discriminative not to do so.
And then the style changed and this cross-racial adopting became generally unpopular, and social agencies felt that black children should go to black families only. It is hard to say what are the best procedures. But surely good will on the part of all of us is needed.
As to intelligence, in our opinion, the more we know about any child’s intellectual level, the better for the child in question.
31. Why did the intelligence test become unpopular in the past few decades?
A) Its validity was challenged by many communities.
B) It was considered discriminative against minority children.
C) It met with strong opposition from the majority of black parents.
D) It deprived the black children of their rights to a good education.
32. The recent legal action taken by some black parents in California aimed to .
A) draw public attention to IQ testing
B) put an end to special education
C) remove the state’s ban on intelligence tests
D) have their children enter white schools
33. The author believes that intelligence testing .
A) may ease racial confrontation in the United States
B) can encourage black children to keep up with white children
C) may seriously aggravate racial discrimination in the United States
D) can help black parents make decisions about their children’s education
34. The author’s opinion of child adoption seems to be that .
A) no rules whatsoever can be prescribed
B) white families should adopt black children
C) adoption should be based on IQ test results
D) cross-racial adoption is to be advocated
35. Child adoption is mentioned in the passage to show that .
A) good will may sometimes complicate racial problems
B) social surroundings are vital to the healthy growth of children
C) intelligence testing also applies to non-academic areas
D) American opinion can shift when it comes to sensitive issues
#P#
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Not too many decades ago it seemed “obvious” both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people’s natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin(亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the “obvious” is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.
Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.
These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community’s population size and its social heterogeneity(多样性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan(见多识广者的) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.
36. Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the first paragraph?
A) Two contrasting views are presented.
B) An argument is examined and possible solutions given.
C) Research results concerning the quality of urban life are presented in order of time.
D) A detailed description of the difference between urban and small-town life is given.
37. According to the passage, it was once a common belief that urban residents .
A) did not have the same interests as their neighbors
B) could not develop long-standing relationships
C) tended to be associated with bad behavior
D) usually had more friends
38. One of the consequence of urban life is that impersonal relationships among neighbors .
A) disrupt people’s natural relations
B) make them worry about crime
C) cause them not to show concern for one another
D) cause them to be suspicious of each other
39. It can be inferred from the passage that the bigger a community is, .
A) the better its quality of life
B) the more similar its interests
C) the more tolerant and open-minded it is
D) the likelier it is to display psychological symptoms of stress
40. What is the passage mainly about?
A) Similarities in the interpersonal relationships between urbanites and small-town dwellers.
B) Advantages of living in big cities as compared with living in small towns.
C) The positive role that urbanism plays in modern life.
D) The strong feeling of alienation of city inhabitants.
Unit 21
Part II Reading Comprehension
(35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
When global warming finally came, it stuck with a vengeance(异乎寻常地). In some regions, temperatures rose several degrees in less than a century. Sea levels shot up nearly 400 feet, flooding coastal settlements and forcing people to migrate inland. Deserts spread throughout the world as vegetation shifted drastically in North America, Europe and Asia. After driving many of the animals around them to near extinction, people were forced to abandon their old way of life for a radically new survival strategy that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. The adaptation was farming: the global-warming crisis that gave rise to it happened more than 10,000 years ago.
As environmentalists convene in Rio de Janeiro this week to ponder the global climate of the future, earth scientists are in the midst of a revolution in understanding how climate has changed in the past―and how those changes have transformed human existence. Researchers have begun to piece together an illuminating picture of the powerful geological and astronomical forces that have combined to change the planet’s environment from hot to cold, wet to dry and back again over a time period stretching back hundreds of millions of year.
Most important, scientists are beginning to realize that the climatic changes have had a major impact on the evolution of the human species. New research now suggests that climate shifts have played a key role in nearly every significant turning point in human evolution: from the dawn of primates(灵长目动物)some 65 million years ago to human ancestors rising up to walk on two legs, from the huge expansion of the human brain to the rise of agriculture. Indeed, the human history has not been merely touched by global climate change, some scientists argue, it has in some instances been driven by it.
The new research has profound implications for the environmental summit in Rio. Among other things, the findings demonstrate that dramatic climate change is nothing new for planet Earth. The benign(宜人的)global environment that has existed over the past 10,000 years―during which agriculture, writing, cities and most other features of civilization appeared―is a mere bright spot in a much larger pattern of widely varying climate over the ages. In fact, the pattern or climate change in the past reveals that Earth’s climate will almost certainly go through dramatic changes in the future―even without the influence of human activity.
21. Farming emerged as a survival strategy because man had been obliged .
A) to give up his former way of life
B) to leave the coastal areas
C) to follow the ever-shifting vegetation
D) to abandon his original settlement
24. Earth scientists have come to understand that climate .
A) is going through a fundamental change
B)has been getting warmer for 10,000 years
C) will eventually change from hot to cold
D) has gone through periodical change
23. Scientists believe that human evolution .
A) has seldom been accompanied by climatic changes
B) has exerted little influence on climatic changes
C) has largely been effected by climatic changes
D) has had a major impact on climatic changes
24. Evidence of past climatic changes indicates that .
A) human activities have accelerated changes of Earth’s environment
B) Earth’s environment will remain mild despite human interference
C) Earth’s climate is bound to change significantly in the future
D) Earth’s climate is unlikely to undergo substantial changes in the future
25. The message the author wishes to convey in the passage is that .
A) human civilization remains glorious though it is affected by climatic changes
B) mankind is virtually helpless in the face of the dramatic changes of climate
C) man has to limit his activities to slow down the global warming process
D) human civilization will continue to develop in spite of the changes of nature
#P#
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess(公爵夫人) Of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such a virtue.
The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have Fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better―or worse―part of my life. Being rich wouldn’t be bad either, but that won’t happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars.
Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianity’s seven deadly sins. However, until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being.
Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat-or even only somewhat overweight-is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength.
Our obsession(迷恋) with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many cases, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem―too much fat and a lack of fiber―than a weight problem.
The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get(or already are)thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vainglory(虚荣)。
26.In the eyes of the author, an odd phenomenon nowadays is that .
A) the Duchess of Windsor is regarded as a woman of virtue
B) looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune
C) being thin is viewed as a much desired quality
D) religious people are not necessarily virtuous
27. Swept by the prevailing trend, the author .
A) had to go on a diet for the greater part of her life
B) could still prevent herself from going off the track
C) had to seek help from rich distant relatives
D) had to wear highly fashionable clothes
28.In human history, people’s views on body weight .
A)were closely related to their religious beliefs
B)changed from time to time
C)varied between the poor and the rich
D)led to different moral standards
29.The author criticizes women’s obsession with thinness .
A)from an economic and educational perspective
B)from sociological and medical points of view
C)from a historical and religious standpoint
D)in the light of moral principles
30.What’s the author’s advice to women who are absorbed in the idea of thinness?
A)They should be more concerned with their overall lifestyle.
B)They should be more watchful for fatal diseases.
C)They should gain weight to look healthy.
D)They should rid themselves of fantasies about designer clothes.
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage
War may be a natural expression of biological instincts and drives toward aggression in the human species. Natural impulses of anger, hostility, and territoriality(守卫地盘的天性)are expressed through acts of violence. These are all qualities that humans share with animals. Aggression is a kind of innate(天生的)survival mechanism, an instinct for self-preservation, that allows animals to defend themselves from threats to their existence. But, on the other hand, human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior. In the case of human aggression, violence cannot be simply reduced to an instinct. The many expressions of human violence are always conditioned by social conventions that give shape to aggressive behavior. In human societies violence has a social function: It is a strategy for creating or destroying forms of social order. Religious traditions have taken a leading role in directing the powers of violence. We will look at the ritual and ethical(道德上的)patterns within which human violence has been directed.
The violence within a society is controlled through institutions of law. The more developed a legal system becomes, the more society takes responsibility for the discovery , control, and punishment of violent acts. In most tribal societies the only means to deal with an act of violence is revenge. Each family group may have the responsibility for personally carrying out judgment and punishment upon the person who committed the offense. But in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes depersonalized and diffused. The society assumes the responsibility for protecting individuals from violence. In cases where they cannot be protected, the society is responsible for imposing punishment. In a state controlled legal system, individuals are removed from the cycle of revenge motivated by acts of violence, and the state assumes responsibility for their protection.
The other side of a state legal apparatus is a state military apparatus. While the one protects the individual from violence ,the other sacrifices the individual to violence in the interests of the state. In war the state affirms its supreme power over the individuals within its own borders. War is not simply a trial by combat to settle disputes between states; it is the moment when the state makes its most powerful demands upon its people for their commitment, allegiance, and supreme sacrifice. Times of war test a community’s deepest religious and ethical commitments.
31.Human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior in that .
A)it threatens the existing social systems
B) it is influenced by society
C) it has roots in religious conflicts
D) it is directed against institutions of law
32.The function of legal systems, according to the passage is .
A)to control violence within a society
B) to protect the world from chaos
C) to free society from the idea of revenge
D) to give the government absolute power
33.What does the author mean by saying “…in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes depersonalized and diffused” (Lines5-6, Para.2 )?
A) Legal systems greatly reduce the possibilities of physical violence.
B) Offenses against individuals are no longer judged on a personal basis.
C) Victims of violence find it more difficult to take revenge.
D) Punishment is not carried out directly by the individuals involved.
34.The word “allegiance” ( Line5, Para.3 )is closest in meaning to .
A)loyalty
B) Objective
C) survival
D) motive
35.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A) Governments tend to abuse their supreme power in times of war.
B) In times of war governments may extend their power across national borders.
C) In times of war governments impose high religious and ethical standards on their people.
D) Governments may sacrifice individuals in the interests of the state in times of war
#P#
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Researchers who are unfamiliar with the cultural and ethnic groups they are studying must take extra precautions to shed any biases they bring with them from their own culture. For example, they must make sure they construct measures that are meaningful for each of the cultural or ethnic minority groups beings studied.
In conducting research on cultural and ethnic minority issues, investigators distinguish between the emic approach and the etic approach. In the emic approach, the goal is to describe behavior in one culture or ethnic group in terms that are meaningful and important to the people in that culture or ethnic group, without regard to other cultures or ethnic groups. In the etic approach, the goal is to describe behavior so that generalizations can be made across cultures. If researchers construct a questionnaire in an emic fashion, their concern is only that the questions are meaningful to the particular culture or ethnic group being studied. If, however, the researchers construct a questionnaire in an ecit fashion, they want to include questions that reflect concepts familiar to all cultures involved.
How might the emic and etic approaches be reflected in the study of family processes? In the emic approach , the researchers might choose to focus only on middle-class White families, without regard for whether the information obtained in the study can be generalized or is appropriate for ethnic minority groups. In a subsequent Study, the researchers may decide to adopt an etic approach by studying not only middle-class White families, but also lower-income White families, Black American families, Spanish American families, and Asian American families. In studying ethnic minority families, the researchers would likely discover that the extended family is more frequently a support system in ethnic minority families than in White American families. If so, the emic approach would reveal a different pattern of family interaction than would the etic approach, documenting that research with middle-class White families cannot always be generalized to all ethnic groups.
36.According to the first paragraph, researchers unfamiliar with the target cultures are inclined to .
A) be overcautious in constructing meaningful measures
B) view them from their own cultural perspective
C) guard against interference from their own culture
D) accept readily what is alien to their own culture
37.What does the author say about the emic approach and the etic approach?
A) They have different research focuses in the study of ethnic issues.
B) The former is biased while the latter is objective
C) The former concentrates on study of culture while the latter on family issues.
D) They are both heavily dependent on questionnaires in conducting surveys.
38.Compared with the etic approach, the emic approach is apparently more .
A)culturally interactive
B) culture-oriented
C) culturally biased
D) culture-specific
39.The etic approach is concerned with .
A) the general characteristics of minority families
B) culture-related concepts of individual ethnic groups
C) features shared by various cultures or ethnic groups
D) the economic conditions of different types of families
40.Which of the following is true of the ethnic minority families in the U.S. according to the passage?
A) Their cultural patterns are usually more adaptable
B) Their cultural concepts are difficult to comprehend
C) They don’t interact with each other so much as White families
D)They have closer family ties than White families |
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发表于 2016-7-11 18:39:44